Chapter Text
When morning arrived, Persephone must had felt much better. Minthe could tell because of the absence of her new friend when she woke up. With a yawn Minthe woke up, stretched, rubbed the gunk out of her eyes and got out of bed and exited Circe’s modest home.
Fortunately she didn’t need to venture far to find Persephone, she was right outside chatting happily with Circe with armfuls of herbs and flowers.
Persephone paused, sensing Minthe before she could even ,and herself be known. She turned her head and her face broke into a welcomed grin.
“Hey, you’re up.” Persephone said, carefully setting down the plants in her arms and sauntered up to her. “I figured you deserve to sleep in.”
“I should be saying that to you.” Minthe scoffed.
“I’m fine, felt right as rain when I woke up.” she reassured. “Are you hungry? Me and Circe did up some porridge and brewed some tea if you want some?”
Before Minthe could answer, her stomach growled. Now that she thought about it she couldn’t recall the last time she ate.
Circe laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.” she scooped up a big spoonful of porridge into a bowl and handed it to Minthe.
“Thanks.” she sat herself in a mossy log and dug it. But even with a hot meal in her belly it did little to deal with Minthe’s concern about their new current problem. “So…” she began, setting her now empty bowl aside as Persephone sipped the last of her tea away. “How the f*ck are we getting back to Olympus?”
Persephone’s face dropped at the realization. “I….I don’t know. Our ship is wrecked and I dont want to face Syclla again.”
“Syclla…” Circe sighed, her lips forming a frown. “I am so sorry she caused you such troubles.”
“What are you apologizing for? You aren’t the one who tried to eat us and wrecked our ship.” Persephone said as she got up and gathered everyone’s dishes.
“No, but I am responsible for turning Syclla into what she is today.” Circe looked down at the swell of her stomach, seemingly unable to make eye contact with either of them. “Syclla is of my creation.”
“You made that monster!?” Minthe squawked, eyes the size of dinner plates. She knew the gods and goddesses had done some things that in comparison made her mean streak look non-existent. But making a six headed sea monster? That was a first.
“Syclla wasn’t always the fearsome monster you know her as today.” Circe folded her hands atop of her belly, finally lifting her head to meet Minthe’s shock gaze. “She was once a beautiful sea nymph. The envy of every woman and the desire of every man, particularly one named Glaucus, a sea divinity. Syclla was everything to him, the apple of his eye, he yearned for her so much it hurt. Syclla hadn’t felt the same way about Glaucus, but I did.” she rested her chin in her palm, the flecks of gold that speckled her skin reflected in the bright morning sun. “I was smitten with Glaucus as much as he was with Syclla. Yet he didn’t feel the same way about me. I was young and wrecked with jealousy and took it all out on Syclla. I was up all night carefully crafting a potion that I then poured into the springs where she bathed.”
“And she turned into that beast we fought off.” Persephone concluded.
“Yes, it resulted in my banishment to this island and is my greatest regret.” Circe’s fin-like ears drooped in shame. “It is my greatest regret. Syclla is an innocent who had done nothing wrong and her only crime was having someone love her. It’s pathetic now that I look back on it. Such bitterness over the affection of a man is foolish.”
A silence hung over the three of them, Minthe and Persephone exchanged knowing glances.
With a huff Circe got to her feet. “Apologies for damping the mood, but I must be off. I have chores and duties to attend to.”
“Are you sure you should be doing that in your condition?” Persephone asked.
“Yes, otherwise I’ll never get anything done once my child arrives.” Circe dismissed with a wave as she ventured off.
“So, back to our problem…” Minthe began, turning to look at Persephone. “Any idea how we’re getting home?”
“I don’t know.” Persephone answered. “We don’t have a boat anymore and I don’t know about you, but boat building isn’t part of my classes. I can’t just fly out of here without being detected.”
“Well, looks like we’re royally screwed.” Minthe’s shoulders slumped forward in defeat.
“Excuse me.”
The two of them turned to a forest green nymph coming up to them. “Uhh… there’s someone here, asking about you.” she motioned for the two to follow, which they did.
