#tgotd1

After she wiped the dirt off of her hands, Persephone makes way to her mother’s hut. She’s just made it out of the field when she hears a snap of a twig to her right. An old man, looking well into his eighties, stumbles around the roots of the trees. The cane he is using is barely helping to keep him upright. Before the two can even make eye contact, Persephone offers her help to the man. He didn’t seem harmless afterall, and her mother usually seems pretty proud of her after she helps someone in need.

“I seem to have gotten myself lost,” the old man chuckles while leaning all of his weight against his cane and accepts Persephone’s arm.

“I’m sure we can get you back home in no time,” Persephone reassures him. She takes a step forward, but the man does not move with her.

“I actually live that way, dear. Across the field.” The old man points a wrinkled finger in the direction the exact opposite of Demeter’s hut.

Persephone bites her lip, nerves bubbling at the bottom of her stomach, but turns to help the man walk in that direction. If she shows up even just a little late her mother would have her head, but she can’t refuse to help this man now. At a slow pace, Persehpone helps the mortal man across the grass.

“You’re Persephone, are you not?”

“How did you-”

“I’ll take that as a yes then. I’ve heard all about you, you poor thing.”

Persephone frowns. “Poor thing?”

“Living under your mother’s thumb for this long. I can’t even imagine. I love my mother, trust me I do, and I’d do anything for her, but I stopped living with her as soon as I could get out into the world on my own. Don’t you ever wish that?”

“I mean… I guess I do sometimes. It would be nice to have some free will.”

“Let’s take a quick break, can we? I need a few minutes.” The two of them stop. Persephone looks around, noticing that they’re directly in the middle of the field. She can spot a few wood nymphs lingering around the edge of the forest, but they are well out of earshot. The sun has almost set now, and with each inch it moves downwards, so does something in Persephone’s stomach.

“What if I could offer you a way out?”

Persephone’s head snaps from the sky to the man. The look in her eye leads her to believe that he’s actually much younger than he appears, but that seems impossible to her. “What do you mean?”

“Well I heard that you made quite an impression on a God last week at the solstice party.”

“What? How do you-”

“And he’s offering you an out from your mother’s control.”

Persephone’s head is spinning. “Which God?”

“I’ve been sworn not to say.”

“He won’t… It won’t be like living with my mother again?”

“He’s promised to treat you with the utmost respect. And you’re allowed to leave at any time you please.”

Persephone can’t breathe. The sun is almost completely gone now, just a few rays of light peak through the treetops. “When would I go?”

“As soon as you say yes.”

A roar rings out in the trees behind them. A warning call from Demeter, demanding her daughter's return. Persephone shrinks back from the sound. Freedom. She’d be able to do whatever she wanted. No longer being treated like a child or having her worth diminished. Another roar, even closer than the last one.

“Okay,” Persephone whispers.

“Okay what? You need to be clear.”

“I’ll go. I’ll go with this God. I want to go stay with this God.”

The old man drops his cane and before Persephone can go to grab it for him, he grabs both of her hands. Too many things happen at once. Wood nymphs start to slowly surround the pair. They’re still pretty far away, but with every step they pick up speed. The ground reverberates underneath their feet signifying that Demeter is only a few minutes away. But then the ground opens up beneath them. Persephone almost screams until she realizes they aren’t falling. She looks back at the old man, but he isn’t an old man anymore. He’s younger, way younger, and glowing. They aren’t falling because he’s holding them up by the wings on his back fluttering at a nonstop speed. He’s beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Eros.

But then he lets her go, and she’s falling, falling, falling. The ground comes back together. Eros disappears. The wood nymphs stand still in shock, and then start to cower when Demeter breaks into the field.

“Where is she?” Demeter roars. “Where is my daughter? What happened to her!”

But there’s no evidence of what has just happened in that field. Nothing but what the wood nymphs saw and a cane lying in the grass.

+++

One second, Persephone is falling to what she is sure is her death, and the next she’s on the ground standing properly on her two feet. A loud gasp escapes her body, her throat sore from all the screaming she’d just done. She collapses to the ground when her knees refuse to lift her up any longer. She looks around, but it’s dark all around her save for a few torches on the walls emitting a green flame. And then when her eyes finally adjust to the light, she spots it.

