Little Miss Flames and Flowers (sequel to TRCC!!)

[Macaria]

Yessiree! It's the sequel to The REAL Cosmic Couple! Macaria's story!!

This one's gonna be a bit different then The REAL Cosmic Couple. This one isn't completed yet, so after I catch up with the chapters posted on FF.net on here, you'll have to all wait for the next update like everyone else, instead of searching it on Fanfiction and reading ahead, like some people did - COUGHCOUGH ELISA AND JIM COUGH - so ha, ha. XD

Here ya go! Little Miss Flames and Flowers!!

OH! And please. Remember to review!! I love reviews. They make me sparkle like a Twilight vampire. ;D

OH AGAIN! I recommend reading The REAL Cosmic Couple if you haven't before reading this. Thanks! Enjoy!!

Introduction

“I hate this place,” Meg said with a shudder, narrowing her eyes and staring in disgust at the walls around her.

Hercules made a face, “It’s so dark in here,” he agreed, “and it smells.”

“Yeah, they could easily fix that with a few scented candles,” Meg rolled her eyes, “I mean, seriously.”

The two were in the Underworld. And the reason didn’t involve visiting a certain King and Queen of the place. Both had nasty tempers, and neither Hercules nor Meg was willing to face them.

No, the two were in the Underworld for a different reason.

“So do you think Macaria’ll oblige?” Hercules asked as he and Meg trekked through a tunnel which was scattered with bones.

“I dunno,” replied Meg, “She did tell us all about her parent’s past. But I don’t know whether or not she’ll want to tell us about her past. Probably not.”

“I guess,” said Hercules, “But it’s worth a shot, right?”

“Wrong.”

Hercules and Meg turned in surprise.

“She won’t say anything,” Persephone continued, “And not just because she hates talking about herself—and she does—but because she doesn’t know it all.” The goddess paused. “She doesn’t know what happened before she was born, she doesn’t know what happened because of her birth…she doesn’t know that you—” She looked at Hercules, “— and her were born on the same day.”

“We were?” Hercules gasped, “I didn’t know that!”

“And I’ll bet you didn’t know that not only were you born on the same day, but in the same year, in the same month, same hour, same minute, same second.”

Hercules was stunned into silence.

“So…they’re like twins, almost,” said Meg.

“Mm,” said Persephone.

“Why didn’t I know about this?” Hercules wondered aloud, “And…and do my parents know?”

“Of course they know,” Persephone sneered, and her face transformed into a nasty scowl, “They just don’t care.”

“My parents are very caring people,” said Hercules defensively.

“Please!” Persephone laughed bitterly. “They’re selfish, stupid, and cruel. If they are ‘caring people,’ then they must only be caring to the ‘in-crowd.’”

“They’re only like that because you keep trying to overthrow Olympus,” argued the demi-god.

“You idiot,” she snarled, “You don’t know anything. Your precious parents are the nastiest pair of gods I know. You wouldn’t know it, you’re their son. You don’t know how cruel they are…” She stared at the floor briefly, a scowl forming on her face again.

“So…are you planning on, I dunno, telling us?” Meg said finally.

Persephone laughed again. “Yeah, right. Get your own storyteller, I’m busy.” The Queen of the Underworld turned and started to walk away.

And then she stopped in her tracks.

But only because she couldn’t go any further.

“Let go of me,” Persephone hissed, trying to break free of Hercules’ tight grip on her arm.

“But…I wanna know the story,” Hercules pleaded, not loosening his grip at all.

“LET GO OF ME!” Persephone screamed, and he reluctantly obeyed. She stumbled backwards, glaring furiously at Hercules.

“Alright, fine, Jerkules,” she snapped. A wave of her hand, and two chairs appeared. She herself leaned against a black, smoky pillar. Her pose was almost identical to the one that Hades himself was usually in at Olympus gatherings.

“Do me a favor,” she said, “Make sure this—the things I tell you, the story—never leaves the Underworld.”

“But what about Bob?” said Hercules.

“Screw Bob,” said Persephone, “Do you want me to tell you, or not?”

“Yes,” said Hercules, “But—”

“But nothing. Shut up and listen.” She scowled at him.

“No need to be hurtful,” Hercules mumbled.

Persephone gave him a look (Meg rolled her eyes at the goddess) and said, “Okay. Okay, you want to hear the story of my daughter….you’re getting it. Little Miss Flames-and-Flowers…”

[Warren Peace]

Warren: *grabs popcorn* Maci's life story, here I come.

[Hades]

Chapter I-- Rhea Talks to the Fates, and the Fates Give Persephone and Hera an Idea

Rhea stormed through the halls of the Underworld, quickly and furiously, but quietly so she wouldn’t wake her son and granddaughter/daughter-in-law ().

She knew her way around the place pretty well. Taking a detour to avoid passing the pits of Tartarus—where her insane ex-husband was stored—Rhea finally arrived at a door.

A door which she scowled at, then pushed open. It hit the opposite wall with a bang.

Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos didn’t turn around.

“Rhea,” greeted Lachesis, still without turning.

“We were expecting you,” chimed Clotho.

“I figured as much,” said Rhea grimly.

“Well, don’t just stand there,” said Atropos, “Come in, come in. Let’s talk.” The three finally faced her.

Rhea entered, arms folded silently.

“What’s the problem?” said Lachesis, taking the eye from Clotho and popping it in her socket.

Rhea’s lips curved into a tiny smile. “Don’t you know?”

“Of course,” sniffed Clotho, shooting an eyeless glare at Lachesis.

“But we’ll let you talk,” said Lachesis.

“It seems to make people happy,” added Atropos, grinning toothlessly, and taking the eye from her.

Rhea was not amused. “You said—you promised that you’d make it happen.”

“We will,” said Atropos calmly.

“When?” demanded Rhea, “This is important!”

“We know,” said Clotho, and she swiped the eye from Atroposes’ socket.

“Their child must be born…in fact...it needs to be conceived.”

“We know,” said Lachesis. She thumped Clotho on the back of her head, and the eye popped out and fell into her hand.

“Both of them. Both of them need to be conceived, both of them need to be born,” said Rhea, “And I know you haven’t done it yet.”

“We will,” assured Atropos.

“When? Time is running out. Persephone’s got to go up to Earth in several months, and if she’s on Earth than she can’t be impregnated by Hades…”

Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos shrugged as one. Atropos held out an outstretched hand, and Lachesis reluctantly gave her the eye. She pushed it into her socket with a sickening sound, and blinked at Rhea.

“And her child’s got to be born in fall. Therefore, it has to be conceived in a few months. In February, in fact,” Rhea continued.

“And what of the other one?” questioned Lachesis, “When do you desire him to be born?”

“We’ve already discussed this,” scolded Rhea, “And don’t you know already, anyway?”

The three completely ignored the last comment, focusing instead on the former.

“Minds change,” said Clotho simply and the other two Fates nodded in agreement.

“My mind hasn’t,” Rhea said, “Not this time.”

“You desire them to be born on the same day, then,” said Atropos, “as planned. Nothing’s changed?”

“Same day, same hour,” corrected Rhea, “same minute. Same second. And no, nothing’s changed. Everything must go on as planned.”

“It’ll be difficult to do,” mused Lachesis, “There will be much manipulating to do.” One hand on her bony chin, she stared without an eye at the stone ceiling, thinking.

“But it’s still do-able,” croaked Atropos. Clotho made a wild and blind grab for the eye, and she stepped backwards to avoid her.

“It had better be,” said Rhea, “Many things are resting on the birth of these two.”

“We know,” squawked Clotho, finally closing her thin fingers around the precious eye, and pulling it out of Atropos’s’ head.

“Would you three knock it off already?” Rhea demanded, “Forget the eye for a second, I’m trying to carry on a conversation.”

The three Fates stopped and scowled up at her. Clotho, who hadn’t gotten a chance to insert it into one of her sockets, was petting the eye with one finger.

“Look,” said Rhea, “I understand this is going to be difficult. The birth of Hercules and Macaria is going to stir up more than a few feuds…in fact, it’s going to stir up a war. But, of course, you already knew that.”

They nodded silently. Clotho popped the eye into her left eye socket.

