Chapter twenty-eight

-Two days later-

Graham pulled the book in his hands closer up to his face and said, "stop that."

"Stop what?"

The demon rolled his eyes and decided that there was no point in trying to read so he pulled it down to look at the brunette sat cross legged on the floor and staring at him intently with an envelope clutched between her hands.

For the past couple of days, the pair of them had tried to forget about the visit from the leader of the Olympians. After all, there wasn't exactly anything else that they would be able to do.

Dawn had spent a couple of hours trying to track her mother down in Wonderland, but it soon became apparent that the pair were no longer in that realm. She had no idea where they were and a simple note was not justification enough for her to go realm hopping in order to find the pair, especially since there were more than a few realms without magic where she wouldn't be able to use her usual tracking methods. There was just no way that she would be able to find the two women faster than they would be returning home, though it was annoying her that she had no idea how long they had planned to stay wherever they were. There was also the fact that they might not be back for months, she had no idea what tournament Emma was currently planning to compete in.

She had been through all of these excuses many times with Graham, but he staunchly disagreed that she should be allowed to open the letter. They were both aware of the relationship between the two sisters, so there were a million possibilities as to what could be contained in the message that Zelena had left and Graham was convinced that Regina wouldn't be happy if they found out something that they were not supposed to know. On the other hand, Dawn was convinced that they should open it so that they could find out just how important it could be. She had said that if it was important, then they should be searching for Regina right now so that they could hand it to her in person. Especially if there was some kind of time limit on it. Pissing off Zeus was probably not in Hades' best interest.

"Stop looking at me like that," he sighed, "I'm not giving you the note."

Dawn narrowed her eyes at him but he remained unmoved. Though she knew that she would be getting exactly what she wanted in that moment if the demon was still afraid of her, she couldn't really find it in herself to wish that this was still the case. She found that when he wasn't constantly stuttering, he made much better company, but she was sure that she would have already gotten what she wanted the moment she had suggested it if he hadn't gotten so comfortable around her since they had started spending time together.

"We need to make sure that the note isn't a threat or something," she tried again, "don't you think that Zelena would be pissed if mom doesn't respond on time and it would start a war."

Graham just rolled his eyes and shook his head, "and you said that I'm dramatic," he replied, "Zeus probably knew that Hades wouldn't be here when she visited. She probably just wanted to request a meeting with her sister."

Dawn blew out a breath, she hated how he could be so logical when he wasn't afraid. She was sure that if Zelena was still here, he would still be very much close to a mental breakdown.

Dawn was about to open her mouth to say something but she was cut off when she felt something that she hadn't in what felt like months. She had a feeling of powerful sources of magic entering the Underworld and she knew exactly who it was. For a moment, she frowned when she considered why she hadn't been able to feel it when Zelena had entered her mother's realm, but it was probably simply because she had never met the woman before. Plus, she had expended far too much magic trying to make a plant grow.

The brunette shot to her feet with a huge smile on her face and Graham's eyes widened at the movement.

"What?" he asked.

"They're back," is all she said by way of reply before she began walking off in the direction of the throne room.

Graham blew out a little breath of frustration. Regina's return would inevitably mean an increase in anxiety for him, but as long as Emma was also with her, he knew that he would never have to be nearly as afraid as he was when he met Zeus. He quickly pocketed the note and rose from the chair so that he could follow the demi-goddess.

He soon fell into step with the woman until they made it to the throne room. As expected, a blonde and brunette woman stood in the room, Regina was asking Emma if she wanted anything to eat and the younger woman declined the offer.

Regina looked as though she was about to offer something else, but she seemingly noticed that they were no longer the only two in the room and she looked over to the entrance.

She instantly frowned at the sight of her daughter. She had been sure that she would be in the Enchanted Forest right now and she certainly didn't think that she would be spending her time with Graham. Indeed, she noticed that they appeared to be standing closer together than they had ever before.

However, before she could think about forming a fireball to hurt the demon for what she thought he had done, Dawn ran forward and threw her arms around her in a crushing hug. Regina brought her arms around the girl and Emma smiled widely at the scene before she offered Graham a little wave of her hand.

The demon returned it, though he was suddenly very afraid since he had seen the expression on the goddess's face. He could tell that she thought there was something going on between them and the expression he had received at the thought certainly didn't suggest that their imaginary relationship would ever receive her approval.

Finally, Dawn released her mother from the bone crushing hug and Regina blew out a breath of faux relief, "we really were not away for that long, dear."

