Work Text:
Hades carefully supervised the restoration of one of the halls in his home. He held a work plan in his hand so he would know exactly what needed to be done. From time to time, he shouted instructions to the shadows or checked the document. The work was progressing very slowly, but steadily and without any problems.
His father’s army had done an excellent job of erasing all traces of the former master of this place and replacing them with new, tasteless ones. Of course, the god of the underworld would find everyone involved in this crime—but not now. Right now, everything had to be restored. He would deal with the traitors later, together with the Furies. Especially since his dear daughter was already getting rid of them every night, and sometimes her brother joined her.
Suddenly, the shadows near the man froze, fearfully looking behind his back. A second later, the workers farther away also saw something behind him and froze as well. Then another group of the dead stopped, until the entire construction site came to a halt. None of them could even blink from fear. Realizing what this meant, Hades slowly clenched the paper in his hands and cautiously looked behind him.
Well, as expected—it was his father. Yes, Melinoë had promised that with the help of the contract he would not harm anyone without a good reason. Yes, he himself had confirmed his granddaughter’s words and said he wouldn’t do so. But no one in the house really believed it. Even Nyx, knowing the titan’s character perfectly well, understood that if necessary, he would find a way around the Silver Sisters’ spell and might start another revolution. Because of this, everyone—from shadows to deities—either froze or tried to run away at the sight of the old man, hoping not to fall under his wrath. To be honest, Hades would have done exactly the same if he weren’t in such a high position.
But that wasn’t the point now. Kronos, squinting, внимательно studied the documents in his son’s hands while Hades tried to decide what to do next. Failing to come up with a brilliant solution, he simply turned to the workers and coughed, hinting that they should stop pretending to be statues and get back to work. All the shadows jumped and nervously resumed their tasks. The Titan of Time remained silent, continuing to read.
After several long and agonizing minutes, he suddenly snorted.
“Incredible. You decided to appropriate my centuries of work, yet didn’t even bother to study it properly.”
The god flinched, gripping the paper tighter, not caring about its condition since he had recently made copies of many projects.
“Father, what do you mean?” he asked, frowning.
Kronos raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? Has my dear son finally decided to pay attention to his father?” he asked, adjusting his staff more comfortably in his hands. Hades only pressed his lips tighter.
“I apologize, Father, but as you can see, I was busy with work and couldn’t notice you right away.”
The Titan of Time clicked his tongue in annoyance. The god of the underworld exhaled through his teeth.
“And if you wish to talk, Father, then be so kind as to explain why you think I misunderstood your work—especially considering that this is my realm.”
“You’re very lucky I’m in a good mood today, otherwise I’d reprimand you for that last remark,” the man replied, narrowing his eyes. Slowly and almost bored, he pointed to one part of the hall.
“Having seized my realm, you didn’t even bother to thoroughly study every corner of it. For example, in this part of the hall there is a small passage. In my time it was used for servants to move around without getting in the way, but apparently you decided to seal it. A foolish decision, considering that monsters or prisoners could easily use it.”
Hades frowned more deeply as his father spoke.
“Father, for your information, such a passage never existed in this hall,” he said quietly, with a condescending smirk.
Kronos sighed heavily, shaking his head.
“My son is so attentive. No wonder my army was able to reach the very bottom so quickly and resurrect me right before your eyes.”
He waved his hand tiredly. His interlocutor glared at him angrily.
“That was mere luck, nothing more. My people monitor every corner of the underworld to find and fix any flaw.”
“Then your people studied Tartarus poorly, because I clearly remember that there is a servant passage in that exact spot,” the Titan insisted, glaring at his son.
Unable to hold back, Hades snorted and crossed his arms.
“Well then, Father, perhaps no one informed you—but much has changed since your fall. And during the absence of your body, your memory may have failed you.”
Hades shrugged and quickly returned his gaze to the paper, while Kronos loomed over him angrily, almost hissing.
“My dear son, how kind of you to remind me that you killed me and left me to rot deep underground. I’m so glad you haven’t forgotten that wonderful event.”
“I’m only saying that many years have passed and things have changed. Perhaps some memories have become confused.”
“Oh, don’t worry. My memory is as sharp as it was millions of years ago. I clearly remember the passage here and understand that you made a serious mistake.”
“Yes, but my workers have checked every millimeter of this place dozens of times and found nothing. So perhaps, Father, you are mistaken.”
“Or perhaps there is chaos in your realm, and you hire incompetent workers.”
“Or maybe—”
“Excuse me…”
A quiet voice sounded in the distance, interrupting the argument between the two gods. They both turned angrily toward the intruder. It was one of the worker shadows. Under their gaze, he trembled, already seeming to regret ever being born.
Kronos sighed and waved his hand.
“You may speak, child,” he said, straightening up.
Hades quickly cleared his throat and also assumed a more serious posture.
“Report.”
The shadow pointed with a trembling semblance of a hand toward the wall.
“T-there… w-we f-found a p-passage. I-it m-might h-have b-been b-buried a-a long t-time a-ago, w-which is w-why n-no one n-noticed it.”
