Ok peeps, same deal third story (and it's a good one!) ok, fifth if you want to get technical about it… I don't own Disney's Hercules (unfortunately) but Persephone, Thanatos and all the other original characters and places that pop-up belong to me…

This story takes things from both the film and the series while it also contains some carrying themes from it's forerunners; Plight of Persephone & Daddy's Little Hellraiser (plus a few things from both short stories too) so read them first…

Little hint: if you haven't read it's forerunners then you will get confused because some things that have happened in past fics are coming back in this fate-filled fic..

And a little reminder… Disney twisted a lot of myths for their storylines so I have to do some minor tweaking of my own to make this work…

…enjoy x

BubblyButtons2me: Thanks hun! X

AngelOfDarkness1959: Haha, me too! I hate being sick! X

DisneyPrincess: Yes, that line was based on Meg's line from the film. And Hades was always kind of touchy and oversensitive about ridiculous things in the film and series, I don't see how his weight would be treated any differently.

MangoKat: Oh wow! Now I feel really honoured to get a review, I'm glad you like the story… and thank you, you have no idea how hard it is trying to figure out characters personalities and making it so they don't clash with others, especially since I don't actually have any notes on them. I've tried to keep Hermes as close to what he was in the film and series because I absolutely love Paul Shafer and he played him brilliantly, the idea of Hermes not knowing who his father was came from the myth because Maia did not get punished for having Hermes like so my other of Zeus' mistress' did, and also because in my fic she's too ashamed of what happened to tell her son the truth. I do think if he found out the truth it would seriously mess with his head though, how would you feel if it was you? The idea of a ficlet about Hermes' origins is an interesting concept, mostly because I would also be writing about Leuce and Hades in it since they were a couple around the time of Hermes' birth and I've not done any writing on Hades' ex, she of course being Maia's best friend as stated in chapter 8... Glad your enjoying the fic and hope this isn't the only time I here from you! x

The Importance of Thanatos

Chapter Thirty-Seven:A 'Blessed' Little Bundle..

As spring rolled into summer Persephone was convinced that her unborn baby was slowly trying to somehow turn her into a complete pacifist. She'd barely argued with her mother over spring themes which was unusual, normally the two nature goddesses would argue relentlessly for the first few weeks of spring because they were both thought they were right and were too stubborn to back down.. But this year, Persephone found herself going along with her mother's words just to keep the peace.. She also found herself getting freaked out by mundane Underworld activities such as 'minion torture' or Cerberus chasing after undead souls… even one of her husband's temperamental fiery explosions made her jump and she'd start hiccupping bubbles! She'd never been bothered by these kind of things before so why did they bother her now? Persephone had even caught herself smiling girlishly at her husband's usual complaining and uttering thoughtlessly, 'Well look on the bright side-'..

…She would never utter those words!~!

But perhaps what was most disconcerting of all was the fact that her 'bad' dreams had somehow morphed from those hero-in-silver-chiton dreams to a fresh new Tartarian nightmare… everyone in her dreams had started singing about their feelings.. even Hades! It was like some scary Orphian musical..

Persephone was starting to get really weirded out by her baby's influence…

The blonde Goddess of Life sighed heavily as she sat comfortably on the soft pine-wood floor of her childhood bedroom in her mother's thatch-roof farmhouse on Sicily. With it being summer now her due date was closing in fast and it was only now the heavily pregnant goddess had began to muse over baby chitons for the new arrival. She was sat with a box filled with Melinoe's and Thanatos' old baby things and a box of her own baby things that her mother kept for sentimental reasons. Despite the fact that the new arrival was going to be Underworld born and raised just like her first two children Persephone just couldn't settle on clothes for the new baby inside her. She kept finding herself studying the dark traditional Underworld colours and thinking that it just wouldn't suit the budding personality of their baby. Judging by the flowers she had grown this spring the baby really liked bright colours… but nobody wore bright colours in the Underworld, it just wasn't done. Their baby would stick out, just like they did with their dark chitons when visiting Olympus..

