ΗΑΔΕΣ (underworldly) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-01-08 09:02:00 |
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Luke had made the decision in the middle of the night when a new wave of anger at the gods washed over him as dreams of his mom’s insanity repeated. He hated the repeats. He hated the way that his mom had been. He hated the gods and Kronos even more than them for using that hatred against him. Kronos had used that and a mixture of fear to drive him to the place that he’d been when he stole the Helm of Darkness and the Master Bolt. He’d also used it to make him poison Thalia’s tree and betray all of the people that he cared for, the people that cared about him. Even with that, Luke couldn’t sit there and blame the gods for everything. He was just as guilty as they were. He could have stopped at any point, but he didn’t. He could have asked someone for help. Instead he just...allowed himself to be manipulated, allowed his anger at the gods to be used against him. Even with that, he’d needed to get rid of the Helm of Darkness. He’d figure out the Master Bolt once he knew where to take it. But for now, he just wanted to get rid of the Helm of Darkness. He knew where to take it. Mostly because it wasn’t too difficult to find people if you knew who to talk to and where to look. He could usually judge the useful people from the less useful ones. He didn’t know what sort of security system the place had or what exactly the status of his demigod powers were, but he knew he could unlock the gates and get in. He just had to hope that he could get in and get out without getting caught. So he didn’t really think about the alarms too much as he started his way in, past the gates. If he got caught, he had a feeling he could talk his way out of it. Maybe. He’d just have to be careful. He hid himself behind a shrub in an attempt to be sneaky, peeking around the side to see if anyone had noticed that he was there. On the Laguna Beach mansion property, prime dwellings for a Hollywood film director, it was all state of the art security - silent alarms with direct lines to the police, gates at the end of the long driveway and up closer to the actual house, locks, and also? Cameras. Cameras which had views of all angles and corners of the place, each on a screen in what was basically the command center. Whenever something was amiss, Hades received an alert on his phone - and so a kid lurking in the bushes, that was definitely something that tipped him off to the fact that, well, there was a kid lurking in the bushes. On his property. His entrance was heralded by a plume of ebony smoke, the rich and oaky scent of fire nice and crisp in the air as wispy curly q’s tapered off. Not like he was too concerned - though something about this visitor seemed familiar, he could feel it. Sometimes he got drunk fuckers prowling outside the main gates (the price of celebrity sigh), but no one had ever gotten this close before. So, obviously something was up with that. “Hey kid, what the fuck? You selling Boy Scout cookies?” he demanded crankily. Oh, yeah, that hair was definitely aflame too. Flickering with every shade of blue. Luke really should have seen that coming. He should have known that he Hades wasn’t really lacking his Hades. He swore under his breath, clutching the Helm of Darkness to his chest. It took a few moments for him to realize that their Hades was not so…flamey about the hair section. He’d met Hades before. He’d met all the gods and goddesses before. Well, perhaps not all of them. At least all of the Olympians. It was only in his dreams, but he knew this was different. “Uh.” It was the first thing he could even think to say and it was not all that useful or helpful. “No. Sorry. I just-” He frowned before holding out the Helm of Darkness, wrapped up as it was in cloth. “This is yours.” A pause. “Well, not yours, perhaps. Just...a version of you? I’m not sure how this works.” This was definitely going so well. He could only imagine Thalia’s expression if he had to call her from the police station. Riiiiiight. Hades knew that there were other versions of him, especially in Hazel’s dreams - apparently there were other demigod kids keyboard-smashing on the network too; he’d talked to Athena’s brain-child (Annabeth, wasn’t it?) a few times, so it stood to reason that there had to be more. This lurker must be one of them. “I don’t think anyone knows how it works, but here - hang on,” was what he advised before reaching out grasping the generous offering, with it being held in between them. Then, a second later, the