"So, uh, has anyone ever actually been to Hayden's place?" Carlos asks as they make their way to the west side of the Isle.
"No, actually," Evie admits. "At least, I haven't." She glances over at Mal and Jay who both shake their heads.
"I just know where it is," Jay says, "and that everyone avoids it."
"Why is that?" Carlos asks curiously.
Mal shrugs. "He's got that entrance to the Underworld. His house is the closest thing to a source of magic on the Isle but, even then, it's not magic like, you know, fairies," she gestures to herself, "or wands. It's gods and goddesses, ancient powers by anyone's standards," she explains.
Before they can contemplate that thought any more, they turn a corner and Hayden's house comes into view.
It's a black stone building, worn down and crumbling in places like everything else on the Isle but in relatively good condition. It has a distinctly Greek design to it with great carved columns in the front. There's a statue of Cerberus in the front yard which is full of poisonous plants and a few bare trees.
They pass through a creaky wrought iron gate that wouldn't look out of place in a graveyard, the statue standing guard right beside the entrance.
"Any chance that's to scale?" Carlos asks hopefully, looking up at the three snarling heads that come to only about a foot-and-a-half taller than him.
"To guard the Underworld?" Jay asks doubtfully. "Not a chance."
Mal looks around as they walk up the long pathway to the front door. "Is it just me or is it darker now? It looks like it's the middle of the night over here."
The other three look around, noticing the same.
"Huh," Evie hums thoughtfully. "I guess it's always the devil's hour here."
"Why would you say that?" Carlos asks with a sigh. Evie just sends him an amused smirk.
They come to the front door, black, of course, that has an iron knocker shaped like a skull. The mouth hangs open, so you have to use the jaw to knock. There's a sign screwed into the wall beside the door covered in a light layer of dust.
Jay reaches out to wipe it off and they can see Greek writing with an English translation beneath. "No loitering. No living," Jay reads.
Evie sighs. "Why am I not surprised?"
"Do you think Hayden will be offended if I tell him I don't like his house?" Carlos asks. "Because, so far, I don't like his house."
"You better toughen up if we're headed to the Underworld," Mal warns him. She reaches out and knocks with the jawbone, waiting a couple of seconds before she reaches for the iron door handle.
Jay gives her an odd look. "Why'd you knock? He's not here."
Mal just shrugs back. "I don't know. It felt right," she explains defensively. She slowly opens the door, wincing as it creaks, and they all step into a dark room. As soon as they take a few steps in the door closes behind them, far too quick for how heavy it actually is.
All four of them jump as it slams. As soon as it's closed, the lights turn on. A big chandelier made of what looks like various bones lights up, six black candles burning with blue hellfire. A few torches, placed strategically on the walls, do the same.
They're in an open plan kitchen and living room, the two rooms divided by an old and chipped dining table. They can see three other doors, one most likely leading to the bedroom and another to the bathroom.
Evie sighs in exasperation as she looks around and sees that everything is some shade of black or gray, with the occasional dark brown wood or bone thrown in. "You know, sometimes I wonder if he even knows what color is," she complains.
"Yeah, I really don't like Hayden's house," Carlos repeats as he looks up at the chandelier.
"Focus, guys," Mal tells them. "Now, where would an entrance to the Underworld be?"
"I say we go down," Jay calls. They look over and see him standing at the third door, the one on the back wall. He's got it open to show what looks like a set of basement stairs.
"Probably our best bet," Mal agrees as they make their way over. She goes first, followed by Evie and Carlos. Jay holds the door for them and leaves it open behind himself, but it does no good. The door closes on its own once he starts down the staircase.
They come to what would be a regular basement if it weren't for the second set of steps they find. They're stone, located directly in the middle of the room and seem to spiral down into an endless black abyss.
On the floor in front of them they can see some kind of writing, engraved into the stone.
"Anyone read Greek?" Jay asks as they all look down at it. Just as everybody starts to shake their heads, the letters begin to move.
"Look!" Evie gasps. The letters slowly reshape themselves into English.
"Abandon hope all who enter here," Carlos reads. He swallows nervously. "How encouraging."
