Hades stormed through the golden gates of Mt. Olympus, his face red with rage and his hair ablaze. “Brothers, sisters, cousins, in-laws, kids, whoever you are.” he rattled off a flippant greeting, interrupting the party in full swing, “I hate to interrupt but we have a serious problem on our hands.”
“You mean,” Poseidon snorted with laughter, bumping Hermes to include him in the joke, “besides the fact that you just showed up?”
“Har, har, har, brother,” the god of the dead rolled his eyes as he stalked through the crowd, “But mark my words—”
“Hades!” Zeus greeted him with a hard slap on the back, “Welcome to the party! I meant to invite you up; you need a little more sun in your life.” He laughed heartily and slapped his brother again, making him cough up smoke, “you look like a ghost!”
“You ought to quit smoking too.” Zeus went on, mirth dancing in his eyes, “You could die doing that, you know.”
“Thank you for that very useless information, brother,” Hades scowled as the other gods and goddesses laughed, “but I have something that’s actually important to talk about.”
“So, what do the Fates want now?” Hermes asked, buzzing forward with a new scroll and quill pen in hand.
“WOULD YOU ALL JUST SHUT UP AND LISTEN!” Hades finally exploded, his hair igniting into bright blue flames. In the sudden silence, he stalked back towards the gate, muttering loud enough for everyone to hear, “There’s a threat to our power on earth and all you whiny morons can do is make fun of me. Well, I don’t have to take it. I put up with whiny souls day in and day out. I don’t have to put up with you too. Just forget it.”
About halfway through the crowd, he turned and stalked back towards Zeus, “You know, if any of you ever get tired of someone, you just turn em into a spider, or a bull, or strand em on an island in the middle of nowhere and make em fall in love with Cyclops, or you get Medusa to turn em into stone. But, me? Not me! I’M STUCK WITH EM FOREVER BECAUSE THEY’RE DEAD!”
Standing perfectly still, he let his hair fire die down, then finished through gritted teeth, “so I’d appreciate a little more respect when I bother to leave the underworld to come up here.”
“Aright, alright,” Zeus waved a dismissive hand, brushing aside the sparks that had flown out of his brother’s mouth. “Say your piece then you can get back to your doom and gloom and leave us alone.” He chuckled again behind his hand, unable to stop himself.
“Down there,” Hades pointed through the clouds, “lives Queen Elsa of Arendelle. She was born on the winter solstice and has the power to set the whole earth under eternal ice and snow. I say she needs to be eliminated!”
The gods and goddesses instantly cracked up; Zeus laughed the loudest.
“Come on, brother!” he said, fighting to get control of himself as he handed the god of the dead a goblet of nectar, “Here, have a drink. You’ve been in the dark for too long. You oughta come up here more often.”
“Yeah, well, I would,” Hades gave him a stormy look, “but, you know, I’m responsible for a bunch of dead people.” He glared at everyone, “not to mention, I never feel welcome up here.”
“Oh, lighten up, Hades.” Ares snorted, yawning as he turned hungry eyes back towards Aphrodite.
“Yeah,” Athena shook her head, turning away, “Why don’t you just go read a book or something and leave that girl alone?”
“Honestly,” Artemis rolled her eyes, “you came up here to tell us that?”
“Yeah, well, I would, but the reading light isn’t so good down in the underworld.” Hades snarled at Athena. “And, you know,” he turned on Ares, “death is a pretty weighty issue. It kinda drags me down, you know? Because, you know, no one can leave the underworld.”
He threw up his hands and started walking back towards the gate, “but, what do I care if Olympus falls? I don’t live here. What the heck. It’ll probably add souls to my census next year.” He grabbed Demeter’s elbow as he walked by, whispering in her ear, “I’ll just keep Persephone with me from now on because, you know, she lives with me in wintertime.”
“Zeus!” Demeter wailed, her eyes widening with horror, “Do something! I swear, if he takes my beautiful child—”
Suddenly, to his sardonic pleasure, the other gods and goddesses gave him their undivided attention. Zeus bubbled up with anger. Poseidon held his trident so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Hephaestus gripped his hammer and anvil, ready at his leader’s command, to forge the weapons of war. Apollo made ready to spring into his chariot and his sister grabbed her bow and arrows.
“Go then.” Zeus’s voice was cold, “take her power but do not harm her.”
At his word the party was forgotten as the gods and goddesses streamed down to earth, racing towards the beautiful young Queen of Arendelle as she picked flowers in a summer field with her sister and friends.
An unnaturally cold breeze ruffled Elsa’s long blonde braid, drawing her attention skyward just before the massive immortal army struck. All she could do was scream in terror as Hermes’ sharp blade drove into her palm; her white-rimmed eyes locked on the single droplet of water that fell from her finger as she felt her power instantly begin to weaken.
“Elsa!” Anna screamed, rushing forward in a maddened charge to defend her sister; somehow, she pushed the queen out of harm’s way.