In which Hades is trying hard to keep his cool. Also- he is very much not used to people not treating him poorly- so that doesn't help with his confusion, getting two girls who don't seem remotely freaked out by the Underworld. Especially Percy who is just there like 'Yep, I like this, reminds me of my dad'. Also, we get to see bewildered exasperated Hades over this chapter and the next few chapters.
Replies:
rage2091: Hades is just stood there like 'What the fuck are those girls doing? And why is Cerberus not eating them?'.
Undeath9087: Oh that it is lol.
Thickneck: I mean, he is about to.
junhaolin220: and I shall deliver!
Guest: I know right?!
Guest: The Furies were very confused because the one who very much did not smell of demigod had powers so they don't know what to think. Let's face it they had no freaking clue what was going on, which is why what they told Hades is missing info. And you shall see.
Guest: I mean, Percy's not stupid she'll know that Hades needs to know what's going on.
Guest: I wanted Hades to see Percy cuddling his puppy just because he's there like 'What the fuck?'
rl15435: Yeah Percy is not phased even a little bit. In fact she loves the underworld.

If asked Percy would insist that she and Piper only spent ten minutes with the giant puppy. Piper however would probably argue that they'd spent a lot longer fussing over him- long enough that Percy had ended up clambering on his back and almost laying across his neck so that she could scratch both of his giant ears at once.

Cerberus had led down, and Piper was sat leaning against one of his giant paws, and the left head was led in front of her so that she could smooth her hands over the fur on his muzzle.

Neither of them noticed the god when he arrived, not at first anyway.

Percy only noticed him when she heard a loud cough, the sort only done to draw someone's attention, and she turned her head, not bothering to slide off of Cerberus' back as she shifted her gaze to them god stood maybe twenty foot away from them- and she saw Piper jumping and scrambling to her feet quickly. It was actually kind of funny.

The god in question was impressive looking. He was at least ten feet tall, dressed in black silk robes with a crown of braided gold. His skin was as pale as Percy's hair, and his hair as shoulder-length and jet black- as black as Percy's had once been. He wasn't a bulky god but still, Percy could feel the power rolling off of him. It reminded her of her father actually. It was comforting, which probably wasn't something that usually happened.

"Hi." Percy's voice was chirpy "You must be Lord Hades, you're just the god we came here to see right Pipes?"

"Yes." Piper's voice was slightly higher than usual, and Percy could see how wide eyed and nervous she looked. That was understandable, Hades was her first Greek god or immortal.

"What exactly are you doing?" Hades looked like he was considering just blowing them up, "Why are you on the back of my-"

"Of your puppy?" Percy cut him off with a grin as she let herself slid down off the dogs neck "He's lovely. If Piper let me I would probably steal him." she said honestly.

"You- you are implying-"

"Not implying, I'm stating." Percy corrected as she landed elegantly and straightened up, brushing herself off. "If I thought for even a second I'd get away with it I would so kidnap your guard dog."

Hades' mouth opened and closed for a moment. He'd probably never met anyone who was quite so relaxed about it all.

Still, he did manage to pull himself together eventually. He gritted his teeth, taking a deep soothing breath before he spoke again. "Charon sent me word of two girls come to speak to me. I did not expect to find them playing with Cerberus." he shot the dog a disapproving look, and Cerberus let out a guilty little whine, "Who I will deal with later-"

"No!" Percy's voice was almost whiny. "Come on Lord Hades, you can't be mean to the puppy 'cause of me. Besides I bribed him with bones- speaking of which." Percy picked up the bag she'd dropped when she'd started fussing over the puppy.

A moment later she was drawing out a second of the bones, "I got this for the good boy- and another one-"

"You brought treats to bribe my guard dog." Hades looked impressed despite himself. "It seems that you came prepared at least- though most would try and use music or force. Your way seems to have been annoyingly effective nevertheless, even if you didn't get past him."

"I mean-" Percy laughed, "We could have, I just got caught up in fussing over the gigantic puppy."

"You seem remarkably at ease for a living soul in the Underworld."

"You'll get used to that." Piper spoke up, trying to hide her smile as she shook her head. "Percy's pretty fond of all things Underworld."

"I see." Hades frowned, "In the message my Ferry man sent me he mentioned certain symbols you carry."

"Yep." Percy nodded, tossing the bone to the left head of Cerberus- which instantly prompted some scuffling amongst the heads, which all wanted the bone.

Then she set the bag down and reached up to the amulets around her neck, selecting the Djed and the Jackal. "Piper has them too. I guess you could say we're kind of emissaries-"

"Emissaries of faded gods."

"Not quite so faded." a smile spread across Percy's lips, "Or at least, neither of them were faded when I last saw them- and I saw Anubis like, less than a week ago. He's the one who gave these to me- technically Osiris didn't know I was given the Djed but I don't think he'd disapprove."

Hades eyes narrowed, "You're telling me that the Egyptian gods-"

"Never faded, they just-" Percy paused, "Uh, let's say... stepped back. And they're still slightly stepped back. Gods you guys really don't pay that much attention to anything other than yourselves do you-" she paused when Hades eyes narrowed, "Hey! Don't give me that look you guys missed a whole big thing a few years back if you actually believed that the Egyptian gods were faded."

Hades was glaring for just a second before he sighed. "That is possible I suppose. I am always busy, Poseidon is distant and Zeus- well, he is Zeus." he rolled his eyes, "So I can concede the possibility that I've missed something- but why did they disappear for so long."

