Hades was trudging through his dark domain. He grimaced at his own habitation. The high, cavernous walls made the entire place seem empty and cold. The whole of his realm was varied shades of grey despite all his attempts to brighten it.
He knew that beauty existed, but he was clueless as to how he might get a bit of it down there with him. He was tired of everything around him being dead, but what can you do when you're the god of the dead?
He thought it best if he cleared his head. Last time he became depressed was not exactly something he wanted to replicate and the other gods might be thankful for the world to not be struck with such distress again.
He donned his mask and his helmet of invisibility so he might travel unseen.
He walked over the earth now, staying mostly to the roads so as to not kill all the plants in the vicinity. He could keep them alive, but it was too distracting. He came up to think about other things.
He pondered exactly what beauty was. His home was not ugly in every way. He was a rather talented architect and had Athena herself aid him in the designs. His only problem was the colors. After some time, everything in the underworld adopted dark shades of their original hues until everything was black and grey.
He wanted a bit of color. Something to fill the darkness. Perhaps he needed a fresh pair of eyes. A new opinion on how to better illuminate the place. But, there lay his problem, who would accompany him to the underworld and not be too intimidated to be honest?
Hades began going through the list of people who had recently fallen under his reign. He was searching for someone he could ask that was already there.
He stopped in his tracks. For the love of Zeus, he was truly desperate if he was considering asking the dead for advice on decore.
All at once, Hades snapped out of his thoughtful state. He had heard laughter.
This would not have normally caught his attention, but when his eyes found the source he was pierced through the heart. There was a group of nymphs laughing and talking with a girl. This girl was beyond the definition of beauty in his mind. He would even go so far as to insult Aphrodite to say that she rivaled her in loveliness.
Her hair shone like the sun and her eyes reflected the sky. Her skin was pink and covered in freckles from being in the sun. She had a crown of clovers on her head and her laughter was like music to his dead ears.
He ached for sadness because of her beauty and so, set to watch. He was transfixed by her.
He watched as she kindly helped one of the nymphs start another flower chain and she nibbled on sweets. She never said a cruel word of gave a look of annoyance to any of the others.
Hades was bewitched by not only her beauty, but her kindness as well.
Eventually, out of the silence came a soft hum from one of the nymphs. The others joined in turn and they soon began to sing.
When the girl opened her mouth, Hades was taken up in the most powerful sensation of affection he had ever felt. A sensation he thought himself incapable of feeling after so long of being secluded with his own cold heart. He nearly fell to his knees with the feeling.
In the time the girl sang, Hades knew he could not live if he left her there and returned to his gloomy realm. He also knew she would never go anywhere with the god of the dead.
With the bit of power he had over living things, he caused a butterfly to flutter towards the girls. The girl caught sight of it and quickly got up. She followed it gracefully as it drew ever closer to the invisible being.
When she was an arms length away, Hades tore off his helmet and took her up in his arms. She gasped at the sight of the masked man and let out a shrill yelp as the earth swallowed them.
As Demeter gently explained a technique to a farmer, she felt a sudden pang of distress. She knew immediately that something had happened to Christine.
Over the land she flew, like a storm driven by an angry Zeus. She was at the meadow then, looking for Christine.
She found the nymphs, who were just as dumbfounded as she. They called and searched, but could find no trace of their friend. She had only been chasing a butterfly when a man appeared and they disappeared.
Demeter let out a sound of pure anguish as she realized her daughter was lost.
Demeter swore to search until her daughter was found and returned to her. She would not perform her duties as goddess until she had Christine back.
