Tom Marvolo Riddle was no more. Now there was only Alex Smith, muggle-born wizard and transfer student from Australia. He had wrinkled his nose at the thought of being called a muggle-born, but Jonny had insisted it was necessary to keep his cover, a pureblood wizard would definitely be in some historical records of some sort, while a muggle-born would raise less suspicion.
His story was his parents had tried to get him to suppress his magic, but a wizard had found him and told his parents what that could do to him. The wizard had taught him all the magic he should have known by that time in his life and gotten him his first wand. He had just finished his studies and was enrolling in Hogwarts late because of his catch up work. He was going to be joining the seventh years a year late because of that.
Of course, the story would prove to be ridiculous once the teachers saw his skill with his wand, so he was supposed to downplay that little aspect, pretend to mess up a few spells, get a few questions wrong on tests, that sort of thing. He hated the idea, but it had to be done to keep his cover in place, at least until he killed Harry. An idea hit him as he stared at his reflection in the hotel room mirror. What if he made Harry's death look like an accident, maybe blame it on a beast or something, that way he could stay at Hogwarts, pretend to mourn the loss of his fellow student, and continue to sabotage what he could, kill off powerful wizards, recruit new young death-eaters, the like.
He smiled, in retrospect, his previous plans had been dumb and ill thought out, but this time he would learn. Perhaps the year of the Tri-wizard tournament he could have made a random book into a portkey had his mole make sure Harry picked it up and ta-da! Harry was his. Maybe he could have thought through some of his other plans better as well, but this time would be different. This time he would think everything through and get what he wanted.
His thoughts drifted again, going to the thing he really wanted. The thing that was long gone, his chance gone long ago. T-Alex tried to clear those thoughts from his head but they came back, gripping his mind too strong for him to resist. And ache filled his chest as he thought about the things he'd lost, the things that had driven him to seek immortality in the first place.
Angel, his thoughts screamed, my little black Angel. He pushed the thoughts down again, trying to find a new topic to think about. But he found nothing, the only thing left to consume his thoughts was the loss of young love. He tried to convince himself that it was silly, he hadn't even known was love was at the time, heck, he probably still didn't. Well, that was a depressing thought. Was he really that repulsive? Was his obsessive pursuit of blood purity getting in the way of everything else? Like his happiness? Was he really so disgusting that no one could ever love him?
No. The monster he had been was. The man with a snake-like face and repulsive red eyes was a monster, unloveable, cold. This teenager, reborn and seeking vengeance, was a sociopath, but so were some of the students at Hogwarts. That he had forgotten his Angel, this him remembered clear as day. That he hadn't wanted what they could have had. This him wanted it more than his revenge.
Tom Marvelo Riddle smiled one last time at his teenage face and muttered a spell. His eyes changed color, his nose changed shape, his hair grew slightly longer and shaggier. He put down his wand and looked at himself, satisfied with his new face, he just had to keep up the spell and he would be fine. No one expected to see him there, and now he only possessed a passing resemblance to his old self anyway.
Hogwarts would never see him coming.
~oOo~
Nico sat alone atop a tree into forbidden forest. Much like the mast of the Agro 2, it was a place where no one would bother him, a place where he could think clearly. The dream he'd had that night showed him Tommy's new face. Unfortunately, it had given him an emotional stab in the heart as well. Just a little word, whispered by a mass murderer. But it had broken him. "Angel" Tommy had whispered just before he changed his face. He probably hadn't even realized he said it, but he had, and Nico had heard.
Nico clung to the trunk of the tree, debating letting himself fall to the ground far below. If he fell he wouldn't have to kill Tommy. If he fell he would be free of his task. But, if he fell, he would hurt Will. he would hurt Will worse than he'd ever hurt anyone before. Nico secured his grip and stared at the sky.
"Why," He whispered, not to the gods, but to anyone else, anyone who would listen to him. He looked at the hunter, the one who had died to rescue her lady Artemis, the one who had joined the stars because of an oath she had taken to protect her lady. She had died at the hand of the father. Nico wondered if he would as well.
