Everything seemed to be going the same as any other night. Each of the performers did their pieces and then the stage was set up for the Goddess of Spring. Aidan took up her place and the first scene went flawlessly. As expected, Linus appeared in a puff of smoke dressed in his usual red Elizabethan costume and gold skull mask with the ram's horns and carried her off. In the next scene the stage was decorated to look like the underworld with paper flames lining the walls in vibrant reds, orange and yellows. The furniture was painted gold with fake gemstones so that the audience would have no doubts that they were looking up Hells' throne room. The only real flame in the entire scene was a single brass Arabian oil lamp, positioned on a table just downstage of the throne.
Aidan quickly took her seat in the large throne on stage and took on a depressed sad air just before the curtain rose. She and Linus had performed this play so many times that the stage directions and dialogue were second nature to her. The first part of the scene involved various demons mocking her for being unhappy which included little rhymes and songs. This lasted several minutes and through it all she kept her gaze down and almost appeared to be crying. Finally, Hades made his grand entrance and commanded the fiends to leave them alone. The voice that spoke was not the strong English voice she had expected, but a whispered one with a nondescript accent. Upon hearing it she slowly looked up, careful to keep her expression sad and not break character. Standing before her in dressed in black breeches, a black and red brocade waistcoat and a long sleeved floor length robe of crimson velvet edged in a fine gold brocade stood Erik wearing the gold skull mask with horns. She had no idea how he managed to get on stage, but it was him and she didn't dare let on to the audience about the change.
"Why do you still weep?" he asked. This was not part of the script, but Aidan never let on.
"Because I miss the world above. My world. Everything I knew. Everything that was beautiful and alive. Here there is only death and unhappiness."
"There is beauty here too if you know where to look," he responded, then pointed to the paper flames fluttering in the background. Look at the way the colors dance in the flames. There is blue, gold, red and even white just like your precious flowers." He picked up one of the fake jewels that decorated the stage and held it out to her. "Have you ever peered inside a bauble such as this? If you turn it just so in the light then you will see a rainbow just like in your world above. No rain is necessary to create them here."
"And where is your illusion of happiness?" she challenged.
"Happiness? Happiness is something not even the Gods can create," he explained with a slight shake of his head.
"Why should you be happy? Do you deserve to be? You stole me from my mother and kept me a prisoner here." At her accusation he nodded, denying nothing then cast his gaze downward sadly.
"I was the first born son of Cronus, the first one he devoured to keep his throne and the last to be freed from his belly. Instead of ruling over the Gods by right of birth I was forced to draw lots and received the underworld as my kingdom. I keep order and balance between life and death, but there is no happiness for me here. There is light from the flames that burn, but I feel no warmth from them. The air is scented but not with the perfumes of flowers or the sweeter smells of cloth warmed in the sun mingling with a woman's own natural fragrance. I am surrounded by the finest gems ever created but they are cold and unfeeling and cannot match the fine soft hand of a woman when it holds yours."
"Do you think you can erase what you have done with a few pretty words?" she responded coldly.
"You're right, I should not have taken you the way I did, but would you have listened to me if I presented myself to you as I am, Hades the God of the underworld?"
She didn't answer. Erik may have seemed to be acting a part for the audience but it was no performance and Aidan knew it. They were talking of the past. How he had stolen her from the mortal world and made her a creature like himself. More importantly, he was speaking of how he had kept his true dark self a secret from her. In answer to his question she shook her head, admitting he was right.
"I suppose I wouldn't have."
"I must have watched you playing among the flowers and leaves a thousand times. So beautiful and so happy. Just seeing you made me feel lighter than I had felt in ages. I thought that if I brought you here then perhaps some of that gentleness, that light that seems to come from you so effortlessly could drive away some of the misery of my existence." He knelt down before her on one knee and looked at her imploringly through the mask. "Let me try to be the man you want me to be. Allow me that chance."
She didn't doubt that he meant it, but she wasn't sure she wanted to take that chance. There had to be a way to test him right here and now. Throwing away whatever resemblance to the original script they had been following, Aidan decided to test Erik before the audience and see where heart truly lay. For a creature given to burying all of his emotions this would not be easy.
"Do you love me?" she asked.
"I make you queen of Hell and offer you all its treasures and all you can do is question me?" Erik responded, still playing the part.
"I want to know." She stared into his eyes intently and Erik began to realize what she was doing and it vexed. His eyes glanced at the paper flames that decorated the stage then up at the stage hands and other actors waiting in the wings. He wanted to find a way to appease Aidan without having to admit that he might still possess wretched human emotions. "I must have an answer." Her words were soft.
