Discord & Death

Based on the characters from Disney’s “Hercules” film & TV show

Chapter 4

Soon. They said Seph would be home soon. Very soon.

Hades was restless, tapping his fingers on his throne and counting away the seconds, oblivious to the work he should be doing. He’d returned from the Fates’s mountain some time ago now, and was tempted to ride up to Olympus and just demand that Zeus free Persephone, but that was basically asking big bro’ Z to banish him for insolence on top of his other sins. He knew that he wasn’t particularly wanted by the topside gods, since he’d not been summoned up there for some time. This considered, waltzing up there and making demands wasn’t the wisest thing to do. It’s what he should do, but his senses knew better. Zeus might have decreed that he would never see Seph again, but the Fates would make him swallow those words. They’d set the dreaded Furies upon him, a curse that even the king of the gods could not escape, and he would be haunted by them until Persephone was released to do her time. It wouldn't be long now. It would be soon, very soon.

‘Soon’ just wasn’t soon enough!

Hades couldn’t quite believe he’d managed six months without seeing Seph. After she’d gone, the place had just seemed so much deader than usual. He fidgeted restlessly, leaning his head onto one hand, whilst continuing to tap the arm of his throne with the other.

Soon…

Persephone watched the king of the gods carefully from a distance as he sat brooding in his throne. It had been made quite clear to the Pantheon that Zeus was in a foul mood today. He hadn’t been able to sleep well last night, having apparently had an encounter with the Furies, and having heard the voices of the Fates. Seph knew as well as anyone that the Fates only set the Furies upon those who had crossed them in some way, and it was a rare occurrence that they were set upon a god, but it was clear that they had been set upon Zeus because he refused to release her. It was time he faced the facts and let her go.

Persephone had seen her mother briefly this morning, but no words had been exchanged, just sore smiles. She wished her mother would open her mind a bit and allow her to be her own person, and make her own choices, but Demeter’s motherly instincts didn’t work that way. Her mother knew that the six months had now passed, but she was still clinging to the small thread of hope that just maybe the Fates would allow Zeus’ word to reign supreme. Despite this, Seph knew that, deep down, her mother realised that this was impossible. To make matters worse, Demeter hated Hades more than ever. Her hatred only seemed to increase as the time passed, whilst Seph’s love for him increased the longer they were apart. Hades was far from perfect, but she loved him, and he actually treated her like an adult and gave her the respect she felt she deserved. Persephone just wanted to get away from Olympus and be free from the eyes of those gods who were condescending or disapproving of her actions. They ought to just mind their own business.

Swallowing hard, Persephone prepared to go face-to-face with Zeus herself and ask for her release straight off. He saw her coming and looked upon her with a deep frown, seeing the fire of defiance behind her eyes and fearing the worst.

She stopped before him and made a quick nod of sincerity before she said, “Greetings, Lord Zeus. I come to you with a request.”

Zeus sat back, knowing that this had been coming. His large chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath, before he said, “I think I know what you are going to say, and if it is that which I believe it to be, then you know your answer.”

“But, your lordship…” Persephone said, feeling this abrupt dismissal to be most unfair, “I only ask to be allowed to be with the man that I love and to which I am bound by cosmic law to reside with!”

“The problem is that that man is my younger brother, one of the most treacherous gods ever to have lived! I cannot simply forgive his rash and disobedient actions, no matter what the cause, and regardless of what the turnout has been. By giving you back to him I am condoning his crimes! I cannot do this."

“You speak of me as if I am a possession to be passed around!” she snapped, her frustration growing. “I have abided here now six months, and a painstaking six at that. I have seen nothing, nor heard anything from Hades since you have barred him from Mount Olympus, but I now wish to serve the laws of the Fates and return to him for the next six months. I have eaten the seeds of a pomegranate and now am desired to return to Tartarus to serve my sentence.”

Zeus held his ground, his frown deepening. “Or rather you desire to return to Tartarus," he snarled. “I have made my word quite clear, now please do as I bid.”

“The entire Pantheon has heard of the visit the Furies made you last night,” Persephone continued. “Do you not see? You cannot disobey the laws of the Fates! Please, Zeus, please, let me go back! Let me go home!”

