Children of Hades

[lordofdarkness]

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Arrival at Camp

[lordofdarkness]

[By the time they've had their fill of ice cream and greasy fries, it's late afternoon. Add to that the time it takes for their cab (taken in Nico's effort to keep Mal from witnessing another shadow travel induced moment of weakness) to reach the bottom of Halfblood Hill, and it's only a little before sunset when they begin the ascent up the hill to Camp. The walk up the hill isn't very long though it always feels longer when monsters are in pursuit and soon enough they reach the invisible border that separates Camp from the mortal world. Mal's feet cross without incident and though Nico hadn't had any doubt, his heart soars in his chest, reveling in the tangible reminder of who Mal is (to him.)]

We can let the camp director know tomorrow since it's already getting late. [Not late for Nico, and not so late they couldn't have dropped by the Big House, but he'd rather get Mal used to Camp on his own before introducing her to some of the weirder elements. It's been a long day.]

Do you want a tour?

[inkings]

— what? [ mal rips her gaze away from their surroundings long enough to find nico. ] Oh, um… Is there a place I can drop this off first?

[ she shrugs the shoulder her backpack's slung over, her hand holding the straps. her eyes soon slide back to the camp. even when nico said "it's a summer camp" she wasn't expecting to be so…camp-y.

this is. a lot of outdoors. ]

[lordofdarkness]

Yeah, of course. [Oblivious to her thoughts, Nico leads her to cabin number thirteen, AKA the Hades cabin. While many of the cabins that they pass are unique in their own way, (one painted a bright barbie pink) when the Hades cabin comes into view it is fairly clear which god the cabin pays homage to. The walls of the windowless cabin are constructed from a pure black obsidian stone, and the door is framed by a series of torches, each alight with bright green flames. Just in case that wasn't enough to make clear who the cabin's occupants were, a skull hangs from the door greeting all who enter.

Nico opens the door for Mal and gestures for her to join him inside as he flicks on the lights. The room, though big enough for several beds should the need arise, is currently only decked out with one each on either side. On Nico's side the bed remain rumpled and a few T-shirts are strewn about the covers. The other bed appears perfectly made and untouched.

Also the beds are completely coffin shaped with red velvet blankets, mahogany frames, and even brass handles on the sides.]

...I've been meaning to get new beds. I didn't choose these and I think the person who did was confused about children of Hades not being vampires.

[inkings]

You mean you're not? [ is she joking? magic 8-ball says: "answer unclear. ask later."

mal brushes past nico with a teasing smirk, a good deal of mischief in her green eyes. her feet trace a path toward what would be her bed, but her eyes sweep across everything: the walls, the surprising size of the room, its contents, the beautiful lack of windows, those beds.

she stops by the unoccupied one. her fingers graze the soft velvet blankets. ]

Love the vibe in here. Beds need to go. [ dropping her backpack by her feet, mal reaches behind her back and withdraws a leather-bound book, its surface worn smooth from use. the gold dragon on its cover glints strangely in the light.

mal looks at nico. ] Mind if I try something?

[ she's gonna go full (half-)fairy on the beds. ]

[lordofdarkness]

[Nico knows a 'you're a vampire' joke when he hears it and he rolls his eyes in good humor. He isn't sure if she's serious about loving the place though because everyone else tended to hate it. Then again, they do seem to share a similar offbeat taste. A shrine to Hades lies in between the beds and at first glance it appears to be a small dresser, though a closer look reveals various rubies, diamonds, other precious stones, and of course, bones scattered about the top. His lips tilt up in a smile at the reminder of Mal's giant sphere of gold sitting in his pocket. (Maybe he'll add it to the shrine.)

His eyes fall on the book that he can only assume is a spell book and he nods, curious. ]

I don't mind.

Info overload

[lordofdarkness]

[The good news is, Mr. D. isn't chasing them. The bad news is, Mal doesn't look even a little bit sorry. (The worse news is all of Nico's disapproval is faked because how is he supposed to disapprove of her roasting Mr. D. like that?)

When they're far enough away that Nico is positive they won't suddenly sprout fins or branches, Nico finally stops running and tries very hard to look stern.]

I can't believe you said that to Mr. D.

[inkings]

[ mal is a little concerned. maybe even a tiny bit afraid. but mostly she is unrepentant and, upon it sinking in that here she is in one piece with no additions or subtractions to her person, more than a little smug. ]

I didn't say anything to him. [ her expression is perfectly innocent, even sweet. too sweet. ] I was making conversation. If he chose to take it personally…that says more about him, doesn't it?

