"Hades!"

Kori covered her ears and squatted to the floor as her father's roar echoed in the room as if he were scolding the person addressed.

She stood up and peaked around when she heard the portal part in a mechanical hum, but from her place she could not see who had come.

"Zeus." Said the new voice, in a calm that juxtaposed her father's anger. The voice was deep and smooth, dark and mystical. Kori felt butterflies in her stomach, yearning to hear more of the voice.

"You were entirely absent from the Homecoming celebration. That is unacceptable of an original Olympian!"

"More important than a crack in Tartarus, brother?" His voice was calm, but it still sounded like the context was detrimental. A fact confirmed by Zeus's reaction.

Zeus's aura had a visible twitch, and he was less collected than his brother.

"A break in Tartarus?! That is inconceivable!"

"Time weakens everything, and the Titans have not forgotten."

"This occurrence could mean death to us all, Hades! Yet you speak so lightly of it!"

The way her father sounded and the words he chose made him sound pathetic to Kore. How could her father, the king of the gods, be afraid? She was definitely rooting for the other guy, Hades. The boys had told such horrific stories about him, yet he didn't sound at all like they had described him.

The Gods continued to argue and Zeus refused to take Hades's word for it. In his defense, the god of Hell conjured up a torch as his witness.

"Am I to hear the words of a torch?!"

"Thanks to you, everything created has a soul, as does this torch. It's one of the few surrounding the captivity of Tartarus. Listen to it's soul."

Kori watched in utter amazement as Hades drew out the soul of the inanimate object, morphing the blue aura into a body. The blue ghost immediately sank to his knees in the presence of the two gods.

Their conversation bored her and she carefully snuck out of the room, unconsciously catching a glimpse of the God who had stepped out of the portal. Casually skipping back to her mother's tower, Kori noticed that it was still dusk, as Helios was sitting, head sleepily resting on his hand, waiting out his punishment as Demeter was angrily pacing back and forth. Kori face palmed.

Boy, this is going to be fun! She thought, biting her lip.

Opening the door as quietly as she could, Kori tiptoed into her own home as if a common thief: her skirt folded in her hands as her shoulders bunched up close to her ears. But that didn't save her one penny!

"Kori!" Demeter screamed from the top of the spiraling stairs.

Kori froze in her step, her shoulders hugging her neck.

"Just where have you been?! Are you at all aware of the hour?!" Demeter scolded as she descended the stairs.

"It's not past sunset yet," Kori cheekily attempted in reference to Helios coming down behind Demeter, suppressing a yawn behind his hand.

Demeter's blank face was a clear indication that she was in no mood for games.

"Sorry, Mother."

"So, where were you?"

"I... was with father." It was a half truth.

Demeter rolled her eyes and exasperated. She couldn't do anything about that.

"Well off to bed with you, young lady."

"Oh but mother! How could you possibly expect me to fall asleep when I'm so terribly, heavenly excited! Oh I could just stay up forever!" Kori dreamily twirled on her way up the stairs.

"And who do you expect will be doing your chores in the morning? Certainly you do not expect me to?"

"Who's to say I can't grow spring at night?!"

Helios became distraught at the mere thought of that. He had already been up far too long, especially since today was the longest day of the year.

"Says I, the goddess of spring! And you think Helios is going to stay awake so you can run off your energy?

"Oh please spare me!"

"Well, it doesn't have to be him!"

"Kori have you lost your mind?!"

"No, I mean it! Plants only need some sort of natural light to grow. I'll ask Selene! She's awake at night anyway."

"Hah! Good luck with that! She doesn't like working well with others. Which is weird, since us siblings are kind of interdependent."

"I know, maybe I could bribe her! What does she like?"

"I don't know, what could the moon goddess possibly like?" Helios's tone obviously implied sarcasm, emphasized by his crossed arms. "What could you even bribe her with?"

Demeter stood silent, not believing that this conversation was even taking place.

"I don't know. What could I, a flower goddess, gift the goddess of the moon?" Kori retorted back.

She didn't take long to answer her own question.

"Oh I know! I'll make a new flower, just for her! I'll call it, moonflower! It'll open only to moonlight and close when it's day."

"Wouldn't that be nice for a change." A new voice joined in and they all turned to see Selene sitting on the windowsill.

"Selene, what are you doing here?"

"Well, you were taking my time, so I came to see what was keeping you."

"Selene! Thank you for joining us," Demeter chirped, hopeful to find an ally. "Now do please inform Kori how absurd she's being?"

Selene jumped off the sill and walked into the room, her white dress almost put the moon to shame. Kori on the other hand, pouted her lips and raised her brows, bringing a pitiful look to her face.

It worked.

"You sure you can summon these moonflowers?"

"Well... I haven't done it before. But we can start right now."

Demeter threw her hands and gave up.

"Now don't be expecting any help from me! I'm very much done for the day." Demeter sassily turned away to her rooms with a flip of her hair.

"Me too. I'll be lucky if I get up tomorrow. See you in hell, sister!"

Selene gave light as Kori began her natural experiments to grow moonflowers. It was obviously going to take more than one attempt for the young nature goddess.

