Seeds: Hades and Persephone

Thirteen

I literally writer this entire thing last night instead of working on my history project. You're welcome.

Persephone's feet were tired. They had walked all over the Underworld. From The Fields of Punishment, all the way to the Isle of the Blessed. She had met different heroes and her mind was buzzing with all the new information. They were walking towards Hades' palace when a someone flew past them, blowing Persephone's hair back.

"What was that?" She asked incredulously, looking past Hades and seeing the figure straighten. She saw a tuft of blonde hair and smiled as she realized it was Hermes.

"Hermes!" She called out, walking over to him. Hades trailed behind her, linked by their hands.

"What are you doing here?" She asked brightly. Hermes brushed himself off and ran a hand through his tousled hair.

"The meeting's over. I've got to take Persephone home." Hermes explained, picking his bag up from the ground and slinging it over his shoulder. He eyed their hands, which were intertwined, and a knowing smile crept up onto his face. "Actually... Demeter's in a heated argument with Aphrodite about using oatmeal as a facemask, and they'll be at it for a while, so you've got some time. I have to deliver some things, so, Persephone, you've got about half an hour before Demeter comes home to an empty house. I'll see you guys later." He threw a meaningful glance at Hades. He was gone before Persephone could even say a word.

"I-wow." Hades finally spoke.

"I wish I didn't have such an over reactant mother." Persephone complained.

"Well, she's trying to protect you." Hades reasoned.

"Yeah, and it sucks." Persephone lamented. "I don't need protecting! You could protect me better than she could, and I only met you because I ran away!"

Hades said nothing, but looked on in silence.

"I'm sorry..." Persephone said. "I didn't mean to put a damper on our last half hour together."

"You didn't." Hades said, giving her a soft smile. She returned it and tucked a loose strand of orange hair behind her ear.

"We should probably get going..." She admitted.

Hades' smile faltered. "Yeah... Should I teleport us?"

"No!" Persephone blurted. "No. We have half an hour. We should start heading back, but we don't have to, like, hurry back, or... something." She stumbled over her words, cursing herself.

He just laughed. "Alright, let's go down to the banks of the Styx. We can wait for Charon to take us back."

As they walked back, Persephone's mind was whirling with mixed emotions. She was sad to leave the Underworld. She was looking forward to the comfort of her own home. She was excited to tell Hermes how her day had gone, and she was dreading sitting at home doing nothing. And there was something else, lingering under all that. She couldn't quite put a finger on it. It was as if she was a twist-up toy and someone had wound her up way too much. Whenever she thought about that foreign feeling, her heart raced, feeling like it was about to beat out of her chest. She liked the feeling, it felt wrongfully right. She was reluctant to talk to her mother about it-like if she did, it would go away. And she didn't want it to go away. Maybe she would talk to Hermes about it later. He might understand.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she realized she had missed what Hades had just said. He was looking at her, expectantly.

"I'm sorry, my mind was elsewhere." She admitted, reddening a bit. "What did you say?"