Chapter Ten
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.
*blows celebratory horns* Guys, we reached 200 reviews! In ten chapters! Thank you guys so much—you've no idea how thankful I am to you all! Hopefully I continue to provide the quality of chapters you all have been enjoying!
KyHughes: Thank you so much—and yeah it was pretty sad wasn't it?
Tracie Adams: Yeah I think Mal and Hades are going to talk in the reading portion soon.
Urmimala Hazra: Thank you so much! And yeah Demeter can definitely kick Zeus' butt! :D
shortanamx: Thank you!
midnight rose 112358: Trust me, I hate her too! Though considering her introduction in canon was her verbally berating two sixteen year olds, I think we're in the clear to hate her! :D
hazradriza: Glad you're looking forward to all the chapters! So for right now, Ben is still in the contract since everyone was pulled just as Mal, Jay, Carlos and Evie arrived in Auradon.
61394: Because Leah is a pest and never rested until she finally broke Belle and Adam's will toward the contract.
CrystalKaouri: …not going to lie, I would pay to see something like that. Honestly you're right everyone but Ben in Auradon lives under the cloud of 'everything is awesome' like the Lego Movie (I know it's not Disney but it's the only movie I could think of off the top of my head like that. I like your Arthur—plus by this point he has a kid in the Descendants universe (canonical—his name is Artie) and the image of Fairy Godmother getting whacked with Merlin's walking stick is funny! :D
Marcus Emrys: Aww! Now I want to see that too! Heh Mal would probably love the chocolate frogs in all honesty! :D
Isabelly Silva Sousa: Oh I'm so glad you're enjoying the story!
AmethystDragon14: Yay! Yep, the start of Mal coming home! :D
DS Rider: *glances over at Kingsman 2: Golden Circle* I mean it's not Disney, but it's got said meat grinder!
billyandkimfan1994: I'm pretty sure everyone wants to punch Leah or has at one point in their Descendants watching lifespan!
princesstwyla06: Oh thank you! Yeah it was a little sad but I'm glad you're looking forward to the next chapter!
twilightgirl587: Mal wouldn't be Mal without the bluntness! Yeah, we got a ways to go before that occurs—but until then, more fun can ensue! :D
Guest: Oh Demeter won't be happy in the slightest when she finds that out!
SnowWhite45: Is…is such a thing possible? To hate someone more than Freddy? Lol honestly I hate them at the same level!
danifan3000: Aww, poor Mal! Also…you've given me a story idea!
Gigi18: Oh that will be so much fun to write, but we've got a while before that part I'm afraid!
Mixer2002: That would be interesting to see, not going to lie!
Katie2001: Oh thank you! Glad you liked it!
Dance love 2007: Thank you so much!
BlackWidowAndCapRule: Thank you! :D
Anonymous Reader: I have seen the HSM trilogy—this'll date me but I was in middle school when the first movie came out and I was either a junior or senior in HS when the third one came out!
medical ranger: It's a long ways away unfortunately!
TR Lara Croft: I definitely agree with you there!
Guest: Yeah, well 'unofficial' heir in that she's his heir but it's just a verbal agreement. There's nothing in writing.
EllaBSinging: Oh thank you so much!
Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think! :D
Elle smiled as her sister handed her a scroll. "Thanks Mel."
"No worries," Melody smiled back at her and went to go sit back down as Elle untied the scroll and got started reading.
It turned out Hades didn't have too much longer to wait, as the day wore on. The ebb and flow of customers was at a pretty steady stream until an hour before Hades 'closed' for the day. He never officially closed up shop and most knew that there were prepared dishes in the kitchen that people could take from if needed.
"Dad, that's a practice that needs to keep going," Mal nodded.
"Oh yeah, the crew's found that to be a lifesaver," Uma agreed.
"Or you know when one of us gets locked out for the night," Jay shrugged.
Aladdin looked at the older boy in shock. "I'm sorry what?"
Jay looked over at him. "Exactly what I said. If Harry, Uma, or I get locked out of our homes, we'll go over to Lord Hades' restaurant and grab one of those prepared meals."
"The clubhouse has nowhere to store food after all," Uma stated.
