So, this chapter is a bit shorter than the others and I'm sorry about that but the next one should be longer again (going from the content). It's going to be the ritual chapter... You'll see what I have planned for that.

Thank you all so much for the feedback.

Enjoy,

Nick

"Zara," Klaus called out, stopping the girl's hasty exit. He was slowly getting annoyed that she was this good at avoiding him… The younger Petrova spent most of her time with Kol and Elijah, even going to visit the town every few days "You're going to have to talk to me one of these days."

"Do I?" the sixteen-year-old frowned "Look, I'm already late and it looks like my sister is about to come over here and kill me. Can't you just let this go? I'll tell you when I'm ready."

The vampire scoffed "And Kol already know… Why exactly?"

"Because he helped me with a Chimera," Zara told him, her eyes narrowing "Why do you care so much? It's not like my parent matters."

"Can you blame me for being curious?"

The demigod shook her head "No but I'm not asking what your plan with Katerina is either, do I? Just… Please leave it alone?" She felt uncomfortable telling people about her father. Partially because of the fact that he's the Lord of Death but also because she was afraid that people wouldn't want to be around her anymore. It was stupid, considering that Elijah and Klaus were vampires but it didn't change the fact that a part of her wanted to stay, wanted them to be her friends.

"There you are," Kol murmured, coming up behind Zara. He had been looking for her since they were supposed to meet an hour ago in the clearing Kol found a few days ago "Now I can see why you're late."

"Kol," Klaus nodded, his eyes narrowed on his younger brother "I'll leave you to it, shall I?"

The younger of the brothers smirked "Yes, go and run back to your little Doppelgänger, Nik. She looks ready to spit fire." He held his arm out to Zara "Come on, little warrior. We've got training to do."

"I bet I win this time," Zara grinned, looking up at him. After all, she had some tricks in her back pocket. Something that she hadn't shown him yet.

"Do you now?" Kol raised his eyebrow "And what do I get if I win?"

The daughter of Hades was silent for a moment, thinking about it "I'll tell you how I met Charon?"

"Deal," the Original nodded immediately. He loved hearing her stories. It was something new, something that he hadn't really heard a lot about. After almost five centuries most of the things he saw were boring. It was the reason why he was the way he was. Elijah might disapprove of his less than stellar performances but for him, it was a way to stay sane. To feel something other than boredom… Well, since he met Zara that changed. She was the breath of fresh air that he needed. She made him feel alive… "How about I tell you some stories if you win?"

"You mean 'when' I win," Zara questioned, ignoring the vampire's snort "Alright." She stopped for a moment when they reached the clearing, taking in the sheer beauty of it. It was something she did every time. No matter how often she came here, she couldn't help but feel at peace. There was no path or anything but it was full of flowers of different kinds and surrounded by trees. In the mornings and evenings when the sun was rising and setting, it was the most beautiful. The whole clearing lit up, making the flowers sparkle and shine.

Kol threw one of the sticks they were using as swords to the girl, snapping her out of whatever world she had just been in. The vampire was surprised that she was this mesmerized. It was just a clearing, nothing that he would have looked at twice "I don't get it. We've been here almost every day these past few days and you're still looking at it as if you've seen it for the first time."

"That is because you can't take these things for granted," the daughter of Hades pointed out "Nature is beautiful, it's something that you should appreciate and love. Even the woods. They are dark but every once in a while you find something like this clearing. A light in the darkness, something to bring balance. Nature is something untouched, something pure. My Aunt Persephone taught me how to look at it and see the beauty… It might sound weird to you but seeing the world change around me with the seasons is something incredible."

"That was an impressive speech," Kol snorted, shaking his head "Come on, I want to win this bet of ours." With that, he attacked, making Zara roll out of the way, blocking the strikes. This went on for some time and when Kol finally got the upper hand, Zara pulled back, wrapping shadows around herself. The vampire whirled around, trying to find the demigod. He blinked in surprise when a crack opened up in the ground and skeletons poured out "That's cheating," he muttered, blocking a strike from the undead warrior. Suddenly, his foot was pulled out from under him and Zara's stick was pressed against his back.

