Using his hammer, Hephaestus gave Hades quite a beating that made Myrrhine to even feel sorry for her boss. Thankfully, Aphrodite stopped him and Hades defeated, was forced to return to the underworld to lick his wounds.

At the same time, Cassandra started to run away from Icarus, who refused to let the incident go and was once again, madly in love with her. Amongst the chaos, Myrrhine walked out of the shadows and left out a sigh of relief, now that the coast is clear.

She was about to return and find Hades when Hercules noticed her. "Myrrhine, you finally came," the boy said, a smile on his face as he jogged towards her.

"Yeah…well…Yes, I did. And there was quite the show" she commented, offering a smile and trying to hide from the two gods with the help of Hercules figure.

"Yeah…but hey, Cassandra is free and all is back to normal," He said, making her give a small genuine smile. Indeed, everything was back to normal. Almost. At least, her friend was no longer working for Hades. "So…uhm, the festival is still going…I was wondering…would you like to…you know… as friends…explore it?" he asked between pauses, trying his best to keep his courage and often glancing at his feet.

Myrrhine was about to decline, thinking about Hades but a part of her argued with her. It wouldn't truly hurt to spend just a few hours like a normal teenager for once. Especially now, that there were no gods around and Hades would be too busy healing from his wounds.

"I would like that," she said with a smile.

Myrrhine entered the castle of Hades, late at night. She had just returned from the festival and she was in a pretty good mood. Despite everything, she did enjoy her time with Hercules there.

However, someone did not seem to share her mood. For Hades was waiting for her. Sitting on his throne, his fingers drummed against the stone and his blue hair fire was slightly bigger than usual.

"Had fun at the festival, Myrrhine?" He asked, making her stop dead in her tracks.

When Hades called her with her real name and not some stupid nickname, it meant only one thing. He was angry and she was in trouble. Now for what exactly, she would find out soon enough apparently.

Hades motioned for her with one finger, to come closer. For a moment, she truly felt the urge to refuse and keep that safe distance. However, a sharp acute pain snapped her from such thoughts as she felt her body walking on her own towards him.

One of the negatives is when the God of the Underworld had your soul. If he told you to do something...you do it. There is no other option. All the times she had been let, was because Hades wanted to.

Finally, she walked towards him and that invisible underlying force disappeared. She stopped in front of his throne, looking at him with no clear fear. In her first days, the god of the Underworld did make her uneasy...

But she had been with him for more than a year. She had seen so many things, so many of his angry sides that she was no longer intimidated...well, to a certain degree.

"Tell me something, babe. Pain and Panic" he started, motioning for the two imps who had been dismissed. "Told me something very peculiar. This is what happened... Doubt was about to bite that annoying boy when Jerkules interfered. Are you with me so far?" The girl lifted her eyebrows at him. "Okay, you are. Now you see" he started to use his gestures a lot, emphasising his words. "The odd thing was this lion, coming out of nowhere, helping defeat my henchman and then running away"

That made Myrrhine shallow the lump down her throat. She was that lion, using it as a disguise to ensure Hercules won and protected Icarus. She hadn't chosen to do it by morals but rather, ensuring Hades could not keep his part of the deal and thus Cassandra regained her freedom.

Hades stood up and took a step forward, standing now in front of her. Despite her height, he was still taller than her by almost a head. Slender grey fingers grabbed her chin and forced her to tilt her head back and keep her gaze on him. His hair flame was now bright orange, indicating the passive anger within him.

"Did you or did you not go against my plans?"

Myrrhine thought to lie but it was obvious to a child that Hades knew the truth. Lying would only make her position worse. She licked her dry lips, feeling how close into her personal space Hades was in.

"I just wanted Cassandra to keep her soul. She didn't deserve to be trapped here" she said, standing her ground.

Her muscles tensed, waiting for his outburst and then her punishment. There was still silence between them, his face close enough to be able and sense his breath against her skin. When all of a sudden...

He started laughing.

Hades released her and started to laugh, taking a few seconds before calming down himself. His behaviour confused her and she was not sure if she should be scared of his sudden change of emotions or offended that he was laughing at her.

He wiped an imaginary tear from his eyes and focused on her again. The amusement was clear on his face despite the low light provided by the blue torches placed across the walls of the throne room.

"You mean to tell me, that you have started to care for that human" he laughed again, this time for less time. "Oh, this is golden. You went against my plans to save a human soul. Next thing I know, you will truly befriend Zeus' mistake"

That made her fold her hands in front of her chest and look at him, not sharing his sense of humour in that case. As much as she hated to agree, she mentally had to. Spending time with those three had made her form something...that was worth protecting.

Yet, she still had to cover it. "She simply didn't deserve this life. Since she still had a choice to live, you know. Why sell her soul for something so trivial?"

Hades appeared behind her, his one hand on her shoulder. She shivered at his touch for a moment, not sure why the reaction, though. "You better be careful, babe," he said as he walked around her, dragging his bony fingers across her skin.

She fought the urge to pull away from him, and instead chose to focus on controlling her body and not letting his touch draw any more reaction. "Careful of what?" She finally asked, not fully seeing where he was leading it.

"Of those kids, of course," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. He pulled his hand off her, having taken enough pleasure in seeing her reaction to it. "You think they are worth fighting for but hey, let me tell you. Once they find out the truth.." he started as he produced some smoke. It took the form of the three teenagers and her. "They will abandon you" Hades continued, whispering to her ear.

At the same time, the figures moved. It showed the three friends pointing a figure at her before they ran away, while her smoke figure stood there alone.

Myrrhine kept her head to the side, eyes glued to the smoke figurine. She marched through it, making it dissolve as she headed for the window that overlooked the river of souls.

"It's not like I am bonding with them or anything. I am up there for a job, remember?" She said although a part of her was not sure whom she was trying to persuade. Hades or herself.

Hades materialised on the window sill, grabbing her wrist and pulling her on his lap. All the time, the young woman had her eyes locked outside. "Remember, my dear" he started, wrapping a lock of her curly hair around his finger and pulling slightly. "You are meant to be here, for the rest of eternity. They will grow old and die...all of them." His breath reached her ear, with how he had brought his upper body closer.

"I know" was all she said, never stopped looking outside the place she knew, she would never be able to escape.

Hades tapped her cheek a few times before standing up, forcing her to do the same. He released the lock of hair but his other hand kept holding her wrist. She looked up at him, and he seemed to be staring a little too much in the low dimmed room. "Go get some sleep, babe. I have a job for you tomorrow"

Myrrhine was frozen for a moment, feeling odd under his penetrating stare and the shadows cast on his face by his now blue flaming hair. She pulled her wrist from his grip, feeling the temperature difference, considering just how cold Hades always was.

"Of course. Night" was all she said and walked away from him, heading straight to her room.

Her head was a mess, and she needed to just lay in bed for the next week. What she did not know, was the fact that she was not the only one.

For even Hades, could not find some order in his mind at that moment. He stared at her retreating form, having already a ghost feeling of her luscious lock wrapped around his finger. That was from the rare moments she had allowed so much contact, and he was not sure how to feel about it.

Considering what had taken place just a few hours ago at the Festival with Aphrodite and his "talk" with Hephaestus.