The Hecatoncheir left Tartarus without looking back, more than happy to finally be out of that filthy hole. The ground shook with every step as he crossed the plains of the Underworld with his hundred arms stretched out, several of his fifty heads moving in different directions and speaking almost at the same time.
"Ahhh, I need to see the sun. Where's the exit?"
"Zeus first. I want to feel his bones between my teeth," another head muttered.
"Or better yet, a human. I haven't eaten one in millennia."
At the thought, several of the heads began to salivate while Damon merely sighed, hoping the ancient warrior's excitement would settle down a little.
"The exit from the Underworld to the human world is that way," the redhead said, pointing north. "You'll know when you reach the River Styx. But if you're going to set foot in the mortal world, be careful. It's not like it was in our time anymore. A lot has changed, most humans don't even believe in the supernatural now, and people scare easily."
"Not to mention they have bombs now," Hades added beside him, very much agreeing with his brother's warning.
One of the smaller heads turned toward him suspiciously. "Bombs? What the hell are those?"
"Something you definitely don't want to take head-on, I can promise you that," Damon replied. "Mortals found some pretty creative ways to kill each other, and some of their weapons could even hurt you. So honestly, I wouldn't recommend leaving the Underworld just yet... much less starting to eat humans. Even with the Mist, someone like you would be pretty damn difficult to hide."
Several heads began whispering among themselves. "Then what am I supposed to do? Wander around down here forever?"
"For now, that would probably be the smartest thing to do," Hades replied. "The Underworld is pretty damn big. You can roam the entire place without anyone bothering you."
The central head grunted as its eyes swept across the plains. "Some mountains would be nice. This whole flat landscape is annoying."
Hades didn't seem to have any problem with the request. He stepped forward and struck the ground with his foot. A tremor rolled across the plains and, in the distance, the earth began to crack before slowly rising into an enormous line of mountains.
The Hecatoncheir stared at them before a booming laugh shook the ground beneath their feet.
"HAHAHAHA! I'm starting to like you, God of the Underworld."
Damon let out a small laugh as he watched the ancient warrior head toward the mountains. For quite a while, they could still hear several of his heads arguing with each other in the distance.
Kurama snorted from his shoulder. "Fifty heads and not a single brain between them."
"It's not that bad. He's just hardheaded... or I guess I should say hardheads," Damon replied, somewhat amused.
Kurama made a sound of disapproval at the attempted wordplay.
A few minutes later, the group arrived at Hades' palace. The place was surrounded by massive columns of dark stone and long hallways stretching toward different sections of the enormous Gothic complex. It was definitely exactly what Damon had expected from his brother. Although, to be fair, there were a few flowers scattered around the palace, undoubtedly Persephone's doing.
Hades, meanwhile, split off from the group to take care of a few matters of his own and let Persephone know they had company, leaving Damon, Melinoe, and Hecate in one of the palace's side chambers.
Hecate didn't take long to leave either. "Lord Damon." The Goddess of Witchcraft inclined her head respectfully before making her way down one of the hallways.
Damon simply let her go. He still felt like he should make an effort to get to know Hecate a little better, especially since they both came from an ancient era and shared more history than either of them usually mentioned. But then again, the goddess had never been a woman of many words. Building any kind of friendship with her would take time, Damon was certain of that.
A somewhat awkward silence settled over the room until Melinoe decided to break it.
"It looks like things really have calmed down a little with the monsters and everything else," the Goddess of Ghosts commented, trying to keep some kind of conversation going. Since leaving Tartarus, she hadn't sensed any new disturbances near the borders. "Honestly, I'm surprised. I expected some kind of counterattack after what you did."
Damon let out a small laugh. "What can I say? When you reach a certain level, sometimes your presence alone saves you a lot of headaches."
Melinoe had to admit that made sense. For a moment, she couldn't help imagining what it would be like to possess that level of influence herself. It wasn't that she considered herself a useless goddess or anything close to it, but she knew perfectly well that she still had a long way to go if she wanted to compare herself to the major gods of Olympus, much less her father.
Sometimes she even thought she had inherited more traits from Persephone than Hades in that regard. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but a small part of her had always wondered how different she might have been if she had inherited more of her father's power.
Melinoe pushed those thoughts aside and, almost without realizing it, looked toward Damon's shoulder again. Kurama was still sitting there in his tiny form, several of his tails tucked behind him while his ears twitched whenever someone spoke. This was already the third or fourth time the Goddess of Ghosts had found herself staring at the Bijuu, and Damon eventually noticed. A small smile appeared on his face as he tilted his head slightly toward her. "Looks like you like animals."
The question caught Melinoe off guard. "What?" she replied, taking a moment to understand what he meant. Damon gestured toward Kurama with his head. "You've been staring at him for a while." The goddess glanced toward the small fox before looking back at Damon, knowing there was little point in denying it. "Yeah... I like them quite a bit," she finally admitted with a hint of embarrassment.
"What kind of animals do you like?" Damon asked, somewhat curious.
Melinoe thought about it with a completely serious expression. "I like turtles."
Damon's eyebrow twitched slightly. The seriousness with which she said it forced him to hold back a laugh out of respect.
"I also take care of other creatures in the Underworld whenever I can..."
