Ilovedarkpasts: Thank you for pointing out that mistake. I will correct it in all the other chapters when I have some free time. I think it's imortant for me to mention that English is not my first and neither my second language, thus I sometimes don't know that something is wrong before someone tells me that it is in fact wrong.

Anyway, thanks for telling me and actually being nice about it.

Fustilugs
It's the perfect sounding word to describe an ill-natured looking person.

Slackumtrance
It refers to a messy or dirty woman.

Summary: Death gained a whole new appeal the moment I became a daughter of Hades. Self-Insert

Enjoy!


Chapter 10

Meeting the Family


6 July 1943

The dead could be immensely amusing. Most of them were incredibly unsatisfied with their deaths or simply couldn't accept that they were dead. They liked showing their displeasure through bitching around.

Because most of them managed to realize the situation they are in, they obviously did not insult death. After all, it wouldn't be wise to anger Charon or Thanatos, let alone our father. They preferred insulting the living and those who had wronged them.

While some of those insults might have been justified, others were just ridiculous.

''That harlot! That full-gorged harlot!'' A young girl in an old looking dress cried out in disbelieve. She was waving her hands in all directions and her face was scrunched up in an ugly grimace. Her young age made all this even more unfitting and amusing.

Then there was a group of three woman. They were from the 16th century. That I knew because they were talking about Anne Boleyn. Or rather they were cursing her into the deepest pits of hell. Considering how long ago they died, they must have been talking about one woman for a few centuries. And I wasn't exaggerating anything. I had been observing them for two hours by now and even a few more times through the last three weeks. They never talked about anything else.

Another soul, a man wearing quiet 'modern' clothes, actually tried to bargain with Charon for his life, offering him Russian Ruble. Charon looked at him as if he were an idiot. From my point of view, he was.

''Look there, Nora.'' Nico pointed to my right. We were sitting near the entrance of the Underworld, observing the souls that still haven't been guided across the Styx.

Looking in the direction Nico was pointing at with his hand, I saw two woman and a man. The man looked quite lost between the both of them. It could have been because the two woman were shouting at each other. I never knew that someone could shout so loud. The cries of outrage were so loud that I couldn't make out most of what they were saying. But the words I did manage to make out were 'mistress, slackumtrance, harlot and man-stealing fustilugs'. Looks like the wife met the mistress. Gods, this was better than some soap operas.

''Those are some truly...interesting insults.'' I laughed loudly, while Nico snickered. We really needed to work on our humor.

A new group of souls entered and I couldn't help but think that this place was getting really crowded. Father should start looking for some new workers because it was quite obvious that Charon alone wasn't enough.

For a moment I felt sorry for all the souls who spend decades or even centuries here before they were granted passage across the river Styx. I was more than sure that I would never have to wait like that. Not many demigods had to. Children of Hades were given passage the moment they died and entered the Underworld.

''I wonder if they will continue fighting for the rest of eternity.'' Nico put his elbow on his knee and leaned his head against his hand. ''I doubt they will be given separate afterlives. Infidelity isn't seen as a crime, thus unworthy of the Fields of Punishment.''

I regarded the three souls with a curious gaze. They looked completely average, maybe a little richer than most people. ''As long as they did not commit some unforgivable crime against the gods I doubt that they will be punished. None of them are demigods or anything special at all, so they will most likely be send to the Fields of Asphodel together.''

Nico nodded his head in agreement. ''I can imagine the Judges sending them there together for their own amusement.''

''Probably.'' I shook my head and elbowed my twin's side lightly. ''Maybe they will manage to solve their problems.''

Nico laughed. ''I doubt that.''

''You never know.'' I grinned brightly. ''But I do share your opinion on that matter.''

One of the souls, from the way he dressed I could only guess that he was newly deceased, stopped moving in front of us and our conversation ceased. His eyes regarded us in a way that made me entirely uncomfortable. ''Are you in charge?''

Nico stood up and stepped in front of me, shielding me from the unknown soul. We were sitting on a small slope, thus Nico was standing on eye level with the man. ''No.''

This did nothing to deter the man. ''But you know someone who is.''

I rose from my sitting position. ''You should leave us alone. The ferryman will be arriving soon, you wouldn't want to miss him.''

''So you do know the person in charge of this place.'' He paused. ''Lead me to him. I do not belong here.''

''Sure you don't.'' Nico snorted. We were slowly drawing the attention of the others. Souls of different times were already gossiping about what was happening between us. It wasn't often that someone dared to challenge the children of Hades. Most souls knew to stay away.

The man narrowed his eyes and took a step forward. ''I want to talk with your leader.''

Poor, poor soul. He had no idea what he was demanding from us. ''Believe me, you do not want to talk with him.''

''I be-'' He froze in place as a shadow fell over us from behind. With wide eyes the man took a step backwards. ''Is there a problem, Prince Nico, Princess Nora?''

In her true form Alecto presented quite the terrifying image. It was no wonder that the man stepped back the moment he noticed her. ''Of course not, Alecto. The man was just leaving.''

And he did leave without another word. Both of us turned around to look at the fury. ''Did father send you?''

''You are to be back at the palace for dinner.'' She informed us. Then she proceeded to leave to most likely torture some unfortunate soul.

''Rude.'' I muttered under my breath.

The amusement I felt momentarily coursing through me wasn't Nico's and neither was it mine. These situation could sometimes get really awkward. For example I could be angrily shouting at someone only to be interrupted by my sibling's feelings, which lead to me laughing like a maniac.

