Hazel wasn't sure what to think.

A weird white man in a pinstriped suit had showed up on her 13th birthday claiming to be her father.

And if that's not weird enough for you, he had even brought an adorable little boy, who was apparently her brother.

What was going on?

*****Line Break*****

Hazel had gone from elated to alarmed in a matter of moments.

All the joy she had felt after Sammy kissed her on the cheek evaporated as she watched her mother talk to the strange voice. Both voices came from the same person, but it seemed like they were having a conversation.

She felt her insides freeze as she heard her mother agree to move to Alaska. She refused to believe what she was hearing. They couldn't just pack up and leave! Sammy had finally made a move, and now she would never even see him again? Not even the fates could design a fate so cruel.

Whatever emotions had been bottling up inside her poured out as she heard what happened next.

Both voices spoke in unison, as if they'd found something to agree on: "A poisoned child."

Was that all she was? A curse, a burden? She tried to calm down, but her heart refused to stop pumping like a maniac. If she was such a burden, she had no reason to stick around, did she? She was NOT going to Alaska, that was for sure. She would steal a horse and run away with Sammy! Or something like that anyway.

She raced down the stairs, not even bothering to look where she was going, or whether she was in danger of bumping into someone. After all, she knew this place like the back of her hand, and barely anyone ever came to visit Queen Marie anymore, client or otherwise.

Oddly enough, she did happen to bump into someone, a tall ,dark man wearing a pinstriped suit. Behind him, was a young boy, who couldn't possibly be any older than 9 or 10. They didn't really seem like her mother's usual customers.

"Easy, child," the man noticed the silver skull ring on his finger, then the strange fabric of his suit. In the shadows, the solid black wool seemed to shift and boil, forming images of faces in agony, as if lost souls were trying to escape from the folds of his clothes. His tie was black with platinum stripes. His shirt was tombstone gray. His face—Hazel's heart nearly leaped out of her throat. His skin was sowhite it looked almost blue, like cold milk. He had a flap of greasy black hair. His smile was kind enough, but his eyes were fiery and angry, full of mad power. Hazel had seen that look in the newsreels at the movie theater. This man looked like that awful Adolf Hitler. He had no mustache, but otherwise he could've been Hitler's twin—or his father.

The boy, who she was guessing was his son, was far less intimidating. He had pale white skin with an olive tint, which probably meant that he had an olive skin tone at some point of time. Unlike his father's greasy mop of hair, the boy's hair was raven black and resembled a bird's nest. In fact, she had to admit that he was quite cute, and if she wasn't so terrified at what she had just heard, she probably would have cooed at the sight of the boy gazing up at her. His eyes though... they were almost identical to the man's. They had that strange fire in them, that either meant that he was a child prodigy or that he needed therapy, stat.

Hazel tried to pull away. Even when the man let go, she couldn't seem to move. His eyes froze her in place."Hazel Levesque," he said in a melancholy voice. "You've grown." He tried to smile, but to Hazel it seemed more like a grimace.

She felt herself trembling. Before she could get herself together, the ground cracked slightly, revealing a glittering emerald.

Before she could stop him, the odd man scooped it up swiftly.

"Don't!" Hazel cried. "It's cursed!"

He nodded morosely, "It is. But not to me."

She winced. She was painfully reminded of the fact that she would probably never see the last person who had said that to her ever again.

The man shuffled uncomfortably. "I'm sorry for your fate, child, uh, I mean, Hazel. I imagine you hate me."

Hazel didn't understand. The man sounded sad, as if he were personally responsible for her life. Then the truth hit her: a spirit in silver and black, who'd fulfilled her mother's wishes and ruined her eyes widened. "You? You're my..."

The man nodded, "Your father, yes. I'm Pluto." He shot a warning look at the kid behind him who had opened his mouth to say something.

Hazel gaped at him, "You're the reason I'm like this? The reason I'm not, you know, normal?"

Pluto grimaced, "Life is never easy for my children, but you have a special burden Hazel. Now that you're thirteen, we must make certain provisions-"

Hazel found her voice, "You did this to me? You cursed me and my mother? Left us alone?" she demanded, the shock finally being replaced with overwhelming anger.

Her eyes stung with tears. This rich white man in a fine suit was her father? Now that she was thirteen, he showed up for the first time with another kid and said he was sorry?

