Chapter Twenty Two

A/N: I do not own anything with the exception of my OCs. Everything else either belongs to Disney or the Greek Myths!

Gods, thank you all so much for your continued support! I know I say it every chapter but I mean it! I wouldn't be able to get much done if it wasn't for your kind reviews, favorites and alerts.

Oh, I had a couple of people ask me on the last chapter if I was going to keep Harry, Uma, Jay and Mal together. The answer for that is: Yes! While I had originally planned on splitting them up, I found I enjoy writing their group dynamic too much to actually go through with that. So to make a long story short, I got too attached to four fictional characters and didn't want them to be unhappy.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter! :D

Time passed, as time often does. Another birthday had come and gone for Mal, this time with a small party where Uma, Jay and Harry spent the day with her, her dad and Virgil. It had been nice, being able to spend the day with her cousin and friends-plus they had finally confirmed that Virgil was in fact Hades' nephew through Vanessa. Persephone had done a little digging since she was over across the bridge. Poor kid had almost passed out when Hades told him but Virgil always seemed close to passing out so there was really nothing new there.

Honestly, Panic probably was more nervous than Virgil was though to be fair Virgil wasn't the one married to Lord Hades' niece. Mal didn't truly understand it but she knew Virgil was her cousin. That was easy enough to understand.

It hadn't taken much in the way of persuading the boys to put Virgil under the crew's protection. Sure they were a little iffy at first considering Virgil was a year older than Jay but, as Mal reminded them, Virgil was jumpier than a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. That, plus the fact that he was a minion's kid, made him a prime target for gangs like Freddy boy's.

Uma had easily backed Mal up-the daughter of the Sea Witch stood by their motto of Ruthless yet Loyal. If there was anyone Uma was going to be loyal to, it was her crew and her family. Besides, any extra reason to go after Freddy boy was a positive in both their eyes.

School continued on but Mal paid it no mind. The only purpose of Dragon Hall was to teach kids how to be evil.

Mal though enjoyed her private lessons with her father, where she learned to harness her magic and made sure she at least had some control over it. They couldn't do any advanced lessons—mainly because of the barrier but also because Hades didn't want to risk Mal getting hurt.

With no proper doctors on the Isle, it wasn't worth the risk.

The private lessons, though, meant Hades soon learned about the 'lessons' Maleficent had taught Mal. To say the Lord of the Underworld was furious would be an understatement. Mal still remembered the rant her dad had gone on when he saw the mark Maleficent had made when she'd slapped Mal.

"Mal? What's that?"

"My face?" Mal told him, aware that it wasn't what he had meant.

"Don't be cute Mali." Hades told her, picking her up and sitting her on the sofa. "How'd you get that mark on your face?"

Mal shrugged, knowing that anything she said would just mean a worse 'lesson' from the dragon when she eventually found out. Because she always did.

"Mal, did Maleficent do that to you?" Hades asked gently, trying to keep his temper under control. Mal didn't need him ranting about smiting his ex wife. At least not right now. That didn't mean that when Mal wasn't in the room Hades wasn't going to let it rip.

Mal sighed. "She's the only one who could do it," she muttered. "Everyone else is terrified about potentially upsetting her to ever lay a hand on me. Freddy boy being the obvious exception but he's just a few bricks shy of a full load to borrow a saying from Steph."

Hades sighed and bit back the tidal wave of curses dying to come out of his mouth. Those were things Mal definitely didn't need to hear-though he was sure she already had. Most adults on the Isle didn't care if there were kids around when they let loose with their curses and swears. "Let me get you some ice, it'll help ease the pain," he told her.

"I've had this for a day," Mal shrugged. "Besides dad, I'm a VK. Pain is what we're used to."

"My daughter doesn't have to be," Hades said gently before walking into the kitchen to get the ice. Satisfied he was out of Mal's earshot, he growled as he opened the fridge to try to get a bit of a barrier.

