The Last Bite

A Bite of Resolution

Disclaimer: I don't own the Greek myths

A/N: It's been two years. I'm really sorry for all the fans of this story that went without it for so long; I know the agony of that myself. Truthfully I forgot about this story until I re-read my book on mythology, dusty now, and I thought…huh, I have to finish that, don't I? Well guess what? I am. Thanks a million to every single one of you beautiful souls who reviewed, who cheered this story on throughout the years. Two years later, and only one chapter left. Enjoy!

The sun was just starting to set as they began their ascent away from Hade's kingdom. It was silent as they waded through the growing darkness, darkness that should have, for all it was, been disturbing, disconcerting. But not to Persephone.

She barely bit back her snickers at the way Hermes seemed to start to hunch into himself as the darkness bloomed like a rare flower. Of course he would be weary of the darkness—it was only natural for one like him. One who basked in the sunlight, absorbed all the warmth of it with a gluttony only a god of Mt Olympus could possess. The light was supposed to be there to illuminate every little detail, every little flaw and beauty a person could possess. It was a fact to Persephone now that the light was a lie.

The light made everything clear, but never sharp; it never made anything into what it really was. In the light the gods acted only as they thought they should act, as they knew the others were watching, the mortals were praying. In the light, every god knew how to lie, to smile; every god knew how to deceive. But in the dark?

In the dark the truth lurked, always there, not cast aside by frivolous smiles that fall on unseen eyes and words spun sweetly into the sourest lie. The darkness took everything away, all the senses, all the hope, and in its depths stripped a person bare, mercilessly. The truth, the truth, always the truth. It followed them even now as they began their ascent, hounding them and exposing in its manipulative way. Hermes gentle smile could not affect her here; she could hear the caution as his voice as he reassured her, could feel his anxiety even as he tried to be excited about the plans he had already for their wedding.

But the dark hid one thing, perhaps the most important element of all—in her hand, the pomegranate was growing warmer and warmer. One bite, she knew, was all it would take.

Aphrodite and Athena were standing at the turrets of Mt Olympus, overseeing the battle between Zeus and Hades in silence when they heard the sound of hooves echoing off the hollow glass floors.

"That would be Arbela," Athena commented idly, "Back from the Underworld to bring us news…"

"Good news, I should hope," Aphrodite sniffed, watching as Hades dodged another of Zeus' thunderbolts. "We could all use good news right now."

The sinewy form of Arbela appeared at their sides, her dark intense eyes flickering between them to the battle still waging down below them.

So the fighting has begun?

"Unfortunately yes," Athena replied to the voiceless comment, casting a glance down at her golden animal friend. "Interference in such matters would not be prudent."

"I still don't see why not," Aphrodite scoffed, "Hades deserves to be taught a lesson and Zeus is our father—"

"He is our father, but he is not always right," Athena easily replied. "Do not forget, sister, even gods' make mistakes."

"Hm, not I," Aphrodite bit out imperiously, "And watching all these dead souls mill around is making me feel hideous. Their pallor is revolting."

"Well yes Aphrodite," Athena sighed, rolling her eyes, "They are dead you know. And this is not the issue right now!" Turning to Arbela, her wise grey eyes pierced into the doe anxiously. "What news of Persephone, deer?"

Hermes is with her, and he has the helmet of invisibility in his grasp. I believe that he was secretly helped by Demeter.

"Well of course he was!" Aphrodite exclaimed, "That god couldn't have done so much on his own—"

"Don't underestimate Hermes, sister. He does have cunning in him. Arbela, where are they at now?"

In the underworld, but by now I am sure that they are on their way out. He plans on returning to Demeter's house and marrying her, I'm sure.

"Such a thing is not possible," Aphrodite commented, "To win her hand he needed the invisibility helmet and you. You are here, and thus such a union cannot be sanctioned."

Arbela snorted. I can tell you that such trivial details do not matter to him anymore.

