Kratos, Pinkie, and Calliope continued to hold each other and enjoy their reunion until, eventually, they were disturbed by the Elysium Plains shaking as though in an earthquake. Sighing, Pinkie stepped back from the hug. "That'll be Atlas," Pinkie said sadly. She turned to Persephone. "Now, what was your plan again? We're ready to listen."
Persephone, for her part, stayed right where she was, her arms wrapped around her slim body, struggling to reach the bleeding stumps where her wings had been attached, whimpering silently in pain.
"Oh...right...I did that..." Pinkie recalled, rubbing the back of her head. "Well, now how are we supposed to figure out what we're supposed to do?"
Kratos stood up. "Stop Atlas," he said simply.
"But how?" Calliope asked in concern. "We don't even know where he is-"
"He climbs the Tower that holds up the world," a nearby wraith said in a familiar voice.
"Mr. Charon?" Pinkie asked in surprise. "You can use the wraiths?"
"It is difficult, but this is important. Atlas holds Helios in his hand, and will use him to destroy the tower, causing Olympus, the world of man, and the Underworld to be destroyed. All life as we know it - save the Titans chained in the depths of Tartarus - will be destroyed."
Pinkie's jaw dropped as Kratos and Calliope gasped in shock and fear. "Wow," Pinkie said as Calliope buried her face against Kratos' leg, "hasn't Persephone ever heard of di-wait, that won't be a thing for another 2000 years at least." She rubbed her chin. "Daddy, you should go take care of Atlas. I'll keep an eye on Per-"
"No!" Calliope wailed. "Don't go away again, Father!" She clung to Kratos' leg desperately.
As Kratos looked down at her, pain and grief etched into his features, Pinkie stepped forward. "I'll handle this, Daddy!" she said, pulling Calliope away.
"But-" Calliope began, reaching for Kratos.
"Sis," Pinkie explained soothingly, "we have to stop Atlas and save the world. If we don't, you'll cease to be, too. Daddy can't allow that. We may have to leave you behind, but it's to save you-"
"No!" Calliope yelled. "I don't want Father to leave me again! Take me with you!"
Pinkie tilted her head. "You mean...you want to leave the Elysium Fields - the Paradise of the afterlife - and gamble the purity of your soul and future return to this place, just so you can be with Daddy?"
Calliope nodded. "It's not paradise if I can never see Father again," she said firmly, tears beading her eyes as she struggled to hold back weeping.
Pinkie stared at Calliope for a while, then grinned. "Okay!" Pinkie said happily. "I can work with that!"
"You can?" Calliope asked, surprised.
Nodding, Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out the indestructible armor chunks and a strange suit of armor. "That's weird. That's not the armor I stuck in there..." Sticking her head inside the helmet, she squealed happily. "This is even better!" She glanced at the armor chunks. "I also remember grabbing a lot more of those. Weird. But I can work with this!" Grabbing each piece of the armor suit one by one and a chunk of the unbreakable armor, stuffing them into her mane together. When she pulled them back out, each piece of the armor suit had taken on the golden sheen of the armor chunks she had gathered. "Put this on!" she told Calliope, pushing the now golden armor suit towards her.
Calliope blinked. "Umm...okay?" Shrugging her shoulders, Calliope carefully donned the armor suit with Pinkie's help. "This is heavy!" she complained once fully equipped. "I can barely move and it's too hot!"
"That's because you're still subconsciously holding onto your physical form," Pinkie explained. "But you don't actually have one. You're a spirit. If you relax and let go of your physical form, it'll be your spirit holding the weight of the armor...and this armor is designed to be worn by a spirit!"
"How...how do I do that?" Calliope asked.
"Somewhere in your mind is a tension," Pinkie explained, "like a muscle that doesn't want to relax. Find it...and relax it."
Calliope nodded, closing her eyes. Staring through the eye slots of the helmet, Pinkie could still see her face. And then her face vanished, and blue glowing spheres appeared as eyes. "Did it work?" Calliope asked, her voice echoing in the metal.
"Walk about and find out!" Pinkie suggested.
Calliope pushed herself to her feet and took a few steps forward. After a bit, she began running around easily. "Wow!" she cried happily. "This is amazing!"
"Now you can come with us and fight alongside us!" Pinkie said happily. "Come on, now I have to give Daddy back his powers!" The pair rushed over to Kratos.
