Mal felt herself yawn as she looked at the ceiling. She was still recovering from her "mission" of finding out the mystery of 'Amora', the mystery student, and she was, rightfully, exhausted. All she wanted to do was sleep and never look at another piece of paper in her life.
That is when she heard a timid knock on the door. That knock was followed by Evie's head poking into the room where Mal was currently working. "Hey. Are you busy?"
Mal blinked away her sleepiness and pushed a file away. "Just some paperwork, come on in." She waved her hand dismissively as she tried to wake up a bit more.
Evie smiled and made her way into the dimly lit room. Once she got a closer look at her best friend, she looked at her with humor and worry. "Wow, you look tired…" She said with a chuckle.
Mal chuckled as she pushed a stray strand out of her face. "Understatement of the century, E." She stretched a bit and yawned once more. "I was up late looking into the school records."
"Find anything useful?" She asked. She already knew what Mal was up to, so this was a very familiar topic to her. It also reminded her of what she came to Mal for.
Mal shook her head as she leaned back in her chair. "Nope. It would seem our mystery student remains a mystery. There's no record of an Amora ever being in the school or being a visitor at some point."
Evie raised an eyebrow at that. "She wasn't even listed as a visitor? I thought you said that she was with Ara?"
Mal frowned and grabbed a folder from the mess of papers in front of her. She opened it up and pulled out a piece of paper before turning it so Evie could see it. "These are the digital and physical guest book results. This list hold all the names of visitors within the last five years. Fairy Godmother is, apparently, keeping the records for these." She pulled out a second paper and pointed at it. "These are all the visitors with an A, she sorts them by first name, and this "Amora" is nowhere to be seen."
Evie takes the papers into her own hands. Once she is satisfied, she hands them back to Mal and runs her hand over her arm. "I think you are looking for answers in the wrong place, 'M'." She looks to the ground in thought.
"If only I could have learned that before I went through all...that." She gestured to the pile and shook her head.
Evie chuckled. "You mean well, but you are not the best when it comes to problems that require...deep thought." She smiles at her tired companion.
Mal yawned and smirked. "Duly noted." She said in an amused tone.
Evie's smile eventually fell as the silence continued. "I don't know Amora, but I know Ara. She is hiding something."
"Of course she is." Mal responded, propping her head up so she wouldn't nod off.
Evie looked to the ceiling in thought while she spoke. "If they were on a vacation, why didn't they answer their phones? Why were they not marked for a vacation on the attendance? Lastly, why did they leave without telling anyone?" Evie began to pace. "Ara is not the humblest person. If she was going somewhere as wonderful as the Wall, She would have told half the school. Why disappear without a trace?"
Mal was silent before she sat up. "I'm not sure yet, E. I mean-I know the cell service is spotty near the Summerlands and phones don't work well near that area, but I can't explain why they didn't answer when they weren't in the Summerlands." The purplette rubbed her arms and shook her head. "I don't have that information yet, but I intend to find out when I can."
Evie nods. She folds her arms and says, "Okay, then. We just have to figure out how you will find out." Evie thinks for a moment. "That reminds me. Has Hazel seemed a bit...off to you? Maybe it's just me. I wanted a second opinion." She asks, looking back at Mal.
Mal nodded and leaned on the desk. "She has, but I was giving her some time to...what's the word?" She paused before blinking. "Wind down. When I saw her it looked like she had dinner with a bear and she was the meal. She was rough looking...I think she went through one of the unmarked areas of the Summerlands."
This caught Evie's full attention. "Ugh, by rough...what do you mean?" She asked blinking in confusion.
"Her clothes were singed, torn, she was covered in dirt and her hair was a tangled mess." Mal replied, closing her eyes in thought.
Evie grimaced before repeatedly blinking. "Did you just say...Hazel was singed? The same person we saw turn into a flaming dragon...was singed?" This caused Evie to raise an eyebrow. "I thought she was immune to flames."
Mal opened her eyes and tilted her head. "The clothes aren't fireproof. I wasn't going to ask about it, I didn't even question the hair, but I figured that she had gone through a lot and she needed some time." The purplette said, shaking her head with a frown.