The younger brunette just laughed and shook her head. She had of course gone longer than this without seeing her mother before, but never had she so desperately wanted the woman to return so that she could get her to open a note. However, now that her mother was stood in front of her, she wasn't sure that she could just blurt out what had happened.

Graham seemed to have the same thought process since he hesitantly placed his hand into his pocket. He clearly didn't want to give her the letter since he knew that the mention of her sister would just piss her off; however, he knew that if he didn't give it to her he would run the risk of pissing of Zeus and he honestly wasn't sure what would be worse.

"Why aren't you with Devin?" Regina asked, when no one said anything for a solid five seconds.

Dawn frowned, noticing that the fact that she hadn't even pretended to not know his name, before she replied, "we can talk about that later…but Graham needs to give you something…"

The man narrowed his eyes at Dawn who just smirked at him.

Regina looked between the pair and then over to her wife who simply shrugged. It was obvious that the dynamic between the two had changed quite dramatically since they had left and neither of them had any idea why that would have happened. However, there was also something more important that obviously required their attention.

It was for that reason that Regina decided to put aside her many questions for later when she and Dawn could talk one-on-one and she looked over to Graham expectantly.

He took a deep breath and pulled the sealed envelope out of his pocket. He had a moment of indecision before he walked over to the woman and handed it over to her.

Regina frowned since she didn't exactly get mail in the Underworld and she allowed her eyes to fall down to the careful writing.

'To my dearest sister'.

The goddess blinked at it a few times as she tried to take in exactly what it meant. She barely ever received anything from Olympus, in fact, she was sure that the last thing she had gotten from her so-called 'family' was an invitation to the wedding of Athena and Persephone.

"What is this?" she asked with narrowed eyes, looking straight at Graham.

Emma walked forward to peer over the woman's shoulder and frowned when she read who the letter was addressed to. She had a feeling that she knew why her wife was so angry to have received a letter.

Graham bit the inside of his cheek and looked over to Dawn, silently asking for help and the demi-goddess rolled her eyes. She knew why he was afraid in all honesty, Zelena was a sensitive subject and her mother didn't tend to react well to such subjects.

"Zeus visited two days ago…" Dawn replied, "she gave us that note for you when we told her that you were not here…"

Regina blinked a couple of times at the news. She had been sure that her sister found this dominion to be utterly disgusting, which was why she had never received a visit in all the time that she had been here. She was also sure that Zeus should be able to tell whether or not a god would be present in their abode at any given time, which meant that she had probably purposely arrived here when she knew that there would only be Graham and Dawn. After all, she would probably have never accepted to so much as exchange so much as a couple sentences, much less accept whatever was contained in this envelope.

"Zelena was here?" she asked slowly, clenching one of her fists, "she spoke to you without my permission?"

Dawn opened and closed her mouth a few times. She knew that her mother hated her sister but she wouldn't have imagined this pure anger just from hearing that she was here. Of course, she didn't quite understand how much Regina's hate for Zelena had grown impossibly stronger over the years, the woman had ensured that her oldest sister would end up with nothing for eternity, the thought of what she could have done to her daughter made Regina both angry and pissed off at the same time.

Emma inspected her expression. She could tell that the woman was falling into what she had mentally dubbed 'momma-bear mode' and she smiled for a second at just how protective Regina was. It was at times like this that she couldn't imagine why people would ever think that Hades was so evil.

"I'm fine, mother," Dawn assured.

Regina opened her mouth to say something else, but Emma placed a hand on her arm. The brunette turned to look at the younger woman and her anger instantly lowered, though it wasn't completely gone. The very thought of what her sister could have done to her daughter made her skin crawl.

She offered the envelope to Emma since she knew that she would probably end up just setting it on fire and the blonde took it.

The princess quickly opened it, trying to not look excited at the fact that she was opening something written by Zeus. Her eyes scanned over the words for a few moments, during which Graham and Dawn stared at her expectantly and Regina tried to look uninterested.

"We've been invited to dinner on Olympus," Emma finally announced, trying not to get too excited by the prospect.

"We?" Dawn asked with a frown.

Emma nodded and read out, "I would like to take this opportunity to invite you and your bride to dinner at my home."

"Mortals can't go to Olympus," Dawn argued.

"They can with Zeus's express permission," Regina sighed. She didn't know what her sister could possibly be planning be she knew that there was no way that she simply wanted to meet Emma. It wasn't as if she had ever been that interested in meeting her niece.

"We have to accept this invitation," Emma instantly said.

Regina shook her head vehemently, "we most certainly do not."

