I finished writing this chapter about a week ago, but I somehow did not save it properly and more than half of it was lost. I was so irritated by this that I did not try writing it again for a few days.
Fortunately, today I managed to finish this chapter once again. It's not as good as the previous version, but it will have to be good enough.
Please leave a review.
Summary: Death gained a whole new appeal the moment I became a daughter of Hades. [SI, Self-Insert/OC-Insert]
Enjoy.
Chapter 18
A Divine Plan
"Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of."
― Markus Zusak, I Am the Messenger
They were lounging around in the shadow of an oak tree. Bianca rested her head in Nora's lap, while Nico sharpened his sword next to them. A light breeze ghosted over their skin and offered them a reprieve from the heat of the day.
Just yesterday the fight between the two Sons of the Big Three had occurred. Since then the campers had been even more reluctant to approach the di Angelo siblings, but Nora did not mind that development too much. She had long since learned that prejudice could be a horrible thing and that there weren't many people in the world capable of looking past it.
''I wonder what it is that we are meant to do here,'' pondered Bianca out loud as she crossed her legs at her ankles.
Carding her fingers through her older sister's well groomed hair, Nora tilted her head towards the sun. ''Who knows, perhaps we're just meant to sit here and wait for the right moment to prove our greatness.'' She stopped talking for a moment and hummed. ''We could just as well follow Percy Jackson on one of his adventures. He seems like the kind of person that constantly gets himself into trouble.''
''Father has forbidden us to leave camp,'' Bianca pointed out, her eyes closed and expression relaxed.
A snort escaped Nico's lips and he raised his sword into the air. The dark metal seemed to absorb every single ray of sunlight. ''Rules have never meant much to us. Our biggest problem isn't Papa's prohibition, but what he actually wants from us. If it is glory that he seeks, then he should not have trapped us in this place.''
''Perhaps his motives are slightly simpler.'' Nora smiled, the amusement clear in her eyes. ''I'm certainly not the only who has noticed his rather peculiar choices. I mean, come on, since when has Papa liked the smell of pomegranates?''
''Are you insinuating that our father is keeping us here because he wants to enjoy a late honeymoon with Persephone?'' The oldest di Angelo sibling's voice was tinged with disbelieve, but she did not outright deny the possibility of such a cause.
Nico chuckled. ''One can never know when it comes to Papa. At the end, all this might end up being some character exercise, you know.''
''I prefer my idea, at least there is something romantic about it,'' uttered the younger twin after a few seconds of silence. Amused, she watched how taken aback her siblings looked due to that statement.
Bianca actually raised herself from her lap and regarded her suspiciously. ''Who are you and what have you done with my sister?''
It was hard to stop herself from laughing. ''What? Why?''
''You hate Persephone. Loathe her more than anything else,'' explained the older girl, putting a cool hand onto Nora's forehead. ''Maybe it's because of the sun. You've always been so fragile.''
''Fragile? I'm not fragile.'' She ignored Nico's mocking laughter. ''Anyway, I don't hate or loathe Persephone. I may not especially like her, that's true, however, it doesn't mean that I feel any negative emotions towards her.''
''That's not what I've observed,'' muttered Nico while lowering his sword onto the grass. Morbidly, both twins watched as the grass wilted under the weapon's touch.
''Well, to be honest, I actually feel kind of sorry.'' With a soft touch to the hilt, the sword turned back into a ring. Nora handed it to Nico without any delay. In their world, none of them could risk to be caught anywhere without a weapon. ''I doubt it's very pleasant to be forced to face your husband's countless bastards.''
The male twin grimaced. Although the Children of Hades were proud of their heritage, they still came from a time when being a bastard meant nothing good. They all remembered the rumors their mother had been forced to live with and the insults that were often thrown Maria di Angelo's way.
''Are you trying to make us feel sorry for her? Because if you are, then let me tell you that it's not working.'' With how much Nora knew about her sister, she had not expected any other answer from her.
''I'm not trying to do anything.'' Nora sighed. ''This is just how things truly are.''
