Chapter 5

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"The Abduction of Persephone'

In the ancient times of Gods and myths, Demeter, glorious Goddess of the Harvest, gave birth to a beautiful child with glistering eyes as blue as Poseidon's realm, and a smile that was able to outshine Helios himself. A sudden feeling she had never experienced before – a feeling of infinite love and joy captured Demeter's heart as she kissed and cradled the girl in her arms, vowing to protect the newborn Goddess until the end of their days. A name escaped her lips as she looked down at her joyful daughter. A name that should sound like velvet music in every being's ear whenever the winds would it – a name just as magnificent as her daughter's beauty.

And from then on, a new Earth Goddess was beloved and worshipped by the ancient people of Greek and elsewhere, and she would go under the name of Persephone.

As the years passed by, the child grew into a beautiful woman with wavy, brown hair like the glowing warm earth she would dance on, pale flesh as soft and as white as the clouds in the sky, and cheeks as red as a mellow apple at a sunny day. Every being on earth and above complimented Demeter on the beauty of her daughter, was not only fascinated by the maiden's grace and belle, but also by the kindness and love she held for every living creature in this world. Ever since, Demeter's heart was filled with love and pride for her daughter, but never did she forget about the vow she had made at the time of Persephone's birth.

And as the beauty grew, so did the dark hole of motherly concern in Demeter's heart. Vow turned to worry, worry turned to fear, and after a while, fear turned to anxious possessiveness. The Goddess of Harvest knew the world of Gods and humankind, and saw the betrayal and dangers that life would naturally bring along. Demeter therefore held her beloved daughter close to her motherly heart, protecting her fiercely from every man or woman, God or Goddess that would cross their paths.

Persephone was well-protected, yes – but hardly free.

The flowers and trees were the only friends she had, the floating river nearby the only companion she could whisper her longing secrets to. And at the end of the day, she would return to her beloved mother's embrace – and Demeter would kiss the crown of her daughter's brown curls, telling her how much she loved her.

The story of Persephone would take a lasting turn on a fateful day at the river of Kladeos, however, for not only her mother was watching the beauty with open eye.

Something darker, something dangerous had set its eye on Persephone, yearning for the beauty from a distance a human-being would never be able to grasp. A dead heart had started to live again, was driven by a long forgotten feeling of desire for this beautiful creature.

It was a beautiful day like all the others in the land of humans, as the sun shone brightly in the blue sky, and the colorful birds chirped their cheerful song deep inside the crowns of the trees. Demeter sat nearby as Persephone gathered handfuls of purple and yellow crocuses, royal blue irises and sweet-smelling wild flowers. Persephone thought to bring some to her beloved mother, but was soon distracted by a hooded figure who was sitting at the glistering river that was protected by the River-God Kladeos, humming a strange song. The flowers floated to the soft ground as Persephone moved slowly closer, her mind and heart completely entranced by the alluring music that called her toward the cloaked stranger. The figure turned as she was standing close, reaching out one pale hand for her to take. The humming continued in her head as the stranger opened his mouth to speak to her in a voice as dark and mysterious as the secrets of the night sky.

"Persephone." it sounded, almost purred, from under the hood. "Come with me, my queen. Let me show you a place of wonders and everlasting ending."

The young Goddess only stood there, frozen in place as the only thing that seemed to matter was the strange and yet beautiful melody in her head. The earth began to tremble as the stranger spoke, and the glistering water of Kladeos suddenly whirled in roaring circles, finally revealing broad black stairs that led deep down into the depths of this world.

"Persephone." she heard the stranger's voice chant through the humming music in her head. "Come with me and be the flicker of light within my life of darkness."

As if by magic, the young goddess lifted her hand and placed it into the stranger's cold hand – neither her mind nor her limbs seemingly longer belong to herself. The cold grasp around her soft hand tightened as the stranger led her down the stairs – the beauty following him like a spirit that had no will of her own.

Too late did the young woman understand the trap she was walking right into.

The moment the gap above them closed with a roaring sound, the humming in her head ended and her head cleared.

The figure turned, the hood fell, the deceit unmasked.

"Hades" she breathed as the God-King smiled at her with eyes that were just as dark as the realm he ruled.

