Choosing Life

Chapter Sixty Three

"Backpack?"

"Check!"

"Water bottle?"

"Check!"

"Coloring book to ensure you don't get into trouble?"

"Dad!"

Hades chuckled at the look his six year old was giving him. Or was she now seven? Hades wasn't going to lie, time seemed to go by in the blink of an eye for his youngest. It still seemed like yesterday Rea had been born and now he was taking her on a father-daughter day to the Isle.

Not the most cheerful of father-daughter day locations but Hades wanted to stay true to the promise he'd made himself when he found out that Persephone was pregnant. Rea would know the Isle, would know something of the place her siblings grew up.

Plus, at the very least, there were some members of Mal's crew still on the Isle so Hades knew he'd have backup in terms of looking after his daughter. Even if he still wasn't sure he wanted Dustin anywhere near his young child. Did he trust the pirate? Absolutely. Did he know the pirate still lacked anything resembling a filter? Oh, that went without saying.

"Okay, okay," he said, shaking his head as his youngest daughter continued to give him a look. "Are we forgetting anything?"

Rea shook her head before pausing. "Can we take a raccoon to the Isle?"

"No," Hades said.

"But why?"

"Because we don't have time to give you another bath before going over there," Hades said. The real reason was because he didn't know what the hyenas, lions, tigers, and leopard would do to the raccoon if it was left to roam the Isle and Hades knew Rea would want to bring the creature back home.

Would he tell his daughter that though? Of course not! The last thing Hades wanted to do was traumatize his daughter, thank you. The Isle traumatized children on its own, at least when Mal and Hadie were young. It didn't need any help from Hades in that matter.

"Tell you what, you can bring one of the raccoon plushies Harry gave you for your birthday," Hades said as a compromise.

"Deal!" Rea said with a grin.

"Go grab it then," Hades said and shook his head as his youngest daughter ran up the stairs like Cerberus was on her heels.

"You know if she loses that plushie, you're the one who's going to have to scour the internet for its exact replacement?" Persephone said with a small smile as she walked over to her husband.

"Oh trust me, I already have 'raccoon plushies' book marked on our computer. Plus I asked Harry where he bought all the plushies just to be on the safe side," Hades chuckled as he wrapped his arms around his wife. "Any plans while we're off on our adventure?"

Persephone chuckled. "None as exciting as yours. I've got plans to meet up with Mal later on, spend some time with our grandkids. Meanwhile Hadie has plans with Ben, apparently there's some online play about Odysseus that Hadie thinks should get some funding so that it could make it to an actual stage."

"Odysseus?" Hades asked, wracking his brain to see if he remembered the mortal that name belonged to. "Isn't he the guy who blinded the cyclops that one time?"

"Yep."

"Poseidon's not going to like the fact that Odysseus is getting attention...neither am I for that matter, 600 souls make for a lot of paperwork and Poseidon's the brother I like, Odysseus couldn't have stabbed Zeus with the trident? I meant there's a reason why Triton ended up getting the trident rather than get his own conduit for his power."