[2] 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐀𝐁𝐘 ― l.valdez ✓

001.

「001. surprise... she's not dead 」

HADES WAS the god of the underworld. it's a simple statement, and it's also a fact. but gods, there's so much more to him. his job, for starters, is shit. he pulled the shortest straw for his domain, and now he has to deal with constant whining and nagging from dead people. i'm not meant to be dead! pfft, sure. please believe me! gods, couldn't mortals be even just a bit original with their whining excuses? all of them basically said the same thing. please let me live! i want to go back! blah. blah. blah. it was dreadful. hades would take dionysus' punishment rather that this eternal suffering he had to deal with.

let us not forget the utter torture he had to endure for half of the damn year. sure, he gets it. the weird way he and his wife fell in love. yes, it's ok. he's heard all the stories at the family reunion. he doesn't need any more teasing.

he thought having his wife away from him for half of the year was the worst thing. well... it's not. what seemed to be the worst was getting an urgent call from the underworld whilst he's trying to show how much of a damn capable underworld god he is during a prize-giving of sorts for the demigods who had fought bravely in the battle of manhattan (although he'd like to argue he and his wife did most of the work. but perhaps that's favouritism).

"my lady... may i ask a question?" asked one of the demigods. she was a fiery redhead and was a daughter of aphrodite from what hades had heard.

of course, at that moment thanatos calls him. of course.

hades stood up quickly before he bowed slightly, "sorry- urgent matter-"

he shuffled away behind a column and glanced around, making sure he was out of hearing for the rest of the demigods and gods before he pressed his phone (rather handy mortal gadget) to his ear and hissed, "what?"

"uh- boss-"

"don't you 'boss' me! what is it?"

"well there's some urgent matter down here sir," spoke thantos timidly, as if he was scared of hades (which he was right in acting like. hades was totally terrifying. just don't ask that question to persephone, because you will get a different answer).

"and what might that be?"

"well-"

"what might this urgent matter be? is it so urgent that i have to excuse myself from this meeting of sorts with the rest of the gods?"

"well-"

"oh spit it out, will you?"

"well sir... somebody died-"

"i swear to the furies i will skin you to de-"

"no sir not just that!" rushed out thanatos, "somebody died... but they're.... they're not meant to be. sir this has never properly happened before- what's worse is... sir they're part of a prophecy."

at that moment, it took a lot of restraint for hades not to go on a rampage and kill a bunch of mortals. because gods, as if that was what he needed. more dead people. and now... some person (a demigod, he guesses) accidentally died?

why was his job so hard?

cherry adams... was dead. she was pretty sure she was. one moment, she on a ship in the underworld, and the next, she was on land, being ushered to a really bright and happy place which she was sure was elysium. even if she didn't know the technical name for it, she was pretty sure this is where the good people went. cute cottages and tall city buildings were dotted around the city of the good and heroes. cafe's were placed around and people of all genders, race, and presumably sexuality, walked around. some were dressed in ancient greek armour, some in old victorian clothes and some in modern-day clothing. and that's when she noticed-