Dearies, I would never dream of spoiling HOH. However, this fanfic will make up an alternate ending to HOH but it is not what actually happens. Oh and guess what? The next chapter will be very special. Who wants to hear a Daley Buttons origin story? I do!
Keep reading!
~DB
Daley Buttons was throwing another damp log on the fire. Nothing was burning today, and she swore it was the coldest day of the year. Even the doves were too cold to fly. They were wisely staying in their nests, as she should be. But Daley was restless. She was pacing outside, looking for the golden ship. She hadn't been able to find Leo's body-but he couldn't have survived it was almost negative thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit, which happened to be the polar opposite of the freezing point of water. Without the right tools, the average human would die in minutes. But Leo was a Demigod and a fire user. Plus, there was a big burn patch the next morning. Nothing liked to burn in this climate. It made her wonder.
But she paced the ground, her fur boots leaving odd imprints in the snow. She scanned the sky looking for the golden ship. But it never came. The ship was probably never coming back now that Leo was dead. Maybe, just maybe Leo would've told the crew about her. But she was a walking, talking time bomb. If placed correctly, she was no harm. But one small flaw in the plane could flatten Europe like a pancake. She liked pancakes. But she would not like Europe to be one.
So she paced back and forth until her body was numb. Every nerve felt useless and utterly silent. She could freeze to death for all that mattered. No one would know. And then maybe she could beat Valdez into a senseless pulp in the afterlife. But death would not come easily to her. She was an essence, a body filled with an ancient spirit. Essences do not die easily. She would bear pain and suffering before she would finally let Thanatos take her. But there were other options. She didn't have to let Thanatos take her after death. While she had next to nothing to live for, she had next to nothing to die for. She was in something the mortal's called limbo.
Mortals. She thought. Mortals are so helpless, weak, and useless. She was scornful towards the mortal would. They could not fend for themselves. They could not wield a sword. They only knew how to shoot automated weapons and operate things with clear labels and obvious solutions. Mortals were a plague on this Earth. The only problem is that she existed because of a mortal. She resented it, but that made her part mortal.
With no choice, Daley went back in her cave. She wrapped herself up in blankets and curled up in front of the smoking embers in the fire pit. As she watched the dying embers, she dwelled even farther into the subject of her death. After all, she was rather content to just die like that. Be on this Earth one second and be gone the next like a snuffed out flame. She really didn't have a problem with that. The problem was that she knew people who would care if she just died outright like that. No heroics, no sacrifices, just died because there was nothing to do but hide in her cave for the rest of her life.
As Daley watched the dying fire, she knew Leo would have kept it burning. She knew Leo would have kept her warm. He would've cracked jokes and maybe made a small soup. No- Leo would have built a furnace with his magic tool belt and she would have never been cold again. But she would be forever cold now, forever bitter and alone. She would remain like this all because she yelled at the Mexican fire user whom she wished was here very, very much right now.
In the midst of her thoughts she didn't here the snow crunch until it was too late. Without hesitation she ripped out the ice and glass swords and swung them around to begin generating the energy needed to attack an opponent. The curtain of a door she had swung open and a child of Pluto walked in brandishing a Calvary sword. Daley turned and swung her deadly blades like a tornado of death. The child of Pluto reached out her hand and tried to take the swords but realized that they were not metal or a natural ore. They were element swords.
Left with no other option, the child of Pluto attacked. Daley discarded the glass sword in favor of the ice sword. The cold air drove power right to the heart of the ice sword and as Daley swung the sword, it chopped off the tip of the other girl's. The child of Pluto dropped her weapon and looked at Daley.
"Who are you?" the girl asked.
"I am Daley Buttons."
"I am Hazel Levesque and I believe I owe Mr. Leo Valdez an apology."