Persephone bit her bottom lip as she mused over this clothing conundrum before an idea hit her… perhaps she could mix and match outfits. Rifling through her own baby clothes the Goddess of Life finally pulled out a little set of pink and yellow stockings from her box, swivelling around to her kid's box of baby things and scooping up one of Melinoe's little black dresses. She then picked up a set of closed-toe black girl sandals and laid the outfit out neatly on the floor before leaning back and cocking her head to the side studying it thoughtfully.

This could work…

The Queen of the Underworld then frowned at the little silver skull pins before pulling them off the outfit then rooting around her own box and pulling out a couple of pink flower pins and smiling at their colour against the little black chiton. Perhaps she would ask Hades to make little set of pink skull pins for their baby…

Smiling to herself, finally pleased she was getting somewhere, Persephone continued rooting for clothes of a similar colour scheme in amongst the baby clothes she had.

Down below the surface things were much more subdued. The workload was considerably lighter during the spring as the lovey-dovey spring season meant that the death-rate was low, the only souls coming in these days were the usual small trickle of souls dying from natural causes or depressed loveless losers that Thanatos had 'convinced' to commit suicide. But as the season slowly moved onwards the 'summer slump' was officially in effect and the God of Death-in-training was officially out of business. With nothing to do but baby-sit a bunch of brain-dead zombies Thanatos found himself drawn back to the chessboard in the throne room, mulling over everything he knew about his cloud-dwelling uncle while fixing a stern narrow-eyed glare at the innocent figure of Zeus..

Completely oblivious to his son's scheming Hades hummed an upbeat tune as he moved the little black baby-crib into place. The fiery god was pleased that he and his wife had agreed to stop having kids once this little 'sunspot' was born. The private quarters inside the House of Hades could not house any more children, they were using their last guest bedroom for the new baby. The fiery god smirked widely as he looked around the newly finished nursery with pride. Due to the Underworld Audits and intense fitness workouts the fiery god had kept putting the baby nursery off. However, now that his paperwork was up-to-date and his waistline and muscles were almost back to the way they'd been before he'd stopped exercising properly and instead chosen to focus on training his kids. He had no more excuses as summer was well underway and the baby's due-date was around mid-summer. Still, thanks to putting all of Melinoe's and Thanatos' old baby things in storage the fiery god only really had to prime and paint the room before moving all the baby furniture in while his wife mulled over baby things to fill it with on the surface.

The interior of the room had been difficult to come up with for this baby, his first two children had both displayed clear subterranean powers and tendencies from inside the womb… this baby however did not. If anything this kid took after Persephone's side of the family in the power department, like it's mother the baby's powers seemed to be all about life and light and these were not traits of a typical subterranean deity. So when it came to what colour to paint the room Hades was at a loss, the only thing that he and his wife could agree on about this baby was that with this amount of pacifistic leanings it had to be a girl..

..if it wasn't, then it was getting mortalized and dumped on the doorstep of the first mortal the imps could find.

In the end the fiery god settled on a natural deep rocky grey that was almost black for the room before etching out some swirling designs in the corners, snapping his fingers and causing the etching to fill with colours to make it stand out against the almost black wall. The coiling decorative swirls became golden and the carved flowers were pink in colour with green swirling stems. The candelabra above on the ceiling was done in his usual pointy swirly design but the candle-holders themselves were pink crystal lily-flowers with green crystal leaves which sent colour around the room while the candles were burning.. The black skeletal rocking chair even had a red cushion in it. The room was fit for a royal pacifistic subterranean odd-ball, which was clearly what this baby was going to be.

Hades smirked proudly around the newly decorated nursery, pleased at how well the bedroom had turned out… his wife had asked him to inject 'an itty-bitty bit of colour for their little sunspot' and as usual her man had delivered, she was going to be thrilled when she saw it.

'Hades..' A disembodied but very familiar voice sounded from the surface and the fiery Lord of the Dead's golden eyes narrowed with pleasure.. His little wifeykins was calling for him..

