Pointless McSutcliffe

One Shot - Hades and Persephone

Anyways I fucking love the myth of Hades and Persephone so I felt the need to make it happen with McSutcliffe of all darned ships because sure why not.

So, Stu's like the reigning deity of Death and the Underworld, which kinda sucks. He's lonely all the time and everyone looks down on him and he has too soft of a heart to properly handle all this dead people. It hurts to exist in this way, but it's what was given to him so he takes it but loathes it.

He has tried to find a companion for the longest while, but no one ever wants to stay. No one wants to live in the dark gloomy Underworld with him, no one cares what kind of person he is, they all eventually leave and he's just big time miserable.

At least until one day he's wandering around the edges of the Underworld, trying to peek into the Earth and what it looks like now, and he finds the most beautiful creature he's ever seen, just calmly picking poppies at the edge of Lethe, humming to himself.

Stu recognizes him. Paul, Mother Nature's Son. He hadn't remembered him being so... breathtaking, but then again he hadn't seen him on millenia. He had grown into a dashing gentleman with the softest face and the sweetest doe eyes and Stu wanted him, wanted to have him and to keep him so badly.

So he did the obvious and snatched him away into his palace in the Underworld. Brilliant.

Of course Paul yelled and struggled as soon as he was taken, but Stu was stronger than him and managed to keep him controlled. He carried him all the way into a private chamber and only then let go of him.

Paul would try to use nature on his favor to fight him and escape, but the Underworld is a barren land where nothing lives or grows, so his attempts are futile.

Stu treats him with feather touch and gentle kindness. He hasn't had anyone this close in ages, all he wants is company and affection, and he knows being rude to him won't help his case. So he behaves the perfect gentleman for him, worried of upsetting him more.

Paul's absolutely furious, but he has nowhere to go to. He has never been in the Underworld, and although he's immortal it doesn't take the fear away from him. What is this god of Death going to do to him? What does he want him for? Why isn't his mother here to save him? He cries himself to sleep that night and many ones afterwards.

Stu tries real hard to please Paul. He grows trees and flowers of precious metals and jewels so that he won't miss them so much. Shows him around, that there's nothing to be afraid of, nothing to fear. Braids him poppy flower crowns, the only flower that grows down there. Invites him to nap at the edges of Lethe, where the most peaceful dreams come (Paul refuses that one, who knows what Stu would do if he had him unconscious and in his power), but nothing seems to soften up the boy's heart.

He's awfully sad in there, with no nature and no sunshine and his mother so far away from him.

In an attempt to show him some trust, Stu leaves Paul's chamber door open one night, and obviously Paul takes the chance to run for his life and out of this place.

He doesn't make it very far. The Asphodel Fields seem to swallow him, he feels lost among souls that cling to him, that beg for a chance, for rebirth, for their memories and dreams to come back. It's terrible, all of it, and while Paul considers himself soft-hearted as well, he has to draw the line somewhere.

He stays out there all night, listening to their stories, their rights and wrongs, their greatest triumphs and biggest regrets. And he grows stronger with each one. Asphodel souls are like the flowers, their desperation absorbed and turned into an entirely different power for him. Paul realizes he can lead their destinies now, what the afterlife has for them.