Act IV: Winter
"There's a place in the garden you go when you're happy,
A place in the garden you sit when you're blue."
- Tim O'Brien, The Garden
Hades' hand drifted to the other side of the bed. His index and middle fingers moved in a jaunt, a skip, and a dance, ready to poke and prod at the cuddly wife who just bought real estate on half of his bed. The way she moved in her sleep, though, you'd think she bought the whole flaming thing.
Course, he didn't entirely mind. Hades chuckled at the greeting Persephone had given him yesterday morning. Waking up to find his face buried deep in her nest of wavy curls where the distant fragrance of spring and decaying gardenias lingered really was the best start to any day. It was just the circumstances behind it what tempered the joy of it all.
Hades' fingers continued to slyly jump from place to place until they were as far away as he could reach. His hand splayed out dumbly feeling around for her until with a dissatisfied groan, Hades rose to confirm his suspicion, reasoning with an irritated, but worried grimace that Persephone was up.
And with a glance about the room, the trail of shedding stygian dog hair and slobber, so was Cerberus.
Hades' feet met the floor, eliciting a hum of satisfaction at the warmth seeping in from beneath the stone. He had to hand it to himself way back when he designed this place. Putting a hypocaust to warm the master bedroom was one of the best investments he ever made with this damp and drafty land, and he sure put it to good use these days. Though, he had to admit, the air had gotten awfully humid these days.
With a snap and a tap he was halfway out the door when he noticed Persephone's robe lying untouched upon the plush divan at the foot of his bed. He'd left it there in case she ever did rise. Had she been gone for a hot minute? But how'd she stir without waking him? Had he really been catching that REM sleep Hypnos kept nodding off about?
Hades squinted his eyes and tried to make sense of the time. It was before three, plenty of time to make sure she was okay before he had to make it to rope drop in a couple hours. Oy, and the work was piling up already. Working from the bedroom wasn't exactly ideal when they needed his hard hand to get things moving along, but everyone needed to adjust for the time being.
Hades made his way out, but Panic was waiting without his usual partner, huffing and puffing as if he just ran over here.
"Morning, sir!"
"Panic," Hades acknowledged the teal imp. "You seen Perse?"
"Her pulchritudinous is in the garden getting some fresh air," Panic lifted his fingers to form quotation marks. Yeah, take it from the guy who runs this place, but there's no such thing as fresh air in the underworld. Only time you're getting that, babe, is the entrance.
"How... how's she taking it?" Hades' voice was a low whisper. The walls had ears, and that principle applied a little too well nowadays.
Panic's cheery disposition fell away with a hesitated grimace. "It's too early to tell," he quietly mumbled. Seeing Hades' face twist into a grimace sent Panic into a nervous tangent. "But- but at least this means she'll stay right?! She's one of us now!"
Hades stifled Panic's half-hearted attempt at lifting his mood with a heated glare.
At this, Panic shrunk into himself. "... I didn't mean it like that, sir."
Hades passed him by without so much as a backwards glance. The garden, huh? Not ideal, but maybe a demonstration was in order to see how well Nyx's words rang true. The newly renovated courtyard turned garden was a bit of a walk on the other wing of the inner palace, but for a goddess who'd spent the better part of a week in bed it should've been enough to get the ichor pumping.
Speeding through the hallways in a whirl of smoke, Hades couldn't help but do a double take at the scenery in full display from beneath the open hallways. He hadn't been in this wing of the inner palace in a hot minute, but something had the god backtracking mid-stride.
Y'know, level with him for a sec'. Now, the jury's still out on an indefinite recess about what kind of moral code/backbone/integrity he had going on, but Hades wanted the record to show that even if his side of the bargain required him to do something that really, absolutely, flaming sucked, he did it. He shook the yutz's hand didn't he?
I'm a god of my word, what can I say?
And well, dear reader, every single exorcised soul that had been trapped beneath Tartarus now took up residency in his palace.
Hades leaned over the banister and absorbed the crowded streets with mixed apprehension. The dread lord of the dead couldn't help but roll his eyes at the sight of the shades. Their fiery, wispy forms splayed out like some macabre version of a busy intersection of some great city. Laughter, singing, and twittering of bats echoed long and far from where he remained perched in the centermost building of his palace, his hidden niche that rose above in prominence and stern authority.
The shades of children floated about and played in the rafters of nearby buildings below him. Giving chase around and through corners and columns while their more longer-lived compatriots rested along the steps or wandered aimlessly searching for friends and long dead relatives. So much movement and energy, the sight of it all put Hades on edge.
He'd read the reports and heard Pain and Panic's first hand accounts, but seeing it? Jeez, they really downplayed it! Thousands upon thousands shuffled about in his palace, in his halls. Not like bats who made nests in the corners of buildings or belfries. They were livening up the palace giving new meaning to the term: ghost town.
But Hypnos- yeah the yutz currently passed out on the ledge above him- was the first to report that souls had begun to amass beneath his balconies and outside his doors, hoping to slink up to his throne room to ask for- Jeez Louise, what didn't they ask for?
After the mass exorcism as he was dubbing it, Hades had kept his doors locked tight from everyone apart from his inner circles. Jeez imagine if the news got out, everyone would be clamoring and clucking wild like chickens with their heads cut off. So any complaints or requests had been collected through the little mail slot or sent to the infernal recesses of HR, hell resources (patent pending).
He'd been reading them periodically and the things they were asking for? Acquiring grants for home ownership? Applying for open lecture halls or renting out his Underdome for hosting plays and fights?
Granted, the latter didn't sound half bad. Watching a good old fashion throwdown with marathons of nonstop violence and hero mutilation? He almost made the go-ahead right then and there, babe, but here's the kicker about all these requests.
Some of the shades were asking about work? Things to do?!
Where was all this excitement when Persephone was coming up with all these ideas? This was her little passion project trying to build relations with shades and now it was happening when she was...
Hades readied himself to move, but the sight of his hands gave the god pause. He had made a conscious effort not to give too much attention to them. As if the mere acknowledgment of them would make it all disappear like a dream you can't quite remember.
And he had far, far more important things to worry about in the aftermath of this mass exorcism.
Hades flexed his long hands, curling and thumping his fingers against the stone impatiently. The glow emanating from his skin was foreign and nostalgic, but not unwelcome. But why now? Were the Fates just messing with him again? He didn't remember paying for any light bill!
