sucker4flowers (sucker4flowers) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2009-07-27 23:34:00 |
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Entry tags: | dahlia little, dante lot, hades, persephone |
Who: Persephone and Hades
What: Hades gets some answers
Where: The bedroom mostly
When: Saturday
Warnings: A little angst
Persephone bit her lower lip, balancing a fresh load of whites in her arms as she navigated the heavy-laden laundry basket upstairs. The bed sheets and curtains had needed cleaning, and so with Hades gone for the moment she'd put on some coffee and gotten down to the domestic task. It was amazing how quickly things had returned to a kind of banal, simple routine in only a week. She was glad for the simplicity.
Hades lurked through the hallways of the house, invisible. His car was tucked away again into the garage, his sons returned to their mother, now he lurked amazed that his daughter was sleeping and Zale engrossed in summer reading. It gave him time to unconsciously half stalk Persephone, falling into next to silent steps without thought and he lingered in the doorway watching her. But he didn't linger there long. After a few moments, he moved forward silent and invisible, but so close to her back that she would definitely feel him there.
Persephone shivered, stopping at the top of the stairs to set down her laundry. She glanced over her shoulder. He was behind her. She was certain of that, but he was invisible. "Hey."
“Hey,” he replied in whisper, as if a louder voice would shatter his invisibility. “Did you shiver because of me?”
Persephone nodded, turning around to face the empty staircase. "And not just because you're chilly."
Since it wasn't just because he was chilly, he didn't step away from her like he was about to. Instead, he stood still, “Then why else?”
"Because you were quite suddenly behind me, obviously taking interest in me." She couldn't help but quirk a smile at him then. "Silly."
“Been watching you for a bit now,” Not that it mattered to her, but Hades glanced down at the laundry basket. Something was odd about a rich woman that could command ghosts bringing but laundry but to each their own.
"Oh?" She stooped down to grab the laundry again. "I'm flattered...did you check in on Delaney and Zale, then?"
Hades nodded and then remembered she couldn't see that, “Yes. She is asleep in her playpen and Zale is doing Zale things. You were much more interesting to watch.”
Persephone laughed, lugging the basket into their bedroom before setting it aside and flopping down onto her bed. Now that Hades was back, chores were much too boring. The ghosts could take care of changing the sheets and the drapes. She told them as much. She glanced at the open bedroom doorway. "Still watching?"
“Yes,” Hades took a few steps into the bedroom, his eyes never leaving her. The sun so low in the sky cast its light through the curtains of the bedroom and traced her in a way he couldn't quite ignore, “It's Saturday. We may have over a thousand channels but nothing's on. You're still the most interesting thing I got.”
"I'm flattered," Persephone cooed, smiling in the direction of his voice. She let out an airy sigh, rolling onto her side. "Are you ever going to let me see you?"
“Eventually,” Hades walked forward still, unconsciously drawn to the sound of her sigh and her smile, closing the bedroom door behind him. Standing at the foot of the bed, he looked down to her, “The world has the annoying habit of forcing me out of invisibility.”
"Well, I won't force you out of invisibility, but I'd much rather refer to know where to talk to," she replied, changing her focus to the foot of the bed. "I mean, I know I boast looking good at every angle for the show, but...some you just can't pull off."
“You know I don't like people looking at me while I'm invisible, but you have the right focus now.” Hades reached out and touched the edges of her hair to prove his location.
"Well then you shouldn't talk or sneak up on girls," Dahlia replied, smiling up at the Hades's spot. "So..."
She really did have an enchanting, haunting smile. His hand fell away from her hair and he put both into his pockets, “So...”
"You won't lie down with me?" Dahlia murmured, propping up her head with her elbow.
“Not in the mood to right now.” But Hades did move from his spot, shifting just slightly to sit at the foot of the bed, and trailed his fingers slightly, ghosting them along her cheek to allow her to know that he moved, “Have you ever heard the theory that if you don't sleep long enough you get flashes of dreams when you're awake?”
"I have," Dahlia replied, letting his weight at the foot of the bed be enough. "Have you not been sleeping? Still?"