[ she tips her head at him with a sunny smile, hugging her sketchbook to her. she breezes past nico to the shade underneath a tree. finding a spot among the roots, she takes a seat.

that morning, mal swapped studded leather for black mesh and green sleeves. the contrast between the colors makes the purple of her hair darker and her fair skin fairer. she balances the sketchbook on her lap with a practiced ease. its cover has been spray painted until its original color was lost. ]

[lordofdarkness]

[It would honestly be weird if Mal had traded in her look for a bright orange Camp tee. Solidarity sis.

Nico follows her over at a slower pace, still shaking his head. Once he reaches the tree he takes a seat on the grass a few feet from her, eventually laying on his back with one arm thrown over his eyes to protect against the sun. Now that Mal has met Mr. D. and Chiron, everything is official. Or as official as it ever gets here anyway. He'll introduce her to Will and the Apollo cabin later, and maybe Clovis if he can catch him awake. The whole camp will probably be asking about the new Hades kid by lunch so it's better to mitigate everyone's nosiness sooner rather than later.

Which also means there are some things they need to talk about before all that, in case someone else mentions it before he can.]

Hey Mal?

[inkings]

[ the day she wears orange is the day she lays down to die. ]

Yeah?

[ newly armed with a clean page and a pencil, she begins to sketch. the sound of lead sliding across the page is the only other sound she makes. ]

[lordofdarkness]

[Truly, they are siblings.]

I might know why no one told you about me. [He sits up onto his elbows and he doesn't look at her, instead eyes caught by some weedy grass swaying in the breeze.]

It's a long story. And it's weird. But it's important.

NEW YORK NEW YORK

[inkings]

[ mal's first night at camp proved…interesting. chiron officially welcomed her into camp, making a whole show of it. ( weird. ) every single table was either whispering or craning their necks to get a better look at her. ( weirder. ) mr. d made a snide comment. ( that she was expecting. ) nico sat across from her at the hades table and she kept her word to watch for his health: when he refused to voluntarily join the apollo table, she waved her finger and flipped the bench he was sitting on. that got more whispers and even the centaur was staring, but mal took one look at nico's stunned face and broke out laughing.

after so long being alternately shunned or harassed in auradon for being maleficent's daughter, camp proved a lot easier to take.

besides, the only person whose opinion mattered just picked himself up off the floor and plopped himself down next to her with a grin.

for her second outing into new york, mal opted for a more low-key look than the distressed, studded leather and five hundred belts of her first day. still leather and still cropped, her varsity style jacket has dark purple sleeves and a multicolor body, varying from black through purple and magenta to gray. she settled long ago on purple and violet as her dominant color palette, and she has remained faithful to it ever since. the only exception to purple is green as in the case of her olive green cargo pants.

her jewelry remains the same with studded black bracelets around one wrist and a dragon ring resting over two of her fingers; on her other hand, a bold ring with a large oval onyx circles her thumb, one of the few gifts maleficent saw fit to give her daughter. a wristlet hangs off her wrist. it resembles the backpack she carried on her first day because it actually is the same bag—and just as much a bag of holding considering she stuffed her spell book inside it despite the bag being half the book's size. she also offered it to hold the pouch of mortal money with a few divine coins strewn in that chiron gave them. the pouch disappeared inside with no sign except for the sweet jingling of the drachma when mal jiggled the bag.

over her zipped up jacket rests her gold dragon pendant, identical in shape to the dragon on the cover of her spell book.

she leans against a parking meter while nico finishes getting whatever he needed to get at the pharmacy. they decided to get the responsible stuff out of the way first and blow the rest of the day on touristing.

from the wristlet, mal removes her cell phone. no messages. no calls. to be expected considering she lost signal the moment she hopped into the mortal world, but she's still disappointed. scrolling through the photos, she smiles at the faces of her friends. finding two photos she likes she changes the lock screen to one of the four of them taken in a huddle, her, jay, evie and carlos backlit by the sun above them, and the home screen to one of her and evie making faces at the camera. even when she's being ridiculous, evie still manages to look like the prettiest girl in the world. and mal knows what she's talking about; she's seen the aphrodite kids. they still can't compare to e. ]

Re: NEW YORK NEW YORK

[lordofdarkness]

[He's glad Mal decided to wait outside because it means he doesn't have to answer any questions about the frame he'd picked up along with the medical supplies. He's only gone for a few minutes, exiting in time to see Mal glancing at her phone. Surprise at the sight of the phone quickly morphs into curiosity as he catches sight of a few happy faces. (Brothers, he remembers, back on the isle.) But the face he can see now squished next to Mal's at ease and goofing off doesn't look like any brother.

