Note: y/d/n is your dogs name
You recoiled your hand as soon as the glowing stopped, and you immediately looked up at the god in front of you, "So thats it? My life is back to normal?"
Hades tilted his head a tad as he looked down at you, pressing the tips of his fingers together, "Yes yes, dear old mom and pop are back together, no arranged marriage, bada bing bada boom, its a sealed deal, babe."
"And... you have my soul?" You decided to ask as you took a step away from the god.
"Mhm, mhm, I do, babe, so really, I should thank you for joining team Hades." he replied with a satisfied smirk.
You scrunched your nose up at that. Team Hades? You didnt like that... Frankly, you really hated the idea of being an accessory to some form of murder... I mean, come on, the guy was the exact definition of evil, "I can go home now, right?"
"Yeah yeah, go back home, say hi to mommy and daddy, go off, find true love, blah blah blah, bore me." he muttered with a wave of his hand as he just took a few steps around you, "But you, my little goddess, will be working for me tomorrow morning and on."
You paused at that. Wait. "You- You said I'd be able to go back to my normal life." you looked back at the god with narrowed eyes, "You never mentioned anything about having to go with you."
A short, menacing chuckle left his throat as he walked back up to you, "You see, babe, I never said how long you'd be able to live your normal life. See, look, life will go on as I promised up here, alright? But as for you, you'll come down to work for me for however many years I need you."
"Years?" you asked as your jaw dropped. You had assumed it would be for a few weeks, months at the most, "You never said anything about that." you muttered as you crossed your arms
"Listen, I said you'd be working for me, okay? Got it? I never said for how long." he added with a satisfied smirk, "So I expect you in the Underworld bright and early tomorrow."
You just looked at him, flabbergasted, and then he just... disappeared, gone, in a puff of smoke. You stood there, thoughts whirling through your mind. How the heck would you explain this to your parents? Not to mention, what would become of your goddess duties? Would the world fall into chaos? A huff left your mouth before you fanned away the smoke that had gotten in your face. Your eyes where watering from the fumes and- Oh. You'd have to deal with this down there too, huh? Dang it.
You weren't sure about going home yet, but... You wanted to see if what Hades had said was true. You just booked it back to your home, swinging the door open before calling out for your parents. They didnt seem to be in the kitchen... or the living room for that matter. You looked around for a few more minutes before heading for their room. You tried opening the door but.. it was locked. You put an ear to the door, and your cheeks flushed immediately. You backed away and just went up to your room. Well... things seemed to be going just fine.
You opened the door to your room, your face about as red as a tomato at this point. Yeah, you didn't need to hear any of that. You closed the door behind you before flopping on your bed. Your life up top may be back to normal, but you still had to get to the Underworld at the crack of dawn. A sigh left your mouth before you reluctantly stood up from your spot on the bed.
You made your way to your desk, opening one of the drawers to pull out a scroll. It unrolled to reveal a map; a map of where all the gods resided at least. You laid it out on your desk before you found the Underworld. You took out a pen, and put a red star by where the entrance was, and marked a small path from your home to there. Well, you had that all settled. Now... sleep. Sleep sounded very nice right about now.
The bed was practically calling your name at this point, so you groggily waddled over to it before flopping down face first. As soon as your head hit the bed, you were out. But morning came fast. Faster than you would have liked it to. You groaned as the suns rays hit your face, and threw the pillow over your face to try and get some more sleep... but it was no use. The sun was already up and- Wait. You shot up and looked out the window. The sun was up. Shoot. Shoot shoot shoot, you were supposed to be in the Underworld by now.
You had never gotten ready so fast in your life... of course, you were having trouble with your sandals, but once you slipped them on you dove for your bag, filling it up with everything you needed; of course, just the essentials, plus a few extra things, like a picture of (y/d/n). You sighed at that. (He/She) was long gone now, but you liked to keep the memories.
You tied up your bag before slinging it over your shoulder... of course, to get out of the house, you'd have to get past your parents. You needed an excuse... maybe a retreat? Or you finally got a place of your own? Yeah. Yeah that'd work. You nodded to yourself before making your way out the door. Okay, okay yeah, this isn't too hard, you've got this. You took deep breath before making your way downstairs. Your parents were in the kitchen just talking... that honestly surprised you, just because you hadn't seen them just spending time together in a very long time.
You approached them and cleared your throat, causing them to both turn their head to you, "Oh, good morning, y/n!" your mother greeted you, "I see you decided to sleep in today, doll."