“I know you can’t impregnate the two now,” Rhea went on, “it’s much too early, anyway. Like I said, they both have to be conceived in February…but for Olympus’ sake, at least put the idea into their heads. The last thing we want is for this to be an accidental, unwanted pregnancy.”

“We can give them the thought tonight,” the three promised simultaneously.

Rhea smiled and nodded. “Excellent. I’m leaving this in your hands, now; please make sure everything is kept under control. I’ve got it all planned out in my head. A slip-up could ruin it all.”

“We’re the Fates!” exclaimed Lachesis, annoyed, and grabbing the eye from Clotho.

“We don’t make slip-ups,” huffed Atropos, folding her spindly arms.

“Except for Atlantis,” piped up Clotho, “but that was Atropos’s’ fault.”

Atropos twisted her head to glare at Clotho. Empty eye sockets, surprisingly, could accomplish a glare very well. “It was not my fault. You were moving the Tapestry too much, it was hard to focus on one point with my scissors.”

“I was holding the Tapestry nice and steady!” protested Clotho, “and I’m not the one who cut Atlantis off, anyway!”

Lachesis rolled her…eye.

Rhea swiftly exited as the two sisters started to argue fiercely.

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Normally, Hades didn’t mind it when Persephone looked at him, in fact, he absolutely loved it. This time, however, she was looking at him with such an odd expression that he was a little unnerved. That coupled with the fact that it was literally the middle of the night didn’t help much, either.

“…Seph?” he questioned, propping himself up on one elbow and staring at Persephone with a raised eyebrow.

“…yes?” she said foggily. The expression on her face was one of extreme confusion, combined with surprise and happiness and hope…

Hades gave her an odd look. “Okay…uh, why are you looking at me like that?”

Persephone looked guiltily down at the black sheets covering their bed.

“Did I do something?” he pressed.

“No,” she said, blinking once, then again, “I just…well…um…” She sighed, and laughed. “Never mind. It’s just…nothing, is all. Forget it.”

Hades tilted his head curiously. “I did something, didn’t I?”

“Not this time,” said Persephone with a smirk.

Hades gave her a look. She shrugged.

“Seriously, what’s up?” he said after a second or two.

“Nothing,” she repeated, sitting up, leaning back against black pillows and pulling the black blanket around her glowing body.

Hades, too, sat up and looked at her oddly. “The way you were looking at me before…well, hey, it did not look like it was ‘nothing.’”

She laughed again, and hooking an arm around his neck, assured him, “It was nothing, okay? Forget it. It was a stupid thought. Drop it.”

It had been nearly a hundred years since he had first kidnapped her, nearly a hundred years since they had gotten (re)married. Nothing had really changed—Demeter still hated him and their marriage, the Pomegranate Agreement was still in function, Hecate was still making herself scarce, and Hades still went pretty much crazy with love and disbelief whenever Persephone touched him (and gods, had she been touching him these past 100 years[hint, hint].).

“Alright, alright, fine,” he grumbled hesitantly, and sank back onto pillows next to her, “Whatever.”

Persephone smiled as he closed his eyes, and murmured under her breath, mostly to herself, but also to him (although it wasn’t intended for him to hear her), “Besides, I’m sure you wouldn’t even want to have a baby, anyway…”

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“Zeus, dear,” said Hera.

Zeus muttered something.

“Zeus,” said Hera again. She shoved him lightly.

He groaned, and rolled over with a scowl. “Can’t this wait ‘til morning?” he mumbled.

“I want to have another child,” she said suddenly.

Zeus was suddenly very awake. “What? Why? We’ve already got plenty of children.”

Hera scowled. “You've got plenty of children. I was talking about our children.”

“That’s what I was talking about, too.”

“When I say ‘our’ I mean your children…and mine.”

“Oh,” said Zeus. He was silent for a second. “We’ve already got four kids, why do you need more?”

“Because Eris is psychotic, Ares is a nut-job and waaay too violent, Hebe is too little, and Hephaestus is a mutant,” said Hera flatly.

“He’s only a mutant because you threw him off Olympus when he was born,” Zeus pointed out.

Hera ignored him. “I want to have a normal child.”

Zeus yawned. “Whatever. We’ll talk about it in the morning.” He rolled over, and, before she could get another word in, fell fast asleep.

Hera scowled, sighed, and closed her eyes in agreement.

[~Elisa Maza~]

Eris: Psychotic?? I'd like to see a normal child come from those two! I'll show her psychotic!

Elisa: Down, Eris! I wanna read the rest of the story without you raving in my ear.

Eris: Oh look who's talking, Mrs-Oh-I'm-so-swoony-because-Hades-gave-Persepone-a-real-smile! You wouldn't shut up about that for weeks!

[Macaria]

Chapter II--The... "Idea" Haunts Persephone, and Hades and Persephone (as well as Zeus and Hera) Make a Descision

Persephone sighed and trailed one glowing pink finger in the waters of the Acheron River.

Why was it so hard for her to get the ridiculous idea out of her head? It was ridiculous. Not the idea of Hades as a father—which was pretty outrageous to think about—but her as a mother. Even though she had been married for a hundred years now, she was still sort of a reckless teenager. Of course, if she and Hades did have a child, she would love it and nurture it and et cetera, like she was supposed to; but in all honesty, she’d have no idea what she was doing. Demeter was hardly a good example of a parent.

But the idea, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it, no matter how many times she told herself to drop it, wouldn’t leave her alone.

It was getting annoying.

Persephone hadn’t brought up the idea to Hades. She wasn’t going to, not yet. No, not yet. It was just an idea, a stupid idea.

An idea which she couldn’t stop thinking about.

It ran around her head when she slept, when she woke, when she was with Hades or tormenting the imps.

Persephone had, in fact, been so unnaturally quiet because of this that (she could tell) Hades was starting to get worried. Worried that she was getting sick, maybe? Hah. The only thing she was suffering from was ‘I-think-I-wanna-have-a-baby-itis’ and it was busy ravaging her body and mind.

Sighing again, the goddess withdrew her finger and wandered off to think some more.


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Hades was, in fact, seriously worried.

Persephone barely spoke. She barely ate. When she did sleep, which lately wasn’t often, she slept restlessly. And she would just…stare at him in that odd way she had stared at him a few nights ago.

Had Persephone grown tired of him after all these years? Was she having regrets about marrying him 100 years ago, did she want out of the whole thing?

His hair flickered softly at the thought, and he sank uncomfortably backwards into his marble throne. Hades desperately hoped it wasn’t the case. Even if she had grown tired of him, he still loved her dearly, and doubted that he would ever stop.

Yellow eyes traveled to the empty flower-shaped crystal throne next to his.

“Where is she…?” Hades muttered to himself, and his gaze swept the room; he hadn’t seen her since morning, which, now, had been hours ago.

He rose from his throne and glided to the door, throwing it open with long, thin fingers, and then swirling out to locate her.


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Hades found her on the floor, her arms and legs spread out so she looked like a giant X. Persephone was staring at the ceiling, and was completely motionless, except for the slight rise-and-fall of her chest as she took each breath.

He thought for a panicky second she had passed out, then realized she was fully awake, just…lost in thought.

Hades knelt and pulled her into a loose embrace, more than relieved when she returned the gesture.

“Why do you feel the need to sneak up on me?” Persephone said with a tiny giggle.

He smirked. “Did I scare you?”

“No. I was just caught off guard.”

“Damn,” he said, smirk still in place, and she rolled her eyes teasingly. Then, her head falling back and resting lightly on his chest, Persephone closed her eyes and became submerged in thought once more.

He waited a few seconds for her to say something, but after that, it was clear she was done. Hades cocked his head and spoke awkwardly, “Seph, babe, what’s goin’ on? You’ve been acting…like…not yourself for days.”

Hades paused, and then admitted, “And I’m getting kinda nervous.”

She opened her violet eyes and looked at him, just a touch of concern in her face. “Don’t be nervous, there’s nothing wrong. I’ve just been thinking.”

“About?” he questioned.

Persephone paused. “Oh…lots of things.”

“Way to be specific,” Hades rolled his eyes. “Like…?”