Nico was already looking in Bianca's direction. ''You could have helped us, you know.''

''As if you needed my help.'' She smiled as she stepped out of the shadows. ''If the situation got really dire you would have forced him away. Besides you were amusing yourself and Alecto stopped this from escalating into a problem.''

''Now, now, that's not nice, Bianca.'' I pouted.

''I am not here to be nice, little sister.'' The smirk that had been on her face since the moment she graced us with her presence disappeared. ''I need you to come somewhere with me.''

My posture became rigid when I felt her unease. ''What's happening? Why do you need us to come with you? Where exactly?''

One of her hands went into the bag she had slung over her shoulder. Out of it she took two crumpled pieces of paper. ''Here. I'll be waiting for you.''

She left the second the papers touched our hands. I raised my eyebrows when I noticed the address written upon them.

Rue Dauphine, Paris

Paris? What could be so important in Paris?

''Are you coming?'' Nico asked and grabbed my right hand. He did not seem to be too worried. That's good, wasn't it? ''Yeah.''

The shadows swallowed us.


It was a pretty street. Nothing special, but still quiet pretty.

I looked around and spotted Bianca at the entrance of an apartment complex. She was waving her hands, beckoning us to come to her. We did exactly what she wanted us to do.

''Why are we here, Bianca?'' I asked, curiously looking at the building in front of us. ''Why do you act so...secretive?''

''Father cannot know that we are here.'' She stopped whatever Nico planned to say by putting her hand onto his mouth. ''He wont like it.''

Now I stared at her as if she were an idiot. Purposefully doing something that father would disapprove of. Was she completely out of her mind? ''Why wont he like it? What are we doing here, sister?''

She shuffled her feet a little. ''I met one of our siblings.''

For a moment Hitler came to my mind and then Mussolini. The only thing that stop me from shouting at her was the fact that we were in France and not Germany or Italy. ''You met one of our siblings.'' I repeated almost dumbly.

Nico narrowed his eyes dangerously. ''Did he or she attack you?''

''No, he did not.'' Bianca smiled softly. ''He is barely two years old.''

I couldn't stop the smile from stretching across my lips. ''We have a little brother?''

I could feel the relief she felt. Did Bianca think that we would reject our own brother? We weren't that bad, were we?

Biana grinned widely. ''Do you wish to meet him?''

''You mean sneak into some stranger's home?'' Nico raised his eyebrow. ''Sure. Why not?''

Bianca grabbed a hand from each of us and dragged us into the shadow. I did not expect for her to act so rashly. Normally, she was the one who thought the things through.

We couldn't just break into some house, could we?

Apparently we could. Not even a second later we appeared in the middle of a hallway. It was an ordinary apartment. Its owner must have been neither rich nor poor.

Putting a finger against her lips, Bianca lead us down the hallway. Shadows gathered around us, hiding us from whoever else was in the apartment. And I knew that other people were there, I heard them in what I presumed to be the living room. They were speaking french so I couldn't really tell what it was about.

We arrived at a white door. It was closed and lead very obviously into a nursery. There were cute pictures on the door, after all.

The door squeaked when we pushed it open. Luckily, no one seemed to hear it.

The nursery was dark with neutral colored drapes keeping all the light from it. In the middle was a wooden mahogany crib. The power that radiated from it was both forceful and familiar.

Bianca was the first to enter the room. She beelined towards the crib, not looking behind even once.

The boy was awake, so she could pick him up without any problems. Unexpectedly, he had dark ginger hair and skin almost as pale as ours. The eyes were all our father's though. Intense and manic.

He should have been afraid of us, especially because he was a demigod and we were a group of strangers. He wasn't. Perhaps he could feel the same sense of familiarity that I felt around him. I knew without a doubt that he was our family. Of course there wasn't the same bond that I shared with Nico and Bianca, not even half as strong, but I was still fond of him.

That did not change the fact that I found his innocent eyes way too trusting.

Bianca supported him with one hand against his bum and the other on his back. ''His name is Jerome Chevalier. He is about 23 months old and Greek.''

Greek. That should have been a weird thing to be put into an introduction, but in our world that was pretty normal. After all, whether he was a child of Hades or Pluto would determine his future powers. ''May I hold him?''

''Of course.'' Bianca secured her grip on him before taking a step closer to me. ''Here. Do not let him fall.''

Jerome was light. Lighter than I expected him to be. Was that normal?

''It's war time, Nora. Food isn't the cheapest right now.'' Bianca answered my unasked question. For a moment I felt like a complete idiot.

Before any of us could do something, Nico stuck his face in front of the little boy. Way to be creepy, my dear twin.

''He is ginger.'' The older son of Hades said almost incredulously.

I blinked once and then for a second time. ''At least it's a pretty ginger. I am sure that he will be very handsome when he is older.''

Now Nico gave me an incredulous look. ''What does it matter if he will be handsome? Besides I wasn't patronizing his hair color. I just did not expect one of our siblings to have such a coloration.''

I laughed a little. ''What? Did you expect him to look like us. Dark hair and eyes and all that?''

''Well, yes.'' My dear twin looked a little embarrassed.

Jerome's cute yawn hindered me from saying anything else. Gods, he was so cute. Definitely one of our siblings. ''Are you sleepy, bambino?'' I rocked him in my arms and turned towards my older siblings. ''We should probably leave before someone else notices us. Besides, father wants us to be home for dinner.''

Fortunately, both of them nodded in agreement.

I kissed the little boy's forehead and gently laid him down inside his crib.

He was asleep before we even left the room.