by Gina Carra
Hades ignores her.
Persephone stops walking and Hades stops to watch her.
Persephone holds out her hand. “Walk to me.”
Hades snorts. “No way. Even in dreams, that water hurts.”
“You just kicked it.”
“Yeah, it’s a light sting. It’s not bothering me very much.”
“Hades.” Hades goes still at the sound of her name. Persephone wonders if it was somehow the wrong thing to say. She reevaluates. “Can we walk to the bridge?”
Hades shrugs and continues walking. “We never make it to the bridge.”
“What if we do this time?”
“Then we do.”
“Will you cross it?”
“Will you?”
It’s a fair question. The wrong choice of words and Hades could snap her in half and toss her in Styx. Goddess on her side or not, Styx can’t save her from that.
“Yes. I will.”
Hades hums. “Why?”
“Did you read my letter?”
At that, Hades does truly go still. Persephone glances down the river and spots the bridge only a little while off. Maybe she shouldn’t have said anything just yet.
Persephone keeps walking and eventually Hades follows, seemingly by habit.
They reach the bridge but neither cross. They stand on either side and watch each other.
Hades’s eyebrows are furrowed. “What makes tonight different?”
Persephone shrugs. “I’m not a hallucination tonight.”
This time she seems to take that seriously. “How could you have gotten here?”
“Same way anyone gets here.”
“You’re not dead.” She says it as a fact and Persephone pouts as her fun is ruined.
She shrugs. “Am I not?”
“You’re not. I think I’d know.”
Persephone rolls her eyes. “Fair enough. I just completed the trials. Or…I’m working on it.”
Hades snorts. “No one completes the trials.”
“I don’t know, I like my chances.”
Hades watches her and Persephone can see the exact moment Hades realizes Persephone is truly here.
She sees red hot rage burn as blue flames in Hades’s eyes. “Why are you here? What do you want? Hercules already took my dog. There’s nothing left.”
Persephone briefly remembers stories about Hercules’s trials. “Didn’t you give her the dog?”
It’s the wrong time for jokes. Blue smoke fans out behind Hades.
Persephone holds up her hands. “Hades, I’m here for you. I thought you’d understand that from the—”
“I didn’t read the letter. Waste of time.”
Persephone grits her teeth. “Waste of—Hades, it was eight lines long.”
Hades shrugs. “Well, the first two were boring.”
Persephone puts her hands on her hips. “Two heads are better than one. Make up excuses all you want, but I know I could help you if I were down there with you.”
Hades flinches as Persephone quotes the letter.
“You love Earth so when you come back, and you WILL come back, I’ll find you. I’ll find you every time for as long as it takes.”
Hades shakes her head, massaging her temples. “This is a hallucination.”
Persephone keeps going. “You’ve fought against fate all your life so being torn away from your fated one might be a thrill for you, but emotions or not you feel incomplete. You’re too much of a perfectionist to go the rest of existence feeling incomplete. So you’ll find me even if I fail at finding you. Better sooner than later, don’t you think?”
Hades’s eyes are wide and frantic. “You wrote that before the arrow. How would you know—”
“I hadn’t felt complete like that in a long time. I knew that feeling would go away if you used the arrow. And I knew you’d feel the same. You feel incomplete and you don’t know why. That’s why you wake up crying. You miss me and you don’t know how to feel that.”
“That’s bullshi—”
“Just take my hand, Hades.” Persephone reaches out and Hades stares at her hand. Persephone feels tears well in her eyes. “I don’t know how else to get through to you. Just take my hand.”
Hades shakes her head. “You can get in my head. I won’t consent to vulnerability.”
Persephone takes a step forward over the bridge and sees Hades tense. “You still remember everything, don’t you? You remember that you trusted me?”
“That was unwise.”
“But did I take advantage?” Persephone takes another step.
Hades doesn’t step back and she counts it as a victory.
She takes another step. “Did I toy with your brain at all?”
“Would I know if you did?”
Another step. “You’ve done the whole mind-reading thing longer than I have, so yeah. I think you would’ve noticed.” Another step.
Hades’s eyes flicker over Persephone. “Touching me won’t magically change anything.”
“You sure?” Persephone’s halfway across now.
“I won’t let you in.”
Persephone shrugs as she steps forward again. “Fine. You can see whatever you want in here.” She doesn’t tap her temple, she taps her chest. “It’s all yours anyway.”
Hades’s brow furrows. “Why would you say that?”
Persephone glares at her. “You know why.”
She’s only three steps away now. She takes one.
Hades is quiet.
She takes another.
A hesitation.
Then one last step.
If she reaches out her arm, she could hold Hades’s face in her hands. Staring into Hades’s eyes up close again makes her eyes well with tears, but she fights them back.
She holds her hand out, palm up, just like the first time in Elysium.
Hades doesn’t move. She doesn’t look at Persephone’s hand. Just looks her in the eye.
Persephone wiggles her fingers. “Just to prove if this is a dream or not.”
