Chapter Text
“You can’t wear that, you’ll look like a relic,” Artemis said. Persephone frowned, looking down at her dress. A long, white chiton that flowed over her legs.
“I didn’t buy any party clothes, this is all I’ve got.”
“Hm, I’ve got some stuff you can borrow.” They both crowded around Artemis’s closet, and Persephone nodded or shook her head at some of the options. A small white dress, a black dress with a long skirt and a leg slit, and two others were put in the ‘no’ pile. The clothes seemed out of place on Artemis’s bed, which was perfectly made, with purple cover and black sheets. The mounted deer head seemed to be judging them.
“I like this one!” Persephone said, pulling out a dark green velvet dress with a high neck and transparent sleeves and an open back. It was very structured and had a built-in black corset around the middle.
Artemis held the fabric to Persephone’s face. “If this dress had been even a shade lighter, I don’t think it would have worked. But this’ll look good.”
Persephone giggled as she got it on, and then as she sat on the big plush chair in the living room for Artemis to redo her hair.
“Thanks for letting me be your plus-one.” Persephone tried to blow a lock of hair out of her face, but Artemis whisked it up before she could try again, and wove it into the braid.
“It’s only the third time you’ve thanked me.”
“Well! I mean, I would have never gotten invited. I’m a nobody.”
“You’re not a nobody.” The Hunt bent down over Persephone’s shoulder to meet her eye. “You’re Artemis’s plus one.”
“The highest honour!”
“Exactly.” Artemis tightened the hairtie with a snap. “And don’t accept drinks from people. Don’t leave your drink unattended, either.”
“Obviously.”
“I’m not worried about you, just reminding you.”
“I appreciate it, Arty.”
“You won’t when you see this braid– I’m out of practice.”
Persephone and Artemis took a cab to the party. It was a Saturday-night mixer, apparently, but with the way Zeus threw these things, there was far more coke than mixing. With the Olympians, this kind of thing was expected, and no one batted an eye that business deals were made between the legs of exotic dancers.
The pink and purple goddesses were invisible in the crowd of socialites, sneaking appetizers and drinks that must have cost a fortune to cater. Persephone snickered over the caviar. She was out of her depth here, for sure, however, she didn’t need to be seen as anything special by this crowd. They were so superficial that she could wave her hand through their flashy images, like holograms of glitz and glam.
She was plundering the rich for her pleasure, and that gave her an easy confidence and edge. Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, easily fell into pace.
Artemis was off to see if she could steal a bottle of Assyrtiko from behind the bar, and Persephone was sipping her bourbon and people-watching as she weaved through the crowd. Her body was warm, and the room had a fake glow that wasn’t just from the lights. Suddenly, she felt a body push past her, knocking her glass out of her hands and onto the floor! It shattered, but it was barely a spark under the music.
“Sh-shit!” she said. No one seemed to be walking close, but if someone stepped on the glass–
She knelt to begin collecting the glass. “Can anyone get me a broom?” But no one listened to her or cared. She sighed, collecting the largest shards into her hands. They scraped her fingers. Into the trash they went. Shit. That had been good bourbon. But maybe she had had too much to drink.
Across the room, the Sky, the Sea, and the Underworld stood in trio reign of the room, but the Death King looked far closer to the grave than usual.
“Who– is she?” said a tepid voice that did not sound like Hades.
“Who? Pinky?”
“‘Pinky?’”
The Thunderer had a drink but was also sorting through his pills to see what best suited his mood. The air was electrified by his pleasure, and everyone’s hair was slightly on end from Zeus’s presence in the room. “Persephone. She’s Demeter’s daughter. Spring if I’m not mistaken.” He hadn’t even needed to glance up for more than a second.
“I didn’t know Demeter even had a daughter.” Hades had slipped on a pair of olive-horned glasses, peering across the crowd to catch the last glances of that blooming flower. “Why haven’t I seen her before?”
“Why haven’t you seen Demeter in the past hundred years?” Poseidon butted in, his fins flicking with amusement.
Hades nodded. “Ah.”
Zeus popped some pills into his mouth. “Dee thinks I’m morally corrupt anyway. It’s surprising Persephone’s even here at all.”
And Hades, drunk with confidence and wine, smiled, and said, “Honestly, I think she puts Aphrodite to shame.” His brothers laughed at the exaggeration.
Those fateful words carried across the room, into the ears of Love, Beauty, and Desire Herself.
Aphrodite was a being of infinite love and forgiveness. However, she was infinitely petty and spiteful. After all, she was Love. Love of the mother, love of the father, love of the daughter, love of the scorned and the hateful. Now, what Hades said was impossible. Aphrodite had no true form, and she was able to appear however she liked to appear most beautiful to her beholders, however, her current and favourite form was handcrafted to fit her like a glove, and it was that that Hades insulted.
She sent a few pointed text messages to Eros, and the cupid, also bound by ropes of love, sprung to his mother’s call.
“I have to talk to her,” Hades said, stepping forward, but stopping in his tracks as he watched a lithe woman step in front of Persephone, waving a bottle in front of her by the neck as if strangling a small animal. Hades may have been Artemis’ uncle, but the Maiden was famed for her temper far more than even Hera. Hades would have never believed Artemis was from a mortal, so much she took after her father’s wife.
