The True Legend of Ganymede

Chapter 3

It was with great and oozing misery that Hades stood from his throne, stretched out his back, and waved his hand before him. Jumping to life at his command, a full-length mirror constructed itself out of rock from bottom to top, groaning in protest as wrought iron pulled itself into a frame and a sheet of black glass un-shattered itself into place. He clicked his finger and the mirror flashed white, then with a zap of noise Zeus' scowling face appeared on the surface - far too close, and from an unflatteringly low angle.

"Woah!" Hades winced and waved his arms, "Too close, Zeus! Back it up! Heyyy-" Zeus drew back from his own mirror (built from fluffy clouds and gently-lancing lightning) as Hades pulled on the sweetest, most loving smile he was capable of. "How long has it been, huh? A couple months? Too long, if you ask me - you know, we outta get together some time, go bowling, really make the most of our free time these days-"

"It's been two weeks, Hades," Zeus said with thunderous certainty. "Two weeks! And you think that's long enough for me to wave my hand and consider it all water under the bridge?"

"Well..."

"You attacked us! You unleashed the Titans!" He threw up his hands, causing his mirror to shake. "After a lifetime of fraternal love-!" Hades rolled his eyes, "after all we've been through together!" Then, with more viciousness, "After all I've *done* for you!" That tone caused Hades to recoil. There was something of Cronus, their father, in it. "I could overlook your petty attitude-"

"Woah now-"

"I even ignored all those times you snubbed our party invitations, despite how much that upset Hera! After all, you are my little brother!"

"Actually, before that whole business with the baby-swallowing, I was the eldest - doesn't matter, go on-"

"But to attack my own son! To lay siege to Olympus! I mean-" Zeus gave an expansive, righteous sound of pain, "What am I supposed to do about all this?!"

"To forgive is a mitzvah?" Hades cringed, but ran long streams of mental math at the same time. Zeus couldn't kill him - immortality was a bitch - and if he booted him from the Underworld he would have to give his rotten job to some other poor schmuck. However, if anyone could figure out a fate worse than death or redundancy, it was Zeus, and he didn't fancy being the latest guy on the receiving end of Mt. Olympus' creative disciplinary solutions. "What about a truce? Ah?" His hopeful grin looked almost exactly like rigor mortis. "You said it yourself - brotherly love, family, it's all in short supply these days..."

"No, Hades." Zeus' countenance darkened. Olympus' happy flush faded behind him, darkening to a rumbling grey. "Not anymore. I would be a fool to-"

"Woah! Sorry Zeus!" Hades grabbed hold of his mirror and gave it a shake. "I think you're breaking up! I'll call you back when I find better reception!"

"Don't you dare, Hades!" Zeus thundered.

"Tunnel! Can't hear you!"

"HADES!"

Hades cut the feed. Falling back into his throne, he groaned into his cupped hands and braced against the painful clarity of his options running out. There was no plan. He had no power. This throne room had never felt more like the walls of an unjust asylum.

That bitter little castrato had better come up with something good.

Pain, Panic and Ganymede mounted the crest of the hill once more. Slinking behind a crumbling wall, the arbitrary dividing line between this spit of civilisation and the wilderness beyond, their three heads rose up like a row of vases on a potter's bench.