"Arbela is correct, Hermes no longer possesses the patience to wait, not when Hades is distracted and everything is falling apart like it is," Athena sighed, "I should not reject Hermes advances to her, I really shouldn't and yet…"

"There is no love between them that is true," Aphrodite spoke quietly. Athena threw her a startled look, and Aphrodite flipped her golden head with a sneer. "What? I am the goddess of love after all; it's my job to know such things! Hermes has a mere obsession with her as she is the only woman he can imagine himself with. He is young and ignorant and afraid of the future. You know why Athena."

"He doesn't want to end up like his father," the wise goddess whispered into the rushing breeze. Athena trained her eyes on said father, noticing vaguely that the battle was going nowhere, both Hades and Zeus painfully matched and at a stalemate. "And who can blame him?"

"Precisely my point. Hermes just needs to find someone else, whether she is another goddess or even a mortal," Aphrodite stated, "So long as he stops chasing Persephone and allows her to be with Hades. Even if that god does give me the creeps…"

He is a good man; a great god, Arbela commented agilely. He and Persephone have been fated to meet for a reason, and they are already in love.

"Well I already said that!" Aphrodite huffed, shooting an annoyed look to the little golden doe. "Haven't you been listening?"

Athena had to bite her lip to keep from smiling when it looked like Arbela was rolling her large brown eyes. "The point is, friends, how do we stop this? Hermes is about to bring her up to the surface and with Hades distracted—"

We must get him to turn his attentions away from his revenge on Lord Zeus. His bitter rivalry will destroy his love and very soon. Hermes, once he is on the surface with her, will take her to Demeter, and we all know that she will sanction a union between them.

"Then we don't have much time," Athena said, "We must think of—"

"She can't sanction a marriage without my consent!" Aphrodite interrupted, looking peeved. "I am the goddess of love—"

"I know that, sister, and Demeter certainly knows that too but she is beyond caring. She will stop at nothing to ensure that she does not lose her daughter to the underworld—"

"She can always have another child!" Aphrodite interrupted, "I mean I get that she loves Persephone but she needs to learn to just let her go. She can't stay a perfect porcelain girl forever."

"Try telling her that," Athena sighed. "We have to get Hades to abandon his fight with Zeus; it is the only way that he and Persephone can continue their love."

Should we just go down there and tell him? Arbela asked, Interrupt the fight and—

"Why should he believe us?" Aphrodite scoffed, "We're the children of his sworn enemy; he'll more than likely try to cut us down before he gives us a chance to speak!"

"You are right Aphrodite," Athena replied. As the goddess of wisdom, of course her mind was busy already figuring out a plan. "We will have to trick him; it is the only hope we can have. Let him know that Persephone is in danger…"

How can we accomplish such a thing? Persephone is not with us…

"But we can always pretend that she is," Athena quickly said, "We can make it seem like she is in trouble…"

"I think I know exactly what you're thinking of, sister," Aphrodite grinned, pushing her hair back from her face. "One little scream from her and Hades will be forced to chose what is most important to him!"

But who can imitate Persephone's scream that well…?

Aphrodite's answer was to simply throw her golden head back and scream towards the rumbling sky.

Hades found himself caught between two conflicts of interest. In the end what was more important—love or revenge? There was passion in both; a hard, harsh passion that could make gods fall and even the tides of Poseidon change. It all came down to what mattered more.

Here he was, standing in front of the throne of Mt Olympus, everything he had ever wanted since this mass called earth had been formed, and there was a bitter taste in his mouth. Like a rotten pomegranate his senses were screaming at him, and his heart that should have been soaring in joy only seemed to be palpitating in fear.

Her scream, one brief sound, echoed through his head louder than any clap of lightning and thunder Zeus had hurled at him. It struck him right in the heart, killing a part of him that he had not realized had even been there in the first place before it lay dying, so lovely in its final breaths.

