Hope Springs Eternal [9/19]

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Hope Springs Eternal
Chapter 9: Three-Hundred-Sixty-Degrees of Separation

In which Demeter finally realizes her daughter is AWOL, Persephone realizes that she and Hades are Meant To Be, and there's further sexual tension so heavy it has its own gravity.

 

Κυκλος η Ζωη

First Harvest came and went. Demeter was exhausted. She had gone to Athens early the first morning for pre-ceremonial events, then spent the following day and night for the actual celebration. But halfway through the third day, she decided she needed a rest.

She was truly more tired than expected, not sure if it was from the intense heat of late Summer or because of the fact she'd recently given half her powers to Persephone. Tired as she was, she struggled to maintain a polite exterior to her worshippers, while inwardly she was feeling cranky and out-of-sorts. She excused herself from the usual routine of blessing crops and what-have-you in just about every little backwater town between Mandra and Parga, and made her way home the evening of the third day.

When she stepped from her flowered transport on Nysa, she was surprised to see Apollo, surrounded by the nymphs.

He was there – again – trying to talk to the gathered oceanides and nereides, who merely giggled and batted their eyes at him. He was getting frustrated and wishing he'd thought to bring Hermes along. At least the god of communication could have understood their bubbly prattling.

"Apollo, dear? Is something the matter?"

Turning toward Demeter, his face etched with annoyance, he said, "Yes, your daughter stood me up! I've been back here two days in a row, prepared to offer an alternative to our original date plan. I even came back after dark in case she didn't like the idea of so much sunlight all day long. But she's nowhere to be found. I believe she's avoiding me."

Demeter shook her head wearily. "Now, now, Apollo. I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. My daughter is very reliable and honest and punctual and obedient. Everything she should be. I simply can't believe she'd do such a thing as deliberately avoid you."

"Well, she did." The lord of the lyre crossed his massive arms and all but pouted.

"All right, all right. Well, she is a bit bashful around men, heavens know why. Perhaps she simply needs a bit of encouragement from her mother." Demeter strode to the edge of the dark grove, calling out, "Kore! Kore, where are you? Come on, darling, this has gone far enough. There's no need to be so shy! Apollo won't bite!"

Weeeell, Apollo thought to himself, I might have if she'd been available.

There was no answer from within the grove. Sighing, the earth goddess questioned the gathered nymphs herself, as she knew their speech. But not one had seen the girl since at least the night Demeter had left the island for First Harvest. Which meant she'd been missing for three whole days. The goddess became quickly annoyed, thinking Persephone had once again disobeyed her and snuck away from the island. The one concession she had allowed her daughter – after much argument and aggravation – was the utter privacy within the dark grove. But now Demeter felt that privacy was forfeit and she entered the grove, frowning.

Following the stream, she eventually came upon her daughter's favorite spot, where she made an upsetting discovery. There was a burned and blackened pomegranate shrub, which was just beginning to send out fresh new buds. Nearby lay Persephone's torn and rumpled clothes.

A sudden cold dread overwhelmed the crankiness inside and Demeter caught her breath. Surely nothing had happened to her daughter... had it?

Apollo stood nearby, scowling at the scenery. He hadn't noticed before how utterly dismal the place was. The girl really needed his special brand of... lightening up. But Demeter was speaking rather frantically to him now, so he shelved the lusty thoughts.

"Apollo, this is not at all normal. We need to call a Council meeting."

"The Council? Is that really necessary?"

She assured him it absolutely was, then pushed him back out of the grove and into his chariot. Then they went to Mount Olympus and woke up everyone.


 

In the lair of the Fates, the three sisters were weaving more intrigue into the web that drew Hades and Persephone together. They had actually been working on it, rather casually, for almost thirty years. If Styx herself hadn't brought up an IOU from the extremely distant past, they might not be pushing it along so quickly now. But when the Goddess of the Oath commanded something, even they had little choice but to obey.

