Heya peeps, this short fanfic happens in between P.o.P and D.H.L… it's the same deal as the others, I don't own Hercules (Unfortunately) but I do own Persephone and other original characters and places that pop up during this short story…

I take things from both the film and series and remember, Disney twisted myths to create their storylines so I am tweaking some to make them fit the feel of Hercules…

Little hint: if you haven't read P.o.P you might get confused later on… enjoy and please review..

Godly Wife Insurance

Chapter Two:An Unbearable Situation

Hades roared with fury and shot a torrent of fire at the nearest object, which just happened to be his scale model of the worlds that made up the cosmos. All three levels of it were blasted off and the badly charred pieces left of it were lying around the throne room. The irately red-skinned god didn't care, he merely kicked the burning debris and charred rubble out of his way as he stalked onwards. It had been three days since Persephone had stormed out of the Underworld and Hades was still fuming over it.

Dammit, he was furious at her for leaving, he was furious that she had the nerve to take one of his minions with her and he was furious at the fact that she hadn't realised that the whole back-up wife thing had just been a joke in the first place… Hades suddenly stopped pacing as his golden eyes widening at the sudden realisation that had hit him… a joke, it had been a stupid reckless joke, and it had cost him the best thing to ever enter his immortal life… Hades' skin returned to blue as he suddenly felt hollow and depressed… his wife was gone, she'd really gone…

…A few hours later Pain peeked his head into the throne room to check on the boss. He really had a problem that Hades needed to resolve but had been waiting for the flames to settle. With Panic away with their queen the pink imp had been forced to do both his and Panic's jobs but was finding it hard coping with the extra workload… he really needed a temporary partner who could help him out until this whole issue between the Boss and the Boss-Lady was resolved… until now there was no way in Tartarus he was going to ask Hades, he'd have been blasted into the far wall just for interrupting his boss's thoughts.. But now everything seemed quiet.

He pink imp picked his way carefully through the wreckage of charred and burning remains that were still littering the floor from earlier, Hades still hadn't bothered to clean them up from his tantrum. There was a deep heaving sigh from up ahead that caused Pain to feel a little nervous, the pink imp moved cautiously to the edge of the chessboard as there was still a chance to be flamed just for interrupting. Taking a deep cleansing breath the pink imp then peeped around the corner of the chessboard and saw the most alarming sight he'd ever seen…

Hades was slouched down so low in his throne he could slide off it any moment, his eyes were narrowed and vacant while the god gave off a distraught and cheerless appearance. Clearly the boss was pining for his wife but this wasn't what was bothering Pain… what was concerning the imp was how Hades was dealing with this issue. Pain still wasn't clear on the details of why Miss Persephone had left but he was quite sure this was one of those problems that could be resolved by a simple apology… too bad his boss was far too bone-headed and stubborn to apologise right away. However the pink imp knew one thing, that alcohol was definitely not going to solve his boss' problem. Pain eyed the half-empty bottle of bourbon warily, it was no secret that Hades was a very volatile drunk and was prone to be argumentative… on the plus side however, if the imp could get his boss to explode into a towering inferno of rage he would sober up instantly as the alcohol in his system boiled. Pain winced at the thought of the blindly excruciating torment that he would have to endure just to allow his boss to sober up, on second thoughts… he'd risk a drunken boss..

Hades didn't even see the imp approach the throne, he merely took a swig of the bottle in his right hand and sighed, closing his eyes briefly before reopening them slightly.

'Um, I'm sorry to intrude on your wallowing your wretchedness..' Pain sounded nervously as Hades blinked several times as though trying to wake up. Then the fiery god sat up slightly and squinted at the imp trying to focus on him.

'Whadda you want..' Hades slurred moodily as he finally managed to determine who the wobbly pink blob in front of him was.

'Uh..' Pain sounded momentarily distracted as Hades took another swig still focusing bleary-eyed on him. '-don't you think you've had enough?' The words came out before the imp had realised what he'd said. The fiery god flared briefly irritated, unfortunately not enough to sober him up.