The scuffle and activity hushed in surprise as some passerby's had taken notice of the dread lord lurking above atop the elevated walkway. Conversations began to dwindle and children stopped their playing.
Hades almost turned to leave to save them the grief of running away, but what they did had the god nearly turn around to see if Persephone was walking in.
Curious stares and hushed twittering ebbed instantly as the crowd bowed their heads or curtsied in solemn respect. "Lord Hades," they murmured beneath their breaths.
Hades felt his skin prickle in a way he couldn't describe. He had half a mind to snap at them, but another part made him stand a bit straighter. "Hey, how you doing?" He casually waved at the crowd before he began to move once more. "Panic, memo to me to start setting up housing plots on the upper floors. I'm not in the mood to wake up to this scene for the rest of eternity if ya catch my drift."
"Ooh, selling lots, sir? We could sell them at a variable mortgage rate too. Lower the interest rate now and then once a majority sign, exponentially increase it," Panic deviously snickered.
Hades halted his steps and took a heavy sigh. That was too diabolical not to implement. Fates, he had to remember that one in the future. "... Nah," Hades brushed aside the idea with a pained flare. "Let's- let's give 'em a shot- just this once," Hades added after a moment.
Panic tried not to show his disappointment. "Whatever you say, sir."
"Chin up, Panic. Wait till we convince mortals to invest into fiat currency-" Hades was just about to move, but he felt an unexpected tug. With exaggerated movement, Hades whirled his upper body around only to find a wispy slip of a shade with her little fist twisting into the dark material of his toga.
"Hey, buzz off, ya rug rat. Do I look like mommy to ya?" Hades snapped, yanking his toga out of the shade kid's hand.
"Does the queen like flowers?" The shade brat, no, Irene, the god remembered as she presented him with a ratty bunch of flowers flimsily tied together with cobwebs. Flowers that were plucked and collected with reckless abandon Hades noted with a tired raise of his brow. Half the bouquet was basically just grass at this point due to many of the stems being rather flower-less.
Hades turned round ready to leave, but he caught a glimpse of more ghastly ghostly children perched upon the rooftops below him who also had their own meager offerings in hand. Many of them were too shy to spare him a glance, but Hades was mildly amused and annoyed by the whole situation.
Surrounded.
Great.
"Does she?" Irene pressed again.
Oy. Roll with it. "Flowers? Flowers...?" Hades pretended to think about it. "Yeah sorry, not ringing any bells here. Right," he pointedly snapped at his imp, "Panic?"
Panic jumped at the sudden influx of heat. "Nope!"
Hades inwardly laughed at how crestfallen the little shades became. Irene's face fell too before alighting with glee once more. "OH! Bugs! Does she like bugs too?"
At this, Hades released a chuckle. "Hey now, there's an idea. Ya gotta hit both sides of the spectrum."
"Tithonus! Do you have-" Irene called, but before she could ask her question, her little friend reached into his pockets and pulled out a handful of maggots, worms, beetles, and a moth. Just the one. He was very specific about having only one.
"Yes! We have some," Irene nodded her head confidently up at the god. "But what does the queen like more?"
Hades spared a wayward glance at the high walls of Persephone's garden and then to the teal imp who was trying to contain his snickering.
With a shrug of his shoulders, Hades gestured them forward with a nod of his head. "Wanna find out?"
Upon a stone bench, Persephone sat hunched over wrapped in a familiar dark himation that completely enshrouded her form. The hem billowed and curled into rings of smoke while a shrunken Cerberus laid perched beside her on the bench, one head lying unbothered and content upon her lap. Beta's head kept trying to catch Persephone's attention as he kneaded and tugged at her blanket with his teeth while Alpha stared at the garden entrance standing guard.
She didn't know how long she had been out here. Not long- certainly didn't feel long. But the concept of time had been lost on her these past couple days? Was it? She couldn't remember the last time she had been awake for very long since escaping Tartarus. Those sparse, delirious moments where golden nectar was poured down her throat while someone held her before she drifted off to sleep once more.
All that time she could barely open her eyes. Didn't know who was there, but she knew Hades' heated body. Knew his firm and loving embrace despite the cold that seeped out of her every pore. If anything, he just held her all the tighter, whispering soothing words she couldn't even hear.
Hypnos was there too. She had learned what his power felt like and even now she felt the residuals of it deposited like a stone upon a shoreline in her blood, eroding away bit by bit as more of her strength returned.
But there was another in the realm between sleep and the waking world. Someone new. A face that emerged like the crescent moon upon a backdrop of darkened skies. Just as pale, just as beautiful with eyes that contained the vastness and coolness of night itself. Familiar, but oh so distant.
"Touched, but not claimed by darkness. Well done! Well done, sweetheart," She had felt her arms rise without her lifting them. "Welcome home, Persephone Cthonia," the grandmotherly voice sweetly intoned. But not a second later that same voice lost every bit of her lilting, "HYPNOS, WHADDYA STANDIN' AROUND FOR? KNOCK HER OUT ALREADY!"
Her dreams had come and gone in delirious visions she couldn't quite keep track of. Of dead flowers and bitter, bitter cold, but promises of fire lingered just beyond her reach. When she had finally arisen, Persephone had stared at the ceiling, her heartbeat echoing loud in her chest at a pace that would drive a woodpecker mad.
She didn't know where she was at first. She'd never even been in the room before, but as she took in the sights of the expansive room and felt the steady rise and fall of a dark shape beside her, Persephone understood at once who's room- who's bed she was in.
Persephone had gently, gently as she could manage shifted to face Hades' sleeping face and listened to his breathing and the much steadier beat of his own heart. She knew his face so well, and yet seeing him without any of his frown lines as he peacefully slept, Persephone had lifted her hand to dare and trace the lines she found herself missing. But from the dim light of her hair, Persephone stopped and stared at what had become of her, and everything came racing back as if emerging from a frozen lake.
She clenched her hand into a fist and hid it from her sight as she pressed a kiss upon the corner of Hades' lips. She wanted to shower him with more, but he deserved his rest. "Thank you," she breathed and somehow in a whirl of smoke she found herself at the edge of the bed atop the blankets with Cerberus staring up at her with the heavy panting of excitement.
How had she done that...?
