A/N: Wow. Maybe I should kill off a few more characters if I get this many reviews.


Moonfire: If you get bullied for over 20 years of your life, you develop a gift for extreme sarcasm. It's either that or turn psychopathic. Ummm, I never really know how to respond to flattery and compliments and the like, so I'll settle for an embarrassed grin instead.

Cheerleader15: There are some bits of Zeus's character in Disney that I liked, but in the actual myths, he really was a complete bastard. I just decided to go for that.

Jurious: I'm inspiring tears and various extreme emotional states again and I have no idea why. And relax; call Zeus something unrepeatable if you want to, I know I have!

YunCyn: Reminder noted and understood!

VMorticia: Couldn't remember where I heard the quote from - cheers! And Hades was just feeling guilty, hence the OOC-ness. (For about the second time in his life.)

Sarah Black: Hades has been informed of your feelings towards him and he's in the process of ranting about insanity running through my reviewers. Personally, I'm just amazed people find my stuff funny.

Crimson Fuchsia: Ok sweetie, now calm down or you'll need to up your medication. And what's wrong with being manipulative?

Worldtraveler: I seem to be inspiring an army of reviewers hell-bent on Zeus-torture. And I frankly don't feel the least bit guilty about it either! The so-called birthday present came from the domain known as hammerspace, more commonly known as the literary version of the TARDIS.

JoeyJoJo: Please lower my blood pressure and tell me I'm not actually educating someone. Cos that's a very scary concept.

Mom: Ummm, ok…At least I can do credibility. You love that dog, don't you? And I was not whinging, I was merely stating facts.


Hades: You were whinging. I was there. I put up with it.

Melora: I was not whinging!

Hades: You were so.

Melora: This coming from the muse who keeps whinging when I don't let him try out my scythe.

Hades: Like I could do any damage with it?

Melora: What you did to my bathroom was damage enough.

Hades: Hey, that toilet seat was broken before I got anywhere near it.


Disclaimer: Let's get this straight. I own Seph, Bremos, Hyllus, Asclepius, Proteus, Telemachus, Agony, Torment and a certain goddess who turns up near the end of this chapter… Anything else is the property of Disney. Jammy bastards.

/.../ denotes character thoughts


I Won't Say It: Part 29


Death is never an easy thing to witness.

Especially when the person in question is one of your son's best friends and the killer just happens to be the king of the gods.

Persephone was incapable of rational thought at that moment. All she could do was try to comfort the god of the sun and fend off the very tempting idea of forcibly and painfully ripping Zeus's head off his shoulders and mailing the remains down to Tartarus.

His own grandson…

She had thought she had heard about the worst of the thunder god's cruelty when he had exiled Hades to the Underworld. But this…

Despite being the Queen of the Dead, witnessing the death of someone she cared about was still a shock to her system. As if she hadn't been feeling nauseous enough…


Apollo was completely silent. Two constant trails of tears were running down his face with no signs of stopping. His youngest son, his little boy…killed by his own grandfather for trying to save a mortal's life. This went way beyond Zeus's normal capacity for retribution.

And this time, he was certain that he would never forgive his father.

Why him? Why were Nemesis and Thesis making him suffer so much? The memory of his wife's death still haunted him, even after sixteen years. Asclepius had always blamed himself for her passing, even though they both knew Coronis just simply hadn't been strong enough to survive the birth. But now…

Why his son? Why his little boy?

Why Asclepius?


/Okaaaaaaay…someone forgot to tell me the manic-depressive look was en vogue./

Bremos frowned slightly as he kept an eye out for the god of healing. Currently his ties to his best friends, rather than to his parents, were his top priorities. Whatever his dad had been trying to tell him before he left could wait.

Apparently, leaving before Hades had finished looking uneasy hadn't been one of his smartest moves. And he was getting an icky feeling in his stomach that wasn't caused by knocking back a fig smoothie in seven seconds flat.

It got even worse when he saw his mother trying and failing miserably to stop Apollo sobbing…

This had something to do with Asclepius.


Cosmic justice really was a bitch sometimes.

Especially when it resulted in getting stuck in the Underworld by your own grandpa, losing all of your powers, and getting your soul judged by one very irritated and uncomfortable Lord of the Dead.

Asclepius settled for a low-level death glare as he stood in the centre of the throne-room trying to ignore the other spirits crowding around him, some still carrying various dismembered body parts.

If Hades could look any more annoyed, he didn't want to know. At least it explained where Bremos got his temper.

'So do I get an apology any time soon?'

'Hey, I just mentioned the health thing to Thunder Boy.'

Asclepius' expression was growing darker by the second. 'Yeah, well thanks to your 'mentioning' of my powers, I now get stuck here for all eternity.'

'Join the club.'

'Huh.' A sudden vision of the next twenty seconds rammed through his mind…

/Hit the dirt. Fast./

'You do realise Bremos won't like this.'

Hades's left eye began to twitch. 'You're just doing this to annoy me, ain'cha.'

'Is it working?'

He didn't get the chance to come up with one of his trademark caustic retorts before half-a-dozen fireballs exploded above his throne.

Followed immediately by the customary scream of all teenagers the world over.

'DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!'

Apparently the Prince of the Undead was now up to date on the situation.

Hades glanced upwards and raised an eyebrow at the result of his son's temper tantrum. 'You do realise the repairs for that are coming out of your allowance.'

'Yeah yeah yeah, cut the pleasantries, dad.' Bremos practically spat the word out. The god of healing winced slightly. To say his friend was pissed off was frankly the biggest understatement ever made.

Apart from saying Ares was a little violent or that Zeus could overreact just a bit.

The god of the undead was desperately trying to keep a lid on his temper and failing spectacularly.

'I just found out what happened from Mom. This was what you were trying to tell me before, wasn't it?! That you just happened to be semi-responsible for one of my best friends becoming a permanent resident?!'

'Numbers were down. Interest in events topside went up. It's a combo.'

'A combo that got Asclepius killed! Thanks a lot, dad. What happened to you not messing in my life?!'

Somehow, it always hurt when Bremos was pissed at him. Not that Hades would ever admit to it.

'Ok, recap: numbers of stiffs going down. I mentioned it to Thunder-Boy. Thunderbolts and a demi-god of healing target were not in the immediate vision.'

That caught the two teens' attention. Asclepius's brow creased slightly. 'You didn't want me dead or didn't expect me dead?'

'Hmmm…last one with a little of the former.'

Bremos's and Asclepius's eyes widened slightly in amazement.

'Hey, I have a heart. Somewhere. And hell, I got a thunderbolt across the hiney for a lot worse.'

'So…you never wanted me dead?' The god of healing tilted his head slightly, intrigued as to this little revelation.

The Lord of the Dead tried not to squirm. Several hundred years of self-discipline to become the ruthless, merciless, easily bribed overlord of the dead and it was going right down the tubes.

'I was going for anything from grounding up to minor smiting. The one-way ticket across the Styx wasn't what I had in mind.'

Bremos's mind was racing under his black and gold head of fire. If Hades really hadn't wanted Asclepius dead, then…hmm.

Maybe a little charm and the wounded puppy expression his mom had taught him would work.

'So…if you really didn't expect this…then can Asclepius go free? Please?'

No.
Niet.
Nope.
Nada.
No way.

The big adorable eyes were not gonna work this time.

They were not gonna work.

The brat could stare all he liked, but no chance.

Uh-uh…

Nope…

/Awww, sheeeeeeeez…/

Hades resisted the urge to smite something. Damn genetics.

'One, no way. Two, I can't restore demi-god powers. Three, no way. Four, Zeus is the only one who has the voodoo for this, and five, no way.'

'Dear old Uncle Zeus, huh?' The Prince of the Underworld smirked. Asclepius just looked slightly concerned. He knew what happened when his friend wore that particular evil grin. A plan had started forming under the flames. If Hyllus and Proteus had been updated on the situation, then...

He correctly guessed that Zeus was about to get the talking-to of his immortal life.


The Lord of the Dead settled for glaring at the explosion of black flames as Bremos disappeared. He only just managed to bite back a list of remarks relating to the slightly less than godly characteristics his offspring repeatedly displayed; his sneakiness, capacity for bribery, façade of charm, and his ability to attract trouble…

No question which one of his parents he took after.

/Eeesh. Dwelling in sentimentality again./


In times of crisis, teenagers almost telepathically communicate and unite in a show of strength.

That, and news travels fast on Olympus.

If he knew his cousins, they weren't about to let this gross cosmic unbalance go unresolved. Hyllus leaned against one of the pillars outside Zeus's palace and glanced at the soft white feathers fluttering across the clouds. Nice distraction.

A rush of flames and a column of water appeared a short distance away, reforming instantly into Bremos and Proteus.

'I believe it's time to have a word with Grandpa.'

The god of loyalty glanced over at his best friend. 'How long'd it take for your dad to crack?'

'Four minutes, seventeen seconds. He's getting better at this.'

Bremos repressed a sneeze as an errant feather brushed past his nose.

'And someone needs to have a word to Cherub Resources about the feathers. Little early for them to be moulting…'


Perhaps luckily for Bremos, the source of the feathers managed to keep her temper in check and stayed hidden behind the pillars.

It was only by pure luck she'd heard about Asclepius's up-close-and-personal meeting with a thunderbolt. Working with Athena generally meant she didn't get much free time on Olympus. Plus her guardian didn't like her using her powers for frivolous purposes.

Tough. Asclepius was a good person, and she hated seeing people suffer.

If using her powers to give the sons of Hades, Poseidon and Hercules victory over Zeus, then it was worth getting yelled at.

Spreading her wings, Nike, the goddess of victory launched herself into the air and made for the nearest cloudbank. It wouldn't do for Zeus or the others to see her.

Especially not Bremos.

After all, she now had a grudge to nurse.


TBC


Hades: I respect the fact you had to get sick at some point…

Melora: I'm impressed. You used the word 'respect' in the same sentence as me.

Hades: Whatever. But d'you have to keep waking me every morning cos of it?

Melora: Yes. And if you don't quit whining about it, I swear I'll infect you.

Hades: Don't even think about giving that thing to me.