Reversal [by TheSuperSass]

Chapter 7

In the world above, Demeter stewed with anger. Plenty of times she had let Persephone wander the fields all day without checking in with her. She had stopped rushing out in panic when she didn't see him for several hours, often finding him asleep. The older he got, the longer she had let him on his own. But this time she had given him an inch, and he'd taken a mile. Never had he spent the entire night sleeping in the field. By the time she had gone out looking for him, it was too dark to see, so she waited until the morning to find him, waking in renewed anger that he had still not returned.

The grain goddess marched out into the sunlight, narrowed eyes scanning across the plain. Where could he have possibly gone and what could have been so important he felt the need to completely disregard her feelings? But the longer she searched and found nothing, the faster her annoyance faded. She had always worried he would somehow come across the lechery of Olympus, whether it be some goddess chasing after him or the cruelty of the gossiping tongues who did not think flowers to be the domain of a "true man." Nothing sinister had ever happened to him, so it never occurred to her that it might.

The meadow was unusually quiet: his energy was loud, enthusiast, cheerful, and he was easy to spot from a distance. Her mind was busy racing when she abruptly tripped over a jagged patch of Earth. She looked up, bewildered, to find a deep gash in the dirt. The scene in front of her was troubling: an enormous tear in the soil, a trail of smashed and flattened grass. Something had happened here. She followed the path, lifting her skirts and racing forward only to find it abruptly stopped with another tear in the ground. On the top of the brown Earth, there was a tiny glimmer of red. She bent down, picking up the pomegranate pin she had seen him wearing with shaking hands.

Her dull sense of dread sharpened to an acute fear. She looked around desperately for help, finding no one to turn to, no witnesses to call upon. When she turned, the sun glared in her eyes.

Above in Olympus, Helios startled to find Demeter rushing upon her suddenly. It was a strange sight, considering Demeter was rarely seen at all in Olympus. But most jarring was the panicked, worry drawn into the lines of her face. Helios' stomach dropped.

"Helios!" she demanded, her voice panicked. "Have you seen Persephone?"

Helios looked away, trying to quickly think of a way out of this interaction. This was all Aphrodite's idea, yet he wasn't the one having to deal with the consequences.

"I don't think so..." she hedged, feigning ignorance as she tried to walk from the room.

"Helios please," she pressed, chasing after her and grabbing her shoulder "He's always in the fields, you must have seen something!" Helios pulled out of her grasp.

"Have you tried looking for him in--"

"I've looked everywhere!" she wailed. "He's gone! S-something, in the field, something happened to him!"

"I must not have been looking yesterday, I--"

"It was a sunny day yesterday, you must have seen!" Demeter insisted, following close behind her. "Please, help me!" she begged. "My boy is all I have Helios, please!"

Helios made a backwards glance at her and regretted it. As much as she didn't want to be the one to tell Demeter, it would be cruel to leave her like this: searching, wandering, worrying when instead the truth could dispel her anxiety. After all, he likely wasn't hurt ... he was just ... gone. The sun goddess sighed. How could she possibly explain what she'd seen?

"Yesterday, in the field..." The worried mother looked at her intently. "Hades...took Persephone." Demeter stood still in shock, her eyes wide.

"With her ... to the Underworld." Helios added. All Demeter's breath left her as she fell to her knees.