When Darkness Met Her

Death's Embrace

The ride home was a long one filled with silence and questions going unanswered for now. Persephone sat quietly, her hands placed peacefully over her lap as her eyes bore down towards her feet while Hades felt his whole body agitated from the fight that never came. Instead he had watched his wife take down a beast of legend and then calmly walk away from it as if nothing had happened. His brother's remained stunned as the scene had played out before them and other gods and goddesses had attended to the mortals that had witnessed the spectacle. But even after all that there was still a huge gaping vastness between himself and the goddess that sat beside him.

What else could he say to her? Would she answer or continue to stare at her feet? Was she angry? In shock? He needed to know her every waking thought at this point but he continued to remain silent. What was this feeling he had in his chest? Hades lord of the dead was never restless like this, but when he had watched the Hydra before Persephone he had felt something grip him tightly in his chest. That feeling made his veins come alive, his body wanting to ignite itself and grip his wife close to him. He had felt it slightly before when the Nemean Lion had showed it's ugly face, but now it was more amplified.

Was it...could it be...fear? Hades suddenly huffed loudly at his thoughts.

The Lord of the Dead never feared what he ruled. He was death as far as he was concerned. But then why had he felt the way he had when he saw the Hydra?

Hades looked over at Persephone and the tightness in his chest shot through him. No, it wasn't his own death he was fearful of.

It was hers.

If Hades truly cared of Persephone's death, then it only confirmed what he had been questioning this whole time. The question that had been in the back of his head every time she smiled at him, every moment she passed by and he smelt the intoxicating scent of her hair, every second his eyes met hers the question buzzed in the back of his brain but he had refused to acknowledge it.

Was he, Hades, Lord of the Underworld...in love?

He felt his body still at the word, knowing it's meaning but never knowing the feeling Cupid and others had spoke of. Hades felt his body turn towards Persephone, his eyes never leaving her as this moment came upon him.

He had always cared for her, that he would admit. Her beauty and innocence and yearning for freedom captivating him from their very first moments. But love had never once entered his mind, not until this new deal they had made for one another. And now...

Suddenly but softly Persephone turned and looked over at him, those bluer than blue eyes meeting his as her cheeks glowed rosy at his stare.

"Yes" his head whispered.

"Hades?" Persephone said quietly but he could even register his name coming from her mouth.

He was in love...

The Darkness, the Lord of the Dead and the Underworld was in love...

With her.

"Hades what's wrong?" Persephone said watching him with a wide stare.

He felt his skin begin to sweat, his heart beating rapidly inside his chest as his hands gripped the seat as this sensation washed over him. He felt panic and wonder all at the same time, and with each breath he took it was if a hammer was beating against a rock, cracking it open slightly every time it hit.

"Hades!" Persephone said grabbing him and shaking him "Snap out of it your scaring me!"

He suddenly turned to her, his eyes as wide and as big as hers. He felt the need for words, for action, to make her understand what he was feeling, but damn it all he couldn't even move his jaw.