Hades and Persephone

Chapter 2: Little Liar

Kore splashed around her room happily. The river running through it gave her the perfect way to water hundreds of flowers without tools. Water splashed harshly onto the petals, soaking the earth as well as her dress.

Chloe kneeled off to the side, weaving cloth and feathers into a blanket. Her lavender skin stood out among the emerald grass and yellow flowers. Some of the stalks reached her chest as she sat. One eye stayed on little Kore at all times.

She looked up from her task long enough to notice a strand of hair had fallen from its place. It was later than she had thought it to be. "Kore! Bed time!"

"No bed!" She stomped her food childishly.

"Yes bed." Chloe covered the distance between them in two strides. Picking up the girl's tiny form was simple enough. Kore fought playfully, not actually attempting to harm her caretaker in the process.

She took her over to a soft patch of grass tucked away in an outcropping of a few rocks. The blankets thrown over Kore and she struggled as the 'nymph' swaddled her.

"How about a story?"

"No story!"

"Yes story." Chloe finished by forming a pillow of grass under her head. "Hmm, which should we tell...." She tapped her chin as if thinking. Then, she gasped. "I know! How about the story of the little girl with pink eyes?" It was the story that Demeter would always tell her daughter, no matter the form she took.

A mother, abandoned and forsaken by her family, had not a single thing in the world. Raped and shunned and harassed for simply living!

Then, along came her precious innocence with those pink eyes and bright smile. The mother overflowed with joy now that she had someone to care for! So much so that the day she took her first breath was the first spring. Before that day the world had been only barren and cold.

From there, the evil world tried it's hardest to ruin her and her daughter. It tried to take away the only thing she loved, and the only thing that loved her. And, to protect her, the mother built a whole world for just them. For just her. Just for the girl with the pink eyes.

"And do you know that perfect little girl's name?" Chloe asked, poking her nose playfully.

"Kore!"

"That's right!" She kissed the girl's forehead and stroked her hair until little Kore had fallen asleep. "There's my precious innocence," she whispered.

Chloe made certain she left in silence. She commanded the trees to part into a doorway long enough for her to exit and the next nymph to enter. She was a young girl; her pastel green skin matched her hair. Why she kept the nymph she had no idea. She reeked of tears, always.

Fluttering filled the air around her, the sound of a hummingbird turned to ninety. Looking up she saw a familiar lanky man- almost a boy- with blonde hair stuffed under his cap.

"Demeter! Demeter! Demeter! Deme- You look different."

"Shh! I just put her down and I do not need you to wake her!" She spat in a whisper.

Hermes flinched, holding his hands in a show of submission. "Sorry, sorry! I'm here to deliver a message."

"Of course, you are! You never show up for anything else!"

"Zeus needs you."

"Tell him no!"

"He says it's important!"

"It's always important!"

"He says it involves," he looked around fearfully. "Hera." It was as if the word meant death for them both if the wrong person caught him saying it.