Mythology Drabble Series: Trickery
Notes: Hades/Persephone. Each part in exactly 100 words.

He first caught sight of her in a meadow with her mother. She was smiling and dancing, flowers crowning her head, not a care in the world. Her face was so bright, so pure, so full of life. It was so unlike anything of him, or where he lived, that he knew in an instant that he had to have her. He had resented his brothers, for leaving him with the underworld, that his kingdom was the land of the dead, a land bereft of light or hope. With her with him, though, his land would no longer be dead.

***

He came down in a chariot when her mother's back was turned, sweeping out an arm and snatching the girl. The flowers dropped from her head, and she cried out as the wheels of his chariot crushed them. Left behind, realizing too late what had happened, her mother Demeter screamed out in horror and loss. Already the trees and grass began to wither with her loss. Finally, the girl looked at him; Hades turned his face, lest he should frighten her. But she gazed at him without terror or revulsion, merely confusion and a hint of worry for her mother.

***

"Aren't you afraid?" he asked her when he was safely back in his own dead kingdom. "I am Hades, lord of the underworld. Nothing can live here."

She studied his land intently, noting how different it was from her mother's green, vibrant earth that sung and moved and delighted the senses. She missed her home already and her mother also. There was only darkness here; darkness, and the strong, fearsome man who had brought her here. She turned back to him. "You live here."

In that moment, he knew he must have her, that he could never live without her.

***

To his shame, he took her quickly and painfully. In his mad desire for her, he couldn't help himself. Afterwards, not wanting to see pain crossing her lovely face, he left without looking at her. For two days he left her alone to wander his dark realm. And when his desires overtook him again, he came to her a second time, took her as quickly as the first, and left afterwards, never speaking a word to her. Again and again the cycle repeated itself in his dull, never changing realm. He wished to be closer to her, but dared not.

***

Above ground, the earth grew as dark and dead as the underworld, as bereaved Demeter walked aimlessly, ignoring her duties, searching endlessly for her lost child, though she wouldn't be able to find Persephone here. Finally the other gods cornered her for her neglect. She wept that they were unable to understand her grief, having themselves never had to suffer the loss of a child. What perils was her daughter suffering in that land of darkness and silence? At last she was able to secure a promise from Zeus that he would force Hades to return her Persephone to her.

***

They wanted to take his Persephone away from him. Her mother had been making a nuisance of herself, and she had convinced Zeus to make him give the girl up. He would refuse, of course. She meant everything to him. He couldn't just give her away, as if she were some trinket. But he couldn't defy his brother either.

Hades mulled it over in his head for a long time until he came up with the perfect solution. This would keep Persephone here with him, and there was nothing Demeter could do about it. Persephone would be his queen forever.

***

Alongside the palace was a grove of trees, the only vegetation in the entire realm. The fruit dangling from the trees was full, succulent, and beautiful. Persephone's mouth watered with hunger and she reached out to take one. She paused, wondering why the food was here, thinking it was suspicious. "For you," a voice that sounded like her lord's whispered, brushing part her ear.

Perhaps he did care for her after all. She took a piece of fruit, ripped it open, and began feasting on the sweet seeds inside. She had never tasted anything better than this her entire life.

***

"She has eaten of the fruit of my realm. She cannot ever leave now."

"She is my daughter. She belongs with me. The earth will wither and die beneath me if I don't have her back."

She had eaten six seeds from that fateful fruit, so it was decreed that she would spend six months with Hades in the underworld as his queen, and the other six months above ground with her mother. This way would be best for everyone. Hades would have his queen, and Demeter would have her daughter. No one thought to ask Persephone what she wanted.

***

"You tricked me," she accused him before she was to leave to go to her mother.

"I can't live without you," he said. "I did it for us." She was silent. "I have made you my queen! I have fought to keep you with me! I have apologized for being harsh to you! What more do you want?" She didn't answer him, looking away over his realm. "I love you. Do you love me?" he asked.

"I might have stayed here with you. But you tricked me into it. Now you'll never know if I would have been yours willingly."

***

For the next six months, he was inconsolable. She was all he could think about, haunting his thoughts waking and sleeping. He wondered if she was happier with her mother. He wondered if she missed him. Would she return to him like a prisoner, shackled against her will? Did he even dare to hope that she might long for him?

He waited for her impatiently on the day she returned. She stepped up to greet him, as graceful and beautiful as ever. Then she smiled at him and said in a loving voice, "I'm home," and became more beautiful still.

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