Persephone was the first to register who this unexpected guest was. Her face broke into a board grin. “Eros!” she raced up and flung herself at him for a big tight bear hug. “What are you doing here?!”
“There was a disturbance near Syclla’s cave, Zeus wanted someone to check so I heavily insisted I check it out.” he answered, hugging Persephone tightly. “I figured I could sneak over here and see if you were here yet. Is everything okay? Have you-“
“Yes, it’s done.” Persephone looked up at him teary eyed with a smile. “It’s gone, it’s all gone.”
He smiled sadly and wiped away Persephone’s tears before realizing Minthe was there. His soft space shifted to one as hard as a knife as he glared at her. Minthe who was just standing around feeling like a third wheel shifted awkwardly in her spot.
“Eros,” Persephone grabbed his arm. “Please, it’s fine. Minthe was good to me.” she reassured. “I’m not exaggerating when I say if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t be here right now.”
Eros’s eyes soften as he awkwardly averted his gaze. “Then thank you, Minthe.” he said.
She just nodded, unsure of what to say next. Fortunately Eros took the lead.
“You know, if you guys flew with me I don’t think they would notice a minor goddess.” he suggested. “They already know I’m here, you could get by undetected if we head back together.”
Both she and Persephone’s visible perked up as the solution to their problem was as solved as quickly as it came up. No worrying about a boat or facing Syclla again in a heated battle.
“Yes!” Persephone punched the air victoriously. “I can’t wait to get back home! I miss everyone so much.”
Eros frowned.
“What is it?” Minthe inquired with a quizzical raise of an eyebrow.
“Apollo is at your place, he’s helping Artemis deep clean the house and run some errands.” he informed as they watched as the colour drained from Persephone’s pink face.
“C-can I stay at your place until they’re done?” Persephone questioned.
“My father is home with my mom…it’s kinda hectic.” he answered.
“She could stay at my place?” Minthe suggested as Eros and Persephone looked at her.
“It is in the underworld, where Apollo can’t go.” Persephone added as she looked up as Eros, as if trying to convince him.
After a few seconds Eros nodded. “Alright then, let’s go.” he spread his wings, letting them flap as they prepared for take off, Persephone slowly levitating a few feet off the ground.
“Uhh, I can’t fly.” Minthe stated, arms crossed as she tapped her foot.
“Right, whoops my bad.” Persephone lowered herself back to the ground and rubbed her chin in thought. “Oh!” she clapped her hands together. “I got it, Eros can you carry her?”
Minthe tensed as she glanced at Eros, who just sighed and turned around, motioning for Minthe to climb on his back. She held her breath and climbed on, clinging to him for dear life.
Now would probably be a horrible time to mention she gets horrible air sickness.
….
Minthe was desperate to get back home, it was all she could think about. Sleeping in her soft queen sized bed, catching up on all her favourite series on Fateflix, ordering a hot meal and her bath was calling out to her like a siren. A hot bath with plenty of epson salts for her achy joints. She yearned for the simple comforts of home that she missed dearly.
She fumbled with her apartment key, trying to keep her excitement contained as she unlocked her apartment door. Finally, after roughing it out in the mortal realm for what felt like forever Minthe was back home to her apartment where she could finally relax and-
Upon opening the door to her apartment and stepping inside with Eros and Persephone, Minthe recoiled at the site of her apartment. While struck in her depressive episode prior to everything, she neglected the upkeep of her apartment.
Dirty dishes piled up in her sink, they smelled especially rank judging by both the smell clinging to them and the fruit files circling them. The garage was overflowing with empty containers of her microwaveable frozen meals she was living on prior to this trip. The carpet was in desperate need of vacuuming and dirty clothes littered every crevice of her apartment.
Her ears drooped in shame. Damn it, her awful mood preventing her from cleaning anything.
“Sorry about the mess.” she apologized sheepishly. Gaia, why didn’t she hire a cleaner while she was away? Hades was still paying for her apartment, long as she eased up on the takeout she could had afford it.
