Chapter Text
Prologue:
There have always been different gods.
There were gods like him, the father of the gods, Zeus, the eldest of the Big Three, who allowed themselves to be adored and worshipped without really worrying about his followers. Zeus was never someone who showed much compassion. Nevertheless, he demanded that people believed in him and showed him respect, worshipped him and courted his favor.
Then there were gods like Aphrodite, who seemed to live only to give their love to people. She fulfilled as many wishes as she could, usually gave away more than was good for her and was always in love.
There were gods like Helios, who looked down on the earth from high up in his chariot and rebuked what he did not like and blessed with his light what he liked to see.
There were gods like Dionysus who, apart from his wine, didn't really care what happened on earth. As long as the harvest was good enough to keep him drunk and Zeus didn't demand anything from him, he couldn't care about humanity.
Last but not least, there were gods like Hermes, who had just as much to do with humanity as carrying their wishes, prayers and gifts from Earth to Olympus and bringing them to those who were worshipped, only to often come away empty-handed in their work. Not that the messenger of the gods cared. It was always fine with him as long as he had something to do.
And then... Then there was him.
Him, who had not thought about what he liked or disliked since his birth and the assignment of his task. He, who was also respected, or rather feared, by the whole world as one of the Big Three. Because he was who he was. He could not adorn himself with a beautiful title like Zeus, the lord of Olympus and all the living world. Or Poseidon, who shaped and ruled the underwater world.
No, because he was Hades. Hades, lord of the underworld, lord of all that was dead and consecrated to death in this world. He lived deep below the surface, which he rarely got to see. He entered Olympus even less often. His task was to watch over those who had already lived out their earthly lives and were only waiting for the end of the world.
And so he sat here, day in, day out, ruling an equally black kingdom on a throne of black stone that never saw the sun, for even Helios' rays were not bright enough to reach down here.
The endless expanses that stretched down here were only illuminated by glowing green flames that could provide neither warmth nor comfort. They only managed to make the shadows seem even deeper and colder than they already were.
Hades knew no other sight than this. All around him was black stone, green flames and every now and then the last golden flicker of a soul intermingled when it arrived on the shores of the underworld and had miraculously kept the last light of life within itself until here.
Sometimes he longed to be with the others, with his siblings, with his "family". But perhaps he had been down here too long. Because it wasn't just his realm that was black. His soul, his thoughts, his whole world were.
But Hades was not completely alone. He had brought beings to his side. Cerberus was always nearby, the obedient but formidable guardian of the stone gates of hell, and he also got on well with the ferryman who brought the souls to him from the other side of the Styx. And now and again, when he was in the mood to speak to another being at all, he would rise from his seat and make the journey to see him.
However, he spent most of his time in silence.
The world around him that he had created echoed in his ears, he barely heard the voices of the souls that were down here in droves. His existence was a twilight state between waking and sleeping, barely alert enough to keep an eye on everything and intervene if necessary.
It was not often that he had to become active in his realm. For the souls, who existed disembodied and mostly just waited for the time to come, hardly offered any variety that could attract his attention. So he sat here, hour after hour, day after day, or even night after night, which he could not distinguish, for months, years, decades and centuries. It made no difference to him.
Nothing mattered. Because there was nothing. That was his destiny, the task he had taken on after the fall of the Titans. Perhaps he had allowed himself to be deceived by Zeus when they had brought down their own father Kronos an eternity ago and redivided his rule among themselves. Perhaps he had even been angry about it at some point. But it had been too long ago for him to care anymore. So Hades lingered in the depths of the underworld, waiting for time to pass, for the world to end, as the souls around him did, always knowing that surely nothing could ever free him from this bleak existence.
Until Hermes came to him one day. The messenger of the gods floated down into the underworld with his winged shoes through one of the countless entrances and came directly in front of his throne, to which he even bowed.
Hades opened his eyes when he heard the shuffling of shoes and breathed in slowly.
He saw no reason to say anything. After all, the messenger certainly hadn't come without a message. A message that was surely just as meaningless as the one from... was it ten or one hundred years ago? Who knew... in any case, it wouldn't be able to change his life.
"Hades, Lord of the Underworld, most powerful of the Big Three, thank you for receiving me."