"I think you did okay. Not asking her right off the bat would be pretty rude." Evie took a minute to think about things before saying, "I just find it off that Hazel had gotten singed. She had never gotten singed before. Then she was covered in dirt and her clothes were torn. That is odd because her earth magic should be able to remove dirt and fix clothing back to its previous state. I should know. Whenever I ruin an outfit for my business, Hazel is the first person I call."
Mal gave her a tired nod, fighting another yawn as she looked at her friend. "I find it all very strange too, and maybe I'll ask her later. For now, I'm just letting her get back into a routine here." She yawned, having lost the inner battle to not, and stretched in her seat. "Besides, I'm in no mood to ask that stuff right now." She was with a small chuckle.
Evie smirked. "You do look like you could use a thousand-year nap."
Mal got to her feet and smirked. "I feel like I could sleep for that long. Though, dreaming of paperwork for that long wouldn't be worth it." She chuckled and folded her arms.
Evie giggled, then remembered (once again) what she came there for. "Ben wanted to talk to you. I just now remembered." She gave her an empathetic smile.
"Did he say as soon as possible or when I got a moment?" Mal asked, hoping that he had said the second one so she could get a nap in.
Evie waved her hand through the air as she spoke. "You know Ben. Super sweet guy. He said whenever you get a moment, but he prefers ASAP." She rests her hands on her hips when she finishes.
Mal nodded and began heading for the door. "Might as well get it over with now. Then I can sleep for the rest of the day." She said with a soft sigh before placing her hand on the doorknob.
Evie made her way to the door and opened it for her exhausted friend. "You mean for a thousand years?" She smiled.
Mal chuckled and smirked. "Right, thousand-year nap. Sounds more satisfying each time I hear it."
Evie laughed and said, "Get out of here! We are already late!" She playfully pushed Mal out of the door.
Mal rolled her eyes and grinned as she walked down the hallway. "No need to push."
….
It was late morning and Heidi found herself nodding off on the couch. Beside her was a semi-transparent Hestia who appeared to be rather calm. The elder goddess was keeping a close eye on the blonde and kept her focus on the arm that had been wrapped up.
It must have gotten to her head. Hestia thought with narrowed eyes as her interest peaked. When she was up in Olympus she had managed to acquire a vial of sleeping dust that could put even her brothers to sleep. The goddess closed her eyes and forced herself to become visible and summoned the vial to her hands before popping the cork off and sprinkling the dust over the younger goddess.
Heidi yawned and quickly fell into a deep sleep as she relaxed against Hestia's body. The elder goddess took this as her chance and quickly pulled the towel off so she could investigate.
"Aha!" Ara says as she hopped from behind the couch. "So you do know about the...helmet grey rash thingy! Before I ask any other questions I have to know...where have you been!?" Ara asks with irritation. Her voice raising when she got to the end of her sentence.
"I had to return to Olympus for an emergency meeting. I was informed by Hermes that things were growing out of control and my presence was needed." Hestia answered calmly before looking away from Heidi's arm. "As for the Helmet...It belonged to my brother and I have seen the effect it first had on him. I know of its whereabouts and the details concerning it."
Ara folded her arms together while looking at the goddess. "Heidi was acting stranger than usual yesterday. I had to stay up all night comforting her. Everyone knows how I get when I don't get all of my sleep." She says. "I need to know the truth about that helmet. Heidi told me what happened, and what she thought. I take it that you are a reliable source since she said you or other dimension you were there." She runs her fingers through her hair in stress. "I need to know about that helmet."
Hestia hummed as she listened. "The truth about my brother's Helmet?" She pondered the question before tilting her head. "Long ago my brothers were all gifted a weapon, Zeus was given a bolt of lightning that could control all the others in the heavens, Poseidon received a trident that gifted him control over the entire sea, and Hades was given a crown that could strike fear into the heart of any being. Each weapon was so powerful they had a bit of sentience within them. Their great desire to be used by their wielders can cause chaos when they are gathering dust. Hades' Helmet was one such weapon that was abandoned when he was taken away. It grew restless without his presence and called out for anyone to wield it once more. I think that the Helmet in her universe managed to finally be heard." The goddess finished with a small frown.