Silence settled around them and Nora did not have in her to actually fight her siblings on this matter. It wasn't as if she liked her step-mother anyway. Persephone wasn't the most pleasant of people and Nora actually preferred being at camp rather than spending time with the goddess.
Though it would have been great to be allowed to step past Camp Half-Blood's borders. Altogether the youngest di Angelo sibling did not mind her newest accommodations. They might have been too loud at times and the company wasn't too great either, but their whole situation could have been a lot of worse. For example they could have been stranded outside of camp, without any protection against the monsters roaming the earth.
Nora new that they were actually really lucky to have an escape like the Underworld. Many claimed that the land of the dead was a horrible place and yet this was not the case for the teenage girl. The Underworld, for all its darkness and cruelty, was her home.
Out of the corner of her eye, Nora noticed the jittery movement of her brother's legs. Their ADHD could be quite irritating at times, for both the affected and the onlookers. More than once had she sat at a table with one or both of her sibling and felt the furniture tremble underneath her plate because of some nervous quirk.
''We should go training. It's been a while since we last exercised and our injuries are certainly healed by now,'' suggested Nora, her eyes trained on her brother. Seeing the happy expression that appeared on his face, Nora congratulated herself. Making Nico happy was a lot harder than some might think.
Almost instantly after she stopped talking, Nico raised himself and dusted off his trousers. ''I'd like that.''
And that's how they found themselves walking through the camp towards the training area. Following Nico's and Percy's fight, the whole grounds had to be thoroughly cleaned and repaired. Fortunately, their hereditary abilities made the whole endeavor easier, so it only took slightly over a day to finish the job.
Though it was not as if the di Angelo siblings did much to help. Nico held the firm believe that he could not be blamed for what had happened and Nora could not really deny his logic. Her brother was not the one who started the fight. The campers chose to provoke him and goad him into a fight with another Son of one of the Big Three. Some might say that he should have known better, but the same could be said for everyone else involved.
Besides, no one could expect a fourteen years old boy to always make the right choices. Especially when he was as impulsive as her brother.
Additionally, Chiron should have expected something like this to happen sooner rather than later. In a camp filled with temperamental half-gods who had the abilities to cause major natural disasters incidents like this could not be uncommon.
Had it not been for the fact that a body bumped roughly into her, Nora might have taken some more time to contemplate this dilemma. As it was, she just stumbled backwards and a sound of surprise left her lips.
An apology was already on her lips when Nora realized that the boy that had bumped into her had already continued walking, not even stopping to see if she was alright. Not even a short apology was gifted to her and all Nora could suddenly feel was annoyance at the rudeness the other demigod displayed.
She could also feel Nico's anger and she knew that it would bode nothing good for them.
Nico, despite what his sisters might think of him, wasn't actually an impatient person. Only because he often chose to ignore societal norms and acted rather rashly from time to time, it did not mean that he did not know how to control himself.
Fact was, that most of the time he just preferred not to do it.
And yet, Nico did not let his temper get the best of him each time he did not like something. There were situations during which he had to exercise caution or when unleashing his temper upon someone would just seem foolish, thus Nico actually did not feel the need to smite each person that got even the slightest bit on his nerves. He did not feel the need to attack every stranger that wronged his sisters marginally.
But he did feel the need to teach a random demigod that had no manners whatsoever some respect. Growing up in the 1930s taught Nico what was socially acceptable and what was not. Perhaps those things had changed with time, but he doubted they did so overly much.
If a gentleman bumped into a lady, then he should very well know to apologize.
Eyes narrowing, Nico turned towards the blonde kid that had previously treated his sister so rudely. He was just about to offer the other demigod his opinion when a familiar voice interrupted him.
''Hey, hey.'' A hand landed on his shoulder and Nico just so managed to stop himself from throwing Percy Jackson reflexively over his shoulder. ''Don't...just...I'm really sorry for him.''
''Excuse me?'' Personally, Nico did not have anything against the Son of Poseidon. The older boy knew how to fight properly and despite his rather goody two shoes personality, he still seemed to be tolerable. That status would change soon though if he did not let go of Nico.
