Hades and Persephone

I Love You

*Hades* 

My jaw, quite literally, dropped. "Persephone? What?" I  stand from my throne abruptly.

Does she mean it? 

She stares back challenging me with a smile. "Oh, please. Don't tell me you've changed your mind about me since the last time you saw me?" She settles in her throne proudly. "Now let's finish up assigning these souls so we can go to bed." She tuns to the line. "Next can come to me please." 

The line follows her order without hesitation, while I watched, my jaw still open. She really is taking the reigns, isn't she? 

And, she said she loves me. 

Dumbfounded, the rest of the souls pass by in a blur, the two of us making progress at twice the normal rate. Persephone was just as careful determining the dead's fates, but I noticed she adorably still holds a soft spot for most. Giving into to those she feels sympathy for and maybe bypassing a few that weren't quite deserving of what she determined for them. 

I have to fight rushing through the last in line. It was already getting late. We may have little sense of day and night in the Underworld, but it isn't hard to sense when the day has gone on long enough. Besides being tired, I can't wait to be alone with Persephone. I'm not one to pledge my love in front of an audience of thousands. 

*Persephone*

The final soul was sentenced by Hades, whom impatiently had continued to glance at me this entire time. His constant glances were setting me on edge. I had to admit, working with him, and watching him admire me for doing so is absolutely riveting. Not to mention...he's impeccably handsome when he's judging souls sternly. I had nearly forgotten how much I liked watching him do his work. 

As the last soul leaves Hades immediately stands and faces me, an expression of nervousness crossing his face. "You want to talk about what you said earlier?" He slightly smiles, cocking his head at me curiously. For once I was seeing him vulnerable, hanging on my every move. 

I giggle, standing and grasping both of his hands. "I said what I said, but if I'm not mistaken... I didn't here you say anything back." I confront him playfully. 

"True, I was only surprised, sweetness." He pulls me closer, wrapping his every finger around mine. 

"Embarrassed to say it back in front of all the mortals?" I tease. Our noses were barely touching as he smiled down at me, his eyes hooded. 

"Well...I shouldn't have been, but I was mostly speechless. I was never expecting you to say that after our current...dilemma came up..."  He trails off, misdirecting his gaze away from me. 

"No, no. That doesn't affect how I feel." I hug him close, with no air between us. For once, his usual coldness had disappeared. This was the warmest hug we've ever had. I smile from ear to ear. Perhaps...I am having a deeper effect on him than I previously thought. I've warmed the Lord of the Dead. Quite literally. 

He pulls away. "Alright. I'm ready." He kisses me deeply then, and professes his love only after he's finished. "I love you." He holds me tightly around my waist. "I love you as the mortals love the sun. I love you as if you were the air that I breathe, as if you were fresh water in a desert." He kisses both of my hands individually then. "I love you, I love you..." 

My heart gushes with my affection for him, but I can't help but tease him more. "Not as if I were the wind beneath your wings?" 

"Oh, shush." He scoffs, silencing me once and for all with a kiss. 

*Hades*

I pull her up into my arms and carry her to our room. The poor little thing has already begun to doze off after our long day. I ultimately allow her to sleep soundly and leave her on her own in her own private bedroom while I return to mine, which she usually shares with me. 

For now, despite having just professed my affections towards her, I need to be alone. 

For centuries, I had already known I was meant to be childless. The Fates told me immediately after I had become the Lord of the Underworld. I was the only God meant to rule here, and the only one fit to. I cannot have an heir, and risk them replacing me, nor risk them wishing to overtake me...and if things do not run well down here, who knows what disaster it could lead to. One angry outburst and my heir could easily unleash the dead upon the living without a second thought. 

The Fates knew no one could prevent their child from eventually taking over their rule and we all know what happened to my father. I can't very well follow in his footsteps and swallow my own children and expect it to end well as he did - but even so! What idiot does that? 

So, the Fates ensured I am sterile as long as they have a say in it. No heir. No risk. No one is meant to inherit this tedious role. Only I, for all of eternity, may rule. That is why no other God challenges me, tries to kill me, or wants this place for that matter.  I am safe from death forever...but I never realized the burden of a childless life until now...and I am not sure there is any way to change it. 

But, I suppose, the only way would be either to change the Fate's minds. It isn't as if we can destroy them altogether. That would be preposterous!

Even so, it is feeling oddly tempting to have my own say from now on. I had said I no longer cared about the consequences, didn't I?