Chapter 1
Over the years, many stories have been told about the merciless and cruel lord of the underworld, Hades. These tales are often in disagreement about what exactly changed him and dismantled his cold heart. But all of them have something in common: they are the ultimate proof that love can conquer anything, whether it be ancient curses or stubborn hearts. One example of such a stubborn heart is Lord Hades himself, who was one of the most powerful gods of ancient Greece. But not many know his true story: about how love saved his life and gave him renewed faith and the ability to have hope once again.
Hades was one of the three most powerful gods of ancient Greece, as well as Zeus and Poseidon, but he was not always a villain. Originally, he was kind and well respected on Mt. Olympus, continuously and highly sought after for advice by the gods and goddesses for solutions regarding day to day concerns and the struggles of the mortals that lived below, on Earth. Hades had enjoyed ruling the Underworld in those days, since it meant that he was able to affect the afterlife of the mortals, and strived to make the melancholy and frightening mood of death less morose.
But several months later, something changed within Hades, and his power that he had once used for good now became used for villainous and dark acts. Instead of helping the mortals, he often cursed them to a fate as equally horrifying as death itself. Dark One, Death, or Lord Death, were the new names for Hades, and now instead of welcoming death with open arms, mortals dreaded of the day that they would be sent to his awful kingdom to dwell forever.
Once accepted and revered by the Olympians, Hades was disowned from his own "family" for failing to uphold the reputation of being a "normal" and respectable god. In ancient Greece, when someone is disowned from their family, all ties are cut and that person (or god) is no longer related to anyone in that family, meaning that Zeus was no longer Hades' brother and Hercules was no longer his nephew. One exception had been made to this tradition of cutting all ties, however. Since the mother of the three powerful gods, Lady Rhea, was disowned along with Hades, she could remain his mother, since Zeus had decided that Hades should be allowed to have the one family member that no one wanted. So, Rhea was forced to leave Mt. Olympus with her youngest son and move into the Underworld, since she had been accused by the other deities of conspiring with him, supporting him in carrying out all of his devious acts, and committing crimes against the Olympians.
Even though centuries had passed since that fateful day, Hades was no less angry or resentful. If anything, his feelings of hatred had deepened, and he hated all the gods and goddesses with an equally strong passion. But now he sought to take out his anger on someone else, two creatures of his, more specifically his minions, Pain and Panic. It didn't matter that, for once, they hadn't actually done anything wrong. Hades didn't care, torture was torture. But if he was honest with himself, it never made him feel better about anything. Almost guilty, actually. But hey, minion roasting was still a convenient way to pass the time.
Minion roasting was a newly added pastime from just a few centuries ago, when all of his troubles had first begun. Hades felt that this was the best way to think of fitting punishments for those who had tried to back out of a binding deal that they had made with him, or had offered him something in return that was very obviously insulting. This was the best way to brighten his mood and console himself after yet after another failed scheme. His ex-brother, Zeus, threw thunderbolts at targets, but that was mainly for fun and entertainment. Zeus had always enjoyed showing off to the other gods and goddesses. The only time he was ever truly angry was if Hades left his place down under, or someone went after Hercules and Meg.
More like Jerkules. Herc had been a thorn in his side ever since he was a baby, and now that he had married his ex-minion, Megara, and became a "true hero", the horridness of his situation had only escalated. He didn't belong on Mount Olympus or Earth, and he hated the Underworld, but there was nowhere else to go since it was the only home that he knew.
Long, miserable years of neglect and constant abuse by the other gods and goddesses had caused Hades to become cruel and heartless, and he had begun to realize that he no longer cared about anyone else, and now lived to torture anyone who dared get in his way. Little did he know that all that was about to change. As Hades was about to leave the throne room, the three Fates suddenly materialized in front of him, holding their precious eye in one twisted, gnarled hand.
"We have come to give you a warning, though we aren't so sure if you deserve it," the tallest Fate, Lachesis, spoke with an icy tone.
"Of course, you have even worse news for me. What's next, after being exiled from Mount Olympus, Zeus has decided that a more fitting punishment for me would be to use my own mortal potion against me? Wouldn't that be ironic? Is that it? All you ever tell me lately is bad news." Hades spoke with an equally cold tone and was about to scream, when suddenly, Atropos, the shortest and most horrifying Fate, stepped in. Her empty sockets were filled with darkness and heightened her grotesqueness.