Zeus watched her break down a little as the tears formed in the corners of her eyes, and she put her hands to her face before she dropped down to her knees and wept. She felt utterly helpless, unable to control her own life, and she had no idea what to do about it. It was this display that again made Zeus think that perhaps Persephone's love for Hades was very genuine. She'd called the cold caverns of Death ‘home’, after all - what more did he need to convince him? He sighed, looking to his side. “I’ve never wished to harm you, Persephone,” he said a little more gently, “but this situation is very difficult for me.”

“I know Hades has done wrong,” she cried, “but he’s different with me – he is! Please believe me! Why would I lie about this? Who would dare say that they loved your brother if they truly didn’t?”

“I cannot let Hades win!” Zeus snapped. “He would win the moment I let you return!”

“You’ve punished him enough!” she countered, a tear rolling down her cheek as she knelt before him. “You’ve smitten him, beaten him, and kept him from me and the outside world. Now let me go back. Let us move on.”

“I’m sorry, Persephone,” he said, feeling truly sorry for her, but unwilling to go back against his word, “But my word is final.”

She looked at him, unable to comprehend him at all, and rose back to her feet, her lip trembling in further resentment toward the king of the gods. “Then may the Furies curse you forever!” she shouted, before turning and running off.

Zeus watched her go, unable to anger too much with her after seeing the display of true hurt she was feeling within. If truth be told, she hadn’t helped things in the slightest…

Persephone ran fast across Olympus, passing many a god and goddess on her way, not stopping to greet them or say anything. She sprinted toward her room as the tears began to form in her eyes again, in desperate need of some private space. She reached her family’s quarters, rushed passed her two parents, who were sat conversing at their table, and then stormed into her room, shutting the door firmly behind her. She leant hard against the back of the door, and slid to the floor, bringing her knees up to her chest, and sat there thinking for some time.

Demeter, meanwhile, turned in the direction her daughter had gone and sighed, turning back to Bacchus. “Surely she won’t have to go back…” she said quietly.

Bacchus looked down, “She will… we cannot stop the will of the Fates.”

“But… six months is a long time,” Demeter said, “And especially with… him.”

This topic of conversation and come up endless times between the two of them, and each time it ended indecisively.

“We cannot change how Persephone feels…” Bacchus said softly. “And if she chooses to be with Hades, then we must let her…”

“How can you say such things? We’re talking about our daughter here!”

“I’m aware of that… and Hades wasn’t my first choice for her partner either, but if that’s who she wants to be with, then –"

“But Hades, Bacchus! We’re talking about Hades!” Demeter interrupted, “The god who could have overthrown us all!”

“But didn’t,” Bacchus reminded her, ever calm. “I like him about as much as the next god, my dear, but I put my daughter’s interests first… and I believe that if she is happy with this man, then let her be…. It’s when she’s unhappy that we should be concerned. And she’s unhappy now.”

Demeter looked to Bacchus silently, sitting back in her seat, before turning again in the direction of her daughter's room.

Another long day fell toward night, and it looked likely that the Furies would be sent to visit Zeus again.

Persephone awoke with a start, sprawled across the floor – she’d sobbed herself to sleep! Rubbing her eyes, she quickly sat up and looked through the cloudy canopy of her ceiling, seeing the stars. The night had set in.

She swallowed hard. She’d said before that she was going to live her life, and even the pretentious, supercilious, uncaring, etc, etc, lord of Olympus wasn’t going to stop her!

Getting up, Persephone grabbed a pile of clothes from around the room, stuffed them into a large bag, and slung it over her back. Butterflies fizzled in her stomach as a combination of excitement and uncertainty set in. Soon she would be returning home to see Hades, but she was going against Zeus' wishes in the same instant. Never mind butterflies, it might as well be harpies!

Grasping a piece of blank parchment from out of her diary, she quickly sat and wrote a note for her parents, before setting it upon her cloudy bed. She then quietly opened her soft room door and looked out into her family’s quarters – her parents had gone to bed. Perfect. Creeping out of her room and shutting the door behind her, she then began to tiptoe slowly across the floor, being careful not to knock anything or to make any noise (but when virtually everything around you was made of cloud, running away was almost disappointingly easy). She eventually got to the exit of her house, but hesitated as she reached for the handle of the door. She looked back and felt rather bad about the sneakiness of all this... but if she didn’t get out now, she possibly never would.

Reassuring herself that she'd be back in six months anyway, she allowed herself a smile, grasped the handle, opened the door, and left.