teleportation took effect and both of them reappeared in Hades’ living room. Followed by the sounds of excited dogs coming to say hello - Cesare was as dopey as ever with gangly Italian greyhound limbs, and Cerberus had grown but not enough to be intimidating. The hellhound was still in the puppy stage, though he barked and growled like he actually was foreboding. Sigh, again. “Go, out,” Hades snapped his fingers, the dogs frolicking off, and he turned his attention to the kid. “Alright, now, maybe start at the beginning? Like who are you, for example.” Luke felt a little out of sorts the moment that they teleported. He couldn’t remember any sort of teleportation in the dreams. Not involving him teleporting anyway. It would have been useful. But now he was in what looked to be a living room. He’d never actually been in a living room like this one, though. He looked around it for a little while before the sound of dogs distracted him. He glanced at both of them, a hint of suspicion on his face. He knew about Cerberus, but who was the other dog? Where were the three heads? What kind of weird madness involved Hades owning small pet dogs? None of those were questions he had answers to, nor were they questions he was going to ask when he’d just been caught breaking into the man’s house (god’s house????). He cleared his throat, running fingers through his hair. Right. Who was he? That was a sensible question. “Luke Castellan, son of Her-” He frowned, before deciding to finish the sentence. “Son of Hermes.” Not that his dad had ever been around in this world. He could recall his dream self talking about daddy issues, but he didn’t mention all of that. “I had a dream and it showed up.” He didn’t mention that he’d stolen it in the dreams. Just that the dreams had gifted it to him. It was how things worked here. “I didn’t want it, so I was just going to leave it.” Which clearly hadn’t worked. “The Helm of Darkness.” “That’s Cesare,” Hades motioned to where the Italian greyhound had trounced off to, finding a toy to growl at and shake in his teeth like the intimidating noodle he was. “My son’s dog. Cerberus is - “ Was supposed to be a hellhound, but the OC had a weird sense of humor. It was still debatable whether or not he could use his magic to return the hound to his normal size and with the right amount of heads; he’d yet to try. The blue-eyed puppy was pretty cute though. “Cerberus is Cerberus,” he finished. “I also have a chipmunk and a rabbit for imp minions, sometimes they pop up. And there’s a horse that can run like the wind or something.” Yes, welcome to the zoo. But anyway. “Have a seat,” he continued, settling on the plush sofa. “So let’s see - you’re saying you have my Helm of Darkness somehow? That’s...the invisibility thing, right? I dream of different stuff than you kids do. Why exactly do you have it again?” It seemed to be a valid question ‘cause clearly he was missing a step or two here. Cesare and...Cerberus. He decided not to comment on all the rest of the animals, but he had a feeling he knew who the horse was. But that was due to an increasing amount of mythological knowledge that came with the dreams. Cautiously, he took a seat, looking up at Hades. Thalia and Annabeth were probably going to give him twin earfuls about this. “Yes. It can also induce fear, but...I guess that doesn't matter.” And the question he was dreading. “I...well…” He wasn't sure what to say. There was the truth, but the truth felt pretty dangerous. If he lied, there was a chance he'd find out the truth. “I stole it. In the dreams. I was being manipulated by Kronos. He knew how angry I was with the gods after...everything. It's a long story. I don't really want to talk about that. Dad and I don't get along. So he...well, once a year, we go to Olympus to spend time with the Olympians. Not in Greece. Um. It's not important. So I took it. And the Master Bolt.” Now he just had to hope he didn't get killed. Hades was pretty good at inducing fear on his own, really - come on, he was Hades. He hung around disgruntled souls and burdens, regrets, and trauma for eons, it did things to a person. Potentially made them lose their humanity, not to mention their marbles - it could be why he was all out of sorts and so completely mistrusting of everyone (besides Zelena) in his dreams. All he knew was a world etched in charcoal, a blanket of blackness. And darkness, he knew that too. At its best it was thick and sticky, like quicksand, a place to hide (and never be seen again). At its worst it would eat away at you like acid. “Kronos,” he snorted with disdain. “I killed that