Notes

Persephone is the Queen of Spring and things that Grow, a daughter of Demeter and one of the more powerful and well-known gods. She usually doesn't leave her realm, a series of stone caverns and hallways inside of a lone mountain, filled with vegetation and life, and even a river. Except one day she does leave.

And she comes across Hades, the young god of the afterlife. Usually he is accompanied by either Thanatos or Hypnos, the twin embodiments of death and sleep, whenever the other is busy overseeing the Underworld, and occasionally Charon, though only when Hypnos is available to pilot the boat.

Persephone goes to her father, Zeus, and asks after Hades, and Zeus tells her that Hades is very serious and reserved (the exact opposite of Persephone's exuberant nature) and that though he spends much time on the surface, collecting souls, Zeus expects that when he gets older he'll retire permanently to the Underworld, so that's why he won't make Hades an Olympian. Persephone is sad at the thought of never seeing him again, so she kidnaps him.

He soon grows to love her and she him. She teaches him to loosen up and have fun every once in a while, and he teaches her to be more serious. He also kills a lot of the vegetation in her realm because it was really just too much and it was triggering his allergies. It's a lot more sophisticated like this, anyway, less like gaia threw up in here and more like this is the realm of a powerful and sophisticated queen of spring. He also spends a lot of time with a lot of nymphs, her ladies in waiting.

meanwhile, charon, thanatos, and hypnos are loosing their shit and start going on a killing spree in their anger. this goes on for a few months before zeus gives in and makes persephone return hades. they are both devastated, and they decide to have one last meal. the nymphs have been gathering food from outside because death gods can't eat spring realm food, so they go all out. at the meal, hades eats bread with three poppy seeds on it without anyone noticing. afterwards, persephone brings him to olympus.

both thanatos and hypnos are there and they are extremely glad to see hades. zeus officially orders persephone to give hades back, and hades goes but reveals that he ate the bread with three seeds on it, and that the bread was from persephone's realm. everyone but persephone and hades are horrified, and zeus says that hades is now tied to the realm and must go there for three months a year. that's why winter is the month of death (because thanatos and hypnos get their anger out by killing people) and why poppies are associated with death (and sleep).

persephone always makes sure to have a bunch of poppy flowers growing in her realm when he comes to visit, and he's started a tradition of people adding poppies to their funeral ceremonies and it's like their own inside joke.