Ara blinked. "That's...not good." She said as she continued to blink. "So what I am hearing is...that helmet is going for Heidi because she is Hades' daughter?"
"The Helmet cried out for Hades and when Heidi returned to the Underworld it registered her as her father due to her sharing his blood and being a goddess. You could say it mistook her for Hades." Hestia answered, her eyes drifting down to look at Heidi's arm.
Ara nods and says, "So this is a terrible misunderstanding?"
"It would seem so, however, Heidi seeked it out in desperation. She heard its cries and it heard hers. She wanted revenge and it wanted the same. They both had been abandoned to an eternity of loneliness. They both share the blame." Hestia's eyes narrowed and she waved her hand over Heidi's arm. "She had been fighting it." The goddess whispered out those last words.
Ara's ears can pick up Hestia's voice carried by the air around them. What Hestia had uttered had snatched Ara out of her current thoughts. "Fighting? Fighting. Fighting what?"
"The spirit residing within the Helmet. It was freed by her when she found it." Hestia answered, her fiery gaze turning to the girls. "I suspect it has been following her ever since."
"What does that mean for her?" Ara's eyes direct themselves to look at the sleeping goddess.
"There is a dark, ancient spirit that only she can see that is trying to gain her attention. It still believes that it is following Hades. It will continue to haunt her and break her down until it finally has her full attention. I don't know what it will do then." Hestia said, her frown deepening while her eyes narrowed.
Ara covers her face with her hands and releases a tired groan. "I don't think I can do this much longer…" She says suddenly looking motion sick.
Hestia held her hand out and released a calming aura. "Nothing will happen so long as she is returned to her home. I will make sure of it and Hermes has agreed to escort her down if she cannot." She smiled and tilted her head. "Do not worry, I know what the Helmet feels like and it is not here. Not now."
Thankfully her motion sickness vanished with the aura surrounded her, but she still had her troublesome thoughts. She sank down to the floor, sitting down as she sighed. "I am not only worried about the helmet. I have many other things picking at my mind one by one. The closer we get to the wall, the closer I am to ripping my hair out." She gloomily looks at the floor.
Hestia nodded, clearly paying attention despite the fact that her gaze was glued to Heidi's arm. "That is only natural. Many things have either changed or gone wrong." She stated, summoning a warm orange light to her hand as she hovered it over the gray spots.
Ara took that response as a "green light" so she decided to go into detail. "We snuck out the dorms without telling anyone. They have tried to call, but we didn't answer our phones because it would give us away. Then Hazel told them we were on "vacation". When I go back, there is no doubt that I will be interrogated. No one will listen to me. I am not a reliable source back at home." She signed before continuing. "I nearly killed my sister over an argument that I should have expected. She won't talk to me anymore. Not mentally or physically. I have tried to call her and got nothing. Now I hear that there is an evil spirit trying to take over someone so it can be "used". I still have to get over the wall and make it back alive just to get interrogated and face a sister that hates me!" She finished while trying not to have a meltdown. She takes time to catch her breath.
Hestia stayed silent through most of what she heard and closed her eyes. "It is not the first time I have heard of an argument between siblings. My siblings all argue on a daily basis, Artemis and Apollo often butt heads, and Ares makes all of his half-siblings rage. What I have come to learn is that siblings argue, it is a force that must always occur, yet they always make up in the end. The twins forgive each other soon after each fight, everyone puts up with Ares in the end, and most of my siblings do not hold too much anger for one another. My brothers are the exceptions." Hestia said, smiling softly before opening her eyes and looking up at Ara. "As for the interrogations, I'm sure I could ask Hermes to help out. He enjoys helping people escape stuff."
Ara looked at her before shaking her head. "You guys don't have to do that, really. I would hate to intrude on whatever you gods have planned that does not involve me."