She sees Hades’s hand twitch. She can see the curiosity coursing behind Hades’s eyes.
Hades mutters and Persephone can’t keep her eyes away from Hades’s lips as she speaks. “I usually wake up by now.”
“You wake up after I try something rash right?” Persephone waves her hand. “I’ve got an alarm clock for you.”
No one moves for a moment.
Then Hades’s hand is raising—it’s slow, torturously slow—but Hades’s hand raises and hovers in front of Persephone’s.
Persephone nods, a small smile on her lips.
She holds her breath as Hades’s hand gets closer…closer…closer…
Then they’re touching.
It’s clinical, the way Hades looks into her mind.
But that changes quickly. Memories of their month fly to the foreground—how the arrow felt, Hades’s emotions that Persephone remembered because she shared them.
Hades gasps as it all hits her and then it’s an open channel. She can feel the wall collapse between them as Hades opens her mind to Persephone and then it’s all back.
It’s like Hades’s heart kick-starts and continues beating again. Her eyes well up as she stares at Persephone. The tears spill over as she hyperventilates. “It’s—you’re really—”
Persephone nods, hand cupping Hades’s face. “Yeah.” Persephone wants to laugh as Hades looks back at her.
Hades’s hand tangles in Persephone’s hair and pulls her in to press her lips against—
Persephone waits for the contact, but suddenly Hades is gone.
She opens her eyes and she's in a different room. She sees three women eyeing her with blank curiosity.
The one on the left starts and they speak one by one.
“You”
“Passed”
“The trials”
Persephone stands very still.
These three women control every speck of dust in the universe. She’s scared to even
breathe wrong, but then again they control that too.
“You may”
“Now make”
“Your request”
Persephone’s terrified. Part of her is compelled to bow or kneel, but any kind of movement seems like a bad plan.
They loom above her.
But they told her to make a request. An hour ago, the request had been to get Hades back, but that was never the real problem. There was a problem before the lead arrow.
“I want a way to love Hades without abandoning the earth.” She worries immediately that she phrased something wrong or that they misunderstood.
“That choice”
“Is yours”
“Alone”
She swallows nervously.
The woman in the center steps forward and holds out her palm, a single pomegranate seed lies there.
“Once you”
“Eat in the”
“World below”
“You may”
“Never return”
“Above”
Persephone hesitates. “But my request is so that I don’t have to abandon—”
“That choice”
“Is yours”
“Alone”
Persephone stares at the seed. “So it’s not possible, then? I’m fated to be with her, but it’s either stuck here forever or seeing her once a month?” It’s almost as though she waits for the pomegranate seed to give her advice. “Family or love? What kind of choice is that?”
“You’ve ventured”
“Here have”
“You not?”
“A choice”
“Has already”
“Been made”
Persephone looks up at them, startling at their words.
They’re not wrong. She had chosen to face death to get back to Hades and had said her goodbyes to her friends already.
She’d never thought of herself as a romantic, but physically and emotionally, she couldn’t survive on Earth without Hades. It’s not like she’s been much help there lately either. Everything she touches dies. Staying down here…hopefully she’d protect her flowers from herself. Where else does a bringer of death belong anyway?
She reaches out and slowly picks up the seed.
She stares at it, already knowing Hades’s reaction. “If eating this doesn’t kill me, Hades will.”
She swallows the seed.
The Fates all smile.
“You”
“Are”
“Worthy”
Persephone blinks, but the Fates seem to fade before her eyes.
She calls out, panicked. “Worthy of what?!”
Everything goes black.
Fate
Persephone comes back to herself slowly.
She feels strong.
Sunlight warms her skin and she’s lying comfortably in a bed.
She can’t quite put her finger on what it is exactly, but the strength is the first thing she notices. She feels strong, and safe, and…and loved.
Her eyes snap open as she realizes Hades’s mind is twined with hers...
She’s in her room again and the flowers are all bright and blooming.
...but Hades isn’t here.
I am.
Persephone startles, looking around as Hades’s voice whispers in her ear. “You’re really not.”
Persephone—
“I’m dead. Oh my gods, I died.” She drops her head in her hands for a moment before she pushes herself off the bed. She doesn’t notice the blue hyacinth still tucked behind her ear. “I need to find Autumn.”
Persephone, you’re not dead.
Persephone shudders at the bizarre feeling of the voice coming from nowhere. “The god of death is whispering in my ear and everything looks perfect, but nobody's around. I’m 100% dea—”
She steps out of her room into the living room and spots Demeter, Hebe, and Hermes all waiting for her.
She blinks as Demeter stands up slowly. She mumbles to herself, “Not dead.”
Persephone’s not sure what to say.
She repeats herself to her very not dead friends. “Um, I’m not dead. I told you so.”
They all laugh and it seems to be almost frantic. Demeter runs forward and throws his arms around Persephone.
Persephone relaxes into it, even though she has…she has so many questions.
Hebe elbows Demeter aside to get her own hug in. “Agh, don’t do that ever again.”
Persephone pushes Hebe away, scrunching her nose. “Do what specifically?”
