Hope Springs Eternal (fanfic)

A Disney's Hercules fan-sequel in which Hades' kingdom is in danger, an immortal witch wants control, the Fates predict a miracle & Hades falls flaming-head-over-smoking-heels in love. The usual stuff of myth.

A brilliant take on the classic myth of Hades and Persephone by the very talented Quantum Witch. Persephone is chafing under her mother's control, evil no longer excites Hades, and Cupid's got it in his head to set these two up. Throw in some bumbling minions, a witch queen determined to get revenge on Hades, and and you've got one hell of a tale.

Also illustrated by Quantum Witch, which you can read here.

""Okay, so it's kind of a May/December-Romance-thing," she announced, (thinking silently it really looked more like a Lolita Complex, though that was centuries ahead of their time)..."
 * Abhorrent Admirer: Apollo for Persephone
 * All Girls Want Bad Boys: One of the things that draws Persephone to Hades is how "dangerous" he is.
 * Anachronism Stew
 * Batman Gambit: Hecate's plan after Hades falls for Persephone is to convince the other gods that he kidnapped and raped her, so they'll be so angry they'll kill Hades, thus allowing her to take up his position.
 * Big Damn Heroes: Twice.
 * Body Language: Rhodope, Persephone's water-nymph best friend, can only communicate with squeaks and squeals, but Persephone can understand her by reading her body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice.
 * Brain Bleach: Hermes needs some after
 * The Chessmaster: Hades has still got it, but so does Hecate.
 * Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive: Subverted in that when Hades finally steeples his fingers, he's doing this before  not because he's lying.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: Aphrodite's thought on Hades and Persephone's relationship.
 * Brain Bleach: Hermes needs some after
 * The Chessmaster: Hades has still got it, but so does Hecate.
 * Clasp Your Hands If You Deceive: Subverted in that when Hades finally steeples his fingers, he's doing this before  not because he's lying.
 * Crowning Moment of Funny: Aphrodite's thought on Hades and Persephone's relationship.


 * Cruel Mercy:
 * Dark Is Not Evil
 * Even Evil Has Standards:He's not evil anymore, but Hades says that even when he was, he would never have forced himself on anyone. (It's why he never tried anything with Megara, and part of why he's horrified to hear that the gods think he raped Persephone.)
 * Evil Is Sexy: Hecate
 * Explicit Content: Though the sex-scenes aren't written horribly explicitly, they're actually quite tasteful.
 * Fertile Feet: Persephone, notably when in the Elysian Fields.
 * Genre Savvy
 * Green Thumb: Persephone most notably, but of course so is Demeter.
 * Happily Married:
 * Hell Hound: Hecate's demon-dogs, Mayhem and Havoc.
 * Anti-Heroic BSOD: Hades goes through a few, most comically when he realizes Persephone is his neice.
 * Hold Your Hippogriffs/Oh My Gods
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: Hecate makes everyone think Hades did this towards Persephone, as part of her Batman Gambit.
 * Incest Is Relative: It's Greek mythology.
 * Love At First Sight
 * May-December Romance: Hades is physically and mentally 50, Persephone is just shy of 16. (But it's okay, because )
 * Musical Fic
 * My Beloved Smother: Demeter to Persephone.
 * Oh Crap: Several--notably when
 * Pet the Dog: Hades tends to do this in the story.
 * Precision F-Strike/Cluster F-Bomb: Hades.
 * Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: ' "I...am...a GODDESS!"
 * Second Love: Persephone was the second girl Hades fell in love with. The first was a tree-nymph named Leuke, who was killed when her tree was knocked down during a storm, then chopped into pieces.
 * Shout-Out
 * Shown Their Work: The author spent years doing research on Greek mythos (and more!) to prepare for this story. She does admit to changing a few details for creativity's sake, though.
 * Squick: The gods' reaction (but mostly Hera's) upon discovering they're all related.
 * Time Skip: The final chapter.
 * Vain Sorceress: Hecate
 * Values Dissonance: In-universe example; both the fact that Hades has fallen for his neice and their significant age-gap are brushed off by Persephone and, who say that they're gods, not mortals, therefore the same rules don't apply.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: Pain and Panic, natch