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acesophiewalten · 4 years

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Hello, everyone! I come to you today with my own version of the abduction of persephone myth! I wrote this in less than twenty minutes last night and was just beta read today by the absolutely lovely @letalloursingingfollowhim. I hope you enjoy!

Side note - this does not take place in the universe of Hadestown, but it does have Hadestown influences! Nor is it particularly accurate to the original myth its based on!

Expensive bed sheets and the orange glowing filaments

“I’m Persephone,” she says. They’re in her ballroom, a large, gold-painted heaven with irises and roses and lilies of every color scattered around and vines growing around the columns. Her hair is down, shining more than ever in the light of the chandeliers, the color looking more and more like blood with each passing second. Her eyes, she is sure, look like perfectly cut obsidian, blacker than black and smoother than smooth. Her teeth are straight and her smile is mischievous. She is proud of what she has done to the once shabby, cheap, barely habitable place, she considers herself a bringer of life in all things. She is the Goddess of Spring. She knows she is standing next to the Lord of the Underworld.

“Hades,” he says. He didn’t want to come to this party, but after three dances with Persephone and a lack of the other gods, he is starting to like it here. He has work to do, but for the first time, he is choosing to ignore it. His hair is walnut-colored, though in the right light it can look darker than it really is. His eyes are sea-green, much like his younger brother, although they look much more tired. He smiles faintly and wonders how Persephone has so much energy, even when she’s almost the same age as he is - maybe its a workload thing. A lot of things seem to be workload things, nowadays. Lonely is a good word for him, possibly. He hasn’t considered words for himself.

Persephone says, in no uncertain terms, “I adore you.” She’s glad he accepted her invitation, this entire party was set up in the first place with the hope that he would show. She’s had a crush on him, for lack of a better term, for a while now, she likes to look at him and hear his voice and see him move. It is a very odd sort of appreciation, she realizes, a kind that seems purely aesthetic, but surely is running deeper. After all, she isn’t sure she would’ve invited him to her party, her sacred, wild, absolutely beautiful party, if she didn’t think of him as more than something to be admired. Most gods she admired, really, even goddesses, they had power and money and grace and could do, really, whatever they wanted. They picked up on things. So why Hades, really?

This fact makes Hades pause, before he manages, “I adore you too.” Hades has heard of Persephone, but he doesn’t adore her in the long-standing way she has. He has heard of her parties, the kinds no god could go to, her reclusive, enigmatic nature, her scowling at family gatherings, and livelihood around any large amount of flowers. Like her mother, most people said, although he really couldn’t see one shred of Demeter in her. Demeter was already failing when Uranus created her, she was already failing when she was powerless to stop Kronos from swallowing Hades, and a couple of other random children completely whole. Persephone rejected any sign that she could fail, he thought, any at all, physically or emotionally. He admired that.

“We should go outside,” she says, “talk about this more.” She wants to talk to him, really talk to him, and as much as he doesn’t understand it he wants to talk to her too. They both are eager to worm their ways into the other’s mind as quickly and as quietly as possible, create homes for themselves, become a lake that would freeze deeply. They walked outside together, leaving their roaring party behind, with the shared semblance that their shared adoration had made this their party, and their ballroom, and their garden outside. And as they pushed each other on the swing, and told jokes, and shared stories, they felt a bit more than adoration grow inside of each other, swimming in their souls, practically running in. They felt as if they had known each other their whole lives, not just right now, for a few hours, at a party. Their party.

“Take me home with you,” Persephone says, eyes wide, smile bright, her dark green dress fluttering in the wind. Take me home with you. She doesn’t care that the underworld is no place for a life goddess, and she does not care what her mother will think, or anyone, for that matter. Her mother was no longer important, or any god, they were simply background characters in their fantastic, shining, glittery love story. She felt like she needed to be with him, and him her, and together they ascended down under the Earth, and it was only in the morning when Persephone realized where she was, and what they had done.

#poppy.writes #poppy.posts #persephone #hades #greek mythology #my fanfic #greek gods #greek goddess #drabble #oneshot

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acesophiewalten · 4 years

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Hello, everyone! I know I don’t post often but I come with something neat, the first chapter of my newest fanfic! I don’t directly post a lot of my fanfics on here, but here we go!

When was the last time you saw the sky?

Summary: The goddess of spring decides to finally start fixing things. How she goes about it, however, may cause more problems than she wants. Or, Persephone's disappearance, and the direct aftermath.

