He was a fool. A fool for thinking he could have ever resisted her. Hades remembered the first time he saw her. It was on one of those rare visits to Olympus when he first spotted a new addition to the abode of gods. A few nymphs were carrying platters of food from the kitchens to the dining hall. Screeching laughter erupted from somewhere around the corridor. A tiny form with luscious long black hair came running, chased by another tiny girl, he recognized as Aite, goddess of mischief.

The former collided with one of the nymphs, causing a chain reaction of sorts as the other nymphs, being the petty creatures they were, shrieked and dropped their own plates. Olympus, Hades thought shaking his head, will never change. He'd better go find someone like Hestia, who wasn't a complete lunatic, before he lost his patience and returned back home. Then he spotted Hephaestus talking to Artemis and moved closer to the pair.

"…. Was completely irreparable. I can't thank you enough Hephaestus. I don't know what I'd do without my bow." The hunting goddess was saying. Hephaestus noticed Hades and stood up in respect. Unlike what most mortals thought, Hephaestus was not completely handicapped or gruesome to look at. In fact he even had a godly charm that had nothing to do with his defect. Artemis too bowed down. Hephaestus was once Hades' student, learning about the various metals that the underworld had to provide and also some basic principles and code of ethics which the other Olympians seemed to lack so much.

"If I might have a word with you Hephaestus, the latest shipment…" Hades started when he heard the call for the commencement of the ceremony. He was late to enter the hall as he had to finish his conversation with the blacksmith. As he entered he saw his sister, fair Demeter, chiding a child goddess with tear-stained cheeks. "…told you a hundred times that that child means nothing but trouble. You should always bring shame upon me every time we come to this place." Hades noticed the child to be the one who had dashed against the nymphs. Seeing her up front, he realized that she could not have been older than five or six years. She had huge spring eyes and her black hair was extremely silky, curling at the ends in tight locks. And then it clicked. This was Demeter's daughter with Zeus, the goddess of flowers… no trees….

"Welcome! Welcome, gods and goddesses, nymphs and muses, Graces and children to the Grand winter solstice!" boomed Zeus. "Let us celebrate for another mortal year that has passed with peace and prosperity" Oh yes, prosperity, thought Hades. "And without further ado, on with the celebrations!" he ended, leaving Hades wondering if Zeus was drunk already. Celebrations here, were a synonym to getting drunk and wooing who you want. What was he thinking, when he decided to come here? Hades wondered at himself, annoyed.

Meetings in Olympus were bad enough as they were. Surviving through one of these was near impossible. And apparently, Zeus seemed equally surprised at his presence there. "Brother! Decided to leave that hell hole of yours for some festive now have you? Pun unintended!" He exclaimed laughing at his own joke. Only Hades didn't find it all that amusing. Knowing that if he stayed here any longer, he will loose his patience and do something stupid like blast his annoying little brother away, Hades walked out. Hoping to avoid any further interactions with his 'family' he donned his famous Helm of darkness.

Only, being invisible didn't stop his young niece from painfully colliding against his knee.

"Ouch!" he heard a high pitched voice. "You seem to have a knack for running into people don't you?" he asked frowning at Demeter's daughter. But this only made her cower in greater fear and a second later Hades understood that he still had his helmet on. Damn. He removed it and let the young goddess see him. And that's when the unexpected happened. The child, not at all intimidated by his formidable height, simply opened her mouth in awe. Her eyes were round saucers when she asked in a thrilled tone, "But you just appeared out of nowhere! I mean when Father does something like this, it usually includes a lot of white clouds and noise but you must have been here 'cause I collided with you! So you're just invisible" the child concluded breathlessly.

"You talk a lot too? Not surprising seeing as you are your father's daughter." He said. Her head went down in shame. Why was he being harsh to this guileless kid while in truth he was actually surprised by her observation that he was only invisible and hadn't travelled through space and time? "Mother says I talk a lot too. But Arianna always says that controlling a child's tongue is like asking a cuckoo not to sing." Before Hades could reply to this well remembered but flawed statement, he was interrupted by the girl's mother.

"Kore! Troubling someone again are you… Oh brother! It's a pleasure to meet you. How do you fare?" said Demeter. "I am fine, Demeter. But it seems your daughter here is feeling a little lonely. Why don't you let her stay with some company of her own age?" he asked though he had a slight idea as to why. "I am sorry brother, don't just stand there and be rude Kore, greet Lord Hades!" chided Demeter.

"You want to come home?" the girl asked out of nowhere. He was taken aback by this. How in all of Elysian did her mind work! One minute she's quoting her nymph companions and the other she is inviting a complete stranger home. And for the first time in a long while, Hades smiled. "Of course little one but I have been away from my own for so long and my pet dog must be missing me" he tried to descend to a kid's level of conversation.

"You have a dog!" she exclaimed. Okay, maybe that was not the best excuse he could have come up with. "Mama, can I please go see it? Please? Pretty please?" the girl asked. And without waiting to hear a horrified Demeter's response to her vibrant young daughter, Hades took his leave, before the girl could come up with anymore suggestions.

Though mildly annoyed and thrown back by the girl's behaviour, he could not help but nurture a slight anticipation at the thought of seeing her grow up. If Demeter took right care, then the wildfire in this girl, will definitely bring about interesting events, without getting spoiled. And he left for his kingdom with tumultuous thoughts about his own childhood and maidens and fields.