Chapter Nine: Visions, Mothers, and Kisses.

With Hades peaceful in my arms, I slowly fell asleep, smiling gently. I expected another talk with Persephone in my dreams, but instead, I saw my own mother's greiving face. I saw my own body, still on the hospital bed where I had said my last goodbye, and my doctor, rushing towards my family with a surprised, happy look on her face.

Dr.Evelyn skidded unprofessionally to a stop beside my mother, and said excitedly, "Your daughter is not dead, Ma'am! Her body has put itself into a coma that does not need medical interference. In roughly 6 months, your daughter will either wake up, or die completely. If she awakes, she might act like a completely different person. And there is, unfortunately, nothing we can do to stop her from dying if she chooses that." Her voice lowered sadly. " Now, you mustn't greive, Nicole. Annabelle is, as far as my colleagues and I are aware, completely alive. In fact, we believe she can hear us right now-"

My mum immediately ran to my bedside and said, "Annabelle! If you really can hear me right now, raise at least one finger from your bed..?"

And, to all of their surprise, and mine too, my right hand index finger slowly twitched upward. My mother kissed me gently on the cheek, tears rolling down her face. I twisted away, sharply, from the vision of their reality, into my new reality, because I had felt my mother's kiss all to strongly.

I woke up, shuddering and gasping, eyes widening, and tears streaming steadily down my face. I saw Hades' face hovering in front of mine, confused and worried. "Hades..." I said gently. "Hades, are you okay?.." He laughed softly. "Persephone, you had me worried sick. What happened? why do you look so... traumatised? And why are you crying?"

I was about to respond when I heard Persephone hiss rudely: "Don't tell him the truth, girl! I'm offended you even told Apollo!" I frowned.

"What?" Hades demanded. I acted confused. "I... I can't remember... I'm so sorry! I don't want you to be worried, Hades. I think it was just a bad dream." I murmured. I reached up and wrapped my arm around his neck, and held on tightly. This time, it was him who pulled me onto his lap, him who held me tight, him who rocked me to sleep, muttering sweet things to me.

I woke up again, in a soft bed, wrapped in something warm and heavy. I rolled over and saw Hades' face watching me sleepily. His face was pinker than usual, and I knew mine was too. I lazed my head against his chest and sighed happily. Persephone hissed in my thoughts. I raised my face up towards his, preparing to kiss him for the first time, when the bedroom door suddenly slammed open and the cover was pulled over my head. "WHERE IS PERSEPHONE!" a woman screeched. Hades uncurled his arm from around my waist and got out of the bed. "Demeter, calm down, please-" He tried to say, but the woman, Demeter, a

was not having it. "I want to see my daughter, Hades. Now. So where. Is. Persephone!" Somebody sat on the side of the bed next to me, just as Hades said, "She's probably in the flower garden that she made a few days ago. She loves it there." Demeter made a small "Oh!" sound, and I heard footsteps moving away and the door closing. I cautiously poked my head out. I could only see Hades, so I climbed out intirely. I crawled across the bed towards him and curled up at his side. "Hades, what is she going to do when I'm not at my flower garden?" I asked quietly. He was silent for a moment, then replied, "She will probably come back here and yell at me until she sees you." I smiled gently and carefully pulled his face to mine, and I kissed him. It was like Heaven, like I was floating on a cloud that only we could sit on. Hades tasted like nothing else I'd ever tasted before, and I wanted so much more of it - until I heard angry footsteps moving along the corridor towards us. I fell backwards and closed my eyes and laughed, just because he made me so happy. Hades may have been the King of the Underworld, but he was like my personal sunshine. Demeter walked in and screamed at Hades, just as he had predicted. " HADES! She isn't at the garden!! Where is she?!" Hades just looked at her, then down at me. I smiled up at him, then looked over at Demeter. She, too, had looked down at me, and looked startled. "Persy! Why are you in here? I thought you would be packing your bags for next week!" I frowned. What could be happening next week? Demeter looked at my confused face and laughed. " Sweetie, did you loose track of the time? You're coming back to the mortal realm next weekend!" That.. made sense. I'd read about the pomegranate story when I was 13. (If you haven't read it and you are confused, Google 'Greek Mythology Persephone and the Pomegranate'.) I laughed nervously. "Oh, uh, I was going to pack them tommorow..."

