I stood in the middle of the Hades' backyard, which was entirely just one big flower garden.
It was about half the size of the garden back home, but it was still just as colorful. So colorful that it seemed as though it had been bathed in a rainbow. From where I stood, I was enveloped by the many floral scents of the flowers. I could detect the super sweet perfumes of azaleas, lilies, honeysuckles, roses and many more, which was accompanied by the woodsy scents of the forest surrounding the area.
I looked around in amazement, absolutely impressed that Hades would own such a beautiful garden. For some reason, it already felt like some sort of a safe haven to me. Like as though it was one of the places where I could truly feel safe, the first of course was in Hades' arms.
"By the look on your face, I can tell that you like it," I heard him say from behind me. "That's good. I was really hoping that you would."
I turned around to face him, watching as he approached me slowly with a crooked smile.
I replied breathlessly, "I don't only like it. I love it. It's so beautiful." I reached out to caress the petal of a white gardenia between my thumb and index finger. It felt so much like velvet to my fingertips. "You did all this by yourself?"
He seemed to be quite embarrassed by that question, because a soft maroon suddenly crept up onto his perfect cheekbones. He hung his head low, chuckling softly, and scratched the back of his head. I felt myself smile as I approached him. He seriously looked too cute when he was embarrassed.
He looked up as I placed my hands on his shoulders. Holding his gaze, I said, "Don't need to feel shy. I think that you're really good at gardening."
Hades gave me one of his signature smirks and one of his hands reached out to hold the hand on his left shoulder. Brushing his thumb over my knuckles with the barest of touches, he said, "I did it as a way to get close to you. Flowers always remind me of your beauty and grace, Persephone."
Suddenly, he moved down to sit on the soft green grass, pulling me with him. We sat with crossed legs right across each other, holding each other's hands.
"I feel honoured," I told him in a gracious tone. "Honestly, I can't believe that the King of the Underworld would even do such a thing for me."
He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at me disappointingly. "Of course I would, my sweet. You're my beloved wife and queen, who deserve nothing but the best."
I giggled bashfully, feeling warm from his genuine words of love. The affections I felt for him were so good and true. I have never before met anyone who could stir such feelings in me.
"Tell me a story, Hades," I suddenly said.
Hades' eyebrow rose as he stared at me questionably. "Which one would you like to hear?' he asked me.
With a smile, I answered, "The story of us; starting from the beginning to the end."
My answer caught him off-guard. I could tell by the way his eyes widened in surprise. But very soon, a smile broke on his lips.
"It's my own favourite, if I might add…"
"It had just seemed like any other day. I was in the palace of Mount Olympus, being there for a regular visit. I was out in the garden with the others. Then your mother dropped by for a visit. Bear in mind that at point of time, we still had a mutual dislike towards each other, but we had stopped voicing it out so openly."
"Stopped?" I said confusingly.
"When we were younger, still trapped in our father's stomach, we really used to bicker a lot. We could go days of arguing with each other. And it got worse when she became the Goddess of the Harvest and I became the God of the Dead; a clash between life and death, two things that naturally repelled each other. But as we grew older, we stopped the bickering. However, the dislike didn't die. Anyway, back to the story. Zeus then asked her if you came along, and she said yes. A few seconds later, I saw you for the very first time."
"First time? Didn't you ever see me before that?"
He shook his head. "The only time I've heard of you was during the celebration of your birth, many centuries before. At that time, you were an infant. But I didn't get the chance to see you because your mother refused to let go of you, and I always make it a point to stay a few feet away from her. I didn't see you for many centuries until that day. So, back to the story again. I saw you, and I felt my heart skip a beat immediately. I was completely mesmerised by your beauty, but there was something else that I felt but I couldn't quite explain. You were looking at me quite strangely too, as though you were struck by the sight of something so beautiful."
"You are beautiful," I cut in.
He smiled, and then continued on. "I was so confused that I left to ponder on my thoughts. For days, as I sat upon my ebony and gold throne in the Underworld, my heart holding a new heavy feeling, and it confused me so much. I thought it was some sort of illness, but I knew very well that gods do not get sick. My change in behavior was noticeable, and I was asked by Thanatos to try and relax."
"Thanatos? The God of Death?"
