Children of Hades

[lordofdarkness]

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[lordofdarkness]

[Nico leads her out the door and to the "U" shape of the first twelve cabins, gesturing to the bunch of them as they go. The occasional camper passes by with a curious glance, but thankfully no one stops to ask any questions.]

Camp used to only have cabins for the Olympians. [He points them out as they go, naming each of the twelve.] Children of other gods were allowed to enter, but they all went into the Hermes cabin since he's the god of wanderers. Back then, the gods were a lot worse at claiming their kids and since a lot of halfbloods never knew who their godly parent was, it was easier to lump them all into Hermes' group. [He rolls his eyes meaningfully at her, expression a little bitter. Eventually he sighs and shakes his head, chasing the memories away.]

It's better now. Not perfect, but better. [He pauses again, considering the tone he's setting and coming to a stop to glance at Mal.]

...there's some not great stuff about Camp, I won't lie to you. Grudges between the gods that spill over onto us and dumb ceremony we have to maintain to keep them happy. But everyone here knows what it's like to stand out and feel different. [To varying degrees, sure, but still.]

And I wouldn't have invited you here if it sucked.

[inkings]

I would hope not. [ mal looks over at nico, corner of her mouth lifting so he knows she’s teasing. her cheek dimples when she does.

her eyes return to the cabin nico had pointed as belonging to hermes. it’s easy to pick out: she finds the caduceus hanging over the door similar to the skull at their cabin. shortly after learning her father was not, in fact, a mortal man as her mother had led her to believe, mal had gone to the professor of weird science at dragon hall, the school on the isle.

yen sid, unlike every other inhabitant on the isle, wasn’t a villain or a child of a villain, but a sorcerer who had volunteered to come to the isle to teach. as there was no magic under the dome, he taught science. but he also had the widest collection of knowledge about things that weren’t strictly “villainous.”

one afternoon, mal summoned the courage to approach him after class to ask him if he had any book about the greek gods. the stories sound wild, mal said, feigning nonchalance. thought about using it for my evil schemes final project.

yen sid stared at her so long mal feared the real reason she wanted the book was written on her face. finally, he went into his office and came out with a heavy hardcover book, the gold lettering on the cover fading. mal was almost out the door with her trophy when he called her back.

keep it, her teacher said, his gaze as intense and unwavering as ever. there will come a time you’ll need it.

mal did not flee. but when she joined up with jay outside the school she was out of breath.

mal crosses her right arm across her body, grabbing her left elbow. ]

How do the kids who don’t know make it here? Is it someone’s job to chase down lost demigods?

[lordofdarkness]

[He nods, gesturing with his chin to the forest surrounding camp.]

The satyrs who live in the forest here send out scouts all over to track demigods down. If they find one, they do what they can to help get them here. Since demigods attract monsters and all sorts of trouble, it's pretty easy to figure out if someone they suspect is a demigod or not.

[As he talks, he leads her to the edge of Camp near Halfblood Hill, stopping short of the border and raising a hand to where he knows it is even if he can't see it.]

Camp has a protective border around it that monsters can't get through, that's why getting demigod kids here is so important. They're safe. Relatively at least. [It's part of what makes Mal's case so unusual. She's made it seventeen outside of Camp and is clearly capable of surviving. It's not unheard of exactly, though it's extremely rare any of them made it to Mal's age without the protection of Camp.]

[inkings]

[ mal frowns at nico. ] But we can leave. It doesn’t keep us here.

[ hanging unsaid is a question: “right?” they can leave, right. they aren’t trapped, are they. she didn’t swap one dome for another, did she. ]

[lordofdarkness]

Yeah, we can leave whenever we want. The barrier only keeps things out, it doesn't keep anyone in. Chiron—he's the one who watches over everyone here—keeps a closer watch of the younger kids, especially the ones who are only summer campers, but the year rounders have a lot more freedom since this is where we live.

And anyway, [Nico shrugs, thinking about when things were stricter than they are now] I've always come and gone whenever I wanted. [The worst that would happen if someone left when they weren't supposed to is Chiron would frown and worry a lot, but there weren't any actual reasons they couldn't leave aside from for their own safety.]

