Her Hope

Her Hope: Chapter 1

Persephone was crying on the ground in the corner of her family's castle. The ghosts of Pan and Percy were surrounding her.

“Because of you, we’re dead! All because you were selfish. We all knew your mother and father were dead, but you just refused to believe us. You send us on a suicide mission! For nothing!”

Pan’s face was hard, there was no sympathy in his stern look. The joyful eyes were gone, there was almost no color in his eyes. The color they had now, was only a cheap version of how bright they used to be. She hadn’t seen his playful smirk for so long, deep inside she started to doubt. Could it be that she had only imagined it? His playful smirk and his joyful eyes? Maybe he just never had a playful smirk? Maybe he had always been this distant to her? She mustn’t answer. Don’t look at them and they’ll go away. She kept saying these words in her head, don't look at them, doesn't answer them. She held onto the words as if they were her last resort.  Silent tears were running over her cheeks. This wasn’t her fault, she kept reprimanding herself. Apparently, Pan's ghost found she wasn't worth his attention anymore and flew away. However this wasn't a relief for Persephone, they wouldn't leave her so easily. 

This time it was Percy who came closer to her. Persephone cowered. No, not Percy she couldn’t handle him being harsh on her. Instead of being angry Percy’s face was full of sadness. The kind of sadness you feel when someone betrayed you at such a point that you feel too broken, so broken that you can’t even feel angry anymore. That thought that she had broken him was unbearable. She couldn’t stay here, to see him like this was torture for her. So, she did what she always did and ran away from the room. 

She came into a hallway with different doors. She tried to open them, however, none of them opened a new room for her. Desperately she tried to pull every door, but it was like trying to push a mountain aside, It was hopeless.  In the background, she heard banging sounds on the castle gates. She heard an angry crowd yelling her name, cursing her name. Odin ran to her. She looked hopefully at him, at least she still had him. He took a step closer to her but stopped abruptly, he looked at his chest and frowned. Persephone followed his gaze, Odin’s white t-shirt was red from blood. In panic Persephone looked at his head, not wanting to see him wounded. But seeing his face drained all energy from her. Out of his mouth and eyes came blood. He fell on his knees. “Why?” was all he could say to her before he collapsed dead on the floor. Persephone screamed in pain, this was all just too cruel. She fell on her knees next to Odin and begged him to wake up, but Odin was gone. She had no one anymore. She felt the pain burning in her chest, she lost everything again. She had felt this unique cruel pain when she lost Nana and Simon, she was ready to die then. She also wanted to die. How could she recover from this?  The banging on the castle doors got louder and as Persephone feared, the doors finally broke down. Under the command of Ares people ran through the castle looking for her. The family’s flags got torn and burned. The raging people destroyed everything in their way, that was the only way to temper the anger and adrenaline. Persephone heard that they were getting closer to her, ready to kill her. Somehow she didn’t mind. The idea of dying next to Odin was rather a welcoming thought. She wasn’t scared, she bravely waited, next to the love of her life until the crowd would find her. She closed her eyes, nervously counting the seconds until she could finally be reunited with her lost ones.

“Run!” Persephone was startled by the sudden whisper in her ears. Behind the whisper there was power, her body wanted nothing more than to get in action. It seemed like the whisper was some sort of spell, and she couldn’t ignore it. Who could be so powerful that even a whisper can be a command? She looked around but couldn’t find anybody. Her eyes met with Ares. He didn’t look like the Powerful god of war she used to know. This was only a sad image of how he used to look. His eyes were big and red as if he hadn’t slept in years and his body couldn’t hold this any longer. Her muscles were in pain, burning to get in action. Ares walked to her slowly, he wanted to enjoy every second. After all that Persephone had done to him, he wanted her to suffer, to die slowly.

“Run!” Again that strong command. This time Persephone couldn’t ignore it anymore her body would burn if she stayed still now, and that pain was unbearable to handle. Although she didn’t trust the whisper, she had no other choice than to follow it. She turned away from Ares and started to run. Her feet moved automatically as if they knew which way to go.

Persephone abruptly stopped when she saw him. The man she had once defeated in battle, the man that gods were terrified of, the man she desperately wanted to bring back in the hope she could find her parents. He hadn’t aged, he was still breathtakingly handsome. His wings made him even more magnificent. He opened his arms.

“Come to me my love, I’ll protect you, nobody will harm you.”

 Still, his attractiveness couldn’t take away the hate she felt for him. With disgust, she took a step back.  She saw the pain in his eyes, but his expression changed when Ares was now close behind Persephone.

“Get behind me, my love” He looked at Persephone as if she was an annoying child, that didn’t understand he was only trying to help her. He understood that she wasn’t planning to run in his arms, so everything around them was paused with one swift move.

“I’ll never come to you!” Persephone looked at him determinedly. All this was happening because of him. He was the one that made her believe her parents were still alive. It’s because of him that she lost everyone she loved. No, a stubborn voice in her had reminded her that she was the reason all her loved ones died. She had believed him, she knew it was a risk to bring him back, and still, she wanted to believe him. Cronos was looking at something behind him. Persephone couldn’t help looking in the same direction. First, she saw nothing, but then she focused and saw a silhouette of a man. The man looked at her and vanished in front of her. She looked back to Cronos. She doesn’t know why she did it, but she wanted to see him.

“Come to me, my love” This time she actually went to him. She stepped into his open arms and breathed out from relief. It felt like everything was going to be okay now. The destroyed castle and bodies disappeared. She was now standing in an open field in the arms of the most handsome man she had ever seen. His wings were wrapped around her like a shield that would protect her from any threat. However Persephone still couldn’t shake a soft voice in her head that was saying this wasn’t right, but the voice was so soft that she could easily ignore her. She heard Cronos’s beating heart, by every beat she heard she felt calmer, safer.

“Bring me back my love, and I’ll help you find your parents. Nobody of your friends has to die. You and me, that’s all it takes to finally get everything you ever wanted. A family, your family. Nobody will ever be able to take it away from you again.”

"You and him that’s all it takes and then you’ll have everything you ever dreamed of", the thought kept repeating itself in her head. She enjoyed the warmth of his body against her, the softness of his feathers on her body. What could she possibly need more if she had him? Persephone couldn’t fully enjoy his embrace, that soft annoying voice in her head was getting louder and she focused so she could understand it.

“no!” Persephone pulled herself away from Cronos. The world around her was fading away.

Persephone opened her eyes and found herself in her bedroom. She turned around and saw Odin sleeping next to her. Sweat was dripping from her head, her hair felt wet. Odin started to frown in his sleep, he must've noticed that his love wasn't feeling well. She hushed him with a kiss. His frown disappeared and his muscles relaxed.