This is my first story I've attempted to write completely, let alone tackle Hades and Persephone. Thank you for the support! Just bear with me while I get myself used to everything!
Disclaimer: I've rated this generally "M" because of mature themes all throughout, as well as graphic sexual scenes later. Notice of these scenes will always be included in the disclaimer at the beginning of the chapter as forewarning to dodge any offense.
Chapter I.
This had been the second day he had made the journey above ground to gaze upon her. His new feelings had left him confused and vulnerable. He had never felt this way about anyone before. From the moment his eyes fell upon her it was like an invisible string had been tied to his cold heart, and the other end was deviously looped around her slender finger enslaving him to her.
She had been an accidental discovery only a few days ago, and one that he had attempted to forget but could not. After an insufferably long audience with his younger boisterous brother Zeus, he had rushed from Mount Olympus on his gothic chariot; whipping his onyx red eyed undead horses to transport him to his beloved underworld as quickly as possible.
He hated it up here. He had never seen anything worthwhile on earth. The living were so dramatic, so tedious. He preferred them much better upon their deaths where he could gain an insight to their entire lives within seconds of a wave of his hand and disperse them to their appropriate fates for eternity. Mortals were simply a job to Hades, and the other Gods just an added annoyance.
The horses led him to a stretch of golden Greek country side where he spotted a group of what appeared to be nymphs dancing in a circle. He slowed the chariot to a slow trot and began to look closely. There was one that was different from the others. She was taller and almost seemed to emit an immortal like glow that put the others drastically to shame; it surprised him he had not noticed the difference from farther away.
They were playing a game and she was being chased by a fellow nymph through the golden grass, her chocolate brown hair long and blowing fluid like in the wind. Her skin was sun kissed and golden, her body slender but curvaceous and her smile rivaled the merriest of women.
Perfect, he thought licking his lips.
The nymph caught her and she threw back her head and laughed in absolute amusement and then playfully collapsed to the ground.
His breath caught in his chest…who are you?
His own thought rang through his head scolding him as if he should know the answer.
"Persephone!" A booming voice rang out from the west and the girls craned their necks quickly towards it.
"Come in Persephone," it beckoned. The brunette seemed disappointed and gave a heavy sigh and a weak and embarrassed smile to her friends who began to disperse.
"I'm coming mother!" She yelled back looking around and then running quickly towards the setting sun.
"Persephone," he whispered as he watched her run away, her peach gown trailing behind her like a breeze.
"Glaucus," he called darkly, the earthly ground rumbled and carried below into the dark depths of the Underworld. At the same moment a grey and feeble mignon looked up, his blind eyes white and seeking reason for the summons.
"I command you as your lord and master, tell me what you see of her, tell me who she is." He didn't take his eyes from her form silhouetted by the setting sun and waited for the oracle's answer.
The oracle strained his neck and his breath caught harshly in his throat before he answered Hades with a smile bearing his black and rotting teeth.
"She is Persephone my master, Goddess of Spring and daughter to Demeter and your brother Zeus, her mother has called and so she goes to her. There is none that exists in this world as goodly and innocent as she." His voice echoed through the blackened rock he was imprisoned in as well as Hades mind.
His heart sank, "Of course I should have realized, she was a child when I saw her last." He was immediately disappointed.
He knew of his sister and her obsession with the safety of her daughter. It was said Demeter never allowed her to be alone and that she was devotedly obedient. Of course the fates would deliver an obedient attraction…typical. His own gloom surprised him and he shook his head minutely as if snapping out of a trance. Why should he care of Demeter's daughter, anyone was available to him. He snapped the reigns quickly and the horses reared in acknowledgment as he continued towards his desired destination.
He was in a foul mood upon returning to the Underworld. Little gave him comfort and he attempted to forget her, attempted to convince himself that she was nothing to concern himself with but he couldn't. He looked up at the unending vaulted ceilings of his kingdom as if trying to feel her on earth above and then shrugged. Her beauty was so haunting. She was boisterous and joyful, but there was a mystery to her that continued to draw him in.
He could barely partake in his duties of judging the dead without seeing her face on the bodies of every soul that came into his presence…this made him uncharacteristically lenient which he would not stand for. He did not sleep, and when he did her image filled his mind.