..Appearing directly into the tiny childhood bedroom of his wife the fiery god flashed Persephone a wide-fanged grin as he materialized out of a curl of smoke. The heavily pregnant goddess beamed widely at her husband as her aura radiated brightly around her… Hades had to admit that his wife had never looked better pregnant, he was almost beginning to regret this being their last child together… almost.

'Is the nursery finished?' Persephone asked brightly as a mixture of love and excitement flashed in her wide green eyes.

'Sure is Sephykins..' The fiery god sounded lightly, pretending to check his nails as he continued grinning at his wife. '-just put the last piece of furniture in, your gonna love it my sweet.' His eyes then wandered to the box of clothes and toys she'd picked out for the new baby. 'So ya finished sortin' out the baby knick-knacks I take it?'

'Uh-huh..' Persephone nodded eagerly as she picked up the box that had been sat on her little bed. '-got everythin' right here sweetie..' She then rolled her eyes ruefully adding amiably, '-seriously, why did we ever keep all this baby stuff?'

'Oh I dunno sugar..' Hades sounded with a vague yet over the top shrug of the shoulders complete with mock-serious smirk. '-probably on the off chance that we decided to have another kid, and hey, look what happened..' He then immediately took the box of baby things off of his wife adding, '-here, gimmie that, don't want ya over-doin' it now do we?'

'Hades, I can carry a box, I'm just pregnant y'know..' The white-skinned Goddess of Life sounded with amusement and a slight edge of annoyance, it had always irritated her when she was treated differently for having a big baby bump.

'Really?' Hades sounded with mock-surprise and a playful glint in his round yellow eyes. 'And here I was wonderin' why I've just spent my weekend fixing up a baby room when we've only got a couple of moody preteen gods at home?' Persephone giggled despite herself and Hades' eyes narrowed with pleasure at it before he drawled amiably, 'Baabe, I wasn't around for ya when you were knocked up with Melinoe, I missed out on a lot, ok? So I promised myself I was not gonna miss out on a single thing with this kid-' The fiery god then pushed his face directly into his wife's at this point with a huge roguish smirk and a set of heavy-lidded eyes. '-and that includes the fussin' over ya, capeesh?'

'Alright, alright..' Persephone groaned despairingly with a slight shake of her blonde head. '-carry the stupid box if it means that much to you.' She rolled her green eyes jadedly in a manner her eleven year old son would usually do it but smirked despite herself and linked arms with her doting husband's free arm. She really didn't have any arguments with her husband wanting to fuss over her, secretly she was enjoying all the attention he was lavishing on her but she'd never tell him that. The fiery Lord of the Dead was clearly still feeling guilty for not being there for her during her pregnancy with Melinoe and Persephone also knew that he felt a deep sense of remorse for missing her birth too. So this time around Hades had made it his mission to be there for his pregnant wife, this was relatively easy as spring and summer were lax in business… the fiery god even spent many lazy summer afternoons with Persephone just lazing around Sicily. This pleased Demeter because it meant she didn't have to worry about her daughter knowing he was there and she could concentrate on getting the crops and fruits ready for the summer harvests.

'Hmm, ya think a goddess could just be grateful..' Hades responded to her sass while rolling his eyes innocently upwards and Persephone nudged him playfully.

'Are you gonna show me this nursery or not?' She added lightly, fluttering her eyelashes at him with a girly smile she knew he wouldn't resist.

'Well, if I must my sweet..' Hades mock-sighed pretending to be a put upon martyr before it quickly vanished into a devious smirk as his wife giggled girlishly at him. '-your just lucky your married to me babe, if you were anybody else-'

'Yeh, yeh, yeh… you'd give me a royal flaming, I know.' Persephone smiled lightly causing her husband to chuckle and wrap an arm around her swollen waist.

'Heh, ya know me too well sugar..' He drawled into her ear before kissing her forehead and curling her right up against him as they vanished in a swirl of smoke..