The blonde opened her mouth to argue, but she couldn't think of anything plausible beyond the fact that she wanted to see Olympus.

"I should go and prepare for dinner today," Regina announced and walked away without a further word.

Emma frowned and watched her go.


Zelena swung her legs around so that they were resting on the arm of her throne and she yawned audibly.

The goddess had finally gotten everything that she had wished for. Her insufferable sister was currently drowning in sorrow down in the Underworld whilst she was revered by all on Olympus.

Sometimes, however, she couldn't help but imagine what would have happened if Regina had been present in their father's last moments. The brunette would know that it wasn't she who had been prescribed to rule over the Underworld. Zelena had fully intended to follow her father's decisions during the naming ceremonies, but she found that she just couldn't do it. She couldn't damn herself to a life of darkness with only demons as company, it just wasn't fair that her father would want her to be Hades for the rest of eternity! She had done just as much as her sister in the fight against their parents so why should she be punished whilst Regina would be worshipped and respected for the rest of her life?

Why would she condemn herself to such a fate when she had the opportunity to take whatever she wanted with no repercussions? Regina became Hades and she became Zeus, everything had been perfect for the past fifty-years.

Her relaxation was interrupted by the sound of footsteps and she looked up at the man walking through her throne room. The red-head tilted her head at the man and smiled at him.

"Don't you have some fish to tame, Poseidon?"

Neal just shook his head and rolled his eyes as he clutched the Trident tighter in his hand and he also clenched his jaw.

"You know very well why I am here, sister," he replied with narrowed eyes.

The red-head let out a deep breath of frustration and finally turned herself around so that she was facing him, "and you know very well that I do not care for your bickering with Athena."

"This should be a simple choice for you. I am your brother," Neal sighed.

"This is not my choice, I did not ask for a patron for Athens," Zelena sighed, "simply follow the king's request."

"You and I both know that Athena will be able to win any test and that you could simply shift the odds into my favour if you simply visit Cecrops and tell him that your will is that I should become the patron of his city," the sea-god replied almost pleadingly.

Zelena simply shook her head, "I am under no obligation to assist in your pointless disputes."

"And what exactly are you under obligation to do?" Neal asked with narrowed eyes. Since she had taken the mantle of Zeus, the red-head seemed to do not much more than lounge around her palace, sometimes finding amusement in the 'pointless' happenings of some of the more notable mortals.

Zelena was about to open her mouth to retort, seriously considering just throwing a lightning bolt at her brother, but her thoughts were halted by the sound of an extra three sets of steps hitting against the marble floor. The ruler of the Olympians looked away from the sea god and inspected the three figures for a few moments, before she stood from her throne.

"You're dismissed, Poseidon," she announced.

Neal frowned and looked over his shoulder and his frown only deepened when he saw the three figures entering his sister's throne room.

He was about to argue that he had been there first, but it quickly occurred to him just how childish that sounded, plus, there was also the fact that his sister clearly had no interest in actually helping him.

So instead of furthering the issue, he simply bowed his head to Zeus and the Three Fates, before walking towards the entrance.

Once the red-head was sure that her brother was out of ear-shot, she sat back down and tilted her head at the three women.

"I don't remember extending an invitation," she said with a certain amount of anxiety building in her stomach. She hated being in the presence of the only three beings who knew exactly what she had done to her sister.

"We have come in your best interests, Hades," the tallest of the three announced.

Zelena clenched her jaw and shook her head, "Zeus," she spat.

"To your subjects, perhaps," the Fate on the right sneered, "you are hardly fit to hold that title."

The red-head blew out a breath of frustration, "a fact that you seem intent upon reminding me of at every possible moment. Which begs the question of why you have not simply told the masses of my deception?"

"You have always been fated to steal your title," the Fate on the left replied, which was closely followed by the woman on the right hissing:

"But you have always also been fated to lose it."

Zelena bit the inside of her cheek and resisted the urge to demand they leave. That would get her nowhere and if they were offering information about the future, she might as well take everything that she could get.

"Hades will find a new Persephone. They will ascend together to the position always meant for them," the three women said at the same time.

Zelena opened her mouth to ask what they meant but they had already turned on their heels to leave.

"Wait!" she shouted, practically jumping up from her seat.

The Fates simply stopped, but didn't turn around as they waited for her to ask the question that they knew she was going to ask.

"How do I prevent it?" Zeus asked, desperation filling every one of her words.

"Without her Persephone, Regina will not be able to take your title," was her only reply, before they continued to walk away.