"No need to worry, Hermes would enjoy pulling one over on someone. He has always been a trickster. He gets his duties done in thirty minutes and he usually has nothing to do for the rest of the day, besides fooling around with the other gods." Hestia chuckled at the thought.
Ara kept a straight face. She takes a deep breath before replying. "Okay. If that's what you think is best." She says while looking toward Heidi once more.
"You won't even know it's him." Hestia said to herself in a mysterious way before holding her glowing hand to Heidi's arm once more. This seemed to cause the spots to darken before a powerful presence was felt in the room. Hestia narrowed her eyes and summoned more light to her hand, forcing the being to disappear as fast as it entered.
Ara blinked constantly, her eyes adjusting to the change of light. She had never been a fan of a ton of light. Because of this, she went over to where Triple G had just fallen asleep at the wheel.
She looked at him in annoyance before honking the horn. He jumped up immediately as if he had been through a haunted house.
Ara tells him, "Switch out. It's George's turn. Today is the last day before we hit the wall. We need to get this over with."
He gratefully pulls over and heads to his bed after waking George.
Ara decided that she really needs a moment to clear her head. "Hestia?" She turns back to the Goddess.
"Yes?" Hestia looked up from what she was doing.
"Thank you. I will keep everything you said in mind. I am going to get some fresh air." She responds tiredly.
Hestia smiled gently and nodded. "You are welcome. I will remain here with her until I have finished what I am doing."
Ara nods then teleported to her favorite spot. The roof of the vehicle. Fresh air. Warm temperatures. Wonderful views. Why can't life be simple again? Just like this.
…
Furious. Absolutely furious. That is what the queen of Arendelle feels. Nothing short of the word, furious.
It has been nearly a week and barely any progress has been made concerning her two children. That alone is enough to make her drive another kingdom into an eternal winter. What's worse is that one of her children had returned, but not in the best shape.
Call it "mother senses" if you will, but Elsa couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on. That is the reason why she is in Ben's office. That is why she is giving the young king a piece of her mind.
"Do you still not know the whereabouts of Ara?" She asks with agitation dripping from her voice. "It's been nearly a week."
Ben grimaced and he looked up at her. "According to Hermes she is near the wall...but we haven't been able to confirm that since there is an emergency going on in Olympus."
The temperature of the area nearly dropped ten degrees when he spoke those words. Elsa's eyes where full of concern, but a hint of indignance.
"The wall?" She asked as her eyes squinted. "Why is she near the wall?"
Ben rubbed his arm and looked at his desk in thought. "Mal mentioned that Hazel said that they were on vacation. I know that the wall is home to several tourist hotspots."
Elsa seemed to ponder this for a moment. She clicked her mouth before she spoke. "Vacation. They went through a lot of trouble to take a vacation. Did they let anyone know they were leaving? Hazel has plants. Surely she would appoint someone to water them in her absence." She said, and folded her arms after.
Ben shook his head. "From the information Mal and I gathered, no one knew about this vacation as it was rather abrupt. We also know that no one was instructed to take care of her plants." He answered with a frown.
Elsa leaned on her fist before saying, "You do realize that this is very out of the ordinary for both of them." She explains. "Hazel has returned, but...where is Ara? They are never appear from each other."
He nodded and reached for a file. "I understand." He opened the folder and pulled out what appeared to be a map. "As for where Ara is, this is the last known location Hermes gave to us before all communication with Olympus stopped." He quickly pointed out a highlighted area of the Summerlands that was relatively close to the wall. "That was around two days ago I believe."
Elsa took the map into her hands before looking at it. Then, she looked at it deeply in thought. After a few seconds, her eyes widen.
Before anyone could continue, the doors to the room opened and a very exhausted Mal stepped in. She looked at Ben before finally noticing the other person in the room. Seeing Elsa caused her to stop in her actions and raise an eyebrow, silently asking Ben why the queen was in the room.
Elsa looked over her shoulder to see the surprised girl. "Nice to see you too. Mal, is it?" She gives her a calming smile.