Happiness…

And he knew then that nothing, no victories, no prayers, no kingdoms and powers, could ever make up for a world without Persephone, his lovely stolen Persephone, at his side. And just like that, all inclinations to mangle his brother's face and tear apart all he thought was good were gone.

Perhaps sensing his brother's hesitation, Zeus slowly started to lower the lightning bolt he had been about to hurl, his shrewd eyes taking in Hade's heaving chest and the conflict clearly visible on his face dark through the sheets of rain.

"You do not wish to do this anymore," Zeus dared to state, watching those crimson eyes flash to him. For a moment Hade's scowled darkly, a retort on the tip of his tongue that he barely resisted in biting back.

It wasn't as though he didn't want to do it but… Now there were more important things in the shape of the young women he had been waiting centuries for. Then again, he had been waiting just as long to see his arrogant brother get degraded, as he had been for too long now. His heart or his pride?

It was a conflict no man, or god, ever wished to see themselves in, and yet…

"If you stop this now Hades," Zeus spoke quietly, voice barely audible above the drenching rain. "If you stop this now brother I will not think ill of you—"

Hades could not help but snarl at that, eyes that had started to cool bursting vividly with crimson flames once more. "Think ill of me? Zeus that is all you have ever done! I can't believe that, by the graces I refuse to believe that now!"

For the first time in his life, Zeus looked at his younger brother, drenched in rain and defeat, as if he were not the lord of the underworld, as though he had not always been his rival and his greatest threat and had always been just his brother. Without titles, without powers and without kingdoms, Zeus knew that things would have been different between them, between everyone and for the briefest of moments, as lightening forked the air directly above him, he regretted his powers.

With a wave of his hand the storm receded, the rain seeming to recede back into the clouds they had fallen from. The clouds, dark and heavy and just waiting to reopen, rumbled above them both as Zeus met his brother's surprised eyes.

"Zeus what—"

"You think I don't understand you, brother, but I do. I understand how you feel perfectly. You think that everyone looks down on you because of who you are and the things that you are destined to handle, and maybe that is true. But what you need to know is that despite the grudges held against you, you were trusted with perhaps the safest powers and realm of all." Zeus' smile was bitter as he turned his eyes from Hades to look through the clouds down to the earth, where the dead were still chasing the living, who were throwing their arms up to the sky. His name was cried over and over and over again for mercy, in anguish, from their lips.

"The dead already know their fates, Hades, and there is nothing that they can say to you to change them. But the living… You should hear them when they try to barter for their lives. When they curse at me for their misfortunes, how easily they turn on me when something happens, something catastrophic like this. The Underworld doesn't change but the Earth…each day is a survival that I must see through, and each day it's almost like I lose something more to the greedy hands of them all, the mortals and their petty troubles…"

Zeus trailed off slowly; his eyes still averted as he watched those he was in charge of flee from something he could not control. Watched them flee from death himself and curse him and plead to him and surrender themselves to his judgment. But then, it never had been his decision at all.

The absolute power that Hades thought he possessed had never even been there in the first place and, as the two brothers looked down into the destructions their ways had caused, everything seemed to stop.

Hades lowered his hands slowly, a grim smile tugging at the edges of his lips as he faced the man, the god, who seemed more like a mortal now as he looked at him with such sad, cracked blue eyes. And he thought that maybe, there wasn't that much of a difference between them at all.

"It is not weakness to surrender to love," Zeus whispered, even as Hades started to vanish, back to his domain where death and love were side by side. "It is all a mortal and a god can ever wish for in life. For the love of their people…"Around him the sky was starting to break up, the dead vanishing with their leader even as the mortals cursed Zeus, always Zeus, for their misfortune.

Curse him until the dying come back from their graves and wreck more havoc on the already decaying world. The fighting has gone, and yet on the very top of Mt Olympus, Lord Zeus was well aware that his own fight would never end.

