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Summary: Amelia Babineaux died in a sea of wine, as a daughter of Dionysus she lived again. [SI, Self-Insert/OC-Insert]
Enjoy.
Chapter 10
Life's Cruelties
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How The World Keeps On Taking
"Every villian is a hero in his own mind."
― Tom Hiddleston
"You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
― Harvey Dent
When Diana had learned how to walk properly without stumbling every few steps or getting tired within minutes, Dionysus had gifted her with a dagger. She wasn't allowed to remove it from its sheathe without her father there to supervise her while at the same time being practically forced to have the weapon at hand all day.
It was also around that time that her training started. At the beginning, it only consisted of exercises that would help strengthen both her stamina and muscles. Afterwards, Dionysus started teaching her the basics of how to fight with one and later with two daggers.
Once he finally deemed her proficient enough, the god send her off to join the other campers during their training.
(...Before that happened, Dionysus taught her what he considered to be his most important lesson...
...
...Diana wasn't a hero and she would never be one...
...
...
...heroes died young, while she was meant to outlive everyone at camp...)
Fighting against the other children was tough and she lost more often than not. This had mostly something to do with her age and the consecutive weakness of her young body, but it still managed to wound some of her pride.
During one of her beat downs Diana came upon her first real friend in this new life. Colleen Sanders was a Daughter of Ares and only two years older than Diana herself. The two of them didn't get along like a house on fire, but it was pretty damn close.
They bonded over their interests in different mythologies and got into more trouble than was probably good for them.
Two years after their first meeting, Colleen died during a quest.
''You do realize that I don't need a babysitter, don't you?'' asked the eight-year-old as she brushed a few strands of her fair hair away from her face.
Mia, a daughter of Apollo and the unfortunate soul who had been tasked with looking after Diana, rolled her eyes. ''And you do realize that I don't actually care about your opinion concerning this, don't you? Your father obviously doesn't trust you not to do anything stupid without anyone there to supervise you, so it's not as if either of us has got any say in this.''
''Daemon is more fun.'' The daughter of Dionysus pouted. ''You could have just left me with him in the infirmary.''
''So that you could get high on ambrosia once again?'' Amused wasn't a strong enough word to describe the expression on the other girl's face.
Scratching her head in embarrassment, Diana mumbled quietly, ''I was hungry and there wasn't anything else to eat. Besides, how should I have known that a child my age shouldn't actually eat more than a handful of that stuff.''
''Common sense?'' The older blonde tilted her head. ''You've grown up at camp. Mr. D has certainly taught you something as vital as this.''
''Well,'' Diana said while rubbed her neck sheepishly. ''He might have mentioned it once or twice.''
Mia laughed and reached out to ruffle her charge's hair, making it stand on end. ''You're such an idiot sometimes.''
It was a fond statement that made Diana grin. She elbowed the other girl and hopped down from her perch on one of the beds in the Apollo cabin.
In the last few years Diana had gotten to know some of the other campers. It turned out that they were more welcoming when she was actually their age or at least close to it and did not have her father hovering over her shoulder. There were still a few instances when someone did not regard her too nicely due to her situation, but they had become rarer as the time passed.
Due to the close relationship she had with the current Apollo cabin leader - Daemon had healed her after she had been brought into camp and had continued helping take care of her afterwards. - the girl had found a few acquaintances and even friends among his siblings.
She still did not find it entirely easy to get along with everyone. Those physically older than her babied her often and found themselves irritated when she did the same to them. Unfortunately, Diana could not help her behavior. All the children she interacted with were often actually many years younger than her, which meant that she could not even converse with them on the same level.
''Alright,'' uttered Mia, her voice full of exasperation. ''Let's just go to dinner. Being a little early won't do us any bad.''
Diana nodded in agreement. ''Sure. You think Chiron will hold another one of his long speeches today?''
''After what Jordan and Fredrick did?'' The girl laughed. ''Certainly.''
Remembering the screeches inside the Aphrodite cabin, Diana joined the other demigod in her laughter. The two boys, a son of Hermes and Ares respectively, had added some unknown concoction into the shampoos and shower gels of the Aphrodite Cabin that had then dyed the campers' hair and skin in different colors. Unfortunately, one of the girls inside that cabin had a light allergic reaction to it and had to now suffer through an unpleasant rash.
