Chapter Sixty Three

A/N: I do not own anything other than my OCs that come out to play, even Rea belongs to LotusQuil (they just let me borrow Rea and her raccoon obsession and I'm very thankful for that!) Everything else belongs to either Disney or the Greek Myths (or Jorge since there is a reference to Epic in this chapter)!

*ducks incoming projectiles* Okay, okay, I know it's been a while since my month long hiatus! Unfortunately I had the following happen: my mom caught the flu, I had a random three week period where I literally could not eat without pain and my body would just randomly fall asleep and then wake up before my alarms, and well…life. Thankfully, body seems to be not doing anything odd at the moment so fingers crossed I'll be able to get back to the swing of things soon!

Other than that, no news to report—the Buffalo Bills broke my heart once again but that's par for the course in being a Bills fan. If the Boston Red Sox had to go over 100 years to break the curse of the Bambino, I'm sure the Bills will finally get that shiny Lambardi trophy…just give me one season where the Chiefs aren't good.

Okay, on to reviews before this becomes a full on rant about the Kansas City Chiefs lol!

dragonflamefairy: Glad you liked it! To be honest, Doug's last name wasn't really something I had thought about that much—I kinda just found a German based last name that I liked since Snow White has a Germanic setting I believe.

AmethystDragon14: Yay! :D Yeah, that bit with Snow and Chip talking about Evie giving birth had to be my favorite part to write because of the fact that they are right about how far all the VKs had come…and isn't that what Ben's proclamation was all about?

danifan3000: I think she'll truly be Evie in miniature, just with black hair instead of blue lol :D Blame the D3 wigs for causing a headcanon that Evie's hair was originally black and she dyes it blue :D

OceanBlueSeaEyes: Aww! I love that nickname! *jots it down in notebook as to not forget* :D

Katt Kiki: Glad you liked it!

Bowling4real: I'm so glad you liked Danielle's name! :D As far as I know, Regina's going to be on the Isle but that could be something that might change as the fic goes on! :D

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

"Backpack?"

"Check!"

"Water bottle?"

"Check!"

"Coloring book to ensure you don't get into trouble?"

"Dad!"

Hades chuckled at the look his six year old was giving him. Or was she now seven? Hades wasn't going to lie, time seemed to go by in the blink of an eye for his youngest. It still seemed like yesterday Rea had been born and now he was taking her on a father-daughter day to the Isle.

Not the most cheerful of father-daughter day locations but Hades wanted to stay true to the promise he'd made himself when he found out that Persephone was pregnant. Rea would know the Isle, would know something of the place her siblings grew up.

Plus, at the very least, there were some members of Mal's crew still on the Isle so Hades knew he'd have backup in terms of looking after his daughter. Even if he still wasn't sure he wanted Dustin anywhere near his young child. Did he trust the pirate? Absolutely. Did he know the pirate still lacked anything resembling a filter? Oh, that went without saying.

"Okay, okay," he said, shaking his head as his youngest daughter continued to give him a look. "Are we forgetting anything?"

Rea shook her head before pausing. "Can we take a raccoon to the Isle?"

"No," Hades said.

"But why?"

"Because we don't have time to give you another bath before going over there," Hades said. The real reason was because he didn't know what the hyenas, lions, tigers, and leopard would do to the raccoon if it was left to roam the Isle and Hades knew Rea would want to bring the creature back home.

Would he tell his daughter that though? Of course not! The last thing Hades wanted to do was traumatize his daughter, thank you. The Isle traumatized children on its own, at least when Mal and Hadie were young. It didn't need any help from Hades in that matter.

"Tell you what, you can bring one of the raccoon plushies Harry gave you for your birthday," Hades said as a compromise.

"Deal!" Rea said with a grin.

"Go grab it then," Hades said and shook his head as his youngest daughter ran up the stairs like Cerberus was on her heels.

"You know if she loses that plushie, you're the one who's going to have to scour the internet for its exact replacement?" Persephone said with a small smile as she walked over to her husband.

