"What on Earth…?" Maleficent asked.
"Geez, Hades! There you are!" Thanatos said, exiting the chariot and approaching the pair. "Where have you been?! I've been looking all over for you! I practically spent the whole night trying to find you and…" He turned to look at Maleficent and he raised an eyebrow. "…Was I interrupting something?"
"Uh, yes. Yes, you were." Hades said, furrowing his brow and making a very annoyed grimace at the winged God of Death.
"You know him?" The dark fairy asked, turning to Hades.
"Who is THIS?" Thanatos asked. "…Is this why I haven't seen you lately? This is what you've been doing? Sneaking out to see someone?"
"What?! I was NOT sneaking!"
"Really, Hades. I demand an explanation."
"Ugh! Okay, okay! Fine. I might as well introduce you now." Hades yelled in exasperation. "Maleficent, Thanatos. Thanatos, Maleficent. There, happy?"
"Maleficent. That's… quite the name." Thanatos said, sounding impressed.
"Thank you. And judging by your cloak and scythe, I can only assume that you are… the Grim Reaper, of a sort." Maleficent said, scratching her chin in thought. "And you aren't here to collect, are you?"
"First of all, the Grim Reaper is actually my main nickname. Second, I'm not here to collect any souls. I'm off duty." The winged god replied. "And third, I'm the God of Death and I work for you know who over here. And where I'm from, whatever Lord Hothead says goes." Thanatos and Maleficent shared a quick laugh while Hades smirked in both amusement and embarrassment.
"Real funny. You've been taking name calling lessons from Zeus or something lately?" Hades joked, rolling his eyes.
"Hey, don't be like that. You know I don't mean it." Thanatos then wrapped an arm around Hades' shoulder and smiled; he smiled back. They then started to perform an unusual handshake, which included slapping their hands up and down and side to side and ending with them bumping their fists together.
"I missed you, man."
"Missed you, too."
"But… what are you doing here anyway?"
"Oh, right! Right, I almost forgot. Hades, I was sent by the Fates to find you and bring you back to the Underworld. The other Gods and Goddesses down there have just arranged an important meeting and you have to be there."
"I do? Oh, great. Just what I needed."
Thanatos chuckled. "I can honestly say I have really missed your sarcasm."
Hades scoffed and turned to Maleficent. "Sorry, looks like our lessons have to be cut short. I gotta go. Oh! But before I do…" He reached into his shirt and pulled out the box he snatched up and handed it to her; she reluctantly took it. "I kinda saw how you were looking at this earlier. Was it your mom's or something?"
"…It was." She said before slowly opening the box. It was filled with all sorts of necklaces, bracelets, rings, and even earrings in gold, silver, various precious metals, and different kinds of jewels and stones.
Hades gave a quick whistle. "That's quite the collection."
"Yes. My mother warned me that if I ever dared to touch her jewelry box then I would unleash a dreadful curse upon the world. Only now do I realize it was all a lie." She closed the box.
"Yeesh. I guess she really didn't want you touching her stuff."
"I suppose… Thank you. Oh! Before I forget, I have something for you as well. Diablo!"
The raven promptly came to her and perched himself onto her scepter. She whispered something to him and he quickly flew off into the castle. In a few minutes, he returned carrying a book in his claws; he dropped it into Hades' open hands before gently landing on his mistress's shoulder.
"Your dad's spell book?!" He asked in shock.
"Since you were so interested in it before, it's officially yours to borrow. I sense that you could learn many things from this, and I'm sure you would have far more use for it than I would." She replied. "But I advise you to be VERY careful. Some of the spells in this book are VERY dangerous as well as physically draining and quite difficult to perform. You never know what kind of chaos or monstrosities could result."
"Noted." He smirked as he looked at his reflection in the green gemstone embedded in the cover.
"What?" She asked.
He paused and looked back at her. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"
"I have my moments."
"Don't we all?"
They shared a laugh; Thanatos gave a sly smirk.
"Uh hello! Boss!" Pain said loudly.
"Sorry to interrupt, but we gotta go!" Panic added.
Hades rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. What's this meeting all about, Thanatos?"
"I don't know." Thanatos answered with an anxious shrug. "Nobody told me what it was about, only that it was really important for you to be there. They also told me to bring you back to the Underworld ASAP. Plus, I was forced to take Pain and Panic with me because they had a feeling they knew where you'd be."
"Ugh, figured."
Hades groaned and facepalmed in annoyance; he had a hunch the meeting was going to be about him. He REALLY didn't want to go, but whether he liked it or not, he knew that there was no getting out of it nor any point in arguing. Maleficent looked at Hades, then at the jewelry box in her hands and she smiled.
"Don't worry, Hades. Like you said, you always have a way of persuading others to do what you want." She said before she leaned in and gave him a small kiss on the cheek.
