Part 3: Chapter 2

Persephone

"You have been spending quite a lot of time with that girl, my heart," my husband commented from behind me.

In the reflection of my dressing table's mirror, I glanced at Hades, who was seated at the edge of our bed, where he was in the middle of taking off his tunic in preparation for bed. I continued to run my crystal comb through my hair as I inquired, "Do you mean Ariadne?"

Hades nodded, folding the shirt neatly and setting it aside. "It seems to me you have made a friend in her. I hope she treats you well and knows to remember your status as my Queen. If ever she insults you, tell me, and I will see to it immediately."

Hearing that, I rolled my eyes and returned to gazing back at my reflection as I continued to comb my hair. "Oh, you and your silly little worries, Hades," I sighed in mock exasperation. "Ariadne has been very respectful of me, and she is indeed someone worthy of being a friend of mine, for she is kind and gentle and has a strong will. I think that there will not be any issue with her."

And then, I sighed pitifully as I halted my stroking motions on my hair and set down my comb on the marble surface of my dressing table. "It is just a pity that a soul as bright as her had to die so young…" I murmured sorrowfully for Ariadne. "She was, and still is, such a good person in general… Why must it that the good die young, my love?"

I met Hades' pitch black eyes in the mirror, and saw him heave a heavy sigh. "You know I cannot question nor predict what the Moirai would weave in any individual's thread of life, my lovely flower. If the three sisters had fated that Ariadne would leave the world of the living at the mortal age of twenty-five years under those circumstances that had been set up that day in the land of Argos, then so it shall be. No one could, would and should interfere with the happenings, lest they dared defy the natural order of Fate."

I knew that everything he was saying was true; who else would no better about anything that has got to do with the threading of one's life other than him, who ruled over Death and kept the Realm of the Dead in order?

"I wonder how Dionysus is coping with all of this?" I wondered to myself. Getting up from my chair at the dressing table, I walked over to the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. "I have a feeling that there is still pain that lingers in his heart. From all that Artemis told me about the both of them, I have come to know that Ariadne had been the only one Dionysus had ever truly loved. Just by thinking that the one we loved with all our heart be taken from us, that is so painful."

Suddenly, I was being wrapped gently in my husband's arms. I looked at him and saw him with an expression that immediately told me that he felt the depths of my words, for it applied to what we both experienced during those six months we were apart from each other.

With the thought of that in mind, I promptly leaned into his embrace, finding the comfort I could always get from him in a time like this.

"Indeed it is, my love," he whispered almost painfully as he planted a tender kiss to my temple. "Indeed it is."

Dionysus

I could feel the ecstasy rushing through my veins in the midst of my flowing ichor, urging me to move with carefree and nonchalance to my heart's content. But the burdening heaviness I felt upon my body protested against that urge, forcing me to simply stumble and stagger drowsily in the haze of the wine.

I laughed, finding it funny how I was walking like a babe who had yet to take their first steps. Even through the fogginess of my mind, I could hear and feel myself laugh so heartily with gusto, finding myself so very amusing for being so silly.

Suddenly, a flash of white landed in my eye, which instantly melted away when it touched my skin, leaving only a watery trail in its wake. The warmth of my body had melted the speck of snow quickly, and I laughed even harder at that. "Poor little snowflake!" I sang in a laugh as I twirled in mockery. "You cannot last when you land on me! Poor you! Poor you! Melt away before you get a chance to prick me with your icy coldness! Hahahaha! Poor you! Poor you! Poor you!"

I continued to spin with a spring to my step, creating around myself a whirlwind of snowflakes that had been falling down from the dark grey sky. With each bounce, I continued to laugh, hearing my laughter echoing throughout the cold, barren forest. Beneath me, the soft white cold snow that covered the entire forest ground shifted under my weight, causing me to feel as though I was sinking a bit as I danced to my heart's content.

But then, I felt thirsty again. All that laughing and dancing certainly has gotten me quite parched, so I promptly pulled out the water-skin that was hanging from the sash of my belt and brought it to my lips to take a swig. The taste of sweet and delicious wine immediately hit my taste buds, causing my entire being to go on a frenzy as the fogginess of my head increased as all I could focus on was the taste, texture and scent of the wine.

"AH!" I exclaimed in satisfaction when I pulled away to take a breather. "Now that is marvelous! This does truly call for another round of this fantastic drink!"