“Like…” She shook her head, thinking, and then shrugged indifferently. “Like, I dunno, what our kids would look like if we had any.” She wasn’t lying entirely; it was what she had been thinking about at the moment, but not what she had been thinking about for the past few days.

Hades’ eyes widened in record speed, and, subconsciously, he slightly tightened his hold on her. “You—you’re not…not pregnant or anything, right?” he said, at a total loss, on the edge of a panic attack. Shouldn’t she had said anything if she was pregnant? Was it right for her to…to keep the subject hidden like that, not even bring it up once? Wasn’t that extremely cruel of her?! And how long had she been thinking about this? He, in all honesty, hadn’t thought of childbirth once since they had gotten married.

“No!” she answered hurriedly, “No, no, I’m not. I was just…thinking, is all.” Persephone stood up, and Hades rose with her, blinking in confusion and trying to get a grasp on the situation.

“Is all,” he finally repeated, “Right.”

She shrugged and smiled.

Hades narrowed his eyes and attempted to determine whether she had really been thinking about that, whether or not it really was ‘all’. He failed to determine anything; he had been so caught off-guard by the whole mention of it that he couldn’t really formulate a thought…he decided vaguely everything was alright and turned to leave.

He had only gotten about five steps away when realization hit him like a ton of bricks, and Hades spun around to stare at her in shock. She couldn’t possibly…but the expression on her face confirmed that she did, and without realizing it, Hades had spoken three words that he himself didn’t even hear.

“Oh my gods…”

Persephone had, as he had turned away, made up her mind in that instant. She was sure of herself, sure that she wanted to do this. The question remained, would Hades want to?

“What?” she said innocently, knowing full well why he looked so stunned.

Hades couldn’t get his mouth to move out of the dropped-open, jaw-hanging position it was currently in. He said nothing as a result, only stared.

Persephone tilted her head, greatly amused.

“You…” Hades said shakily, “Y-you…” He stopped trying to speak and settled for staring at her helplessly instead.

She couldn’t possibly be serious.

She couldn’t possibly…

“Y-you…” he tried again, but his vocal chords seemed to be on a coffee break. Nothing, in fact, was working, except for his eyes, which were growing steadily bigger by the second.

“S-Seph…?” Hades croaked instead.

He had, a long, long time ago, thought about having children. A son or daughter to accompany him to his dark throne; that had been when Zeus had first thrown him in the Underworld. Hades, even though he had hated it in there from the start, had attempted to see the positive side and said to himself that one day there would be a Queen and a Prince or Princess there to rule with him.

Both dreams, after several years of Underworldian life and of being ignored and shunned by the rest of the Olympians, had been dismissed as impossible. The positive way of thinking had been labeled ‘stupid.’

Since then he hadn’t thought again about having a son or a daughter.

He also hadn’t thought again about having a wife, until Persephone had come along. That dream hadn’t been so impossible after all.

And now, as he thought about it, if one fantasy could be fulfilled, why couldn’t the other? He had someone, apparently willing, to be the mother to his children…

So maybe, maybe this dream really wasn’t so impossible either.

“Hades,” said Persephone, snapping him out of his little stupor and bringing him back to Reality Land.

“Hades, I think you’ve figured it out,” she said, without waiting for him to respond verbally. She voiced it despite the fact that she knew he knew what she was about to say: “I want to have a kid.”

His vocal chords (finally!) sprung into action. “Yeah. So I figured,” he agreed hoarsely.

“You look absolutely shocked,” said Persephone dryly, “I couldn’t have…surprised you that much.”

Hades blinked. “No, no, I…um…wasn’t expecting that, that’s all. I…I just…I didn’t know you had been thinking about…that.” He paused, then demanded, hands on hips, “Seph, how long have you been thinking about this?”

“A few days,” she shrugged, “I don’t know…I wasn’t counting.”

“H-how’d you even get the idea?”

“It just came to me, in the middle of the night.” Seeing Hades’ skeptical expression, Persephone continued, “I know it was odd, but…that’s what happened. And the stupid idea’s been haunting me since then.”

Hades blinked. “So when was it, exactly, you made up your mind? Decided that you did want to have a kid?”

She quickly counted back. “Um…about a minute and 42 seconds ago?” There was a brief pause. “43. 44. 45…”

“I—I got it,” Hades interrupted, holding up a hand.

Persephone suddenly felt sort of shy. “So…” Her voice trailed off and she looked at him expectantly.

“So?” Hades echoed.

“So…do you…want to?”

“To…to have a kid.”

Persephone gave him a look. “Duh.”

“Um…” he said.

Did he want to? It was a hard decision to make, especially since he had had no knowledge of her desire to have a child until about two minutes ago.

The process of creating a child was no big deal, of course. Fatherhood…er…was a different story. Hades had no doubts of Persephone’s ability to be a mother, but…him? Hah. He was sadly skeptical in things other than sarcasm, plotting, being evil…etc. Raising a child? Oy.

And then there would be the whole Pomegranate Agreement to work around…

Hades blinked once, then twice, and then let his eyes travel to the floor, where they stayed for a few seconds as he thought about this. It was such a big decision…she didn’t really understand that, did she? He did, thankfully, and was busy balancing pros and cons in his head.

The number 1 ‘pro’ so far was that he did really want to have a child.

Seph shook her head and smiled almost wistfully after a few seconds; she turned, her back to him now, and folded her arms casually with a tiny shrug. Of course he wouldn’t want to. How could she have thought he would? It just…wasn’t in his personality, or at least he thought it wasn’t—she knew damn well it was, but...

“Seph?” said Hades.

Seph kept her smile in place, and she stared at the floor. Without waiting for him to speak, she murmured, “It’s okay if you don’t want to, Hades, no pressure, I was just asking, that’s all. It’s just a stupid thought.” Thank the gods she had said something, though, now the idea would leave her alone…so she was a tiny bit disappointed, so what? Now she could go on with her life—

“Seph, babe, y’know, I didn’t…I didn’t say that I…well…didn’t,” said Hades, grinning slightly from his place behind her.

Persephone’s eyes flew up and widened. She twisted her head to look at him.

“Y-y…what?” stammered Persephone, the edges of a (happy) smile creeping on her face.

Hades grinned again and shrugged.

Persephone’s face broke into a huge grin of her own. “I—wow, Hades, you…you, Hades, gods, I…” She whirled around and nearly tackled him in a hug. Hades, a bit stunned, blinked then hugged her back.

“Are you sure?” came Persephone’s voice as they held each other, “Hades, I don’t want you to just do this for me—”

“I’m not,” he replied, “Trust me, babe, I’m not.”

Persephone closed her eyes against him. A kid…a freaking kid, for Zeus’ sake, a little Prince or Princess of the Underworld scurrying around…

“And anyway what do we have to lose?” said Hades dryly, “Our sanity is the only thing I can think of—because you know a kid of ours is gonna be…er, a handful—”

Persephone grinned.

“—but I think we’ve both already gone insane a while ago.” Hades inclined his head in the general direction of Pain, Panic, Charon and the rest of the crowd that frolicked stupidly around the Underworld.

“Agreed,” said Persephone just as dryly.

“And besides,” Hades continued, “If we hadn’t…planned this out…it was boud to happen sooner or later. Accidentally, I mean.”

“True,” Persephone agreed.

Hades closed his own eyes, his hands still locked around her waist, and was silent; she said nothing as well, they were both thinking about…

….about what was to come. About who was to come.


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The couple had no idea that on Mt. Olympus, Zeus and Hera had just had a similar discussion. And had just decided the same thing.


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Rhea, watching both scenes from her palace, made a mental note to thank the Fates.

[~Giselle~]

Can I just say that I absolutely adore Rhea? She is awesome

[Persephone]

Chapter III-- It Begins (for Both Persephone and Hera)

Persephone had just enough time to gasp out a curse word and literally run to the bathroom before her stomach emptied itself out.

Hades stared. She had only woken up a few minutes ago—she had mumbled something about her stomach doing jumping jacks inside of her and sloshing its contents around as it did so—then had quieted and lain back in the crook of his arm.

And then about a minute later she had cursed and bolted away as if she had been hit by lightening. Hades could hear Persephone retching in the bathroom, quite clearly.

