the song of persephone ♡ ziall/niam au [COMPLETE]

deux

"why did you need to call hades?" niall asked his mother the following morning. the sky was a bit cloudy, which was unusual, but his mother seemed a bit sad, so niall could understand.

"i was paranoid," demeter answered, setting a plate in front of niall's seat. "when you said you felt someone watching you...i got nervous. but everything is fine, niall." niall hesitated, staring at her suspiciously. she wasn't acting right. niall knew something was wrong.

"mother? what's wrong?" he crossed the room to put a hand on her arm, to try and console her, but she just gave him a small smile and shook her head.

"everything's okay, niall. you eat your breakfast so you can go finish your flower crown, okay?"

"okay," niall said quietly, still eyeing her carefully, still not convinced that nothing was wrong.

~ ~ ~

after breakfast, niall went out to the fields, just like his mother had requested. he still felt iffy about the way she'd been acting, and kept glancing over his shoulder as he picked flowers for his crown. he'd gathered all the flowers he needed, and was turning around to go back into the house when he bumped directly into someone.

"oh!" he gasped, and would have fallen if the person hadn't caught him by his shoulders.

"i'm sorry, are you okay?" a male voice asked, and when niall looked up, his blood ran cold. somehow, just from looking at his face, he knew this man was the king of the underworld.

"l-liam," niall stammered, face warm, hardly believing he was here. he was so confused. "what are you doing here?"

liam just smiled. "i didn't mean to frighten you, niall. i'm sorry. i'm just here to see your mother."

niall felt flustered. he'd spent his whole life on this island, and it was weird interacting with someone that wasn't his mother. he was also pretty overwhelmed at how attractive liam was when he smiled.

"oh...okay. you can follow me," niall chirped shyly, giving liam a tiny smile. liam smiled back and adjusted the crown on niall's head, smile deepening when niall's cheeks pinked.

"lead the way," liam nodded, gesturing for niall to lead the way to the house. so niall did, humming softly the whole way there. liam couldn't keep the smile off of his face. niall was so soft, so warm and pink, full of life. he was exactly what liam wanted — what liam needed, and he knew demeter knew that. that was why she'd hidden him.

"mother," niall called when they made it to the house. he'd giggled when they'd walked through the doorway; liam had seemed too dark for their soft, pastel home. it was so comical that niall laughed aloud, and liam cracked a smile. "someone's here to see you."

"someone's here?" demeter repeated, leaving the kitchen to see who niall was talking about. upon seeing liam, the blood drained from demeter's face. "niall," she said sharply, in a tone she'd never used with him, "go upstairs please."

"but, mother—"

"go!" she snapped, and niall felt like something had shattered inside him. so went up to his room, but he pressed his ear to the door so that he could hear as much of their conversation as he could.

he could only hear snippets of their conversation. he heard his own name a few times, angrily, from his mother's mouth, and calmly from liam's. he was so confused and frustrated that he'd been excluded from their conversation that was so obviously about him. he yanked the door open, about to go down there and stand up for himself, when liam said something that stopped him.

"demeter, you can't hide him from the world. that isn't fair. there is a lot out there that he deserves to learn and see and explore." liam's voice sounded so...disappointed, as if demeter had failed niall in the way that she'd raised him.

"you know i'm just trying to protect him, liam. don't you lecture me about how I'm raising my son. i'm doing my best here. don't come back here, liam, or i swear, i will kill you." niall heard his mother slam the door shut behind him, and niall slowly made his way down the stairs.

"what did he want?" he asked carefully, not understanding what had his mother so upset. he felt like he was one hundred percent out of the loop.

demeter sighed. "don't worry about it, ni. he won't be back." she leaned down and kissed niall's forehead. "you've nothing to worry about."

niall couldn't help but feel like that was untrue.