Chapter Three

A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs when they come out to play. Everything else is owned by either Disney or the Greek Myths.

Thank you all so much for your continued support! It really does mean the world to me and I hope I continue to deliver the quality of the stories you like! :D

Thank you as well to a-person-on-the-internet for the awesome cover art! If you have a Tumblr, go check them out! If you don't, get a Tumblr and then check out their work!

Marcus Emrys: Oh yeah, that was definitely a playful jab! And aww, thank you so much! You don't know how much that made me smile-and still does! :D

ObsidianDarkArrow: Thank you! :D

AmethystDragon14: Oh yay! Oh Audrey, just what are we going to do with you? And yeah, I definitely see those two being compared to Pain and Panic. Only with more brains! :D

princesstwyla06: Oh thank you! I have no idea how I'm doing it but I'll take some hearts!

danifan3000: I...really like the idea of Belle adopting one of the Gaston daughters. Giving them a life they deserve rather than suffering on the Isle. Plus anything that drives Leah insane is good by me!

Tracie Adams: Oh thank you! I don't know if I'll be able to do two chapters at a time but I'll try to be quick with updates.

Guest: Oh no, there're more than six scrolls. That's just the colors of the ribbons that are on the scrolls.

twilightgirl587: Ask and you'll receive! :D

lilyflower101: Hindsight's 20/20!

Urmimala Hazra: Well they certainly can. The question is will they?

JMH23: Oh thank you!

Katie2001: That was the whole idea so I'm glad you like it!

TR Kurtis Trent: Yes, Mal, Jay, Carlos and Evie were already in Auradon when they were gathered for the reading. They'd just arrived and met Audrey, Ben and Fairy Godmother.

billyandkimfan1994: Time heals all wounds-plus if it hadn't been for Hades, Here wouldn't have his kids.

Zille1234: Oh thank you so much!

Lord of the A.U. Fanfiction: When you say chapter four, do you mean the fourth chapter of this story or the fourth chapter of Choosing Family? But thank you so much!

Summer: Ask and you'll receive! :D

Fangirlnerd001: Thank you!

Roxas Itsuka: You'll find I have a love/hate relationship with the character of Audrey. I hate her but I love to write her. And yeah, something tells me Leah will freak when it comes time to break the contract. Yep, Virgil is Poseidon's grandson and Mal and Uma's cousin. I'm still trying to figure out what I was thinking all those years ago when I first mentioned Virgil in Watch and Learn. Glad you're enjoying it!

Dance love 2007: Thank you so much!

ScoutGinevera: Oh thank you! I think if people want it, they can definitely read Choosing Love. I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

a-person-on-the-internet: I saw! It's awesome, I love it so much! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Gigi18: I don't know which one is worse myself, either one is equally jarring especially seeing as the guy being called it is going to the the king of Auradon. For Choosing Family and Crossing the Water, it's almost like the universes were on the same path with the exception of one major event. And then they branch off. Yeah Lonnie's in the reading!

Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think! :D

Ben smiled as he pulled the ribbon and unfurled his scroll. While he wasn't thrilled to think about a death count on the Isle, it was fascinating to find out how things had been all those years ago.

Hades was on edge. It had been about a week since he had taken Mal and walked out of Maleficent's life. There had been no sign, no whisper, that Maleficent was planning revenge though Hades knew it was coming.

"Of course it's coming. It's Maleficent. Why did you let your guard down, past me?" Hades muttered.

His ex-wife—oh Gods how he hated referring to her by that title even in his head; no one had known they were married or even together—was not one who was known for acting rashly. After all, it took her sixteen years to enact her curse on Aurora.

Aurora sighed softly as Leah stiffened at the reminder of the sixteen lost years she could have had with her daughter.

Hades, on the other hand, was the guy who kidnapped a baby because the little sunspot might have interfered with his plans.

"You didn't just kidnap him. You made it so he could never return home," Zeus growled.