A dark castle looms not too far in the distance. Persephone doesn’t know if the bricks themselves are black or if it just looks that way because of the lighting, or rather lack of it. There’s no sky above her head, just a dark endless void. A river leads its way from where she is sat to the castle. And then she notices a man with a paddle in his hands standing inside of a small boat just a few feet away from her.

“Hello Miss. My name is Charon and I will be…”

Charon. The ferryman of the River Styx. The ferryman who brings the souls into the underworld. The ferryman of Hades.

“Excuse me, Miss, did you hear me?”

But she hadn’t. Persephone can’t focus on anything long enough for her brain to retain any information. Hades was the God she’d made an impression on. She’d only looked at him for a moment and now he was willing to share his castle with her. What did this mean? Did he expect her to marry him? Eros is Aphrodite’s favorite son, the one who does all of her bidding. Had she sent him out to make her fall in love with Hades?

Charon shuffles uneasily on the boat. “As I’ve said before, the king of the manor is waiting for you on the other side of this river, Miss. He isn’t always exactly… well… patient. I think it would be best if we were to head over to him now.”

With shaking legs, Persephone stands and makes her way over to the boat, basically collapsing into the set of it. Charon speaks no more as he starts to paddle the two of them to the other side. Persephone’s mind goes completely blank the entire ride over. When the boat stops and Charon helps Persephone back onto solid ground, she sees a figure looming a few yards away.

“I don’t… I don’t understand.” Persephone finally stutters out.

“You don’t understand what, Miss?” Charon asks while stepping back into his boat.

“Why me?”

“Well I guess you’ll never know unless you go ask him yourself.” And ever the conversationalist, Charon makes his way back to where he’d just picked Persephone up from.

For a moment her legs refuse to move, but then the barking of what she can only assume is Cerberus somewhere not too far away has her moving towards the figure. Shadows cling to his form, making him nearly invisible. A few pebbles on the ground tear at Persehpone’s dress, so she has to pick the ends up or else she’d be in fear of tripping. Only when she’s a few feet away does she stop walking. At first it’s still too hard to see the man ahead of her, she’s still unsure if it’s who she thinks it is, but then when she catches his bright green eyes, she knows.

“Lord Hades,” Persephone barely gets out with a breathy whisper. She does a sort of curtsy just as she would for any other God.

Hades is standing straight up, his arms resting loosely at his sides. Now that her eyes have properly adjusted to the darkness, she can spot a glimmer of a smile on his lips. “Kore,” he greets her.

“I… Um actually,” her face turns hot at her flustered words. “Apologies, but I go by Persephone now.”

Hades raises an amused eyebrow and nods his head. “Alright then, Persephone.” Her name rolling off his tongue sends shivers down her back.

And then it becomes extremely quiet. The only sound made by either of them is their breathing, albeit Persephone’s is coming out a bit harsher than Hades'. He stares right at her, admiring her, but she’s too nervous to raise her eyes again and keeps them firmly on the ground. When Cerberus lets out another growl from somewhere, Persephone squeaks and shuffles even closer to Hades so she’s only a few inches away from him.

Hades brushes a stray hair behind Persephone’s ear, and then cups her cheek with his palm to raise her face to his. Persephone didn’t expect for his hand to be so warm in a place that’s too cold. As soon as her eyes connect with his again, she becomes mesmerized. When his eyes turn black as they had a week ago at the solstice, again Persephone doesn’t look away nor cower. She stays completely still, small breaths making their way through her slightly parted lips.

“Interesting,” Hades murmurs. He takes two steps back and puts his hand back to his side. “Moira will show you to your rooms.”

Persephone stares in shock when Hades steps into the darkness and then disappears altogether, almost like he was traveling through the shadows. A small cough causes Persephone to jump. She turns around to see an older woman who is practically see through, a spirit of the castle.

“Are you Moira?” Persephone asks, her voice still shaky.

“I am indeed, dear. Now if you wouldn’t mind following me.”

