AN: Alright this is the final Chapter; it was just as i promised, a simple retelling :)

When she finally found him standing on the sloping banks of one of the great river's tributaries, she breathlessly bent forward, an attempt to catch her breath from her brief expenditure of energy. She had been used to running with the nymphs, but it seemed exertion in the underworld came on faster than on earth.

Heaving slightly she licked her lips and brushed the autumn coloured hair away from her eyes. The jasmine she had brought forth was still clutched between her fingers, the thought of her almost useless pursuit of the blackened shadows and mists of Hades, pounding in her head. He had been difficult to keep up with and she would have lost him completely save the silent help of one, Charon, as he wordlessly pointed Persephone in the direction of his master.

The Lord of the Underworld was standing, noiselessly facing the almost lifeless river that churned before him. It may have been silent above but beneath Persephone was certain it was not so peaceful.

Frowning slightly, she stared at Hades' back unsure of how to address him now that she was here; before him. She could see the way his shoulders were tensed and the way his fists were still clenched at his sides. The aura of mist and smoke that usually adorned his cloak seemed more intense, more visceral than she had ever imagined before. She could almost feel the sharp sting of his ire, his hurt and his melancholy.

But why would he be angry? Had she not agreed to spend half the year with him? Did the contract not state that she would still be with him? That she would still be his?

His emotions were… confusing.

She had never disliked him… no that was a far cry from how she really felt. He had never repulsed her and he had never inspired anything that warranted any form of disgust. She could not and perhaps never would be able to explain her bizarre attraction to him. The nights she had twisted and turned in her sleep, her head consumed with thoughts of him had been too frequent to count. She had tried, she had fought to find a reason to hate him, to fear him but nothing, nothing had ever surfaced from her futile endeavours.

She should have hated him, she should have despised him but he had done nothing to inspire such feeling save his alluring capture when they had first met on her mother's fields. But then not even that could inspire any loathing. Even then he had charmed her, even then he had called to her and she had gone; curious, mesmerised and breath taken.

He had nurtured her, he had spoken to her and he had shown her everything in their three months together. He had shown her the attention that her heart had yearned for, he had gratified her feminine desire for recognition and despite the rumours that were against him there had been nothing to prove them; nothing in all her time with him to verify a single one.

He was not a sinister and cruel God.

There was something about him that was stately, commanding and arrogant even. Something that appealed, that captivated because to her he was the most intriguing creature that she had ever had the fortune of meeting. Knowing him as she did now it seemed foolish to leave so quickly.

"My Lord…" she softly murmured as she began to approach him from behind.

He stiffened at her call.

"You-you gave me no allowance to bid you farewell…"

His back was still towards her, his anger no less abated than when she had approached him from the beginning.

"Of what use is your farewell…? He bitterly queried. "I see no merit in such a thing."

"We will not see each other for several months…" she softly said, "A farewell in that case is imperative."

"Because you must go?" he quietly questioned.

She could hear the hurt in his voice and if she had not grown so attached to him she would think his enquiry selfish, childish even.

She sighed and returned his answer with an even yes. "My mother suffers does she not? And because of her grief, the earth suffers as well. Did you not agree with the terms Hermes set out?"

"Yes…" he quietly said, "but you are evidently still unaware of the strength of my feelings."

"The strength of…. your feelings?"

"I want you for myself Persephone; I want you as mine and mine alone. Half a year they say, half a year they bargain for but do they not know how lengthy such a period can be? Do they have any idea? Selfish I am indeed to say such a thing, but a God in love has a rite, I think, to bear such an insufferable quality."

Persephone's heart softened at his words and she blushed even as she returned his address with a weakened "I see…" She had never known she could warrant such heartache… such desire.

"But do you really?"

"I… the earth, my mother… she will-"

"I know. Your mother is just as stubborn as I… but even as the earth suffers without you… so too… will the Underworld."

Her eyes widened at this and before she knew it a small smile began to play upon her lips. Realisation finally began to dawn in her heart and she wondered, she wondered how she could have not seen it before. Her heart fluttered in her chest at the thought and she clutched her hand to her bosom as she watched him still desolate, still resentful… from his love.