"Uh- Mom, dad, I've got something to tell you." he muttered before straightening yourself up. Jeez, is this supposed to be this nerve wracking?
"Yes, doll?" Aphrodite asked with a tilt of her head.
You took a deep breath. Gods um.. okay. Okay, just spit it out, "Igotmyownplace." you managed to blurt out.
Your parents seemed a bit shocked, and glanced to each other before looking back at you, "When was this?" your father asked with a raise of his brow.
"A few days ago..." you muttered. You thought fast and uh- "I just forgot to tell you two. I'm moving all my stuff around today, so just don't come visit yet." Yeah. Yeah, that should work.
"Well, I'm sure we could help you unpack, doll." Your other said with a small smile as she placed a hand on her husband arm
You shook your head at that, a bit too fast, "Um... no, no, I can do it myself. I should be able to do it myself anyways, I dont have that many things."
Your parents glanced at each other before Aphrodite sighed, "She's getting so big." she whispered before glancing back to you. Of course, you had been an adult for... well, quite some time. It was about time you found your own place... even if that place was the Underworld. For now, at least.
"I'll make sure to come back and visit, but really, I've gotta go soon-" you said, nearly tripping over your words as you just kinda snuck towards the door. You had to get out of here... Hades would kill you if you were late. I mean.. well, you were already late.
Your parents nodded, and they bid you goodbye as you rushed out the door.
"Shoot shoot shoot-" you muttered as you closed the door behind you. Hades wasn't gonna be happy... at all. You walked a good distance away from your home before pulling out your map. You traced your finger across the path you had drawn before looking up to follow it. Okay, not too hard, right? Just a right turn here, left here, straight for a good distance. Oh yeah, this would be a piece of cake. You nodded to yourself, confident that you'd make it, no problemo.
--an hour later--
Big problemo. Unless of course you didn't mind being stuck in a forest full of dead trees. You furrowed your brows as you glanced around. You swore you had taken the right path... but there was that one confusing turn back in the thicket... dang it. You huffed before you sat down on a fallen log. May as well rest for a bit...
"I should be there by now..." you muttered before resting your cheek on your hand, "Stupid map." you just threw the scroll from your hand to the ground, the metal in it landing with a quiet 'clink.' A sigh left your nose before you decided to close your eyes for a moment... hey, you were pretty tired from walking all that way. Your eyes fell closed, and your head drooped a bit as you just slightly began to nod off...
"Hey, you're finally here, huh? Honestly though you wouldn't make it, babe." a familiar voice called down to you, jolting you awake. Your eyes shot open, looking up to see none other than the seven foot candle himself, "So, you ready to start counting souls or what?" he asked with a small smirk
You narrowed your eyes up at him, still holding slight grudge over the cupcake incident, "Yeah yeah, I've got it." you muttered as you hung your bag over your shoulder. Hades held a hand out to help you up, but you just shot a look up at him instead, "I can stand up just fine without your help, Mr." you replied as you pushed away his hand, standing up as you turned away from him.
Hades shot you a look in return, recoiling his hand, "Jeez, I offer an act of hospitality, and you reject it? After what? I put your life back in order?"
You narrowed your eyes a bit at that but- You couldn't exactly do anything about it. One wrong move and you were toast. Literally. You decided to just ignore his reply before glancing up at him, "So, where are these oh so boring souls you're wanting me to direct to their eternal torment?"
A huff left his nose as he calmed down, not wanting to burn his new employee just yet, "Come with me." he muttered before snaking an arm around your waist, teleporting the two of you down to the docks of the Underworld.
Your eyes widened, now being pressed up to the side of the Lord of the Dead. Your head spun a bit after being teleported... but once you regained your footing, you turned to slip out of his hold, pushing his arm away, "What was that?" you asked as you narrowed his eyes up at him
Hades just ignored your question as he walked over to where new souls were flooding in, "Alright, so look, here's where you come in for now, alright?" he said before shoving a clipboard and pen into your hands, "You count the souls, tell them where they need to go, argue if need be, blah blah blah, whatever."
You recoiled a bit as you now found yourself with a clipboard and pen, "Uh huh..." you muttered before you remembered you still had your things, "But what about my ba-"
"Ah ah ah- You get to deal with that later, alright? That's unimportant. Souls fist, chambers later, got it? Okay, good." he spoke fast, not letting you get a single word in.
Hades of course continued to list off everything he expected of you each day and... well really, it seems you had also become the Underworld cleaning lady. He had been nice enough to give you the cleaning supplies and a map to navigate, but he of course made up some dumb excuse to leave you alone with the souls, and disappeared. You just narrowed your eyes at the cloud of smoke he had left behind, not happy in the slightest.