Maybe Hades hadn't known exactly what he was asking Nico to do at first, but he had to know by now. He wondered why his father didn't just give someone else this quest. Why did he make his son do something so horrifyingly cruel?
Then it hit him. Pride. His father was worried about his pride. He probably hadn't realized what he was making Nico do when he gave him his quest, but he knew now, there was just no way he didn't. But he was worried what his immortal family would think about him being 'soft'. Nico was disgusted. In ancient Greece, it was a crime of the highest degree to murder one's own family. Nico didn't have many friends, let alone family, but Tommy had been part of that tiny circle, if a long time ago.
Nico wanted to consider Tommy his family, just like he did for any of his friends (though he would never tell them that). So his father was asking him to commit a crime that would be considered worthy of the worst punishments in the fields, just to protect his pride. Nico's hands balled into fists. He had never considered destroying an Olympian before. Now he wanted to tear his father to pieces.
He surveyed the surrounding forest, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, dark trees, the castle in the distance, the sounds of monsters in the air. He was used to it. He swung down from tree limb to tree limb until he reached the ground. He landed with a soft thud and began to make his way silently back to the school. There was a crack behind him. He froze, hand instantly on the hilt of his sword.
"I know you're there," He said, zeroing in on the source. He knew the sound was to loud to be a small animal, and there was only one snap, so one twig. Large animals didn't take care not to step on twigs. Human then, or centaur.
A figure emerged from behind a tree with their hands up, "Nico," Ever said quietly. She was older than he last saw her, maybe late teens/early twenties, "I need your help,"
"And why would I help you," Nico snarled, unsheathing his blade.
"Because," Ever said meeting his eyes, "I need you to kill me,"
~oOo~
The hunters left that night, along with most of the demigods. Hermione stood outside the hunters camp, watching in awe as they took it down, leaving no trace, in seconds. Thalia came out of the largest tent and collapsed it, one of the hunters collecting it and tucking it into her pocket.
Thalia came over to Hermione with a smile, those electric blue eyes pinning her with what she supposed was supposed to be a friendly look, but the intense blue of her eyes ruined it, making it scarier than anything else.
"Hey," Thalia said with a smile.
"Hey," Hermione responded, with a smile of her own, "Are you leaving already?"
"Yeah," Thalia answered, straightening her coat, "There's this...you know what, I can't, exactly, tell you, but it's important." Hermione scrunched up her eyebrows but didn't inquire anymore.
"So...I guess I'm out of time then," Hermione observed, feeling a bit awkward.
"Yeah," Thalia said, "I guess you are,"
Hermione rubbed the back of her neck, "So, I-" She looked around, noticing that several of the hunters around them had turned to watch, "I guess I have to choose now," Thalia noded, "Join you, become partially immortal and live out my days hunting with you lot, not ever having to worry about boys again," She looked behind her, at the school, "Or," She imagined her friends, Ron, Harry, all the Weaslys, "Or I can stay behind, grow old as a witch, maybe get a job or something," She shook her head, meeting the eyes of one of the hunters, Amber.
She looked back at Thalia, "One last question, can I visit them, you know, like days off, maybe see my friends on holidays and such?"
Thalia considered it for a moment then smiled at her, "I'd have to ask lady Artemis, but I think you could, I mean, we occasionally stop by camp to kick everyone's butts at capture the flag, so I don't see why you couldn't visit your friends on occasion,"
Hermione smiled, she had her answer, "Yes, I want to join,"
Amber ran up and hugged her, "Yay!" She yelled, rather childishly, "Of course you'll have to go with the lieutenant first, take the oath, then we'll be sisters," Amber smiled, looking much younger than she probably was.
Hermione went up to Thalia, who had a smug smirk on her face, "All right then, let's get you vowed in,"
~oOo~
Will was pacing the halls when the shadows thickened and Nico stumbled out, covered in blood and dirt and looking generally terrible.