"GODS FREAKING DAMN YOU MALEFICENT! DID YOU AIM FOR THE FACE ON PURPOSE? WAS IT A WAY OF TAUNTING ME? KNOWING I CAN'T COME AFTER YOU OR THE WHOLE ISLE'LL KNOW MAL'S MINE! I SWEAR TO WHATEVER GOD THOUGHT GIVING YOU A CHILD WAS A GOOD IDEA, YOU'LL PAY FOR TOUCHING A SINGLE HAIR ON MY DAUGHTER'S HEAD!"

"Dad? Screaming into the fridge doesn't do much to block out the sound," Mal said dryly as Hades made his way back to the den.

"You weren't supposed to hear that," Hades said as he handed her a towel full of ice.

"And yet I did," Mal said with a shrug as she put the ice on the mark on her face. "I've lived with the dragon for six years dad, I'm used to it by now."

"Excuse me Mali, but I have to go kill a dragon."

"No! Dad, that's what she wants!" Mal exclaimed as Hades stood back up, presumably to do just that or at least confront his ex-wife. "Just ignore her. It's what I do-it's why Jay, Uma and Harry and I set up the club house in the first place. Maleficent may run the Isle but she doesn't know about the club house. It's the one place on the Isle she doesn't have spies."

"Mal, if you think I'm just going to sit by and-"

"What's stopping her from finding a way to file a report to Boreadon if you confront her?" Mal shot back and Hades sighed. She was right.

Hades hadn't gone to confront Maleficent after that but he did keep a close eye on Mal. Any new scrape, bruise or cut was immediately spotted and treated to the third degree-until Mal reminded him that she was friends with two boys and Uma. Roughhousing was kinda going to happen whether he liked it or not.

As the days dragged into weeks, Mal couldn't help but wait in anticipation for the day when Steph would arrive back on the Isle. It would be likely that Steph wouldn't have Mal's new sister but it would be close. Oh, Mal couldn't wait to see little Haille and teach her all the important things—how to sneak things from under people's noses, how to sword fight, how to make the perfect smoke bomb and how to best Freddy boy in a verbal sparring match.

Not that Mal would ever let Freddy boy get close to her sister but if he did, Haille would need to be able to shut him down. No sister of Mal's was going to be lacking in sarcastic wit after all! Besides, if Freddy did touch a hair on her sister's head, well then Mal would gladly introduce him to his precious Hellfire!

However, one grey September day, Mal's whole world was going to change even if she didn't know it yet. Quickly making her way to the Underworld as school let out, Mal grinned as Estelle greeted her at the door.

"Hey boy," she said, petting the Cerberus' right head as the middle and left ones tried licking her face. "Where's dad?"

Estelle gave a small yip and grabbed his leash, which was in a basket near the front door, with the mouth of his left head.

"Oh you want to go on a walk? Okay boy but first I want to say hi to dad. He'll freak out if he doesn't see me since it's not an appearance day at the dragon's," Mal said. "I think Steph comes back today too. I don't want to miss her!"

Estelle yipped again and wagged his tail, whether in excitement over Persephone coming home or just from the excitement of seeing Mal no one knew.

A small commotion near the portal room caught Mal's attention and she scurried over, with Estelle trotting after her. In the portal room, Mal saw a sight that delighted her to her core. Steph was back! She was currently hunched over, though, and being propped up by her dad. It almost looked like she was in pain but that was impossible right? Steph was a Goddess after all!

"Steph!" Mal exclaimed with a smile, making her way into the room to properly greet her step mother. Estelle poked his noses in through the doorway and gave his little doggy smile at seeing Persephone as well.

"Mal, I know you're happy to see Steph but let's not give her a hug just yet," Hades said before turning back to Persephone, his tone low and a little worried. "You're sure your water broke just before you—"

"Hades, I can assure you I'm not in the habit of wetting myself. The baby's coming!"

"Okay, okay," Hades said, gently rubbing her back as a contraction hit. Turning toward the door, Hades frowned as he saw that Mal was still there. She shouldn't be seeing this, he thought. The thought of Steph in pain would traumatize her and I'm sure this isn't the end of the contractions.

"Mali, run and get either Lady or Anastasia Tremaine. They'll be the best ones to help right now," Hades said, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. She didn't need to be scared by this.

"But dad, can't I help?"

"You can help by getting the person I asked for, Mal," Hades said, a tiny bit of his stress seeping into his tone by the fact that Mal was still there. Why did she have to be so stubborn?

