For Persephone

Chapter 10 – A Drop of Poison

The golden royal palace, the shimmery shiny exterior that hid all of the ugliness inside. Hades was glad to be back from Olympus, but still felt down in the dumps. He leaned back in his seat, lazily playing with the ring on his finger, sliding it back and forth repeatedly. He groaned as he felt another wave of agony and boredom. To sum his visit up, he had flat out rejected Zeus’s unreasonable demand for retribution arising from a political scandal, but Zeus, who never lost, played his judge.

-Brother, you always draw a line with such a noble character. I don’t even know the reason why you’re so isolated.

‘You imbecile’ Hades was so sick and tired of him chasing girls’ tails and causing minor slip-ups here and there.

He looked down at the ring but soon lost interest and put it back down in its place on his finger. He had to accept that Zeus wasn’t the only reason why his thoughts weren’t in order. That little girl was the problem. Kharon had been updating him of every visit while he was gone.

-The ragdoll came five days ago.

-The nymph snooped around Acheron River again.

As the son of Nyx and the acting governor of Acheron, Kharon was quite unhappy with the existence of a living being who kept breaking the rules.

-Is she looking for you? Did you scold her that day and make her cry? They say this time she’s looking for you.

-When have I ever made a kid cry?

-Isn’t that what you normally do?

-She knew what she was getting herself into.

-Anyways there’s something fishy going on with that ragdoll. Just like last time.

-She came the day before yesterday. She even put her foot in the river water; perhaps she’s becoming less afraid. She squatted in the corner, staring at me day after day, and ran away into the woods.

-No matter how far out of the zone she is, it’s truly an underground world, so what the hell is she doing?

An unknown feeling swept through Hades every time he heard some news about the nymph. Should he start to worry now? Unlike Zeus, he was so busy encompassing the land of the dead that there was no reason to care so much about a girl from the earth. More than anything, she was just an under-ripen fruit. Appetizing on the outside, but since it’s not ripe yet, having it will bring only regret.

-King, she’s here again.

It bothered Kharon that the girl suddenly appeared, rattled him, killed time doing this and that, and then disappeared. He felt like she was a spy roaming the land and he had to get rid of her.

“Again…”

Looking up at the sky, Hades felt the deep night air seeping into the underworld. On a night like this, the citizens of the underworld were swept away by a hell of frenzy, and the Titans trapped in Tartarus were more turbulent than before. From time to time it seemed that they were swept away by the unpleasantness and confusion that the girl spread like an epidemic. Hades, who abandoned that thought for a more silent one, eventually pulled himself up from the seat.

“At last he has come; long time no see, King. Do something about her!”

Kharon, pointed his finger at ‘that special concern, that ragdoll, that thing’. The girl, with no intent of moving whatsoever, squatted down at a spot not too far from the dock, looking at him with sulky eyes with lips chapped from the cold. She was sitting exhausted from a long tussle with Kharon today and seemed to be in a bad mood.

“Why have you come just now?” She accused him before he could speak.

“You should at least be thankful that I came at all.”

Her eyes seemed more annoyed than pleased. “I said I’d wait for you.”

“And I said there was no point.”

“You liar.”

Hades clamped his lips. It wasn’t wrong to say that he was concerned and ended up going on the outskirts of Acheron again. Persephone stood up and shook off the wet hem of her robe, approached him and hugged him at the waist. Then she whined like a baby.

“You almost hurt my feelings.”

“Why did you come again?”

“To meet you, Hades.”

“How many times do you plan on coming back?”

“Until we become closer; until you’re happy to see me.”

His pulse was gone. Every time she made her way to the land of the dead, where even the dead wanted to escape, she crawled in and tried to make amends. All Hades could do was smile powerlessly.

“You’re stupid.”

“Aren’t we all stupid?” With the girl’s cold body leaning in his arms, Hades pulled her in lightly and patted her back.