Mal snapped out of her sleepy daze and nodded. "It is. Sorry, I haven't had a lot of sleep lately." She promptly yawned and shook her head. "If it isn't that obvious already."
Elsa looked up at her once more. Mostly in amusement. "It is." Then she looks back down at the map.
Mal chose to lean against the wall, mainly because she felt like she could sleep standing up at this point, and looked at the two. "So...what's going on in here?" She looked at Ben in confusion. "Evie told me that you wanted to talk with me."
The queen took a moment to look up from the map, still in thought. "Mal. Now that you are here, do you mind if I ask a few questions?" She asks, unknowingly ignoring the girl's question.
Mal blinked but noticed Ben silently asking her to do it, so she slowly nodded. "Sure...I'm not sure how helpful I can be, Ben and I have most of the same information."
"I want to ask you a few questions about Hazel." She said when she turned to Mal. "I need to know the condition she came back in."
Mal raised an eyebrow before looking thoughtful. "Well, I personally think she had an encounter with a bear. Her clothes were all torn up, it looked like she had been on the ground in the dirt, and the cuffs of her sleeves were singed. Not to mention her hair was tangled up pretty badly." She frowned at the thought before shaking her head. "I don't know much more than that."
Elsa nodded as she took in the information. "Her clothes were covered in dirt, or was it sut? If her shirt was singed, it would be odd if it wasn't sut."
Mal scratched the back of her neck. "It could have been, but I hadn't really thought of that possibility." She admitted with a yawn.
Elsa shrugged. "That would be something very hard to distinguish. Hmm, I guess it depends on if she was wet or dry. Sit is significantly darker than common dirt. Maybe she had gotten wet. That would explain her hair." She thought. "That wouldn't explain the singed, though. Hazel is unable to be burned due to her magical abilities. That's like me getting a brain freeze." She explains with light humor.
Mal chuckled and folded her arms. "I'm just as confused about the singed clothing as you are. I can't think of anything in the Summerlands that could do that." She rubbed her chin. "Everything that can do that kind of stuff is beyond the wall."
Elsa's brows furrowed before she spoke. "Fire is not the only element that can cause burns. For example, chill can cause a burn. You can rub two sticks together and they will burn; static electricity." Elsa paused for a minute. "You don't think she was shocked, do you? How is the weather in the summer lands?"
"According to Hermes it was pretty clear aside from a storm here and there." Mal answered, thinking back to what Hermes told her. "Nothing too strange."
"So, not too bad." Elsa replies. "Unless something happened between her and her sister. Those two are prone to fight. They have been like that ever since they were born. I should know." She says looking back at the Mal.
Mal nodded and tilted her head. "I haven't heard of anything along the lines of 'Results of a fight' from him, so either he's not telling us or nothing happened." She shook her head and rubbed her arm. "I don't know the answer to that one."
"That makes two of us." Elsa responds. She glances to Ben for a moment. "Mal. Do you mind if I talk to you alone? I hope you don't mind, Ben." She says while giving him a smile.
Mal and Ben shared a look before Ben stood up. "It's alright, I don't mind." He smiled back and began heading for the doors before exiting the room.
When Ben left, the snow queen exhaled. "Ben means well, but I don't trust him when it comes to keeping large secrets. He is too sweet. He will cave under pressure." She said, looking from the map and back to Mal.
Mal nodded, clearly understanding what the queen was saying. "Must be a very large secret then." She made sure she was awake and turned her full attention to the other person in the room.
Elsa nodded at her. Her eyes flickering from the map and back to Mal within seconds. "They are heading to Olympus. They have to be." She says as she concentrates on the paper in her hands. "The route they are taking...they have to be headed for the mountain."
Mal blinked in surprise. "That's...actually what I was thinking." She said, disbelief written all over her face at the fact that someone else saw it.
Elsa threw her a smirk as she continued. "They have to be. There is no other logical thing to visit with the route they are taking. The only thing is...why." She places the map down on Ben's desk before sighing. "I didn't want them to go anywhere near that mountain." The queen grumbles in annoyance.