"But—"

"Mal, go!" Hades snapped, and regretted it the instance he saw the slight look of hurt on Mal's face before her walls went back up. She turned and left, Estelle by her side as always. Hades sighed and turned back to Persephone.

"Let's get you to our room, okay?" Hades suggested. "You shouldn't be on your feet right now."

"You shouldn't have snapped at her," Persephone said as they slowly made their way to the bed. Thankfully their room was only across the hall from the portal room so Persephone didn't have far to walk. "She only wanted to help."

"I know, and I'll apologize to her once all this is over," Hades promised.

"All this," Persephone chuckled as she laid down on the bed. "It's only the birth of your kid but sure, let's refer to it as 'all this'."

"Sorry, sorry. Bad choice of words," Hades sighed and gently kissed the top of her head. "How are you feeling?"

"Better since that contraction passed," Persephone said, her brow lightly tinged with sweat from the contraction. Hades grabbed a cloth and dabbed away the sweat as gently as he could. "Eileithyia had warned me that giving birth might be harder on the Isle than it would be on Olympus or even in Auradon. I mean, I don't know how she knows what giving birth on the Isle is like since we're the only Gods who've stepped foot here-"

"Well you're going to be fine okay?" Hades said, grabbing her hand as another contraction hit. That turned out to be a mistake as Persephone gripped as though her life depended on it. Oh sweet Zeus, Steph, you're going to break my hand if you squeeze any harder! Mal, where are you?

Meanwhile, the seven year old in question was furiously making her way toward Curl Up and Dye; the most logical location for either Lady Tremaine or her eldest daughter to be. While they may not have had a medical system on the Isle, they did have the Tremaines—somehow the noble women had taken it upon themselves to become midwives on top of running the only hair salon on the Isle.

Maybe Lady Tremaine did it in an effort to make a suitable match for her daughters, maybe they did it so that if they were ever given a chance to get off the Isle they would be looked on more favorably than others. Mal honestly didn't care.

Why would dad do that? Just yell at me like that? I could have helped! Instead he just tossed me out of the room like I was Estelle chewing on his slipper.

Mal shook her head. She would be able to talk to her dad once all this was over. Right now, she needed to focus on getting one of the Tremaines.

"Hello?" Mal called out as she stepped into Curl Up and Dye. Estelle stayed outside, mainly because Lady Tremaine hated dogs. If she was there, and saw Estelle, it wouldn't matter that Estelle was a Cerberus. She would have refused to help and Steph would have been up the creek.

"Mal?" Anastasia Tremaine asked, looking at her from behind the counter, and Mal sighed inwardly in relief. Anastasia wouldn't waste time needing Mal to play to her ego before she would agree to help. "Does someone need assistance?"

Mal nodded. "It's Lady Persephone. I don't know what's wrong but Lord Hades told me to get either you or your mother."

Mal didn't need to told it was more than likely a better idea to play up the errand rat angle than reveal to Anastasia that Hades was Mal's father.

"I didn't realize Lady Persephone was pregnant," Anastasia gasped before grabbing a bag from behind the counter. Ducking into the back for a second, Mal could hear her instruct Anthony to watch the shop while she ran out.

Mal held back a snort as she followed Anastasia out of the shop and, grabbing Estelle, showed her the way to the Underworld. The young girl had to give Anastasia credit—she didn't react upon seeing Estelle. Then again, they had a time crunch. Her sister was coming and she wasn't going to wait for Anastasia to dilly dally.

"Lord Hades?" Anastasia called out as they entered the Underworld once more, the journey made in silence.

"In here!" Hades called from his room, all the way at the end of the hall. "Anastasia, thank Gods. I—"

"No need to explain, just tell me how far apart the contractions are," Anastasia said as she walked into the master bedroom. Mal tried to follow but was held back by her dad.

"Not this time Mal," Hades said gently. "You wait outside okay? You don't want to see this."

"But—"

"No Mal," Hades said, more sternly before shutting the door. Mal stared in shock before sinking down to the floor in front of the door to Hades and Persephone's room. The door was thick enough that, if people kept their voices down, Mal couldn't hear what was being said.

