A Queen and Her Kings

The Crimson Tyrant vs. The Once and Future King

"What, I thought you would jump at the chance to tear into bird-brain?", he exclaimed in a confused tone, and Cassandra scoffed.

"As much as I love tearing Crowley apart bit by bit, watching his confidence and dignity slowly wither away and die, leaving him as nothing but a shriveled husk of a man... I like not associating with him in the first place even more. I want to be left alone and he refuses to do so. He's not doing that even more with your interference; so yes, while I love to humiliate Crowley, I would rather he just leave me alone.", she explained, and Hades looked at her in mild fear at her gleeful description of a man's mental destruction, before he nodded in understanding. Cassandra raised an eyebrow, and after taking a deep breath, decided to indirectly ask a question that had been burning in her ever since she had met him.

"If you really want company that bad, why don't you just bother that nephew of yours? Or maybe his girlfriend or something? Didn't she used to work for you?", she asked casually, when in reality she was on the edge of her seat as she waited for an answer. Hades didn't look affronted, offended, or shocked by the question. Instead, he merely shrugged.

"Eh, Mr. Bigshot and his lovely wife are busy on Olympus these days. Surprised to say that even after I got him yeeted off Olympus so he couldn't interfere with my wondrous plan for usurpation, he didn't actually hate me. Granted, I did kinda con him out of a childhood on Olympus, but let's be fair, Zeus and Hera aren't exactly parent material. Those farmers I left him with were probably the best choice to raise him, given the fact they taught him how not to be an arrogant, sexist asshole. I visit them for the day on occasion, but they can't really visit me given the fact they're the ones holding the Olympian council together with duct tape and dreams. Meg used to work for me, yeah, but after she and Wonderboy got together, I let her go so she could live her life. They're doing well, all things considered.", Hades said casually, as if what he was saying was common knowledge; then, he gave Cassandra a skeptical look.

"Why do you ask?", he questioned. Cassandra laughed.

"Oh, no reason, just that in the version of the story my world told, you were the bad guy, Meg had sold her soul to you to save her ex who ended up leaving her, you tried to kill Hercules instead of just turning him mortal, and you sent monsters after him in the hopes of killing him. Oh, and you held Meg's soul hostage in another attempt to kill him.", the redhead said in an amused voice. Hades looked at her in shock.

"Woah, woah, woah. Back it up! I did no such thing. First of all, Meg came to work for me of her own free will. Yes, she did sell her soul to me to bring back Mr. Manwhore, but I gave it back once he left her. I'm a man of business, not a monster. I offered her a job and she took it, and second of all, I never tried to kill Wonderboy; I just tried to get him out of the way. I turned him mortal so he couldn't stop my coup, but left him with his strength so he would have a boon. The monsters were just my attempts to keep him on his toes and occupied. Zeus was my main target, and I would have had him, if he hadn't accidentally killed Meg with some stray lightning while battling all the titans that weren't dear ol' mom and dad. Bottom line, I ended up fishing her out of the abyss, and Zeus took the opportunity to make sure I stayed down there with some divine fuckery. An appallingly long amount of time later, Perse somehow managed to fit all the requirements for freeing me, and one whirlwind romance later I'm getting hitched to the Olympian golden girl as one last 'up yours' to brother dearest.", Hades elaborated with a chuckle. Cassandra nodded along and listened closely, committing the story to memory. So her hunch was right; the stories of the seven weren't quite as they seemed.

"That's quite a tale.", the redhead said, and Hades snorted.

"Yeah, I'll say.", he said, before standing up and stretching.