A/N: So, I had a lot of fun writing it, and who knows, once I finish Now Hiring, I might continue on with a sequel if this is well received.
I got the idea last Spring actually. Instead of paying attention in thermo class, I started coming up with a scenario of a Hades/Persephone AU set in the thirties that coincided with events like the dust bowl and the great depression that happened in the US. It wasn't until I stumbled upon some amazing fanart that I got really excited about the idea, but as I was analyzing my old ideas for the project, I began to visit many members from one side of my family that I had not seen for several years thanks to drama and just general nonsense that happened when I was a child. It wasn't until I saw my dad, the youngest of nine, reunite his oldest brother- who is actually his cousin- (yeah it's complicated) that I realized I wanted to work on the brotherly aspect of the big three.
You may or may not like it, the mythology was fun to manipulate for world-building all this, but I am honestly open to any sort of criticism on this or suggestions of any sort. I have an original project of my own that is in this time frame so some practice was needed and what better way than Disney Hercules?
Rated T for minor language and suggestive themes. You've read the mythos, you know what's up.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters belonging to Disney's Hercules, nor have I ever claimed to own them. My ideas, bad OOC moments, and awful comedy are all my own.
You have been warned.
"Leave your stepping stones behind there, something calls for you
Forget the dead you've left, they will not follow you
The vagabond who's rapping at your door
Is standing in the clothes that you once wore
Strike another match, go start anew
And it's all over now, Baby Blue."
- "It's all Over Now, Baby Blue," by Bob Dylan
If there was one thing he couldn't stand when he traveled by sewers, it was the smell. That awful putrid stink that was mixed together with human excrement, backwash, and a number of other liquids that mixed in with the waters they brought in from out of state to provide clean water for all the denizens of the Big Apple. Even in times during the Great War, as the tabloids called it; this city still managed to make a poor man just a tad bit richer.
Holding aloft the lantern, Hades treaded lightly along the thin walkway as the septic green water flowed freely away from the direction he was going. Down here it was muggy and unusually humid even for August, and if it wasn't for the cap he wore atop his head, he would have felt the condensation from the pipes above him drip down atop his head. He had half a mind to turn back and take the nap he was so desperately in need of, but every day around noon time he was forced to go visit the three homeless ladies that his father relentlessly kept an eye on. He never understood what was the appeal about the three blind, toothless women, nor why he always insisted that he delivered the bottle of moonshine to them, but if it meant he wasn't beaten within an inch of his life, hey, he'd do anything he said.
It was then that a yawn began to escape from his mouth, sending a wave of drowsiness down his entire frame. Now even his mind was under the spell of his exhaustion, and once his mind was out, his body would soon fall with it. No, he needed to deliver the moonshine. Hades began to slap his face, in a way to keep himself awake. A part of him wanted to blame his nightly hangouts with Leuce for his tiredness, but even he knew his daily exhaustion was worth being able to see her. Everybody needed a reason to keep on going, keep on living until he was no longer a minor. Thirty-three days- that's all he needed until he was free. No, they were free, he mentally corrected himself.
With that thought in mind, Hades' tired brain reconsidered the idea of going to take a nap again.
He had a small little base around here, one of several he had littered about the city, and the temptation to go take a nap in one of them was growing stronger by the second. Hades stared longingly in the direction of his little hole, and back to the bottle of moonshine in his hands.
Eh, what could it hurt? Kronos trusted him enough by now to go without his brutish uncles breathing down his neck. Just a couple more weeks of bearing through it, and he'd be gone on the first train out of here. Plus, he could always give it to them later in the day- what could a couple hours hurt? Hades' tired steps had already begun to tread along the path to his hideout before he even decided to go. Ugh, what the hell?
It's not like a bottle of Lethe was that important.
Home at last.
All that time gone and he still recognized the city as the ship sailed ever closer. To see its outline over the morning fog as Lady Liberty welcomed him home. Yes, he knew this place better than the back of his hand- perhaps, even better than the ship he'd been sailing on for the past nine months. This was, after all, the city of his childhood, though it wasn't a very happy one, he thought with a grimace.
How long had it been, anyhow? Nearly nine years, now?
Poseidon stared long and hard at the letter in his hands and then back down at the metallic ramp that led off the ship and back onto terra firma. His fellow crewmen were already disembarked and mingling with the crowd, reuniting with parents, wives, children, siblings, but him?
His weary sea green eyes glanced, but did not envy them. It may have been his home, but that didn't mean he was welcome here. The less people knew he was here, the better, so as to not draw attention to himself, Poseidon disappeared into the crowd. That was the nice thing about this place being a station for many sailors, he could blend nicely in.
Now, the address he was looking for was something he recognized, but it would seem that his time of being gone from the Big Apple had taken a toll on the sailor. Well, Poseidon chuckled, tucking away the crumpled letter into the front pocket of his uniform, not a bad one. Not for forgetting, mind you, but because of the memories that stirred every step he took on that dirt road past the people as they fumbled about the ever bustling city that never slept.
