A/N: I've been looking for a good Hades raises Mal story and couldn't so I decided to write my own.

Mine

Fear was good.

Fear made people run away. Even the most ruthless villains cleared the streets when he walked by.

Hades, once God of the Underworld, now just another resident of the Isle of the Lost.

Still people feared him.

Still they ran away.

All but me.

If I wanted to prove to mother just how wicked I really could be then taking on the biggest bad on the Isle would be a sure way to do it.

Mother ruled the Isle but Hades could have taken it from her with a single word.

Mine.

With that single word even Maleficent, Mistress of Evil would have bowed to the god.

Taking something of his would prove my worth once and for all. She could no longer call me weak. She could no longer call me useless.

A retched child.

Sometimes I forgot my own name, she never used it. Only retched child.

A burden.

My father's daughter. He-Who-Must-Never-Be-Spoken-Of.

A constant reminder of her weakness. That she had once let her herself feel something other than hate for another being.

She hadn't made the same mistake with me.

The best I could hope for is respect.

Today was the day I earned it.

Hades' pants sagged slightly to one side, a sure sign of something heavy in one pocket.

My prize.

Proof of my wickedness.

I followed at a distance. With so many skirting out of his way if I got any closer, I would be noticed, I would be caught.

The truly wicked were never caught. If I pulled this off, I would finally be one step ahead of my mother.

She, after all, had been caught.

Finally, he turned down an alley that people escape from. He pushed people out of his way.

My one chance.

I hurried down the alley after him. Head down and hood up I brushed past the god as a pushed a group of children out of his way and reached into his pocked, taking what was inside.

I hurried on, scrambling away with the other children.

Hades kept walking. He hadn't noticed a thing.

I ran before he could.

Grabbing a stone from the ground off the floor of a nearby alley and hurled it at a sign.

Do not throw stones.

Yeah, right.

The ladder descended with the strike. I climbed.

One rung, two rung, three.

"Get down here, little rat."

A hand yanked me down by the ankle.

I hit the ground. Hard.

I would not cry. I wouldn't. Only the weak cried. I was not weak.

"By Zeus, you have to be what? Four?"

"Five." I couldn't help but snarl, pushing myself to my feet. I was not a child.

I don't think I ever had been. Mother had made sure of that.

I kept my hood up as I turned to face my attacker.

Hades.

He studied me briefly before holding out his hand. "Give it to me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

My prize. I truly didn't know what it was, safely in my pocket I hadn't had a chance to even look at it. Stopping would have slowed me down.

Still I had been caught.

"The Ember, girl, give it back."

Hades' Ember.

Everyone on the Isle knew of it. Now I had it. Mother would have to be proud of me now.

I did the only thing I could think of.

I kicked Hades between the legs and ran.

I was fast. I had to be to escape my mother's grasp when I angered her.

Hades was faster.

Grabbing me by the shoulder he whirled me around, pulling my hood down as he did so.

He let go and took a step back.

"Mal?" He retook the step forward. "Mali?"

He was distracted. He knew my name. I didn't care. One chance. That was all I had.

I ran.

This time he didn't follow.

"Mother! Mother!"

I hurried up the steps of her crumbling castle, still one of the grandest on the Isle.

She stood on the balcony, surveying her domain. She didn't even bother to turn around. "I'm busy."

"But I stole something."

"So what? When I was your age, I was well on my way to cursing entire kingdoms. It'll take than a few stolen trinkets to impress me."

I already knew that. I reached into my pocket, rolling the stone between my fingers, the Ember. I didn't see what was so great about it but it would impress her. That was what mattered.

I stopped.

She would take it. My prize. Mine.

I sighed. "Never mind."

Later.

The next time she called me useless, a burden, I would bring it out.

I would prove her wrong.

I'd be more wicked than she ever was.

Sitting on the window sill I hung one foot out into the open air. From here I could just make out the turrets of the castles and palaces of Auradon.

I'd been so close. Why couldn't I just have handed it over?

I turned the blue stone over in my hand.

Mine. It was mine.

It called to me.

It whispered my name.

Mali.

That was the name it whispered. The same name Hades had called me.

Mali.

No one had ever called me that. Now Hades and the Ember called me it on the same day.

Mali.

It sounded…

It sounded kind. I think. If I knew what kindness sounded like.

I liked it.

"It calls to you?"

I looked down; Hades lazed on the sloping roof below.

I pocket the Ember. "What do you want?"

"First, the Ember. Then, to talk."

I gripped the Ember in my pocket. Mine. It was mine. "What could you possibly have to talk to me about?"

Hades stood up and stretched. "Do you know who I am?"

"You're Hades." Everyone knew that.

"I am your father."

I almost fell out the window. He-Who-Must-Never-Be-Spoken-Of.

My father.

Hades was my father.

He wasn't lying. Living around so many thieves and liars I knew a con when I saw one.

This wasn't one.

Hades, my father, held out his hand. "The Ember."

"I need it."

"It's of no use to you, girl." He dropped his hand. "It holds no power here. Its as useless as your mother's staff."
"I don't need its magic. I need it to prove to her I'm not useless."

My father climbed climber up to sit next to me on the ledge. "Your mother?"

I nodded. "She thinks I'm useless. A burden. A retched child. My father's," he raised an eyebrow, "your daughter." An insult. At least in her mind. "If I show her I'm as wicked as she is, that I stole from a god, she'll have to respect me."

"Is respect all you want?"

No. "Its all I'll get."

"So why didn't you give it to her?"

Its mine. Mine. "I'm saving it."

"For?"

"For when I really make her angry."

"You're afraid of her?"

"Aren't you? Isn't why you left us?"

"I left your mother."

"You left me. With her."

"I though she would make you stronger. But a child should never their parent, dislike maybe, but never fear." There was a look in his eye that told me there was a story behind his words.

Hades offered me his hand. "Come with me and I'll make sure you're never afraid of anyone ever again. I'll help you make sure they're afraid of you."

I didn't even have to think about it. Anything to get away from her.

I took his hand.

A/N: Reviews, Favourites and Follows are always welcome.