Persephone

VI

What in Olympus was he going to do.

Hades leaned his hands heavily on the lip of the pool, shadows of the clear, dark water flickering over his pale and gaunt face. He would have to tell him. She could not stay. It was ridiculous. The goddess of Spring in the Underworld. He had never heard anything more mad.

Still. He would never admit it aloud, possibly to anyone but Charon, but ... he was afraid. Of Zeus's wrath, and judgement, and the pre-settled delusion of his guilt. For who would believe that the goddess of Spring would wander willingly into the land of the dead? Who would believe an innocent, youthful mistake over the barbaric character of the King of the Underworld.

Never. They had never believed him in anything.

He breathed out a broken, quivering sigh, and flicked his hand.

The water in the pool swirled up, leaden mist entwining with the liquid, a soft hissing escaping the glimmering darkness. The water swelled, until it held the figure of the Great Mountain, and a dull light shone over the black stone. Slowly, exquisitely, the water morphed into the shape of a man. Poseidon's gifts had always been magnificent.

"Brother, what ails that you call at such a time?"

Zeus's voice echoed roughly over the tiles, never escaping the weighty, locked doors that guarded messages from Olympus with their lonely desolation. Hades closed his eyes and pushed out a breath forcefully again in an attempt to calm himself. He would not lose his temper. He would not lose his temper.

"Brother, urgency is the only thing that could prevail on me to call." He paused, and felt awkwardness crawling up his chest like a gnat, squirming inside of him until he cracked open. He began to pace, aggressively shaking his hair as he did so. He stopped suddenly, opened his eyes, and turned.

"Persephone is here."

"Kore?"

Hades nodded, mutely, gulping.

There was a booming silence. Then a snarl.

"Why?"

"I don't know! I haven't a clue, but she appeared at the entrance of the gates, she asked to stay here to get away from Olympus, she's with Charon right now, and I have no idea what to do -"

"Well, she can't stay."

"I know that."

A single torch out of the many encircling the room flared up for a single second with scorching blue flame before extinguishing with a puff. Keep it under control. Keep the anger under control.

Hades sighed, and scoured his face with his hands vigorously before settling into drained silence. It was a few moments before he had the ability to speak again. His throat closed up when his anger came out.

"Send Hermes to come fetch her. I cannot - I have much to do here, I have no time to indulge the whims of rebellious young girls." He saw his brother nod, slightly, before groaning again.

"She is such a frivolous child, always has been," he muttered with a harried tone. "She always has been, idiotic girl."

Hades said nothing. Zeus huffed out a bitter laugh.

"You know, when she does foolish things like this, I call her Persephone."

This time, Hades chuckled back. "Bringer of destruction. Yes, that seems fitting."

There it was. A shared moment of brotherly affection, of solidarity, of familial bond. A dynamic that had taken place very rarely between the eldest and the youngest of Kronos's children.

"But she would not have been able to escape had the gates been closed, like they should have been."

And there it went, a moment of cordial, domestic bliss. Gone with the reckless and thoughtless nature of the King of the Gods.

His lips went tight in an attempt to bite back the insults that had sprung to his mind. Breathe. Don't let the anger out.

"Well, I would have been able to focus on the gates had I not been seeing to the tens of thousands of mortal souls fluxing in because of dear sweet Ares' impulsive actions," Hades replied, voice strained but even, except when he mentioned his simple nephew, whose name he spat.

He could feel Zeus swelling up at the disrespect. "Watch your tongue, brother, for he is still an Olympian, and is free to his own actions."

Hades barked out an ugly laugh. "Not when he fills up the Underworld with young families and soldiers who hadn't had the chance to live yet."

"You may be Lord there, Hades, but I am still your King."

There was threat in these words.

"Not in my domain. I care for the people here, and I refuse to sit idly by while a senseless boy creates chaos for the souls I care for!"

The torches flamed up, right to the roof, blazing white light searing the mould-ridden walls, burning water into steam, all around the God of the Dead. They continued to singe the walls before dying down, slowly, each going out individually with a whisper of rage. Hades was breathing heavily now, guilt slithering up his neck. It always occurred while in heated conversation with his brothers. The terrifying, hideous rage he received from his father that usually stayed put, lurking deep inside of him, erupted from the ashes of his contempt like lava. And every single time, he always wished he could be completely alone once more.

The tension in the air was palpable, even from different dimensions. The only sound was the slow, deliberate dripping of water nearby. There was always a leak down here.

"I shall have Hermes prepare to fetch her," Zeus stated drily. Hades nodded, before slowly waving his hand. The water disappeared into the pool again, and he was alone once more.

The God of the Dead then leaned over his messenger pool, looked deep into his eternally tenebrous expression, and wept.