"Why did Helios say that?" Kori asked after Helios had long gone.

"What, hell? Oh, you see, all Titans are expelled to the Underworld for the crimes of our forefathers. At least we're not in Tartarus."

"What is the Underworld like?"

"It's different than Olympus for sure. And it's not just one place. For one, there's Tartarus, all the way down in the pits. Then there's Asphodel, where go the souls of people who haven't done enough good or enough bad. The best place is the Elysian Fields though. That's where the souls of the heroic and the pure good go. I'd say it's even more beautiful than your mother's gardens."

"And who gets to decide which soul goes where?"

"Well, Hades does that, of course."

Kori looked at Selene blank faced and the moon goddess realized who she was talking to.

"Oh, right. Hades is the god of the Underworld. He holds court between Asphodel and Elysian. It's so pretty, his castle. It's all black, of course. But it has charm."

"So he just decides who goes where?"

"What, you think Hades is like your father? Nah! Hades is pretty fair. He gives the souls a chance to defend themselves in a trial, but it's pretty easy to tell which soul is a living monster and Hades doesn't give them an ear at all. He just lets Thanatos drag them to Tartarus. And so, if a baby dies too early, Hades takes the soul to the Elysian himself."

"That's neat."

"Yeah, Hades is pretty cool."

After hours of trial and error, Kori finally conjured up a plant to Selene's liking. The flower was white and soft as silk, with 5 petals and star shaped sepals. They grew on vines that directed themselves to wherever Selene was. Definitely a moonflower. Both the girls were very pleased with the product, and Kore especially loved its fragrance.

"Flowers at night?! By the Styx, I cannot have more natural disorder tonight!" Zeus's voice came echoing through the door, though it was more playful than scolding.

The girls turned their attention to the door where Kori's parents stood, her mother behind her father leaning against the doorframe.

Kori rolled her eyes and excitedly showed her father her new creation. She bade the vines go swimming towards Zeus, and bloomed a flower right by his nose.

"Oh isn't it absolutely gorgeous, father! Look how delicate it is, and do smell it! It's dreamy!"

"Much enchanting, my dear. But I must have you off to bed now. So much to do tomorrow!" Zeus grabbed a squealing Kore by the waist and tossed her over his shoulder, finally taking her back to her room.

"Father?" Kori asked as she lay curled up next to him on her downy bed.

"Mhmm?"

"Did you know that Selene's smitten with Apollo?"

"Oh is she now?" Zeus cackled. "Well I hope he's true to her, then. The God of Music can be very enchanting with his silver tongue."

"I wish I marry someone true." Kori wishfully whispered, but it didn't miss her mother's ears. Demeter, who sat in the rocking chair in Kore's room, was very much perturbed by the claim.

"Unhun. Should we start looking now? We can't have just anyone wooing the great Zeus's Kori!"

"Well he most certainly has to be good looking!"

"Haha! Any specifics?"

"He has to be kind, and gentle, and fair. He absolutely cannot be too full of himself, when would he worry about me! And he has to be taller than me, oh wouldn't that just be romantic?! He has to be strong, and big too. Can't be scrawny and wimpy if he wants to wed me. Oh and his hair! It most definitely should not be golden. That's mine! Then I guess his hair could be... ebony! I forgot the obvious! His face! It must be contoured so perfect you could cut the most precious gem, oh! And his voice! Oh his voice, that's fairly important too! I can't imagine being smitten by someone with such a goddess like voice. No, he should have a, a strong manly voice. Not that he sounds like he's angry, but still heavy enough to send bolts down your spine."

Zeus laughed when finally her long list had finished.

"Oh, we'll definitely try to find someone like that!" Zeus said laughing, remembering no one on Olympus who matched the description.

But Demeter knew.

Her daughter, her Kori, had defined Hades as well as if he were standing in front of her. But Kori couldn't remember him, could she? He hadn't been present for the Homecoming ceremony, and Kore wasn't supposed to remember much of the last 104 years so clearly. But no matter. She would not, oh by the Styx she would not have her daughter infatuated with the God of the Underworld.

"Alright now, princess. Off to sleep. Goodnight."

"Goodnight father." Kori yawned and finally fell asleep.

Demeter cringed at the thought of it, but she couldn't deprive Kori of her needs, keeping her from her godly responsibilities.

Having been up most of the day and the night, Kori quickly fell asleep, entering the realm of darkness behind her closed eyes. No soon had 5 minutes gone by that her eyes opened again in a new place. She turned her face and found herself sitting right next to him, unfazed by the blue fire surrounding him. From her position, she could only tell his side profile; his high cheekbones, and a carved jawline framed with a mane of wavy, dark colored hair. She couldn't tear her eyes away.

And then he spoke.

His voice resonated in her heart. It was deep, and smooth, and so powerful that you just couldn't argue with it. Kori barely recognizing another existence in the room, a soul whimpering to be forgiven. But the man Kori was watching was adamant in his decision, and even made the soul realize how the punishment was just. Oh by the Styx, this deity was so cool!

As Kori slept away in the Underworld, her parents convened in the saloon.

"What other discord did you speak of?"

"Tartarus."