Choosing Life

Chapter Thirteen

Especially if Gods were going to be in attendance.

"I spoke to your mother."

Harry paused and looked at Persephone. "You...you did?"

"I did," Persephone said with a small nod as she gave Harry a loving smile. "She is so proud of you, Harry. Proud of the man you've become and proud that you've done so well in Auradon. She only wishes she could be here."

"I...I wish she could be here too," Harry whispered. "But...Lady Steph if you're going to break the rules for anyone not Mal...could you do it if CJ ever gets married? The Captain probably won't attend her wedding like how he skipped Harriet's wedding and...CJ's never met mom."

Persephone couldn't help the proud smile that pulled at her lips. How many times had she heard Harry ranting about 'the Runt' while she was in the Underworld? It honestly had been like he was determined to hate his sister for the rest of his life.

She wasn't sure exactly what'd changed, though she knew from Hadie and Hades that Harry was still attending his therapy sessions though they'd been moved from three times a week from when he first came to Auradon to now just once a month.

"I'll see if that's something I can do," she said. "But for right now, no more sad thoughts at your wedding. Only happy thoughts, like how you're finally marrying Uma."

"Now I'll officially be part of your family," he said with a small chuckle.

Persephone shook her head. "You listen here Harry. You, young man, have always been part of our family."

She took a small vial of a pink liquid out of her pocket and placed it in his hands. "I know how much you love your sisters," she said as Harry looked at it quizzically. "But Hades had been talking to Circe and they managed to reverse engineer the potion Hercules received as a baby."

"Wait...that means..."

Persephone nodded. "As happy as I am that Mal won't know the heartache of losing her partner, a part of me has to admit I wasn't thrilled that Zeus just gave Ben immortality without talking to him first. So Hades and I...it's our wedding gift to you. You kids rarely got a choice in anything growing up, I want you to have your choice."

"But...if I don't take this, then Uma runs the risk of having a partner die. Any kids we might have run the risk of not having a parent in their lives," Harry said as he bit his lip. He'd known that pain, he would never want his own children, should they exist, to have to go through that as well. "But if I do take this...there'll be a time where I'll live in a world without my sisters in it."

"You don't have to make the choice today," Persephone said, her voice gentle. "I just—."

Before she could finish the sentence, Harry had uncapped the vial and chugged the potion.

"Harry!"

"You said it was my choice," Harry said with a shrug, even as he started to glow slightly just as Ben had at his Enchanted Lake wedding. "I choose Uma. I'm marrying her, I always want to be in her life. And I remember Mal's worry about marrying Benny, about how she didn't want her future kiddos to run the risk of not having one of their parents around...it wasn't always said out loud but I've know Mal since we were three, I can read her face to know something's wrong. I...I don't want that worry for Uma. And yeah, there'll come a time where I'll miss my sisters...and Jay for that matter. But doesn't Zeus owe Mal like a bajillion favors because of Nat Bat and the Dragon according to Uma?"

"...I'm afraid to ask about the first person you named."

"It's our nickname for Natalie," Harry said. "Considering she was basically a mini Leah and she was a Bat, no questions asked."