This is the 7th chapter of 'The Travelers Future'. It's actually the shortest chapter in this story.
Anyway, I wanted to thank all of you for sharing your opinions with me. Your reviews and PMs truly helped me to choose my next course of action. I hope everyone will be satisfied with it. It's a little different from what I previously planned but there will still be many changes.
To be honest, I'm not quiet sure if I like this chapter but I do hope that you will enjoy it. I fear that Hades might be a little OOC.
On another note, I have published a new Self-Insert story. If you like Inuyasha, then you should check it out.
Rating for this chapter: T
Summary: As if dying wasn't enough, I just had to be reborn into a fictional world. Between a sister, who is fated to die and a brother with a bleak future, I had the power to change everything. If someone had to die, if someone had to suffer, it surely wouldn't be my family. No one besides them mattered. SI, twin-fic
Chapter 7
The Dying Embers
''Certamente. We will stay together. Zeus is un imbecile.''
― Maria di Angelo, The Last Olympian
I was familiar with death. And I did not mean the fact that my father was the God of the Dead. Neither did I mean the fact that I already died once and proceeded to be reborn in a position where death became my constant companion. What I meant were all the dead people I have met till now, the certain knowledge about the afterlife that I possessed. And if one put all the things mentioned above together, I'm sure that everyone would come to the same conclusion I once had; I had nothing to fear from death.
Or at least I thought so. Those believes, no matter how justified they might have seemed, were shattered like an expensive piece of porcelain among a trampling herd of elephants. After all, I thought about dying many times and what would happen to me if I did. Yet I never even considered that it wouldn't be me who died, but someone whom I cared about.
It was on a day like any other that I watched my mother's murder occur. Felt her soul slipping out of her body and being brought in front of the judges of the Underworld. It was on a day like any other that I finally realized what a curse my powers could truly be.
4 December 1941
''It is too big, sister.'' Nico repeated for what felt like the thousandth time. His eyebrows were scrunched up and he was looking at me as if I was crazy. Maybe I was.
Shacking my head a little, I gave him my sternest look. I didn't believe that I pulled it off the way father would have. ''It is ideal, Nico. In a few years you will fit in perfectly.'' I knew he would be thanking me later.
Father had taken us out for a stroll today. Our first destination had been a candy shop. 'Charlotte's Sweets and Sweeties' it was called. The smell of chocolate was heavy in the air and everywhere I looked were sweets. Chocolates, lollipops, bonbons, toffees. Gods, I loved those little shits. They were divine.
It's perfectly understandable that father had a hard time getting us out of there. Only after he promised us that we would come back soon did we leave the shop. With a stash that would last for at least a month, of course. The lady behind the counter was more than happy and said we should come back anytime we wanted to.
I sure as Hades would be going there soon.
''We could get him another jacket. What do you think, Nora?'' The God of the Dead asked, the bemused expression never leaving his face.
I shook my head in denial, showing the stubbornness I inherited from him. ''No. This jacket is perfect.''
Bianca did not dignify this with a response. The only reaction she gave was a small sight. Then she turned around and sat down on a stool that one of the salesman had brought for us. She actually dared to take one of my toffees and stuck it into her mouth. That little...
''This is stupid. Can't we just go?'' He was trying to use those damned puppy-dog eyes on me. Brat.
I stomped my foot. The moment the action passed I immediately regretted it. Gods, when have I become such a brat? Seeing my mortification, father let one of those rare chuckles escape his lips. I felt quiet embarrassed.
Still, I couldn't give up. This wasn't just any jacket, it was the aviator jacket. Or at least I thought so. Besides Nico looked really cute in it. The garment was way to large for him, but in a few years it would be perfect. Maybe if I thought this a few more times then my twin would finally share my opinion?
''If not for Nico, then I want the jacket for myself.'' Nico gave me a glance that screamed 'do I look stupid'. I gave him the brightest grin I could muster.
Before Nico could say anything, father leaned down and whispered something into his ear. My brother's eyes brightened at whatever the god said and he nodded his head.
I squinted my eyes in suspicion. I didn't know what was transpiring between them, but from what I could feel through our bond, Nico was rather gleeful. That did not spell anything good.