After a few seconds of silence, the Titan of Time snorted, and the most self-satisfied smile in the world appeared on his face. The paper in the god’s hands nearly burst into flames.
“What a surprise. As always, I was right. Well, my son, I think today I won’t lecture you about listening to your elders, since they are far more experienced and wiser than you. Instead, I’ll go attend to my temporary duties, because given your knowledge, who but me can properly restore the rest of Tartarus?”
Kronos said this, then struck the ground with his staff and disappeared, leaving his son alone. For a while, Hades remained silent, then growled and tore the poor document apart, throwing it aside. The shadows flinched in fear. Hades quickly pressed his hand to his temple and began to massage it slowly.
“Resume work immediately! And tell the foreman to be here this instant to seal that damn hole! Or do something else—I don’t care!”
***
Poseidon sat contentedly on his throne in one of his temples. The restoration was progressing quite quickly, which was no surprise. The god of the seas wanted to finish this tedious bureaucracy of planning the reconstruction of his cities and aiding mortals as soon as possible.
In general, this kind of routine was common for all the gods. Between battles, they had to spend many hours restoring peace in their lands. Fortunately, he had slightly less work than the others. He had defended his domain well against the attacks of his father’s army, so the losses and destruction were not as severe. Yes, a couple of temples had to be sacrificed, but that was nothing—mortals would rebuild them soon enough.
Poseidon continued to do absolutely nothing, calmly enjoying his power, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement near one of the frescoes. He glanced at it lazily, then suddenly sat up straight on his throne, his back stiffening almost to the point of cracking.
Kronos was standing there.
He seemed to be examining the paintings with interest. The god of the seas quickly adjusted his clothes and armor, then cleared his throat and stood up from the throne.
“Glad to see you, Father,” he said with a nervous smile.
Although he knew perfectly well—from his brother, his niece, and some Hecate—that the Titan of Time was harmless. And his father himself had confirmed this during their conversation. But still… the unease before Kronos had not disappeared, and the fear of a possible catastrophe still lingered inside him.
The Titan of Time slowly turned to his son.
“Really? Is that why I had to bypass several seals just to enter your temple?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Poseidon exhaled nervously, still holding his smile.
“Just a small precaution. You never know what might happen.”
Kronos only narrowed his eyes, watching his son closely. Poseidon remained standing in place, hands on his hips. After several long minutes, the man turned back to the fresco, and the god of the seas let out a quiet breath of relief.
“Redo it.”
The Titan of Time ran his hand over one of the painted human faces. Poseidon looked at the image in confusion.
“What? Why?”
Kronos frowned, looking at the paint that had smeared onto his hand.
“My son, did you truly destroy all the scrolls in my realm after you ruined it?” he asked.
This only made his interlocutor frown more deeply in confusion.
“You mean those treatises where a few scholars made false assumptions? We studied them long ago and realized everything written there was complete nonsense,” the sea god replied with a heavy sigh.
The Titan of Time snorted and turned back toward his son.
“Oh? Then I suppose you discovered the beneficial properties of lead, since you’ve decided to use it again.”
“Lead?” Poseidon blinked in surprise.
Kronos gave him a condescending look.
“What? While studying all those treatises, did you fail to notice the dangerous properties of many minerals? How interesting. I even issued a law banning the use of some of them because of the danger.”
He narrowed his eyes, tapping his fingers against his staff.
“Although perhaps mortals in your time have become more tolerant of poisons. They probably no longer suffer from excruciating stomach pains, their memory doesn’t deteriorate, they don’t lose consciousness, and all those other trivial little things.”
The god of the seas flinched and looked away. His father clicked his tongue and turned to examine the rest of the temple.
“Incredible, my son—you managed to cover almost your entire temple with this paint. No doubt your, undoubtedly wise, followers are delighted. Forgive the foolish question. It’s just that after my death at your hands, my memory has begun to fail me, and I understand very little now. How often do your worshippers die in agony for unknown reasons?”
Poseidon’s smile twitched, and Kronos narrowed his eyes with satisfaction. He waved his hand dismissively.
“I suppose I should be going. Restoring your brother’s home takes an immense amount of time. Besides, I wouldn’t want to interfere with my dear son’s work.”
With that, the Titan of Time struck the ground with his staff and disappeared. His son stood in silence for a while, then groaned and covered his mouth with his hand.
In his mind, the god of the seas was already roughly calculating the possible costs of redoing all the temples and removing the toxic paint from them. And that didn’t even include the cost of applying new paint and possibly replacing some materials.
After all, he certainly had no intention of becoming known as the god who mysteriously kills his own followers.
***
Zeus, smiling contentedly, leaned over one of the nymphs. Around them, other beings and gods were celebrating, having decided to rest from the battles against the remnants of Kronos’ army. Everyone was drinking ambrosia and nectar, discussing recent gossip, while some left the hall to be alone for obvious reasons.
Of course, not everyone was at the celebration. For example, Poseidon was currently entertaining himself in his temples. Hades, even more so, had never been interested in such festivities, nor had his wife. Artemis had given some strange refusal, which had been happening far too often lately. And Demeter, for her own reasons, had left the celebration almost immediately.
