¹
Darkness enveloped him. A suffocating, hot, and humid void. The stench was putrid, of living flesh and smothered decay. It was like being trapped inside a pit of death, but not complete death — it was a living, pulsating prison.
Hades tried to move his tiny arms, but it was useless. His new infant body was weak, ineffective. Beside him, he could feel the dormant presence of Hestia, his sister, still unconscious of the horror that had just occurred.
He squeezed his eyes shut — or at least tried to. His being, his soul, refused to accept that humiliating fate.
'No…' he thought, his mind seething. 'Not again! No more being powerless, forgotten, crushed by the whims of others!'
Inside Cronus's stomach, Hades felt the fabric of reality shudder. A cold light briefly flashed in his newly formed cyan-gray eyes. A red mark, previously dormant on his forehead, glowed ominously like a bloody falling star.
And then, he heard it.
Inside Cronus, he sensed something strange: the titan's structure was strong, but the space imprisoning him was... alive, full of spiritual cracks. The titan's stomach was, in essence, a tomb. And for Hades, death was something he already knew.
But...
'Not now...' he thought, breathing deeply, as if preparing for something. 'I don't have the strength to escape yet... but wait. I will grow. And when I grow...'
His gaze, invisible to the world, pierced into the titan's guts like a dagger of promise.
'I will bring him down.'
And then, for the first time since his lonely death in that dark apartment, Hades genuinely smiled.
Weak. Cold. Determined.
The first smile of a god who would change the fate of the gods.
___________
Hades had no idea how much time had passed since *that* time. Inside Cronus, it was as if time itself was distorted, broken. It was to be expected from the stomach of the god of time.
Sometimes a "stone" would melt, only to revert. Or something would turn to dust, or age, only to be restored. Some things even remained stagnant. Time was truly confusing here.
But Hades knew that wasn't important.
His body had grown rapidly into maturity, thanks to the accelerated development of gods. At least he hadn't had to suffer through puberty.
He grew up handsome and charming, with long, straight ebony hair that almost reached the floor. His light blue eyes and a red mark on his forehead made him stand out. His figure was tall and slender, but his muscles were defined, giving him the dignified appearance of a bishounen model.
*Note: He resembles Yakou Madara from Kajiri Kamui Kagura.*
"Big brother Hades?"
Well... he wasn't alone.
"Yes, Hestia?" Turning to his "twin," he couldn't help but admire her. Hestia had grown splendidly.
Her beautiful green eyes shone like emeralds, her skin was flawless, paired with a charming, gentle face, and her long golden hair framed a curvy body contained by the white mantle their mother had given them at birth.
*Note: She resembles Marie from Dies Irae.*
It was enchanting how Hestia always maintained an air of purity, even in such a putrid place. A light in his darkness.
"Do you... think we'll ever get out of here?" Hestia asked timidly, glancing away toward the fleshy walls of their temporal prison. Damn their father. "I mean... daddy will let us out someday, right?"
Damn Cronus. Hades had no such hopes. He knew how the story would unfold; soon their siblings would fall here too, and they would all be trapped until Zeus freed them. But it wasn't something he could say to his sister... not like this...
Hades frowned in thought before smiling slightly at his sister.
"Don't worry, Hestia, soon enough we will break free from this prison. Just be patient."
Hestia frowned slightly; she seemed to want to argue, but sighed in resignation and walked lightly toward the stone he was sitting on, floating amidst divine gastric juices, and sat down, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Big brother..."
Hades smiled and gently stroked her head. Hestia was affectionate and loved physical contact with him. Perhaps due to their bond as twins, but he didn't mind a beautiful woman in his arms.
The silence inside Cronus's stomach was heavy. Hades, with his eyes fixed on the pulsating walls surrounding him, sensed Hestia distant, her mind lost in thoughts of the future he so deeply believed in. He could feel her uncertainty, a silent doubt that, despite her affection, made him feel distant from his own sister.
He looked at her for a moment, contemplating her serene expression. Even amid rot and chaos, Hestia radiated a purity he didn't know whether to see as strength or weakness. But she was his sister. And now, more than ever, he would need her.
"Hades... Do you really think we can get out of here? There's no way out for us..." Hestia's voice was soft but filled with a fragility Hades never wanted her to feel.
He took a deep breath, the red mark on his forehead beginning to pulse faintly, like a promise. His cyan eyes locked onto hers.
"Don't worry, Hestia. Nothing lasts forever, not even Cronus's prison. One day, we will leave. And when that day comes, our freedom will be the greatest of all."
Hestia slowly lifted her head and looked at him, her green eyes glowing with renewed — though still fragile — confidence. Her trust in him was unwavering, and it made him wonder if she was more ready to face the darkness than he himself was.
That's when the surroundings began to stir.
Cronus's stomach, like a living organism, shuddered. Hades felt the pulse of reality twist again, as if the titan's flesh itself was tearing. Something was wrong. A presence, something... or someone, was coming.
"Hades... what's happening?" Hestia asked, standing up and looking around, alert.
Hades didn't respond immediately. His senses sharpened, as if the universe itself were trying to send him a message. He could feel the cosmic currents shifting — a disturbance coming from within Cronus. Something was about to happen.
With a swift motion, Hades stood up. His imposing figure rose in the darkness, his cyan eyes shining with the intensity of a predator about to strike.
Then, from the "heavens," a figure burst forth. Its arrival was abrupt and violent, as if the titan's stomach were vomiting out this new presence. Hades and Hestia exchanged looks, surprise and curiosity taking hold.
