Title: Freezing Tears
Author:
eaemiliaFandom/Character(s)/Pairing(s): Greek Mythology; Hades/Persephone, Demeter, Hermes
Genre: Angst
Rating: T
Words: 333
Challenge/Prompt: Challenge 11- 333 Words
Warnings: Implied past rape
The second she felt the sun on her face again, Persephone cried. Hermes, her poor guide out of the Underworld, attempted to comfort her, awkwardly patting her on the shoulder and trying to make comforting noises. When Demeter appeared, her own face wet, he disappeared, claiming that Zeus had asked for his help again.
The mother and daughter ignored him.
Clinging to her mother, Persephone had never felt happier. All the times she had screamed at her mother or raged to her nymph companions about how cruel and unfair she was were forgotten. For while she hated being forced to be a child, being forced to be a wife was far, far worse. She shuddered as for a moment her mother’s sturdy warmth was replaced by Hades’s lingering, frozen hands.
Six months would never be long enough away from him, and six months would always be too long with him.
Even as she ate her mother’s warm bread and popped fresh olives into her mouth, the taste of pomegranate lingered at the back of her mouth, a constant reminder of her fate. What had once been a favorite fruit of hers was now the symbol of her prison, of the months of forced fidelity and the end of innocence.
Once, she had stumbled upon a group of nymphs and, recognizing them as friends from her girlhood, prepared a perfect smile for them. When they turned to greet their unexpected guest, an identical look of horror appeared on all of their faces.
For a second, Persephone was confused, and then she saw one of them drop the heavy fruit. Seeds splattered out as it hit the ground, like little drops of dark red blood that glistened among the verdant blades of grass.
Her stomach rolled. Their scent, sickly sweet to her, was overwhelming. Persephone ran.
Her mother opened her arms when she saw her coming, and they cried again. They cried for six months, until her frozen husband returned, greeted by an icy bride.