Pomegranate Seeds ( ✓ )

I : Pomegranate Seeds

Most stories will tell you that Persephone was a prisoner in her husband's palace. They will say that she was dragged from the world above against her will and could not speak as the God of the Underworld defiled her. They will say that she was an innocent child, and that she was weak. These were the stories Demeter wanted you to believe: stories in which her daughter didn't fall in love with a man doomed to a life of shadows and gloom. That she wasn't happy, nor capable of power ー that she couldn't possibly follow through with what was expected of her as a queen. Demeter would never tell you that her daughter was only a prisoner in the world above, and that Hades had freed her.

It was the height of summer when they first met, under the shade of an oak whose branches dangled over a crystal lake. Persephone had been told to study the flora of the area surrounding her, writing little notes for herself based on what she saw. She had traversed these same paths for years, even making a few of them herself, and she felt as if there was only so much left to be said. This was Sicily, her mother's patron land. The very place she had been lectured on since birth. The place she never left.

She longed to make her way to Olympus. She wished to speak with the gods who her mother spoke of so animatedly, —and sometimes angrily— about. She'd never seen such disdain on her mother's face as the day she asked her to meet Zeus, who she knew to be her father. Demeter declared that she would be dead before she let her daughter anywhere near the King of the Gods. Her mother had told her stories of the horrid things the gods they had done to women, mortal and immortal alike. Still, Persephone's curiosity never wavered.

The water rippled beside her, and a naiad nereid poked her head up from beneath the surface. She giggled and splashed the young goddess, who gasped before submerging her hand and splashing her back. They humored each other for a while until the first crack of thunder echoed across the valley. The sky's vibrant blue faded, and the sun disappeared, giving way to the darkness of an incoming storm. The wind picked up across the water and Persephone shivered against the unusual cold, her dampened chiton not helping the chill settling into her bones.

The ground rumbled then, deep within the earth. He emerged on a chariot encrusted with gold, pulled by four horses each more terrifying than the last. Their manes were made of hellfire, high flames which threatened to singe the trees as he rode towards her. They whinnied a lethal cry, their sharp hooves digging through the grass as they stampeded closer. He set the reins down, pulled a golden helmet from his head and shook his long, black curls onto his broad shoulders. His robes were dark, stitched with unmemorable souls that reached out towards her as he stepped down from his perch.

The naiad shrieked and submerged herself, a single bubble popping on the water's surface. Persephone's eyes widened, mouth agape as the man he stepped ever-closer to her. His eyes were black as night, his smile cruel. Still, she found him handsome. "Don't you know you're meant to bow when in the presence of royalty?"

Her shocked expression faltered. A frown covered her face. "You're no more royal than I am. You're on my land. You should be the one bowing to me."

"I take it you are Persephone then," the stranger noted.

"And you are Lord Hades," she concurred. "Or Thanatos. It's hard to tell you two apart, given one's God of the Dead and one's God of Death."

"I'm Hades," the god grumbled, large nose flaring as he glared at her. "I rule the Underworld, he just brings me more subjects."

"His title is still better than yours," she smirked. He grimaced, watching as she circled him slowly. Her eyes glanced back at the chariot, towards the horses grazing around the trees. The nymphs swatted their faces away, worried more about the fire than the god's presence. "Why are you here?"

"Persephone!" Demeter's voice boomed over the valley. "It's time to come home!"

"To see your mother," Hades gestured in the direction that the goddess' voice had come from. "Perhaps you could take me?"
Persephone sighed, kneeling to gather her notes from earlier. She noticed the grass had turned yellow where he stood. "I suppose I could. You'll have to move your horses though."

"I'll bring them!" Hades declared, already stepping closer to his chariot. He paused. "Is it far? Would you like a ride?"

"Just over the valley there." Persephone pointed towards one of the lower peaks of the beautiful Mount Etna. Thunder cracked again and she frowned, not wanting to get caught in the rain. "I would appreciate a ride, thank you."

Hades took her hand, guiding her up into the chariot and as he stepped around her, hand on the small of her back. He felt warm and comforting, something she would not expect from someone of his many titles and the stories she'd grown up with. He moved his hand a moment later, reaching for the reins. They took off at once at a dizzying speed. The young goddess clutched herself clutching to Hades' arm, burying her face against his shoulder while still trying to mutter out weak instructions.

They were at her home before long, though they stood there a moment longer as she willed herself away from him. When she found the courage to meet his eyes again, his cheeks were tinted red like pomegranate seeds. "We should head inside," she whispered.

She led him into her home, and she called out to her mother. Demeter was seated on her throne when the pair entered. She smiled warmly at her daughter before noticing the third person in the room; her lips tightened. A million thoughts raced in her mind. The pair had come in standing so close to each other, like old friends or... lovers. The goddess didn't even want to entertain the thought.

"Why have you come?"

"Olympus grows restless," Hades began. "It has to have, for them to have sent someone like me to bear the news. It's about Persephone."

"Do not address her like you are friends. She is nothing to you."

"You know why I'm here, Demeter," Hades spoke over her, a stern look on his face. Persephone's eyes flashed wildly between her mother and their visitor. "The girl has not taken a vow of chastity like Athena or Artemis. She is to be wed."

"Married? To whom?" Persephone asked.

"I'd sooner see her take the vow than marry any of them," Demeter seethed.

"It isn't your choice," the god snapped and turned to the young goddess. "There are many eligible candidates on Olympus. Surely someone has caught your fancy."

"I've never been to Olympus," Persephone admitted sheepishly. "You're the first god I've met."

"Oh," Hades faltered. The back of his neck turned pink.

"Enough," Demeter huffed. "How dare you come here and tell me that I have no claim over what my daughter does. I'm the one whose opinion should count the most."

"You were married once, Mother," Persephone argued. She found that she couldn't look away from Hades for long. "You were happy and in love once. Surely you'd want that for me."

"To love someone is to lose yourself," Demeter reasoned. "I would rather have my daughter whole than only half. Love blinds us. It bitters us."

"The choice is yours, Persephone," Hades' tone was firm. "Your mother lost the one she loved and she chose not to pursue anyone else. She chose to let it bitter her. She is trying to limit you from ever experiencing that love ー from the possibility of it working out. I believe you are fully capable of finding someone who will choose you day after day and never leave you."

"That... That sounds nice. Your wife is a very lucky woman to have found someone who views love like that," Persephone tried to hide the frown creeping at the corners of her lips.

"I'm not married, actually," Hades admitted.

"Oh," the goddess said, voice barely above a whisper. Her cheeks were flushed once more as her eyes met his. He remembered when he had first taken her hand by the water. The way she had shivered at his every touch and refused to leave him after the chariot stopped. She had felt it too. An unspoken conversation happened between them: an eternity of promises and sentiments they could not voice. He would fight for her, every single day to show her the love that she was worthy of. To prove to her the possibility of finding someone so perfectly matched for them that it just makes sense to be together. She vowed to do the same. "I think I'd like to give it a try."