Hades

A few weeks later

“Are you sure, my life?” I asked him.

He looked at me and brought his hand to my cheek to caress it. He smiled.

“I’m sure, my death. It’s high time we talked,” he said. “What? Don’t tell me the big bad god of death is scared?”

I pouted. It was a new thing I’d learned since getting reunited with my Sandro and I quite liked it. It seemed to have a certain effect on him. He would coo and kiss me and smile at me then he’d hug me and I’d lure him into bed.

Only some of those things happened when I pouted this time though. We got to the hug part but when he pulled away he didn’t have sex in his eyes.

“What if she does it again? What if she separates us?”

Sandro shook his head and brushed his thumb over my lips.

“I won’t let her this time. I’m in control.” I knew he was trying to reassure me, but reassured, I wasn’t.

“I can’t do another millennia without you, my love. Please. Please. How can I change your mind?”

Sandro chuckled and kissed me.

“I have to do this. And she’s not doing anything of the sort. If she tries anything I’ll just reincarnate her into a cow or something. I bet she’ll love that.”

He wasn’t even being sarcastic. And I could understand why. Demeter was the goddess of nature after all. But I still thought it was too dangerous.

“My beautiful death, don’t worry. I’ll reincarnate her as a mortal and when all’s well and done I’ll send her back to the Meadows never to be heard from again.”

I looked at the dead body in front of us and nodded. He’d borrowed it from Mother Red Cap for this exact purpose. I knew I should trust him—I *did* trust him. I just didn’t trust Demeter. She was a devious little devil and she’d caused us so much sorrow.

Sandro put his hands over the dead woman’s head and closed his eyes.

“I’m ready,” he said.

I took a deep breath and flicked my hands, calling the spirit I hated the most. My blue flames blasted from my hands and covered the woman. Sandro’s hands glowed gold and when the woman opened her eyes he pulled back.

She sat up and looked from me to Sandro.

“Who the hell are you? And where the hell am I?” she asked.

Sandro rolled his eyes.

“Hello to you too, Mother.”

“Mot—Persephone?” Demeter said.

The woman whose body she possessed was young, a poor girl that had passed away at the prime of her life, but I couldn’t help but see Demeter in her dark hair, her tanned skin, her brown eyes. She looked every bit what I imagined young Demeter looked like.

“I go by Sandro now, Mother. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

Demeter immediately pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose as if she’d bitten into a lemon.

“And this is Hades I suppose?”

I tipped my invisible hat to her but it didn’t help her sourpuss face.

“Long time no seee, Mother!”

She shivered.

“Do not call me that, you vile man.”

“Can we please not rehash old rivalries, Mother?” Sandro folded his arms in front of his chest and tapped his foot impatiently.

I’d warned him. And yet he still went ahead with it. He was all to blame for this.

Demeter aimed her fingers to the ground and shook her hand.

“Don’t bother trying anything, Mother. I brought you back to life as a mortal. I want to talk—”

“A mortal?” Demeter spat. “How dare you make your mother a mortal, Persephone? That’s preposterous. I’m a goddess—”

“You are going back if you don’t behave.” I took way too much pleasure telling her that even if she grimaced dismissively.

“I suppose you’re after Melis,” she said and rolled her eyes.

She got to her feet and mimicked her daughter’s stance, folding her arms and tapping her foot.

“Melis? Who the fuck is Melis?” Sandro asked.

“Oh...you still don’t remember?” Demeter chuckled and a growl escaped me before I could tame it. Not that I would have.

“Who is Melis, Mother?”

Demeter shook her head.

“No one.”

“Mother!” Sandro shouted.

She looked at both of us and huffed.

“I can’t believe you still chose him, after all this time. Didn’t I teach you better, Persephone? Why would a goddess of life marry a god of death? You’d think you’d have learned your lesson, but apparently—”

“We’re not here to talk about my love life, Mother. I brought you here to see if...we can reconcile, put our past to rest, but clearly you’re still hiding things from me. From us.”

Demeter sighed.

“I wanted better things for you, honey.”

“And I wanted a mother that supports me, but I guess neither of us got what we wanted.”

I took a step closer to Sandro and locked fingers with him, planting a kiss to the back of his hand.

“Agh. Fine. Clearly if you found each other again after all this time...you belong together. I guess.” She didn’t dare look us in the eyes when she said that.

Maybe Sandro should reincarnate her as a cow.

“Awww, if you said that with a little more conviction I might cry. Now who’s Melis?” Sandro said and squeezed my hand. I offered him all the strength and support I could muster.

“I suppose I should tell you. Are you...are you planning a family or something?” She batted her lashes looking everywhere but us and I was getting angrier by the second.

“Huh? Stop avoiding the subject and speak, demon!” She jumped at my scream but she quickly pulled herself together.

“Melis is...Melis is your son,” she mumbled.

“Son?” I asked, turning to Sandro who shook his head just as confused as me.

“What do you mean our son? We don’t have a son,” he told his mother.

“You do. I just...made you forget him.”

“You what?” Both Sandro and I shouted in unison.

Of all the things I expected to happen today after Sandro told me he wanted to speak to his mother, this was not one of them.

“I’m sorry. I guess,” she said. She wasn’t sorry at all. She couldn’t even bother pretending.