[inkings]

[ mal's entire body seems to breathe a sigh. of course, she isn't locked in. nico had said some kids went to school elsewhere, didn't he? but when he mentioned there was a barrier…

mal still stretches a hand out. she is only at ease when she meets no more resistance than a gentle breeze blowing through her fingers. ]

[lordofdarkness]

[He offers her a reassuring smile as she tests the barrier and then begins to lead her towards the mess hall.]

Every cabin has a designated dining table to sit at. That's for Hades. [He points out one of the long tables, definitely overkill for its single occupant. Not that he's been sitting there lately, foregoing it to sit at the Apollo table for "Medical Reasons." (Chiron was too old and too tired to fight Will and Nico on the doctor's note they handed him.)]

Sometimes it's okay to move around, but you have to be careful and know who you might offend. Mostly just remember to never ever sit at the Zeus table. He doesn't like us and will absolutely retaliate. Demeter likes us. Hera doesn't. You can always ask me if you want to know about any specific table. Or god for that matter.

[inkings]

So, what? You're usually sitting at that giant table alone?

[ tell her what you told the narration… ]

[lordofdarkness]

Well, I used to. [Unable to suppress it, a sly smile steals onto his lips.]

My doctor wrote me a note. Sitting by myself can have adverse effects on my mood which isn't good for my recovery—remember how I told you my powers were recovering from overuse?—that recovery.

So I've been sitting at the Apollo table.

[inkings]

[ mal laughs. she puts a hand on her hips, eyebrows raised. ]

You dog.

[lordofdarkness]

[His answering smirk is unrepentant and he shrugs.]

It's for my health, Mal.

[inkings]

Mm. [ mal makes a "no argument" gesture. ] I'll be sure to remember that when I'm eating alone and spreading out all my stuff on the table.

[lordofdarkness]

[He shakes his head, still smiling.]

Except, I won't have to sit there because I'm not sitting alone anymore. Now I get to sit with my sister.

[inkings]

Oh, no, no. I would never risk your health. [ mal's eyes widen in the perfect picture of innocence, hands clasped before her.

if not for the change being so abrupt, she would make a damn convincing show of naive concern. ]

If you need to sit at the same table as your boyfriend, you do that. Don't you worry about me. I'll figure out dinnertimes.

[ she punctuates the declaration with a wide, brilliant smile.

nico's sister. kicking him the fuck out. :) ]

[lordofdarkness]

[With a roll of his eyes and slow shake of his head.]

Wrong. I just need to not be alone, and now I won't be. [It's teasing but it's also full of affection. Were they cheating so that he could sit with Will? Yes, yes they were. But he never would have if he'd had a sibling. It never would have even crossed his mind.]

Come on, I'll show you the pegasus stables. Well, from far away, they don't like me.

[inkings]

[ she's gonna magic him to the apollo table and wave at him from across the dining pavilion. ]

Animals scared of you too?

[lordofdarkness]

[Gods, it's nice having someone around who understands these things.]

Yeah. One of my friends can talk to horses so he's put in a few good words with them for me, but they still won't really let me close.

[On the way to the stables he points out the arena (for combat training he tells her) and the armory. Once they reach the stables, he points to them from afar and then moves on. There was no point in upsetting the pegasi this late.]

We're allowed in the forest but the barrier doesn't keep the monsters out of there, so if you go in be careful and keep your guard up.

[inkings]

Monsters in the creepy, dark forest. Got it.

[ her tone belies the questions she has. this isn't the first time nico has mentioned monsters. and, sure, there may be a few loose, but for the warning to be repeated? for another dome to exist? for the camp to be a safe place…

in the next moment, her thoughts shift. her feet come to a stop. her eyes climbed the dark shape of the forest to the sky above it. the night is a darkening purple and strewn glittering across it, with others and more becoming clear the longer she looks— ]

[lordofdarkness]

[Nico stops with her, intuitively remaining silent for a minute as she appears to take in the night sky. It's a clear night and the stars always shine bright at Camp, perhaps the gods wanting their children to acknowledge their greatness anytime they looked up.]

...we're far enough from the city that there isn't much light pollution here. It's pretty, isn't it? [His own eyes seek out the constellations he knows, some as old as Camp and some that he eyes have only been there for a few years.]

