Author's Note:School's out! It's over!

Disclaimer: Since certain information on my profile my contradict the idea that I didn't exist then, I will refrain from stating it...Wait a minute...

Summary: Hades and Persephone are finally getting hitched...I imagine that someone won't be too pleased by that.

A ghostly howling of moans filled his ears. Black eyes flickered open in time to see a parade of the translucent, green haze that Hades identified as souls entering Erebus.

War. He thought absentmindedly. It can only be war. War is always like this.

For a moment he paused mentally, as if to collect his thoughts.

No. He corrected himself. War is not always like this. War is not always a flood of the dead into my Kingdom. Is she not at war with me? Am I not at war with her? Two opposing parties, fighting for causes that contradict each other.

Not for the first time, he caught himself. Although, now it wasn't because he believed himself to be wrong.

"Oh, Persephone." He asked himself more than he did her. "What have you done to me? This heart that was like stone, fell apart in your hands. Even when you are gone, even when I try to distract myself, the thoughts of you come to haunt me."

A smile came to his lips. Not for Persephone, but at the irony of his use of 'haunt'.

Had he really not realized that all these years? That all that he had wanted was companionship? That he had been miserable and alone? Of course not. In accordance with the old saying, 'Ignorance is bliss.'

And Hades had been just that. Ignorant.

Ignorant towards life, towards, death, towards love.

Now, Hades, weary with thoughts, stood. And with a sad smile, and what could be described as nothing other than a trill, he called what one could call his smallest servant.

Far away, in the forest where Hades had once stood, where he had first laid his eyes on her, she lay. Her hair fanned out on the grass, and the little light that shimmered through the trees filtered itself out further still on her elegant face.

Persephone's opinion of her had never changed. If anything, with time, it was only strengthened. She was beautiful, lovely, fascinating. Persephone had thought that seemed so childish, despite her age and wisdom, when her eyes shot open.

Two silvery irises, with their black pupils stared back at her, and then, almost as if she had known what she had been thinking..."Did you know that pupils are really just holes in your eyes?"

She must have looked surprised, because before she knew it, Nyx began urging her. "It's true. If you don't believe me, your Mother and Father could always confirm it for you."

Persephone watched her for a short while before replying, "Of course I believe you...But...This isn't what you came to ask me about...Is it?"

Nyx smiled in reply. Thin, pale lips moved soundlessly. Of course not. She sat up, rather abruptly, before clasping Persephone's small, delicate hands in her own, and asking, "Is it true? Will you and Hades be wed when you arrive back in Erebus?"

Her eyes glowed with joy while Persephone's own wavered with uncertainty.

"Not immediately. I'm not sure that it would be possible to have the ceremony that soon."

"Think what you like, you don't know what your Father is capable of. I am." The malicious smirk had planted itself on her face. "And after all, I have a present for you too."

Persephone had been ready to ask her what she meant, before one of Nyx' own messengers arrived to summon her back to her own realm.

So with a reassuring smile, and the casual remarking of, "You should get home. Young ladies who are to be wed within a week shouldn't spend every hour of daylight outdoors," Nyx was gone.

When the day came, Persephone had already been ready to leave the night before. She had roll of paper in her hands that she wrung repeatedly. Even if it had been of any importance, her anxiousness and anxiety were sure to cause her to continue this activity.

She bid all the Olympians a half-hearted farewell before making her way onto the boat. She handed Charon his pay for taking her across the river Acheron, and he, in turn, pointed to a package identical to the one Nyx had left her last time.

The moment she saw it, there was no question in her mind as to what was inside.

And she had been right. After docking, she had gone to her room and dressed. Looking at herself in the mirror now, she saw the bride.

The gown had draped itself on her, an enormous train followed her, and two narrow sleeves left the dress barley clinging to her shoulders. Around the hem, sliver trails of ivy grew upwards, and a matching tiara, appearing as silver ivy intertwining around itself, held the veil in place.

Even to one of the Olympians themselves, Persephone looked like a Goddess, but she hadn't so much as noticed. The only thought that circled her head at the moment was the fact that presently, she was on the brink of freezing to death.

And it was while she had gone to search her room for a shawl to match the dress that she heard a lyrical chirp. In seconds she realized she had spun around far too quickly, for her neck had cramped uncomfortably.

She rubbed her neck gently to soothe the cramp for a while before once again searching for the sound. And she found it.

Perched atop the mirror she had gazed into moments before, sat a nightingale. Upon meeting each other's eyes the bird poured forth a lovely little song, before flying down nearby a shawl that seemed to be designed for her dress itself. Persephone walked over and said more to herself than the creature, "Why didn't I see that before?"

The bird trilled for her once before retreating to the top of the mirror once more. Persephone just sighed and wrapped the shawl around her.

Hades however, hadn't let himself be concerned with only one issue, as Persephone had. The whole of the Underworld, save for Persephone, would claim that he had been everywhere at once. In his mind, everything must be perfect for her.

Once the preparations had been complete, before their guests arrived, Hades stood in one of the darker corners of Erebus, consequently choking on his breath. Running to and fro had left him worn out. In the back of his mind he realized that he needed to exercise his lungs more often.

Then a voice boomed, "Hades! Younger than me, and still you wheeze as though you were a feeble, old man!"

Hades faintly turned his head towards Zeus, and in between coughs replied to him. "You're early."

Zeus smiled in response and his eyes trailed off to the left. "He's not the only one." Hades didn't bother looking in the voice's direction this time, he knew Nyx when he heard her, even if he didn't wish to.

Seeing his reluctance to reply, Nyx continued. "You won't have the honour of receiving Demeter today. She has politely refused to attend the ceremony in which she loses her precious Kore." Her tone was cruel, Hades noted.

And having regained his composure, the Ruler of the Underworld felt it appropriate to greet his guests properly. It seemed too soon afterwards that the others began filtering in.

The wedding went past in a blur for both Hades and Persephone. After all their guests had left, the two barley registered what had just happened. And a moment later, that was equally blurry, they found themselves in the garden that Hades had given to Persephone, in front of the Narcissus bed, with the Nightingale singing a light song in a tree not too far away.

They looked into one another's eyes for the second time that day.

Hades had opened his mouth to speak, but even as his lips moved, no sound left. He had tried, and failed, to apologize to her. But Persephone, as though she had heard every word that left his mouth, replied. "I forgive you." Her response was quiet, but the words that followed it even quieter. "But you're not the only one to blame. I shouldn't have been angry. I don't think I ever really was."

They stood for a moment in silence. He watched her, and she averted her eyes from him, towards the ground.

Finally, he was the first to break the spell of speechlessness, "Then you will accept your fate? Living your whole life as Queen of the Underworld, the Dead, Persephone?"

She suddenly laughed ever so slightly. "I think you mean Kore."

Hades looked confused at first, but evidently accepted her wish. "Of course, Kore."

She smiled warmly. "We have had our misconceptions. We've seen each other in the wrong light. But now that our vision has cleared...Maybe...We can discover love together..."

He smiled in his turn. And slowly took up her hand. The Nightingale followed them as they continued their walk through the garden, singing merrily the entire time.

~The end~