"Hmph," he grumbled when his guest made no attempt to continue and visibly waited for a reaction from him.
"Allow me to give you a message from your brother Zeus."
He bowed a little lower and the light that enveloped him reached the dark stone on which the messenger was standing, where it was immediately swallowed up.
He took a deep breath with difficulty, lifted his head from his upright left hand and sighed audibly.
"Speak," his deep voice boomed through the emptiness around them, and if he hadn't been so caught up in his apathy, he might even have been frightened by the sound of his voice.
Hermes, however, visibly flinched, but recovered after a few heartbeats and nodded several times, licking his lips excitedly.
"Zeus asks you to go to Olympus as quickly as possible! He is expecting his youngest child and asks you to be there for this special event."
Hades raised his eyebrows skeptically.
"Hasn't my brother already fathered countless children, some of them with his children? What's so special about this one that he's asking me to come up especially?"
He swallowed hard. He probably hadn't spoken that much in the last century.
"Forgive me, I can't answer that question. But he asked me to emphasize how extremely important it is to him! I heard that he had spoken to the Moiren shortly beforehand. Perhaps it has something to do with that. In any case, we must hurry. Demeter will give birth to the child in a very short time and if you want to comply with Zeus' wishes, we have to hurry."
Hades actually considered for a moment whether he should simply ignore Hermes, who was beginning to jitter restlessly on the spot, and perhaps take a nap. However, he couldn't deny that the mention of the Sisters of Destiny had triggered an echo somewhere inside him. And so he nodded gravely, eliciting a small cry from the messenger of the gods that echoed across the plain until Hades had managed to rise from his throne.
His robe, just as black as everything else down here, fell in long strips of fabric over his body, which was well-toned and almost perfect despite his inactivity. His skin always shimmered grayish in the underworld. He knew that if he stood under the glow of Helios, it would have an almost bronze hue. But he never stood under the glow of Helios and so he didn't care.
His robe billowed with his every movement, as if it had a life of its own, or as if limbs other than his own were moving beneath the countless, gossamer layers of fabric. As if there was so much more hidden in the shadows than just his body.
As Hades took two steps towards Hermes, Cerberus moved to his side, all three of the large heads erect and looking around attentively.
"I'll be back soon. You take care," the Lord of the Underworld murmured slowly, stroking the middle of the demon beast's three heads and overcoming the last distance to Hermes.
"Will you allow me to take you my way?" the winged messenger offered, stretching out his right hand towards him, but Hades only indicated with a shake of his head.
"My way is certainly faster," he whispered.
Talking exhausted him. He was no longer used to moving at all. Without thinking, he allowed Hermes to touch him and the moment he could really feel the skin contact, he raised his right hand, under which a blue light appeared, expanding into a circular ring that seemed to spin faster and faster.
"Zeus," he breathed, seeing Hermes' wide eyes widen in surprise out of the corner of his eye.
Then the blue light continued to grow, enveloping her within two heartbeats, and the next time she blinked, far too bright light stung Hades' sensitive eyes!
Hermes let go of him and bounced back a little in front of him. It took Hades two breaths to get his bearings. The light in Olympus was soft, but too bright for what he was used to and he heard too many voices around him.
"Hades! Welcome!" a male voice rang out and when the glaring shadows in front of his eyes finally turned into a realistic image, he recognized Poseidon, who was coming towards him with long strides and beaming at him.
A feeling of nausea sprouted in Hades' chest at the sight and intensified when his brother hugged him without even waiting for his reaction.
"We certainly haven't seen each other for an age, if not two! And don't tell me you have so much to do! You could show your face more often!"
The sea god's loud laughter maltreated his ears and he wished he had turned down the invitation before Poseidon had even let go of him.
Hades' gaze scanned up over the blue-clad deity as he took a step away from him.
Poseidon had blond hair, a broad, far too loud smile and always seemed to be grinning at him. He was even taller than Hades, who with Zeus was almost the tallest in Olympus. His clothes were similar to those of Hades, but they were much more practical, and although they also hugged his muscular figure, they did not cover his entire chest, back or arms and were not as long. All in all, Poseidon was dressed very practically, considering that he spent most of his life in the water.