Zeus let his rain fall again with a bitter little smile on his face, seen only in the flashes of the lightening.

Was there any difference between the cries of the living and the dead?

When they emerged from the cave, Hermes immediately tried to reach for her hand. Unfortunately for him, Persephone was one step ahead of him, backing away from him on nimble feet towards the forest. She knew that she could not just outright bolt from him; with his winged shoes and the helmet of invisibility, he had an automatic advantage over her.

Running back into the Underworld was also something she had to rule out, as she knew he would catch her and willingly fall back into the darkness just to get her. Years ago, that thought might have made her feel so happy; now it only made her feel despair. Cornered by him and his rabid obsessions, she clutched the pomegranate behind her back as she raised her chin up at him, showing the defiance she still could not help but feel even in her situation.

"Hermes, I will ask you one last time to let me go. I love Hades and I can't, and will never, love you like I love him. Please, you must understand this before you stir his wrath and force us both into eternal misery in our marriage!"

"Oh Persephone," the thickheaded god just sighed heavily, shaking his golden head. "He really has poisoned your mind, hasn't he? Demeter told me that he had, but I never expected it to be this bad…"

"My mother shouldn't even be involved in this!" Persephone snapped. Behind her the pomegranate started to spill its red juices down her back, like blood she could never really shed. "I am in charge of my own fate, not her, and certainly not you!"

"I am tired of hearing this!" Hermes snapped, reaching for her again. "Let's just go now and get this over with—"

"You will kindly take your hands off of my goddess," a dark voice suddenly boomed, causing Persephone's heart to turn as light as the clouds. Peering beyond Hermes shoulder she saw her beloved, standing in all his dark glory at the entrance to his realm, eyes fire and passion as he snarled at Hermes. "Before I make you a part of my realm."

"Hades," Persephone whispered breathlessly, her eyes only on the god of the underworld as Hermes slowly released her and backed away. The light eyes of the messenger god were slowly darkening with the sin of petty emotions, with the shadows of hate and greed. "Hades," he all but growled, "What a shame that you should make it here…"

Hades eyes were literally filled with fire as he started to advance on the messenger god, lips curled in a ghastly snarl. "I will destroy you boy…"

If Hermes was scared of the approaching god he did a good job of hiding it. Persephone was thinking about interfering—as much as she hated him, she didn't want to see Hermes hurt— until Hermes, with a dark grin twisting his lips, held up the helmet of invisibility. The sight of it—Hades most prized possession in someone else's hands—caused the lord of the underworld to stop. The flames in his eyes practically smoldered.

"Where did you get that?" he hissed, dark fire starting to burn at his feet and fingertips. "Give that back to me."

"Not so powerful without this, are you?" Hermes mocked cruelly, twisting the helmet in his hands. "Tell me, Hades, is this more important to you than Persephone?"

"No one is more important to me than her!" Hades immediately responded, his dark eyes flickering momentarily to the startled spring goddess. Persephone felt her mouth part and a tremble pass through her body under his intense gaze, so dark with fire and rage and—somehow—love for her. "Oh Hades…" she whispered, taking a half-step closer to him. Hermes dark scoff ruined their moment.

"You can't be anything to her!" the messenger god hissed, "What can you provide for the goddess of spring? Why don't you just admit that you don't deserve her, you soulless creature, and realize she doesn't belong with you?"

"She may not belong in my world, but that is her choice boy," Hades replied in tones of ice. "Persephone has chosen to love me, and I will never take that love for granted, unlike you. Like Zeus you will eventually stray from her for some other woman—mortal or goddess—and break her heart. You are fickle whereas I am not; the darkness doesn't change, boy."

"How dare you say such things to me you vile being!" Hermes roared, "I will never betray her; I can't even fathom such a thought! She will always be safe with me and I already have her mother's blessing! Do you think Demeter will let her only daughter go to you?"

