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“You will regret this, little goddess,” Zeus promised, and Hades could feel his magic charging the air. It raised the hair on his arms and the back of his neck.

“Isaiddon’t call me little.”

Her power broke the earth beneath their feet, and the Olympians scrambled back, rising into the air. Hades remained behind Persephone, waiting to see how she would defend herself, needing to know that she could hold her own in this fight.

Zeus’s magic flashed in his hands as he summoned a bolt of lightning and hurled it at her feet, causing the earth to shake. He had done it to scare her, thinking that she would wilt at his powerful display, but Persephone remained firm before him.

“You are as dogged as your mother,” Zeus snarled.

“I believe the word you are looking for is strong willed,” Persephone replied.

Zeus moved to strike again, and Persephone called up a wall of sharp thorns to stop the blow. That was enough.

Hades stepped between them and dropped his glamour, his shadows falling away, barreling toward Zeus. One managed to pass through his body, stealing his breath, but Zeus recovered in time to deflect the other two with the cuffs that braced his arms.

“The rule of women, Hades, is you never give them your heart.” Zeus summoned another lightning bolt.

“I have never taken advice from you, Brother. Why would I start now?” Hades said, calling for his bident.

“Perhaps you should have. Then we would not be here today.”

There was a lot of truth to those words.

“I like it here,” Hades said, glancing around at the other Olympians locked in battle. “Feels like home.”

Neither of them hesitated, their weapons meeting so violently, they were both jarred by the power. They thrust their hands out at the same time, Zeus striking with lightning and Hades with his shadows. Each of them were thrown back by their blasts, feet skidding over the ground, creating deep fissures. They stopped at the same time and then charged one another, slamming together, the impact shaking the very earth.

They both swung, using their fists to fight now.

“You would betray me for her?” Zeus said between his teeth.

“I would betray you for a lot less,” Hades hissed.

Zeus snarled and his energy felt nuclear as it erupted around him, throwing Hades back. The earth bloomed up around him as he landed in a cavity created by his own impact. Before the dust had cleared, he saw Zeus’s silhouette flash over him as the god came down on him. Hades teleported quickly, but Zeus followed, their bodies slamming into each other again.

Hades thrust his hand out, gripping Zeus’s neck. The skin beneath his hold blackened, rotting away beneath his touch. His brother’s hands came down on his arms,and as they did, Hades’s claws thrust into him, and he tore away, taking Zeus’s throat with him.

Zeus clutched at his neck, his eyes gleaming with fury as he glared at Hades, his breathing ragged and wet. He roared and struck, slamming into Hades so hard, he felt his bones break and heal and break and heal in a jarring succession. He squeezed his fists and ground his teeth, shoving his hand toward his brother, sending shadows through him. His body convulsed beneath the magic and then he vanished, reappearing behind Zeus with his bident. Hades brought the two-pronged staff down on his brother, who turned in time to stop the blow with his bolt.

Then Persephone’s vines rose up around Zeus’s ankles, and though he broke free of them easily, they continued to climb. It distracted him enough, and Hades sent his shadows flying through him again. Zeus stumbled back with each hit and then fell. The ground opened and swallowed him, burying him alive.

Hades started toward Persephone when the ground began to rumble, and Zeus shot from the earth wreathed in an aura of lightning, his eyes glowing fiercely.

“Persephone!” Hades roared, but he couldn’t move fast enough, and the lightning struck. Her body shook and the smell of her hair and flesh burning reached his nose. Hades shot toward her when a hand came down on his shoulder.

“Oh, no, Brother,” said Poseidon. “This is your punishment. Watch her burn.”

Hades started to move, to fight his brother, but then he noticed something strange about Persephone. The magic did not seem to be harming her anymore. Herbody no longer shook beneath Zeus’s power. It glowed with it.

She was harnessing it.

Oh, fuck.

She sent the bolt back to Zeus, and the God of the Skies fell to the earth.

Hades twisted quickly, sending his shadows barreling toward Poseidon, but they shattered at the end of his trident. Hades summoned his bident again, and their weapons met in a fury of blows. Hades fought fiercely, hate raging in his blood, fueling the frenzy with which he fought. His bident landed a blow across Poseidon’s face, cutting his cheek so fiercely, it hung from his face. The blow dazed his brother, and as he stumbled back, Hades buried his bident in Poseidon’s chest and kicked him to the ground.

Hovering over him, he pulled his weapon out of his brother’s body and shoved it in again and again, and the only thing that stopped him was a bellow of pain.