Hades nodded. "I relented for a few days, because there was still much to do in the Underworld. But Hecate came to convince me to reconsider, and so I did. And it was on that walk that I saw you again. You were in a meadow, waiting for your mother to finish blessing a field nearby. The both of us started talking right away, right there and then creating some sort of friendship. But it had to be cut short when your mother came to fetch you. I didn't want her to find out that I had been with you, because I know that her temper would flare up."
I simply rolled my eyes, and he chuckled before he continued.
"I couldn't get you out of my mind, and I knew that I had to see you again. And so I did. For some reason, I was led to the cottage that you and your mother shared, and I found you sitting under a pomegranate tree in the garden."
"A pomegranate tree?" I said in astonishment.
He nodded. "We talked, and talked and talked. But all of a sudden, we stopped. Instead, we just looked deeply into each other's eyes. I was overcome with a new feeling inside me, and I couldn't help but be amazed by how absolutely beautiful you looked. We were about to explore into the new feeling, but alas, your mother had to make an appearance."
I groaned in dismay.
"On that day, I knew my feelings for you had changed. It had evolved into something more deeper and meaningful. It was also on that day that the Fates visited me and confirmed what I had suspected. I was in love. In love with you. I nearly cursed Eros for shooting me with his ivory arrow of love, causing me such confusion about my feelings. But the Fates told me that my love for you had bloomed on its own. Eros too had shot us on that day, but it only enhanced the already-existing feelings we had for each other."
He stopped for a while to take a deep breath before he continued.
"I knew then that I had to have you. I wanted you, Persephone. But don't get me wrong. I did not really just want your body. I wanted you to be my wife and queen, because you brought a new warmth into my heart that made me feel so different and new. You were better than those harlot nymphs who tried in vain to seduce me. But you succeeded in attracting me by just being yourself."
Then, he sighed, and I noticed that his eyes became serious.
"I spoke to your father to gain his permission to marry you. As expected, he agreed. But he told me that the only thing standing on my way was your mother. And I hope that you can forgive me for this, for I never did tell you that it was actually he who suggested I take you away from home."
I remained silent, only looking at him. I could tell that he kind of expected me to get angry, but I didn't. I remained still, my hands still in his.
"And then what happened?" I asked him.
"I didn't want to kidnap you. I really didn't. But I could not fight off the urge of needing you. So I went up to you while you were walking home from picking flowers with Athena, Artemis and a few of your nymph friends. I asked you if you wanted to visit the Underworld, and you agreed. But I didn't know until we were halfway there that you had an immense fear of the dark. You panicked so much that you fainted."
Me? Having a fear of the dark? I will admit that I will be quite afraid if it was too dark, but not so serious until I would have passed out.
"When you woke up, you began to assume that I had kidnapped you. I tried to convince you otherwise, and revealed to you that I wanted to make you my queen. You then started to attack me with pillows."
I couldn't stifle the chuckle in me, and he followed suit. But once again, he became serious.
"You refused to talk to me and you refused to come out of your room. Every day, you screamed about how much you hated me and you kept on begging me to release you. I didn't answer, because I felt guilty for what I did. But not really guilty enough to the point where I would finally let you go. I still needed you in my life, for you to be married to me. And so I asked you to marry me again, and you agreed. But really angrily."
My heart pained when he told me that. I couldn't imagine myself being angry at him. Just the thought of it made me feel quite terrible.
"I left you alone, because I felt that was what you wanted. But I felt terrible, just letting you be cooped up inside. So one day, I decided to take you to the Elysian Fields."
"The Elysian Fields?" I exclaimed in surprise.
Hades nodded and continued. "You had a nice first day at the Fields, and I was glad. But when I left you there for the second day, you changed."
I began to get worried. "What happened?"
"Your hatred towards me died down, and you asked if you could spend more time with me. I was really confused about the sudden change in behavior, but I did not complain. It felt too good to have you talking to me again. And so I spent time with you, introducing you to Charon and Thanatos. You had already met Hecate beforehand. I even took you to meet Cerberus. I brought you on a tour around the palace, and the most amazing thing was that you had brought a dead garden back to life."
He suddenly paused to give my hands a quick kiss.
"One day, we went to the Elysian Fields together. It was there you revealed to me that you had touched the white poplar tree there, which of course was the tree of Leuce. You asked me about her, and I told you that she was my good friend. You had even asked in fear if she was my lover, and you seemed thoroughly relieved when I told you that she wasn't. After I had finished telling you about her, I think it was there that your love for me was rekindled, whereas mine for you had never faltered. And at that night, you cried because you missed your mother. I finally agreed to let you go home, because I felt too guilty. But you didn't want to leave me. We then professed our love for each other and finally made love for the first time."
