The Dragon

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"I can't catch a fucking break. It's like I go on vacation for three seconds and suddenly the universe is being threatened again. And even worse, this time it's my own goddamn sister."

I said nothing as Hades himself stood in our kitchen, grabbing a handful of grapes out of our fruit bowl to eat. Hades looked a lot like myself; olive skin, black hair, blue eyes, tall, lean. Though, there was something very Greek about the way Hades looked, from his nose to his eyes, even his thick accent. Of course, he dwarfed everyone in the kitchen, even myself, and I was not a short person.

And finding out his sister was the Mother was even more shocking.

I'd never met my aunt Hera. She'd disappeared before I could ever meet her. I'd only heard stories, and it's not like all of them were particularly bad. She was supposedly a very stuck up stern female with big dreams that she felt had never been met. She had once been married to Zeus, who cheated on her frequently and openly. She'd used to punish the people who stole Zeus from her until recent years she gave up and simply divorced Zeus in the end. She'd gone to stay with Persephone for a little while, but then she'd left there too and hadn't told Persephone where she was going.

The last thing she'd told Persephone was, and I quote, "It's time for my dreams to come true."

Apparently her dream had something to do with stealing genetics and creating artificials and wanting to destroy the universe or some shit. I didn't know the details, just what I caught from Hades's rant.

"This is unbelievable," dad said to Hades, "Why would she be lashing out at us? What have we ever done to her?"

"Honestly, I don't think it has anything to do with you guys," Hades sighed in frustration, pausing to pinch the bridge of his nose, "I think it has to do with Zeus, and me, frankly."

"You make friends everywhere you go, don't you?" Father asked dryly. Hades cut him a dry stare, then paused and shrugged a little, clearly giving up on that remark.

"Why would she be mad at you? Zeus, I understand, but you?" Dad asked. Hades smiled warily as he finally took a seat at the island counter, reaching out to take an apple out of the bowl. He studied its shiny red skin, then drew it to his lips as if to take a bite, then closed his eyes and returned it to the bowl, as if he'd lost his appetite for it.

"It's understandable when you know the situation," Hades said at last, making dad's frown deepen, "I wasn't able to... I wasn't taking proper care of her in the past. She probably blames me for a lot of issues she has now. And it's probably my fault--"

"Don't say that," dad said immediately, making Hades look up with a frown, "It is not your fault Hera turned out the way she did. You did everything you could for your siblings with the shit you had been dealt. If Hera's mad at you for the way you raised her, then she's fucking wrong. You worked your ass off to make sure she stayed alive."

"And sometimes that's just not enough," Hades disagreed grimly, "I should've-- could've done more."

"I don't think that's fair," dad argued, "You were struggling just to survive yourself. I think you did a very good job considering the circumstances. For Hera to blame you for that, it's just not fair."

"It's not about fairness, just... anger," Hades muttered, then shook his head, "Anyway, doesn't matter why she's doing it. It's what she's doing. She's stealing genetics and making artificials, but that's something that throws me off. Making artificials is not easy. It takes years, so she had to have been working on this for, well, decades at least. And even then, you can't just learn how to make artificials. You have to have the power behind it and I don't know if Hera has that much ability or knowledge on artificials to do it."