"You're evil!" she shouted. "You ruined our lives!"

The boy narrowed his eyes at her, "Papa is not evil!" he insisted, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly.

Hazel barely noticed how Nico called Pluto 'Papa' as she glared right back, too blinded by anger to realize that she was arguing with a ten year old.

"He left me and my mother alone for thirteen years, cursed me, and ruined our lives! If that doesn't scream evil, then I don't know what does!"

Nico scowled, "I'm sure he had a good reason. Papa wouldn't do something like that. Unless you deserved it."

The man turned to him, "Nico," he warned, "That's enough. Don't argue with your sister."

Nico started glaring at him as well, "My sister? I only have one sister, remember? Bianca! Or at least, I had one sister. Whoever she is," he said, gesturing to Hazel, "she's definitely NOT Bianca. Also, your name is Hades, not Pluto! What's going on? I thought we were going to a birthday party!"

Pluto groaned and ran a hand through his hair, muttering something under his breath, "Five minutes in, and this is already a disaster."

He sighed, but continued talking to Hazel, completely ignoring their little squabble. And the fact that Nico thought that his name was Hades.

"What has your mother told you, Hazel? Has she never explained her wish? Or told you why you were born under a curse?"

Hazel was too angry to speak, but Pluto seemed to read the answers in her face.

"No..." He sighed. "I suppose she wouldn't. Much easier to blame me."

"What do you mean?"

Pluto sighed. "Poor child. You were born too soon. I cannot see your future clearly, but someday you will find your place. A descendant of Neptune will wash away your curse and give you peace. I fear, though, that is not for many years..."

At that point of time, the only thought running through Hazel's mind was, 'What?'

Apparently, her brother (that still felt weird to say), was also thinking along the same lines.

"Papa, what are you talking about? Who's Neptune? What curse?" he asked. Realizing that no one was going to answer his questions, he began to grumble, "I should just have stayed at home and done my homework. Even English makes wore sense that this."

Pluto rolled his eyes at the boy. Hazel didn't miss the fond look in his eyes as he interacted with Nico. It was as though he felt a lot more comfortable and at ease around him than he did with her. That was understandable, seeing as they had just met, Hazel had just yelled at him and accused him of ruining her life. Whereas Nico must have known him for a lot longer, seeing as he had called the fierce, dark and brooding man, 'Papa' and lived. She was even willing to guess that Nico lived with Pluto, considering how close they seemed to be. They were, at least, closer than she and her mother had ever been.

Hazel wasn't really the jealous type, but she couldn't help but wish that she was on better terms with her father. She discarded that thought almost immediately, this was the man who had made her life a living nightmare. She should be glad that she didn't have a father-daughter bond with him, or something silly like that! Right?

Pluto held out his hand. A sketchpad and a box of colored pencils appeared in his palm.

"I understand you enjoy art and horseback riding," he said. "These are for your art. As for the horse..." His eyes gleamed. "That, you'll have to manage yourself. Now I must speak with your mother. Happy birthday, Hazel."

Hazel looked at the gift that had been placed in her hand. Part of her wanted to go and kick him for having the nerve to show up after 13 years, give her a present as though that would make up for his absence and then leave again. Another part of her wanted answers. And she wanted answers now.

"Wait!" she yelled, "You can't just go! How did you know that I like art? Why did you show up all of a sudden?"

Pluto gave her a small, sad smile.

" You're my daughter. I've been, uh... watching you, so to speak. And isn't your 13th birthday supposed to be a big deal? It isn't everyday that I get to see one of my favorite children become a teen, now is it?"

Hazel wasn't sure whether to be touched that he cared enough to watch her, or to be concerned that she was being stalked by her own father. She decided to settle on touched. Pluto turned to head up the stairs.

"You still haven't answered all of my questions! What about Nico? You've met him before this, haven't you? Why did you ignore me for so long when you could obviously talk to him?"

She felt tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She wasn't exactly jealous, per se. She just wanted to know why her father didn't want anything to do with her. All those years she had spent being bullied and yelled at by her own mother, her father had seen it all. And yet, he didn't care about her enough to do something about it. He had just left her to deal with her problems alone.

Pluto grimaced, "Hazel, my dear, some questions are best left unanswered."

