Daughter of Flames and Darkness

A Boy or a Girl?

"You sure about this?" Hades asked.

"Yes. It will work, it must." Maleficent said in a determined tone; she opened her father's spell book and opened it to a certain page before showing it to her husband and giving him a nod.

Even though he was hesitant, Hades nodded back at her. He skimmed the spell on that page, turned his head, and stared down into the Well of Souls, a place he was hoping he'd never have to go back into. He then raised one hand in front of him, gripped the Ember of Blue in the other, closed his eyes, and bellowed,

"Spiritus damnatorum, vocem meam audite!

Profer amissom animam caducam!

Spretus in morte, et in vita crematus!

Sciat iurgium aeternum!"

As he spoke the spell, his hand and Ember started to glow and soon, a beam of silvery gray magic shot out of Hades' hand. It transformed into a large, gnarly-looking hand that sparkled and crackled like raw electricity and it shot itself down into the Well as quick as a bullet. After a few long moments of silence, the magical appendage came back up out of the murky water of souls and something was in its grasp; it was the soul of a woman.

"Maleficent, now!" Hades shouted.

Thinking fast, Maleficent set the book down, picked up a large glass jar sitting nearby, opened it, and held it out in the air in front of her. As fast as he possibly could, Hades shoved the soul into the jar and deactivated his spell just as his wife sealed the jar shut with a large cork. The place was as silent as a tomb, neither one moved. Hades approached his wife as Maleficent stared at the jar in her hands.

"It is done." She sighed in relief.

"Do you really think this'll be enough to hold her?" He asked, picking up the book and dusting it off.

"...Most likely, no. Perhaps we need to be more thorough."

0-0-0-0-0-0

By the time the couple had reached Maleficent's old house in the forest, the sun was at its highest point in the sky. Maleficent held the jar close; she hoped to find something in the house that would help contain this soul. But when Hades opened the door, they were surprised to see the house wasn't quite vacant. Carabosse and Rhea were inside... and they were in the middle of a civil conversation while having tea and biscuits.

"Grandmother?" Maleficent asked, quickly covering her baby bump with her sleeve.

"Mother?!" Hades cried, snatching the jar out of his wife's grip and hiding it behind his back.

"Oh! Hello there, you two." Rhea casually greeted as she got up from her chair. "It's been a long time. You don't write, you don't call." That last sentence was said with a tinge of bitterness.

"We've... been busy." The Lord of the Dead replied as he awkwardly hugged his mother. "Not to be rude, but... what are you guys doing here?"

"Oh. Well after the wedding, Rhea and I have decided to meet up about thrice every month, just the two of us, so we could get to know one another better. We didn't wish to be disturbed, so we believed this was the perfect place to do so." Carabosse explained, approaching her granddaughter. "What are you doing here?"

Hades and Maleficent gave each other anxious sideways glances, uncertain of what to say to them... and the two elder women quickly took notice. Rhea then noticed a faint lavender glow behind her son's back and she raised an eyebrow.

"Hades, dear? What's that glow behind you?" She asked.

"Glow? What glow?" Hades lied, trying to keep his cool.