All songs used in this chapter belong to Evanescence.

Rayne's POV

"So let me get this straight" Hades began. My husband and I were in our bedroom at the moment. "You're going to be performing at the Aphrodesia Dance? As in singing?"

I answered Hades with my biggest grin to date.

"NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT" Hades exclaimed and his blue flames rose up in excitement.

"I knew you would get excited" I replied to my beloved.

Graduation was approaching soon and since I did well last year at the Drama Festival I was asked to perform a few songs at the dance. I was getting some good cash too.

"So make sure your there Hothead but keep out sight, I don't want Zeus smiting you"

"Oh I'll be there babe and out sight, I can't wait to see what you'll be singing, the imps will be there too" Hades reassured me.

Later.

"So Hercules you gotta a date yet?" Alduin asked the Hero-In-Training. Cassandra of course was going with my best friend and Persephone was Icarus's date.

"No I don't have a date yet" Hercules answered. "Is that a problem?"

"Herc" Icarus replied placing a hand onto his best friend's shoulder. "This dance will forever seal your place in the social order of the cosmos"

"That's a little drastic don't you think?" Hercules questioned placing a hand behind his head.

"For the fool who wants to fit it" Cassandra added.

"It'll make or break you, then again I went stag last year and it didn't seem to hurt my rep" Icarus stated. He then looked to Persephone. "Now I got the most beautiful girl in all of Greece"

Persephone giggled at her boyfriend and kissed his forehead.

"Better get a date" Cassandra and Herc told one another.

"I'm not much into dances to be honest" I confessed. "Besides I'm pretty sure my singing will make up for it"

"Yeah you're voice is pretty Rayne" Hercules complimented.

"I second that" Icarus agreed. "Even Adonis agrees"

I chuckled nervously and blushed before all headed to our different classes. Herc tried to find someone to ask to the dance but sadly got rejected. Hell he even asked the lunch lady. At art class Hercules saw Mr. Pygmalion's wife and his jaw dropped.

"How did old man Pygmalion land vision like that?" Hercules asked me and Icarus.

"Well the word on the street is that he made her out of clay" Icarus replied.

"Get out!" Hercules exclaimed.

"True story dude" I interrupted and Hercules looked to me. "He sculpted himself a perfect woman, invoked Aphrodite and there you go"

I made a thumb pointing gesture at Pygmalion's wife. Hercules first looked to some clay nearby, then to Mrs. Pygmalion before a smirk came to his lips. This got me to do anime fall and for amusement I decided to hang around to see what would happen.

"Maybe you should make your own date Rayne" Icarus suggested as he finished making a clay vase.

"Hell to the no I don't like dances" I repeated myself. "But singing at them is another story"

"Finished" Hercules said and we turned to see his end result which wasn't up to his satisfaction.

"Very interesting, creative choice, going for a gorgon?"

"Uh Aphrodite will get the idea" Hercules answered.

"By the way Herc, Medusa says hey" I brought up.

Medusa and Hercules remained friends after the whole her becoming human fiasco. She knew I was married to Hades and to be honest she thought I was the Lord of the Dead's perfect match. She however did threaten to kick Hades' ass if he did anything to hurt me.

"What's she up to now these days?" Hercules questioned.

"She has a secret admirer and I think it might be a fellow creature of legend, there's always the smell of fire whenever she shows me a poem she receives"

"Well I hope she finds her admirer soon" Hercules stated before he called out to Aphrodite. I laughed my ass off when I heard the Aphrodite help line. It wasn't long the Goddess of Love appeared a few second later via seashell and her theme song followed.

"Man that song is annoying" Aphrodite muttered to herself before noticing us. "Oh hey familiar faces! That's a relief because all day I've been swamped by goons who can't get dates for my dance, so what can I do for you?"

"Could you bring her to life please?" Hercules asked pointing to his clay statue. "I uh need a date for the dance"

"Wait? You couldn't get a date?" Aphrodite asked.

"I tried! Fighting monsters is easy! Getting a date is hard" Hercules confessed.

"So you want the easy way out, okay"

Aphrodite then walked over to Herc's statue.

"Ew, alright I'm thinking makeover"

Aphrodite then transformed the state into a pretty girl.

"Good"

"He likes tall girls" I told Aphrodite. Hercules shot me a grateful look and the statue got slightly taller. She then was given more curves and when Herc asked for more, Aphrodite told him that was enough. When asked for her personality Hercules answered by making his dream date crazy about him. Aphrodite then sighed before using her power to make the statue come to life.