As carriages and Ford Model T's rumbled past him with shouting passengers and wagons towed their wares to nearby stands selling all sorts of commodities. From every stand he could hear a range of maybe ten or eleven different languages being spoken. This city was truly a beacon for many cultures; something his Greek ancestors used to hold the title of back in ancient times.
Everyone had their own story of how they got here, why they immigrated to this city in particular; all for a new chance at life. That was how Grandma Gaia ended up here, pregnant and alone, running away from home after falling in love with some unknown stranger. She got on board a ship headed to the states and never looked back. Somehow she met an American Greek, his step-grandfather, who owned a small factory that produced steel. Together the two of them created eight more children, and thus their miserable clan was created.
No, that was cruel to think. His grandmother was a saint, his mother a literal angel, but his father. Yes, his father was what created the true misery of the clan. Every day he thought of him since he had run away. Not that he wanted the bitter memory of his father to haunt him, no, that was because Kronos was hunting him down. Sixteen months on the run before eighteen hit and he enlisted in the Navy.
Safe at last under the protection of the government. A sentiment very rarely shared.
Poseidon paused his gait and gazed up at the old rinky-dink sign that labeled the street name. On the corner of Crete street was an old, crumbling, brown brick apartment building. He had vague memories of this place when it was in better shape, but even then that wasn't saying much. There were several other apartment buildings lining this street, but this one was by far the oldest, and the one he was most familiar with. His mother used to drag him here to see the old goat who lived here with her aging grandchildren. Old friends, she'd call them as they rushed out of Liturgy service whenever he complained about their weekly visits.
They weren't even family, he always whined as they walked two miles just to see "Aunt" Amalthea. But Philia, she assured him was a bond equivalent to that of Storge since friendship is a family formed by choice.
Yet as the years passed it began to dawn on Poseidon why Rhea seemed to pay attention to the youngest "grandchild" of Amalthea, and that grandchild was currently rushing down the external metal staircase of the building.
"Zeus!" Poseidon felt a boyish laugh erupt from inside of him at the sight of his older brother. All the unease he felt seemed to vanish like the fog over the sea after the sun broke out on the horizon. Scrambling to the side of the apartment, Poseidon waited with open arms as Zeus jumped down from the final staircase.
"Poseidon!"
The sailor did a double take at this familiar stranger in front of him. Man, time really does change a person, doesn't it? Gone was the lanky, youthful face of his brother to the broad-shouldered, masculine form he now possessed.
In his moment of hesitation, Zeus enveloped his brother in a warm embrace, an action Poseidon was quick to return. The two of them began to laugh, holding onto each other in a tight hug. Neither one of them fully comprehending that they were reunited at last as they began to spin around in their brother's embrace. They clapped each other on the back, waiting for the other to release the hug, but they did not want it to end. They'd been apart for so long, they never thought they'd see each other again. Not in this world at least.
It was with this thought in mind that their laughter soon subsided into tears. The paths they took to escape, to run away from the life their father had planned for them. They did not want that life, and the only person who understood that was their brother.
But they were not complete just yet.
So overcome with dizziness from spinning, Zeus became unbalanced, and soon, the two of them toppled over into the dirt. The two of them fell with a thud, and now that they were untangled, the two of them stared face to face looking at the brother they once knew so fondly.
"So, you've grown a beard, I see," Poseidon chuckled at his brother's short white beard.
"And I see the Navy won't let you keep yours," Zeus quipped, earning a light-hearted punch to the arm.
"Hey," Poseidon chuckled. "I gotta shave twice a day to hide my- well, y'know…" Poseidon began to drift off as he did an instinctual swab of his chin.
Zeus' merriness began to subdue as he began to remember one of the letters his brother had sent him, the second to last one, he thought. "So it's true then?"
"Better believe it," Poseidon half-heartedly shrugged as he rose to his feet. "I mean, hey, I couldn't even believe it when my eighteenth birthday hit. I'm a literal fish out of water, but I've kept my secret this long."
"I can't imagine it," Zeus took Poseidon's outstretched hand and lifted himself to his feet.
"Well, not entirely, I got a girl now. We're getting married if she don't run off with her sisters again." Poseidon took out his wallet, and flashed him a picture of his fiancee and him when they were out at the beach.
"Well, I'm getting married too," Zeus triumphantly exclaimed.
"Finally!" Poseidon chuckled. "Poor Metis been waiting this l-" The sailor felt his words begin to dry upon his tongue at the somber expression his brother wore. "Ugh, me and my big mouth, I'm sorry- Hera, right?"
"Hm," Zeus simply nodded. "Metis- she passed the first year I was on the run."