It was evident that he thought his feelings unrequited, that he thought, and wrongly so, that she felt nothing for him.

He was indeed more naïve than she had anticipated.

"No…" she murmured as she slowly began to move towards him. "No, it is not the Underworld that will suffer I'm afraid."

"Oh?" He cocked an eyebrow. "Then if not my realm, what pray tell?"

"Only you, Lord Hades…"

He slowly turned around to observe her then, his features reticent, his mouth firmly set. "You are cruel to say such a thing because you do know, you are fully aware of how I feel."

"Perhaps I do…" she softly whispered "But do you, my Lord know how I feel… about you?"

He examined her features in momentary confusion.

She carefully closed the space between them then and without much thought for the consequences of her actions extended her arms towards his face and gently cupped his cheeks in her hands. Hades' eyes widened in surprise, his breath hitching in his throat from her gentle touch.

"I…"

"And now you are speechless."

"I…"

"I want to be the Queen of this realm… I want to be the one you keep beside you. I want to be the balance for your world and I want to return to you, willingly after I spread the earth with warmth again."

He shivered as he inhaled the sweet perfume that ensnared him and he trembled when she pressed her fingers against his lips. It was all too much for him to comprehend at once.

"This is not wise…" he thickly murmured as he entwined his larger hand with her own. "Such words as they escape your lips… they seem unreal…"

She smiled in all her glory as she watched his expression and whispered a quiet, "I know… but they are not."

Hades raised his brows and she warmly continued. "I am unsure of what else to do so that I may convince you that I am indeed captivated by you. Believe me when I speak for I will say it again; I am willing to be your Queen and I am willing to be yours, but alas I cannot let the earth suffer… My mother may not like that I spend half the year with her but I am willing to split my time between the two realms."

She looked up to Hades then, a shy smile dressing her lips. "I… I do sincerely wish to know you better, so surely you will accept this arrangement my Lord… Surely you will make this easier, for us both. I want you to welcome me when I return and I want you to hold me when I return…as your Persephone."

Hades looked at her then and he looked at her as though he had never quite seen her before. She began to worry that her words had not been enough.

"Lord Hades, are you-"

"You speak too much and you explain at length." He swiftly intervened. "The last words were all I needed to hear I think."

And being unable to restrain himself any further he firmly gripped her waist and steadied her face as he captured her lips in a passionate arrest.

The goddess almost buckled at her knees from the intensity of his kiss and had she not been holding onto him, had her fingers not found refuge in the silken tresses of his coal black hair she would have surely fainted from the emotions coursing through her veins; happiness, ecstasy and fulfilment.

"My…Lord…" she breathlessly whispered as his lips roamed upon the exposed skin of her neck, as his arms tightened their secure grip around her. "My…Lord…"

"You are a strange woman…" he quietly murmured as he brushed her porcelain white skin…softly….slowly… deliberately…

"How-so?" she all but moaned.

"You are prepared to return. There are not many who would come to me willingly."

She slowly brushed the dark hair from his eyes and blissfully smiled as he continued to trace his lips along her neck. "Then they are all fools…. But alas, I believe in any case that I do not have much say in the matter. I have to return, regardless."

Hades spared her a fleeting and rare grin before gently easing himself away from her arms and holding her chin between his index and thumb.

"You should go…" he whispered as he watched her with yearning eyes. "If you stay any longer I will not be held accountable for what I do. We will meet when you return."

She shook her head and resolutely folded her arms at his words. "No, we will not just meet, Lord Hades, that is incorrect."

He narrowed his eyes, silently begging an explanation for her statement.

She modestly lowered her eyes at his wordless prodding and with a small blush she whispered,

"You see… the next time we meet, we shall do so as husband and wife."

And Hades smiled as he chastely kissed her one last time for her very charming words.

~End~

Thank you for reading and thanks for the favoutires and reviews! If there were any mistakes, i do apologise.

Cheers!