It's been some time, huh? Before we start this chapter I want to mention that Ichneutae is actually a canon character from one of the movies. I used him because I did not want to create too many OC. Another important thing is that this story begins before the start of the PJO series and we won't reach that point till at least eight more chapters will be written. Probably more.
I did not actually plan for it to take this long till Diana finally reached camp.
On another note, I have published a new TVD fanfiction, if you like that fandom then you should definitely try it out.
Please leave a review.
Summary: Amelia Babineaux died in a sea of wine, as a daughter of Dionysus she lived again. Self-Insert/OC-Insert
Enjoy.
Chapter 4
The Silent Comedy
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Where She Knew Not What To Do
"Is it fair to have given us the memory of what was and the desire of what could be when we must suffer what is?"
— Neil Jordan
They drove for a relatively short yet endlessly long time.
Ichneutae incapable of doing anything else but watching the passing scenery through the car window, cradled the tiny infant in his arms. Lush green trees with their dark ancient bark rustled as a light breeze cooled the unusually warm day. New York's streets were filled with countless of people, all of them trying to maneuver through the busy city as safely as was possible to finally get away from the heat.
Even though the vehicle muffled the outside world's sounds, the honking of cars and cursing of some especially loud citizens still managed to reach the satyr's ears.
Fortunately, Diana was too young to pick up any of those words. He could already see the face Lord Dionysos would make if his daughter's first word would end up being 'bitch' or 'motherfucker'. Yeah, that certainly wouldn't be easy to explain.
Honestly, the child learning some curse words was the least of his problems. He might not have known a lot about children, but he still knew enough to recognize that the little girl, who had fallen asleep in his arms not long after they entered the cab, wasn't in the best of conditions.
Her too thin cheeks were flushed with a returning fever and puffed out with every heavy breath she took, which led to the assumption that the girl had a stuffy nose. Her dry and cracked lips only confirmed that thought. Droplets of sweat were gathering on her temple and her short strands of almost snow white hair were thoroughly drenched by it.
Diana's petit body trembled from a cold that wasn't there and a frown marred her porcelain face. Hands pressed to her stomach in tiny fists, the young demigod slept uneasily.
She needed help. She needed a doctor and the satyr feared what would happen if they did not arrive at camp soon.
Hopefully, he looked out of the window. They were in a less populated area now, the street surrounded on both sides by tall trees. The cornflower blue sky contrasted beautifully with the green of nature and at any other time Ichneutae might have stopped to appraise the sight before him.
It truly was a wonderful day. Deceptively so, really.
If it came to the worst, the child would at least know something besides the cold darkness of Reykjavik.
That thought alone managed to worsen the satyr's mood by a hundred percentage points.
Demigods had such short lives, being constantly hunted by monsters made their fates even worse. But it seemed that this girl especially had born under an unlucky star. Only a few days old and already on the verge of crossing to the Underworld.
It had to be a very unlucky star indeed.
''We're here, Mistah.'' The cab driver turned his head slightly to the right, peaking at the man sitting on the backseat of his car and the infant in his arms. ''Are you sure this is where you want to be? Maybe I should take you to a hospital. Your daughter doesn't look too well.''
Suppressing a sight, Ichneutae took a few bills from his trouser pockets and held them out to the man, never loosening his hold on Diana. ''I'm sure. Her mother lives not far from here. She's a pediatrician and will be all the help she could ever need.'' The satyr secured his traveling bag on his shoulder. ''You can keep the change.''
That statement couldn't have been any farther from the truth. Diana's mother would never help the little girl, after all, she was the cause for the child's current state.
''If you're sure, but should the mother not be there go to a hospital. The girl really needs medical attention.'' The driver took the money and counted the bills. Humming in satisfaction, he nodded his head. ''Have a nice day, Mistah.''
Carefully, the satyr stumbled out of the car and turned towards the cab driver with a thankful smile. ''Thanks, you too.''
And he did not say anything else, only slammed the door shut loudly in a moment of stupid carelessness and inattention.
Diana whimpered.
Great. He had managed to awaken the slumbering child with the loud noise. Now he could only pray that she would not start crying, attracting the monsters that resided around the camp's borders and constantly waited for one of the demigods to stumble unprotected upon them.
Soon, walking towards the camp through the forest, Ichneutae actually almost wished that she would cry. He had been a witness to how strong her lungs could be and her quiet whimpers caused worry to stir in his heart.
The girl hadn't cried for some time now and the whimpering was the first sound she made since they left the airport.
His pace hastened and suddenly he wasn't walking anymore but running. Camp wasn't far and he needed to be faster for the child's survival. Twigs snapped loudly under his booted feet and alerted everyone and everything in the vicinity to their presence.
They were lucky that no monster managed to stumble upon them.
Birds fluttered high above their heads and sung their most beautiful songs, completely unaware to the dilemma below them.
Ichneutae thought for a moment that one minute or two would not make that much of a difference for the tiny girl he was holding to his chest, but as soon as that idea crossed his mind he realized what a lie it was. Diana's survival until this point was a miracle. She had lived through a night on the cold streets of Reykjavik and then gone without any nutrition for the gods knew how long. The child was running a high fever almost constantly for a few days now and by all means should have been dead a long time ago.
Diana's survival until this point was indeed a miracle.
A gift given to the girl by her father in form of vines that were wrapped around her infant body and seemed to offer her some kind of divine protection.
But there was only so much even a god could do for a mortal, only so much time could pass till his protection became useless and the girl found herself alone in the Fields of Asphodel. There certainly wouldn't be a place for her anywhere else, not with how young she was and how little she actually managed to achieve.
