youwantitdarker

[anoixi]

King of shadows, king of shades Hades was King of the Underworld But he fell in love with a beautiful lady Who walked up above In her mother's green fields... It was like she was someone you'd always known It was like you were holding the world when you held her Like yours were the arms that the whole world was in And there were no words for the way that you felt So you opened your mouth and you started to sing...

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[anoixi]

The Underworld was probably more likely used to frightened mortals who had little choice but to accept their lot, but Persephone didn't say so. She withdrew her hand from Ammit's ears, and gave it to him. "Yes, please," she replied warmly.

[youwantitdarker]

The palace of Hades sprawled out in columned aisles made of dark stone. At a distance they all appeared as uniform ebony, but once one passed close enough dark blues and rich greens showed themselves. "The throne room is where I speak to the dead, all who wish an audience with me are welcome to - it is my duty to them after all." He spoke as he lead her into the expansive room, lit with hanging brazers, more of his dark stone laced throughout with veins of gold and silver.

His throne sat on a raised platform, the same shade of emerald as the ring she wore. He had thought long about the throne he would give her, about the best ways to bring forth the light hiding in the earth. Again he caught himself watching her, smiling slightly as he studied the way she moved.

[anoixi]

She glanced about as he took her from here to there. It was darker down here, and cold, but there was something rich about it, something entirely its own. "Do they often come to speak to their King?" she asks, a little seriously and a little wryly. She has to imagine it has to be a brave soul to come before Hades in this hall. Maybe those are in a better supply than she imagines.

She doesn't miss the similarity between the emerald on her finger and the emerald the throne seems to be carved from. Troublesome thing. And it had brought her here, of its own accord? Maybe it was never meant to be separated from itself -- or any number of ridiculous things that flew through her silly head.

[youwantitdarker]

"Some do," he said, studying his throne, but more the empty space beside it. "Some want another chance," Hades' gaze shifted, watching her from the corner of his eye. "To live heroically three times grants the soul passage to the Isles of the Blessed, so they come and they ask to return and try to be heroes." Turning back to her he rest his hand on the small of her back, "You would like it there," were she to dwell here he would build her a second palace there, among all the beauty the Underworld had to offer.

Gently guiding her through the throne room and past another row of columns he eyed her with a small smirk. "Do I dare show you the gardens, or will you be disdainful of me forever after once you see the state of things?" Not a lot grew in the Underworld, and while he enjoyed the sparse, twisted plants and trees he wasn't certain she would feel the same.

[anoixi]

"I do not disdain to see the things that grow where they choose to do so, no matter if it is kept tame or wild." They were all hers, and if she had any children of her body she did not think she could any sooner choose a favorite among them than find things that grew abominable. "Will you show me?"

[youwantitdarker]

With a slight nod of his head Hades led her towards an arched entryway, stepping out with her into the low, dimly ambient light of the Underworld. "Nothing blooms as brightly as you do here, but," inclining his head towards the gnarled, twisted gardens he looked thoughtful, studying the way she was so staunchly juxtaposed with them.

[anoixi]

"But they are here." She goes ahead a little. They are meager things, the plants, low to the ground and fragile, as things that must fight for every bit of water they get tend to be. She watches as a couple tendrils of a creeping vine-like plant reach for her feet, though they do not reach and their movement suggests they are spending precious energy to do so. It makes her smile. "Hello," she murmurs to them, smiling a little.

She looked back at him over her shoulder. "Any livelier and I don't think they would suit," she told him.

[youwantitdarker]

With her back to him, engrossed in meeting the subjects she retained even here, in a lifeless place like his realm, Persephone couldn't see the deep, smitten grin that spread over his face as she greeted what plants there were to acknowledge her. "Perhaps your being here will help them, you are nothing if not inspirational," she turned and the grin on his face shifted to a small version of itself, the affection in his eyes apparent in the warmth of his gaze.

[anoixi]

"They're quite nice," she replies, kneeling to handle them tenderly. They don't respond, having tired themselves out thoroughly. "Maybe nothing tall and grand like on the surface, but they are here all the same."

[youwantitdarker]

Stepping closer to her Hades leaned over to watch her gently brush her fingers over the plants, finding himself smiling all over again. "The Underworld didn't know happiness before you," his voice was quiet, speaking for himself as much as his realm.

[anoixi]

She blushed, unable to look up at him and unable to acknowledge the compliment. No -- an admission of something. "I..." Someone with a little more sophistication, more experience, might know how to respond with grace. "... don't know what to say," she finally admitted lamely.

[youwantitdarker]

His expression was gentle as he looked down at her, giving a slight shake of his head. "I don't either. There aren't words for it," he had accepted the effect she had on him easily, but that didn't mean he was at all certain what to do with it.

[anoixi]

She rose again, still only coming just to his shoulder, but it wasn't quite as sharp an angle for him to look down at her, or she up at him. "Maybe it's enough that we understand it, then," she said with a bit of a smile.

[youwantitdarker]

"I think it's more than enough, though," his smirk tightened almost impishly before he ducked down to kiss the top of her head. "I would still like to keep trying to articulate it in another ways."

[anoixi]

"Oh, I wouldn't think of stopping you," she said brightly. "Wouldn't be sporting."

[youwantitdarker]

"And you are nothing if not sporting," Hades countered with an amused grin, his arms tensing as he held her to him. "Mind yourself Persephone, I might make my chambers the next stop on your tour."

[anoixi]

She raised one eyebrow. "Straight to the heart, I see."

[youwantitdarker]

"To many, many things," he leaned down and kissed her forehead before releasing her from his embrace, a hand lingering on the small of her back.

[anoixi]

Her cheeks reddened pleasantly. "Then come," she said. "Show me what you will."

[youwantitdarker]

There's a low rumble of a laugh as she issues that command, and Hades ducked his head down, concealing a warm grin. "As my love wills it," he turned and lead her back into the palace. "The Elysian Fields," he began, and at the words the scenery around them seemed to melt away, the darkness of his domain gone and replaced instead by golden fields warmed by the sweetest sunlight. "The Isles of the Blessed, where good and true heroes find their final honorable rest."

[anoixi]

She couldn't help it -- she sighed happily and let her toes grab at the warm grass. It wasn't real sun, like they had above ground, but it was a pleasant facsimile. "I can see how this is a reward," she said.

[youwantitdarker]

"I could construct you a villa here," he offered gently, venturing to look over at her and try to glean from her expression how his suggestion struck her.

[anoixi]

Oh, she knows. It would hardly take more than a thought and she could have whatever she wanted, anything that was in his considerable power to give and maybe even some things that are not. She doesn't care about the riches, not a bit, but knowing there was someone who would give it to her? That was worth more than everything in his kingdom.

"I would never be inside it," she said with a laugh, tipping her head back to look at him, and to better feel the sunshine. "You may as well build me a tent."

[youwantitdarker]

"A tent?" He breathed out a laugh at the suggestion, his dark eyes moving over her, watching the shape of her illuminated in the golden light of the Isles of the Blessed. "It would have to be gilded, and fit for a queen," his head tilted, as though he were agreeing with himself as he said it. He hadn't yet worked up the courage to actually ask her for such a thing, but Hades didn't think he could wait much longer. The idea of being the one permitted to bask in her radiance until the end of time made his heart in a way he would have never been able to believe was possible until her.

[anoixi]

"As you wish," she says with a laugh. There would be little enough interest in being inside anyway, no matter how lavishly appointed. She shaded her eyes to look as far as she could, even raising on her toes to extend her gaze.