Hades sighed. Those prepared plates were meant to help the kids of the Isle but he didn't think they would have to help his kid. He was more than happy to of course. He just wish they weren't needed.
Where those dishes were kept, though, was a secret only a select few knew. Hades obviously was one of them, considering he ran the place. Panic was another, and Hook was the last person who knew.
Hades wasn't exactly thrilled to share that information with the pirate but in exchange for that and letting him and his allies eat for free, Hades got his orders from Hook's shop free of charge.
"Let me guess, you can't get something for nothing?" Elle asked.
"Exactly!" Uma nodded.
The front door clanged open and Hades didn't bother to look up. He knew, despite there only being one option, that most villains still took their sweet time ordering their food. Hades didn't mind—he just charged them extra for that. There was never a price on the board so no one ever tried to fight him on it.
Leah shook her head. Dastardly, trying to cheat his customers. The only positive about the whole thing is that he's trying to cheat villains!
They all knew the motto of the Isle: life ain't fair. Hades just happened to like teaching it to the adults who hadn't learned it yet.
"So what adults needed to learn that lesson?" Lonnie asked.
"My money's on low level villains who thought themselves more important than they truly were, right dad?" Mal asked.
Hades nodded. The 'high level' villains never came into his restaurant since they could easily get the food from the barge.
"What's bakaliaros?" Mal's voice called out, sounding out the word slowly as if it was foreign to her.
"Oh dad can make some great bakaliaros!" Hyllus grinned.
Hades looked over at Hercules. "You cook?"
Hercules shrugged. "I grew up mortal after all. It had been an interesting experience, what with my strength but I learned," he said. Even after all these years he wasn't sure if it was okay referring to his adoptive parents as 'mom and dad' around his parents. He didn't want to bring up bad memories.
Considering its Greek background, it probably was. Hades' heart clenched and he took a deep breath before looking out the window that allowed him to see out to the front of the house from the kitchen. Frowning when he didn't see anyone, Hades made his way from the kitchen to the front counter. Looking down, he had to hold back a chuckle as he saw Mal. No wonder he hadn't seen her, she was so short that the counter had completely hidden her from view.
"Dad!" Mal exclaimed, a pale flush to her cheeks, as Uma and Harry burst out laughing. Jay just shook his head in amusement.
"Oh yes, sorry Mal. Let me go and revise my observations from over ten years ago!" Hades shook his head.
"Thank you!"
"That was sarcasm."
"It's a fish dish," he said, leaning on his forearms as he rested on the counter, looking at her. "Basically just fried fish."
Mal rolled her eyes. "If I wanted fried fish, I'd have gone to Ursula's chip shoppe. That's all she ever has."
"And at the time fish was all Uncle Hades' restaurant had too!" Uma chuckled, still amused by the previous paragraph.
"Well that's the option for the week. Take it or leave it," Hades told her, holding back an offer to invite her to eat back at his home.
"So why didn't you?" Phillip Sr. asked. Had that been Audrey or Phil, he'd have scooped them up in his arms and hightailed it out of there…but then again, he hadn't spent time on the Isle.
"I'm sure it'll explain soon enough," Hades sighed.
Maleficent never told her about you, that's clear as day. Take it slow otherwise you're going to risk chasing her off, Hades thought as Mal bit her lip softly, clearly thinking about it.
"Fine," Mal scoffed. "I'll take some. To go."
"Fair enough," Hades nodded and walked back into the kitchen. Most villains took their order to go since the front of house was too small to feasibly fit more than fifteen tables. That didn't mean Hades didn't feel his heart sink when he heard Mal say that though.
"Most villains also took it to go because they preferred eating in their territory," Mal added. "Dad's restaurant might be in neutral territory but that didn't mean you wanted to linger."
He didn't know what was crueler: the years of only seeing Mal through the ember or getting these brief glimpse of her before she ran off again.
"Why not both?" Eugene asked.
"We know. You like him too," Persephone sighed as Hades opened his mouth.
Eugene grinned. "You hear that Blondie, Lord Hades likes me!"
"Yeah I don't think I like him anymore," Hades shook his head.
"Oh come on!" Eugene exclaimed and Hades chuckled.