Poseidon mentally berated himself. He could be so air-headed sometimes. "Geez, I didn't know- wha-what happened?"
"Childbirth, Amalthea said, but I don't think so. Our father's spies are everywhere," Zeus' forget-me-not colored eyes began to scan the alley they were in and at the road in front of them. "Speaking of which, they probably have this place on watch let's head inside."
"Whoa-whoa-whoa," Poseidon firmly stood his ground as his brother began to clap him on the back, gesturing him toward the staircase. "Demeter's up there, isn't she? You mentioned her taking you in an earlier letter." For two weeks, Zeus had been living here with his daughter ever since Amalthea insisted that they do so once she found out her adopted child was back in town. Demeter just so happened to be staying here as well, taking care of the aging woman, and the way Zeus had written him about Amalthea's health it wasn't looking good.
"Oh, Po-po, she's been settled for years now, she's even going to have a baby soon. You're going to love her husband he's the nicest guy- not that I had a hand in getting them together, or anything," Zeus suavely strummed his suspenders with his thumbs.
"Humph," Poseidon groaned. A small sting of regret began to poke at him, but he tried not to think about it. He knew they were done for, the moment he decided to run without telling her. They were young anyhow, the type of love they shared was more of a passing fling, a childhood romance, one of the purest loves around. "Well, I don't want to see her, right now, we got things to do anyhow and we shouldn't beat around the barnacles anymore."
"You're right, but at least meet Athena," Zeus begged his brother. "She's wanted to meet her uncle Po-po for so long."
"C'mon bro, y'know I'm not going up there," Poseidon began to protest, but it would seem Zeus had other ideas as he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to his daughter.
"Athena!"
The thundering sound of her father calling her startled Athena into action. Soon enough a small lavender face crowned with cerulean curls peaked her head out of a third story window. Her serene face became slightly amused at the sight of her father waving his arms wildly to get her attention, but her piercing grey eyes were soon caught by the sailor in his navy blue uniform.
"Hey, darling, come down here and meet your uncle!"
The six year old observed her teal-skinned uncle who began to half-heartedly wave at her with his sailor hat. "Hey there, angelfish!"
Athena seemed unimpressed at the sight of her pudgy uncle and stuck out her tongue at him before she pulled herself back inside and closed the window shut.
Shock and surprise painted Poseidon's features as he fixed his brother with a confused gaping mouth. "Hey, what did I do to her?"
"Oh, she'll come around. Now, c'mon," Zeus began to pull him away with strides too long for Poseidon to keep up with. "This isn't a true reunion just yet."
"Hey, we going to get lunch or something? I'm starved!" Poseidon huffed, trying to match pace with his brother. Jeez, sure, he was in the Navy, but walking on land after nine months was a hard adjustment for him. He wasn't kidding when he said he was a literal fish out of water!
"We'll eat after we fetch our baby brother. Today's his birthday y'know," Zeus wagged a triumphant finger as they turned the corner and found themselves on a street of ill-repute.
Though it was still daytime, Poseidon still felt on edge as they began to practically waltz down Skid Row. Sketchy characters all around, many wearing clothes with one too many holes. Not one child was on the street, not even accompanying their mothers, and if that was any indication of the level of threat this particular part of town, what else could there be? "No, his birthday's in September."
"Not according to this," Zeus procured out an envelope from his the inside of his tan suit jacket and handed it to his brother.
"Where on Gaia's green earth did you get this?!" Poseidon's eyes widened as he beheld their baby brother's birth certificate. He continued to quickly scan through it, but with a quick glance at the passerby's around them, the sailor quickly enclosed the document and handed it back to Zeus.
"Mother had many secrets, but she left clues scattered for us to find," Zeus paused momentarily as he took a newspaper from a boy wandering the street selling them. Flipping a quarter to the child, the broad man took one look at the headline and stepped off to the side, waiting for Poseidon to stand by him. "That was one thing I found on my travels," his eyes peaked over the top of the newspaper, scanning the street.
"Yeah right," Poseidon may have been on the more slow-witted side, but his brother's personality had not changed much, wiser, more confidant yes, but whenever he was vague, that was when he was hiding something. "I know Metis worked for the government as a receptionist. She broke into the public records for you didn't she?"
Zeus felt a small groan erupt in his throat. "Yes, alright, but who helped get her that job, hmm?"
Poseidon huffed. "Ma was just trying to repay the favor to the old goat. I just don't see why you're so caught up on the birthday thing. So Ma lied about when he was born. She may have just forgotten to report the birth, she had him at home- not a hospital."
"That's fair," Zeus considered the possibility for a moment, but a resounding idea came into focus. "The dates may be off, but our father was obsessed with clocks- with time. What if she did it to catch him off guard?"
