I hesitated.

I shouldn't have hesitated.
That was my mistake. Before I had a chance to pierce the sword through her cold, dark heart, she grabbed my ankle, kicking my knees down and spinning me to the floor and holding my neck against the stone.
I heard a loud crunch and I was unsure if that was a bone cracking or my leg.
Her long talons pressed into my neck, and the blood on her lip dripped onto my cheek.

"This scene looks familiar. Poor, innocent, seculued brainless fower goddess helpless and dumb. About to die at the mercy of someone else. I would say I pity you, but I don't. Kore" she smirks.

She grabs the sword of Elesium I had dropped and holds it above her head. "I will make sure to keep Aides bed warm in your absence flower goddess"

And with one quick swipe, she brings the sword to my neck.
——

They always say you see your life flash before your eyes when you're about to die.
But as I laid there, sword above my neck, I saw my future.
I saw my life with Aides.
Long nights in the garden of Getheseme.
Him and I  building his empire.
I saw late night kisses and lazy snuggles in the castle.
I saw Aideoneus.
He was my new dream. My future.
I loved him and I refused to lose him.
I refused to lay docile and be die at the hands of a goddess who didn't deserve to love him. She wasn't even worthy enough to kill me.

I close my eyes, thinking back to my time when Aides first brought me to the Underworld.
I think back to our first night together. The passion, the ecstasy, the carnage.
I felt a sharp power rising within my core.
It felt as if my heart was rising within my chest.

I refused to be Kore.
I would never be her.

A deep breath fills my nostrils and with one final puff, I open my eyes.

I was Persephone once again.

——