I am so sorry for the delay. I have not had internet access for the past couple weeks, due to my move. I have decided to post 3 chapters today to make it up to you wonderful readers!

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN- Storybrooke Public Library

Hades stared down at the small mortal cowering in front of him. Eh, she's kinda cute, he thought, for a mortal, anyways. Again, he held out his hand for her to shake.

"Hello? Anyone there?" He leaned down to make sure the girl was still breathing.

The girl glanced up at him, looked back down at his hand, and then very hesitantly gave it a quick shake.

Hades rolled his eyes.

Colette couldn't believe her eyes. I just shook hands with Hades. Is that possible? Am I going to die now? This isn't ancient Greece, what's he doing here anyways? Thoughts kept flowing through her mind, so consequently, she forgot that the Lord of the Underworld was still standing there staring at her for a good two minutes. She looked up, realized that he was expecting her to introduce herself or respond or something, so she managed to stutter "H-Hi. Um, I'm f-f-fine, I su-p-pose…." She trailed off.

He raised an eyebrow at her, and then said "And you are…?"

"Co-Claire. Claire. Hi. Um." She managed to say.

Hades blew out an exasperated sigh, then snapped his fingers. Instantly, two skeleton guards seized Colette and clamped their hands over her mouth, muffling her startled scream.

"Sorry sweet pea, but I needed a hostage, you happened to be in the vicinity, hey, there ya go."

"Now," he said, as he got inches away from Colette, "where is she?"

The skeletons released their grip on her mouth for a second. "I – I don't know what you're talking about."

He blew out another exasperated sigh. "Mortals. I forget how slow you guys are. 'Kay, here's the deal, I plan to take over the world, the Fates said some savior was going to get in the way and stop me, so I'm here to make sure that little drawback in my otherwise perfect plan doesn't happen. Get it?"

Colette managed to nod her head.

"So, where is she? I don't have all day, sweet cheeks. People to kill, places to destroy, you get the picture."

Colette tried thinking up multiple strategies for trying to get out of there and warning everyone, but with Killian and David after her, she wasn't sure if they'd listen. Rumple's training had never really prepared her to face the ancient Greek deity of the dead. As she was considering trying to break the bones of her captors and Hades impatiently started pacing the length of the library floor, two little creatures slithered past her feet to bow in front of Hades.

"Ah, Panic, Pain, please tell me you have something good to report."

"Indeed we do!" shouted the red one as the blue one pushed it aside to say,

"They are all gathered together at a diner – "

" – down the block! It's a baby shower!"

"We grabbed you one of the gift bags" and the blue pulled out one of Mary Margaret's frilly yellow baskets filled with chocolates and trinkets.

"Fine, okay, that's all good, but the savior? Did you find her?" Hades said as he tossed the basket aside.

The two demons, for that's what Colette believed them to be, cowered in front of him. "Well, there were a lot of people, and Panic couldn't remember the description -"

"- And you know, they were playing a game and would have been rude to not participate -"

With that Hades burst into bright red and orange flames, and shouted "YOU IDIOTS. Fine. Fine, I'm calm, I got this…" he told himself as he tried to calm down, pinching the bridge of his nose. His hair retuned to its blue flame and he smoothed it back. "Fine. Change of plans, boys. I am not having another mishaps like with that jerk Hercules and his jerk father. We're just gonna go back to the underworld, and try to add some finesse to this whole shebang, alright? We'll take the bookworm along too, in case we need to pry any information out of her."

He snapped his fingers again, and a black chariot with the face of a leering demon pulled up in front of the doors of the Library.

He put an arm around Colette's waist and pulled her up front. "You can ride shot gun with me, tutz." He sneered. The ground opened up beneath them, and the company fell into the Underworld.

Review?