"Nico!" Will exclaimed, lunging forward to catch him before he collapsed. Nico was mumbling something that Will couldn't make out and his whole body was shaking and convulsing uncontrollably. Will pulled a canteen of nectar out of his messenger bag, which he had started to carry around with him, and propped Nico up on his lap, tilting his head back and pouring a little of the drink into his quivering lips.
"E-Ever-" Nico stuttered, "she-she-I-she-I-I-" he doubled over, clutching his stomach, his body convulsing even worse. Will called for help and tried to listen to the babbling coming out of his boyfriend's mouth, but he couldn't make out any of it. Will managed to get Nico to swallow another sip of nectar, which seemed to calm the shaking a bit.
"Ever," Nico gasped, "I-" He stopped himself, burying his face in his hands, "Oh gods…" he whispered, "I'm a monster,"
Will put an arm around him, brow creased in worry and eyes wide in alarm, "No, Nico, you're not a monster, what did you do?" He asked, barely managing to hide the quiver in his voice, the doubt.
"I-I-" He tucked his face into his knees and sobbed, "You'll hate me," He said, almost to quiet for Will to hear, "You'll hate me, and you should, you should hate me with every fiber of your being,"
Will tightened his grip around Nico, "No," His tone was hard, "No, Nico, I could never hate you. You hear me? Never,"
Nico looked up at him, those shadowy pits filled with such self-loathing that Will almost couldn't look. Nico spoke in a soft, bitter tone, "She came to me, she asked me to kill her," He turned his eyes to the wall across from him, refusing to meet Will's gaze, "She had been given an order, apparently she can't directly disobey her orders unless she finds a way to remove whatever curse they have on her or if she finds a way to prevent herself from compleating her task with a force that should be out of her control,"
Nico took a deep breath, "She wanted me to kill her," He repeated, "She thought I was the only one who would understand, even a little, and who might just do as she asked," He looked Will dead in the eye, pinning him with a stare that sent shivers down his spine, not because it held fear of self-loathing, but because it was filled with a lust and pleasure that he had never seen before in the young Ghost King's eyes. And it scared him. It really, really, scared him.
"She wanted me to prevent her from doing as she was told?" Nico stopped shaking and moved his arms, showing Will that there wasn't a scratch on him. The blood wasn't his.
"I did."
Hey Y'all! I know this is a shorter chapter than usual, but both of my sisters are sick (though I think my lil sis is faking, because she is the fakest person alive) and I've had to try to avoid getting whatever landed my older sis in the hospital (No, I don't know what it is, sue me, and we share a room, and a closet for the time being so it's a little harder for me than everyone else) So yeah, that's how my life has been complicated more than usual. In other news, I got to do 'Feed my starving children' last Friday with the rest of my school, so that was fun (we packed enough food for 100+ kids to eat for the next year:))
Anyway, I would appreciate it if you reviewed this chapter, I really need your feedback. Seriously, if I'm doing something wrong, whether it's a recurring grammatical error that you noticed or an aspect of the story that you don't like I need to know so I can avoid it in the future.
Also, keep your guesses about Ever's braids coming, they will be a huge plot point later and I like to hear what you think I have planned, it's interesting and gives me ideas, so if you have an idea that you want to see later in the story, just put it in the reviews, I guarantee I will see it and take it into consideration.
(Also, if you remember from earlier I offered to show Percy's life at Goode, well, I could still do that, I actually know exactly how but I need to know soon if you want to see it because the way I want to integrate it depends on something happening now (I'm sure you can guess what that is) and If you don't tell me you want to see that I'll bypass the opportunity and might not be able to add it in smoothly)
-To whoever suggested that Ever's braids (specifically her charms) are weapons- you're not wrong, but you're not entirely right either, what I mean is, there's more to it than that, but you're on the right track. (sorry I'm too lazy to go and look up your username (and my sis keeps telling me to turn my computer off so she can sleep (shut up Tori))
Anywho, see y'all later, better get to sleep before my sis wrings my neck (not that she would do that, she literally wouldn't hurt a fly, and if she did, she would feel guilty about it for the next week) (I only wish I was exaggerating)