Hades sat on his throne in the judgement room, bored mindless as he watched some pathetic excuse for a man beg for his life. He would have been plenty entertained by the chaos that was ensuing in the upper world, but alas, he was stuck here, unaware. That changed when his sister literally crashed through the roof.

Hades got off his seat to meet Hestia. He waved his hand and Thanatos took away the weaseling man.

"Have I offended you somehow, dear sister?"

"Demeter's on a rampage," Hestia informed him.

Hades scoffed as he joined her, leading her into his home.

"Did Zeus bother her again?"

"No. Her daughter's gone missing."

Aurora's missing? Hades wondered to himself.

"Missing?" He repeated. "How can she be missing? Doesn't Demi have her on lockdown?"

"Exactly!" Hestia exclaimed as she threw up her hands. "The ground didn't open up and swallow her whole! Demeter's gonna destroy everything in her path!"

Hades stopped at the top of the stairs.

"Well, who's watching the mortals?"

"Hypnos has put everyone to sleep. Nothing will awaken until that girl is found!"

Hades sighed and continued walking down.

"You're welcome to look around, but I doubt you'll find her here. Selene! Helios! Eos!" Hades called out for the titan kids as he reached the lower floor.

The Olympian siblings waited as the titan siblings joined them by the staircase one by one.

"What can we do for you, boss?" Helios asked, barely suppressing a yawn.

"Sorry to wake you. You know my sister, Hestia." Hades introduced and the kids waved at her.

"Kori's missing, and Demeter's got everyone searching everywhere for her."

Selene scoffed a laugh.

"And you think she's here?"

Eos elbowed her little sister.

"Can't hurt to look," Hades pleaded before turning back to Hestia.

"I've got to get back, but these three can help you look around. Summon if you need me." He kissed his sister's cheek and returned back up to court.

Hestia and the titans split up to search for Kore in the palace. Selene wasn't too worried about the young goddess being scared down here. She hadn't been scared by any stories Selene had told her of the Underworld. Kori was practically dying to visit the Elysian Fields.

Helios wasn't too hopeful. What if she fell into the river of souls? What if she ran into Thanatos? Helios froze where he stood. What if she ran into Cerberus!?

The twins' older sister was vary. She knew about Hades's gift, that nothing could hurt Kori. But still, there were places in the underworld that could be dangerous even to gods.

Hestia meanwhile, stuck to the places she knew, which was mostly limited to her brother's personal castles. She ran through the halls checking behind every door, nook, and cranny. Hestia came up empty handed, until she went into Hades's study.

"Aidoneus!" Hestia reflexively called for her elder brother as she ran to her niece.

"Oh, my love!" Hestia cradled the girl's head into her lap, brushing aside the hair from her face.

"Hes?" Hades's voice rang in from the other room, "where are you?"

"In here!" Hestia cried out.

Hades had trouble seeing her from where he stood, but was shocked at what he saw when he came around the desk.

"Oh, dear." Hades knelt beside his sister.

"She won't wake up," Hestia told him.

Hades scanned his gaze over Kori, looking for any injuries. There was a split on her forehead, which he assumed she got from the fall. Hades recoiled in surprise when he saw blue sparks running between her blood.

"What? What is it?" Hestia asked, noticing her brother's expression.

"She... she's got the eternal fire in her!" Hades jumped up, looking around for something on the floor.

"How is that possible?"

Hades returned with a bell jar in his hands, looking at it as if it was the first time.

"Wasn't that lit before?"

"She's probably pricked herself on the knob." Hades showed the top to his sister.

"Well, we've got to get it out of her! Demi will go madder than ever."

"We can't tell her."

"We can't just leave Kori like this!" Hestia pointed at her niece, as if Hades had forgotten.

"No," Hades murmured as he leaned over his desk, "we can't."

Hestia knew her brother well enough to know he was hiding something.

"You can help her," she said as she left Kore to tend to her brother.

"Yes," he replied, rubbing his temples, as if the solution was a bigger headache than the problem.

"That worries you?! Imagine the chaos Demeter would unleash!"

"It's not that simple!" Hades pushed away from the table.

"What is it that you have to do?"

"I have to draw it out of her."

"And that's a problem how?"

Hades sighed.

"I...it...it's an intimate process."

Hestia laughed and came up to Hades.

"I adore your gentlemanliness, brother. But now is not the time for it. Either she lives, or we all die."

Hades broke a smile and cupped his sister's face.

"That's not something I'd let happen," he said and kissed her head.

"I know. Then save us!" Hestia pointed to the girl.

Strengthened by his sister's trust in him, Hades got started on what it was he had to do. He knelt beside Aurora and lifted her up into his arms. He carried her into his adjoined bedroom, and laid her down on his bed. He'd be lying if he said he'd never imagined this scenario, but the situation he was currently in was unlike any of his dreams.

Hades sat down next to the sleeping beauty and fixed her hair out of her face. He hesitated again, but Hestia urged him to continue. Hades sighed, and turned back to Kori. He smiled at her resting face, before finally lowering his own.

Hades pressed his lips to hers, prying them open to make an airway. Then, he breathed in as he kissed her, sucking the blue flames into himself. As he held her face, Hades felt Kori's skin warming up as life returned to her body.

Then finally, he felt her chest rise as she tried breathing in. Hades held on until he had completely drawn out the fire before he let her breathe, being sure that she wouldn't inhale it back in.

Kori felt conscious, even though she couldn't will her eyes open. The last thing she remembered was the blue fire shooting up into her finger. Now, she felt it flowing out of her.

But it wasn't through her finger.

It was being sucked out through her mouth. Someone else's lips were on hers! Oh, how horrified mother would be! But Kori wasn't. As long as it was who Kori wanted it to be, he could kiss her till the end of time for all she cared.

Aidoneus.

Kori felt the fire release her lungs and she instantly pulled in a breath. But he didn't let go. She felt the flames get stuck between her breath and his, but thankfully his lungs were stronger. Finally he let go and pulled away, and Kore drew in a much needed breath.

Kori slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was him. Him looking down at her with a relieved smile as worry knotted his forehead.

"Hello, love." Aidoneus smiled at her.

"Hi," she smiled back, as if she hadn't just been pulled from death.

"How's your first visit to the underworld?" A new voice asked, and Kore looked to see Hestia standing by the bed.

"A little... prickly." Kori joked as she shifted up. Hades got off to give her space.

"Hopefully your only visit," Hades remarked as he always did to visiting Olympians.

The comment burned her deeper than the eternal fire ever did. Kori fisted the sheets around her, as if in a show of defiance.

Hades heard his own words and they stung him. Despite the pain of heartbreak, he would never wish that Kori, goddess of spring, should ever get stuck down here.

"Oh, we'll speak of it later," Hestia scolded her brother and turned to her niece.

"Let's talk about how you got here in the first place."