Chapter Text
[This will be the last destination, Your Majesty.] One of the Judges who came with him, says.
Hades looks around the place. Seems like a poor village. What do they call it in human words? Slums? Everywhere Hades looks, there is a picture of poverty and hunger, traces of violence and hatred to the world. He has seen enough of this kind of places that this doesn't shock him. Zeus would probably say about how pitiful the mortal realm is, with that passive sarcasm tone he has and Poseidon might say that he doesn't care about such things but Hades, as the King of the Underworld, is different from his idiotic brothers.
"Lead the way." Hades grunts to his subordinate.
The Judge glides to the air and Hades and the rest of his entourage follow it like a duckling. The deeper they get inside the slums, the worse it is.
The Judge stops in front of a house. [...]
Hades almost welcomes the silence but then he realises why the Judge finds itself dumbfounded.
A human child. Specifically, a newborn.
It's wrapped in white dirty cloth, and placed in a box. There's a letter on top of it's body. The child has tear-stained cheeks and it's lips are almost blue and it's skin is as pale as the dead.
Hades swallows the lump in his throat. He never really likes picking up innocent souls like this one. He always told them to warn him when this kind of situation comes up. He asks, angrily. [Is this the soul we need to pick up? Didn't I tell you to --]
[No, Your Majesty... It is... The soul is inside.] The Judge hesitates. [This child's soul is still inside it's body.]
Hades frowns. [You mean this human child is alive?]
The Judge nods.
Hades frowns harder. [Give me the letter. Judge, you take the soul out of that house.]
[As you command.] The Judge replies. It enters the house hurriedly.
One of the Dark Knights he brought with him picks the letter up and hands it over to Hades. He takes it, a little annoyed somehow. He unfolds it and reads,
Take care of him for me. His name is Kim Dokja. Reader, not only child. With you, he will never alone, won't he?
And nothing else.
This child... He has been abandoned.
Just like Hades.
But at least, Persephone came into his life and saved him. But this child... In this slums, there is nobody who will take care of him. Maybe the next time Hades sees this child, he will have to pick his soul up.
Something pricks in Hades' heart. He gives the letter to the Dark Knight who handed it to him and slowly carries the child in his arms. The child shivers slightly, probably because Hades is the King of the Underworld and he is like the Winter. But the child opens his eyes instead and meets Hades'.
[Do you want to come with me, Chi... no, Dokja?] Hades asks. He can feel the shock of the Knights behind him.
The child doesn't say anything. He can't, not yet, but like an answer, the child pushes his cheeks against Hades' chest.
Hades feels something in his heart blooms.
Spring. Just like when Persephone came to dreadful and stiff Underworld, and brought colour in his home. This child will bring his own colours, too.
The Judge pops out and informs him, [The soul has been successfully picked up, Your Majesty.]
Hades nods. He announces, [We will go back to the Underworld!]
In his arms, the child writhes sleepily.
When Hades and Persephone got married, a 'fate' was brought upon them.
'Tree of the Spring will never bore fruit'.
And no matter how much the gods deny it, they, too, have 'society' to please just like humans do. And in Olympus, lacking a heir means you are lacking power. Look at Zeus and his atrocities towards everybody he had touched. He has spread his bloodline like it's rain but at least he isn't like Hades. No heir and a wife who can't give him one. What a disgrace.
Everybody believed Hades will leave Persephone someday or at least find a heir elsewhere.
He did find a heir, however. Just not in the way they would think.
[You must be out of your mind, Dionysus.] Persephone angrily hisses at her nephew. Most days, she thinks this child is adorable. He has always done things to piss Zeus off and get told off by his other siblings but he never really listens. He hated being Zeus' son more than he hates Zeus himself. That's something they could agree on. However, right now, he's just making her angry. [Did you come here to my home to make jests?]
[I'm not joking!]
[Are you drunk, perhaps?]
[Aunt Persephone, I am sober as a cucumber! I'm telling you the truth! Another 'fate' has come down. It said --]
[You do realise what that means, don't you, Dionysus?] She asks, her voice tight. [Hades would have done something to disrespect our marriage and Hades isn't like that.]
[I know how Uncle is, okay? He is as loyal as a dog but the 'fate' has been established. You know how it is, right?]
Persephone knows. There is no way she couldn't. But... She breathes in heavily and closes her eyes. A heir... She wants a child, of course, a little bundle of love she can carry in her arms, a proof of her and Hades' devotion towards each other but they can't have that. Not in this lifetime, at least. She firmly opens her and is about to refute Dionysus when she hears The Judge announces the arrival of her husband.
She walks down the throne, passing Dionysus who is sitting on the stairs. She has to welcome her husband, and tells him he has done a good job but before she can say anything, Hades comes in the room, holding something fragile.
His eyes are wide. [My love...]
[Hades...] She gulps. [What is that?]
Hades glides towards her, and Persephone catches what he's carrying. A child. A human child. A little weak, and frail. He grabs her nape gently and kisses her forehead. [His name is Kim Dokja. I found him in the mortal realm. He has been abandoned by his own people, my love, and he needs... He needs somebody so I brought him.]
Persephone can't stop looking at the child. [His name is Dokja?]
[Reader. His name means reader, my love.]
Dokja, Persephone thinks. Oh, the 'fate' has never been wrong at all. She feels her hands shake in anticipation. [May I hold him, Husband?]
[Of course.] Hades gently passes Dokja towards Persephone arms.
Dokja opens his eyes and stares at her. Dark brown eyes. It's like she's looking at the abyss.
Persephone's heart beats speed up. [Hello, Dokja]. She smiles, tears welling up in her eyes. [My son.]
As if on cue, Dokja's hand touches Persephone's face.
[Welcome home.] Hades whispers and Persephone knows he meant it to the child but... She does feel at home. Holding Dokja like this, it feels like her life has fallen to the right place.
Athena is frowning even before Dionysus came into her sight. That's strange. He's the only one who could bring that kind of expression upon her face.
[What's with you?] Dionysus asks his sister.
Athena frowns even harder at Dionysus. [What are you doing here?]
[I needed something from one of the godde --]
Athena waves her hand. [Forget I asked.]
[I was just networking, you idiot. I'm not like your fa --]
[Dionysus!]
He chuckles loudly. [What? I'm just saying!]
[You're just a pot calling the kettle black, brother.]
Dionysus rolls his eyes. [Just tell me why you looked like Hercules stole your thunder.]
It is almost impossible to frown harder but apparently, Athena can do so.
[Well?] Dionysus asks again.
Athena sighs. [A 'fate' has been brought down.]
A 'fate', huh. He massages his head. He hates this kind of thing the most. Gods are obsessed with 'fates' and 'prophecies' and they dedicate their lives to fulfill it. What dumbasses.
Dionysus sucks air between his front teeth. [What is it this time? Zeus gonna have another seed to plant and then get disappointed when it grew up?]
Athena glares at him before looking around the hallway. [His Majesty has eyes and ears on the walls, brother.]
[So does Her Majesty.] He shrugs. [They can fight it out.]
[And no, the 'fate' is not about... It's about the Underworld.]
Dionysus' ears perk up. [Uncle or Auntie?]
Athena meets his eyes. [The Darkness will bring forth a heir.]
He blinks. What does Athena mean? The majestic beings downstairs gonna have a child? Weren't those two been wrongly frowned upon by the society because they can't have a child?
And then he realises something. There is a lot of ways to gain a child.
Bitterly, Dionysus thinks, [How lucky.]
Because that means that child will be chosen out of love, and not because of a need to prove something to the world.
Just like his father was to the rest of his children.