The Dark Lord
Summary*
Many of us know Hades to be one of the coldest Olympians. What was it that made him so icy? What were his thoughts during the wars that took place between Olympus and its foes? What if Hades finally decides to let go of the past and forgive everyone he never thought he could forgive? Would he change with the course of time?
It is said that he is feared by all. Fear he commands, and respect, yet that is not all that he desires. The world of man means very little in the eyes of a god, their lifetimes but the blink of an eye, yet none have been able to give him what he wants. He is Hades, Lord of the Dead, one of the most powerful of the Olympians. Eldest of them all,yet the most misunderstood. No one cared for him,or what he felt. He was the outcast. The one they thought unfeeling, and so, took the liberty to keep hurting.
It had yet been peaceful after Zeus had first rescued them. It had been peaceful when they had still been gods and goddesses- not Olympians. He had been their eldest. He had been the one they looked to for guidance, and he had been loved. All that had gone down the drain with Zeus' coming. He had rescued them, yes, but in a way, he shackled them once more. Zeus called for a game of dice to decide who ruled which part of the world. The right would have been that of the eldest, yet he agreed to the suggestion. He should have known that luck would never favour him.
He got the least roll, and ended up with the Land of the Dead. Zeus got the sky, and all the living creatures in it. The earth was common ground, but given the role that Zeus took for himself, it was as much his domain as the sky. Poseidon got the seas and all the life that came with it. As Earthshaker, he too had a stake on the land. He saw no life anywhere. People call him gloomy, yet is it fair to expect cheer when surrounded by the dead? Is it fair to expect colour when all the colour of life has faded away? Is it fair to call him unfeeling when there is no one to help him feel?
He first found joy when he saw Persephone, Zeus and Demeter's daughter. She had been so different. So alive. At that moment, he had felt that she would be the one. His queen and significant other. He had not known if she would ever agree to have him, so he did the one thing he could- he asked Zeus. He never once thought that what he was doing was wrong. Never once did he stop to consider Persephone's feelings, but then, neither did Zeus himself. What he had done was wrong, yet it was only he who was blamed for the fiasco.
It seemed to Hades that Zeus' suggestions never ended well for him. He may have helped coerce Persephone into staying, but even then, she would return to the surface for a third of the year. As time passed by, he started becoming lonely again, yet each time he found himself suitable company, Persephone managed to curse the girl. Perhaps she wanted the two of them to be loyal to each other, something that was rare, if not non-existent, among the gods. That however, he soon found was not the case. Persephone may have thought that Adonis was a secret and he let her enjoy her ignorance. Getting involved with a goddess was one thing. Getting involved with two was entirely another, and he knew it wouldn't be long before Ares came after him. He wouldn't go after Adonis. Yet.
Years flew by as he tried and failed to find love once more. A World War had broken out among the children of the Big Three and it had been forbidden ever since, but he did not want to give Nico and Bianca over. He had finally found Maria di Angelo, and he didn't want to let her go. If only she had agreed to come with him but no, Zeus just had to kill her. He had managed to hide his two children away, but it had all been for naught. He would never be able to see them grow. They would never love him, and he would never be allowed to see them, much less, love them. He would see them next when the died, and yet, he did not know if he awaited that reunion or dreaded it.
It pained him to be quickly pinned by the Olympians as the god who had turned. It pained him to see Bianca die. It pained him to see Nico struggle to cope with it all, and he found only one person to blame- Percy. He thought he had forgiven Percy after he had mistaken him to have been the one to steal his Helm of Darkness, but with the passage if time, Hades realized it wasn't so. The boy knew nothing of loss, yet he it was who would gain the fame and glory, all for being a son of Poseidon. Nico suffered because of him. Bianca died because of his broken promise. He would never be accepted in Olympus because Percy would beat Nico in being the hero of the prophecy. He would save them or doom them, and he would be back to being the villain.
It had been precisely for this reason that he had imprisoned Percy as soon as he had stepped foot in the Underworld. He wouldn't keep the boy forever, but he had no qualms about lying to his son and keeping Percy for a few years if it meant it would help him ad Nico. What he had not expected in the least was that his son would stand up for Percy after all that he had been through. He had broken Percy out and led him to the Styx. He had pushed Percy to become the hero of the prophecy by making him capable of facing Kronos himself. That day, Hades decided that he was proud of his son and always would be for all that he had done.
For a while after the war, things had gone smoothly. Nico had been accepted by those around him, and Hades as well. That is when the next war came. Nico had discovered that Bianca had chosen rebirth and saved Hazel instead. Hazel. She was another child he was proud of, yet he'd never be able to tell her himself. He could give her the gift of life, and that was the cost that came with it. He did what he could to help during the war, though he never fought it himself. He owed it to Nico, who had braved Tartarus himself. He owed it to Hazel who had once given her life up to defeat his bane. His children may still hate him for his unforgivable past, but he would be there for them, and the enemy would pay. He was, after all, the dark lord.