Sweet Dreams

Just like every other city she had visited, Nyx couldn’t see the stars. They were few and far between here. No longer the wash of silver astral clouds that would swirl across the sky. No, here there were one or two little twinkles dotted about. It made her sad, or at least sadder than she already was. The people here wouldn’t spend hours looking up at the sky for those few disappointing specks, so why would they ever worship them like they did even just a hundred years ago? Her breath clouded in front of her as she exhaled loudly. This side of the veil had been her only escape. It was either a lifetime bound to a man who simply thought she was some prize that he deserved, or a life here... devoid of joy and hope. In the end, she had chosen the latter, against the wishes of her sister, and her mother... well that woman had made it clear how she felt about her youngest child. Demeter would only be angry that Morpheus would be hounding her for the whereabouts of his ‘prize’. Nyx exhaled again. She was currently lay on the hood of her car, staring up at a night sky that wasn’t even all that dark thanks to the artificial streetlights lining every street. Morpheus was certainly handsome, and the problem was that he knew that. Perhaps if things had taken a different route she could have forged some sort of relationship with him. But the simple truth was... her childish heart had long ago been stolen, and the problem with that? The sun loved the moon so much, he died each night to let her breathe.

Persephone leaned against the car beside her sister and sighed deeply, closing her deep blue eyes. "You're at it again, Nyx. You're mourning for something you don't even know you lost. There's so much going on in the world. So many beautiful things happening. Why are you here moping around?" She toyed with the end of her long blond braid and sighed again. The veil was weakening. He was going to come for her soon. The beautiful world she loved so much was going to fade into the darkness she was terrified by. Not even the man who spoke so gently to her could change her feelings about it.

“You’re right...” Nyx breathed, though didn’t sit up. “Disease, famine, war, rape, murder.... I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Tell me, Sephie, where do you find the beauty in those?” She asked, silver eyes continuing to star up at the pre dawn sky. There was the irony; one sister cursed to spend half her life in darkness, the other the mistress of it with no memory of her true self.

"Those things have to balance out the others. Can you imagine a totally perfect world?" Persephone said lightly. She climbed onto the car beside her sister and closed her eyes. "Why do the stars go away so early? For just an hour there's a darkness that scares me. I almost miss them. You know?" She added with a soft laugh. "I love their light."

“You should mourn them, not miss them.” Nyx pointed out as she lifted a cigarette to her lips before fishing into her pocket for her lighter. “And honestly, you should fear the light more. It takes true evil to live in the light and still manage to conceal its real face.”

"Nyx, you are so dramatic." Persephone laughed, closing her eyes. "Why is it always doom and gloom with you? You talk like it's always going to be winter. Spring always returns. I wish you'd remember that." She yawned, feeling herself unable to open her eyes again.

“And you, Sephie, are too naive. How else do you explain your other world vacation every year?” Nyx replies with another snort. She lay there a few moments more in silence, wanting to make certain her sister had indeed fallen asleep. The dark haired girl knew her sister was right; she was too dark and cynical, but it was hard to ask someone to understand what the world both looked and felt like when you had a great void where your hope should have been. She had to do this, for Persephone’s sake. “Take good care of her...” She breathed as she quietly laid the keys to her car down next to her sister. Her words didn’t exactly make it clear if she meant the car... or Nyx was asking the man she knew was always watching her sister to take care of the elder girl in her absence.

"It's a simple change and she doesn't even realize it." Mephisto said from the darkness beside his brother. "All she has to do is give in and the stars will be right where she left them. Foolish girl."

“Foolish, annoying, selfish. The girl is many things.” The other man responded. “But mostly... she is in the way. Why do you really think she forgot who she was?” He added with a wicked smile.

"And why do you think it is that your little flower will never love you?" Mephisto hissed, bearing his teeth. "You are a monster. Worse than the beast that guards your gates." He pushed the keys off the car, keeping Hades from crossing over the barrier and collecting his bride. It would be several more days before the barrier was weak enough for him to try again. This was a game that had been going on for centuries. Not so much a game as a war.

“Why do you care so much, brother?” Hades asked, smiling despite what Mephisto has just done. “She is a worthless creature with little power.”
Though he had addressed his brother, Hades was watching Persephone. He hoped the plan he had set in motion to keep Nyx far away would finally allow him to keep her sister for good.
Right around that moment Nyx should have been having what the humans would think a mental breakdown, and soon find herself locked up with all the other insane souls. This hadn’t been her plan. Not even close.

Persephone's eyes snapped open as her cellphone rang in her Jean pocket and she groaned. Despite the darkness, the dream she was having was so inviting. She touched her lips a long moment before answering. It was her mother. Something was very wrong...

“Where are you?!” Demeter demanded with a huff. “I have been calling all morning! Your foolish sister has only gotten herself committed.” She added. “Huffridge, or Hawthorne Peak, I don’t know what it was called. It sounded simply awful and I will not be setting foot there.” The elder woman paused, her entire tone suddenly changing. “I was speaking with a strange little man... it sounded like he has found a way to lift that troublesome little curse of yours.” Clearly she had said all she needed to about her youngest child, and as always all her attention was now focused on her eldest.

"Hawthorne." Persephone groaned, sliding off the car and looking around for her sister's keys. "And mother, that little man scares me. Mr. Carion looks like a vulture and he smells like one too." She left out the part that he felt like a gold digger. "Stay away from him." She added dropping to her knees to dig in the grass. 
Mephisto glared at the girl, his foot covering the keys as long as he could. He wouldn't help this  goddess. Not as long as the one he loved remained trapped within her own mind.