“Um,” Hades called, rising from their bed, “Ya know, that doesn’t sound too good.”

Her sarcastic comment floated out from the bathroom: “THANKS, BECAUSE I REALLY NEEDED SOMEONE TO TELL ME THAT!”

Hades shrugged, although he knew she couldn’t see him do so. “Hey, I’m just saying. Caring husband, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, all that jazz.”

Persephone started to say something, but her words were cut short by another retching noise.

Hades automatically grimaced for her.

“Seph, babe, you okay?”

Persephone stumbled out from the bathroom, her face pale, her eyes dulled, hair mussed. “I’m fine,” she said weakly, “I’ll be fine.”

Hades immediately appeared in front of her, and she leaned heavily against his frame, closing her arms to let the nausea pass.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Hades asked again.

“Yeah,” Persephone assured him, still feeling queasy, “I dunno….it’s just…just something I ate, I think. Something like that.”


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The next day, Persephone’s eyes flew open rather early in the morning, and she staggered to the bathroom again, the same nausea she had experienced the day before coming back with a vengeance.

Hades woke to the sound of his wife throwing up in the bathroom for the second time that week.

“Seph?” he said, tilting his head and propping himself up on an elbow.

“Gimme a minute,” she gasped, leaning heavily over a basin and holding her hair back with one pink hand. Her other hand was pressed flat against the floor as a support.

Hades appeared besides her in the room. “Seph, babe, are you—”

“—okay?” she finished, “Yeah. I’m fine.” Persephone smiled at him.

He grinned back, but it quickly vanished into an expression of concern.

“So this—” He gestured at the basin, and at her kneeling before it, “—is all food poisoning?”

Seph nodded, her head spinning, and her stomach turning. “What else could it be?”

“I dunno. It could be a virus or something—”

Persephone stood up and hugged him around the waist. “Hades, you worry too much.”

“I do not.”

“Do too. Keep it up, and you’ll earn a spot next to Demeter.”

Hades scowled. “Oh, please. Next to Demeter, I’m the most careless person in the world.”

“Amen,” Seph mumbled.


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On the third, fourth and fifth days, Persephone went through the same routine: wake up, become nauseated, run to the bathroom, and throw up. And Hades woke up all three days a moment after her to the sound of her hurling. He would glide (half-asleep) over to her and ask if she was okay. And she would weakly nod and snuggle up against him, pale and feeling sick. Like her stomach was flip-flopping around.

Sixth day—and counting, it seemed—the routine repeated itself, and Hades decided to take action. When Seph went to stumble out of the bathroom, he nearly dragged her over to their bed and forced her to sit.

“Hades, what…?” she said, blinked and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes; even after running and retching, she still wasn’t fully awake.

“Sephy, babe,” he said, and she, although she was feeling crappily queasy, interrupted him and said flatly, “Don’t call me Sephy.”

Hades gave her a look, and corrected himself, “Seph, babe, you gotta go see someone… or somethin’.”

Persephone frowned and folded her arms, getting the familiar feeling of flip-flopping in her stomach once again. At least, after six days—and counting—it was familiar. “I’ll go with ‘or something,’” she said.

He crossed the room and sat on the other edge of the bed, noting that Persephone’s pink skin seemed a little bit green. And very white. “I’m not asking,” he said calmly, crossing his fingers, “I’m telling.”

“Since when…” She stopped, placed her hands over her stomach, which was flip-flopping again, and waited for the spell of nausea to pass. When it was gone—sort of—she started over, “Since when do you tell me what to do?”

“Since your sense of better judgment toppled out the window,” said Hades, “E.g., six days ago.”

Persephone frowned.

“Seriously, babe, you gotta go see someone ‘bout this.”

“’Bout what?”

“”Bout this whole ‘wake up and puke’ thing,” Hades said, matter-of-factly, “You’re sick, babe, and you gotta do something about it. You can’t just wake up and hurl every morning.”

“I’m not…” Again, Persephone paused, head spinning, and waited for her spell of nausea to pass again. “….not sick. I’m not.”

“No?” Hades gave her another sharp look. “Want me to go get the tub of vomit in the other room and show it to ya?”

“Hades, please,” said Persephone wearily, her hands pressed to her churning stomach.

“You’ve got…got germs,” he said, “Go see Apollo. Doesn’t the sunshiny yutz have magical healing powers or something like that?”

“I don’t like Apollo,” said Persephone, inclining her head to give him a sharp look of her own, “Remember the whole ‘arranged’ marriage thing way back when?”

He remembered. “Okay, fine, then what about his bratty son….Asclepius or something like that?”

“I’m not sick,” insisted Persephone, “And I told you I don’t like Apollo; that includes his spawn.”

“Fine,” said Hades, folding his arms, “Okay, fine, then you can go see the Fates.”

“The Fates?” Persephone echoed, sarcastically skeptical, “What are they gonna do, recite a riddle, say ‘we know’ 17 times and then shoo me away?”

“Well,” said Hades. His voice had the air of someone talking to small child. “They know everything, don’t they?” He answered his own question, “Yeah, they do, and that includes knowing whatever’s wrong with ya.”

She frowned, put her slender hands on her slender hips. “I’m not…there’s nothing wrong with me, I’m not sick!”

Without a word, Hades vanished into the bathroom and returned with the basin of her vomit of the day.

“Disgusting!” she gasped, pressing a hand over her nose and mouth.

“Isn’t it?” he said dryly, “This is just a perfect example of something a healthy person would do.”

Persephone’s eyes traveled to the basin, and then to Hades’ sarcastic expression. “I’m not sick!” she insisted again, “It’s probably just—”

“Food poisoning?” Hades said flatly. Persephone shrugged.

“Seph, if you’re not gonna go see Apollo or his brat of a son, then go talk to the Fates.”

Persephone frowned again. “But I—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re not sick, I know,” he said sarcastically, and then, more serious, added, “I insist.”

“Hades—”

“Scratch that, I demand.”

Persephone sighed and she stood, folding her arms grudgingly. “Okay. Fine.”

“Thank you,” Hades sighed too, and he stood as well and looked down at her with an amused and grateful eye. After a hundred years, Persephone had grown height-wise, but Hades still towered over her. She only came up to his shoulder. A little bit past, maybe, at the base of his neck, but that was all.

She blinked and stared up at him with her own pretty little violet eyes.

“I’m hungry,” she said suddenly, a hesitant smile breaking out on her glowing pink face. She blinked again and drifted out the door in almost a stupor.

Hades blinked, too, and stared after her, confused. “W—” he started to say, then changed his mind and started over, “Seph! You can’t just….just wander off, what are ya, out of your mind? You gotta go….didn’t we just talk about this? Sheez!” His skeptical tone changed to one of annoyed, exasperated amazement. “You said you’d go see the Fates! Seph!”

“I will!” she said brightly, her voice sounding loud and clear despite the fact that she was in another room, “In a second, though, Hades, I want baklava.”

Hades blinked again, shook his head and rolled his eyes, amused despite himself.


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On the day that Persephone’s morning sickness had first started, Hera’s had started, too. But her dear husband Zeus had reacted much differently then Hades had.

Specifically, he had walked into the bathroom where Hera was kneeling over a basin of her own, and he had made a face when he realized she was throwing up. “Eeew,” Zeus had said, making another face to express his discontentment, “Hera, that’s disgusting. Clean that up.”

“But, I—” she had started to protest, her stomach still churning.

“Immediately. Really, Hera, that’s just gross.” And he had walked away. Hera had scowled after him but obeyed.

But on the sixth day of waking up and throwing up, Hera suddenly placed a hand on her flat stomach. Or rather, her flat womb.

Oh, but it wouldn’t be flat for long, would it?

One of the benefits of being the goddess of childbirth along with her more well known position as goddess of marriage was that she was able to detect pregnancies. Including her own.

Okay, to be totally honest, she hadn’t figured out that she was pregnant until just now. The past six days…well, it could have been anything, a virus, food poisoning.

But it wasn’t.

She hoped Zeus would be pleased.


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After ingesting half a plate of baklava, Hades had nearly shoved Persephone out the door. He was annoyed, but only because he was worried about that. Seph knew that.