He adjusts the bag around his shoulder as he moves to her side.] Is that one of your friends? [His first concern should probably be the phone, but he doesn't care. He'll get to that, eventually.]

[inkings]

[ mal quirks an eyebrow at nico. ] E. [ she tilts the phone screen toward him. ] Evie. She's my best friend.

[ her thumb taps the gallery icon and row after row of photos cascades down the screen. there are many group shots featuring the four of them: in the girls' room, in the boys', in class, on the campus grounds. there are many more featuring mal and one or both of the boys. but even at a glance, the photos featuring a blue-haired princess outnumber the rest.

mal flips through a few for nico's benefit. mal and evie baking in the dorm kitchens; mal and evie sitting on the bleachers, mal with her typical uneven smirk, evie smiling brightly, her hand on mal's knee; mal with her head on what is clearly evie's lap, drowsily aiming the phone at herself while evie puts braids in mal's purple hair; evie hugging mal tight, her hand on mal's cheek, their heads pressed together, and the two of them laughing.

the further back in the roll the more evie and mal's clothes look like the attire mal was wearing when she met nico: torn, distressed, old, made livable again by a lot of creativity and a good dose of artistry.

as she looks through the photos, mal's expression is as soft as it has ever been. ]

She's the only one who knows where I am. She's the only person I ever told about my dad.

[lordofdarkness]

[He isn't one to assume. Nico's complicated and frankly exhausting history with self discovery, identity, and acceptance is one so fraught with struggle and denial that he's never felt remotely fit to make any assumptions about anyone else. (It's one of the reasons it had taken months to get anywhere with Will despite in hindsight the many many dropped hints and honestly what probably amounted to exasperated blunt admissions.) It didn't help matters that his isolation had led to such a lonely existence that he didn't have a frame of reference for friendship. (He was sure Will was just being friendly when he insisted Nico play on their team for capture the flag, offered him a seat at the Apollo table, constantly sought him out and spent hours lying next to Nico in his coffin bed talking about everything and nothing.) So when Mal shows him picture after picture and scrolls past dozens more of herself and her best friend, Nico wonders, but he doesn't assume.

At least not until he catches the way the two girls look at each other and he seriously has to bite his tongue to keep from assuming out loud. He could still be wrong. They could be best friends. Friendship didn't preclude love. (It's what he tells himself anyway.)]

She sounds like a really loyal friend. [He says lamely because it's all he can do to keep himself from asking if this is why she didn't care about his sexuality when he'd told her. (He can practically hear Jason's disapproval at the idea that the only people who would accept him are those who share in his existence but it's just a voice in his head and imaginary Jason is a lot easier to block out than the real thing.)]

[inkings]

She's the best. You know those people that are just…impossible not to like? Like actual sunshine made into a person? That's Evie. So, of course, I hated her when we met, [ mal says with a laugh. ] I used to torture her back on the Isle. It’s a wonder she ever decided to put up with me.

When we were little, it was just me and Jay.

[ she flips to a different picture: a handsome long-haired boy with muscled arms stares straight into the camera with long-suffering expression while a grinning mal kicks her muddied boots into his lap.

the next photo is of her and carlos, obvious by deduction, who grins at the camera under a shock of white hair and a mess of freckles across his nose. they’re playing a video game, which mal, judging from her expression, was in the process of losing. pressed against carlos’ side is a mutt. ]

Carlos was Evie’s friend first. That’s Dude, [ she points at the dog. ] Carlos found him at Auradon. Everyone loves that stupid dog. He didn’t cower at the other end of the room when I walked in anymore. That was progress.

[ she comes to a photo taken of the four of them on her bed in her dorm. the bed was too narrow to fit all of them comfortably so mal and evie clung to each other in the middle. mal threw one leg over evie’s and evie held onto mal’s arm with both hands. jay teetered on the edge beside mal while carlos flashed the camera an open-mouthed grin on evie’s other side. they look happy. they look close.

an ache spreads comes into mal’s throat. she abruptly locks the screen. ]

Wow, [ she utters with a disbelieving little laugh. ] I’ve just been talking for five minutes straight. Sorry about that.

[ straightening, she pastes on a bright smile. ]

Did you get everything you needed?

What if I'm far from home?

