Designed Destiny

20. Forsaken Children

Planet: The Underworld

"Hades, before you send us away-" Athena's undoubtedly compelling pitch was drowned out by the sound of the marble doors slamming in her face.

"Well he is just his typical warm and inviting self," Hermes huffed as he took a turn rapping on the doors of Hades' castle. "Look, open up man! We got some news for you! A little proposal you might be interested in!"

"...these sons of bitches can't take a hint," Hades muttered with annoyance as he peered out the window behind the curtains by the door. His intolerable family was still on the front porch squabbling amongst themselves while pointing angrily at the castle.

"What's with all this ruckus?" Persephon demanded as he hurried down the stairs. "It's ruining my fucking yoga session."

"Wait, don't open the door!" As usual, before Hades could stop him, Persephon went ahead and did what he wanted to do and opened the front door.

"Oh! Friends! What a lovely surprise!" He eagerly ushered Athena, Hermes, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus in. "Come in, come in! You came to check on me in person! Just like my mother would have wanted you to do! Finally! I'm so stoked! Did you bring me anything?"

"Oh uh, well..." Athena gulped then forced a small smile. "We are pleased to see you again, Persephon, and we hope you're alright..." She glanced at Hades imploringly. He scowled and crossed his arms, staying where he was by the window. "Might we have a word-"

"With me! Of course!" Persephon agreed energetically. "Oh, I wasn't expecting company today," he glanced at down at his oversized cashmere sweater and neon orange yoga pants. "Geesh, let me throw on something more suitable and be right with you!" He swiftly raced back up the stairs for his room.

The Olympians turned to face the lord of the Underworld brooding in the shadows. "So, you've heard of the God-Slayer, right?" Hermes asked.

Hades exhaled with frustration and slunk past the gods, his dragon winged cape hissing across the ground as he stood before the broad flight of stairs, refusing to look at the gods as he stared up at the red stained-glass window at the top. "I'm not joining your Gods Army," he told them coldly. "That's the real reason why you're here so don't try to tell me otherwise. I guess I always knew you would eventually come to my doorstep with your pleas and demands...But if you have made only one thing quite clear to me over the eons, it is that your affairs do not concern me."

"Hades, you cannot possibly be bitter enough to use past grievances as relevant excuses not to join your own family in a war that won't end with us if we fail," Athena pressed on. "If one god dies, it is only a matter of time before we all are an endangered species, that goes for you too and you know that."

He scoffed as he turned to face them finally. "I am actually amused that you've come all the way down from your lofty thrones to grace the darkened alleys of my kingdom with your presences. And the fact that you claim to need me suddenly to protect yourselves from your own mortal children? It's laughable, really," he managed a stoic laugh. The Olympians scowled. "Laughable. But," he shrugged indifferently. "You came begging for assistance at the wrong door, I have no loyalty to any of you."

"But we need you," Aphrodite insisted. "We already have demigods willing to approach the God-Slayer for us, we just need to demonstrate to the mortal-creatures that their gods have not forsaken or forgotten them-"

"As your parents have forsaken and have abandoned me to this prison so many eons before? Funny how I somehow knew that I would prove to be useful to the family again," he snarled. "And I told myself that when you come crawling back down here for help, I would tell you the same thing my precious brother told me before he left me down here; there's a lot of unpleasant things in this universe, and we all want to be the god that grants blessings, but some of us have to bare the curses," he was practically seething with disgust reciting the words Zeus had told him. He lifted his head to face the gods again. "Bare this curse well, Olympians," he said it like a vile insult.