But she wasn’t sick! She didn’t feel that bad. It was just during the mornings that she was throwing up, never during the day. And she didn’t have a fever or anything, or a cough, or the sniffles, or anything. Persephone was convinced that she wasn’t sick. This was just the result of…of really bad food poisoning; if anything, it’d go on for another day or so and then she’d be all better.

But Hades had insisted—demanded—she go talk to the Fates, and she decided she’d better humor him and do so.

After all, what was there to lose?


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Persephone had only stepped up to the door and put her hand on the door handle when it swung open. The three old crones stared (two, eyelessly) at her as she gasped and stepped back, pulling her shawl tighter around her shoulders.

“Hi,” said Atropos, grinning crookedly. She had the eye at the moment, and it blinked at Persephone, who had never really personally encountered the Fates.

“H….Hi,” said Persephone awkwardly, adjusting her black shawl, “I…um…Hades wanted me to…to come here, you see, I’ve been getting sick in the mornings and he said—”

“We know,” they said together.

“…Oh,” said Persephone, feeling stupid and uncomfortable.

There was a period of silence that lasted for about three seconds.

“Um…” said Persephone, “So…uh….can you help me?”

“Of course,” sniffed Lachesis, placing her thin hands on her bony hips, “They don’t call us ‘all-knowing’ for nothing, you know.”

Clotho grabbed the eye from Atropos. “Persephone, dear, come on in, please.”

Persephone hesitated, then followed them into their cave home.

Once inside, she instinctively shuddered, then instinctively shuddered again. It was creepy. The eyes plastered all over the walls did nothing to shake that eerie feeling away and for the third time, Persephone pulled her shawl closer to her, wrapping it tighter around her shoulders and her chest.

“Take a seat,” instructed Lachesis, taking the eys from Clotho and directing her to an empty chair with one crooked, nearly skeletal finger. The chair was black. Gothic. Creepy.

She sat. There was another three second silence, and again Persephone was the one who broke it.

She was nervous. She babbled. And she hoped that they wouldn’t interrupt her and say, ‘we know’ because it would just make her nervous-er.

“So…I…um, for the past six days, today being the sixth, 'I’ve been waking up early because I’ve been nauseous and…and I’ve been vomiting, and Hades wanted me to go see someone about it, ‘cuz he figured I was sick, but I’m not…but I came here anyway…” Her voice trailed off as her eyes met their staring, unblinking eye.

“I’m not sick,” Persephone repeated.

“No, you’re not,” agreed Atropos, grabbing the eye.

And Lachesis swiped the eye from her and said, with a smirk crawling on her ancient face, “I suppose congratulations are in order.”

Persephone was more then confused. “Congratulations? I don’t…why?”

They ignored her question and as Clotho stole the eye from Lachesis, Atropos spoke, “Your baby’s due in October. Congrats and all.”

Persephone’s eyes widened. “B…b-baby?!”

“Just like you and Hades planned,” said Clotho.

“But…” She suddenly remembered. They ahd agreed to have a child three weeks ago. But had spoken no more of it since then. Not to say they hadn’t participated in any, ahem, activities since then. And evidently…she had become pregnant!

She was speechless. “I’m…I’m pregnant,” she whispered, placing a hand over her womb where her and Hades’ child was. Just a little clump of cells. But soon….nine months….they’d have a baby, a real, living, breathing baby…

Persephone walked out of the Fates’ home in a happy daze.

[~Elisa Maza~]

This chapter has some of the funniest one liners! Love it!

[Hades]

*snickers*

Chapter IV-- Hera Tells Zeus and Seph Tells Hades

“Zeus, dear,” said Hera in a low voice as she emerged from her chambers to confront her husband. She had only just realized that she was pregnant; Persephone, although Hera didn’t know it, had just received the news from the Fates.

Hera walked into the throne room, where Zeus was, playing with his thunderbolts.

Zeus looked up, annoyed. “Hera,” he thundered (hah, pun), “I’m busy, can’t you see that?!”

She sighed and folded her magenta colored arms. “Zeus, dear,” she said, “Dear, do you remember that little conversation we had a few weeks ago?”

He frowned. “No,” said Zeus, clearly not caring, “What was it about?”

“I wanted to have another child,” said Hera, “And you didn’t, and we talked about it, and then you changed your mind and decided that you wanted another child, too.” She, too, frowned. “Remember?”

Zeus thought for a second, then said, “Vaguely. What about it?”

“Well…” Hera laughed, a short, rather nervous laugh. “Well, it happened!”

“What did?” He had turned back to his lightening bolts.

“I’m pregnant, dear,” she said.

The lightening bolts were forgotten. Zeus turned back around, and for a second, neither of them said a word. And then his face broke into a grin.

“I hope it’s a son,” said Zeus.


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Persephone slipped through the iron gates of the Underworld noiselessly, and, as Charon ferried her across the river, her mind started to race despite the dozens and dozens of souls standing besides her and murmuring nonsense.

Persephone thought back to the conversation she had had with Hades three weeks ago, when she and him had decided to have a child. After that day, neither had spoken about it; it was as if the conversation hadn’t taken place.

Not that they didn’t want a kid. Seph sure as hell did, and she figured Hades did, too—he was an avid liar, but never to her, and he had said he wanted one. But neither of them had talked about it again. It had just been that one conversation. The decision had been brought up, discussed, and finalized in one day.

But in the space between that one day and now, Persephone had gotten pregnant. Pregnant! There was going to be a little prince or a little princess of the Underworld running around here in nine months, and Persephone was beyond thrilled. In fact, she would have jumped for joy, but she was afraid she’d accidentally harm the clump of cells that was their child resting in her womb if she did so.

And Hades, hah, Hades didn’t know yet. He had thought she was sick, had sent her off to the Fates. But, oh, she wasn’t sick, oh, no.

Persephone smirked slightly. She had been right after all, but the reason why she’d been throwing up was beyond her imagination.

She was gonna have to tell Hades when she got across this damn river. The only thing was…how was she going to tell him? She had no idea how he’d react; after all, when she had brought up the mere idea of it, he had been…er…a tad bit surprised.

Understatement of the year, Persephone thought dryly, subconsciously placing a hand over her stomach. Er, her womb. She wondered what she’d look like with child. She had been thin her whole life; thankfully, she had been lucky enough not to inherit Demeter’s, er, fat genes. Her mother, throughout the course of Persephone’s life, had called her ‘bulimic’ and ‘anorexic’ because she wasn’t used to thin body types.

A sudden thought shot through Persephone’s head, a thought that made her lose her balance and almost topple out of the boat.

Oh, crap. My mother’s gonna kill me when she finds out.

Demeter, needless to say, would not be pleased that she was carrying Hades’ child. Still, after 100 years of relatively happy marriage, the goddess of the plants had refused to believe that Persephone—dear, sweet, Persephone—could be in love with the, to quote Demeter, “wicked brute” that was the Lord of the Dead.

The news of their child probably wouldn’t be received too well.

“Lady Persephone?” said Charon in that rough voice of his, nudging the goddess of spring/rebirth and Queen of the Underworld with his barge pole.

She glared at him.

How dare he interrupt her thoughts.

She rolled her eyes, clearly expressing her displeasure (Keep dreaming about that pay raise, idiot, she thought to herself), and strode off the boat to go find Hades.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Persephone had gone into the throne room, expecting to find him hunched over his chessboard like he usually was. But when she pushed open the iron doors that led to their throne room, she found it empty.

A bit more hunting, and she found Hades. He was in the kitchen, storming around and knocking down chairs, a glass goblet filled to the brim with earthworms in his left hand.

“Hades,” she said, folding her arms with a smirk, “I really think you need anger management classes.” Persephone bent and picked up a black chair, putting it right side up and pushing it into the table. There was a fresh dent in it.

He gave her a look, sighed, scowled, and flared orange. “Ha, ha,” said Hades sarcastically, twirling a worm between his index finger and thumb and then slurping it like spaghetti.

“Ew,” said Persephone, making a face.

“Oh, shut up,” he said with a smirk of his own, teasing her; she grinned and twisted her hands together.

It was strange—she usually played with her necklace, her precious skull necklace that Hades had given her way back when, when she was nervous. But at this moment, it felt more natural to twist her hands.

