Hey, I'm just asking if you think this is too much dialogue in this chapter… If you could tell me what you think that be great! Thank you! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2: Rainbows and Torches

When Hebe went to the courtyard she thought it was empty at first. Even the winds weren't disturbing the perfectly laid out gardens surrounded by the impressive marble columns. It was a beautiful courtyard with a large fountain in the middle. As her eyes took all this in, she saw she wasn't alone.

Iris was sitting, calmly, for once, beside the fountain with her chin resting on it's rim and trailing one finger in the clear water with a wistful look on her normally grinning face.

"Iris?" Hebe called walking closer. Iris sat up in surprise and gave the goddess of youth her quirky dimpled smile.

"Hey, Be." She waved and stood up. "Need a message run?"

"You okay, Iris?" Hebe dismissed the normally absurdly cheerful messenger's question. "You were looking pretty down, Iris; Anything wrong?"

"Don't fret about me, sweet cheeks," Iris let out her happy laughter and beckoned Hebe to sit beside her, "Just thinking about an old friend. Zeus wants me to bring him down to her murder's descendants house. She was a passionate one."

"Is this Alcmene and Amphitryon?" Hebe asked knowingly.

"Oh yeah!" Iris giggled. "So it's no secret then? Hera is going to flip, ain't she?"

Hebe nodded sadly, "I feel bad for the poor kid already. Why does Zeus always have to procreate when he beds a woman?"

" 'Cause he's king of the Gods, baby." Iris nudged the younger goddess, "It tends to happen. OH! Did you hear, though? He better make it quick 'cause Amphitryon is coming tomorrow."

"Oh no!" Hebe wailed.

"Oh yes!" Iris giggled. "It's going to make things interesting."

Their gossip was interrupted by the rumbling greeting of Zeus. They both turned in surprise but saw that he had his charming smile in place. He wasn't angered by their idle chatter. Iris dipped him a low curtsy in her dew-drop tunic but still gave him an impudent smile, "You ready?"

"Iris, your presumptuous tongue is going to get ripped out of that pretty little face of yours one day," He laughed and narrowed his sky blue eyes at the still smiling goddess.

"Oh but Your Majesty," She danced forward and looked up into his handsome face, "I have the honor of being protected by the King of Gods and his gracious wife. No would dare touch me in fear of angering him!"

"Does that go for the King of Gods as well?" Zeus raised an eyebrow.

"Well, his dear wife gets mighty angry," She paused and contemplated soberly, but couldn't hide the smile still pulling at her lips, "And no one needs an angry Hera. Plus, where would he get his latest gossip from if not from me!"

"Get on with ya, cheeky wench," He laughed and shooed her towards the gate way. "Hebe, daughter, are you coming?"

"Yes, Father," She curtsied and let her father grab her small hand in his powerful one. The smile on her face that brightened all of her features was natural and real. She loved when he played the father instead of the king of gods. It was hard when he had so many children to pay attention to them. Especially, when Hebe was just a minor goddess. Even Athena and the other Olympian children of Zeus felt neglected from Zeus sometimes.

They walked together to where Iris had made the Seasons clear back the clouds; She had already painted her rainbow walkway to the earth. "You ready?" She asked again and unfolded her beautiful golden wings. She launched herself off the marble into the clouds without waiting for an answer.

Zeus followed the golden flash of her wings with his crystal clear blue eyes, but there was a smile hesitant at his lips. He did enjoy the disrespectful messenger in a world where everyone gave him some sort of deference.

"Hebe, you know of the mortals I am to visit, correct?" Zeus asked as he began descending down the rainbow archway.

"Oh yes!" She answered, "They're really quite sweet."

"Tell me about them, would you?"

She took a breath and told their sweet story of love and family bonds as they walked to Gaea's earth. She looked around at the earth and all of it's inhabitants as they descended.

"You really do love these mortals?" Zeus smiled at his golden daughter.

"Yes, I do." She smiled back at him. "I don't know why, but they are fascinating. I can watch them for ages. Hecate always makes fun of me."

"The Daughter of Nyx has a high opinion of herself," Zeus commented.

"With good reason. She is very powerful, though she denies positions of power." Hebe returned. Zeus looked down at the blond curls of his normally timid daughter. Was she chiding the King of Gods? She looked up with eyes as blue as his own and bobbed a curtsy, "Respectfully, that is."

He laughed and they continued to walk. When finally they parted ways, Zeus swept her up in a strong hug and told her very seriously, "Be happy, little one. You will find your place."

Iris took his place as he glamoured himself to look the part of Amphitryon and entered the palace of Perseus. "You're going to the Underworld, am I right?"

"Yep," She answered.