Kratos, for his part, could only stare in amazement at what happened. "...How?"
Pinkie blinked. "You...you've never asked me that before," she said nervously. "I...I don't know how to explain it..."
Kratos blinked, then shook his head. "Then don't," he said bluntly. Kneeling down, he pulled Calliope into a hug, feeling the armor against his skin. "This is a gift beyond price. I will not question it."
"Father..." Calliope returned the embrace, nearly clocking Kratos in the head with her shield. "Sorry!"
"And you'll need this, Daddy!" she said, pulling out the orb containing the Blades and stuffing it into him.
Kratos' body glowed, the white and red coming back to his body as the Blades chained themselves to his arms. Seeing Calliope stagger back in shock, he closed his eyes against the pain he knew was coming. Calliope remembered the image of the one who had killed her...
Calliope stared up at him. "...the red glow's gone," she said finally.
"Red glow?" Pinkie asked.
"There was a red glow in your eyes before, Father," Calliope explained. "It's...it's gone now." Rushing forward, she hugged him, still only coming up to his waist in her armored form. "You're you again..."
Tears beading his eyes, Kratos rested a hand on the back of the helmet.
"Okay Daddy!" Pinkie called happily. "Now you need to go deal with Atlas." She pulled the wings from her back. "Nobody caught the joke, so I don't need to be a Pegasus. You'll need these more than I will." She stuck the wings to Kratos' back.
Wings of Persephone Acquired
These wings allow you to glide after every jump. Your strength allows you to flap them up to three times for extra altitude.
Nodding, Kratos rushed off to confront Atlas.
"So what do we do?" Calliope asked.
"Address the cause of the problem," she said as she approached Persephone.
Persephone glared up at her. "So now you come to kill me?" she demanded. "I welcome death-"
"Nope!" Pinkie interrupted. "I'm here to save you!"
Persephone stared at her in blank incomprehension. "What?"
"This whole thing is because you're married to a man you don't love and have to live somewhere you don't like, right?" Pinkie asked. "I can help you with that."
Persephone snorted in disbelief. "How?"
Reaching into her mane, Pinkie pulled out a bottle filled with black fog and sparkling lights. "This is a potion made from Morpheus' fog and a few other things. Drink it, and you'll be bound in slumber until your wings grow back in...which will last until one of two things happen."
Persephone stared at her. "What two things?"
"First, until Hades has changed to become a man you can love, and you can live with him outside the Underworld." Pinkie smirked at Persephone's disbelieving laughter. "Second, until civilization's progressed to the point where you can compel Olympus to dissolve the marriage and leave him."
Persephone thought about this for a time. "I tried to destroy the world. Why do this for me?"
"Because otherwise, Daddy has to kill you, which will make an enemy of Hades," Pinkie explained. "Cause if Hades still pines for you when you're so cold to him, he must really love you, and would never forgive your death no matter what the reason."
"It is not love," Persephone scowled.
"You think he crossed Zeus, made an enemy of your mother, and risked war on Olympus, just cause he had the hots for you?" Pinkie asked disdainfully. "You're good looking, but no offense, you're no Aphrodite. You aren't worth that much on looks alone."
Persephone frowned. "You...you truly think he...loves me? That much?"
Pinkie nodded. "Yupperooni! And I'm gonna see to it that he changes to become a man you can love. Trust me, trust me!"
Persephone sighed. "I have nothing to lose. Give me the potion." Accepting it, she downed the bottle's contents in a single gulp. "...not bad..." she mumbled as she fell backwards, sunk in slumber.
With Atlas defeated, chained to support the world he had sought to collapse, Kratos used his new wings to glide back down into Elysium to check on his daughters. He found them standing beside the fallen form of Persephone. "Is she..."
"Sleeping!" Pinkie replied. "And I've got a promise to keep before we go. Speaking of, how are we going to get out of here?"
"I shall give you three a lift," Helios said, coming in to land gently beside the trio. "It it the least I can do for your efforts in rescuing me." He turned to Kratos. "I will honor my sister's word to you, Ghost of Sparta. You have a staunch ally on Olympus."
Not trusting himself to speak, Kratos merely nodded.
Smiling, Helios called up his chariot, energizing the Fire Steeds with his own power so they could manifest in the Underworld. "All aboard," he said calmly.