guy. My father - “ The word was dripping in sarcasm, “...whatever though. Wasn’t much of one. Sounds like he’s being a bastard in your world too - but hey, you stole that jerkoff Zeus’ thunderbolt? Way to go, so did I.” He’d have gone for a highfive if Luke didn’t look like he was going to crap himself, so Hades quickly switched gears. “As long as you don’t steal my shit in this world we’re cool,” he assured. “I mean, I’m not gonna go all - “ His hair burst into flame again, the human disguise poofing away to reveal the ashen skin, the teeth like knives, and the bright yellow eyes. But the human meatsuit was back a second later - he’d only done away with it for dramatic effect. He did enjoy his dramatics. “So you and Hermes don’t get along, huh? He’s kind of a dick?” Luke looked down at his lap, frowning slightly. “He’s not great.” He’d hurt people he cared about. Thalia and Annabeth didn’t deserve any of the things he did. The gods? Well, he didn’t care all that much about them, but Thalia and Annabeth were his family. His real family. “But I guess I’m not that great either.” At least not in the dreams. “But yes. I did take it. It was supposed to start a war between you two.” He continued to stare at his lap. “It worked. But I guess that’s not actually difficult or surprising.” When he did look up, all he saw for a minute was a very Disney Hades before he went back to normal. “I’m not planning to steal from you here. Once I got my demigod powers -” He paused before saying, “Well, I have some of them, but the rest of them. Once I had them, I could, but I won’t.” He’d stolen from all sorts of places in the dreams. He didn’t steal here, though. He chose different methods of getting money and the stuff he needed. They weren’t really any less illegal, but he didn’t really need to mention that to anyone. “Yeah. But that’s the life of demigods, isn’t it? Ignored by your godly parent, given shitty excuses when they finally come for a small visit, ruin your life. I’m pretty sure that’s par for the course. At least he claimed the majority of us unlike some of the others. But that’s why our Cabin has the most kids. We take in all the people who aren’t claimed by their godly parents. People sleep on the floor. That’s how crowded it is. So I wouldn’t say any of the gods are that great at being parents, but that’s just me.” He couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice as he spoke. He couldn’t ignore the feelings that bled over from the dreams all the time. Probably because it wasn’t that different from real life. He barely knew his dad and he knew Thalia’s dad was a shitty parent, too. Stealing from Hades wouldn’t end well - he was glad to hear that it wouldn’t be an issue. He had to laugh about sparking a war between he and Zeus though, yeah, like that was hard. “We’ve been at war since we were kids, me and my brother,” he waved his hand dismissively. “In pretty much any tale, that’s the way it is. I think it’s messed up that your godly parents treat the kids so terribly - I can’t think of a world where I wouldn’t love my own kids.” He knew he did in Hazel and Nico’s dreamworld too, he just couldn’t imagine otherwise. Maybe being who he was, that didn’t lend way to ballgames and attending every dance recital (and being a demigod didn’t mean a normal existence either, whatever normal was), but he cared. There was no way he didn’t. “Who I am, I’m always the one that gets tossed into the universe's dumpster because Zeus has a god complex, pun intended - but here it’s not like that, I’ve got my daughters and son and they save me from falling into that darkness,” he explained. “You friends with Hazel? ‘Cause feel free to come by whenever. I mean, you don’t need to break in. Just saying.” Was he alone? The kid looked rough, like he’d seen some shit. Hades felt bad for him. Not in a woobie pity kind of way, but more like - he was young, he should be having fun. And all that teenager stuff. Luke was a lot of things, but suicidal was coincidentally not one of them. “Yeah. You, Poseidon, and Zeus never seem to be on good footing. You made a pact not to have more kids, but I can’t remember when you made it. The three of you.” But Poseidon had broken that pact. He’d had Percy...even if it had taken a considerable amount of time for him to claim Percy as his son. “Basically war between you three was inevitable. I just pulled the trigger.” The more he spent talking about it (which really hadn’t been much because he didn’t like to talk about it), the more he saw how much of a pawn he’d really been. “We definitely drew the short straw, though. We get