This is a sexual written and copyrighted by Alexis Siefert
and Shon Richards. If you are not supposed to be reading
material of an adult nature, either by virtue or your age, your
personal inclinations (that is, you become easily offended), or
the geographical location in which you reside, please do not
continue.
This was written for the ASSM Easter-fest, and although
there are no adorable bunnies or dead biblical characters, we
feel that it is an Easter because it deals with the origin
of spring. Comments will be appreciated, treasured and loved at
ealexissiefert@yahoo.com
Hell Hath No Fury (Myth, MF)
It wasn't a loud sound, the distinctive screech of the owl
in the distance, but it sent a slight chill through her shoulders
as she reached to pick the white blossom from the tree. She
tucked the flower behind her ear, burying it in the gentle folds
of her hair. As its fragrance surrounded her she tried to shake
off the small feeling of foreboding that the cry of the bird had
laid like a nest egg in her belly. She turned and scanned the
field behind her, looking for her mother.
Demeter's voice echoed softly across the waving grass.
"Sephone! Where are you? Persephone! Come on back dear, it's
time to move on!"
Perhaps it was guilt that gave her the shiver, Persephone
thought. When the owl had screeched, Persephone had been
daydreaming again, looking through the trees, making up
about people who didn't have a goddess for a mother. Her
dedication to her was so strong, even daydreaming seemed
to be unfaithful. She quickly forgot the she was weaving,
leaving the fictional princess to come up with her own escape.
Sighing softly, the maiden stroked the rough bark of the
cherry tree with her delicate hand, thanking the tree for its
flower before she turned to go.
"Sephie! Now please, we don't have all day!"
"Coming mother," she called, wishing the tree a fond
farewell as she let her legs carry her through the grass and back
to her mother, her companion. She was also fleeing from her
daydreams. As much as the world held temptations for her, she
was too terrified to reap them herself.
His dark eyes watched her as she ran. He allowed himself a
small smile as he absorbed the sight of her legs working beneath
her skirt. The gossamer fabric floated around her thighs giving
him just a tease of the lightly tanned flesh beneath. She ran
easily, smoothly, appearing almost to fly across the grass. She
reminded him of nothing more than one of her own butterflies,
flitting from blade to blade, flower to flower. This maiden
offspring, this creature of delicate wings and flowing mane, this
perfect being would be his.
He stepped away from the tree, and had any casual onlooker
been present it would appear that he seemed more to pull out of
the bark rather than move from behind it. Such was his nature.
The rough covering of the trunk matched the deep bronze of his
skin, and it was difficult to discern from a distance where one
stopped and the other began. But as formidable as his presence
was, as overpowering as he appeared in the flesh, he moved with a
grace known only to the gods. The fluidity of his motions
brought to mind the flowing of melting gold, or perhaps molten
lava; the empty space he left behind, the feeling of absence that
was palpable when he moved betrayed his divine origins.
As he began to stride through the waving grasses, he gave
the impression of leisure. There was a casualness, a summer
laziness about his pace. Only if one was privileged enough, or
foolish enough, to be near him as he walked would one see the
muscles ripple under his skin, the set of his jaw, and the
intensity of his gaze. All of which betrayed the purpose behind
this seemingly innocent stroll. Not once since she had turned
her back to the tree had his gaze left her. Even now, as the
last image of her floating hair disappeared over the rising mound
of the earth, his eyes never faltered. He didn't rush because he
had no need to hurry. She would come to him when it was time.
All things came to him in time whether he desired it or not.
Persephone felt, rather than saw, the presence behind her.
Whipping her head around, her hair flying around her face like
the wind, she knew that she 'almost' saw whatever it was watching
her. She could feel the renewed presence of dread deep in her
stomach, as though the owl had again passed over her on silent
wings, temporarily blocking the protective warmth of the sun;
leaving her with the unpleasant knowledge that all was not well
in the world.
Her mother's hand on her shoulder brought her back into the
safety of their world. "'Sephonie? Darling? Are you okay?
Something's troubling you." Demeter's voice was kind, nurturing,
and reassuring to the girl.
