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.. And please vote on my poll or you'll make the imps cry x x

Godly Wife Insurance

Chapter Seven:Minthe, We hardly Knew you,,

'What?' Hades half-laughed believing this was some kind of joke, then it quickly died when he saw her expression darken.. 'Your serious ain't ya?' Persephone didn't say anything, she merely pouted with her arms folding across her chest as her hair flickered tetchily in a 'Sephy not impressed' manner..

'Oy vey..' Hades sighed feeling slightly victimized.. this was a punishment worthy of Tartarus, and he hadn't even cheated on her.. 'Ok, answer me honestly babe, have ya been takin' loony lessons offa Hera..' There was a bite of exasperation in his voice now. '-cause if that's the case Sephy you can just drop the act right now ok… Yeesh, we got enough loonies in the cosmos already and I don't need one in Bones 'R' Us too..'

Persephone's eyes narrowed into slits at her husband.

'So your not going to do it..' She sounded icily, her hair rippling into flames again.

'Whatta ya nuts?' Hades instantly sounded, briefly flaring yellow. 'Sephy listen to yourself for a sec ok… this is mushuga, it's crazy talk..' Persephone glared at this before hissing with venom..

'Oh so now I'm crazy for wanting that hussy-' She jabbed an enraged finger at the naiad, not caring about the level of her voice… let the little home wrecking Minthe find them, then she'd learn what happened when you pissed off the Queen of the Underworld.. '-to suffer..'

'No Sephykins..' Hades sighed witheringly as his eyes rolled upwards. '-I'm with ya on that front babe..' He then smirked slightly before adding, '-but ya know I gotta 'strictly no flames' policy when it comes to girls… besides all I gotta do is give 'em the whole booga-booga treatment and they're too scared to argue with me anyway..'

Persephone rolled her eyes tetchily at her husband's attempts to weasel out of smiting the nymph.. She groaned exasperatedly..

'Look..' Persephone sounded rolling her eyes. '-you said 'whatever your little heart desires'.. now I want you to go out there and deal with her..' The young queen pouted at her husband.

'Aww geez..' Hades groaned at his wife's adorable little face, he really hated having to deny her of her vengeance… it was just ungodly..

'Do I really have to barbeque the nymph?' He flashed his wife a leer. '-what if I just spooked her into repentin', huh?' Persephone frowned at him but Hades continued. 'Baabe.. Ya know I love it when your nasty, really I do..' He schmoozed her shamelessly.. '-but I just don't want ya to have me do somethin' your gonna regret later..' Persephone thought about his words for a moment… she knew just how persuasive he could be..

'Well..' She drawled musing it over. '-what if she remains stubborn..'

'-then I'll torch her where she stands..' Hades grinned widely causing a cute little vindictive smirk to cross his wife's lips.

'You promise..' Persephone sounded in a sweetly girly voice.

'I swear by the Styx..' He sounded in a low voice wrapping his arms around her waist pulling her to him with a look of smouldering passion. Just as he closed his eyes and lent in to give her a kiss a single dainty white finger pressed against his pouted lips.

'Uh-uh.. go deal with the naiad first sweetie..' She sounded in a sultry purr, her lips on the other side of her finger. Hades sighed heavily before pulling back from her… Persephone really did want him to work for it..

'Baby, you are one tough broker..' He sounded in faint amusement causing Persephone to roll her eyes upwards.

'I learnt from the best..' She flashed him a girly smile before uttering.. '-now go get her sweet flames..', and shoving him with all her might into the clearing where Minthe was sat..

Hades sighed heavily. This was so messed up, smiting a nymph went against every fibre in his body but his wife had pulled a power move… how could he say no to those huge green eyes and full pouty lips? Besides, he had such a hard time actually believing that the nymph thought he was serious.. That was a laugh and a half, the only reason he'd picked Minthe as his 'back-up bride' was because she was the complete opposite of Persephone… plain to look at with a slim willowy figure and since he liked something to grab she was not much competition next to his wife… hence why he thought his Sephykins would originally see that it was a joke because this naiad was nothing in next to her beauty.

As he approached the nymph she whirled around, sensing the presence of someone else, and beamed widely at him and flicking her daisy infested green hair.

'Heya handsome..' She sounded in a high-pitched voice as her inky eyes lit up in a way the fiery god didn't like. She was a little overly keen to see him again.. And what was with the 'handsome' bit? Was she trying to flirt with him?

Hades gave a very brief involuntary shudder which went unnoticed by the tiny naiad.

