chapter 19

The underworld  Is a dark and  dimly lit realm where there is no sunlight  and the only form of light it has  is the various spirits  of the dead that flow in from the world of the living, death continuous in the living world, every day at least a thousand people die and enter the underworld and then flow towards the place that will grant them an appropriate punishment. The underworld is divided into 4 parts or levels and each levels  is  it's own realm in which the dammed get punished depending on the severity of their crimes on the living world, some can even get rewarded for their deeds. A fifth level also exists, Tartarus  but it is so far beneath the other levels that it is not considered to be even part of the underworld.

The first 4 levels are for those that have been judged to be evil but not to the point of no return since after a millennia or so they are reincarnated back into the living world, Tartarus however is for the vile and most evil of evil  or anyone the Greek gods decide needs to be sent there.

Hades  was  a God  who thought himself to be  simple, he  wasn't overly ambitious and held no grand plans about ruling the cosmos and what not, he was very content with his life and they way he lived, ruling the underworld was a simple job that required less management than ruling your average kingdom, all in all things were simple, Though  there maybe times where he Maybe needed they aren't that many, his helpers are very good at their jobs which makes it easier for him to spend time with his wife when she's home at least. He wasn't really pleased that there would be months where she wasn't here but Demeter was quite the overprotective mother and he'd rather not get on her bad side

Unfortunately today seemed to be the day where the time he would be spending with his wife would be interrupted by two Goddesses, one of them he was glad to see and the other not so much however he equally wished they hadn't come, Hestia and Aphrodite casually interrupted his mid day meal that he would have with his wife everyday, this was something that he set up and prepared, despite having this mid  day meal every Hades  never fails to ensure that everything is perfect so that him and His wife can have the most enjoyable day. Unfortunately that didn't seem like it was going to happen.

"Aunty Hestia and lady Aphrodite this… was the unexpected visit"

Persephone addressed the two people that came to visit her, her voice was quite gentle and low in volume almost like a whisper, she had a strained smile on her face as she tried to keep  a polite tone,  she would have addressed Hestia the same way she did Aphrodite however the Goddess of the Hearth had made it clear what she wants to be referred to as and Persephone could not feel comfortable calling her Aunty. Hestia's status demanded she be respected and it felt wrong to be  so candid no matter how friendly she is.

Her gaze turned to her husband who made it clear on how displeased he was about this visit. He sat on a black chair with a  long backrest that was inlaid with black diamonds and crystals, the two were sitting across each other separated by aa table filled with varying types of food. Aphrodite and Hestia had taken the side of the table.

"well I just dragged Aphrodite with me since I wanted your help with an unexpectedly important issue".

Hestia responded as she poured herself a full glass of white wine for herself completely ignoring her brother's deepening scowl as she did so, he never invites her for anything so she's right in helping herself.

"Oh! What issues was that Sister? Hopefully it justifies you helping yourself to my wine."

"you're such a terrible host Hades, you're obligated to offer Guests a beverage"

"not towards guests who invite themselves, especially—"

"darling, Please. Aunty Hestia please explain"

Persephone interrupted Hades causing him to groan and shut up, she then asked Hestia to further elaborate on the issue they came here for. She could understand her husbands frustration but they have these mid day meals everyday  not to  mention they'll be having  dinner too so they have plenty of time to spend together  but there's hardly anytime for visitors so  she rather he not be rude.

"right, it's a simple matter really. I'll just ask you a question I asked Aphrodite and I want her to hear your answer."

"Okay?"

"Aphy here believes that you two are only staying together because of the arrangement you had with your parents is that true?"

Persephone turned her attention to Aphrodite who seemed to look at her with a curious gaze, Persephone isn't well acquainted with The Goddess of love and beauty and infact this quite Probably the third or fourth time  she's ever seen her and maybe the first they've been in the same room Although she does have a reputation. Persephone didn't know how to feel about Aphrodite and  the idea of talking to her is something she's never thought about before.

"No its not true, I'm staying together with him because I love him, and that arrangement was made specifically because  I love him, mother wouldn't let me stay otherwise."

"would you explain what you think love is, explain the way you feel about Hades"

"Uh…"

Persephone paused, she certainly did love Hades however no one has ever asked her to put those feelings into words before and it seems doing that would be difficult  she can't find a proper way to rationalize her feelings.

"what's this about Hestia? Why the sudden interest in my relationship"

Hades asked giving Persephone more time to think, he also could not find a way to rationalize his feelings but He was also curious as well.

"well Aphrodite is of the mind that love is passing, that you feel it and then it passes once you have sex with the person you feel it for"

Hestia thought to ignore the lie Hades said about her having a sudden interest in his relationship, she was always interested he just never told her anything whenever she asked.

"So you came to us because of that?"

"Yes, Although I think I'm right about my definition"

Aphrodite answered and Hades rolled his eyes, of course her definition of love would be so shallow, in all honesty she seemed to be the female version of Zeus.

"Before I give an answer, may I know what led you to wanna  talk about this and with us no less?"

Persephone questioned having done gathering her thoughts on the matter, she was quite curious.

Hearing Persephone's  question Hestia told them what led to the love talk and it was at this moment that Hades burst out in laughter, slapping the table and causing it shake due to the shock

"HAHAHAHAHA! HA! HAHAHAHA! OH my goodness that's rich, how unexpected Hahaha!! Hephaestus you Crack me up Ha!  Ha!"

 "okay Hades that's enough, I'm happy you find my situation amusing"

Aphrodite responded as a frown appeared on her face, He didn't have to laugh so hard, it may have been funny but surely it wasn't that funny.