Chapter One - train

ao3 - tumblr

First - Next - Last

There was light, streaming in through the cracks in the closed blinds. A large, brown suitcase had been thrown onto the bed in the center of the room, the goddess of spring’s bed, and was filled to the brim with summertime and springtime. Right next to her, another suitcase sat on the floor, smaller and stuffed with clothing. Not the fun things, of course, unceremonious was a good word, thick black jackets and sturdy boots and rough, durable dresses. There was no point in trying to bring along anything flashy, her beloved green wide-sleeves would have to stay.

She’d managed to squeeze her fur coat, her expensive, elegant fur coat with the green gradient, to the bottom of the suitcase, but she had to pawn it off later when she had some money.

She finished zipping up her suitcase. It was heavy, the flowers and seeds and fruit weren’t weightless. She took the season suitcase in one hand, the clothing in another, and the adrenaline kicked in. She felt her heart speed up, the thumping was deafening her. She grabbed the straps on the suitcases, and tried to focus on the weight. If she dropped them, she could be stopped, and if she was stopped, she would never get out. The train would leave without her, for the conductor could only wait for her for so long, and she would be here, explaining to her husband why she had tried to go up top without telling him.

Where had it all gone wrong?

She knew the answer to that, she did. It was always flawed, her and Hades, always cracks in their relationship. They could destroy the world together, if they fought, and they both knew this. They married anyway, thinking that they could never fight, and that if they did, they would remain calm and reasonable and love each other. Never go to bed angry. Do what the other gods couldn’t. Love each other. Be confident that their six months was enough, that it was a good balance. They agreed. It could work, they thought. Love each other. That was enough. They couldn’t kill. They couldn’t destroy. And yet, he kept coming earlier and earlier to pick her up. And yet, she drank until she passed out. And yet he kept building factories and she kept seeing how the world was turning. Her lover was lucky, he only got what was left, the aftermath, the sold, the bought.

She could only stay complicit for so long.

Her suitcases banged against her legs as she ran, the pitter-patter of her flats were thankfully quiet. Across the hallway, down the steps, right at the left bedroom, down the steps again. The heat from the machinery downstairs was most felt down here, she thought, big windows and awful air conditioning didn’t help. She could see, outside, the dead working on the walls and the power grid underneath the main work stations. This was supposed to keep her here? The stifling humidity, the blinding light, the repeating clangs of hammers and nails? This? She stayed at the end of the windows, wishing she could just run across the floor to the door as she had done with the others. Unfortunately, Hades had two offices, one on the third floor where he signed deals and made sure dead souls were properly bound to the underworld, and one on this floor, where he did everything else. He had passed out in there, tonight, and if she woke him up, she didn’t think she would be getting on that train.

She slowly started to walk, breaths becoming quieter and lagging. Hades, her husband. Hades, who loved her, and for a period of time, loved her well. She felt herself getting nostalgic as she walked, as odd as that was. They played dominos. She always won. He told her he let her. She told him he was just bad. He smiled and told her that he never learned how to play. She told him he would have to learn. He told her she didn’t want to - he had better things to do. She told him that he didn’t. He told her work. She told him that she was more important than work. He smiled wider and told her damn right. He kissed her. She told Hades she loved him. That was true. Persephone loved Hades very much. She still did. She loved him more than the moon loved the stars, more than fire loved paper, more than the wind loved cold, more than birds loved song.

But she loved up top more. She loved the flowers that would die without her there, the dried yellow grass, the shriveling crops. The humans who enjoyed them, she loved them too. All of their suffering was too much, she thought, they were starving. Cold and starving and poor, dealing with her missteps, selling their souls for food. She had to help them as much as she could. Hades had his warehouses, his workers, the other underworld gods shut up in their villas across the Styx. She wasn’t leaving forever, she tried to tell herself, she was bound here, she would heal the world and come back. Hades could deal with that, the underworld could deal with that.

She had crossed the first floor. She put her suitcases in one hand, dug into her pocket, found a hairpin, jammed it into the doorlock, and began to try to unlock it. She’d tried this before with a string of mostly-successes, and after a few seconds, the door was thrown open. She rearranged her suitcases again, and ran. She couldn’t think about Hades anymore, she couldn’t, she knew it would simply make her turn back. She, instead, focused on the heat, the clangs, what she would be leaving. Up on top, it would be better. On top, she would have quiet and darkness and the warmth she brought. Good food she made. She passed some workstations, thankfully the dead were looking down.

