In the Underworld, Hades is in his chambers and is furious.
"We were so close! So close!" He shouted, blasting everything with a wave of purple fire,"We tripped at the finish line -- why? Because our little *duck*ling, Donald has to go all noble!" He scoffed in disgust.
"These mortals and their want of validation!" Hades scoffed,"Did they really needed it to begin with? I mean...who's cruel idea of a joke was this!??"
He huffed irritatingly as he rubbed his temples in exhaustion.
"Them mortals have issues!"
There was rumbling in the room. This puzzles Hades, until Cerberus comes charging through the wall, with an enraged Storkules riding on his middle head.
"Where's Donald!??" Storkules demanded, ignoring the Hawk's rage. Hades glared at the Stork, but his rage was quickly replaced by malevolent joy.
"Oh, look who's here. Wonderbrat! You are too much", Hades gave a sarcastic tone. Storkules jumps down from Cerberus head and grabs Hades by the front of his robe.
"Let. Him. Go!" Storkules spoke through gritted teeth, with rage. Hades removes his nephew's hands from his robe.
"Fine! Fine. Follow me", Hades sauntered off towards a rocky cavern and Storkules followed cautiously.
"It's It's a small underworld after all, isn't it?" Hades asked, ironically.
"Donald!" Storkules went to grab Donald out of the river and his hands turns old. He yelps and immediately draws out as his hands return to normal.
"No, no, no. Mustn't touch", Hades began dryly, walking out onto a spur of rock that overlooked the river of death, "You see, Donald is running with a new crowd these days, and not a very lively one at that", he sneered.
"You like making deals", Storkules began slowly, "Take Storkules in Donald's place!"
"Oh, well!" Hades exclaimed, "The son of my despised nemesis trapped forever in the River of Death", he spoke in levity.
"Going once!" Storkules interrupted.
"Is there a downside to this though?" Hades muttered to himself.
"Going twice!"
"Okay, okay, okay, okay", Hades decided,"You get him out. He goes. You must stay", he explained.
Storkules spun around and swan dived off the rock and into the river.
"Oh, you know what slipped my mind." Hades said, "You'll be dead before you can get to him, THAT'S NOT A PROBLEM IS IT!?" Storkules ignored Hades muffled shouts as he swam deeper into the river. Storkules keeps swimming in the river, growing older and older. The fates hold up his thread of life, and Atropos goes to cut it, but the thread suddenly starts to shine, and the scissors won't cut it.
"What the--!?!?" Atropos spoke in bemusement.
"What's the matter with the scissors?" Lachesis asked, for she was just as confused.
"The thread won't cut!" Clotho responded in realization of what has happened.
Storkules reaches the bank of the river again and turns back to normal.
Hades' jaw dropped to the ground, "This can't be!" Hades stammered, "You can't be alive you have to be a full-on--!"
"Deity??!!!??" Pain and Panic finished his sentence in unison.
Storkules finally climbed out of the river, holding Donald's soul in arms and glowing with power like the thread. Hades gulped as he beheld the rejuvenated stork.
"NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Hades screamed, erupting in purple flames, "Storkules you can't do this to me!" Not—!"
Hades was cut off as Storkules backhanded him in the face.
"You know what," Hades began, rubbing his jaw, "I deserved that," Storkules ignored him and strode towards the exit.
"Storkules, can we talk?" Hades rambled, "Your father, he's a fun fellow, would you put in a good word with him, help this whole thing blow over? Donald," Hades said, grabbing Donald's ghostly beak and pointing it towards Storkules, "tell it to him."
Storkules gets enraged and punches Hades so hard that he went flying into his beloved river of death.
"Disgusting! Get away from me!" He shrieked as he desperately tries to beat off the spirits trying to drown him in anger, "Don't touch me! Get your damn dirty souls off me!" Hades screams as he's dragged downwards by all the souls.
"He's not gonna be happy when he gets outta there!" Panic shuddered.
Pain scoffed, "You if he gets outta there", Pain said matter of factedly with a smirk.
Panic nodded at the thought, "If. If is good", he smiled.