"I don't see where you're going with this. Both in this conversation and where we're headed," Poseidon lamented, taking note of the dwindling number of people. The few who were wandering around on this street were becoming less and less friendly by the block, and the number of homeless that littered the street was not exactly the kind of place he was expecting to go on his first day back in the Big Apple. "Great Aunt Nyx's house isn't over here, she's on the nice side of Queens, living atop Erebus' Jewelers.
"I know," Zeus abruptly began to walk away, practically leaving his brother in the dust, throwing the newspaper up to shield his face. "But Hades is not under her protection anymore. Hasn't been for as long as we've been gone."
"What?!" Poseidon made a grab for Zeus' arm and pulled him back. "But Ma," the sailor's breath became hitched with emotion. "She made sure he was safe. She only visited them at night- at family gatherings, she took extra steps to keep him off our father's radar. "
"You really think our father didn't connect the dots? The visits, the special treatment she had of me?" Zeus' voice became unusually solemn, and the way his eyes flashed a haunted look full of memories that were imprinted into him struck the sailor to his core. "Hades is his spitting image. Why do you think Kronos," the very mention of his name brought chills up both brother's spines, "Tried to kill us- his sons- his heirs to his crooked kingdom?"
Poseidon's mouth gaped, flopping like a fish that had bellied onto the deck of a ship, gasping for breath. "I- I-"
"Because he had a replacement. Someone he could still mold into his image."
"We left our brother in the hands of that monster for nine years?" Poseidon felt fury like the crashing of waves upon the rocks near the sea shore during a hurricane. Nearby the closest manhole was set rocketing into the air as a column of water erupted from the sewers.
"We were children, even at eighteen I, still knew nothing," Zeus gripped his brother's shoulder, calming him down instantly, and soon enough the manhole that was spouting water began to subside its gushing. "That's why I called you here. Why I came back; because we're going to put a stop to our father once and for all. We have to save our brother."
"And what if he's too far gone?" Poseidon simpered as fresh tears began to fall down his face.
Zeus grabbed Poseidon in a one armed embrace, wrapping his arm around his shoulder, guiding him on. "No one's ever really gone. If he's anything like us, he'll be too stubborn to follow blindly."
Poseidon chuckled at the idea. "And if he's anything like you, he'll come up with some barnacle-brained idea to take our father down."
"Oh, but if he's anything like us," Zeus knowingly winked. "He'll have a long string of broken hearts-"
"And just as many children to boot," Poseidon chimed in with a loud pronouncing laugh which Zeus began to join in. "So where is the little crab hiding anyway? I hope you didn't bring us all this way for nothing, but a good excuse to jab."
"You forget while you've been busy taking your time to meet me here, I've been investigating our baby brother's whereabouts."
"Did you speak to Great Aunt Nyx?" Poseidon suggested.
"She was the first person I spoke to, but she doesn't speak much English, and I've been out of practice," Zeus explained despite the sheepishness he felt by admitting the loss of his first language.
"So you could say it's all Greek to you, huh?" Poseidon quipped.
Zeus felt the rumblings of laughter burst out of him much to his own surprise. "Ha! I guess you could say it is…"
The two of them began to laugh at the absurdness of their joke when suddenly three, shrill cackles began joining in with them. Zeus and Poseidon froze, a strange feeling of dread began to make the teeth in their jaws chatter by the sheer eeriness of that noise.
"Don't stop laughing on our account," an ancient voice spoke behind them.
"We haven't heard that one in centuries," another voice joined in, this one a tad bit more gravelly than the previous one.
"Not since our days back in the Senate," the lowest pitch of the three agreed.
The brothers shared a look, they didn't know why, but something about the collection of voices was oddly familiar to them. Not from this life, no, something far, far older indeed.
Zeus shakily turned around to face the three homeless women who were perched on the stairs of an abandoned building. All three of them appeared to be haggard and blind, and maybe even toothless underneath their raggedy old blankets. They meant no harm, but the sight of them made the man feel sympathetic to their plight.
"It was funny, wasn't it?" Zeus finally spoke, breaking the brother's silence. Reaching into one of his pockets, the man fished out any spare change he had and tossed it into the metal can they had placed at the bottom of the stairs.
"After all this time, you are still generous after everything you've lost."
"Isn't that right, Mr. Olympia?" The smallest of the three hags cackled, a sound that reminded him of nails sliding down a chalkboard.
Both Zeus and Poseidon felt their skins blanch. How could three blind ladies possibly know who they were?
"Who are you?" Poseidon let go of his cowardice and approached the three hags.
"That's a question you should be asking, Lord Poseidon," the crackly ancient hags exclaimed in unison.
They were blind! Poseidon mentally screamed. What powers on earth even allowed them to know who they were? If they had met them when they were children, their voices would have changed since the last time they were in the city, so how could the hags recognize them?
"We need to get out of here," Zeus clapped his brother on his back, signaling for him to follow, but the three hags stopped them with their chilling voices.
