In the same way, you love me.
(Could be seen as almost any variation of Hades/Persephone but particularly inspired by Fields of Asphodel by @asphodelgame. Woke up inspired and feverishly wrote this down before I could lose it. So I apologize of any typos or other errors.)
“Are you afraid of me?” Persephone asked Hades, as cool hands brushed soft strands of hair from their cheek. As gentle as one might caress the petals of a flower. “I’m afraid that I might come to hurt you. That you might come to find my presence painful. Afraid that when the day comes that I must let you go, I will have to make a choice. To let you be free of me, and lose a part of myself. Or cling to you and risk crushing you.” Persephone smiled, something happy and yet not. It was rare for the god of the dead to lay bare his own burdens. It made them happy that their husband trusted them enough to lift the veil. But also sad that the man so willing to take on the burden of others when they themselves bore so much.
“You could never hurt me or cause me pain. And should the day come that I must leave you, I will be leaving a part of myself in turn to replace the piece I took. And should you cling to me, I would cling to you just as hard so that we are both crushed gladly.” Hades sighed, the words were a comfort, and yet still he could not bring himself to wholly believe them. “Why? Why would something so beautiful, so bright, care so much for me? Why cling to the host of many? To the watcher of souls?” “Because Agesander, I love you deeply.” That epithet, which usually brought him so much pain, was spoken so gently, so reverently, that it made his heart ache. And yet again he could only question. “Why?”
“In the same way, you love me. In the same way, you love life. You are everything I am not. Everything I long for. Everything I need whether I know it or not. You look upon life and you envy its joy, its warmth. You long to reach out to it and feel shame when it withers. But I know you know better than to think that it is nothing but happiness and pleasure. It is also sadness and pain in equal measure. For every kindness there is cruelty. If death is nothingness then life is everything all at once. The beauty of the rose and the prick of its thorns. The regal elk and the hungry wolves that stalk it. Love and hate that can move people to the same extremes. You look upon me and see beauty. But there is an ugliness there as well. Life is burdensome my dear. It wears upon the body, mind, and soul. Sometimes gently, a stream carving its way through the soil and leaving sediment behind. Sometimes rough, a shuddering quake that leaves great rifts in its wake. Scarring the earth even after its edges are smoothed with time and its depths filled in.”
Hades’ head tilted with puzzlement. He did not deny Persephone’s words, He was well aware of the pain life could bring, and yet he could not see the ugliness they spoke of. Was love not worth facing hate? Was joy not worth the sorrow? He kept his questions to himself as Persephone continued. “The day you brought me here I was anxious and a bit scared. But you quelled my fears almost instantly. Taking away my burdens with such ease. You see it as the day you stole me away from the sun. But to me, it was the first time I could take a truly deep breath, never realizing before that I had been gasping. You were afraid that your touch would chill me. But it is a balm against my heated skin. You feared I would miss the sun, and I do, its light and its warmth. But I do not miss the way it would sting my eyes or burn my skin. I smile when I see the sun, but I would always return here when given the choice.”
Persephone smiled, and it was all the sun Hades needed. “You are Agesander, the god who carries away all. And you take so much more than life. You take away joy yes, but also pain and suffering. You wipe clean love, but also hatred and disgust. You take the world off the shoulders of men and apologize for it.” Persephone chuckled as if Hades had nothing to apologize for. “Life is a burden, my dear, it weighs on the chest and makes it hard to breathe. And you, by your mere presence take away that burden. In my eyes you are peace, you are a sanctuary. The final rest that every soul longs for. I will not say that your duty is a joyful one. So much good is lost in the process, but so much pain as well. Whether they enter your domain gladly or tragically. You still save the souls in your care. From both the burden of life and the pain of dying. Just as you saved me. Stealing me away from my gilded cage so that I could fly freely. You took the rose from its garden so that here it could grow wild without having to clip its thorns. Because you would love it all the same. My dear Hades, I love you with every fiber of my being just as you love me.”
And still, Hades was confused. Did they not see how much they lost? Did they not see the pain death left the still living? How could losing everything you are possibly be worth peace? How could lifting one’s burdens be worthy of losing everything else? Could they not see it? The ugliness in… And then he realized. No, they couldn’t, no more than he could see the ugliness Persephone saw in themselves. That raised the question, was there ugliness in both of them that they were blind to? Or did they both see ugliness in themselves that wasn’t there? He wasn’t sure. But as he looked into Persephone’s loving gaze, he somehow knew that he could see the same gaze in the depths of a mirror.
He pressed his forehead against Persephone’s. Unable to speak for a long moment. The idea of wanting to crawl into another’s skin was something Hades had always seen as something violent in nature. But now he understood. He would give anything to be wholly one with this deity of spring. If they could see something beautiful in him, something worth loving. Then maybe he could learn to see the same. “I love you dearly.” He muttered softly. Persephone smiled but didn’t reply. They didn’t need to.
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