"Oh trust me, I already have 'raccoon plushies' book marked on our computer. Plus I asked Harry where he bought all the plushies just to be on the safe side," Hades chuckled as he wrapped his arms around his wife. "Any plans while we're off on our adventure?"

Persephone chuckled. "None as exciting as yours. I've got plans to meet up with Mal later on, spend some time with our grandkids. Meanwhile Hadie has plans with Ben, apparently there's some online play about Odysseus that Hadie thinks should get some funding so that it could make it to an actual stage."

"Odysseus?" Hades asked, wracking his brain to see if he remembered the mortal that name belonged to. "Isn't he the guy who blinded the cyclops that one time?"

"Yep."

"Poseidon's not going to like the fact that Odysseus is getting attention…neither am I for that matter, 600 souls make for a lot of paperwork and Poseidon's the brother I like, Odysseus couldn't have stabbed Zeus with the trident? I meant there's a reason why Triton ended up getting the trident rather than get his own conduit for his power."

"Which is why it's likely why Ben won't be funding the play; no matter how much he'd want to, he knows it's better to not anger the Gods especially when one of the Gods in question is his father-in-law," Persephone said, shaking her head in amusement. "I will say it's a shame though. Hadie's been playing it around the house and the music's good."

Hades shook his head in amusement. While most parents would have found it odd that their engaged son still opted to live at home rather than with his fiancee, Hades was just happy to have his son with him for a bit longer.

And unless he was severely mistaken, he had a feeling Kit was feeling the same way about Alexandria still living at home as well.

"Found it!" Rea called and Hades smiled as he saw the well loved raccoon plushie in her arms. Deciding he'd ponder about his daughter's fondness for raccoons at a later date, he scooped his youngest child into his arms before turning back to Persephone.

"Give your mother a kiss before we leave," he said and Rea eagerly gave Persephone a big kiss on the cheek.

"You two be safe," Persephone said, kissing Rea on the cheek before giving Hades a kiss. "I'll get dinner all situated for you so you don't have to cook."

"You don't even know if I'm going to go to the restaurant on the Isle."

"Hades, I know you. Even when you don't mean to go to the restaurant, you end up spending a few hours over there cooking to your heart's content. How about this? I'll call Mal and see if she'd be okay with us coming over for dinner?"

"Yay!" Rea cheered. Her first trip to the Isle with her dad and getting to see Mal all on the same day? Best. Day. Ever!

Hades chuckled. "I think she likes the sound of that, as do I. But only if it's okay with Mal. Last thing I want to do is put stress on her plate."

"Hades, you know she'll jump at the chance to have us over," Persephone said, shaking her head. "Plus I'm sure she'll invite Hadie and Princess Alexandria…and maybe even Uma, Harry, and their daughters if Uma's not off on a trading route."

"Will Gil and Macaria be there?" Rea asked. "I like Gil! He tells funny stories!"

"I don't know but I can ask Mal, okay sweet pea?" Persephone asked.

"Okay mom!"

Hades chuckled and shook his head. "Of all the things I could have predicted about my life, my daughter enjoying to spend time around Gaston's youngest son is not something I would have thought up in my wildest dreams."

"I think it's sweet," Persephone said. "Plus it means she gets to spend time around all of her cousins."

"I didn't say it was a bad thing Steph…and did we ever learn how Gaston's son and Macaria became a thing?"

"I think it's at the point that not even they know, dear." Persephone said, shaking her head.

"I could ask them!" Rea spoke up.

"Maybe some other time," Hades said. "Right now, you and I have an Isle to get to."

Rea grinned, all thoughts of asking Macaria and Gil about how they formed their relationship forgotten. Hades, though, wasn't naive enough to think his daughter had dropped the matter entirely.

Hey, he raised both Mal and Hadie. He knew his children by this point.

Hades and Rea quickly transported themselves to the Auradon side of Persephone's portal and Hades had to smile as Rea giggled slightly as they walked through the portal to the Underworld. It had been a while since the Underworld had the sound of children's giggles bouncing off the walls of the caves.