"Your secret is safe with us."
"How can we trust you?" Zeus pushed past his brother and bent down on his knees to whisper to the hags.
The three hags began cackle once more at the man's ridiculous question. No one should ever trust Fate- not with their lives anyway. "Down below us you will find, the boy who's future is intertwined to the father you seek to undermine."
"What are you talking about?" Zeus felt felt his heart begin to pump so hard he felt like it was going to burst out of his chest. He began to shake, and he briefly wondered if anyone could see whether or not crackles of energy fizzing about his form, he certainly could feel them buzzing off of him.
"They gotta be fortune tellers, or some- yow!" Poseidon yelped as a stray shock smacked him in the face.
But Zeus was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to consider Poseidon as he fell down the stairs. "What do you mean his future is intertwined with our father's? Is he destined to die?! To what?" He demanded, but the three hags seemed to be smirking at him underneath the layers of blankets that covered them despite the heat wave the city was experiencing from the summer season.
"Not all will be set in stone, for love in any form can all atone."
Zeus fell silent, his questions drying up like a land deprived of water for so long after a small shower. "Are you sure of this?"
"By the time you bring us back our eye, you'll see for yourself," the oldest, and most gravelly of the three warned.
"Your eye?"
"It was stolen from us by your father- now go!" All three of them somehow managed to point at the manhole that laid in front of the old building.
Though he was still shaken by the hag's words, the man simply nodded, grabbed his fallen brother, and ran to the manhole like his life depended on it.
"You know what I want to know?" Poseidon grumbled as they lifted the manhole out of the middle of the road. The two of them gripped either side of it and as soon as it was removed, they set it down near the hole that led into the sewers.
"Now, brother, this is no time to complain," Zeus hoisted himself over the hole as he began to lower himself into the depths.
"Who said I'm complaining about sullying my government issued uniform?" Poseidon closely followed Zeus down the manhole, but lingered at the surface to fit the manhole over the hole, submerging them into complete darkness. "No, what I wanna know is where you're getting your sources from? Like those creepy old hags- that was out of the blue, sure, but how did ya know to come someplace out in the Styx?"
From his pocket Zeus took out a lightbulb and held it aloft, casting light upon the dampened walls around them. "You talk to people enough, you start making friends," Zeus vaguely exclaimed as he began to shimmy down the thin walkway. His large broad shoulders and body were making it hard for him to walk properly. Something, Poseidon was forced to adopt as well.
"What kinda friends we talking 'bout here?" Poseidon pressed with a slight note of annoyance.
"There's a cop that patrols this area. Awfully short fellow, but a good and kind man once you get past his ornery manner of speech."
"Can we trust the cops, though?"
"Probably not," Zeus admitted with a note of wistfulness. "But it doesn't hurt to try, and if I get ratted out- who's going to remember my face? This beard," he began to stroke his white whiskers, "Serves as a form of identity protection."
"Huh, never took you for an over-thinker."
"It's what survival does to a man," Zeus flatly offered.
Poseidon jumped as his eye briefly caught the sight of a giant rat streaking across the other side of the waterway, but at least he was leaning heavily against the stone wall, preventing him from falling into the murky water. "Man, I'm having a bad case of the creeps. You sure he's down here?" The sailor shivered uneasily. He was beginning to have second thoughts about this whole mission after their encounter with the three hags and just being here down in the rank sewers. At this point he was having second thoughts about skipping dinner at Demeter's place.
"We're getting close now, I can feel it."
"Huh, sure," Poseidon sarcastically quipped.
But just as Zeus predicted, the stone wall they were shimmying along had a small gap, revealing a small passageway lined with large metallic pipes larger than tree trunks. Zeus felt a victorious grin erupt across his face. "See, what did I tell ya? I bet he's right in there," He gestured at the door that was located at the end of the passageway.
"This is getting way too easy," Poseidon mumbled with a groan, leaning against one of the many pipes, but as he put more of his weight along them, they began to gradually give way. Using the faint light from the lightbulb, Zeus was still currently holding, Poseidon carefully inspected the pipes that bended underneath his weight.
After living aboard a ship, one becomes awfully familiar with the many inner workings, especially when he was in charge of making sure the ship was in tip-top shape. Someone had clearly noticed that the pipes along here were no longer in use and had begun to saw away sections in the pipes, but not all the way in order to give the illusion that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Yet why would that be, when a wall should be behind them?
He needed more light.
"Wait a second- hey, Zeus!" He called out to his brother to get his attention, but the man was currently trying to open the door, but to no avail.
Zeus began to rear his leg back in order to break down the door, but stopped himself at the call of his name. "Yes?"
"I think I found a secret passageway in the secret passageway," Poseidon announced as he stuck his hand into the hole. He could feel a wind down here. Another tunnel, closer to the surface?
"Let me see," Zeus crouched down to look inside the hole, sticking the lightbulb down inside it to get a better view.
