Discord & Death

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

Chapter 7

“Persephone?”

Seph looked up to Hera tensely. “I wasn’t sure… I...” she confessed. "I didn't..."

Hera smiled at her and nodded lightly in encouragement, asking her to continue talking.

“You just don’t think it’ll happen to you,” Seph whispered. “You never think about it before you... well... y'know."

Hera raised an eyebrow, so Seph continued. "Well, you just think that you’ll make love and that’ll be it. You never think that it might make a child.” She paused for a moment, thinking about what she was trying to say. “You miss your period, and you shrug it off... it happens. It’s when you start to get sick in the mornings and you skip your next period that you begin to think.”

“Persephone, I’ll be frank with you,” Hera said. “I sensed your condition the moment you walked in. Women and Childbirth are two of my special topics, you know.”

Seph gave her the ‘I should have known’ look.

“I knew what you wanted to tell me, but I could see that you were a bit unsure about the whole thing." She gave her another smile. "All you needed was a bit of a push in the right direction.”

Seph now looked down. She felt more than a little discomfited.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Hera continued. “It was good of you to come and see me. It helps to talk to another woman once in a while.”

Seph, having cleared the first hurdle, decided it was time to face the second. “What am I gonna do?” she asked. “My mum’s gonna kill me.” She put her head down, feeling liable to cry - her emotions were just all over the place, and she didn’t know how to react.

Hera got up and walked briskly to her side before she placed her hands around her shoulders and tried to enthuse her with a bit of comfort; Persephone was still one of the youngest deities, afterall, and her occasional bouts of innocence and naivety showed this. “It’s okay, Persephone,” she said, rubbing her arms, “Why should your mother hate you?”

Persephone quickly wiped her eyes, trying to stall any tears. “Because I’m having the baby of the one man she absolutely hates,” she replied.

The Queen of the Gods knelt before the youthful goddess and gave her a firm look. “Now, listen...” she said calmly, “I want you to block out all thoughts of your mother and father, and all thoughts of the other gods, and just think about you and Hades.”

Persephone took a deep breath and tried to do as the goddess asked.

“Now, how do things look?” Hera continued.

“Great...” Seph murmured, managing a weak smile.

Hera nodded. “Good,” she said. “Because that’s all that matters right now.”

Persephone made a slight frown - she wasn't quite so sure.

“Persephone,” Hera smiled, noticing this. “Will you stop worrying? You’re going to be a mother.”

“I know,” she said, giving her a proper smile. “It’s just... well, it’s just happened so quickly, and…”

Hera placed her hand lightly over Persephone’s, taking an almost motherly role with her. She knew as well as Seph exactly how Demeter would react when she heard this news, so Persephone needed all the support she could get. "A lot has happened incredibly quickly between you and Hades,” Hera said, “but if things are okay as far as you are concerned, then everything will be fine.”

Persephone gave Hera a thankful look. The goddess was so kind and understanding to her, it was barely plausible.

“Now, I think it’s best we get everything sorted out before you start procrastinating again,” Hera went on, rising back to her feet and returning to her desk.

“Sorted?” Seph asked.

“Yes. You and Hades --" She stopped mid-sentence and looked at her brightly. “Well, first things first - you need to go and tell Hades exactly what he’s done to you.”

Seph smiled at Hera, managing to elicit a small laugh. “Yeah…” she nodded, blushing.

Hera shook her head at her coyness. “And then," she continued, "I think you two should be wed.”

Seph’s face lit up. “Yeah?” she asked, her eyes bright with hope.

Hera nodded smoothly. “He asked you to marry him. You accepted. You should be wed, whether your mother approves or not.”

“Why are you so kind to me? And toward Hades?” Seph asked. “I just don’t get it…”

“I’m an open-minded goddess, Seph. I’ve learnt that holding grudges, and constantly being at another’s throat isn’t good for life. Especially when one lives forever.”

Persephone could only nod in agreement. “I wish everyone was like you.”