Zelena fell back onto her throne and blinked a few times. She knew that they had only told her this information because they had sworn allegiance to the ruler of Olympus. The moment that Hades 'ascended' their allegiance would shift and she would be left in the Underworld for the rest of her immortal life.

That was something that she would never allow to happen.


"Dinner is in three hours, mother," Dawn said softly as she leaned against the goddess's open bed chamber door.

Regina looked up from her position sat on the bed and stopped herself from sighing deeply. She knew that she wouldn't be allowed to simply be alone to think about what her sister was planning, but she had hoped she would get longer than a few minutes.

"I have been away for a long time…some organisation is in order…" Hades replied.

Her daughter quirked an eyebrow as she looked around her mother's spotless room. The immortal didn't really spend much time sleeping unless she was alone and wished to pass some time. Since Emma had arrived, most of the time that she had slept had resulted in some form of nightmare, so Dawn was sure that she was more eager than ever to simply stay up all night and read until her wife was awake.

The younger brunette pushed off the door and walked over so that she could sit next to the goddess.

"I understand that you and Zeus have some bad blood…" Dawn began after a moment of consideration.

Regina let out a small scoff and looked down to her lap, but she looked up when her daughter placed her hand onto hers. She was instantly reminded of one of the only good things that had happened to her as a result of her sister's plans. She was sure that if she had been Zeus, she wouldn't have attempted to find comfort in the arms of that stable boy.

"You can't honestly be thinking of denying Emma a chance to see Olympus?" Dawn said as she squeezed her mother's hand. "That is a once in a lifetime chance for a mortal."

Regina clenched her jaw. That had of course been one of her considerations as she had started to think about whether or not she had acted too rashly.

"Olympus is no place for a mortal…" Hades replied.

"What is the worst that could happen with you there to protect her?" the demi-goddess asked, "you are still one of the three most powerful of the Olympians and I hardly think that Zeus would do anything to start an outright war. She even made sure to visit the Underworld when she was sure that you wouldn't be here…"

Regina brought up her free hand and rubbed it against her forehead in frustration. The thought of seeing her family every couple of centuries made her nauseous enough, but going voluntarily somehow felt worse. However, now that she thought about it, she was sure that if her sister truly wanted her and Emma to join her for dinner, then she would find a way to force them. Insulting her sister by not showing up would certainly cause some upheaval that she didn't want to deal with.

"The invitation says that all of the Olympians will be present," Dawn continued when her mother didn't say anything, "you know that it isn't really an option to deny that…"

Regina let out a frustrated sigh. Even after all of the centuries that she had lived, she still hated politics. However, the fact that she had lived so long meant that she knew the value of not insulting her family members. At the moment, the worst they did to her was leave her alone in the Underworld, but she was sure that some of them could do much worse to her if they so wished. And she knew for a fact that some of them were so petty (or bored) that they would latch onto something as stupid as denying a dinner invitation. It was the kind of thing that mythology was written about.

"I…I suppose you're right…" Regina finally said after she thought all of this through. "But I just know that she is planning something…she was never exactly interested in my engagement to Ruby."

Dawn inspected the look on her mother's face and wished that she could tell her that there was a way that she would be able to not go to this dinner. It was painfully obvious that the woman was deeply afraid of what her sister could do to her wife. Zelena had taken everything away from her sister and Dawn just knew that there was no way that she would be able to deal with losing the blonde mortal to their ongoing feud.

"And this way, you can try and discover what her plans are while you are in the company of others. Would you rather just wait for something to happen?" the younger brunette asked.

Regina bit the inside of her cheek as she considered this. There was the distinct chance that her sister could just attack her wife during one of her visits to the Enchanted Forest when she wouldn't be there to protect her.

Hades simply nodded to show that she agreed, but she didn't say anything, but she brought her free hand over her daughter's so that she could show her that she agreed.


Emma scrunched her eyes together and twisted her body around a couple more times but she decided that her new position was no less comfortable than the last.

Finally, she blew out a frustrated breath and opened her eyes. When she was met with nothing but a dim darkness, she flicked her fingers and a small light appeared in her palm.

For a moment, she considered that she could just stay up all night and read as she had done many times before; however, she quickly decided against it. She was sure that she was tired and she wanted to go to sleep, she just couldn't seem to drift off for some reason and it was driving her mad since she had slept in this bed many times before with absolutely no issue.

The blonde simply lay there for a few moments, looking around the dimly lit room, trying to figure out what could possibly be different, but nothing stood out to her.

