Nico's POV
At last they came to a door at the end of the hallway, fortunately without any other crazy happenings. Libby pushed open the door into a courtyard. There was something slightly off about it, although he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
There was a stone walkway leading to a circular stone platform, ringed by odd statues. The white sparkling stone that made up the platform was sliced by an obsidian spiral, creating an odd vortex look. It felt familiar to Nico, how, he didn't know.
They followed Libby along the stone path, all puzzled as to where they were actually going. As she walked past the statues, she flicked a glance towards one statue, which caught his eye, and he stopped to see it closer.
It was a girl, immortalized in stone, looking no more than his own age, fourteen. The sculptor had evidently been extremely skilled, as they had managed to portray her long black dress as a particular fabric: linen. Her dress was almost exactly like Libby's in style, and her hair was black, flowing loosely across her shoulders. The statue was so perfect, it seemed as if it must have been an actual girl, just hit by Medusa's glare.
The strangest thing was, though, that Nico knew her. In some deep, instinctive way he felt connected to her, like he'd known her his entire life.
"Who is she?" He asked Libby.
Libby stiffened. "Who?" she asked, not disguising her emotions very well. He would have thought she was afraid, but her expression had a good deal of an emotion that seemed a lot like mourning to him.
"Her," Nico pointed to the incredibly lifelike statue.
Libby hesitated. "That's Mryori. She was the first Liberite, the Savior of Gizah. She mentored me in the ways of our order. She led the Liberites. We have long missed her, although she departed our world in body merely seventy-four years ago."
"How do I know her?" Nico asked, absently.
"Well, if she died that long ago, you might've seen her in the Underworld," Leo said reasonably.
Libby hissed, outraged. "Never! Not Mryori!"
"Well why not?" Leo challenged.
Nico glanced at Libby. "Who is she? I would know if I'd seen her in the underworld."
Libby flicked her hand, and the demigods all froze. All save for Nico.
Libby never took her eyes from his, and he started to feel like he was being assessed. Finally, she spoke. "What's your parentage?"
"I'm a son of Hades, if that's what you're asking," he stated defensively.
"It's not." She shifted her weight. "Parentage implies both mother and father."
"My mother's name was Maria di Angelo." He shrugged.
"I can show you her story," she said, gesturing towards the statue.
Nico looked around, and for the first time seemed to notice that the others were frozen. "What did you-,"
"Chronokinesis," she spread her arms. "We can see her story, and your friends will think not a moment will have passed."
Curiosity was tugging him to say yes, so when she offered her hand, he took it, and let her lead him into an illusionary world.
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It started with the girl, although a lot younger.
She looked about six, perhaps, with messy, long black hair braided back, and a simple chiton. She was dancing through what appeared to be a desert, laughing and playing. As he watched, Libby at his side, a huge male lion crept up behind the child. He drew in breath, ready to cry out a warning, but the breath never left his lungs. He was unable to speak.
The girl spun, seeing the lion. Instead of running in fear, she gasped, and extended a hand, speaking in a language that somehow, Nico recognized and comprehended as the Egyptian language.
"Don't fear, mighty lion. I am no hunter, just a child," She called in a low voice. "Who are you?"
The lion looked taken aback, not used to being addressed by its prey. The girl kept her gentle tone.
"I am no hunter, no warrior, mighty lion. I am at your mercy, great Cat of Sekhmet. You are mighty, I am weak. You are the hunter now. Will you take my life for those taken from your pride?"
The lion seemed to understand her, and he dropped his head wearily to the desert, lying on his side. She crossed over to him, seeming not to fear him at all. She gasped as she saw the large bloody wound in his side.
"Oh, have the hunters done this to you," she choked out tears filling her eyes. She ran, but not in fear.
They followed her, as she ran through the desert to what must have been her home, on the outskirts of a small village. She dashed into the house, larger than the others in the village. They watched as she grabbed a package from a shelf, and a bucket from by the door, as well as a sealed jar. She made her way to the well and filled the bucket.
Immediately she sped back to the place where the lion lay in the sand. She quickly dropped to her knees beside the mighty animal. She tore strips from her skirt and dipped them in the water, using them to clean the blood from the wound, soaking the russet sand in the red of blood. Finding the spearhead within the deep, vicious cut, she tugged it out. The beast didn't even flinch, nearly dead as it was.