“Not since I moved back here at least.” Hades had kind of hoped she hadn't heard about the theory – mostly because he read about it in a comic book, but alas comics proved truthful. It made him very nervous for the future if they kept being right about things but he shook his head and forced that madness from his mind, “It's not like I have anything to look forward to when I sleep. The rare odd dream is much too rare...”
"Yes, but it's good for your waking life," Dahlia replied, rubbing her eyes. "And that you can control the quality of."
“Yeah, I know that now.” He sighed a little and settled to his back along the foot of the bed, only the shift of where his voice was now coming from as a warning of his new position, “Been having flashes.”
"Of?" Dahlia asked. She wished she could reach out and pet his hair. "Is everything okay?"
“Mostly involving you, though there's one about my sons being kidnapped that randomly breaks it up.” Hades sighed again, harder this time. He knew why he was having the flash of his sons being kidnapped – that was solely due to Hestia not telling him he was going to have Mel baby-sit and the possibility of him heading to an empty house with only the dog. He had done that once already and that was enough. The rest though... He knew the reason for them, too. “It's okay enough. You know I have issues.”
"I suppose I do. So...what are the flashes with me about?" Persephone asked this question, but she knew she didn't really want to know the answer. Whatever it was, it would not be good.
It was simply amazing what Hades' brain could come up with if he made the Devil a dragon with seven heads and ten horns like in the Christian scriptures, and that was the tame flash. He shuddered and forced the images away, “You and him.” His voice then hushed to a whisper, “When did you marry him?”
Persephone sighed. She had expected as much. "You should know when," she answered softly. She rubbed her hands over her face, trying to find some peace.
An instinct he had convinced himself he would never need again resurfaced in his heart at the sight and with a soft whimper he released his invisibility and patted the spot beside him, “And you should know it’s not a good idea to let me go off on my own assumptions. You're talking to a madman.”
Persephone scooted closer to his now visible body, wrapping her arms around him. "It won't help you to hear it..." She frowned. He had asked. "It was the same day we separated."
“No. But I will stop me from making up something much worse,” He was very good at that. Hades remained still as she wrapped her arms around him; he didn't wrap his arms around her in return but did not reject her touch. It was a start, “Before or after our last time?”
Persephone closed her eyes tight, almost willing herself to be anywhere but there. She pulled her arms back of her own accord, turning onto her other side. "Before."
Hades frowned slightly at the loss of her touch, and then more at her confession. Yet, he had guessed it. Her goodbye of pity had been a plot, not pity and mercy at all. He wasn't sure which he preferred. “To trick me into believing Delaney was mine... even though she is.”
"That's not fair. I didn't know about that trick, Hades. You know I didn't..." She pushed herself up to sitting and glanced out the window. "I was just saying goodbye..."
So it was a goodbye of pity. Hades kept his eyes locked on her, “Just trying to piece together the truth. That wasn't meant as an accusation. Come back.”
Persephone didn't want to, but she acquiesced enough to lie back down. "What else do you want to know then?"
“Only two more questions.” Hades rolled to his side to face her, but didn't reach out to touch her. She was clearly upset and he didn't want to add to it more than he had to, “Do you know if you're still married to him?”
"Yes I know. I'm not married to him," Persephone answered, her voice flat.
Well, that was a relief. Hades let his eyes slip shut. Now for the difficult question, “Why did you leave me last year? You said it was because you were so unhappy being with me...”
Persephone closed her eyes, frowning deeply. She wrapped her arms around herself. "Do you remember the night I woke up and I was terrified, shaking?"
Blind from his eyes being closed, he lightly ran his hand along her arm. He remembered that night. As clear as day. He never forced her to explain herself. “I do. I remember waking you up and you almost bolting from the bed.”
"Well, it...it was the first time I'd had the nightmare," she took a deep breath, forcing herself to relive the moment again. He needed to know. "I came home, and you were there. I happy ran to you, but something was wrong in your mood...then I would notice the boxes. When I asked where we were moving to, you'd say they were for me. That you figured the least you could do was pack my things. You said you'd dissolve our vows again. Because you didn't need me. You had a woman who wanted to be around you all the time who had been able to give you children. So coldly, you took this home from me. And my powers. And my name."