The daughter of Hades waved her hand, making the skeletons disappear back into the ground "I win."

Kol huffed, rolling around to hit Zara's legs. The girl crashed to the ground next to him "You cheated," he accused, holding her down.

"Technically we never established rules, so I didn't cheat," Zara pointed out, looking up at Kol with a small smirk "You're just mad that you lost."

The vampire stared down at the sixteen-year-old, aware of how close they were. He shook his head "Wait… If you could do that. Why didn't you use your powers to fight the Chimera."

Zara froze and cursed under her breath "I… forgot?"

"Are you kidding?" Kol laughed, pulling the girl up "How can you forget your superpower?"

"That's…" the daughter of Hades broke odd, shaking her head "Gods, I'm stupid."

Kol plucked a flower out of the sixteen-year-old's hair and gestured to a tree stump that was off to the side "I think I promised a story? What do you want to know?"

Zara bit her lip "Can you tell me about how you were changed?" She looked down as soon as she asked the question "Sorry. You don't have to tell me."

"It's alright," the Original shook his head. His voice was quiet, more subdued but he couldn't blame her for wanting to know more about them. After all, she told him quite a bit about her past already. It was only fair "What do you know? I'm guessing you already know something?"

"Only that Hecate was the one who gave your mother that spell," the daughter of Hades murmured.

Kol nodded, poking the ground with the stick he was holding "It was shortly after… after my youngest brother died. Our mother wanted us to be stronger than the werewolves in the village, so she apparently asked around for a way. She never told us that it was the Goddess of Magic who gave her the ritual though…" The vampire broke off.

"Kol, you don't have to tell me," Zara murmured, placing her hand on his arm.

"Our father killed us," the Original blurted out "He took a sword and slaughtered us after we drank the Potion… I – When I woke up…"

The daughter of Hades pulled the vampire into her arms with a small sigh "Kol, stop."

"Sorry," Kol mumbled, hiding his face in Zara's shoulder "I never talked about it before…"

"I can understand why you'd rather forget some memories," Zara whispered "I have my fair share of those." Her mind flashed back to the happiest and most painful day in her life. The day she met Hades for the first time. Had she not accidentally stumbled into the Underworld, she wouldn't be here today. She shook her head, pushing the memories back "So, the day I met Charon actually was pretty nice. Thanatos was supposed to look after me and he had some business to take care of."

Flashback

"Who is that?" Charon tilted his head, looking at his brother in confusion.

Thanatos shook his head with a snort "I forgot that you don't care about the gossip that goes around in this place." He placed a hand on the young girl's head "This is Zara. She's Hades' daughter."

Charon blinked "And she's down here? What about Persephone?"

"Aunty Persephone is the bestest," Zara proclaimed, looking up at the tall man. He was a bit taller than Thanatos with skin that was equally as dark as his brothers' although he was missing the wings.

"Look, Char," Thanatos sighed, shifting "I'm supposed to take care of Zara but there's something I have to take care of… Could you…?"

Charon raised his eyebrow "You're joking, right?"

"Please?" The God of Death knelt down and whispered something into Zara's ear. She looked up at Charon with the most adorable puppy dog eyes she could "Can you say no to this face?"

"Damn you, Thanatos," the Ferryman grumbled "Fine. But don't expect me to like the brat."

Thanatos tried to hide his grin "Good luck with that. Alecto was the same way…"

"Are you saying this kid met the Furies?" Charon shook his head "You know what? Just go." As soon as his brother was gone, the Ferryman turned to the young girl "What am I supposed to do with you?"

Zara tilted her head up at the man and looked around the room curiously. Charon was standing at a huge podium with a waiting room area in front of him. There were quite a few dead people sitting there, waiting for their chance to cross over. She ran her eyes over them and stopped at a group of children "Who are they?"

"They are souls of the dead," the Ferryman pointed out, surprised at the quiet question. The girl had been louder when his brother had been there "The souls who are waiting to cross Styx to get judged."