"And what did you do in revenge?" Persephone shot back. "We went to you for help. You denied it. You and Hades are now even."

"Father?" Hercules asked, looking over at the Olympus contingent. "What…what does Aunt Persephone mean by that?"

"I'm sure you'll all find out soon enough," Hades said, his voice stiff as Persephone glared slightly at Zeus. Though one might have thought there was a bit of a smile at being called 'Aunt' Persephone.

"Mal, I hope you inherit your mother's patience," Hades muttered while holding his daughter.

Uma, Harry, and Jay looked over at each other and burst out laughing.

"Mal? Patient?" Harry chuckled.

"That's like saying she's not obsessed with dragons or the color purple," Uma snorted.

"That being said, your mother never did have much in the way of patience, at least when it came to suffering fools. Just slightly more than I do."

"See Ben! How many different ways—?"

"Adoption is a thing," Mal said, her voice flat and her green eyes flashing slightly in rage as she glared at Audrey. "Now drop it."

Mal remained silent and Hades sighed. That was another thing keeping him on edge—Mal rarely cried.

"You didn't cry?" Ben asked, looking over at Mal.

"Why would I?" Mal shrugged. "While the motto of the Isle is 'you cry, you die', a baby doesn't know that. But I probably knew I was safe with my dad."

Hades couldn't help but give Mal a sad smile. I couldn't keep you safe though, he thought.

She'd coo, she'd glare, she'd try and grab his finger if she was particularly annoyed. Almost anything except cry.

"Oh so the opposite of Emir?" Aziz asked with a chuckle.

Emir rolled his eyes but smiled at his brother. "I wasn't that bad."

"You once cried because the sun went behind a cloud." Aziz shook his head.

"Uh, H-Hades?"

"What?" Hades barked, turning toward his cowering minion with a glare.

"A c-call for you," Panic said, his knees knocking together out of either fear or habit, considering it was hard to be intimidating with a baby in one's arms, and the likelihood of getting hit with anything within arms' reach was low.

"You know that'd be interesting to see how far you could throw something while—."

"No," Mulan stated, looking at Shang.

"I was just saying it was interesting."

"I don't care. Su's the only one with young enough kids that you can reasonably hold and you know Yao would try to throw something while holding them."

"…that's a good point."

"From L-Lady P-Persephone."

"No, really? And I thought it was from Hera," Hades snorted in amusement.

Hades sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Watch Mal. If she cries, do what you need to so that she stops crying. I want no interruptions."

"I'm not even going to place a bet that there was an interruption," Macaria snorted.

Panic nodded frantically, taking Mal from Hades, and Hades made his way to another room before shutting the door. This room was completely empty but housed the most important thing to Hades.

"Feeling the love dad."

Well third most important.

"Oh that's nice!"

"You weren't even born yet Hadie!"

It housed the portal Persephone used to traverse between Auradon and the Isle.

"Oh…well then that is important," Hadie nodded.

"You know, I just had a thought," Persephone said, turning to her husband. "We should probably find someone who can maintain that. If anything happen to it…"

"And normally I'd agree with you Steph but for one thing."

"And what's that?"

"It was created by a God," Hades chuckled. "Say what you want about Olympus but they don't believe in shoddy workmanship."

The only good thing Zeus ever did, Hades thought as he smiled upon seeing his wife.

"Well and defeating Kronos," Poseidon pointed out.

"He only did that because our mother decided not to give him to our father to eat," Hades scoffed.

"Still if he hadn't been able to do that, we'd still be in our father's stomach and your children would not be here today."

Hades glowered but couldn't argue against that point.

Though the portal could be used to go back and forth, it was only ever fully open every six months. Outside of those months, it could only be used to open a looking glass; allowing them to see and hear each other but not fully embrace the other.

"Gods…I don't think I could handle not being able to embrace the person I loved for six months," Emma whispered. "That sounds like pure torture!"

Persephone, though, was the only one who could imitate a call as her powers were not forced into dormancy in Auradon nor were they forced into dormancy when she arrived on the Isle. It was lucky that the barrier was only designed to keep 'evil' magic from working.