'Where have you been hiding?' Minthe smiled sweetly but it did nothing but convince Hades that with her skinny frame and sense of naivety she was Zeus' type right down to a tee… Oh yeh, Bolt Boy would definitely hit that…

'Uh, in the Underworld..' Hades sounded rudely as though this was the most obvious thing ever.. He wasn't going to waste manners on this nymph, that was for sure… but the silly naive girl merely giggled at his words.

'I wondered how long you were going to wait before coming for me..' She sounded sweetly lounging in what, she thought, was a seductive manner..

Hades blinked taken aback… What?.. The fiery god then decided he must have misheard her and began wiggling a long greyish-blue finger in his ear..

'Heh-heh, I'm sorry I must still have a lump of brimstone wedged in my ear from Tartarus..' He flicked something out of his ear with a casual glance before returning to Minthe. '-ya wanna try runnin' that by me again?'

Minthe giggled amused, he was so cute when he was trying to play the 'I-totally-forgot-about-our-little-agreement' bit, but he wasn't fooling her… no sir, why else could he be here? He'd obviously waited a little time after Persephone had stormed out before coming to sweep her off her feet..

'Oh you, he-he..' Minthe waved a tiny hand carelessly. '-you don't have to play dumb with me Hades we both know why you're here..' The entire plan to terrify this nymph into repenting for her insults against his wife was rapidly going down the tubes… mostly because this naiad kept whacking him further and further of course with her words..

'What?' He sounded blatantly lost now..

'You've come to take me to my new home..' She sounded still beaming at him in that air-headed fashion.

Hades suddenly started laughing at her, it was a high-pitched shrieking mocking laughter of disbelief at the ridiculousness of her words.. She actually thought he wanted to be with her! For a long moment the fiery god's brilliant blue flames rippled animatedly along his shoulders as he guffawed at Minthe.. She merely looked confused by his laughing fit..

'Whatta ya.. freakin' nuts!' The fiery god practically choked on his own laughter before composing himself with difficulty and adding, 'Ahh, that's the funniest thing I've heard since Apollo and Daphne..' He snickered briefly amused at that..

'What's so funny!' Minthe finally demanded, why wasn't he taking this seriously? If Hades had ever known how she truly felt about him he probably would have picked a different nymph to tease his wife with. The one thing that Persephone had in common with her rival Minthe was that both girls had been nursing huge crushes on the same flame-haired god of the Underworld, the only difference was that Hades had responded to Persephone's attraction rather than Minthe's. And it wasn't as if the nymph had never tried to get his attention before Persephone came into the picture.. but the fiery god either didn't notice her or was good at ignoring her..

And then, in waltzed her so-called friend Persephone with fat hips and a serious attitude problem and Hades lapped it up, gushing over her as if she were Hestia and Aphrodite combined! Minthe had seethed with fury at having her cherish god snatched out from right under her nose. Then only a few weeks ago he'd shown up by her stream with a proposal, of sorts, and she had been so stunned and flushed with pleasure that she agreed… perhaps he'd finally seen what an utter witch Persephone was if he wanted to be with her.. and now here he was, doubled-over in laughter at the thought of taking her home with him? What under Gaia was going on here?

'I'm sorry..' Hades finally stopped snickering, wiping a tear of amusement away and sighing heavily. He quickly snapped onto a firm and serious expression. '-you and me babe… it's never gonna happen..'

'W-what?' Minthe sounded stunned… not believing what was happening, tears threatening to sting her inky eyes but she held them back, not wanting him to see her cry.. '-Why?' She uttered and before her question was answered by an angry voice that came from all around at once..

'Oh my days, Hades will you just smite her already!'

Minthe whipped around shocked as a smattering of white orbs swirled in the air as the Queen of the Underworld appeared beside her husband who was frowning at her..

'Persephone?' The naiad uttered vaguely before snapping out of her shock and rounding on Hades. 'What's she doing here?' However the fiery god ignored her and chose to address his fuming wife.

'Yeesh Seph, ya didn't even give me a chance to ease into it..' The fiery god sounded in a soft warm tone trying to soothe his wife to no avail.

'Oh..' Persephone's voice sounded with cruel mocking. '-so now you've got to ease into it, do you?' Her eyes narrowed and she added in a detestable tone. Unlike her husband Persephone had known Minthe had had a soft spot for her husband for a long time, they'd once used to be friends, before she got together with Hades, but the two had fallen out because he chose her. Although she was saddened by the loss of her friend the goddess didn't dwell on it, she was with the man of her dreams, and until her husband had mentioned the naiad's name as his 'back-up wife' she had thought her old friend might have gotten over the sting of rejection..

Persephone was every bit as much the jealous type as Hades was and she was not sharing her husband with anyone… especially not with some resentful little naiad who thought she was better than her..

