Pɾιɳƈҽʂʂ σϝ ƚԋҽ Dαɱɳҽԃ

ǟ ʄǟʍɨʟʏ ɢɛȶ ȶօɢɛȶɦɛʀ

Last time on Princess of the Damned~

"It's not safe to be walking alone child," A calm motherly voice said in her head. The tone instantly put her on edge, between her own mother and Belle, motherly wasn't something she was all too excited about.

She whipped around, "Whose there?" She snapped immediately on guard. "I know you're watching me," she glared around at the seemingly empty ally way. "Show yourself."

A figure shimmered into existence with a breeze that smelled like the palace gardens did at the start of spring. She squinted. A beautiful woman of a dark tanned complexion, dark curled hair falling over one shoulder and eyes like blooming flowers changing between a mirage of colors before settling on a bright yellow-orange was in front of her. Instead of being in a traditional Hellenic dress, golden bracelets and sandals like she had come to expect of the deities this one was in black pants, combat boots and a leather jacket. In fact, she reminded Holly a lot of her father.

Holly wanted to be surprised at how the Goddess looked, especially since it was currently spring. In most depictions she only wears dark colors when its winter, when she's in the underworld with her loving husband. But she wasn't given how her father claimed the two of them switched to mortal dress around the 1500's. Beyond that though something in the goddess eyes told Holly that 20 years apart had done a number on Goddess and this way of dress was how she felt connected to him.

Though Holly wasn't sure how Queen Persephone could possibly be here right now.

~~~

"As I said before my dear, it's not safe to be walking alone. Not here and especially not for you," The goddess wore a kind smile and had kinder eyes despite the clear exhaustion in them. 

Holly wanted to be defiant she wanted to snap that she had ran these streets as a child and would never fear her home. She wanted to turn her back on the goddess as she felt the goddess had done to her, Mal and Hadie. If she could be here now, where had she been while Mal was suffering with her mother? Where was she when Hadie was hungry? Where was she when Holly prayed that the seeds that she found in the little fruit they had would grow? Where had she been all these years?

Instead, though Holly found herself kneeling. This was a Goddess, and she was not so foolish to think that Persephone couldn't and wouldn't kill her in an instant. It was the way of the gods' mortals meant very little to them especially mortals born of their spouses to another. failed magical experiment or not Holly was another womans child.

The goddess kneeled next to her and offered her a hand, "My dear there is no need to bow to me," she helped the girl rise to her feet. 

"What are you doing here?" Holly wanted to smack herself of all the things to say and ask a=the elusive goddess the first time she met her, that was the best she came up with. 

Persephone chuckled, "I had been watching over you, as well as your brother and sister. I'm not supposed to interfere, but I don't think Zues will mind if I pop in for a quick visit seeing as he did the same for Heracles all those millennia's ago. Especially since this time I actually made it on to this us forsaken Island."

"You've tried to get here before?" Holly asked with wide eyes. Realizing she was still holding the goddess's hands she ripped them away as if Persephone burned her. 

The Queen wasn't offended in the slightest, "Oh yes, I had been trying for ages to get here. This place has been locked up tightly. The barrier around it seems to be weakening though." She placed a hand on her chin and looked around, "I'm not sure why actually." She muttered to herself about the technicalities of the magical imprisonment. Holly didn't know what to do, she stood there dumbfounded. What do you do when the parental figure you though abandoned you and their supposedly loving spouse reveals that they had been looking for you for a while. Persephone shook her head, "Every time one of you three were mistreated, any time one of you ask me for help, I tried," her eyes softened, and her shoulders slumped. She could see the years of wear and tear on the queen. 20 years was only a blink to the gods but clearly Persephone hadn't felt the same, it was as if every day apart from her husband had caused her immense physical pain. All of it showed on her face.