She shuddered, clinging tightly to herself. "The dreams kept happening, and I thought...if I could find some way to be somewhat happy without living in that constant state of fear, that it might be somehow better... At least easier."
Her words made him snap his eyes open and reach out for her now, bringing her close to him and holding her there tight. Perhaps there would have been a time he would have considered such cruelness to her, but it was not now. And it was definitely not then, “[I won't do that, Persephone. Did the dreams stop?]”
"[Of course,]" Persephone muttered, her voice hollow. She let him hold her close, even has she felt shameful heat rising to her cheeks. "[When I married him.]"
His mind clicked in as he took a moment to think about her words, “[He created them.]” But they wouldn't have affected her if they hadn't been rooted in some sort of truth, in her own actual fears. Where else would that bastard fallen angel pull the inspiration from, “[But the fear was still real. Very real... Are you still afraid like that? That I'll replace you and take everything away?]”
"[Not afraid...just resigned,]" Dahlia murmured, opening her eyes. Tears spilled down her cheeks. "[Enough has happened that I know now...there's no substitute for you. But if someday you want to be with anyone or anything else, all I can do is beg.]"
He hated seeing her cry. It put immediate demands upon him and gently he tried to wipe away her tears. Those bright blue eyes wet with tears however, bore into his soul, and forced him to look away. The fact that she would never leave again was a comfort but her reason and her confession to it was much less, “[That's why you were willing to share...?]”
"[Part of the reason,]" she admitted with a sigh. "[I do also care so much for the children. They were the biggest part of my reasoning.]"
Releasing her slightly, he rolled back to his back and stared up at their bedroom ceiling, “[I hadn't even guessed your olive branch was for the children. When it all went down I only saw through the lens and bias of my own pain...]”
"[You had every reason to feel that way,]" Persephone sighed, curling up on her own. "[Are we done?]"
Hades only glanced at her. He was so good at making people upset. She was smiling when he sat on the bed, “[If you want.]”
Persephone sat up, before pushing herself up off the bed. "[I think I need to take a shower.]" Nevermind she'd taken one earlier in the day.
Sitting up as well, Hades continued to watch her, wishing he was still invisible but not reclaiming it. Maybe later. Instead, he leaned against his knees to bridge the gap a little between them, “[You're happy with all of this, right? With me being here?]”
"[I want you to be here!]" Persephone shouted, staring back at him, her face and eyes red. "[Just...you're embarrassing me. Please...]" She moved to the master bathroom door, sliding it open.
It wasn't her appearance that made him launch to his feet. Her attempt to flee into the master bath quickened his steps, but it was her first shout that launched him from the bed. Now that was a true comfort and he grabbed her wrist, spinning her around before pinning her to the wall beside the door, kissing her.
"Mfm?" Was all she got out, before Persephone realized what was going on. He was kissing her, had her pinned to a wall. He was all over her. She melted into the moment.
After that moment, Hades broke the kiss, only to stare into her eyes, his hands sliding down to grab and hold hers, “Am I still embarrassing you?”
"Uhn?" Persephone grunted, face flush as she stared up at him. She smiled goofily, giving his hands a squeeze. "N-no. This is good. This is...good."
He pressed another kiss to her forehead, keeping her trapped against the wall with his own body, “[We'll be okay, but this time, you aren't with me because you're resigned to your place. You're with me because I won't let you go.]”
"[I don't want you to let me go. Ever.]" Persephone smiled, running her hands over his shoulders and down his back. "[I love you....]" Now it was her turn to surprise him. "[I want to get married again.]"
That did surprise him. He closed his eyes soaking up her touch and her affection. Finding her lips with his again, he softly kissed her while in thought. He couldn't marry her right now. Even if his heart was ready for it, its timing would be so cruel. “[When I marry you again, you will truly have no escape from me. There will be no kind, understanding Hades listening to you if you wish to leave again, allowing you to depart because it would make you happy. No escape at all.]”