I laughed when Icarus hurriedly placed his clay vases and what not under the statue and they came to life too. Aphrodite helped the now alive statue off of the pedestal and brought her over to Hercules who was blushing.

"Hercules meet Galatea, she's everything you asked for"

"Nice work" I told Aphrodite. Hercules greeted Galatea shyly and she did too before she leapt onto the Hero-In-Training and hugged him.

"Uh Rayne may I speak with you for a second?" Aphrodite asked me suddenly. The boys and Galatea shot me a questioning look but I give them a reassuring wave. They excused themselves and once they were out of sight Aphrodite started.

"So I'm pretty sure you know why I wanted to talk with you"

"If it's a lecture who my husband is, forget it Aphrodite"

"No its nothing like that actually" Aphrodite confirmed waving her hands out. Suddenly a blast of blue flames appeared beside me and a second later my mate appeared.

"Alright Aphrodite what's going on?" Hades asked with his arms crossed. "Don't tell me Zeus disapproves of this union"

"No Hades it isn't that" Aphrodite began. "I thought you two should know I helped get you two together"

"SAY WHAT?!" Hades and I exclaimed in unison.

Aphrodite chucked before continuing.

"The main reason you were brought to this realm, Rayne was to meet Hades, it was about time he found his other half"

"You've been working with the Fates" I replied.

"You've got a smart wife Hades" the goddess of love told my husband.

"You left out hot" Hades joked placing his hands at my shoulders.

"I just wanted to give you my blessing, Hades just be aware how lucky you are to have her" Aphrodite shot my mate a warning glare.

"Hey I've gotten that lecture enough already geesh" Hades complained.

Next Day.

It turned out Galatea was a bit of a handful because due to the fact she was nuts about Hercules things were getting awkward. I sat next to Alduin as everyone gathered in the school amphitheater.

"This better not take long I need to rehearse for the dance" I told my best friend.

"I hate assemblies" Alduin growled.

Parenthesis announced that Hercules and Galatea won the King and Queen of the Aphrodesia Dance and Hercules looked to Galatea and groaned when he realized she made the results like they were. Things were more awkward as Galatea and Hercules were crowned.

"That's it! I'm gone, they did say we were free to leave after the crowning" I growled.

"See ya later" Alduin replied. I flashed him a grin before making my way out of the amphitheater. I met up with Hades outside of the school.

"Get me back to the Underworld that damn assembly made me want to barf" I told my husband.

"Sure thing babe" Hades then sapped his fingers and we were back home. My husband then took my hand into his and my rings appeared in a puff of smoke onto my left ring finger.

"I had no idea that Aphrodite had been secretly working with the Fates" I told my mate.

"Me neither sweetheart but I'm just glad Aphrodite actually approves of our relationship"

"Well come hell or high water, finding you was worth it"

We stopped walking and Hades suddenly hugged me. I hugged my husband back and felt my face turn red as I buried my head against his chest.

"Everything we've been through was worth it babe"

"Are you sure you haven't been reading my e-books? Because you're sounding like a romantic, Hothead"

"Nope just using my charm my queen"

"That's another reason why I fell for you that persuasive side of my yours is sexy"

"Your sass is sexy too babe" Hades added. "So are you going to sing any of Evanescence's songs?"

"Oh definitely one of them being "My Immortal" to be exact"

"Okay that song is definitely one of my favorites" Hades confessed. He then wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Let's get you to your rehearsal"

Hades managed to find and hire some ghost band for me to practice with.

"You need to wait till later to see me perform"

"Fair enough, I got Underworld things to do anyway"

At Dance.

"Okay that's a nice dress" Cassandra complimented me. The dress I wore was the same one Hades conjured for the Prom last year. This includes the jewelry and the gold bracelets on my upper arms. My hair was loose and I wore my black boots since I was performing. Helen and Adonis came onto the dance floor crowned as new king and queen. I wanted to slap that damn smirk off of his face the bastard.

"That creep bought off the votes" Alduin growled coming over to us.

Suddenly the doors to the temple opened and there stood Galatea.

"Oh s**t" Alduin and I said in unison.

Galatea then shot out her clay arms and they hit the pillar behind Hercules. Alduin and I bolted with Cassandra, Icarus, and Persephone. The clay arms formed chains around Herc and pulled him towards her. But when Herc was in front of her he broke free of her chains and pushed her away from him. She went flying and she landed on her back against the floor. Hercules then rushed over looking for her and found himself being tied up again because Galatea disguised herself as a column.

