Dante Lot (unseen_miami) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2010-01-16 12:41:00 |
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Entry tags: | dahlia little, dante lot, hades, persephone |
Who: Hades & Persephone
What: Off to the Underworld
Where: Their Home/The Underworld
When: Recent, some point after Perse's text to Mel
Warnings: none
Hades had been laying near perfectly still on the couch of his entertainment room. He laid there waiting, trying to distract himself from the throbbing headache that drowned out the voices he could hear to be dull whispers and the phantom pressure pressing against his chest. Only his thumbs moved as he made the Prince of all Comsos roll his katamari but even rolling up the King didn't distract him away from the fever or the ringing in his ears.
Then, in one sudden move, he threw the controller as hard as he could against the far wall, the wire ripping from the game console before it nearly shattered on impact. “[Persephone!]” he shouted. He was done with this. Even if there was a legion of angels waiting for him or whatever. He didn't care. Not anymore.
Persephone jumped at the sharp crashing sound, practically running down the stairs as she made her way to her husband's voice. "[What? What's wrong? What happened?]" She knew where they were meant to go, and maybe she'd been dragging her heels a little as a result. Who could blame her though? The last time she'd been to the Underworld, she'd come back barely in a whole piece.
“[Time. No more waiting...]” Pulling himself to sitting, he held his head in his hands as he bent over his knees. Why he had begun feeling so bad so soon, he didn't know, but he couldn't do it anymore. He took deep breaths before glancing over to her. His frustrations freed him from his fears and worries of going below. “[I can't do this anymore.]”
Any lingering fears for her safety were gone when she saw her husband's pain. She ran a hand over his back, rubbing circles on the muscles there. "[Okay. Let's go.]" She felt bad that she had forced him to wait so long from her own worry. "[Let's get you back...]"
The feel of her hand against his back gave him strength as he took out his key and let its glamour fall away to reveal its true ornate nature. Still, he didn't take his eyes off her, "[If anything goes bad now there, run. Young children need their mothers.]"
"[Nothing is going to go bad,]" Persephone murmured, not quite believing it. Still, she nodded her head to him. She didn't want to leave him if there was any kind of danger, but Hades was a strong god. He could take care of himself. Their children still had growing to do.
Hades nodded and stood, turning to one of the walls of the room and pointed the key to it. It was now or never and it had to be now. Turning the key, the gates of the Underworld appeared on the wall, its thick metal holding back the infernal realm behind it. "[Come, Love. And they say you can't go home again...]" he joked lightly as he entered through. As he felt the ground of his former realm beneath his feet and the world shifted from interior home to Underworld, he closed his eyes. His fear had finally won the moment.
No apparent danger in their line of sight, Persephone allowed herself to relax as she took in the palace. She took some steps in deeper, listening for signs of life, for any hint that the infernal angels were still there. There was nothing, which was strange. Hell, the Underworld, both were fairly bustling places. That was just what happened when you trafficked millions of souls.
Pushing back a heavy drape, Persephone gasped at the sight outside her window. Hell had been worse, of course, than what she saw in front of her--what with the tortured souls screaming in agony--but a ravaged Underworld landscape didn't not put her at ease.
No attacks. No war cries. No screaming. No telepathy. Hades opened his eyes. The aching ebbed away from him, the headache lifted, his coughing ceased as he looked around his surroundings. The complete disarray and disrepair of his former home always hurt, but he put it aside. That, he had been prepared for. Instead, he looked over Persephone's shoulder, "[I don't know if this is good or not...]"
"[No tortured souls...that's a pro, but...]" She struggled for her words. "Yeesh." Frowning, she glanced up at him. "[Feeling any better at all?]" Because if making a dangerous trip down into the belly of the Underworld hadn't been a solution for his problems, she was going to punch him in the arm.
"[Each passing moment, better and better...]" Hades replied, but very off handedly, even as he brushed the back of his fingers along her cheek in an attempt to comfort and convince her of it. He kept his eyes focused outside the window, falling into a very ancient mode. The former king couldn't shake the instinctual habit of being concerned for his troubled realm.
Persephone's eyes glanced from his face to the landscape, passing back and forth a few times. "[You want to go outside and investigate.]" It was an observation. Not a leading question. She lifted her arm, patting him on the small of his back. "C'mon..."
Nodding a little, he took her by the hand as he began to lead them outside, but even as he moved, careful about traveling the hallways, he summoned his helm into existence and cloaked them both in invisibility. It would do nothing to protect against any fallen angels, but the other monsters it would...
As soon as he led them both outside, the sounds of moaning, screaming and wailing filled the air. Cries of pain, cries of confusion... His eyes narrowed at the sound. That never got easier. Some of those were his subjects that didn't deserve it. "[The souls are still here it seems.]"
