Seeds: Hades and Persephone

Twelve

My friend was having a bad day so I texted her and told her that I was gonna do anything to make her have a good day today, so I wrote the next chapter! Ily MK

Enjoy!

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Persephone heard the screams before she could identify them. A chill went through Persephone when she heard them and she quickly gripped Hades' hand. He squeezed her hand, giving her reassurance.

"We still have time to turn back," Hades said, gesturing towards the small hill obstructing their view.

"No." Persephone said, filled with renewed determination. "If I can't handle The Fields of Punishment, I am officially weak. And I'm not weak. So let's go." She began walking faster, Hades trailing a little behind, linked only by their hands.

The crest of the hill began slowly lowering in her field of vision. When they reached the top of the hill, she stopped. The first thing she noticed was the strange absence of elevated ground. The ground was abnormally flat. The occupants of the field suddenly made themselves known to her. To her right she noticed a man straining to push a large circular rock up the opposite side of the hill they had just climbed.

"Who is that?" She leaned towards Hades, hushing her words in case the man heard her.

"That, right there, is Sisyphus." Hades said. "He tried to cheat death. Worked for a while too," He continued casually. "Led Thanatos on a merry chase. When he finally caught him, he was so angry he banished him to The Fields of Punishment, even before he'd been judged."

Persephone was strangely fascinated. "How? Can we talk to him?"

"I don't think that's a good..." Hades trailed off, as Persephone was already making her way towards the man.

"Excuse me?" She said softly, as not to disturb him; he looked intent on his work.

The man looked up, eyeing her unashamedly. Persephone took a step back as she saw the feral look in his aged eyes. His hair was tangled and matted and his chest glistened with sweat. When he saw Persephone, a look of uncontrollable hunger burned in his eyes.

"Who might you be, little one?" He crooned, pausing from his work and leaning heavily on the stone behind him.

Her stomach turned at the sight of the gleam in his eye, and made a quick decision to disclose as little as possible to this man. "Not important." She breezed.

"Why are you here, and alone, I may add?"

At "alone," Persephone turned to see where Hades was, but to her surprise, he was nowhere to be found. Where was he? She turned back to Sisyphus, a little afraid, but she kept her cool physique.

"Just visiting." She said airily. "So tell me, Sisyphus, what's your story? How did you get here?"

He smiled, a disgusting smile, with broken, yellow teeth on display. Disgust roiled within her. "And why would someone such as yourself be asking?" His suggesting tone made her want to vomit.

She thought fast. "I'm, ah, conducting a survey."

He raised a bushy eyebrow. "A survey about what?" He asked suspiciously.

She thought hard, but her mind gave her nothing. "Just tell me, Sisyphus." She ordered.

His sallow eyes narrowed. Not at her, but at something behind her. "Who is that behind you, dear?" He asked.

She turned, hoping it was Hades, but there was no one there. Just the hill they had ascended. Her confusion turned to short-lived panic as she felt a calloused hand gripping her arm. She turned back and found Sisyphus inches away from her, his skeletal hand closed around her wrist.