Quickly getting to work, Hades mentally did an inventory of what was remaining in his pantry. He had enough fish to make it through a busy week, or at least he had enough that an extra piece of fish wouldn't go amiss.
"Couldn't you get some more from Captain Hook if you ran out?" Alexandria asked.
"Probably. I never found out though," Hades told her.
Making up his mind, he battered and fried three pieces of fish; letting the batter get a nice golden brown before pulling them out of the fryer.
Blotting the fish so that they weren't too oily and potentially led to the bag breaking, Hades wrapped them up and stuck them into a paper bag. For the first time since he opened the doors to the restaurant, Hades wished the dish took longer to make just so he could spend more time with Mal.
"Overcook a piece of fish so she stays longer?" Emma threw out there.
"But then Lord Hades has less fish for the week," Lonnie pointed out.
"That was quick," Mal said as Hades walked back to the counter.
"Yeah well it doesn't take that long to fry three pieces of fish," Hades told her.
Mal looked over at the sign that listed the dish of the week. "Sign says two pieces," she said with a suspicious edge to her voice that seemed out of place on a five year old.
"Why did I write the amount of fish on the sign?" Hades muttered.
Belle, though, couldn't help the small smile that came to her as she thought about a younger Ben pointing out a spelling error a shop had on a promotional sign. It was strange but in a strange way she almost hoped the purple haired girl and her son would become friends.
"Sign's wrong," Hades told her.
"Then change it."
"Honestly, no respect for adults—."
"Mother, stop it," Aurora said gently but firmly. "Just stop it."
Hades couldn't help but chuckle at the demand. He knew that if that was anyone else, they'd have found themselves tossed out on the street and their meal shoved where the sun didn't shine. But to have it come from a five year old, Hades' five year old, there was something endearing about it.
"Five year olds can make anything endearing," Kit said with a chuckle.
"That's certainly the truth," Eugene nodded.
"I'll get right on that," Hades told her with a smirk and Mal seemed to stand up a bit straighter, as if proud that she had successfully given a command.
"Oh! How adorable!" Snow White beamed.
"I don't do 'cute' and I don't do 'adorable'," Mal muttered, the flush returning to her cheeks.
Agree to disagree there, Ben thought and then shook his head. Whoa, where'd that thought come from? You're with Audrey! Remember the contract? A King keeps his promises! Even…even if a girl appears who looks exactly like the girl who shows up in your dreams for the past year.
"How much?"
"Pardon?" Hades asked, pausing as he had turned to go back into the kitchen to clean up.
"How much for the food?" Mal elaborated, rolling her eyes and clearly annoyed she had to repeat herself.
Evan nodded. It was certainly annoying as the 'baby' of the family having to constantly repeat yourself because people were talking over you. Sure it wasn't exactly the same thing but he knew where Mal was coming from.
Hades turned and faced her again. "Can't you read?" He asked, pointing to the fine print at the bottom of the Order of the Week sign, quite aware of the fact he had asked that question of a five year old.
"Some five year olds are quite avid readers. Ben was," Belle said.
"Belle, you read to him before he could even talk. Of course he'd be an avid reader," Chip chuckled.
"And he's still smarter than Fish for Brains," Harry shook his head.
"We get it Harry, you hate Gil," Uma sighed.
"Uma, he probably couldn't pour water out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel."
Persephone had insisted that the children of the Isle be able to get food whenever they needed it and money was one resource they never had a lot of.
"Why have money when you can just take what you want?" Jay shrugged.
Mal chuckled. "If you want it, take it and if you can't take it, break it!"
"That's kinda mean don't you think?" Jane said, her voice soft.
Uma shrugged. "It's the Isle. If you're nice, you're perceived as weak."
Mal nodded slightly, remembering the time she helped a goblin pick up a basket of apples he had dropped when she was five. Unfortunately she had made that decision in the presence of Maleficent who knocked the basket over once more and berated her in public about being a disappointment. Thankfully she had somehow escaped without a 'lesson' from the Dragon.
The adults paid, or they worked out a deal with Hades if they didn't have the money on them. The kids, though, never asked for this life. They never did anything to earn being locked on an Isle.