Demeter sensed the pain in heart the moment Persephone had stepped onto the deadly stairs that led to the Hades' dark realm, but however much she looked for her, Persephone was nowhere to be found. She searched high and low, sent even for Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, and Aeolus, the keeper of the winds, to find her – but her beloved child had vanished from both the heavens and the earth. Consumed by the pain over the loss of her child, Demeter soon ceased to remember her worldly duties. The seasons halted, the living things ceased their growth and the world was doomed to death. And every dying flower, every withering tree only reminded the Goddess of the bitter loss of her beloved beauty, and the hope in Demeter's heart slowly sighed out the same way life did the living world.

At the same time, deep down in the realm of darkness and death, Hades courted sweet Persephone with gifts and treasures, offering everything her young heart had ever yearned for. The God of the Underworld wiled the Earth Goddess further and further into his dark kingdom, vowed his love and desire for her that would be as everlasting as death itself. Persephone's initial fear was soon replaced by interest for the realm and its promises, and interest soon turned into something stronger, as the eternal beauty of darkness reached out to consume her divined soul.

Faced by the extinction of all life on his beloved earth, the father of the Gods Zeus, Persephone's father and only God who knew about the abduction, finally sent for the messenger Hermes, ordering him to retrieve his daughter from the depths of the Underworld.

Upon the gates to Hade's realm, Hermes was greeted by the radiant and striking Queen of the Underworld: Persephone. The Earth Goddess had willingly given her heart and body to the darkness, and to the man she had fallen in love with, changing into a Queen of Death and Darkness in the process. Hermes, determined to fulfill Zeus' command, ordered her to come with him as her father and mother wished to free her from Hades' cold grasp. But even though Persephone yearned to see her mother again, she was yet unwilling to leave her husband and her new home to never return. Hades, enraged by his brother's betrayal and Demeter's claim on her daughter, came to his Queen's side, ordering Hermes to leave and never to return. But Hermes wouldn't go, but instead told Persephone about her mother's grief and how the living world above started to wither just like Demeter's heart did.

And even though having turned into the Queen of death and the Underworld, an Earth Goddess' and daughter's heart was still beating in Persephone's chest as she pleaded her husband to let her go for her mother's and the living world's sake. The King of the Underworld wanted to refuse her bitter request, for the God was used to keep what belonged to him for all eternity. And it was then that the powerful God Hades noticed that he did not only desire his wife for her body and soul, but that he had developed something more everlasting than even that.

Yet, the Queen of the Underworld was unaware that her body and soul had been bound to the dark realm tighter than she even knew herself, for Hades with his desire for his treasure had long ago decided to prevent her mother's ultimate retrieval.

Hermes brought Persephone back up to the middle realm of mother earth, Demeter's home. Flowers started to bloom and trees to sing when the Goddess of Harvest pulled her long lost daughter into a tight embrace, vowing to never let her go again. But as she pressed Persephone's body against her own, she immediately sensed the change within her – detected how Hades had ensured that the Queen would never entirely be able to leave her dark realm.

Demeter was mad with fury as she called upon Zeus and told him that Hades had given Persephone the Fruits of Death to eat during her stay at the Underworld. Rules of Heaven, the Underworld and Earth defined that no creature, God or human, was allowed to roam the upper worlds once they had tasted the forbidden seeds.

As Zeus loved the middle realm too much as to risk its fatal death due to Demeter's mourning, but at the same time unable to break the rule of the forbidden fruit completely, the father of the Gods finally decided that his daughter would return to her husband for one third of the year, and would stay the rest of the year with her mother and the upper world.

So, whenever the young beauty would reunite with her mother, trees and flowers would grow and dance cheerfully in the wake of Demeter's joy of having her daughter back, but nature would grow dead and cold whenever Persephone would return to the Underworld, back into the arms of her beloved husband.

Then, Demeter would again mourn and grieve about her daughter's loss, and flowers and trees would fall into a deep and cold sleep, waiting for the time when Persephone would return from the darkness of the Underworld to step back into the light.

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"Belle?"

Gaston's dark voice startled her awake, and the young beauty awoke with a gasp as the book in her lap landed noisily on the ground.

"I'm sorry." her fiancé told her when he looked down at her. "I didn't want to startle you."

Belle offered him a shaky smile as she slowly lifted her upper body up from the fluffy cushions of the large couch she had apparently been sleeping on. She looked around, taking in her surroundings. She had apparently fallen asleep in the library.

"It's alright." she was quick to assure with a long sigh and brought both of her soft white hands up to massage her throbbing forehead. "I must have fallen asleep while reading."

"You're sleeping quite a lot over the last while." Gaston observed with a hint of concern in both his voice and eyes. "Are you sure that you're feeling well, dear?"

Belle offered him a small smile and nodded.

