::Not much good can be said of the Underworld and it's been described as a little dark, a little gloomy, and full of dead people. It's no wonder that the Lord of the Underworld, Hades, was almost always in a foul mood and today was no different then any other. At the moment he was desperately searching for his two imp helpers and it wasn't for a pleasure call. It would seem that they got into his War Room and decided to mess around on the game board representing the cosmos and one of them ended up knocking the head off the playing piece that resembled Hades himself.

Grumbling and looking behind chairs and shelves, Hades became more and more outraged not being able to find the culprits that did the damage. "Come on boys, I promise your maiming won't be long and painful this time. I promise I won't lose my head even though my figurine did," he snarled, his voice oozing with sarcasm. The dark God turned around just in time to see a small pointed tipped tail stick out from under a shelf. A wicked grin spread across his face and he loped over to where the tail was exposed, anxious to bring pain upon its owner.

However, just as his fingers reached for the tail, a bright flash of lightning filled the room followed by a boom of thunder. Hades flinched and quickly stood and turned to face where the disturbance happened. Meanwhile, the owner of the tail slipped away farther under the shelf and out of reach. As the light faded, Hades blinked then rolled his eyes at the sight of Zeus and Hermes before him. Now what? he angrily thought and put on his cheesiest grin for the two-some.

"Well, lookie here, if it's not Bolt Man and the Blue Wonder. What brings you two to my humble dwelling?" Hades questioned while approaching them. He stared at Hermes hovering at Zeus' side and narrowed his eyes. "What's with you Blue Boy? Where's your beard? Did the wifey make you shave it off?"

Hermes arched a dark blue eyebrow and opened his mouth to tell off this cretin that sent him here to this nutty time period when he felt the heavy hand of Zeus upon his shoulder, instantly and momentarily shushing him. Hermes exhaled gruffly and tightened his grip on his Caduceus, just in case. He was angry beyond words now both at Zeus for bringing him here to wait for Cronos and at Hades for bringing him that box and crazy idea about sending Hercules into time in the first place.

Zeus glanced at the messenger at his side then grinned slyly at the Lord of the Dead. "Hades, it would seem that we have a bit of a problem. Hermes here is not the one that you or I know in this day and age. In fact, this is the Hermes we knew well over a thousand years ago."

Hades looked dully at the duo and shook his head, shrugging slightly. "And? So, what should I care about that? You interrupted some important matters of mine to announce that?"

"Well, you should care about it because it's partially your fault that he's here," Zeus calmly replied.

The bluish flame of hair on Hades' head flickered orange for a moment before he calmed himself and glared at Zeus. "My fault? Hold the phone here, how could this be my fault when I don't even remember doing anything to him in the first place? It must be some mistake, Zeus-y."

Hermes frowned and lowered his glasses and looked at Hades over the rims, "Like, no man, it was you. Well...maybe not you exactly, but your counterpart from my time."

Hades' flaming hair flashed orange again and his face began to darken, his fury begining to mount. "You mind running that by me again, Featherfoot? I stopped bugging you guys up on Olympus back when my hostile take-over failed no thanks to Wonderboy and your little wifey-poo. Hey, it's more fun to torture the souls down here anyway. At least they don't fight back."

Zeus folded his arms across his chest and interrupted, "You do have a point, however, no matter how you look at it, you were involved in something over a millenia ago. You probably wouldn't remember it because once Hermes got home, time altered to change what happened. It also happened so long ago and was so minor chances are you'd have forgot about it anyway. I know Hermes too well and he's not the type to lie or place the blame on someone who is innocent."

Hades shrugged again not knowing what this was all about or where it was leading. He threw his hands up in aggrivated confusion and began to pace the room. "Fine, fine, I read the small print and see I'm stuck in this matter regardless. I got things to do here, so do you mind hurrying this up and getting to the point? I'll take the blame for whatever my past self did or didn't do just to get you two Wonder Twins out of my domain."

Zeus stepped from Hermes' side and walked to where Hades was pacing and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder and smirked. "Sorry, Hades, but this past Hermes needs to be punished just as much as you yourself does since I can't exactly punish your past self. I can't get Hermes back to his own time until I hunt down Cronos. It would seem that your past self gave my messenger a little box made by Cronos to send my boy Hercules into time, but as you can see it didn't work correctly and your helper, namely the Hermes you see hovering before you, ended up here instead. You two both did wrong and since I can't keep him up on Olympus on account of his present self, wife, and children, I am demanding he stay down here with you until this matter can be resolved."