I heard him sigh in content, and it made me smile.
However, the tone of voice he spoke in changed in just a few seconds.
"However, Zeus later told me that I was to give you back to your mother, for she was destroying the Earth. I did not want to, and you too did not want to leave. We thought that we wouldn't have any way to stay together, until the Fates came into the picture once again. They told me that the only way to keep you with me was for you to consume the seeds of a pomegranate from a pomegranate tree that you had grown in the garden that you had brought back to life. But before I gave you the fruit, I gave you the chance to decide whether you would want to stay with me or not, because I didn't want to trick you. You decided to stay, and willingly consumed six pomegranate seeds."
Another sigh from him before he continued.
"But of course, Demeter never backs down. She called for a trial, and Zeus had no choice but to agree. We stated strong points to be allowed to stay together, but she too retaliated with her own. Finally, when it suddenly became too much, you revealed that you consumed six pomegranate seeds, much to your mother's grief. Because both I and she wanted you to be with us, Zeus came up with the decision that you spent half a year with me, and half a year with your mother."
Finally, he held my gaze, and said, "And that is our tale, Persephone."
"It was beautiful," I told him, my lips curled into a smile.
He too had a warm smile on his lips as he gazed into my eyes lovingly. Suddenly, he stood up, pulling me up to my feet. "I want to show you something," he said to me. "Something special."
He then led me to a very tall and thick bush that was adorned with many white roses. I took a second to admire the flowers before he skirted around the bush to the opposite side.
What I saw there made my heart skip a beat.
It was a small tree that had ripe, bright red pomegranates hanging from its branches.
To others, it may seem like just any regular pomegranate tree. But to me, this was the most special fruit in my entire immortal life. This was the fruit that sealed my fate with Hades. This was the fruit that bound me to the Underworld for all eternity. This was the fruit that played a major role in the creation of the seasons.
Just one tiny fruit, and it made a lot of huge impacts.
"Hades," I managed to whisper through the wave of emotions inside of me.
He did not say anything. Instead, he reached out to pluck one pomegranate from its branch. I watched as he grasped the fruit with both hands and broke it into two, revealing the red, fleshy and juicy seeds inside.
"Persephone," he finally said. "I wish for you to eat these seeds, and tell me that you would love me for all eternity, as I do you."
Looking from his eyes back to one pomegranate half, I reached a hand out to pick one seed from it. I brought it to my lips, and finally to my mouth.
It was so delicious. The sweet and tart taste of that one seed managed to take over my entire taste buds, and make it tingle for more. My head was swimming in the delicious importance of that one seed. It was a nice feeling.
I took a few more seeds after, each time becoming more amazed by the exquisite flavour. But though I very much enjoyed it, I stopped to look at Hades, who gazed at me.
I then took away the pomegranate halves from his hands and crouched down to place it on the grass. I straightened up once again to meet his eyes, and I moved a step closer to wrap my arms around his neck.
"Hades," I breathed. "You know I don't need to eat a few seeds just to show you that I will love you for eternity."
And without further ado, I leaned in to press my lips against his. He kissed back, relishing in the delicious taste of the pomegranate on my tongue.
Demeter shot up into a sitting position in an instant. Staring blankly at a random corner of her room in the dark, she could feel cold sweat rolling down her temples.
She could feel it. She could not deny it. The familiarity of two auras that were supposed to repel each other, but yet it mingled in the air, united as one. But she knew it could not have happened alone. It would have started from the object which acted as the base for the unity of these two power-clashing auras.
And that base would have been none other than a pomegranate.
In a flash, Demeter got off her bed and stormed her way out of the house, her whole being cackling with power that had finally been activated after being kept away for so long deep within her psych.
She had a bone to pick with her brother.
The Fates watched as Demeter stormed through the dark streets with a deadly scowl on her face. Unseen by the eyes of the mortals who took no notice of her, there was a strong golden glow surrounding her entire body.
But tinging the glorious golden glow was a black haze. And the Fates knew very well that a black haze could only mean that she was having ill-thoughts and bad intentions.
They need not ask about what, for they knew all too well.
And they knew that this was the point where trouble would arise.