Author’s notes: Just a bit of advice: do not read below if you have not read (or skim-read, if you can’t be bothered) The Daughter of Demeter, because this is the same story, just continuing under a new name. If you ignore my advice, you may get confused.
And some reminders:
1) Thanks still go to Melora Maxwell, whose own Hades-Persephone story “I Won’t Say it” inspired me to go back and re-write my old Hades/Persephone stories. These ol’ fics of mine came into existence in 1999, so I’ve been improving, sorting out and updating them.
2) During speech (stuff between these thingies: “ and”) you may (and only may) see things written between these: [ and ]. This implies things that happen during speech, but that aren’t spoken.
3) All characters are © Disney, except Seph 2 (Melora still owns the first one, IMO), and the horses Ultor and Zagreus. I do as I wish with both my characters and Disney’s existing ones, though! :)
4) The last story was based loosely on the Hades/Seph myth. This one is more of a Disney’s Hercules fanfiction than actually being myth based (i.e., it's not based on any particular myth). There will be mythical elements in it, but rather inaccurate ones.
5) This story is set after The Daughter of Demeter fic, and about 16-17 months after the Hercules film.
Discord & Death
Based on the characters from Disney’s “Hercules” film & TV show
Continuing from ‘Daughter of Demeter’
Chapter 1
6 months...
It was nearing 6 months wasn’t it?
Persephone rubbed her eyes, waking up to yet another Olympian dawn. Tension between her and her mum was rife at the moment, and she refused to get up early on principle.
She sighed, throwing off her soft duvet (yes, made from 100% cloud, like most things on Olympus), and leant over the edge of her bed, placing her head in her hands; this routine was getting a little boring, more so because she had fallen in love, and was aching to see the god she had agreed to wed. The problem was that this god turned out to be Hades, Mister Olympian-Enemy-Number-2 (Cronus still remained at the number 1 spot). Everyone seemed to disapprove of this latest immortal union, and the situation was still very sticky and messy: Zeus was adamant that his word would hold true, and that he would overrule the Fates themselves, and have the power to keep Hades from her at all costs, whilst her mum, Demeter, was still deeply upset, and would probably be overjoyed if Zeus could overrule the Fates.
Persephone looked upwards as she suddenly heard a rush of hooves and saw a gulf of flames flash by the window. It was Apollo in his chariot, leaving Olympus for another day’s journey across the world.
She sighed and looked blankly at the cloudy ceiling of her bedroom; she had eaten 6 seeds from a pomegranate of the Underworld which technically chained her for 6 months of every year of her life to Tartarus. She was beginning to wish she’d ignored Hades’ advice and just thrown the entire fruit down her oesophagus, though. She wanted the freedom she’d felt when she was with him, that feeling of being in the right place and with the right person. But, still, perhaps Hades was right; she probably would miss the upper world eventually, after being in the gloom of the Nether World for too long. She had only spent a short time down there so far, and after 6 months or more, she'd probably be straining to leave the place. But still, spending time with Hades couldn’t be that bad, could it?
She was sure it wasn't, at least not as far as she was concerned.
She decided to get up and paced over to her wardrobe to pick out her chiton for today. She would only see Hades again if Zeus was overruled by the Fates, and a niggling thought of dread had lingered in the back of her mind ever since she’d seen the back of her fiancé. What if Hades was wrong? What if the Fates did submit to Zeus, and allowed his bidding to take precedence over their own? What if she never saw Hades again, and was forced to live up here, forever, alone, like a prisoner, until the end of time?
Persephone shook her head, trying to drive the thought from her mind. She went on to have a wash before she mooched into her parent’s Olympian quarters. She found her dad there, sat at the table, chewing on a leg of lamb. Again. The thought that it was just too early to be eating like that never crossed her mind, however. She felt that this scenario seemed oddly familiar, though. “Morning dad,” she sighed, slouching down onto a chair opposite her rotund father.
Bacchus finished chewing his mouthful, “Morning, Sephy... sleep well?”
She shook her head, groaning, “No... Phantasos wasn’t favouring me last night.” Phantasos worked alongside Morpheus, the god of sleep, and was the god of dreams.