''Come children. It is time to go home.'' Father motioned at the entrance.
''What about the jacket?'' I paused. ''Please, papa. I really want this jacket.''
Father put a hand on Nico's and my back. He was steering us towards the door. ''I will send someone to get it later. You know how your mother dislikes it if I buy you to many things.''
I couldn't stop myself from glancing at all the bags we had acquired today. They were full of sweets and other small items that we had wanted to have. I realized that I had become really spoiled in this new life. Was that shame that I felt? ''Of course.''
Father's gaze softened. '' Now, now, Nora. There really is no shame in wanting something. Everyone desires. Many cannot have those things, but you as my children are different. I would give you the world if it would make you happy.'' He patted my head. ''Yet I still believe that you should show some restrain. Not because I do not want to see you happy, but because I know that after some time possessing everything you want would make you loose the ability to appreciate the small things in life.''
He probably spoke from experience. I nodded my head in understanding. ''Thank you, papa.''
It was the last peaceful moment we had that day. The rest was blur of confusion, despair and pain.
When we stepped out of the shop a chill went down my spine. Father's aura filled the air around us, blanketing us like some kind of shield.
Despite it being about eight p.m. and the sun slowly disappearing behind the horizon, many people were still outside. Those who were near us stopped and looked at our small family in something akin to fear. The death and fear that father radiated must have been so strong that even they could feel it.
Hell, I could feel it. I'm sure it wasn't even half as strong as it should have been. Father would never hurt us. But the apprehension was still there, the foreboding. Something was wrong.
And I did not mean the dark clouds gathering on the night sky. Neither did I mean the lightning bolts flashing above us.
No, something bad was about to happen.
Father's voice was emotionless as he spoke, but it did not hinder me from feeling his deep rage through our bond. ''We need to hurry back to the hotel.''
The hotel? Why would we...?
I would have frozen in place if Nico hadn't been dragging me along with him. I could remember now, the thing I had been forgetting for months.
Maria's death. Struck by lightning. Killed by Zeus.
By the gods, how could I have forgotten this? No, no, no. This couldn't be happening, this just couldn't be happening. Was this the Fates idea of a cruel joke?
I never noticed that I had stopped moving, only when father picked me up in his arms, did the world around me start spinning again. Though he stopped moving soon after as well, gazing up at the sky with an unreadable expression. My mouth opened to tell him to hurry up. He never let me.
''Nico, Bianca, hold on to me and do not let go.'' He said after his gaze left the sky.
The shadows enveloped us into their familiar embrace. Logically, I knew that our journey did not even last for a minute. That did not stop me from feeling irritated because we were moving too slow. Deep down I just knew that we were already too late.
History was going to repeat itself and there was nothing I could do against it.
We appeared in front of the hotel at the exact moment a lightning bolt hit the building. Glass shattered. The building burned. People around us screamed.
I was paralyzed and could only watch helplessly as the place I had learned to call home through the last two years burned to ashes, knowing that my mother was trapped in the middle of that destruction. I even imagined that I could hear her scream in agony.
But the worst was still to come.
We did not stay there longer than necessary, which meant that father got us out of there the moment that a lightning bolt started to head in our direction. I watched numbly as he raised a wall of darkness to protect us and before we knew what was happening we were already in father's chambers in the Underworld.
But as I said, the worst was still to come.
I could feel it. The exact millisecond that mother passed away. I could feel her entering father's realm and being brought in front of the judges.
We felt our mother die. There weren't any words that could describe how horrible I felt. We felt. Our emotions mixed together in one large pile of despair and sorrow, making everything we felt thrice as bad.
I had thought that I had nothing to fear from death. How naive I had been.
Maria di Angelo died on the 4th of December 1941 at the age of 33. A casualty in a war that raged between our father and his brothers.
That day along with our mother the three of us lost a part of our innocence.
Only Three days later there was a large influx of souls in the Underworld. On the 7th of December 1941 the Attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. Among the casualties Jonathan and Daniel Masen, each of them a Son of Zeus.
The world could be such a cruel, cruel place.