With that, he started heading up the staircase. About halfway up, he seemed to remember something.

"You, young man," he began, pointing at Nico who had been following him up the stairs, "will stay here with your sister, understand?"

"But Papa!" Nico whined.

"No buts. You are going to wait here and that is final. Now, you two play nice, alright?"

As he marched up the stairs, Hazel heard him mutter, "Saying no to those puppy dog eyes doesn't get any easier after 7 years."

After Pluto had walked out of sight, Nico turned to her.

"We are going to follow him, right?"

-This line break was brought to you by Gaia, aka Princess Potty Sludge-

Hazel raised an eyebrow at the innocent-looking boy in front of her, "But Pluto said that we should stay here."

Nico rolled his eyes, "First of all, Papa's name is Hades. Second, there's no way that I'm going to stay here while he talks to your mom! I want to meet her too!"

Hazel winced, "Probably not the best idea, little buddy."

Nico looked confused, "Why not? She's just your mom! Not some ancient monster from the centre of the earth. Besides, even if you are a bit of a meanie, you're still not that bad. So how bad could your mom be?"

Hazel frowned, "I'm not a meanie! Am I?"

"You said that Papa is evil. That's not very nice."

"I was confused, okay! I still am! Besides, he cursed me. So he deserved it!" she argued, realizing after a moment that she sounded like a ten year old.

Nico frowned again, "Well, I guess you have a point." he admitted reluctantly. "But it still wasn't very nice! Papa said that you're not supposed to say that people are evil or snobby to their faces!"

Before the argument could escalate further, they heard arguing from upstairs.

Both of them froze.

"We will get back to this argument that you are losing later," Nico announced, "Now, are you coming or not?"

Hazel nodded. She wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity to eavesdrop on Pluto, who she was still suspicious of. She needed to know what was going on.

Nico stepped onto the stairs, which creaked under his weight. He frowned at them.

"Really?" he grumbled, "Squeaky stairs?"

He extended a hand to her, "Grab on. We're going to have to do this the hard way, if we don't want to get caught."

Hazel hesitantly held on to his tiny palm, which was as cold as ice, "Why do I need to- gah!"

Hazel figured out why soon enough. All of a sudden the world around them started to dissolve, and for a minute, she could see nothing more than shadows, and the only thing she could hear was strange whispering. She was freezing, and her face felt as though she had been riding a horse at the speed of light in Antarctica.

As suddenly as the sensation had arrived, it stopped. The shadows receded, and the two of them stumbled as they tried to regain their footing. Hazel blinked blearily as her eyes tried to adjust to the light. It was then that she noticed that she and Nico weren't where they started. They were outside the door of their apartment.

She turned to Nico, "What was that? How did we get here? Do you have a curse too?" she asked rapidly. She had never met anyone else with supernatural abilities, and whatever that was, it was definitely supernatural.

Nico didn't reply. He was doubling over, trying to catch his breath. Her curiosity turned to concern. She bent down so that she was level with the 10 year old.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

Nico nodded, still looking a bit out of breath. "I'm fine. Just a bit winded."

"What was that?"

Nico stood up straight, "That, my dear sister, was shadow- travelling. Papa taught me how to do it a while ago, and I've been practicing ever since! He said that I'm doing really well!" he bragged.

Hazel was confused. Nico actually seemed to like his curse! Why was he so eager to use it? Wasn't he afraid of hurting someone?

"Why are you so proud of a curse?" she asked curiously.

Now it was Nico's turn to be confused, "Curse? What do you mean?"

"Your shadow-travel."

Nico laughed, "Don't be silly! That's a power, not a curse!"

Hazel opened her mouth to ask more questions. But just then, she heard the sound of a vase shattering. The siblings seemed to remember why they were there in the first place, and started peeking out from behind the door.

On the floor were a collection of jewels; rubies, sapphires, diamonds and emeralds. Hazel's entire collection. Pluto and Queen Marie were still yelling at each other.

"Since when have you ever protected me?" Marie demanded, "All you've ever done is cause trouble!"

Pluto glared at her, "You have no idea! I've done the best I could to protect you both for over a decade! Didn't you wonder why no monsters ever targeted you? And no with the war going on-"

"Obviously you didn't do your very best! You're raising a child right in the Underworld!" she accused, pointing at the door.

