[ graphic: @me ]

a jar of secrets
20 | he's not the bad guy!

"Lightly stabbed? Lightly stabbed!" Aphrodite cries growing louder and louder as we move Ares to the single bed. "He's a bloody idiot that's what."

"When did she get here?" Hermes mumbles helping me with Ares.

"Two seconds before you four popped in. Now Aphrodite, can you tell me what happened?" Hades asks her as he comes over pressing one of the white towels against the gashing wound.

"I just made a friend is all." Ares mumbles quietly before slipping back into unconsciousness. Aphrodite groans as she brings her hand up to her forehead.

"Ares, you raised a sword over your head and screamed at him. What the hell did you think would happen?" Aphrodite yells at him. "That you'd be best friends and braid each other's hair?"

"Hermes and Dionysus, can you guys go and fetch Apollo for us." Hades tells them, looking down at the blood seeping through the towel. "Quick."

"Why Apollo?" I ask standing beside Aphrodite, holding her soft hand in comfort.

"He can also heal." Aphrodite explains to me, giving me a small smile before turning to look back at Ares.

"But aren't we immortal? We can't actually die, can we?" I ask but nobody seems to want to answer and that worries me. "It's going to be okay." I tell her, giving her hand a quick squeeze. I sure hope I'm not lying.

"What's going on? Somebody better be dying because I was having the best dic-"

"Apollo shut the hell up and get over here!" I look up to see his twin, Artemis, standing beside the single bed. The other blonde twin sighs as he rubs his eyes, coming to stand beside his sister still half asleep.

"Ares?" He mumbles to himself before seeing the real issue. "Oh shit."

"Talk later, heal now." Artemis tells him all but shoving him to Ares side.

I watch in amazement as Apollo places his hands just above the towel, a golden light coming out from under them. Slowly but surly, the blood starts to stop gashing out and the wound itself begins to heal over until there's nothing left but a thin scar about 10cm long.

"Okay he should be good as new, probably give him an hour or two to wake up though as it was a pretty deep wound." Apollo explains stepping away from the bed. "And he owes me a beer." He adds to Aphrodite who nods but rolls her eyes afterward.

"Thank you Apollo, you're the greatest!" She says with a smile as she lets go of my hand to walk over to Ares.

"Yeah yeah, I know."

"Don't let it get to your head big guy." Hades laughs as he ruffles Apollos bed ridden blond locks.

"Come on boys, let's go and get us some wine!" Dionysus cries causing both Hermes and Apollo to scream like little girls before disappearing all together.

"Boys, ugh!" Artemis sighs shaking her head. "I just don't understand them sometimes."

"Just wait until one sweeps you off your feet." Aphrodite tells her with a giggle.

"And that'll be the day that my immortal ass finally coughs and rolls over."

I bring my hand up to hide my smile as Hades turns to look at me also trying to hide his.

❦

"Is he really going to be okay?" I ask Hades for the third time in the last hour.

"He's going to be fine Persephone don't worry." He reassures me, placing a hand on my shoulder in comfort. "Aphrodite told me he's even beginning to get color back in him."

"Okay, that's good." I say more to myself than anything.

"Persephone."

I look up at Hades who is standing right in front of me, I tilt my head slightly to get a better look at him.

"What?" I mumble a little embarrassed at being called out. Hades eyes are full of mixed emotions and it looks like he's having a fight with himself about whatever it is he wants to say, he must have lost however as he shakes his head.

"Nothing..." He sighs looking away from me and I feel a sense of disappointment as I look back down at my hands. "We're here."

We're here meaning that we've come to an abandoned clearing away from the busy city life.

"Why did you make me walk all the way out here in the middle of nowhere?" I ask him confused.

"Because you're going to learn how to control your powers."

My eyes widen as I watch him walk out into the middle of the clearing.

"But-"

"But nothing." Hades spins around to face me, looking dead serious. "You need to learn to control them in case Hermes or anyone else, including me, can't be around to protect you. There'll be no arguing about this Persephone."

"What is this really about Hades?" I ask him but he shakes his head almost looking somewhat annoyed with my response.

"You were always most comfortable when surrounded by nature so that's why I brought you out here to the clearing." I watch as Hades finds a rock and sits down on it, looking my way. "Now except for fixing that twig last night, what else have you done?"

I think back to what I had done to the man that had knocked Hades unconscious.

"I uh... made this kind of rope thing but out of rose thorns to drag this guy away from you one time."

Hades only raises an eyebrow at this so I continue.

"I was scared to tell you because I thought I might have killed him or something." I admit blurting it out. "And, and when I couldn't find you after I met Ares and Aphrodite for the first time... I somehow got the roses to lead me to you and that's how I found you in the alley."

"But you would have just woken up from the curse back then. How could you have possibly got those roses to lead you to me?" Hades asks watching me.