"Be warned, Lord Hades, your temper may not serve you so well any longer (as if it ever has). You shall soon meet a beautiful girl who shall be the light to your darkness, and return you to the man you used to be, once called Aidoneus. However, you may find that she may not obey your will so easily, and shall have to see the goodness (if any) that lay deep in your heart. If you chase her away with your cruelty, you will never be granted this chance again and you will cease to exist."
Hades could only stare, speechless for the first time in centuries. The Fates had not only lost an eye, they'd lost their minds. No one would ever dream of loving him and he had absolutely no intention of loving someone back. He was a villain; he had an image to maintain. Love was simply not part of the deal, unless it were another villain. The man he used to be was gone, lost forever among the winds of change, never to be found. The Fates were right; he didn't deserve a warning, because he didn't care, but he did want more of an explanation about his "upcoming disappearance."
"How could I cease to exist? You said Zeus wouldn't use the mortal potion on me."
"Zeus has sought out the highest level of magic and power in order to cast a curse on you. He has sought out the power of Uranus, the grandfather of all the gods. All the gods and goddesses have agreed to this verdict. This curse has already begun to take effect. Have you not noticed why you suddenly feel younger?"
"No, I haven't. But curse or no curse, I am satisfied with the way I am and the way my life has turned out. The situation is not ideal, but it's not completely horrifying. And anyway, I don't believe any of you about this "curse" for one second. And for the record, ladies, as touching as this is, I will never love someone or want to love someone, because no one is desperate enough to love me! Aidoneus is dead; I don't understand why you think he can just come back and besides, I wouldn't go back to being the old, pathetic me even if there were a thousand girls willing to fall in love with me!
I have enough problems in the Underworld to deal with without worrying about my own problems. I don't really have time to try and supposedly "win someone over". Just out of curiosity," Hades added as an afterthought, "how long do I have until my supposed "death", and why does me feeling younger affect anything?"
The Fates sighed in frustration. "In case you haven't noticed, your immortality is beginning to disappear. Your age matters because your age is now that of a mortal. Zeus has decreed that once you reach the age of 22, once again, the age you were when you first became cruel and selfish, you will die. You have one year, Lord Hades, since you are 23, once again. If by your 22nd birthday, you find a girl to love and love you back, you will become immortal again, but restored as your old self, as Aidoneus. You only have one chance and if you waste it, don't say we didn't warn you! And beware of your diminishing magic!" The Fates immediately disappeared after that, leaving an angry and bewildered Hades in their wake. Ignoring the stares from his two minions, Pain and Panic, he raced out of the room and slammed the door.
"Oh, did you see the look on his face? We're toast now, Pain." Panic said, of course, while panicking, hence his namesake. Hades had very painful memories of love, since he had once felt that way towards a beautiful goddess, during the first years of officially being a god. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was not only vain, but also very rude. She had rejected an offer of a date almost immediately and was now married to Hephaestus, god of the forge. What made the rejection even more of an insult was that Hephaestus was crippled.
Several centuries ago, Hades was a completely different man. His name used to be Aidoneus, or Aidon for short. He had short, wavy, black hair and striking blue eyes. He was handsome enough to make any goddess swoon over him. He was also strong and kind, and was well respected by all the gods and goddesses. He had even held a high position on the Council of the Gods, in third position after Zeus and his other brother Poseidon, God of the Seas. He was devoted to the welfare of both gods and mortals and always made suggestions on how life could be improved in both above and below. He also was wise and just, listening to all sides of a situation, and was skilled at rallying everyone together for causes that would benefit everyone.
However, after the rejection by Aphrodite, everyone began to see him in a different light. As a result of such cruel treatment, he changed his name to Hades, became more volatile, and no longer counselled anyone, since he no longer felt anyone deserved kindness or advice. No one would listen to him anymore anyway. He also became become cruel and selfish. He was jealous of Hephaestus and couldn't understand what he was lacking. He felt that he was far more intelligent and significantly more handsome than Hephaestus was.