And so came another. Then another. Then another. Then another. Then…

Completely unexpectedly, my water-skin was suddenly ripped out of my hands while I was still chugging my round. I spluttered, completely surprised by that happening. Swallowing the wine that had managed to flow into my mouth, I looked up – I had not realized I was kneeling on the snowy ground until now – to see what had caused the disturbance.

Artemis stood tall and formidable in front of me as she looked down at me with a hard and emotionless gaze, the look in her pair of midnight blue eyes so penetrating that I could feel it reach the very core of my soul.

As I took in the sudden sight of her, I realized then that there was the lingering scent of smoke that wafted from and around her, still smelling so fresh although now slightly faded among the sharp scent of ice and snow and the dull scent of freezing bark. Other than that, I also realized that Artemis was covered from head to toe in black; black himation, black long dress and black boots. And it was also the fact that her eyes were rimmed red and her cheeks were streaked with wet trails that caught my attention.

For some reason, the thought that she had just come from a funeral popped into my mind. And so, with a smile played full on my lips, I asked nicely, "So! Who died today?!"

Artemis did not reply to my question, instead simply staring down at me with hard, stone-cold eyes. But to the water-skin that was being held captive in her hand, she squeezed suddenly, causing some drops to spill out of it and onto the snow, staining the white with specks of red that seemed akin to the colour of blood.

Seeing the precious wine being wasted away before my very eyes made me squirm, and I immediately made to consume the stains on the snow and the ones that were dripping out. But Artemis suddenly planted her boot-clad foot onto my shoulder and pushed me away roughly, making me fall onto the snowy ground on my haunches.

I looked at her in shock, just as she growled menacingly, "Enough."

"W-What?" I asked drowsily, not really clearly hearing what she had just said.

She still maintained the tone of menace in her tone as she said, "Enough of this foolishness, Dionysus. This has gone on quite long enough. You're wasting away, becoming a shadow of your former self."

This time I did catch what she was saying, and I snorted in response, "What do you mean 'becoming a shadow of your former self'? Was I not always like this before? Drunk and happy, with no bloody care for whatever in Tartarus is going on in this damn world?"

As I started to stand, Artemis dropped my water-skin to the ground and started to approach me, replying sharply, "Drunk, yes. But you are definitely not happy now. You're just making yourself think that you are by using wine as the reason, but I can easily see that you are far from happy. You are just fooling yourself, dear little brother."

I scoffed, "How would you know? And do not stick your ass where your business is not needed. If I choose to be drunk, then let me be drunk. Nobody can or will stop me."

Like anyone else who knew Artemis and her bad side very well, I expected myself to be immediately and painfully pulverised after the insult I had just delivered towards her, so I braced myself for the painful comeuppance that was about to me upon me.

But most surprisingly, that did not happen. Artemis stayed where she was, continuing to look at me hard in the eye. There was absolutely no change in her expression; she still maintained the composed look she had on when she first arrived before me. For some strange reason, this frightened me even more than the thought of getting beaten up by her, because I did not know what she was thinking of at this very moment.

Suddenly, her expression softened lightly, and she told me, "That would not have been what Ariadne would have wanted you to do."

Instantaneously, something in me snapped, and I could feel a sudden rage spark up within me just at the mention of her name in Artemis' voice

"Do. Not. Involve. Her," I hissed menacingly under my breath. "If you do, I swear I will…"

Artemis crossed her arms defiantly and scoffed, "What? What can you do? You're too drunk to even be capable of handling me in combat. I could take you down the minute you take just one step."

I felt tempted to challenge her at that, but I refrained myself, knowing better than to get myself involved in Artemis' wrath.

However, I still did not hold back my anger at her insolence. "Say whatever you want to say to me. Call me an ass or an idiot or whatever other colourful name that comes to your tongue! But do not – and I mean, do not – say her name. Do not involve her in this when she has already been gone so long ago."

"But she isn't gone from you, is she?" Artemis suddenly remarked sharply, her tone becoming more angrier. "She is not gone from your mind, your memories and your heart, am I right? To you, she is still there. You only wish to cope with the reality that she is not, but you cannot help the urge to still feel her from deep inside you."

Hearing her words was like poison to my ears, and I found myself clamping my hands over my ears, hoping to block them out.

"Shut up!" I demanded hotly through clenched teeth. "Shut up! Stop saying that! Stop talking about her! Stop it!"

