Discord & Death

Based on the characters from Disney’s “Hercules” film & TV show

Chapter 8

Hera now stood before Hades and Persephone in the Underworld. It was night time, and most of the other gods – bar those who had nocturnal duties - were asleep, and oblivious to what the Queen of the Gods was about to do. And it was a good job too, for it would be one of her most controversial acts; she had never been known as a ‘spur-of-the-moment’ type of goddess, but she thought it was about time she plucked up the courage to take action and set things straight.

In the Lower World, before the waterfall by the Pool of Forgetfulness, in a considerably serene atmosphere, Hera was preparing to wed the Lord of the Dead to the daughter of Demeter. “Now, I know this may sound stupid,” she said quietly to the pair of them as they stood before her, “But I need to ask you both now that you are totally sure about what you’re about to do?”

“I think mom will take this a smidgen better than she’ll take the baby,” Seph replied with a smirk, trying to cast aside her fears of her what her mother’s reaction might be; she was determined to be her own person, and do what she wanted in life, but she didn’t want to completely fall out with her mother over the whole thing. Weren’t kids supposed to do exactly the opposite of what their parent’s said, anyway...?

“Ditto,” Hades nodded.

“Very well…” Hera said, looking between the two. “Now, I realise that I may be in more hot water than the pair of you, but if you want to be married, I don’t see why you should be stopped. And like I said, Persephone, a baby born into a marriage may be slightly more approved by your mom than a baby born outside.”

Seph smiled coyly, glancing down for a moment as she blushed.

“Well, we should have at least two witnesses,” Hera pondered to herself briefly.

“No problemo,” Hades grinned, yelling at the top of his voice, “PAIN! PANIC!”

Hera jumped at this and watched as the most unlikely pair of witnesses appeared beside their immortal master. “You rang?” Pain asked, whilst Panic stood quietly next to him.

“Yes, boy-os, I did,” Hades replied. “Would you be good lil imps and watch Hera hitch me ‘n’ Seph?”

The two imps looked at one another, first with confusion, then with surprise: “Watch you get spliced?” Panic asked.

“Yeah, sound too hard fer yer?”

Pain sniffed, and Panic swiped a tear from out the corner of his eye. “No, boss,” Pain sobbed, patting Panic on the back as his fellow imp burst into tears, “It’s just so… sniff romantic…”

Hades rolled his eyes. “Oy…” he sighed.

Seph laughed quietly to herself and gave Hera a cheerful look, whilst Hera could only shake her head at the two imps. “Well, I guess they count,” she said.

Pain and Panic tried to compose themselves, and attempted to hold back their tears of elation, whilst Hades just loked mortified. "Imps," he shrugged.

“Take each other’s hand,” Hera now said to the two.

Hades raised his right hand a little and wriggled his fingers until Persephone placed her petite hand into his grasp. He gave it a mild squeeze and she looked up at him, giving him a silent smile.

Panic’s lip trembled, and he buried his head hard into Pain’s shoulder, trying not to disrupt the procedure.

A book of conduct appeared from a puff of smoke in Hera’s hand and she opened it calmly, glancing briefly once more between the two lovestruck gods; “Right. Then let us begin."

Hecate’s second wolf flapped down toward his mistress from the caverns above as she waited by the Pool of Prickly Heat.

“Well, status report?” she asked.

The wolf grinned. “Persephone is now confirmed to be with child,” he said, sitting down before the witch.

“Good,” Hecate nodded, tapping her thin fingers together as wide grin made its way across her bony visage.

“And she and the Lord of the Dead are being wed tonight,” the wolf added.

Hecate waved a hand toward the wolf. “It was to be expected. No big deal,” she muttered dismissively. She then took a few paces to her left around the edge of the scolding pool. “Well, everything is going as planned... or as predicted, should I say?” She chortled a little to herself, placing a hand to her chest.

The wolf nodded in turn. “Yes, just as the Fates foretold.”

Hecate stopped in her tracks, counting out something upon her fingers briefly, before she turned to her minion and said. “There is a slight glitch in this plan. It seems that, should the time scale the Fates suggested be true, this child will be born on Olympus.”

The wolf nodded at her. “True,” he agreed, doing the math in his head. 7 of the 15 predicted months had passed. Should Persephone be two months pregnant, then she had about 7 months to go before the child was born. She only had 4 of those 7 months left in the Underworld.

Hecate cast this aside and chuckled. “Well, that should damage Hades’ pride, the fact that his offspring will be without 'daddy' for its first few months.”

The wolf caught sight of a small spider crawling across the rocky floor, and followed it with his eyes, only half listening to his rambling mistress.