“Hades, can I talk to you for a sec? There’s something I need to tell you.”

He shot her an apologetic grin. “Sorry, babe, can’t right now. The Furies went on a killing spree upstairs and I’ve got souls pouring in by the second, not to mention stacks of freaking paperwork I have to get done. So, I dunno, ya wanna tell me later? Can it wait?”

Persephone considered that, got an idea, and smirked, folding her arms casually as he slurped up another worm and walked into the next room.

“Oh, yeah, of course!” she called, “I can wait ‘til after to tell you that I’m pregnant!”

“Sure thing, babe,” said Hades from the other room, “Sorry and all, but you know, business.” She couldn’t see him, but she was sure he was rolling his eyes.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It seemed Hades’ thought process was set on slow motion today because it took him exactly 7 seconds to realize what she had just said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When Persephone got the response she did, she had smirked—slightly—and counted down the seconds on her fingers.

I, II, III, IV, V….

She was on her other hand, up to VII when she heard the sound of glass shattering. Like someone had broken a cup.

Or like someone had dropped a goblet full of worms.

She tilted her head and entered the next room, where Hades had walked into.

The goblet of worms lay in a million pieces at his feet. The worms were scattered over the shards of broken glass, squirming.

Hades, Hades was frozen in place, his left hand in the air still formed around the glass that was no longer there; he was holding, essentially, air. His yellow eyes were opened wide and he was staring into space.

Clearly shocked beyond movement or rational thought.

“Ahem,” said Persephone, folding her hands behind her back.

He tore his eyes away from nothing and forced himself to look at her, still stunned, eyes still widened.

“Could you…could you…repeat that last part?” Hades finally managed to gasp out.

Persephone bit back a giggle. Did he know that those were the exact words he had used when she, so many years ago, had told him she loved him?

Probably not. Frankly, she doubted whether he was thinking about anything besides what she had just said.

“I’m pregnant!” she said, throwing out her arms in a dramatic, happy gesture. She grinned. “You know. With child.”

Hades stared at her.

“Mine?” he said finally.

Persephone gave him a look. “Duh.”

She stepped back automatically as Hades fainted.


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Persephone worked around her husband’s unconscious body. A mess of broken glass and worms was thrown into the garbage. She went into the kitchen and fixed all the chairs that had been knocked all over the place in Hades’ fury. To her credit, she tried to fix the dented and charred spots on the chairs, but to no avail.

Persephone swept away ashes with the side of her hand, then returned to the next room. Hades, he was still unconscious. She sighed, shot the sundial hanging on the wall a sideways glance, and then seated herself on a metal stool lying rather randomly against a wall.

She waited.

For about three seconds.

Persephone left the room, and came back with a bucket, a bucket of ice cold water.

Pursing her lips slightly, she dumped it all on Hades and returned to her stool as he screamed and shot up in the air like he was on a trampoline.

It was quite comical.

Hades glared at her, hugging himself and shivering, trying to relight his hair at the same time. “If you were anyone else,” he gasped, “I’d kill you, I hope you know that.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to leave you passed out on the floor all day,” Persephone calmly responded, a smirk on her lips.

Hades shook his head, scowled, ran a hand through his hair which had just re-lighted, then put the same hand on his hip and looked at her. Persephoen rose from her stool and met his eye.

“So…” he said, awkwardness hanging in the air between them, “So…what, you…you went to the Fates and they told you I knocked you up?”

“Must you be so crude?” she frowned slightly, then grinned and tilted her head, “But yes.”

Hades couldn’t figure out a way to respond. She was pregnant. Pregnant. She…he…they…were going to have a kid.

Holy…

“Wow,” Hades said quietly, his fingers lacing together and his eyes traveling to the ground, “That’s…that’s…” His face suddenly broke into a grin. “…wow.”

Persephone grinned as well and her arms slid around his waist as she purred, “The Fates said the baby’s due in October, so I’ll be in the Underworld when it happens.”

He hugged her gently and looked back at her. “Thank the gods. I think I’d really die if I couldn’t see…” Hades’ voice trailed off suddenly and he scowled, flashing orange. “You’ve gotta leave in a few weeks.”

Persephone’s face fell. “I…oh. Oh. Oh, that’s…” She shook her head and stared at the spot on the floor where Hades had just been staring. “…Hey, at least I’ll be with you at the end of it all.”

“I wonder if we could get the Pomegranate Agreement repealed temporarily?” he said dryly, and she looked at him, and then they both smirked.

“Hah,” said Persephone, then added, “So we’ve got to tell Pain and Panic, and then…well, I’ve got to leave in a few weeks, do you think you can avoid telling the rest of ‘em ‘til I leave?”

“And why is that, might I ask?”

“They’ll be swarming all over me until I’m gone.”

“That’s a definite.”

“Right. So hold off the news until I’m gone and then you can flit around and brag and whatever.”

He smirked. “I plan on it.”

“And,” Persephone continued, “You’re going to have to come with me when I tell my mother.”

Hades froze in place. “Wha—Persephone! She’s gonna kill me!”

“So to speak.”

“No! No. No, not so to speak, for real, she’ll find some way to kill me, and she will, trust me on this, Seph.”

Persephone considered that, then decided. “You’re overreacting.” As an afterthought, she added, “Er, a little.”

Hades laughed nervously, his hands tightly around Persephone waist. “Yeah, well, we’ll see about that.”

She twisted out of his grip and took his hand in hers. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s go tell Pain and Panic before one of us forgets,” her tone turned sarcastic, “in all this excitement.”

“I am excited,” Hades protested.

“The emotion I’m thinking of for you is more along the lines of ‘shocked’, but okay,” she responded, but she was kidding, of course, and he knew it. Hades smirked dryly.

“Whatever. Let’s go before the excitement eats us up.”

They wandered off hand-in-hand to go find the imps.

[~Elisa Maza~]

*twitches* I.... I wanna... I WANNA THROW ICE ON HADES!!! It looks so fun!

[Warren Peace]

Warren: *points&laughs hysterically*

Loki the Rp-er: *secretly knows Wrennie would do the same thing if he knocked up Maci*

[Hades]

Seph: Sorry, Elisa, only I have liberties to do that.
Hades: *mutters under breath*

and LMAO Warren....XD That'd be so priceless...too bad I'm not planning on impregnating Maci anytime soon >>

Chapter V-- The Imps Are Informed and Hades and Seph Talk More

“What are they, hiding?” Hades muttered after about 20, 25 minutes of searching had ended in zero results.

“I don’t know,” Persephone shrugged.

“They’ve vanished off the face of the Underworld.” He stopped walking – more like stomping at this point- and stood with his arms crossed.

Persephone ran a hand through her hair. “Well, they’ve got to be somewhere.”

Hades scowled. “Why do we even have to tell our imps about this anyway? S’not like they’re anyone important. I mean, seriously.”

“Yeah,” said Persephone, “But they’re our minions, and that means that when the baby comes, they’ll be his or her minions, too. They have to know, we…well, you because I’m leaving soon, are gonna have to tell them that I’m pregnant and…and teach them how to, I dunno, take care of a kid.”

His scowl deepened. “Yeah, okay, sure, because I know a whole lot about taking care of kids.”

She put her hands on her hips and said matter-of-factly, “Well, you’re going to have to learn.”

Hades looked at her, as if considering this (he was), and then let out a sigh.

“The poor kid,” Hades mused, sighing again.

“And what kid would this be, Your Flamefulness?”

Both Hades and Persephone jumped at Pain’s voice.

“None of your business,” Hades snarled at Pain. Panic scratched one of his horns and piped up, “But what kid were you sympathizing with?”

Hades flared orange, on the verge of screaming something, but a sharp look from Persephone cut fof the even sharper words he was about to say.

“Seph,” Hades whined, looking stubborn, “C’mon, why do we have to tell them?!”

“Tell us what?” said Pain, exchanging a confused look with Panic.

“Yes,” said Persephone, tilting her head upwards to look Hades in the eye, “And if you won’t, then I will.”

Having totally been ignored the first time they had asked, Panic repeated Pain’s question, “Tell us what?”

“But, Seph,” Hades said, shooting a glare at the imps.