Once his side was cleaner, the cut bared of most blood, she broke the seal on the jar and lathered the green paste within along the wound, covering it with more strips of the wool of her dress for a bandage. She then crept to his head and stroked his mane.
"Mighty lion? It is I," she cooed. She brought the bucket up to his head. "Water? You must be thirsty."
He opened his large, intelligent brown eyes. She trickled water into his huge jaws, and he rose his great head to drink from the bucket.
"I cannot see, if the lion is the animal of a sacred goddess to them, why they hunt you so," she continued, unwrapping the package, which contained fish that she offered to the lion. "It seems so many that have forgotten the old ways. Although, as Father is a Greek merchant, I am not one of their people, either. But I like the old ways. In fact, I think that I'll call you Ramses." She brushed her hands off, wiping the remains of the fish absently onto her dress. "Mind if I stay? Mother's dead, and Father's gone, so I am basically raising myself."
The lion seemed to have no objection, so she curled up at his side and slept. If the big cat could smile, Nico thought, the lion would've, as the great cat curled up around the little girl that had helped it.
The peaceful scene faded away into a darkness, which faded back into light moments later. This time, the girl looked about ten, standing beside the lion on a sandy cliff looking into the city, which appeared to be on fire. She held a spear upright beside her.
"Oh, Ramses," the girl moaned, "The city has been taken by the Romans. Cleopatra is dead. And Father, he is dead too.
As if hearing something behind them, both turned to face the rustling bushes. Two Roman soldiers climbed the slopes, armored and bristling with weapons.
Neither girl nor lion stood any chance.
This scene too faded and swirled, darkness coming briefly to be replaced by another image. This time, the girl was shackled to a wall.
"You can kill who I love, but you do not own me." She said through gritted teeth.
"No," said a person standing in the shadow. "You have nothing. You are nothing but a slave of the legion. You will serve us."
"No!" She shrieked, and the chains burst.
This time, only light reigned before fading. Now, glowing leather armor had materialized on her. She had evidently summoned the spear to her hand, only now it was gilded. A helmet with cat's ears had appeared on her head, and she stalked out of the remains of the shack. Her voice was magnified, and the spirit of a lion stalked beside her, seeming to take on a material form. Her voice seemed thrice as loud as the legion fell silent before her.
"I am Mryori! Your great goddess Libertas is my mother! Thus, I am liberated! You will never hold me captive!"
Again, the scene faded, and again, it came back into focus. Mryori was standing before Anacaona.
"Lady Anacaona, I seek to join your RuleBreakers and fight Lilac," She spoke in low tones.
"Young Mryori, it is dangerous fighting such an enemy," Anacaona said sadly.
"So many of my siblings, children of Libertas, die each year," she retorted. "Those of us who survive would be fully willing to fight with you if it would mean fighting for a purpose, a reason to live. What other purpose is there? We wish for safety, a home, a place to belong,"
Anacaona sighed. "If you wish to join, I will, of course, allow it. I can also grant you an all others like you a gift: to choose how you age. Like us. Here, you can learn magic and reach your full potential."
A new scene swirled into being. This time, Nico saw Scorpio with a spear tipped in Stygian Iron, holding it to the throat of a girl he somehow recognized as Gizah, a child of Nemesis who had joined their order, although there was no way he could possibly have known that. She was dressed in her blood red armor that marked her as a warrior of Lilac. She wore no helmet and was pleading and crying.
"Please! I left Lilac! She has coerced my siblings into such evil! Please!"
"As enemy to this order, she must die for trespassing on our sacred land," Scorpio said, his voice low, his eyes wild. He was surrounded by a few RuleBreakers: Kayletei, Alida, and Jessie. Not one of them was moving to stop him.
Suddenly there was a flash of white light. Mryori darted between Scorpio and Gizah, knocking the spear away.
"Scorpio, listen!" she pleaded.
"Anacaona's favorite pet will not stop my duty," Scorpio responded brusquely.
"Practice the mercy you preach, for once!" she cried. "The quality of mercy is not strained, it droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven, upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives, and him that takes. Scorpio, of all who wish a new start, who are we to judge that? You are not the fates, you do not get to decide when to end a life for your own purposes! Simply because half your power stems from such magic does not make it your choice, Scorpio! Choose your path!"