Soon enough, now that there was light, a small little burrow was tucked away neatly for all to see and there in the middle of it all was a makeshift hammock where a slumbering Hades was tucked away with a hat obscuring his face.
"By thunder, Hades?!" Zeus shouted louder than he wanted to, and in his excitement the lightbulb exploded in his hand.
If the shout wasn't enough to rouse him from his deep slumber, it was the sound of glass cracking and flying everywhere that did him in. Yet he couldn't move as the puppies that were slumbering along with him in the hammock began to yowl and crawl atop him, and now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure one of them just peed on him.
"Oh flaming hell!" Hades instinctively picked up two of the squirming creatures by the scruff and set them down on the floor, leaving the last one to roll around in the hammock as the young man jumped out and pulled out a knife on his intruders.
"Hey, I don't want any trouble here," he waved the knife threateningly, but in the darkness he couldn't see a thing, and it was quite apparent by the tremble in his voice that he was not prepared to fight.
"Poseidon, light a match!"
"Yeah, yeah, okay," his brother frantically began to search through his many pockets until he successfully fished out a pack of matches.
Hades felt the knife in his hand lower slightly at the mention of that name.
Po-po?
The sound of a match fizzling into life soon became a roar as light once again washed upon the brothers. Zeus was the first to jump into the burrow, and with a single move snatched the knife out of Hades' stunned hand and threw it behind him.
"Oh Hades, baby brother, just look at ya!" Zeus' beefy arms shot out and squished his brother against his chest before the boy could even react, squeezing every ounce of breath out of him. A low, annoyed groan escaped out of him as Zeus continued to embrace him, popping all the vertebrae in his spine in the process.
Soon enough, Poseidon jumped down into the burrow and used the last light of the match to locate a lantern that was tucked in the corner of the room. Once the lantern was lit, Poseidon joined in on the embrace, successfully trapping their baby brother on either side. "Now, don't forget me!"
"Let go of me!" Hades squirmed in their grasp until they finally released him. "Whaddya trying to do to me?! Smother me to death?!"
"Oh let me have a look at yeah!" Poseidon spun him around to his face.
Hades was ready to protest, but shock and confusion paralyzed his movements as he began to process what was going on. Staring down at the shorter, pudgier sailor in front of him, distant memories of a thinner face began to resurface, but those sea green eyes had not changed one bit even as tears began to spring in them.
"Lay off, what the hell are you two do even doing here?!" The young man brushed off Poseidon's hands along his shoulders.
"Why, we're here to see you!" Zeus proclaimed with honest sincerity.
Hades scoffed, his long angular face twisting into a deadpan expression. "Yeah? Little late for that, huh? Well, since you two figured out how to get down here, I think ya got enough grey matter between the two of ya to walk yourselves out."
"Now, Bro-bro," Poseidon used the old nick-name he used to call him. "We really tried to come back sooner, but we always assumed Great Aunt Nyx would take care of you."
"She did- lot more than you two or ma ever did," Hades snapped with an under current of bitterness.
"Now, don't go decrying mother that way, Hades," Zeus cut in, defensively. "She did everything she could to protect you."
"And that worked out peachy, didn't it? I mean first ma got dragged away to the nut house, and then you two disappeared. I wasn't even ten yet! The fact I've made it this long shows I can survive without you two bozos crashing into my life!"
"We're not trying to crash in, we're trying to help you, baby brother!" Zeus thundered.
"Stop calling me that! You lost that privilege the minute you walked out of my life!"A part of Hades felt a strange prickling sensation go through him, but he ignored it as well as the the tiny purple sparks that were beginning to form on Zeus' tightly clenches fists.
This was a detail Poseidon noticed first. "Alright, break it up you two!" The sailor stepped between the two of them, pushing them apart before fists began to fly. "We didn't come here to fight, bro-bro."
Hades snorted. "Could'a fooled me."
Zeus took a deep breath, bowing his head in order to control the fury that was boiling in his veins. After a few seconds of silence, the man opened his mouth in agreement, "Poseidon's right. This is supposed to be a happy day. The three of us are reunited once more." Zeus' hands gripped each of his brother's shoulders. "And the last of us becomes a man today," he squeezed Hades' shoulder more tightly.
"You need to keep up with current events, Zeusy, it's still August," Hades quipped.
"Oh? You haven't heard?" Poseidon's grin became impossibly wide as he elbowed his younger brother in the ribs.
Hades' face became that of annoyance as he stared bemusedly at the crazed mariner. "Exactly how many albatrosses have you killed to get you to this point?"
"Haha, very funny…" Poseidon sarcastically laughed.
"-Hades, you were not born in September like we were led to believe. In fact," Zeus retrieved the envelope from the inside of his jacket and handed it to the young man who snatched it out of his grasp.
