Chapter Four


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.

As always thank you all so much for the continued support! It's hard to believe a story I decided to do mainly because I was bored is now over fifty reviews! :D

danifan3000: I can tell you right now, Leah's not reading. I'll probably have it be a volunteer basis and I don't see her really volunteering to read.

Sorceress of Magic: Thank you so much! :D

Urmimala Hazra: Honestly, you're talking to the person who had family members feud over a television so I kinda like the bickering brothers. But I'm glad you're enjoying it! :D

Marcus Emrys: Honestly this is why Disney shouldn't adapt the Greek Myths. Do I love the movie? Yep. But Greek Myths don't exactly lend themselves to Disney entertainment.

CrystalKaouri: Oh thank you so much! I'm so glad you're enjoying it! :D

shortanamx: Thank you so much!

Lord of the A.U. Fanfiction: No worries, I just wanted to make sure I understood! I can definitely have that done!

AmethystDragon14: Oh yay! I like him too—I mean he's the grandfather of my favorite Disney princess so I have no choice! :D lol oh Gods that is a funny image!

Katie2001: Oh thank you!

twilightgirl587: Oh I'm so sorry about your cousin!

billyandkimfan1994: Yep it was Poseidon being confused about Panic.

GothicPheonix: Oh thank you! Yeah the Fates are the ones from the Disney movie but I used the names that they have in the myths. Mainly because they don't have names in the movie and just saying 'the Fates' made it seem like they were all talking at the same time.

lilyflower101: He really is!

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


Belle smiled and unfurled her scroll, the red ribbon fluttering to the ground by her feet. A ribbon that was quickly snatched up by a Cerberus who wanted to play.

"Honestly," Mal chuckled.

"It's fine Mal," Belle said with a small smile as she began to read.

It had been a month since his call with Persephone and Hades had not heard a single thing from his wife. Granted, he was sure that she was busy with preparing to relocate to the Isle for six months. But it would have been nice to talk to her.

"I'm sorry dear," Persephone said with a small sigh. She'd been busy trying to purchase everything she thought Mal would need while she was on the Isle. Unfortunately, she'd gotten so wrapped up in her mission, she'd forgotten to check in with Hades.

However, his attention had been diverted about five days before Persephone was due to return. The threat of Maleficent and the worry about his relationship with Persephone were both driven from his mind by the worst possible fear.

"What happened?" Ariel asked, clutching Eric's hand as tightly as she could. No matter what Hades had done, he was still her uncle. Well great-uncle. He was family was the point she was trying to get across. Family was everything…unless that family tried to attack her daughter.

Morgana could continue to freeze for all she cared but Mal hadn't done anything to earn her ill will.

"What do you mean she's sick?" Hades asked, glaring at Panic as he emerged from the lower level of the Underworld.

"What?" Hercules asked, looking over at Mal in concern.

"Eh, I was fine," Mal shrugged. She would never admit it but she was slightly touched by the concern Hercules was showing. Guess family did matter to the big lug after all. "I'm still here aren't I?"

Sure the saying was don't shoot the messenger but Hades was sure that saying didn't apply to worried fathers.

"Or mothers," Mulan nodded. She knew she'd be worried if she woke up one day and found Lonnie or Lil Shang sick.

"S-She's w-warm to the t-touch—"

Hades got up and walked over to Mal, frowning as he touched her forehead. Mal didn't seem bothered by the touch or by the warmth but Hades was. This didn't seem right. Granted, Hades had rarely been among mortal babies. Gods didn't get sick after all.

"That would explain why you didn't panic when Hadie started feeling warm," Persephone said, giving her husband a small smile. She had been so worried that the Isle had done something to her beautiful baby boy…

"Not my first rodeo dear," Hades chuckled.

Oh gods, what was that saying Apollo used to say whenever he was blathering on about something medicinal? Hades thought as he paced back and forth around his lair. Sweat a fever?

"Panic!"

