Grecian Urn...

Brushing a strand of autumnal hair behind her ear, Persephone looked at the bronzed god walking beside her, his beautiful sea-blue eyes fixed on the horizon, his hand warm in her grip. She smiled.

"Stop it," Hades said, turning to look at his wife.

"What? I was just looking," she defended.

"You were admiring, Persephone."

"And why shouldn't I, hmm?" She pressed a kiss to his cheek. "It isn't every day that my husband looks like a hot young Olympian."

"You're pushing it now."

Persephone laughed and linked arms with him, resting her hand on his upper arm. "I missed you. How long are you staying?"

Not long enough. "Until Apollo's spell is reversed, then I'm going home."

"Our home?" Her eyes widened with concern. "Hades no, you can't go back. I forbid you to go back."

"Seph-"

"They took your throne! You can't just go there and take it back from them, not without starting a war or getting yourself killed or-"

"I'm Deathless."

"That isn't the point! They got rid of you once, they could do it again."

"They won't."

"How do you know?"

"Because I’ve seen them. I’ve fixed it.”

She blinked. “Oh. What do you mean you’ve fixed it?”

“Hephaestus is a reluctant King, he doesn’t want the Underworld,” Hades told her. “I agreed to give him access to raw materials and he agreed to give me my crown back. A fair trade.”

Persephone narrowed her eyes. “You mean you made a deal with them?”

“I had to.”

She pinched the bridge of her nose. “No you didn’t. You don’t EVER have to make a deal with those usurpers.”

“Persephone…“

He reached out to brush his fingers down her arm, but she batted them away. The goddess shook her head, taking a couple of steps back.

“No, Hades, I can’t just…be okay with you working with them. Do you even remember what they did to you?! What they did to Poseidon? What they did to Zeus? If they’re giving you you’re throne, it’s only because they don’t think they have a choice!” Persephone sighed and headed back towards her mother’s retreat.

Hades huffed and began to follow her. Persephone didn’t want him to fight for his kingdom, but she also didn’t want him to negotiate for it either. He couldn’t win.

“I didn’t have a choice either,” he said, grabbing the cuff of her sleeve.

She stopped, looking down at the hand on her sleeve before meeting her husband’s gaze again.“Really? Why not? They’ve taken everything away from you. What do you have to lose?”

“You.”

Persephone rolled her eyes. “Hades, really-“

“The Smith has my kingdom but Love pulls his strings. She convinced Hephaestus to return my power.” Hades let go of her sleeve and brushed his fingers across his wife’s palm. “If I’d attempted to take my kingdom back using force, what do you think they would have taken from me?”

She smiled, threading her delicate fingers through his. “You are such a softie,” Persephone told him. Hades threw his wife a look that disagreed with her assessment and she grinned at him before apologising with a long, drawn-out kiss.

“We don’t have much time before the spell is undone,” he told her, brushing his lips across her neck.

“How do you know?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I know.”

“Mm. How do you suggest we spend the little time we have?”

Hades kissed her neck. “I think you know.”

She did. “What about my mother?”

“She’ll get over it,” he purred, pressing his lips to her jaw. “I’m not abducting you.”

Persephone smiled. “This time.”

Having concluded the issue of getting his kingdom back, Hades left his brother’s palace to seek out Death. It took him longer than expected, but eventually he found Thanatos, who was more than willing to take Hades to Demeter’s retreat as long as he could return in time for Eris’ dinner party.

Hades didn’t ask.

He dismissed Death once he’d reached his sister’s desert hideaway, ignoring a squeaky voiced nymph that was trying to tell him he shouldn’t be there. Hades walked past the creature and approached Demeter’s temporary home where another nymph reluctantly granted him entry. He was shown to a sitting area to wait while the nymph tracked down her mistresses.

Hades followed after the nymph, passing her in long strides as she shouted at him to stop. Another attendant joined in and attempted to block his path, but he pushed her aside and continued his search. As the two of them chased after Hades, pulling at his coat, a third attendant scurried off to find Demeter.

Persephone heard the commotion. Turning away from her attendant, she half-ran down the wide corridors of her mother’s temple, past a nymph who was trying to tell her about an unruly guest.

Out of all the Gods above and below, who would disrespect Demeter in her own home?

She came to a dead halt as she turned the corner. There was her answer. There was no chill in the air, no pale skin, no dark eyes, but it was still her Hades. Persephone smiled, her eyes filmy, and rushed to greet him.

He caught her and swept her up off the ground, spinning her in a circle. Persephone’s cool fingers stroked the back of his neck as warm tears coursed down her cheeks. “I thought you were gone,” she sobbed. “I thought they’d gotten rid of you, I thought you were gone.”

Hades put her down and shook his head silently, wrapping his arms around Persephone in a tight embrace. She pressed her face against his chest, tears soaking into his clothes as his fingers combed through her hair.

She looked up him, running her hand up his cheek. Hades nuzzled her palm and she turned his face to hers, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. Hades returned the kiss and let his hands fall to Persephone’s waist.

Demeter’s frail form came upon the sight in the corridor and she groaned. The couple, whose mouths were busy reacquainting themselves, ignored her presence as though she wasn’t there. The goddess huffed and turned her back on her daughter’s…emotional reunion with her husband. Unfortunately, it was too late to throw him out now.