Demeter, who has a way of finding needles in haystacks.
...
Hades all but forgets about the kidnapped goddess in his basement, but Demeter definitely doesn't.
She's a mother, after all. And mothers - mothers will tear holes out of their own hearts to patch up the scrapes in their child's.
And she knew that something was wrong the moment Persephone disappeared into the ground, but no one seemed to know what happened. Persephone gave off a glow and Demeter would always know where she was, but now, the glow was gone. It was covered by something, and Demeter couldn't find her daughter.
Demeter couldn't find her daughter.
Where could she have gone? Who could have taken her? What are they doing to her? She was always a rebellious girl, but she'd never been able to elude her mother before.
Demeter had always kept a tight hold on her daughter, and she should've known that the stupid girl would get into trouble as soon as she escaped her handmaidens.
What a stubborn, idiotic, ungrateful girl.
Demeter never should've given her that freedom - should've kept her locked up in the fucking house! Gods know what's happening to her - she could be in danger - or dead! - or pregnant - like Zeus had done to Demeter.
Demeter only wants the best for her daughter. She would give up anything she's ever had to see Persephone again.
Demeter gathers up her daughter's handmaidens and sends them off to the corners of the earth. She frets, paces, and screams. She's sure Zeus can hear her - if he's done anything, she swears he will eat his own shit-covered testicles like raisins.
...
Days go by.
And then weeks.
And then months.
One by one, all of the maidens return empty-handed. Demeter, rage seeping out her pores, sends them out again.
She doesn't eat, sleep, or tend to her crops. She lets herself wither away - she lets the earth wither away.
None of them return this time. Demeter would feel guilty if she wasn't so worried about her daughter; after all, she knows how much gods hate to be bothered. And she knows about their volatile temperaments.
No longer able to sit around and wait to receive word about Persephone, Demeter sets out herself. She scours the entirety of the earth, unaware that her daughter and her kidnapper were directly beneath her feet. She has a way of finding needles in haystacks. There isn't a single stone she leaves unturned or a nymph she leaves unquestioned.
Days go by. And then weeks.
And then months.
The soil stops producing plants. The trees stop growing and the leaves flutter from the branches. The ground erodes and the rivers flood - nothing grows on the earth. Demeter brings around a snowstorm that doesn't rest and a drought that doesn't end. People starve.
Demeter starves.
And Persephone, locked up in the Underworld, starves.