"How exactly is magic defined as 'good' or 'evil'? Is it intent? Or was it just decided that everyone on the Isle is evil and therefore shouldn't get their magic?" Melody asked.

"Hades," Persephone smiled upon seeing her husband. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything but I wanted to see you. It's been so long since our last conversation."

"You are never an interruption," Hades told her.

"Aww!" Elle and Emma sighed, smiles gracing the faces of both princesses.

"How is life over in Boreadon? Still perfectly peaceful?"

Persephone shook her head in exasperated amusement at the nickname most of the Isle dwellers had given Auradon.

"Hey, we are not—!"

"Audrey, be honest. Does anything really happen in Auradon? Anything exciting I mean?" Ben asked, looking over at her.

"Ben!"

Mal though couldn't help the small smile that graced her lips. So, sounds like you're looking for an adventure Beastie Jr. Like mother, like son huh?

"Queen Belle has given birth to a healthy baby boy, as did Queen Ella, while Princess Aurora gave birth to a healthy baby girl and Queen Rapunzel has given birth to her fifth healthy baby girl. The royal announcements will be going out next week."

"Honestly, I don't know how Rapunzel did it," Ariel said, shaking her head. "Five kids at that point?"

"It is rather impressive," Mulan nodded.

Belle bit her lip, hiding a sad smile as she thought about the fact that Ben was the only child she had been able to give Adam. She loved her son, and she would always be grateful for him, but she always had a feeling Adam wanted a large family. Lots of kids running around after the ten years of isolation and only having Chip and his siblings to play with.

And he really couldn't do much with them considering they were teacups.

"If they're healthy, then why are they waiting to make the announcement?" Hades asked, not really caring about the royal gossip. With all the villains on the Isle, it would make sense that the birth rate in Auradon would spike. Not much else for the heroes to do.

"Dad, if you didn't care, why did you ask?" Mal asked.

"A man can't make conversation with his wife?"

Leah though bristled at what the text on the scroll seemed to be implying. The royals of Auradon were too refined to just spend their days doing…that.

"Anyone who would be interested in stealing them is on the Isle after all."

"And they should stay there," Leah muttered under her breath.

"Probably just a precaution," Persephone said. "After all, babies are quite susceptible to diseases; having no immune system of their own yet. Either that, or they just want a moment of peace with their children before getting hounded by the press for pictures."

"I can't speak for the other royals, but for me it was definitely the later," Belle said softly. "Of course, it helped that Ben inherited a tiny bit of the Beast enchantment so we could delay dealing with the press for a bit."

"Helped…scared us to death the first time we felt his temperature and found he was running warm so we frantically ran upstairs to put him in an ice bath," Beast said, moving his hands as if weighing the options.

Hades nodded; it would make sense that Persephone would know this as her sister Eileithyia was the goddess of childbirth and midwifery.

Wait, what was that she said about babies and disease? Hades thought, thinking of a specific baby in the other room, and tuning back into the conversation.

"So does that mean you don't listen to me dear?"

"Just agree with whatever she says, Lord Hades. That's what dad does if mom's mad," a young boy with brown hair spoke up.

"Neal!" Snow sighed.

Hades chuckled. "I've been around a time or two so I know what to do when Steph's mad but thanks for the advice."

"Really? Babies don't have their own immune systems?" Hades asked, making a mental note to maim Panic for not telling him this. The little imp had a three year old son, he would have known this. "So, let's say a baby was in an environment where disease was prevalent. How likely would it be that they would get sick?"

"Are they a Godling?"

"Considering I was asking about Mal, yes."

"Then not that likely," Persephone shook her head. "I probably scared you out of your wits with my answer back then, didn't you?"

"Let's just say I was a nervous wreck the day Mal's magic started to come in," Hades sighed.

"Probably very," Persephone said and gave her husband a kind smile. "Are you worried about the others on the Isle? I know many of them have given birth to their own kids this year."

