Disclaimer: Victorious belongs to Dan Schneider and Nickelodeon. Anything in this story that isn't part of the canon universe either belongs to Tsubasa K. Kruger or to someone else who will be appropriately credited in the corresponding chapter.
Note: This story contains pieces that didn't make it into War of the Immortals; therefore, it is highly recommended to have at least begun to read it. Some chapters will need the reader to have read up until a certain chapter of WOTI, in which case it will be pointed out in a note at the beginning.
December 28, 1993. Pennsylvania, USA.
Holly Vega, nee Reeves, had never felt as deeply terrified as she felt right in this moment – giving birth to her first child, a baby daughter she and David had long since wanted and prepared for, her husband at her side gripping her hand and touching her shoulder... all the while three predators took control of the room, having just entered as if they owned the place.
She had absolutely no clue who they were, but she knew what they were.
Demons.
The bright ruby eyes of the woman at the middle, clearly of a higher rank than the others, stared at her directly, cold and filled with contempt, while her companions knocked the medical staff out swiftly and efficiently.
Why were they here? She hadn't seen red eyes in over two decades, not since she refused to nudge a recovering alcoholic, recently widowed father of three to pick up a bottle of scotch – something she knew, even at the age of six, would've resulted in the man returning to his vices and at best neglecting his young children.
She'd been living on Earth for going on twenty-two years, since she was judged guilty of the supreme crime of not being a terrible person and it was decided she deserved to be banished.
Holly had been left alone ever since then, having had to find her feet on her own in an unfamiliar place where, despite understanding the language, she was seen as one of countless orphaned kids running around the streets – and one who spoke with a weird accent to boot. Only the fact that she'd concealed her red eyes with magic kept her from looking completely out of place.
She'd managed on her own for a whole year until she was taken into one of many orphanages in eastern Puerto Rico, and then she was adopted by a completely normal American family at eight and taken to live in the mainland, where she'd effectively made a completely normal life for herself.
But now she was being glared at by a woman who couldn't be anything but a Demon, an Assassin judging by the red in her salt-and-pepper hair and the extensive amount of tattoos covering her visible skin, while a pair who were evidently of the same profession controlled the room within seconds of their sudden entrance.
In the middle of a silence not even broken by Holly, no matter how much her pain was threatening to make her cry out, the woman sneered and spoke in the cultured and rich voice of a high-born singer.
"My own flesh and blood."
She was speaking in Ancient, Holly noticed faintly. The only reason she understood, she guessed, was that every language on Earth was simply a dialect of Ancient, some more different than others but all with the same roots – she didn't need to remember Ancient to understand it, regardless of how the grammar and vocabulary confused her.
Regardless, the woman could've been speaking in a made-up language and she would've understood – her disdain was clear.
David's hand tightened in Holly's, and when she glanced over at him she noticed him deathly pale, looking at the Demon across from them as if he'd seen a ghost–
Holly didn't recognize the woman.
But David... David was also adopted.
"Mother" he whispered, confirming Holly's growing suspicions at the same time she felt a freight train knock into her lungs.
He was a Fallen Demon– a child of Hell who'd rejected its teachings, betrayed its King.
They were the same.
Disgusted eyes turned on him next.
"Oathbreaker. Know your sire is as disappointed in you as I am. Your only saving grace is that you managed to find another filth to bond with and continue his line."
"Mother, what–"
"Don't call me that disgusting human term, boy, you rejected the ties to your blood the moment you chose to go against your orders. But no matter, your progeny will live up to your sire's name."
Holly was pale before the woman had finished speaking, because she instinctively understood – Hell cared not for half-blooded Demons, she'd known that since she was a child, but their daughter wasn't a half-blood.
No, the baby that was just now coming into the world was a full-blooded Demon – she carried no mortal blood in her veins.
And it was worse than that, because while Holly's birth parents must've been average at best (something she was sure of even if she didn't even remember her own birth name anymore, let alone her birth family) it was quickly becoming clear that David had been born in a golden crib – it couldn't be any other way, for the woman before her (his mother) was evidently powerful and there was no way a Demon like that would marry below her station.
Just like that, without need of another word leaving the woman's lips, Holly knew of her purpose in coming to this completely normal human hospital – she was here to take their baby away.
David's birth mother seemed to see the horrified realization take over her face, and snapped a hand gesture before she even could open her mouth – to magically silence her, the only part of Holly that was still free of the grip of panic pointed out almost hysterically.
Before any of them could react, the pair with the woman stepped forward and forcefully pulled a similarly silenced David away from Holly. He struggled, but all that gave him was a harsh blow to the head and a push towards the wall, where cement seemed to melt away and around his body, immobilizing his dizzy form.