Among all the things Nico disliked, being touched by strangers was almost highest on that list. Though it was easily trumped by someone daring to tell him what to do.
Percy had done both and if he did not explain himself soon, Nico would probably not stop himself from leashing out.
''Like I said, I'm really sorry for his behavior,'' repeated the older demigod. ''Pollux is going through a hard time. A while ago his twin brother was killed during the Battle of the Labyrinth.''
And that literary froze the Italian in place. If there was one thing Nico feared above all else, then it was losing his twin. He could not even begin to fathom how such a loss must have felt for this Pollux.
Nora was his world and a life without her was not a life worth living. There had not been a time when Nico had ever been without his twin. It was always the two of them.
Nico and Nora.
Nora and Nico.
And as the young Son of Hades recognized the rather startling verity that this unknown demigod had lost his own equivalent of Nora, he felt something inside of his chest stir.
Out of the di Angelo siblings, Nico was the most cruel one. And yet, as he watched that blonde head disappear in the crowd, Nico di Angelo, for the first time in years, felt sorry for another being.
With the feeling of pity inside his chest, he turned away from the boy who had lost much more than Nico could ever bear to lose and took a gentle hold of Nora's hand.
Instead of letting go of his control and humanity, Nico let go of his anger for once and swore not to harm Pollux.
For once in his life, the only living Son of Hades did the right thing.
It was a curious thing, watching the fire inside Nico di Angelo's eyes being put out by a few words. Just the mention of a twin's death seemed to be enough to lower the normally so proud posture of the boy into a hunch.
Percy had never seen the other demigod so human.
Normally, Nico reminded him immensely of his father. He did not only share the god's looks, but also seemed to have inherited a huge part of his personality from him.
Unfortunately, being compared to a god was not a compliment. Especially when that comparison was prompted by the madness that clouded Nico's eyes.
''Well, anyway, I didn't just come here to you know.'' The Son of Poseidon waved his hand in Pollux's direction. ''I actually just came to tell you that I'll be leaving camp today. I've already missed more than a week of school and I can't risk missing more.''
Nora blinked in confusion, probably wondering why he felt the need to tell her this. The truth was that Percy felt a certain responsibility towards the di Angelo siblings. After all, he was the one who led them out of the Lotus Hotel and brought them to camp. The least he could do was making sure that the other three children of one of the Big Three were save and had everything they needed.
Cooking her head to the side, Nora smiled an unsure smile. ''Alright? I hope you'll have fun?''
Percy grimaced. ''I highly doubt that.''
''Why? School can't be that bad,'' questioned Nora, her head tilting curiously to the side.
''You know, the dyslexia and ADHD don't make things at school easy,'' Percy said while scratching his head sheepishly. ''Haven't you ever been to school?''
The youngest living child of Hades shook her head. ''No, our father had us home-schooled.''
''Ah,'' was his rather intelligent answer. A short silence followed in which Percy tried to think of something interesting to say. ''That's cool.''
There was a short pause before Nora nodded her head. ''Yeah.''
Looking to the side, Percy noticed Bianca eyeing him weirdly. This prompted the appearance of a small grimace on his face.
Nico snorted, ''This is probably the most awkward conversation I've been a part of in a few years. I did not think that there was someone else in the world who could compare to Nora in that respect.''
At Percy's glare, the younger boy laughed. ''Five minutes haven't even passed since this whole thing started.''
''Thanks, dude,'' muttered Percy, the sarcasm in his voice was loud and clear.
''Dude?'' the Son of Hades repeated. His voice was tinged with so much confusion that Percy felt like he would burst into laughter any second now. He managed to stop himself, but a snort still escaped his lips. ''What's a dude?''
''It's just like we call each other nowadays.'' Percy scratched his head, a small grin forming on his lips. ''You know like guy or something.''
Nico turned his gaze towards his giggling sister. ''I see.''
''Yeah,'' said Percy, his lips twitching upwards without his consent. It was hard not to feel amused at the way the younger boy's expression seemed to darken, while his twin's did the exact opposite.
Soon, Nora was laughing loudly and Percy found himself joining her.