In the garden, Persephone cautiously moved her hand to hover over the lilac grass growing beneath the bench. With a flourish and curl of her fingers-
And why couldn't she-
A cold shiver raced up her spine as another spasm of what felt like ice reverberated across her body. Cerberus, sensing her sudden stiffness, sat up and leaned his shoulder onto her.
"Cerberus, I'm fine," Persephone assured him and began to push the three-headed hound off before he could topple her over. But the sight of her hands, the length of her arms seemingly withered and decayed had the goddess retreating them back into her stolen blanket.
Three pairs of puppy dog eyes the color of freshly spilled blood began to beg and mope. Persephone groaned, but she relented and proceeded to pet and scratch behind his many ears.
Cerberus exuded excitement at the attention and soon his forepaws were on her shoulders in an attempt to get closer and lick her face. "Down, boy," Persephone softly whispered. She grabbing his paws, grinning throughout as she struggled to get the pooch from clinging on, but Cerberus refused to relent his campaign.
"I said down!" Persephone snapped.
Cerberus quickly jumped off the bench and out of reach. With lowered ears and mopey eyes, the dog stiffly sat beside her legs and proceeded to lean against her in such a way that he didn't have to face her.
"So dramatic," Persephone playfully pressed her leg into Cerberus' side.
Cerberus refused to comment. Choosing instead to lick his chops, dreaming of breakfast and the rotting corpses of satyrs.
Persephone shifted her gaze to watch the magenta imp tend to her garden. "Pain, you really don't have to," she called out in a strained voice.
Wearing a sun hat far too big for him, Pain was currently watering the many, many plants that littered Persephone's garden. Saplings mostly, but they had certainly started taking root just weeks after she broke ground after the Double Date with Theseus and co. "Oh I don't mind it anymore. I think I'm kind'a getting the hang of this gardening thing."
Persephone smiled. "You're not the first I've converted." At a slow gradual pace, Persephone forced herself to rise and join him, but the action itself tired herself out and suddenly she was back sitting on the bench again. "... How long was I out?" She asked with one hand covering her eyes as the beginnings of nausea and tiredness spilled over her.
"Oh y'know just a couple days..."
"Pain," Persephone warned.
"Nine days, heh," Pain stiffly muttered. "But just like Nyx told you, you'll be a-okay once you stop trying to y'know..."
Persephone stared at Pain as if he had just talk-backed to Hades. "... What about- I met Nyx?!"
"Ugh, yeeeeeah?"
"Gods, she probably thinks I'm such a yutz..."
"What? You?" Pain dropped his watering can and quickly flitted to Persephone's side. "C'mon, Mrs. Boss, she really liked you!"
Persephone wound her blanket around her all the more tightly, covering her face and all. How could Hades ever get frustrated when he had two hype imps like them? "I'll take your word for it."
"Y'know I really shouldn't tell you this but uh..."
Persephone's chin and nose began to peek from beneath her blanket. The upper half of her face hid in shadow, but still her magenta eyes gleamed dark and luminous. "Oh?"
"But she said you're her favorite in her scroll."
"Out of the Olympians?"
"Oh yeah! That too," Pain nervously gulped.
Persephone frowned from beneath her makeshift blanket.
"And mine too," Pain assured her.
At this, Persephone shook her head. "You better," she teased. "I mean who else would tend for my garden then my favorite imp?"
Pain blushed. "And hey, Cerberus likes you too!" The imp pulled at one of Cerberus' cheeks before one of his heads snapped at him. "I mean Leuce never let him in Hades' room."
Suddenly, Cerberus lurched forward into a sprint. In two strides his form rippled until he was fifty times the size he was before. A warning bark tore itself from his throat till the giant dog slid into a halt as Hades snapped out a command.
"Cerberus- HEEL!"
"Hades?" Persephone emerged from the blanket in surprise.
Sliding into a half-sit, half-pounce, Cerberus' giant tail began to wag and beat against the ground excitedly, shaking the courtyard and the free standing columns that littered the garden.
Persephone stifled a laugh at Cerberus' antics.
"Hey, Seph? We got some burning questions for you over here if you can believe that."
Persephone felt her spirits rise at Hades' playful tone. "Oh yeah?"
Cerberus rolled to his side revealing her flaming husband. The three-headed dog whined for some belly rubs as Hades began to pass, but the god sated the beast with a quick scratch of his hand. "Hey, I'll get to ya soon, 'kay?" Hades vowed to Cerberus in a quick whisper.
"Don't ask me," Hades quipped as a troupe of shades floated into the garden behind him. "But the brats wanna know if you like flowers or bugs more?"
Persephone snorted. "Gee, that's a toughie," she deadpanned.
"See, kids? She doesn't even know. What did I tell ya? Do I know my wife, or what?"
Persephone playfully rolled her eyes as the crowd of shade children rushed forward and presented their offerings. "Are these really for me?"
A heavy lump formed in Persephone's throat as asphodels were thrust into her arms. Their dim yellow and white buds a welcome, but painful sight. More and more began to pile up before she could even stretch her arms out to hold it all. While most of the shades came in with just the one flower, the remaining few had somehow managed to amass a bushel which a few of the shade children draped over her shoulders- roots and all.
"Oh these are lovely," Persephone commented. "Did you know their roots are perfect for tea? You can even snack on the flowers!"
"Whoa!"
"Let me have some!"
The shade children began to rush forward to try, but Hades' brooding figure looming behind Persephone had them suddenly move a bit too stiffly. Almost single file the second he loudly cleared his throat. Persephone had taken a peek to see Hades' glowering face, and with the exhaustion pulling away at her being, she was awfully grateful he was keeping them in line.
"And Tithonus brought you bugs," a shade girl pushed a boy no older than six forward.
"Bugs are better," Tithonus shyly muttered, showing off a clay urn filled with a writhing mass of worms and beetles.
"No they're not," one of the children shouted.
"Oh don't be rude to our creepy crawly friends," Persephone quipped. "Flowers owe everything to bugs like worms and beetles."
"Yeah! Bugs are cooler than flowers! Right?" Tithonus smugly grinned.
"Well," Persephone paused. "Hard to say. Some bugs, like worms here, put in a lot of hard work to enrich and nurture the soil, but what use is all that hard work if there weren't any flowers? What kind of world would that be without flowers to add beauty and color to the world? And how could flowers thrive without the dark critters beneath their roots? So who am I to say which is better? They both need each other at the end of the day..." Persephone's magenta eyes became clouded and withdrawn as her voice began to crawl into a tired whisper.
