It is quiet here. I am alone.

Away from the sweet sighs of souls remembering their time under the sun.

I know nothing of living under the sun. I have always lived in the twilight.

It is cold here. Dark. Although, the walls give off their own light when I am happy. This place is mine and all that is in it belongs to me.

I have known little of warmth, or laughter, or light. I suppose that is why I took her, laughing in that field. But we are not there yet.

I have always done my duty. Done what is right and just. I have never chased after nymphs so that they had to become a tree or a reed to escape me. I have never been capricious. I do my job. I weigh the hearts of those that my nephew brings me.

And by the weight of their deeds, I judge them. Oh, I have my assistants. Minos, Rhadamnthus and Aeacus. But the final responsibility is mine.

I create the punishments for the guilty. That is easy really. People create their own Tartarus. I do my best to weave the Elysian fields. That is harder. What do I know of Paradise?

My father ate me when I was a minute old. Not for me a mother's trick. Switching a baby for a rock.

I think he knew. I mean, how could he not. A baby tastes nothing like a rock. Or least, so I imagine, never having had a child, much less eaten one.

But I think father knew that mother had spirited Zeus away. I think that he knew that no matter what he did, we were meant to be. Not that that stopped him from eating us. One by one. Just as nothing could stop us from springing from his newly opened stomach, fully grown.

Odd to think I spent my childhood in my father's stomach. Perhaps that is why I rule the underworld and not the sky.

Then again the others were right there with me and it did not seem to change them. I hear that excuse a great deal actually. My father or my mother did not love me. The gods made me do it. I am not responsible. But that is not how I judge the dead and that is not how I am.

I could not be my brother Poseidon, lord of the seas. Everything always changing. A 100 wives, a 1000 children. I need the earth. The steadiness. The dark. I just had not realized how much I longed for the light, shining in her hair.

Where to begin. At the beginning, I suppose. But it is already too late for that. The middle then.

I had been looking for something for some time, but I did not know it. I would visit my brother on Olympus and watch them pull away from me. Not that I am ugly. Unlike poor Hephaestus, I am not lame or crippled. But as they say, black hair, black eyes, black heart.

It is just that I do not smile much. My humors are odd. I do not laugh or dance. I do not play a musical instrument, much less invent them.

That is why I do not visit the other gods much. Why I never saw her before that day.

I was going somewhere. I do not remember where. Odd, how I can remember other things so clearly.

The sun was hot and bright and high. The dirt smelled rich and full, pregnant. The earth of my land never smells like that. I am told there were many women in that field. The sirens. Her handmaidens. Apparently, they were singing. I did not notice.

She was away from the others, random blobs of women in white chitons. She ran across the field. Well, skipped really. There were flowers everywhere. Red, yellow, white. Her skin was sun kissed. I think you call it that. It shimmered with pollen and all the gold of the earth. Except all the gold of the earth is mine. And she was not.

She ran towards me, or so it seemed. Towards the river really. She stopped to smell the flowers. Narcissus transformed for her pleasure.

And I knew that all I had to do was take her, like all the other gods are forever doing. Everyone is doing it. That makes it right, right? It was as if a madness had seize me. As if I would accept that sort of reasoning from any mortal who came before me.

But I was not thinking about that. I was watching her let the mud ooze between her toes. Feet that had never worn shoes. I watched her smell her flowers, revel in my nephew's light. As I reveled in her light. Watching her watch the world through eyes green for growing things.

So, I grabbed her. Easy as that.

Drove forward with my golden chariot and my fine black horses. Reached over and picked her right up.

Her skin was so soft. Like...would it be wrong to compare it to a peach? Cliched, I know and nevertheless true.

She did not even have time to scream before the earth, my earth, the one that lies beneath nature, swallowed us up.

Down. Away from the sun.

She trembled in my arms. I tried to smile reassuringly at her. That is hard to do when you have just kidnapped someone that you do not quite know what to do with. Zeus would have known. Poseidon. Apollo. Pan. They are always doing that sort of thing. But as I have mentioned, I am not the sort to play those sorts of games. You only break things.

We came to the Acheron, the river of woe. No wonder no one wants to come here.