She advanced upon the dark warrior, manipulating the shadows that encircled Scorpio aside. He laughed, no humor in his voice.
"You think you can stop me?" He raised his hand, gathering dark energy to it, ready to blast Gizah.
A black sphere of energy formed around Gizah, still lying on the ground, making no move to attack. A girl stepped out, one of the Council who had stormed Lilac's castle, but he now knew her name: Cassiopia, and perceived that she was a RuleBreaker of Pluto and Nut.
"Scorpio, you are not the brother I once knew!" She pleaded.
"No, he was viciously murdered by Lilac! Her mistress!" he spat.
Mryori knelt by Gizah's side, dispelling the barrier. Before fading into blackness, Nico saw her stroking the hair of the warrior who was really no older than a child.
Now came a series of images, not truly entire scenes; images of victory against their enemy, of Mryori leading charges of her siblings against Lilac's soldiers, of her bravery in facing Lilac again, of circling her in an ornate chariot drawn by two black cats, with a large black shorthair-a Bombay, he sensed, although he knew nothing about cat breeds-on one shoulder, and a small black kitten on her other. He saw her saving cats, creeping under thorny bushes to save orphaned kittens and rearing them herself and watching as they grew into strong adults who benefitted from the copious amounts of magic, making them immortal. He saw a young Libertita, coming to the order with her brother, being taken on by Mryori like any of the many kittens that had come into her care. He saw the mother-daughter and sister-sister relationship that they developed with alacrity, and how powerful and caring she could be simultaneously.
And then, another scene came into being, the chariot of Mryori and one drawn by tabbies with Libby in it, charging into battle against an entire legion of red-armored warriors, and he saw a sudden burst of red light from behind her, and he saw Mryori fall, red energy pouring through her veins, and he watched as Libby saw her companion (friend, mentor, mother, sister) fall, and he felt the anger and grief and despair flowing from her, and he watched as she channeled them into the easiest kinesis for the strongest emotions, and he watched as, barely controlled, the shadows burst into her bidding alongside the light, staining her white armor with streaks of black, assisted by the small kitten that stood by Mryori who he now understood was Umbrea, and controlled the shadows that burst forth, uncontrolled, from Libby.
And the shadows overcame it, the light that she had summoned being blotted out and there was just
Blackness
Death
Grief
Love
Maternal love
Sisterly love
Memories
And suddenly, the light burst forth again, immediately forming into a scene: a light-filled chamber, a bedroom, with Anacaona standing in a corner, and at first, he felt a sense of relief, because there was Mryori, standing, pacing across the room, and she wasn't dead, and Libby need not grieve so deeply.
But then he saw the wrongness, the red that seemed to pulse through her veins, across her skin, the pain that filled every movement, the way she looked like she hadn't slept in ages. Dark circles surrounded her eyes, and the formerly healthy, lively girl looked gaunt and tired.
"You have options," Anacaona spoke gently, yet the grief and the pain to see her old friend like this was apparent in her eyes.
"I know, I know," Mryori said, trying to control her breathing. "I always thought it would be easy to face death, you know." Anacaona watched, anxious, as Mryori began to speak in a hasty, mumbled way. "I thought, after so many years, so many lifetimes, I would be able to accept it. To be at peace with it. But I can't, I don't care if I go to the Egyptian afterlife or the Underworld, I just don't want to give up. I have lived millennia, Anacaona, and yet there is so much I haven't done. I have yet to be a mother, to watch my children grow up strong and moral. I have yet to love someone in that any way, even though that is what I preach. I will never know the love that would come to me from the father of my children, that I would return without hesitation in a heartbeat. I have yet to raise children that are born from myself, to feel that unconditional love that comes from having created them, to have brought life into this world. The only choice I have is to choose my death and Afterlife, and what choice is that, really?"
"Oh, Mryah," Anacaona embraced her as sobs wracked her formerly strong body, made frail by this curse. "Those weren't the options I meant,"
"Then what do you mean," she spoke bitterly.