"Of course I do." she confirmed as she waved his concerns off. "I've just been feeling a little bit exhausted lately. I haven't slept well the past nights."

The furrow on Gaston's brow deepened, and Belle inwardly cursed herself for having mentioned it.

"Probably just the mountain air I'm not used to." she therefore added quickly, and forced herself to smile at him. "Nothing to worry about, really."

But Gaston didn't look relieved in the slightest as his brown eyes studied her face closely.

"And you are rather pale." he stated to reinforce his earlier observation.

Belle just shrugged her shoulders and her eyes moved towards the window of the library. Huge dead trees were surrounding the castle, their lifeless, grey branches swaying ghostly with every slight breath of wind. Heavy, dark clouds were hanging lowly from the murky sky, and the only things that made the impression of being partly alive in this lifeless surroundings were the soft whirls of mist that were dancing on the cool, earthy ground.

Out of instinct, she wrapped her arms around her small body and shivered.

"How couldn't I?" she whispered with a slight tremor in the voice. "It seems as if the sun shuns this place on purpose."

Gaston followed her gaze and nodded his agreement.

"So do the animals." he added darkly, and Belle turned her head to look at him with a puzzled gaze.

Gaston let out a cheerless laugh and shook his head.

"Haven't you noticed?" he asked dryly. "I haven't heard a single bird since we've arrived – or seen even one deer or rabbit. Have you?"

Belle pressed her lips to a thin line and shook her head. It was true, she, too, had already wondered more than once about the animals in this specific part of Scotland. She knew that she had heard a wolf a couple of times howling his lonely song from afar, and she had thought to have seen an owl or something like that flying past the window of her room. But Gaston was right: there had been no cheerful singing of birds, there had been no traces of deer, rabbits or any other animals when Jefferson had invited her to show her the castle's grounds. It was as if all living creatures had abandoned this place.

Her deep thoughts were interrupted, when Gaston suddenly bent down to pick up the heavy, leathern book that had landed on the dark floor of the library.

His brow furrowed as he read the title that was imprinted in golden letters.

"'Songs of Homer'?" he read out and raised his brow as he lifted his gaze to look at her. "I thought you have stopped reading that stuff, Belle."

The young woman narrowed her shiny eyes at the reproachful tone in Gaston's voice. She quickly stood up to snap the book away from his grasp, but Gaston immediately turned around so that the book in his hands was out of her reach.

"May I please have my book back, Gaston?" she asked as politely as possible, but sensed the anger that was starting to boil in her blood as she watched him flip carelessly through the pages.

"How can you even read it?" he asked, shaking his head. "There's no pictures."

"Well some people use their imagination, you know?" she retorted as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms sulkily in front of her chest.

Gaston let out a contemptuous laugh that merely served as fuel to the already existing fury within her.

"It's not right for a woman to use her imagination." he said bluntly, but the smile on his face faltered a little when he looked at Belle's angry, dark eyes.

"I mean you don't need it." he added hastily. "Life happens outside those books, Belle."

He slowly moved closer.

"With me." he added and a sly smile appeared on his lips as he leant closer.

"And I can assure you that I can live up to each and every phantasy you have." he purred, and Belle's pale cheeks immediately lit up with a shocked flush.

His lips were closer than they had been in a long while now, and Belle knew exactly what he was referring to. She remembered clearly the few times they had shared secret passionate kisses shortly after they had become engaged, mostly driven by Gaston's desire for her and by Belle's mere interest.

Gaston was a good kisser, at least so she thought. And the blush on her maiden cheeks only increased as she remembered the one time he had pressed her small form against a bookshelf nearby, causing a heat in her lower belly she had never experienced before.

It had been nice enough, but often had Belle wondered if that feeling had appeared due to Gaston's skills or the mere excited fear of being caught during such a highly inappropriate interaction.

Belle shook her head to clear her thoughts, and snatched her beloved book out of his hands. She moved back to make a little bit more space between them.

"You are positively primeval." she snapped, and noticed the quick hint of a disappointed look dart over Gaston's face.

The young man let out a long sigh.

"Fine." he finally said, the brief look of disappointment now replaced by seriousness.

"Look, I didn't come to fight, love." he started and moved closer yet again, taking her hands into his. "I think we need to talk."

Belle cocked her head and eyed him with narrowed eyes.

"What about?"

Gaston offered her a small smile as he traced the knuckles of her hand with his big thumb.