Shaky hands began to tear away the envelope, ripping out the yellowed sheet, hiding within. A strange familiar sensation began to rise within him once again, but he pushed it down as anticipation swelled within his bones.
"From here on forth and forevermore you are a free man."
Hades felt himself back away in a daze, inching farther and farther away from the lantern's reach, shrouding him in the shadows of his brothers as his backside connected with the hammock. The pup that was still inside was picked up and set in his lap as Hades half-stood, half-sat on the edge of the hammock, staring blankly at the piece of paper. Absentmindedly he petted the pup underneath its neck as it pressed his head into his stomach and began to whine, demanding attention.
Soon enough its littermates on the ground sought the attention as well as they began to tug at Hades' shoelaces. After moments of stunned silence, Hades gaze locked onto Zeus, his face changing like the turn of a dial all of a sudden becoming skeptical. "You're bluffing. Any Joe Schmo can doctor up one of these documents with the right price, meaning which you two need something out of me."
"We most certainly are not," Zeus proclaimed with a note of annoyance in his tone. "We can prove it!"
"Yeah!" Poseidon agreed, but the sailor began to backtrack as he processed his brother's words. "Wait, we can?"
"You can?" Hades cocked an amused eyebrow at the circus display in front of him. If he didn't know any better it was like these two were not tuned to the other's quirks. That was a weird observation considering these two used to see each other all the time, and the fact they were much closer in age compared to him. You'd think the bond would be greater, so why not? They ran away together on the same day, he should know he watched them go. So why were they acting like they knew each other so well?
"Yes, Poseidon, we can," Zeus released a sigh. Casually lifting his hand, the man had his index finger raised and extended as he poked Poseidon in-between the ribs, sending a small electric shock coursing through him.
Poseidon yelped in pain. "Youch! Zeus that hurt!"
"Oh don't be such a baby, that was less voltage than lighting a lightbulb."
"It still hurt," Poseidon whimpered.
"What are you two even on?" Hades shared a quick look with the pup in his lap before he returned his attention to the strange interchange between his two older brothers.
"What we are trying to say is that we have powers," Zeus began again, this time ignoring Poseidon's unamused expression "We don't know how or where they come from, but we know they are hereditary and that they seem to activate on our eighteenth birthday. For myself, I have the ability to-"
"Shock people to death," Poseidon grumbled under his breath.
"Alright, I apologize!" Zeus muttered in a lower tone, his eyes began to glint a dangerous violet as they met Poseidon's.
Poseidon cheekily grinned. "Why, thank you, big bro," but his demeanor transformed into that of a somber wariness he didn't think was possible for such a jovial chubby man. "What Zeus is saying may sound crazy. I thought it was too, but when I turned eighteen my whiskers finally came in- only thing was it wasn't hair growing on my face, but a fin."
Hades blinked and looked at the reader in utter confusion, wondering if he had just heard that correctly. "Right," the young man's grin twisted into a smirk, "and I can talk to dogs."
Picking up on his sarcasm, Zeus began to shake his head. "Hades, please take this serious-"
"You can?!" Poseidon interrupted Zeus, not fully comprehending his baby brother's quick wit. The sailor began to bubble over with excitement and picked up one of the pups that were tugging at Hades' shoelaces. "Tell me, what is this one saying, right now?!" He proceeded to extend out the small pup to Hades' deadpanned face, completely unfazed even as the pup licked him on the nose.
"I'll spare you the insult," Hades rolled his eyes at his brother's gullibility. His gaze switched over to the document he still held in his hand and back at his brothers. Whether or not his brothers were telling the truth, he knew the seal on this paper was something that was hard to reproduce. Which meant if it was fake or not it could work to his advantage if he played his cards correctly.
"Huh?" Poseidon blinked in confusion, but when he noticed Zeus trying to cover up his grin, the sailor began realize his mistake and put the pup back on the ground, allowing it to resume playing with his baby brother's shoes. "Oh you're a real wise guy y'know that?"
"It makes life just a tad more bearable," Hades' face didn't even twitch.
Zeus made a small thoughtful noise in the back of his throat as he began to stroke his beard. "Whether or not you believe us about the powers, you should keep an eye out for any kind of strange coincidences or circumstances. My first time, I nearly burned down Central Park. Course that was almost nine years ago."
For the first time in this conversation, Hades felt a strange chill go up his spine. He actually remembered that event. Remembered that very raging storm that came from nowhere as the skies darkened and the winds began to rage as the clouds above began to grow alight with fury. The way the thunder rolled and lightning flashed was forever imprinted in his memory; to this day he'd never seen a storm like it, but the more he thought of it, the more the memories he repressed began to rumble back in.
"And then you ran, yeah," Hades exclaimed. "I remember that part."
