A/N: this is Hades's perspective on the chapter after Persephone agrees to keep him company. I hope you enjoy and thank you again for reading. You all are amazing.
HADES'S POV
I knew so little about Persephone because before she didn't want me to know anything. I understood that. But after that night at dinner, I didn't know how to navigate the rush of joy that came with her changing her mind, or the excitement I felt to finally have someone to talk to.
I didn't tell her that I wanted her as my wife to try to force her hand—I only wanted her to know that I wasn't planning to hurt her—but I wanted to show her that I liked friendship just as well because mind was thrilling.
What I did know was that she was curious about everything. Better yet, she had never seen the Underworld before.
"The river Styx is one of the many ways I keep mortals from defying the fates," I said, leading her out from the caverns. She had only seen the open spaces the day I took her, but I hadn't forgotten her amazement at the night sky.
Today, she knelt beside the river bank and gaped at its churning waters. The Styx was a blue close to the blackness of ink, but its water crashed with a mind of its own, capping the waves with white foam. It was fast enough to be alive and dangerous enough to mean death. I knew it as well as I knew my brothers.
And Persephone was so enthralled by it that I might have thought she would dive in if I didn't find her so clever.
"You really shouldn't swim." I teased.
"Have you tried?" she laughed, but I knew she wanted an answer. Remembering her disdain for the gods who were actively trying to claim her hand, I decided to humor her with a story. One I thought she would enjoy.
"No. Athena once made Ares drink and he was silent for seven years."
"I'm sure they were the happiest in Olympus," she scoffed.
I fought a grin and led her down the river bank. There was so much I wanted her to see. No one ever appreciated the beauty of this land, and yet there was so much to be found. Even at the river Kokytos.
She stopped beside it, and turned to me with a flat amusement. This was the first day she left her hair down and it blew in wild tangles damp from the river water. Even standing on weeds rooted in the muddy bank, she had never looked so beautiful.
"This is the most horrible river I have ever seen," she said.
I chuckled. "You cannot use your eyes with the Kokytos. Come here and I'll show you."
I crouched beside the waters which were, admittedly, horrible. Persephone knelt beside me, but was apparently still dissatisfied with her view. I smiled to myself as she laid on her stomach and dug her elbows in, so her face was close beside the water. I knew she could hear the whispering.
"What is this?" she asked.
I lowered myself beside her so we were both laying in the obsidian sand, peering into the Kokytos.
"Take your your hands like this," I cupped mine behind my ears as an example.
She narrowed her eyes, and pursed her lips into a skeptical smile. "You wouldn't be trying to make me look foolish, would you?"
"No, I wouldn't demonstrate if that were the case," I replied.
She laughed again, and I forced my gaze back to the water so she wouldn't see the effect it had. For years, I hadn't heard the sound of happiness in the Underworld, and it was spectacular.
She humored me and put her hands behind her ears.
"It's...screaming," she gasped. Her eyebrows furrowed as she listened closer.
"This is the river of lost souls," I explained. Her face opened with horror, but I pressed on, "Charon cannot take them without the correct rites. I come here at the end of each moon to release them to the judges."
"You help them? They don't stay trapped here forever?" she repeated.
What power she had over my emotions. Of course Persephone was still an Olympian, no matter how often I forgot that. She was not used to mortal suffering, and her life in the sun wouldn't be forgotten by one good day. I didn't want her to forget, but her horror shattered any illusions she might find beauty in this world as well.
"No," I said. "No one can stay trapped here forever."
A long silence passed between us and I watched as she listened to the river's screaming. She kept her gaze deliberately on the waters, and not me.
"Are they scared?" she asked, and reached her hand forward. I caught her wrist before I could think. Her pulse quickened and she clenched her fist.
"Be careful. They're sometimes desperate enough to grab onto shadows. They'll try to drag you in," I warned, finally letting her go. "And yes, they are scared. But fear doesn't last forever either."
I rose and took my leave, dusted all over with sand. She glanced back at me, but turned towards the river again, her hands still primed to hear the crying souls. I dared to wonder if she would like to release them herself one day. Maybe she would be satisfied in the quiet, away from the cruel world of Zeus's house.
But I knew these thoughts were foolish because I meant what I said. No one could stay trapped here forever. And Persephone would never choose to stay.
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Hades and Persephone: A Fated Love
Romance"You can have anything you want," He plucked the ripest for me from the tree. "Everything in my world is yours." With all of my mother's warnings, I had been afraid to eat from his table or drink his wine. These were binding things, and I would sta...