Hades' yellow eyes widened and he seethed in anger and no matter how hard he tried to control it, he just couldn't any longer and he literally burst into flames. Hermes flew back slightly and leaned his Caduceus on his shoulder finding some amusement in the scene before him. Although this whole thing was wrong and confusing to him, he did find some comfort in the fact that Hades was being punished in a way as well as he was for what has happened in the past.

"I will not play baby sitter to that blue bird of sappiness!" Hades fumed as his flames began to dwindle, but his eyes were still wide with his wrath. "I got enough going on down in this stink hole then to be worrying about your goofy little Messenger God!"

Hermes frowned at the name calling, but was begining to feel too fatigued to say or do much about it. His shoulders drooped and he yawned widely and stretched. He needed sleep as well as food and his mind was starting to shut down from the days mixed-up events. He didn't want to stay down here, he wanted to be back up on Olympus in his own soft bed or a tree branch somewhere on Earth would suffice, but he was forbidden to stay in either place.

Sleepily he watched the two large Gods gesturing and yelling about where poor little blue him was going to stay, but it mattered no more to him anymore. His dark eyes burned and his head began to hurt. Looking around, he found a temporary place to rest in the form of a high shelf. The little messenger flew up to it and sat on the top most shelf and leaned against the cold wall. He flinched slightly from the sensation and set his Caduceus down on his lap, folding his hands over it. Yawning one last time, Hermes closed his eyes and tried to let sleep overcome him.

Zeus glanced to the side and noticed that Hermes was gone and he quickly scanned the room to make sure the messenger didn't slip out, but he relaxed seeing a pale blue aura coming from the top of a shelf not too far away. He knew Hermes' speed all too well and if given the chance, the little messenger could be hundreds of miles away within mere seconds. If Hermes disappeared in this day and age, Zeus doubted he'd be able to find him without trouble if at all.

Hades, on the other hand, wanted the duo that appeared in his realm to take a long walk off a short pier. He was way too busy and didn't like being interrupted especially when it was over something really crazy as this. Inside, he was seething more then what he was showing on the outside even though his bluish hair still had flashes of orange running through it. He was calmer now that Zeus stopped his yammering, but he was also trying to see in what way he could use this situation to his advantage.

Although he was only half listening most of the time, he did hear Zeus mention that this little matter had to be taken care of as quickly as possible because the longer it took to get Hermes back to his own time, the more this time could be altered and worse yet, Hermes would begin to forget the time he came from. That if anything caught Hades' attention and he blocked out all else and thought about how benificial it might be to have the little messenger forget his past.

Hades smiled cunningly as possible thoughts ran through his mind in how to work all this in his favour. If Hermes never returned home that would mean he'd only have one child and his goody-goody kids of now wouldn't be getting on his nerves like they've been. Granted, they stayed out of his way, but just the idea that there were noble Olympians with virtues and whatnot just irked him. It was bad enough Hermes was so sickeningly sweet and modest, but to have ten others flying around like him? It was enough to make Hades want to toss his lunch.

However, if Hermes indeed forgot the time he came from and everything else in his past, Hades could use that and mold and shape the little messenger to be how he wanted him. He could end up with a valuable commodity in the deity for he knew how horrible Hermes' temper could be and how eager to please he was at times. Yes, this could all work out perfectly if played out just right. He wasn't sure how he could end up keeping the messenger down here long enough to have his memory wiped out, but he was sure he could think of something.

Wanting to end this boring topic and get Zeus out of the Underworld, Hades forced himself to seem defeated. "Ok, ok, fine, I give up. The blue wonder can stay down here." He then threw his hands up in an exaggerated sign of surrender and began to pace the floors. "I want him to stay out of my way, though. I got enough going on down here and don't need fly boy banging into me or something." He then paused and looked around wondering where Hermes could be.

Zeus smiled broadly pleased that Hades agreed without too much fuss and he thumped the smokey grey skinned God on the back. "Glad to hear it, Hades. I'll inform you and Hermes immediately when I get word from Cronos. Hopefully it won't take too long, but a few days at least I am sure. Take good care of Hermes, we can't have anything happen to him that would mess time up."

