Hades and Persephone

Chapter 19: They Do Not Mean It and Will Often Regret It

1. short chapter

2. This chapter has been somewhere close to 6 months in the making. And by in the making I mean I wrote this literally today but it (hopefully) is the culmination of their relationship.

3. IDK what to write for three but I like threes. Hi.

As Hades stood at the edge of everything, Persephone was afraid—and not for herself. Only silence between them, an imaginary wind the only movement.

"Shouldn't this be the part where you tell me not to jump? That I have so much to live for? That I'm worth something."

Beat.

"No."

"So, what? You're going to tell me to jump?"

Beat.

"No."

Hades gave a single laugh in disbelief. His voice soft, "Then what the hell are you still doing here."

Beat.

"Because I can't just leave you.

"You have been nothing but horrible to me here, so I can't give you any personal reasons to stay. I have been nothing but a prisoner and you punching bag here, so I can't say my life wouldn't get easier. At most I am an unwelcomed pet, at worst I am a wild animal, so I can't tell you that my hunter leaving would be worse. I can only say that your reason for staying is your job.

"Without you souls would be lost, nymphs and furies and minor gods would be scrambling to pick up the workload. Without you, there is no judge or leader."

"There's you."

Persephone blinked. "What?"

Turning to look from the edge he looked back at the goddess, beautiful and tall and far more capable than he ever gave her credit for. "I watched you pass judgments. How you listened, looked, read not only the parchment but the shades in front of you. You allowed nothing from them and your word was final."

With a sigh, Hades bent down at sat at the edge, his feet dangling over. "It seems to me the underworld is in capable hands if that was the only thing I had left to live for."

Beat.

Beat.

Persephone took her place beside the god, resting her head on his shoulder in some awkward attempt at comforting him.

Beat.

"I really have been nothing but horrible to you, haven't I?" it was hardly a whisper.

"That depends: am I really an abomination?"

"Do you even know what that means?'

"Not really." Something about her ignorance must have been laughable, as Hades chuckled. She elbowed him in the side playfully.

Instead of looking her in the eyes—something truly petrifying to him in that moment—he looked at anything else. "You should have never existed."

"She was all but banished from Olympus by your aunt after your conception. Alone, she made her home on the earth below the heavens and made the mortals her friends. Though they did not live anywhere near the time of her and in a blink they were gone. That was how she met Thanatos. And, through Thanatos, that was how we reconnected after the war.

"Poseidon never cared, preferring to stay safe in his world. Your father- I do not think he was allowed to care. Hera as vicious as she is beautiful and betrayal makes one do the worst to those we love the most. And, though Zeus would never admit it, his queen has far more power than he; both in rule and in marriage.

"I offered her a home, though she chose one of her own making. I offered her riches, though she chose the simple. I offered shelter, though she preferred the trees and stars. She found the domain she was more than cheated from, and she was more than content to make it her own.

"You have seen the Marshes, you have seen the creation of a soul; but the birth of one- Giving life to a newborn is far more complicated than anyone could ever give it credit for. A body calls for a soul, and soul for a body. Without one they are simply whispers—a fire with no fuel, doomed to consume itself until nothing is left and destined to consume others for that last moment of warmth.

"You had none. There was nothing in your mother's womb calling for a soul, nothing begging for fuel to a fire.

"And I tried to tell her—heavens I tried—but she needed that.

"She needed you.

"And you never came.

"So, she left too."

Persephone lifted her head and stared the god down, both their eyes sparkling with unshed tears. "I have no soul?"

Hades sighed, "No, you do," her eyes were a kaleidoscope of color, and some he even recognized. "That's what scares me.

"Your entire existence is impossible.

"Abominations have no feeling or emotion, only hunger, and greed. They want their warmth, they want their soul. If they cannot get it, they are the fire with no fuel. They consume and destroy others for the brief chance to fill that bottomless pit.

"And yet, when I watched the both of you, it was a delicate scale a mere breath could undo. Though, a balance nonetheless. So, in my weakness, I left and despised your existence from afar.

"And I prayed nothing would undo that balance."

"Then what am I?"

"In truth, I have no idea.

"I look at you and I see god. I see mortal, immortal, nymph, and animal." Hades leaned back and took her form in. "I looked at you and I saw piece after piece of stolen soul and stolen life.

"And now I look and see the borrowed pieces. The ones given freely, given out of either pity or love I have no idea. Those who lost too much already giving even more than I could ever ask of them.

"I see Elysium and Fields and Meadow and all the others marking your skin. Every patch a different gift and curse. I see harmony where only chaos should exist.

"I see your mother in your smile and your father in your stance. I see earth in your skin and fruit in your eyes and sun and flower and wind in your hair. Hermes is in your words and Minthe in your questions."

Thanatos looked at the pair sitting alone at the edge of the world. He listened to Hades' silent confession and his future queen's—though this was not yet known—silent agreement. He watched as neither of them realized their hands laced.

I remembered what 3 was going to be! Did I pull it off? Even a little? I have literally never written a romantic relationship before.