"That little pain in the butt, making me his cleaning lady." you muttered Under your breath as you sat the supplies by the wall, "Stupid little son of a-" your complaining was interrupted by the mop falling from where it had been leaning, and just hitting you on the head. "Ow!" you seethed before you rubbed your head... "Great, just great-" you mumbled as you shot a look at the mop, as if that would do anything. You sighed before you just turned to press your back to the stone wall, sliding down to sit on the ground with a huff. Yeah, you weren't exactly in the best mood at the moment...
You just sent a look at an empty bucket beside you, "What are you looking at?" you muttered with a raised brow, "Yeah, thats what I thought..."
--A sigh left your mouth as you finally finished the list Hades had given you. You just kinda collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted... but you needed to figure out where your room was. But your eyes didnt exactly want to do that, and they just slowly closed and, well, before you knew it, you were fast asleep.
Only a few minutes passed before you felt a poke at your side. You just reached over to wack it away, assuming it was a small bug. Of course, that only resulted in a few more pokes, and you groaned and rolled over to feel something... hard. And cold. Wait a minute. You groggily opened your eyes to see... stone? Wait. This wasn't your bed. You sat up and glanced around before- right. You were in the Underworld. Dang it. The bed would've been much more welcome. You sighed before you swatted away another poke.
"A-a mortal? Mortals aren't supposed to be down here, are they?" a voice asked in a whisper
"I dunno... Maybe she took a wrong turn walking through the forest?" a gruffer, not-so-quiet voice said in reply.
"Oh! Oh! M-maybe she's dead!" the quieter, more shaky voice spoke again before you felt another poke at your side.
"No, I think she's be slimier... and greener... and look more... dead." the gruffer voice replied again.
You furrowed your brows as you listened to the conversation, "Who-"
"She talks!" the shaky voice said, sounding a bit more nervous now.
"Oh course she talks, Panic! All mortals talk." the other voice said in reply... and neither of them were whispering at this point.
"Who- Who's there?" you decided to ask as you glanced around the room you were in... of course, this wasn't even an actual room, for you had just fallen asleep in the hall.
Thats when the two voices just stopped talking... but you could hear some actual whispering now. Of course, you couldn't hear what they were saying, but at least they learned to whisper.
You just sighed and stood up. Yeah, if they weren't gonna show themselves, you were just gonna have to drag em out. You walked over a few steps to peek around the corner so see... two rather short demons. And they- well, they were actually kinda cute... in a weird way. "Who- What are you?"
The two creatures shrunk a little as their eyes widened; they weren't exactly expecting anyone.
"U-um-" The teal demon was pushed forward by his red companion, "We're Hades' go to guys!"
"Yeah! His um... right hand men!" The red one said proudly.
"Oh..." you muttered as you looked down at them with a titled head, "So, who are you? Do you have names? Or is it just a thing one and thing two kind of a deal?"
They looked at each other, a bit confused at the reference, but just shrugged it of, "Why should we tell you who we are, sister? You're not even supposed to be down here!"
You raised a brow at that, "Oh really? Cause last I checked, I was swindled into working down here by your boss." you replied as you crossed his arms, "I work for him now too, you know."
The imps glanced at each other again before looking back up at you, "Th-then whats your job, huh?" Panic asked with a raised brow.
"Um... I'm the uh-" you glanced around, thinking of an answer... well, considering what you had been assigned to do, you had kinda just become the Underworld's cleaning lady, "Cleaning lady."
The two burst out laughing at that, "She- she's the-" of course, neither of them could get a word out.
"Hey! I take my job very seriously, thank you very much." you retorted as you crossed your arms again, "I mean sure, its not the best job, but what can I do?" you ended up mumbling under your breath.
Pain and Panic eventually calmed their laughter down... "Since when does the Underworld need a cleaning lady, sister?"
You weren't really sure... but um... "Since now." you replied with a solid nod, "Its much cleaner now that I'm finished with everything."
They just snickered a bit at that, "O-oh, I dont think you got everything." Panic replied before he nodded toward the kitchen.
"What do you-" you began to ask but... they just scampered off down the hall. You sighed before walking over to cheek the kitchen and... oh. Oh gods. This wasn't good. There was a giant mess... everywhere. Food stuck to the walls, the floor, the- "They got the ceiling?!" wow. Just. Wow. How could those tiny little guys make this big of a mess?
