Green Eyes and Blue Flames

Love Starting to Form

Over the course of the evening, Hades and Maleficent were having a wonderful time together, dancing, dining, talking, and laughing up a storm without a care in the world. A few of the not so nice Gods even tried to approach Maleficent and even woo her a few times, but Hades would shut them down every single time with a glare that screamed, 'Stop flirting with her! SHE'S MINE!' That was enough to make pretty much everyone else back off and leave them alone. But during one dance later on, hardly anybody noticed Cupid the winged God of Love, do something no one would've expected. As Nyx was singing and more couples were dancing, he flew up above everyone else and took out two love arrows and a small bottle filled with a strange bubbling red liquid. He then dipped the heads of the arrows into the liquid, took out his bow, and aimed, waiting for the right moment.

"Okay... shot number one." He said before he quickly shot one of the arrows into Hades' lower back. "And... shot number two." He then shot the second arrow right in between Maleficent's shoulders. Cupid gave a proud smile as the arrows vanished into thin air on puffs of pink smoke.

"What was that all about?" Agalea, one of the Charites, asked. She and her sisters, Thaleia and Euphrosyne, were hovering next to Cupid.

"You promised your mom no work tonight." Euphrosyne commented.

"Was that one of your new potions?" Thaleia asked.

"Hey, calm down, girls. It's okay. I just gave them a little push. Besides, just look at them." He said, looking down at the crowd.

The Charites looked at where Cupid was looking and they saw what he was talking about. As the pair danced, Hades and Maleficent stared deeply into each other's eyes and smiled; they didn't even notice what just happened. A little while later as they were having some punch together, Hades' eyes brightened as he had an idea. When no one was looking, he took Maleficent by the hand and pulled her to the side.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I wanna show you something. Come with me." He said before he pulled her closer to him. He then waved his arm and the two of them disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Maleficent opened her eyes and she saw that she and Hades were standing in front of a grand and beautiful temple made of black stone with a skull and bones motif scattered about; this place looked more like it belonged somewhere in the Underworld as part of Hades' palace rather than on Mt. Olympus. She turned her head and saw that they were only a few cloud structures away from the Pantheon; she could still hear the music and laughter coming from the party. She turned back to Hades and awkwardly took a step back, realizing she was standing rather close. He took her hand again and led her up the steps.

"Where are we?" She asked.

"This... is my personal temple." Hades answered as they made their way inside. He snapped his fingers and torches flickered to life with white flames, flooding the space with a faint and colorless light. "My mother used to take me here all the time when I was little. She had the Elder Cyclopes design and build this place just for me when I was still a baby and she and I are the only ones who know about it."

"It's so beautiful. But... why are you showing it to me?" Maleficent asked, taking in the macabre beauty around her.

"Well... because I trust you, Maleficent. And I really wanted you to see this... even though I haven't really been here in a while."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I mean... I stopped coming here after I reached adulthood, mostly because..." He shook his head. "It's not important; I don't wanna bore you with some old sob story."

Maleficent's face fell when she noticed the sadness in Hades' voice; she walked up to her friend from behind and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You never bore me. I've told you about some of my struggles; you're free to talk to me about your own. There's no one else here but you and me."