Styx, although she never made it obvious, truly cared about Hades' welfare and knew that if he didn't find real happiness sometime very soon he would never command his kingdom properly, nor would she ever be free to do her true job. She also knew how fucking stubborn and thick-headed Hades could be, so she'd chosen tough love to push him down the right path. Thus she had forced a bargain with the Fates to manipulate things a bit more quickly. The Fates, though they would never admit it to anyone, also liked the dark god so they didn't really mind fulfilling Styx's desires. Besides, they had always thought it might be very entertaining to tug Hades around by the heartstrings... Although he was so strong-willed it was usually like trying to haul up a killer whale with a piece of dental floss. Thank the heavens for Cupid's inability to resist temptation.

Now the 'Hades and Persephone Show' was becoming a hot view. It was sure more fun that watching the 'Hercules Show' lately – the hero and his wife were expecting their first child, so the action had stalled out while Hercules stayed home to care for Megara instead of fighting monsters everyday. If only he'd been a little more clumsy as in his youth, it would have at least been a decent sitcom, but frankly it was just Dullsville at Herc Central. Here in the Underworld, however, was fresh fodder. And boy, was the chemistry steaming between the two leads.

The Fates wove their web with cackling glee. Lachesis, who decided destiny, had already selected and measured the threads which put the gods into place. Now she directed Clotho to weave in the present. "Okay, sister, tuck this one... there," she commanded.

"Gotcha!" Clotho’s fingers flew skillfully over the tapestry. "Standard 'prophetic dream sequence' should commence in a few moments."

Atropos, who already knew much of the outcome, just watched the action unfolding through the Eye which sat glowing on a small table. She chomped on something that might have been popcorn (or not), grinning widely. Television was going to be a wonderful thing once humans got around to discovering electricity. And the Underworld was about to start putting the future Playboy Channel™ to shame. She chortled with delight, spitting half-chewed kernels (...?) everywhere.

 

Persephone slept. And she dreamed.

...home...
you are home...
forever...
humans need you... he needs you...
life and death... rebirth... connecting...
belonging… missing piece...
never whole without each other..
eternally joined... soul mates... seeds of the soul...
seeds of power reborn... seeds of life... seeds of love... true love...
love... life... home...
…you are home...

She awoke with a start.

She knew. She knew what needed to be done, what the Underworld required. She finally understood what the odd feelings meant, the ones she'd had since meeting Hades. She knew what she wanted, what she should do to get it. How much it would help him. How much they both truly deeply desired it.

Stumbling from the bed, she wrapped his long black chiton around her body. His scent clung to the cloth and she inhaled it hungrily. Days ago, she had subconsciously noticed how his skin smelled. Like freshly-turned clean earth, deep and rich and cool, with just a hint of warm tangy wood-smoke around the edge. It reached into her mind and stirred the seed of her libido, which she'd never even looked at let alone explored at any great length. But now... the seed had begun to awaken.

Her entire being was earth-based and Hades, with his sub-chthonian strength, called to her like the fateful clarion he was. He was the earth to her seed now, and she wanted to plant herself in him... feel her own power root and grow within him... taste the sweet fruit of forbidden passion...

Stroking her hands down the cloth of the chiton and over her tingling body, she thought, Soon... Pinning up the shoulder peronés and tying on her zonen, she flew from the room and downstairs to find him.

 

Demeter was absolutely livid. Zeus had flatly declined to gather the Council over what he called a 'trivial matter'. Having grumpily come awake after she banged insistently on his door for several minutes, he said that ‘teens would be teens’, and then predicted the girl had gone to visit friends and would either return in a couple days, or not. He patiently pointed out that Persephone was an adult by Olympian standards, whether or not Demeter had approved of the decree. And she was now a full-fledged goddess to boot. Therefore, as far as he was concerned the girl had every right to go wherever she liked, whenever she liked, with whomever she liked, and Demeter had no say in the matter anymore. In fact, he announced that he wouldn't be surprised if Persephone had found a boyfriend and was off enjoying his company, and good for her.