..Persephone gasped out loud as her eyes flashed with both emotion and delight at the beautiful room her husband had created for their unborn baby. At her noise of happiness the fiery god's eyes narrowed and his smirked widened with pleasure.

'Ohh, it's perfect..' She cooed softly finally turning her eyes to her husband, the tears of joy had already started welling up.

'Ya think our little sunspot will like it?' Hades crooned softly, bending slightly so his soft words went straight into her ear.

'She'll love it!' Persephone beamed widely then turned herself around to her husband pushing herself up on the balls of her feet and kissing his lips fervently, wrapping her arms around his neck as she did. Pulling away only slightly so they were just inches apart. 'You never fail to surprise me sweetie..' She breathed softly smiling lightly at him and he smirked back widely..

As Persephone's due date came and went and the goddess had only experienced a couple of false contractions. It seemed like this little baby was determined to make it's parents wait. As the days slowly rolled by the expectant parents grew more and more anxious, Thanatos had appeared on his due date and Melinoe had arrived a week early. Neither Hecate nor Demeter were worried as both goddesses said the baby would arrive when it was ready to come out… The Goddess of Life, who was exhausted at this point just couldn't wait for the baby to be out of her..

Then finally, one week after her due date had passed it was the peak of summer, the longest day in the year when Persephone's waters finally broke. The pregnant goddess had been relaxing under her favourite willow tree in her own private grove on Sicily when the sensation of water flooding the mossy ground where she was sat, the white-skinned goddess barely had time to register that her waters had broken before the shooting pin of her first contraction ripped through her. Her cry of shock and anguish had roused her snoozing husband from the nap he'd been taking, reacting instinctively the fiery god swept his wife up and whisked her off to the privacy of there throne room… there was no way in Tartarus he was letting his last-born kid be born on the surface with nosy Olympian gods eavesdropping on them.

While the Sirens got their mistress dressed in her maternity chiton and settled on the chessboard, the imps left to inform Hecate who would be delivering the new baby. Demeter arrived in the Underworld moments later, she had heard her daughter's cries, felt a lurch in her chest and abandoned her duties in favour of a daughter who needed her. The first thing the green-skinned Goddess of Nature did was send both Thanatos and Melinoe off to Nyx and Erebus' house on the lower east-side of the Underworld with the promise of summoning them back when their little sibling was born.

After what seemed like an age Hecate appeared out of a swirl of blue light smiling widely, unseen to any of the four gods in the room both imps had reappeared out of shimmers of pink and green then quietly taken up their usual hiding place behind the large stone throne. The three identical Sirens immediately backed away from their mistress and began setting out the indigo swaddling blanket and bowl warm water to wash down the newborn baby. Hecate examined Persephone for a moment before straightening.

'I'm afraid it's going to be a while Persephone, your only a few centimetres dilated.'

'Ohhh…' The white-skinned goddess groaned despairingly and collapsed into the chest of her husband who wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her forehead lightly. Despite her discomfort at that moment Persephone's fingers clutched her husband's arm and smiled grateful to his comforting actions…

'Push Persephone, just one last push left..' Hecate sounded as her arms held the newborn around the shoulders.

'You can do it pumpkin..' Demeter sounded gently from Persephone's left side as her husband rubbed her shoulders lightly before sweeping a stray lock of hair out of her sweaty face. The white-skinned goddess was completely exhausted and nestled herself further into her husband's torso, she was completely beat but she knew that she had just enough strength for this. With one last sigh the Queen of the Underworld straightened and pushed..

'Arrrrrhhhh!~!'

As baby cries filled the room Persephone slumped back into her husband and the fiery god wrapped his arms round her, kissing her sweetly on the lips.

'Great job my sweet..' The fiery god sounded tenderly as his eyes narrowed.

'It's a girl..' Hecate declared brightly, cutting the umbilical cord and wrapping the baby in the indigo swaddling cloth.

