1) I have found the will to update! Yay!
2) HELL YAH I MADE IT ON THE READER MONTHNCHALLENEGE TEIR 2 LIST
3) Thank you to all my readers! Hi lurker 1 and lurker 2!
4) Also the beginning of this might be a little creepy.
Little Kore is gone.
Little Kore. Gone.
Gone.
Taken.
Stolen.
And the mortals lied. To a god.
To her.
They knew. They knew like those sisters knew. And no matter how loudly they screamed- They. Kept. Denying. Her.
Demeter stepped over the newest addition to her collection. The toy was thrown into the dry mud with enough force to shatter the frozen ground. She lowered herself to that of an animal; dirtying the skin of the toy to match the earth. It was a simple enough task to pull the color from their hair, though it was more white than the desired blond.
The eyes- she could never get the eyes right. Brown, tinges of a- nearly black- purple. The closest she would ever get was a bloody red. Freezing the veins until they burst, Demeter found, was not the way to get those lovely pink eyes.
The sisters circled overhead. Whatever evaded the goddess' blizzard- if there was anything- would surely be caught.
One man, old and frail, somehow hung on longer than the rest. He had stayed still, unmoving, until the attention of the monstrous creatures was drawn elsewhere. Felix, for that was his name, refused to believe the horrible woman was Demeter. No god, and not one of growth and harvest, would cause this destruction.
He inched closer to the makeshift altar. No offering. No sacrifice. No blood left to spill in any god's name. All Felix had was a desperate prayer, and a soul that would meet Hades soon enough.
*****
"Care to tell me why Thanatos is freezing?"
Hecate sipped her tea leisurely, seemingly ignoring Hades' question. The god stood impatiently, tapping his foot. "I do."
"Hecate!"
The goddess only rolled her eyes. "Whatever happened to that mirror I gave you?"
Hades shifted on his feet. Crossing his arms, he defended, "I don't see a reason to use it...."
Hecate hummed, sipping her tea. "More like you're afraid of temptation."
"I do no such thing!"
"And you haven't used it to check up on the surface? Your siblings? Demeter? Why? Are you too busy? Too angry? Maybe you really are the heartless god mortals say you are." Her tone was matter-of-fact and left no room for argument. When Hades started to defend himself, she cut him off. "Or you can admit you miss the surface. You miss your family. You can admit you're afraid if you indulge yourself with that you will just leave.
"But I will say, maybe if you had indulged yourself- even just a little bit- you probably would have seen Persephone-"
"This is not about Kore!"
"To Tartarus it isn't!" Magic weighted the air, raw and crackling like lightning. The chair she sat it was overturned. The teacup broken on the floor. "If you had even spared a second to check on Demeter and Persephone, Agelastus, you would see I am telling you, Thanatos is telling you, and Atropos is telling you!"
Hades scowled at the use of that name. "Either tell me what is happening," he seethed. "Or leave."
Hecate coughed, the air now stale and rancid. "And when I do you will just take your grief out on Persephone."
*****
Persephone sat, cross-legged, against the front of one of the chairs. Her petal dress dulled by ash and blond hair almost glowing against her dark complexion. Cerberus curled across her lap, occasionally nipping at her elbow for attention, and Blu quietly snoring in his nest of paper.
Had is been different circumstances, Thanatos would have taken the time to memorize Persephone's rare adult form. Or help her find a better fitting dress. Or just simply sit with the animals and listen to her practice reading aloud- like she was doing now.
But it was not different circumstances- as attested by the fact that the palace was literally quaking under Hades' anger.
"What's going- oh." Thanatos stood in the doorway half frozen. Ice crawled across his skin like a parasite. The flesh it covered was now dull and black, while the surrounding area was angry and red. He quickly hauled the young woman up by her arm.
"We need to get you out of here," he finally answered.
"It's because of Mama, isn't it?"
Thanatos turned to look at the goddess and realized why she was suddenly lighter. The skirt of her dress was now oversized, reaching passed her small feet. Blond hair was suddenly less vibrant, her eyes a bright pink instead of red.