Mal and Uma frowned slightly as they thought about the kids who had been able to leave the Isle. Just not in the way Mal had.

"You saw the updates to the registry?"

"Of course I did Hades!"

"Of course," Persephone nodded. "Eileithyia is the one who updates it after all, or Hera if Eileithyia is assisting with a birth. How does it feel?"

"Pardon?" Hades asked, his heart stopping for a moment. Did Maleficent actually…

"Mom?" Mal asked. "Would it have been better if Maleficent did put me under dad's name on the registry?"

Persephone sighed. "Looking back on it, I'd say no. Yes it was awkward between your father and I for a while but seeing it on the registry without any explanation would have been worse than the way I did find out."

"Being a great-uncle," Persephone elaborated, chuckling a little at the look on her husband's face. "I saw Ursula gave birth."

Ariel gave a sad smile as she watched Mal wrap her arm around Uma's shoulders. While she and her aunt would never truly have a familial relationship, the red haired Queen wished she had the ability to get to know her cousin.

Family was everything to Ariel after all—came with the territory of having six older sisters.

"Oh," Hades said, a little relieved that Persephone hadn't found out about Mal though the registry. Then again, he didn't know why he had thought any differently. Maleficent had named Mal after her, no sign of her God heritage to be seen in her name.

"That's not the case anymore," Mal grinned.

"That's right," Hades nodded. "Malinda Bertha…I still think you should have changed the middle name too."

Mal shook her head. "Half Auradon, half Isle. Just like Hadie and just like me."

Maleficent Bertha…Gods what a horrible name. How much of an ego trip did she have to be on to name Mal after herself?

"…the Bertha part's kinda pretty," Ashaki said, obviously trying to not offend anyone.

"We all know it's horrible," Mal told her. "No need to pretend."

"Hades?"

"Ah, sorry," Hades said upon hearing Persephone's prompting. "Must have gotten lost in thought."

"Over the idea of being a great-uncle?" Persephone chuckled. "Surely you're used to it by now? What with Triton having seven kids and all."

"The feeling of joy never goes away, no matter how many kids your child has," Poseidon said, smiling over at Ariel, Elle, and Melody.

"Well I'm sure I won't have much of a relationship with the little squidling so it doesn't matter," Hades chuckled. "What was Poseidon's reaction to learning he's a grandfather again?"

"Complete and utter joy," Zeus stated. "I don't think he stopped talking about it for a month."

Uma raised an eyebrow. "Even though I'm a VK?"

"Ursula's still my daughter, no matter her choices," Poseidon stated. "What's more, you are not your mother Uma. Even if I was disappointed in her choices, you're still my granddaughter."

"I wouldn't know, I haven't seen your brother in a while," Persephone said. "He's been visiting Atlantica as well as Ariel and Eric's kingdom. They just had a child after all."

Ariel and Eric gave sad smiles at the memory of Poseidon's visit. It had been a few weeks after Elle's birth and her diagnosis of Sirenomelia, not to mention all the surgeries Elle had gone under to get her legs unfused. Her legs had legitimately looked like a mermaid's tail upon her birth. Both Poseidon and Triton had come and, using the divine powers from Olympus, had granted the elder princess the ability to at least swim.

It was both a worry removed from Ariel's mind and something her doctors recommended to build what muscle she could in her legs.

Hades nodded, not really caring about the comings and goings of his brother. Though it would be funny to give him grief about being a great-grandfather if he ever got off this gods forsaken Isle.

"Whenever you want to 'give me grief' go right ahead brother," Poseidon said, giving his grandchildren a proud smile.

"Steph," Hades said, gathering his nerve. "About the registry…I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Persephone asked, looking at her husband in concern. Hades rarely used her nickname in conversation, preferring to use her full name. Hades took a breath and opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by a baby's wail.

"I thought you didn't cry?" Audrey sniffed.

"I was a baby," Mal rolled her eyes.