"No, mother, I'm fine. It was just a passing feeling.
It's gone now." She spoke firmly, to reassure herself as well as
her mother.
"Well, then, dear. It's time we move on. We have a long
ways to go before dark if we're going to check on the progress of
the fields. Must not dawdle. We have obligations, you know."
Persephone fought back the impulse to roll her eyes at her
mother's chiding. "Yes Mother, I know. Crops to oversee,
weather to watch, blah, blah, blah."
Demeter smiled indulgently at her daughter. She remembered
what it was like to be and to feel as though the world
existed only here and only now. Sometimes she would watch her
daughter float through life, bringing Spring to whatever she
touched, and Demeter would be brought back to her own youth. The
carefree times when immortality meant being forever, not
simply 'being' forever. "Let her have her time," Demeter told
herself. "Let her enjoy her youth and the comfort of not knowing
the darkness in the world." She tugged lightly on the
maiden's arm, directing her into the movement of the wind,
letting the breeze guide them to their next destination.
Persephone followed her willingly, watching the
earth around them change as they passed. Spring, Persephone's
time, was moving quickly into Summer and the crops would soon
need tending. Her would be busy overseeing much of the
activity, although the reaping of the harvest wasn't technically
her position. So many jobs melded into each other, and things
moved much more smoothly when the Beings simply worked together
and ignored so many of the petty territorial arguments that were
always threatening to boil over. The biggest advantage, of
course, was that Persephone would be granted some leisure time of
her own, and there were always wonders to discover. Maybe this
summer, she would actually go exploring for them.
As they approached their home, Demeter motioned to her
daughter. "Dear? Didn't I see some of those wonderful
elderberries ripening behind the house? Go gather some. They'll
be wonderful after dinner."
Persephone strolled between the bushes, gathering the ripe
berries in the hem of her skirt. As she pulled the fruit from
the branches, she could feel the newly ripe globes strain against
their skins, threatening to burst at the slightest touch. She
brought one to her mouth, savoring the feel of their shade-cool
tautness against the warmth of her lips. With just a hint of
pressure, the fruit erupted between her teeth, bathing her tongue
with its sweetness. Her eyes closed as she enjoyed the simple
pleasure of the treat, her lids fluttering lightly, her lashes
brushing across the creamy skin beneath her eyes.
A cry wrenched involuntarily from her throat as her arm
brushed against his rough skin. His voice was low, and she
wondered at first if he had actually spoken out loud or if he had
spoken directly to her soul.
"You've been waiting for me." It was just like that. A
statement, not a question or an accusation, just a simple
recitation of fact.
Without thinking, she nodded slowly. The voice was so
confident that it demanded an answer before she could wonder who
was doing the asking. An excitement bubbled within her,
recognizing that she had been waiting for - something - and now
it was happening.
"You know, don't you, that there's so much more than what
she's shown you." He nodded towards the house she shared with
her as he spoke. Again, he wasn't asking or seeking
confirmation. It was as though he was reminding her of something
she had forgotten. "She kept you shielded from the rest of us.
She's kept you locked away in your world of flowers and beauty.
But you know that your cage, gilded as though it may be, is still
a cage."
She wanted to protest, to defend her against the
accusations this, this, *person* was making, but she found
herself unable to speak. His voice was like a mountain slide,
threatening to bury her with their strength of conviction. The
words pulled from her throat. "My loves me. I... I can't
stay. The fruit, dinner...."
His voice flowed through her like heat moved through the
air. Not the gentle, healing warmth of the sun, but the
crackling heat from the flames. "Yes. Go. I'll wait."
And as suddenly as he had appeared, he was gone.
~~~~~~
Demeter was worried. Her had been "off" for a
number of days now. At first she had shrugged it off to the
fickle moods of adults, but it had gone past that. Her
daughter was clinging to her at every waking moment. She
liked to believe it was due to a renewed fondness, but she was
too wise to convince herself of that. She could even pinpoint
when the change had happened. Since bringing in berries three
evenings ago, Persephone had done little more than wander around
the house, occasionally poking the embers of a dying fire or
aimlessly rearranging a bouquet of blossoms, long past their
prime.
