When Hades arrived at the castle, the butler kindly escorted him to the lounge in the family wing of the castle. The butler opened the door for him and announced to the woman sat in there: "Lord Hades, your Majesty."
"Thank you, Webster," Mal replied, standing up. Webster bowed and left, allowing Hades to enter the room.
"Hey, Dad," Mal greeted, going over to her father to give him a hug. "Thank you so much for this."
"Of course," he replied. "Where are my little grandbabies?"
"Lia's getting ready so naturally, Maesi decided that she just had to help her choose her outfit."
Just then the door flew open and two young girls flung themselves at Hades.
"Grandy!" The little voices cried out.
"There are my little demi-goddesses!" Hades replied, hefting five-year-old Maesi into his arms with a small grunt. "You're getting a bit big for this, Mae-Mae."
"We're not demi-goddesses," Lia told him, matter-of-factly, "We're only a quarter goddess, so we're more like...quadrant-goddesses!"
Hades regarded his oldest granddaughter for a second before replying, "I suppose so. But where did you learn a big word like that?"
"She found out that demi meant half so she wanted to know what the quarter equivalent was," Mal replied. "Naturally, Ben has information like that just stored in his brain."
"Ah, of course." Hades put Maesi down then looked around, "Where is he, anyway?"
"Back-to-back meetings today," Mal replied. "Luckily this baby shower I need to go to got me out of them."
Hades went to reply but they were interrupted by Lia, "Mommy, we need to go or I'll be late for the birthday party!"
Mal nodded and went to grab the purse she'd left on the chair, "You're right, Baby Bear. Head down to the garage, I'll meet you there."
Lia nodded and left the room, while Mal fumbled around in her bag, checking she had everything.
"Okay, that's everything I need," Mal said, more to herself than anyone. She then looked down at her youngest daughter. "You'll be a good girl for Grandy, won't you, Maesi-Beth?"
Maesi nodded enthusiastically, "Yep!"
"Thanks again for this, Dad. I got to run. I'll be back later. Ben's meetings should end just before I get home, so he'll probably relieve you of her as soon as he's done."
"We'll be fine, Mal. Go."
Mal nodded then quickly kissed her daughter's head and her dad's cheek before hurriedly leaving the room.
"Well then, Mae-Mae," Hades said, looking down at Maesi, "It's you and me. What should we do?"
Maesi pursed her lips as she pondered it for a second before she smiled and her eyes lit up with an idea.
"Let's play a game!" she exclaimed, grabbing her grandfather's hand and pulling him as quickly as she could towards the large games cupboard.
Maesi's face lit up as she removed a box from the cupboard and then turned around to present proudly to Hades.
On the cover of the box seemed to be a picture of a monkey (one that looked like that monkey that was on the picture of Aladdin that Jafar used to keep on a dartboard), eating some round red ball. Across the top of the box in golden letters were the words: Munching Monkeys.
"This looks fun," Hades told her with a smile, though he honestly wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, "How about you show me how to play?"
Maesi grinned widely and took the box from Hades. "Okay!" She sat down on the floor and opened the box, pulling out some kind of board with raised edges that were surrounded by four plastic monkeys, in various colours (purple, blue, green and red), that had some kind of lever on their backs. "I'm going to be purple and you're going to be blue," Maesi informed Hades, with a tone that indicated very little room for argument. She pointed her finger at the blue monkey on the opposite side of the board from the purple one.
Hades lowered himself to the floor and looked at the game in front of him as Maesi pulled out a bunch of white plastic marbles. She put them on the board then looked up at Hades with a satisfied smile.
"Look, Grandy, it's easy!" she declared. "You just hit this bit and get as many balls as you can!" She demonstrated by pushing the lever out and suddenly, the monkey's mouth lifted and the neck extended. Maesi then released the lever and it dropped back to its original position.
This is an Auradonian children's game? Hades thought to himself. Surely they'd view animals unnaturally extending their necks like that as something horrific. Even so, he gave a small smile and copied her actions, watching as his monkey caught a ball in its mouth that was dragged back with it when he released the lever.
Maesi laughed, "Okay, now put the ball back! Otherwise, it's cheating! We need to both start with none."
"Do we take it in turns?" Hades asked, fishing the ball from the alcove beneath his monkey and placing it on the board.
"Nope!" Maesi then began hitting her lever as quickly as she could, her monkey scooping up balls very quickly.
"Cheat!" Hades declared, catching on to what she was doing. He was quick to start hitting his lever and let out a small surprised laugh at how fun it actually was to just...hit a lever on a monkey's back.
Maesi's giggles filled the air in a way that always made Hades' heart lift with joy. But he allowed himself to focus on the giggles a second too long and his movements slowed slightly as he was reminded of the fact that because he'd abandoned his daughter, he didn't know what her five-year-old laugh sounded like. He had nothing to compare his granddaughters to. He knew he hadn't exactly been right in leaving but living with Maleficent was just too much for him to handle and then having a baby on top of it all? He couldn't have done it. However, sometimes he would find himself wishing he had. Sometimes he'd find himself wondering what it would've been like had he stuck around and if he'd watched his daughter grow up.
