Ah ha! It was worth the wait! Thanks for waiting so long for the reunion, Readers. (-^.^-)

Heads up, this chapter is slightly rated M with a possible slight hint of lemon to it. You have been warned.

Divine Reunion

One year... has it really been that long...? It felt like an eternity had passed instead of one measly year. Time has seem to have gone slower with her gone. They took her from him... they took his Queen. Soma had been sentenced to be apart from his wife for one year for the mere fact of loving her. Her mother couldn't accept him and wouldn't let go, and now he had to share her with the goddess of harvest. The whole thing seemed like a sick game to him, like the gods were tossing his heart back and forth in a game that would in the future be called badminton. Why? Why did the other gods torture him so? Is it because he was the only one that really did his job? Was it because he actually was fair to the humans, putting aside his selfish gain for just ruling? Was it because his world was too dark for them that they feared him? Or... was it because they felt he wasn't destined for happiness?

They wanted dark... he'd give them dark. The Underworld has been darker than all the many countless years since the birth of its realm. The Death god's crestfallen mood has spread a darkness over the realm. The people of the Underworld felt their Death Kings wrath and sorrow through the changes with his mood. The realm had gotten colder, the lunar lanterns had dimmed to a tiny flicker. All felt the tension and chill down their spines as Soma's distraught had strained the air with a pressure.

The King no longer left his palace or appeared himself before his people. He had locked himself away in his castle where the darkest among darkness shrouded the castle in a pitch black that of which no light could pierce it. It was as if he had cast a shadow upon darkness itself and then cast a shadow upon that. The only thing his subjects could ever say about seeing him around were the whispers of an indescribable fear, rumors of his shadow among the walls. He never appeared for sentences, nor did he allowed souls into his castle, he gave out his verdicts in a cold whisper that chilled in the winds as he remained in his chamber... where he and his Queen would once lie.

They began to fear their ruler, his dark change was not wished for. They had missed their old ruler, they had missed their Queen. She would know what to do. The Underworld seemed much brighter with her around, the King was in a much better mood with her around. He was in the best mood he had ever been in his long existence since she came around. Her smile alone had melted the Cold King's heart, her eyes alone caused him to be more merciful at times to souls unworthy of it. But now that the gods had taken her, it felt like the gods were mocking their undead plight.

It was known throughout the Underworld that their Queen was the most kindest soul and merciful spirit, and her mercy would rub off on their King. But now it had dimmed out. Since her return to the surface the earth had been returned to its fullest life, but the Underworld had died. Aside from his Queen's flowerbed, that he kept well lit for her, the plants of the Underworld had withered and weakened. And the Aragami had run unchecked among the Underworld and the surface since the king had become too brokenhearted to care for their rampage. Cerberus had tried to take care of them, but it was too much. The lugubrious of his master had clearly effected his performance, making him only able to keep the dead souls from leaving. Shio had come around constantly, trying to cheer her brother up, but her actions were to no avail. When Kore had left so did his heart...

Then, happily, a flower had bloomed. A peony... It had came to life, through his darkness. Soma's mood was silenced at the appearance of this flower in his room, and he raised his senses around him. Looking through his realm- for the sign of his Heart. Perhaps she was by loyal Cerberus.

It was there, that Soma's all-seeing eyes came upon the same hope filling sight. Cerberus had broken free from his melancholy stump and hopped around with his tail wagging in pure happiness like a young pup, as a trail of flowers had entered the Underworld. She was here... she returned to him.

Suddenly the darkness in the realm slightly lifted, the air wasn't as heavy anymore. The souls could breath with ease again. For once after a whole year of seclusion, the Death god Soma had finally stepped out of his castle. He had used his power over the shadows to looked for his Queen. But where was she? He couldn't find her anywhere. Soma would have darken his realm again in order to find her with ease, but he was too overjoyed to have her back again that he couldn't even dim a single lunar light in any of his levels. But he needed something, anything to tell him where she was.

"Soma."

That would work.

Following her voice, Soma had transported through the shadows to appear right before her. She was there... in the place where he had first met her in person. Kore stood in the center of her flower field. They bloomed brighter in happiness at their goddess's return. They almost reflected as much joy as Soma was feeling right then and there. She looked upon him with her warm blue eyes as a smile grew on her face at his presence.

"Soma..."

"Kore... my Queen..." He said with affection as a gentle hand lifted to caress her cheek. It was colder than she remembered, but it was beginning to warm up again. She gently leaned into his hand, rubbing her cheek against it as she cupped it with her smaller dainty hand and her eyes closed to feel the sensation to its fullest.

"Soma... you came for me."

"I will always come back for my Heart." She turned into his hand to give it a gentle kiss to his palm.