As a whole, the thing could have ended way worse and the screeches of Aphrodite's children were something Diana would remember fondly until the end of her days. A small part of her might have felt sorry for that one girl who had been allergic to whatever the boys added into her shower gel, but the rest of them certainly deserved what they got. Stereotyping wasn't something Diana liked to do, but a large part of that cabin was certainly too shallow for their own good and needed to be taken down a peg or two.
The door of the Apollo cabin closed behind them with a soft click, the sound too quiet to be properly heard over their amused snorts and giggles. Mia continued recounting the happenings of that day's morning, her tone showing clearly what she thought about some of the other campers.
Their amusement was only heightened when they walked across two teens with colorful splotches on their faces.
Altogether, not even Chiron's speeches about invading someone's personal space, touching others belongings and not crossing certain lines managed to lower their good mood. It just could not compare to the grumpy faces at the Aphrodite table.
Diana was ten years old when two blonde boys managed to literary stumble their way into her life.
Castor and Pollux were accompanied to camp by Ichneutae in the late evening of one April Thursday, a small horde of monsters at their heels. They tumbled over the border of Camp Half-Blood and landed only a few feet away from her.
Dionysus had been behaving suspiciously for the last few days and Diana, who could not bear the tension surrounding him anymore, had decided to leave the Big House for a stroll through the camp. Half-way towards the training fields the girl had heard a commotion and seen archers running towards the camp's entrance.
Her curious nature had quickly gotten a hold of her and the girl soon found herself running towards the border as well.
It was there that she met her brothers for the first time.
Slightly chubby faces greeted her once the two boys managed to raise themselves from the ground. They were almost identical to each other, from their height up to their golden blonde hair and strikingly violet eyes.
It were their eyes that more than anything else clued her in on their identity. Diana saw the same eyes each time she looked at her father or even just in the mirror. She doubted that anyone but the Children of Dionysus could ever even have such uniquely colored orbs.
''Are you alright?'' the girl asked despite being completely blindsided. ''I...well, I could show you where the infirmary is.''
One of the boys, her brothers - and they were her family, Diana could feel it more clearly than anything else - rubbed his neck, in either pain or a sheepish gesture. ''That would be nice. I think Pollux hurt his ankle.''
Considering the way Pollux was keeping his weight off his left leg, that could actually even be the case.
Taking a step forward, the oldest Child of Dionysus was just about to offer some help when a loud voice interrupted her. ''What the hell do you think you're doing?!''
Already familiar with that tone, Diana ducked her head as she saw Daemon approaching them. The current Head Counselor of the Apollo Cabin was walking angrily in their direction, pushing his way through the crowd of demigods that surrounded them.
''Don't even try moving with that foot. Just sit down and let me look at it before you make everything worse by putting too much strain on the injury,'' Daemon said once he arrived at their location and deposited his heavy medical bag on the ground.
Diana felt kind of numb.
The girl had always known that she had a pair of brothers in this world. She had also expected to meet them some day in the future.
That day was meant to be in a few years time.
Castor and Pollux were still so very painfully young. Too young to be taken from their mother and to be thrust into this merciless world of gods and monsters.
''Uhm, I'm Diana by the way.'' Your older sister. ''You're probably Castor?''
Surprised, the still standing twin raised his eyebrows. ''How do you know? I haven't introduced myself yet.''
''It's kind of fitting,'' lied Diana. ''Your twin's name is Pollux. I'm sure you know the myth of Castor and Pollux.''
He nodded his head in understanding. ''I see.''
''You're taking all this pretty well.'' Her eyebrows furrowed. ''Are you sure you're alright?''
''All this is really weird, but weird things have been happening to us since forever,'' the about nine years old boy explained, his arms moving at his sides to highlight everything he said. ''So, none of this is truly new.''
''Still, I'm sure you've got questions.'' She pointedly turned her attention towards Pollux, who was currently munching on a piece of ambrosia. ''Dad will explain everything to you in the Big House.''
Yeah, Dionysus certainly had some explaining to do.