Persephone, who had so far been listening to the argument with a growing urgency in her heart, felt fit to cut in at this point. "My mother does not own me Hermes," she snapped, "The days where she made my decisions for me are behind me! I told you once and I will tell you again: I am no longer the young girl you knew! I am no longer you're best friend."

For a second Hermes seemed to be suitably startled before the curse of the gods, those perfect illusions they weave for themselves, kicked back in. "Don't be ridiculous Persephone," the messenger god laughed, and it was a sharp and quick sound. "You will always be my best friend and, of course, my wife. I just need to get you away from this darkness so you can see that—"

"The only darkness here exists inside of you Hermes," Persephone bit out, frustrated. Behind her back the pomegranate was warm in her hands, so much so that she can't help but think it was alive. "I will not leave Hades for anyone—not you, and certainly not my mother! This is my life and I chose Hades!"

"You won't have a choice," Hermes growled, raising the helmet in his hands. "I already have the helmet and I need that stupid deer—"

"The competition for Persephone's heart is over, boy," Hades cut in. His eyes still blazed, but there was something else starting to burn underneath all that fire that almost resembled pity. Hades knew what it was like to love a woman irrevocably, madly; luckily for him she had returned his affections. But if Persephone had denied him who was to say he wouldn't have ended up just like Hermes? "Return home with honor."

"Honor?" Hermes spat, face turning red. "You dare speak to me about honor? You? You, who abducted her, dragged her down into the earth like a common—"

He was cut off by a sudden burst of flames in front of him. Hermes just managed to get out of the way before he was burned to a crisp, startled and shaking as he stumbled back into a tree. Across the clearing Hades eyes burned worse than ever, a void of conflicting emotions no one could truly understand. Except, perhaps, the young girl at his side.

"You will desist at once," Hades thundered and for a moment he sounded like his brother, up on Olympus taking on the burden of the earth. "I pity you, boy, I truly do, but my pity can only extend so far. If you ever want happiness, you need to let Persephone go."

"I will not let her go to you!" Hermes shouted back, helmet clutched in his slightly shaking hands. "I love her—"

"You don't know what love is, Hermes," Persephone spoke up, a tiny bell like voice of ice. "And I pity you, too. Maybe I could have loved you once, but never now. You've shown a side of you that frightens me; I want nothing to do with you anymore."

Hermes started to pale, jaw clenching as sweat formed on his pristine brow. Persephone looked him in the eye and she knew that all he could see was indifference; it was all she had left for him, her one time friend. All the sorrow she had felt over losing him was gone now; this needed to end, like all things, and it needed to end now.

"You don't mean that," Hermes swallowed. "He's brainwashed you, made you believe such silly things! But I have your mother's blessing, and the deer and the helmet! You will be my bride! Mine!"

Hades started to step towards Hermes, fire blazing in his hands and heart, but was stopped by a gentle hand on his arm. With just a touch from her, his wrath dissipates. Persephone was calm as she held the pomegranate out in front of her, red like a heart in the light. She can feel the air change as she held it, dainty and staining her hand a faint pink and she knew then that this was it, wasn't it? The end.

"What are you…?" Hades tried to say, but Persephone cut him off, eyes still trained on the bewildered Hermes.

"I'm going to show you that I can handle myself Hermes; I can handle my own fate and make my own choices and you won't have a say, not anymore!" Her exclamation was loud in the open air, a shining arch of light heralded by the sinking of her incisors into the soft red skin of the fruit, in the light of daylight.

Her eyes were no longer on Hermes but on Hades, whose dark eyes held a shocked understanding, a frightened hope. She wished she could smile at him then, and she would have if her mouth had not been full of the sweet bitterness of the pomegranate, the taste like the ashes of her old life and seeds of her new one. Juices ran down her neck to her jaw, but she did not stop, her tongue finding seeds and swallowing, one by one, until there was no doubt that she was in this for nothing less than eternity.