"I don't think that Gold is being honest with us, darling." he finally explained, and Belle would have laughed out loud but for the seriousness behind Gaston's voice.

She therefore let out an exasperated sigh instead and rolled her eyes in response.

"None of that, Gaston." she replied. "Count Gold has been nothing but kind to us. He lets us stay in his castle and cares for my father."

"Does he?" Gaston challenged and stared at her with a knowing glimmer in his eyes.

Belle narrowed her eyes.

"Well of course he does." she replied angrily, and tried to free her hand from Gaston's. But he didn't let go but tightened his grip instead, keeping belle easily in place. "What makes you even think otherwise?"

Gaston pressed his lips to a thin line and made Belle sit down with him on the sofa.

"You remember the day I went to town to send a message to New York?" he finally asked lowly.

Belle nodded in silent response.

"Well the furthest I came was a small farmhouse about an hour-drive from here.."

"… because of the heavy thunderstorm that had taken you by surprise." Belle finished and cocked her head. "I know. You've already told me about that. But what has that got to do with anything?"

Gaston gave her a short nod.

"Yes, I have told you about that already." he agreed. "But I haven't told you the whole story. I just needed to do some … inquiries first."

Belle furrowed her brow in confusion, waiting for him to continue.

"An old couple was living there…" Gaston moved on. "…and they offered me shelter until the storm would pass by."

Gaston wiggled his head slowly from one side to the other as if uncertain how to continue.

"It was… strange." he finally said, his voice now significantly lower than before. "They had been welcoming and friendly at first, asking me about life in America and France, about the weather there and much more. But when I told them why we came to Scotland and where we were staying something… well… something changed."

Belle furrowed her brow.

"What do you mean?" she asked, as she was completely at a loss what her fiancé was trying to tell her.

Gaston let out a long sigh before he continued.

"I didn't notice it at first." he explained. "But since I told them that we were staying at Gold's castle, they exchanged looks every now and then, and they began to behave rather strangely."

"Strangely?" Belle repeated slowly. "How so?"

Belle noticed how Gaston's eyes suddenly stared at something behind her, but when she turned and followed his gaze, she only saw the unmoving long red curtains of the window he was apparently looking at.

"Gaston?" she said when her fiancé kept staring at the curtains behind her, and made no impression to continue his story.

After the beat of the longest moment, the young man suddenly screwed up his eyes and shook his head as if to clear his head.

"Hm?" was all Belle received as an answer as Gaston looked at her with a confused expression on his face.

"The old couple in the farmhouse." the young woman replied reluctantly, no less puzzled. "You were saying that they were suddenly behaving rather strangely."

Gaston stared at her for some moments as if he didn't remember that they had been talking about it only moments before.

"Right." he eventually agreed and took in a deep breath to come back to his senses.

"The woman." he continued after some more moments, squeezing Belle's hand tightly. "The woman immediately stopped talking to me for the rest of the time that I was staying with them. She just sat there with a somewhat odd expression on her face as her gaze was firmly glued on the small window nearby. And even though the man continued to talk to me, he suddenly sounded so sounded different, somewhat more distant than before. And he was asking quite a lot about you and Maurice. And he… well he exchanged looks with his wife as I told him that Maurice has the Highland Fever as Gold told us."

"That's it?" Belle asked with raised brows. "Only because these people seemed to have acted strangely when you mentioned Count Gold is reason enough for you to doubt our host?"

The young beauty made a disapproving tsk-sound and shook her head.

"Yes it is." Gaston replied firmly. "And I think he's not honest to us. About your father, about the reason why we had to come here…"

"That's ridiculous, Gaston." Belle interrupted sharply. "There are millions of explanations why the couple had possibly been acting that way. Your imagination was probably just running wild."

She was just about to move away when Gaston suddenly wrapped his strong hand around her wrist.

"Then tell me darling." Gaston retorted as he kept Belle in place and stared at her with furrowed brow. "Why haven't we seen your father yet?"

Belle took in a sharp breath, inwardly admitting that she had wondered about that particular question more than once.

"Count Gold says father doesn't…" she started hesitantly, but was immediately interrupted by Gaston who led out a contemptuous, short and a clearly cheerless laugh.

"Count Gold…" he interrupted her harshly, and shook his head. "… Count Gold can tell us anything he wants, Belle. It doesn't mean it's the truth."

Belle averted her eyes and shook her head slowly.

"There is no reason for him to lie to us about my father's condition." she replied softly. "I think he is truly concerned and does everything in his power to help father."

Gaston let out a snort.