Hades crouched down beside her his hand squeezing her shoulder in comfort. "Want me to run 'em off?"
"Go crazy."
"So does that mean we can eat bugs?" One of the kids jokingly asked, earning a horrified gasp from Tithonus.
"Sure ya can," Hades snatched at one of the worms in the clay pot the brat was carrying and slurped it down in a blink. "Gotta get your vitamins somewhere. "
One of the shade girls gagged, "Ewww..."
"What? How else you gonna grow up big and strong, short stop?"
"I'm dead."
"Yeesh- hey, getting a little personal there, dont'cha think?" Hades muttered to the eleven year old.
Tithonus on the other hand would've passed out were he not already dead. "How could you?" the shade sobbed.
"Like this," Hades plucked at another worm and packed it away with a slurp of satisfaction. "How 'bout another demonstration?"
"No, thank you..." Tithonus mumbled between tears.
Persephone tried to hide her snickering. "Way to play it cool," she whispered.
"All day, every day, babe."
Persephone shifted the bushel of flowers in her arms and carefully handed it off to Hades. "Do be gentle with them."
"Hey, I took care of you didn't I? Ya gotta give me some credit," Hades winked.
Persephone felt her face enflame. Chaos, it had been too long.
"I got an idea for you, brats," Hades snapped his fingers to get the shade's attentions. "How 'bout you little yutzes drop off these delectable little treats and hit the road, huh?"
"Do we have to leave?" Irene asked Persephone. "This garden's so pretty!"
"I mean if you want to watch my husband munch on the rest of these bugs-"
"No, thank you!" Irene turned an even darker shade of green before she ran/hovered away as quick as she could and the rest of her party followed.
Persephone waved as they fled, but she felt a tug all the same.
"Um, Mrs. Queen?" Tithonus, his face still wet with tears managed to hide back unnoticed. "Can you keep them safe?" He nervously eyed Hades before handing over his urn.
"Don't worry," Persephone winked. "I promise he won't eat any more."
"Okay!" Tithonus sighed in relief before racing after the rest of the shades.
As the last of their wisps faded from the garden entrance, Hades snapped his fingers and the gates shut themselves. In another snap, dark smoke curled into jagged metallic shapes before settling into the shape of an infernal flower pot. Carefully, Hades arranged the flowers/grass as neatly as he could manage. Once he was satisfied, Hades spun on his heel to join Persephone upon her bench near her rose bushes.
Hades felt breath beginning to well up in his chest as he was about to speak, but the sight of his imps and the three-headed dog staring up at him expectantly had that same air dissipate. "Uh, guys?" Hades silently gestured at Persephone.
Taking the hint, Panic snapped to attention "Well! Someone is in need of his morning walkie," Panic patted Cerberus' giant hind leg.
Pain began to grumble, "Panic, do we have-" the teal imp punched his partner in the shoulder. "Yup! Work never ends here at Underworld Enterprises. Hope you feel better, Mrs. Boss."
"Get some rest!" Panic added.
Hades quickly closed the distance and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "How you feelin'?"
"Like Apollo just ran me over with his chariot several times over," Persephone groaned, receding into his embrace like a ship to port. She felt so cold, but here beside him the chill in her bones was not as potent.
Hades' gaze swept over Persephone's long, long curls that Pain and Melinoe had managed to braid back out of her face while she had remained unconscious. He tilted his face to rest his cheek atop her head and curiously eyed the blanket she had been using as he continued to slide his hand along her arm to heat her up. A smirk wound its way across his features. "Hey, next time you want to steal my threads, could you at least take the ones off my back?"
Flustered flames began to spark and crackle yellow and beaming as Persephone shifted in his embrace to see his face. "Is that an invitation or a request?" she teased and before she knew it the gap between them began to close.
Hades chuckled as her lips tenderly began to roam before he could even reply, but she was still too far for his liking. So before another second could pass, he lifted her up and into his lap.
"Hades!" Persephone shouted in surprise, but the goddess did little to protest as she used the position to her advantage and wound her arms about his neck so he could hurry up and kiss her already.
The languid movements of their lips had quickly turned all the more heated as both of them began to laugh. And with their playful laughter, their teeth began to get more involved as the couple could not contain their grinning.
Persephone broke the kiss with a sigh as she tried to catch her breath. "Sorry, I kept you waiting," she quickly began to pat away at Hades' shoulders to extinguish the lingering flames.
"Hey, little more of that osculation and maybe I'll accept your apology," Hades slyly smirked.
"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?"
Hades and Persephone tilted their faces to each other. Soon enough their foreheads rested against each other nose to nose, their breath intermingling as one.
"Hades, I'm sorry."
The dread lord of the dead's eyes shot open in surprise before they fell and glanced away. "Yeah..." Hades sighed, "Me too."
"For everything," Persephone whispered. "Not just how I handled Thanatos. I- I should've been more strict with him- then he never would've gone with me to Hecate's old lair and when he ran away, I really thought I could get him to calm down," she shook her head. "When Tartarus swallowed us up and we fell into the abyss, I was terrified. I waited as long as I could, but the shades were nothing like they are now and I had to buy you some time. So I jumped to get away from them and to help! And I ushered in Spring," At the mention of her season, Persephone's head began to spin.
"Ugh," she put a hand to her head.
"Hey, maybe you ought'a eat something?" Hades suggested, but the goddess didn't seem to hear him.
"But then the giant…" Persephone's voice had lowered into a whisper.
"Giant?"
"I don't know what it was," Persephone admitted. "And Jafar- Nyx, I was this close to strangling him."
"- Would'a spared me the trouble," Hades miffed.
"Like I'd smite one of your friends," Persephone added with a playful eye roll.
"Friend? Jafar?" Hades pretended to laugh. "Mister I'm the scourge of Agrabah- and apparently dramatic irony? Oy, babe lost to a bird! And a freeloader. Yutz wasn't getting very far on my list," the god huffed a little too loudly.
"Right, because having a smoke and a schmooze for hours is meaningless to you," Persephone began to laugh, but Hades was having none of it.
"Uh- yeah! Wheeling and dealing, babe. That's how it works. I don't know what that guy's been telling' ya, but I worked with him once. And when I tell ya the babe's gotta screw loose-"
"Fine, your business partner," Persephone relented to get him to stop.