"Persephone, what in all the heaven are you doing?" Hermes cried out, not understanding and how could he? He did not know that fate had been against him from the beginning, that a single red pulp would be the end to the delusion of being with her in his mind. "Drop that at once! Stop—"

But Persephone had swallowed and the fruit, now savaged by teeth, was dropped to her feet. In the daylight the red on her mouth looked like the sweetest of disasters and she was smiling, absurdly, defiantly, a woman now with her hair like burnished fire. Hades stepped up next to, hesitantly reaching out and Persephone did not hesitate in placing herself in his arms, those cold dark things that would support her forever and ever now.

"I win," she told Hermes, who was still sputtering, still so absurdly confused. "You cannot take me now, not really. I am one with the Underworld, and the dead are my brethren."

"What? No!" Hermes shook his head, scowling, and denial is at his very core destroying his bursting heart. "What did you do? That pomegranate, what—"

But he was cut off by the sound of the earth mourning. In the time Persephone had first sunk her teeth into the pomegranate, she had known that her mother had felt it. She had known her mother would know what she had done and she knew that her mother would know what it meant. Maybe she should have been afraid, knowing that it would destroy her mother, but she could not be. She has spent too long living for her mother and it's time, in Hades arms, that she lived for herself.

The sight of her mother, Demeter of the earth, standing in front of her sending earthquakes of power through the earth does little to upset her, not like it should, not like it would have used to. Demeter was green all over, skin raised and prickled with vines of venom that curled around her lithe frame, power vibrating off of her in waves.

"You did this!" Demeter shrieked at Hades, voice like razors and vines whipping every which way. Behind her mother, vaguely, Persephone noticed Athena appear in the shadows of an old tree, splendid in armor and shield. "You took her from me!"

The vines shoot out, aimed for Hades heart, but Persephone was quick. As Hades raised a hand of flame the goddess of spring—no the Queen of the Underworld—created her own vines to intertwine with her mother's, locking them together in a standstill.

"Persephone!" Demeter gasped in surprise, green skin flickering back to tan for a moment in her surprise. "Where did you—"

"I learned it," Persephone answered, voice bitter and sharp. "All on my own, when you locked me away like a common prisoner. Weren't expecting this, were you mother?"

"I—"Demeter faltered, her vines retreating momentarily back towards her. "Daughter—"

"We did it for your safety," Hermes stepped in, winged shoes darting him across the clearing to stand next to Demeter. His jovial eyes were burning with hatred at the stoic Hades. "This being that dares call himself a god deceived you—"

"Talk about him in such a manner again and I will choke you with my vines," Persephone hissed, almost surprised herself at how hostile she sounded. At her side Hades leaned towards her, a silent support that gave her all the courage she required. "I mean it, Hermes, mother—Stop this! It's too late now anyway; I've eaten the pomegranate, ingested the seeds. I am part of the Underworld now, a part of Hades."

"We can change it!" Demeter was mad with desperation, skin a sickly green, beautiful face twisted in an unfathomable sorrow. "You cannot be taken from me! I will not allow this! I will not stand for this! Zeus! Zeus!"

"My brother will not come to your aid," Hades told Demeter, his tone startlingly gentle. "This is beyond him now, Demeter." He bore no ill will to his sister, who he had known from the start had existed only for Persephone. He didn't like to see her hurt, but it had happened and there was no going back. Persephone's hand, still sticky with the juices of the pomegranate, found his at their sides and squeezed.

"Nothing is beyond Zeus," Demeter growled, eyes flashing the colors of the decaying earth. "It can't be."

"But it is mother," Persephone insisted. "It's with the fates now. I am dead, in a way, and I must now reside in the Underworld, with my beloved, for all eternity."