"Well, we're in the right place," Mal says dryly. "Let's go."
Slowly, and with more than a bit of nervousness, they start to descend. There's no light and none of them grabbed a torch, too wary of the hellfire they carried. Needless to say, it's a slow process as they all step carefully, feeling for each new step.
"How does Hayden do this all the time?" Mal asks.
They can't see it, but they can feel Jay's shrug. "He likes the dark, remember?"
"It's almost hard to believe that nobody's tried to escape the Isle this way," Evie remarks after a few seconds.
Mal snorts. "Yeah, because I'm sure Hades would react well to some random villain trespassing in his kingdom."
"Yeah, I'm with Mal," Jay agrees. "I'll do a lot of things but I'm not crossing Hades, especially in his territory."
"That's why I said almost," Evie points out.
"Uh, guys?" Carlos speaks up. "Not to be a downer or anything but, uh, isn't that kind of exactly what we're doing right now?"
He doesn't get an answer.
After what seems simultaneously like the shortest and longest journey of their lives, they finally come to the end of the staircase. The landscape they come out to is still dark but it's not the pitch black they just experienced.
The staircase connects to a stone wall that seems to go up forever. There's no kind of ceiling in sight, just jagged stone that eventually disappears into what looks like an endless night sky void of stars.
The air is, surprisingly, slightly cool which they figure is due to technically being so far underground. They're standing on the shore of a dark river that must be at least one-hundred feet wide and seems to stretch as far as they can see to either side.
"Alright, where do we go from here?" Jay asks as he turns, looking for some indication.
"Well, there's some kind of building over that way," Evie says as she gestures to the other side of the river. "It's probably the palace but we'd have to cross."
"Isn't there some kind of thing about crossing the river? A ferryman?" Carlos remembers.
"That there is," a voice says from behind them. They all whirl around to see a tall man with dark skin wearing a black suit. His head is shaved, and he has a silver goatee that does nothing to draw attention from the pure smokey gray of his eyes. There's no pupil or iris, just a solid expanse of color.
"Charon," Carlos breathes as he finally remembers the legend.
Charon grins at them and they can't help but notice that his mouth seems to stretch more than should be physically possible. "Live ones," he drawls. "Now, what could the four of you be doing down here and coming through that particular entrance?"
Mal glances at her friends before she takes a small step forward, putting herself at the front. "We're here to see Hayden," she tells him, trying not to show how unnerved she actually is.
The ferryman's smile falls. "What business do you have with the prince?" he asks seriously.
They all exchange glances again. They know that Hayden is technically a prince, but they never really hear him referred to as such.
"Look, we need his help," Mal tells him.
"Auradon's future kinda depends on it," Carlos adds nervously.
Charon snorts derisively. "Bah. What does Auradon have to do with any of us? They're with the Olympians and Fates know they're no fans of anyone down here," he sneers.
"King Ben is in trouble," Evie blurts out. "Even if you don't like Auradon, he's a friend of Hayden's. Isn't that enough?"
He gives her a long and thoughtful look. Just before Mal runs out of patience and snaps at him, he speaks. "It's not that simple, you know. I can't just go ferrying you across the river. There's rules and laws to this job of mine," he tells them.
Jay gives him his own thoughtful look. "You need payment, right?" he asks suddenly. "That's how it works?"
Charon nods slowly. "That's how it works," he confirms.
Jay reaches into his jacket and pulls out a handful of money. "Passage for four souls," he says as he holds it out.
There's a beat of silence before Charon takes the payment. A smirk crawls across his face. "Four souls," he agrees.
He counts the money to make sure it's enough and even holds it up, apparently making sure it's not counterfeit. Satisfied that it's real, he tucks it into an inner pocket of his suit jacket, sighing as he does.
"I do miss drachmas," he mutters to himself. "It's just not the same anymore." He sighs again before sending them a smirk. "Well, come on. I'll even be nice enough to make a special trip, just you four."
The next thing they know, they're on a small boat that seems to steer itself. Charon stands at the bow with both hands folded neatly behind his back. He doesn't say another word to them the whole journey which, in many ways, is almost more unnerving than anything else he could have done.