The daughter of Hades nodded, walking over to the youngest boy carefully. She was a bit hesitant because she didn't know whether Charon would yell at her or not "Hello," she whispered.

"Who are you?" the boy questioned, looking up at Zara with tears streaking down his eyes.

"I'm Zara," she replied, sitting down on the floor next to him "Why are you sad?"

The child sniffled "I'm never gonna see my mother again. I miss her."

"It's alright," the daughter of Hades whispered, wiping his tears away "I'm sure you'll see her again someday."

End Flashback

"He hung around for a year and a half after that," Zara explained with a small smile "Until I brought him to Elysium with his mother. Normally he would have been resurrected but I told my father what I planned for him."

Kol had sat up while Zara was telling her story "And what happened with Charon?"

"I think he was actually a bit impressed," the daughter of Hades shrugged "Although it took a while until he started liking me."

"What do you think you're doing?" Katerina hissed when she found her sister alone in the garden. The older Petrova had been stewing over the fact that Zara seemed to be getting along with all the Mikaelsons.

Zara turned around in surprise "I'm looking at the flowers… Why?"

"You know what I mean," Katerina pointed out "Why are they so interested in you?"

"That's… Is that your biggest problem?" the daughter of Hades tilted her head "Also, it's none of your business."

The older sister raised her hand as if to slap Zara "I told you to keep away from them."

Zara's hand shot out, grasping the older girl's wrist "I'm trying to stay away from Klaus but as you see it's not that easy when the man actually wants to talk to me."

"What's so interesting about you anyway?" Katerina grimaced in disgust.

"It's none of your business, Katerina."

She made a noise at the back of her throat "I'm your sister…"

"A fact that you only seem to remember when it suits you," Zara muttered "Excuse me."

"You're not going anywhere," Katerina said, holding onto Zara's arm tightly. The demigod bit her tongue, trying not to react "You will tell me what's going on between you and them. Are you really that much of a whore?"

Zara gaped at her "Really? You're the one accusing me of sleeping around. The one girl who slept with like half of the village back home?" The daughter of Hades let out a laugh, glaring at Katerina "Go to hell." Zara jerked her arm out of her sister's arm and stalked back towards the garden entrance. Her head snapped up when she heard someone clapping to her right "What do you want, Klaus?"

"Hey, no need to bite my head off," the Original held up his hands.

"Oh, go kill yourself."

The vampire looked to Katerina for a moment before he pressed Zara to the wall "Try to remember who you're talking to, kitten."

"Sorry," the daughter of Hades shook her head "I'm just angry. Katerina has that effect on me."

"I forgive you," Klaus smirked "If you tell me who your father is."

Zara let out a snort "Nice try." She patted his shoulder "Better luck next time, though."

"Keep your guard up," Kol called out "You have to try and balance attack and defence."

Zara was panting and sweating, trying to do what Kol was telling her "How… should I… keep my guard… up… when we've been… training for ages… already?"

"You don't see me almost dying, do you?" the vampire shot back.

"Said the… vampire," she grumbled, pushing him back as hard as she could.

Kol stumbled a little, surprised at the attack. He looked at the girl for a second before a smirk crossed his face. He attacked again with less strength this time, letting Zara control the direction they were going in. Once the demigod had the upper hand, Kol used one of the tricks he learned a long time ago. The daughter of Hades stumbled, falling backwards with the Original 'accidentally' falling down on top of her. Kol seized the moment, pressing their lips together. Zara gasped in shock, freezing underneath the vampire. What was he doing? The sixteen-year-old really didn't know how to react. It wasn't like she didn't like Kol but this was something she didn't how to deal with.

She was up on her feet as soon as Kol released his hold on her "I –" Zara swallowed, looking at Kol with an uncertain expression on her face "I should go." She turned around, almost running back towards the house. Kol called after her but she didn't stop. As soon as she reached a shadow, she stumbled through to the Underworld.

"Zara?" Persephone questioned, getting up from her throne.

"He… He kissed me," she breathed in shock, her eyes wide "What…"

The Goddess of Springtime wrapped her arm around Zara's shoulders, guiding her out of the room "Come on. You're going to tell me everything."