"Thank you!"
"But that business partner of yours helped me face that thing in the pit. It was gaining on us and-" Her hand rose up her chest and closed into a fist over her heart. She should still be down in that abyss. Forever trapped in eternal sleep until the cosmos itself collapsed, but a power that was not her own had surged within her that kept her conscious.
"I still have a piece of your flame, don't I?"
"You're realizing that now?" Hades had the gall to snort, but there was something else there she almost missed. His eyes, yellow and wide, stared at her wild and blurred.
"Why didn't you take it back?" Persephone turned to him with suspicion in her tone. "You gave me back my bit of spring after our first fight in Enna."
A wry smirk gave way across his face. "Insurance? Peace of mind?" He moved forward and planted a kiss on her forehead. For a moment, he rested his lips there as he held her tight and close before he groaned and his grip loosened. "Oy, I don't know. I thought about it, but," Hades scratched the back of his neck before he sighed "You're gonna laugh."
"Half of what you say makes me laugh, what's new?"
"What about the other half?" Hades smirked with a curling glint.
"You are very close to getting very lucky tonight mister, but c'mon," Persephone playfully knocked her shoulder into his. "Humor your wife a bit."
"Time out. My definition of lucky or yours?"
"Keep dragging this out and you tell-"
"SO," Hades slammed a hand over her face, cutting her off now that he realized what was at stake. "What can I say? It was a bit of a long shot, I know, but I thought if there was ever the slightest chance you ever wanted to give the underworld another try," he stressed. "That door would never be closed for you."
Persephone fiercely blushed as yellow flames danced and flared along her curls. "Oh you were in this for the long game."
"Hey, I know how to invest," his hand met her's and their fingers began to knit together.
She felt herself getting giddy and misty-eyed as she stared at their joined hands. Hades' hand, meticulous and spider-like emitted a glow like burning coals as did the rest of him. That dark blue light smoldered and burned like a sort of warning to any who dared to try and add kindling to the heated flame, but to her it beckoned and welcomed her in like the hearth of a home.
Her hands, however-
Persephone stiffened. For as long as she could remember, she had always hated her hands. They were never smooth or soft always hard and calloused just like her mother's. Working in the land and the brush and fields she had tirelessly put them to work with weeds and crops and every inch of green under the sun that no amount of godly healing could ever reverse. What she saw now, however, was a far cry from the palette of Spring time and peonies.
"Hades, something's wrong with me," she pulled her hands away.
Hades sucked in a breath. "Seph, wait-"
"I feel so hollow," Persephone bit in mournful rage as she forced herself to rise and despite the exhaustion, despite the overwhelming nausea, she rose and extended her withered hands above the rose bushes and commanded them to…
"Look!" She swept her hands along the buds in pained frustration as bright pink blooms and thorns crumpled and withered beneath her touch instead of growing like she was commanding them to.
Persephone shrunk away at the damage done, but Hades stood by her and took her hands. His grip quickly shifted to take in the length of her arms that now resembled the color of charred wood and unlit coals and kissed her fingers and her palm.
Persephone she sank into him and wept. "I just wanted them to remember what it was like to be alive."
"I know... Every good deed down here comes at a cost. Always has," Hades did not meet her gaze.
"But how could I lose Spring? I'm still here!"
At last, Hades' eyes lifted. "Persephone," he softly said her name, drawing her attention away from her battered bushes. His jaw clenched as he struggled to say the same words Nyx had repeated to him several times over. He had nearly thrown the primordial goddess out for saying it, but she was never the kind of goddess to tell him such a brazen lie. "You died."
"No, Hades," Persephone shook her head in wide-eyed disbelief. "Hades, don't joke with me right now! I am standing right here, talking to you…"
"Spring died, Persephone. You died," Hades repeated low and desperate. His yellow eyes shined as if he was close to tears. "Nyx brought you back, but not as a goddess of spring."
The children, that's why they came bearing flowers...
Persephone stared at him stricken with morbid terror. To honor the recently deceased. "As a goddess of the underworld," She heard herself whisper in a mystified tone that even she could not decipher. Lifting her arms, Persephone's hands fluctuated into a movement like tossing an apple into the air and steady twin yellow flames burst into being above her open palms.
Gone were her lilac flames only to be replaced with a fire untainted by Spring's power. It was a beautiful sight, and the exhilaration that pumped in her veins from the rush of energy and the lifting of her migraine. She almost felt whole again.
Almost.
Despite the yellow flames burning bright before her, her withering rose bushes taunted her from afar.
Smoke billowed from the hemline of Persephone's nightgown and flames whipped from her curls like tongues of serpents as the blanket was thrown from her shoulders and a great blaze erupted from her palms. Frustrated, jealous flames attacked and lashed out as Persephone threw flames left and right with enough force behind them to dismantle Troy's great walls.
With each blow, Hades watched the change in her demeanor and the power and strength she had lost return in a roar of fire.
Where anger burned there too was the urge to survive. Hades continued to watch enraptured at each crackle, splinter, and boom that filled the air. Persephone's blasts began to slow with each sharp intake of breath. The toll of using energy she did not have was catching up to her. And soon enough, all that remained of her rose bushes was ash and dust.
Persephone sank to her knees. He was silent as she remained fixed and rigid with her face hidden behind her withered hands. Hades felt a greater weight settle on him. He should've felt relieved that she knew what happened, but all it did was make him feel worse seeing the agony that chipped away at the former goddess of spring.
Loss lingered potent and draining across her crumpled form. Her ability to bring Spring wherever she went had helped her make this sunless land of the dead feel just a bit more like home. And now, even that consolation had been taken from her.
Flames lingered over the ashes and tiny remnants of charred vine and bramble and somehow nowhere else. The cobblestones and Pain's excessive watering may have saved the remainder of that garden, for the nearby trees were spared from her wrath and only received the heavy heat and smoke that arose from the Eastern entrance of the courtyard.
Slowly, Persephone began to lift her face and her eyes took in the barren plot. And yes, she had changed far more then she knew. Her face, once soft and round seemed ghostly and thin. Her cheeks had hollowed and the skin around her face seemed to have tightened across her cheekbones and temple. Cold seeped from her like the wind of a coming storm, but through it all her tired eyes still shone that vibrant magenta, of hope and fire, the one aspect she retained what hinted of her days in the sun and the world above.