Things did not go as I wish when Artemis took a formidable step forward and bellowed firmly, "I will not stop talking about it until you realize what sort of mess you had gotten yourself into! Look at you! Have you even seen yourself?! Now, you are no longer the cheerful and jovial god that is the liberator of stress and the spirit of carefree life who dances joyfully and drinks to his heart's content! Now, you are just an irritable and pathetic drunkard who thinks that consuming wine to no end could actually drown the sorrow you feel over your wife's death!"

"STOP IT!" I screamed at her again, but this time I realized that there was desperation clinging heavily onto my voice. As I continued to press my hands over my ears more tightly, although unable to fully block out everything, I roared out loud in anger, "STOP TALKING! SHUT UP! KEEP QUIET!"

"Ariadne may no longer be alive, but how do you think she would feel when she sees that you had stopped to so low a level?! Do you think she would have been proud of you?! Do you think she would have been okay with seeing you turn yourself into ruins?! Do you think she would have let you go on with this?! Well?! Do you?!"

Afterwards, I did not hear any more of what she was saying, for all I could hear now was the cry of agony that escaped my lips and echoed loudly throughout the cold barren forest.

Immediately, I realized that I was now kneeling on the snow, my torso hunched over and my hands covering my face. As I stayed that way, I could hear myself choking out sobs from my throat and hot drops of tears that were falling from my eyes onto the palm of my hands.

"You are right, okay?..." I whispered in between sobs. "I do still feel pain for her… I do still anguish that I have lost her… And I do drink because I was unable to cope with the immense loss I felt…"

I could not hear Artemis, but I did not care and just continued crying out my confessions.

"It was unbearable… So very unbearable… I could not deal with the thought that I had lost her fateful day… I could not help but think that it was all my fault… Had I not accepted the duel… Had I not engaged with Perseus in battle… All of that never would have happened… She would not have been… killed… She would have still been with me now, alive and entirely alright…"

I pulled my tear-stained hands away from my face to plant them on the snowy ground in front of me as I hunched over some more. More choked cries escaped my lips as I bawled, "I deserve to waste myself away… As a punishment for getting her into harm's way… Why would I still want to continue singing and dancing and laughing and being carefree when I know that she would not be by my side when I do so?... She was now the reason I lived life to the fullest…"

Another chortled sob escaped me, just as I cried, "But now she is gone, and I no longer have a reason to live at all."

Silence ensued afterwards, and I was left by myself to cry my heart out and let the pain and anguish I had been trying to suppress for three long months wash over me like a violent wave breaking upon the shore. The only sounds that I could only hear were my constant sobbing and chortling cries. The only things that I could feel was the biting freezing cold of the snowy environment and the numbing emptiness in my chest where my heart would be located

But all of a sudden, I was suddenly enveloped in warmth. I could still feel the cold, but it was duller now as the new sudden warmth overwhelmed me. I was also realizing the fact that I was being surrounded by something dark, like a shadow.

In an instant, I realized that it was Artemis, who was now kneeling on the ground in front of me, and who was now embracing me tightly yet comfortingly as I cried. Her chin was on the top of my head, and she was running her fingers through the thick locks and tresses of my hair, shushing me gently.

"Cry, Dionysus…" she murmured in gentle comfort. "Cry if you must… Cry if you have to… Cry if you need to… It is alright… Just cry…"

And so cry I did, in so many bouts. In the midst of it, I found myself holding onto Artemis desperately, wrapping my own arms around her and burying my face in her collarbone as I wet her clothes with my sticky tears. Despite the row that I had with her just a while ago, I sought after Artemis' embrace for comfort, wanting so much to feel the sense of reassurance and protection that I felt within my older half-sister's arms, thinking it as some sort of anchor in the choppy seas of emotions that crashed within me.

Artemis continued to hold me as I let it all out, rocking me back and forth slowly in a repetitive motion that was actually able to dull my mind from the pain and sadness. She continued to hum and shush and whistle, as a way to distract and calm me this moment.

But even all that she has done could not fully clear out all that I felt within.

"I don't know what I want to do next…" I admitted to her in a voice that sounded choked and was undeniably heavy with sadness. "Without her, I feel like nothing… I don't have the will to partake in the enjoyments of wine anymore… I don't have the spirit to lead a revelry anymore… I don't have the heart to do anything good for myself… I now feel that my life really is meaningless without her…"

I exhaled a broken sigh and felt more tears start to stream down my cheeks. I pushed my face even more to Artemis' neck and held her to me just slightly more tightly, feeling myself about to break again.

In a voice that was as quiet as the breezing cold winds, I heard Artemis question, "Would you want your life to be meaningful again, Dionysus?"