"Y-Yes?"

"You actually listened to Apollo?" Zeus asked.

"Yes, contrary to popular belief I don't tune you lot out when you start talking," Hades shook his head.

Hades glared at the stuttering demon. He hated to do this but he had no choice; if he couldn't remember Apollo's advice, Hades knew he might make whatever Mal had worse and not better.

"It's 'feed a cold, starve a fever'," Belle said with a small sigh. "Mrs. Potts used to say that all the time when Ben was growing up."

"I need you to go and get Yen Sid. Don't tell him why, only that I need him."

"Yes sir!" Panic said, not stuttering for the first time that conversation and ran off. Hades sighed and shook his head. What had his life become that he was reliant on Panic for help?

"Well Virgil was a toddler and I was only a baby, so were Uma, Jay, and Harry. Oh and Hadie hadn't even been born yet! Dad, I think you've been hanging around Gaston too much. It's melting your brain."

"You know you shouldn't insult people who are bigger than you," Jay told her.

"Then I'd never get to insult anyone," Mal shrugged. "Sides, Dad knows I'm joking…right dad?"

"Of course Mal," Hades chuckled.

At least the wizard would be intelligent enough not to blab the fact that Mal was Hades' all over the Isle. The lone non-villain understood secrecy better than most of them.

I'll have to keep in contact with him. He's been supposedly helping other kids born to magical parents deal with being unable to use their magic. If any one would need assistance with that, it'll be the daughter of a God and Maleficent, Hades thought as he began to walk around his lair, bouncing Mal in his arms as a way to keep himself calm. Mal, meanwhile, was as cool as a cucumber; babbling away. It was probably just a bug after all. There wasn't a month that went by on the Isle where some snot nose rat wasn't sick.

Leah sniffed in disgust. You would never catch her Audrey near any of them.

"Those poor kids," Aurora said, her voice a near whisper.

But Persephone's words kept echoing in his head, like an ominous warning. Babies don't have their own immune systems.

"Pain!" Hades bellowed, needing to keep his thoughts in order before he began thinking about other parts of that conversation .

"I'm so sorry," Persephone said as she rested her head on Hades' shoulder, her two kids smiling at the interaction between their parents.

"It's in the past," Hades told her, lightly kissing her head.

"Coming, your most lugubriousness!" His purple minion called as he ran in. Hades couldn't help but smirk at the title, it was nice to be respected by someone.

"Hey! I respected you dad!"

"You were a baby Mali. I was probably referring to the idiots we lived with."

"Virgil wasn't that idiotic…"

Hades just shook his head.

"What medical supplies came in the latest shipment from Auradon?" Hades asked, turning to Pain. He didn't want to risk confusing him by using the nickname, even if he hated giving that place any kind of respect by using its proper name.

"You could have said across the bridge," Harry pointed out.

"But…the Isle is a part of Auradon," Ben said looking around at everyone in confusion. "Everyone always says the Isle is one of the nineteen points of Auradon. Why are we acting like it's a separate entity?"

"Because it is Bennyboo," Audrey said. "If it wasn't, why would there be a barrier?"

"Bennyboo?" Mal snorted in amusement. "I think I like 'Benji' better."

"There weren't any," Pain said. "At least, not any that were useable and the ones that were were swiped up by anyone who was able."

"Wouldn't the hospital have it?" Emma asked.

Uma and Mal looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

"What's a hospital?" Evie asked her…I guess it would be step-niece who just looked on in shock.

"You…you don't know what a hospital is?" Elle asked, her voice soft.

"We don't have one on the Isle," Mal shrugged.

"Adam, didn't we start the paperwork to set up a hospital?" Belle whispered.

"The day we started that paperwork was the day you…the day we lost Abigail," Adam whispered back. "It may have slipped my mind."

"What?!"

"I might have been mistaken!" Pain rushed to amend his statement. "I'll go check right now!"