Hades' eyes widened in shock and he froze on the spot as he turned his head to face Maleficent; she took a step back immediately realizing what she had just done. Their faces turned bright red as Pain, Panic, Thanatos, and Diablo stared at them in shock. He placed a hand on the cheek she kissed as his fiery hair flared up even higher to match the sudden red color of his face; the blush on Maleficent's cheeks grew even redder as she started to back away.
She cleared her throat and awkwardly looked away. "Well, alright! I, um… I suppose I will see you next week and… I hope you'll make good use out of that book! Farewell and have a good night!" She practically race-walked back into her palace while repeatedly muttering, "Why'd I do that? Why'd I do that? Why'd I do that? Why'd I do that? Why'd I do that?" She disappeared from view and Hades was left in awe with his hand still on his cheek.
"Okay, problem solved! Now what do you say we head back to the Underworld?" Panic asked as he and Pain hovered over to their boss.
"Yeah, totally! Just so we don't get into any trouble with any of the higher-ups. Let's get going!" Pain added as he and Panic tried to get Hades to move. "Hades? Boss?"
"Uh, you okay?" Panic said nervously.
Hades didn't answer; he was in a complete daze.
"Uh oh! The boss has gone bye-bye." Pain said.
"Oh yeah, she broke him." Panic added.
"She kissed me. She kissed me…" Hades whispered.
"Okay, lover boy! Enough stalling, let's move!" Thanatos said, grabbing Hades' shirt collar from behind and dragging him over to the chariot before throwing him in. "Hold on tight." Thanatos climbed in and whipped the reins, causing the dragon that was pulling it to rear up and take off.
Hades didn't even seem to notice what was going on around him; he was blushing like mad, staring off into space, and grinning while chuckling like a fool. The moment Hades, Thanatos, Pain, and Panic vanished into the night sky, Maleficent leaned up against a wall and covering her eyes with her hands as she let out a shaky breath; she had never felt so foolish or embarrassed in her life and she didn't know what came over her in that moment. She had just given Hades, the Lord of the Dead and God of the Underworld, a KISS on the cheek. Even Diablo was giving her a weird look, definitely not expecting his mistress to do such a thing.
"What is the matter with me?! I cannot believe I just did that! What was I thinking?! Am I mad?!" She exclaimed before sighing in exasperation; she took a quick glance at the jewelry box. "Perhaps some hot tea and light reading would help soothe my nerves." She then stood straight and started to make her way to the library with Diablo still sitting on her shoulder.
In the library, Maleficent had just poured herself a steaming cup of black tea after she placed the jar of Heart Ivy, now refilled, in its proper place. She sat at her desk and took another look in her mother's jewelry box as she had a sip from her cup. She examined a few rings, necklaces, and bracelets before something unusual caught her eye; she took it out of the box and realized it was a gold medallion hanging from a chain. But the pendent itself looked very strange; it looked like a coin that had odd looking markings on it and there was a skull right in the center. As she inspected the medallion, Maleficent couldn't help but feel as though she had seen that symbol somewhere before. She narrowed her eyes and took another sip of tea from her cup, trying her hardest to decipher the trinket's true meaning. But then it hit her. She quickly got up and grabbed a book from her shelf with the title, Monstrous Treasures of the World; she flipped through the pages until she finally found it.
"Aha!" Maleficent cried out in triumph. "I knew I'd seen this symbol before! This medallion originally came from the Midnia Summit, a mountain range in northern Romania. It is said that an enormous stash of gold and other treasure is hidden in a cave at the highest point of the Summit and no living being who dared to travel there has ever gone back alive." That must've been where Maleficent's father had gone to get back the Ember and perished; it had to be. She looked at the medallion again. "But why would my mother have this?" Diablo cocked his head to the side, unable to answer.
Then she had a thought. 'What if… the dragons that had stolen Hades' Ember had come to our house trying to find this missing piece of their treasure and they'd taken the Ember by mistake?'
"Hm… I suppose there is only one way to find out for sure." Maleficent shut the book, gulped down the rest of her tea, and stood up from her desk before walking over to another shelf. She took out a scroll and unrolled it to reveal a map of Romania and in one part that was farthest north of the country, there was a mountain range with the caption 'Midnia Summit'. She picked up the medallion and her scepter as the orb began to glow. "Diablo, my pet. Watch the castle in my absence. I'm going on a short expedition, I will be back soon."
And with that, Maleficent disappeared in a flash of bright green light, leaving Diablo by himself. He let out an exasperated caw.
0-0-0-0-0-0
After a few hours of flying, Hades, Thanatos, Pain, and Panic had finally made it back to the Underworld where Charon was waiting for them at the dock. He was leaning against the stern of the boat and impatiently tapping his foot.
