Discord & Death

Based on the characters from Disney’s “Hercules” film & TV show

Chapter 6

2 months had soon passed by before anyone new it, and although the world began to deteriorate again as Demeter felt the sorrow of losing her daughter to the grim confines of Tartarus, the human race, blessed with the help from the immortals above, began to cope with the problem of winter, and its increasingly cold weather. The time just vanished for Persephone, though, as she thoroughly enjoyed her freedom down in the Underworld, where she was away from her mother’s overprotective hold and free from the tight space of Olympus.

The situation concerning Hades and Persephone still raised much controversy with the Pantheon of Gods, though. Many of them still could not understand Persephone and her extreme feelings for the Lord of the Dead, feelings that had turned out to be so extreme that she’d been willing to sacrifice six months of every year to be with him. She'd even defied the words of Zeus!

Zeus had by now given over with the situation. He was powerless against the will of the Moirae, and he had to face that fact. Hera was glad for that, at least, and though she recognised the peculiarity of the situation, she thought it was best that they all just got on with their lives and left Persephone to take her own path.

Persephone had yet to properly wed the man she loved, and her proper godly rights had not been confirmed. As soon as she bound her life with Hades’ in marriage, she would become the Lady of the Underworld, but for the six months when she was not with him, she would be what she had always been: a goddess of vegetation and the spring.

Love does strange things to people. And things not so strange…

Persephone’s eyes shot open. It was very early in the morning, she knew that much, and gods she felt awful. She groaned, shuffling away from Hades’ body a little and tried repositioning herself. It didn't help. She was still feeling incredibly hot and bothered. And nauseous.

Sighing, she tried to relax back into another position, but every time she moved about, she just felt even worse than she had done before, and even more warm and restless.

Throwing the quilt off her, she then sat upright and could feel her stomach churning, making her head swim. Pushing herself to the edge of the bed, Persephone hung her head into her hands and really hoped that she wasn’t going to black out.

All her fidgeting aroused Hades, who looked at her from under heavy eyelids. He monitored her carefully for a few seconds before asking, “Y’alright, Seph?” wiping his eyes of sleep, and sitting up.

She didn’t reply him, and just sat there, breathing rapidly. And then her stomach suddenly did what felt like a three-hundred-and-sixty degree turn and decided it wanted to boycott its contents! She rapidly raised a hand to her mouth to clamp it shut whilst she could feel the acidy wastes of her stomach try to rush up her oesophagus...

“Seph?” Hades asked again.

She heard him but was too busy rushing out of the room to reply. She held her hand over her mouth, almost tripping over Pain and Panic i the process, who were lying limply across the hallway, and then hurried toward the bathroom[?]. She got there just in time, and threw her head over the basin and threw up violently.

She wasn’t sure how long she was knelt there (she was sure it wasn’t as long as it felt), but sometime in the midst of the disgusting chaos that was hurling, she felt Hades’ hand gently rubbing over her back. When her stomach had finally decided enough was enough, she managed to make the time to breathe and then tried to comprehend what all that had been about. She gave the revolting mass of bile and …ugh… indescribable sludge a quick glance before she shifted herself away and breathed normally again.

“You can heave for all Greece…” Hades grinned as he sat by her side.

She took another breath and swallowed, tasting the remainders of her sickness in her mouth. She winced at the taste, and then looked back to Hades in silence. Her face was pale.

“Why is it that you have a habit of getting sick whenever yer down here?” Hades asked, giving her a smooth smirk.

“I’ve only been down here twice, Hades,” she reminded him in a whisper, her nausea having subdued her voice.

“Now don’t tell me off fer asking yer, but are you okay?” He took her by the arm and helped her to her feet. She was a little shaky, and her skin was cold, so he kept a hold of her waist so that she wuld keep her balance.

“I dunno,” she replied frankly, almost hesitantly, and she put a hand to her forehead. "That was weird."