"Alright kiddo, since you're too young to really see the Underworld aka experience take your kid to work day, how's about we go see the Isle location for your old man's restaurant?" Hades said.

"Okay!" Rea grinned. She knew from Mal that their dad had a scary job but Mal had also told her that their dad would do anything to protect his kids so she had nothing to worry about.

"Dad?" Rea asked as they made their way to the restaurant, Rea still firmly secured in her father's arms. Did Hades care about the hit his reputation would take? Not in the slightest. If anyone was still on the Isle, they were someone who had no chance at becoming good and that was not someone Hades wanted to risk being around his daughter.

Plus he'd had two young kids before Rea and Persephone had vetoed putting Rea on a leash back when their daughter was three and liked to run around and get into mischief. If she couldn't run off, she couldn't get into trouble.

"Hello Smee, what are we making today?" Hades called as he walked into the restaurant, apparently not having heard his daughter's question.

"Waffles?" Rea asked, her previous question forgotten as Hades sat her down on one of the seats at the counter.

Mr. Smee chuckled from his spot behind the counter. Just like Hades, the pirate had earned the right to go back and forth from the Isle to Auradon without consequence. Hades, though, was rather surprised to see Smee in that day, as Harry had informed Hades that Harriet was finally pregnant but asked him not to say anything yet because the girls wanted to tell Smee first before the news got out.

Hades would have thought Smee would be celebrating his first time being a grandfather…unless the girls hadn't informed him yet?

"Any plans after work today Mr. Smee?" Hades asked as he set Rea down on one of the stools that faced the counter, the raccoon plushie set firmly on the counter as to avoid any harm coming to it.

"Oh why yes, Lord Hades. Sammy and Harriet have invited me and the boys over to their house for dinner, they said they had wonderful news to share with me," Mr. Smee said with his usual smile. "I can't imagine what it would be though, Sammy always calls me whenever the swim school reaches another milestone as a business and their anniversary isn't for months."

"Maybe they're getting a puppy!" Rea spoke up, looking up from her coloring. "Dad, can we get a puppy?"

"Depends, is this 'puppy' grey and black and has a striped tail and likes to eat garbage?" Hades asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at his daughter through the window of the kitchen.

"…Maybe?"

"No, Rea, we're not getting a raccoon."

"Aww!" Rea pouted.

Hades shook his head. "Trust me kid, your sister and brother have already tried the 'act cute to get what you want' routine. It didn't work for them, it won't work for you…and no asking your grandmother!"

Smee chuckled as he turned to Hades. "How did you know she might ask Lady Demeter?"

"Because Demeter is determined to spoil at least one of her grandchildren and Mal's happily married so she won't accept spoiling, Hadie's about to get married so his window for spoiling is closing, according to Demeter, so it's the most logical assumption that Demeter would be extra eager to spoil Rea as she'd see it as her last chance at spoiling her grandchildren…unless Persephone and I have any more kids which I don't think is in the cards."

"Why do you say that?"

"We have three grandchildren, it's rather weird having one kid around the same age as our grandkids. I can't imagine more kids. Plus, three kids is a nice number to have."

"You'll get no arguments from me there," Smee nodded before turning back around to face the counter only to find that there was no one there. "Um…Lord Hades?"

Hades sighed. "Let me guess, Rea's not in her seat?"

"You'd be correct."

"There's no chance she went to the restroom?"

"Not unless she takes her raccoon plushie to the bathroom with her?"

Hades shook his head. "No, we've banned plushies in the bathroom after one of Rea's plushies fell in the toilet and Hadie found it. We had to hear about the texture of wet plushies for weeks from Hadie but after he made us all touch it, I have to agree that it is a rather disturbing feeling."

He sighed and shook his head once more. "Mr. Smee, please keep a watch over the restaurant. I'm going to go retrieve my daughter from wherever she snuck off to."

