Chapter Eight

A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else belongs to Disney!

*ducks projectiles* Gah! I'm so sorry for the delay here—definitely didn't mean to leave it as long as I did! I just got kinda caught in a loop of updates for Choosing Home, Truth or Fiction, and The Last Bridge. I'm going to try to be more consistent with this one though with TLB and CH coming close to their ending points, I may focus on those two just to finish them up.

Oh, in other news, not this Monday but next Monday, I will be celebrating living another year! :D I normally don't do this but for my birthday, I'd love to see if this fic could hit 100 reviews! :D

Hope you all like this chapter! Let me know what you think! :D

Persephone sighed as she worked on cleaning the dishes in the sink. She still did not know what Pain and Panic did to cause so many dishes to build up, especially with the restaurant failing so it wasn't as if Hades was planning new recipes and testing them out.

That being said, it was a nice way to unwind and be alone with her thoughts. Hades had gone off to talk to Hook and Ursula of all people, which surprised her in all honesty. Especially since it came off of having a conversation with Jay.

I mean honestly, with the rock walls and the large rooms, it does echo down here and voices carry, Persephone thought with an inward sigh. She hadn't had a chance though to hear exactly what it had been that Hades had been discussing with Jay but judging by the fact that Hades hadn't brought Jay into the den, Persephone had to assume it was serious.

Well that and the fact that Estelle never came back, meaning Hades probably sent him with Jay.

I can't help but wonder if it has something to do with Mal, she thought with another small sigh. She seemed so stressed at that last press conference I saw and I'm sorry but when did she go blonde? Why did she go blonde? I wish I could be there so Mal could have someone in her corner, even if no one else knew.

The fact that Zeus or Poseidon hadn't approached her about being Mal's step mother was proof enough that Mal was still keeping the fact that Hades was her father a secret. Even now that Maleficent had been turned into a lizard.

And yes, that fact still brought a smile to Persephone's face.

"Mom! Mom, mom, mom!" Hadie's voice called out and brought Persephone out of her thoughts.

"Hadie? What is it? What's wrong? Is someone hurt?" Persephone called back, the worried tone in her son's voice sending an alert through her brain. What had happened?

"It's Mal!" Hadie said, running into the kitchen; nearly running into the counter as he stopped due to the momentum and how fast he'd been running.

Persephone frowned slightly as she looked at her son. "What do you mean? Mal's in Auradon, most likely preparing for Cotillion. It's in two days after all."

Though that does make me wonder why Jay was on the Isle…maybe the no stealing lifestyle was getting to him? And he needed to talk to someone? Hades always was ready to be a welcome ear to the kids…at least until Mal left after Hadie was born, Persephone thought.

"No mom! Mal's on the Isle!" Hadie said, his eyes growing wide and pulling Persephone out of her thoughts once more. "Uma has her hostage!"

"I'm sorry, what?"

"It's true," Hades said as he walked into the kitchen, looking over at his son quizzically. "How do you know that?"

Hadie bit his lip. "I'm, um…I'm a member of Uma's crew. I couldn't join Mal's gang since she never said that I'm her brother publicly but everyone knows that Uma's your niece so—."

"Okay, so we're going to talk about joining pirate crews without telling us later, even if the leader of said crew is your cousin," Hades said before looking over at Persephone. "But our son's right. Jay came to talk to me earlier. Jay, and Evil Queen's daughter…and Mal's sunspot."

"I'm sorry, King Ben is on the Isle?!"

"Why do you think I sent Estelle with Jay? Mal won't exactly be a happy camper if anything happens to the sunspot," Hades said, shaking his head. "Honestly, he thought a brown shirt, pair of jeans, and a beanie could disguise the fact that the King was on the Isle. If anything I should be insulted he thought so low of the people on the Isle but then again, look who he's got for parents. King and Queen 'lock 'em up and throw away the key'."

"Hades, be nice," Persephone scolded. It wouldn't exactly be a good idea to trash talk the King in front of Hadie less they poison their son's thoughts. Persephone wanted Hadie to be able to come up with his own opinions and not just parrot what he thought Hades or Persephone wanted him to say.

"Steph, he started talking about his coronation in front of me and still thought I didn't know who he was," Hades told her. "I swear, there has to be something to my theory that the sun from Auradon melts their brains."

"Ahem!" Hadie said and Persephone was sure if it hadn't been a serious topic, she was sure that her son would have tapped his foot out of frustration. "Can we go back to the whole 'Uma has Mal held hostage' thing? We can talk about King Ben's intelligence or lack thereof later can't we?"

"Right, right," Persephone nodded and looked at Hades, ignoring the slight smirk her husband had on his face at hearing their son's words. "I assume that has something to do with you going out to talk to Hook and Ursula?"