"Count how many balls you got!" Maesi exclaimed suddenly, ripping Hades from his melancholic thoughts. His smile spread across his face once more as he dove to count how many balls his monkey had managed to scoop up, watching his granddaughter become more and more delighted as she counted her balls, muttering the numbers to herself.
"I got eleven!" she announced, grinning.
Hades lifted an eyebrow impressed, "When did you learn how to count to eleven? Last time I saw you, you could only count to ten and that was a few weeks ago."
Maesi grinned, delighted, "I learned to count to twenty!" She then started reciting the numbers from one until twenty.
Hades clapped when she finished, "Well, I'm very proud of you, Mae-Mae!"
"How many balls did you get, Grandy?" Maesi asked again, looking at her grandfather's balls.
"I got nine," he confessed. "You're clearly much better at this game than me."
"That's because I played it more!" Maesi told him. "You just need to practise!"
Hades smiled again, "Okay, then how about a re-match?"
"Yeah!" Maesi replied, eagerly scooping up both of their collections of balls and putting them back on the board. "1, 2, 3, go!"
The two of them started hitting their levers again, both laughing as they tried to fight each other to have the most balls. They finished with the game after the fifth round (which was the only one that Hades won).
After Munching Monkeys, Maesi selected a 50 piece puzzle and the two of them spent some time solving it together. Hades couldn't help but admire how sweet she looked when she concentrated, her brow furrowed slightly and her tongue sticking out a little. He adored this little girl so much.
The puzzle took them some time and just as they finished it, Webster came up to announce that dinner had been prepared for them. Hades thanked the butler before crouching down in front of Maesi and letting her hop on his back.
He grinned at her little giggles and her gentle kicks to his side. "Giddyup, horsey!"
Hades laughed loudly and began trotting down the hall, doing his best horse impression as they went to the dining room to eat together.
Maesi's giggles were so loud that they were echoing off palace walls, meaning anybody could hear them coming before they saw them. Any servant they passed was smiling or laughing good-naturedly as the princess and her grandfather passed them.
Hades set Maesi down once they reached the dining room. As the two of them ate, Maesi chatted away happily about anything and everything, only occasionally interrupted by Hades reminding Maesi to actually eat her dinner.
As Hades watched her, he was struck by how much she looked like Mal. He may not have been around but he'd watched his daughter grow from the shadows. Maesi looked almost exactly like Mal, though one of her eyes was blue and not green. He wondered if this is what Mal would've been like if Maleficent and himself hadn't been villains and if they'd stayed together. Would she have had the same light, the same joy, the same sense of wonder that Maesi did? Would she have been so sweet and curious and loving? What would have happened if she had grown up knowing that she had never had to worry, that her parents love for her was unconditional, that she was their pride and joy?
Hades loved his daughter, but he'd never done right by her and had never shown her until it was too late. And while he was sure that some of whatever little love Maleficent actually had was for their daughter, he knew it wasn't enough. He just hoped that he could make up for what little love she'd received growing up by doing his part in making sure his granddaughters grew up surrounded by it.
After dinner, Maesi put on her pyjamas, then Maesi and Hades back to the family room and Maesi decided to show her granddaddy her favourite movie. She curled up on Hades' lap and snuggled her head into his chest.
As the movie drew to a close, Maesi let out a little yawn. "Grandy?" she asked, her voice thick with sleep and her eyes practically closed as her head drooped more heavily.
"Yes, Mae-Mae?" Hades responded softly, leaning back against the sofa and turning off the TV while trying not to jostle the girl in his lap too much.
"I love you," she practically sighed. Her breathing then evened out and she said no more.
Hades stared at the little girl on his lap for a bit, feeling a tear prick his eyes. "Yeah, Mae-Mae," he whispered softly, though he knew the girl could no longer hear her, "I love you too, my little demi-goddess."
He let his head fall back against the back of the sofa and soon, he followed the littlest princess into dreamland.
When Ben and Mal arrived at the family room, having met in the hall on the way there, they were surprised at how quiet it was. They silently opened the door and the sight they saw made them smile brightly. Ben indicated to Mal that she should take a picture, which Mal did happily.
The picture was later printed out twice, one kept safely in a family album and one displayed proudly in the home of the Lord of the Dead.
I hope this lived up to your expectations, Guest.I! I quite enjoyed writing this one (though I have been very tired as of late, hence why it took so long).
Request Count Down: 14
Response to Reviews:
Owllover34: Thank you! And yes, Kamryn was the fall, because I have her down as an October baby, so I wasn't far off! I also have Maria down as a March baby, so again, I was pretty close, lol. Thanks for telling me their birthdays though! :D
wildflowerchildGrace: I'm so glad that you enjoyed it! And thank you for keeping me on track with the announcement and not letting me backtrack on the idea at any point (and please keep me on that track because we both know what I can be like when I hit the final oneshot). You have been so supportive of everything over these past three and a half years and I love you so much for that!
RPM Shadow: Thank you! I'm so glad you liked it. And yeah, it's been a journey, but one that definitely needs to come to an end now.
Love you guys so much! Stay safe! SparkyGurl
P.S. Please don't be afraid to leave constructive criticism. It helps me get better!