A/N: Many thanks for your reviews! To answer a couple questions, first from madame thome: His relations with Cerberus is quite friendly, as you'll see in later chapters. Cerberus is less of a monster in this one, and more of a really intelligent, three-headed dog. Second from Goddess of Sea-Wisdom: Hades was treated quite harshly, but in this story it's somewhat understandable, because he really was inhuman... ungodly... whatever when they shut him away in the Underworld. He did need that time to mature and find himself again.

So onto chapter 3! This is a brief overview of Persephone's life up to the point where she is taken to the Underground. Also, you get to see how Demeter's part begins to differ from the legend at this time. As a warning, there is attempted rape in this chapter, however it's more implicit than explicit. I don't tend to write things that are very graphic, but I will put warnings in the beginning of chapters like this.

Chapter 3: The Raising of Persephone

It was a little over a month before Demeter realized Zeus had left her something else besides uncomfortable memories from their tryst. She was pregnant. Despite the circumstances of the conception, she was overjoyed to become a mother. She tenderly nourished her child through her pregnancy, and once she gave birth, she was utterly in love with her daughter. She named her Kore, and vowed to keep her safe from being used as she had been used. However, it was not to be. When little Kore was three, Zeus that she be presented at Mount Olympus.

Demeter took her daughter to Mount Olympus. She had a vague hope that Zeus would acknowledge her as his child, and that he might show her favor. But when Kore stood before the gathering, something else happened. Kore was a sweet, pretty child. She had good manners, but not being used to so many strangers, was shy. Silence slowly fell on the company, but it was not a good kind of silence. Demeter's motherly instincts warned her, and she looked around in alarm. The various gods and goddesses watched her darling Kore. The goddesses had various reactions to her, from friendly—Artemis and Athena—to anger: Hera. But the gods… those were the truly frightening ones. They looked on her little daughter with predatory interest.

Apollo and Hermes were the worst, but even Zeus—her own father!—had a certain lustful look in his eye. Demeter recognized that look. It was the expression he wore right before her daughter was conceived. She looked around the gathering for any sort of help, and realized her dark brother, Hades, was not there. She didn't know if it was a relief that he was absent, so that he too would not look upon her Kore with hunger, or fear because he had helped her once before.

"Her name will be Persephone," Zeus proclaimed, despite the fact that Demeter had already named her daughter Kore. She gathered Persephone-Kore to her and left. Raucous laughter rose behind her. She had the uneasy feeling that they allowed her to go. She fled back to the earth, and hid her daughter in her garden. She vowed she would do whatever it took to keep Persephone safe from the other gods that would harm her.

For years Demeter kept Persephone hidden. They did not visit Mount Olympus, and did not invite other gods to come to them. Persephone grew, but secretly Demeter hoped her daughter would not be too beautiful. Her powers were very similar to Demeter's, in her ability to grow things. For a time, they appeared to be forgotten by the others, but it couldn't last forever. Little girls have a way of changing into young women, and despite her mother's fears, Persephone grew up.

She did not dress in flashy clothes like the nymphs did, but instead wore humble smocks that covered her modestly. She did not wear her hair up in curls, but allowed it to be down naturally. Her eyes were a muddied green-brown color, and her hair was a dirty blond. Since she had little company besides her mother, she remained shy of others. As her eighteenth birthday passed, she began to long to see something of the world beyond her mother's garden. Demeter was very nervous whenever Persephone was out of sight, and as a growing maiden, Persephone found it stifling to never be allowed out on her own.

One day, an invitation to Mount Olympus came—for Persephone alone. She didn't understand why her mother was so fearful, or why she tried to forbid her daughter to go. However Persephone was excited at the chance to be away from her mother, to see a new place, and determined to go. She snuck out while her mother was sleeping. Apollo's golden sun chariot was waiting to take her. She was excited but nervous; she had never done anything like this before.