“It’s not easy, Persephone,” Hera reminded her. “And if anyone ever does an injustice to you, like Hades has done to me, you’ll understand exactly how hard it is.”

Seph nodded. “I know…" she whispered, "but we have to move forward. Or at least try to.”

“Exactly,” Hera replied. “That's why I’m helping you now. I honestly believe that this will work out fine. The other gods will just have to get used to it!”

Seph smiled again, still apprehensive about the whole situation, and even more so about the consequences of it – she knew that it’d be a long time before all of this blew over.

“I know this may sound rushed, Persephone, but I guess you’re used to things happening quickly at the moment: how about I come down to the Underworld and marry you two tonight?” Hera suggested, leaning toward Seph.

Persephone looked at her with a little surprise. “Tonight?” she repeated, making sure she had heard correctly.

Hera nodded. “Yes,” she said.

Persephone shook her head a little, trying to clear her thoughts. “Well, yes, that’d be fantastic!” she said, smiling widely. “But, what about--?”

“The other gods?” Hera asked, waving a hand toward her in a mocking dismissal. “Persephone, just stay in your own little bubble at the moment! Think about you, think about your future – you’re so concerned with what everyone else will think that it’s not helping you! I know your mother will not be pleased about what I'm going to do, but she’ll be even more displeased if you have a child outside of marriage.”

“She’ll be displeased I’m having a child at all,” Seph remarked.

Hera rolled her eyes sighing, “Persephone, please, just relax. Now I want you go back to Hades and you tell him about the situation: tell him I’m going to wed you two tonight – so make sure he allows me passed that three headed dog of his – and, more importantly, tell him that he’s going to be a father.”

Seph nodded. “Okay,” she said, on tenterhooks.

“But, now here’s the deal." She paused, smiling at herself. "Well, this is just where Hades would come in handy, isn't it? Deals are his speciality, I believe."

Persephone laughed in agreement.

"Anyway," Hera continued. "What I was going to say is that, in return for what I'm doing for you, both you and your newly-wed husband must come up to Olympus tomorrow and explain everything to your parents, and to Zeus. The Olympian grapevine will do the rest of the work for you."

Seph’s face dropped. “Ouch time…” she sighed.

“It’ll be okay, Persephone," Hera said again. "Trust me."

Persephone nodded before she got to her feet and prepared to leave. Suddenly, though, another thought hit her and she had to ask, “Hera, when you said you sensed my condition earlier, did you mean that you could… well… sense my baby?”

Hera smiled gently at her. “Yes…” she replied.

“Really?”

“It’s early days yet, but I can...”

“Do you know what sex it is?”

“Surely you don’t want to know…?” Hera asked her.

“No, not really,” Seph said. “I want to be surprised.”

Hera chuckled. “Oh, you will be," she said, "you will be…”

Persephone frowned a little at that bit then just shrugged it off and went on her way.

“Is this going to keep happening?” Hades snarled at his ferryman, Charon, as he threw the wispy form of a soul back into the boat, along with a few others. “Look, if these guys aren’t buried properly, if their families are too stiff to cough up the cash to get their ‘dearly departed’ a decent burial, then - boom - they don’t come into Tartarus until they’ve wandered the far shore for a hundred years – yer got that, my friend?”

Charon looked down at the soul, then up to Hades. Another shipment of the dead had crossed the Styx, some souls of which had not come complete with the payment needed to cross the river of death. Hades was not happy about this. “It’s not easy, boss,” Charon said in his croaky tone., “There’s so many of them now the winter has become so harsh... I’ve been working overtime!”

Hades gave his boatman an unsympathetic stare. “Charon, you’re the living dead, you work all the time. If that doesn’t sound right to you, I’m sure I can find some other undead skeletal being who would find that it does sound ‘right’. You know what I'm saying?"

Charon winced in submission. “I don’t want any trouble, boss!” he whined, “I was just saying…”

“Well you’ve said it, now go!” Hades snapped, making his boatman crouch lower into his boat.

“Hades!”

Hades turned around and saw Persephone coming back toward him. His visage lightened a little; “Seph…” he said softly, “How’d yer get back in here?”

