Chapter 7: The Match
Hades stood up tall and regal in the underworld. His clothes were made of the finest materials, gems of emerald, sapphire, ruby, as well as the less known beryl, tanzanite, and tsavorite all adorned his clothes. He wore many jeweled rings on his fingers. He had a crown upon his head which granted him the ability to disappear to the naked eye.
Still, he was every bit a king of the gods. His domain was the Underworld, and he prided himself on his domain of the land of the dead. In this land, he was unchallenged. The closest was when one or two mortals got ideas in their heads. Strangely, Heracles had also challenged him when he came for his final labor, yet still that was not what the King of the Underworld had expected.
Heracles was a man of few words, but of righteous action. He was by no means perfect, but the man certainly knew how to make an impression.
When he turned his head, there was another there who knew how to make an impression.
"Persephone," he said, stunned.
His wife wore a thin linen material over herself. In the material, there were black portions over her waist and legs, but over her breasts and sumptuous pussy, it was as transparent as Hades when he used his crown. It might as well not be there.
He strode up to her wanting to kiss his desirable wife.
"Not today, my husband," she said, holding up a hand. "I want to save my focus for supporting my champion."
She threw the skin of a dead lion over herself, draping her revealing form in the carnivorous creature. Somehow, that made Hades want her all the more.
"Patience, husband," she said, standing up to him and stroking his cock through his clothes. "You will have me soon enough. I promise. But today I am for my champion. Is that all right?"
Hades groaned from how his once virgin wife touched him. She was learning the tricks of the trade marvelously.
"Yes, you can be for your champion today," he said weakly.
"Thank you, my husband," she said, continuing to stroke. "We don't want you distracted today, do we?"
"No," Hades she, kissing her cheek and neck. "Faster, faster, my wife."
And of course, Persephone was able to take him well in hand. One look at her large, supple breasts made Hades twitch in her hand. She allowed him to touch her chest.
"Touch me, my husband," she whispered. "You do like your queen's body. Don't you?"
"Yes!"
"You want me, don't you?" she said with such seductiveness that she knew Hades could not answer. "Cum for me, my husband. Cum!"
And as if surrendering to her orders, Hades unleashed his seed onto the ground of their throne room. She smiled kindly and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek.
"Do you feel, my husband?"
Breathing heavily, Hades said, "Much better, my love."
"Then we should hurry. We do not want to be late."
And in a flash, the two vanished from the Underworld.
---
Heracles looked into his mirror. Hecould see some small definition where there had not been any before. He was grateful to Atlas. He was grateful to Hera as well in a way. If Atlas had not allowed him to lift the sky and Hera had not distracted him from the pain, he might not have the newfound strength he felt.
While he knew he could not have been like Atlas and held the sky indefinitely, he did know he could have held it for days without pain because of the time he was allowed to recover. He could only hope Atlas' time with his daughters proved helpful to the titan.
Turning from the mirror, he saw Ares and Apollo.
"Good luck together, brother!" Ares said, clapping his hand to Heracles' back. "I know, with your impressive strength, that you won't need it."
"I also want to wish you well, Heracles. Our father is known to get things his way. I think it would be good to be humbled by the only one of us who could."
"Is that all?" Heracles asked as he looked at his wardrobe for the day.
"Just be careful, brother," Ares warned carefully. "Our father is many things but he is not a fool, especially when it comes to his pride."
"We want you to be sure of yourself before you go into that circles Hera is drawing."
"Hera?" Heracles asked. "What does she have to do with anything?"
"Zeus ordered her to spell a circle so that no one outside can interfere, magically or physically," Apollo explained. "But knowing her animosity towards you, we want you to know this beforehand, so you can prepare if there should be treachery."
Heracles laughed and clasped them both on the shoulder. "Hera and I have come to reconcile our differences, brothers. I do not think she would do anything to harm me."
---
Hera loathed herself in that moment.
Even as Hera spelled the floor to drain Heracles' strength, she knew she would have to hurt Heracles. But harming him in his pride match with Zeus would save his life in the long term.
Hera was so caught up in her own work that she did not see Athena or Artemis approach her.
"Mother, what are you doing?" Athena wondered.
"A favor for Zeus," Hera said, standing up. Her hands glowed with magic to finish her handiwork.
"Maybe," Artemis said, next to the goddess of wisdom. "But I know when someone is making a spell to take power from another."