Aphrodite chose Hephaestus because of her vanity and constant desire to be adored day and night by a man. She didn't want to be his equal, she wanted to be the most important and most desirable. Hades was unaware of that though, only seeing that he wasn't good enough simply because he didn't hold Aphrodite above everything else. Apparently, Zeus had cast a curse on him: until someone could restore the light to Hades by becoming his true love and could erase the darkness now festered in his heart, he would be horrifying to look at, and all would be frightened by the mere sight of him. Immediately, dark blue replaced his started normal flesh and flames burst from his hands. His appearance had changed then, but so had his heart. It had turned to ice and stone.
Hades no longer used his powers for good, instead he studied dark magic and slowly transformed into a villain with immense power. No one could destroy him and most importantly, no one could ever hurt him again. He was no longer weak and foolish. He decided that he would never bother to try and break the curse. Zeus thought he was punishing him, but Hades felt that Zeus had finally done something useful. Instead of spending time in the company of the other deities, Hades could now continue working on his plans for conquering Olympus and was able to commit to learning more spells. For once, he was strong and would always win. That was, until he met his match, Zeus's son, Hercules.
Hercules not only had the support of his father, but the support of all the gods and goddesses on Mt. Olympus. He was the only person that had ever defeated Hades. After Hercules had won and had saved Mount Olympus, Hades became even more reclusive and no longer attempted to take over Mt. Olympus. After all, what was the point of continuing to chase such as foolish dream? Hercules would always be there to win once again.
And now that Meg was gone too, Hades had no motivation to stop being a villain and care about someone once again. His heart had been broken once again, only this time it was by a mortal woman, not a goddess. How could he ever have believed that Meg could love him? She had always hated him, and made a point of showing her contempt for him. With that last and most painful blow, Hades swore that he would never again love someone who did not love him back.
There was almost no hope now for someone to mend his tortured soul, or to see past the anger and hurt that lay deep within him. Now, only a shred of his humanity was left, and it was fading fast. One year, though, that was hardly any time at all. Even if he wanted to save himself, he didn't have enough time. It had taken centuries of hate and humiliation from Zeus to turn Hades into the one of the darkest and most powerful villains in the world. Love and joy were no longer of any importance to him, except for the desire for vengeance and the exhilaration of finding the weaknesses of anyone foolish enough to cross the Dark One, which was now how people addressed the Lord of the Dead. No one was daring enough to call him Hades, unless they wished to make a foolish and life-threatening deal with him.
But very few dared to cross his path, and most wished that they would never have a day where they would thoughtlessly call out to him and make a devil's bargain. Many thought that they could outsmart him and find a way out of such binding contracts. But there was no way out, and all who made a deal were in his debt for the rest of their lives.
Most of the people who did summon Hades did so for the sake of their loved ones, turning an act of selflessness into an act of absurdity and false hope. For those that were bound by a contract with Hades would never be truly free from his cold grasp and ruthlessness. The most common way that people paid off their debt was by working for Hades in the Underworld. Megara had been one example of this, but she had always been the first one to be able to get out of her contract early.
Pain and Panic, however, had not made any deals. They had existed as long as the Underworld had, and therefore, would always work for Hades, as long as he was always the ruler of the Underworld. The two of them hoped that that would never change. As cruel as he was, he was the best one to be in charge. Hecate, a powerful witch, also wanted to rule the Underworld, but if she were in charge, everything would be much worse than Hades could ever make it.
Despite their forced servitude to Hades and the constant pain and torture that they had endured throughout the years, Pain and Panic still managed to keep a cheerful face and would never desert Hades for anything. They had developed a fierce sense of loyalty for him over the years and would do anything for him, no matter the cost. The one thing they couldn't do was make him happy. No one could. Hades thought that being a villain and causing mischief and mayhem made his life complete, but deep down inside of him he knew that it wasn't enough. Something was missing. And he was beginning to get tired of causing misery and torture to others. There wasn't any real reward or purpose to it and he was beginning to realize that there never had been. It would have been alright as simply a pastime, but as a daily habit, it was pointless.
Unknown to Hades, there lived a young girl far above the cold grasps of the Underworld, in another world. Well, not quite another world. She lived in a small town near Paris, France. Her name was Isabelle. However, most people called her Belle, and she was about to be Hades' second chance.