Hades and Persephone

Bitter Sweet

*Persephone*

Hades waits for me, his arms slightly held out for me to run to, but I can't make myself move.

Mother's iron tight grip is holding me back.

"Come on, Persephone. I still have you for now." Her voice is without remorse or empathy. It was as if I had personally offended her once more. I suspect I'll be locked in my room for a week.

"Why? We've finished undoing what you did!" I holler, ripping myself away. Hades softly reaches forward and touches my shoulder to console me. I back away from her furious, grim face. "I don't want to ever go home with you, mother. You've embarrassed me greatly today."

"The only thing that has embarrassed you today is your foolish fondness for this - " She motions to Hades in disgust. "Half-excuse for a man. Half-monster, half-man. That's all he is. Half of him isn't capable of loving you at all! All he cares about is his tormented souls and his riches." She points her finger at me menacingly. "You're just another possession he aims to collect. Just a pretty girl that caught his eye that can't fight back. You're an easy target and you know it. Just a fragile flower he can crush under his foot once he's grown tired of you."

She turns to Hades, who still calmly holds his hand on my shoulder. I can't bring myself to look at his face, but his touch doesn't feel nearly as angry as I would expect. "And you, why couldn't you use one of your pity slave girls you keep around your wretched palace to keep you company in bed? That's all you wanted, isn't it? That's what you did before, right?"

His hands grasp slightly tightens.

"Demeter, that's enough. You should leave." Zeus's voice booms above us all.

"Yes, we should." She reaches for my hand. "It's time to go to your true home, Persephone. I'll just have to hope that the next five months without him will bring you to your senses."

As she reached for my hand. I quickly stepped back, even surprising Hades. Her eyes narrowed as she dove towards me again. I stepped back more in clear defiance.

"Persephone! Stop that this instant!" Demeter gritted her teeth as she finally snatched my elbow, tugging me back to her and away from Hades. I quickly grab his hand before she can take me and use him to pull me back away. My mother keeps pulling at me persistently as I finally get a chance to turn and face him.

I frown at his reaction, his face nearly a perfect picture of disappointment. "Persephone. Don't act like a child. There's an agreement, and you have to be honourable and stick to it before its forced upon you."

My eyes widen. Does he suddenly not want me to come back with him?

"I have not yet even spent the six months with you! It's already breaking the agreement that I ever went back at all!" I cry out. I never expected him to agree with my mother.

"The mortals have not had enough time to prepare for the weather to take more lives. You need to make sure you stay so that they do not suffer for it." He softly murmurs. I can read the defeat in his eyes, but he is sure in his decision. I need to go.

Demeter softly grabs my hand as I take in his words. She expects that I will stop fighting.

I have never felt more than a foolish child than I do at this moment. A foolish child fighting for a passionate love that I thought I had, but clearly he does not feel the same way anymore. Not only do I have an overbearing mother, but a husband who still believes I need discipline from said mother.

"I thought I could trust you," I whisper to him in shock.

I imagined myself throwing myself into his arms and begging him to take me back now before its too late. Even if it's just for one night away! Just for a simple reunion and I'd promise to go back the very next morning...

But, I do not indulge in this fantasy. The fantasy is too good to be true. He wouldn't take me back. He would know I would just beg him to let me stay another day, and then another...and instead of working and doing his job and judging souls that my mother causes to perish...he would just be babysitting me, the foolish wife he made the mistake of marrying.

After one more glance into his eyes in a desperate attempt to read them I slowly back away from him. "Let's go, mother." I whimper, turning away from him. I cannot bear another moment of the shame in his eyes for me.

"Persephone, I will see you before you know it, won't I?" Hades softly calls.

I do not turn back, but I answer simply. "I have a lot to consider, Hades."

My mother's hand comfortingly winds around my shoulders as we depart. But it is not genuinely out of comfort, but an obligation. She knows she has won, and she is feeling awfully smug about it.

*Hades*

I arrive back home in solitude and retreat to my study to remain in silence.

Jasmine, the handmaiden raps at my door, but I do not reply. "Did the meeting not go well?" She calls in worry. "Will the Queen not be returning?" The disappointment was evident in her voice. No doubt the servants enjoyed Persephone's presence. How could they not?

"We are sticking to the original agreement. She will be returning after her time is served with her mother above ground." I reply to her as neutrally as possible.

Jasmine stays quiet for a moment before adding: "Write to her, My Lord, so that she remembers who is waiting for her." She quietly goes on her way after her small token of advice.

Write? I am not one for writing, nor feelings besides the poetry I read now and again. How could I possibly express to her what I feel? She must think awfully of me right this second, and I can't say that I don't deserve it. I have grown to learn her lust for independence and her hatred for her mothers orders, and now I had just ordered her just the same. I offer her nothing more than her mother ever did.

Except, well, the obvious, of course.

I am not her freedom. She wouldn't see me as an escape anymore.

But, perhaps, that was all I ever was to her in the first place. A rebellious way of getting freedom, of getting back at her mother by pairing with the worst possible match.

Perhaps, I shouldn't write to her at all.

Perhaps, this has all been a mistake.

*Persephone*

"See, men have no sense of a woman's feelings." Mother grumbled as we entered our humble cottage. "In truth, you may think they can make you happy one second, and the next you're stuck alone with a daughter to raise on your own." She rolls her eyes as she turns to me.

"I hope we have no hard feelings, daughter?" She murmurs, half concerned.

I shake my head, facing the floor instead of her directly.

She waits a moment for continuing her rash comments, barely pausing between sentences. It all begins to get tuned out entirely after a few minutes.

"Have a cup of tea with me?" She asks, finally off of the topic.

"Yes, mother." I respond. My eyes drift to the front door as she turns to the kitchen.

I shouldn't. I really shouldn't.

"The usual, my little flower?" She calls.

"Yes, mother." I reply again automatically, though I did not even hear the question.

"Good, good. It will all turn out in the end, my sunflower. It pains me to see you hurt like this. This is why I never wanted this to start in the beginning, though obviously, you were not even conscious when the original agreement was made. I was rather upset over that. I wanted you to be present so I could knock some sense into you, but of course, I can't take on Zeus's opinion on my own. That's why I called this meeting-" Her awful whining drowns out as I slowly slip towards the door. The sun has fallen and the world is nothing but darkness, but I don't care!

I don't want to be anywhere anymore. Nowhere but on my own.

Her obnoxious speech is finally shut off as I close the door behind me. The sound of crickets are the only thing to fill my ears as I take off into the moonlight.

Finally, on my own. The freedom I've needed all along. I didn't need a husband to get it.