103Chapter One
A/N: I do not own anything with the exception of any OCs that you may find floating around the story. Everything else belongs to Disney!
Some background, because I'm sure you're wondering why I'm starting a new story when I already have one Descendants story in progress and about 18 other stories waiting to be updated: I was going back and forth with AmethystDragon14 through PM and we were coming up with ideas as to what Mal's life would be like if she had a relationship with her father. Because my brain is the equivalent of having fifty notebooks open, each with different ideas, this story was born.
So thank you AmethystDragon14-and thank you for putting up with my insanity for as long as you have!
Crossing the Bridge will get an update soon-I'm aiming for sometime this weekend. I just need to finish getting the script part written and then comments are a breeze to get through.
Please let me know what you think!
Hades looked over his shoulder at the bundle in Maleficent's arms, his soon to be ex-wife glaring at him as he prepared to walk out the door.
"Go on!" She growled, her eyes glowing green. Had she been able to access her full power, Hades might have felt nervous for Mal. "Leave! But know this, if you go, you'll never see hide nor hair of Mal again!"
Hades stilled, before turning to square off against his wife, towering over her smaller form. "I'm taking her with me," he told her, his voice low. "She's my daughter Maleficent. If you think I won't get my hands on her one way or another, you've forgotten what got me tossed on this hell scape of an Isle in the first place."
"She'll have powers you'll never understand," Maleficent told him. "I"m the only one who can explain them to her, even if she can never use them."
"Oh, so you'll be able to explain her godlike powers too or were you going to brush those under the rug? Maybe pretend like they were your Fae powers?"
Maleficent rolled her eyes. "She won't know you exist nor will she have access to them while she's under the barrier so what's the point in explaining those?"
"The Isle's not the biggest," Hades pointed out, his voice low with a slight growl. "We could run into each other."
The two stood off for what felt like an eternity but was more realistically around five minutes. Maleficent broke it first, shoving Mal into Hades' arms.
"Fine, take the little brat!" She growled. "With a weak father like you, there's no chance she would be anything to be proud of."
"You and I have very different definitions of what would make us proud of our daughter," Hades told her before walking out of Maleficent's lair, Mal being supported the best he could. He knew it was a risk, walking out into the Isle with an infant but he had no choice. His lair was on the exact opposite side of the Isle from Maleficent's and there were no underground tunnels connecting the two, the way there might be if he had an alliance with Maleficent.
And there never will be any tunnels to the Dragon's lair, Hades thought, a glare keeping some of the underlings from approaching him. Some even dove out of his path to avoid his rage. However, that didn't stop others from trying.
"Ah Hades!" Gaston greeted him with a wave, Captain Hook his only company, at the half way mark of Hades' trek to his lair. "Come, have a drink! I'm celebrating after all!"
Hades rolled his eyes but walked over to the hunter despite his better judgement. "What are you celebrating?"
"The birth of my son of course! A boy, strong like his father! He'll be running around with Gaston Jr and Gaston the Third in no time."
"Let me guess the name for this one. Gaston the fourth?" Hades ventured.
Gaston sighed. "Sadly no. I got the news too late so Claudette had already named him. Gil, on account he was born near the water and Claudette likes fish. Serves me right to leave that decision up to a woman."
"Aye, I've been blessed with a son myself," Hook nodded while Hades rolled his eyes at the hunter's not so creative names for his sons. "Harriet's not the happiest lass in the sea but she'll get over it."
"Well congratulations," Hades said dryly. "If you'll excuse me, I need to return to—"
"What's that you got there Hades?" Gaston asked, finally noticing the bundle in Hades' arms. "Laundry? Give it to one of the scullery maids around here and grab a drink!"
"Laundry doesn't move, you idiot," Hook sighed.
"I knew that!"
Hades rolled his eyes at their banter but before he could say anything, Mal cooed from her blankets. The noise caught the pirate and the hunter's attention.
"Why Hades, is that a baby you've got there?" Hook asked, his hook peeling back the blankets.
"Very well spotted," Hades responded, his voice flat as he resisted the urge to rip that hook from Hook's body. "Your powers of observation are obsolete."
"Who does the brat belong to?" Hook asked.
"Didn't Maleficent's egg just hatch?" Gaston asked before Hades could answer. "Hades, bold of you to snatch the hatchling right after the birth. You know dragons are extremely protective of their young."
Hades snorted. As much as Maleficent tried, she couldn't avoid people see her growing belly during the pregnancy. Evil Queen had delighted in Maleficent's changing figure, though she couldn't say much considering she had been pregnant with her own child at the time. The young girl had been born three months ago so it wasn't possible to confuse her with Mal, who was about three weeks at best.