Persephone sat at their small table, absently pulling
segments from a ripe blood-orange. The glistening pieces lay
uneaten on the wooden surface; beads of juice stained the
maiden's fingertips with their sticky sweetness. Without
speaking, she pushed her chair back, seemingly oblivious to the
screech of the legs against the wood floor. Demeter moved to
intercept the as she headed to the door, wanting to offer
comfort to whatever was bothering her daughter, but changed her
mind, choosing to let her go. "Perhaps the air will clear her
head," the concerned thought. "Getting out has to be a
good sign, I don't think she's been out of the house in days."
She wasn't sure where she was going, but Persephone was
suddenly positive that she had to leave. She had felt the
confines of her mother's house so clearly this morning; she just
had to get out among the trees. Perhaps the cause of this
fidgeting could be found among the greens and browns of the
leaves flittering with the breeze. As she stepped into her
forest, she could feel the wind pulling her, tugging her along
the path, deeper into the forest.
As the shadows lengthened, the world around her was
abruptly brought back into sharp focus as He appeared before her.
Although he was leaning almost casually against the bark of a
maple to the side of the path, Persephone knew that she could not
be more unable to pass him had he been standing in the middle of
the path, spanning its width with his powerful body. She stopped
and stared, forgetting her home, forgetting her mother,
forgetting even herself as her body reacted to his.
He gazed into her, and his eyes met her soul. As though
stricken dumb, Persephone could do nothing more than stare,
absorbing the sight of his body into hers. She felt herself
drawn to him; the pull from her center was as irresistible as the
pull of the moon upon the tide. Silently he held out his hand to
her and she found herself wrapped in his grip. Although he held
her lightly, she felt no urge to pull her wrist from his fingers.
Rather, she felt finally as peace, the restless movement of her
muscles relaxed. This is what she was seeking.
"Come, fly with me." His voice reverberated in the ears of
the goddess as the world around her began to grow less
real. She felt the trees begin to melt and their roots beneath
her feet began to roll, undulating like gentle waves lapping
against the shore. The sounds of the forest, once so familiar
and beautiful to her, gave way to the strange music of hollow
winds and shifting currents. The dirt beneath her bare feet,
always firm and reassuring, changed to the rough rubbing of hewn
boards, planks separating her from dark water threatening to wrap
around her narrow ankles. Her eyes were locked in his, but she
knew without stopping to let her rational mind see her new
surroundings, that she was no longer a part of the world she had
inhabited. She knew that she was in his world now, and only with
him would she be safe.
"What you see here may frighten you, but it may also answer
those questions you have within you. What you see will open
those doors within you and give you an understanding of that
darker part, that desire you have but have yet to admit."
She nodded dumbly, knowing that he spoke the truth. She
had seen the shadows left behind by the passing of the sun, and
she had recognized their power and their beauty.
He continued, pausing only slightly to let her gaze drift
to the waters below them and to the dark figures, she knew not if
they were plant or animal, which dotted the shore. His hand held
hers, and her fingers tightened their grip around his palm. Her
pulse fluttered in her wrist, and he could feel the desire course
through her body.
Her ears heard only his voice, surrounded by the angry
music of the wind blowing through her hair. This was not the
world she knew. This was not the world of the friendly breezes
playing hide-and-seek in her tresses. This was a world of the
primitive in the soul and the empty spaces between the stars.
The small wooden craft bumped lightly against the shore,
and he stepped easily onto the ground. His hand still held hers,
and she was pulled gently behind him from the boat. Once she
stood beside the water it gradually became clear to her. She
knew where she was, and she knew with whom she was traveling.
Her mind screamed at her, warned her to flee as images
flashed through her mind. her told her in her
youth. of darkness and warnings. This was Hades.
"This is a world untouched by your mother," he said. He
reached up and plucked a fruit from a tree. "Here, taste
something that your never grew. It's just a pomegranate,
but you'll find the flavor much more enjoyable than in the other
world."
Persephone held the fruit in her hand amazed that she
didn't feel the slightest bit of connection with it. It was
liberating. This fruit would grow, flourish and die without any
influence from her at all. It might be sweet. It might be sour.