"Oh look it's almost like how Leah and Stefan didn't invite Maleficent to Aurora's christening and yet Aurora was the one to suffer!" Rowyn spoke up.
"Or how Lord Zeus was the one who angered Lord Hades yet it was Hercules who ended up paying for it," Rose nodded.
Rapunzel sighed and looked at Eugene. "You had to pass along your sarcastic trait didn't you?"
Regardless of policy, I wasn't going to charge Mal anyway, Hades thought as Mal looked at the sign. It's not like I'd lose any money, giving away a free meal. Besides, no one's here so it's not like anyone would be able to accuse me of being weak or accuse Mal of taking charity.
"If anything you'd probably look like you were trying to curry favor with Maleficent," Uma pointed out.
"Ugh, you're right," Mal made a face.
"Good thing that'll never happen," Hades stated.
Mal looked back at Hades and eyed the bag of food as if it housed a bomb and not three pieces of fried fish. "What's the catch?"
"Cod, if Hook is to be trusted."
"Oh Gods!" Emir chuckled.
"What?" Hades asked. "I thought it was good!"
"That was such a dad joke," Akiho nodded with a smile.
Hades looked at the Arendelle heir in confusion. He does know I'm a dad right?
Just smile and nod Hades, Poseidon thought to him through the mental link. The mortals are strange sometimes. Even I have to admit that and I have one as a grandson-in-law.
Mal rolled her eyes at what Hades thought to be a pretty good joke. "Everything's got a catch," she said and Hades sighed as he heard the distrust in her voice. Mal was only five, she shouldn't have been so suspicious of the world. What had Maleficent done?
"You know the offer of my sword is still available…"
"We're not going to the Isle to stab Maleficent," Aurora said firmly, looking over at her husband.
"Well, now you can say that's not true," Hades said, leaning on the counter once more and holding the bag at a height that was low enough for Mal to reach but high enough as to avoid her getting insulted. "Ask around, that's been the policy since this place was started."
"I did," Mal said as most of the AKs looked over at her, inquiring expressions on their faces like they wanted to ask but were too polite to ask. "They all said the same thing—that if Lord Hades said that was the policy, then that was the policy."
"Ah the fact that they scare so easily amuses me," Hades grinned.
"But what if that wasn't the policy?" Audrey asked. "I mean, the customer's always right after all."
"Oh thank Gods Tiana's not here," Eugene muttered under his breath. His fellow 'Learning to be Royal' club member would have greeted them to an hour long lecture about how much that phrase needed to be banned.
Mal though just raised an eyebrow. "It's dad's restaurant. He sets the policy."
"Audrey, who taught you that?" Aurora asked.
"It's what Grammy always says," Audrey shrugged and Aurora sighed. Of course.
Mal still seemed a little hesitant but grabbed the bag from Hades and walked out, not saying another word. Hades shook his head and went back to the kitchen to clean up. He couldn't help but feel like he was floating on cloud nine—he had actually had a conversation with Mal.
Zeus held back a sigh as he glanced at his older brother. He had never told anyone this but after his first conversation with Hercules, when he removed his presence from the status and was firmly aware of his surrounding again, he'd had that same feeling for about an hour.
Maybe…maybe he was wrong not to help? But there wasn't anything he could do now though.
Granted he didn't know if he could classify it as much of a conversation but after five years of only seeing her through the ember, Hades would take what he could get.
You should have just taken her to the Underworld, he thought as he began to clean up from the day's service.
Oh yes, the same Underworld where Maleficent's minions had snatched her before?
It would have been a private area where you could have told her who you are. She deserves to know.
"And she found out somehow!" Hadie added.
"Yeah, considering she calls Lord Hades 'dad'," Dizzy nodded and then paused, looking at Mal.
Mal chuckled. "Yes Dizzy. Hades is my dad."
"Uh Mal? Should you be—?"
"Uma, any target on my back that comes from this is removed by one fact."
"Which is?"
"I'll be in Boreadon and Freddy and Zevon are still on the Isle."
"Neat!" Dizzy exclaimed, cutting off what Uma was going to say. "Can you cast fireballs like he can? Oh, can your hair turn to fire?"