"You do that!" Hades growled and his remaining minion rushed out of the lair, leaving only Hades and Mal, the later of whom broke the silence by giggling.

"You just love watching Pain and Panic scurry off in fear don't you Mali?" Hadie teased.

"You did the same thing storm cloud," Mal smirked.

"You're going to get tired of me yelling at them at some point you know?" Hades asked but only got a bit of mindless babble in response. "How are you so happy? Being hot to the touch like that would cause any other baby to scream their head off, that I'm sure of."

Adam sighed. Ben had done that, when the remnants of the Beast enchantment he had inherited started to come in when he was two. Gods the fever…they had panicked for days until Fairy Godmother examined him. It was her who suggested it could have been part of the Beast enchantment. And thankfully she was right.

There was no response from Mal, not that Hades expected one. She was barely a month old. Even Wonderbreath wasn't talking at that age.

"Wonderbreath? Really?" Meg asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Hades?" Panic called and Hades looked up from Mal to see the green annoyance and Yen Sid standing in the middle of his lair.

"Hey, Panic's not that bad Uncle Hades!" Uma said.

"That's because you don't have him constantly underfoot Uma," Hades said, shaking his head.

"You arrived faster than I thought," Hades said, inwardly impressed with Panic but making sure it did not show on his face.

"You have a good assistant," Yen Sid told him. "Would not take no for an answer even when he refused to say who was asking for me, though now I'm to assume it's you."

"No, really?" Ashaki chuckled. "I mean, it could be the other God holding the baby in the room."

"Which one of you taught her sarcasm?" Aladdin asked his two sons.

"Akiho," Emir smirked.

"I regret nothing!" The blond said with a grin.

"That's because you have no siblings to teach to be sarcastic."

"Well yeah! I'd have taught Ben but Chip beat me to it!"

"You'd be correct," Hades nodded and Panic ran out of the room. Presumably to help Pain but Hades found it was better if he didn't think about what they were doing. He'd be less likely to become enraged at them. Even if it did make Mal happy.

"Every father would do anything in their power to make their little girl happy," the man sitting next to Snow White nodded.

"Oh David," Snow smiled and kissed her husband's cheek.

"How can I help you today Lord Hades?" Yen Sid asked and Hades sighed before holding Mal up to him.

To everyone's surprise, Chip burst out laughing.

"I'm sorry!" The former teacup said, trying to control himself. "I'm just…picturing Yen Sid's face as Lord Hades holds up a baby with no explanation…."

"Should we worry about him?" Harry muttered to Jay.

"Eh. He's got a point."

"Her temperature just started going up earlier today," Hades explained as Yen Sid looked at him quizzically. "She wasn't fussing so I—"

"A parent's natural inclination is to be worried," Yen Sid told him, feeling Mal's forehead himself. "Hmm, I do agree. She is quite warm. I'm assuming she's yours?"

"But didn't he say that it was a parent's natural inclination to be worried?" Aladdin asked, Chip's laughter finally settling down. "Why would he ask if Mal was Lord Hades if he assumed that Lord Hades was a parent?"

"You. I like you," Hades nodded. Never mind the fact that he and Wonderbreath had worked together to defeat him and Jafar. The street rat was asking the right questions.

"And dad just went on an hour long rant and he doesn't know why," Jay shook his head.

"You steal one kid and all of a sudden people assume you're kidnapping babies left and right," Hades grumbled before clearing his throat. "Yes, she's mine."

"And proud of it!" Mal grinned.

"Same!" Hadie nodded his head.

"Are high temperatures normal for gods in infancy?"

Hades paused. That was a good question. "I don't rightly know. My father Kronos ate me when I was born along with most of my siblings, my brother Zeus being the only one of us to avoid that fate. Obviously I wasn't around when he was an infant."

"Gods and I thought the Dragon was bad," Mal muttered.

"But you did meet his son," Yen Sid pointed out and Hades had to bite back a growl at the reminder of his nephew. "Was he warmer than a mortal baby would have been?"