Persephone wouldn't know until she tasted it. The idea was
tempting, but she gave it back to him.
With no small effort, she found her voice "Thank you, but I
know a little about your world," she said reluctantly. "I know
that if I consume anything of your world, than I shall stay
forever."
He smiled. "Your taught you everything you needed
to know to stay in her world, and yet she neglected to teach you
much else."
She sat there in embarrassed silence while he simply
watched her. Persephone was worried that she had insulted him,
but she didn't know what to say. She tried to think of what she
knew about people, but then realized that it was nothing. It
made her feel very lonely.
A gray appeared, running towards them along the
shore. When the reached them, her host tenderly patted the
huge creature. It was twice the size of the wild horses in the
fields near her home, and the muscles rippling beneath its flanks
could gallop effortlessly over mountains. The swung lightly
onto the grabbing a handful of the horse's black
mane. Persephone felt a moment of fear when she thought he might
leave her.
Without a word, he bent down and scooped her up. She
almost struggled but relaxed when he sat her in front of him.
His arms wrapped around her slender body and locked together at
the horse's mane. His chest was a solid wall that she leaned
naturally into.
"Daughter of the Above, let me show you my world," he
intoned. Persephone felt her heart accelerating until it matched
the rapid gate of his steed.
~~~~~
Demeter was beginning to panic. Although she trusted her
daughter's instincts, and she knew that Sephonie was immune to
the physical terrors of the mortal world, she admitted to herself
that her had been sheltered from the more tantalizing
facets of immortality. As she searched the trees and woods of
which her was so fond, Demeter could feel a shift in the
air around her. She felt an empty place that was her daughter.
A stillness fell across the trees, silencing the leaves on
their branches and sending the small to their hiding
places among the great roots. Demeter could feel the anger begin
to boil within as she slowly became certain of her daughter's
location. There was only one realm in which she had no hold, in
which she had no control. Her one and only daughter, her reason,
her inspiration was with Demeter' brother, Hades.
In her anger and fear, Demeter paid no notice to the sudden
chilling of the air.
~~~~
Persephone never expected to hear music here. The chords
were slow, mournful and intricate yet, there were flashes of
hope. She listened to the musicians with Hades, and she never
let go of his hand as the music languished in the darkness.
It was another surprise in a day full of surprises. Or has
it been a week? There never was a sun, and yet there was never
completely darkness. Persephone felt like she had been here
forever and at the same time she felt like she was too late in
her arrival. Why had she taken so long to come here?
The musicians were playing faster now, and from somewhere a
wind blew through the grass in which she and Hades were sitting.
The river was behind them and his was grazing quietly
beside them. They were sitting at the bottom of a hill; the
musicians were sitting at the top. Persephone couldn't help
notice Hades had elevated the entertainers over the entertainees.
She had a hard time imagining her letting mere mortals
have a place of honor above her.
Persephone sighed as the music ended.
"I know how you feel," Hades said, not for the first time
today. "I find that death adds a new dimension to a musician's
art. Once they see that my realm holds no pain for them, they
loose their most primal fear. It frees their creativity and
makes them alive for the first time."
"Alive in the realm of the dead?" Persephone asked. "If I
hadn't have heard their music, I wouldn't believe such a thing
possible."
He smiled at her, genuine warmth behind those dark eyes.
He placed her hand on his chest, and Persephone gasped at the
power of the heart she felt beating there. "Do you consider me a
dead thing?" he asked.
"Never," she breathed. She had never met anyone more
alive. For that matter, she had never felt more alive.
Still holding her hand to his chest, Hades pulled her
towards him with his other hand. His fingers wound in her hair,
guiding her yet also demanding. He didn't need to demand.
Persephone went to his lips willingly and once there, his heart
pounded even harder beneath her hand. The force of his throbbing
heart frightened her for it matched the roaring that she too was
feeling.
They kissed, not quite like a and a woman and not quite
like a god and a goddess. It wasn't a kiss from the Lord of the
Dead to the of the Bounty. It wasn't a tentative,
innocent kiss between two lonely children. It was a perfect
kiss, and a kiss that changed the world forever.