[lordofdarkness]

[Two weeks.

Mal has been at camp for two weeks before Nico loses his nightly battle for the first time since she'd arrived. It's actually a small miracle that he'd lasted as long as he did, but negative thoughts always fueled his inability to stave the nightmares off, and it was hard to feel anything but joy watching Mal laugh, waking to her grumbles that mirrored his own, teasing and being teased and generally falling in love with her presence. The fear and anxiety hadn't even had a chance to rear its head.

But even when he won the day battles, the nightly ones persisted. They clawed at him, always pulling him back, always yanking away. Always dragging him back to that place where it was dark and hot and everything hurt.

He'd lost tonight, perhaps for no other reason than he couldn't stall the inevitable forever, and it was inevitable. Nico shivers in his sleep while the temperature in the room drops, shaky exhalations visible against the chill. The room is cold but Nico is burning. His skin is melting and his throat is on fire, poison seeping into his lungs, everything too hot and too much. Silent tears wet his pillow.

He doesn't wake (he never does.) He doesn't cry out (no one could hear, no one could help, what was the point?) A deep cruel voice whispers the truth of his existence into his ears and he curls into a ball, unable to fight or run away.

No one loves you. No one needs you. You're too broken. Too damaged. Your sister left you, she'd have rather died than stayed shackled to you. Do you think this one will be different? She'll leave you when she sees what you are.

She'll realize you're nothing and then you'll be alone again. It's what you deserve.

Nico is silent and still and the room grows colder.]

[inkings]

[ it's freezing.

under the covers, mal cannot stop shivering. the blankets are piled thick around her yet the cold stole beneath them, through them until it feels like mal wrapped herself in ice. she sits up, trembling. the room is cold. the fear creeping down her spine sending shudders out to each of her limbs is colder still. ]

What's happening? Nico!

[ there is nothing natural about this cold, and her first concern is her brother. green flames bloom to life across her hand, stretching upwards like satin across her fingers. mal raises her hand, and the pale green light pushes back the shadows. she spots the shape of him still in his bed, a lump beneath his covers. mal shines her light into each corner of the cabin, but it is otherwise empty. her mother looks half-frozen in her aquarium, and mal panics when she remembers reptiles are cold-blooded.

she flinches the moment her bare feet touch the icy floor, but the near painful discomfort is soon forgotten. ]

Mother, hold on. [ tiny licks of flames sweep into maleficent's aquarium like will-o'-the-wisps, hovering in the air around the lizard to warm her. soon maleficent turns her head, but mal cannot celebrate it. she is already past her mother and at her brother's side.

the cold is even more intense beside nico. mal's skin long since erupted in goosebumps and she has to clench her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering. when she touches him, though, she nearly snatches her hand back. he is not cold. his skin feels very, very hot. ]

Nico?

[ a flick of the wrist and the fire leaps off her hand, hovering in the air above them. the cold feels distant to her now, a leaden ache she's only sometimes aware of. adrenaline keeps her warm. fear keeps her heart pounding.

mal drops to her knees beside the bed, the back of her hand finding nico's cheek. she touches something wet. under the pale light, his tears glisten. ]

Nico, hey. [ her voice, though quiet, carries an edge. ] Wake up, Nico. Wake up, come on.

[ she gives his shoulder a shake. her thumb wipes at his tears. ]

[lordofdarkness]

[His eyes snap open a second later and immediately find hers, but aside from that he might still seem asleep for all of the understanding that passes through him. He looks at her without seeing and in a second he's yanked himself away from her, crawling backwards until his back hits the wall. The temperature in the room stops dropping at least, though it doesn't rise either. Nico's eyes jump frantically from Mal to the rest of his surroundings, falling on each wall, the door, and even the lizard for seconds at a time. One of his hands reaches to his side and then surprise washes over his features when it comes back with nothing. He looks down to his side for a long moment before finally looking back up at Mal again, the fog finally beginning to clear.]

...Mal? [His voice shakes along with the rest of him and he doesn't move forward yet, keeping himself out of reach, his back still pressed to the wall. He doesn't know if this is real. If Mal is real. If he's back or still dreaming, still stuck in that place. Fear is bright in his wide eyes as he fights for control over his mind.]

[inkings]

[ mal stops herself reaching for him. she straightens instead, her hands held in front of her. ]

Yeah, [ she says. ] I'm here. You were having a nightmare.

