Chapter Five

Two months. She didn't go to the tavern. He didn't walk anywhere near where her crumbling home was. They didn't ask the local gossipers about each other, they through out anything that reminded them of the other.

They didn't speak or see each other for two months.

But one fateful day Maleficent crept through the dead of night to Hades' home. She knocked softly on his gate and waited. When he opened the door, he started to close it again until Maleficent put in her foot in the way.

"We need to talk," she said.

"Not interested," Hades replied and shoved the door harder.

"I'm pregnant!" Maleficent gasped.

The door opened a crack more. "What?"

"I'm late and I feel different. I can't be sure since they don't send that stuff here, but I think I'm pregnant."

Hades stepped back into his home and beckoned her after him. He slumped on his couch, head in his hands.

"Pregnant," he repeated. "And you're sure it's mine?"

"I'm not a harlot, Hades," Maleficent snapped, sitting on a crate he'd been using as a table. "I haven't…I haven't been with anyone since you. Nor before you."

"You were…?"

"It doesn't matter!" Maleficent stood up, running her hand over her face. "I want you to come home with me."

"With you?"

"We can be a family. One like in Auradon but better. Eviler." She placed her hands on this stomach. "This child is the product of true evil, made of fairy magic and the blood of a god. This child will be our salvation."

"You think it can get us out?" Hades asked.

She beamed at him. "We both said we were powerful. And now our power's combined in this child. Come with me. We can have an evil wedding, raise this child together. We can be free just like we always said."

"But you don't love me," Hades reminded her. "And lately I've realized I don't really love you anymore either."

"But we don't need love." She took his hands. "We'll have power."

He yanked his hands away. "You're going to ruin that child."

"I'm going to make it the greatest evil this world has ever seen. And I want you to help me."

Hades looked at her, then her stomach. His child. He had a child. But then he met Maleficent's eyes again.

"No, I'm done with your games. I don't want anything to do with you." He stood and walked around the couch, facing the wall.

"So, you're going to abandon me and this child?"

"No." He turned back. "You want me to teach that kid about all it could be? You want me to teach it how to be a god? Then leave it with me."

"What?"

"I'll raise it. And when it's old enough, we can all join forces and look for a way out. But this kid deserves better than the games you play and the way you 'love' people."

Maleficent snarled, her hands curling over her stomach as she stepped back. "Never. This child is mine. And I will raise it without you! If you ever come near us I will-"

"Will what, Malie? What can you do here?"

She smiled darkly. "I'll hurt this child. If you ever try to have a part in its life, if you act like anything other than a neglectful father, then I will hurt this child. And I will make sure it hates you."

He swore his heart stopped. "Fine. Go."

She walked out of his house, slammed the door, and headed back to her home, plotting all the way, leaving Hades to stare into space, his heart broken for good.

"Hey," a gruff voice whispered as Hades walked through the market. He was running low on canned corn.

"Facilier, I'm a little busy right now," he replied, passing past the old shadow man.

"But I've got news, just like you asked for."

"About?"

"Maleficent."

Hades paused and turned back to the man, half hidden by shadows. "What do you know?"

"She's got a daughter. Mal, I think her name is. Clever ain't it?" Hades didn't react. "Anyway, hard to say if it was the stork like Jafar and his son, or a pregnancy like Gaston and that blond girl. She stays shut up in her castle most days, no one knows if she was pregnant or not."

"A daughter."

"looks just like her mother to," Facilier laughed. "Poor thing."

"Indeed."

The sauna was a bust. His drum set broke during an impromptu concert that gather no money. But intimidating people to do his bidding and give him things worked fine.

There were whispers that Hades had lost all hope when his arch enemy had a child. That he was shell of his former self. Those whispers were seemingly proven right by the fact that Hades spent nearly all his days in his cavern, finding new ways to make instruments and fix broken junk Auradon shipped to the Isle. But no one said anything to him when he did venture outside.

Years had passed. The Evil Queen had been banished to a far corner of the Isle about a year ago and the next generation of evil doers were starting school. Villains hastily made preparations, claiming to be teachers just to have a bit of power. King Adam had insisted the children be taught even though they were never getting off the Isle.

Hades was trying to fix a microwave so he could heat up food rather then just eat cold slop when footsteps echoed down the hallway into his cave. He turned just in time to see a little seven-year-old girl with bright purple hair and ripped oversized clothes hanging off her. But her green eyes were the biggest tell.

"Well if isn't mini Maleficent. What are you doing here?" he asked, leaning forward on his knee.

She stared at him, seeming to gather her strength before she spoke. "You know who I am?"

"Everyone's heard of you. People are all wondering if you're your mother's daughter."

She was shaking. "Not that. The other part."

Hades raised an eyebrow. "What other part?"

"That I'm your daughter."

Hades laughed. "Oh that. What about it?"

Mal looked like he'd punched her in the chest. "You…you left me. Mom told me about how you abandoned her. And me."

"Does your mom know you're here?"

She shifted her feet and looked away.

Great. Once she finds out…

"Go home, Malie," he sighed, turning away. "I can't help you."

"So, you don't care? You're not sorry?"

Hades closed his eyes against the accusations. "I said go home. And don't back."

He didn't move until she heard her run out and slam the gate behind her. Just like her mother had seven years ago.

"This is for her own good," he told himself. "This will protect her and make her stronger."

But it still hurt.

And now I want to write an AU where Hades raises Mal, not Maleficent... Thank you so much for reading!