“It’s fine.” Persephone reassured.
“I can tidy up.” Minthe offered, fairly certain she could at least subtly hide those socks under her bed for now.
“No, Minthe.” Persephone declined and put a hand on her shoulder. “You had a long trip, take that bath you been wanting. You need it.”
“I should be the one saying that to you.”
“Please, it’s the least you deserve.” Persephone smiled. “Go relax, we can get ourselves settled.”
Too tired to argue, Minthe let she and Eros be as she made her way to the bathroom. The natural springs was nice and all, but nothing beat her spacious bathtub. She ran the water as hot as she could stand it and lit up a three wick candle, filling the bathroom with the aroma of intoxicating vanilla as she waited for the water to fill up the tub.
Minthe then opened up a bag of epsom salt and added two big handfuls and swished them around, mixing it in with her bath water before removing her clothes and lowering herself in the bath.
A relaxed sigh escaped from Minthe’s lips as the tension released itself from her body as the water and epsom salts worked its magic on her achy limbs which were sore from travelling and near death experiences. But now she didn’t have to dwell on that. Minthe shut her eyes and let herself sink deeper into the hot waters.
….
“Are you sure you should be walking?” Eros asked as Persephone made her way to Minthe’s kitchen.
“I’m fine, I’m a quick healer and the worst is over.” Persephone reassured, nose crinkling her nose as she approached the sink with its stack of dishes. She turned on the faucet and added a hefty amount of dish soap to the water. “Plus I just really need something to do.”
“What are you even doing?” Eros tilted his head in curiosity as Persephone found a sponge under the sink. Persephone didn’t need to answer, the second she started scrubbing away at the caked on food on a plate Eros groaned. “Really, Persephone? You don’t have to do this.”
“I know.” Persephone answered calmly as she finished cleaning a plate and moved onto to a bowl. “But I want to, it’s the least I can do for Minthe.”
“The least you can do is nothing.” Eros muttered as Persephone temporarily stopped doing the dishes and took a moment to look at him with a prominent frown on her face.
“Eros, a lot has happened these past few days.” she stated firmly. “I mean it when I say I wouldn’t even be alive right now if it wasn’t for her.” she returned to scrubbing at a particular stubborn speck of food on another plate. “I feel like I got a better understanding of why she is the way she is.”
“But-“
“Is it true Hera calls her nymph trash?” she cut him off, watching Eros face become infested with shame. “That’s what I thought.” Persephone said, working on the silverware in the sink.
She watched as Eros went around the kitchen, opening and closing drawers until he dug out a dish towel.
“You wash I dry?” he offered.
“Thanks.”
“No problem, I prefer drying over washing anyway. When I touch leftover gross food I shrivel up and die inside.” he jokes with a smile, drying a plate.
So they worked in silence, it took longer than usual to figure where Minthe kept her dishes but they managed to tackle the tower of plates, cups, bowls and silverware that had been lingering in Minthe’s kitchen sink for Gaia knows how long.
She and Eros managed to locate some cleaning supplies in a closet. Armed with some lemon scented cleaner, Eros dusted the furniture while Persephone carefully gathering up Minthe’s dirty clothes and separated lights from colours. It was fairy easy as most of Minthe’s clothing were black. It suited Minthe as someone who lived in the underworld. Black is a color that results from the absence or absorption of visible light, like how the sun doesn’t shine in the underworld.
It seemed Minthe was lucky enough to have a portable washing and dryer. Still adjusting to the one back at Artemis’s place it took a few tries to figure it out, but Persephone certainly got it.
There was some strange sense of comfort in this domestically, after all she faced during her travels in the mortal realm both physically and emotionally, there was some bliss in finding her current problem was trying to haul out Minthe’s bulky vacuum out as Eros took over her trash.
Minthe emerged from the bathroom after a long soak in the tub smelling like eucalyptus. Clad in a short black bathrobe and her scarlet mane of hair hidden away in a white towel. She stared at her and Eros handiwork unblinking as she took in the sudden transformation.