abilities, but we also have to clean up messes we didn’t start. And deal with monsters on an almost constant basis. And our parents treat us like we don’t matter the majority of the time.” He wished that he could say that anyone had saved him from the darkness, but it was difficult. With his mom too insane to take care of him and Thalia dead and turned into a tree, it was asking too much for Annabeth to be the only thing between him and the darkness. Here, though, he had Thalia and she wasn’t a tree (if you ignored the fact that she had been a tree for a bit). “I don’t think I know her. Just Annabeth and Thalia. Well, Percy, too. I know him more in the dreams, though.” I almost killed him with a Pit Scorpion was something he chose not to mention. “I’ll try to remember that, though.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Thanks for, you know, not killing me.” “Nah, you can keep your soul where it is,” Hades promised. “Taking it would be messy.” He wouldn’t anyway - the kid was, well, he was just a kid. With a shitty father and a shitty start to life, no doubt, now dreaming about more shit he couldn’t control. “Besides, people make mistakes. No one’s perfect - not even the gods, as you know better than most.” And he wouldn’t hold anyone accountable for something that happened in the dreams. Unless you were Zeus. Then again, Zeus had already done enough crap to Hades by just existing. It was a guarantee that he’d dislike his brother on principle alone - complicated feelings, sure; Hades sort of thought they were beyond family therapy by this point. “Annabeth is Athena’s kid, I know that much. Who’s Thalia though?” he asked. “And do you want like, a drink or anything? Something to eat?” It was only polite to offer a guest a little something, even if Luke had been prowling on the lawn earlier. But they were past that. He nodded, a simple way of saying that he understood. Everyone made mistakes. He just had difficulty forgiving himself for his own...even if he knew the dreams weren't his to take responsibility for. It didn't really change the way he felt about it. He still hated the person he became. Hal would have been disappointed. “Yeah. She almost brained me with a hammer when we first met in the dreams. She was seven. Oh. Thalia is a daughter of Zeus. Not that he seemed to care. The only good thing he did was turn her into a tree instead of letting her die, but…” He trailed off. It was a little too close to things he didn't want to talk about. He blamed himself for that, too. For not staying and fighting with her. But it had been another strike against the gods, another step closer to the person that would turn against them. Luke considered the offer. “Maybe just some water.” Water it was. Hades got up to get them both drinks - the H20 for Luke and a root beer for him - and he tossed Luke the bottle before settling on the sofa again. “Daughter of Zeus?” he repeated and, oh, naturally. Why did he have a feeling that this was going to turn out in a completely FUBARed sort of way? “You mean, like...there, right? You probably know her father here?” Please. Please let her father be some paragon of virtue or something, so basically the exact opposite of the Zeus whom Hades knew. Because the Zeus he knew? Would definitely not take an interest in any the kids he sired. Big ol’ Jupiter. That dickhead. Luke caught the bottle, nodding again at the question. “Daughter of Zeus.” He shrugged slightly. Everyone had a godly parent. At least all the demigods. He didn’t know any children of Hades directly, but he’d knew which historical figures were children of the gods. They all knew. To an extent. Annabeth probably more than any of them. “There, yeah. I don’t know her dad here. I’m sure there is one, but I don’t know him.” Luke shrugged slightly. “But then I barely know my own father, so it’s basically a replay of dream things. It’s just that mine thinks that sending expensive gifts makes up for not being around. I think I’d rather him pretend I didn’t exist if that’s the alternative.” He peered over at Hades for a moment before asking, “I going to assume you’ve still got a brother named Zeus that you don’t like all that much?” “If your pa’s a shitty father, that’s all on him - it was nothing you did, and pretending he doesn’t exist might be better,” Hades said, and hell, he knew he should have opened a bottle of the hard stuff instead of plain root beer. So Zeus, also a crappy father, had a daughter named Thalia in the dreams - and since Hades had the same kids here too, would it stand to reason that his kinfolk (much to his chagrin) was