Demeter smiled at me and turned to Hades. "Dont even think about laying a finger on my daughter, I don't care if you are older than me, stronger than me, or have a better job than me. I will kill you, and I won't get caught." She hissed viciously. She smiled at me again and walked out. I sighed. "Whats wrong, Persy?" Hades asked, tilting his head to the side and smiling gently. I sighed again. "It's just that I do miss my mother, but I don't really want to go back to the mortal realm..." I whispered sadly. Tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over when Hades replied, saying - "I don't want you to leave either." - under his breath. I rolled over to face him and stared at him. "Hades." I wasn't thinking, and I didn't know whether I would regret this after I had done it or not. I leaned closer to him, breathing him in. "I love you, Hades." I murmured into his ear. I swung myself onto his lap and hooked my hands around his neck. His breathing was becoming more audible and speeding up. My heartbeat and my breathing pace seemed to be going at the same speed as eachother. I closed my eyes and carefully rested my forehead against his. Then, I kissed him for the second time. this kiss was more urgent and passionate than our first one, which was cautios and loving. I pressed myself closed to him, and his hands closed around my waist. Clearly we both had plans to go further than kissing, but my mother - no, Demeter - had other ideas. She bustled back into the room noisily, after loudly coming down the hallway. By the time she entered, Hades and I had composed ourselves. he was reading quietly on the bed as I looked for a suitcase. "Hades, just tell me where it is!" I remonstrated playfully, a smile on my face. "No, it's much more fun to see you guess." He replied, and Demeter asked, "Guess for what?" I turned around as Hades put down him book and looked up. "Oh, mother! I'm only looking for my suitcase. I seem to have misplaced it somewhere. It's as if someone has hidden it." I emphasised on the 'someone', glancing at Hades. He rolled his eyes as Demeter narrowed her own suspiciously. "Hmm. Well, if you say so..." She turned and walked to the door. But before she walked out she said "Your suitcase is in the shoe rack in your wardrobe. I checked before I came in here." Then she closed the door and walked off. I burst out laughing and rushed over to Hades. I hurtled into his arms and he laughed along with me. In-between gasps for breath, he asked "What are we even laughing at?" I smiled. "I don't know! I guess I'm just happy she didn't catch us?" I was surprised at how joyful his next laugh was, but joined in nevertheless.

I walked into Persephone's - my? - bedroom and collected the suitcase. It was bright pink. I sighed, and resolved to either buy a new one or customise this one. Whatever. Hades followed me in and sat on my bed. "I've never understood why you like that suitcase. I don't like how... bright it is." He said. I glanced at him, and smiled softly. "Oh, I don't like it. I absolutely hate it, it was my mother who chose it. I was thinking... maybe when I come back, you could help me customise a new one? maybe a blue one this time... What do you think?" He looked momentarily surprised, then relaxed again and smiled at me. "Sure. Do you want me to buy a blue suitcase and some paints?" I packed some underwear, jeans, and T-shirts in the case. "You'd do that for me? Awwe, thanks Hades! I'd like that." I'd never seen him look to content and he looked determined to make me just as happy. "Okay. When will you be back?" I thought about it as I packed three almost identical dresses. "Uhm... As soon as I can convince my mother, I suppose." Hades looked at me quietly. "So not for a while then, huh? Okay. I'll head to the shops later." He said, smiling gently.

I packed some trainers and a few heels. "Oh Hades. we still have a week together. I'm not leaving until next week. I promise you that." I put some hoodies in. "Hmm. Hades? can I borrow one of your hoodies to take with me? Just to remind me of you?" I looked back to where he was sat, but he wasn't there. I looked at the door, and he was walking out. "Hades?" He looked back, only just realising that he hadn't responded. "Oh. Uhm, sure, I'll go get one." He closed the door and I heard him walked down the hallway.

A few minutes later, he re-opened the door and passed me a black hoodie that said "King Material" on the front. I smiled slightly. Persephone had been silent in my head for the whole day, but now she snarled. "That is his favourite hoodie. I can't believe you're going to take it! What if you lose it?" I ignored her and packed it in my suitcase. "Thanks Hades. Hey, how do think we should customise my suitcase? I'm thinking plants and mushrooms and fairies..." Hades looked at me, an amused, mischeivious smile playing across his face. "Fairies?" He said. "I was thinking more... death and horses and skeletons?" I stared at him. "What. What are you on about?" Hades held his face as serious as he could for another moment, then burst out laughing. "Perse, I'm kidding. You can decorate it however you want. you can redesign your room, too, if you want to." I kept staring at him until he got unnerved. "Persephone?" I blinked and smiled. "Yeah? what's up, Hades?" He frowned, so I laughed. "Hey, I'm kidding. are you serious? I can redesign the room?" He rolled his eyes and smiled. "Of course you can. Why else would I say it?" I rushed over to him. "Oh, thank you! Can I start planning it now? Maybe you can get the stuff for me while I'm gone? Oooh, I'm so excited!"