There was an airy chuckle from Demeter as Persephone made her comment. “Oh my sweet child, I keep him close only for what he can do for us, nothing more.” She confirmed. “But now that you bring up staying away from people... I don’t care that you will be forced into The darkness soon, that does not mean you just spend any amount of time with Hades! You stay away from him, so you hear me? I don’t like his infatuation, it’s the kind of thing that leads to him wishing to force you into giving him an heir!”
As mother and favourite daughter bickered, Nyx had been admitted and assigned a tiny room that was now her world. The people around her seemed genuinely, medically, crazy. She didn’t know how simply being unable to feel hope or joy meant that she belonged here. Was this really a step up from the life as the pet of a man her mother had sold her to?

Persephone laughed at her mother. That sounded like something that came out of a book. A cheesy one at that.

“It is easy to laugh, when you don’t know what he is capable of, child.” Demeter warned thinly. “You think he will be content to simply moon over you like a lovesick boy forever? A time will come when he will simply take what he so desires.”

Persephone wasn't about to tell her mother it wouldn't be the first time Hades would have a taste of her. She hung up her phone and abandoned her search for the keys. She'd just have to catch the bus. It wouldn't be a first time for that either. She didn't know why she didn't put much stock in the modern things. A cold wind rushed past her and she breathed it in. Summer was definitely over. Nyx had seen it coming long before she did. Her mood had turned darker weeks earlier. It was probably the reason doctor Cupid was so keen to have her sister committed. Of course that doctor believed everyone should be in a giggling, love stupor all the time. Even she didn't believe the world worked that way. 
Hours later, Persephone stepped into the meeting room and waited on her sister to be brought in to talk to her. She was surprised at how dark the room was, considering it was mid-day. It didn't seem that Hawthorne was big on light. Or protection from the veil. No wonder she could hear people screaming in their rooms. The monsters were able to peer in through the Underworld here.

Persephone was made to wait quite some time before her sister was finally thrust into the tiny room and forced to sit down. She wore the same as the other inmates; a white tank top and white pyjama bottoms, a pathetic attempt at making this dismal place seem clean and sterile like any other hospital. Her long hair already seemed rather dishevelled and she sported a cut in her lower lip. The younger girl was simply staring at her sister, giving Persephone a clear view of Nyx’s largely dilated pupils, evidence of the cocktail of drugs they had just filled her with before bringing her to the meeting room. Either the screaming didn’t bother her, or whatever drugs they had given her were dulling the sounds ripping across the veil in this dismal place. “You shouldn’t be here.” Nyx simply commented, still staring at her sister.

"Mother said you were here and I'm worried." Persephone admitted, folding her hands into her lap. "Dr Cupid is refusing to talk to me."

There was a tiny chirp of laughter from Nyx upon hearing this. “Of course he is; you’re still happy, filled with the joy of summer.” She responded. “Can’t use that. Needs misery.” She added as an afterthought, though he was mumbled somewhat as she scratched at her arm.

Persephone reached over and grabbed her sister's arm, shaking her head. "Nyx, this is too dangerous. I can't help you here. Mother is coming. She's going to let him have you. We can't fight them if you don't help me. Please?"

“Mother? Here?” Nyx asked with a snort as she glanced around the room. “Please, she wouldn't be caught dead here. Besides... if she was coming, she wouldn’t have called you first.”

"She met Carion. He's finally made the cross over. Nyx...I'm afraid." Persephone admitted. "They're so strong. I'm just not." She breathed.

“You are, but you aren’t alone either.” Nyx whispered. “You need to go to him, Sephie. He can keep you safe, he’s the only one who can.” She added, suddenly reaching across the table and grasping her sister’s hands. “Please, get out of this while you can. Forget mother, forget whatever alliance she has made. Just run.”

Persephone nodded. She wasn't sure what he would or could do for her but she truly had no choice. "What about you? You're not going to be safe here without me, are you?"

Nyx simply offered her sister a sad smile. “Don’t worry about me, no one misses the darkness, right?” Though she had been referring to her frame of mind, Nyx didn’t know her words had a whole other meaning if she simply remembered who she truly was. “Get out of here, I’ll find a way out too. Just... don’t come back here, ‘Kay? I don’t want to worry about you getting stuck here too.” She had no idea how grave her own situation actually was with a fellow immortal having taken up residence in the hospital.

"I need your help then...help me open the veil. It's thin here. I'm not strong enough to do it on my own." Persephone admitted. "Maybe I'll be able to drag you in with me..."

“You are, and you will do no such thing.” Nyx responded firmly. “You don’t need me, Sephie. You never have. You just need to have a little more faith in yourself. Pulling me through the veil will only cause more harm than good. You belong there, I do not.”

Persephone closed her eyes, nodding her head. She knew what her sister meant. "Be careful. Ok?" She whispered,  not knowing the other woman wouldn't hear her. When she opened her eyes it was the familiar darkness, not the room that she'd been brought into to see her sister. Her mother would not be happy about this. "Hades?" She called out, not sure of herself. 

Carion pushed his way into the tiny room where Nyx was held, his bony fingers tapping on the table top that separated him from the dark haired young woman. "Open your eyes, girl." He croaked out. "There's no hiding from your fate. You can't hide behind your sister anymore."