Moira takes a step into the castle, and after a bated breath, Persephone follows her.

+++

A week. Persephone has lived in the Underworld for a week now, and with every passing day regret rises in her stomach for making this decision. It’s way too chilly down here for her liking. No matter how many layers she puts on, she can’t get rid of the cold feeling that seems to seep into her bones. There’s nothing to do here either. There are a few books that were able to snag Persephone’s attention for the first few days she was here, but she loathes just sitting around all day every day. The only company she’s had has been Moira, and although she is very kind, it's clear that she would rather not partake in any conversation that expands past the things that would make Persephone more comfortable in her quarters. 

Perhaps if she had Hades to keep her company…

Immediately Persephone shakes that thought out of her head. What would they have to talk about? He makes her so anxious. Not to mention that he hasn’t checked in on her once since she arrived. Well, yes he does have Moira ask her how she feels, but he hasn’t checked in on her himself. She wouldn’t say she’s bitter, just slightly miffed. I mean, who offers someone a chance to escape from their overbearing parent to stay in their castle with them, and then doesn’t speak to them again after the initial greeting?

A loud clash rings from somewhere a few miles away, causing Persephone to jump in her spot on the bed, and reminds her of another reason for her dislike of this world. It terrifies her. Most creatures down here don’t have the best reputation up above, and she refuses to find out by herself whether or not they are true. She’s too scared to even leave her room, for what if she opens a random castle door to explore only to find a God-eating monster behind it. At least with her mother she was allowed to explore a section of the forests and fields, but if she were to go back now she knows she would lose that privilege for probably the rest of her life.

Persephone has no idea what to do. Should she stay confined to her rooms here, or in the rooms of her mother’s hut?

A knock on the door takes Persephone out of her thoughts. She knows it’s about the time that Moira serves Persephone dinner and for assurances that none of the food being fed to her was grown in the Underworld, therefore forcing Persephone to live in this hell forever. But when she opens the door Moira is not the spirit standing on the other side. No, it’s another spirit, a male, who looks as cheery as can be.

“Can I help you?” Persephone asks, voice meek, and hiding half of her frame behind the door.

“Lord Hades has requested your presence for dinner tonight. If you are to accept then I am to escort you to him immediately.”

“I…” Persephone starts. Wasn’t this what she wanted? Didn’t she want to get out of the room? Didn’t she want to finally spend some time with someone other that Moira, even if it’s Hades? “Yes. I will go to have dinner with… with Lord Hades.”

“Right this way then.” The spirit walks down the hall with a quick step, and Persephone almost has to jog to keep up with him. She’s almost out of breath when he stops her in front of a set of double doors. He went so fast and they turned way too many times for Persephone to be able to tell how to get back to her rooms. He opens a door for her and she takes a cautious step in.

The first thing Persephone notices about the room is how warm it is. Her eyes scanned the room to see a fire, a normal fire and not the green ones the torches are lit up with, and then Hades standing next to it. When he looks over his shoulder, away from the fire, the air leaves her lungs. She doesn’t even hear the door close behind her. She stays frozen, her feet rooted to the spot beneath her, when he takes a few steps towards her.

When he’s close enough, she realizes that his tunic is actually midnight blue instead of black. His curls are loose like he’d run his hands through them quite a few times throughout the day. His lips are a lot pinker than Persephone remembers them to be. And his eyes are still the same green she remembers, like a plant that just begins to grow at the beginning of springtime.

“Thank you for joining me,” Hades greets her, letting his arms gesture her towards her seat. Only then does she see the small circular table with different foods on it ready to be served. Hades sits directly across from her. Different spirits fly around to fill their plates.

“I’ll admit, I was quite surprised by the invitation.” Persephone can’t even look at him when she says this. But even without looking at him, she can practically feel the smirk on his face.

“Thought I forgot about you, hm?”

Her cheeks warm at this. She had thought that, multiple times in fact. She says nothing in response.