"You know, I didn't really notice," Hades said, his face darkening at the memory. "I was a bit more preoccupied with the finger the little brat had just crushed."

"So that's where Herkie gets it from!" Hyllus grinned.

Yen Sid nodded as he continued to feel Mal's forehead and neck. "Lord Hades, forgive the intrusion but is it safe to say Lady Persephone is not this babe's mother, considering she appears to be but a month old and Lady Persephone is still in her six months off Isle?"

"Way to open that can of worms Yen Sid," Neal muttered.

Hades glared at the wizard for a minute before stiffly nodding his head once, not wanting to think about the conversation he'd had with Persephone again.

"In order to be certain in my hypothesis, I'll need to know the identity of the mother," Yen Sid said. "You'll have my word that it'll stay between you and me."

Hades snorted, a person's word meant next to nothing on the Isle. However, Yen Sid was the only non-villain on the Isle; a 'gift' bestowed onto them by King Beastie.

"Can we exchange that gift for something that's actually useful?" Harry asked.

"Yen Sid's useful," Uma and Mal said.

"Yeah if you've got magic. For those of us without…"

"Oh yeah. Good point."

Yen Sid was good to his word, mainly because he rarely spoke to someone unless it was in the classroom or in a one on one setting.

"Maleficent," Hades said shortly and Yen Sid nodded.

"You know, I think he was the only one on the Isle who knew and he kept his trap shut," Mal noted.

"Why didn't we go to him when Mal got kidnapped?" Persephone whispered to Hades. "If he knew?"

"We were worried parents and didn't think about that," Hades whispered back.

"Then, and I can not be certain of this so I would recommend that you watch her for a few days, but it would appear that this is not due to a fever."

Hades stared at the wizard in slight confusion. "She's blazing hot. How could that be related to anything but an illness?"

Yen Sid straightened up and looked at him. "Think it over. The answer may appear obvious once you do."

"We can do without the vagueness," Phillip Sr. muttered and Aurora looked over at him. "What? I may not care much for Maleficent but it's clear that Mal is not Maleficent's. Even if she was, I wouldn't wish a child to be ill or in pain just because I wasn't fond of their mother."

"How did I marry such a prince?" Aurora asked, kissing his cheek.

"We were betrothed and just lucked out that we're also True Love," Phillip chuckled.

"You know I could do without the vagueness," Hades told him but paused for a second. "This temperature, it couldn't be related to her magic. She's a month old."

"She's part Fae," Yen Sid stated. "Unless you feel comfortable asking Maleficent about her infancy, we must go off of what we know. As well, it's safe to assume that Gods come into their powers early in life, going off of the comment you made about your finger. Until more symptoms arrive, it is safe to assume that your daughter is not suffering from any illness. At least if she is, it is not one I'm familiar with."

"You know, it'd be nice if Fairy Godmother was here. She'd be able to answer any questions we had about the Fae."

"You just want to ask her if there's any books you can read about the Fae don't you Benji?"

Ben flushed as Chip chuckled.

Hades wanted to explode with rage; this was the best the wizard could come up with? Yet it was no use. Yen Sid had a point; Mal had no other symptoms that could be attributed to any illness.

There would be nothing he could do but wait.

"Yen Sid," Hades said and the wizard turned to face him. "I'll contact you if anything changes."

Yen Sid nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything else."

With that, the wizard turned on his heel and left; leaving only Hades and Mal standing in the room.

"You're going to keep me on my toes, aren't you?" Hades asked, rocking Mal a little. Shaking his head, Hades began moving to the guest room. "Come on, let's make up the bed here. Something tells me your dad's still in the Cerberus house with your step mom."

"You still keep me on my toes Mali," Hades told her.

"Hey, at least I'm not boring," Mal grinned.

The five days seemed to go by faster than Hades expected and before he knew it, the day of Persephone's arrival had come. Not that Hades realized it of course. In fact, he missed his wife's arrival completely.