"Yes on the fireballs, not sure on the hair thing."
Hades shook his head as he continued to clean up the kitchen. While Mal definitely deserved to know, it was too soon. Besides, Hades didn't want to risk Maleficent hurting Mal because of it or preventing Mal from seeing him again.
"Maleficent also forbid me from going to the docks and I still went," Mal shrugged but couldn't help but smile at her father's concern.
"That just proves you're insane," Uma told her.
"You're my cousin, You share my insanity."
Wiping down the counter and tossing the rag in the sink, Hades couldn't help but smile. He had thought that the restaurant was a waste of time, something that Persephone was doing to take her mind off of Mal. He was only helping to ensure it stayed up and that no one messed with it when Persephone was off the Isle.
Now, though? He wouldn't hear a negative thing about this place.
"That explains the spoiler comment from earlier," Kristoff chuckled.
"Still like you Reindeer King," Hades smiled. "You've got a brain in that head."
"You're going to 'adopt' all the Auradon Royals aren't you?" Persephone sighed.
"No," Hades shook his head. "Not Beastie."
Closing the front door and flipping the sign from 'open' to 'closed' even though he knew full well anyone who wanted to go in would just ignore the sign, Hades couldn't help but give a little whistle as he strolled back to the Underworld. His obvious good mood seemed to scare the underlings more than his negative moods as the streets were completely barren.
"Okay I can have good moods people!" Hades exclaimed as most of the people in the room stared in shock.
"We know dear," Persephone said soothingly.
"Steph?" Hades called out as he stepped into his lair. He was thankful that this wasn't one of Persephone's six months off the Isle. This was news that he had to share in person.
Persephone smiled and kissed Hades on the cheek. "If you had waited to tell me until I got back, I wouldn't have been happy."
"I know," Hades nodded. "But…I wanted to hug you when I gave you the news."
"In the kitchen!" Persephone called back to him. Hades grinned and rushed to the kitchen, where his wife was elbow deep in suds and dishes.
"You know if Lady Persephone can do all those dishes, you can put your cereal bowl in the dishwasher," Lucy muttered to Kitty.
"Decided to do a deep clean?" Hades asked, chuckling at the sight.
"If your minions knew how to clean a gods forsaken dish, we wouldn't have run out of spoons this morning," Persephone grumbled, brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes and leaving a small trail of suds on her cheek.
Hades smiled at the memory. If he was being honest, Steph had never looked better than she had at that moment.
Hades, though, continued to grin; his wife's bad mood failing to dampen his good one.
"Which is really strange to think about considering normally Hades is the gloomy one and Persephone's a ball of sunshine," Poseidon chuckled.
"Honestly it's like a cat and a dog live together," Meg shook her head.
"I can hear you nut-Meg!"
"What's going on?" Persephone asked, noticing the grin on her husband's face. Hades didn't answer but instead closed the distance and enveloped Persephone in a hug. Spinning her around, Hades had to laugh as Persephone let out a surprised squeak.
"…did someone get that on video?"
"No," Hades said, looking at his little brother.
"Hades, do you know how rare it is that something like that occurs?" Poseidon asked.
"Hmm, maybe don't imprison me on an Island of villains and you would have actually seen it Poseidon," Hades shook his head. Despite the slight irritation he couldn't be mad at his brother. Not when he provided so much food to the Isle.
Mal though couldn't help but smile at her father's reaction to just seeing and talking to her.
"Hades!" Persephone exclaimed. "What's happened? Wait, did Maleficent die? Is that what's got you in such a good mood?"
"If only," Leah muttered under her breath.
"Wait, that was your first thought?" Demeter asked her daughter.
"Hades comes to you in a good mood, what do you think?" Persephone said with a slight shrug.
"That something happened to embarrass Zeus."
"Oh that is a good one."
Hades shook his head and spun Persephone around so that she faced him. "No, the dragon's still alive. But my good mood is in relation to her, as odd as that is to say. In fact, you could say my good mood is a relation of Maleficent's."
"Nope! Sorry dad you're wrong!" Mal shook her head. "The only thing the Dragon did was provide the egg!"
"And again, we're going to file that away in the 'never thinking about it again' drawer in our brains," Ashaki muttered.