“What the fuck, Mother! Why would you do that?”

Demeter closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I thought if I took him from you, I could shutter your little charade of a relationship, but clearly it didn’t work. Maybe you are meant to be together.”

Sandro let go of me and grabbed his mother by the throat.

“You truly are a despicable person, aren’t you? What did you do to him? Where is he?”

Demeter tried to get her son’s hands off her but she couldn’t match his power. I wasn’t going to lie. I enjoyed watching her get what she deserved. It was way overdue, especially if she’d really taken our son from us.

“Where. Is. He?” he shouted.

Demeter was fighting for air. It was time I stepped in.

“My love, as much as I’m taking immense pleasure, you may need to go easy on her until she tells us?”

Sandro looked from his mother to me and bit his lip. He dropped his hands and took a step back, next to me.

“Speak!”

Demeter coughed and massaged her throat.

“I...trapped him in an interdimensional realm.”

“You did what? How dare you? Is he okay? You’ve left him all alone in another realm?”

Demeter considered her son for a moment and licked her lips.

“I didn’t. It...it’s a special place for children waiting to be born. He’s not alone, per se.”

Sandro looked at me and grimaced.

“Are you getting any of this or is it okay if I kill her now?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” I turned to her.

Unlike Sandro, I didn’t need to touch her to make her fear for her life. The blade of my sai against her neck did just the trick.

“Us fertility goddesses have a realm where souls are created. When someone creates life in this realm we bring the baby soul here.”

I didn’t know if it was being confronted by her son and his husband or that fact she was powerless, but the fight had gone right out of her.

“Bring him to us then. Now! I will not ask twice.”

Demeter sighed.

“That’s hard to do without my powers, don’t you think, Persephone?”

“My name is Sandro, for fuck sake. And if your powers is what you need to bring him to us, fine.”

His hands glowed but I stepped in front of him.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Sandro looked at me with his bright blue eyes and he didn’t need to utter a word. I trusted his judgement.

I stepped aside and let him reincarnate Demeter’s powers.

“Now bring him to us and if you try anything funny, I won’t just send you back to Hades, I’ll reincarnate you as a bug and squash you myself.”

Demeter nodded and turned her back to us. I was about to say something when she raised her hand and drew a circle. A golden trail followed her finger until the circle was complete and the air in the middle of it shimmered.

A baby appeared inside it, floating in space. Demeter put her hands inside and pulled it out.

“Here,” she said and offered him to Sandro. “Your son. You named him Melis before I took him.”

“Honey,” Sandro whispered, taking him in his arms.

The Greek word for honey seemed to fit the tiny little human. He had fair skin and barely any hair but whatever hair there was dark. His eyes were the color of the sweet substance and he made a sound between crying and laughing when Sandro touched his cheek.

“Hey, baby boy. Remember me?” he whispered.

I approached them both, unable to take my eyes off the little being between Sandro and I.

He was tiny, so fragile. He could barely be older than a day or two. And that bitch had taken him from us. For thousands of years.

“It’s okay, Melis. Daddy Death is here,” I told him and ran my finger across his skin. It was warm like his father’s.

“Daddy Death.” Sandro looked up at me and smiled. “You’re a daddy, Hades!”

There was so much kindness in his face, such a stark juxtaposition to the anger that had colored his skin red a few moments ago. It was a sight to behold.

“I think...I think I’m starting to remember,” he said. “Carrying him. Giving birth to him.”

Tears ran down his cheeks. I wiped them. I’d always wipe them. No matter what.

“You’re home now, baby. You’re home now.” He brought him closer to his face and planted a big kiss on his forehead.

I did the same.

As soon as I did, I got flashes. Of carrying Perspephone in labor, of welcoming our son, of drying the sweat of her forehead, of holding our son for the first time.

My heart felt complete. I didn’t even know it was missing a piece and yet the feeling was undeniable. Melis was our son. Our baby. A piece of us.

Sandro’s cheeks turned red again.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He looked behind me and I turned to find Demeter at the door.

As soon as she noticed us staring, the ground trembled, cracks appeared in it and plants grew out of them.

I scorched them with a flick of my hand. Sandro glowed as he passed me our son and approached his mother.

“You! You took my soulmate and you took my son from me and now you’re going to run? No, Mother. I was ready to forgive you but after what you did, you deserve to die all over again. And this time, you’ll have a spot in Tartarus with your name on it.”

He was intoxicating to watch like that. Demeter screamed and flailed but there was no escaping her son’s wrath.

“Watch and learn, son. That’s your other daddy when he’s pissed off!”

Melis’s eyes grew wide and when the body Demeter had possessed collapsed on the floor he made an expression that resembled a smile.

Yeah, there was no denying he was our son.

“I wonder what your powers will be, little one.” I kissed his forehead again as Sandro walked up to us and hugged us both.

He planted a kiss on my lips and then looked down at our son.

“You, my Melis, will be a heartbreaker. Just like your daddy Hades,” he said.

“I love you,” I told him. Because I could never tell him enough. Especially not after this. “I love you both.”

Sandro’s blue eyes shone brighter when he looked at me and for the umpteenth time I couldn’t feel luckier to be reunited with him.

And now, at long last, with my son. Our little prince of the Underworld.