Once there, she found several gods waiting for her. Only now that she was here did she recall vague, frightening memories from when she was younger. The company of gods was loud and boisterous. They plied her with drink and food, and once her head was muddled, they began to ply themselves to her. She had enough of her wits to push them away, but they only laughed, and came back with more force. They hurt her with their strong grips, and their hands groped painfully at her chest and body. Crying, she fought them back again.

This time they held her down, but an argument broke out over who would take her first. While they fought, she tore away from them and ran. She ran from the palace, ran from Mount Olympus. She had not the power to transport herself, so she fell a long distance. Her dress was ripped both by gods and the land, her body sore and bleeding. Her stomach churned with the drink they had forced on her. She ran until her feet bled with every footstep. Her mother was right! She should have never trusted any other god!

The ground suddenly gave beneath her, and she fell into water. It was freezing cold, the current very fast as it threw her against rocks and snags. She struggled against the current, but it dragged her down mercilessly. She thought she was going die in the river. Something grabbed her around her middle, pulling her through the water. She was too weak to resist it. All her air was spent, and her lungs burned. Blackness flickered at the edge of her vision when her head broke the water again.

She gasped for air, barely noticing that she had been dragged to the shore. She collapsed on the ground, wounded and too exhausted to cry. She shivered helplessly, unable to feel any warmth. She mouthed, "Mother… please…" many times, but had not the strength to call out louder. She was frightened she would die here, or worse, that the gods would find her and finish what they started.

There was a touch to the top of her head. She screamed and threw herself away from the stranger, nearly toppling back into the water again. A man stood over her. She didn't know what god he was, but she had a great mistrust of all of them. In her state, she couldn't possible resist if he tried to take her.

But the man rocked back on his heels, raising his hands in a gesture of no harm. Trembling and gulping for air, she held her broken, sodden smock to her and studied him. He was dark, nearly solid black from head to toe. His shadow was coiled weirdly at his feet, not at all matching his position. It seemed to yearn toward her, and she shivered. His eyes were flat grey, like the cloth bodies were wrapped in for burial. His golden skin was lighter than the other gods' had been, and was that a scar? She had never seen a god with a scar before.

She had never seen him before either. She would have remembered if this dark god had been one of the ones to push themselves on her. In the next moment, she threw herself at his feet. She landed in the middle of his shadow, and it recoiled from her, creating a space of light around her.

"Help me, please," she begged him, clutching at his cloak. It was dangerous to trust anyone, but he was not part of her attempted rape, and had not thus far forced himself on her. It had to mean something, right? "Please, help me! The other gods…" she couldn't speak of it, and began trembling uncontrollably. She buried her face in his cloak. He crouched down, resting only the tips of his fingers on her back. She flinched at even that small contact, and he removed his touch. His shadow slowly closed around her, and though it didn't touch the ground under her, somehow draped over her. She felt a little warmer.

"Kore!"

Her mother's voice was the best thing she ever heard. She raised her head and shouted, "Mom!"

Demeter came running toward them, only to skid to a halt as she saw them. Persephone realized what it must look like. Here she was, battered, torn, soaking wet, with the dark god crouched over her.

"It-it's not what you think," she stammered. "He didn't—" She remembered the thing that had pulled her from the water. His clothes were dry, but his living shadow was a faint, tangible presence on her back. "He saved me!"

She glanced up at the dark god. "You did, didn't you?" she asked quietly. "You pulled me from the water."

His chin tilted down a bare fraction of an inch, the smallest nod she'd ever seen. She looked into his death-shroud eyes and wondered why he didn't speak.

"Kore, baby, what happened to you?" Demeter called anxiously. Persephone looked away from the dark god. Her eyes filled with tears. She released the stranger's cloak and staggered to her mother. The man stood, and his shadow fell from off her shoulders. She felt colder without it. Then she was in Demeter's arms.

"M-Mom," she sobbed. "It was awful! They were going to—They—" The story came out in painful gasps. Demeter held her, rocking her and stroking her hair.