"Mal?" Persephone gasped, catching on. "You saw her? Outside of the ember, I mean?"
"I didn't just see her Steph. I talked to her!" Hades said, leaning against the island. "Granted it was like a minute long conversation before she ran off but it still happened—and she came by the restaurant!"
"She also ran into your legs," Uma added, chuckling a little at the memory. What? Mal was her cousin but she still found it amusing!
"What?!" Persephone exclaimed, her eyes lighting up in delight. "Oh Hades, why didn't you say something sooner? Did you bring her back with you?"
"I think if he'd done that, it would have been the first thing out of Lord Hades' mouth," Anna said, a sad smile gracing her lips.
Hades shook his head, his good mood slightly diminishing as he thought of Mal having to continue to live with Maleficent. "It was too soon Steph. It was one thing to pretend I stole Maleficent's baby after she was born but Mal's old enough now to fight back. If she didn't want to go and I grabbed her, I might have ended up hurting her."
Again, knowing what I know now, I'd have willingly gone with dad, Mal thought with an inward sigh. But I can understand dad's hesitation too.
Persephone sighed. "When you say it like that, it makes sense. As well, Maleficent's already stolen Mal from us here. It would be all too easy for her to do it again—or worse. Mal's registered as her daughter, she could file a report to Auradon against you if you stole Mal again."
"That registry is completely ridiculous," Hades grumbled. "There haven't been any inspectors here for the past two years and clearly no one cares about the status of the Isle if the food deliveries are any indication."
Belle sighed. The inspectors were her idea but they always came back injured. She hated seeing them suffer and they never had anything to report anyway. At the time, Auradon was in an economic lull and their council couldn't justify the expense that could be going to help the citizens.
"I know," Persephone said, resting a hand on Hades' cheek. Sighing, she decided to change the subject. "How did Mal look?"
Hades smiled. "She looked good. Small for her age compared to the other brats that run amok throughout the Isle but that could be her Fae heritage coming out."
"See?! I told you there was a reason I was smaller than you!" Mal told Uma.
"Or you're just tiny," Uma chuckled.
"We're the same height!"
"Didn't you say I was taller than you?"
"Lack of food too," Persephone added. "Maleficent might be able to get first choice on the deliveries but that doesn't mean she'll give more to Mal than what's needed."
Ben frowned as he heard that, making a mental note of things to include for the next group of VKs. Therapy sessions and medical visits to check for any underlying problems would be two such items.
Hades nodded. "I gave her an extra piece of fish when she came by the restaurant. She noticed the sign said that there were supposed to be two pieces and I told her I fried up three."
"What did you say?" Persephone asked, turning back to finish the dishes.
"Told her the sign was wrong."
"And her response?"
"Told me to change the sign," Hades said as he hopped up to sit on the counter of the island. "I told her I'd get right on that."
Persephone couldn't help but shake her head in amusement. "Oh Gods. Hades, I wish I could have been there."
"Maleficent's letting Mal walk around the Isle by herself now," Hades said. "It's a start at least. I can do more for her—make sure she's getting food, for starters."
Mal bit her lip, causing Hades to sigh.
"Mal?"
"So fun fact, that fish? The three pieces of fish? I may have split that three ways with Uma and Harry," Mal told him.
"I should be surprised and yet I'm not," Hades shook his head.
"And you thought the restaurant was a bad idea," Persephone teased, going back to the dishes.
"What I'm hearing is 'Always listen to your spouse?'" Aziz asked.
"Unless said spouse wants to pretend to be a prince because of a stupid law," Jasmine stated, looking at Aladdin.
"Or if said spouse wanders the marketplace and almost gets her hand chopped off?" Aladdin chuckled.
"Hey, you were right," Hades said, grinning. "I won't complain about that place again. Even if I do have to interact more with Hook because of it."
"I thought Hook was one of the few villains you could tolerate?"
He was until he started using his son as a punching bag, Hades thought, glancing over at Harry.
"He is," Hades nodded. "But some in his crew spend their time around Frollo and it's starting to show. If that sorry excuse for a mortal tries to tell me I'm living in delusion and that there's only one God one more time, he's going to find that hat of his in a very interesting place."
