Chapter 25:
A knock on the door. "…Hades? Are you -"
After Hades left, Persephone had laid herself beneath the pomegranate tree, stretching her arms out to her sides and running her fingers through the wet grass. She sighed contentedly, remembering how he held her against him. She remembered his earthy scent, and how his strong arms wrapped around her body made her feel safe. She sighed and let herself completely relax against the earth, and willed plants to grow in her happiness. Lush flowers sprang up from the ground at her sides, and as she observed the beauty around her, she began to think that maybe…maybe living in the Underworld would not be so bad after all…
Eventually, she had gotten up and began to explore the other parts of the garden. She had found it to be completely enormous, and figured it was almost as big as Hades' whole palace. She decided that it was far too large to see in one day, and guessed that it was probably to time head back into the throne chamber – but to her surprise, when she entered the room, she found that Hades was not there.
"Where is he?" she asked a shade.
The shade gave her a low bow. "My lady," the shade said, "Lord Hades has retired to his chambers. He is not feeling well. He said to wish you goodnight."
Persephone crossed her arms. "Can I not go see him?"
The shade shook her head – Persephone was sure this one was a female – and handed Persephone a goblet of nectar. "I would advise against that, my lady. He will see you in the morning."
Persephone decided not to push the issue. After going to dinner and getting a visit from Hecate, where she was properly introduced to Thanatos, a very handsome and soft-spoken god with dark hair and skin, and Morpheus, who also had dark skin, but glowing white eyes and hair (his appearance rather unsettled her, but as she spoke to him, she found him to be rather polite and soft-spoken as well) she decided to turn in for the night. Sleep came easily, and she thanked Morpheus for her calm dreams.
That is, until she heard a very distinct voice screaming in the distance, and found herself waking to the sound. She had tried to fall back asleep, but found that she could not, for the palace shook tumultuously after each yell.
She decided that it would be better to wake Hades instead of having him bring the palace to ruins in his sleep.
There were many souls that day, more so than Hades had seen in a long while since he had gained his judges. They assisted him, but he was still the supreme ruler of the Underworld, and as such, passed judgment on special cases.
Lately, there had been very many special cases.
It had started slow, with Hades staring at the pomegranate in his hand. Should I ask her? he had wondered. Does she really love me?
With each passing soul he sent to Tartarus, Hades had felt himself grow weaker and weaker; had felt his dark mark burn white-hot as Cronus began to whisper in his mind.
She doesn't love you,Cronus had whispered, If she did, your curse would be broken.
Cronus repeated these words in Hades' mind, and before he realized it, Hades had crushed the pomegranate in his hand and the too-red juice made it look like his palm was stained with blood.
Mortal blood.
He felt sick.
It was then that Hades decided he was going to turn in early, and perhaps drink some wine.
He was feeling irritable in his pain, and did not want to take his temper out on Persephone.
He knew that at times like these, he was no longer fully in control of his own actions.
So about an hour before Persephone had arrived in the throne room, Hades had returned to his chambers and drank himself into oblivion with the intention of keeping his sleep dreamless and Cronus-free.
His drunk mind had sluggishly wondered if his smell alone would keep his father away, and he would have smiled had he not been so disgusted with himself. Sure enough, after quite a few goblets, he had passed out onto his bed and into a dreamless slumber – for a short while.
In the end though, the alcohol had only served to make things even more vivid, and he had found himself waking with a start drenched in sweat.
From then on he had slept fitfully, and his side burned with a white-hot intensity that he had not felt for quite a while.
Now, in his dreams, he hears a loud knock and slowly returns to consciousness.
Without even hearing her voice, he knows it's her.
"…Hades? " Another knock, and his father's voice cackles in his mind.
You have already lost this battle, my son…
"Then finish it!" Hades yells. He's standing in front of a large mirror, his fist cracking the glass in a punch, leaving trails of ichor on his knuckles and down the blurry glass.
"Finish what, my lord?" Her voice is calm and soft, but when he turns around, he can tell that he's startled her. He's quite a bit startled himself to see her.
"What are you doing here?" he asks, none too kindly. His side is burning.
She shrugs and sits at the edge of his large bed. "I came to check on you," she says simply, truthfully. "And besides, your screaming was keeping me up."
He looks down. He almost feels ashamed. "I apologize for waking you," he says.
From the corner of his eye, he sees her look at him, her face calm and serious.
"I came to check on you," she says, giving him a small smile. "Don't apologize."
He sits down next to her, and after a moment she moves to hold his hand.
He accepts it.
"I…can't sleep," he says.
"…Is it because of-?'
"It is." She squeezes his hand.
"I'm here now," she says, kissing his right temple. "Do you want me to stay with you again?"
"Yes," he says. I want you stay with me always.
He doesn't say it.
She falls back on his bed- taking him with her - and moves on her side to face him. She touches his face and his stubble prickles her fingers. His eyes close.
"Thank you, Hades, for the garden. It's beautiful."
"You're welcome," he says, clenching his jaw and holding his side. His head is pounding.
He feels her fingers opening his robes, and his eyes snap open again.
"Persephone, what are-"
His voice stops when he feels her hand on his skin. Her touch is cool and soothing on the mark. He sighs in relief.
He hears her hiss.
"It burns," she says. She knew it would – she's still surprised.
"Yes." Her hand goes across the rest of the mark, and inch by inch he feels his side begin to stop burning.
She wrinkles her nose. "You smell like Dionysus," she says, laughing. He glares at her and she laughs even harder.
Her burning hand moves to his chest and rests there.
"I don't want to fall again," he says suddenly. She looks up at him. His eyes are earnest. "I can't."
She puts her hand on his jaw again. "I won't let you," she whispers. He shuts his eyes…
He rolls onto her and leans his face to her ear.
"I want you, I need you…Stay with me," he says, kissing her neck. "…Marry me."
"Hades…"
"I love you," he says into her ear. "Stay with me." Marry me.
"I can't marry you, Hades."
He gets up on his elbows and looks down at her, eyes questioning. "Why not?"
Her expression suddenly turns dark, and her smile twists into something wicked. "Because I don't love you!" She will never love you. And I will finish this! He feels her hand claw into his side and squeeze, opening the skin there, black ooze and ichor pouring out.
"Hades!"
He feels hands touching him and he panics. He doesn't want to go through that again.
"Hades! It's me!"
He sits up, chest heaving and his heart pounding. He feels arms wrap around him from behind.
"It's me," she says, kissing his shoulder. "I won't let you fall."
This isn't a dream, he thinks. You're awake now. After a few moments, he finally talks. You're awake now…
He repeats this mantra in his head as he says, "Persephone, will you marry me?"
There is a long pause, and he feels the panic start to rise. You're awake, he thinks. This isn't a dream.
After what seems like an eternity, she finally whispers, lowly but resoundingly against his neck, "Yes."
A/N: Sorry this took so long guys, but you know how things go – story's gonna wrap up here pretty soon, so be prepared for that….and yeah. So you know the drill – comments and reviews on what you like, what you don't like, etc. They're all great. You're all great, because you've been sticking to this story, and I applaud and thank you for that . I LOVE YOU ALL - #reviews, comments :p