“Hermes taught me a lil trick… a bit of ‘teleportation’,” she said, “But it kinda takes up a lot of energy. I’m not doing that too often, trust me.”

Hades turned to his ferryman again for a moment. “Don’t let it happen again, Charon! Now go!” he snapped, waving him away with a vicious hand gesture. Charon noddedquickly before he pushed his boat out of the dock and rowed his unpaid for souls back to the other side.

Seph frowned at him. “That was a bit harsh!” she said, folding her arms.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet, babe,” he said, giving her a suggestive grin. He then placed a hand on her arm and walked her back toward his citadel. “So, you find what’s up?”

Persephone slightly hesitated again. “Er… yeah…” she said. “Hades, we need to talk…”

Hades halted in his tracks and looked at her. “’Talk’?” he asked, “I don’t like the sound of that."

She smiled at him. “It’s all right,” she said, "really."

Hades decided to skip on the throne room and took her back to their bedroom, sitting her down on their bed. They were guaranteed some privacy in there. “Okay,” he said, placing a hand over hers. “Is it me? Have I done summit?”

She smiled nervously. “If you look at it in a certain way, then yeah,” she said.

Hades frowned at her. "All right..." he murmured.

“Hera’s coming down here tonight,” Persephone went on.

“Why?”

“She’s going to marry us,” Seph replied, looking into his eyes briefly before looking away again.

Hades made a short laugh of disbelief. “So what’s so wrong with that?” he asked, giving her a tight cuddle. “That’s great!”

She smiled back. “I know…” she sighed.

Hades tagged on to her uneasiness. “But...?” he said, smirking knowingly.

“I talked to Hera and I… well, the thing is."

Hades tipped her face up to look into his. “Come on, what is it?” he asked her.

She took a deep breath, composing herself and looking down at the floor.

“You’re not afraid to tell me are you?” he continued.

She smirked at him. “No, I’m just a bit… overcome.”

Hades was lost. “Seph, you're gonna have to give me a helping hand."

“Er…” she stammered, wondering why something so natural should be so hard to say. “Okay, what if I tell you that you’re gonna hear the patter of tiny feet about here soon?”

Hades still looked lost. “lease tell me we don’t have mice…” he muttered.

Persephone almost slapped him. “Gods, for being the alleged most intelligent of the 3 brothers, you’re so stupid sometimes!”

He feigned a look of hurt. "I certainly don't deserve to be insulted like that," he said.

“Hades, I’m pregnant,” she said, trying to be plain.

Hades face froze for what seemed like a long time. Persephone considered knocking on the side of his head to see if she could get a reaction. Finally, Hades evidently swallowed and said hoarsley, “You’re pregnant?” he asked.

Seph smiled, feeling a great release now she had told him, “Yes, you idiot!” she laughed, hugging him hard about the neck.

Hades was still in shock, and slowly he managed to get a small squeak of a laugh out, “I… gees, well…” he muttered in disbelief.

She lent her head onto his shoulder, “I was… well, I had an idea, but… I wasn’t sure, and…”

Hades finally returned to life, “Gees, Seph! That’s wonderful!” he yelled with glee, leaping to his feet, and taking her up in his arms, “I can’t believe it! I’m gonna be a daddy! I’m gonna be a daddy!”

Seph held onto him as he had his momentary spasm of absolute joy, swinging her about, before he put her back onto her feet, and looked at her hard and devotedly, “I dunno what ta say, Seph,” he said, “I jes dunno!”

“You don’t have to say anything, Hades!” she said, “You can shut up for once in your life!”

“Oooh… digging at the prospective father!” he sneered softly.

She scoffed, then took his face lightly in her hands, and brought his head down, kissing him delicately, “Here’s to our future, then…” she whispered.

“And what a glorious one it’ll be…” Hades added, leaning his head against hers.

To be continued…

Quid dulcius hominum generi a natura datum est quam sui cuique liberi?
(A quote by Circero, and translates to ‘What is there in nature more dear to a man than his children?’)