As the boat docks on the opposite shore, close enough to the building they saw before for them to confirm that it is definitely Hades' palace, a booming bark draws their attention when it overpowers the faint distant screams they've all been pointedly ignoring.
They can all feel their eyes widen as they look over and see an absolutely massive black dog with three heads and burning hellfire for eyes. Apart from the size, Hayden's statue was actually quite accurate.
It's even bigger than Maleficent's dragon form at Ben's coronation.
"Uh, guys," Carlos says quietly. "I know I have Dude now, but I think there's one dog that I just- I'm gonna keep being scared of."
"I'm right there with you, bro," Jay tells him.
"Perfectly reasonable," Evie adds nervously.
"Is, uh, is he gonna be a problem?" Mal asks, glancing back at Charon who is already starting to sail away.
"Old Cerberus?" the ferryman calls back. "You should be fine. After all," he gives them that same inhuman grin as before, "if Lord Hades didn't want you here, you'd be in the judgement line right now."
He sails off without another word.
"How comforting," Mal deadpans.
"Well, it kind of is," Jay admits with a shrug.
The make their way toward the palace gates, glad to see that Cerberus doesn't make a move to come any closer though he does keep all six eyes on them the whole time.
The gates swing opens at their approach, no contact necessary. As they pass through, they can see that the gates themselves, great metal things way taller than any of them, are decorated with various bones and precious jewels with a grinning skull on each of its spokes.
"Okay," Jay says as he sees them, "I know Hayden's said he's turning into his father before, but I'm really starting to see what he might have meant now."
"It's definitely where he gets his taste from if nothing else," Evie agrees.
They have to pass through a courtyard to reach the actual palace doors. It's obviously not Persephone's main garden, but the queen's influence is apparent.
There are pomegranate trees lining the stone pathway. They're like no trees they've ever seen before. The bark is pitch black. The leaves are a pale green that seems to glow and the fruit itself is bright red, almost too healthy and vibrant to exist in the dark landscape.
Subconsciously, they all press closer together, keeping to the middle of the path and as far from the fruits as possible.
The palace doors have a standing skeleton clad in ancient Greek armor on either side. They each have a metal spear in hand and, when the four of them get close enough, they cross them over the entrance.
They all jump, having thought the skeletons were just more decorations.
"What do we do?" Carlos asks nervously.
Mal swallows hard before taking a step forward and speaking clearly. "We're here to see H-, uh, Prince Hayden," she says.
It takes a second, but both skeletons lower the weapons, returning to their guard posts without fanfare. Mal breathes a sigh of relief that it actually worked.
"Here we go," she mutters as she pushes open the doors.
They can immediately tell where they are when they see the thrones sitting on a marble dais at the end of the large room.
The center throne is the largest and obviously belongs to Hades himself. It's a great obsidian chair inlaid with bones and glittering gems that is not, if they remember correctly, that dissimilar from the one in the Gallery of Villains at the museum. Really, the main difference is that the actual throne is made of obviously finer quality. It's a throne fit not just for a king but for a god.
The throne to its right must belong to Persephone. The chair itself is just as black but instead of bones and skeletons, it's decorated with creeping vines and flowers made of precious stones. At the very top of the headrest is a pomegranate made of jewels as bright as the fruit in the courtyard.
To the left of the center throne sits another that looks like a perfect blend of the first two. It's also made from black obsidian with skeletal detailing and dark flowers in equal amounts. Red jewels, as bright as the pomegranates in the courtyard and obviously the same as those on his mother's, sparkle somehow even in the low light of the throne room.
The biggest surprise, however, is the person sitting in that throne. It's Hayden, of that they have no doubt, but they've never seen him like this.
He's wearing black from head to toe, which isn't unusual, with a dark crown sitting on his equally dark curls and heavy boots on his feet. The surprise mainly stems from the fact that he's sitting, well, normally.
He's not sitting on the arm of the throne or slouched sideways with his legs thrown over it like they might expect. No. He's sitting straight backed and proud, with both feet planted firmly on the marble floor.
He also doesn't look surprised to see them. He just sends them a slow smirk as they come to a stop at the foot of the dais.
"Welcome to Hell," he drawls.