The wall was soon in front of her, smelling like sweat and brick and mortar, and it made her a little sick. Spotlights were attached to the top of it, and it seemed like all of Hadestown was working on that wall. A wall to keep everyone inside. A wall, built up by everyone. Kept them free, they murmured as they worked. Free. Free. She could swear they actually thought that, that was going through their mind. We are free. She ran faster, she had no intention to throw up on her way out. She could leave this, she could, she’d always wanted to. She slid through an opening in the wall, and the train was visible. She smiled a little, that was her ticket to saving the world, that was all she needed. No alarms going off that she could hear. Her legs felt like jelly, so she slowed down a little. She was going. She was going to rebuild the world. She was going to help the people who deserved it. Change was coming, she could feel it in her body, change that she would bring. She would finally make the masses happy, happy, it would be okay.

Her good mood was suddenly swallowed whole. No, she thought, No. Not him. Of all of the things that could’ve stopped her, why him?

A dog had appeared in front of her, a large dog with three furry heads and a large, black furry body. He seemed to smile as he came closer to Persephone, and the middle head gave her a lick on her cheek. Baby blue collars were around each head, and he had come from the doghouse a few hundred feet out. Not here. Not now.

“Cerbie,” she said, softly. He laid down, rolled onto his side, and she smiled. Her baby wanted belly rubs, how adorable. Against her better judgment, she leaned down and began to pet him, and she laughed with her eyes full of tears.

“I’m gonna miss ‘ya, Cerbie,” she said, “I’m gonna miss you, and you, and you, an awful lot.”

He barked.

She laughed more, a strangling, stifling sound.

“You’re the best boys, do you know that? The best boys there ever were.”

He smiled, at least it looked like that to her. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed there, wishing she could bring her baby with her, thinking about what it would be like to share a motel with him. She’d work all day for his food, and make sure he was safe and good, and they would cuddle together at night. Almost like the word home, almost.

Her mind drifted. Home used to be a cottage, with her Ma. Her Ma. Ma and dogs. Ma hated dogs. She would push them out of her laps, out of her house, and cats too. No animal would be present in her house, only the delicate flowers and bright trees and maybe grassy fields outside. Those were worthy of her and her daughter. The cottage that used to contain her and her mother was now overgrown, she’d seen it. Vines growing through the windows, roses through the cracks in the bricks, and it made her want to cry.

Her Ma’s house.

Her late Ma’s house.

Persephone’s mother’s body, a knife in her chest, ichor spilling. She was dead. She is dead. A mortal found with her food stash a few days later. It had gotten so bad, so bad, they were murdering gods if they had food. She had started to cry, really cry, and Cerberus sat up and licked her tears away. It only made her cry more.

If her mother was being murdered for her food, things had gotten bad.

If food was so sparse, she had to make it come back again.

If Hades wouldn’t let her go up, she had to do it herself.

Ichor spilling out of her mother. Ichor spilling out of her mother. Ichor spilling out of her mother.

Her mother.

She had to get out of here, out of Hadestown, for her mother’s sake. She wrapped her arms around Cerberus, but found herself unable to let go. The train whistle sounded. She had to get over there, she had to leave. Yet, she couldn’t leave Cerberus alone, she didn’t want to. She needed someone to love. Someone to care about, someone to get rid of her tears.

She sniffed, wiped the dog spit and tears off her face, and asked, “Cerbie, do you wanna come with Mama on a vacation?”

The dog’s heads all nodded. They barked, unanimously. He had never been out of Hadestown before, he seemed very happy. She picked up her suitcases again, and made a motion with her head. Come on, Cerbie, let’s go. They ran through the blank landscape, dead land, how long did they bound and leap towards the train, two miles, three miles, four? Neither of them tired. They arrived at the train station, both hysterical with smiles and faint laughter. She was already babbling goodbyes, not even on the train, goodbye wall and workers and heat and dead land.

“Load up, Cerbie! Load up!” She cried. Cerberus climbed the steps, and was on the train, and another whistle came. The train began to move, slowly, and yet she swung around. She was in the train car, and shut the door. She had made it. She was here.

Cerberus ran up and down the train aisles, and Persephone sat her suitcases down. She fell back into a red-velvet lined chair, her legs meat, she felt unable to walk. A bit of deranged laughter escaped her mouth, goodbye manor! Goodbye riches! Goodbye watchtowers and royal title! Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye! Goodbye mother! Goodbye long green dresses! Goodbye jewelry! Goodbye good booze and good drugs! Goodbye Hekate and Thanatos! Goodbye everyone! Goodbye Hades, my darkness, my light, my dearest-darling-damned! Ha!

She threw her head back, calmed her laughter, and began to cry again.

#when was the last time you saw the sky #my fanfic #hadestown #persephone hadestown #cerberus hadestown #hadestown fanfic #hadestown au #poppy.posts #poppy.writes

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