The kiss lead into another kiss, which lead into another
and another until Persephone was drowning in his lips. She
pulled back, gasping for air. Her gasps turned to small hisses
through clenched teeth as Hades cupped her through her
gossamer gown. His touch was gentle but unyielding. Her back
arched, and she pressed her chest to his hand, offering to him
more of herself than she ever intended, than she ever knew
possible.
He took her offering. His hand massaged her and his
mouth descended to her solid nipple. Through the sheerness of
her gown, she felt his mouth on her skin. Her hands went to his
back, fingers digging into granite-carved shoulders as his mouth
teased her. The gown was wet where his mouth tasted her; the
cloth was so thin she could feel the sharpness of his teeth as he
bit at the fruit of her breast. Yet still, the cloth wasn't thin
enough.
She pushed him away, but only long enough to remove her
gown. His eyes drank her body while he removed his clothes as
well. Persephone blushed under his gaze as she stood before her
chosen first lover; yet she felt no shame. She wanted him, but
she wanted to know that he desired her as well. His eyes
lingered on her smooth legs and rose to gaze at her stomach and
then to her breasts. Persephone glowed under his scrutiny,
wanting to step forward and embrace him, but something unspoken
made her stop. His unblinking eyes rose to her face, and she
could see the gold of her hair reflected in his eyes.
"Now," he said, and she ran towards his embrace.
His arms folded around her and she collapsed into the
sensation. His mouth met hers, and at some point, she found
herself lying on the ground. Strange grass comforted her bare
body as his weight pressed down on her. His hands were
everywhere as they touched her body. She felt those powerful
hands clutch at her thighs as she felt his mouth devour her
breasts. She cried out at the bottom of the hill as his mouth
sucked at her nipples. Her fingers pressed into his dark hair,
pulling him closer to her.
Persephone opened her legs to him, but impossibly, he
wasn't entering her. She moaned, not understanding why he
wouldn't join with her. His mouth left her enflamed and
traveled further down. The goddess lifted her pelvis
towards him as his mouth nibbled at her hips. She had no
conscious thoughts beyond those of feeling and emotion. All she
knew was that she needed him and all that he had to give her.
Hot breath from Hades on her sex made her scream with
delight. With surprisingly tenderness, he parted the gates of
her underworld with his tongue. Persephone hissed with intense
sensation as his mouth fully merged with her sex. His lips
kissed while his tongue drew her desire from her. She felt his
godhood reaching towards her from his mouth. All of his desire,
all of his potency, and all of his divine loneliness was pouring
into her from his sensual kissing.
Persephone writhed as his tongue found her clitoris.
There, his tongue told of the unfair events that handed him this
realm, this existence so far from the living world. Thighs
clutched his head as his tongue told her of how he longed for
something fresh in his world. Moans equal in pleasure and
sympathy escaped her lips. As her orgasm bloomed throughout her
body, she knew of the darkness inside him that needed her.
He rose from between her thighs, passion and desire raging
on his face. Persephone made her decision and reached for him.
She took his cock, so virile and so potent, and she guided him to
her. She planted his cock between her thighs, sighing as he
filled her so completely. Hades came down closer till his chest
pressed against her tingling breasts. Eye to eye, they moaned
together as they joined in a harmonious rhythm. His motion
proved he was to Poseidon and his throbbing was
to the Thunder. Persephone moaned as his passion quaked within
her. She looked into the eyes of Hades and saw the same purity
of desire that she felt from his mouth. She knew she wanted to
return the knowledge.
Persephone felt his impending climax and pushed him away.
Acknowledging her willing desire and her consent of the
consequences he rose to his feet, his cock and yearning.
Persephone knelt before the god and took his cock into her mouth.
There, her tongue danced its own of loneliness, of the
suffocating presence of a world in which everything living was
also a of her mother. Her lips at his cock and
she poured her immortality into bringing him pleasure.
His seed greeted her tongue and Persephone swallowed this
strange new creation. This seed was Hades' and Persephone wanted
to consume it all.
