robinnest | Children of Hades

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— ]

[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.]

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.

[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.]

[ 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…

[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?

[ 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.

['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?

An experiment. [ spoken offhand, like she was asked to give her opinion on two nearly identical designs for a dress. ]

Four kids from the Isle were chosen to prove that we could live among civilized society without trying to set it on fire. I was one.

[Nico is silent for a long time as he takes that in. No wonder Mal felt like she didn't belong. No wonder she felt like she wasn't good enough. After a moment, he places one hand on her shoulder like earlier, brief and then it's gone.]

I hope you set it on fire a little bit. You ready to head back? [He has dozens of questions for Mal and for his father. For all of the people that put Mal where she is. The ones who allowed an innocent child (children, he reminds himself, it wasn't just Mal) to grow up around murderous criminals and believed that was okay. He knows well enough to know now isn't the time for any of them.

Now is the time to get to know his sister and make her understand that wherever she was before, now she's welcome.

Now she belongs.]

Tomorrow I can show you the strawberry fields. They grow all year round thanks to magic so we can steal a few.

[ mal holds her hand up, only the barest space left between her thumb and index finger. getting inside poor jane's head, putting a love spell on the crown prince, generally terrorizing the populace, and trying to steal an ultra-powerful magical object. li'l bit.

turning smoothly on her heel, she falls into step again beside nico. ]

I hate to break it to you, but if you let me on a strawberry field, I will be taking a whole sack's worth with me.

Edited 2019-08-28 19:38 (UTC)

[He laughs at that, shaking his head.]

I won't stop you but the nymphs might make sunflowers grow out of your hair. [He takes her back the opposite way they came and they're nearly back to the cabins when his eyes catch on a younger camper sitting by the fire and stoking the flames. Nico comes to an abrupt pause and then motions for Mal to follow him over to the girl.]

I want you to meet someone. [As they approach, the girl who can be no older than eight or nine turns to face them. She's wearing a bright orange camp shirt and her brown hair is pulled up into a high ponytail, and were it not for her eyes, she would appear as nothing more than a regular camper.

Her eyes make it clear that isn't the case. Where her pupils should be, a bright orange flame flickers instead, though rather than being frightening or intimidating, the flames elicit only warmth. She smiles at their approach and it's impossible not to feel comfortably warm. It feels like home.

Nico inclines his head respectfully, a gentle smile on his own lips when he raises his eyes again.]

Good evening, lady.

[She smiles warmly at Nico and then at Mal too.]

It's good to see you again Nico. It's very nice to meet you Mal. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood.

Edited 2019-08-28 20:00 (UTC)

[ mal frowns at his back. the little girl looks no older than dizzy tremaine, maybe even younger than lady tremaine's sweet, excitable granddaughter. then the little girl turns around and surprise roots mal where she stands. when the goddess smiles, mal hears the familiar timbre of jay's and carlos' laughter. she feels the gentle closeness of evie's arm linking through hers.

mal's eyes flick to nico for instruction, but because mal's luck is terrible and nico fails as a brother, she has to fumble through. sliding one foot behind her, she drops in a little curtsy. ]

Thank you, lady. It's an honor to be in your presence.

[ the goddess looks nothing like the faded illustration in mal's book. there she was a grown woman, her himation draped over her hair, her visage unsmiling. but mal knows her. the eldest-born, the goddess of the hearth. hestia. ]

[See Mal, you're a natural, it's fine. Nico smiles at the curtsy at the same time as Hestia nods.]

I hope that Camp Half-Blood will be a place you'll call home, Mal. [Her smile is gentle and knowing, and she tilts her gaze in consideration at her before continuing.]

Although, sometimes you'll find more than one place may be your home. [Without elaborating, she turns her eyes back to the both of them to speak again.]

Take care, Mal, Nico. Look after one another. [She smiles once more before rising from the flames and vanishing. Only when she's gone does Nico finally turn to Mal and nod at the place where Hestia had so recently vacated.]

That was Hestia. She hangs out here sometimes and likes to meet new campers.[You're welcome.]

[ mal was still trying to figure out what hestia was referring to when nico decides to be belatedly helpful.

so she punches him in the shoulder. ]

Good job, Nico! I could have made an ass of myself!

[Nico grins the way only a younger brother can grin at his older sibling.]

You were fine. Hestia's really nice, there was nothing to worry about. I would have said something if it was Hera or someone. [Which reminds him.]

Oh, by the way, the camp director is Dionysus. You'll meet him tomorrow. He hates teenagers and children. [Pause.] And being sober, which he is. So, just don't talk back and you'll be fine.

[ mal makes the universal “I can’t even deal with this—or you—right now” gesture. whirling around with a huff, she stalks back to their cabin.

she briefly debates the pros and cons of magically locking him out of the cabin, but it’s been a very long day and she is bone-tired and so settles for just shutting the door on his face.

dick. ]

[Nico stands at the closed door for a moment, smiling helplessly and leaning his head against the wood just beneath the skull that grins back at him. He hadn't expected Mal. He wouldn't have known what to do if he'd known she existed. Now though, now that she's come into his life, all he can do is pray a hundred silent thanks to his father. However this happened, he doesn't care. He doesn't care if this means Hades broke the truce or not, all that matters is Mal is here now, rolling her eyes and shutting doors in his face and Nico hasn't been this happy in a long time.

When he's finally got a hold of his expression he follows his sister into their cabin to sleep.]

Children of Hades

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