22 Issue #21: X, Hades

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Issue #21: X, Hades.

(Diana's P.O.V)

It's him.

Just like the murals above the throne room depict. Like the tapestries framing the walls of the palace halls.

A mountain of a God, with black hair the color of pitch darkness.

A mighty Prong in hand, a Divine class weapon on par with only two others, Father Zeus' Lightning bolt and Poseidon's Trident.

And it burns with hell flame, hot enough that my back is sleek with sweat and those eyes...

I didn't dare gaze at them, my face pressed to the floor of the boat as it was.

I couldn't imagine, meeting my uncle like this. Under such...strange circumstances. Not to mention...be completely bowed by his sheer presence.

Truly, mother was right. The three elder gods are on entirely different level compared to the others.

Then I heard heavy steps coming our way.

It was only thanks to Tyche's luck, I was able to spot Kane, chest puffed out in mortal defiance.

What is he thinking?

Are all men so...reckless?

Shoving an elbow into his ribs, I was able to grab his forearm and tug him down to my-

He resisted.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM?

This is the God of the Underworld! Proper decorum aside, Hades was said to be more wrathful than even Zeus, when crossed. If he considered Kane's actions as disrespect then...

Kane's hand landed on my shoulder, then with strength I was surprised he had, he forcefully pulled me up. To my feet.

And suddenly the God of the Underworld was there, standing before us. Cold eyes staring down at...Kane.

Great Hera.

Fine. If my 'uncle' decides to punish Kane, then it's clear which side I'm on.

(Kane's P.O.V)

I can bow but I never kneel. Not to anyone.

But dammit, just standing in place hurt. An ache across my entire body as I withstood the pressure from being in front of a veritable God.

The eldest son of Kronos, the Titan of time.

How should I even describe Hades? Imagine Circe, then mutiply the threat I felt from her by a factor of millions.

And it still didn't come close to what this guy was outputting.

Despite that, I never broke eye contact.

Even as he and his procession of 3 crossed the distance between us, up until he was just THERE, critically analysing us with eyes as black as his hair.

I felt Diana try to pull me down to her level. To give the God of the Underworld Face.

Unfortunately, she didn't know me well enough.

It was stupid. It was reckless and above all, it was exactly ME.

I refused to kneel. In fact, I grabbed her and forced her to her feet.

And now the two of us were facing off against Death itself.

The Unseen One.

And holy assassin God himself, (this was a world of myth, can't discount his presence) Hades was taaaaalll as fuck.

Menacingly so. Enough that he dwarfed even Chiron, who was at the very least 6'7.

"The guests have been delivered, my Lord. I shall take my leave."

The Ferryman straightened, stepping into his boat.

I heard the paddles gently row him away.

And now we were alone, standing at the very edge of the docks/bridge.

Behind us, an inescapable river. In front of us, an undeniable force and to our sides, a fall that I don't think Diana and I wanted to see if we could survive.

We were locked in.

The Princess then surprised me by stepping in front of me, protectively.

I clenched my jaw, tapping into the bio-electric charge just under my skin.

If worst comes to worst, I could use a venom blast to distract and the little webbing I'd recovered to swing Diana and I away.

"Lord Hades, forgive us for..."

She started.

Only for her to interrupted by the sound of thunder.

Wait, not thunder, laughter. Great peals of laughter coming from Hades himself.

I blinked, momentarily losing control of my powers, causing a few streaks of yellow to flicker around my fingers.

Fortunately, everyone was more focused on Hades to notice.

The God of the Underworld was practically doubled over, one hand on his belly, the other on the shaft of his prong, as he laughed and laughed.

How the crown on his head stayed in place was a mystery.

Diana and I stared at each other in surprise and disbelief.

Blam!

A slap landed on the back of Hades' head, shutting him up immediately.

I took that opportunity to study the one responsible, finally paying attention to the 3 individuals standing behind Hades.

"Forgive my husband."

The absolutely gorgeous and FULL(only way I could describe that body) woman whose presence was only slightly diminished by Hades' spoke up from his side.

She had honey blonde hair, as soft and vibrant as spring itself.

A second later, she made me reavulate the 'soft' part when she dug an elbow into Hades' side, prompting an embarrassed cough out of him.

"Sorry my love."

Embarrassed, the unseen One replied in a voice that could only be described as deep. The deepest voice that had ever reached my ears.

"Welcome Niece."

Hades turned our way, an accomodating smile on his stony face.

"Come in. And Make yourself at home."

-0-

Diana and I were silent as we marched behind the king and queen of the underworld.

It was one thing to tresspass the Underworld and have Hades personally arrive to punish us...and it was something completely different for him to be so...chill about it.

Him and his wife, Persephone, the goddess of spring, paid us little mind, engaged in conversation about the most inane of things.

Even the two attendants flanking our sides were very blatantly ignoring us.

Diana pinched me.

Swallowing an exasperated sigh, I turned my head to look at her, eyebrow raised in question.

"What was that?"

She whispered heatedly.

"I might have been fighting Circe then, but I saw you bow to my mother. Why would you not show the same level of respect to the damned Lord of the Underworld?!"

