A happy couple

The world was at peace.
The gods, whom assisted in the creation of both the world and the current balance, have taken upon themselves to regulate the proper cycles of natural events.
Not that it was a surprise to the many living beings, since the gods had multiple aspects to their divinities.
And thus, the world was simple.
The gods did their tasks, and so did the other living beings.
One of the tasks the living beings got on their hands though, was the worship of certain gods.
It was like etched into the very fabrics of reality.
One had faith, and that faith needed a target.
So regardless of which region they inhabited, everyone had a target god, whom they worshipped and some whom they were utterly terrified of.
One of the goddesses who’ve been the focus of both the love and fear of the mortals was Persephone.
The goddess of spring and fertility, but for the land to bloom, it needs to wither, and rest, before bearing fruit once more.
This fact is ignored by most living beings, since they are looking for riches, and continuous harvests would help with that.
Thus, Persephone was respected, especially by farmers, but also feared, since she was also the one who brought the winter seasons, where barely anything grew.
But Persephone did it for their own sake.
After all, the ground needed to rest.
But in the circle of gods, she was a superstar.
Everybody adored her.
Being the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, meant she had a high standing in their circle, and being friendly, cautious and caring helped her to build a good relationship with others.
And her looks, her looks have been always changing.
But one thing was constant about her appearance, even amongst the goddesses, she could always rank in the top.
During Spring and Summer, she had a beautiful sandy complexion, with hair like a field of flowers, filled with colors, each brighter than the other.
She was tall, and always wore a pure-black dress.
During Autumn and Winter, she was getting paler, getting closer to a moonlight appearance.
In Autumn, the colors slowly faded into grey from her hair, and on the first day of Winter, her hair became half white and half pitch black.
This change signified the changes of seasons, and also the life-and-death and then rebirth of the ground.
But there weren’t many suitors after her, because her mother, Demeter was quite protective of her first-born child.
Yet, something unusual happened.
Due to a rampaging beast, more and more souls have been sent to Hades, and thus he was forced to leave the Underworld, to make a report to Olympus.
After requesting a few minor gods to send heroes or even demigods to solve the problem, Hades promptly went to the closest portal back to his realm.
But, on his way, he met with Persephone.
Persephone was currently helping a dryad with the growth of a smaller forest patch.
The two saw the towering figure of Hades, coming to an abrupt halt.
The dryad scurried away, hiding behind a tree, but Persephone smiled.
“Uncle Hades, am I right? Nice to finally meet you!”
She said, waving at Hades.
Hades froze.
It was the peak of summer at this point, Persephone just shining as brightly as the sun in the sky, her hair adorned with all the imaginable colors.
Hades still didn’t utter a word, staring silly at her.
Persephone skipped over to him, and waved her hands in front of him.
“Are you okay, uncle Hades?”
She asked.
“B-b-b-beautiful.”
Hades said, before disappearing into a cloud of dark golden dust, and leaving.
Persephone giggled, and went back to helping the dryad.
Eccentric behavior wasn’t anything unusual amongst the gods, and being called beautiful always felt good.
Seconds later, Hades appeared upon his throne, watching over the river of souls, seeing how the judges sent people away, to the Fields of Elysium, the Meadows of Asphodel or to Tartarus.
“Thanatos, come here for a minute.”
Hades said.
Soon, a tall, yet handsome figure appeared, followed by Cerberus.
“My lord, with what may I be of assistance?”
Thanatos asked.
“Check your divinity, am I on your list?”
Hades said.
At this Cerberus whimpered, and huddled up at Hades’ throne.
At this, Hades chuckled, and petted the hound.
“My lord, you surely jest.
You are immortal, I can’t harvest your soul since you are outside the natural cycle.
Only way for a being such as you to die is to be killed by another entity of your level.”
Thanatos said, bowing slightly.
“I…I met a goddess this time, who didn’t run away.
After I saw her, I felt…weird.
My heartbeat was uncontrollable, and I felt…hot.
You know how much I value control, Thanatos, tell me.
You are in the know with most poisons, curses and diseases, is this something new?”
Hades asked.
At this Thanatos froze.
He smirked a bit, but kept it professional.
“Nothing new my lord, nothing new.
Maybe Aphrodite would be able to explain this better to you or my brother, but this is called “love” or at least attraction of some kind.”
Thanatos said.
“Love…”
Hades muttered.
After a bit of silence, he coughed.
“What is love?”
He asked.
Thanatos almost stumbled over after hearing this question.
“A kind of desire, my lord.”
Thanatos answered to the best of his abilities.
“So…I wish to have this goddess?”
Hades continued.
“Not necessarily to have her, but to be with her, my lord.
Imagine a relationship like that of Poseidon and Amphitrite or Zeus and Hera…”
Thanatos said.
“I didn’t know I had this ability, to love until now.
I doubt anyone else will be able to make it appear, but I think…
I understand.”
Hades said.
Thanatos sighed, hoping his lord won’t go with the high-gods way of courting women.
“You can leave Thanatos, I will be thinking about this after dealing with the monsters souls.”
Hades said, leaving deeper into his realm, ready to help with the imprisonment.
Afterwards, he started visiting Persephone.
His attempts at courting her were…clumsy.
He wasn’t good at socializing, since he bore the greatest burden, being the eldest of his brothers.
Ruling over the dead and over the defeated isn’t something that leaves a lot of free time.
Thus, he tried to do exactly the opposite of what his brothers did.
Instead of rushing things, he slowly appeared with gifts to Persephone…before disappearing.
He didn’t know how to interact with her, especially since she was always cheerful with him.
That went on for several months, until Winter was finally ushered in.
The very first day of Winter, Cerberus came running whining to Hades’ throne room.
“What happened, little one?
Are some souls harassing you again?
I already told you, bite time freely, no need to worry.”
Hades laughed, while patting Cerberus.
Cerberus whine, and hid behind the throne.
And soon, Hades found out why.
He got a visitor, someone he knew.
Persephone, with her black and white hair, came strolling in, looking around.
“Nice play, you’ve got yourself Hades.”
She said, whistling.
“He..Hello Persephone, no more calling me “uncle”?”
Hades said, laughing, standing up awkwardly.
Persephone walked up to him, and got really, really close.
“Can’t keep you calling uncle, if we are together…
Although, if you prefer, I could call you that.”
She said, giggling.
“We are together…?”
Hades asked.
“Well, now we are.
If I wait after you, I might die of boredom.”
She said, kissing him.
That’s how their relationship properly started, and Hades was happy.
Demeter on the other hand, was angry, and she made the entire planet a barren wasteland, demanding her daughter back.
Persephone dealt with this, saying that she will accompany her mother during Spring and Summer, but she would be back with Hades during Autumn and Winter.
Under the confident and stubborn stance of Persephone, Demeter relented, and agreed.
Immediately afterwards, Hades and Persephone got married, and Hades showered her in all the riches of the Underworld.
She on the other hand, brought new life to the domain, and new methods to take care of souls.
After they got together, all the living beings benefited.
Since Hades became a bit more…lenient after getting married, whilst Persephone got less fickle.
Also, Hades helped Persephone in her work, pushing minerals and enriching the surface ground, making it easier for crops to grow.
The two were truly, a happy couple…
Even though, most living beings, being scared of Hades, understood this situation a bit differently…