Infuriated and a little frightened, Demeter continued to knock on every door in Olympus, demanding help in locating Persephone. The gods had one and all insisted it wasn't exactly a priority situation. Most agreed with Zeus' statements. Several had even questioned whether Demeter herself might have instigated the running away, asked if there had been any recent disagreements between them. This enraged her all the more.

Finally, when she knocked at Cloud Nine, Aphrodite merely shook her curler-encrusted head at Demeter's request for aid, tugged her fuzzy old robe around her bosom and said she needed her beauty sleep, duuuh, or else how could she do her own job? Demeter stormed away, her fury shaking the very clouds.

Aphrodite closed the door and walked to a covered table in the corner. Lifting an edge of the cloth, her cold-creamed visage glared down at a cowering Cupid, who had dashed to his mother's the minute the earth goddess started beating on doors.

"Idiot!" she whispered harshly. "See what you've done? Demeter hasn't got a clue yet but it's pretty damned obvious where Persephone's gone, isn't it?"

Cupid hesitantly crawled out. "I know. But in my own defense, when I found Hades, he was already on Nysa and the two of them were already talking long before my arrow even touched him!"

This raised Aphrodite's eyebrow. "Tell me you're joking."

He shook his head fervently. He grabbed a gadget lying on the table and held it before her eyes. "See, just check out how high on the Er-O-Meter™ they were both scoring when I got there!"

She squinted at the device and groaned. “Damn it, you were right.” Cupid was about hoot in triumph, when she slapped a hand over his mouth. “Uh-uh, no breaking out the nectar bubbly this soon, kiddo! You still have a royally freaked out Demeter to deal with. And you don’t actually know what’s going on downstairs. Do you really wanna leave everything to the Fates? You know what they’re like!”

Cupid sighed behind her hand then brushed it aside. “Yeah, I know all of that stuff. But the arrow needs time to really get into his heart and do its job. I figure maybe three days to be totally sure.”

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes again. “You’d better be right, or Demeter’s gonna grind us all into mulch.”

“I’m right! I mean, okay, it’s the biggest job I’ve ever done and he is a god, but… Yeah!” He tried to ignore his mother’s wide eyes, tight frown and flaring nostrils. “I’m sure it’ll be just fine in the end...”

For the first time in decades, Aphrodite grabbed her son’s chiton to toss him over her knees, and they wrestled wildly for several minutes as Cupid tried to avoid a well-deserved spanking from his mom.

 
 

Hades sat by the pool again, smoking a cigar to help himself relax. He'd been finding himself around Lethe a lot lately and sometimes he wondered if taking a dip just to clear his head, so to speak, might be a good idea. Probably should've done it years ago. He also hadn't slept in a few days, not that he did very often. He was no nine-to-fiver and the hours he usually exhausted the imps. Now he stared into midair, puffing slowly and thoughtfully on the stogie, blowing smoke-skulls and engaging in the inner dialogue from hell.

What was it about Persephone? Why was he like a school kid with a crush since he'd first laid eyes on her? Why did his heart flutter like a drunken hummingbird whenever she so much as breathed near him, let alone touched him? What made him think he had even the slightest snowflake's chance in Tartarus that she could ever begin to feel anything like that about him? And why should he be praying to some nameless force of the cosmos that she might?

She was unbelievably beautiful, that much was beyond obvious. That alone could account for half the attraction. And she was kind and gentle, two things he'd had very little of in his life for too many centuries. That, too, was bound to appeal. She was also very enjoyable company, and it had been far too long since he'd had that. Well, okay, there had been those few months Megara was in his employ, but minions of any kind didn't really count as company in his mind. Even Meg had been a mere human, it had kind of spoiled him having a female, an actual breathing female, around for the first time in seven centuries. He didn't particularly miss ol’ Nutmeg herself. But he missed the feminine presence, the softness and beauty of a woman. In fact, he was starting to crave it...