"My Kore, my poor baby," she murmured. Slowly Persephone's tears quieted. She glanced around for the dark god. He was still there, to her surprise. His eyes showed a deep anger. His shadow had changed again. It was blacker than black, and huge. It didn't have a humanoid shape anymore, but something with claws and spines. She hid her face against her mother's neck.

"Hades… thank you," Demeter said.

It took Persephone a moment to realize she was talking to the dark god. Hades! So that was who the stranger was. He was the god she knew the least about. Demeter refused to talk about him, but Athena and Artemis had told her hair-raising stories about the Lord of the Underworld. Looking at his shadow, she believed them. She shivered. And then she heard something even more frightening on the wind: the voices of the other gods, calling out for her. She cried out and clung tightly to Demeter.

"Don't let them take me, Mom!" she whimpered.

"You should go," said a quiet voice she'd never heard before. It sent chills down her spine, but not in fear. She understood why Hades hardly spoke, even though she wished he spoke more so she could roll around in that deep, velvet tone. His voice was laced with power, the kind of power that Zeus only aspired to when he shouted. And this was a quiet tone. What would a shout from Hades be like? She thought even Mount Olympus was tremble if he shouted.

"I'll hold them off," he said, and she believed him with every particle of her being. Demeter gathered her closer, and then paused.

"Please, Mom, let's go," she begged. She could hear the gods getting closer, and her teeth chattered with cold and fear. But the elder goddess turned to Hades instead.

"I can't protect her, can I?" Demeter asked very softly. Persephone looked at Hades. He didn't answer, but his dull eyes held a great sadness, and pity. She felt her heart sink. No matter how much Demeter loved her and tried to keep her safe, the other gods would get to her eventually. It was inevitable. She was filled with shivering terror. Was this to be her fate? To be raped by her father and half-brothers?

Demeter approached Hades. His shadow shifted to make room for her. "But you could protect her," she said urgently.

Hades' head went back, but on him it might as well have been a shout of surprise. He raised his hands in refusal, but Demeter was insistent.

"Please! If you took her to the Underworld, they couldn't reach her there! You're not like the others. You don't take mistresses, and you don't abuse those under you. I know you can do it!"

Hades was still shaking his head. He'd stay to defend her, but he wouldn't take responsibility for her. He was the only one strong enough to defy the other gods!

She raised her face and whispered, "Please."

She looked into his death-shroud eyes. They were so easy to read, full of frustration and pity. She suddenly understood something about him then. For all the fearsome stories she had heard about him, none of them mentioned his kindness. Without kindness, he wouldn't have pulled her from the river, or be angry on her behalf, or show that pity in his expressive eyes.

He huffed a sigh, and reached out to take her. It was awkward transferring from her mother to this stranger. She had begged him for help, but she didn't know him. She had never been held by a man before, and her recent experience with the opposite gender had not been pleasant. As if sensing her uneasiness, he loosened his grip, almost holding her away from his body.

She felt his power surge. There was a booming crack, and out of a fissure in the ground rose a black chariot pulled by terrifying Nightmares. She recoiled in fear from the horrifying beasts. Lying against the dark god was preferable to being eaten by those… things!

Demeter reached out and grabbed Hades' arm, clearly having doubts about giving her daughter to the god of the Underworld. Persephone held her breath, not sure if she wanted her mother to let her go or to take her back. The latter would lead to rape by the other gods, but the former was completely unknown.

"Just, promise me you won't hurt her," Demeter begged.

"I won't hurt her," Hades intoned in his soft voice, and his word was his bond. Demeter released his arm. He stepped into the chariot and placed Persephone at his feet. The Nightmares lunged forward with a vicious jerk. She would have fallen out the back but for Hades' shadow. It wrapped around her as securely as a net, and provided a little warmth as well. She screamed as the chariot seemed to fall through the air. They landed with a bone-jarring thud, and that was the limit for her exhausted body. Darkness closed around her, and consciousness fled.