Choosing Family

Chapter Seven

Hades had to smirk as he strolled through the streets of the Isle, making his way over to Pirate's Cove. The sight of the underlings diving out of his path never failed to amuse him. It was, however, some of the only joy he could get.

It had been five years since Maleficent had stolen Mal from him and Hades had yet to see a possible way of taking his daughter back. That didn't mean he hadn't come up with plans; it just meant that all the plans he came up with were a guaranteed failure. Hey, there was a reason why Athena was the Goddess of Strategy and not Hades.

He'd even considered borrowing from the Trojans but there wasn't time to build a giant wooden dragon that would allow him to sneak into Maleficent's castle. Besides, Maleficent was a horrible waste of oxygen but she wasn't an idiot. She'd be able to see a trap coming.

So Hades waited and waited, for five years; trying to come up with a plan that would work.

It never came.

Persephone, true to her word, had attempted to reach out to Zeus during one of her six month stays in Auradon but Zeus wouldn't hear it. Hades couldn't blame his brother for that; there was no proof Mal was his other than Hades' word which probably meant close to nothing to Zeus right now.

So there was no help coming from Auradon, and no help coming from Olympus. If Hades was desperate enough, he could join one of the cliques that had developed among the residents of the Isle. But he was not desperate. Not in the slightest.

The day I join forces with the likes of Clayton, Frollo or Scar will be the day Beast starts letting people off this Isle, Hades thought with an inward grimace. Jafar would be tolerable, if only because we'd worked together in the past trying to best Hercules and Aladdin. But he's joined forces with Maleficent and it'll be a cold day in my underworld before I sign up to be one of her minions.

So Hades walked alone, being one of the few Isle residence to forgo a clique. Despite this, however, no one bothered the God. It was one of the few benefits of being the God of the Dead, even if the ingrates on the Isle always called him the God of Death.

Hey, if it gets them to leave me alone they can call me whatever they want, Hades thought as he watched some of the younger kids of the Isle run around on the docks. They looked to be around five or six, though Hades knew looks could be misleading.

The quality of the food that was being sent to the Isle each month had quickly deteriorated to the point where most of it was inedible. The rare edible items would quickly be snatched up by Maleficent as she ran the Isle. Everyone in her clique benefited from the arrangement while everyone else on the Isle suffered.

If Hades was a more naive person (or a more naive God), he might think it was a good thing that Maleficent had Mal because at least then she'd be able to get some decent food. But Hades knew there was a slim chance his daughter was getting anything more than what she needed to survive.

It was partially because of the deteriorating food supply that Persephone had gotten the idea to open a restaurant on the Isle. Hades was against it at first, due to how risky it would be, but ended up agreeing. It was good for Steph to have something to keep her mind off Mal—plus with them putting Hades' name on the building, it essentially became his restaurant.

Thus ensuring no one would mess with it.

Persephone had been key in getting ingredients from Auradon; things that normally would be impossible to find on the Isle though they had to be non perishable since even Persephone couldn't keep meat and dairy fresh for six months without it going bad.