Persephone lowered her hands and sucked in a breath before releasing a heavy, broken sigh of acceptance.
At this, Hades offered out his hand to her. "Y'know, it looks better that way."
Persephone lifted her skeptical gaze.
"No, really," he helped her rise to her feet. "Can't start something new if you don't make the space."
A ghost of a smile flickered at the corner of Persephone's mouth. "Could you sit with me for awhile?"
"Here?" Hades gestured his thumb towards the bench, but the goddess shook her head.
"Anywhere without ashes."
Hades began to lead her away passing by many a species of flora she had crafted specifically for the underworld. Their spiky leaves and poisonous hues did little to shy away from their deadly contents, but the further they trekked along, the scenery had changed into more familiar shapes. They were in the center of it all where a giant lone pomegranate tree stood.
A far, far cry from the narrow almost stunted versions of apple trees he had seen in many a villa throughout the centuries. It's roots were practically emerging from beneath the cobblestones they treaded on- not at all restrained by a single patch of dirt.
And when Persephone's hand now heated and flushed tugged at him to stop. Hades snapped his fingers for a bench to appear, but Persephone had other ideas as she sat beside the tree in a bend of its trunk designed for just this purpose.
Persephone patted the ground beside her when she noticed the look on Hades' face. "It won't bite."
The dread lord of the dead rolled his eyes but relented to his odd wife's request.
Persephone shifted to give him room, but they were ultimately sandwiched side-by-side and now that they were settled their hands reflexively knitted together and their heads craned toward each other.
Hades awkwardly kept his head from leaning onto the tree, but he briefly wondered why Persephone wasn't doing the same considering her hair was on fire too.
"You've died too haven't you?"
Hades' brows shot up in surprise.
"You told me that everyone that wasn't born here had to die to get here, and considering the circumstances..."
Hades released a shaky breath. "Trust me, it didn't have the same flair as yours, babe. It's how I met Nyx the first time too. And..." Cogs and wheels began to turn and wind behind his yellow eyes. His breath hitched as he sucked in a tight breath, but as Hades' jaw began to shift. A wistful sigh lessened all the tension in his shoulders. "It's nothing grandiose, but if anyone's ever gonna hear it-"
"Are you sure?" she stopped him.
Hades played with her stray curls. Courteous to the end, jeez how'd he get mixed up with her again? "Are you sure? There's no going back from this one."
Persephone searched Hades' eyes. There was something barbed in his words, but he was right. This was a whole new step neither of them had breached. An honest view into a past he seldom spoke about. And he was about to entrust her with it. "I'm not leaving," she squeezed his hand. "Not now, not ever," she promised despite the nell of a hollow pain she couldn't quite place.
She's gonna be the death of me. The third one, he silently corrected.
"Then buckle up," He winked at her. "I gotta give ya some backstory first. And I mean back." He shifted to lean back upon the tree and Persephone leaned her head on his shoulder. "Zeus these days likes to make out the Titanomachy as the Glory Days, but having been there it was anything but. I'm sure you've heard this story from your Ma so I won't go too crazy in detail."
"You won't be. Mother never talked about it. Not even when I asked."
"I don't blame her. None of us got out of that unscathed," he prodded a finger at his temple to illustrate his point. "That first year of freedom, we were basically newborns flipping out over every pebble and bird, but Zeus kept us out of trouble till we started getting savvy. Won't lie, but that time was when I hated him the least."
Persephone crinkled her brow wondering how true that statement really was.
"Course that changed quick. We all wanted revenge. No surprise there, huh? Sure, we didn't have a plan or weapons unless you count our burgeoning powers and an overdose of teen spirit, but we were gonna try. Mister brains-of-the-operation Zeus had us scale Mount Orthys and Kronos saw us for the first time since we'd escaped. And he was not ready for Gaia's curse to come true any time soon."
"We were too angry to realize how outmatched we were, but we fought until everything fell apart. Couldn't tell you who fell first. Maybe it was your ma, hell, maybe it was me. But we were all belly up in the Mediterranean when a pod of nereids came passing through just in time to get us all to safety.
"When we got back on our feet, Zeus ugly-cried to Gaia for help, and she told us about her other brood and the monsters Ouranos had locked up in Tartarus. Zeus was ready to sprint onto oncoming traffic like always, but I called Gaia's bluff. I reminded both of them she had made us sound like the end-all, but newsflash, we weren't. So an army of monsters? Sounded too good to be true," Hades paused.
"Even from the start you were a devil's advocate."
"Where d'ya think the phrase comes from, my sweet?" Hades began to rapidly tap his fingers away upon his thigh. "But here's the thing. I know a lie when I smell one, but back then my party trick was still pretty green and something wasn't adding up. So, I had to get a babe on the inside. Leuce," Hades hesitated for a moment as if he was about to say more, but chose not to last second. "She confirmed Gaia's story, so I beseeched Mother Nature myself."
"You volunteered, didn't you?"
Hades chuckled. "Better. I made a deal with her- first one I ever did. Heh, you should'a seen the look on Gaia's face. Talk about ready to grind my bones into fertilizer kind'a mad."
"Fates, so she has it out for you too?"
"Everyone does eventually," Hades waved her off. "I just don't know what happened with you. I mean Gaia ended up getting a soft spot for me after breaking her monstrous brats out, but she was curious about me. She knew Zeus, but none of the rest of us. So she said to me something along the lines of, 'Alright, hotshot, whaddya want?' "
"And you know what I asked for?"
"Knowing you..." Persephone coyly shook her head.
"For one favor I asked for three in return."
"Hades!" Persephone swatted him. "You milked it!"
"Like a cow with twins. And hey! She was desperate enough to come to us for help. And Jeez Louise," Hades began to chuckle uncontrollably. "Made me pay for it later too."
"So what was getting on Gaia's bad side worth other than your life?"
"It's funny you say that, because she did kill me," Hades grew serious. "Sure, I got the power to rearrange my living room any time I want or y'know open up the earth just in case she decided to double cross me if I flubbed the quest, but one step into the Underworld passageway and BOOM! Instant tunnel collapse. I never saw it coming."
Persephone stared at him stunned with her slack-jaw hanging in concern.
"If it's any consolation to you I got better," Hades swore.
"Sparky, I'm so sorry-"
"What?" Hades laughed. "Trust me, it's not even in the top III."