“Oh, the panther stands between you and your quarry!” Poseidon said, laughing as he registered the situation.
“Thank you, I hadn’t noticed,” Hades said, his words laced with venom.
“I can distract Artemis. She can’t say no to her dear ol’ dad. Then, you swoop in,” Zeus said, grinning sluggishly.
Hades raised an eyebrow at him. “Take an upper, Zeus.”
Zeus laughed again and then strode into the middle of the floor. It might have been on the nose to say he controlled the atmosphere of the room, but when Zeus was there, the mood of the crowd was like a symphony for him to direct. It parted before him as if an ocean could grovel like a dog before its master.
“Arty, there you are! I was just–”
Hades lost his words as he took his daughter away to the other end of the room.
And then, he snapped back to looking. However, as much as he scanned, the bloom of pink was gone.
━═━═━═━═━═━═━═━═━
“Aw, she left with your wine!” a voice came from behind her ear.
She turned and looked at the lavender face that was smiling down at her. Something about him seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place it. His face was so striking. Why was she imagining kissing it, even if it was the wrong colour? She was too drunk.
“I mean, if you want Assyrtiko, I know where the store room is. Comes with living here.”
This wasn’t a good idea. But he seemed so nice. He felt safe. And a storeroom of the good stuff? How could she say no? She had a pocket knife, too, just in case. She wouldn’t drink anything while he was around, just go to see.
“Alright,” she said, giggling through the alcohol as he lead her out of the party, downstairs.
Her room was already spinning, and when she was handed a glass, she wasn’t thinking clearly enough to not drink it, even with Artemis’s warning ringing in her ears. He seemed nice. He was okay.
“Your– when did you get a mole?” she asked.
“What?” the man said, giving her a confused look as he poured more wine into her glass.
“You didn’t– have one before.”
“I’ve always had this.”
“Oh… weird…”
And it all spun into the deep dark of sleep, even as she was lifted and carried out into the night.
“This isn’t a good idea. I’m cold,” Eros said as he cradled the sleeping woman.
His mother rolled her eyes. “Oh, stop fussing and hurry up.”
“I thought it was an actual emergency, not your ego bleeding out.”
“Check that attitude, sassy man,” Aphrodite huffed, tossing her hair slightly. “Psycho’s going to be waiting a long time if you keep this shit up.”
“It’s Psyche.”
“Whatever. Where’s Hades’s car anyway?” Aphrodite led the way through the parking garage of the hotel, looking around the identical rows of sports cars.
“What are we even–”
“Listen! We’re– going to put her in the back seat. Who knows when he’ll notice, however– she’ll be drunk and embarrass herself, and he’ll take her home, because I know he will, and we can tell Artemis and you know how she’ll flay Hades. And the girl thinks he’s a creepy old man, which he is, and they’ll all hate him!”
“If you think he’s creepy why are you doing this to her? Who even is she? We could be putting her in danger.”
“Hades isn’t that creepy. She’ll be fine.”
“Why are you even jealous of her?”
“I’m not jealous of her, but Hades fucked up saying something like that in front of everyone. He shouldn’t- he doesn’t–! Ugh! I don’t have to explain myself to you.”
“Whatever.”
The car was conveniently unlocked, and they slammed the door on the problem.
“That’s the end of that,” Aphrodite said. Eros had a bad feeling that it wasn’t.
━═━═━═━═━═━═━═━═━
Hades had been frustrated when Persephone disappeared. He had looked for almost half an hour, but she had vanished into the night, like a mirage. Two frustrations in an evening, one with Minthe refusing to show up, and then losing the girl. He left early. Early for one of Zeus’s parties. They would be going until noon the next day if it followed typical patterns.
He had been halfway home, his car already in Charon’s ferry (once a simple wooden raft, now a mechanical giant that navigated the entirety of the Underworld river network), when he heard a murmur. He looked back.
He was struck dumb.
Persephone, in all her glory, draped over the backseat. How had she gotten in here? Had he forgotten to lock his car? Why was she in his car anyway? The questions evaporated in the face of her beauty. And she was beautiful. Dim electric light from the ferry’s ceiling barely made it through the window, just barely showing the edges of her body as she slept. He wanted to run his hands down her soft curves, which flowed like pink smoke. Something in him purred with delight at the idea that she, weak and dizzy from drink, sought refuge in something of his. Even if it was probably on accident. After all, she hadn’t even noticed him.
He carried her as she slept soundly, put her on a chair, and had her drink some water.
And when her eyes opened by his insistence, he was startled by the sudden gleam of red in the darkness. He didn’t know what he was feeling. Was it recognition? He wanted her to be his, now and forever. He wanted to tuck her into bed every night like this. It was a shame she had to leave in the morning.
She asked him, quietly, not to tell anyone how much she had drunk or Demeter might have her move back to the mortal realm.
He didn’t know where she lived, otherwise, he’d have taken her home himself. “ You should have driven back to the party and given her to Artemis to take care of, ” lingered in his mind, but that was quickly dismissed by “ Artemis would kick my ass even if I had done the right thing. ”
He slipped her shoes off of her feet as he knelt before her. They were both gods, but Hades would worship her like this every night if given the chance. “Sorry for manhandling you,” he whispered to dead ears. Then, he tucked her into bed. “Goodnight.”