Ch.11

"Kore?" I looked up at the man from my dreams.

I mean literal dreams, not metaphorical. He wasn't exactly my type. I liked curly hair, a proportioned body, and maybe someone who knows my name?

"You are Kore, no?" I followed Thanatos and Paimon as we walked deeper into the Underworld.

"Im Ivy." I corrected.

"My apologies then, Ivy." He gave me another one of his wicked smiles.

"Hades was it?" I asked and extended my hand.

Hades nodded and shook my hand, squeezing lightly.

"Hades, Get the door." Thanatos called over his shoulder.

He was struggling to hold Paimon at this point. I rushed to their sides and took half of Paimon's weight. His face dropped and he felt frozen.

"Thought he was resilient?" I called over to Thanatos who was helping me get Paimon into the palace.

"He is, but he did just get slashed open by half of the god damn kingdom." Thanatos grunted and we finally managed to get Paimon onto a bed deep into the palace.

I wiped my brow of the sweat that surrounded it.

"He'll be okay, right?" I asked, concern dripping from my voice.

"He will be fine. But come, we need to talk." Thanatos nodded to a back room. I nodded my head and followed.

"Ivy, you aren't what you think you are." Thanatos spoke once the door was shut.

What I thought I was?

"Maybe I should expand on that haha." His visible skin on his cheeks turned red.

"You aren't mortal. Which means you aren't dying from kidney disease." Thanatos gave me a wide smile.

I would have been ecstatic except he just said I wasn't mortal.

"Excuse me? Backtrack quickly Thanatos." I sat on the bench inside the room.

"You aren't mortal, Ivy. You're immortal. You're Persephone." He spoke slowly enough for me to understand.

"That Greek goddess you told me about?" I felt my jaw open and close a few times.

"Yes, you're mother and father are Zeus and Demeter." Thanatos took my hand in his.

"How?" I had a family. Biological family. They loved me. I loved them.

"It was a group effort. But god and Zeus decided to send you down to earth to protect you whilst the war between the underworld and heaven was happening. You were the key to the underworld becoming powerful. So many would've died." Thanatos shuttered.

"I looked like them." I turned to Thanatos.

"They showed me a tape of my birth. My mom loved me. Papa loved me." I felt tears form.

It hurt to hear my family wasn't my family. I had no connection to them. All of our memories meant nothing.

"They did, a lot. But they weren't human either. They were fairies. They mocked humans. I'm sorry Ivy." Thanatos squeezed my hand as my heart broke.

"What did you say I am?" I asked quietly.

"Who. Not what." His eye sockets met my teary eyes.

"Who am I, Thanatos?" I managed through a tight throat.

"Persephone. Kore. You take after your mother, Mother Nature." Thanatos smiled and handed me a flower from a bucket next to the bench.

"You help things live. You make things grow. You help sustain the survival of humans." He smiled and crumbled the flower.

"Once you figure out how to control your powers and finish your transformation, you will be able to bring this back to life." Thanatos placed the flower in my hand.

Loud grunts and moans of pain came from Paimon's room. Without hesitation, Thanatos and I busted into his room.

Paimon was thrashing on his bed, reopening his wounds.

"Paimon!" I rushed to his side and tried to calm him. Eventually it worked but he was so distraught he almost appeared scared.

"Kore?" He smoke softly and reached up to touch my face.

My heart tightened at the name. My name.

"I'm here." I took his hand and squeezed it.

"What happened?" He looked down at his sweaty body.

If he wasn't in such an awful state I'd be drooling over it.

"You had to repent your sins in front of the kingdom with a slashing." Thanatos was on the other side of Paimon.

"Oh right. Fuck Lucy. He's a dick." Paimon began sitting up.

"Woah woah, easy there." I eased him back onto the bed.

"I'm fine, Ivy. I need to walk around. It'll help my cells regenerate faster." He gave me one of his famous smiles and I nodded.

"I'll take him. Stay here Ko- Ivy." Thanatos nodded at me and escorted Paimon out.

"My dear, We have much to discuss. Like our wedding." Hades came out of nowhere, smiling smugly at me.

"Wedding?"