"Oh Hades..." Persephone released a sigh as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Hey, at least Gaia was nice enough to keep all my body parts in the same general area... and Nyx saw it all happen just as she was punching out the clock and going home. Nine days later I was back, but something was different. And correct me if I'm wrong, but you're starting to see it, huh?"
Persephone glanced between his flame hair and back to his luminous eyes. Realization hit her as she took notice of the small torches at the far ends of the courtyard were alit, and yet she could see every single leaf from faraway as if it was broad daylight. "Oh..."
Hades smugly leaned in with his chin upon his palm. "See anything ya like?"
Persephone rolled her eyes. "Oh is Cerberus back?"
Hades gave her a deadpanned glare.
"Like you didn't walk into that one," Persephone offered him a peck, but even that didn't improve his mood. "So what happened with Nyx?"
"Oh y'know I woke up on her kitchen table, and she threw everything within reach at me. Nyx started swearing and calling me a yutz for testing Gaia, but after that, she finished patching me up, fed me, let me spend the night and even made me some new threads. Next morning, she gave me another tongue-lashing, packed me a lunch, gave me directions, and sent me off."
Persephone released a giggle. "Oh she sounds lovely. I really need to thank her for all she's done. What does she like? Should we have a dinner?"
"Yeah, we can do that, but we can take our time to plan it out and make it fancy- she'd appreciate that more. Y'know I was thinking, we need to pay Echidna and Typhon a visit first. They're more laidback, anyway, and they'd be happy to have us over anytime. And 'Chidna's been hounding me about our ferryman wedding and not inviting her," Hades laughed but Persephone didn't share in his mirth.
"... I wish my mother was there."
Hades froze. Nothing could come out of his mouth, not even the fumbling of a stream of words as was his usual. His hands rose, fingers danced and turned as if he was about to apologize, but Persephone took his hands and lowered them into her lap.
"I know... But I was running away from her that day too," she admitted in a small voice. "I know I haven't talked about her to you in detail, but she really is an amazing mother. It was just the two of us for the longest time, and I adore her! Even when she drove me crazy," Persephone quieted, watching the fiery butterfly wisps flutter and flicker in unpredictable patterns over the crimson pomegranate flowers.
"But there reached a point when I wanted to be on my own and branch out onto something that meant I wouldn't have to be in someone else's shadow and to be on Olympus with the other gods! To be like Hermes and Athena. But when my campaign for Spring failed, I stayed with my mother to help and keep her mind at ease- that I wasn't bothered by it, but I was. Maybe that's why I went along with Athena so easily. One last ditch effort to be adored. And now it all feels so childish," she painfully frowned, but it did not last as a butterfly landed upon her outstretched finger to crawl upon. "Is that what death does? Make us realize how messed up we are?"
"Maybe to the saps with morality issues," Hades mused with a knowing curl of his lip. Persephone made a face at him. "But not every schlub learns the first time around. Heh, I didn't." His upturned finger coaxed the many butterflies that seemed to beckon at his call until one brave soul landed upon the waiting finger and several more followed suit. "After all, sweetness, not all of us are fortunate enough to die and find out."
Persephone felt a grin at the subtle dig he made at the Olympians. Up there high on that mountain top far away and isolated from the people who adored them. Blinded and afraid of death and responsibility. "I think that's what my mother was trying to teach me this whole time. That being a god wasn't about the love we received, but the love we gave to the people to help them thrive," Persephone lifted her hand to help in the butterfly's ascent. "And I wouldn't have learned that living on Olympus."
And I never would've gotten wise, Hades inwardly agreed as he sent his troupe of souls away. "All-powerful bozos lounging about on the penthouse at the top of the world-"
"-As everything below burns," Persephone simmered, but that anger dissipated quickly as she thought of one such Olympian very different from the pack. "... I miss my mother."
"She misses you too."
"Have you heard from her?!"
"I've heard rumors. She had a big spat with Zeus apparently. Got booted off the mountain or self-exiled herself- nobody really knows except the resident thunder dunderhead. After you went comatose, I sent Thanatos to go find her in case things got worse, but when you started to get better I figured I'd wait to ask you before I did anything."
Persephone felt a protest beginning to alight upon her lips, but reality hit her. He was considering her feelings. And mother in the underworld when she was in sleeping beauty mode? How would she have reacted to seeing her like that? And married to the god that irritated her the most?
"She's up in Eleusis. Than found her playing the role of a wetnurse to a baby you might be familiar with."
Persephone cracked a teary smile at the news. "She couldn't go one day without being a mother to someone?! Oh thank the Fates. That makes me feel more at ease. I just..."
"You wanna invite her down?" Hades begrudgingly suggested.
"You want to die a second time? Hades, she'll strangle you," Persephone insisted.
"Not unless," Hades began to scratch his chin.
"Unless what? You wear the helm of darkness the entire time?"
"Plan Beta," Hades high-fived Persephone. "But what if we Trojan horse her?"
"Sparky, I can't in good conscience ambush, massacre and/or overthrow my mother into submission."
"And that's Plan Gamma," Hades lifted his hand waiting for his high-five but Persephone was shooting him a look. "Kidding, babe. No, what I have in mind is a trap of societal conventions. Seven birds with one stone kind'a deal."
Persephone grew wise to his implications and her spirits began to rise. "We could have a wedding."
"A real one," Hades assured her. "One with all the bells and whistles, and Demeter will be there this time. Anyone you want, Cerberus, the shades, the monsters, hell we'll even invite the Olympians if you want. If you'll have me this time."
Giddiness began to envelop Persephone from the inside out in the form of excited yellow flames. So much so that Hades had to pat them out before they spread to the trunk of the tree. "Took you long enough!" Persephone threw herself at Hades, tackling him in her embrace as she showered him with kisses until at long last her final destination ended upon his lips. "Yes, Hades, I'll marry you."
Toppled over on the ground, or at least two or three inches above it, sorry I didn't bring my ruler, Persephone caressed Hades' cheek as he began to probe her lips and their embrace began to wind and entangle and curl.
But as Persephone took a breath, Hades held her face, giving her pause before she continued her campaign. Barely an inch apart, she could feel his heated breath upon her face as his yellow eyes sought her own despite the way his gaze reflexively flickered between them and her waiting lips. "Flames and all?"
"Flames and all," Persephone agreed for one last brush of her lip against his.