'You…' Hades paused briefly then scowled and continued to slur, '-you're not my mother, I'll tell you when I've had enough..' He nodded as though this statement was final and Pain rolled his eyes half-heartedly at his boss' intoxicated words… Ohh kay then…

'Well anyway your surliness..' Pain sounded nervously twisting his tail and sweating profusely. '-the thing is, now that Panic is up on the surface with the Boss-Lady I'm having a little trouble keeping up with the workload around here-'

'Uhh..' Hades groaned impatiently slumping back in his throne heavily.. '-is this going anywhere or are you just tryin' to give me a migraine?'

'I need some help-' The pink imp started but Hades cut him off with a weary sigh.

'Fine, fine, fine… I'll assign ya a temporary partner if it'll shut your yap..' The fiery god sounded moodily as though he were being put-upon. Then he sat up in his throne and thought for a moment, this in itself was impressive considering his inebriated state.. Suddenly a lopsided smirk appeared on the fiery god's face and he snapped his fingers.

The next second a small yellow imp with purple eyelids and a quiff of orange hair appeared, he was shaking so hard his orange hair was malting.

'There ya go…' Hades snickered amused by the horrified look on Pain's face. He then swayed in the direction of the yellow imp and blinked before focusing on the skinny yellow blur beside the wobbly pink blob. 'Neurosis, you'll be filling in for Panic..' He sounded decisively. '-any questions ya got, direct 'em to your partner cause I don't give a damn!' Hades declared angrily them took another swig of alcohol.

'Well… gee… what an honour…' Neurosis stuttered glancing nervously at the drunken Hades who had returned to his bottle of bourbon. '-I… I guess you must really have some faith in me… which is ok I guess… but what if I screw up… then you'll punish me… how do I deal with the pressure…' The yellow imp began to hyperventilate.

'But…' Pain sounded staring at Neurosis in disbelief. '-he's a mess..'

'So…' Hades slurred turning back to the wobbly pink blob. '-ya wanted a partner and now ya got one.'

'Yeh, but..' Pain repeated causing Hades' skin to flash orange.

'Get out!' The fiery god roared causing both Neurosis and Pain to jump and shoot out of the throne room. Hades then slouched so far down his throne he was practically falling off, he then sighed heavily. 'Oy… minions..'

'Sheesh, what's with the boss?' Neurosis sounded as the two imps stopped for breath. 'You'd think that he'd just lost the entire cosmos or somethin'..'

'Hey!' Pain scowled rounding on the yellow imp. 'Go easy on Hades! He's been having a rough time since Miss Persephone left..'

'Oh..' Neurosis' eyes widened in surprise. '-so that's why I haven't seen her around recently.. why'd she leave?' Pain picked up the two clipboards from the chessboard and passing Panic's clipboard to his new yellow-skinned partner.

'I dunno but it sounded like a pretty serious argument and the Boss is still really cut up about it..' He sounded before scanning the list of jobs that needed to be done.

'So.. she might not be comin' back then..' Neurosis said.

'What?' Pain sounded confused.

'Look, the Boss-Lady's ok but if she can't handle the Boss now, what chance does their marriage really have…' Pain shook his head with disbelief.

'You don't know Miss Persephone like I do… now quit messin' with my head we got jobs to do..' The pink imp then yanked Neurosis by the wrist down the stairs to the docks by the Styx.

Demeter paced her kitchen worried as Panic sat on the table, his large yellow bug-eyes following the green-skinned goddess anxiously. It had been three days since Persephone had arrived at her mother's house on Sicily, brimming with tears and wailing about Hades and some nymph from Elis on the south coast of Greece. After getting what information she could out of Panic, who assumed it must have been one of the Boss' jokes that backfired, the Goddess of Nature tried her best to comfort her broken-hearted child… but after three days of trying to convince Persephone that gods were idiots and that she should return to the Underworld and talk to Hades Demeter was starting to give up hope..

'What are we going to do?' She sighed heavily slumping into a chair and gazing sadly at the imp in front of her.. 'She can't stay in her grove sulking forever..'

'Maybe Hermes could talk some sense into her?' Panic suggested shrugging in a 'he is her best friend' kind of way. Demeter looked at the imp for a moment in shock, of course.. it was so blooming obvious, why hadn't she thought of it before?

'Oh Panic..' She squealed grabbing the stunned imp and hauling him into a bone-wrenchingly tight hug. '-that's a wonderful idea..' The Nature Goddess beamed ignoring Panic's writhing as he struggled to get out of this suffocating cuddle.