Anacaona sighed. "I can give you a chance." Mryori stared at her, hope warring with disbelief across her face. "Just listen, Mryah. You were destined to be a mother and a lover, for more than Libby and your other siblings. Your children were destined to have terrible, important fates. Ones which could shape the very world."
"Impossible," Mryori scoffed. "What can simple Legacies of Libertas do? We have potential, not power."
Anacaona gazed sternly at her. "If a very great child of Libertas can stand against Lilac, stand up for Scorpio, stand for freedom, siblinghood, and love, what can the children of that great one do?"
"I'm not great, Anacaona," she spoke sadly.
"You're wrong, but that's not the point. Either way, I wonder what power that child would have when coupled with the power of a different god.
She choked out a laugh. "You're expecting me to fall for some god. I'm dying, Anacaona. In but a few days, I'll be unable to move wracked with pain, in another few, the poison will claim me. What hope is there?"
"I can offer you a chance," Anacaona said. "I can give you a normal life, a mortal life. I can suppress the parts of you that make you a child of Libertas, make them dormant, and with them, the poison will go dormant too. You can be normal, fall in love. The monsters won't find you, they sense demigods. You would retain your memories. Lilac might be able to track you down eventually, but the trace of her magic will be buried so deep within you that she won't for many years. You will mother children. I will protect you and visit. Penumbra will protect you and your children, a housecat, and Umbrea can act as a messenger."
She lifted her head. "Then I say yes."
A simple swirl of shadow later, he saw her and Anacaona, in a house.
"I am ready." A note of sadness was in her eyes. She was giving up everything and everyone she had ever loved to be a mother.
Anacaona touched her forehead, altering her form, aging it. She retained her dark hair, eyes, face, just aged. She looked about a decade older, twenty-four rather than fourteen.
And Nico recognized her. He knew her not from memories, but from a simple scene he had seen in his stepmother's garden. The shock and anger, in a swift crushing blow to his lungs, drove the breath out of his body as he struggled for air. He felt the weight of the lies his father had fed him, and he had been so anxious for any truth about his past that he had believed him.
"You will need a new name, Mryah," Anacaona stroked her hair. "You are an angel, you know that? Libby will continue as my lieutenant, you trained her well."
They embraced one last time, before Anacaona knelt to one knee and dipped her head-the highest form of respect in their order. "Farewell, Maria di Angelo."
Darkness overtook the scene like the curtain of a stage after a play. Nico could barely control his breathing as he struggled to process this information. Hearing her name had made this all horribly, incredibly, real. He couldn't believe that this was all some fabrication by Libby, nor could he believe that she was truly evil or misleading him.
Light began to filter in along with the shadow. He watched, as if detached from his soul.
The scene was the same room. Mryori-Maria-sat in a chair, having aged a few years. The large black cat-Penumbra-sat on her lap, and the kitten paced across the floor.
"Umbrea, if you could fetch Anacaona?" Maria spoke in Italian.
The small cat shadow travelled away, to return moments later with her.
"Mryori," Anacaona greeted, unwilling to call her by her mortal name. "You called?"
"Yes." Maria shifted. "I want you to see the future."
Anacaona's eyes dropped to her midsection. "Sometimes it is better for the mother not to know the fate of her child."
"I need to know!" Maria was agitated. "He says the fates of his children never end well!"
"And he is quite correct." Anacaona began to pace. "Did you not see Scorpio, for all the years you lived in our order? Did you recognize the pain in Miriam's heart, and how Zariah grieved for the sister she was thought to have killed? Did you not see her pain as she eventually rejected all that made her a daughter of Hades and all that made her suffer?"
"But they have found peace in your order!" Maria fell against the back of the chair. "Please."
A sigh filtered through Anacaona's lungs. "I have never been good at denying any of my order." She leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes.
Minutes later, she jerked away from the wall.
"What? Tell me!" Maria urged.
"Pain. Sacrifice," she muttered, evidently distraught.
"Sacrifice?" Maria exclaimed. "And there is nothing you can do?"
"Nothing which will not interfere," Anacaona bowed her head, then stiffened. "He returns. I must leave. Be strong, Mryori."
It faded into a similar scene, nearly identical save for the small child on the floor.
Anacaona was against the wall again, seeing, eyes closed. She leaned away, opening her eyes, not as agitated.