The blood was beginning to flow back into his body and warm him up from the coldness he had been feeling for a year now. The Cold King was warming up again, and his heart accelerated back to life as she came in closer to him. As if his Winter was finally melting at the return of his Spring. He automatically wrapped his arms around her waist on instinct as she got on her tippy-toes to kiss his lips.

At last... it had been a year since he felt her soft lips. It had only been once, but already he had become addicted to her taste as she had become addicted to his subtle taste as well... his sweet taste of pomegranate. She had a taste of life and nature to her that his essence of death craved with a lust. As their lips caressed, he moved one of his hands to the back of her head to deepen the kiss. His fingers combed through her hair as he massaged her scalp, making her relax deeper into the kiss. Her hand instinctively went up to cup his cheek as the other gripped his shoulder. At last they broke apart. Not because they needed air, as immortals breathing was not a necessity. But it had become a second nature that they both enjoyed and could never break out of.

"I've missed you."

"So have I. I've longed for your touch for so long, the Seeing Well could do nothing to appease my thirst for you."

"Silly, at least you had something."

"Only a tease. Nothing compared to the real thing."

"Isn't it amazing? We have been married for a year now, and this is only the second time we've seen each other as husband and wife." She said, handing him a Peony still in a bud.

"More like a sick joke, you mean."

"You know... we still have yet to consummate our marriage..."

"!"

"I'm willing to go, that is... if you are." Before she knew it, he had picked her up princess-style and teleported her to the front gates of his castle from the shadows in a flash. Rushing like a man on fire, he ran the rest of the way to their shared room. The shadow over the castle long gone.

"My lord, it pleases us to see your gracious mood returned. However, we have-"

"Cancel everything for today. No one is to disturb us." Soma ordered, interrupting one of his Underworld Guardians without even stopping a step. Once he made it to their room he kicked the door open and slammed it shut with his foot.

Placing a barrier of darkness around the room, he made it so no one can get in and no one could hear what was going on inside. Likewise neither of them could hear what was going on outside as nothing else existed but them and the room. Even the room was starting to disappear as the Death god backed his Queen into their bed and his darkness consumed the room. It consumed everything, leaving only them and the bed. Soma had taken his coat off before boxing her in between the side of the bed and his arms.

"At last... I can finally make you fully mine."

"Soma..." Kore moaned out his name as he pushed her back to crawl to the center of their king-size bed where he hovered over her.

"Give in to my shadows, my Queen, for the darkness will make this moment timeless."

"My Love..." She sighed out as his shadows took a solid form and caressed her body with its tendrils. It didn't help much that his hands were undressing them both with tortuously slow delightful hands. Before they knew it they were both bare to each other, life and death exposing all of themselves to each other as their essence was soon to become one.

"Combine with me, my Kore, let our flesh take us to a delicious pleasure that only we can give each other."

Kore never truly knew it until that moment, but Soma the Death god known as Hades the Cold King was a gentle lover. He gently caressed her body with his lips, soothing her from her pain as he slowly entered inside her. She would grit her teeth and hissed through her breath as her maidenhood was being taken by her husband. His lips consumed her breaths of pain as he finally became fully one with her and her maiden blood had soaked his thigh like a squished pomegranate seed.

But he was so gentle with her, his movements and actions remained slow even as she grew accustomed to his presence inside of her. He never hasten his efforts to ravish her in wild abandonment, nor did he give in to animalistic lust. He continued to make sweet, slow, gentle love to his Queen as their hands caressed each others and their fingers entwined together. Kore softly moaned with each of his gentle gestures as their eyes rarely parted with each other. Their lips found each other again, consuming each other's moans of pleasure as they reached their peaks and the Death god gave his Queen his seed. The Peony the Death god had received from his Queen had come into full bloom as it rested in his coat pocket.

"Soma..." Kore sighed to him in satisfaction as she cuddled into him.

"Do not tire yourself so soon my Queen. The day is still young." Soma practically purred seductively to her as he joined with her again for many more trials of bliss. The Underworld felt the afterglow of its rulers' happiness, as time was lost to them.

. . .

And so it had become known that life and death would come together as husband and wife as they truly were, creating winter as they ruled the Underworld together. And gave birth to spring as they parted for six month every year. The Underworld's King would bring a cold darkness over the realm as his Queen returned to the surface and joyful times would come at her return. A darkness would consume the castle in silence each time at her first return, but a peace would come over the realm once again. And this would go on until the end of time and the birth of a new cycle for the universe. As their love would always bring them back together.

Through the centuries, Kore's spring-giving-life and fertility defied Soma's infertility curse as a god of Death to sire him heirs- six to be exact. Mortal cults, known as the Orphic, were able to discover and document their existence in secret scrolls, using Oracles and shamans of the Hades temple. Some would associate their six heirs to the six pomegranate seeds Kore supposedly ate in order to bind her to the Underworld for six months a year. But the two of them honestly found it fascinating how the mortals associated the legend of their love to the Death gods favorite fruit and the only fruit that naturally grew and strived in the Underworld.