They stopped in their tracks, not even having rounded the first corner. Kneeling down so he was at eye level he asked, "Demeter has a habit of this, doesn't she?" After if to demonstrate, his wings brushed up against the wall. Ice and feathers broke off in brittle chunks, smashing against the stone floor.
Persephone watched as the glittering black crystals melted into nothing but puddles and down, refusing to meet his gaze. Silently she nodded. Guilt riddled her face, for what he did not know.
"Hey," Thanatos took her face in his hands. "None of it is your fault. Hades is just blinded by grief."
"That won't make it any better."
"Then you've never seen Hades when he feels guilty."
His smile was infectious. Persephone couldn't help but return it even as the world renewed it's quaking.
"Come on," he stood and turned. Only to be met with a seemingly half drowned Lord Hades.
"Give. Me. The abomination."
"I would if there was one," Thanatos challenged.
"I will not play games!" Hades took a step forward only to be blocked by his second.
"And I will not indulge your insanity."
With a flick of his wrist, Hades sent the other god slamming into the wall. Hearing the commotion, Cerberus stepped in only to be met with a similar fate.
Persephone watched as Cerberus exploded into a puff of smoke and ash after being thrown against the wall. The stone began to consume Thanatos' body into the wall. Hades took another step forward and seemingly pulled a two-pronged weapon from thin air. His bident.
"Run!" Thanatos kicked in a last desperate attempt to delay the angry god. Hades reacted how he would to a sword: catching his leg between the two prongs and twisting. Had it been another weapon, Thanatos surely would have been disarmed. Instead, a sickening crack echoed as his leg broke. The two were so distracted neither noticed that Persephone was no longer a small child.
She did not think twice, adrenaline taking over. With an open palm, she hit Hades square in the mouth and pushed up. A second crack echoed, this one from the god's nose breaking. Golden ichor dripped down his face, his nose now stuck in an upturned position.
"You little-" Persephone cracked her elbow into his jaw before he could finish. She took off running before he could react.
"Aidoneus!" Thanatos gave one last plea. "If you don't stop you will be no better than Cronus!"
He didn't listen.
Persephone's feet thudded against the stone. With nothing but muscle memory to go off of, she hoped she remembered the right path. Left at the poppies. Right at the asphodels. Straight passed the cypress trees and, hopefully, into the throne room. From there she knew the path outside.
Except, it wasn't the throne room.
Herbs hung from the ceiling, their vines stretching from pot to pot until a canopy of leaves covered the ceiling. Red nymphs bustled around the kitchens. Dough was stretched and kneaded across counters. Bread cracked under the heat of flames.
The nymphs turned to watch Persephone with a mix of shock and wonder. She stopped to catch her breath, chest heaving. Never had they seen her older than a child. Her long hair reached her waist; her dress stopped just above her knees.
Heavy foot falls and the teeth grinding sound of metal on stone filled the hall behind her. "Per-seph-on-e," Hades mockingly sang.
At the sound of her name she broke back into a run. The floor warped and buckled underneath her. Bowls and pans clattered onto the floor as she scrambled over the counter, otherwise it was like running through tar.
The nymphs' gasps of surprise turned to screams as Hades tore through the doorway. Stone crumbled to dust under his anger. The hanging plants became brown and brittle. He threw his bident at the goddess, missing and instead imbedding itself in the far wall. Taking a wild guess, Persephone pushed through the left door and into the dining hall. The bident flew back at the command of its master into his outstretched palm.
Golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Candles were replaced by lamps of glowing water, casting a red glow across the white tablecloth. Great glass windows lined the far wall, showcasing the colorful garden outside. Any attempt to break the glass would be pointless, she knew. The palace seemed to be more for siege than for comfort.
What little plants were even remotely alive grew into a blockade, locking the door behind her. Hades pounded on the door, too angry to think of a way around it. Decorative flowers sprouted thick vines and roots. As she rushed passed a thicket of thorns and vines waited in her steps. Thankfully, there was another set of doors that lead out onto a balcony, and by extent the gardens.