"That is only if any of you decide to interfere in today's events. If any of you try to interfere in this fight, you will be weakening Heracles."
"Is he that afraid?"
"Artemis," Hera said darkly. "You have no idea the depths of his fear.
---
Putting on his white loincloth, Heracles felt a little underdressed. Truth be told, he was not ashamed of his body, but since dying and hugging two queens only for his wayward cock to touch them, Heracles thought it might be best to wrap it up.
Looking down, he struggled to dress himself but it had been so long that the cloth came undone.
"Well, it is good to see you too," a soft, innocent female voice said.
"Persephone," Heracles cried, covering himself but at the same time happy to see her. "May I have a minute?"
"Oh no," she said, running at him.
When she jumped into the air, he dropped the cloth and caught her. Persephone weighed little more than a bag of feathers.She wrapped her legs around him, and his cock was starting to harden from the proximity of her body to his. Thankfully, though her dress was thin, it did provide a strong enough barrier for him to slide in, which helped him restrain himself from pushing into her when her ass bounced against his groin for a moment.
He set her down gently and decisively retrieved his wrappings.
"Your match is going to start soon and whether you win or lose, I think you will be too busy to see me before I return to the Underworld," she said kindly enough. "But there is something I want to discuss with you," she added, combing her copper brown hair back.
"And that is?" Heracles asked, figuring out how to dress himself.
"Have you picked the woman you want to have, should you win?"
"Well, I have not thought about it too much, Seph. I have been busy preparing."
"I had guessed. You're not like your father or uncles. When you say you will do something, you do it, but you go about it in the most honest way."
"What do you mean?" Heracles asked.
Looking at Persephone, he saw the tinge of sadness in her eyes.
"Did you know I have a daughter, Heracles?"
"Oh," he said, taken aback. "I didn't." That was not what he expected to say.
"And did you know I was kidnapped by my husband to protect me?"
"Protect you from who?" Heracles asked. Quickly, his mind worked out who. "Zeus."
"Even though I am his daughter, he wanted me."
"But what does that have to do with you and your daughter?"
"Zeus is the father, Heracles. I never told Hades. I have seen the two fight. Zeus is not stronger but Hades has scars on his body from his time in Cronos' belly. This let's Zeus overpower my husband if they get into an argument. And Hades would seek revenge on Zeus for doing what he did."
"Did he rape you, Seph?" Heracles asked, grabbing her hands.
Her face filled with sorrow and nodded. "It was while I was fulfilling my duties as the goddess of spring among the mortals. He came disguised as my husband, but when he touched me, I knew he was not my husband. I don't blame Hades, not in my heart of hearts, but there are times I look at my husband and I see Zeus and what he did when he forced himself on me. He even had the audacity to turn back before leaving."
"Persephone, I am so sorry."
"Don't you be sorry. Don't you dare. You did nothing wrong, Heracles," she said softly. "I am telling you this because you aren't like my husband or our father. Zeus forced himself on me to have me, and Hades brought me into the Underworld against my wishes originally. But not you. Even when you were desperate to get Cerberus from the Underworld, you asked. That is not a quality most gods have."
"Well, thank you," Heracles said, not letting go of her hands.
"But that's why I am here. I know what you want of Zeus and what he will give if you win. You will have his blessing and protection until you have a family."
"I think everyone knows that, Seph."
"But I want you to know what *I* want," she said. Slowly, and with so much courage and deliberation Persephone kissed his cheek. "I want to be the first woman you try with, Heracles. I can have children. I am a fertility goddess. I could give you an indestructible son. He would be a son that no one, not even Hera or Zeus could take away from you."
Heracles was taken aback and tried to pull away.
"Don't tell me you don't want me. I felt your desire in the Underworld. I don't want to embarrass you but I could feel you growing when I jumped on you. I *know* if I undressed you, you would ravage me more fiercely than either Hades or Zeus, and we could share that child."
"But Persephone. You're forgetting about Hades. Even if I defeat Zeus, Hades would not allow it."
"But he would!" she cried. "If you win, you will have the protection of Zeus. No god could harm you. And Hades would give me anything I wanted. He even said I could give my body to my champion today," she said as a half lie. "If you won, I could give you a son, Heracles. Isn't that what you want?"
"Yes but--"
"Don't you want me?" she asked, getting closer to him.