"No, of course not," Hades replied, sarcasm dominate in his voice. "We couldn't allow anything to happen to him. Hey, he's my prison-errr...ahhh, guest here and he should have a blast. Now, since this is all settled, would you mind leaving so I can get back to the fun job you bestowed upon me and the new one you gave me now?"

Taking one last glace to where Hermes was perched, Zeus called out to him, "Just take it easy, Hermes. I'll find Cronos as quickly as possible and get you back to your own time so you can be with your family again." and in a flash of lightning and boom of thunder the huge Lord of the Gods departed from Hades' realm.

"Geez, I never thought that windbag was gonna leave. Now let's see, where were we?" Hades looked around the room and spotted the blue aura illuminating from a shelf a few paces off. He gritted his pointed teeth and swept to where the Messenger God was sleeping. He reached up and grabbed a winged boot tightly in his hand and yanked Hermes down. Instinctively, the wings on Hermes' boots began to flap preventing him from falling, but Hades still didn't let him go.

Hermes lowered his eyebrows and looked sleepily at Hades over the rims of his glasses. "Hey, man, like, that wasn't too cool. I mean, what gi-"

"Listen blue boy," Hades growled, interrupting. "It's bad enough I have two incompetent demons to keep track of, I don't need a nut Messenger God getting in my face either. You keep out of my way and get out of this room! Go find someplace else to roost, capisce?"

Hermes swallowed hard and nodded. He winced slightly from the grip on his ankle and began to fidget. He didn't care where he'd end up sleeping, he just knew he had to get away from the pain the day brought him and get far from Hades as he could right now before the Dark Lord ended up tossing him into the River of Souls minus his boots.

Hades glared at the little messenger then roughly released his hold on his ankle. "Go, now! Get out of my sight! Take your staff and your good intentions and leave!" he shouted, errupting into a wall of fire.

Not giving that a second thought, Hermes flew up to snatch his Caduceus from the shelf, turned, and swiftly flew out of the room leaving Hades alone with his anger. Hades' temper eased slightly now that he was able to scare Hermes out of his wits and got him out of the War Room. He hoped that the messenger would get lost in the vast caverns of the Underworld and by the time he'd be found his memory of the past would already be gone. That was too easy, though, and he knew if he wanted his plan to work, he'd have to find a better solution.

Hermes, on the other hand, flew blindly through the dimly lit Underworld wishing he could just fly back to Olympus and hide there, but he couldn't. As much as it was breaking his heart, he had to listen to what Zeus had said about him staying down here even though he fully didn't understand the point. Hermes veered off to the left and ended up inside a cave that seemed to be well enough away from the War Room and Hades to give him some minor comfort.

He hovered in the entrance for a moment letting his eyes adjust to the dimness and then flew inside. He found a good sized rock and landed on it, flinching from his feet touching such hard ground. With a defeated sigh, the little God sat then lay down on his side. He set his Caduceus in front of him, but well within reach. Then pulling his knees up to his chin, he wrapped his thin arms around them and tried not to shiver. It was cold and damp in here, but no worse then the nights he'd spend behind the waterfall he so loved in Africa.

A smile crept across his face as he thought of the cave and all the wonderful memories it provided for him and Megara. He remembered the first time he ever took her to Africa to see the waterfall and how much more she loved it when he showed her the cave behind it. They spent many a night in there when they first met and no doubt still had more to come. Hermes sighed sadly. What he wouldn't do to be with his wife there right now. He wondered what she was doing and he could just imagine the pain and worry that filled her body and mind with him being gone for so long.

Hermes winced and shuddered, not from the cold, but from the images of his frantic wife waiting for him by their bedroom window, cradling their son in her arms and wondering where her blue husband could be at. He was never gone long from her side when not delivering messages and with the hours he knew he was gone now just had to be working on all her past fears and hurt.

He squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to think of such a painful thought and instead concentrated on the good things instead, especially of being home again soon. He yawned and he did his best to relax and eventually succumb to the sleep he so desperately needed. At least this day was over for him and hopefully soon Zeus would return with Cronos so they could get him out of this nasty Underworld and time and get him back home to his wife where he belongs.::