"Where's Persephone?PERSEPHONEEEEE!" Hades then disappears as he's flushed completely deep down into the abyss of the river.
Back in Thebes, Storkules brings Donald's soul back to his body. He takes a
sharp breath and opens his eyes to look up and see Storkules.
"Wonderboy?" He murmured,"What--why...how did you--?" Donald trailed off uncertainly.
"Heh heh! People always do crazy things", Storkules replied, pulling Donald to his feet,"when they're in love".
Storkules in to kiss Donald, but a cloud appears under their feet and whisks
them up to Mount Olympus, where all the Gods, including Zeus and Hera, await.
Gus rode in the flaptter and followed not far behind.
The deities lined the steps leading up to the rebuilt gates of Olympus, and at the very top stood Zeus and Hera. Storkules helped Doanld off the cloud and smiled nervously at the duck before looking up at his parents. Storkules started backing away from Donald, his hand still in his, until Storkules finally turned around to face the assembled crowd.
"Yeeeeaaaaahhhhhhh! Three cheers for the almighty Storkules!" Athena cheered as Storkules began walking up the stairs.
"Oh, yeah! Flowers for everybody! Oh!" Hermes added as he and the other gods flew flowers and confections at Storkules.
Storkules blushed while the gods threw flowers and cheered, hurrying to the top so he could finally meet his parents.
"Storkules...", Hera began teary-eyed,"we're so proud of you!" She hugged her son as tears falled from her eyes.
"Mother", Storkules returned the hug.
"Congratulations son", Zeus spoke, patting Storkules on the back, "Not only you proved to be worthy to be an Olympian, but also proved to be a true hero once more."
"You were willing to sacrifice your life to save that Duck over there," Hera explained gently.
"For a true hero is not measured by the size of their strength, but by the strength of their heart. And at last," Zeus continued, softly chuckling, "my son...you can come home again!" The gates to Olympus swung open and revealed the heavenly vista behind. The gods rushed around Storkules, welcoming him home and crying with happiness.
"Yes! You did man! I knew you could do it!" A proud Selene came and wrapped her arm around Storkules. Donald watched at the foot of the stairs and turned away sadly.
"Congratulations wonderboy," He whispered, "I bet you'll make one heck of a god."
Storkules turns around and sees Donald starting to leave at bottom of the stairs and extricated himself from the crowd of his divine family, turning to face his parents once more.
"Mother," Storkules began awkwardly, "Father, this is everything Storkules have ever dreamed of, but…", Storkules ran down the stairs and gently caught the duck by the hand, "A life without Donald, even an immortal life, would be empty."
Donald's face lit up with hope as Stork spoke and Donald felt a surge of love for the muscular stork.
"St--Storkules wish to stayon Earth with Donald", Storkules continued, turning to face the Duck, "I finally know where I belong!"
Hera and Zeus exchange a glance. Zeus shrugs and nods. Storkules stops shining and
finally kisses Donald. The couple finally broke it up when Gus cleared his throat pointedly.
"Oh!" Storkules blushed, beet red as he noticed everyone watching them, "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it, lad!" Gus chuckled and looked at Donald.
"You better take care of him," Gus spoke to the duck,"You hear?"
Donald nodded and went over to flaptter and hopped on. Storkules gave his parents one last wave before joining them and flying away.
They landed in Thebes amidst thunderous applause for the beloved hero. Gus tapped Storkules' shoulder and pointed up. Perched on a cloud far above, Zeus was rearranging the stars, forming a portrait of a certain Stork. The crowd looked up and noticed the newest constellation in the sky.
"Hey," a Grey male bulldog shouted, "that's Gus' boy!"
Storkules looked over and noticed tears spilling from Gus' eyes as his hidden dream came true. Storkules ran over and enveloped the emotional gremlin in a hug. After a few moments, he fought free, only to be assaulted by Donald as well. Storkules threw himself back into the fray, wrapping his arms around all two of them.
"We did it Gus," He said quietly, pulling them all closer, "We really did it."
Alrighty, time to drop a chapter upload here! This chapter touched me while typing this. I genuinely shed tears. Anotherfamily reunion is coming up btw!