"Sure was. I thought maybe they could talk to their spawn and get them to see sense but there wasn't much I could do. The Isle still sees Mal as my errand rat after all and with her turning her back on Maleficent and evil at the Coronation along with the changes she's made with looking more and more like a Boreadon girl instead of a VK…"

"Ah right," Persephone sighed and brushed a bit of her hair out of her face. "So what do we do?"

"The only thing we can do," Hades said. "We get Mal back. I'm pretty sure she'll hate me for the rest of my life for this but considering her track record at not talking to me, that'll be nothing new."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to have to meet with Uma and tell her exactly who she's got held hostage."

Persephone's eyes widened. "What? Hades, you know that's Mal's news to give! If you told Uma before Mal did…"

"Well what else can I do? I go in there hair blazing without a reason, it's going to look suspicious. Not to mention Mal's going to think I don't trust her to fight her own battles."

"Not that she's doing much fighting," Hadie said as he sat down by the counter. "Uma's got her tied up against the mast right now."

Hades pinched the bridge of his nose. "You can't kill her, she's family. You can't kill her, she's family…wait why do I care about that again? There are several members of my family I'd gladly welcome the chance to kill if I had it."

"Hades!" Persephone scolded.

"Right, right…you can't kill Uma, she's family," Hades went back to muttering to himself and began to pace.

Persephone sighed and shook her head. "Okay Hadie, thank you for telling me. I know Mal probably didn't want you to—."

"Actually…she told me to tell you," Hadie said. "She seemed pretty adamant about you being the one to know and not dad actually."

Persephone sighed and glanced over at Hades, who was still muttering angrily while pacing the floor of the kitchen. She knew why Mal thought that way. With how the Isle was divided, it was risky to go into Maleficent's territory just as it was risky for Mal to go into Uma's and the Pirates after Uma, Jay, Mal, and Harry split up.

But Mal wasn't one to just not do something because it was risky and so she met up with Persephone about once or twice a week during her daily walks. It was a nice way to talk with Mal, even if Mal couldn't say anything she truly meant in case it got back to Maleficent.

The walks also allowed Mal a chance to bond with Hadie which Persephone was grateful for. She had hoped the walks would be enough to get Mal to want to talk to Hades, bridge the gap between the two of them for once and for all.

But then Mal got the invite to go to Auradon. According to Hadie, Hades had been steamed that Maleficent hadn't even seen fit tot tell him Mal would be leaving the Isle. Though in all honesty, what did he expect? It was Maleficent they were talking about after all. She always took the welcomed opportunity to cause pain.

"We should both go," Persephone said after a minute; her soft voice breaking through Hades' rant. "To the docks I mean. If you show up alone Hades, Mal's going to think Hadie told you and not me. Besides…if you're going to reveal her biggest secret, it would only make sense for both of us to be there."

"Wait…she didn't want me to know?" Hades asked.

Hadie bit his lip before nodding. "Yeah dad…I asked if it wouldn't make more sense to tell you instead of mom but Mal insisted I tell mom. Wait…how did you find out?"

"I believe we already stated that. Talk with Jay? King Sunspot on the Isle with his melted brain?"

"Oh right. But how did Jay know to get you?"

"That…is a very good question," Hades said. "I guess it's because, as I said, the Isle still knows Mal as my errand rat even though I started using Celia. Jay's Mal's oldest friend, that's got to be why they came to me."

"Dear…you don't think Mal told them she was your daughter do you?" Persephone asked.

Hades shook his head before pausing. The Evil Queen's daughter…she had called Mal his daughter when trying to get Hades to join them.

"…Evil Queen's daughter knows," he said softly. "I don't know if Mal told her but she knows."

"She knew before Uma? Because if Uma knew she'd kidnapped her cousin, Mal would be off that ship right now." Persephone said. "Actually…Uma likely wouldn't have kidnapped her in the first place."

"Well that can be something I ask Uma when I talk to her," Hades said.

"When we talk to her," Persephone corrected.

Hades gave her a small smile and kissed her on the cheek. "Right. When we talk to her…Hadie, you stay here."

"But I can help!" Hadie exclaimed.

"I'm sure you can but you won't," Hades told him. "Last thing I need is to be worried about both of my kids today okay? Tell you what? I'll give you permission to terrorize Pain and Panic?"

"Dad, it's no fun terrorizing them when there's permission to do so," Hadie shook his head. They all knew he wouldn't actually terrorize them, he'd likely just lie on his bed and read whatever book he had available.

Mal had been sending him some really good ones, apparently recommending by King Ben himself! One even had far off places, daring sword fights, and magic spells! He didn't really care much for the Prince in disguise but three out of four wasn't too bad. For an old book, it was really good.

"Are you going to be okay on your own?" Persephone asked, looking at Hadie.

"I'll be fine mom," Hadie promised. "You go get Mal."

Persephone smiled and kissed the top of Hadie's head before she and Hades walked out of the Underworld. Hadie waited a bit before scurrying after them.

Hey he could read his book any old day. When would he get to see his dad scare the pants off of Uma again?