And of course the Fates had chosen Persephone for something important involving both himself and the Underworld. He suspected he’d wind up either enjoying it or being ruined by it. Whatever the results, he didn't like how they manipulated him, especially now that he'd realized the extent of their past machinations. Though most of the past was his own fault – thanks to bad choices or bad management (or bad temper) – he much preferred to blame them. Still... fate had dealt him worse hands than this young goddess.

None of these things explained the intensity and strength of what he felt underneath it all. The sense of rightness, the gentle ache of longing, the burning appetite, how much he wanted to express it all to her... There was still more. He couldn't put his finger on it. Or, more accurately, he wouldn't. He refused to act on it. He couldn't, just couldn't trust it enough to open himself up again, not after losing Leuke. It was too painful and he didn't like pain, not when it was inflicted upon himself.

Yet when he thought of Persephone... He could felt the bindings around his heart softening dangerously. Damn it, no, he had to stop thinking about her. She was a complete innocent. And young, oh boy, let's not forget how young. Jailbait young.

To distract himself from such thoughts, he turned instead to concentrating on the cigar. It was a marvelous invention for humans to have come up with, and he enjoyed the slightly-sweet-slightly-tangy smoke. Mind wandering now, he recalled that Eris had first introduced him to this particular vice (and a few others, besides). The cigar was also a comforting, very tangible thing in his land of shadows. He enjoyed it, drew a kind of contentment from such a simple indulgence. Smiling, a bit more relaxed within himself, he gripped the cigar with his fingertips and rolled it pleasantly around inside the edge of his lips, releasing the flavor. A lovely sensual feeling. Though not as lovely as having Persephone's sweet, soft lips wrapped around his co--

Pulling the cigar from his mouth, he quickly stubbed it out on the arm of his chair, eyes wide and unblinking. Where the hell did his brain think it was going with that idea? Well, someplace very nice no doubt, but Persephone was strictly a forbidden zone, hands-off buster, a big no-no. But… why?, a small voice inside asked, Because of Olympian rules? Some rules are meant to be broken...

Before he could address that thought, he heard Persephone calling his name. He turned toward the palace and saw her sprinting toward him. Briefly, he noticed she looked nice in black. It made her look older for one thing. Older was good. He rose to meet her, curious at her breathless excitement, then worried it wasn't excitement but trouble.

"What's up, babe? You feeling okay?" She nodded and caught his hands in her own, smiling brightly. Her breathing slowed gradually, her bosom heaving most delightfully under the black cloth. The way she'd draped it a lot more cleavage was showing now. He lifted his eyes and sighed slightly. Why were the Fates torturing him like this? What had he ever done to them?

Finally she spoke. "I've got it. I dreamed it. I know what's wrong with everything! Human souls are completely skippinghh in the cycle of nature!"

"Uh...," he intoned, an eyebrow raised in confusion, "what are you talking about?"

"Here, I'll show you." Releasing his hands, she reached to the peroné at her right shoulder, flipped open a small lid and took something from inside. A handful of seeds. "I always keep a few on me,” she grinned. “Nature goddess habit, y'know.”

So that was what she'd thrown at the dead hero in the Elysian Fields. Interesting choice of weapon.

Now Persephone selected one and returned the rest to her clasp. Holding the tiny whitish bulb in her left palm, she explained. "I think a human soul may be a lot like a seed. It seems lifeless but it's only sleeping." Her golden aura illuminating, she put her right hand above the left, motioning in slow circles, and the bulb began to demonstrate her words.

"It sprouts... then grows..." The bulb wriggled into life, thrusting up a healthy green shoot which seperated into long thin leaves. "It blossoms into life..." Multiple buds formed, blooming into fragrant narcissus, ironically the same type of flower he'd given her earlier. "Then in time it wilts and fades... and inexorably it dies..." And the plant did too. "Just like humans. But in nature, death isn't truly permanent. There's something still there, some spirit of life, like a soul in a way. So next Spring, the seed sprouts again... in a never-ending cycle..." The narcissus rose up from the dead and was reborn in her hand, lived and died, returning to its original form as a bulb. She gently replaced it to her clasp.

