Excerpt: θυσία (Sacrifice)

“What on earth were you thinking Hades?” Hermes stormed into the throne room. Hades started upright in his throne. Hermes was generally a fairly even-tempered god, so when he actually yelled it was something to pay attention to.
“Hermes? What are you talking about?”
“Demeter has been saying all over Olympus to anyone who will listen that you are ignoring a prophecy of Apollo, and calling for some sort of justice. We are,” he added sardonically, “a bit unsure as to what her idea of justice actually entails, but whatever it is we apparently aren’t doing it.”
“So,” Hades asked, “are you here then as someone’s gesture to appease her or on your own behalf?”
“Kind of both, actually. Officially, I’m here to give you a reprimand from Zeus. Not a specific reprimand, mind, you, just a general smack on the nose.”
“And unofficially?”
“Unofficially I am here to tell you that despite the fact that we are all used to your feud at this point, usually Demeter doesn’t have the support of Apollo. I have no idea what this prophecy is that you supposedly ignored, but it’s actually causing quite a stir among certain quarters in Olympus. Zeus, of course, has his head elsewhere at the moment. Between some mortal’s legs, to be exact.”
“Yeah,” Hades agreed moodily. “He was telling me about it the other day. Keeps me from going back to Minneapolis for a while. I ended up at some bar in LA instead last night.” He absentmindedly waved his hand to summon a chair, and Hermes just as absentmindedly sat down next to Hades when a crew of imps arrived with it.
“Regardless, as soon as he remembers his duties enough to actually pay attention to what’s going on instead of just going through the motions, if this is still floating around you could end up in a serious amount of trouble. Except for when he’s pissing Zeus off for sharing some thought of his that he would rather have been kept a secret, Apollo’s word actually carries a lot of weight with him. Unless you have some very good reason for ignoring it, you could end up on the wrong end of your brother’s wrath here.” Hermes looked at Hades curiously. “What did you actually do, anyways? I am having a hard time figuring out where the truth is hiding among Demeter’s histrionics.”
Hades explained her visit, concluding with a sigh. “I have no idea what else I can do, Hermes. I suppose if she was angry enough I might have given her the impression that I didn’t care about what she thought, but I really have no clue what she might have been talking about.” He put his head in his hands and confessed to his friend, “I’m worried, Hermes. Demeter was right, Apollo knows his business. If he made this prediction, then it is going to come true. But I have nothing going on right now that would make her any more upset than usual. And that’s what scares me. Whatever it is that I am going to do, I am going to do it knowing that Demeter will be angry, and the rest of Olympus with her at this rate. And I am going to want it badly enough to do it anyways.”

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Persephone was broken from her reverie by the sound of a chair scraping on the floor. Looking around, she realized that there was enough money on the table to cover the bill and a tip, and that Hades was standing up.
“Well, it was nice talking with you while I could,” he said. “Don’t worry, this is a lovely place but I’ll never come here again. I would hate for you to have to avoid the place for fear of seeing me here.”
“Huh?” Persephone said, dumbstruck for the first time that evening.
“Well you won’t want to hang around with me, will you,” he explained in a reasonable, if depressed, tone of voice. “Not now that you know who I am.”
“Why would that be?” Persephone asked, now more confused than ever. Sure, she thought, my mother may not have the nicest things to say about him, but she never was the best judge of character. Besides, now that I think about it I seem to remember Hermes having some very positive things to say about him, and I’d trust his judgment over mum’s any day. Persephone suddenly noticed that the light on the table in front of her had changed, and blinking she realized that Hades had once again taken her silent state as some form of rejection and was walking away from the table. Hurriedly she stood up and went after him.
“Hades,” she said, once she was close enough to that no one else would hear her, “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I told you -” he began to explain in a weary tone of voice, but Persephone cut him off.
“I heard you,” she said, “and quite frankly I think you’re being ridiculous. I’ve had a wonderful time with you this evening, and I don’t see why you think I’m suddenly going to forget about that just because I found out your name.”
“I’m the god of death,” he said, looking at her as if that explained everything.
“So?” she retorted. “It’s a job. Everyone has one. Well, I don’t,” she amended, “but I’m sure I will eventually. I just have to find my calling. But in any case, that’s not the point. The point is,” she said, and waited until he was looking into her eyes to continue, “The point is that I would very much like to be your friend. And I’m going to have a hard time with that if I have to look for you all over the world above and below instead of knowing that I can find you right here.”
Hades stared at her without saying anything for a long moment, and just as Persephone was trying to figure out what on earth she could possibly say to convince him that she was in earnest, his face broke out in a big grin.
“You mean it?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she replied, smiling back in response. “Yeah, I do.”