Goddess of Childbirth And Marriage

"Oh dear! You made a bet with my husband?" Persephone sighed shaking her head in disappointment, "Please forgive him. My husband has a lot of pride in his work and does not like to lose when playing games. However, he truly does have a kind heart within the heart. It's just that the regulations and life in the underworld has made it difficult to show it."

Hearing this warmed Idia's broken heart and with a little vinegar added into the mix! Who knew that Hades still retained some amount of luck to gain such an understanding and caring wife?! It's unfortunate that he had to rebel before meeting her since the rebellion had already occurred and he's married to her.

"I understand that his work is very important to him and the world. But helping my friends and my family is also very important to me. If I can save them, I do not care what pain or suffering I may receive in exchange for their well-being. Those are nothing new to me now. Should they, however, be gone, my brother will become very despondent and I can not bear that. I know what's it's like to have your entire life feel like one worse than hell. That's why taking them out of here is too important to me."

"This..." Persephone hesitated upon hearing this.

"Seriously, this better be good, dear brother. I can't be giving advices to all of my followers everytime and that includes those who aren't either." A noble voice sounded in dismay.

"The sooner we finish this, the sooner we may return home." A man's voice soon echoed as a puff of smoke appeared with three more gods before them.

Before them stood a tall and pink skinned woman donned in glimmering pink tunic in all her glory. Her blond and wavy hair flowed as her beautiful blue eyes fell upon them. Standing before her was a tall purple man wearing a blue tunic and escorting a slim and beautiful green woman donning a blue tunic as blue as her husband's eyes and glow. Despite this, none can outshine the warm glow of the Queen of the gods. Seeing the four gods before them, Idia trembled with excitement! Before him stood the five gods and goddesses of the legends, but before him also stood the maddened god of death.

With one look at the five, the eldest woman of the three goddesses breathed a sudden gasp before showing with great interest, "Oh my... This is indeed interesting. Child, what is your name?"

Peony bowed her head gracefully and responded, "This one's name is Peony."

The moment she said this, Vil and Idia turned to her with bewildered expression across their faces. Was she always this graceful and respectable?!

"I am Hera as these are Dike and her husband, Horkos. Peony, you said that you wish to speak with us regarding our advice. Now that I've seen you in the flesh, I've grown curious about this subject you speak of." The queen responded.

"It is my honor to speak in the presence of the Greek gods." Peony responded kindly and sincerely, "My thoughts pertain to the idea of marriage and child-rearing as well as law."

"Oh, could it be that you have a candidate?" The queen of the gods questioned her curiously.

"I do not, but that does not stop one from wanting to raise children themselves, and, as a physician, it is not uncommon for a doctor to act as a mid-wife. Please hear my plea and grant me some words of advice. In the past, I've witnessed the birth of a child, and a lovely wedding done after the birth with the oath of maintain order to the world. However, as much of a miracle as it was and as wise as the parents were, their child turned to acts of evil and brought an orderly chaos upon the world. As you all most know, chaos and order comes in pair and this is what brings peace whether we wish for it or not. However, no matter how much the parents tried to apprehend the child and make her stop, she would not stop becoming greedier and greedier. Even when her crimes of such indestructible degrees were proven, the parents could not raise a hand against this child, much less punish her for the crimes committed. In the end, the child had even tossed away her filial piety and took the lives of her parents for the crown on the head of her loved ones and her own. Yet, in the end, her parents never blamed her nor got mad at her." Peony explained, "During those days, I could not help but wonder, even in death. Why did the parents not reprimand her even once? The child birth of mother to child was that of a miracle. The wedding placed was one of mutual union and love. When they must take action to maintain peace in the world, they chose to put down their hands to the side and accept it. In the end, order was brought and people are now forced to die by the new order because of birth and the path of life they were born with. Sadly, we are not gods, nor are we just immortals. No one can change the order unless they bring in a new leader of gods. In that life, the gods were rulers, but they did not rule by law or by kindness. The iron fist to be ruled for peace has become one of tyranny. As a mortal in this new life... Alas, I still can not understand that of the last even more."

Hearing this, Hera's face became ugly and saddened. The gods and goddesses beside her became silent upon disbelief. Though to most it sounded as though she was cursing at the gods, they've understood her choices of words much better than those in modern times that have confused the other two, including Rook to a degree. Her words were of great grief and sadness. Pain and despair. Hardships and never-ending suffering. A dystopic world of order. The emotions in her words rang clear in their minds. She had experienced life unable to shed tears and unable to move and life of death forced out of the cycle of the underworld because she had taken the risk to do everything in her power to change her fate. Yet, even now, she is still grieving but could not do so without tears as it was such a horrifying state. A life more horrible than death and enough to make saddness and pain in the underworld seem like a small problem to them who have already seen the worst. Close to madness but barely holding on.

Hearing her words, Dike grew saddened by the situation and grasped tightly to her companion's arm. The two queens' eyes clouded with grief and pity as they learn of a world far brutal than their own.

"Now, the cycle repeats before me, but in the form of a god and his long-lost predecessors. I... I still cannot fathom the bond of parent and child as I was a being with no parent nor could not have their own blood born children in the past." Peony responded showing her true emotion which was one of grief, confusion, and anger, "All of the 'children' I raised was judged and few survived while others were put down by these bloody hands. As a puppet, I could never stop the strings that bound me. Yet, in the darkness of death, I finally broke free to daringly break these chains with their taboo. However, this does not bring back those thrown into the fires of the judgement nor does it quell a maddened heart. It only gave the means to control. Please, gods and goddesses. From this tale, this child prays for you to grace me an answer and words on how to stop these cursed chains."

"This..." Persephone whispered quietly in grief and sadness as her husband could only stand there baffled by what he was hearing, which clearly was not what he was expecting to be talking about.

On the other hand, Hera, a more experienced queen, quickly quelled herself and slowly opened her mouth, "A mother's bond with their child is not one so easily broken when graced upon them."

Hera shook her head and sighed in sadness, "Alas, even a god cannot read the hearts of others. During most times, this protects the child from harm and gifts them the blessing of being loved and knowing what is love. A union between two mutual hearts can also become wonderful gifts to their offspring in the future. Blood or not. In the case of the child, she is evil yet unfortunate soul. Graced by love, she has very likely grown happy, yet misled as the duty of protecting others led her parents to show her the heavy burden of their oath. Although power is a wonderful thing to have, it can become a thorn in the process of parenting and relationships. A very difficult thing to balance as it requires mutual understanding and trust. How the child becomes is always up in the air. Even we cannot predict the hearts of that child. Yet, during the time her crimes came to light, even punishing their child with imprisonment or house arrest is not bad parenting as they must also come to understand what has their child become and what has been done wrong as the parent. The mercy granted on the child... Is sadly undeserved. But, the love between parent and child is unconditional. When faced between familial love and the duty to protect, both are important and difficult to choose. In the end, those parents chose familial love over their duty and that encouraged their child to continue harming others as she was not educated properly. Yet, your case is also very severe. You also understand what it means to raise the young and the love for them. However, your gods have pushed you to follow your duty to the highest degree. You are covered in their blood, but have followed your heart unwilling to wash them out of love and guilt. As for those gods..."

Her eyes turned to Dike and her husband as she gave a solemn nod, "I trust that they may provide you better guidance than I. As we know, those parents and the gods have broken their oaths."