TWO
“How long have you been here, Moira?”
“Just short of five years,” Moira answers as she straightens out the sheets on Persephone’s bed.
Persephone stands to the side of the room in front of a mirror, braiding her hair. She has figured out in the last few days that if she wants to have a conversation with Moira then she has to be the one asking the questions and give up information about herself without being asked for it back. She doesn’t mind it, really. Although she feels more comfortable wandering around the castle since Hades gave her that tour four days ago, Moira is still the only one Persephone speaks to on a daily basis. Unless you would count the notes Hades has been leaving for her every night wishing her the sweetest of dreams.
“Why are you stuck here then as a spirit doing housework rather than another part of the Underworld?”
Another great thing about Moira, she always answered Persephone with the complete and honest truth.
“When I left the world above to come down here I didn’t leave on the best of terms. My crimes were very minor and did not deserve the Mourning Fields, at least that’s how Lord Hades had phrased it. He offered me a chance to stay in the castle and work in exchange that I may one day be born again in the world above. It’s a very good deal, and very few are actually offered it.”
“How long must you work here then?”
“Three hundred years.”
Persephone turns around and looks at Moira with raised eyebrows. “Isn’t that quite a long time?”
Moira shakes her head as she presses out the last of the wrinkles in the sheets. “I don’t think so, not compared with the eternity of mourning I could have gone through instead.”
Persephone nods thoughtfully. She thinks about asking Moira of her crimes, knowing that she would get the answer, but instead decides that would be going too far. At least this early in their friendship.
“Do you like working here?”
“Lord Hades is ever so generous. To me and all of the other spirits. He treats us very kindly unlike other Gods and Goddesses we have encountered down here from time to time.”
Persephone adjusts her tunic. Since she hadn’t had time to pack any of her own before she came down here, Moira has been making her some. She had a variety of colors to work with, but they all tended to be darker shades of the spectrum. The dark red one she’s wearing currently reminds her of the dahlias her mother had taught her how to grow. The sandals she’s wearing are the same color.
“I don’t plan on being away from the room for too long today. But I do hope you have a good day, Moira.”
“And you, milady.” Moira opens the doors for her.
Persephone grazes her fingertips against the walls as she slowly strolls through the hallways. To be frank, she still isn’t entirely sure where everything is, but day by day she has been able to map out a few of her favorite spots in her head. Every day she takes a new route that she hasn’t gone before, and every day is like a new adventure for her.
Coming up to her left, she spots an archway with the green fire lighting up the room brighter than any other room she has been in. She slows her steps in front of it before peeking her head around the opening. A side entrance to Hades' throne room. Spirits littered all around the room, some forming a line in front of the throne.
The throne itself stood about a dozen feet off the ground with a small staircase wrapping around the base of it, spiraling until it met the chair. The back of it rose up several more feet with spikes peeking out at the top. It looked to have been made up of black diamonds. It didn’t look exactly comfortable to Persephone, but Hades lounged in the chair without a problem.
Hades' curls framed his face, a few falling in front of his eyes and the rest held back by a metallic crown of sorts. His black tunic reaches all the way down to his ankles. He held his weapon of choice in one of his hands, the bident. He’s staring down intently below him, and only then does Persephone realize he’s holding court. A spirit below him is making his case on where he believes he should be sent in his afterlife.
“You’ve been here three times past, Adrian. Unfortunately my decision has been made. You must go to the Mourning Fields for-”
“But Lord Hades!” Adrian speaks out, making his voice louder than the king's.
Persephone takes a step back. She’s seen this type of scene one too many times before with Zeus on Olympus. Nobody dare disrupt the king, unless you want to be struck with lightning ten thousand times over. Persephone doesn’t even know what Hades could do to the man. He could kill him just to bring him back to life just to kill him all over again. He could send the man to Tartarus where this man would be torn apart by the Titans trapped down there. He could-
“Adrian, please. You treated your wife very poorly on the ground above. You don’t deserve the Elysium Fields, nor do you deserve a spot on my staff to work off a debt.”
-respond calmly?
“My wife forgave me for my misgivings. I stayed faithful to her after the first mishap.”
“You forget, Adrian.” Hades stands, holding his bident tightly to his side. “Just because your wife believes that does not mean I do.”
“If I could come back-”
Hades waves a hand in a dismissive nature. “You can come back day and day again, but my answer will never change. I am done with court today. We will resume first thing tomorrow.”
Hades watches as spirits slowly start to filter out of the room. Persephone stays half hidden in the archway to his left. When most spirits are gone, Persephone makes to leave but only gets in one step before she’s stopped.
“You don’t have to hide, you know. You’re allowed in here at anytime, no matter what’s happening.”
Persephone’s cheeks redden, reluctantly taking a step into the room although she knew she had to now that she’d been caught. Heavy doors clang shut once the last spirit has left the room.
“I didn’t want to be a bother.”
“No bother at all.” Hades takes slow steps down from his throne.
Persephone bites her lip, unsure whether or not to speak up. When Hades stands only a few feet away from her he looks at her with a raised eyebrow.
“What is it that’s on your mind?”
“Why don’t you just force that man to go to the Mourning Field? Zeus wouldn’t let that man come back once.”
Hades nods thoughtfully. He walks to the side to put his bident away in a glass case. “It’s better when they move on on their own terms. Sooner or later, he’ll accept the ruling and go. Until then, I’ll just have to deal with him in my court.”