Zeus' face fell into a sympathetic look. He should have expected this kind of reaction from Hades. If he were in his shoes, watching your older brothers abandon you wasn't exactly the best memory to have carrying around with you, especially when it was your last memory of them. They had never even sent him letters, he was alone all that time, a truly abandoned child.
That was when the words from the hags began to float into his ears. He would not allow Hades to fall into despair. They were back, and here they were to stay. His baby brother may be difficult at first, but over time, he was sure he could lower his walls. After all you never give up on family.
"But we came back," Zeus reminded him.
"A lapse in judgment I'm sure."
"And we need your help," Poseidon added.
"For what? Planning your funerals? Kronos is not going to be happy to see you two waltzing around his town. He's already mad enough having me around, can't imagine with you bozos."
Zeus and Poseidon shared a look, the kind of which any person observing them already knew exactly what they were going to say, but were surprised by it anyway.
"We are going to topple our father's empire."
Hades' eyes grew large, but it was not surprise that painted his face, it was fear. "You guys are full of meshuggah."
"We've tried running, Hades, but he always comes back. Do you know why we've decided to come back? Why now?"
Unease began to prickle down Hades' arms as goosebumps erupted across his skin. Even the dogs playing with his shoelaces paused as if to hear what Zeus had to say.
"My adopted sister, Demeter, she doesn't know it yet, but her husband, Iasion, is not trying to purchase land like he told her. He is very much on the run; same as Poseidon and I. He contacted me three months ago saying he found something that will surely get him killed. Before you ask, he is a regular man, an extremely ordinary kind man, he just has a penchant for sniffing for trouble, and what he found may shock you. You see he used to own a grocery shop-"
Hades briefly wondered if that was an intentional pun. He felt like he wasting his time here listening to his two brothers going on and on about some kind of magical nonsense crap but the more he thought of what this document could do for him, fake or not, could very well get him a ticket out of here.
He could leave today.
That single, wondrous thought spiraled inside of him bringing up the limitless possibilities. He needed to find Leuce, let her know immediately, and get them the hell out of town, but what was he going to do with these two bozos? He couldn't just have them follow him, if he was caught just being in the same location as these two would prove to be unfortunate and could possibly get him killed, or worse Leuce killed, a fact he didn't even want to consider. It was then his eye caught something shining. Right where he had tucked it away, the shining bottle of moonshine, lovingly called Lethe was sitting, waiting to be drunk by the three homeless ladies who lived directly above here.
An awful idea began to grow in his head. How else was he going to get rid of them?
"Hey, hey, hey, y'know let's talk about this later," Hades interrupted his brother. "I say we celebrate," he grabbed the bottle of moonshine and waved it in front of his brothers. "I'm a man today, right? Well how about we drink up?"
Poseidon's eyes lit up at the sight of booze. Any sailor, if he was a good one, always had time to down a pint or four. "Why, I believe our baby brother has made an excellent point," the sailor moved to Hades' side and was already moving to open the bottle.
"Now, Poseidon, this is not the time to imbibe," Zeus warned.
"Oh, c'mon Zeusy," Hades' grin suddenly became more crooked. "How about one swallow- y'know, for my birthday," his oily tongue upped the charm by wrapping his arm around Zeus and stealing the bottle from Poseidon's grasp.
Zeus fixed his gaze on Hades' pleading face. "Oh alright, one swallow."
Poseidon and Hades both released a whoop of cheer.
"Alright! Now that's what I like to hear!" Hades began to unscrew the cap and pressed the bottle to his closed lips. There was no way he was going to take a sip of this moonshine. He'd seen what Lethe did to those old hags after years of visiting them daily. Every time he left, they couldn't even remember their own names. Funnily enough, after all these years, they never had the sense to tell him their names.
The young man passed the bottle to Poseidon who took a long swig. "Huh, it tastes… Uh what am I tasting?" The sailor absentmindedly took another swig.
"Hey, only one swallow, Poseidon," Zeus snatched the bottle from him. "To you, Hades, may our mission be a successful one," he gave his baby brother a nod before he pressed the bottle in his lips. In a single subtle motion, Hades lifted the bottle from the end, sending more of the moonshine down his oldest brother's throat than he intended.
Zeus blinked in bemusement as he blankly looked around the little burrow. His eyes staring through Hades. "Where am I?" The oldest brother asked, and without noticing, the bottle slipped from his hand in his daze, cracking the container on the floor which sent the liquid spilling everywhere.
Hades smirked. "Well, boys I'd love to stay and chat, but there's a train I gotta catch," the young man began to slink away, but before he did so he grabbed his coat and his cap. Tucking away the now folded document into his shirt pocket, Hades began to pick up his three pups and somehow managed to fit all three of them in his other pockets. They were only three weeks old.
"C'mon you three, we gotta go see your ma."
"Bye-bye," his older brothers began to dizzily wave at him as he left them.
"Ciao, babes…"
A/N: As always please fav, follow and review!