The young woman sighed and closed her hand around the light before the limb flopped to her side and her brow instantly furrowed when something occurred to her.

She hadn't slept in a bed alone since she and Regina had left for Camelot. She couldn't sleep because there was no one beside her.

Emma took a couple of deep breaths and considered her next move. She could just ignore her discovery and continue trying to sleep in vain or she could go and talk to Regina. She was sure that sharing a bed wouldn't fit with her wife's plans of courtship. But, then again, it wasn't as though they had followed the official track of courtship considering the fact that they were already married and she was sure that there was no chance in hell that she would ever get her parents' permission for the union.

Surely, simply sharing a bed so that she could actually sleep wouldn't be in the world?

For a few more minutes, she lay still, trying to see if it would be possible to sleep without bothering her wife.

However, when she turned over again, she was very aware of the fact that she didn't hit another person's body and she opened her eyes again with a deep frown.

There was no way that she would be able to deal with this for this for the rest of the night, especially since she didn't want to be drop dead tired when she visited Olympus the next day.

Apparently, Dawn hadn't taken too long to convince her mother that she couldn't refuse an invitation to dine with the Olympians. Just from the stories that she had read she was sure that it would have some strange and unusual consequences if they were not present.

She was sure that meeting Regina's family should be something that would cause her to lose sleep, but she just somehow knew that wasn't that main reason that she couldn't drift off.

With another sigh, the princess threw the duvet away from her body and stood up.

The harsh obsidian against her feet made her toes curl against the cold, but she quickly began walking towards the door and through to the hallway. The blonde walked through the hallway, once again flicking her wrist to ignite a small light to guide her way.

Finally, she came to stand outside Hades' bed chamber and she stood stock still for a moment.

It wasn't that she was too afraid to knock on Regina's door (far from it), she just didn't want her wife to think that she was a child who couldn't sleep alone. Plus, she didn't like the thought of disturbing the woman's slumber just because she couldn't sleep.

For second, she considered that she should just walk away and leave the goddess alone but when she though back to waiting for morning to arrive she decided that walking away wasn't an option. She was just too tired to pass time with reading and just laying in silence felt like it would be torture.

It was for this reason that she finally just knocked at the door and bit the inside of her cheek while she waited for a response.

She didn't have to wait long as she faintly heard something that sounded like "come in," filter through the gaps in the door.

Emma just as quickly pushed through the door.

She expected to enter to a pitch black room, so when she crossed the threshold, her eyes felt like they were burning when she saw the number of floating candles lighting the room.

When the princess's eyes adjusted, she closed her fist around her own light source and looked over to the bed. Instead of finding a brunette looking as if she had just been awoken from a peaceful sleep, she found Regina laid out atop her duvet with a book open on her lap.

The goddess frowned at the sight of confused (and very tired looking) Emma. She had honestly expected that it would have been Dawn who knocked. She wasn't sure what was going on with her daughter and Prince Devin, but she did know that the last time the demi-goddess had been in the Underworld for so long, she'd had an argument with Devin. She also assumed that it had been the younger brunette knocking since she has asked her mother to sleep in her room during their last argument.

"Emma?" she asked, moving the book away from her lap and onto the bed-side table, "are you okay, dear?

The blonde took another moment to look around the room. Other than some books piled around the room, there was very little personalisation to the chamber.

Considering the fact that she had presumably occupied this chamber for thousands of years, she would have assumed that there would have at least been a few distinguishing features.

However, the woman quickly realised that Regina was still looking at her questioningly and a pink hue played across her cheeks.

"This…is going to seem strange…" Emma began, suddenly wishing that she had actually formulated what she was going to say before she had knocked at the door.

Regina tilted her head when the blonde didn't say anything more. She had a feeling that she knew what this was about. Lately, she only seemed to sleep peacefully when she was next to the blonde, so she had simply decided not to sleep. Now it occurred to her that if her wife was having the same problem, she wouldn't be able to simply not sleep.

Without any need for further words, Regina smiled at the anxious princess stood so that she could fold her duvet away from the pillow.

"You look exhausted, dear," the goddess said before she gestured towards the free side of the bed and slipped onto her own side.

Emma stood still for a moment before she smiled when her tired mind realised that her wife had understood what she was asking and she walked over to the bed.

The blonde slipped under the covers with ease and let out a breath of relief.

Regina smiled at the woman for a moment, before she brought the duvet over both of them and waved her hand to snuff out all of the candles.

A/N I would love to hear what you thought :)