"Were…were you alright Uncle Hades?" Macaria asked, startling Hades. It was clear to her that her uncle cared for her aunt. Even loved her. A fight wouldn't have prevented him from greeting Persephone. But being depowered on an Isle full of villains…

"I was fine," Hades said after a minute and Macaria smiled. Mal and Uma looked at each other with raised eyebrows, more than a little taken aback by that.

"Hades?" Persephone called as she stepped through the portal; her arms ladened with bags despite the fact that she kept six months worth of stuff on the Isle at all times. While she was still upset with her husband, the brief glimpse she had of Mal had warmed her heart; and she wasn't as mad as she had been when she ended the call with Hades. It wasn't as if he was living with Maleficent.

"Never put that image in my head again!" Hades exclaimed. "Ugh!"

"At least you just have to picture it! Imagine actually doing it!" Mal shot back.

"You poor thing."

Ben frowned. Though to others it would seem like the father and daughter were just joking around, Lord Hades seemed completely serious to him.

But more importantly she was not going to let an innocent baby suffer for the actions of her father.

"Oh look, someone who knows children aren't their parents!" Hades exclaimed, giving a look to Belle and Beast.

"Lady Persephone!" Pain exclaimed as he walked past the portal room.

"Hello Pain," Persephone said, giving the little imp a kind smile. "Have you seen Hades? He's normally here when I arrive."

I hope he isn't avoiding me, she thought with an inward frown. Isn't it supposed to be me giving him the cold shoulder? Though I guess I already did that with a month of not calling him.

"How often do you go between calls Aunt Steph?" Uma asked.

"I think the longest was a week," Persephone said with a small smile. "And that was because of a week long council of the Gods."

"If that'd gone any longer, I've no doubt Demeter would have killed one of us," Poseidon nodded. "Most likely Zeus."

"He's in the den," Pain said, pointing in that direction. Persephone nodded and thanked Pain, before going to greet Hades. The sight she saw had to be the most adorable one she thought possible.

Estelle yipped as he wagged his tail, as if wanting to know what the image was that Persephone had seen.

"Hold your Pegasuses boy," Mal chuckled.

Her husband, the big scary lord of the underworld, was lying on their battered sofa fast asleep; Mal sleeping on his chest.

"Oh how cute!" Snow White said, her voice almost a squeal as Mal's cheeks turned a pale red. She didn't do cute.

"I hope there's a photo," Ariel sighed. Moments like that were so fleeting, they should be preserved…there was at least two albums of pictures of Eric napping with one of the girls on his chest.

Setting her bags down as quietly as she could, Persephone fished a camera out of her pocket and snapped a quick picture. She knew, at one point, they were going to want to have that.

"I love looking at that photo," Hadie grinned.

The flash from the camera, though, seemed to wake Hades as he groaned a little and opened his eyes. "Steph?" He asked, blinking the sleep away.

"Hello dear," she said, leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek. He looked so adorable, with his sleep tossed hair and his eyes still blinking away the sleep, that she couldn't resist.

"Uh huh," Hades smirked.

"Oh don't give me that look," Persephone chuckled. "You know I love you no matter what."

"I'm sorry, can we go back to the Lord of the Underworld being called adorable?" Emir asked. That wasn't normally a word one would use to describe Hades after all.

"My dad can be adorable!" Hadie exclaimed.

"Thank you Hadie," Hades muttered, glaring at his younger brothers who were chuckling.

"I'm home."

Hades grinned. No matter how long it had been since the deal was struck, he still loved hearing his wife say those words.

"Are you still—"

"Shh," Persephone said, resting a finger to Hades' lips. She was still upset, of course she was. But she didn't want to have that conversation around Mal while she was sleeping. As the saying went, you never wake a sleeping dragon. Or baby.

