POMEGRANATE, addams

𝖝𝖑𝖎𝖎. 𝖘𝖑𝖊𝖊𝖕𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖇𝖊𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖞

Hades kneels next to the girl once more, gazing at her peaceful state. "We have to talk to someone who's an expert in poisons." He explains, pulling Persephone's phone out of his pocket. He has never been more glad that Persephone had taught him how to use it, as he is able to access her contacts and click on the name he needs.

"Persephone, a woman needs her beauty sleep." A stern, tired voice answers the call after many agonising rings.

Hades stutters through his words. "M-Mrs Ambrose? It's Hades Addams." His voice is wavering with panic and fear, emotions he only ever seems to feel when the situation involves Persephone.

There's a moment of silence on the other line before a teasing voice is heard. "Hades, is it? I've been hearing all about you. Why are you calling me from my daughter's phone at this late hour?"

"Persephone's been poisoned." That removes all humour from the conversation as Belladonna realises the seriousness of the conversation.

"Tell me everything." She demands, instantly slipping into her professional mode.

"She's not breathing. She has no pulse. Her skin is cold. Her lips are purple, I think it looks to be nightshade poisoning of some sort." Hades rambles, listing all the symptoms he can while trying to keep his voice as steady as possible.

"Someone has been reading my book." Belladonna mutters angrily, recognising the poison immediately. "It's Sleeping Nightshade. She is still alive." Relief floods Hades as she says those words. She's alive. There's still hope. "The poison puts the victim into a deep sleep that imitates all the symptoms of death. It is like hibernation."

"How do I wake her up?" Hades asks desperately, ready to do anything to save the girl.

"True love's kiss." Belladonna announces, making Hades' face drop in shock.

"What?" He asks incredulously. He was willing to do it if that's what it took but he'd rather not kiss her while she's unconscious. There was just something creepy about all those fairytales with princes kissing comatose women.

Belladonna's gentle chuckles snapped him out of his mini-panic. "I'm just teasing you." It was easy for Hades to see where Persephone got her wit and humour. "How dark are her lips?"

Hades hovers over her, eyes tracing her serene appearance before settling on her lips, frozen in lifelessness. He misses her smile that she so often wears around him, the one that lights up her whole face and makes his entire world disappear. He misses her disapproving frown, the one she sends him when he makes a particularly terrible joke (but the quirk of her lips lets him know that she's holding back a laugh). He misses her glare, the one that burned with a hidden fury and seemed to match perfectly with his own glower. Now she is only a shell of the person he knows her to be. He needs her back

"Lilac." Hades responds simply, focused on the light purple shade of her lips. Persephone was the one who brought colour and vibrancy into his black-and-white life. She had shared her passion for flowers with him and now he could only see a colourful world through her eyes. "They're the colour of lilacs." Persephone had taught him the meaning behind as many flowers as she could remember and Hades clung to every word she said. Light purple lilacs are a symbol of first love. A fitting connotation for the woman who has planted seeds of love in his hearts for the very first time.

"That's good. The poison was only mild." Belladonna breathes out in relief. "If her lips were a dark purple, we might've been in a bit more trouble. She will wake up on her own soon."

"How soon?" Hades asks too quickly, his desperation obvious to everyone around him.

"It could be a few minutes or a few hours. It all depends on when she was poisoned and how much she was given." Hades' shoulders sink in despair and his heart drops. Wednesday decides to give her brother the same comfort he offered her by placing her hand on his shoulder. "Do not lose hope, dear boy. She will awaken soon."

"Thank you for your help." Hades states politely. Belladonna bids the boy a good night and asks for updates on her daughter's condition.

She made the boy promise her one thing before she hung up, "Kill the son of a bitch who dared to poison my daughter."

He replied back just as fiercely. "Don't worry. I will." Then he was left to wait, never straying from her side and keeping his fingers intertwined with hers. She looked so hauntingly ethereal. As if she was plucked out of a renaissance painting. Or a character from a fairytale book.

Like Juliet on her deathbed.

Like Sleeping Beauty dreaming for eternity.

Wednesday was on edge, pacing back and forth in the cramped hut. She felt terrible for how she had treated Persephone before she left for the date. Guilt and regret was gnawing away at her brain. If she hadn't gone on the date, if she had stayed behind, maybe this wouldn't have happened. She vowed to never take Persephone for granted again.

Even Fester was worried for the girl, despite only knowing her for a short period of time. He could see the connection between Hades and Persephone, as many people could. He could even see the friendship that she had built up with Wednesday, a notoriously difficult person to get along with. Anyone who managed to break down the high walls built around Hades and Wednesday's hearts didn't deserve this fate.

Eventually, Hades felt a weak squeeze around his hand, making his head shoot up to look at Persephone. Her eyes weren't open yet, but she was beginning to stir as her eyebrows scrunch together and her fingers twitch. "Persephone?" Hades whispers hopefully, his face lighting up at her movement.

Hades' voice seemed to encourage Persephone further into consciousness. She was fighting to open her eyes, desperate to see him. Finally, they flickered open and she was rewarded with the sight of a teary-eyed Hades. "Why are you crying?" Her voice was hoarse and raspy but she was awake, and that was all that mattered to Hades. He launched forwards to wrap her in a tight hug.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again." He warned her, floods of tears flowing freely from his eyes onto her shoulder. The fear of how close he was to losing her was still ever present in his mind. His relief came in the feeling of calm that washed over him as she circled her arms around his neck to return the embrace. "I'm never going to let you go." Not only was he reluctant to ever let her leave his arms for her safety, but also for his own peace of mind.

"I don't want you to let me go." She whispers back to him, clinging onto Hades as if he was her lifeline. He can feel her breath against his neck and her heartbeat speeding up at his touch. She's alive and she's here with him. His worst nightmare was nearly a reality. But for now, he could relax as he cradled his girl in his arms.

Her numerous brushes with death had made them both realise that they would rather burn eternally in the fiery pits of Hell together, than spend one day in Heaven apart.