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War

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Chapter 12: War (Hades' POV)

It was him, the reason she got dizzy and nearly fell into the Lethe. He was messing with her head. 

I should have known someone would have tattled and informed Cronus that I'd finally found Persephone. I know he has someone keeping tabs on me, I just didn't know they'd spot Persephone the first time I brought her here. But... nobody even saw her apart from the Fates and Dashiell. It must be Lia. I'd be disappointed if it was Chloe. I trust her the most out of the three. 

We walked into the throne room and while my father looked around and spoke to Dashiell, I took that time to check on Persephone as she sat in the chair and let out an exhausted sigh. "You don't look too well," I said, standing in front of her and crouching down to her level. 

"It hurts," she mumbled, squeezing her arms. 

"What does?" I asked, my eyes scanning her body to any visible injuries. 

"Everything. My body aches." 

"It comes with my mind control, my apologies." 

I ground my teeth and sat in my chair, turning to my father. 

"My bad. I shouldn't have used so much magic, you are human after all. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" He smiled at Persephone, standing in front of us. 

"Why are you here?" I asked, not giving Persephone a chance to even consider answering. 

She needs to stay as far away from my father as possible. 

My father wants her gone, no matter how much he acts like that's not the case. It's what he does. Plays the nice and sweet father until he's manipulated you to fit his situation and give him what he wants. It's happened to me numerous times, especially while growing up. It was evident in the little things too, but nobody paid attention. 

"Because she is," he replied, nodding towards Persephone. "You can't bring humans into this realm. It's not meant to happen, Hades." 

"I can do whatever I want in my realm and you're nobody to stop me," I reasoned. "This isn't your world, it's mine." 

"Right. But she's not who you're thinking she is. She's not your Persephone. I can tell because I'm the one who sent her away and took her powers. She's not the one." 

"She is," I argued. 

He chuckled, "She's not." 

"Well, even if she was, you wouldn't tell me, would you? No, because you don't want me to find her. That's the whole point, isn't it? For me to never find her?" 

He stared at me, amusement washing away from his face. 

"You just want me to let her go. So you can throw her somewhere else into the world and I'll be stuck. Again. Too little, too late, father. I found her this time." 

"You're making a mistake. You're declaring war, Hades." 

"You're the one who declared it," I scoffed. "You declare it every time you erase her from my realm, my world, my life." I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees. "I found her now. You can't erase her this time. And if war is what you want, war is what you'll get." 

His lip twitched into a smile. "You're already so arrogant with her by your side. Things go like this, you'll get both of you killed." 

"Things go like this, you'll be the one ending up dead," I smiled. 

"Things go like this..." He looked at Persephone. "She'll be the one ending up dead." 

She gasped softly, turning to look at me as I felt her eyes on me. 

"If I just killed her, Hades. She'd be gone and you'd be ruined. My problem will be solved." 

 "Would it? I couldn't reach my full powers, I wouldn't ascend, that's all." 

"You'd cease to exist." 

"I'm fine with that as long as I get to kill you, Cronus." 

"Your manners are slipping," he chuckled. 

"You don't deserve them," I bit back. "You forget that you can indeed be killed by one of your children. The others may not have reason to, but I do. I would do it, so don't bet otherwise. If you hurt her, you'll be dead." 

He watched me silently for a minute before sighing. "You already think you're so powerful with her by your side." 

"Do you really think you can kill her?" I scoffed. "Then I should remind you that once I marry her, she's immortal and can't be killed here. Shall we just do that and skip to the good bit, hmm? You can't kill her, I'll ascend, she'll be immortal and the goddess she was truly born as and you can't do us any harm." 

He seemed to realize what my plan truly was. And that would be a problem, only it isn't because there's nothing he can do to stop it. "It won't work if it's a loveless marriage, I thought you would know that." 

"Who said it would be loveless?" she asked. 

He blinked in surprise and I resisted a similar reaction. I turned to look at her. 

"You cannot force yourself to love people, Persephone," Cronus chuckled. 