"Uh-" Percy shifted awkwardly, for some reason she doubted Hades would like hearing about how the House of Life had spent years hunting and sealing the gods away. "They were sort of temporarily... stuck? It's complicated. They're not any more but they... they're keeping their distance a little." they weren't banished as such. Not in the way they would have been if Percy wasn't around, but still, they definitely weren't around as much as they once were. So she could sort of see why the Greeks hadn't noticed them- but still, the whole Apophis thing should have been noticed. Then again- Hades was clearly a very busy god.

"I see." Hades nodded slowly, "And I assume that the House of Life still exists in that case." his gaze flicked between Percy and Piper, "And what is a Greek Demigod doing with an Egyptian Magician. We all long ago agreed that it would be better to keep our worlds separate."

"Yeah that's kind of out the window now." Percy shrugged. "Has been for a while."

"And what are you both doing here?" he asked after a moment. "That's the more pertinent question. And what is your connection to Osiris and Anubis that they'd knowingly let you come here."

"Anubis is dating my sister." Percy said lightly, "He's currently got himself an eye."

Hades looked some what surprised by that. "I didn't think Anubis would ever-"

"Things changed." Percy's lips twitched.

"And Osiris."

"He has a new eye too." Percy gave a somewhat sheepish smile, "My dad. Hence the fact that I'm so relaxed down here. Underworlds are sorta my jam."

"I see." Hades looked surprised still. "And you still consider him your father-"

"Of course." Percy let out a huff, blowing a stray curl out of her face, "He's still my dad even if he can't leave the Underworld and his skin is kinda blue if I look at him the right way. He's still himself, he's just Osiris at the same time. 'Same as Walt is still Walt even if he's also Anubis."

"I suppose it explains why you're so comfortable down here." Hades seemed to relax somewhat. "Though not why you're down here."

"That is a long story." Percy gave a sheepish little grin. "I guess it's time for formal introductions. I'm Percy Kane. Blood of Pharaohs, daughter of the Eye of Osiris and I have, in the past been the Eye of Nephthys- who is also an Underworld goddess. And this is Piper Mclean, my best friend-"

"And we think I'm a daughter of Aphrodite- we think anyway."

"How did a Greek and an Egyptian meet and become such close friends?" Hades quirked an eyebrow.

"Well." Percy grinned, "It's all to do with auditions and stuff actually. Not that interesting but uh- what I should probably mention is that as well as being Blood of Pharaohs I am also a demigod."

Hades froze at that, his eyes going wide. "You-" He blinked rapidly- and it was kind of funny how startled he looked. "You're a demigod?"

"Yep." Percy nodded, "My mom didn't know she was Blood of Pharaohs for a long time. My dad, the eye of Osiris, he's technically my adoptive father, not that that matters. My biological father is a Greek god."

And Percy didn't so much as lean back as Hades moved closer, his eyes narrowed as he looked her up and down slowly. "That has never happened before- and you don't feel like a demigod..." he trailed off when Percy held up her other amulets.

"My dad was one of the most skilled magicians around before he became Osiris' eye. He made sure I was protected- these hid me from monsters and they also conceal me from the Greek gods unless they're pretty close."

"I see." Hades' brows furrowed as he met Percy's gaze before he leaned back slightly. "Oh I see." his voice was almost a low growl. "This explains why Poseidon's been so withdrawn over the past few years." his voice was fairly annoyed. "He wanted to avoid anyone looking too closely at him. Because if the did they might find you. It's a good act, Zeus and I haven't bothered him.

"Before you say it-" Percy gave a wry smile, "I know that me being a Greek demigod and an Egyptian Magician at the same time isn't exactly something that should strictly speaking happen but I am here, I exist and could we not discuss that please."

Hades lips twitched very slightly, like he was trying to hide his amusement which was showing despite his annoyance. "It seems you've already dealt with much disapproval."

"Not all of the Egyptian gods were entirely happy about me when I first started having run ins with them." she shoved her hands into her pockets as she spoke. "Things are more settled these days."

"I will not judge." Hades decided, "From what you've told me you're a child of Osiris. And I always worked more closely with my counterparts in other pantheons that the rest of us, so to speak in any case. I got along well enough with him and his existence lightens my workload some. I will hear you out. You still have not told me why you children have come here."

"Because-" Percy slung her backpack off her shoulders. "I had a dream around six months ago. On the night of the Solstice, Winter. Obviously, it was from the Oracle of Delphi I think. To make a long story short she told me I needed to find a guy running with a bad, Piper and I went, we stole the bag, and uh-" Percy flushed, "I got distracted the next morning- I tossed it under my bed without looking. My home- well it's the twenty-first nome so you can guess that it's got lots of protection." and was it just her or was Hades closing his eyes, a resigned look forming on his face.

"You demigods and your ADHD." his voice was almost a groan as he ran his hand down his face. "You are infuriating. I don't believe you need to tell me what's in the bag. I think I already know. You stopped the thief, stole what he had stolen and you forgot about it for almost six months." his voice was somewhat unsteady. "I suppose we're lucky that you remembered it now."

"Well, actually Walt went into my room to try and get me for cookies and he sensed it. So he's the one who you should actually thank." Percy's smile was sheepish. "As soon as we knew what was in the bag Piper and I decided to bring it here to you Lord Hades."

"I see." Hades gaze was slightly suspicious again, "What do you want in return for returning my helm to me?"