"And his fate?" Maria demanded anxiously.
Anacaona tilted her head. "Pain. Fear. Rejection. Shadowed. Outcast."
"Hope?" Maria demanded. "You didn't say he'll die!"
"Is to live an outcast better than to die accepted?" Anacaona demanded acidly.
Maria was resolute. "He is my son. In your order, he could find acceptance."
"Outcasts are outcasts. Loners think like loners. None break from that without wishing to."
"But, you will offer? At least? Please!" Maria pleaded.
Anacaona regarded her softly. "I would never turn anyone away from our order. Particularly not a child of the greatest among us. No RuleBreaker, no demigod, could ever compare."
Another scene. Maria was in a park, Anacaona standing before her.
"Maternal love awakens your past, Mryori," she was saying. "It is in the nature of Liberites to care for their children. That is why the poison is spreading."
"How long do I have?" Mryori demanded.
Anacaona sighed. "The question is, how much pain do you want to go through until you explain things to your lover and have him release your soul."
Maria gasped. "Never! I couldn't do that to him! Isn't there any other way?"
"Mryori." She spoke quickly, urgently. "Your children are endangered. Lilac absorbs death magic easiest. Your children must be protected from her."
"He will, when I'm gone." Mryori waved a hand. "But children need their mother.
"Children do not need to see their mother die writhing in the grips of horrible poison!" Anacaona flashed back.
"Then what do I do?" Maria was losing it.
"Tell him. Make a plan from there. Ensure that he will protect his children when the time comes," Anacaona said. "Also, take this." She produced a bottle with a dropper. "Five drops twice daily. For the pain. Scorpio's excellent at brewing tinctures."
Maria took it and smiled sadly. "I guess this is goodbye."
She tilted her head. "I try not to be too liberal with my farewells. Things tend to happen when you're on good terms with Scorpio."
Maria laughed shakily. "If I die, I want my peace wherever I rest."
"Oh, you're a hero." She smiled. "Besides, you're on very good terms with the ruler of the Underworld." Her smile turned a bit mysterious. "Although, if you really want your rest, you should probably make arrangements with your lover. I have a plan."
"I seem to recall your plans usually involve abolishing slavery, or apartheid, or some similar form of repression."
Now it swished to a scene he recognized. Hades knelt over her crumpled body, but he now saw the red spread throughout her veins.
But the scene was not what he'd seen before. There was no oracle, no furies, no exploded hotel. The shadows rippled behind Hades and Scorpio materialized.
"Lord Hades," he said diplomatically.
"Scorpio," Hades spat. "What do you want? Have you come to take away what I have left?"
"Anacaona wishes to immortalize Mryori in the ways of the RuleBreakers," Scorpio stated flatly. "She says that Mryori deserves a hero's funeral and has a theory for allowing her to walk among us in spirit. She says that you must protect the children, for Lilac is out seeking their power already,"
"They have no future," Hades spoke bitterly. "They have no mother."
"Prove that they have a father, at least." Scorpio's tone was pure acid.
"Excuse me!" Hades roared.
"Anacaona decrees that if the boy has the potential to find the order and the ability to accept the order, he shall, of course be accepted."
"How is Anacaona any different from the first girl you loved!" Hades challenged.
Wrong thing to say.
"How was Maria any different from Persephone?" Scorpio retorted.
Nico couldn't see how both Hades and Scorpio were still alive if this was how they talked to each other. He knew his father, and if Scorpio was anything like him, he was surprised that they hadn't killed each other.
"You're no son of mine," Hades hissed.
"As a RuleBreaker, I have no father," Scorpio returned smoothly.
The scene faded, blurring into blackness. The textured darkness swirled, an undulating current, until there was nothing but light.
Blue light.
The sky
The statue
He blinked, stunned by the sunlight assaulting his eyes, as if he had spent far too long with them closed. Although, he supposed he had, metaphorically.
How could his father have lied to him? He didn't doubt that her mental illusion was the truth, it seemed so real, so right. It seemed to fit so well, although when he mentally stepped back to take a look at it, it seemed so odd that it made no sense whatsoever.
Libertita stood beside him. She had been raised, almost, by Mryori. His mother. She probably knew her better than he did.