The distance between the ground and the underworld couple began to close and soon the sight of the dark crystalline stalactite formations came into view. Their icicle like formations, dripped the occasional droplet of water and into the waiting rectangular pool.
"And Thanatos, how is he?"
"Thanatos is fine. Really, he is," he added with the look Persephone was giving him. "Him and the sleeping bozo moved in when the shades did, so he's been around asking about you and all that mess. Sure, he's still moody, still needs a haircut, but Nyx came by with him after your condition stabled and well, let's just say when you're up for it we've got a stack of resumes to vet through."
"Resumes? So you're really okay with Than getting extra hands then?" She began to shimmy herself closer to him, trying not to sound too smug.
"I guess without Zeus' lap dog around to pick up the slack, Thanatos isn't up for a full-time gig yet. I mean it's not like I was just a little older then he was when I got shafted into this role, but I'm not gonna be bitter about it."
Persephone giggled. "And where did Nyx come up with all these applicants?"
"Oh y'know just like she does every time I have an opening: Spawn a new batch of brats," Hades' mouth twitched into a grin. "Jeez Louise, just when you think you've hired all of Nyx's brood, she pulls the rug right from underneath ya."
"Well in that case, maybe we should assign what types of deaths Thanatos and his new assistants carry out. I'd lay him off from any violent deaths for awhile. Rushing isn't gonna do him any good, and it'll help him adjust with how his powers have been developing lately."
"Yeesh, you ain't kidding," Hades huffed. "Yeah, I'll give the kid a lighter load so he can finesse with his craft a bit. Something a bit more Pi-Gamma since he'll be putting up with me a bit more."
"At least until he feels he's ready," Persephone agreed as she admired the overhanging branches. "About the shades.."
"Don't remind me," Hades rolled his eyes. "We've got swaths of souls in every nook and cranny. You wouldn't believe the mental headaches of all the requests I've had to read through since they moved in."
"We're gonna need to organize a bit then. Hey, I want to interview some shades and see if they'll be a good mix and maybe form a court? That way I can take it slow right now, but not be completely useless. And with so many souls around maybe establishing one could help us spread good faith with the souls."
"Hey, anything to make sure they don't try and dump my carcass into Styx again. And I got a few suggestions I'd like for ya to take a look into. Few babes that'll make this place a bit more deadly."
"I wouldn't want it any other way," Persephone agreed. "Once we have a court, they can help organize our first underworld wide event, and after all that mess, maybe we could honeymoon in Elysium?"
Hades felt a grin begin to twist across his face. "So that's how you're gonna get me invested."
"Well it's your three days too," Persephone laughed. "And hey, we can take a month off and do a work holiday. Let the judges take over and hire a few monsters for the muscle at the front, while you and I- well I'm sure you can fill in the rest..."
Their voices began to drift away. The silence that spread across the courtyard spelled peace for the underworld couple and while Persephone felt herself lulling to sleep nestled into Hades' side, she couldn't help but take note of the face he was making. Deep thought always had him in a pensive mood, but he lacked any of the other defining features, of his agitated tapping or the flickering flames that spelled of his need to move and take action. He was still, a state she rarely ever saw him in.
"Hades?"
"Hm?"
Persephone bit her lip. There was one question she had always wanted answered, and now that they both wanted this relationship to work, maybe it was time. "Have you ever wanted to get married? Before me, I mean."
"I did once, but she didn't want to."
"Oh, Hades I'm sorry things didn't work out-"
"No, it's- it was complicated. Not on her end, mind you, but tying the knot with someone in my position isn't the same as say Apollo hitching up with a nymph. To be a king, a queen, whatever royal nonesuch title you wanna throw around. At the end of the day, you inadvertently marry the land too. Take Poseidon, ya think Amphitrite is just a housewife? Sure she's a minor goddess- nereid, however, you wanna slice it. But that babe keeps those currents and tides moving. Whole ocean is under her clock too, and she doesn't have it easy knowing Po-po. None of our wives can. And Leuce was one of Amphitrite's younger sisters. She knew what was expected, and wanted nothing to do with it. She only wanted me."
"So we didn't," Hades shrugged. "And it worked for awhile. Nyx loved Leuce too, she saw how she helped take some of the stress off me and it was great. Things were good, really, really good," Hades smiled, but it did not last. "But the underworld is a jealous lady and Leuce ended up getting jealous too. Time marched on and the mortals kept pushing out more brats and suddenly my role in the pantheon got more important. At least that's what I thought when my numbers started going up.
"And it was hard to maintain a relationship when you see someone for an hour a day, and Leuce couldn't take it anymore. She didn't deserve that kind'a life, so we mutually agreed to end it. But not long after, she knew," Hades' tone became more quiet. "So she came to say good-bye, but she never made it past Acheron," His gaze was transfixed on one of the poplar trees nestled in the corners of the courtyard.
"I don't think we ever stopped loving each other even after we ended things. Life just got in the way. This afterlife got in the way," Hades seethed.
"Poplars, huh?"
"Yeah, just as pale as her," Hades squeezed Persephone's hand. "But you're not competing with her. I've moved on, you're not gonna live in someone else's shadow-"
"Oh Hades," Persephone pulled him into an embrace. "Why would I be mad that someone loved you when I was never in the picture? I'm sorry for your loss. Really. I had heard from the shades about her- the ancient ones, but I wanted to hear it from you."
"Seph," his hand lifted her chin and let his thumb stroke her cheek. "You gotta promise me you're not gonna run off on any more crazy stunts. You have no idea the emotional rollercoaster you put me through."
"Okay," she whispered. "And do you promise to stop pushing me away?"
"What do you think?" Hades held her close against his chest, lifting her once more into his lap.
Persephone laughed. "Well, it's a start... I'm tired," she muttered into his chest.
"Get some shut eye. I'll stay as long as I can."
Persephone didn't need any further motivation and drifted off soon after. Listening to her steady breathing, Hades released a sigh.
You're screwed now, his inner voice muttered.
Hades shrugged. Maybe, but she was worth the heart ache. The lord of the dead kissed his dread queen and whispered the words he had been thinking since that scene on Olympus. "I love you."
Down in the underworld, Spring had been unleashed, her power proliferated the entire realm from Tartarus to Elysium. A warmth spell not seen since the sun was stolen reigned supreme, but for the world above, whether Hades and Persephone ever realized, winter had just begun.
And our final act begins with the knelling toll of the end.