"We've been here for more than two weeks now, Belle. And Gold keeps telling us that your father is still too sick to see us. Then I wonder why we had to travel to Scotland as quickly as Gold had requested. And even if your father really is in such a bad shape, it's even more the reason for you to go and see him."

He paused there for a moment, lowering his voice before he added: "Before it's too late."

Belle bit her lower lip, desperately trying to suppress the tears that were threatening to emerge in her blue eyes.

"What are you getting at, Gaston?" she finally said in a strained voice as she lifted her eyes to meet Gaston's concerned gaze.

"I think Gold is stalling something."

He shook his head slightly, his eyes turning slightly pleading.

"And I'm not willing to spend more time in this castle to find out what exactly he has planned."

Belle shook her head in response.

"You're being ridiculous." she said sharply and freed her hand almost angrily from his grasp, but then Gaston raised his voice again, freezing her in motion.

"There's more, Belle." the young woman heard him say gravely, and the tone in his voice made Belle turn back around.

Gaston's eyes flickered towards the closed door before he continued.

"When the storm had passed away…" he said in a hushed tone. "... I thanked the couple for their hospitality and was just about to leave when the man suddenly held me back. He told that people who suffered from the Highland Fever died within two weeks, three at the most. He told me that if it was true what Gold had told us, there was no way that Maurice had been able to survive for such a long time."

The young man in front of her took in a deep breath and lifted his hand to cup Belle's cheek, not wanting to voice what he had tried to tell her.

"I made some inquiries about this sickness, Belle." he added softly. "It is true. No human being has ever survived this fever for longer than 18 days."

Belle was looking up at him with wide open eyes as the young man was staring back at her with a heartbreakingly sympathetic expression on his face.

"No." Belle croaked out, shaking her head vehemently.

"Belle…" he sighed. "Your father he is … he is probably dead by now. Gold is tricking us."

Belle continued to shake her head no, her eyes widening with confusion.

"That's not possible." she insisted, earning yet another compassionate look from her fiancé.

"And it isn't." they heard Jefferson's voice call from the doorway.

Both whirled around, and Belle's blood froze when she saw the cold expression on the servant's face.

"Didn't your mother tell you not to spread rumors, Mr. Chevallier?" he said icily, his eyes firmly fixed on Gaston.

"Don't waste your breath." Belle's fiancé replied with an equal harshness in his voice and face. "Whatever Count Gold is trying to achieve, we are no longer going to play along."

He then turned towards Belle, the hard expression on his face making her almost gasp.

"Pack your stuff, Belle." he ordered brusquely. "We're leaving this place."

Belle's mouth fell open. Never had she heard Gaston talk to anyone like that. Sure, he had always been quite quick-tempered and testy, but he was a noble man of a good house in South France and therefore well-educated. He had normally always been able to veil his temper with good manners.

Always.

But Belle could also sense that there was more to Gaston's reaction than pure anger – and for the briefest of moments she wondered if she had seen a hint of concern in the depths of his brown eyes.

But before she could follow that thought, Jefferson's voice pulled her back to the library.

"A shame." He said and moved his full attention towards the young woman. "Your father will be quite disappointed, Miss Belle. The master told me that Mister French was quite excited to see his daughter today."

Belle's eyes widened.

"Today?" she repeated and the heartbeat in her chest quickened.

Jefferson replied with a broad, toothy grin and nodded.

"Another trick, monsieur?" Gaston chimed in and quirked his brow at the other man.

"But of course not." Jefferson exclaimed with a flourish gesture. The toothy smile was still plastered on his face as he met the other man's gaze, but his normally shiny blue eyes were now of a darker shade as they stared Gaston down.

"The master never breaks a deal." he added, and the tone in his voice sent waves of shivers down Belle's spine.

"Now, if you'd be so kind…" Jefferson added as he whirled around, bowing his head lowly and gesturing towards the door.

He lifted his head slightly, showing off a great amount of pearly white teeth.

"I'm sure your father is already eagerly awaiting your presence Miss Belle."

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NOTES

Hey guys,

sorry so much for the late update - I was rather busy with exams lately.. So my version of "The Abduction of Persephone" is - as I said - my version, but of course strongly based on the original story. I hope you liked it :)

Thank you so much for your lovely reviews, follows and favorites! I appreciate each one of them!

I'm afraid my first language is still not English... so my apologies for any mistakes!

Beauty (Guest): wow, that's a really huge compliment! I would feel honored if you translated my story to Italian!

J