Demeter runs a hand through his hair, stress clear on his face. “Pass out for a week.”
Persephone blinks. “A week?!”
Persephone focuses on Hermes. She’s all too familiar with the fact that Hermes’s day happens once a week and he must’ve gone to see Hades. “Where’s Hades? Is she okay?”
I’m fine.
Persephone squeezes her eyes closed. She’s heard about humans who start hallucinating and hearing voices when they lose loved ones.
Hermes shrugs. “Ask her yourself.”
Persephone spins around. “Okay, stop fucking with me. What are you talking about?”
Hermes points at his temple. “I spoke to her two days ago. She said you two are connected.”
Persephone tries to comprehend that for a moment.
Her mind has gone quiet.
...we’re okay, Persephone.
Persephone flinches and points at her head. “I’m—I’m losing it.”
Hermes shakes his head. “No, she said she could hear you sleep talking.”
Persephone massages her temples. “What?!”
It’s me. I just…I can’t travel to you right now. And I don’t think you can travel to me.
Persephone slumps onto the couch. “But…we're not touching. How can she—”
We don't need to anymore. It's…a perk, I guess.
“A perk.” Persephone says it dryly. “A perk of what?”
The others watch her talking to herself. Demeter and Hebe look to Hermes who signals them to give her a moment.
The Fates found a loophole for all this but it's…a little complicated. And trust me if it were up to me I would've asked your permission—
“Hades, what the fuck? Asked my permission for what?”
You don't have to say it out loud. I bet you look ridiculous.
“Don't ignore the question.”
We're sort of married.
Persephone locks eyes with Hermes as the words settle within her. “Do you know?” She looks between her two friends. “Do they know?”
No, I told Hermes but I told him not to tell them.
Persephone whines. “I want to take a nap.”
Demeter huffs. “You napped for a week.”
Persephone groans. She switches to her thoughts for this one. I wasn't unconscious recovering from some kind of honeymoon or som—
No! Persephone, no. I'd never.
Persephone feels like she should have a headache communicating like this, but it feels so natural. I know you wouldn’t. I just don’t understand.
I didn’t either. We were about to kiss and then you were gone and then an hour later you were back, but I couldn’t find you. I just heard quiet mumbling and it was like you were right beside me, and nowhere to be found. I was running around the caves for hours until Styx told me you truly did complete the trials.
Persephone closes her eyes as she listens, slowly massaging her temples.
She hears Demeter, Hebe, and Hermes whispering about her, but she ignores them for now.
Hades continues, I spoke to the Fates. She feels Persephone’s trepidation at her words. Hades’s light laugh soothes Persephone’s nerves. It’s all right, they’re just coworkers to me. They explained what your ‘reward’ was.
Persephone doesn’t like the sound of that. Reward?
She can feel Hades hesitate. You’re sitting down, right?
Persephone snorts. You can tell?
I mean, kind of? Are you?
I am.
Okay.
She goes quiet and Persephone pushes her. Is it that bad?
It’s…It’s not that it’s bad, it’s just a lot to take in.
More than being married?!
Yeah, I’d say it’s more than being married.
Persephone waits for Hades to say it.
She can practically hear Hades sigh. Since we—I mean, it’s a union. So, kind of married, but higher gods don’t really get married, not like this. So it’s never been a problem. It’s usually just a pointless ceremony for the excuse of throwing a party, Zeus and Hera had a ceremony, but this extreme union…it was more of a ritual. A lesser god isn’t able to bond with a higher god.
Hades goes quiet as if she expects Persephone to get it. So? We’re not bonded then?
Hades wants to shake her. Come on, clearly we are.
I don’t know what you’re getting at.
Persephone, you’re not a lesser god anymore.
It’s as if the world goes silent and all she can hear is Hades’s voice.
She can see Demeter’s lips moving, but there’s a strange ringing in her ears.
Not a lesser…does that mean what I think it means? I mean. The only thing that makes sense with that is if I’m human, but I can feel my flowers, Hades. So I can’t be human.
You’re not human.
So I’m…
A higher god, yes. We’re married, Persephone. You’re royalty. You’re a ruler of the Underworld alongside me.
Persephone’s thoughts go quiet for a full minute before she can even find any words to respond with. This is some fucked up fairytale. She hears Hades laugh again and clings to it. Nothing else makes sense except her…her wife’s disembodied laughter echoing in her head.
Okay, so that doesn’t really make sense either.
Hades’s voice is gentle. Persephone, I love you. We’ll figure this out.
Persephone feels tears well in her eyes at the words. You’re better? You can feel?
You practically force-fed emotions into me. I’m still reeling.
Persephone frowns. You crumpled up my letter.
How did you know that?
I’m in your head.
Right…this is going to take some getting used to.
Does it ever turn off?
I don’t think so.
It should freak her out, but Persephone feels her shoulders relax knowing that she’ll always have Hades beside her. Wait…can I get to you? Why am I even up here? I thought I ate in the Underworld?