"I do find it funny quite a bit, anyway if  Hephaestus won't have sex with you why not have sex with someone else it's not like there's not plenty of gods in Olympus plus it's what you've been doing before marrying"

"well since we're married now, Hephaestus made me agree to being a faithful partner and to try and make this relationship work plus ever since I got married to him everyone else has felt disgusting and their gazes and stares haven't been feeling as good as before"

She explained with her  gazes suddenly pointing down onto the table, hearing her words everyone exclaimed with an "Oh!!"  quite surprised by them, Hades was quite flabbergasted Aphrodite has suddenly become a complete opposite of herself however before he could speak his wife spoke first.

"Mhm I think I know why Hephaestus  won't do the deed with you"

"You do?"

"Not exactly but I can hazard a guess, according to your reputation you get around quite a lot and Hephaestus hasn't  really been around considering his former look."

Persephone took a brief pause and let her words sink into to  Aphrodite a bit before she continues to speak. Hearing her words Aphrodite felt a sudden uncomfortableness in her stomach, she wanted to let finish her words so she listened  but in the back of her brain she knew what Persephone would say.

"the two of you are different like unwashed spoon and a clean  spoon. Think of it like this would you eat with a dirty spoon that has been used by everyone without it being washed? I think that's why Hephaestus won't go any further you are akin an unwashed spoon"

A deep frown marred Aphrodite's face, she didn't like the way Persephone phrased her words, they weren't false but she didn't like them, anger bubbled up in her heart and she abruptly stood up ready to shout, however she did not forget where she was so instead she grit her teeth.

"How Dare you…."

She abruptly disappeared  leaving the underworld immediately, staying any longer wouldn't be ideal, she felt insulted very insulted.

..

Aphrodite returned to her Abode, with greater anger still apparent on her face, what Persephone said rang true in fact the anger was simply her trying to deny the truth, she couldn't admit such a thing publicly as such it was better to make a scene and leave.

As she arrived in her Home, the nymphs were already waiting for her ready to receive orders from her or rather they thought it would be best to always be ready Aphrodite was a spontaneous Goddess after all, however she simply walked right past and walked deeper into her palace all the way to the back toward  two double doors that were closed. She arrived and pushed them open.

"I'll be taking a long bath"

Taking a bath was something that was rare for the gods after all  unlike the Mortals they possess a magic to simply clean themselves and many of the Gods saw that using magic to clean yourself was far easier and better, Aphrodite was not exception to this but she  simply like water so she on rare occasions would take a bath, However today she was feeling especially filthy. Persephone's words triggered something within her.

Closing the door to the bath she then locked them, The bath was quite large  infact it was more of a pool than a bath but because it was inside and was steaming it was actually close to a sort of hot spring. She shed her clothes and let them fall on the floor and once she was naked, her  body trembled as she suddenly felt a number of hands that Started groping her in a way she didn't like

"Filthy, disgusting"

She uttered as she slowly descended the stairs that served as the only foothold in the room, her dainty and immaculately groomed feet touched the water and she began to submerge  her whole body leaving only her head before she swan to the center.

" I am dirty"

She held herself tight as she felt the sensation of being groped by various hands all over her body, akin to an unwashed spoon that has been used by everyone as it is, that was the metaphor Persephone had used and Aphrodite could not help but find it disgustingly accurate. A disgusting feeling deep in her stomach made itself known

"sickening"

Her entire body  was now submerged fully, her eyes were closed as she began to think to herself, the temperature of the water was hardly anything to consider, it didn't matter to her as long as it did it's job.

Thinking back to recent times, at first she hadn't understood why Ares's lust was so disgusting when she was confronted with it again, before it was hardly anything infact she welcomed it, she had thought it might have been because it was 2 weeks since she felt any lust from anyone as such she needed to get used to it but that was only half the case. Hephaestus was the first God to interrupt her self isolation and consequently the first person to feel lust from during the two weeks, at the time she paid no attention to it  because it was brief, however thinking about it now Hephaestus's lust was fundamentally different from any of the gods.

The lust from Gods like Ares or Poseidon was aggressive and demanding the type in which the result was given hence why Ares made the assumption that she would have sex with him after being done Hephaestus, this was her own fault  it wasn't because Ares had the wrong impression it's the impression she has been projecting so Ares wasn't at fault, Hephaestus's lust on the other hand it was  gentle and asking, it wasn't have sex with  me but instead  it was do you want to have sex with me?, it was such a breath of fresh air that she didn't realize that Other Gods don't project their lust that  way and  when she was faced with the difference she preferred Hephaestus's lust and the others just felt wrong.

She emerged from the water before submerging once again, this bath wasn't doing its job, she  still felt dirty. The hands  were sill there and  they didn't seem to be going away. the disgusting nauseating feeling at the pits of her stomach , was there to stay.

She actually quite likes Hephaestus, her marriage with him wasn't turning out as bad as she had initially thought and he seemed to be a person that was easy to be around or at the very least was someone she thought she could spend most of her time with and be completely content on that however they were different. She questioned in if their relationship could even work.

The hands weren't going away so she began to furiously rub her body using her hands but that didn't seem to be doing much.

"I'm such a whore "

....

A/N: to be completely honest, I kind of wanted to write a sort of prologue, where I write about Aphrodite being the whore she is, I think that would have been better for the story and for her development but I kinda didn't want that so I did do it.

what do you guys think, would it have been better or is it alright as it is?

A/N Hell's paradise favorite character?

for me it's Yuzuriha