'It is..' Demeter sounded brightly, clasping her hands together looking tearful. '-oh, let me see, I have to go and resume my summer duties.' The green-skinned goddess then got up and moved around the chessboard to look at her grandchild. The little baby in Hecate's arms had pearly white skin and a small curl of blonde hair, her eyes were closed at the moment.

'Uh, she's a darling..' Demeter cooed as she gazed lovingly at her newest granddaughter. '-she looks just like you when you were- Oh!'

Both Hades' and Persephone's eyes widened in shock at her mother's cry of shock, unbeknown to them the baby had opened it's eyes at the sound of her grandmother's voice and it this that had caused the shock.

'Oh my..' Hecate murmured looking surprised by the baby's eyes too. '-this is unusual.'

'Excuuse me..' Hades' blunt yet irate tone sounded towards the two goddesses who returned to reality as though dosed with cold water. '-either tell us what's wrong with the kid or hand it over and not get flamed, your choice.' The fiery god's brows contracted in a manner which meant he was deadly serious as Persephone looked on worried.

'Go on..' Demeter sounded lightly to Hecate with a smile. '-let them see her.' The Goddess of Witchcraft then carefully moved closer to Persephone and passed over the brand new infant baby who's eyes had closed once more.

As if somehow dreading to see a deformity on their newly born daughter both Persephone and Hades looked gingerly down at their child. She had soft marble white skin with a curl of blonde hair, she had a button nose and small almond-shaped eyes that were shut. There were ten fingers and ten toes and her little aura glowed a bright healthy star white… she was perfect in every way.

'I don't see anything wrong with her.' Hades stated grimly as his yellow eyes turned to the two goddesses in front of them. At her father's voice the little girl in Persephone's arms opened her eyes again causing her mother to blink in shock.

'Oh!' Persephone gasped, a small smile curved her cherry lips as she gazed at her daughter's eyes. His wife's intake of breath made Hades swivel his eyes to his daughter and he too gasped in surprise..

..the little goddess in Persephone's arms blinked up at her fiery daddy through her mismatched eyes. The left one was bright green in colour while the right eyes was bright yellow. As her parents stared down at her, trying to absorb what they were seeing the little baby only smiled widely back, clearly pleased by all the attention she was getting.

'Wow, that really is different..' Hades murmured as he took in his daughter's mismatched eyes.

'She's beautiful!' Persephone sounded as love for this odd-eyed child and lifted the baby higher up so she could cradle her to her face, nuzzling the new born.

'She sure is baby..' Hades crooned softly as the little baby touched it's mother's face then smiled amiably as Persephone lowered her and passed her to her father. For a moment nothing was said as the little baby had them all bewitched by her innocent beauty.

'Hey Seph, did we ever think of a name for this kid?' Hades' fiery head suddenly snapped around to his wife when he realised that he had actually no clue what they were going to name this baby.

'Oh you have got to be kidding me..' Hecate sounded dryly, slapping her head in disbelief at this… trust them not to think of a name for this baby.

'Well, when I was a little girl growing up on Sicily I always dreamed of the day I'd get a little girl like me, I even had a name picked out for her and everything..' Persephone sounded lightly.

'Uh-huh and what was the name?' Hades sounded curious but cautiously at the same time, he dreaded to think what kind of fruity name his wife would've picked back then.

'Macaria..' Persephone sounded with a small smile and Hades' eyes rolled upwards as he stroked his chin thoughtfully, mulling over the name..

..as his eyes turned back to their new-born daughter a wide smirk curved his lips. 'Blessed'… well the name would certainly suit her.

'Alright babe, Macaria it is..'

Little Notes:

Ok peeps, the next chapter will be jumping ahead a couple of years now, I don't really want to write about Macaria's milestones because I did both Thanatos and Melinoe and quite frankly I'm sick of baby writing. In the next chapter she'll be two years old so brace yourselves for toddler Maca!

Also big heads up to Hercules and Meg fans, the couple are returning after a whole sixty odd chapter absence so look out for them in a chapter soon!

Stay tuned!

~Ditzy X