also Thalia’s father? The thought of it stung. Not because of the girl, but because he and Zeus were so out of touch, it was possible that he had a daughter in her late teens, early 20s, and his own brother had never known about it. But speaking of that trainwreck. “I still have a brother named Zeus, yeah. It’s why I was curious about any potential daughter. We never really got along though. He’s a Senator now, with capped teeth and plastic surgery looks and one of those ‘trust me, I won’t rip you off’ used car salesmen grins. You know, typical politician.” Also married, last he heard, but these brother-gods had a penchant for infidelity in common, though Hades had straightened himself out in that regard. Evolving into who he was now had changed him so much - the dreams, the magic, the actually losing Meg. It was a lot. He nodded. He knew it, logically speaking, but there was always a part of him that was going to wonder how he hadn’t been enough, how his mom hadn’t been enough. Surely she’d been worth something. Maybe he wasn’t, but how could she not have been? Then again, he did put his mother above everyone. He doubted that would change anytime soon. “I do know he’s a senator. A married senator.” He wrinkled his nose slightly. Not that he could say anything. The only person who never cheated on their spouse was Hera. She and Artemis were the only cabins with no children in them. Zeus only didn’t have one because his daughter died before she could inhabit the cabin. “I’ve never met him, though. I just know what Thalia’s told me about him.” Yeah, that was when his hair burst into flames again. So did Hades’ eyebrows. It took a second for him to get his shit together enough to will himself back to hair that wasn’t actually fire. “Sorry, that happens a lot,” he apologized, and it did - mostly at work, when he was dealing with the usual bullshit and stupid people. Meg was used to it by now, and adept at waiting ‘til the spike in his literal hotheadedness subsided. “Fucking figures though,” he grumbled. “Maybe I should talk to her. Or, wait, you can talk to her first. Tell her about me. ‘Cause I’m really not that bad of a guy.” Right? He totally wasn’t. Come on, Hades was awesome. Luke stared for a moment at the sudden burst of flames. He was beginning to wonder when he would get used to that and stop instinctively jumping. “It’s okay. It’s like being around the kids from the Hephaestus cabin. There’s a lot of fire involved.” But then they were the children of Hephaestus, so that wasn’t surprising. “Uh.” Luke repressed the urge to tell him that things were a little weird recently since he’d sort of poisoned her and then a lot of other dream things happened. They weren’t terrible, but he was aware of a slightly change. Not that he could blame Thalia. He wasn’t sure how to deal with himself most of the time. “Yeah, I could tell her.” He watched Hades for a second. “I guess you’re pretty okay for a god.” He’d have to warn her about the flame hair. “So...I should probably go. Not that I’m trying to escape, but I have a few other things to do and I guess I need to talk to Thalia about things.” “Oh, sure, yeah - no worries there,” Hades stood up, in order to walk Luke out. “You can also tell her I’d like to meet her. You know, if she wants to.” He wouldn’t force it or anything. Being related to her obvious deadbeat dad probably wasn’t the best thing, but Hades couldn’t stand Zeus anyway - and if he had a niece, then he wanted to know her. He got to the door, programming the alarm in a touch of about a thousand buttons (complicated tech, somewhat) so it wouldn’t go off when the gates were opened. “And really, like I said, next time? Just come over regularly.” Figuring out what to do with this Helm of Darkness thing would come later, but there had to be something. At the very least, he could add it to his collection of magical paraphernalia. There was a nod at that. He’d let Thalia decide what she wanted to do with everything. If she wanted to talk to Hades, then she could, but he wasn’t going to shove her that way either. He was glad that Hades didn’t seem to be the one that should shove people. At least not about this. He stood, following Hades to the door and carefully not trying to let his mind focus too much on the alarm. He wondered if he could disable alarms once all his abilities got there. He offered Hades a quick smile. “I’ll make sure to uh...message first? Something like that.” He slipped out of the door, making his way back to the gate. Now he needed to go talk to Thalia and figure out how he was supposed to feel about this whole thing. |