When Hades made it to the bottom of the stairs, he couldn't believe his eyes. He was standing at the edge of the Garden of the Hesperides and it was beautiful; there was a little walkway surrounded by emerald green grass, there were colorful flowers, peculiar fruits, exotic vegetables, and strange herbs everywhere, and in all its glory in the center of the garden, Hades could see the Golden Apple Tree as the grand centerpiece. The tree itself was gorgeous; it had a golden trunk, golden leaves, and from each of its branches hung a bright golden apple. Hades had finally found what he was looking for. And the best thing about it all was that Hercules was nowhere in sight.
"This is too perfect." He whispered, rubbing his hands together.
He grinned before he noticed something wrapped around the base of the tree. It was a sleeping dragon with golden scales.
"Uh oh." He muttered before he heard a familiar voice approaching.
Thinking fast, he ducked behind the wide trunk of a pear tree to hide. He slowly peeked his head out from behind the tree and he saw a young woman with sky blue skin, deep blue eyes, and curly sunshine yellow hair and wearing a blue sash over a white chiton with silver accents carrying a wicker basket approach. She must've been one of Atlas's daughters; she knelt down near a patch of hydrangeas next to the pear tree Hades was hiding behind and started to dig in the dirt to look for weeds, humming a little tune as she did so. Hades recognized it as the song he, Pain, and Panic heard before. He could hear her humming slowly starting to turn into singing.
"One small thing, it's a good place to start" She sang.
"One small thing, and we don't seem so far apart
Soon, one small thing leads to more
It's so much more than there was before
Just one small thing, and you will see
The start of something big for you and me"
Hades stood still as he listened to the nymph's song; she definitely had a pretty voice, but he knew he couldn't stay in that one spot forever. He had to find some way to get past her and to the Golden Apple Tree. He could see the Tree from where he was standing; the Golden Apples shined and glistened in the magical sunlight. His mouth watered and he greedily licked his lips, they looked so delicious. At that moment, Hades' stomach took the opportunity to growl even louder than the last few times. In a panic, he wrapped his arms around his midsection to try and muffle the sound. The growling was so loud that it quickly caught the nymph's attention. She stopped what she was doing and looked up as she tried to find the source of the sound; Hades froze and squeezed his eyes shut, hoping she wouldn't catch him.
'Don't let her come over, please don't let her come over! Please don't let her come over, please, please, please, please, please—' He begged in his head.
"Catalina!" Another voice shouted.
Hades' eyes flew open at the sound; he mildly calmed down. The nymph, now dubbed Catalina, quickly turned away from the pear tree and saw two more nymphs, one with pink skin and red hair and the other with green skin and greenish brown hair, walking towards her and they didn't look too happy.
"Yes?" Catalina asked nervously.
"Will you stop lollygagging and get your chores done already?" The green nymph said.
"Yeah, we have a LOT of other things to do than to babysit you all day." The pink nymph added.
"I'm sorry. It's just... I always do the weeds. I've been doing weeds for the past few millennia and I'm tired of it. What I wouldn't give to actually plant something like you guys do every day." Catalina muttered.
YOU ARE READING
Hercules and the Golden Apples
Fanfiction[Hercules: the Animated Series] In an attempt to get some extra credit in school, Hercules agrees to fetch a few precious Golden Apples from the garden of the Hesperides for a cowardly king named Eurystheus. Meanwhile, an angry and hungry Hades hear...