"He's what?" Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, and Zeus exclaimed.
"Ooh is Frollo going to get smote?" Harry grinned. "Can we add Freddy to that?"
"And Zevon!" Jay added.
Mal sighed. "I think the barrier prevents smiting considering Zeus is the one who reinforced it."
"Drat!"
"I get the sense that Freddy is their Audrey," Emir muttered to Akiho.
"I pray for their ears," Akiho muttered back.
Persephone sighed and grabbed a towel, tossing it to Hades. "As long as you don't do it in front of Mal, I won't say anything."
"No! Do it in front of Mal so that way we can read about it!"
"Emma!" Snow exclaimed in shock.
"What? Frollo deserves it mom! Neal told me the stories that Zephyr told him about what Frollo wanted to do to Zephyr's mom," Emma stated.
Hades caught the towel and smirked. "Is this your way of saying 'I washed, you dry'?"
Evie couldn't help the small smile on her lips as _ read that. It was almost like the faint memories she had of her parents…though her mother would never do something as common as the dishes.
"No, of course not!"
"Steph."
Persephone sighed. "I figured you wouldn't want to make dinner on top of doing the cooking at the restaurant. If you can dry, I'll handle dinner."
"Almost reminds me of when your father and I were first married," Rapunzel told her kids with a small chuckle. "Of course, he refused to let me do anything that even remotely resembled household work."
"Yes and yet you still woke up at seven am and swept the floor," Eugene shook his head.
Hades nodded and hopped off the counter to get started on drying the dishes. As Persephone walked away, Hades grabbed her by the waist and pulled her into an embrace. Kissing her gently on the lips, Hades whispered, "she's okay. No matter what happens next, we know Mal's okay."
Every parent's hope, that their children will be alright, Rapunzel thought, a small smile on her lips. I only wish my parents could have had reassurance like that when I was taken.
"The next step is to bring her home," Persephone reminded him, resting her head on his chest.
"Actually next step would be to build trust," Chip pointed out. "What? It's the same thing Belle and Adam had to do almost! Only no adorable five year old teacups have to depend on people falling in love so that they can go back to be human!"
"He never fails to remind me of that at least once a day," Beast sighed.
"It'll be slow going," Hades told her. "She's already so distrustful of others. She looked like I was lying right to her face when I told her there was no charge for the food."
Eugene sighed. He could sympathize a little with that—being a thief, you couldn't really trust anyone. Lance was probably the only one he truly trusted during his tenure as a wanted man.
"Well then, you've got to make her trust you," Persephone said with a smirk that made Hades' heart race. "That shouldn't be a problem for you. After all, there's no way you'd be able to make deals with people if they didn't trust you."
"Not necessarily. I mean I made deals with the Stabbingtons and they didn't trust me nor I them."
"That's not exactly helpful dad," Rachel sighed.
"Those people weren't raised by Maleficent, if you can even call what she's doing to Mal 'raising'," Hades said.
"Let me just tell you now, past-me, you can't," Hades muttered, his face growing dark.
"Didn't you used to tell me that the challenge was the fun part?"
"That's with mortals. Not my daughter."
"I don't make deals with my kids," Hades stated.
Persephone rested a gentle hand on Hades' cheek, looking up at her husband. "Hades, if there's anyone who can do it, it's you."
There's nothing a dad won't do for their little girl, Phillip Sr. thought as he looked over at Audrey with a fond smile.
Breaking from the embrace, Persephone said, "for right now though, focus on drying those dishes. I'll see if I can scare up something for dinner."
"Yes dear," Hades chuckled and grabbed the towel off the counter. "You know though, scaring things is more my area."
"Mom turned someone into a mint plant though, I think that's more scary," Hadie said.
"Yeah dad, and aren't you the one who named their Cerberus 'Spot'?" Mal asked.
"Well then scare those dishes dry," Persephone said as she walked out of the kitchen. Hades chuckled and shook his head; nothing could ruin his good mood right now.
"Not even Pain and Panic being idiots?" Mal asked.
"Not even that," Hades nodded.
"Who's reading next?" Jay called out .
Neal shrugged. "I'll give it a go."