Hades did not even both hacking away at the thicket of vines. Flames rose up around him. Fires that could rival the Phlegethon ate away at the room. What was left unburned simply had the life sucked from it.
Persephone jumped the ledge of the balcony, not noticing nor caring that she was a full two stories from the ground. She hit the ground with a thud, blinding pain shooting up her arm. Instinctually she gripped her shoulder and came away with a pool of golden ichor. Hades loomed above, preparing to jump off the balcony, with matching ichor staining his weapon.
She hadn't expected him to catch up so soon.
Insanity in his eyes and an inhuman growl from his lips, Hades leaped off the balcony and slammed into the goddess before she could get to her feet. They rolled, Persephone trying to escape his chokehold.
Once.
Twice.
Three times, she slammed the back of her head into his face. Ichor made the hair stick to the back of her neck, but his grip never wavered.
Branches curled around the two. Wedging themselves between the gods, the very garden itself ripped the two apart and flung Hades back into the side of his palace. Stone cracked under the force of it. Gemstones imbedded in the rock drove themselves through his skin. Persephone scrambled to her feet and took off running in the opposite direction.
Bushes and flowerbeds parted for her, only to weave themselves into more obstacles as she left them behind. Again, they provided only an annoyance. Paths of rot were carved out soon after, Hades moving almost impossibly fast.
It wasn't long until Persephone was forced to curve left, having met the wall that surrounded the gardens. She found herself running an only vaguely familiar path: towards the private docks.
Spires of rock shot up from the ground, blocking off the open path on either side of her. She turned and waved a hand, the roots that had imbedded themselves in the wall slamming Hades against the very spires he had created. Another roar shook the world, but this one with an unmistakable melody to it.
Nature turned on Persephone. The roots once keeping Hades at bay now lashed out at her. It ripped hair from her scalp, cut gashes across her legs and arms. They made attempts to restrain her but were only met with bunches of fabric.
Dress in ruins, tears streaming down her face, ichor bleeding from almost every inch of her body, the only place where Hades even possibly had no power came into view.
The dock.
Even with calloused feet, the dead and splintered wood tore away at the pads of her feet. She could feel whatever life the wood once held had long since been sapped away by the Styx. The dock was far smaller than she would have liked- only ten feet- but it provided enough distance that the earth could not reach without it being thrown. Now all there was to deal with was an angry god.
An angry god with a very sharp weapon.
His steps vibrated through the gray-green wood and rippled the water below.
"Don't you dare come any closer!" Her plea fell on deaf ears as he stalked closer. His chest heaving, teeth clenched. Golden eyes glinting with insanity pierced her very soul; not a care in them. With every step he took forward, Persephone took two back. It wasn't long before her foot slipped, and she fell into the inky water.
Whatever glint of insanity plagued Hades vanished in that moment. The Styx was possibly the least kind of all the rivers- if any of them were.
The Phlegethon burned.
The Cocytus drove one to suicide.
The Lethe drove all thought from one's mind.
The Acheron riddled one with unspeakable pain- either for better or worse. The Styx did much the same. Except, the Styx tore an incomplete soul to shreds.
A fray would be pulled apart into nothing.
"No!" he shouted, reaching for her far too late. He had to jump in. He had to go after her. If there was any chance at saving Persephone-
Persephone surfaced after only a few moments. Her red eyes filled with seething hatred, but otherwise unharmed. She failed to notice the worried look on his face as he hauled her back onto the docks as her eyes were trained on the bident, now lying off to the side.
"Get away from me!" she yelled.
Hades rushed her like a worried parent, equal parts concerned and curious. Grabbing at her face, twisting and turning her head to check for imaginary injuries; completely ignoring the real ones that he himself had inflicted.
"How are you... Why are..." the god at a complete loss for words.
"Stop it!" She pushed him away- or tried to.
For a brief moment, guilt flashed across Hades' face. He was wrong.
Then, the same anger returned. Except this time Persephone was not the target of it. "Lachesis!"