All the mothers in the room nodded at that. No matter how many little tidbits of parenting advice they got, there was one that remained consistent: never wake a sleeping baby.

Though in this case, I guess it would be a baby dragon, Persephone thought before she could stop it and mentally shook her head to clear her thoughts. The little baby on her husband's chest didn't deserve it.

Mal gave her mother a small smile, a smile that Persephone readily returned.

Brushing her hand over the light waifs of purple hair that were starting to grow in, Persephone frowned as she felt Mal's forehead.

"Hades, she's—"

"You're a bit late to the party," Hades said, covering a yawn with his mouth. "Yen Sid believes it's her magic, not an illness."

"You spoke to Yen Sid?" Persephone asked, slightly taken aback.

"She was hot to the touch, Steph. What was I going to do?" Hades told her. "I mean, I would have talked to you but there was that whole month without contact you were doing."

Persephone nodded, not wanting to comment lest she raise her voice and therefore wake Mal. "Should she be put down for a nap?"

"I'm pretty sure Lord Hades already did that!" Melody said with a small giggle.

"I thought I did," Hades chuckled and carefully got up off the sofa. Thankfully the shifting didn't wake Mal and Hades was able to carry her to her room without much trouble. Setting her down in her crib, Hades closed the door.

"You're to get me immediately if she wakes," he growled to Panic, who nodded. Persephone was impressed that Panic had seemed to know he was needed.

"Considering what they were like before, I don't blame you for being impressed," Meg told Persephone.

The two of them walked back to the den, where Persephone had left her bags.

"Steph, what is all this?" Hades asked as he unpacked them.

"Formula, diapers, toys, medicine if it's ever needed," Persephone told him. "A few onesies I thought were cute but had to get multiple sizes in case they were too big or too small for Mal."

Hades looked over at his wife in shock.

"That does explain the rumor I heard that Lady Persephone was with child," Aurora nodded.

"Oh you heard it too?" Jasmine asked.

"I heard the same thing!" Ariel exclaimed.

Mulan sighed. "And this is why I'm happy to hang out with Yao, Ling and Chen-Po," she muttered to Shang. "Honestly. Why can't the Goddess live her life?"

"Well probably because there're no enemies to fight and we're pretty much all past the age to produce children," her husband muttered back.

"What?" Persephone asked.

"Nothing," Hades told her, going back to unloading the bags.

"Smart move, very smart move," Kristoff muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Anna asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing!"

"You honestly thought I would take my anger toward you out on Mal?" Persephone asked, aghast. "Hades—"

"You turned Minthe into a mint plant because I liked her," Hades said. "Excuse me if I was unsure how you'd react toward the child I had with another woman."

"The child would have been fine, especially since Mali was and still is so amazing," Persephone stated. "Maleficent dies though."

"Can we watch?" Mal and Uma asked.

"Can we sell tickets?" Chip, Emir, and Akiho chimed in.

Persephone sighed. There wasn't much she could say to that. "Minthe thought herself to be superior to me," Persephone said. "An ego that large needed to be checked. Mal, though, did not ask to be born. She is innocent in all of this."

Adam frowned. It was strange but seeing a day of the life of someone on the Isle, a child no less…it brought back the arguments that Belle used to make when the Isle was first founded. How children shouldn't be punished for the crimes of their parents.

And yet…he had been but a child when the Enchantress cursed him.

"Does this mean—?"

"You're still in the Cerberus house," Persephone told him but gave him a small smile. "But I am looking forward to spending time with Mal."

"Somehow the Underworld survived," Uma chuckled.

"Hopefully the Underworld is still standing with the two of you in league with each other," Hades chuckled. Things were starting to look up a bit.

"Well that's good," Belle said with a small smile. She wasn't going to mention the fact that in literature, whenever someone said things were starting to look up…

"Can I read next?" Lonnie asked.

"I don't see why not," Ben grinned. Lonnie grinned back and reached over to grab another scroll, this one tied with a gold ribbon.