~~~~
Hecate, goddess of the darkness of the moon, came to
Demeter in the night. The shrouded goddess spoke in comforting
tones to the distraught mother. "I hear things that others do
not see sister. You must speak with Aeolus. His winds carry
word from Hades of your daughter's union. She has joined him in
his world; she has become his wife. She has taken his seed."
The mountains rumbled with the echo of Demeter's anguished cries.
An owl screeched in the distance as dark clouds formed overhead,
blocking the sun from the ground.
~~~~
"Where are all these people coming from?" Persephone
demanded from her lover. The flood of people recently arrived to
the Underworld could be heard from across the river. "Has Ares
started another war?"
Hades smile faded for the first time since she joined him.
"It's your mother," he growled.
"That's insane," Persephone protested.
"No, your demanded you back," Hades continued. "She
sent Hermes to me, to inquire how, being immortal, you had died.
When I told him you were here, living and willingly, he came back
later to say that Demeter demanded her only back."
"Why didn't you tell me she was looking for me?" Persephone
asked.
"You knew," Hades said simply. "You knew, and I respected
your silence on the matter."
Persephone felt a chill despite the warmth of Hades' arms.
She did know in the back of her mind that her must have
looked for her, but she hadn't allowed herself to think about it.
It was so easy down here to let time go by. She looked at Hades
and she looked at the horde of lost souls he was watching so
grimly, and she realized her question had not been answered.
"But why are these people dying?" she asked.
"Starvation, mostly," he replied with an unfamiliar bite to
his voice. "Denied of one child, Demeter has decided to deny
Gaia anymore children. Crops are dying, babies are not being
allowed to birth and the world has grown colder than I would ever
allow Hades. Your will kill the Earth until she realizes
how selfish she is."
"That's not possible," Persephone protested. "My
loves the Earth and its children. She brings joy and warmth to
its creatures. She would sooner allow herself to whither away
before she would harm even a single blade of grass. You must be
mistaken. You can't be right."
He drew her close as her body stiffened and clenched in
rebellion. With her face buried in his chest, his hand stroking
her hair, he spoke softly into her ear. "Persephone, my love,
your has allowed herself to succumb to anger and fear, to
her jealousy. She has chosen to ignore her obligations to the
mortal world in favor of her desire to prevent your union with
me. She will continue this selfish quest to have you back, and
the world will continue to suffer until she accepts your choice."
"Or until I stop being selfish," Persephone thought
silently to herself.
~~~~~
Hades was asleep when Persephone left their bed. She had
nothing to pack but her tears and nothing to carry but her
memories. Slipping out quietly, she made her way to the Gates.
She could stand the moans of people murdered by her no
longer.
Cerebus stood at the Gate, and all three heads looked upon
the Goddess as she approached.
"Greetings, Persephone," the three heads said in unison.
"And to you as well," she said in return. "Please step
aside, I wish to return to my home now."
Cerebus whined, a strange sound coming from the beast. "I
am sorry goddess, but I can smell something of His Realm in you.
I can not let you pass."
"But that's impossible!" Persephone countered. "I never
ate or drank a single dish or cup!"
"Have you forgotten already?" Hades said behind her.
She spun around, and dropped to her knees at the sight of
her lover. Persephone was confused at her captivity, upset at
her mother's refusal to let go and worried about hurting her
lover's feelings.
"Hades," she whispered. "I was hoping to spare you my
leaving."
"Leaving? But you are mine, I you knew that," he said.
"I am not yours!" she cried out. "I've not eaten a thing!
I must return or will kill everything!" However, even as
she spoke the words, she knew the truth.
Hades knelt beside her, and he still towered over her.
"You have eaten of this realm. My seed itself, remember?"
With a sinking realization, Persephone knew that he was
right. She also knew that her actions had been her own. She was
experiencing a feeling that all mortals must face, but one that
she had thought herself immune to. The knowledge that her
actions extend beyond her own being, and that her world was not
an insular one. In that one moment, Persephone had left her
long, innocent childhood behind in favor of the world of adults.
