Chapter 8: Cronus, I Should Get Some People Skills

"Com'mon!"

"No."

"Come ON!"

"I said no, Hades, how much clearer do you want it!"

"But I have to go to this-this-thing! I'm gonna have to sit in a corner while all the Olympian big shots yuk it up!"

"Hades. It's a party."

"Yes! That's what I've been saying!"

"Hades! I DON'T want to go to this party!"

"Aww Com'mon babe, it'll just be a few hours..." Whined Hades.

"Do I have to wear a dress?" Rose questioned.

"Well, yeah, I mean, it's kinda *heh* a big deal" Grinned Hades sheepishly.

Rose snorted sarcastically, "Then you know what my answer is."

"Really!? You wont go because you have to wear a dress?!"

"Yep." Rose smiled

"Oy vey, Ok here's the deal. If you come with me to this-thing, I'll cook dinner for... a month. Sound like a deal?" Hades proposed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Seriously?" Questioned the shifter.

"Going once!" Called Hades.

"Is there a down side to this?" Mumbled Rose.

"Going twice!"

"Fine! Fine! But I get to eat what I want." agreed the teen.

"SOLD!" Cried Hades grinning widely.

There was a lengthy pause in the conversation witch Rose decided to end by saying, "I'm still not wearing a dress."

"SERIOUSLY?!" Roared Hades.

This was going to turn out to be a very good business day for Rose. Hades? Not so much...

After a good several hours of intense negotiation, Hades finally was able to convince Rose to go to the party with a dress and to actually put some thought into her appearance. And all it took was giving up his no dish-washing privileges for that month... Yeah not one of his better days.

"Are you ready yet?" Hades groaned from outside the door of the shifter's room.

"Hades, you made a deal with me that involved putting effort into how I looked today, I'm only doing as we agreed." Rose soothed through the door.

"We're gonna be late! Why did you pick today to act like a teenager?" Moped Hades.

"There's no need to whine. I'm finished now." Rose called out as the door opened.

"Aye-chee-wow-wa," Hades gasped out quietly. "Babe, you look- amazing." The tone of his voice lowered to a deep appreciative sound. Whoa there Hades, roll up your tongue, close your mouth and get your head in the game! He mentally roared at himself. A small flame up spread over Hades shoulders before disappearing.

Rose had on an emerald silk dress very similar to Hera's with a braided black leather belt hanging loosely around her waist. Gold vine patterns were placed around the hem of the long trailing skirt. The only difference that was discernible from Hera's original dress was that there was no small shirt over the top of the dress. All together the dress was extraordinarily flattering.

Rose glanced over at the still staring Hades, and then took a look at what she was wearing.

"What?" She asked, a little worried, "To much?"

"No! No, it's perfect. Peachy." Hades rushed to assure. "Just get in the chariot and lets go." He grumbled out with a calmer air. I'm gonna have to beat the other gods of her with a stick.

Hades was stuck in his corner. Why was that? Let's just say that the minute he walked through the door every eye was on the teen on his arm. At first it had been great, until the muses decided it was time to dance and every god in the room- correction-every single god in the room had started asking Rose to dance. At the first couple invitations, Rose had passed on the opportunity.

"Goddess be! I came with you! Can't they get the hint that I don't feel like ditchin' you?" She had whispered, "To tell you the truth, I hate parties. I'm not good at socializing..."

But as the party went on, it became harder and harder for her to refuse and harder for Hades to deal with the jealous/murderous looks that were thrown at him as the men that were being turned down walked away. Unfortunately, Rose couldn't turn down the persistent Apollo who practically carried her away once he got a positive answer. Ever since that point, Apollo had glued himself to the Shifter.

It made Hades' Blood boil.

She's obviously trying to get away from you Cap'n Sunshine, get the hint! Hades growled mentally.

As the next song started, Apollo pulled Rose flush to his body and started to dance with her, Hades tried to control his breathing as he steadily started to get more orange and as the orange flame on his head started to spread along his shoulders and arms.

Then Apollo did something reeeaaal dumb. His hand started moving lower down Rose's back towards her bum.

Rose had been trying, for the better part of three hours to get the obnoxious sun god to leave her alone so that she could go back to the somewhat tolerable Hades. Being polite and discreet was obviously not working.

When she started to feel Apollo's hand start to travel south she quickly spun out of his grasp.

"I think I should head back now. I'm sure Hades is bored waiting for me." As she turned around she walked into a wall of heat. "Uh-Oh."

"OY, YOU! MISTER "'I DRIVE THE SUN!'"WHAT THE TARTAUS ARE YOU PLAYING AT?!" Roared Hades. His face was a cherry red and his whole body was radiating flames.

"Hades! Calm down, it's fine!" Rose tried to sooth.

"CALM DOWN?! YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN AFTER HE'S DRAGGED YOU AROUND ALL EVENING, MADE YOU DANCE ONLY WITH HIM AND THEN TRY TO FEEL YOU UP?! ARE YOU MUSHUGUH?" He screamed, making flames shoot out from where his arms were.

"Hades! This is inappropriate for a god!" Scolded Zeus.

"Hades, come with me, OK? We're gonna get you a cool drink and just sit for a bit, OK?"

Rose dragged a still seething Hades over to the ambrosia bar and quickly got a glass for the angry god. As she looked back over at a scared stiff Apollo she saw Zeus stroll over to talk with the Sun god. Good, someone will talk to him calmly about his behavior. What she didn't know was that after five minutes all Hades could see past her shoulder was a chuckling Apollo and full blown laughing Zeus.

"Damn him to Tartarus." Growled Hades. "He's just yukking it up with that damn sun toter after what he just did! Some ruler. Why do I have to be the little bro of a guy like -that..."

"He's your brother. Just got to deal with it I guess..." Stated Rose, looking mildly uncomfortable.

"I just wish that he would disappear! He-!" Hades was abruptly cut of by a sharp slap to the face. The whole room had frozen at the cracking sound that echoed around the room. All eyes were focused on the underworld pair. Rose was sending Hades a icy look through slitted eyes.

"Don't, talk to me about making your siblings disappear." Rose stated coldly. And then she walked away.

Ok. What just happened? Hades thought, holding a hand up to his still stinging cheek. Aphrodite, Demeter and Hera had all rushed after Rose once the residual shock had worn off. But what had he done? He always complained about Zeus!

"Soooo...Uh...What brought that on?" Zeus mumbled discreetly.

"I-Uh made some comments about wanting to make Po-po disappear and she snapped!" Hades quickly covered up.

"Oh... Oh dear," Zeus groaned. "This is not good..."

"What? What did I say?!" Snapped Hades.

"Rose's brother died, as well as her sister and step-father." Said Zeus looking worried.

"Yesh... Her mom died when she was a kid too right?" Hades questioned, remembering the awkward conversation.

"You mean you don't know?" Zeus asked with an air of astonishment, almost like he expected Hades to know everything about a girl he had only known for about three weeks.

"Uh, Yeah, what am I missing, here?" Hades questioned with a roll of his eyes.

"Rose's whole family was murdered, with the rest of her kind. She's the last Shape-shifter left." Zeus said sadly. "A shame really, they were a very powerful and kind race. Her mother was a wonderful woman." and then he too walked away, leaving Hades to realize the error of his ways.

"Cronus, I should get some people skills..." Hades sighed as he walked out the way the shifter had left. But just one thing...how was he gonna apologies for what he did?

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