"[As long as sunlight is still involved, I think I can handle that...]" Persephone smiled, pressing another soft kiss to his lips. "[But a wedding can wait. It seems like we still have a lot of settling left to do.]"
“[I haven't figured out a way to block out the sun yet, so you're safe for now.]” Hades murmured against her lips and then released his grip on her, returning to the bed to stretch out across it, not caring that he had his shoes up on the linens. He wasn't in Hestia's house anymore; he wouldn't be scolded for it. He wouldn't mention the fact that he didn't have a subterranean palace to bring her to anymore either. It would just put more disgusting images back in his head. “[Still fleeing to that bathroom?]”
"[Only if you're fleeing with me...]" Dahlia cooed before crossing over to the bed. She crawled up onto lap. "[Or we can just stay in bed awhile.]"
Casually, he put an arm around her, “[Just remember to wash your face before you leave this room. Your eye makeup smudged and though I appreciate it because it looks like an incomplete death mask... I think Zale and Mallory would ask questions.]” Hades smiled very softly at her. The smudged make up made her look so young to his eyes, like when she first decided in those ancient times that queens wore makeup and then copied the ritualistic makeup of the dead. He had thought it was beautiful but it didn't last very long. She must have asked someone topside that following spring. Regardless, it made the present return to being surreal and temporally almost out of place as he curled her hair around his fingers.
"[Does this mean you're kicking me out to get cleaned up?]" she asked coyly, running circles over his chest. "[Because that'd make me sad~]"
“[Only if you're planning on leaving this room.]” He closed his eyes, trying not to smirk at her words, “[You certainly don't seem sad anymore. I wouldn't want to depress you again so soon.]”
"[Oh. Well truth be told, I wasn't planning on leaving the room anytime soon,]" Persephone murmured, leaning in to nibble on his ear.
His hands slid up under her blouse, his cool fingers running along her back. Her body felt so warm against his, her skin smelled as sweet as the spring flowers itself and as he licked his lips, tightening his grip on her to begin to roll her, his mind was prompt to ruin it for him. Had she been with him in this bed? He could certainly imagine it and it made him shudder. He sighed heavily and returned to his own back, “Okay, these flashes need to bloody stop.”
Persephone went still, crawling so that she was sitting next to Hades. "...did I do something wrong?"
Hades shook his head, “No, my brain did. It likes to torture me.” At least it wasn't coming with its own narration this time. He then took a deep breath in his own resignation. “There's only way to make dream flashes stop, I guess. If I'm having them 'cause I don't sleep then... Will you stay with me?”
"Of course I will," Persephone cooed, running her fingers over his chest. "Just relax okay?" She laid down, draping an arm over him. "I'm right here."
Hades reluctantly let his eyes slip shut, already bracing himself for the probable nightmares he was going to have to endure. He tried to focus on the touch of her fingers to relax into the bed as he slipped an arm around her. “And I think I want to burn this bed...” he softly murmured, “Teach Delaney how to roast marshmallows on its flames...”
"He really wasn't here often, Hades," Persephone explained. "Certainly not enough to touch the bed..." She paused, thinking on this. "He didn't particularly seem to care for carnal things. And you'll be happy to know he was pretty bad in bed."
Hades smiled at her words and then yawned, “Still. It would make me feel better. There are a lot of bad memories in this bed.” With another yawn, he tugged her a little more over him, “... Be symbolic of starting new... And everyone likes a good bonfire...”
"Fair enough. So long as it's a well supervised bonfire," Persephone said, a hint of sternness in her voice. Babies and fire didn't mix well. "We can go bed shopping. Hop around on mattresses all day. Give the paparazzi a good show."
“Hate being see...” Hades meant to finish the word 'seen', but the calm of spring had coaxed him finally into the dark embrace of sleep. How long it would last was anyone's guess.
Dahlia smiled, cuddling up to Hades. She would stay by his side, ready to fend off any bad dreams. He deserved a good few hours of sleep; the ghosts and Mallory could take care of the rest of the house for awhile.
Summary: Hades and Persephone try to hash out of some of their issues that stand between them. It works out well enough.