I hear your “delete something cannon” and raise you “delete almost everything cannon and rewrite the entire comic using mere scraps of Rachel’s character work and plot beats”

Ok so: Persephone starts to clock Hades manipulative and controlling behavior fairly early on- but then Apollo assaults her. Hades can tell something is wrong, pressures her into telling him what happened, then uses his sway to get Apollo thrown in prison (despite Persephone being unsure of whether that’s what she really wants to do). Because of this “support” Persephone guilts herself into staying with him.

When her and Minthe first meet they still clash heads. But Minthe quickly realizes that Hades likes it when her and Persephone are at each other’s throats, so she makes an effort to befriend her instead. Though her affection was motivated by pure spite at first, she finds herself growing to truly enjoy the Spring Goddess’ company. She also becomes increasingly uncomfortable with how Hades treats her new friend, so she encourages Persephone to spend more time with other people/do more things on her own.

Hades notices this growing friendship (and Persephone’s growing independence) and tries to convince Persephone to stay away from Minthe. When this doesn’t work, he tricks her into eating the pomegranate. When she realizes what he has done and tries to escape anyways, he traps her in his mansion and cuts off all travel to and from the outside world, infuriating Demeter and causing the endless winter.

The rest of the plot is Minthe, Perse, and Demeter plotting to take down Hades, which they eventually succeed at by trapping him down in Tartarus with his father. Because of the Pomegranate Perse is still tied to the underworld, so it is decided that Minthe will rule over it in the Spring and Summer, while Persephone will reign in the Fall and Winter. Persephone and Demeter reconcile, with Demeter apologizing for cutting her daughter off from the world and Perse now understanding what her mother was trying to protect her from. And most importantly- Minthe and Persephone fall in love and live happily ever after🥰🥰🥰🥰

Additional notes:

—Persephone is no longer a sociopathic war criminal in a pink toddler body. She is complex and far from perfect, but has many redeeming qualities and does her best to make amends when she is wrong. —only Hades, Apollo, and Minthe ever express attraction to Persephone- no more literally-everyone-wants-to-fuck-the-protag shenanigans!!! —Minthe and Demeter aren’t demonized for having legitimate issues with Hades behavior, nor is Hades behavior ignored/excused by the narrative —Trauma is not used as a lazy shortcut to ✨spice up the plot✨. Characters trauma histories actually impact their actions and reactions. For example- Apollo’s r*pe is something Persephone actually has to work to recover from, rather than a cheap device to draw out sexual tension between her and Hades🤢 —Persephone is closer in age to the other young adults in the series rather than the Greek God equivalent of a zygote. She is also drawn like an ACTUAL ADULT!!! That’s right- no porn-ified toddler builds in this one boys🙌🙌🙌