Small Twists of Fate

Chapter Thirty Nine

Hades sighed as he tried to focus on his work. It had been a few weeks since Persephone and Malionë had gone back to Auradon and Hades wasn't going to lie, he missed them.

The six months seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, especially now that they had gotten his daughter back from Maleficent's talons. Yes he loved having Jess, Sammy, Harriet, and baby Harry around but a selfish side of him wished he could have his wife and daughter year round.

Hey, he was Zeus' brother. There was a good chance he had a selfish side, as minuscule as it was.

He let out another heavy sigh as he laboriously sifted through the paperwork spread out before him. Fortunately, the stack wasn't as daunting as it had been on some days, indicating that fewer souls were departing the mortal realm. If Hades were to speak truthfully, he would have rather been overwhelmed with work. At least then, the crushing weight of missing his wife and daughter might have been temporarily lifted.

Oh you know what, Pain and Panic can handle the rest of this, he thought as he stood up. Well Pain more so. I'm not going to deny Panic time with his son. Hmm...speaking of his son, I wonder how old he is now? He might be of the age where it could behoove him to be under the protection of someone powerful...plus I owe Poseidon for Ariel getting Malionë back. The least I can do is protect his grandson.

Yeah, that had been an interesting discovery but Ariel had asked Belle to assist her in doing the research and the royal bookworm had confirmed it. Hades wasn't entirely sure how it worked but Virgil was the grandson of the God of the Ocean and cousin to Uma.

Hey, why don't I take Malionë to go and visit Uma? Even if I don't get on with my niece, Malionë should get to know her cousin, Hades thought as he made his way to the nursery where both Harry and Malionë slept. He might have been so deep in thought that he'd forgotten that his daughter wasn't napping in her crib but rather with her mother in Auradon. Which would have explained the panic he felt upon seeing only one child in the nursery.

"Okay, don't panic," Hades muttered as he backed away from the snoozing Harry. Even if he could feel his blood run cold at the thought of his daughter missing again, Hades wasn't stupid enough to risk the wrath of Milah if he woke up her son from his nap. Hades had done that once when Harriet was Harry's age, he was not repeating that mistake thank you. "Just because Malionë isn't in her crib doesn't mean she's missing. Maybe Milah or Mollie took her to get changed...or maybe Smee or Hook took her to see their ship."

Would the pirates take his daughter out of the Underworld without telling him? Probably not. They valued their skin too much and while Hades would hate to make a child fatherless, after everything that happened with Maleficent he most certainly would kill Hook or Smee if he found out they had taken his daughter without telling him.

"Unca Hades?" Harriet's voice broke Hades out of his thoughts and he looked down at the young pirate in training.

"Yes Harriet?"

"Are you okay?"

Hades nodded, trying to hide his panic from the young girl. "I'm fine, Harriet. I just can't find Malionë. Have you seen her?"

"I thought Auntie Steph took her across the bridge?" Harriet asked, tilting her head and Hades felt himself exhale a sigh of relief. That was right, it was Steph's six months.

"Oh right, right," Hades nodded. "Thank you Harriet."

"You're welcome Unca Hades! I hope Mali has fun over there but I know Harry's looking forward to her coming back," Harriet said with a grin before scurrying off to go join Jess and Sammy in whatever mischief they were going to get up to.