Without hesitation, I nodded my head desperately. "But I want it to be meaningful… With her… With Ariadne… My wife… My love…" I told her in all honestly, with the bit of desperation heard clearly in my voice.

Afterwards, Artemis became silent while she still continued to comb her fingers gently through my hair. I did not notice her state for a while, being too wrapped up in my own current state of depression. But after what must be a few long minutes, I noticed that Artemis was almost motionless around me, and I could not help but be concerned.

"Artemis?"

As though the saying of her name had snapped her out of some trance, Artemis pulled away and looked down at me with pitiful eyes. One of her hands reached up to caress the side of my face, her gesture gentle and comforting.

She released a deep breath, and told me hesitantly, "Then… maybe… you should attempt to get her back."

That instantly threw me into a state of surprise and confusion, and I wondered what in Tartarus had made Artemis speak such nonsense.

"As much as I would love to do so, that is absolutely impossible," I muttered in bitter disappointment under my breath. "Ariadne is gone, and can never be reclaimed… She no longer roams this Earth we kneel upon, Artemis… She is in a place where none of us can reach her so easily… The only way to even get close to her is if…"

All of a sudden, everything started to click. The truth of Artemis' words started to dawn upon me, and I finally realized when she had meant when she said that I should 'attempt to get her back'.

"You cannot be serious…" I breathed in shock, unable to comprehend what I had just realized.

Artemis sighed, clearly expecting my reaction to be this way. But nonetheless, she began to explain, "It could work, Dionysus. You could travel to the Underworld and appeal before our uncle for her release. All you need to do is try…"

I shook my head in defiance, not really liking where this conversation was going. "Hades will never allow it!" I protested immediately. "He is harsh towards those who dare to think of such insolence in his kingdom! He would have my head if I were to appeal to him for such a request!"

"Hades is not an evil god, Dionysus," Artemis snapped in disapproval. "He is not as heartless as you would think. Trust me, I know him better than you do. He might actually see reason for your appeal, but all you need to do is just give him a good enough reason why he should allow Ariadne to be free of the Underworld."

Nevertheless, I was still not certain at the thought of venturing to the Underworld. I did not want to do anything to displease my formidable uncle who was the almighty God-King of the Underworld. I knew very well of how much of a strict and no-nonsense ruler he was, and I absolutely did not want to go on his bad side by asking him to actually release a soul from death. Such a thing was practically unheard of, and almost seemed improbable.

Before I could feel even more hesitation at the very idea, Artemis pulled me out of my train of thoughts, cupping my cheek so that I was looking at her.

"Dionysus… I know this sounds crazy…Tartarus, it sounds absolutely insane!... I don't even know why I would even think of such a thing!... It is so unlike me!..."

At that moment, she realized that she was babbling, and stopped immediately to calm herself down before speaking in a more calmer voice.

"But however crazy it may sound, I have a good feeling that this will surely work… Something tells me that, if you were to do this, good will come out of this… Hades may listen to you, and he may grant you your request… You may even have Ariadne back by your side…"

She paused to cup my face with both her hands so that our eyes were fixed on each other's eyes, and she finished her words by saying, "All you need to do is try, Dionysus…"

Artemis then spoke no more, and leaned in to give me a gentle kiss to my forehead before pulling back to rest her forehead against mine. The comfort I received from her closeness was overwhelming, and I wrapped my arms around her once again to hold myself to her.

As we stayed there on the ground, kept in each other's embrace, my mind started thinking of the plan I never thought I would have to do in my entire immortal life, but am going to do so for the sake of getting Ariadne back.

Author's Note:

Can you believe that I had finished chapter just 5 minutes before publication, and that I started writing this 3,878-word chapter in a matter of two hours earlier on? Ugh, I should stop procrastinating.

So I just realized that this is the first time this year that I wrote a Persephone POV, since the last time I had done so was last year for The Reincarnation. It feels kind of nice to have a moment with our beloved Underworld couple, don't you think?

And anyway, Artemis had finally decided to take action and stepped in to stop Dionysus from losing himself, and also given him a plan that is absolutely shocking and unbelievable! But Dionysus already seemed bent on doing it. However, how will he do so?

By the way, I know Artemis kind of acted like a total b***h in the beginning of Dionysus' POV, but this is her way to show that she meant business and that she wants to get it into Dionysus' head about the wrong he is doing to himself. Also, Artemis did actually came back from a funeral, which would be explained thoroughly in ...

The next chapter on Friday! See you then!

Muse of Fanfiction