"Sure I can," she argued. "Plus, I doubt I'd have to force myself too much. Your son is very capable." She turned to me. "And he's pretty, so that's a bonus." She smiled widely and I kept staring. 

I couldn't look away. I couldn't tell if she meant that genuinely or not and I wanted to fight the habit of reading her thoughts and I had to learn to do that. Anything to make her hate me a little less and like me a little more. Dare I say, love me. 

"I don't think it would be too difficult to fall in love with him. Isn't that all he needs?" She faced my father again. "I've sacrificed enough in life for my parents and for myself. I think I could do this too. And it's not much of a sacrifice if he loves me back now, is it?" She turned in her seat to face me. "Is it?" 

I shook my head slowly. "Not at all." 

"See," she grinned at my father. 

His gaze became hard as he glowered more at Persephone than he did at me. He probably didn't expect her to be such a fiery girl. He must have been expecting a delicate and helpless girl who would do anything she was told. 

"You should leave before I use other methods to make you," I said calmly. 

"You'll regret this," he warned dramatically. 

"We'll see," I smiled innocently. 

He let out an agitated huff and then spun around, walking to the door and then teleporting through it. 

She let out a loud sigh of relief and then shot up to her feet, glaring at me. 

"What have I done now?" I mumbled in confusion. 

"Your father wants me dead." 

"So? My father wants me dead too. It's just his bad luck that I can't be killed." 

She clicked her tongue in frustration. "Hades, I'm serious. You can't be killed, but I can." 

"Not if you marry me." 

"Well, I won't." 

My eyes clicked into place with hers. 

"I won't marry you." 

I clenched my jaw, feeling it tick as I glared at her. 

"Don't look at me like that. I won't marry you until I have a good reason to." 

"And surviving isn't good enough, huh?" 

"No," she smiled. "You need me to love you and I need you to love me. That's what we need to survive. And if that happens, I'll marry you. But until it does, you can forget about our wedding. Dream on," she grinned. 

"Dream on?" I scoffed, grabbing her wrist and pulling her back into her seat. "You'll be dead," I reminded her. 

"I'll be reborn." 

"As a whole new person. You won't remember your parents or Anastasia or anybody for that matter. It's not necessary for you to be reborn in New York either. He could send you across the world if he wishes to." 

"Look," she sighed. 

"I'm looking," I bit back. 

She glared at me and then rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying I'll never marry you. I mean... sure, why not? Actually, there are loads of reasons why not, but whatever." 

I rolled my eyes, looking away from her and cursing under my breath. 

"I'll marry you if I want to. Truly, deep, deep, deep down in my heart. When you can get me to love you that much, that's when I'll marry you. Capiche?" 

"Capiche?" I scoffed mockingly. "No, not capiche. Persephone, be mature about this, please. In your little game and demands of feelings, we could both lose our lives." 

She took her bottom lip between her teeth and started contemplating it. She's probably contemplating seriously for the first time right now. 

"Not just that, my entire world, my realm will cease to exist. That includes all the souls who have the underworld as their home. They'd all cease to exist." 

She blinked. "What happens to the souls who cease to exist?" 

I paused, debating whether I should tell her not. There are even some gods and deities who don't know this and I'm here, telling a human. "They go to hell. It's a very lonely, deserted... miserable place for missing souls. The souls who cease to exist are pronounced missing since they have no place in the underworld anymore and they're not in your realm either. They don't have a place they belong to anymore. And when that happens, they're sent to hell." 

She faltered. Faltered is an understatement, she really snapped into reality with that fact. "So... you're telling me if you and the underworld cease to exist because I refused to marry you, all the people here, all those souls... they'll go to hell?" 

I nodded in response. "Can you handle that? Can you handle being responsible for something like that, Persephone?" 

No. 

She shook her head slowly. 

She can't. 

"No, I... I can't." 

"Then I need you to marry me. Not now. But soon. Can you handle that?" 

She sighed and then dragged her hands down her face, nodding slowly. "I can. I have to." 

That's right. She has to.

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Chapter 12

I took a lil break but I'm backkk

next chapter: prepare