"Before we head back up," Pinkie requested, "can we swing by Hades' palace? I need to have words with him. That, and we should probably give him his wife to take care of."
Nodding, Helios lifted Persephone onto the chariot as the others clambered aboard. He paused briefly as he took the reins. "Why is Zephyros afraid of you?" he asked Pinkie.
"I dunno," Pinkie admitted. "All I did was flirt with him. Do you think I was too forward, Daddy?"
Helios burst into laughter as he snapped the reins, guiding them to Hades' palace. The God of the Underworld awaited them. As soon as they landed, he rushed to Persephone's side, anguish and grief visible even through the war helm he wore. He gently stroked her still cheek.
"Mr. Hades," Pinkie began, calling his attention. "You know why this all happened, don't you?"
Turning to her, Hades nodded sadly.
"She didn't love you, and yet she is forced to be wed to you," Pinkie explained. "And she's forced to live in a place she despises." She leaned back and crossed her forelegs over her barrel. "If we don't want something like this to happen all over again when she wakes up, we need to fix that, don't we?"
Hades looked to Persephone, then back to Pinkie.
"Oh, I'm not saying you have to dissolve the marriage!" Pinkie hastened to reassure him. "Though if you truly love her and can't fix things otherwise, you really should. But for now, I'm going to teach you a few things about women that should help you get along with her better. You should take some notes."
Hades quickly pulled out a scroll and a quill.
"First off, you need to make her feel loved," Pinkie began. "She doesn't really believe that it's love, she thinks you're only motivated by lust. Show her she's wrong. Take the time to romance her. Give her gifts of flowers and chocolates, other things like that. Find out what she likes and give her those things. Ask Apollo to give you some lessons in writing poetry so you can write her a love poem. Show her that it is your heart that yearns for her, far more than your loins."
Seeing that Hades was taking thorough notes, Pinkie continued. "Second, I know she has to stay with you for half the year, but does she have to stay down here?" At Hades shocked pause, Pinkie began to explain. "I mean seriously, do you really have to oversee every single little detail of the workings of the Underworld? Can't you hire - or make - a few qualified administrators to handle the day-to-day details so you're only needed for the major stuff? If you do that, then you can find some uninhabited island in the overworld, build a palace for you and Persephone to live in when she's staying with you, and keep her happy? Decorate it with some bright colored carpets, wall hangings, and throw pillows-" At Hades grunt, she amended. "Okay, maybe bright colors aren't your thing, but there's a difference between dark and dreary. You can be the first without being the second. Go for some midnight blue, space black, and some constellation patterned chandeliers. Go all out to show her you want her to be happy with you."
Seeing Hades accept these things, she then hopped up to his shoulder. "One last thing, and this is important. From the things I've read wandering around all these temples with Daddy, it seems a lot of guys don't really think about this...but when it comes to intimate moments, make sure she enjoys herself too, know what I mean?" She nudged his armored cheek conspiratorially. "I'm sure Aphrodite can give you a few tips, or maybe some books on the subject?"
Pinkie Pie was oblivious to - and Calliope confused by - the bright blushes staining the cheeks of Kratos, Helios, Hades, and all three Fire Steeds.
"You got all that?" Pinkie Pie asked. Hades nodded. "Good. Now, Daddy and I are going to take Sissy with us back up to the Overworld." When Hades started to object, Pinkie held up a hoof. "First off, her soul's currently slated for Elysium and a paradisic afterlife, right? Well, she said herself that it won't be paradise if she never sees Daddy again, so if you make her stay you are giving her a punishment she hasn't earned, violating your own rules. She'll stay in the Spirit Armor so she can fight alongside Daddy, too. You can consider it repayment for not killing Persephone and giving you all this advice on how to fix your marriage."
Hades let out a loud sigh, then nodded in acquiescence.
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said happily. "We're ready to go, Daddy! Ride on, Zephyros!" Pinkie giggled. "Or maybe ride on me?" She quirked her eyebrows at Zephyros flirtatiously.
Before Helios could snap the reins, the three steeds yanked the chariot back towards the Overworld. "I begin to see Zephyros' reasoning," Helios muttered nervously. "Spartan, may I have my shield back?"
Nodding, Kratos returned the shield, kneeling down to embrace his daughters. He was determined to never be parted from them again.