Nico's eyes widened. Hazel gaped at him. All this time, Nico had been raised by Pluto? The same person who couldn't be bothered to visit her before her 13th birthday?

Pluto's voice took on a defensive edge, "Marie, you know that those were special circumstances! If I could take Hazel in, I would! But-"

"Save me your excuses! The police think I'm a murderer! My clients want to hang me as a witch! Hazel's curse is getting worse, your protection is killing us!"

Hazel's heart caught in her throat. He father actually wanted to take her in? Why didn't he then? Her head was swarming with questions, that she wouldn't be getting answers to anytime soon. She knew that the adults knew that they were there, but now, she was too intrigued by the conversation to leave.

Pluto spread his hands in a pleading gesture. "Marie, please—"

"No!" Queen Marie turned to the closet, pulled out a leather valise, and threw it on the table. "We're leaving," she announced. "You can keep your protection. We're going north."

"Marie, it's a trap," Pluto warned. "Whoever's whispering in your ear, whoever's turning you against me—"

"You've been turning me against you!" Hazel's mother yelled, and in her fury, flung another porcelain vase at Pluto.

Beside her, Nico stifled a scream. His eyes were wide and horrified. It was as though he was frozen in place. Hazel was used to it by now, it wasn't uncommon for her mother to throw things when she was in a bad mood. She looked down at the little boy in front of her. Hesitantly, she wrapped a comforting arm around him and gave him a sort of sideways hug. Nico leaned into her touch slightly, and gave her a small, shaky smile.

"You won't survive," Pluto said. "If you go north, you'll both die. I can foresee that clearly."

Hazel gasped. Her? Die? As in, dead? Nico looked just as shocked, and without further ado, threw his little arms around her. She readily hugged him back, too shaken by what she had just heard to refuse a bit of kindness.

"I don't want you to die." Nico mumbled, "You give really nice hugs."

Hazel didn't respond, and just hugged the boy tighter, soaking up the comfort that came with a warm hug.

"Get out of our house and take that wretched son of yours with you!" Marie screamed.

Pluto narrowed his eyes slightly and turned to the door.

"Nico, come on out. We're leaving."

Nico reluctantly let go of her and walked up to his, no, their father. Hazel trailed after him, it was no use staying hidden now, anyway.

Marie surveyed Nico with distaste.

"This is your kid?" she asked sceptically, "And I thought Hazel was bad!"

"Don't bring my children into this." Pluto warned.

He turned to Hazel and his stone cold expression softened to some extent, "I'm sorry that things had to end this way, Hazel. If it helps, just know that I'm very proud of you."

Something told her that she wouldn't be seeing her father again anytime soon. And the way he said that he was sorry things had to end like that made her feel nervous. He had a feeling that he was talking about something much bigger than losing the argument with her mother.

Nico's big brown eyes met hers and smiled. He waved and opened his mouth to say something.

"You know, you're not-" was all she heard before the shadows condensed around Pluto. The next thing she knew, her father and little brother were gone. And she hadn't even got to say goodbye.

Her mother didn't give her much time to mourn their sudden departure.

Her mother studied her like she was a bitter disappointment. A poisoned child, the voices had said.

"Pack a bag," she ordered. "We're moving."

"Wh-where?" Hazel asked.

"Alaska," Queen Marie answered. "You're going to make yourself useful. We're going to start a new life."

The way her mother said that, it sounded as if they were going to create a "new life" for someone else—or something else.

"What did Pluto mean?" Hazel asked. "Is he really my father? He said you made a wish—"

"Go to your room!" her mother shouted. "Pack!"

And Hazel fled from the room, wondering why her life couldn't just make sense for once.

A.N

Hey guys! I'm back! Sorry for the wait, but this chapter too a super long time to write.

Anyway, I hope that I made Nico and Hazel's interactions natural enough. I thought that it wouldn't really make sense for them to get along very well straight after meeting each other. But Hazel comforting Nico would probably make them trust each other a bit more.

I imagine that to a 10 year old, seeing someone through a case at your dad would be pretty scary. And if Nico's behavior seems a bit too childish for a 10 year old, then I'm blaming it on the fact that he grew up with close to zero social interaction.

I hope that this chapter lived up to your expectations!

As always, please review!

-Keera（￣︶￣）↗