~~~~
Hermes stood before Demeter, trembling slightly under the
force of her wrath. "No, Earth, I'm sorry. Hades refuses
to set aside the agreement of Zeus. Your joined him as
ruler of his realm. She has consumed his seed, and she is bound
by the ruling of the gods to remain with him. I bring word to
you from your other as well. Zeus sends notice that you
must end the senseless devastation you've brought upon the world.
You must return to your duties. You are also bound by the
agreements made between the deities."
"Bound you say?" Her voice was cold and frightening. It
sent chills through him, yet it also burned with the fire of her
wrath. "I am bound by nothing. Until my is returned to
me, I have no care for anything else. The Earth is strong and
can survive. It's only the mortals which concern my brother."
The familial reference was filled with loathing. She continued,
the sarcasm evident in her tone. "Without his precious
playthings, my has no one to pay him homage. If his
little pets perish there will be no more offerings made to him."
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Hermes spoke quickly. "True,
Demeter. Without the people of earth, Zeus will have no
tribulations with which to stoke his ego. However, as more lost
souls fill the Hades' coffers he will gain in power and wealth.
Your actions are serving only to make him stronger."
With narrowed eyes, the angry goddess gazed down upon the
messenger. "Perhaps you are right, Hermes. And perhaps you are
merely shrewed. Either way, I leave it up to you to bring
Persephone back. Travel again to Hades and negotiate for her
release. Do not return to me until you have succeeded.
~~~~
Hermes paced nervously. He jumped as a voice behind him
interrupted his anguished thoughts.
"Here now, Hermes. What pains you so?" Herakles placed
his great hand upon the shoulder of the messenger.
"Oh, Herakles. You have to help me. We are on the verge
of a war between your father, Demeter and Hades. Please, tell me
what to do."
The two sat as Hermes poured forth the story. Knowing the
inevitable disaster that would result from the three deities'
stubborn natures, Herakles agreed to make the journey into the
underworld.
~~~~
The sky burned overhead. Persephone and Hades watched
with a growing gloom as the lost souls continued their journey
over the water. The copper basin overflowed with coins as they
dead paid for their transportation through the river Styx.
"Persephone, my love, my darling. You must understand. As
surely as these mortals are bound by the Fates, I am bound by the
compacts made so long ago. If I allow you to return to Earth, I
will have broken an eternal agreement between my brothers and I.
You are my and you are queen here."
"But if you don't allow me to return my will
continue to grieve. The Earth will perish. No more will we know
the fragrance of the narcissus, the beauty of the dahlia, the
thorn of the rose. I can't bear to know that I am the cause of
the dying of the light."
Hades' response was cut short by the sudden arrival of
Herakles. The hero approached Hades with arms spread open, palms
up in a gesture of peace. "Hades. I come to you for help. I
need your assistance. You are the only one powerful enough to
bring an end to the possibility of war. No one will gain from a
battle between the gods. Olympus has become a place of fear and
tension. We need your help."
The dark god chuckled low before answering. "Oh Herakles.
Your must be very proud. Transparent though your pleas
may be, your argument is a sensible one. I have no wish to war
with Zeus and my sister. Here is my proposition. Convince
Demeter to accept and you will truly be a hero to and gods
alike."
Persephone held her breath in anticipation. She wanted
nothing more than to remain with her husband, to serve at his
side in this world as his queen and beneath him in his bed as his
lover. But memories of her small creatures, images of their
suffering because of her mother's grief, weakened her resolve and
soured the joy she found in his passion.
"My will return to her mother, but only for half of each
year. After six months, she will be mine again both in body and
soul."
Hades snapped his finger and his gray steed galloped to his side.
With an easy motion, he lifted his bride to its back, and she
gripped its mane in her hands. "Hold tight, my love. I shall
send my mount to you in six month's time. Return to me then,
rule with me and warm my bed."
Her body quivered with desire as his voice filled her ears. His
hand rested in the small hollow of her back as he spoke, sending
sparks of fire through her center, igniting the fire within.
He smiled slightly, sensing the lust within her small body. His
voice echoed in her heart as the sped away. "Remember that
feeling, my queen. Remember it well, and in time we will again
be together."
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