Forever Yours

Chapter Twenty-Eight

They laid her in the throne room upon a stone tablet. Persephone had bathed Makaria, washing away the blood and patching the hole where her heart had once been. Anointing Makaria with oil and placing a wreath of olive on her head, Kaethe finished helping Persephone as they dressed the body in a black peplos. Once they had finished, Hades carried his daughter to the throne room, laying her down upon the cold stone as Quinn covered her with a white cloth as Persephone placed small white lilies around her body and above the cloth. No sound was made, no grand gesture of love or sorrow. The vessel that had been their daughter lay under a thin sheet, eyes closed as if she were sleeping.

Hades watched the still body, as did Persephone. They kept waiting for the cloth to move and for her brilliant turquoise eyes to open, but nothing ever happened. Laying a hand on Persephone's bare shoulder, Hades held his wife as she mourned the passing of their only child. Kaethe and Quinn stood nearby, Quinn holding Kaethe as she cried silent tears.

"You can't go in there! Your highnesses!" A voice called out just as the grand doors to the throne room were flown open. Their heads snapping up, Persephone stood up from where she'd been sitting on the side of the tablet.

Zeus stood in the doorway, his large frame taking up space. He was dressed in a gold and white tunic while behind him was Demeter, clad in a soft green peplos, her long hair pulled up into a messy bun. Upon seeing her mother, Persephone ran to her as a new set of fresh tears began to fall down her face.

"Mother!" She cried into the woman's neck. Demeter petted her head, her gaze falling over to Hades. She wore the look of a worried mother hen.

"There, there child..." Demeter said as she softly pushed back the dark strains of her daughter's hair, her gaze still on Hades. Kissing the top of Persephone's dark head, she focused her attention to her son-in-law. "Is she truly dead?" 

Hades didn't answer her, merely walking over to where Zeus stood. Watching his brother for a moment, Hades turned his attention to the cloth as did Zeus. They both just stared down at the body that days before was a happy, healthy girl who would now never become a goddess. Zeus sniffled before wiping the tears from his eyes. He glanced over at his brother before shifting his eyes once more to the still frame of his granddaughter. "What happened?"

Hades glanced briefly at him before he shifted his gaze back. "Athena," was all he said. It was all that was needed.

"Has her soul already gone to the fields?"

"I...hmm.." Hades begun to speak but stop when it occurred to him that he didn't know. "I do not know, brother. The Moirai haven't been to see me nor has Thanátos returned. She was killed yesterday, two days before what his list had said. Persephone still has to return-"

"I'm not going!" Persephone cried out from her mother's side as she turned towards the two gods. Angry storm clouds flashed in her eyes at him. "I'm not returning! Not when my daughter is dead and gone from this world! Let the mortals live in eternal winter for all I care!"

"Kore, dear..." Demeter begin, brushing Persephone's dark hair back from her face. Lifting her chin so the young woman could look at her, she smiled softly. "You've had no choice in the matter, not since you ate the seeds. Just because her story is done, doesn't mean your story is. Let the seasons arrive and with it the knowledge that your child had lived a full life. Do not let your life stop because hers did."

"But..." Persephone begin however she found she could not finish what she wanted to say. Heart full of doubt and hurt, she closed her eyes and took a steady breath. "Alright... I'll return. Her friends have to return as well, lest they become part of the dead."

Demeter kissed her cheek. "That's my girl," she said softly to the young queen.

Hades watched the exchange between mother and daughter, and could feel his heart being squeezed by a vise. Demeter was a overprotective mother, never really letting Persephone enjoy life or the freedom that came with it. She'd kept her hidden from the world when the woman was younger, that was until Hades had taken her away. When Persephone had told her that she'd eaten the seeds of her own accord, that she wanted to stay with him; Demeter demanded to know what was wrong with her child. That was when Persephone responded with, "Mother you don't understand; I made Hades run to me. He saw my bones beneath. Offered me half his kingdom. Do you really think I ate the fruit unwillingly?" It was the one thing Demeter had never forgiven him for. Now their child was dead and it was her own child whose pain would seek revenge upon the mortal realm.