Persephone's Kidnapping (on pause)

Second Meeting

The follow days I am overwhelming preoccupied. The routine is the same, but my mind is wandering outside the Underworld, thinking of the world above more than I ever have in centuries.

I don't know how I'm going to ever think about anything else again. I can only keep imagining the solitude ending, some happiness emerging, change happening the moment I get the chance to meet her.

Isabelle, Jasmine, and the rest of the nameless servants are more than concerned, but I'm in a functioning depressive state at least. I never let anything affect my job. The mortals deserve that fairness once they arrive here. A bad day shouldn't sentence any poor soul wrongly because my head isn't in the game.

The follow days after that it was not any easier, but as the weeks and months passed, I learned how to deal with it.

Yet, I don't think I will sleep soundly again until she is beside me.

*         *         *         *

It is years and years before I have the courage to go back above specifically to see her. I just want to catch a second glimpse and see how she is now...hopefully her mother doesn't have to know about it.

She would be grown now, capable of speaking to me without her mother's permission. Thankfully, I have not heard of a match being found for her yet, so now is my chance to put my foot in the door before anyone else has a fighting chance.

After riding across the river, deathly silent, I board my chariot and burst of through the ground of the Earth, emerging out in a meadow nearby Demeter's cottage.

The sun blinds me instantly, as it usually does. After a few moments to adjust to the daylight, I scan the horizon to identify my exact location.

My heart is thumping out of my chest as I look out, as if expecting her to be standing and waiting for me.

She likely doesn't even know who I am, having grown up around everyone except me.

I tie up my mares to a nearby tree on the edge of the meadow before wandering on my own, quietly trying to admire the surroundings my love has been growing up in.

I wonder a lot about her...what she likes, what she does, what her voice sounds like...

I wonder how she will look at me for the first time. Not with hate or fear...I hope.

As I wander, I catch sight of Demeter's cottage with Demeter outside on her own, hanging laundry. My heart thumps louder as I look for Persephone possibly helping her mother.

Yet, there is no sight of her. She might be inside...but I still have a feeling she is somewhere outside. Why wouldn't she be?

I look for a while longer before losing hope and turning back in the direction of my chariot. I left it at the edge of the meadow, where a small forest began along the edge of a large pond.

I stop in my tracks abruptly when I see a small girl standing right there at the edge, lightly patting the noses of my mares.

Her long strawberry hair was drifting around her shoulders from the light breeze and her soft voice carried with that same breeze, tickling my ears. She was speaking to them affectionately as they leaned their noses into her hand, begging for more attention.

Tentatively, I finally start moving forward, clearly my throat quietly. However, she still heard me anyway and jumps in surprise.

She's unbelievably beautiful. Her hair was wavy and framed her face perfectly. She was still the epitome of innocent and purity and I felt most undeserving to even be in her presence. She had the most adorable sprinkling of freckles on her face. Her eyes stared into mine without any readable reaction.

I edge closer to be a bit closer to her while still keeping a respectful distance.

I'm not sure what to say first as she has still not spoken.

Finally, I say as gently as I can, "Their names are Shadow and Star."

She smiles shyly and turns her attention back to them. "They are beautiful. I don't usually see black horses very often."

"I specifically only use black horses because no one else does." I smile, a rare thing for me.

"They need owners too." She agrees before making the next step towards me. "I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind me petting them...or giving them a carrot?" She gestures to a basket on the ground, filled with them.

"Go ahead." I say gently.

She obliges joyfully and I approach her fully this time but still do not stand next to her.

"You must be Persephone, the Goddess of Spring?" I ask her, as if I didn't know already.

"Yes. That is me..." She looks back at me nervously and my heart pangs for her and her innocence. "I'm sorry, I have never met you before."

"No, you wouldn't remember us meeting. You were far too young when I was here last." I respond, waiting for the realization to light up her eyes..surely she must have heard terrible tales or rumours about me by now. Warnings from her mother or whoever else.

"Here last..." She drifts off thoughtfully and I wait anxiously. "Oh, I see. You're..." She looks at me worriedly and takes a hesitant step back.

"You have no reason to be afraid. I would never hurt you. I don't hurt anybody, really." I interject gently before her mind comes to its own assumptions.

"You're Hades." She whispers, still a tad frightened. "You live in the Underworld, where all the mortals go when they die." She shivers at the thought and I frown sadly at her reaction.

"They have to go somewhere. I look after them there...and the Underworld is much more than that. It's my Kingdom, my domain."

She nods, understanding but still hesitant.

"May I...speak to you Persephone? And I can tell you all about it. Many of the rumours aren't true, if you're curious to actually know the truth of that place." I offer kindly.

"I am more interested...in you. Id like to know why everyone seems to think you're the God to stay away from. Why they believe they are all so innocent in comparison to you." Persephone says shyly, wrapping her arms around herself.

I nod, appreciating her point of view. I hold out my arm and point to the shore of the pond. "Would you like to talk there for a while?"

She nods, biting her lip excitedly. "I would like that, until my mother calls me for dinner, at least."