Thanks to his strength Hercules broke the column but he still was bound thanks to Galatea. More chaos ensued as Hercules ran around trying to free himself of Galatea. Tables were being knocked over and when I realized the stage was about to get trashed I decided to act. There was no way in hell that Galatea was going to ruin my chance at performing.

"Yo Aphrodite!" I called out.

Immediately Aphrodite's theme song started to play and a second later the goddess of love appeared and that was next to me.

"You called?"

"Yeah fix Galatea up will ya?" I growled nodding at Galatea who was back in her clay form. She was next to Hercules who looked guilty.

"Sure maybe Hercules learned his lesson"

She first blew a kiss and then everything around us got fixed.

"Trouble with the little lady Hercules?" Aphrodite asked him with a chuckle.

"I was stupid" Hercules muttered.

"Mmm hmm and selfish" Aphrodite began.

"And shallow" Icarus added.

"And sexist" Cassandra finished.

"Okay! All true! Thank you!" Hercules exclaimed. He then sighed. "Galatea deserved better, she deserved to be her own person"

"Aw look at you, you had a growing moment" Aphrodite told Herc and pinched his cheek. She then went over to Galatea and went on to give her free will and a mind of her own. Galatea became flesh again and after noticing her changes she approached Hercules. He apologized to her and asked her to dance.

Galatea blushed and instead of rejecting his offer agreed to dance with him.

A Half Hour Later.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen! It's time for some major rock and roll or heavy metal to come this party! So give it up for Rayne!"

Everybody cheered as I got onto the stage. As the band got ready I saw Hades perfectly hidden out of sight with Pain and Panic with him. My husband shot me a smirk which I replied with my own before the band began to play "Bring me to Life"

The next few songs that followed were "My Immortal", "Shatter Me", "Speak to Me", "My Heart is Broken", "Call Me When Your Sober", and I finished things with a song called "Never Go Back".

Everything is so dark

And in know there's something wrong but I can't turn the light on

In that split second change when you knew we couldn't hold on

I realized I lived to love you

Save yourself, don't look back

Tearing us apart until it's all gone

The only word I've ever known sleeps beneath the waves

But I remember

I won't give you up

I can feel you in my heart, just show me the way

I don't belong here

Alone

I can still see your face

Where it's burned into my mind I die every time

I close my eyes, you're always there

Save yourself ,don't look back

Tearing us apart until it's all gone

The only word I've ever known sleeps beneath the waves

But I'm the one who's drowning without your love

I am lost and I can never go back home

All across the ocean

We are calling, calling

Are, are you there?

Nothing left for me til I find you because it's

All gone the only world I've ever known sleeps beneath the waves

But I'm then one who's drowning without your love

I am lost and I can never go back home

I, I can never go back home

The crowd went crazy as I finished singing and I looked to where Hades was with Pain and Panic. The imps were crying and Hades looked surprised but then a genuine smile came to his lips.

Underworld/Throne Room

"That last song was the best babe" Hades told me. I still wore my dress and sat myself in my throne next to my husband.

"It seemed appropriate" I responded by taking Hades hand and kissed it. "Besides I can't live without you"

I blushed at that comment but I meant every word.

The next thing I knew I was in my mate's lap.

"Now who's being the romantic one?" Hades teased.

"Hey! Sue me if my words are too corny"

Hades chuckled before kissing my cheek.

"We don't have long until the planets align" Hades continued. "And then we can make our move, once we're on Olympus babe, I'll make sure you get everything you desire"

"I got what I need" I growled placing a finger into his chest. "But then again seeing Zeus squirm will be interesting"

"We just need to be sure Hercules doesn't get involved"

"You know he will" I pointed out.

"Then he'll be stopped babe, but what I care about is your safety"

"I'm half immortal Hades"

"I know babe but I can't afford to lose you, I love you Rayne and if you were taken from me, I don't know what I would do"

I sensed some strong emotion through our mate bond and I reassured my husband by kissing him. Immediately he relaxed and after said kiss he looked calmer.

"As I said before hell come or high water you were worth to find Hades"

"As you were meant to be my wife babe"

"Yeah you definitely have been reading my e-books" I joked placing an index onto his forehead.

"Yeah I have I wanted to find new ways"

But I interrupted by placing my hand against his mouth.

"Get your mind out of the smut Hothead" I scolded.