'Created to save the one I love,
To keep him from the Heavens above.
Although his hands are dripping with red,
Covered in the blood of mortals struck dead,
I would throw myself upon the pyre
To keep him warm and stoke the fire.
For crimson taints my fingertips
Bringing pomegranate seeds to his lips.'
Giulia's words linger in Persephone's mind as she remembers that Aqua Tofana has an antidote. Placing a loving kiss on Hades' head, Persephone rushes to Miss Thornhill/ Laurel Gates' desk to grab the recipe book. She rushes back to Hades' side as she flicks through the book frantically.
"Oh, come on!" She pleads desperately, barely able to read the words on each page through the row of tears gathered on her lower lashes. Finally reaching the right page, her relief is short-lived as she discovers that the page with the instructions for making the antidote have been ripped out. "No, no, no, no, no!" She repeats as she searches wildly through the pages of the book for any other clues on what to do. It seems all hope is lost.
Blind with rage, she throws the book carelessly to one side and lowers her forehead to Hades' chest. "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." She mumbles, her lips salty from the tears dribbling down her cheeks. She then hears a clink against the stone floor. Lifting her head, she finds the necklace she had secured around her neck gently tapping against the cold, hard ground. The red liquid sloshing inside the hidden vial catches her eye as her mind begins to whir. "Bringing pomegranate seeds to his lips." She mutters thoughtfully to herself. She wonders if Giulia passed the antidote from generation to generation concealed within the family heirloom.
With no time to lose, she removes the necklace and unscrews the pendant from the chain. She tilts Hades' head up by his chin as his body convulses beneath her. Then she pours the red liquid into his mouth and hopes for a miracle. With her hands cradling his cheeks, she scans his face for any sign of change.
"Come on, Hades." She whispers desperately, watching his eyes begin to flutter. Her eyes are blurred and her throat is raw. It's the most she's cried in years, and it shows no sign of stopping any time soon. He still isn't moving. She doesn't know what to do. Fresh tears are constantly replacing the ones already shed, creating a never-ending waterfall on her cheeks. "Please. You said you'd never leave me. I can't- I can't do it without you." Her breath feels like it's running away from her at a pace too fast for her to catch. As her chest rises and falls like crazy, Hades' seems to be doing the opposite. It slows down with each shuddering inhale until it is almost undetectable.
Persephone has never been so scared of losing something in her life, because nothing had ever meant as much to her as Hades has. She has so much to lose if she loses him. Her smile. Her laugh. Her heart. Her home. Everything. He calms her storm and fuels her fire. All her panic, anxiety and anger disappears with the sound of his voice and the feel of his hand slipping into hers. He taught her how to love herself for everything she is and everything she could strive to be. He gave her the confidence to do whatever the hell she wanted and not give a fuck about who was watching. Because why would she care when he is right there beside her, cheering her on every step of the way?
"Please. I love you so much." She whimpers, face screwed up in pain as she grasps one of his hands in both of her own. She presses their conjoined hands to her chest, where her heart roars passionately like a lion in a cage. "My heart beats for you, Mon Cher... Only for you. You are my love and my life. Mi amor y mi vida." Her voice cracks as she squeezes onto his hand, hoping to feel him squeeze back... but nothing.
"I- I-" Hades is struggling to even breathe at this point. But if this is his last moments on earth, he's glad to be spending it with her. And Gods be damned, they are not taking him before he can try and get these words out. He needs her to know. "Lo- Love..."
Suddenly, with no warning, his head falls to one side and his hand goes limp, dropping onto his unmoving chest. "No!" She screams, leaning over his pale face. "You're not dying! You're going to stay with me! You said you'd stay with me!" Then her voice quiets to a whisper as her bottom lip trembles, "Please stay with me."
How she wishes it was all a joke. That Wednesday and Enid would hop out from behind the plants recording the whole thing. That Hades' lips would curve into a smirk, chuckling at how he was able to fool her. That his eyelids would open to reveal the rich, beautiful colours of the earth staring back at her. That his heart would beat at its steady pace under her palm. That she could lean her forehead against his chest and feel the rhythmic rise and fall.
Why would the Gods punish her so? And with such cruelty. To bring soulmates together, only to then rip them apart prematurely? What crime has she committed to be convicted to such a ruthless sentence? If she knew, she would take it all back. Beg on her knees for forgiveness. Anything. She would do anything they asked of her, if they would only bring him back. Her despair and denial rapidly turns to anger.
Persephone grits her teeth as she pants heavily, in through her nose and out through her mouth. Her brown eyes are bitter as nightshade, darkening with her murderous rage. She is seething as her fists clench harshly. Her power simmers inside her, like boiling lava ready to unleash havoc. It builds inside her, growing and growing. There is nothing to stop her, no one holding her back. Emotion after emotion whirls around her mind in a twisting tornado.
She's more powerful than you think.
Hades' words echo in her mind, further adding fuel to her fire. He struck the match and threw it on the pyre, setting ablaze the notion that she is capable of more than what was expected of her. Now she is a raging inferno. An uncontrollable bonfire with flames erupting inside her heart. He had always believed in her... So for him, she would become the fire.
A heart-wrenching scream escapes her lips as a wave of power bursts from her body in all directions. Persephone shoots upright as she feels the energy flood her body. The pulsing yellow explosion of light continues to pour out of her, breathing new vibrancy into the plants of the greenhouse. Just like her explosion during the Poe Cup, nature comes to life around her. It calls to her, feels her pain, obeys her commands. But she doesn't focus on her surroundings. Golden hues engulf Hades, searing over his body. Persephone recalls the energy burst, collecting her magic into a small galaxy of sparks cupped in her hands. It whirls around in its containment like a whizzing firework, crackling and jolting, ready to be released. Persephone controls the energy enough to place the glowing embers to Hades' chest, right above his heart. The gold melts into his skin and seeps through his entire body. He is radiantly illuminated in the blinding light but Persephone stares on with fiery eyes.
As the light fades and everything returns to as it was before, Persephone stares at the man she loves, still unmoving on the floor. She hangs her head in utter despair. 7 billion people inhabited this earth with her, yet she had never felt so alone knowing Hades had truly been taken from her. He was dead because of her.
"Did I go to heaven?" A deep, teasing voice questions making Persephone's head snap up. His lips were curved into a weak, goofy smirk. His eyelids were open, exposing the rich brown eyes that were hidden underneath. His chest was rising and falling with gentle breaths. " 'Cos I see an angel before me."
Persephone can't answer him. Her mouth opens and closes as she gasps for something to say. She has to check that it's real, that he's alive and not just some figment of her imagination. Had she truly gone insane?
A shaky hand reaches forward to lay on his chest, internal pleads filling her mind as she begged to feel something, anything, to prove its real. A melodic thumping beats under her palm. Tears spring to her eyes as she chuckles in disbelief. Hades places his hand over hers and squeezes once. He's smiling now. The largest smile she's ever seen, a grin from ear to ear. It hurts his cheeks but he doesn't care and neither does she. "My heart beats for you, Cara Mía."
With no hesitation, she leaps forward to wrap him in a hug which he quickly returns. His left hand snakes up her back to cradle her head as his right hand circles her waist. She sits sideways on his lap, burying her face into his neck with her eyes scrunched shut. She's sure she has almost squeezed the newly-restored air from his lungs but can't seem to let him go just yet.
Time stands still to admire the pair as destiny takes a bow. The Fates cheer and applaud the scene and the Gods smile down from above. But eventually time must move on and the story has to continue. For the plot has thickened and the war is not won. A monster is still on the loose...
And she wears red boots.