Bacchus placed down his leg of lamb and looked upon his daughter carefully. “You had a nightmare?” he asked.
She made a dreary nod and covered her face with her hands. “I dreamt I was running...” she said, before pausing and placing her hands onto the table, looking hard at her dad. “I was running toward the gates of Olympus, finally leaving for my first 6 months ‘down under’, but I couldn’t reach the gates, and --” She hesitated, thinking of best way of how to say this to her father without bringing up too much of the past. “And someone… someone just kept laughing at me, and taunting me.”
That ‘someone’ had in fact been Hecate, but she didn’t wish to explain all of her dealings with that witch to her father.
Bacchus nodded slowly and reached over, placing a large, plump hand over his daughter’s. “Your fears are playing with you, Persephone,” he said soothingly, “Take no notice.”
She smiled half-heartedly, happy that her father hadn’t said anything like her mum would have done, along the lines of: ‘you shouldn’t be going there at all!’. She dragged her hand away from her father’s and watched as her engagement ring glittered in the morning light. Bacchus also looked at her ring, making a discreet sigh before he glanced back to his daughter; her time with them was coming to a close, and she would soon experience her first extended period in the Underworld with her future husband, the first of many more. Bacchus knew as well as Hera, and most of the Pantheon, that Zeus’ words would not override the laws the Fates had long ago instigated. Persephone had eaten 6 seeds from the fruit of the Underworld, and she must do her time down there now.
Persephone looked shyly at her father as she noticed him staring at her ring; she could see the hurt in his eyes, the fear of losing his daughter to the Realm of the Dead and its master for half of the year. However hurt she knew he was, though, she couldn't deny that she had taken the right path. The chaos would one day subside and it would all become routine and normal. Until then, she would have to endure the turmoil and the displeasure of her peers.
“It’s a beautiful ring,” Bacchus finally remarked, smiling a little at her.
She smiled weakly back. “I know…” she whispered, looking upon it fondly and watching how the rays of the sun made it twinkle different colours. It didn’t do that in the Underworld – there wasn’t the necessary light for it. She then slowly rose her line of sight to meet her dad’s again and said, “I’ll be OK, dad. I’m a grown woman now.”
He nodded. “I know…” he replied, “It just may take some time to get used to this new ‘scenario’, but, if it’s truly what you want, then I will support you.”
Persephone came round the table and embraced her father. “Thanks dad…” she said, knowing that she would miss him a lot.
He patted her a little on the back and then let her draw away.
“You really think Zeus won’t be able to keep his word?” she continued, kneeling by his side.
Bacchus nodded certainly. “Believe me, Persephone, we are all subjects to the Fates, and there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Persephone nodded, looking down; she was desperate to see Hades again. These past 6 months had been the worse, helping her mother with the recuperation of the earth and helping the corn to ripen… snore.
“Will mom be okay?” she then asked, glancing back to her father. “I know we haven’t been seeing eye-to-eye lately, but --”
“You still care,” Bacchus said for her, completing her sentence.
She nodded gently in acknowledgement.
Bacchus placed a hand onto his daughter’s shoulder and continued, “Of course she will. She’s just worried about you, Persephone. Everything's happened so quickly, in such a small space of time, and I don’t think she can quite get used to the fact that Hades will be the man to become our son-in-law. I think she rather had hopes for you and Apollo.”
“I can’t help how things happened, dad.”
“I know,” he nodded, reassuring her, “I don’t blame you. You’re my daughter, and I will always love you, no matter what paths you decide to take. And if you love the Lord of the Dead, and want to be with him, then there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s perfectly fine for you to live your life, Persephone.”
Persephone was so grateful for her father's open-minded and composed approach to things. She knew that, whatever happened, she could always rely on him to play the role of the understanding parent. Even so, she kind of knew what her mum was going through. It was just the way she fussed over her and made her feel like she was in the wrong all the time - it irritated her so much, and had led to this little rift arising between them.
“Thanks dad,” she said one last time before she got up and wandered out.
Bacchus watched her go. Compared to the other goddesses, she really was still very young, and was even more so next to Hades, but he was certain that his child knew what she was doing. She was youthful, but she wasn’t stupid.
To be continued…