The Thunderer leaned seductively toward the girl, when suddenly she let out neither a scream nor ran away, but simply froze in fear. The man blinked in confusion, not understanding his partner’s reaction, until he realized that someone was standing behind him, looming like a shadow.
“How interesting.”
A painfully familiar voice was heard, making the god shudder as he quickly turned to face the uninvited guest.
As expected, it was Kronos, who was looking at his son with displeasure. The gods and other beings who had been celebrating moments before froze in fear, staring at him. No one knew what to do or where to run to avoid the Titan of Time and former enemy. They had, of course, heard that he had supposedly changed, but many still struggled to believe it.
Zeus cleared his throat, then put his hands on his hips and looked at his father.
“What brings you to my realm, Father, and why do you think you have the right to frighten my allies?”
Kronos only narrowed his eyes in response, slowly tapping his finger on his staff.
“What brought me? Nothing particularly important, my son. I was simply curious how exactly you rule one of my domains.”
The Thunderer was about to say something when Kronos suddenly pointed to the spot where the nymph had been standing a minute ago.
“And what do I see? Instead of restoring your own domain, you are here entertaining yourself with other gods?”
Zeus frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Do you mean restoring my domain after your rebellion? Aren’t you supposed to be restoring what you destroyed in my brother’s realm right now?”
Kronos raised an eyebrow.
“Yes, restoring after my resurrection. And I am doing exactly that. Your brothers, unlike you, are also doing their part. But what are you doing? Entertaining yourself with some girl?”
“Continuing to entertain myself. That’s the third one today.”
Suddenly, Hera’s voice was heard. Zeus looked at her with anger and hurt, but she turned away, pretending to examine one of the columns with interest. Kronos clicked his tongue in displeasure and looked back at his son.
“Well, now I understand who spread all those rumors about me, including the supposed infidelity.”
He spoke in a stern voice. The gods and other beings, who had moments ago been watching Kronos with fear and trying to escape the hall, now began watching the scene with interest. Zeus, noticing this, cleared his throat and looked directly into his father’s eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you—”
“What matters is that, my son, as always, you demonstrate your incompetence in ruling. Both now and thousands of years ago—you haven’t changed at all.”
Kronos sighed heavily and, placing a hand on his head, shook it.
“It’s amazing that those girls chose you as king. Even your brother Poseidon was more capable than you.”
The Thunderer was slowly but surely starting to get angry at this tone.
“Father, I don’t think it is appropriate to speak so disrespectfully about the Moirai… I am doing everything possible to restore prosperity…”
“But not enough.”
The Titan of Time interrupted him again, removing his hand from his face. He leaned slightly toward his son.
“My dear son, just because you are not bad at battle does not mean you are capable in more intellectual matters. You must urgently restore everything. The surface world, unlike the underworld, will not wait. And if you think I will go restore the surface after your brother’s realm, I must disappoint you. Neither by contract nor by my own will am I obligated to do so.”
Zeus lowered his arms, clenching his fists.
“Father, I will decide what I do and when I do it. You have no right to interfere in my affairs—especially when part of the problems exist because of you.”
Kronos raised an eyebrow.
“Undoubtedly, part of the problem is because of me. But what came before that? If I remember correctly, it was your tantrums that caused one of the floods that killed many.”
“Father.”
“Oh, or the situation with Prometheus. How fortunate that I found him and he managed to escape from your watch. You failed to teach humans the use of fire, and instead of fixing that, you chose to hide it. As usual in your style, my son—not solving the problem, but simply eliminating the consequences.”
“Father!”
“And your romantic escapades. How many descendants have you produced? I truly hope you remember at least their names, not to mention their upbringing. Surprisingly, even I in my time was able to give you and your brothers attention and raise you, although…”
The Titan of Time sighed heavily again.
“Considering your gratitude for everything I did for you, and your behavior… it seems I did not raise you all well enough.”
Zeus was already beginning to glow with lightning and rage. His beard turned gray, transforming into a storm cloud. He wanted to say many things to his father, as during their family gatherings, but unfortunately he could not. He would likely say something too dangerous in front of the gathered guests. As for starting a fight with his father—it was out of the question. He was far weaker than him, and such an action would break the contract binding Kronos, allowing him to attack others freely.
The unwanted guest clicked his tongue, looking over the gathered crowd.
“Although I think continuing this conversation is pointless. Unfortunately, as usual, you will understand nothing. Besides, I no longer wish to be at this festival of absurdity.”
He said, evaluating everyone. A second later, Kronos turned back to his son.
“My son. Remember this. I will not fix all your mistakes. If you wish to rule everything yourselves, then be so kind as to live up to the status of rulers. Do not present yourselves as gods who are nothing but lustful clowns.”
Then he struck his staff and disappeared.
All the guests at the celebration stared at Zeus, who for a while stood in silence, staring into the void. Then, roaring in anger, he began hurling lightning in all directions, causing terrified screams from the crowd. His furious shout followed:
“Why does he always interfere everywhere?!?!”