Small Twists of Fate

Chapter Eleven

Hades made his way down the streets of the Isle, hoping that no one would bother him. Granted no one usually bothered him to begin with but then again he usually didn't stroll down the Isle streets either.

However, there was a reason for his walkabout—or rather three reasons. As much as he'd grown to enjoy having the girls' company (along with that of their parents), the Underworld had gotten so loud that he could barely hear himself think at times. Persephone had recommended he start going on walks anyway, something about them being good for lowering his blood pressure, so it was a win-win in his book.

Why that even needs to be a thing Steph worries about is beyond me, Hades thought as he looked around the Isle. After all, we're Gods. If Zeus' blood pressure hasn't erupted by now, we're all in the clear. Then again, maybe being like my little brother isn't the best thing in the world. After all...he's not the most faithful spouse. How Hera was able to keep him in one spot long enough to get Hercules I'll never know....and that's enough thinking about my brother's activities in bed thank you! I might not be speaking to him, I might consider him dead to me, but even I don't want to think about...yeah, nope! Hey why don't we look at the Isle some more? Huh?

He wasn't going to lie, it was interesting how the Isle had seemingly changed over the years. Not that they finally had a medical system or anything, or got to see any glimpse of the sun, but his work load had evened out ever since he had established his alliance with the pirates which was honestly something Hades never thought possible.

One or two pirates stationed a the barge each month worked wonders at keeping the death toll lower. Oh sure there were still a fair few souls that showed up (after all people were still going to fight for whatever food they could get, that was just human nature). But anything that could reduce that load was something Hades was grateful for.

If only we could make it so that Maleficent didn't just swoop in and take everything she could, he thought as he shook his head. Honestly that alone would probably prevent the mass trampling than anything the pirates did since Maleficent takes about ninety to ninety five percent of the food on the monthly barge. But that likely would never happen or if it did, Maleficent would just torture whatever pirate got tasked to make sure she didn't take more than her fair share...and speaking of Maleficent, what's Jafar doing out here?

Sure enough, the former Viser was out at one of the taverns that the pirates usually frequented and he was with Gaston of all people. And it was also clear by the look on Jafar's face that he'd welcome anyone who could make Gaston go away.

Now Hades was quite fond at making Gaston go away whenever he could but that would involve him getting involved in whatever was going on which Hades was in no mind to do. The walk was to lower his flame point thank you and if he wound up in a conversation with Gaston, the likelihood of Hades erupting would increase.

Hades made to turn around as he was in no mood to have his brain cells melted by Gaston's prattle but it was too late.

"Ah Hades!" Jafar said as he caught sight of the God. "Come! Join us!"

"Yes! Hades! Join us in a round of beers!" Gaston cheered, causing more than a few eyes to fall on them. "My boys just brought down their first hunt after all! I'm celebrating with Jafar!"

Drat! Why wasn't I faster? Hades thought but went over as he could see the slight desperation behind Jafar's eyes, looking almost as if he would kill Gaston if Hades left him alone with the Frenchman. It was only fair wasn't it? After all, they had once been allies once upon a time so why shouldn't he rescue his former ally this one time?

However, not even Hades' arrival could stop Gaston's prattling about his twin sons—both named Gaston of course—and Hades wondered how long he had to stay before it would be socially acceptable for him to leave.