Seeing her again was the only way he felt he could keep himself from going insane.
So here he was again, entranced by her simply living her life. She was with the nymphs as always picking flowers in the forest. Her hair was up in a messy knot behind her head, a chrysanthemum holding it loosely in place. Her gown was simple, a one shouldered mint green that bunched around her waist loosely and stretched tightly over her full breasts. Being Lord of the Underworld gave him the ability to make himself virtually invisible as long as he stayed in the shadows, so there he stood in the shade of a tree watching her.
"I heard about Ares when I was on the Mountain yesterday," Helena said casually flipping her blonde air and nudging Persephone.
The other nymphs laughed deviously, but Persephone's face graced an uneasy and bitter smile.
"He's insufferable, he treats courting like war…harsh, sloppy, and entirely without any sentiment. He goes into it automatically assuming I'll say yes to him like I'm some conquest that he can just take and throw over his shoulder and bring to camp to roast." She said wearily brushing a stray hair from her face.
"I hate that."
She paused and smiled, "although I must tell you seeing Aphrodite jealous is always a satisfying site," she said amusingly. The other nymphs giggled.
"I heard he tried to rape you," Mirva called from downstream.
Hades felt his fists clench in fury. That bastard of war Ares, the thought of his callous hands touching her let alone raping her was unbearable to him. He silently vowed to vex Ares later.
The nymphs stopped and looked at Persephone, who had also paused and was looking down as if pondering whether or not to answer the question.
"I…I suppose he didn't really succeed in getting to a point where I could say that, by the time the encounter became serious mother had already come." She said bluntly.
"It's interesting…" she began, sitting on the soft grass with the nymphs following around her. She took out her hair from its bun and it cascaded in messy waves around her; a graceful and simple gesture that left Hades' mouth dry as he continued to lean up against the shady tree.
"…I can never make up my mind as to whether or not I want to resent her, I hate that I'm not allowed to be alone. I'm in my 19th summer and she still doesn't permit me to stay out past sunset."
She stopped and smiled, "but then she always seems to be in the right place at the right time, when I need her she knows I need her."
"It's a maternal thing it is, I'm sure when you become a mother one day you'll have the same ability." Karisa said as she twined together some orchids.
She fluffed her hair and rested her chin on her hand and rolled her eyes, "Yes but you have to think she has to allow some poor man to marry me before I can have children. Every suitor is turned away, no one is ever good enough; and those are the ones that I know of, how many have approached her without my knowledge I cannot say."
At that moment Hades swore she had seen him because her brown eyes looked directly into his. Her dark lashes fluttered as she eyed the cypress tree he was leaning against. She didn't know why but she felt as though it was watching her. She shivered.
His heart pounded heavily in his chest as her soft lips cracked into a small smile. She unknowingly held his gaze and then looked down at her fingers.
"I can't wait to fall in love."
He exhaled quietly as she looked towards the setting sun and jumped up from her place in the circle, the basket of flowers swinging on her arm as she hurriedly bid the nymphs farewell and ran to the temple of Demeter.
To Hades the result of this "encounter" was simple…he had to have her.
"Will you not consult the fates my master?" Glaucus croaked as Hades passed the arched entry way to the black and domed room that housed his imprisoned oracle.
He turned his head to look at him, his feeble body was hunched over with his back to Hades and he ominously stared at his own reflection in the glittering and smooth wall of his dwelling. Hades did not bother to question Glaucus or even to enter the room to command answers for his mysterious comment. That was the only negative thing about an oracle to Hades, they knew everything that happened in the other realms…and even worse your thoughts. They were ghastly bad liars, nothing was ever a secret to an oracle.
"My desires are mine and don't require counsel of the fates." He growled defensively.
"It has been to long that I have ignored the obvious absence of Queen for this kingdom. The Underworld will finally gain the Queen it deserves…I will have a Queen," he said quietly.
"Challenge by the fates or any immortals alike will be met with absolute destruction, let none dare question me."
The heavy material of his cloak billowed as he stalked away from Glaucus and down the marble hallways to his chambers.
Glaucus looked down and then back at his reflection.
"Yes my master you'll have her…," he whispered quietly.
"…but never completely."