“That’s… different,” Persephone adds slowly. “Most of the other Gods don’t have the patience. None of them, actually.”
“I do pride myself on being different than my brothers and their families.”
“The other spirits here, they were also waiting for a ruling?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t… Well… If you stopped court because you noticed me watching you didn’t need to.”
Hades shakes his head, an amused smile playing across his lips. “I will admit, you being here was a nice excuse to end for the day. But death never stops and this room will always be filled no matter how many hours a day I spend here.”
“Well I should… I don’t want to bother you anymore-”
He silences her with one solemn look. “As I said before, you aren’t a bother. I wish you would stop seeing yourself as such.”
“I… I’m sorry.” Peresphone looks down. Her cheeks are flushed and her hands are clenched together behind her back. She almost feels like she wants to cry, and she doesn’t know why. She doesn’t really know what she’s apologizing for either. But his words made her feel some type of disappointment in herself.
Hades lets out the softest of sighs. She peeks up at him through the few strands of hair that have fallen in front of her face. He smiles, gently, and beckons her towards him. She takes a tentative step forward, and then another when he beckons her again, up until she’s standing right in front of him. He cups her cheek with his palm and keeps her face looking towards his.
“You have nothing to be sorry for. You tiptoe around me as if at any minute I could explode. I’ll admit that at times I’m not the most patient of Gods, but I’d never take any anger out on you. You’re worth more than you let yourself believe, or what your mother let you believe.”
Persephone bites her lip. Again she feels like crying. She says nothing in response, she doesn’t know what she could say. Like he could feel her emotions, or probably see them playing right along her face, he changes the subject.
He shifts them so he can wrap an arm around her shoulders and then leads her out of the room the way she’d come. “Come along. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
***
Persephone’s hands are covered in dirt. Her tunic is stained with it. With each new batch of flowers that release from the dirt and grow tall by the powers from her hands, it becomes a little easier for her to breathe down here.
Hades’, or Harry as he’s reminded her, surprise was a decent sized patch of dirt right outside the back of the castle. At first she didn’t understand what was such a surprise about this? But then he told her it was hers to decorate as she pleased. Her very own garden.
She doesn’t know how long they’ve been here. Time has been hard for Persephone to track while down here, relying on the times of her meals to let her know what time of day it is, but Harry hasn’t interrupted her since she started. At first, he watched her with intent and interested eyes as she brought life from the ground. A God constantly surrounded by death, Persephone wonders if he’s ever seen life enter this world at all, in any form. But once she started moving around more, skipping from one end of the garden to the other with flowers sprouting up everywhere her toes touched, Harry wandered away from her. He took time with every batch of flowers she created. He felt them, smelled them, studied their colors and the way they were shaped. Persephone had to admit, she found it quite endearing.
“What you do is… beautiful,” Harry admits as he comes up to Persephone from behind. She just finished a batch of sunflowers and was looking around for an empty spot. She couldn’t find one.
Persephone shrugs. “It’s not much, compared to what the other Gods and Goddesses can do.”
“It’s everything.” Harry tells her instead and takes the spot next to her, looking over her work as she was now. “Life isn’t worth living without some sort of beauty in it, and you help create that.”
Persephone flushes. “You’re too kind.”
Hades looks down at her, a soft look in his eyes. “I’d say I’m not being kind enough. The word beautiful doesn’t feel eloquent enough for what I just witnessed, but it’s the only one that can come to mind.”
“I didn’t think I’d fill it up this quickly.”
“I’ll send some spirits to add an extension onto it later.”
“No, there’s no need. I can work with this space.”
“I’ve got the extra land, Persephone, just waiting to be used. It should go to you.”
“Well, thank you.”
Harry grins, his smile almost blinding. “Let’s head in now, yeah? It’s gotten quite late and you haven’t eaten yet.” He holds out his hand, and Persephone takes it without a second thought. With each minute, she was feeling more comfortable around him.
He leads her back into the castle, and then back into her room. She thought maybe they’d eat together, but then realizes she’s probably taken up too much of his time today already with all the work she’s done in the garden. Still, disappointment clings to the sides of her stomach.
Moira opens the bedroom door from the other side, but Persephone doesn’t move when Harry lets go of her hand.
“Will I be seeing you tomorrow?”
Harry’s lips tilt up into a smirk and his eyes light with mischief. “If you can find me.”
“Is that a challenge? Just so you know, I’m a natural born winner.”
Harry laughs, an actual full belly laugh. It echoes throughout the quiet halls. Persephone nearly explodes on the spot. She doesn’t know what caused her to speak like that, so boldly compared to how shy she’s been for most of the day. But it’s all worth it to her now.
He leans forwards so they're eye level. His mouth is only a few inches away from hers. It knocks the breath of of Persephone, having his eyes shining right into hers. She thinks he’s going to kiss her. She wouldn’t say no. She’d swim in the memory of this kiss for days, months even.
“We’ll see about that,” he whispers. Then he stands up straight, grinning at Persephone’s open mouthed look. He laughs again and winks, before turning away and leaving her there dumbstruck.
She would win. Persephone would always win, because she knows as much as Harry would enjoy the competition, he’d enjoy being in her presence even more. So he could try holding out for as long as he could, hide away in the shadows where she couldn’t see, but always, he’d make himself known. But really, weren’t they both winning at that point?
~
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