However, when one was giving birth they weren't likely to keep their voices down. Mal wrapped her arms around Estelle's neck and buried her face into his fur; trying to block out the sound of the occasional screams of pain coming from the closed room.

Why is my sister doing this? Mal thought. Steph's in so much pain because of her! But…I mean she's a baby right? She doesn't mean to do this. Besides, I'm getting a sister. Someone who can look up to me!

However, Mal couldn't help the tears that leaked from her eyes as Steph's screams of agony rang through the Underworld. For some reason, even though screams like Steph's weren't uncommon on the Isle, it hurt more when it was Steph.

I could help! I may only be only half God but that's better than nothing! Hail better appreciate what Steph is going through for her! If this is what having kids is like, then I'm never having them!

The hours trickled by, with Mal still sitting guard outside Hades' bedroom door; waiting for news like Estelle begged for scraps.

Why would he let you know anything? A nasty little voice sounded in her head. After all, this is his and Steph's kid being born. A full God, someone who wasn't tainted by the dragon. A kid that dad can raise from birth and not worry that her mother will want her back because her mother lives with him.

Mal shook her head to banish the nasty thoughts. Dad would be back to normal when Hail's born, Mal thought. Why would…

Mal's thoughts trailed off as the door opened for the first time in hours.

"Mali?" Hades said gently and Mal looked up from Estelle as she took in the lack of screams. Instead, a faint coo of a baby took their place. It was hard to believe…after all this time, Haille was finally here!

"Is my sister here?" Mal asked, standing up and looking at Hades with hope filled eyes. Hades gave him a small smile. "I'm a big sister now right?"

"That's right Mal. You want to come say hello to your little brother?" Hades asked and Mal blinked. Did…did he just say brother?

Maybe the word for sister in Greek sounds like brother in English? Mal thought as she walked into the room.

"Mal," Persephone said with a small smile, holding a bundle wrapped in a blue blanket. It was safe to say that Mal's world shattered into a million pieces. Instead of a sister who would look up to her, she would have a brother who would replace her.

After all, when you think about the Gods, who's the first who come to mind? The Big Three—dad, Uncle Zeus and Uncle Poseidon. You don't tend to think of the Goddesses, the nasty little voice was back. Why would dad want anything to do with you now that he has a son? Not just any son but a son who was full God? Someone who could easily break out of here once he was old enough-after all, what's fairy magic compared to the magic of the Gods?

"Mal?" Hades' voice broke through her thoughts and Mal looked up at her father. Hades looked at Mal with a kind smile that had hints of concern hidden with it. "Go on, say hello to your brother Hadie."

Hadie. It was even worse knowing the little whelp's name. He was going to be a Hades clone…just like Mal was a Maleficent clone.

I will not look at him. I'm not going to give dad the satisfaction! Mal thought as she turned on her heel and walked out of the room with Estelle on her tail—unaware of the stunned looks her father and step-mother were giving her.

Marching into her room, Mal waited until Estelle was safely in before slamming the door behind her. The sounds of Hadie's cries pierced the air, only slightly muffled by the door. Flinging herself onto her bed, Mal grabbed her pillow and jammed it over her head as to block out the wails.

Why did he have to come? Life was perfect before—almost like getting to see the sun, like in Steph's stories!

Hey, it might not be so bad. He's the shiny new thing and then dad will be yours all over again. Just watch—dad's never let you down before.

Unless you count the fact that he left you to live with the dragon for five years until he finally got around to telling you he was your father.

The whelp will just ruin everything!

Mal shook her head. Whelp was Uma's nickname for Celia, and even now it had become more of a term of endearment rather than the cruel nickname it had started out as. No, Mal needed her own way to show her displeasure toward…him.

Hatchling? No that was too close to dragon…which he wasn't. No relation to Maleficent at all. Just another way he blotted out the sun of her life. Like a…cloud.

Mal smirked as she thought of the perfect way to reference her little replacement. After all, he ruined her life like a lightning bolt ruins a sunny day…and what brought lighting, at least according to Steph?

Storm clouds.

That was the perfect way to describe the little beastie. As a storm cloud-and that's all he would ever be!