"You're the goddess of the spring though!" Hermes yelled. "Spring can't be in the Underworld, it's not natural, by the gods—"

"But love can exist anywhere," Athena, who had watched the entire exchange thus far in silence, spoke up. At her side Arbela appeared, glimmering like the sun in the light of day. "And love clearly exists here. Are you so blinded by selfishness that you cannot see this, Hermes? And you Demeter are you too blinded by the fear of being alone?" The goddess of wisdom asked. "Even gods change. We must change and accept, adapt as we must. Persephone has chosen."

"She has not!" Hermes cried. "The competition for her hand is still in effect! Look, I have the helmet! She is my love, to be mine, to be—"

In a flash of gold Hermes found himself tossed hard across the clearing, crashing into the ground harshly with a strangled yell. Above his fallen form Arbela stood proudly, soft brown eyes burning with satisfaction and anger.

You will desist at once, messenger god. This is madness, not true love. You will speak no more of this matter, as you are defeated, once and for all. Return home. Find real love. Exist as you are meant to, not as you want to. The golden doe's gentle voice wafted through the air like petals in the breeze.

"She is right, Hermes," Athena rejoined. "The competition is null and void in the wake of the pomegranate; you have no hope of claiming Persephone. Take my words of wisdom and find your happiness elsewhere, and stop being a child. You are a god and you must act like one."

"Don't listen to her, Hermes!" Demeter demanded. "Don't listen to any of them! There is still hope!"

For a long moment Hermes laid there on the ground, still trembling slightly with the weight of Demeter's pain. He did not look at anyone but Persephone as he slowly go to his feet, eyes pale and hollow, a mask of despair. "Forgive me," he whispered as Arbela backed away from him on delicate hooves, and Persephone looked back at him with the eyes of her lover.

And now he has seen it, the dark edges that never belonged to the Persephone he loved. The way her skin was pale, her hair not like the sun but like fire, and her body hardened and twisted by sharp curves. This was not the girl he loved, but someone else, a Queen and a being of darkness and fluctuating light, independent and as fiery as the hair on her head.

On the ground, the pomegranate was a sad misshapen lump, just like his heart.

Persephone…

With a flick of his heels Hermes was gone, taken flight from the clearing and everything he used to love, left to stare after his retreating form with emotionless eyes.

"Now look at what you have done!" Demeter screamed at Athena, and around them trees began to uproot themselves. "You've ruined everything, you've—"

"You've always been dramatic, Demeter," Athena rolled her eyes. "But this is getting a little extreme. If you wish to talk to Zeus about this matter, you can, but there is little you can do or say that will pry your daughter from Hades arms. It is pointless, and your rage is a sad thing to witness."

"Sad?" Demeter repeated as the vines wrapped around her stirred again, flickering towards the other goddess. "That is my only daughter in the hands of—"

"Your brother. A fellow god. A good god," Athena said. "Hades may run the Underworld, but so what? Are you so vain? It is a realm, perhaps dark, but a castle, a powerful place, a safe place for your daughter. You know that."

Demeter turned again on Hades, limbs creaking like branches as she moved in her fury. "You monster, you filth, you dreadful being borne from—"

"Mother, stop, stop this now!" Persephone shouted, tiny hands clenched into fists as she stepped up in front of Hades, shielding him with her petite body as though that would be enough to stop him from getting hurt from words. "He is my husband! He's always been my husband! Just because, back then, he didn't kiss me at that altar and make it so does not make it any less true! Why can't you let me go and live my life?"

"Life?" Demeter scoffed, "What life could one possibly live in that dark abysmal place! All there is in his world is darkness and death. You cannot survive that, daughter of the spring!"

"You think I'm so weak?" Persephone hissed. "You think I don't know what I'm getting myself into? I know the souls that pass, both good and evil. I know the darkness echoes with monsters that I cannot fathom, and that I will grow pale and the sun will not warm my skin as much as it used to. I am not stupid. But you know what, mother? Hades is worth it. He's worth everything I'm giving up because I love him. I love him, mother. I will be his spring and he…he will be my winter."