She gave him another sharp look, one of her eyebrows perfectly arched.

He shrank back and wondered dryly, Why is it that I can face the horrors trapped in this big, bad hellhole known as the Underworld without a flinch, but when my wife, my sweet innocent little wife gives me a look my insides turn to ice?!

Persephone stepped in front of Hades once she realized she was going to have to take charge this time, and she directed her gaze down to the imps. “Pain, Panic,” she said, “I’m pregnant, ‘kay?”

In the several second-long silence that followed, Pain and Panic’s eyes grew several sizes larger then they usually were.

“Y…y…y…?” stammered Panic.

Hades snickered despite himself, and, pointing a finger at him and glancing towards Seph, he said, “Lookit, you’ve reduced Panic to mere syllables.”

“S-since when!?” Pain managed to say, feeling, under the blind shock of it (he and Panic both knew they loved each other, but had never bothered to think that Hades could have a child, much less with Persephone), the tiniest bit jealous. Pain (and Panic), over the span of the past 100 years, had begun to….er…like Persephone, but had never dared mention it to Hades or to anyone else (except her).

“Since…” started Persephone, who was well aware of their liking of her and couldn’t care in the slightest, “Since…uh, I dunno, how would I know? All I know is that I am and that I’m due in October.”

Pain looked at Panic and Panic looked back at Pain, fanged grins suddenly spreading across each of their faces, and they both simultaneously squealed, “WE’RE GETTING A BROTHER!”

“Or a sister,” added Pain.

Hades and Persephone looked at each other, wearing identical expressions of confused disgust. Hades looked back at the imps with a raised eyebrow and said, “Lemme just, y’know, get this straight….you think of us—” He gestured to Persephone and himself, “—as your…your parents?!”

“What the hell?” said Persephone.

Panic shrugged. “Sorta,” he explained, “I mean, it’s not like we have anyone else in our lives, and you guys are just, like, I dunno, figures to, like, lean on.”

“In a…creepy, abusive way,” Pain added.

Hades stared. Persephone curled her lip in disgust.

“Weird,” Hades said, glaring at them, “Hah, and there was me, thinking you two couldn’t get any freakishly stranger…”

They shrugged.

Panic looked towards Persephone excitedly, “So the baby’s coming in October? That means you’ll be in the Underworld when it comes—”

“But you’re gonna be gone for the rest of the time,” said Pain.

“Ooh, and does Demeter know yet?” said Panic.

“Not yet,” sighed Persephone, seeing Hades wince out of the corner of her eye, “No, we’re going to have to tell her…well…later. Not now. We have to wait.”

“She’s gonna be mad when she finds out,” reflected Pain.

“No, really?” said Hades sarcastically.

“She’s gonna kill you,” agreed Panic and Hades scowled, glanced at Persephone, then glared back at the imps.

“Thank you for the info, because I really couldn’t figure that out myself,” he snapped, folding his arms.

“Well, she’ll have to kill me first, because there’s no way I’m raising this kid without it’s father,” Persephone, who had been silent during this previous little exchange, spoke suddenly and Hades gave her a (grateful) smirk.

Pain and Panic exchanged glances, shrugged, and decided to zip out before things started getting too mushy between their bosses. “Congratulations!” they chorused as one, and then POOF! They were gone, had disappeared into a little puff of cloud (which was now also gone).

Persephone twisted her head back to look towards Hades. “See?” she said, “That wasn’t so bad.”

“Didn’t really need ‘em telling me about how steamed Demeter’s gonna be,” he responded, clearly annoyed.

“Well, we don’t have to tell her yet.” Persephone sighed and pressed the back of her hand to her mouth in thought, “No, not yet, and I certainly don’t plan to.”

“What are ya gonna do, hide it from her?”

Persephone gave him a tiny smile.

Hades’ eyes widened. “What—Persephone! Are you out of you mind?”

Persephone looked towards to ground, then gazed out at the river Styx, which was about a mile away and visible in the distance. “I…okay, I know it’s not the best plan—”

“Ya think?” he interrupted, and she gave him yet another look and Hades stopped speaking and let her finish.

“It’s not the best plan, “ she started over, “but it’s better this way…think about it, if I hide the fact that I’m pregnant for as long as I can from her, well, then, she can’t force me to do anything…anything bad, y’know?”

“Anything bad?” echoed Hades, skeptically, “Like what?”

“Like anything,” said Persephone, her hand now pressed against her stomach, “I’m thinking along the lines of a forced abortion.”

Hades’ eyes widened yet again. He said nothing.

“She would do that,” said Persephone, “Or at least try to. And it’s not like we’ll have the other gods to back us, our child is going to be as much as an outcast as we are, and you know that’s a fact.”

Again, Hades said nothing. But then he seemed to change his mind, and he said, “Well, that’s all well and good and twisted and wrong, but ya can’t just hide the fact that there’s a baby growing inside of you for six months. From your own mother, no less. Seph. I mean, she’s gonna figure it out when you bloat all of a sudden.”

Persephone looked at her hands and a little frown spread across her lips. It was like magic; that tiny little frown seemed to effect the rest of her face, her eyes the most of all.

Simply put, she looked like she was about to burst into tears any second.

“I don’t wanna talk about this anymore,” she said in a tiny voice, “It’s making me depressed.”

She was so…so child-like sometimes, such a sharp jump away from him. Hades, honestly, didn’t want to talk about this topic, either – talking about Demeter gave him a headache, talking about what she would do to their unborn child after she found out abaout it was giving him a headache and extreme nausea – but it had to be talked about. This confrontation couldn’t be avoided, so the least they could do to avoid getting maimed was to break it to Demeter smartly. Persephone’s ‘plan’ didn’t fit that bill. Demeter would realize, if not during the pregnancy, then definitely after when Seph suddenly had a baby under her care.

“But—” Hades started to say. They couldn’t put this off until the last second…they couldn’t just wing it.

“Hades, please, I’m going to start crying.”

Hades blinked. He had skills in many areas, but dealing with crying women was a serious failure on his part. He was clueless…

“How long to I have until I have to leave?” Persephone asked brightly, swiftly changing the subject.

Ooh, what a nice, happy, new topic. Hades calculated quickly in his head anyway.

“’Bout…6 weeks,” he said.

Persephone sighed. “It’s going to fly by, y’know. I know the days, the weeks, the months always fly by, but this time, it’s really gonna…”

“Well, at least we do have time together,” Hades pointed out, “We’ll salvage these moments, ‘kay?”

Persephone smiled, and then practically leaped on him, her lips firmly meeting his…seconds later, she purred in response, “’Kay.”


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"So is Macaria actually going to be in this story?" said Meg, studying her fingernails, "Or are you just going to prattle on and on about every detail of your pregnancy for a few more hours? Because if that's the case, then I'll just leave and save myself the trouble."

"I can't just skip nine months ahead," said Persephone, scowling at her, "Besides, there are important events that need to be told--"

"Whatever," said Meg, "Just try not to list every detail, willya? I mean, come on. We're here to hear about Macaria. Not you."

"Meg," said Hercules, casting a worried glance at Persephone.

"Listen to your boyfriend," said Persephone dryly, "Unless, of course, you want to spend the rest of your life in my garden as poison ivy or something."

Meg rolled her eyes, but quieted herself.

[Warren Peace]

Loki: *mutter* Wren fainting... be totally funny, butnooooo

Warren: *mouths* THANK YOU.

[Hades]

Chapter VI-- Hades Gets Depressed, Persephone Leaves, and a Difficult Task is Presented to the Underworld

The weeks did fly by, like Persephone had predicted, much faster then they usually did.

The reality of the situation sunk in several days before the day of Persephone’s departure (March 21st). Hades found himself suddenly depressed.

She couldn’t go. He wouldn’t let her, no way. Screw Zeus, screw the Olympians, she was pregnant for Olympus’ sake, they couldn’t separate a baby —unborn as it was­—from it’s father for six excruciating months. And Persephone, Persephone needed support, support that Demeter and the rest of the god-squad couldn’t give her. Support that she needed from him. It was his freaking kid, anyway, what right did Zeus have to take it away from him for six months?!

No right. No right at all.