However... they dropped the ball when they said that the children were fathered by Zeus disguised as Hades. Soma usually ignored the mortals myths of the gods as 'ridiculous rumors and gossip' among the generations, but this one filled him with unsationable rage. The cult didn't even last two days after their myths of his children got out and reached his ears, nearly all the cults documents and records of their and his heirs' existence were destroyed by a corrosive fire and consumed by a pitch black darkness the likes of which none of the earth had ever seen before. The mortals must have been sick in the head by their misinterpreted knowledge of the gods. By their stories logic, Zeus his supposed brother had slept with his wife who was also supposedly his 'said brother's daughter' to father his inbreed children-grandchildren. Once again the mortals had accused his father of cheating on his mother, but this time they had the audacity of suggesting that his father cheated on his beloved mother by tricking his loyal wife. His rage for these selected few mortals' tongue burned so strong that it lasted for centuries even as the cultist suffered in the most torturous level of his realm. His father, Johnannes, even feared his rage so greatly that he didn't come near his son for over five hundred years. Always lifting his hands in surrender and backing away when his son would pay him one of those rare visits. There are some things gossip should never touch, and spouses were one of them. But that never stopped the mortals.

Apparently the humans never learned that the male gods were possessive of their wives, especially the god of the Underworld. Soma didn't even ease up on the cultists' eternal torture even as his Queen pleaded for him to have a little mercy on them. It had already been three hundred years, enough was enough, they needed some relief from their pain before their souls fell into complete madness. But Soma would not give in to her request, even if she was his Heart, he somehow knew deep inside she truly didn't mean it. His Kore was just as disgusted by the myths as he was, he could see it on her face as it curled up in disgust and hurt. He could never forgive those mortals, not after the heartbroken face they had given birth to on his Queen's face at their accusations of her disloyalty to him. Nobody causes pain to his Queen, not mortal nor god. His wrath would be beyond his normal Just nature as love consumed all indifference and mercy.

But Soma already knew the myths were false, he knew his blood flowed strongly through his children. His first born daughters, the Erinyes' triplets, they took after their mother in looks and powers. But they had inherited their father's character as they were known on the surface as the 'earth's wrath.' All of his children at a certain age could travel to-and-fro from the surface and his realm as they pleased. But until then they alternated from staying in the Underworld with their father and going with their mother to the surface once a year. A chance for their grandparents from both sides to come visit and spoil them only arrived when they return to the surface with their mother during her cycle.

His fourth child and first born son, Zagerus, took after Soma and was known by the mortals as the Hospitaler of the Dead. As a child he clung to his father in admiration and strove to reach his approval and praise through minor and trivial rivalry. But through it all he was a big Mama's boy.

Now Soma's and Kore's fifth child was a goddess with a mixture of both their powers. Her limbs partially black by her father's dark powers of death and partially white by her mother's life giving powers. They say she travels among the realms of lava to where the ancient titans lied, forever a neutral entity. A balance between the darkness and the light that wondered through the Underworld.

Then there was their youngest child, the last recorded heir between them among the mortals. Their little blessed princess that they named Makaria. She may have taken after her father in power and in looks, but she was known for her character that was inherited from her mother. She was known as Blessedness to the mortals, who had all strived to go to her during death. Since her path lead to a peaceful end instead of to misery and utter destruction. She was the darker version of her mother, and her father loved her all the more for it since she was his child that reminded him of their mother the most. They both tried as parents not to favor one child over the others, but they both favored one thing about each child more than the other children. Which in a way acknowledged each of their children's own individuality.

Soma loved his Queen and he adored his children that they had created together through their eternal love. All in all, through his dark role as a Death god he was content with his duties. Among all the gods and goddess in Olympus, he was the happiest one of them all. The love between him and his Queen, Kore, would be told in legends among the gods and the mortals forever more.

The End... to mortal knowledge

Author's Notes

Peony in the flower world means happy marriage.

The names of their children were not made up or re-altered, I looked them up. If you actually look deep enough in the legend, and I mean really deep, you'll find records or minor versus describing their children. However, some of them alter depending on which interpretation you read about them. I tend not to believe the one's where Zues fathered the first four children, since Zues never and I mean 'never' had sexual relationship with his children. It's true that he had slept with his granddaughter once, but he never fornicated with his direct heirs. Also the fact that, although he could possibly disguise himself as Hades it would be impossible for him to copy Hades exact essence into the child he'd heir, they would have his bright abilities and none of Hades death and dark powers. Again, it depends on which legend you read from, ancient cult text vary.

Ha! I told you I hated odd numbers, you just had to wait for the opportune moment for me to release the tenth chapter. I could've done this sooner but it wouldn't be as meaningful if I didn't do it on this day. Happy 1 year anniversary to this story. Thank you all for reading!