Hades had watched her excitement and smiled sadly. Although her revelation was exactly right, and it impressed him greatly, there was little point. Resigned, he sighed, "My dear, I wish it were possible. To recycle souls and let them return to live a new life would be a perfect solution to the overcrowding. Unfortunately, I can't do it." He held up his hands, looking disdainfully at the open palms. "My powers are death and degeneration, not life or renewal. I can't do a damned thing."

"What about me? My powers are nothing but new life. Perhaps that was the Fate’s plan? That I’m supposed to do it?"

He shook his head sadly. "The nature of my kingdom, just like those of my brothers, is that no one but the ruler can use their powers to transform the realm itself. That's why I had to resort to using the Titans against Olympus, because they were so ancient they were beyond the rules we all set down.” He sighed again, regretfully. “There's no changing the rules on this one, babe, but I really wish there was some way..."

Persephone approached then, placing her own hands down over his still-outstretched palms, fingertips softly grazing his skin. She gazed at his face with deep feeling, potent with meaning, and murmured, "But life and death are eternally joined… They are meant to walk hand-in-hand..."

Hades looked at their almost joined hands, his tingling beneath hers. Then he lifted his eyes to hers and fell headlong, without a breath of air to save him, into the deep ocean he saw there. She couldn't possibly mean what it sounded like. She was... just talking about the cycle of nature, not... them.

Catching his breath at last, resurfacing from the unknowable fathoms of his own heart, he removed his hands and turned away. "I wish I could make such changes. The Underworld really needs a new system of management. A way to judge souls on arrival, as good or bad... proper places for them to stay... a chance to be born again for those who are ready..." Half-aside, he added as if to himself, about himself, "A fresh start..." Shoving his thoughts and composure back on track, he swept a hand toward the nearby pool. "And hey, give ‘em a quick dip in Lethe before they leave and they'd completely forget their Underworld experience."

"Lethe?" she queried, looking toward the pool they'd spent the last couple of days around.

"The Pool of Forgetfulness. Drink it or touch the water too long and you can't even remember your own name. And yes, I know from experience." He grinned at her inquiring look. "If not for the Pool of Mnemosyne to reverse it, I'd still be wandering around here, drooling, wearing nothing but my undies and a bucket on my head. Stinkin’ minions think they’re so funny.”

Persephone snickered. "I wish I could use it on my mother. Make her forget I ever existed."

"Little excessive there."

"Well, maybe. But sometimes I wish I was any anything but her daughter. The last few years I've... I don't know... felt like there's something more I need to be doing, someplace else I should go. And I think maybe I've found... the place where I can learn, to be what I'm meant to be." She smiled up at him then, hopeful and willing.

"You mean… Here," he said quietly. With me, he thought in his heart.

"That is, if you'll let me stay a while longer..." She lowered her eyes. "I want to learn all about the Underworld and I want to help you, as I said before. Maybe I can come up with a more workable idea. I don't know what else I can do, what more I could offer except... uh, moral support, but..."

She paused. There was, of course, much more to it but she couldn't say it yet, not until she found the right moment. He was much older, and she knew she was too young to be considering the things foremost on her mind. And he knew it too. She realized now, that was why he'd held back all along, why he'd been a perfect gentleman though he clearly desired her every bit as much. It made her long for him even more. She no longer cared about such trivialities as age. Fate had brought them together. She'd always had this powerful feeling about him, ever since she'd first seen him when she was a mere child of ten years. But now... Perhaps giving in to fate on all levels was the only way they would both ever feel truly at peace with it.

But even knowing it, wanting it so much, she had never expressed such things before, and so she grew shy. She couldn't just blurt out, Hades, I want to get naked with you... So she lifted her gaze to him and said, "Hades, I want to be here."

He shook his head gently. She was eager to stay in the realm of the dead, just to escape her mother? That was pretty desperate. Still, the thought of having her here on a daily basis for however long thrilled him at depths he hadn't reached in centuries. He cleared his throat. "Demeter will come looking for you in time, you know."

