persephone ✔

fighting in pyjamas

Everyone else had congregated in an area next to the forest. They were all dressed up in armour and had shields and weapons in their hands. Both the shields and weapons were made of the same bronze material as Carmine's sword.

They had split up into two groups and each group had a flag, a red and a blue one. Everyone's head had turned as they reached the area.

"Demigods! You know the rules! Play fair and try not to kill!" Everyone cheered and Persephone joined her siblings.

"So what are we playing?" She asked her brother Wheat.

"It's like Capture the flag, but deadly. The whole point of the game is to get their flag and protect our flag - which is the red one. Demeter's kids are in charge of guarding our flag, so we're normally out of the action, and if there is action, we stay out of the way." The 8-year old boy looked too small for his armour and shield, only being a good size for the dagger in his hands.

Persephone noticed that all her siblings had daggers and not swords, "I don't think you need to worry about shields or weapons because they won't attack a newbie, so don't worry." He assured her with a smile.

The groups began talking amongst themselves and began moving towards the forest in different directions.

Once they stabbed the flag into the ground in a valley, the children of Athena, Hephaestus, Zeus and some other minor gods all left the site, leaving the children of Demeter to spread out around the flag.

Around one hour of standing there passed, Persephone heard a sound, and then a large muscular guy jumped out from behind a tree, a sword pointed threateningly towards her.

"Daughter of Demeter, we haven't been introduced properly. I'm Ace, son of Ares." His black hair was cropped and he had a nasty scar across his face.

Apparently every other gods and goddesses besides Demeter and Iris had named their children normal names.

"Well now we have been introduced, so I'll get out of your way." She laughed nervously and backed away.

"No, no sweetie, now you prove why you deserve to be here." He smirked,  and immediately advanced on her, swiping his sword as she narrowly dodged.

He continued to push her back until she was up against a tree, next thing she knew, his sword was up against her throat, "Now you say goodbye." His voice was vicious and violent.

"Goodbye," She whispered and closed her fists.

From her right hand, her ring extended into a sword, and from her left, it extended into a shield, pushing Ace back with a huff.

"Woah!" She gasped and stared at the bronze weapons.

Looking up, held the shield up to the bronze sword that was coming down on her, and then she herself began to slash at Ace, who deflected her attacks. The noise level around them increased as people began gathering around, watching the battle. A 15-year old boy clad in armour - a son of Ares who had learnt to fight all his life - against a daughter of Demeter who wore sweatpants and a shirt and was going through her first sword fight.

She drew first blood and another scar was added to his face, the red beginning to trail down his chin.

This only seemed to infuriate him more as his attacks became more determined and less coordinated.

His hilt hit her shield, pushing her down and the blade hit her cheekbone, cutting a small clean line the size of her ear. Her elbow hit the stump of a tree, and her hands fell onto the grass, her sword and shield falling away from her.

The grass around her hands immediately died, and the trees green leaves began to turn brown.

Ace stopped his advances and stared at her face, and so did their audience, which appeared to be the entire school, Chiron stood there as well. They all had wide eyes and they all stood still.

"What?" She lifted her hand and touched her face, where the cut was.

Bringing her hand back, her mouth gaped open. Golden ichor - the blood of the gods - was on her finger. Touching the cut with another finger, it came back the same.

She had surprisingly never cut herself or gotten her blood tested before, every time someone tried to put a needle in, the steel always broke. This was the first time she had seen her blood.

"No, freaking, way," She muttered, inspecting the blood.

"A goddess." Ace gasped and staggered backwards.

Persephone kept shaking her head when Chiron spoke, "There's someone powerful at the borders, we have to go check."

He began galloping out of the forest and everyone began following him, eyes still watching Persephone.

"Ahaha, that's so cool! You're a goddess!" Carmine reached Persephone and stuck a hand out.

Smiling in thanks, Persephone grabbed her hand and they got up.

"Now let's go see what that powerful thing is." They followed the rest of the demigods to the front gate.

A tall woman with almost blonde hair stood, a green chiton dress that reached the ground. Her hair was twisted up the same way that Persephone's had been when she was claimed. Her face was unsmiling as she observed the audience, her lip in a straight line.

"Mummy?" Persephone walked forward and watched as her mother began to smile widely.

"My little flower petal," Demeter walked up to her daughter and placed her hands on Persephone's face, her thumb sweeping over the cut, "how I've missed you."

"Mummy," Persephone repeated in disbelief.

"We have a lot of catching up to do, and I'm sure you have questions." She took her left hand away and looked at the ichor, wiping it on a tall, white flower that grew by her side.

"Chiron, your office." Demeter looked to her brother and he nodded, beginning to walk to 'the School House'

"Demigods, we'll pause the games for the time being." He called back, none of them moving.

Once they reached the office, the door was closed behind them. There was silence for a while as none of them knew where to begin. Demeter went and sat on a chair, flowers growing through the floorboard cracks around her.

"Kore, come here." Demeter beckoned to her daughter, and Chiron began to put the puzzle pieces together in his head.

Demeter hugged Persephone tightly, releasing a shaky breath, "Mummy," Persephone began to cry, "why'd you give me away?"

"My little flower bud, it was to protect you - I would do anything to protect you," she scowled, eyeing the cut on Persephone's face, "including punishing that son of Ares. He was always a violent brute, I'm not surprised that his kids are too."

"No mummy, don't do that, it was an accident." Persephone knelt in front of her mother, relishing the fact that she was there.

"A wound from a child of Ares is never an accident, my little flower bud." Demeter gritted, green-yellow eyes staring into Persephone's

"No mummy, please you can't," Persephone begged Demeter, who sighed in response.

"As much as I have to ruin this reunion, I'm sure Persephone has some questions." Chiron interrupted.

Demeter cast a glare Chiron's way, "Sometimes ignorance is bliss my little flower bud, but there are some things that can't be avoided for long," Demeter frowned, "as I'm sure Chiron has already figured out, you, my love, are the goddess of spring."

"What?" Persephone shot up, gaping like a fish, "But her name is Kore, just Kore."

"Your original name is Kore, and you will always be Kore to me." Demeter smiled softly at her daughter.

"Then why did you call me Persephone too?"

"I didn't, the Moirae did, they met you, and dubbed you Persephone." Demeter scowled and leant back in her chair, looking regal.

"Bringer of Destruction." Persephone raised a brow.

From 'little girl' to 'bringer of destruction'.

"Those old hags." Demeter sighed.