"A-Apologizes H-Hades," Panic said as he came in, holding Mal who had deemed that moment the perfect one to let out a rare cry. "I-I tried t-to get her to stop but—"

"Speaking of Panic, and I realize this is completely out of left field but…is he technically my son-in-law?"

"…I just accepted the fact that Vanessa is also my niece, making Virgil my nephew. Don't make me think any harder about that."

"Wait, I have a grandson?" The God of the Ocean asked. He knew that Panic had a son but there was a difference between knowing that fact and knowing that said son was another grandchild.

"We'll catch you up to speed."

"Hades?" Persephone asked as Hades snatched Mal from Panic's arms, causing the little imp to scurry out of the room. "Is that a baby?"

"No, it's a Cerberus," Hades said, rolling his eyes as he gently bounced Mal to try to get her to stop her caterwauling. "Of course it's a baby."

"Okay, thinking back I definitely deserved that snark," Persephone chuckled.

Estelle yipped softly.

"That's right boy, you're the best Cerberus there is," Mal grinned at her dog.

"You stole a baby?!"

"Not exactly new for him," Hera muttered.

"Is it really stealing if she's mine?" Hades asked before his brain could come up with a different response. He seemed to realize exactly what he said too late though as Persephone stiffened.

"That could have probably been said a bit more gently," Kristoff said softly.

"Sometimes you can't help what comes out of your mouth," Anna shook her head. "I once went on a three minute ramble about how Elsa looked 'beautifuler' than me and then tried to explain that she didn't look 'fuller' but that I meant she looked 'more beautiful'."

"Your sister is quite stunning but I don't think it's possible for her to be more beautiful than you."

Akiho grinned as he watched his parents interact, his dad pulling his mom close and gently kissing her forehead.

Even Mal seemed to realize the seriousness of the conversation as her wails quieted down to whimpers.

"Hey, something you're scared of!" Hadie chuckled.

"Storm cloud, you should know that when mom gets mad, you stop what you're doing," Mal shook her head.

"I'm not that bad Mal," Persephone said but she smiled in amusement.

"Agree to disagree mom," Mal said. "I've got two words for you. Mint. Plant."

"You have a child?" Persephone asked, her voice inquisitive yet hard. "One of the street rats from the Isle?

Aladdin sighed slightly as he heard that. No matter how old he got, the phrase 'street rat' would never sit right with him. He may have been born a street rat but it wasn't a title he had chosen for himself.

Did you finally take pity on one of them?"

"No," Hades said, not taking the obviously offered out. But he knew Persephone would find out sooner or later that Mal was biologically his. It would be better if it was sooner. "She's mine. By blood."

"I know I was upset," Persephone said softly. "But at least you had the courage to tell me to my face then rather than wait a month and have me find out upon arrival."

"I would never do that to you," Hades told her, gently kissing the top of her head.

"But it's not listed in the registry that you have a child," Persephone said, as if hopeful she had successfully proven him wrong. "Believe me, that would have been the talk of Olympus. One of the Big Three having a child? Zeus probably would still be talking about it."

"You got that right," Hera muttered. When it was announced that Persephone was pregnant, it was the only thing Olympus would talk about for what felt like eons.

Hades shook his head. "How far did you look on the registry?"

"Not very, Eileithyia only filled me in on what she thought was interesting considering I'll be back on the Isle next month anyway," Persephone told him. "Seeing your name would have been very interesting to her. She spent an hour talking about the fact that Jafar had a son."

"Bit behind the times there," Jay chuckled.

"Yeah mom, Jay's a year older than me," Mal nodded.

"She's listed under her mother's name," Hades said. "Maleficent."

"Say one word and you'll get a fireball," Mal threatened, pointing at Audrey.

Persephone froze, as if the word had struck her. "You had a child with Maleficent? But she wasn't pregnant when I was on the Isle last."

"If I had a list of things I'd rather not think about, that would probably make the top," Harry muttered.