Behind her Hades shifted, a choked sound rising out of his mouth as his hand found her delicate hip, her soft glowing hair. "Persephone…"

Demeter's eyes were wide and wild, her face a disaster of conflicting emotions. "You…You cannot…"

You have done well, goddess of the earth, in raising her, Arbela's voice sang out, the doe a gentle presence appearing at Demeter's side. But now it is time to let her go. Like the earth, all things grow. Like the earth, all things die. You've had her for so long now, she had forgotten herself. Now she is herself. Persephone is the Queen of the Underworld, but she will always be your daughter.

"Listen to us, Demeter, this is how it should be," a new voice said, and Eros stepped into the conflict, his wings fluttering and his eyes so soft with compassion. "It is true love; I would know."

"You planned this?" Demeter demanded of the god of love, "You made them fall in love, didn't you?"

"You cannot make a person fall in love," Eros replied calmly, unconcerned for the goddess's burning blue stare on him. "You can only help them along at times. No one helped these two; maybe that first disastrous time, but not now, this time. Look at them, goddess of the earth. How can you not see their love?"

Demeter flinched and in her eyes tears started to form. Around her the vines were breaking down, the green sheen that covered her skin receding. Persephone stepped forward, towards her mother with all the love that was not now Hades' reflecting in her light sky eyes. "I will always love you, mother, I will. You must know that."

Demeter let out a single long shaky breath, her eyes closing as her daughter's arms encircled her, colder than she remembered. "I know that, I know," she whispered into passion red hair. "But I…Do you truly love him?"

Persephone pulled away from the hug to smile up into her mother's eyes, and her face shone as brightly as Apollo's chariot. "Yes mother, I do, I truly, completely do. I never meant to but…I do. Please, let me be with him. Please…"

Demeter took her daughter back into her arms and sighed, a long, hard breath that Persephone could feel move against her, within her. "I love you so much," the goddess of the earth whispered. "That perhaps my love for you consumed me. I do not understand why you chose…him, but…maybe the spring can only be temporary."

"Thank you mother, thank you so much!" Persephone beamed, pressing a kiss to her mother's familiar, soft cheek. "This is not a goodbye, you know. I will still walk amongst the living, as spring must exist, right?"

"Spring must always exist somewhere," Demeter smiled, touching her daughter's smooth face, her soft hair. "I must accept this, I realize and…with time, I will. Please forgive me for trying to take away your happiness."

Persephone shook her head. "You only did it out of love for me, and concern; you have nothing to apologize for. Well, at least, not to me. You should apologize to my husband, however."

Demeter's face darkened for a moment as she glanced away from her daughter to the lord of the Underworld, who had been watching the exchange with a stoic face. As their eyes met, brother and sister, Demeter saw something shining in those crimson eyes, not with darkness but with light. The goddess of the earth slowly moved towards him their eyes never left each other's, a silent stand-off.

"You will take care of her," Demeter said, mouth pursued. "Or you will know what will happen."

Hades arched a dark brow. "I have no doubt that you would tear this world apart if Persephone even remotely frowned, dear sister. But you know I will. I always will."

Demeter closed her eyes and allowed a sad, soft smile to cross her face. "Well then, there is nothing left to say, is there? I will help plan the wedding, of course."

"Oh mother!" Persephone cried in happiness, tackling her mother in a hug before reaching up and, in the sunlight, with the pomegranate decaying on the ground, kissed Hades in a clash of cold and warmth.

This is love, Arbela snorted to Eros, true love, isn't it?

Eros smiled, spreading his wings. "As close as it can ever be, my friend."

Athena shook her head in amusement, picking up the discarded helmet of invisibility from the ground. "Well look at that," she sighed, "Even gods can have happy endings."

Up in the clouds, Zeus turned to his wife. "My darling Hera, it's time to have a wedding." And the clouds were so white that day.

One more chapter to go!