I look down at my bare feet, haven forgotten to bring shoes with me.

"I don't know... I just did I guess," I say playing with the hem of my shirt nervously. "I was worried something bad had happened to you." I find myself telling him as I look back up.

"Hmm and what about fixing the twig? No one was in danger then."

I didn't have an answer for that one.

"Something just took over me and I somehow knew what I had to do without realizing what I was doing until it was done." I try my best to explain.

"Okay then... how about we start small today?" Hades suggests jumping up and looking around the clearing.

"How small is small exactly?" I ask feeling a little nervous, okay a lot nervous. Hades smiles as he picks up on this, leaning down he picks something off the ground.

"What's that?" I ask coming to stand closer to him so I can see what he's holding in his hands.

"It's a seed."

I look up at him confused. What am I meant to do with a seed?

"And I want you to make it flourish."

Well crap.

Two hours later.

"You're not trying hard enough Persephone, again!"

I wipe the sweat from my brow in annoyance as I take yet another massive gulp of water from the bottle before throwing it back on the ground.

I can feel the sweat rolling down the back of my neck and further down my back as the afternoon sun shines bright above us, not to mention all my muscles are screaming out in protest.

"I need.. a break Hades," I hiss out dropping to lay on the ground beside the bottle.

"A break?" Hades repeats loudly from his standing position on the rock, he looks furious.

"Just like five or so minutes." I cough as I try to get my breathing back under control as well. "I just need a rest."

"And do you think they're just going to give you a rest break in the middle of trying to capture you?" he cries jumping down from the rock and landing on both his feet.

I wipe the sweat from my forehead as I sit up to watch Hades walk towards me obviously angry.

"Hades?" I start but he ignores me.

"Because they're not going to do that, do you hear me? They're bad people, they're not going to go soft on you or give you a break. They will hurt you."

My eyes widen as he leans down and roughly helps me up so I'm standing in front of him, he places his hands on my shoulders holding me there as he looks down at me.

"H-Hades?" I try to get out of his tight grip as I begin to feel frightened but he won't have it, his eyes have gone crimson as he looks down at me but I feel like he doesn't really see me.

"You need to be able to fight back, show them that you can protect yourself and that you aren't vulnerable or scared."

"Hades!" I shout louder as I reach up to touch his cheek with my hand, he pauses, his eyes finally seeing me shaking in front of him scared.

"I can't let anything happen to you again Persephone... don't you get it?" he says leaning down to wrap his arms around me in a tight embrace.

I hug him back, holding him close to me as he rests his head on my shoulder.

"I've already lost you once, I can't and won't lose you again okay," he sighs before whispering the next bit. "It'll break me."

"I'm not going anywhere Hades." I tell him, surprising myself as I realize it's the truth.

"I'm so sorry I let you down..." he continues leaning back to look down at me, his eyes beginning to return back to their natural color.

"You've never let me down. You're not the bad guy Hades," I tell him giving him a small smile.

He doesn't say anything to this, just hugs me tighter and kisses the top of my head before pulling away.

"Now, again."

"Hey, just because you're not the bad guy doesn't mean I don't want to punch you sometimes," I mumble under my breath and this brings a small smile to his face.

It's a small victory, but a victory never the less.

❦

"You look like shit!"

I glare at where Hermes is lounging on the sofa back at the room.

"Why thank you, that's the look I was totally going for right now." I say sarcastically, dropping down and taking the free space next to him. I go to put my arm around him when suddenly he disappears and my arm drops back down to my side.

"You need a shower before you even think of sitting next to me or touching me," Hermes cries reappearing on the other side of the room near the window.

"Ugh!" I groan, my legs complaining about the weight as I stand back up and walk over to the closet taking a dark blue towel.

"So how did it go anyways?" he asks as I also grab pajamas on the way through to the bathroom. "As bad as you look or?"

"I couldn't even get a stupid seed to flourish..." I complain feeling a wave of disappointment come over me. I should've been able to do it, I've done things tougher than that.

"You'll get there ducky, just gotta be patient." I hear him say on the other side of the door as I close it behind me.

But that's the thing though, no matter how calm they are or how they try to tell me it's okay... I know we're running out of time. Something is coming and I need to be prepared for it, I need to be able to stand by Hades side and not behind like a scared girl.

I place the towel on the hook and my clothes on the vanity with a sigh. I'm about to start undressing and hop into the shower when I notice a single flower in the middle on top of the vanity start to shine ever so brightly.

I raise my eyebrow but walk over to it; reaching my hand out towards the flower slowly, when suddenly the middle starts to ripple in front of my eyes forming a picture. It's a picture of a young lady with long dark hair sitting on the edge of a bed, a man comes into view and wraps his arms around her. I can hear the sound of faint crying come from the young woman.

I recognize the two instantly.

"Liv? Ethan?"