“Stealing his child from Olympus may be too risky,” Hecate pondered, putting a hand to her chin and tapping her fingers upon it, “So I think we may have to wait until Persephone returns down here with the little brat. It’ll be an easy target. You and your brother can steal the baby.”

Hecate pointed at the wolf, and the winged hound jumped in shock as he realised he was being addressed.

“Yes…” Hecate continued, grinning once again, “This should work out just fine…”

Hera returned to Olympus, quite unnoticed. It was a little insulting when your husband never realised you were gone, but she was used to Zeus and his absent-minded ways by now. (After a tiff they had a few years ago, she knew he would at least never forget their anniversary again…) She sat down by her dressing table and thought over the matter.

Finally, the last of the three sons of Cronus was wed. And soon to be a father. Hades, unlike his brothers, had accumulated a reputation as being something of an eternal bachelor, who often messed about, and did thrice as many bad things as good. But now this had happened, and it could only be a good thing; Hera already recognised the faint changes in Hades, and though the old philanderer was still present within him, it was being subdued by his love for Persephone and his as-yet unborn progeny. Tomorrow, she would face themusic, along with Hades and Persephone, as the situation would come to light for the rest of the Pantheon.

Now that would be interesting…

Pain and Panic had managed to get through the ceremony. Just. Though they cried the Acheron[?] three times over in the process.

Persephone and Hades had just remained for some time by the Lethe Pool, and watched the waterfall in the distance, saying nothing. The silence was filled with the gentle harmony of the rushing waters, and it proved remarkably soothing. (Okay, so the green-grey walls were nothing to look at, the palm trees were as black as soot, and the occasional memory-less soul often wandered through, but come on, you can't have it all!)

All in all, it was no paradise, but it was soothing enough, and was exactly what the two needed after they had had such an eventful few hours.

“Did you ever think a year ago that you’d be in this situation now?” Hades suddenly asked Seph out of the blue, sitting back by a twisted old tree. His arm draped around her shoulder and his thumb slowly rubbed back and forth against her skin. “You know," he continued, "being bound to my world for 6 months, being ‘Mrs.Hades’, and being pregnant, too…?”

She smiled lightly. “No, I very much doubt it,” she said, rubbing ahand up his chest in return. She now sported a ring upon her finger, as did Hades. They were bound to one another by words, by rings, and by love.

There was a short pause, the gushing waters filling the ensuing silence.

“Seph,” he went on, “You know… I mean, if I’m right… ain’t our baby gonna be born when you’re topside? Unless you hold it in for a damn long time?”

She smiled briefly at his manner before she gave him a serious look. “I know. The thought occured to me earlier too, but I didn’t say anything. I had too much else to think about.”

“I wanna be with you, Seph,” Hades said, his voice struggling with the honesty in his words. He still wasn’t overly comfortable were these touchy-feely areas of talk, he'd admit to that.

Persephone grasped his hand hard with hers. “I want you to be with me, too,” she whispered.

He smiled weakly at her, before she settled her head onto his chest and closed her eyes, mesmerised by his heart beat.

“We’ll have a boy,” he then said out of the blue.

Seph frowned and opened her eyes again, pulling back from him. “A boy?” she asked. “Why?”

Hades shrugged. “Well, my brothers always seem to have only boys, so I’m guessing that my tadpoles will be inclined toward the male side, too.”

Seph smirked at his bluntness. “When I said you were crude a while back, I meant it… couldn’t you just be subtle for once?”

“Nah… gotta be straight ta the point,” he grinned, rubbing her shoulder affectionately and holding her back into him.

“We’ll have a girl – I bet you!” Seph suddenly retorted.

“You ‘bet’?” he asked. “Fine, yer got yer sen a deal…”

She scoffed and pulled away from him again. “It was just a figure of speech.”

He shrugged again, “Watch yer mouth in future then, young lady,” he said mockingly, “I pick up on the small print."

She laughed. “Oh Hades…” she sighed, laying back against him.

“And what if we get a Hermaphrodite?” he queried.

“We won’t!”

“Just considering the possibilities…”

“That one is out of the question…” she reproved him playfully.

He chuckled. “Yer know I’m only joking, don't ya?"

“'Course I do…” she replied brightly. Persephone’s smile soon sank a little as she began to think about the prospects of tomorrow, though. “Hades, what’ll my mom think? What’ll everyone think? I mean, everything has happened so fast…”

He tilted her head to look at him. “Seph, everything will be okay. I’ll be with you, Hera’s on your side… don’t worry!”

She returned his smile with a gentle one of her own. “Yeah… I guess…” she murmured, leaning her head once again into him, and closing her eyes.

To be continued…

NB: Acheron is a river often connected with the lower world.

Quid dulcius hominum generi a natura datum est quam sui cuique liberi?