"Yes, I know..."

"And she truly hates my guts. Actually she really doesn't like most men, especially in my family."

"I know. I never understood why."

“Wellll… I could tell you, but I'm not sure you'd like it."

Persephone’s eyes widened, sensing gossip about her mother. "Oh, please, tell me!"

Grinning, Hades told her. "Well, she and Zeus dated long ago. But he dumped her for Hera, her own sister. Then she had a short fling with Poseidon. And he ended it to marry Amphitrite. You see the pattern emerging here."

"Oh, my. She thought you were exactly the same shallow jerk, and judged you without benefit of trial."

"Bingo. You catch on fast."

"Geez, I just don't understand her,” Persephone frowned. “She prevented me from being around men for so long, I guess because of her own experiences, not trusting them. So why then? Why did she suddenly get it in her head to pair me up with Apollo?"

"He's been a friend of your mother's for a long time, but she's utterly blind and deaf to what he's really like." Hades’ expression darkened briefly. "Anyway, she's decided everything else for you, why not this too? She trusts his lies or she wouldn't have chosen him either. Believe me, if she's trying to maintain her image of you there's probably not a god alive who’d fit her requisites. Suffice it to say, she certainly despises me, so you know very well she will not approve of you being here."

"I know. But things are so changed for me. These last few years, I feel so... different. I'm not sure why..." Persephone fidgeted, looking down again. "I've gotten so frustrated with my life and the way everyone expects me to behave, I just fake it in front of them. But I feel somehow... that I can show you the real me and you won't tell me to be anything else." She smiled shyly up at him then, and the soft bittersweet smile Hades returned said he felt the same way.

She continued more certainly. "I honestly feel old enough to make my own decisions. Though I didn't have the guts to force the issue, until I met you. But now... Mother will just have to learn to deal with it, won't she?" She smiled widely, proud of making the first step in her bid for independence. "I'm really not a little girl, and I'm ready to face the challenge. So bring it on."

Hades smiled too. Although he sensed there was something else behind her choice, and that it might even be some strange sort of interest in him… he could never act upon that. But he could still play. Eyes half-closed, his smile became slightly diabolical. "Well, Seph... since you wanna sign on I gotta warn you, I'm no easy taskmaster. I crack the whip around here."

She raised an eyebrow and her chin, in mock defiance. So that's the way he wanted it. Well, she could play too. "Oh, reaaally? And what makes you think I'll bow down to your orders? I am a goddess after all, not a minion. You can't ride me."

Hades grinned hugely and gave in, unable to resist his own temptation any longer. This was a give-and-take, push-and-shove verbal game he hadn't played for way too long. "Hoh-hoh... Rough and ready, are ya?" he purred heatedly, "Well, I'll just go get my spurs..."

She blushed and bit her lip. It was out of her depth to think of a suitable response to that one. The timbre of his voice, the heat in his gaze, made her breathless, and the mental image of such an idea as he'd presented made her body tingle. Her eyes dashed downward and she inhaled sharply, then nervously chuckled, "Uh... heh..."

All right, enough playing mental footsie, Hades thought, smiling and backing off. Especially since his own thoughts were causing physical reactions he needed to avoid with her around.

"Seriously though," he said, changing the subject and his tone of voice to casual, "I do need your kind of spunk if I'm gonna rearrange this whole place. But first things first." He stretched out an arm and put his hand on the small of her back, where it unfortunately distracted both of them. He guided her toward the palace again. "Come on, my goddess. Let's call a meeting of the minds and start this thing off right."

 

Throughout the remainder of the day, Demeter made further attempts to convince the gods she needed their help, and was continuously refused. In frustration, she lashed out like nothing they had ever seen before. Shocked at her actions, Zeus requested she leave until she had a grip on herself.

She departed Olympus to search for her daughter alone. She was determined to leave no corner unexamined, no stone unturned. And heavens help anyone who got in her way...

The day ended, the morning arose. It had now been a total of four days since Persephone had disappeared.


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