"So… what now?" Persephone tentatively asked, tucking her head closer under Hades chin.

"Whatever you want to do." Hades answered truthfully. When he received no reply he pulled away and gently nudged her chin up. "I mean it… your whole life you've had someone pick and choose for you," he leant in and pressed his lips to her forehead and breathed out, "including me."

"I wouldn't change anything," she squeezed her arms tighter around him, snuggling her head to his firm chest. "Everything that's happened has lead me here. And I can't think of anywhere else I'd rather be."

She could hear his heartbeat flutter and giggled as Hades pulled her tighter, smoothing a hand through her soft hair.

"Do you mean that Persephone?"

"Mean what?" She asked perplexed.

"You truly wouldn't change anything? Even though I basically kidnapped you, and lead you to believe I was your saviour."

She exhaled heavily, resting her chin on his chest so she could look up at him. "No. I wouldn't change anything. Truthfully, if you hadn't have taken me then I never would have left that garden again. I would still be there now, doing the same old boring routine, letting my mother lead me around as though I'm her sheep." She exhaled again, bring her head back to rest gently against his chest, her ear by his heartbeat soothing.

"I love my mother, truly I do, and I know she was just trying to protect me in her own way. But, I'm so glad to be here in your arms. In a lot of way Hades you're not my captor, you're my rescuer."

"It was never my intention to scare you, please know that Persephone. And when you fell into that river… I was so worried you'd forget everything, your life, your name, yourself. That river is designed for people to forget themselves and if you'd have lost yourself… Gods," Hades heaved out a sigh and swallowed the lump in his throat. "Then, you looked to me. To save you and protect you from the foggy memories and I couldn't bare for you to look upon me with the same terror in your eyes."

"You do not scare me Hades. You never have."

"I know," he ran his hands lightly down her arms reverently, "even as a babe. Every child I've ever held has burst into fits of hysterics, but you just looked at me. You looked straight into my very soul."

"I feel the same. Every person, the gods, nymphs, my mother… they've all looked at me and seen me as this fragile porcelain vase. Pretty to look at, but empty inside only to be filled with flowers of other people's choosing." She reached for his hands, gripping them lightly and bringing them to her lips where she kissed his knuckles lightly. "I've never had a reason to let them believe otherwise, afraid they'd put me away on a shelf forever if I showed I wanted to be something more than an object for them to claim. But when you look at me, I can see what I could be, the future I could have if only I had been brave enough to reach for it."

"You are brave Persephone." He tightened his hands around her own and reciprocated, kissing each knuckle on her dainty hands. "You've looked into the darkness of me and seen light, you've explored the Underworld - a place where Zeus himself refuses to venture, you've made a puppy out of the fierce three headed beast that guards the entrance to-"

"He is a puppy!" She protested, pouting.

Hades chuckled, "You have gone against the pledge of a Virgin Goddess, knowing it would evoke your mother's fury."

Persephone cheeks turned rosey pink, "I would have."

"What?" He tugged her gently towards him by the hands he still held, placing them to rest on his chest and then gliding his palms down her sides to caress her waist, the ends of her russett hair tickling the backs of his hands.

She looked at her feet, taking in a deep breath before tossing her head back, flicking her hair away from her temples. "I would have," she focused on his eyes, "I didn't want to but I wasn't sure my answer would be no… until I met you. I realise now that we'd met long before then and perhaps that was always somewhere in the back of my mind. The truth is, I looked at you and I knew that if I became a Virgin Goddess then I could never even dream about being someone of importance to you."

Her blush rose as Hades didn't say anything and merly gazed at her for a time, until he whispered with a soft smile, "Little did you know you were already of the utmost importance to me; you are, and always will be, the most important person in my existence."

"Then… I… Marry me?" His arms tightened instinctively, was she jesting?

"W-what?" He pulled back slightly so he could see her face. His grey eyes were wide and vulnerable, disbelief written across his face. "I… do you mean that?"

"You're the most important person in my life too Hades… I want to share our lives together. You told me 'whatever I want to do' and I want to marry you." She curled her hands around his shirt, gripping the fabric to ground herself.

I was her sweetest dream, falling asleep to the beating of his heart in the safety of his arms.

The thought of waking in that small bed at her mother's with simple white sheets on her own was startling, in the fact that she knew she didn't want to be there again. When she thought of home, of the bed she longed to sleep in after a long day it was a tall, wide four poster bed with ruby sheets, soft to touch.

"Hades…?" He was still in shock, unmoving, staring at her. Was he dreaming the cruelest of dreams? Would he wake up to find the sweetness of this moment was a figment of his imagination?

No, surely not. Even he could not dream something so wonderful enchanting. Still he could not help himself to ask, even if the answer to could break him. "Why?" Would she be able to answer? Would she now realise she did not have an answer to that and see she was only speaking in the whirlwind of the moment and see she was making a terrible mistake?

"Well," she breathed out, "when I think of home, I think of you." She grinned as he blinked, dazed. "I want fall asleep on your chest, sit next to you at the table, stand with you at the gatherings, hold your hand through sorrows and wake up to the new day with you, greeting you in the morning with a kiss, waking up to your face." She raised her hand, running it gently over the stubble on his jaw, up into his thick ebony hair. "The face of the man who holds my heart."

She let out a small yelp as Hades caught her by the waist and before she knew it she was up in the air, being twirled about like a forest fairy. "Hades, put me down! I'm becoming dizzy!"

She was giggling as he lowered her, but didn't put her on her feet. Instead her repositioned his arms so one was around her thighs to keep her suspended at eye level with his tall frame. Her giggling faded as she caught the fervent look in his eyes.

"I mean it Hades," she whispered, completely serious and no longer bashful about her feelings. "You're my home." She brushed one of her hands through his hair, smoothing it away from stormy eyes that she'd completely fallen in love with.

"I love you," he muttered fervently, gazing ardently into her jade eyes. He'd never thought the happiness that swelled in his heart would ever grace him, never for one second thought he'd ever feel a fraction of it.

"Yes." Complete an utter exhilaration filled him. He and Persephone would be married and it was all her choice… she'd asked him. She wanted to spend the rest of their existences together. As husband and wife. Wife… she'd be his wife!

He tried to utter something else, but the mist clouding his eyes was distracting but then it didn't matter as he closed them instinctively upon feeling her soft rose petal lips press against his.

So, just some fluff for our lovely couple. Not much of a chapter but I just wanted to get something on here; I hope you all like it and are still even reading this thing!

I've recently found some more inspiration to write and get my thoughts on paper… computer.

The truth is I'm a bit lazy when it comes to typing and I can never seem to get my thoughts as I want them written out. They're never sound as good when I read them back to myself as they did playing out in my head. Does that make any sense to anyone?

Anyway, I really hope you all like this chapter and rest assured this isn't the end! I know it means waiting around some more for me, because I won't even pretend to make false promises - I don't know when I'll get the inspiration or will to write more, but I know I will. This story will not sit here to collect dust! It will be finished - even if my fingers are bleeding by the end of it by typing and deleting and typing again.