"Poseidon," the Lord of the Underworld finally sighed as he felt the piercing gaze of the bright blue eyes on him.
"Haaaaaach and still such an old curmudgeon!" the other one wrapped an arm around Hades' shoulders again and pulled him close to him.
He reluctantly let it happen; after all, he had known his siblings long enough. If he resisted, Poseidon would only insist all the more that he let him hug him. And he could probably do without that.
Instead, he began to look around. They really were in a part of the sprawling temple that made up Olympus, in Zeus' personal space. Around them were many other gods. Hades saw Aphrodite and Cupid smiling and whispering, Ares and Artemis sat at a small table at the other end, looking bored to say the least. There was no sign of Helios, but Selene was standing at one of the floor-to-ceiling windows from which you could see down to the ground. Zeus himself was nowhere to be seen, although Hades was sure that her third brother couldn't be far away. After all, they were practically in his living room. And he could feel his proximity.
He heard voices, far more than he saw gods, and it was all too loud and too bright up here for him. He thought he heard Demeter's voice coming from the next room, which was only shielded from their view by a curtain, a strained gasp and another and that of his other brother and, if he remembered correctly, it was Eileithyia he had just heard. She had been talking softly to someone and the logical image of Demeter in labor, giving birth to the new god while Zeus was at her side and the goddess of childbirth was doing her duty in Olympus this time instead of on earth, popped into his head.
There was tension in the air everywhere, even Hades could feel it clearly. But it only took seconds before the loud cry of a newborn echoed through the expanse of the temple and the tension instantly fell away from everyone present.
Poseidon let go of him and everyone turned towards the curtain, he himself also turned around and took a breath.
Minutes passed. Minutes that seemed like an eternity to Hades. He was no longer used to so much company and the light still stung his eyes. But to his relief, the others no longer approached him. Everyone stared transfixed in the direction of the soft murmuring voices. Everyone was here to see the youngest member of the family and nothing else was more important now. Hades was the closest to the passageway with Poseidon, which was purely thanks to his brother. If it had been up to Hades, he would have crawled into the far corner with Ares or left again immediately.
But then...
Then the curtain was pushed aside and Zeus stepped through. His huge figure almost filled the passageway as he stepped in clad in the white robe.
The fabric stretched across his defined chest just over the left side of his chest, held at the shoulder by a large golden clasp. In his arms he held a tiny bundle in white sheets. Hades held his breath. A newborn. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt and seen so much young life!
And Zeus beamed at them all, his gaze clouded by tears of joy that ran unabashedly down his tanned cheeks.
When he returned Hades' gaze, he headed purposefully towards him and Poseidon.
"We have a son! A wonderful little son! Poseidon, Hades, just look at him!"
Zeus overcame the few steps that separated them faster than Hades consciously realized and the next thing he really noticed was Zeus pressing something surprisingly light and warm into his cold arms. Instinctively, he reached for it and pressed it to his chest. He looked down and time stood still for him.
He did not hear what his brothers were saying. He didn't hear the congratulations that the other gods shouted to the new father. He didn't hear anyone asking about his mother's condition, nor did he realize how Hera and Eileithyia came in and mingled with the others, confirming that Demeter was fine and just needed a moment's rest.
No, Hades was caught up in the sight of the newborn.
A tiny god lay in his arms. Black hair played around his round face, huge, shining eyes looked at him curiously and the warmth emanating from the small body even seemed to seep through the fabric to his skin. Something happened to the Lord of the Underworld as he looked at this god so young and as he swallowed hard, he felt himself smile.
Hades smiled. It must have been centuries since he had last done that.
Warmth flowed through his cold and frozen body and he thought he had reached the peak of his happiness, but the baby proved him wrong.
He laughed.
His wide eyes narrowed as his lips opened and he laughed at Hades from a wide open mouth, one of his tiny hands stretched out in his direction.
And Hades knew at that moment that there could never be anything more beautiful or more important to him than that laugh.
"What should he be called?" asked Poseidon and Hades tried to concentrate on the answer.
"He will be the god of spring, that's what his mother wants. We will give him the god's name Persephone."
"That sounds wonderful. And how do we call him?"
"Well... I was thinking of... Luffy."