Apples and Pomegranates

Bring Back What Once Was Mine...

(A/N) WARNING: This starts off quite dark. Temporary major character death (who happens to be a child at the time.) 

***

Nine years ago...

It was an accident. A silly mistake. Her mother had warned her not to touch the apples on the window sill, but Evie - nine years old and filled with curiosity and hunger - ignored her mother's warning. All it took was one bite... and she was dead. Her thread of life had been snipped.

***

Deep in The Underworld, a place of darkness, death, stone and bones, two demons found themselves scurrying about the banks of The River Styx. They frantically searched every nook and cranny of the underground cavern, searching desperately for what they had lost.

"Oh, my Gods! Where is he? Where is he?" one of the demons whispered fervently. He was a scrawny little thing, with pale mint coloured skin, long pointed ears, a fork-tipped tail and tiny, bat-like wings. He flitted about like a jittery hummingbird, anxious adrenaline tittering him on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

"Will you shut up, Panic! You're getting me... well... panicked!"

The second of the demons was similar to the first, but instead of being tall and lanky, he was short and plump with reddish skin. Unlike his fittingly named companion Panic, this demon was known as Pain, not because of the pain he could inflict - which truthfully was very little - but due to his unfortunate danger proneness that brought a world of daily hurt upon himself. He was more relaxed than Panic, but no less afraid of the consequences that would befall them should they anger Hades again.

"Hades is gonna kill us when he finds out we lost Hayden again!" Panic worried, twisting his clawed fingers.

"You mean if... he finds out," Pain pointed out.

"What do you mean if he finds out? Of course, he's gonna find-" Panic stilled, smiling eagerly like the rays of salvation had just dawned on him. "If... if is good. I can work with-"

In his excitement, Panic whirled around, accidentally bumping into Pain and sending the demon tumbling off the pile of bones they had been standing on. Pain let out a yelp, wincing and crying out with every bump he took until he reached the river bank, bones scattered all around him. Panic cringed, peering down at his fallen comrade. By the time he reached Pain his opinion on the matter had changed - his mind racing through all the possibilities that could befall them and doing nothing to soothe his fears.

"Oh, who are we kidding? We can't work with if! If we don't want something to happen it always happens! We have to find the kid and we have to find him now! Before Hades gets back from his meeting with Hermes!"

"He has to be around here somewhere!" Pain groaned, dragging himself onto his feet. "Not like he knows the way out."

Hiding behind a broken pillar, Hayden - only nine year olds and already as devious as he was mischevious - watched as the demons clambered out of sight. Absentemidnly, he reached for his ear, feeling for the white lily that his mother had dotingly placed there earlier in the day before she busied herself with her godly obligations. Hayden tiptoed from his hiding place and stood beside the river, letting out a sigh of relief.

Pain and Panic had been told to play babysitter for him - as usual - and although he was fond of the demons they were terribly boring. Panic wouldn't let him do anything fun, too worried he might hurt himself. The moment he so much as moved the little demon was fretting over him, taking his temperature and checking for injuries. Pain, although not as worrisome as his companion, was just as bad. He was as strict as he was dull, refusing to play any games other than Scrabble - the safest game he could think of which would lead to zero pain for himself.