"Oh! Did you hear?" Iris's changeable eyes gleamed with the spark of gossip and regaled the young goddess with another story of mortals and gods misbehaving. This is what the dew-drop dressed goddess loved above all else. She loved her job, whisking from every part of the earth to Olympus and the Underworld with a quick tongue and a sharp ear for news.

When the two made it to the entrance of the Underworld, Hebe saw an old crone sitting calmly on the harsh rocks. She was an ugly old woman with a nose that dominated her creased face and only a sparse patch of gnarled grey hair on her head. Hebe couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"Well, Catey," She called with glee in her voice, "What's happened? You've looked better."

"A moody, young goddess mourning her blessed fate in Olympus has turned my hair prematurely grey," The crone muttered and glared with dark eyes peering out of folds and wrinkles of skin.

"What a shame," Hebe danced forward with Iris grinning beside her, "I heard you had been such a beauty before. Guess they were wrong."

"Wrong?" The crone barked, "I'm as beautiful as the goddess of the sea-foam, her primped self, the Goddess Aphrodite!"

Hebe gave her a once over, "Could have fooled me. And watch yourself, Aphrodite does not care for competition."

"Annoying child." The crone, Hecate, glared and with a blink had changed into her maiden form, black and white beauty. "And Aphrodite can go to Tartarus for all I care. Her spite and her son's arrows can't touch me."

"Is that supposed to be an improvement?" Hebe asked in a serious voice studying the maiden before her.

"Oh, go drown yourself in your precious ambrosia, girly." Hecate rolled her large dark eyes and jumped off the rock she had perched on. "I'll take it from here, Iris!"

"Thanks, Iris!" Hebe waved at the cheery messenger who was already stretching out her golden wings and preparing to leave.

"I'm glad you came," Hecate put an arm around Hebe's shoulders, "As I said before, Persephone's missed ya something fierce. Don't know why, if you ask me! Much more pleasant without ya, cutie."

"Just light those torches and shut your mouth, Catey." Hebe narrowed her cyan eyes and shrugged out of Hecate's hug.

"Aw, cutie you know I'm just giving you a run for your money." Hecate let out her shriek of laughter and lit the double torches she was known for.

"I once led Demeter this way," She mused absently as silence fell between the two.

"When has Demeter come to Hades realm?" Hebe asked.

"Ah, there is much you don't know, young one!" Hecate answered in a grand voice. Hebe laughed at the dark maiden next to her and prompted her to continue the story, "It's how I met, Persephone really. It was after Hades had taken Kore from her mother and Demeter was having a full out freak show. She was going crazy and taking the world down with her. Endless winter, starving mortals, all sorts of havoc. No one on the big hill up there wanted to get on the bad side of Hades and betray him, and Zeus was in a conundrum 'cause he was Kore's father but Hades has always been his closest brother and so he didn't want to hurt him…. So, I was the only one who got up the courage to tell her and show her the way to the Dark Palace. I met Persephone that day. She was trying to reason with her mother and her new husband at the same time. Always the negotiator and the pleaser, that one. After she sent them both to bed in frustration so that they could talk in the morning she sat beside me and ranted. We were friends ever since."

"You are the only one who friends someone in a fit of anger." Hebe laughed.

"Ah come on, darlin', " Hecate laughed, "You know how appealing that girl is, even when she's off the walls angry."

"Yeah," Hebe smiled softly, though she couldn't keep the soft sadness from her face, "I do."

"Cut it out, sourpuss." Hecate laughed, "You're about to see the girl, herself. No depressing thoughts out of you. As a goddess of light," The dark maiden fingered one long blond curl, "Your heart's pretty dark."

"Just lonely." Hebe defended herself.

"LONELY!" Hecate let out a shriek, "You are with MY divine presence! How could you be lonely."

"I'll be deaf in a moment if you go on like that again," Hebe laughed covering her ears and glaring at her friend, "And you, shut it. I'm not lonely now. Just when you're gone and so is everyone else; I get a bit down. I mean, I'm obsessed with watching mortals, for goodness sakes!"

"Yeah, that's low, girl." Hecate gave her a sharp grin and continued down the path. The souls of the dead lurked at the corner of her light but refused to be caught in the dark light that she controlled. None of them bothered the two goddesses as the meandered in the dark passage way. Especially as they neared the Devourer of Souls, Cerberus.

They heard his growls before they saw him but soon enough the three headed monster turn one of his growling head in their direction. Red eyes assessed them over sharp, gleaming teeth that could rent through any armor.

A bark echoed through the dark cavern as all of his heads then turned to the goddess and the monster bounded towards them, saliva dripping in a wet strand behind one head.

"Oh no," Hebe squeaked as heavy paws crashed on the dark earth coming closer and closer.

