"You recommend what?" Athena asked skeptically.

Her hands were on her hips and her eyebrows were raised in a way that appeared condescending to anyone who didn't know her that well. Fortunately, Hades had seen a lot of Athena in the six years since she'd come to MOA because of Persephone.

He would have hung out with far worse people if it meant spending time with Persephone.

Hades cleared his throat awkwardly. "It's called an emergency party. It's something the mortals down on Earth are doing. If someone gets too stressed about a test or something then they wouldn't do well anyways. But if you have an emergency party with the person's favorite music-"

"They'll have to take a break and calm down enough to join in!" Athena exclaimed. She smiled, pleased that she'd worked it out.

Hades almost smiled before Artemis interrupted.

"And so you want us to host one of these for Persephone?" She asked impatiently.

Hades nodded, then hesitated. "What I'm trying to ask for is if you guys would be willing to come over for one. Preferably as soon as possible."

"I don't know; I'm awfully busy with-"

"We'd love to come." Aphrodite cut her off. "I'm sure the stress of the exams has been getting to the rest of us, too, and that this "emergency party" will be fun."

Hades did smile then, briefly. "I'm happy to hear it. Thank you all very much." He started to turn away. "See you all at six thirty?"

Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite nodded, silently chorusing their agreement.

"Excellent." Hades murmured as he walked far enough away from the goddess girls to summon Midnight, his favorite steed.

Moments later he arrived back home and began his preparations for the party.

The biggest of these was moving the coffee table into the dining room and shoving the rest of the furniture against the walls. He wasn't much for dancing himself, but he had fond memories for dancing with Persephone and the others at a school dance long ago when they'd only just met. And besides, dancing was a required element to the emergency party. Or so he'd been told.

The only other important thing was the music itself. A couple years back Apollo had come up with a way to record music magically on a disc of Egyptian papyrus. The harder part was finding a way to play it. Luckily, Hades knew of a spell.

Hanging out with Apollo had a few perks, one of which was watching him find ways to play the musical discs. Most of the time that the immortals on Olympus wanted the music played they had to find Apollo. Different types of music required different ways of playing, but Hades had watched Apollo play so many things that he'd learn to spot the similarities in style based on the genre.

Persephone owned three papyrus discs and she kept them all in the drawer of her bedside table. Hades found her favorite one easily; it was fraying around the edges and the top of the stack. A collection of songs by Orpheus, according to the label.

Hades hurried back into the living room with the disc, passing the study room and Persephone on his way.

"Hades?" She called out. "What are you doing out there?"

He stopped and peeked around the doorway into the room. Persephone was seated at the desk, quill in hand even though she wasn't writing anything. She was staring intently at a textscroll while she waited for his reply.

Hades smiled at her, just the sight of her making him happy. He came into the room and touched her gently on the shoulder. "I'm organizing a bit of stress-relief for you."

She tilted her head to look at him and his smile widened.

"I think we can agree you've been working too hard on this. You haven't taken any breaks." Hades pointed out gently. "So I've got an idea of something fun for us all to do instead."

"And what would that be?" Persephone asked, smiling at him despite herself. She still felt she should be studying, but maybe taking a break wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

Hades checked his watch. Six twenty-six. "Come with me and find out. It'll be nice. I promise."

Persephone still looked vaguely puzzled, but she followed Hades into the living room anyways. She trusted him.

"Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite should be here any moment now." Hades tried to explain. "We're having what the mortals called an 'emergency party'." He looked to Persephone hopefully. "I've got your Orpheus papyrus disc and the spell to play it. And I moved the coffee table out of the way for dancing."

Persephone beamed at his nervous and hopeful expression. He was clearly out of his depth here, but he wanted to help her. "Sounds perfect, Hades. When are my friends supposed to get here?"

"Is now a good time?" Artemis asked from the doorway, grinning. The rest of her friends were behind her. "Also, we stopped and brought ambrosia cake."

"Awesome!" Persephone called back happily."Shall we get this so-called emergency party started?"

Hades rushed forward to take the ambrosia cake and let the rest of their friends in. "As soon as I put this cake on the counter." He promised.

"So what music are you gonna play anyways?" Athena asked curiously. "And how? I assume you have a papyrus disc, but I don't see a way to play it."

Persephone led her friends into the living room proper. "I think it's Orpheus, but all I know is that Hades has a spell."

Hades came over and nodded. "Watch." He said calmly.

He pulled a quill out of his pocket along with the disc and rested them both on a nearby table against the wall. He then grabbed the quill again and set its tip on the rim of the disc and started to speak.

"Let music pour forth from these feather,

From this disc it's been bound to forever."

The disc and the quill began to float lightly, the tip of the quill still resting on the rim of the disc. The sound of Orpheus's voice singing of seizing the moment hummed in the air.

"Oh!" Aphrodite exclaimed. "Nicely done, Hades. I'm impressed."

Hades ducked his head slightly before lifting it again. "Thank you. Now, uh, I do think dancing is involved?"

Persephone jumped forward and smiled. "Thank you for reminding me. Come on then, let's dance." She grabbed Hades' hands and started to sway to the music.

The other goddess girls started to sing which eventually accumulated in laughter at the silly head gestures they were doing.

After a while, the song changed and the group's dancing along with it. Hades started tapping out the beat to the new song on his legs. The added emphasis on the beat envigorated the girls further and they all ended up stomping to it during the final chorus.

The song changed and the goddess girls sang and danced enthusiastically. Persephone's hair streamed out behind her as she lifted her head upwards while holding a note.

Hades grinned in satisfaction. Persephone was much happier and relaxed now. And with all the studying she'd done she was sure to pass her exams. This emergency party looked like a success to him.