“I just put your clothes in the dryer.” Persephone added with a warm smile. “They should be dry soon.”
“You shouldn’t had.” Minthe finally spoke.
“I wanted to.” Persephone motioned for her to sit next to her on the couch with her, which Minthe did. “Eros just stepped out to grab us some food, he’ll be back soon. I think he’s getting gyros. Do you like gyros? I would had asked but I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I love them.” Minthe smiled, taking her hair out of the towel and raking her fingers through her silky mane. “Thanks by the way.”
“It’s fine, it’s the least I could do.” Pesphone reassured and leaned back onto the couch. “I’m just… relieved things can go back to normal.” she sighed. “I still need to book an appointment to get tested to see if he gave me something.” she didn’t want to say Apollo’s name, as those six letters were poison that would somehow ruin her sense of relief.
“Don’t go to the clinic in Olympus.” Minthe warned. “There’s a guy there who’s a total insensitive prick. Go to the one here in the underworld. Wait time is horrendously long but everyone is decent enough.”
Persephone nodded, appreciate of the heads up as she chewed the inside of her lips as she still struggled to process everything. Yesterday felt so surreal to her, having been expected to join TGOEM for most if not all of her life, Persephone never thought she would find herself in this position. One in three people have an abortion, and now she was one of them. She didn’t know how to feel about that. Make no mistake, Persephone was beyond relieved that Apollo’s spawn was ejected from her body and she was free of the burdens that came with not only pregnancy, but carrying her rapist’s potential son or daughter. But her feelings weren’t so black and white, they were a big mess of grey.
She tried to remain straight face keeping her expression neutral and unreadable but that facade ended just as quickly as she tried to keep it. Persephone blinked back tears and pressed her fingers into her quivering lips.
“Hey… what’s wrong?” Minthe’s lovely voice asked. Her concern was comforting, like a blanket on a cold night or a hug from her mother.
“Nothing…I.” Persephone wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry. I just don’t know how to feel. I’m glad I did it, I regret nothing and would do it all again in a heartbeat. But I’m just really overwhelmed.” she smiled. “Probably lingering hormones.” Persephone tried to desperately joked. “It’s complicated…”
Minthe put a hand on her back and rubbed softly. Persephone’s instantly felt her insides go all warm and fuzzy.
“Want me to put on a movie while we wait for Eros?” she offered. “Pretty sure my Fateflix membership hasn’t expired yet.”
She nodded. A distraction sounded exactly what she needed right now and there was only so much of Minthe’s apartment she could clean.
Minthe grabbed the remote and booted up the large television, going through the wide selection of films and shows before settling on a romantic comedy that seemed interesting enough and left to change out of her robe,
Eros arrived ten minutes later, carrying a large brown paper bag. He handed out meaty gyros (Persephone having a vegetarian chickpea version of course) wrapped in foil, cartons of fries, containers of sauces and cans of soda before getting
himself situated on the couch with them as they tucked into their meal.
The credits rolled on screen. Eros licks some tzatziki off his thumb and cleared away the wrappers and cardboard boxes of their food truck spoils. “I wish I could stay, but I need to wrap up some god duties.” he stretches, arms and hands stretching towards the ceiling of Minthe’s apartment, an audible crack could be heard from his spine. “Persephone, if you need anything and I mean anything don’t think twice about calling me.”
Before Persephone could even open her mouth to say she didn’t have her phone on her right now, Eros tossed her which she caught in the air.
“I managed to get your phone.”
“Thanks.”
Eros smiled. “I’ll see you soon, especially since Hermes and Artemis want to do something for your belated birthday.”
Persephone chuckled lightly. Of course they would.
Eros waved goodbye and left, leaving just Persphone and Minthe alone in the apartment. Minthe drained the last of her lemons lime soda before getting up. “Well, since Eros didn’t bring you any guess you’re borrowing my clothes for tonight.” she dusted pita bread crumbs off of herself.
“Yeah, sorry about that.” Persephone apologized.