Holly tried to move, though she wasn't sure what she could've done to avoid what was inevitably going to happen, but she was being held down with an unrelenting grip.
"Kramlov, stay here with the boy. See to it that no filth nears this room" she ordered the broad man with her, before turning to the other female Demon. "Rhas, transport her. We must get to Tartarus before the child begins to crown or her aura might start to latch onto Earth's. Be careful, we do not want any harm to come to a noble child."
"Of course, my Lady" the younger Demon answered.
If asked, Holly would never be able to tell what exactly happened later. She'll only know that she was picked off the bed by surprisingly strong arms, and then a strange dizziness washed over her in three waves before she was carefully deposited in a soft yet firm surface.
When her mind stopped spinning, she realized she was back in Hell.
The walls of the room were made of smooth stone bricks covered in tapestries, the floors rug-covered dark wood, a lighter colored door across the room from her position with a flaming fireplace on her left and a closed window on the right. They'd placed her on the only furniture in the room, a simple bed covered in linens, and quickly encased her hands in metal cuffs attached to the wall by long enough chains that they didn't impede her movement.
Other than the two women who'd kidnapped her, there were two other people in the room – unremarkable middle-aged Demons dressed in simple grey clothes, one kneeling on the floor at the end of the bed and another standing at her left.
Right as Holly had finished taking stock of her surroundings, but before her dizzy brain could process anything (let alone react) the door opened and two more Demons stepped in, both wearing the same long black coat as David's birth mother.
She only needed one of the men coming to stand next to the foul woman by the fireplace to know who he was – he couldn't have been anyone but David's birth father. There, standing side by side, she could easily spot which of her husband's features had come from which progenitor – it terrified her to know that a part of her daughter would be as similar to these people as David was.
"How is it going?" the other, unknown high-ranking Demon asked.
"The child is eager to greet Tartarus, Lord Ikrel" the Demon kneeling at the foot of the bed spoke. "It won't be long now."
"I've taken the liberty to flush the Oathbreaker's system of Human drugs, Lord Mias, Lady Rivot" the other told the couple by the fireplace. "They shouldn't have had the time to make their way into the child's system, but we will check her regardless as soon as she's born."
The man inclined his head at that statement, his eyes glued to Holly's face.
"Well," he said in a deep voice as rich and cultured as the woman's, "it seems the boy wasn't a complete waste after all. Lowborn you may be, but the magic in your bloodline is strong enough that my line's magic won't be weakened, and your physical appearance doesn't seem to have much chance of ruining the child. Your sire and dame will be honored to know the Oathbreaker they birthed has managed to do something good."
"Shall I contact them, my Lord?" Rhas, the woman who'd taken Holly, asked from her place at the window.
Mias seemed to think about it. "Not quite yet. We don't want them thinking they might have any claim to the child – you know how those upstart Puppeteers can be."
"Yes, my Lord."
He looked back at Holly, red eyes cold and disgusted. "It is your lucky day, Oathbreaker – your ties to that disgrace of my former heir will ensure you a long life. Or, well, at least longer than you would've had had you bonded to anyone else.
"The House of Gieri was in risk of ending, but you two will make up for the shame his banishment brought upon us by giving the House as many heirs as you can."
–o–
They didn't allow Holly to hold her daughter – they didn't even allow her to brush her fingers against the soft-looking feathers that encased her body, surrounding her like a protective cocoon and preventing any of them from taking a look at the newborn within.
(And likely doing something else, because although she didn't remember Demons being born with their wings completely wrapped around them she doubted it wasn't without purpose. But how hadn't they showed up on the ultrasounds?)
As soon as the baby's last physical link to her was severed, the tiny cocoon was taken to the side by one of the grey-robed Demons, where it was cleaned and checked over before being bundled up in a soft blanket and handed to her grandparents, who for once looked something other than cold and disgusted – now, as the woman held the cocooned baby and he held both, they looked impossibly proud, instantly adopting postures that screamed protective instincts.
That, if anything, told Holly that they would care for her daughter.
While they were completely enraptured with the newborn in their arms, the Demon who'd brought the baby into the world cleaned Holly up while the other, who'd first taken the baby, stood by the other high-ranking Demon and murmured to him as he scribbled on a notepad.
"What will be her name be, my Lord?" Ikrel asked after a momentary pause, looking up at the couple.
The new grandfather straightened his spine, somehow looking even prouder than before. The last words Holly heard before she was sent to sleep would stay with her for the next six years – until she could first see and hold her baby and say the name they'd wanted for her for the first time without it hurting.
The last words she heard were the name given to her daughter by the people who took her away.
"Itaria von Gieri."