[ she calls it a nightmare for lack of another word for it. she has had nightmares. evie sometimes woke her with bad dreams too. but she has never known one like this. nico looks…he looks haunted. ]

the one where it escalated

[inkings]

[ cabin number thirteen has a new addition: a blood-red curtain hung across the open door.

several campers have paused, curious, especially with the strong smell of paint fumes issuing from the interior. general wariness where the lord of the dead and his children are involved stops anyone sneaking too close.

the sign pinned to the curtain, the sign which spells out APPROACH AT YOUR OWN PERIL, also helps. the skull and crossbones painted in black underneath reinforce the warning.

upon stepping inside, it is obvious where the curtain came from: two of the curtains are missing from mal's four-poster.

mal was supposed to join a few of the kids from apollo's cabin to practice archery. then she should have met nico for sword practice. she did neither. inside the cabin, she shakes a can of spray paint. on her bedside table, next to maleficent's aquarium, mal has set her phone. she sings along with it as she works. her mother glares balefully at the phone.

at mal's side of the room, she has immortalized a portrait of herself framed by thorny purple-violet vines on the wall. nico's portrait dominates the wall at his side of the cabin, silver-white bones as his frame. the vines and bones both trail to the back wall against which the shrine to their father sits. there, they smoothly become part of another drawing. there, mal can be found, bringing hades' palace to life with only a careful laying and alternating of purple-violet and silver-white lines and touches of vivid green against the profound black of the wall.

it took mal the better part of a week to work out the exact composition to get paint that a) would stick to the obsidian walls and b) show against it. even with the project as of yet unfinished, she is damn proud of herself. ]

[lordofdarkness]

[It would be an understatement to say that Nico is impressed and a little awed by Mal's work the moment he walks into the cabin. While he's already come to appreciate her artistic talents, that still didn't prepare him for the portraits on the walls painstakingly detailed and mapped out, making the cabin feel theirs in a way it never felt to him before. It's beautiful, amazing, entirely Mal and he loves it. And later, he'll tell her that. Later he'll ask her to show him how she captured his dumb untamable hair so well and what color of paints she mixed for her eyes. Not right now though.

Right now he stands in the doorway and when he gets his breath back his voice is fond but not without a hint of exasperation.]

Mal.

[inkings]

Hey.

[ stopping in her task, mal hops off the box she had been standing on and walks to her bedside table to pause the music. she turns around with a smile. ]

Don't worry. I'll get rid of the fumes as soon as I'm finished.… What?

[lordofdarkness]

[He gestures at the sword at his side raising an eyebrow.]

Training? [Completely unable to hold his ground for even a minute though, he adds] This is amazing.

[What? It does and his sister deserves to feel appreciated (even when she's blowing off training, don't @ him.)]

[lordofdarkness]

[It's the morning of a day in late April when Nico is sitting at the Apollo table, Mal already having finished breakfast leaving Nico to retreat to sit with Kayla as he finishes his meal. His sister is hanging out with Val today though Nico has no idea what they're actually doing. Will has the midday infirmary shift today which means that as soon as he finishes breakfast, he intends to head straight over and help out where he can.

Those were his plans anyway until he hears a commotion a little beyond the Big House and after shooting Kayla a puzzled look (who merely shrugged in return) gets up to see what the noise is about. When he reaches the Big house, a small cluster of campers are gathered around someone, offering back slaps and high fives, and Nico realizes that someone is either visiting or starting their summer session early. A brief gap in the cluster allows Nico a glimpse at the returning camper and Nico's eyes widen in shock.

Iris messaging was still being weird more often than not and even hand written letters didn't always make it to their destination, which means they haven't actually had a chance to talk in months. Still. There's no way he isn't going to give Jason a hard time about not letting him know he was coming.

Rather than intrude or make himself known, Nico merely stands there waiting, a smirk on his face.]

[fulminatum]

[ He is tired. ]

[ The journeys are never wearying. He goes alone or he goes with one or two others. The campers always swarm him, some to congratulate him on a successful quest, some because they want to see him, others because they have some question or other that can't wait. He knows he'll see Nico or Piper sooner rather than later, and Leo and Percy as well. Jason doesn't keep a list, to check off names. They all gravitate towards each other, invisibly connected, and the moment he comes here — comes home — there's always family here to greet him. It's been a long few months, and it's unusual not to have spoken to them at length. ]

[ He feels Nico before he sees him, but Jason also puts that down to his imagination, to having not seen him for a while. ]

Hey Nico.

[ Jason greets him with a bright smile — the one that's always reserved for Nico — and a light shoulder bump. ]