“Maybe you oughta go and get checked out. You know, try ‘n’ see what’s up with yer?” Hades suggested. “I mean, the water down here might be contaminted. I’ve probably grown an immunity to it, whilst it makes you sick, or something.”

Persephone smiled at him. “Stop kidding around…” she said, lightly slapping him upon the chest.

“Okay, seriously,” he said. “Forget the contaminated water gag.”

She sighed and began to reply with, “I’ll be o--" She then felt her face go pale and her stomach did another somersault.

“O-?” Hades asked. “O- what?”

"Oh shit," she blasphemed before she wheeled about and threw her head over the lavatory, vomiting again.

Hades rolled his eyes and knelt again by her side. “C’mon, babe. How much more can you throw up, eh?”

Persephone lifted her head, confident her stomach was now well and truly empty. “Hades, shut up!” she said, brushing the wayward strands of her hair behind her ears.

“Babe, you’ve caught something,” he said, knocking her hair back forward again just to annoy her. “You sure you don’t wanna, yer know, go and see if you’re OK?”

Persephone gave him a long stare. “You are so much like my mum, it scares me,” she said. “I’m a goddess. I’ll be all right.”

“You’re an unwell goddess," Hades corrected her. "Now go back ta bed and stay there, or else go and see someone about it and get it sorted. I don’t want you hurling all over the upholstery."

“Thanks Hades," she muttered dryly.

“Can’t help if I care,” he countered with a grin. He then helped her back to her feet for a second time. “So are you gonna go?”

She lightly pushed his arms off of her and began to walk back without his assitance. “Yes, fine, I’ll go and see Hera… happy?” She then lost her balance and stumbled onto her knees. "I'm fine!" she insisted again.

Hades laughed but decided to hold his tongue.

Persephone entered Olympus slowly, having been dropped off by Hades at the gates. She wasn’t overly keen about coming here, especially after her rebellious exit, but if she was careful, and managed not to bump into her mom or any of the god squad who frowned upon her too deeply, then she’d be okay.

She was only doing this to make Hades happy. Well, sort of. Actually, she’d wanted a little chat with someone for a while, but had been too apprehensive about breaching the topic, never mind returning to Olympus. She had also been concerned about coming out of the Underworld during her six months, but Hades had assured her that, so long as she didn’t plan on camping out for a week or anything, the Fates would be all right with it.

Slowly ascending the steps to Olympus, Persephone entered through the golden gates and looked about quickly for other gods. Thankfully, there was only one god about to spot her – Hermes, the Messenger god, who was everyone’s friend (whether they liked it or not). He came whizzing over to her wearing his typical welcoming grin, and said, “Seph, babe, back already?"

She smiled lightly in return. “Very funny, Hermes,” she said. “Hades practically dragged me back up here.”

“Oh, so he’s sick of you, is that it?” Hermes went on, hovering before her on his back, with his arms folded behind his head.

She gave him a light push. “Ha ha! Oh, Hermes, you’re so funny!”

He grinned back. “Okay babe, what’s the deal?" He then pulled down his pink shades from his eyes and looked over her complexion. "Gee, are you all right? You don’t look too hot.”

She sighed, massaging her temples. “That’s why Hades sent me here. I’ve been feeling… ‘off’ lately, and I just wanted someone to talk to, to see if we can't work it out. Hades won't have me sit around and wait it out.”

Hermes chuckled lightly, “Strange to hear Hades is playing the part of the caring partner.”

“You don’t know the side of him I do,” she softly replied.

Hermes fluttered upside down before her, chortling kindly again, “Heh, not sure I’d want to, babe!”

Persephone looked down, blushing a bit.

Hermes twisted about and hovered upright again. “So, can I be of any service?”

“I was thinking of seeing Hera,” Persephone said. “I think she’s the best person to see about this kinda thing… is she around?”

“You don't want to see yer mom, then?” Hermes grinned knowingly.