"Awesome," she intoned sarcastically, frowning more deeply at the sound. "[Still, we haven't been beheaded or impaled yet...this vacation is still salvageable.]"
"[That's good because in our infinite wisdom, we decided to not bring weapons or our hell hound. Let's never tell Athena about our poor planning...]" Had he been sick? Hades didn't remember at the moment, nor did he show any signs of it. All his focus was spent on following the sounds while careful to not be ambushed across thehellscape.
"[The hell hound really would have been smart,]" she muttered. He'd been sick. She'd just had a baby. There were good excuses for poor planning! "[What do you think happened? I mean, he really seems to be gone...]"
"[I like the idea of him and his angels exploding.]" Not that he had any proof of that besides the large craters that dotted the land. Wishful thinking. Still, he couldn't help but glance upwards. The sky was empty... just the twilight glow that always loomed around the outlying lands of the palace, "[Last time there were angels hovering over me and...]" Pausing, he closed his eyes. And there was the voice of the Underworld in his mind; he almost ignored it as a matter of course but... "[The Underworld sounds so lost and sad...]"
"[Is it time to...re-cultivate it?]" Persephone murmured, unsure if she was hopeful or disappointed. They'd made such a nice little life in the sun, and the Underworld was such a very big and time consuming job to have. "[If there's no one else to lay claim to it, someone will have to.]"
"[Re-cultivate it...?]" Hades muttered in reply. Leave it to a flower goddess to use such a term, but he then paused, shhhed her as he dragged her down to the ground. Sure, they were invisible but he didn't trust it... anything really. Over the hill, beyond the ruined and frozen hedges a horde of ogres and demons fought. The sound of their struggle, of their weapons clashing and their roars almost drowned out the moaning of souls suffering somewhere hidden from view.
Persephone went silent and still, laying low to the ground as she barely peeked over at the chaos. It looked like there was still much in conflict in the Underworld. She held her husband a little tighter. So much for the place being settled...
Hades held her tighter in reply, keeping her protectively to his side. "[We can't handle this right now. Let them fight themselves...]" Carefully, never taking his one hand off her to keep her in his invisible grasp, he hefted her into his arms and slunk away as silently and carefully as he could back to the relative safety of the palace. The ironic safety of the palace as far as he was concerned.
Persephone pulled away from him once they were inside. "[Do you think that is your problem? That whatever is out there is affecting you?]" She peeked out the window, but all looked still from there. "[We should not stay here if we do not have to, Hades.]" It seemed so very dangerous to linger.
"[I don't know. The voices I was hearing... they were sad and desperate like the Underworld sounds now to me, so maybe.]" Hades frowned when she pulled away from him, but even with her away he still did not cease to be invisible. There was almost something nice about being in his palace with her while invisible without having to worry about fallen angels. If it wasn't in ruins and the outside wasn't in complete disarray perhaps he wouldn't frown. Reaching out, he cupped her cheek and sighed, "[We should head back to our lives. I'm better. That's why we came here.]"
"[Good.]" Persephone, of course, had conflicting emotions about the situation in the Underworld. It had been her home once, her kingdom twice over. Still, she did not want to put her well being or the well being of her family at risk in order to protect it at this troubling time. Perhaps that made her a cold woman, but for the sake of her daughters, that was something she was willing to be. "[Let's go now.]"
"[Yes. That's for the best.]" Taking the key that now hung around his neck, he turned it and the ornate gates appeared once more, though they looked much less out of place here than when they had appeared in their entertainment room. The Underworld wailed and whimpered in his mind and in spite of himself, he turned back to look out the window. Perhaps it was good he was invisible at the moment.
Persephone wondered why they were waiting to leave, but let Hades have a moment before speaking. "[You cannot do any thinking with a clear head here, Hades. We'll take care of the problem, but not at this moment.]"
"[There's nothing I can do,]" he whispered, a mantra he had repeated to himself ever since he awoke on Mt. Everest in regards to the Underworld. Forcefully, he pulled himself away the window and took her by the hand to lead her through the portal's gates. Persephone was right. They had to leave this place.
Stepping back into the sunlight that filled their entertainment room, Persephone felt relief wash all over her. She gave her husband's hand a squeeze. "[I suggest we do not talk about this right now...think things over and we can discuss more tonight.]" She tiptoed, kissing his invisible cheek with practiced ease before disappearing to collect her thoughts.
Hades watched her leave before letting out a gentle sigh. Think it over? This was the last thing he could possibly need, a new thing to think and obsess about. With a shudder, he let his invisibility dissipate and slumped back to the couch. Glancing at the broken controller, he shook his head. Either he would have to get up to get a new one or obsessively think and brood.
And he knew what would be his choice - the extra controller was way on the other side of the room.
Summary: Hades could no long bear being mysteriously ill anymore and a journey to the Underworld was probably the cure. Their former realm tugs at the heart strings of the former royals more than they expected.