"Well Maleficent couldn't do much considering she was sleeping," Hades lied. It would be safer for Mal if no one on the Isle knew she was biologically his. Maleficent held all the power on the Isle.
"Ah excellent," Gaston nodded and then looked over at Mal. "Bah, a girl! I wouldn't have even put in the effort."
"Didn't you get bested by a girl? A girl who's husband is the reason we're all on this prison?" Hook asked as Hades walked away, not in the mood to hear their drivel any longer. The remaining walk back to his lair was without interruption and Hades sighed as he entered his home. That's when the realization hit: there was nothing suitable in his lair to raise a baby.
"Oh gods I wish Persephone was here," Hades groaned and then paused. "On second thought it might be a good idea that she's not. I can handle a baby on my own for a few months. I can't handle becoming a mint plant. Of course, that wouldn't be seen as evil so Steph's powers would work if anything green could grow around here."
Setting Mal down on a nearby chair and using what he could to keep her from rolling, Hades walked into another room.
"PAIN! PANIC!" Hades bellowed, realizing a minute too late that the summons might have awoken Mal. But there were no cries from the other room and soon his minions were in front of him.
"Pain!"
"And Panic!"
"Reporting for duty!" They said, ending with a salute.
"I need you to set up a room for a baby," he growled, his tone of voice letting them know that there would be no questions. "You are not to be loud. You are not to ask questions. Let me know when it's done."
"Yes sir!" Both of them agreed and ran off, saluting as they went. Hades smirked and went back to hold Mal.
"Hi little Mally," he said softly. "I'm your dad. Your mom's a little scary so I thought it would be better if I spent all the time with you."
There was no response, no noise, which Hades had to link to Maleficent being the mother. The only baby he had ever been around was his little sunspot of a nephew but even he was squealing and babbling all the time.
I could always inquire at Ursula's. Didn't my niece have her own little squidling? Hades thought as he sat with Mal. No, that would defeat the purpose of people not knowing Mal's mine.
"Um Hades?" Panic's voice broke through Hades' thoughts after what might have been an eternity but was more realistically about thirty minutes and he turned to glare at his minion.
"What?"
"The r-room's r-ready," Panic said and Hades had to be impressed, despite his better judgement.
"That was fast," he said, getting up to see what his minions had done.
"I-I hope you don't mind b-but we used a lot of V-Virgil's old things," Panic said as Hades looked at the room. "The c-crib for instance—Vanessa spent the morning freaking out because Virgil had managed to climb—"
Hades cut Panic off with a glare; he honestly did not care about the backstory for the room being completed so fast. The job was done and they weren't loud in doing it—proof they were capable of at least following instructions. The crib was a suitable one, a bit cracked in places near the top but the frame seemed sturdy. There were bite marks along the edge, presumably where Panic's brat had gnawed while teething.
"It'll do," Hades nodded, looking nonplused but Pain and Panic were probably just relieved he wasn't shouting. "You're dismissed."
Pain and Panic ran out the door, the fear of fireballs still engrained in them. Hades sighed at the memory. He used to be a God and now he was stuck on this Isle. The only solace was the fact that he had access to the Underworld to continue to do his job; harboring the souls of the deceased.
A small coo from Mal brought Hades' attention back to the present and he couldn't help but smile. Okay, this was a good reason to be stuck.
"Here's hoping your mom doesn't end up wanting you back," Hades muttered. It was a coin flip with Maleficent, and if Evil Queen ended up using her daughter to try to snatch power from Maleficent's hands the Mistress of Evil might want to use Mal for the same.
The worst part was, on the registry, Mal was Maleficent's and only Maleficent's. If he refused her access to Mal, then she could reach out to someone. On the rare occasion an inspector came to the Isle, she could play whatever card she chose and Hades was sure the idiot would take Mal from him.
After all, with his record, who would believe Mal was actually his and not just some other child he had stolen?
Looking down at his daughter, who was staring back at him with her bright green eyes, all thoughts about the future vanished from Hades' mind. All that mattered was this moment right here.
Maleficent won't try to steal from a God, he thought as he set Mal down in the crib. Now, I need to figure out how to get word to Persephone. I doubt those two morons set up anything for Mal to eat.
Besides, it would probably be better if Persephone had time to stew over the news Hades had a biological daughter with another woman. She'd have time to calm down and Hades wouldn't have to spend some of his precious limited time with her mad at him.
The question was: how?
