Hades |Lesbian Version|

Chapter 12: The Springtime

When Hermes and Persephone reached the entrance of the Underworld, they had come to a shadowy place of the dead and passed through black gates that hold back the souls.

The first thing that greeted the kidnapped goddess was the harsh bright light, which filtered through some crooked branches of the trees. Ever since she was spirited off to a sunless world, the earth was in a severe barren state.

Persephone expected to reemerge to the fields where eternal springtime reigned but all she found was snow and ice covering the hardened ground, like a white blanket over the poor globe.

The young maiden stared blindly in confusion. The forest that surrounded her was no longer the lively version she once remembered. The trees were stripped of their green leaves and draped in glittering frost with ice and snow. The pale grey sky was a strange view to her eyes. Her skin prickled in the biting cold. Oddly, the earth no longer felt like home.

"What happened?" Persephone whispered in disbelief.

"My dear cousin, your absence has created the first winter for mankind," Hermes told her. "Once your mother learned of your missing, she searched high and low to try and uncover your fate. After finding evidence suggesting you had been taken by Hades, Demeter's grief was so overwhelming that she cursed the land so that nothing would grow."

It wasn't just the plants and flowers that died out but the whole animal kingdom could not survive without the maiden's presence. It was only fitting that the goddess, whom so much depended upon, must be restored to the upper world so that all nature may revive with her return.

Persephone stared down into the Underworld, and a sharp pang of sadness pierced her heart. All the memories of Hades flooded back into her mind. As dark and foreboding as the goddess might seem, she showed some hint of sympathy towards the dead souls she supervised. She watched over them in tender solicitude, rewarding truth, amnesty, and righteousness while severely punishing the unjust and the cruel.

Now the young goddess finally understood that Hades just wanted someone to love her and probably occasionally play games with her.

"Come forth, Persephone; your mother is waiting," Hermes coaxed her.

She began to walk but was still transfixed and blinded by the strange grievous sight. With each step the goddess took, the ice and snow melted and the ground softened; new green grass and flowers began to sprout, grow, and bloom lively beneath her tender feet. Soon, a beautiful meadow spread, and the trees shot out their budding leaves.

"Look, the world is rejoicing over you," Hermes said, but the goddess' attention was drawn to a tall green-clad woman under an olive tree. Her heart was beating so loudly that she had to clasp her hands over her chest.

Demeter had lost the brightness of her rosy face and her swelling heart was lashed by sorrows, but the moment she saw her daughter's pale yet lovely face emerged, she was overcome by a mother's joy. The earth goddess went and enveloped her sweet child in her arms.

"Oh, my beloved daughter...my sweet Persephone!" Demeter cried, squeezing her tightly to her bosom.

As her name streamed from the lips of her over-joyous mother, Persephone felt her own heart swell with overwhelming emotions.

They hugged each other and wept for a long while, then they pulled away. Demeter stroked her daughter's face with a great pity in her heart.

"Did she hurt you?" she asked, raged burned deep in her green eyes. But Persephone quickly shook her head to reassure her mother.

"Hades did me no harms, mother. I was well-treated in her realm. Don't worry...I am fine," was all she could muster up to answer.

Demeter made a disgusted face and scoffed. Though Zeus had tried to persuade her that Hades-as Zeus's older sister and ruler of one-third of the universe-was not an unfit wife for Persephone, Demeter couldn't shake the thought of how the uninvited and unbetrothed Hades was to ravish her beloved maiden. Her whole body began to fill with rage again.