Chapter 23:

"Is he even here?" Poseidon asks, agitated. "I haven't got all day, shade."

"The master is on his way, my lord."

Poseidon spins his trident in his hand. "He'd better be-"

"You called for me, brother?" Poseidon snaps his head towards Hades' voice; he walks in with Persephone right at his side, not a step behind. Poseidon tries to keep himself from smiling. My, my Persephone…Hades really did steal you. This plan just might work after all, he thinks.

"Ah, Hades! How is my dear, dear older brother? You're still upsetting Mother, I see." Poseidon sets his trident slightly out in front of him – a threat of power.

Hades ignores him and sits in his throne as Persephone moves to stand beside him. She puts a hand on his right shoulder. His face is set with a cold expression, and when Persephone looks down at him, she almost feels frightened.

"State your business, Poseidon. You and I both know you would never just come down here for a friendly visit."

"Very well," Poseidon grunts. He nods his head towards Persephone. "So Zeus was right – you finally managed to steal one of his children. I love what you've done with the Underworld, by the way – dark, rich… but is that beast Cerberus really still necessary? "

"State your business," Hades snaps.

Poseidon spins his trident in his hand again. "Well, you should know, dear brother – Cronus."

Hades twitches slightly when he feels a sharp pain in his side. Persephone squeezes his shoulder and he sets his jaw. "I've already told you and Zeus about Cronus."

"Yes, well, Zeus is afraid–ahem–concerned that he may be gaining strength faster than anticipated."

Hades scoffs. "And if he is?"

Poseidon readies himself. "Make him angry," Aphrodite said. "Lie to him."

Here is the first lie, he thinks. "Zeus wants to know what you plan on doing about it."

Hades' eyes narrow. "What I plan on doing about it?" He feels his side begin to burn and he clenches his fists. Persephone squeezes his shoulder tighter.

Poseidon laughs, his voice nasally and mirthless. "Why of course you, dear brother. You are in charge of Tartarus."

"Our father is gaining strength, and I get no assistance?"

Poseidon shrugs. "You have the hundred-handed."

Hades glares at him. "Need I remind you that it took our entire family 10 years of war to defeat him? Father isn't the only one rising, Poseidon – he's building an army of souls in Tartarus. He'll be stronger this time. I need more than just the hundred-handed."

Poseidon shrugs again. "Zeus doesn't seem to think so." Another lie.

"Zeus doesn't seem to think!" Hades shouts, the pain in his side causing his words to come out strained.

He doesn't have any potions with him.

Persephone looks down at him and moves her hand from his shoulder to the back of his neck, lightly trailing her fingers across the skin there.

Poseidon nods his head towards Persephone and smiles lasciviously. "And of course, there's the issue of Demeter's beautiful daughter here."

Hades quickly looks up at her. "Zeus wants me to release her."

Poseidon smiles to himself. Perfect, he thinks. "No, actually," he says, "Zeus has stated that Persephone is to stay in your realm until we find Demeter."

Persephone gasps. "What do you mean, 'find'? What's happened to my mother?"

Poseidon grins. Hermes had actually just found Demeter in the past week, but when Poseidon had left Olympus she had still been refusing to talk to anyone. Zeus had given him very specific instructions about what to say regarding Cronus and Persephone – specifically that if Hades needed help with their father, he would send assistance…and that Persephone needed to be returned immediately to Demeter because she was refusing to do her duties as a goddess. Very soon, the humans would begin to die en mass. It was not something Zeus wanted to deal with, especially with the threat of Cronus regaining full power.

Zeus's instructions were specific, and Poseidon specifically did everything he wasn't supposed to.

Glorious war is on its way, he thinks. A new king will be crowned.

"Your mother has gone looking for you," Poseidon says, grinning. "We have all been working very hard to find her-"

Hades cuts him off. "Why isn't Hermes here giving the message?" Ahhh, clever Aphrodite, Poseidon thinks, smiling. Very clever.

"Hermes is off ransacking Apollo's cows," he replies.

Hades almost snorts. "The red ones?"

"Those very same."

"So Zeus sent you instead."

Persephone steps away from Hades' throne and shouts. "Excuse me, but did you two suddenly forget I was here?! My mother is missing! Why is Hermes stealing Apollo's cows when he should be looking for her?!"

Poseidon spins his trident once again. He gives a nonchalant shrug. "Hermes is fast, Persephone. He'll find her when he's done. In the meantime, Zeus wants you to stay here." Poseidon looks up from his trident to see Hades' eyes boring into him.

Hades cocks his head to the side and scratches his beard. "I think you're lying about something, Poseidon."

Shit, Poseidon thinks. He puts up a confident smile. "Are you now a god of truth, brother? Last time I checked, though I do admit it was quite a while ago, you could only look into the hearts of mortals."

Hades smiles darkly. "I suppose I'll trust you, then. For now. Persephone?"

Persephone wipes her eyes. She has been silently crying. "Yes, Hades?" she asks, sniffling.

"Do you want to go home?"

Poseidon starts. What is he doing? "Hades, Zeus said-"

"I don't give a damn about what Zeus said, Poseidon," Hades snaps. He looks back to Persephone and asks her again. "Do you want to go home, Persephone?"

Persephone thinks about her missing mother and her home; her forests and nymph friends. She misses it all.

But when she looks at him, she realizes that'd she'd miss him just as much and her heart flutters. When did I start feeling this way…?

"I want to go home," she starts, "but my mother isn't there…"

Hades feels his heart speed up in his chest and the flares of pain subside. "Do you wish to stay here instead?" With me?

Persephone looks into his eyes and nods. "I do, Hades. I wish it." With you.

Poseidon breathes a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he had been holding. That was too close, he thinks. His red eyebrows go up in surprise when he sees Hades smile at Persephone. Well that's…odd, he thinks. Hades never smiles, not since…and is she smiling back? What in Tartarus?

He clears his throat. "I believe it is time for me to take my leave, brother."

Hades turns his head to look at his brother and his expression returns to cold indifference (but Poseidon notices that there is a spark behind his eye – a bit of life there that he hasn't seen in a long time). Aphrodite really has outdone herself this time, he thinks.

Poseidon begins to walk away when he hears Hades' deep voice and pauses. "If you ever come into my realm without my permission again, Poseidon, I will not hesitate to throw you into Tartarus with Father." Hades' tone is deadly serious.

Poseidon continues walking and smiles to himself.

"Of course, brother," he replies, flipping his trident in the air. His grin grows wider as he walks away. Everything is going according to plan.

When Poseidon is finally gone, Hades gets up from his throne and holds his arm out.

"Come, Persephone," he says, "I have something to show you."

She laughs. "Don't you have a kingdom to run, 'Lord Hades'?"

He smiles at her. "The kingdom can wait."

A/N: WOOOT! Another update for ya'll! Again, let me know what ya'll think in reviews – dey give the motivation to keep on goin' guise. :D I LOVE YOU ALL!