“Persephone,” he says, but she keeps her eyes firmly at the plate she’s still being served. “Persephone,” he says again, louder this time. Finally she looks up. The small flick of his lips, the small smile he gives her, makes her heart thud against her chest. “Believe me that I did not forget about you. There was some business I had to take care of that kept me away, but I will be at your disposal for the foreseeable future.

“What did you have to take care of?”

“It’s nothing you have to concern yourself with.”

“Was it about our marriage?” Persephone’s cheeks go from their earlier pink to a dark shade of red. She can’t keep his eye contact any longer and looks away again.

“How do you-”

“I may not have existed as long you have, Hades, but I know how Eros and Aphrodite work. They don’t set up one night things, they set up love and marriages.”

She sees him nod from the corner of her eye. “You are correct, that is what they do. But what I was doing had nothing to do with them or with us. And we don’t have to discuss any wedding or marriage details in the immediate future. There isn’t a rush on anything.”

Persephone nods, feeling even more the fool now. She takes a tentative bite of the food in front of her, not even taking a second to think about where it might have come from. It did taste like the food from Earth though, so she didn’t feel like she had to worry too much.

Hades reaches for her hand over the table. The touch surprises her for a moment, but she doesn’t take her hand out of his. His thumb rubs over her knuckles. “Moira told me you haven’t left your room much.”

“I just… I didn’t know where I could go,” she mumbled out.

Hades smiles and brings her hand to his lips, pressing a soft kiss to it. “You can go anywhere you want, Persephone.”

“But what if…” She cuts herself off. She didn’t want to sound childish. She knew other Goddesses wouldn’t fear the unknown of the world around her like she would. Athena, Artemis, even her mother would take hell by the horns and make it their own, quite literally.

“What if what?” Hades eyes implore hers. She lets out a quiet sigh.

“This world is different then mine above. The creatures are… different. I don’t know how they would react to me, and I didn’t want to take the chance of running into one that’s particularly nasty.”

Hades looks thoughtful as he lets go of her hand and picks up his fork. “Most creatures are misrepresented up above, or the stories about them are overly exaggerated to make other Gods seem more powerful than they actually are. But I could take you on a quick tour around the castle after we eat to show you that there isn’t anything to fear here.”

Persephone nods gratefully. “I would appreciate that. Thank you.” Having some direction around the castle would ease the regret in her stomach.

The dinner goes by quickly, but still very silent. It was a lot of back and forth glances and accidental eye contact and a darkening of Persephone’s cheeks. By the time the meal was over, she felt flushed all over.

Hades offers Persephone his arm, and she takes it. They take slow steps out of the room and into the hallway. He proceeded to show her different rooms from a library much more expansive than the one in her room, his court and throne, a back area covered in dark blue grass, and several others that she eventually lost track of over time. Knowing what was behind all of these doors, it made the entire castle less scary, and a little less cold.

“You can venture anywhere you want, Persephone. I don’t want you to feel like a prisoner here. My only request is that when you are by yourself you only go as far as the River Styx. There are much darker places here in the Underworld, and if you don’t know your way around then you could end up in a very bad place.”

“Like Tartarus?”

Hades nods solemnly. “Like Tartarus.”

She knows the story of Kronos, Hades' dad, and how he’d eaten all of his children except Zeus, who then proceeded to save his siblings later in life. Sometimes she wonders if the loud thunderous yelling she hears from time to time is him.

“I won’t go farther than the River Styx, then. Thank you for the tour, Lord Hades.” They stop in front of the doorway of her rooms.

“You can call me Harry.”

“I don’t-”

“You changed your name as an act of rebellion. I created a secret one for only the people I’m closest with can use. Even though they were created for different reasons, their use means truly something to each of us. Please, call me Harry.”

Persephone nods slowly. A small closed mouth smile graced her lips. “Alright then, Harry.”

Harry bows before her. Persephone thinks that’ll be all for the night, but before she can turn to open her door he leans forwards and presses a lingering kiss against her cheek. “Goodnight Persephone.” He whispers into her ear before disappearing down the hall.

Persephone stumbles into her room and shuts the door behind her. She falls back against the wood wondering what the hell had just happened, but clutches her cheek with her palm while butterflies tumble around her stomach.

~

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