I wisely chose not to scoff. For starters she was right to be confused.

So instead, I stayed silent, eyes simply watching Hi- It. This thing wasn't human.

Whatever a God was- it was clear from the way he walked and talked, the way his muscles didn't twitch, the way his steps were measured to an almost perfect degree and that insane awareness of the environment around him(at least Persephone tried to act more natural)- they were SUPERIOR to us.

At least biologically.

"When a huge tree falls down on a smaller one, the small one gets crushed under it's weight. We don't even qualify to be a small tree before your Uncle."

I told her bluntly.

Turning to appraise Diana, I was met with a surprised expression as she processed my words.

"We're the weeds growing underneath it's shade. A long ass way of saying, we're Weak Princess. And it bothers me. A lot."

My gaze turned to watch Hades. He and Persephone, along with the attendants were now attentive, not even bothering to hide the fact they were keenly listening.

Which is why I didn't pretend to not know what position I was in.

"You asked me the reason I didn't bow down? It's simple. What would it serve a creature that sees us as something less than nothing? There's no distinction between an ant and a mortal to them."

Hades stopped walking.

As a consequence, we also stopped.

Then the God of the Underworld spun around to face us, his long ass coat billowing behind him.

Blam!

The Prong in his hand slammed onto the floor, before getting swallowed into its shadow.

Those black eyes landed on me. A quizzical glare on his face.

I felt Diana grab my wrist. This time I didn't pull away.

"You...what's your name?"

Hades asked (read: demanded)

"Kane. But my enemies know me better as X."

I replied in a steady voice, despite the fight or flight response my body wanted to adopt.

"X..."

He breathed out.

"Never heard of you."

Diana's grip on my wrist tightened to a painful degree.

I stepped forward, finding that the top of my head only reached his chest.

"It would be surprising if you had."

I looked up, pulling onto my Killing Intent, not to intimidate but to stay grounded.

"Anyone who has...is dead."

Silence. The tension became palpable. Just before it could reach a crescendo...

A slow chuckle escaped him.

"Mmmh. I like you."

Then his gaze was off me, and I could breath easier.

"Minos, situate our guests in the best rooms we have."

He instructed the attendant on our right, a long haired middle aged man with a full beard and a scepter in his hands.

He wore purple and gold accented robes that reached the floor.

"Send servants to get them ready for Tonight's feast."

Saying that, Hades spun on his feet and begun to walk away.

"We shall talk more during Dinner, Diana."

Persephone told her half-sister, before following after her husband.

The two of them were then swallowed in a cloud of darkness that appeared at the end of the hall.

Diana heaved a sigh of relief, catching herself before she could lean on the wall.

"You're mad, you know that?"

She shook her head at me.

"Mad?"

The aforementioned Minos who had been bowing up until the King and Queen had disaappeared from our sight, repeated darkly.

And suddenly, he was in my personal space, staring at me like I was crap beneath his boots.

"Do you have any idea how lucky you were? Challenging Lord Hades like that? You should be thankful you're still alive you stupid mortal!"

I narrowed my eyes.

"Minos, right?"

Diana came in between us.

"The former King of Crete, now one of the three judges of the Underworld."

"Mmph."

Minos managed to sneer and snort at the same time, pompously adjusting his robes.

"I'm not surprised a child of Zeus can recognize another. Yes, in my mortal life, I-"

"Was responsible for creating the Labyrinth, where you regularly sent young children every nine years to die inside of it."

Diana said in a cold tone.

"You should be imprisoned in the darkest levels of Tartarus, yet here you are, holding station and looking all the more mediocre."

"B- but...I...You-"

Minos took a surprised step back, trembling in anger.

Oh this was too good to pass up.

"Minos huh? Isn't he the guy whose wife was fucked by a bull?"

I scratched my head, acting dumb.

"Pfft! Hahahahahahahaha!!"

The other attendant, couldn't hold it in and burst out in laughter, the sound especially loud, echoing within the long halls of the Underworld Palace.

"You...peasant!"

Minos bit out lividly, a long limb that turned out to be a snake the size of a Python, slithering out from under his robes peeking menacingly over his back.

"I'll kill you and spare Lord Hades the stain of your presence!"

Diana and I tensed in preparation. The one thing I liked about her is that she never backed down from a fight. Something we had in common.

And call me arrogant but this guy simply deserved a beating.

Hissing, the snake coiled through the air on a direct path to us.

"Enough, Minos."

Only for it to come to a sudden halt with a word from the other attendant, who had finally stopped laughing.

Minos turned his way, anger pouring off him.

"Stay out of this Aeacus! I'll have my pound of flesh!"

"In due time, yes."

Aeacus responded, placing a hand on Minos' shoulder. And by the way the latter winced, squeezing it.

"Right now, you heard the master. Do you really want to disobey a direct order from him?"

Minos shuddered in fear, the snake for a tail he had, retracting into the folds of his robes.

"Mmph!"

He threw another scathing glare our way before stomping off in anger.

"Forgive him. He was a king once. And in death, that entitlement crossed over."

Aeacus said smoothly, a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes plastered on.

"If you will please follow me, I'll show you to your rooms."