A little water splashed as I drove across the river. I do not need the boatman. I could see Charon's face as we crossed. He was surprised. And why not? I never bring women home.

She jerked as the water hit her face. And she spoke. Her voice was low and soft and what did my goddess of the spring say, "Take me back."

And even though I was just beginning to realize just what I had done, all I could do was shake my head. There was nothing that I could think to say.

Past the gates adamantine. Over the plains. We came to the gates of my home. My dog came to greet me, us. Three heads and three times the drool. He is just a great puppy really. He jumped on the side of the chariot. It swayed under his weight. He is quite large.

She stiffened a little. And so my first words to my lady were, "Do not worry, he will not hurt you." and to my dog, "No boy. Down. Cerberus. No." And because he is mine and a good boy, he stopped.

I let go of her then. Where was she going to go? She pulled away from me. Looked me straight in the eye. Why did I ever think green was a soft color. Rocks can be green too. "Why have brought me here?" and then a little lower. "Take me back. My mother will be worrying."

I did not have the words for what I wanted. It was too bald. Too stupid. Better to preserve the fantasy for a little bit. So instead I was cryptic, "Follow me. I have something to show you." I started towards my gate. She did not follow. I gestured. "Come on."

One perfect brow arched. Just so, "I'm not your dog."

"No, he is too heavy to carry." and for some reason I smiled. I said I have an odd humour. I also said I do not smile much, but she brings out my smiles.

"True," she said. And she walked in front of me as if she were going to lead me into my own house. "Well," she cocked her head to one side. The little wretch. Almost half my size. I smiled some more. Probably like an idiot.

The gate opened to my touch. My house knows me. I led her down the great hall. Past the throne room where I weigh the souls of the dead. Past the portrait room with its pictures of my brothers and sisters. My mother. And, yes, my father. Down into the black tower's stair well. Each room lighting as I entered. Darkening as I left.

We came to the door at the bottom of the stair. The door opened at my touch. We stepped into the room and the walls lit with the light of a thousand candles reflecting on my treasures.

I am the god of the under earth. The god of wealth and gold and jewels. I have a great deal of treasure.

I took her through my treasury. Past cups and rings. Scepters and crowns. Past things of gold and silver and bone, for I am a god of dead things too. Up a small dais to where I keep my best things. My favourite things.

My helmet of invisibility, a gift from my nephew Hephaestus. A braided ring, made from my mother's black hair. My crystal through which I can see all the world, above or below.

We stood there in the heart of my country, my city, my palace, my home. My heart.

"I am Hades. Or Baekhyun if you will." I said. It seemed like a good place to begin. She just stood there. So beautiful. So warm. "I rule all of the under earth. The dead come to me when they die." She just stood there looking at me straight in the eyes. Waiting. No wonder. I was not making much sense. Perhaps, I should just get to it. I thought. Well, I was not actually thinking much.

"Be my Queen and all that I have, all that you see will be yours." As soon as I said it, I wished the words back. Too late. All wrong. Too quick.

She kept looking at me. She was so small. So resolute. "No." and then. "Take me back now."

Part of me knew that that was that. Story over. And part of me thought, "Here she is in the centre of my power and not afraid."

I thought, "Yes, of course. Forget I mentioned it." What I said, was "No. Be my Queen. Rule at my side."

She took a step back. "You don't even know my name. You know nothing about me."

"True. What is your name?" I tried not to sound desperate. Pathetic. Insane. Too late.

"No. You can't make me give you anything of me. Now take me back." Her hands clenched into fists. I think that she was more worried than she was letting on. But she did not stop looking at me in the eye. There are not many who can. Though, who will?

"There are no secrets from the dead, you know." She just shook her head. "Follow me then." And when she hesitated. "You are still smaller than my dog."

She sighed and followed me.

I took her back up the stairs. You do not think that I took her home do you? No, of course not.

My mind was on fire for her. I say my mind because that is the way that I am. If it only took beauty to win me, well then dead Helen would be my Queen.

So, I led her up to the top of the tower. To my room. As always, the door opened at my touch. She stepped through the door and stopped. I think it was the bed that got her attention. It got my attention. Definitely the bed.

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