What was this? Wind blowing in face, rushing along at high speed, the sound of hooves in the dirt...

Oh, okay, he was on a horse. Got that much.

His dreams were random, Hades would give them that much.

Right, so, he was riding on a horse. A black horse. It had to be Zagreus.

Hades found himself suddenly in control and he grasped the reigns before him firml, riding Zagreus hard through the… erm... were these fields? He looked about himself: yup, there were fields everywhere, stretching from horizon to horizon, and all filled with pretty little flowers and... ugh, everything that could possibly induce a stint of vomiting! And the sky was blue. Of course.

Hades felt himself flinch. Was this some kinda nightmare? Oooh dear… perhaps he oughta lay off those Stymphalian swamp worms before bedtime?

Anyway, back to the dream,: he was still riding, and… oh no, wait, there was another person riding next to him now! He looked to his left and saw his other horse, Ultor, being ridden by... was it Seph?

He smiled – what was this, some kind of idealistic world?

Persephone only smiled back at him, then continued to ride Ultor gracefully through the plains, her long hair billowing out in the wind and her face nothing less than a picture.

“Seph?” Hades said to her.

She didn't seem to answer, and yet a disembodied voice came to him from out of nowhere. “Hades…” it said.

Hades frowned and prayed she hadn't become a ventriloquist in the past six months. He couldn't deal with that.

Then the voice came again. “Hades?” it said.

OK, this was weird. It was Persephone's voice without a doubt, but her lips weren't moving!

But then, the dream began to shatter. The fields disintegrated and the blue sky faded, and everything began to return to the gloom of regular life.

“Hades!” Persephone shouted.

Ouch! That hurt! Dreams didn’t hurt, did they…? Hades opened his eyes and he realised that he was being shaken violently. “Wha-?” he asked drowsily, looking about himself in a dozy stupor.

“Hades, wake up!" Seph called again, giving him another big shake. "Great Hestia, anyone would think you were dead!”

Hades was suddenly wide awake, and he saw Persephone above him, her hands placed over his chest as she rocked him to-and-fro. So much for the dream - here was the real deal! "Persephone!" he spluttered.

“Hey,” she smiled, short on words. Her adrenaline was still rushing after her escape, and her nerves were on end.

Hades shot up erect to face her. “Oh, pinch me, I must still be dreaming!” he said, putting his hand to her face to make sure she was there, and looking at her as if he hadn't seen her in centuries. He then placed his hands onto her shoulders, stroked her face again and ran his bony fingers through her hair. “Well, yer seem real enough…” he quietly deduced.

Another moment passed before he gave her a slow grin and allowed his mind to catch up with current events. She smiled back at him in the meantime, overcome with happiness now that she was with him and in her "sanctuary". Persephone then couldn't hold back any longer and she lunged for him, grasping him tightly around his neck and hugging him. “Gods, I missed you…” she whispered, breaking into tears.

Hades embraced her tightly in return, and rubbed her back to comfort her. “I missed you too, babe,” he said quietly. “How’d you get here? Did thunder-boy let you go?”

She drew away from him for a moment and stared into a dark crevice in the corner of the room. “I ran away…" she replied huskily. "I had no choice.”

Hades gave her a proud smile. “Ha!," he laughed, "I knew you had it in you!”

She smiled back at him again and then let her eyes take in his bare chest and arms. It sent a shudder through her, to be so close to him, and to see his bare body there before her, inviting her to touch it. When their eyes next met, they held one another delicately, and it wasn't long until their heads slowly began to draw together, until their lips were but millimetres apart. And then Persephone suddenly froze, breathing hard asthe range of emotions she had felt in the past couple of hours rushed through her mind and sent it mind into overload. It wasn't easy to handle.

Hades gave her all the time she wanted and leant his head against hers, letting their noses touch before Seph regained her confidence and raised her hands to Hades' chest, beginning to stroke it up and down. “I love you,” she whispered, “And I’ve missed you.”

Hades stroked the back of her head whilst holding her close. “We’ve got six months, babe,” he whispered. “All the time we need to make up for the six we've lost.”

Seph smirked suggestively now and lightly kissed him on the lips, before asking, “In six months? How about in one night?”

Hades grinned, liking her style, and leant forward to kiss her passionately upon the forehead. “Terms accepted,” he replied.

To be continued…