Kurama opened one eye when he heard the conversation, but before he could suspect what the redhead was planning, Damon had already grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. "Wait, Damon, what are you doing?" the Bijuu protested, though he received no answer. Damon simply placed him in Melinoe's arms, and she instinctively caught him with both hands, surprised to suddenly have the small fox so close. "His name is Kurama. He's a pretty good animal, one of the best, actually," Damon commented with obvious amusement.
"Hey, I'm not just some random animal. I'm a Bijuu, you damn idiot," Kurama growled, trying to preserve some of his dignity. Still somewhat surprised, Melinoe carefully ran a hand through the orange fur on his head. Kurama scrunched up his muzzle and was about to keep complaining, but when the goddess's fingers reached behind one of his ears, he wisely decided to let himself enjoy it. Damon raised an eyebrow at him. "Wow, look how quickly all that dignity disappeared, huh?"
"Shut up," Kurama replied without opening his eyes.
Melinoe couldn't help smiling as she continued petting him. The serious expression she had maintained until now began to crack as she adjusted the small Bijuu more comfortably in her arms. "I've liked animals since I was little," she explained after a moment. "I take care of some of the creatures in the Underworld whenever I can... no one really pays much attention to them."
Damon showed a little more interest when he heard that. "I didn't expect that from you."
Melinoe looked up. "Is that a bad thing?"
"Not at all," Damon replied. "You just didn't seem like the kind of person who would do something like that. But even I can be wrong every once in a while."
Melinoe nodded, taking his words as a compliment, before looking back down at Kurama. Her smile widened slightly when she noticed that the fox seemed to have completely surrendered to the petting and wasn't even trying to return to Damon's shoulder anymore.
The peaceful moment continued for a while until voices began echoing from one of the nearby hallways. Damon recognized Hades' voice easily, although it took him a little longer to place the second, feminine one. Melinoe, on the other hand, didn't need to. The way she turned toward the entrance made it obvious she already knew who was coming.
Hades appeared shortly afterward accompanied by Persephone, the two of them still talking about some matter concerning the palace. The Queen of the Underworld stopped when she entered the room and found her daughter holding a small orange nine-tailed fox in her arms, one that looked perfectly comfortable with the situation.
Persephone raised an eyebrow. "I see it didn't take you long to find something new to entertain yourself with."
"It's temporary, Mother," Melinoe replied, continuing to pet Kurama.
"I'm a Bijuu," Kurama repeated proudly. "Not one of her pets."
Melinoe couldn't help the sweatdrop that appeared on her forehead at the fox's obvious pride. Being a "Bijuu" seemed to be the only thing on his mind. She didn't even know exactly what that meant; to Melinoe, Kurama was still just an adorable little fox. Little did the goddess know the true scale of the Nine-Tails' power.
Persephone blinked when she heard him speak before looking toward Damon for some kind of confirmation. "Long story," the redhead replied.
"With you, it always is," Hades commented as he entered behind his wife.
Damon couldn't help letting out a small laugh. Persephone smiled as well before coming a little closer. There was no tension in the way she greeted him, nor any of the awkwardness that sometimes appeared between members of their family after going so long without having a proper conversation. In fact, she seemed genuinely happy to have him in the palace.
"I'm glad you came," Persephone said. "There's something I've wanted to tell you for a while, but I never had the chance to do it properly." Damon tilted his head slightly, waiting for her to continue. "Thank you for what you did with my mother."
The redhead blinked before the memory finally clicked into place. "Ahhh... Demeter."
Persephone nodded. "Things between her and Hades have gotten a lot better since you talked to her. They still have their moments, of course, but at least now they can be in the same place without me waiting for one of them to say something that ruins the rest of the day." The goddess let out a small sigh. "It might not sound like much, but it means a lot to me."
Damon understood perfectly. Demeter could be difficult even on her best days, and considering all the history between her and Hades, he hadn't expected a single conversation to fix everything either. "You don't have to thank me," Damon replied. "Besides... sorry about Demeter. She can be a little difficult when she gets something stuck in her head."
Hades snorted from the side. "Ha. You can say that again, brother. Believe me, I know firsthand."
Persephone elbowed him in the ribs before he could continue. "Hey. A little respect, dear. She's still my mother."
Hades brought a hand to his side as he turned toward her. "Now I'm supposed to respect her after everything that woman has said to me over the centuries?"
Persephone simply crossed her arms and looked at him seriously, although the small smile beginning to form on her face ruined any attempt at looking genuinely annoyed. Hades held his apathetic expression for a moment before shaking his head and letting the matter drop.
Damon couldn't help feeling a little strange seeing his brother show so many emotions in such a short amount of time, especially because of how naturally the two of them interacted. Hades didn't seem like the same serious, distant God of the Underworld whenever Persephone was around.
And honestly, Damon was happy for him. Hades had carried enough burdens throughout his life. Even his own domain had condemned him to an existence surrounded by death, spirits, and a kind of loneliness few could truly understand. Finding someone he could lower his guard around and share his days with was something Damon believed his brother deserved.
Persephone turned back toward him. "Either way, I wanted you to know that I appreciate it. My relationship with my mother has never been simple, but I also didn't want to spend the rest of my life feeling like I had to choose between her and my husband every time they happened to be in the same place."
"Then that's enough for me," Damon replied. "We already have enough family problems without needing to keep collecting more."
Hades let out another snort. "On that, we completely agree."