'Ack..' Panic's eyes bulged in agony at the tightness of the embrace, how did Miss Persephone put up with them. '-no problem Ma..' The Nature Goddess had insisted the imps call her 'Ma', the same with Hades… she wanted them all to be one great big happy family.

'And while Hermes comforts Persephone I'll go and see if Hera has any ideas on how to fix their marriage..' She beamed suddenly letting got of the imp, who coughed and spluttered trying to get some air into his lungs. The Nature Goddess then stood up smiling and called out,

'Hermes darling, would you come down here a moment..' There was silence for a few seconds then the sound of fluttering winged-sandals and a blue blur shot into the kitchen.

'Hey there Spring-Mama what's shaken?' Hermes sounded cheerfully as he skidded to a halt beside the green-skinned goddess.

'It's Persephone dear..' Demeter sighed. '-it seems she and Hades are having a little tiff-'

'The Deadly Double-Act are having marital issues already?' Hermes asked looking stunned at Demeter who nodded regretfully.

'My little Cora's been moping ever since she got here, do you think you could be dear and go talk to her while I go speak with Hera and see if she has any thoughts on how to patch things up between them..'

'Sure..' Hermes sounded before adding sympathetically, '-gee, poor Seph… I mean I know the H-Man can be a bit of a jerk sometimes but they always seemed so solid…'

'Tell me about it..' Panic sounded glumly as his horns drooped slightly.

'Aww cheer up little guy..' Hermes nudged him with a smile. '-I'm sure Hades'll schmooze her back home in no time..'

'I hope so..' The green imp sounded, starting to feel a little home sick.

'That's the spirit..' Demeter trilled snapping her fingers causing a large orange tulip to grow out of the floor of her kitchen, she climbed aboard. '-think I'll just send a little something down to the Underworld, let him know we're thinking of him..' She added twirling her wrist and causing a tiny green orb to drop through the ground. '-toodle-ooh my dears..' She then added waving them off cheerily and her large orange flower closed up, vanishing into the ground along with the Goddess of Nature herself..

'Gee..' Panic blinked as the goddess left. '-is she always this perky?'

'Heh, yeh…' Hermes drawled. '-why do ya think her and Seph are always falling out?'

Hades groaned in irritation as his head hammered like Hephaestus banging dents out of Athena's shield. The fiery god massaged his temples trying to ease some of the soreness.

'Aye-chi-ba-ba..' He uttered, wincing as he sat up a little straighter. '-I gotta lay off the booze..' Hades paused as a small green shoot started to grow out of the ground in front of him. He watched motionless as it grew into a long slim white flower with long drooping petals. The Lord of the Underworld's skin flared a nasty shade of red as he recognised the flower; a lily… it was a symbol of death. Probably one of Demeter's cheery little reminders that his marriage was finished.

Dammit, couldn't that interfering old hippie leave him to kvetch in peace..

Hades summoned a fireball intending to blast this 'gift' from his mother-in-law right off the stone floor of the Underworld. Then suddenly he stopped as something Persephone had once told him reappeared in his mind, lily's weren't just a symbol of death… they were a symbol of bereavement, of regret and sorrow… Hades suddenly returned to blue and snuffed his fireball now eyeing this lone white flower with sadness rather than anger.

Demeter felt sorry for him… maybe this meant that she was hoping he and Persephone could sort out their differences. The fiery Lord of the Underworld then lent forward and plucked the flower from the ground, twirling it in his long blue fingers as he slumped low in his throne with a heaving sigh… if only it were that simple.

Little Notes:

Hey Everybody, I've been writing so many different things at once in my bid to finish off H.o.T.T, catch up with my long abandoned Harry Potter fic and plan out Jafar's last date that my mind has been going round the twist, thank god for Coca-Cola is all I'll say on that front… but anyway in the mist of it all I've managed to bring you another chap for G.W.I and the D.H.L update is almost there too so don't worry…

Ok, those of you who watched the Herc series will recognises Neurosis, he messed with Herc's head in Tiff on Olympus, I brought him back because I felt he would be the imp that Pain would least enjoy being paired up with. This way it's not just Hades and Seph who have been separated by this rift I wanted the imps to feel the strain of their separation too..

Please keep the reviews coming as they spur me on…

Take Care…

Lot's of Love… Ditzy xXx