Chapter Six

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Far too often, many viewed Hades as the one who stole away a young, beautiful maiden for his own selfish desires, and in a way, it was somewhat true. He selfishly adored Persephone more so than anything the world had to offer. Even if there was an option to trade her in for the beauties of the world above his throne, he would never even think of considering it. For all the beauty he ever wanted and needed came from his wife. But he was not the only one who wanted to keep her for himself, her mother was no better. 

Demeter had kept her daughter under a watchful eye that many would consider suffocating. By no means was Persephone allowed to do anything without being escorted around, even to partake in such a simple activity such as picking flowers. Hades did not understand how Persephone was to grow if her mother continued to keep her hidden in such ways. At first, the young woman didn't find any sort of problem with her mother's protective nature, until she had the taste of freedom. 

It came in the form of each pomegranate seed that she swallowed, allowing her to remain somewhere else outside of being attached to her mother's hip. There was much for her to experience and to learn and without her mother standing and looking over her shoulder, Persephone expressed for the first time in the Underworld that she suddenly felt free. 

She wanted to explore the Underworld at her own free will with Hades as her guide, she wanted to learn about all the differences between the surface that she walked on for so long and the world beneath it. When Hades promised to show her the beauty that could be found in darkness, she couldn't help but be curious. Her mother had taught her what she believed to be beauty, but through Hades, Persephone learned that there were all sorts of forms of beauty. Each of them holding their own unique traits that made them special.


But Demeter took it as Hades manipulating her daughter's thoughts, believing that the God had poisoned Persephone's mind, purposely putting her daughter up against her. Demeter didn't understand that Persephone could care for more than one person in different ways, for she loved Hades enough to stay with him, but it did not mean that she stopped loving her mother. 

The goddess fell into a fit of rage upon finding out that her daughter agreed to marry Hades and remain as Queen of the Underworld, unleashing a cold and harsh hell on the Earth. Crops did not take, the harvests were bare, and the people were suffering in the absence of Persephone's presence. It was deemed cruel and unfair but Demeter was not easy to reason with, especially since she only believed that Persephone was just following Hades' words. 

However, when it came to the agreement of spending part of the year with her mother and the other part with Hades, Persephone was able to see for herself that it was, in fact, her mother who was causing all the problems. Demeter tried to come up with so many plans in order to prevent Persephone returning to the Underworld. Finally, the young goddess snapped at her mother upon the millionth time that Demeter presented a new plot. For threatening to void the marriage was a threat upon Persephone's happiness, she wanted to be with Hades.

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