The figure fell heavily into the corrosive liquid filling Cronus's stomach, gasping and still writhing in disorientation. The two siblings quickly approached, senses alert.
The newcomer struggled to stand, her forest-green eyes burning brightly. She was a baby, just as Hades and Hestia had once been.
Her skin was like Hestia's, but with a bronze tint; her hair was wheat-gold.
"A... baby?"
Hestia murmured, bending down to pick up the small child, cleaning her of the gastric acid remnants with her tunic.
Behind her, Hades glared upward, his eyes shining dangerously.
He was furious...
'Just two more, Cronus... just two more... and I will break free...'
²
"GAH!"
BOOM
A rumble echoed through the living prison where Cronus's children resided.
"DAMN IT, HERA!"
"SWALLOW IT QUIETLY, POSEIDON!"
And their numbers had increased since last time.
After Demeter, Hera came next, followed by the youngest, Poseidon.
Both were the most temperamental among the siblings.
Hera had the appearance of a queen: bronze mocha skin, stunning heterochromatic golden and blue eyes, a curvy figure — neither as slender as Hestia's nor as voluptuous as Demeter's — a perfect balance between the two. Her dark golden curls were both beautiful and charming.
*Notes: Hera Has a Ahura Mazda from avesta Black And White appearance.*
Poseidon, on the other hand, was the "masculine" counterpart to Hades's bishounen style — strong and sturdy, with curly hair and natural glowing blue tattoos over his tanned skin. A tempestuous man.
*Notes:Poseidon Looks Like Poseidon GOW*
They were fighting, as usual. A brother as brutal as a storm and a sister as vengeful as a tornado — such clashes were expected.
"Fufu, fufufufu, hahaha! Hahaha, hahaha, hahahahahaha!"
Watching this scene, Hades clutched his stomach in laughter. Leaning against a strange floating formation amidst the chaos, he narrowed his eyes mischievously. That mischievous smile took the breath away.
Yes.
Hades was having fun.
He saw his siblings' fights as nothing more than playful squabbles; nothing could disturb this unshakable man.
Flanking him were his two sisters, observing the scene ahead with more worry than amusement, unlike their eldest brother.
³
BOOOM!
Another tremor shook the living prison. Cronus's stomach pulsed as if enraged by the growing internal disturbance.
"You two are going to kill us before we even escape!" Demeter shouted, her voice firm and commanding as she tried to separate Hera and Poseidon. Unlike the others, she maintained a more mature aura, having accepted the cruel reality of their prison better than the younger ones.
Poseidon grumbled lowly, his skin glistening with slight bluish cracks where the acid had failed to corrode him.
"Tch. It's not like we can truly die here..." he growled, crossing his arms, looking like a caged wolf.
Hera shot him a death glare, her heterochromatic eyes sparking with barely contained fury.
"Speak for yourself, brute!" she snapped, turning her head away in disdain.
Hades, still lounging casually against a petrified flesh formation, watched with cold amusement. His cyan eyes gleamed with malice, as if every word spat in anger was music to his ears.
"Let them be," he said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Fight all you want. In the end... we all share the same fate."
His words hung in the thick air like a grim verdict.
Hades was the eldest, the most mature, the most confident. Even the temperamental Hera and Poseidon treaded carefully around their taciturn brother, who always smiled at them as if he knew their very souls.
None of the siblings remembered much of their parents, Cronus and Rhea, but they all remembered Hades and Hestia. It was the care and affection of the elder twins that had earned the respect of their younger siblings.
After all, they had been the ones to raise them in that dismembered pit.
Silence fell once more, heavy and oppressive, broken only by the wet, unpleasant sound of Cronus's body pulsating around them.
Hours, days, maybe centuries passed — time had no meaning inside.
Hestia sat near a rock-like formation, idly toying with the frayed cloth of her tunic, her gaze distant.
Hades observed everything closely. He felt... something. A faint call through the spiritual cracks of their living prison. Like a silent drumbeat in his mind.
Something was about to happen.
He closed his eyes, focusing, letting his senses expand into the nauseating environment.
That's when he felt it: a distinct, intense presence, like lightning striking through Cronus's putrid stomach.
A new being.
A new brother.
And this time, it would be the last.
The air inside Cronus thickened, becoming denser, as the wall of flesh above them violently deformed.
*THUM-THUM! THUM-THUM!*
The sound was like a colossal, erratic heartbeat, desperate.
"Prepare yourselves..." Hades murmured, his eyes shining dangerously, a cold smile curling on his lips.
All the siblings turned upward, instinctively sensing that this next event would be decisive.
Then, tearing through the divine entrails like a golden spear, a new life fell among them.
The impact was brutal, divine acid splashing everywhere, but the newcomer was not fragile.
It was... a stone?
Hera was the first to react, grinding her teeth in barely contained fury.
"Is he mocking us?" Hera growled, clutching the stone.
"He DARES to mock us with a brother?"
Like his sister, Poseidon was enraged. Despite their constant disputes, the siblings had learned to always help one another — after all, they only had each other in this prison.
Thus, despite the frequent fights, they were united in hatred for Cronus and loyalty to Hades.
Before Hera could crush the stone, Hades caught it, tossing it lightly into the air, smiling confidently.
"It seems, dear siblings... that soon, very soon... we shall be free..."
Yes... their freedom was near...
And Cronus should beware, for Hades would make sure he was killed — in a way that even immortality could not save him.