“Meh, you cleaned my apartment were even now.” Minthe stated and yawned before heading off and returning with an oversized t-shirt and grey sweat pants. “Yeah this is all I have that probably fit.” she tosses it on Persephone’s lap. “You can use my toothbrush too if that doesn’t gross you out.”
“It doesn’t.” there may or had not had been times where she got hers and Artemis’s toothbrushes mixed up. “I’ll go change in the bathroom then I’ll head to bed.”
Minthe nodded. “I’ll take the couch then.”
“Nope, this is your place and I’m not refusing you your own bed.” Persephone declined. “Your bed seems big enough for the both of us. I should know, I changed your sheets and made it.” sure they weren’t in the moral realm anymore and there with little reason to sleep within close such close proximity. But Persephone had little excuse for other than she wanted to.
Minthe shook her head with a chuckle. “Damn, well when you put it like that I can’t refuse. You’re lucky you cleaned my apartment for free, otherwise I’m not sure how I would feel about you and Eros snooping around.”
Persephone mentally kicked herself. “Sorry, I just wanted to do something nice I didn’t even think-“
“It’s a joke.” Minthe quickly cut off, digging through a drawer for a lighter and pack of cigarettes. “I’m just going out for a smoke real quick.”
The thought of reminding her about the negative health associations with smoking again was extremely temping. But Persephone held back, if anyone in the world whether it was in the mortal realm, underworld or Olympus deserved to smoke, it was Minthe. So she just nodded silently as Minthe went out for that cigarette she rightfully deserved in Persephone’s humble opinion.
Persephone stepped into the bathroom, carefully setting the clothes Minthe had loaned her on the sink counter. From there she undressed, slipped the t-shirt and sweat pants on and brushed her teeth.
She exited the bathroom and made her way to Minthe’s room and plopped herself onto the bed and rolled onto her side, facing the wall as she eagerly awaited for Minthe.
She arrived twenty minutes later, clad in a short nightgown that was the same shade of the constant ebony skies of the underworld city. With a yawn Minthe lifted up the covers and crawled under them, finally joining Persephone. She didn’t even have to ask for her to come closer, Minthe’s was already putting an arm around her dare to say almost protectively.
Persephone felt protected. As if simply being in Minthe’s embrace would protect her from anything. From shades, from Apollo, from Syclla, from all the evil in the world from anything that would hurt her. Being held like this would make her immune to all that.
Unrealistic? Yes. The common sense part of her brain knew that. But for the next few hours Persephone could simply pretend and sleep with a smile on her face.
“Persephone?”
Persephone cracked an eye open. “Yes?”
“Am I good being?”
She wanted to sit up, but that would risk having to force herself from the barriers against of all of the universe’s atrocious that was Minthe’s embrace. So Persphone just tried to glance over her shoulder.
“What?” she questioned.
“You know…am I good?” the pain in Minthe’s voice was heartbreaking. Persephone could had cried right there and then.
“I mean what brought this on?” Persephone gently tried to interrogate.
Minthe clung to her tighter, burying her face into Persephone’s back. “Nevermind, forget I said anything.” Her warm breath heated up the skin of Persephone’s back. “I know I’m trash and I f*cked up so many times.”
“…Are any of us really good?” Persephone signed, bringing her hand over Minthe’s and gripping it. “I’m starting to think good and bad isn’t so black and white as we think. I think there’s a big grey area in between.”
“And we’re struck in the middle of it?”
“Yeah, does that make sense?” Persephone asked.
She felt Minthe nod. “I really do mean it. I’m sorry, for everything…”
“I am too.” Persephone shifted her gaze from over to shoulder back to the dark walls of Minthe’s apartment.
“What are your plans for tomorrow?”
“I got a lot of things to do.” she sighed. “I need to see my friends who miss me, see my mom to keep her from worrying, andI have a bunch of coursework to get caught up on.” ugh, just thinking about all that made her exhausted. “What about you?”
“Work, pretty sure I used all my days off.” Persephone couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not.
“I’ll see you then next time.” she shut her eye. “Goodnight, Minthe.”
“Night, Persephone.”