His heart was thrumming inside his chest when he finally saw the camp's main entrance only a few feet away from them. Now he just had to run up the hill and someone else would take over the duty of caring for the child. Someone else would have to take the blame should anything happen to the child inside the camp's borders, he would not be at fault anymore. He would not have to tell a god why his not even a week old daughter was dead.
He stumbled slightly on the uneven forest path, but managed to catch himself in the last second. Running, the satyr tightened his hold on Diana and squinted his eyes.
A small group of people was standing near the entrance and it did not take him long to figure out that they had been send there to wait for his arrival. Undoubtedly, a child of Apollo was among them. Perhaps even two, guessing from the blonde haired heads.
They did not dare to leave the camp's borders, probably not seeing the sick child in his arms and thus deciding that there was no need for it.
But that was alright. It wouldn't have done them any good if a group of people just started crowding them outside of the camp's safety.
Diana would have to wait till they were completely home for someone to be able to truly aid her.
And Ichneutae could not help the loud sight of relief from escaping his mouth when that finally happened. His feet touched the sacred line that marked and protected his home from the cruel outside world and felt a collection of positive emotions burst inside him.
Relief. Happiness. Gratitude. Serenity. All of them mixed into a heap, flowing through his body from head to toe.
Ichneutae smiled.
''By the Gods, is that an infant?'' Noah, a thirteen year old son of Apollo, regarded him with disbelieve. ''Where did you find an infant?''
Well, that was quite the stupid question. It wasn't as if he had kidnapped Diana from her mother or orphanage and the insinuation alone made him feel offended, however, the satyr did understand what the young demigod was feeling. After all, he had felt the same only a few days ago.
Rarely did children below the age of four enter Camp Half-Blood, Diana might just end up being the youngest camper in their whole history. A child that would grow up in a world of gods and never know how it was to be normal.
He honestly felt sorry for the girl.
''As funny as it is to see you gawking like that, Noah.'' The satyr carefully angled the child in a way that the boy could take a proper look at her. ''Diana needs help. She's sick and she truly needs help.''
And just like that the boy's face went from stupefied to serious. ''Give her to me and find Daemon. He will know what to do.''
Ichneutae did as he was told, deciding that just this once he did not mind being ordered around by a child.
Diana felt miserable.
At the airport the girl turned infant had actually thought that she was alright again. That the wave of sickness had finally passed and that she was healthy or at least on her way there.
The headache was still there—but it wasn't so overwhelming anymore—and her throat hurt as well, yet none of it was even half as bad as it used to be the last time she was awake.
Thus Diana thought that perhaps everything would be alright. The stranger would take her to her new maybe father who could most probably take care of her. She would be fed and given something to drink and then figure out what to do next.
It never came to this.
They entered the cab and she curiously managed to observe a few things till her exhaustion finally caught up with her and she fell asleep once again.
Only to awaken a while later, disoriented and confused, to the loud slamming of the car doors and immediately wishing that the stranger was more attentive.
Diana knew not how long they had been driving, where they were or even what time of the day it was, but what she did know was that her head hurt once again. She felt cold all over and could not breathe properly because of her stuffed nose.
It seemed as if the universe had played another joke on her. Made her think that she was alright, only to return the pain tenfold a while later.
The tiny girl whimpered.
She wished that it all would finally stop. The pain, the hunger and even the thirst. She wanted it all gone.
And then the stranger was running through what seemed to be a forest—Green, there was so much green around her.—jostling her up and down and only heightening her pain. Diana thought her head was actually on the verge of exploding.
At that very moment Diana hated the stranger more than anyone else.
It felt like an eternity had passed when they finally stopped. Her underdeveloped eyes saw nothing but blurred parts of the stranger and a mixture of cornflower blue and dark green.
And then came a voice, a voice she might actually never forget, for it was the person to whom the voice belonged that would finally stop the head splitting pain at the back of her skull and make sure that her empty stomach was finally filled with some substance. ''By the Gods, is that an infant?'' A stupefied pause. ''Where did you find an infant?''
It was the voice of a child and no matter how hard the girl tried she could not tell if it was male or female. Had Diana not felt as if she were once again standing at death's threshold, then she might have taken some time to ponder on the child's choice of words.
But at that time she could not have cared any less about the child's religion or gender, so she shoved the few lingering questions to the back of her mind and hoped that there would come a time when she could actually deal with them.
Diana did not expect the pang of betrayal she felt when the stranger finished his short talk with stranger number two and carelessly handed her over to the child. He left her without looking back even once, running to find someone who could supposedly help her and whom she had no trust for.
Focusing became something very hard since she entered this new life and the next time she actually bothered to observe her surroundings and to focus on something else but pain and betrayal, she wasn't outside anymore.
The color beige surrounded her and she was laid down on something soft. Then a bottle was forced into her mouth and she tasted the most wonderful thing in the world. The liquid reminded her of salted caramel and strawberries.
As soon as it touched her tongue it also disappeared. The boy who was standing above her was replaced by another and hands were suddenly moving over her body.
Diana felt slightly lightheaded, but what mattered was that the pain was slowly subsiding. Another liquid was forced into her mouth. This time it was water. It soothed her tender throat and felt heavenly on her dry lips.
There were voices. People standing and speaking all around her. A mixture of words she could not properly identify.
But with her almost pain free mind Diana did manage to catch a few of the most important ones.
Daemon. Gods. Noah. Ichneutae. Chiron. Dionysos.
Camp Half-Blood
Darkness swam at the edges of her vision and before it fully managed to envelope her, Diana realized the true length of the universe's joke and how fucked she truly was.
The girl who had once been known as Amelia Babineaux succumbed to the darkness and wished to never wake up again.