Mal looked away, wondering if she should tell the queen what she was thinking. "I...have a theory as to why they are going there. It's just a theory though."
Elsa's eyes lit up at that. "Okay...continue." She said using her hands to motion her to carry on.
Mal nodded and looked back up. "The night before they left there was a girl in their dorm. She had blue hair and was bleaching it of all things, she said it was an accident from a chemical explosion. I think her full name was Amora Heidiana Seraphina, and I know for certain I've never seen her before. The next day came around and she was gone as well. I asked Evie about the supposed chemical explosion and she told me that it would have dyed the skin, not the hair. This led to one thing and I found out that she was never a student in the first place and she wasn't in the guestbook either. It's...almost like she doesn't exist."
The queen's eyes squinted as she processed this new information. It took a moment before she spoke. "So...the same night they disappeared, was the same night this mystery girl showed up? Would this be on the same day that Hades was reported to be 'running about'? " She said using air quotes.
"Yes." Mal answered, clearly in thought about something.
"Blue hair…" Elsa said to herself. "Have I ever told you who is Ara and Hazel's father?" The platinum blonde looks over to her questionably.
Mal was brought out of her thoughts at that and shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Well, don't tell anyone yet. I am still pondering the right time due to my own uncertainties." Elsa says in thought. "You might know of him. His name is Jupiter. He is a god… I think. I could never catch what he was talking about half the time. He really loved to talk." Elsa thinks aloud.
Mal's eyes widened a bit. If she only knew… She thought, thinking of the real reason as to why she took that class about the gods. She shook off her surprise and tilted her head. "I think I remember reading about a Jupiter in my class." The purplette said with a thoughtful look.
Elsa nodded and said, "The reason I said that is because there are some gods with oddly colored hair. That's where Ara gets her dark blue hair from." Elsa shrugged. "This Amora...is she from Olympus?"
Mal paused at that before frowning. "I want to say yes, but I don't know who's child she'd be. I was told that she went 'beastmode', and I can only assume that she's incredibly powerful." She looked away in thought. "In class we learned that the most powerful children are those that are those that have the blood of one of the three in them. Poseidon, Zeus and Hades." She explained, waving her hand through the air.
Elsa raised an eyebrow in concern and a lightbulb went off in her head. "Doesn't Hades have blue hair?" She stated plainly.
"He does." Mal knew where she was going with this and was trying not to blurt out that it wasn't possible.
"Wasn't 'Hades' in the area when they all left the next day?" The queen questioned aloud once again.
The girl nodded, biting her lip in an attempt to stay silent.
The queen looked at her questionably. "When they left, did you see Hades again?"
"Nope." Mal said with a shake of her head.
Elsa put on a straight face. "Where is Hazel?"
"Last time I knew she was still in her dorm." Mal said, looking away as she was silently grateful that she had managed to stay quiet about the issue.
"I want you to talk with her. Again. I need you to find out what is going on." The queen folds her arms in front of her. "I would do it myself, but being the mother, she would only tell me what I want to hear. Then she would shut me out. Unfortunately, she was the twin that has my genes." She says with a roll of her eyes. "You two are close, no?"
Mal internally sighed. She wasn't sure how much more she could do on the little amount of energy she still had. Pushing her thoughts away, she looked at the queen and gave her a nod. "I...suppose we are." She rubbed her arm and forced a smile onto her face. "I'll talk with her."
Elsa nodded at this and stood. She brushed off the imaginary dust that was forming on her icy dress. "Good. Come back to me afterwards." She said and headed for the door. She looked over her shoulder before saying, "You might want to take a nap though." She walked out of the room chuckling.
Mal let out a sigh of relief as she saw Ben enter the room. "I take it went well?" He asked, noticing the look on her face.
"You could say that." She chuckled before turning around. "I'm gonna go take that nap now."
Ben smiled, opening the door for her and waving her off before blinking in realization at something. He had completely forgotten that he still needed to talk to her. The young king shook his head, deciding that he could always talk with her later when she had a bit more energy.
…..