'Hey!' The fiery god flared a brief orange shade. 'Ya know how I feel about smitin' girls!' He suddenly flashed Persephone a devious leer. 'Besides, we agreed that we'd try getting her to apologise first, didn't we..' He sounded and Persephone frowned but didn't answer. Hades then nudged her while prompting, '-huh, huh, didn't we Sephykins?' The goddess sighed as he used his pet name for her along with a wide satisfied 'you know I'm right' smirk..

'Ok fiiine..' :Persephone drawled in a childish manner and pouting in a way that made Hades' smirk turn into a seductive leer.. '-whatever, just get her to apologise then..'

'Apologise!' Minthe burst out in indignation, as she'd been following this argument that had been taking place right in front of her… using 'argument' loosely because, in the nymph's opinion, it was more like a juvenile squabble..

Persephone finally turned to her former friend with a sickly sweet smile.

'That's right Minthe..' She sounded in a girly voice that was also laced with a dangerous edge. '-you take back all the nasty things you said about me and my darling husband here-' She inclined her head towards Hades. '-won't have to smite you..' The fiery god merely flashed her a smirk that said 'pick carefully'..

The naiad frowned at Persephone for a long moment… she really hated that goddess. They'd used to be friends, they'd done everything together: braided each other's hair, exchanged gossip, went to bacchanals to laugh at the bizarre dancing then wonder why Bacchus was such a nymph-magnet.. of course they'd both also shared the biggest crush on Hades and were probably the only members of the 'I Love Hades Club'. Then Persephone had stabbed her in the heart by getting together with Hades and ditching her on Earth by herself without even a word for weeks on end… So now she had a choice. To live with the knowledge that Persephone was the one Hades had chosen and be doomed to wander around with a broken heart… or die at the hand of the god she loved.

It didn't take the naiad long to make her decision..

'No!' Minthe screeched startling Persephone. 'I will never apologise for telling the truth!'

Hades cursed inwardly but didn't give anything away by expression… stupid little naiad. His fingers then glowed as a brilliant orange fireball… He was about to throw it at Minthe who now had her eyes shut and had braced herself for her death. Hades then turned to his wife and cocked a brow in a 'are you really sure you want me to do this' manner.

Persephone gazed at her former friend with a curious expression, almost sorry for what was going to come next… but she was Queen of the Underworld and this nymph would serve as a warning to all those who dared to cross her. The goddess then gave her husband a sharp nod and he tossed the sizzling ball of light at the nymph.

As Minthe's body erupted into flames the sparsely lit grove was filled with her wails of anguish and it echoed and travelled upwards to the heavens above… the wails did not last very long as her body quickly turned into a large pile of ash on the ground.

Hades barely had time to acknowledged that the nymph was dead because of him when a mass of blonde hair rugby tackled him to the ground, kissing him passionately. The fiery god gave a slightly muffled grunt as he hit the ground and the kiss broke instantly. Hades blinked upwards at his wife who was smiling at him while straddled across him with her hands on his chest.

'You may be the most maddening, egotistical god in the cosmos who says the first thing that comes into his flaming cranium..' Persephone sounded in a formidable voice, rapping the side of his head to emphasize her point before softening and continuing in a tender voice as she lent into him. '-but you'd kill for me and that says more than any words ever could..' She then began kissing him sweetly, running her fingers upwards over his chest and across his shoulders, coaxing his blues flames to spread.. Hades broke off the kiss and gazed into his wife's eyes which shined with nothing but love.. Smirking at her the fiery god suddenly grasped her hips tightly then rolled over so now he was on top of her… then he leant into her and murmured,

'Happy anniversary babe..'

'Happy anniversary sweetie..' She replied softly before the two of them were kissing again.. As the kiss deepened Persephone's fingers buried themselves in Hades' flames and the god's fingers unhooked her chiton pin..

Little Notes:

Hey Everybody, sorry this chapter has taken so long to post, it's gone through numerous rewrites because I wasn't satisfied with the writing… I hope not everybody hates Minthe too much, she's a victim of circumstance… after all I'm sure theirs a few of us who have seen our friends hook up with blokes they liked.. perhaps not on the same level as Minthe, but still..

This is not the end of the story… there's another chapter to go and I think it will be the last one..

Ok, the reason Hades has his 'no flaming girls' policy is because he never actually flames Meg in the film… he merely scares her into doing his bidding by flashing his temper… it shows a softer side to the god without him actually being soft… and the only reason he flamed the nymph is because he swore by the Styx to do it.. I don't think Seph would have accepted anything less..

Ooh, the end is tantalisingly close peeps…

…see ya real soon and don't forget to review..

Lot's of Love… Ditzy X