Chapter 5: Hidden Depths

"Why are all of them like this, I'll never know" Asta growled in frustration. He rubbed his face with his hands. He just finished a long, very passive-aggressive conversation with William.

"Told you that this was gonna be trouble," said Zora, sitting in the chair across from Asta.

"Aww, honey, it ain't gonna be the end of the world. Well, maybe it will be, but the humans are like cockroaches, some will endure," said Vanessa, unhelpfully. "I'd say we just keep Yuno. They're a sweetie."

"Only if Yuno wants, like Noelle," said Asta. He sighed heavily. "Hopefully, Lolo will be able to talk some sense into William."

Vanessa and Zora both snorted in disbelief. Zora said, "We need a better plan than appealing to the dumbass Olympians. Winter means more dead humans and thus more work for us. I don't need more work."

"Breathe, Zora," said Asta. "I'll do what I can for the humans in the meantime."

"What are you gonna do," asked Vanessa, curiously.

"A few kings view me as their patron. I'll have a chat with them about taking care of their people," said Asta. "And I'll send a message to Yami too."

"Oooh, can I go see Yami," Vanessa asked, clapping her hands together.

Asta sighed. "Sure, but don't get that drunk, Miss Vanessa! This is serious! You and Yami can't go off on a bender!"

"I promise," said Vanessa, with a grin.

"Liar," said Zora, rolling his eyes.

"Now, now," said Asta. Vanessa and Zora often broke out into squabbling that usually started pranking wars that dragged everyone in the Underworld into it. Thankfully, they were interrupted by someone running into the room.

Unfortunately, it was Hermes, also known as Kirsch, who stopped by every couple of weeks with notices and paperwork from the mountain on high. The messenger of the gods looked annoyed. "Your office is as tacky as ever, Lord Hades. Message from the old man." Kirsch produced a letter and placed it on Asta's desk.

"Thanks, Kirsch," said Asta.

"Hi, Zora," said Kirsch, winking at Zora. Zora bristled in annoyance at the appearance of Hermes.

Vanessa giggled and skipped out of the room, no doubt to track down Yami and not come back for days.

"Die in a ditch," Zora snapped.

"And deprive the world of my beauty, never," said Kirsch, haughtily.

"I'm surprised Puli hasn't fucked you up yet," said Zora, eye twitching.

Ignoring the usual bickering between Zora and Kirsch, which was just them flirting for the last millennium without doing anything about it, Asta opened the letter from Dante. Asta skimmed the letter. Breathing in and out, Asta abruptly stood up and stormed out of his room, no doubt leaving a baffled Zora and Kirsch.

Asta had a bad temper and Dante always knew how to push his buttons. He was the oldest, for Grandmother Gaia's sake! But no, Dante always pretended that he was the oldest sibling just because Asta had been the last to be spit out of their father Cronus' stomach. Asta didn't have to listen to Dante or Zenon. Those jerks. He stalked towards his quiet place where he could have a tantrum without scaring everyone.

His room was in the lowest reaches of his domain, and no one dared venture down here, except Zora, who usually just came to yell at him to get to work.

Asta sat on the floor and did breathing exercises that his mother Rhea taught him as a young, young boy.

This wasn't the first time that his siblings have done things to upset him. They were always acting morally superior to him. Everyone feared him, even his own family. He wasn't even Death itself, that was Zora. Pursing his lips together, Asta closed his eyes and breathed evenly until he didn't feel like taking a spin on his chariot and crashing straight into Olympus to give his siblings a beat-down.

Asta didn't know how long he had been down here, but he was snapped out of his thoughts when he sensed someone approach his room. And it wasn't Zora.

"Yuno," Asta asked.

Asta didn't open his eyes, but he heard Yuno gasped. "Sorry. These are your rooms…please forgive me."

"Having fun exploring," said Asta, opening his eyes and glancing over at Yuno. He grinned.

"Yes," said Yuno. They had a small smile on their face. Golden eyes glinted in the dim light of Asta's room. "It's bigger than I imagined."

Asta chuckled. "I'll show you around the different parts when I have time. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," said Yuno, clearly lying.

"Don't fuss about the humans," said Asta.

"The humans always get hurt because of us," said Yuno.

Asta hummed in agreement. "Come and sit with me, if you'd like." He didn't know what possessed him to say it but Yuno felt too far away from him. Yuno cautiously approached Asta and sat down on the floor, a foot away from Asta.

"I don't wish to upset my parent nor cause undue distress for the humans, when they can do that all by themselves," said Yuno.

"William will get over it," said Asta. "And the humans are durable. You needn't go back unless you want to, Yuno."

"Thank you," said Yuno, earnestly.

"You don't have to thank me every time we talk," said Asta, amused. "I like helping those in need."

"And annoying your siblings," said Yuno, brightly.

Asta laughed loudly. "Yeah, that too."

"I like annoying my siblings too," said Yuno. "Especially Akimo. She's too serious all the time."

"Ahhh, yes, Despoina, as she is known, likes to be mysterious, doesn't she? She's your older sister," said Asta, grinning. It was cute that Yuno didn't really realize that they were also very serious. William had other children besides Persephone/The Kore and Despoina. Arion, Philomelus and Iacchus were William's sons. William kept their sons and daughters separate from each other. And everyone knew that William's favorite was the one sitting besides Asta, Lord Hades himself, in the Underworld.

"She thinks she's Lady Hecate," said Yuno, deadpan.

"Vanessa thinks it's funny," said Asta, beaming a big smile.

"She would," said Yuno. Nodding their head, they said, "Everyone's so nice here."

"Good, I'm glad you're getting along with everyone," said Asta.

"Well, except Lord Thanatos," said Yuno, wryly.

"Zora's just grumpy all the time," said Asta, waving it off. "He'll come around eventually. I mean, he and I have worked together since I was given the Underworld millennium ago and he still gives me a hard time!"

Yuno giggled.

That's a pretty sound, Asta thought to himself. Asta kept smiling. He hadn't smiled this long in ages. It was fun, speaking with Yuno. "Though I'd like it if he got off his ass about making a move on Kirsch already."

Laughing brightly, Yuno said, "I assure you that Kirsch is waiting rather impatiently for that to happen."

Asta laughed. Yuno was pretty awesome, weren't they? Yuno humored Asta by telling Asta a bit about their life above.

They continued speaking well long after Asta was supposed to go back to work, especially when Zora came down to fetch Asta. Zora chewed them both out and threatened to throw both Yuno and Asta into the River Styx. Asta hadn't lost time like that in ages, as Noelle came to drag Yuno off while Zora dragged Asta off for work.

~to be continued