Persephone agreed with him completely, but law was law and what chance was there that Zeus would make an exception? He didn’t even know she was with child. Hell, all of the Underworld excluding Pain and Panic had no idea.

The remaining days passed, too…

Now he, both depressed and deeply pissed off, sat examining one of Persephone’s flowers.

With one long finger, Hades brushed over the petals of the rose in his hand. It was black. Persephone could only create dark colored flowers when she was in the Underworld…black, midnight blue, dark violet, blood red.

But she was leaving. Tomorrow, he reminded himself sullenly. All her flowers would be gone, they’d wither up and die without her springtime presence here to make them grow. Her flowers would be gone, she’d be gone and their unborn child would be gone, too.

For six months.

Six long painful months.

He picked another flower — this one a dark blue daffodil — and stared at it.

“Playing with a flower?”

Persephone’s even voice broke the silence he had been enclosed in for nearly half an hour. Hades was startled, but he didn’t show it…he raised his stare to Persephone, standing solemnly behind him.

Neither one spoke for a few seconds.

“You can’t go,” Hades said finally, setting down the flower and standing up.

“I have to,” she said quietly, even though they had had this conversation frequently over the course of the past 5 weeks.

“You’re pregnant, for Olympus’ sake.”

“They don’t know that.”

“So tell ‘em.”

“They won’t care.” Persephone put a hand gingerly on his shoulder, which, along with the rest of him, was heating up rapidly and turning orange under the fabric of his chiton. “You know I don’t want to leave, either, but I have to.”

Hades stared at the floor, his lip curled up in disgusted fury.

“The Pomegranate Agreement can’t be broken,” Persephone said.

“But…” Hades turned suddenly, meeting her gaze, “but there’s gotta be a clause somewhere in the Agreement that says that—”

Persephone winced, placed her other hand on her stomach as it turned over randomly, and replied with a little sigh, “We didn’t plan that far ahead.”

“That’s not fai—”

“But I’ll be back.”

“They can’t make you go,” Hades said firmly, “They can’t do that—”

“But Zeus can. He’s ‘king of the gods’?” She used air quotes around ‘king of the gods.’

“It’s not fair!” Hades protested, stepping back so he wouldn’t accidentally burn her as he flared.

Persephone shook her head. “I will be back, okay? Look, I know these six months are gonna be awful for both of us, but, hey, I’ll be back, and then we’ll have a son or daughter to fuss over, okay?”

Hades was silent, the orange flames on him flickering.

“So at least we’ll get something good out of this, right?” Persephone pressed, trying to get a response from him.

He relented, shooting her a weary grin. “Right. But…still, it’s just—”

“Unfair,” Persephone finished for him, “I know, Hades, we covered that.” She smiled apologetically up at him, and squeezed his hand tightly, her eyes traveling to the floor, to his face, to their joined hands…

“Help me finish packing, okay?” she asked softly, hoping to bring his—and her—mind off the subject at hand. He nodded and followed her to their room.

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“Long time no see, Demeter, babe,” said Hades, bitterness lacing his voice as he leaned against a black pillar, Persephone by his side and Demeter in front of him.

Demeter smiled sarcastically. “Yes. It’s a pleasure seeing you again.”

“Guys, please don’t,” groaned Persephone, her hand on her forehead as she tried to prevent an argument in the makings.

The two settled for discreetly glaring at each other.

“So may I have my daughter back?” said Demeter, her sarcastic smile becoming less sarcastic, but still unsincere.

“Yeah, yeah. Gimme a sec,” was Hades’ snapped reply. He, tuning Demeter’s grumblings out, hugged Persephone as tightly as he dared, seeing as how she was with child and all…

“You’ll be alright with this kid by yourself?” he said in a low voice, so that Demeter couldn’t hear.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him, closing her eyes and hugging him back, “In a few months I’ll see if I can…sneak back and then we can tell her—them—about the baby together, okay?”

“Fine. Don’t wait too long, if they figure it out on their own, well, guess who’s gonna get blamed?” His tone was dry as he gestured to himself.

Persephone half-smiled, half-winced. “Gotcha.”

“AHEM,” said Demeter loudly, scowling.

“Mom,” Persephone growled.

“Would ya chill out for a sec? Sheesh, I’m saying goodbye, idiot, I;m not gonna see her again for six months,” Hades snapped to her, flaring orange.

“Well, hurry up,” Demeter instructed bitterly, “I don’t have all day.”

“You have six months,” Persephone corrected in an annoyed monotone.

“Whatever. Hurry up.” She waved her hand to punctuate her point.

Hades gave her a dirty look, then returned his attention to Persephone. “You’re sure you’ll be alright?”

“I always manage.”

“Yeah, but this time…”

“I’ll cope.”

“I’m not convinced.”

“Tough.”

They hugged again (not daring to do anything else with Demeter right there, knowing that she’d end up throwing someone into a river or something like that), and Persephone with a regretful smile followed her mother to Charon’s boat.

Hades waved, then swirled off to find something to do.

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Amazing.

It was just amazing.

He was up to his ears in paperwork and other work the entire autumn, the entire winter. And now all of a sudden, as soon as Seph left, there was absolutely nothing for him to do.

Boy, the Fates really hate me, don’t they?

He scowled at his kingdom, staring out from the windows of his palace, then turned and decided to go sulk in his room for a few hours. Or the rest of the day.

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It was the next morning and Hades wasn’t feeling any better. Gods, he missed her terribly, and she had only been gone for a day.

I have no idea how I’m gonna get through these next six months…oy vey…

But when Persephone came back, their kid would be practically here. And…it was better to get a head start on things, right? Persephone had told him to tell the rest of their…citizens about the new prince or princess once she was gone, and then there was the matter of…well…

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“I’m gonna say this once and only once, okay? SHUT UP!”

The ear-splitting chatter stopped. Thousands of Underworldian eyes traveled upwards to their master, standing in front of the crowd with his arms folded. He had gathered them all together on the border of the Elysian Fields.

After a few seconds of (peaceful and serene) silence, Hades forced himself to cool down and he spoke, “Gods and goddesses…monsters and demons…other various, uh, creatures…there have been some rumors that have been going around—” He paused for a second and glared directly at Pain and Panic, who both shifted uncomfortably, “—and first off, I’d like to clear ‘em up.”

Hades eyed his audience. “Yes, Persephone is pregnant.”

There were a few gasps from the crowd, and several eyes swiveled towards Pain and Panic, who were nodding in an ‘I-told-you-so’ way.

“Rumor number II,” Hades continued, flaring briefly orange and glaring at Pain and Panic again, “Yeah, the kid is mine.”

More gasps rang out in the crowd, and the air buzzed with whispered conversations…the Furies and the Miseries cheered.

“And lastly—” He flared up again and glared again at Pain and Panic, who looked like they wanted to melt into the floor (a wish that most likely Hades would fulfill later), “Seph and I are not getting divorced, and our unborn kid is not in any sort of custody battle, no matter what you may or may not have heard from a source that will remain unnamed, PAIN AND PANIC, mkay? You all got that?” The crowd rapidly nodded as one, not wanting to provoke his legendary and short-fused rage.

Hades forced himself to cool down once more. He began to pace, throwing words out casually as he did so.

“Okay, folks, here’s the deal, quick n’ painless, I’ll just cut to the chase, okay? You’ve all worked for me for…a long time, putting all specifics to the side. As cliché an’ corny as this sounds, we’ve been through a hell of a lot together. Most of ‘em—who am I kidding, all of them, were along the lines of disasters (hey, this is the Underworld, whaddya expect?). Similarly, all of ‘em were extremely difficult to overcome. But now, my staff of assorted species…es, I come to you know with by far the most difficult task we have ever been faced with so far in the history of the Underworld…in the history of history…” He, knowing how to give a good speech, paused for dramatic effect. The crowd was leaning forwards in dreaded anticipation.

Hades grimaced to himself, thinking of the task at hand, then smirked to his crowd, realizing that he could make them do all the work and he finished his sentence with a grand flourish.

“…baby-proofing the Underworld.”

The crowd was the perfect illustration for the phrase, ‘silent horror.’

[~Elisa Maza~]

Hades being a responsible parent... Scary.