"Fae pregnancy is shorter than a mortal pregnancy. It only lasted about six months," Hades sighed.

"Really?" Ben asked, interested. "I wonder how that works?"

"You're going to try to read a book on it aren't you?" Emir asked.

"No! Well…I mean…are there books on Fae pregnancy?"

"Ask Jane."

"Believe me, there were no feelings involved."

"I don't think Lady Persephone would care either way," Harry stated.

"I have to go," Persephone said suddenly, her voice hard. "I'll see you in a month."

"Steph…"

"Someone's in the dog house," Phillip Sr. muttered.

Persephone ended the call, leaving Hades staring at the wall where the portal resided. Shaking his head, he looked down at his daughter, who was looking back up at him; mischief clear in her bright green eyes.

"But…she's a baby," Belle said. "Babies can't have mischief in their eyes."

"You did that on purpose didn't you?" Hades asked, with no response but an innocent coo from Mal.

"Right dad," Mal shook her head. "Because I as a baby would be aware enough to purposefully cry and make Panic so desperate that he interrupted your call with mom."

Sighing, Hades couldn't help but chuckle. "So that was your step-mother. Hopefully she'll come around. I know one thing, she'll take her frustration out on me and not you."

"Heh," Jay chuckled. "Mali's got a non-wicked step-mother."

Mal whacked Jay over the head. "I don't have a step mother Jay. I have a mother."

Persephone would never take her anger out on an innocent child. Then again, one would think the heroes of Auradon wouldn't subject children to the same fate as their parents. Children who had not committed their parents' crimes.

"And that's why I want to bring the VKs to Auradon," Ben stated. "We're denying them a chance that the rest of Auradon gets if we continue to isolate them and treat them like their parents."

The sounds of stomachs rumbling filled the room and Hades could have smacked himself. Of course Mal was hungry!

"In my defense I'd only been raising Mal on my own for a week at that point," Hades stated.

"Panic!" Hades bellowed and the little imp came running. While the always nervous minion wasn't the best source of information, he was unfortunately the only other parent Hades had access to and could trust not to betray him.

"Hook?"

"Mama?"

"Jafar?"

"Gaston?"

Hades sighed. "As knowledgable as the Captain is, I'm not fond of his ideas of child rearing. Ursula and I have no relationship as is, Jafar I trust as far as I can throw and never in a million years."

If he went to any one else on the Isle, the risk of them finding out that Mal was his was too great. "What do we have in terms of food for Mal?"

"N-Not m-much, Hades," Panic responded. "I-I think t-the barge came in a-a few days ago t-though. There might be s-some food t-there."

Persephone looked over at Hades. "Oh thank us I only had a month to go. Seriously? The food barge for a baby?"

"Mal had to eat something," Hades shrugged, not noticing the confused yet worried looks some of the royals were giving each other.

"Well then go out there and find some," Hades growled and Panic ran off, hopefully to follow the command. Mal gigged and Hades had to chuckle.

"Glad I can amuse you dad," Mal shook her head.

"Oh you like that Mali?" He asked, looking down at his daughter, making his voice a little softer as to not scare her. "You like it when I yell at Panic? Come on, let's go see if I can't yell at him some more. Maybe I can yell at Pain as well, would you like that?"

"Dear you would have yelled at Pain and Panic regardless."

"True, but not if I had Mal in my arms," Hades said. The last thing he'd want to do would be to scare his child.

He's changed, Zeus thought but then pushed it aside. It was entirely possible that his older brother was merely acting.

The squeals coming from his daughter brought a smile to Hades' face and he walked out of the room to find his minions, temporarily forgetting about his wife's reaction to Mal.

Hopefully she would come around. Otherwise it would be a long six months when Persephone arrived.

"Mom came around though right?" Hadie asked.

"Would I be calling her mom if she didn't?" Mal asked him.

"Good point, good point."

"Mom, it's your turn," Ben said. Belle smiled and reached over to grab a scroll that was tied up with a red ribbon.