"Understood Lord Hades," Smee nodded and Hades walked out of the restaurant. He had a feeling he knew where his daughter was, after all Mal and Hadie had told Rea so many stories about their time on the Lost Revenge that it practically felt like Rea had grown up on the ship as well.

That being said, if Dustin was still on the Isle, Hades did not want his youngest child around him. Not because he didn't trust the crew member but because he knew Dustin had a worse filter than Zeus did at times. And that was saying something.

He could hear the familiar sounds of sparring as Nick and Jake's voices came into earshot. Hades shook his head as he heard the familiar banter, apparently young Nick had been staying on the Isle to give Brooke time to get used to Auradon before coming over himself.

Never mind the fact that Brooke had been in Auradon for years at this point.

"Mate, it's been years!" Jake said, unknowingly echoing Hades' thoughts as Hades continued to watch the sparring from his spot near the railing of the ship. "Just come over to Auradon. Most of the crew's over there already."

"…Uma and Mal would never forgive me if I left the ship's protection to Dustin of all people," Nick said.

"You're forgetting about Bonny? With her weapons knowledge, I'd feel more worried about any poor sod who tried to attack the ship than I would about her."

Hades shook his head and turned around to walk down the gangplank. He knew this wasn't a conversation to be had around his young daughter but he wasn't an idiot. He knew better than to startle someone with a sword.

Years of having Harry Hook as a surrogate son would be enough to teach anyone that lesson.

"Alright, I'm going to count to five and there'd better be a Godling before me before I finish," he called as he walked back up the gangplank, deciding he'd given enough time to avoid surprising the pirates with swords. "One…two…three…"

He blinked as Dustin of all people held up Rea before him, the older man clearly under instruction to keep the young girl away from the sparring that was going on. And yes, thinking of Dustin as a 'man' was odd for Hades, considering he pretty much saw him as the teen with filter problems even now that Dustin was in his mid to late twenties.

"Dustin…didn't think you were the type to listen to instructions," Hades said.

"I may lack a filter but I'm not dumb," Dustin said. "If Mal found out I didn't protect her sister, she and Uma would most likely string me up by the mast in my underwear. Again."

Hades couldn't help but chuckle slightly at that. He remembered that incident, Dustin had talked about his trysts one too many times when Hadie was in earshot and the girls did not take kindly to that.

"Alright, well I'll make sure to let Mal know her crew still fears her," Hades said before pausing. "Have you lot eaten?"

"Nick and Jake have been sparring for hours according to Bonny!" Rea spoke up. "I don't think they've eaten dad."

"Alright then, it's decided. Stop the spar and come to the restaurant. Smee's making waffles," Hades said and chuckled as the crew rushed down the gangplank. In all honesty, he had no idea how he became the 'father figure' to his daughter and niece's crew but he didn't mind it.

Would he deny it if Zeus asked? Of course. But come on, it was Zeus. Even with the hatchet buried, there were still days where Zeus annoyed the living daylights out of Hades.

Wait…Hades thought as he made a mental inventory of all the crew and his child. Where was the raccoon plushie?

He was not going to have his daughter freaking out about a plushie for the rest of their time on the Isle, thank you!

"Odd plushie is with Bonny," Dustin told him, noticing the look on Hades' face. "We don't know what it is but we're all too afraid of what Mal'll do if we made her sister cry because it got lost or ruined to question it."

"Showing the brain I knew you had there, Dustin," Hades nodded. "You get bacon with your waffles."

"Sweet!" Dustin grinned and Hades shook his head and chuckled. No matter how old the VKs got, the temptation of extra food never failed to turn them back into kids.

Although the fact that they had apparently never heard of a raccoon broke something in Hades' heart.

Maybe our next father-daughter visit can include us bringing one of those creatures to show the crew, Hades thought as he busied himself in the kitchen of his restaurant. Though, memo to me, memo to me, keep it away from the various wildlife that live here.

He was not going to be the reason his child got traumatized. He'd leave that for visits to Olympus and meeting Ares, thank you!