"Well, it's about time you showed up, boss." The ferryman said sarcastically.
Hades rolled his eyes and stayed silent as he climbed into the ferry; Thanatos, Pain, and Panic followed suit. Sighing in frustration, Charon picked up his oar and began to push the ferry down the river, just as he'd done millions of times before.
"So… I take it you came back for that meeting." Charon said.
"You know about it, too?" Hades asked.
"Are you kidding? EVERY deity down here got the memo, even the Five Rivers are going to show."
Hades froze. "All FIVE Rivers?"
"Yep. Styx, Phlegethon, Cocytus, Acheron, and Lethe. The whole shebang, as you would say."
"Oh, that is JUST GREAT!" Hades shouted in frustration, leaning forward and burying his face in his hands. In response, Thanatos put a hand on his friend's back to try and comfort him. "So, uh… where is this meeting?"
"You'll know when we get there."
The ferry made its way past Hades' palace and down the river for a good few minutes until it stopped at a point where the five Rivers of the Underworld met; it was a good thing the rivers were all different colors or else it would be too hard to tell them apart from each other. In the center, there was a large round table and it was filled with Gods and Goddesses in darker colors and even a few nymphs and monsters, including Cerberus. They all turned their heads to see Hades, Charon, Thanatos, Pain, and Panic make their way to the table and take a seat in their own respective spots with the two imps floating near either side of their boss. Hades fidgeted uncomfortably in his seat and tugged on the collar of his shirt as the other deities around him stared in his direction; he must've been in some kind of trouble, that much was clear. He cleared his throat to break the awkward silence.
"So, uh… if nobody else is gonna break the ice, I might as well do it myself." He said with a nervous chuckle. "First of all, how's everybody doing? Long time no see, am I right?" He turned to face a goddess with yellow eyes, purple skin and hair, and wearing a black and gold dress. "Hey there, Eris! You did something with your hair? Looks good!"
Eris, the Goddess of Discord and Chaos, merely flipped her hair and said nothing. Then Hades turned to a trio of nymphs in shades of yellow, orange, and red.
"Ah, the Lampades. Carissa, Vega, Beta, good to see you three again." He greeted, but the Lampades all stuck their tongues out at him in response. He grimaced. "Still haven't changed, I see. Nice." He then turned to a goddess with deep orchid skin and long red hair pulled in a braid; she was surrounded by a trio of winged women wearing armor. "Mesperyian, doll face! Hi! How are things with you and the Erinyes? Good? Good!"
The three Erinyes hissed at him, but Mesperyian quickly silenced them. At that moment, a young man with deep yellow skin and white hair stood up from his seat.
"Alright, Hades. Enough with the formalities." He said in a snotty tone; Hades glared at the demigod.
"I'm afraid Zagreus is correct." A god wearing a dark hood over his eyes said. "We all have some very important matters we need to discuss with you, Hades."
"Oh yes, Moros." Atropos said as she, Lachesis, and Clotho approached and sat down at the table. "Indeed we do."
"Well, would you looky-looky here. It's the Fates. My beautiful, beautiful Fates." Hades said, trying to make himself look calm and collected in front of the three crones. "So… you three asked Thanatos to come and find me?"
"They did." Another voice said.
The gathered Gods and Goddesses looked to see a trio of living stone men approach and sit down on the floor around the table followed by the five massive deities of the Rivers Acheron, Cocytus, Lethe, Phlegethon, and Styx emerging from their own respective waters. Hades grinned nervously at them, unsure of how to feel about this whole situation. Styx, the woman of blue water, looked down at him.
'I am so dead.' He thought.
"I suppose you are wondering what this is all about." Styx, the Guardian of the River with the same name, said; Hades nodded, but stayed quiet. "We've received news from Mount Olympus… and it concerns you." She pointed a finger at him.
"Uh… me?" He asked.
"Yes, you." The tallest stone man, Rhadamanthus, said. "About a month ago, we learned that there was a meeting of the Gods up on Olympus… and someone else had shown up in your place, a woman it would seem; someone who claimed you were recently set free from the Well of Souls. At first we didn't believe it, but now we see that part was true."
"This being also said she was filling in for you while you were taking a day off. What do you have to say about that?" The Guardian of the River of lava and fire, Phlegethon, said.
"Uh, um…" Hades stuttered, trying to think of a good excuse. He knew they were talking about the bet he and Maleficent had made, but he also knew they didn't have the full story.
"Well? What are you waiting for?" The Guardian River of Woe, Acheron, asked, sounding impatient.
"Yes. Go ahead, Mister Gloom and Doom. Talk. We'd love to hear your side of the story." Hecate said tauntingly, Thanatos elbowed her hard in the ribs to shut her up.
After a long moment of silence, Hades finally relented. "Okay, okay, okay! You win! …I'll tell you everything."
