Truth Or Fiction

Chapter Eight

Hadie unfurled the scroll and sighed softly at the first paragraph. It didn't look like this was going to be a happy scroll.

Hades sighed as he walked past the empty nursery; the crib still lying on its side. It had been two weeks since Maleficent had stolen Mal back and Hades hadn't had the heart to clean the room.

Zeus frowned as his nephew read that. It was becoming more and more apparent that Hades had truly changed. But...could he really be trusted?

His son and daughter-in-law seemed to think so.

It was if it had been frozen in time, the only difference being the lack of feather on Mal's pillow. Hades had put that away for safe keeping in case he ever needed to bring up an accusation against Maleficent.

"But...you're a God," Aziz asked. "Wouldn't people believe you regardless?"

"One: it's the Isle," Jay told him. "Accusations without proof are really easy to blow off."

"Two: it's the Isle," Mal added. "A resident stealing from another resident? Jay calls that a Tuesday."

"Normally he's on the other end of it though," Harry said with a smirk.

"And finally, would you go up against Maleficent without proof?" Uma asked.

Aziz shook his head.

"Didn't think so."

Persephone had been avoiding Mal's former room as if it had been the plague but Hades couldn't fault his wife for that. Every time he came across one of the toys Persephone had brought for Mal from Auradon scattered on the floor of the den, his heart broke.

Belle gave Hades a what she hoped was a comforting smile. She knew how she felt whenever she had come across one of the baby clothes they had gotten for Abigail a few weeks after...

Was there something more I could be doing? He thought as he closed the door to the nursery. He didn't know how it had opened; he had given orders to Pain and Panic that the room was not to be disturbed.

Rapunzel sighed. She had talked to her mother about the night she'd been kidnapped a few weeks before Rachel was born. What her mother had said was almost similar to what Lord Hades had been like—or at least the Lord Hades in the scroll.

Mom used to say that the only thing that really helped was staying busy, she thought. Though...I kinda hope Lord Hades doesn't have to be busy in the Underworld.

His minions had been making themselves scarce ever since Mal had been taken; what normally took one angry bellow of their name now took at the very least three before they would rear their heads. Persephone had suggested that maybe they thought Hades blamed them for Mal getting kidnapped—after all, they were in the room.

"They're moronic but I wouldn't have blamed them for that," Hades shook his head.

Pain and Panic versus Maleficent's goblins, Hades thought as he made his way to the kitchen. Unless they had their shape shifting abilities, Pain and Panic would be toast. I heard the stories about how exuberant those goblins were in tying up Phillip. As much as I hate to compliment a hero, Phillip seems like he's fairly competent from the reports Persephone brings back from Auradon.

"...Thank you Lord Hades," Phillip Sr. said after a few minutes.

"Hey, you didn't get yourself hypnotized, transformed, and you were ready to give up your throne for who you thought was a peasant girl," Hades shrugged. "I can recognize competency when it rears its head."