One King

| Chapter 2 |

The courtyard was loud with the clanging of wood against wood and the Queen of the Underworld smiled at the sound. She walked through the decorative arch between the gardens and the courtyard, a woven basket full of fruit on her arm. Usually servants handled these sorts of things, but being the goddess of spring time refused her to allow them to do such things. The courtyard was large and covered in warm sand. Pillars carved in marble decorated the surrounding perimeter of the outdoor room. The roof extended onto them, providing a small porch on three sides of the courtyard. The other side was a wall with the decorative arch to the gardens. A couple stairs led up to the small porch on the three sides and various rooms lay on the other side of those porches.

The Queen's brown eyes landed on the two figures fighting each other in the sand. One of males was older, looking maybe about twenty six years of age to a mortal, and wore a simple white tunic with a golden rope belt around his waist. He was covered in sweat and his golden hair stuck to his forehead. Around his head, he wore a thin crown that he wore around the palace casually. The other male was younger, maybe around nineteen years old to mortals, and was an exact replica of the older man, save for the texture of his hair which was his mother's wild hair. His eyes were silver like his father's and held a wisdom to them that was reflected in his mother's. He wore a simple, golden, metal crown around his head, maybe only a centimeter thick that, like his father, wore around the palace. The two gods twirled their wooden swords and were frozen for a moment.

The Queen watched them with excitement as the father and son ran at each other, swords echoing loudly against each other. The son threw his sword at his father's legs, but the older god jumped above it, his foot knocking the sword out of his son's hands. The father, then, sliced through the air to his son's neck, but stopped centimeters away. The two gods smiled and laughed and the father lowered the sword.

"In the end, Scorpius, a Greeks true strength is the warrior next to him. So give respect and honor to him, and it will be returned to you," the father gave his son advice and the Queen walked toward them, "First, you fight with your head," the father touched the side of his son's head as he said this.

"Then you fight with your heart," the Queen said as she came up on them, standing closer to the older god.

The younger god turned to look at the Queen, a smile on his face, "Mother!" and he took her in his arms. The Queen wrapped her arms around her son, her nose flooded with his smell, "I missed you."

"I missed you, too, my son," the Queen said and released him. She looked him over, "My, my, you certainly look more and more like your father each time I come back. You probably have his stamina, too."

"Mother," her son simply rolled his eyes, "I'm only a century old," though he looked like a nineteen.

She laughed. She turned to the older god, her brown eyes glowing with love, lust, and affection. She turned back to her son, "Could you give your father and I some space, Scorpius?" Scorpius simply smirked and turned on the ball of his feet and walked back into the palace to join his brother and sisters. The Queen turned to her husband, a smile on her face.

The blonde god swept up his wife in his arms, burying his nose in her hair, inhaling her scent, "You're here."

"Of course," she smiled and the two immortals leaned away to look at one another, "Mother sends her love."

The blonde god scoffed, "Love, indeed."

The Queen simply rolled her eyes, "How have things gone in the four months I was gone?"

"Horrible," the blonde god exaggerated and his hand cupped her cheek, "It was absolutely horrible. Having to get off on simply memories of you was the worst thing ever," and she laughed.

Raising her hands, she cupped her husband's face, "Well, how about we make some new memories?" and she rose up on her toes, their lips meeting. The King of the Underworld moaned into his wife's mouth, his hands clutching at her hips and no doubt bruising her skin in the process. She pulled at his white blonde hair slowly, pulling her body up against his. Reluctantly, she pulled away. She looked into the silver eyes of her husband, "I missed you, Draco (Hades)."

Draco smirked and leaned down, his lips brushing hers quickly, "I think I missed you more, Hermione (Persephone)," and with a grasp of his hands, Hermione led Draco away from the palace and deep within the gardens surrounding the Palace of the Underworld.