"Babies!" Hecate shrieked in joy though and laughed when they pounced on her and licked her face. Hebe wasn't far behind, three heads lovingly trying to show they care.

Hebe couldn't help but laugh at their enthusiasm as they drenched the two goddesses in affectionate licks and slobbers. They climbed up on Cerberus's over large back and began to scratch his ears rigorously. The groans and happy barks made the whispers of souls around them quake but the two goddesses just grinned.

Finally they jumped down and inspected each other. Covered in long dark hairs and their clothing and hair mussed and drying irregularly from the wet kisses they received. They both looked entirely not presentable.

"Oh dear." Hebe looked at her ruined chiton.

"Be, darling." Hecate gave her a mischievous smile, "This is a time for strong expletives. Not a simpering oh dear."

"I do not simper."

"Sure you don't."

They bickered and fought their way down to the river Styx where Charon waited patiently. The old man looked them up and down as they gave sheepish smiles. His face didn't move an inch, but his eyes gleamed a little as he ushered the disheveled goddesses into his narrow boat.

Ad they crossed the river the Dark Land of the Underworld was slowly revealed through the fog. It was a land of dark beauty, black trees and cypress lining formal gardens of flowers and plants that the whispers of former life drifted through slowly. When you looked up, it looked as if the night sky was gleaming down on you, but then you realize that it's the brightly shining crystals and precious stones that are glimmering in the Underworlds dim light. Hades wasn't called the Rich One for nothing, all the mineral riches of the earth were his. Hebe sighed happily. It wasn't the blinding marble beauty of Olympus but a dark, softer beauty that appealed to the blond maiden.

"There is a washroom to the left, if you require," Charon's husky voice directed them as they landed on the opposite shore.

"Oh I know." Hecate smiled up at the ferryman who has seen so much. "Not the first time we've visited, ol' man."

"I know, Dark One." He nodded. "It was more a suggestion that you should use it. A reminder, per say."

"Are you saying I'm not beautiful as I am!" Hecate gasped in mock horror.

Charon calmly met her sparkling dark eyes with his own sorrowful ones and she laughed in response. "Ah, Charon ol' buddy, you are always good for a laugh, aren't you."

"Indeed." He answered solemnly. She kissed his cheek before leaping out of the narrow ferry.

"Thank you, Charon," Hebe gave him one of her brightest smiles, "As always, I apologize for her behavior."

He just laid a thin hand with little definition beside the stark bones on her head before turning away and poling his ferry back to the other side.

The two laughed and skipped their way towards the small coach house where they could clean themselves and prepare themselves for the Dark Court. Which they did with much shouting and gleeful abuse. As they neared the palace made of ebony and onyx, their spirits rose.

Soon enough they were entering the gothic Great Hall where Persephone and Hades sat dealing with the Underworld's problems. The spirits that led them here asked them to wait patiently until they were finished. Hebe nodded while Hecate snorted with impatient and sat on a chair she made appear behind her. She never was a patient goddess.

Hebe starred at her dearest friend with wide eyes. This was not the Kore of her memory, that was Persephone sitting regally on her thrown. It always surprised Hebe when she saw the differences between the two.

Persephone sat with a attentive look on her beautiful face as she listened to the plea being stated before her. Her brown eyes that Hebe knew glowed the golden color of caramel when she was pleased looked dark from here but it could have been the dark of her eyelashes no longer tipped with the sun's light but covered in a dark mascara. Her auburn hair that set her apart from so many other gods and goddesses lay straight and long down her back. Gleaming like the dark red of autumn's leaves. It no longer had the bronze and copper streaks from the sun glow that had threaded through the dark. She was pale now, no longer a golden color from dancing in the fields. She looked a queen now, not a pretty girl with laughter in her eyes and on her tongue.

Hebe sighed, Kore was gone now. Persephone was in her place. Didn't mean that Hebe loved her any less, for at the core she was still the godlet that grew up beside her but she was different now.

"You may now approach, Their Majesties," the waif spirit that had led them there bowed low and beckoned them forward.

Hecate groaned, "Finally! You'd never believe I was Persephone's Minister and closest companion… Or was until this blond bimbo came back!"

Hebe wasn't listening though, she was slowly approaching the onyx thrones. Hades already had seen her and there was a happy light in his eyes as he gently placed a hand on his wife's arm to get her attention.

Persephone looked at him and then followed his eyes to the golden goddess walking slowly towards them. She fairly glowed in the shadows of the Great Hall and she took the breath away from Persephone at first glance.

Though not for long. "BE!" The cry was nearly wrenched from her throat as she bounded off the throne and ran full tilt into her closest friend with tears in her eyes. Hebe felt her own tears welling up as she clutched the girl in her arms and hugged her tight.