Seph scoffed. “No… I know it sounds awful, but, besides the fact she doesn’t exactly understand me at the mo', she often just makes things a hundred times worse.”

Hermes nodded. “I hear yer, Seph," he said. "Don’t worry about her - she’ll come round eventually.”

“Thanks, Hermes. You’re so mellow, you know that?”

He nodded confidently. “Sure do, babe – I wouldn’t be me if I wasn’t.”

“So, is Hera here at the moment?” she asked, looking around to check that no one else had wandered through.

Hermes studied her visage carefully and listened to her tone of voice. “I think you actually wanted to come here more than you let on," he surmised. "Something’s really bothering you, right? Something you haven’t got the nerve to talk to Hades about? I bet Hades’ making you come up here was a welcome thing, eh?”

Persephone frowned. “You some kind of psycho-analysist now, Hermes?” she asked.

He gave her a brief nod. “Whatever you want to call it,” he beamed. “Hera’s free, I reckon, babe… I'm sure she’ll be happy ta see you. This way.” He swerved about in a little circle, and began to guide her to see the Queen of the gods.

Hera signed the end of a role of parchment, completing her paperwork for the day (a deity’s work is never done), before she heard a sudden knock at her study door. She turned around from her desk, and looked toward the white, cloud-formed door. “Come in,” she said.

Hermes glided in, followed by Persephone. “My lady, Persephone is here to see you,” he said eloquently.

Hera smiled at the daughter of Demeter. “Persephone! It's lovely to see you!” she said, rising from her desk and walking toward her. She embraced the goddess before dismissing Hermes with a nod.. The Messenger god bowed silently and then left, closing the door behind him.

Hera looked over Persephone once again and gave her another smile. “So, what brings you back to Olympus?” she asked, guiding her to a seat. Persephone sat down upon a chair whilst Hera retook her seat by her desk.

“Hades sent me up. He told me I need to make sure I'm okay, and get checked out,” Seph explained quietly.

Hera laughed a little at the thought. “My, my… how that man has changed…” she mused.

Persephone smiled for a moment, but it soon faltered and faded again.

Hera watched her all the time and, if Persephone had seen the glint in her eyes, she would have known that Hera already understood her plight. “So, what is the problem?” Hera asked.

“I haven’t been well,” Seph admitted. “And I threw up in full force this morning.”

Hera nodded slowly, “I see…”

Seph laughed a little, but not without anxiety. “I don’t know why he sent me up here," she grumbled."It’s not as though you can do anything about it."

Hera gave her a firm smile. “Persephone I don’t mean to sound rude, but I think that you know what the problem is.”

Seph looked at Hera, a little startled by her words, and swallowed hard. Did she know?

Hera saw her vacillation and gave her another reassuring nod. “You do, don’t you?” she asked.

Persephone looked downwards and thought carefully over what Hera was saying. “I…” she hesitated.

“Persephone,” Hera said again. “You cannot hide it from me. I know you want to talk about it, I know you want to ask someone about it, because I see it worrying you, and I can see it eating at you from the inside.”

Seph made a nervous laugh. “You’re not helping,” she said.

But Hera did not back down. “You’re unsure…" she went on, "but you’ve not talked at all to Hades, and you waited for the first opportunity to come up here – an opportunity Hades gave you – to talk to someone else about it. But now that you’re here, you’re already losing your nerve because you don't want to face facts. I’m not trying to hurt you, Persephone, I’m trying to help you…”.

Persephone swallowed hard again, feeling her lip tremble. She was scared – scared of the prospects that her life was now throwing at her, and scared of how the other gods were now going to treat her. She was even more scared of what her parents were going to think, and terrified of telling Hades, too. The fact was that she knew as well as Hera that she had fallen pregnant.

To be continued…

* Just wanted to mention ‘bout the bathroom – they had ‘em in Disney’s Hercules - the TV series, so I’m guessing the gods have ‘em too. Not that anyone’s fussed about it – just in case someone wanted to dig at me!