He swallowed, barely daring to voice his question. "So what happened next?"
Libby sighed. "What always happens to you and all those like you. No offense meant, but your family line-that includes you, your father, your sister, Scorpio, and Miriam and Zariah, who both live here-tends to get angry. Like, really easily. Particularly when insulted. Well, actually if you insult most people here, the result can be dire, but that's inconsequential. Anyway, both got mad. Really mad. They started flinging some pretty hurtful insults and acting all immature, and then Anacaona decides it's a good idea to step in. Like, putting them both in a time-out. Actually, she sent Scorpio back here and managed to talk Hades down. They compromised: she worked some of her soul magic and converted her sheut into a cat, which she sent to the underworld with him, her ka now resides in the Egyptian afterlife, and her ba," at this she tapped the statue. "Her ba resides here, along with her ren and her ib."
Nico stared at her, confused. "Okay, the first part of that statement I got, but the second part didn't make much sense."
Libby exhaled exasperatedly. "I really shouldn't be having to explain these things to a child of the underworld, after all. Particularly not the son of Mryori."
"I don't see why-,"
"Let me make things simple. It's an Egyptian concept. They believed that there were five parts to the soul. Your Ba was the part of your soul that could travel the Duat in sleep. Your Ka is your life force, the part that will reside in the Afterlife. Your Ib is the record of your good and bad deeds, which determines whether or not you get into the Afterlife. Your Ren," at this she cast her eyes down. "It is your name. Your secret name, the sum of your experiences. To know one's secret name can give you extreme power over that person. To heal, or to obliterate from existence entirely."
Nico shivered. That sounded very ominous to him.
"And then, there is the Sheut," Libby continued. "That is your shadow, the shadow you cast on this earth. It is a silhouette of the entire soul. In essence, the shadow you cast is the affect you have on the world."
"Odd," Nico commented.
Libby shrugged. "It is in our order to accept all as possibilities. We do not force any religion, any particular views, only morals, which aren't even forced."
"Guess you've got your perfect little utopia here, don't you?" Nico asked, a slight bit of sarcasm creeping into his voice.
Libertita regarded him solemnly. "No. In any society where a child can be murdered ruthlessly, no regret, leaving siblings behind to mourn is no utopia. We may provide tolerance, but the outer threats, namely Lilac, provide enough of a threat to prevent such a thing."
His blood ran cold. "A child?"
"Yes." Her voice was colder than the north wind. "A younger sibling of mine. She was to me what I was to Mryori: a protégé, an apprentice, a sister, a surrogate daughter. And we were forced to watch, all of us, as Lilac pulsed her terrible power through her-she had the appearance of a nine-year-old, you know? She did it, in front of all of us."
Nico knew. He knew the loss of a sibling didn't fade. It grew easier, perhaps, but never lighter. It was a forced burden that never lightened, but could only be adapted to.
She stared at him, her piercing emerald gaze almost comforting. "Anacaona's offer still stands. You will always be welcome within this place. Your companions-none of them understand. You are destined to be here, it is your birthright. They have attachments to people, places. You have none of those. Your family lived long ago, and your sister is far easier to adapt. You have more of your mother than you realize. Her bravery, courage, determination. When Anacaona saw you, at Lilac's place, even a passing glance, she saw the ghost of your mother across your face. It will be your choice in the end," she continued. "but know you will always have a place in this order."
He nodded to her, thoughts still in turmoil, but slightly clearer.
"Any more questions?" She asked.
"Yes," he said. "How do I find your order if it is the path I choose?"
Libby smiled. "There are a great many ways such could happen, but the easiest is this." She took a small tabby cat statue from her pocket and handed it to him. "Within this is trapped a great amount of transportation magic. Smash it, and it will bring you to the edge of the forest that rings our fields in reality. I will then send someone to retrieve you."
Ha nodded to her and placed the statuette in his pocket. Libby blinked.
"Well, why not?" Leo asked. Nico jumped, surprised. Libby turned towards the doors on the other end of the courtyard.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of Rick Riordan's characters or storyline.
So, I finished writing this story and wanted to celebrate by posting this really long chapter. I am planning a couple sequels to this after finishing posting it, and a lot of OC one shots. Expect daily updates, and PLEASE review.