"I just cleaned in here!" You yelled back to them before stomping over to get your cleaning supplies, "Little deamons think they can get away with this-" you muttered as you dragged everything into the kitchen, "Not on my watch."
--
A tired sigh left your mouth as you cleaned up the last remanence of food from the counter. You just dropped the rag into the bucket of soap water, and stood back to look at you work. You had to say, you were pretty proud of yourself, "Not bad, not bad at all." you said to yourself with a grin before you picked your bucket back up again.
You decided Hades must be in his throne room... I mean, where else would the king of the Underworld be? You nodded at that before making your way down the halls. But you of course forgot one important detail. You had no clue where the throne room was. Of course, this didnt stop you. And you weren't gonna ask those two little demons for help... they've already caused you enough trouble.
You ended up wandering the halls of the Underworld for what felt like hours, but in reality, was only twenty minutes. Finally, you had reached what you assumed could only be the throne room. You looked up at the giant stone doors, and tilted your head a bit at the engravings. Where those giant cravings of... Hades? Sheesh, did this guy have an ego or what? You shook your head at that before you sat your bucket down to crack one of the doors open a bit, just enough to peek inside and... sure enough, there was a stone throne inside, with none other than the Lord of the Dead sitting on it. Okay... you just had to ask him where your room was, then leave. That was it. Dont get him upset, and you won't have a problem. You nodded at that as you picked the bucket and mop and pushed the door open to walk inside the room.
You stepped inside, holding your breath at this point, Though, it seemed Hades hadn't quite noticed you yet, seeing as he was grimacing a bit, rubbing his temples and muttering something to himself. Oh, well, he didnt seem like he was in a good mood. Your anxiety levels began to rise at that- what if he scorches you? Or breaks the deal? Or worse? Forces you to stay down here forever? Oh gods... You stepped up to the throne before just clearing your throat.
Hades froze, and his eyes slowly opened, stopping halfway as he looked down at you, "Alright, what do ya need, make it snappy, I'm in the middle of a fabulous migraine..." he muttered, sarcasm dripping from his voice, as usual.
"Uh- um..." you stuttered as you just sat the supplies down, "I finished cleaning what you told me to-"
"Are the souls sorted?" He asked with a raised brow as he looked down at you, his gaze practically piercing through you.
"Uh, yes." you replied with a nod, "And I was wondering where I'll be staying?"
Hades sighed at that, "Just- Look for room IX on the map I gave you, alright? Now shoo." he muttered with a wave of his hand, a plume of smoke forming to turn you around and push you out the door. Of course, the map was thrown out after you.
Your jaw dropped a bit at that as he- Well he just- Oh. Not cool. You just cleaned his palace for him, and there wasn't so much as a thank you? "Oh that little sone of a-" your last words were cut of as the doors were slammed behind you. You just huffed as you reached down to grab the map. Well, at least you knew where you were going now... for the most part. You opened the scroll and searched for IX... alright, not too hard, right? "IX... IX... IX..." you muttered to yourself as you searched the map, "Aha!" you grinned as you pointed to it.
Alright, now all you had to to was get from point A to point B. You nodded as you picked your back up from where you had left it... you were smart enough to leave it outside the doors, just in case. Then you walked off down the hall to find where you'd be staying.
--
You stopped once you reached was you assumed was your room. You glanced up at the stone door to see that 'IX' was carved into it. You grinned a bit at that before you tried to open it and- well shoot. It was locked. You sighed before you opened up the map and- wait. You narrowed your eyes a bit as you hear a jingling noise. Um... what the heck was that? You examined the metal end of the school before noticing the top of one was coming loose, like a secret compartment of some sort... you fiddled around with the loose part, somehow managing to get it off. You shook it around a bit, the jingling noise a bit louder now. Well then. You just tilted it upside down and- a key fell out.
You tilted your head a bit before leaning down to pick it up from the cold stone floor. You held it up to examine it... there was no engravings or anything to suggest what its for, but- wait. You looked down at the keyhole, and back at the key. Could this possibly? No... But you know, it wouldnt hurt to try... You bit your lip as you attempted to insert the key and- it fit perfectly. A grin spread across your lips as you turned the key, swinging the door open to reveal a breathtaking bedroom. It almost seemed like a master suite... dang. Hades really decked the place out, huh?
You grinned as you walked in, closing the door behind you, "Oh, this is nice." You glanced around the room before walking to the bed, just collapsing onto it... and it was actually more comfortable than what you would expect from a bed from the Underworld, "Oh, very nice." you whispered before putting your bag on the ground. You got comfortable on the bed before just eventually dozing off, finally getting some much needed rest.