[inkings]

I only saw them for the first time a few months ago. First time seeing the moon and the sun too.

I knew what they were, of course, [ she adds, looking over at nico. she returns her gaze to the sky. ] But for most of my life the only sky I knew was overcast.

[ her cheek rounds when she smiles at the stars. ]

They’re beautiful.

[lordofdarkness]

[For all that most demigods lives were full of hardship and tragedy, he's never heard of anyone who hadn't seen the stars. (Until recently she'd said. Until recently she hadn't had fresh food either. Something aches in him, a growing worry.]

Where did you live before? [Before the school where she hadn't felt she belonged. She'd been with her mom, hadn't she? Perhaps not well off, but even the demigod kids who grew up on the street still grew up with stars.]

[inkings]

[ for a long time, mal is quiet. then she breathes a quiet sigh and reluctantly looks away from the sky. ]

It's called the Isle of the Lost, [ she begins. her tone slips into the matter-of-fact. ] A prison, really. Years ago, all the worst of the worst were rounded up and shipped to it. There's a barrier around it. Doesn't let anything in…and it especially doesn't let anything out.

[ mal slides her hands into her back pockets, straightening her back and raising her chin, defiant even in this. daughter of maleficent needs no one's pity. the isle does not breed weakness. ]

That's where I was born. No stars. No magic, either. The enchantment on the barrier made it so anyone under the dome was…mortal, basically.

[ she brings one hand around. the sparse lights reflect off the large onyx ring on her thumb. she turns her hand over, curling her fingers into her palm and opening them again. ]

I've only just started to figure out what I can do, being half-Hades. It's why I wanted to find my dad. If anyone could help me figure this all out…

[lordofdarkness]

[The look on Nico's face isn't pity, it's horror and rage, at least until he manages to get it somewhat subdued. Even then he can't find the words. A prison, really. His pulse beats wildly in his ears and for a moment the grass around his feet begins to wither. Prisoner. Mal was a prisoner. She was born into a prison having committed no crime but existing. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes and the death leaking out of him finally stops spreading.

He's so angry. He's so fucking angry. (Why was their family doomed to suffer? Was it because they were children of Hades? Is that why none of them could catch a break? What had Bianca ever done? Hazel? Mal?)]

Who? [He manages finally, eyes opening again, the stars far from his mind.]

Who kept you there?

[inkings]

[ nico puts off such a frightful aura even mal is taken aback. she knows what anger and hate taste like; she would fill her stomach with them until she was no longer hungry. but she hasn’t seen this kind of rage outside of the isle. ( she has never seen it on her behalf. ) a soft frown touches her brow. ]

There’s no one person, Nico. [ it would be so much easier if there were. one person to blame for all the years she wasted underneath a dome, never feeling the sun’s warmth on her face, never experiencing the thrill that is her magic.

she used to chalk up responsibility, her hates shifting, following her mother’s rages as they flitted from individual to individual. but it was never so simple.

who should be blamed? beast for giving the order to have the villains sent to the island? all of auradon’s citizens who pushed for it, cheered for it? fairy godmother for casting the enchantment that sealed them in? or their own parents for seeding so much misery and destruction in their lifetimes that a decision like that was thought necessary?

when it came to the isle, no one had been in the right.

mal thinks of her mother back at the cabin, sitting on her diminutive throne. the mistress of evil reduced to the the size of the love in her heart. ]

It’s just how it is, [ she says quietly. ] Someone else made the choices, and we live with the consequences.

[lordofdarkness]

['Someone else made the choices, and we live with the consequence.' It shouldn't make it easier to accept, and yet Nico finds the rage burning out of him. (Or at least, it dissipates for now, collecting deep inside of him where he can't see it or feel it for the time being.) It's familiar is the thing. Easy to understand. That is what it means to be a demigod. To pick up the messes of the people with the power—to have no say and suffer for the gods' choices and fight their wars. To suffer their losses. Mal's story is every demigod's story.

The tightness drains out of Nico's shoulders and the fists he hadn't realized he'd been clenching loosen at his sides. He sighs, dropping his gaze and then closing his eyes.]

Isn't that always the way it is? [It's rhetorical, the quiet resigned tone not really asking.]

How did you get out?