shadow of hell || a dc/jason todd oc

― 01 | upbringing.

Suddenly, the girl stopped training and turned her focus to Hadronia, as did the others slowly. Hadronia's usually blonde hair transformers to dark brown in a smooth way. That was another thing her body did without her knowing why. Antiope froze and she didn't know exactly what to do. This was bound to happen at some point, she had just hoped it'd be further into the future when Hadronia had fully grown.

"Who is that?"

"She just... appeared out of thin air."

"Hadronia..." Antiope took a step closer and dropped her weapon to the ground.

"Oh no." Hippolyta whispered from behind them and gulped as Hadronia turned around and shook her head slowly.

"You lied to me. How could you do that?" Hadronia didn't yell but somehow her calm voice sent chills down Hippolyta's spine. "You made me believe we were alone for all these years. I can't even look at you."

Hadronia ran off again with wet eyes and stopped by the ocean shore. She yearned so badly to just jump in and swim to another place, no matter how far it was. Anything was better than to stay here.

"Your parents." Antiope's voice broke the comfortable silence. "They're Hades and Eris."

"Hades as in the god of the underworld?" Hadronia frowned and folded her arms together. If that was in fact true, she could start to see proof of that and reasons as to why she can do what they couldn't.

"Yes, and Eris as in the goddess of discord. That's why Hippolyta wouldn't let you interact with the rest of us amazons. She was afraid you would act out and hurt someone and aside from that, Hades wasn't exactly her personal favorite." She joined her side and watched the water.

"Was?"

"He's dead. Ares killed all the gods years ago. I'm sorry. I don't know about your mother but I doubt she even remembers you." She murmured and for the first time didn't look at her with pity in her eyes while thinking of her past.

Hadronia met her gaze and her shoulders relaxed a bit. She blinked away a few tears and then lifted the bottom of her dark hair that slowly turned blonde again. Antiope frowned and put her hands on her hips.

"Yeah, it does that sometimes." Hadronia answered her mental question. "I don't know why though."

"I've never seen it before."

"I do have a theory but it's a long shot. I think that... when I'm happy, it's bright and blonde but when I'm angry or sad it turns dark. But I'm not sure."

"Interesting." Antiope mused and carefully touched her hair for a second. Hadronia looked down for a moment before she inhaled deeply and asked the one question that nagged her the most.

"Why did Hades leave me here?"

"Truthfully, I don't know. Hippolyta never told me. She wanted to keep you a secret and that meant keeping as much from me as possible. Hades may be a pain sometimes but I doubt he left you here if he had another choice. Out of the gods, he might have been the one who cared about family most. Persephone did genuinely love him."

"But yet he left me here with a woman who can barely look at me. I've been so alone all my life while I could've been surrounded by other warriors here. How could you lie to my face for so long? And who was that girl you were training? She looked so young too."

"It pained me to lie to you, Hadronia. Trust me on that. Her name is Diana and much like you, she's a child of a god as well. But she doesn't know it, at least not the whole truth. She's Hippolyta's real daughter."

"Which god?" She asked sternly and looked at Antiope with a cold face.

"Zeus."

"Is that why she's accepted by you? Why everyone on this island knows her? Because she's the daughter of the mightiest god? And because Hippolyta's her biological mom? This isn't fair."

"It isn't." Antiope agreed and looked over at the ocean. "If you were to just... disappear, I wouldn't know about it."

"What?" Hadronia frowned and turned her head to look at her. A small smile played on Antiope's lips. "You'd let me leave?"

"You're a grown woman, Hadronia. If you wish to leave, that is up to you. I understand if you don't want to stay here. Your father possesed the power to shadow travel. It means he could render with the shadows of the world and move through them. It makes you almost invisible. I believe you've inherited that, as well as his other qualities. But you should hurry before Hippolyta finds us. Just try to feel the shadows around you and think where you want to go."

"Thank you." Hadronia whispered and pursed her lips. Antiope cupped her face and placed a long kiss on her forehead.

"Be careful out there. The world and its people are dangerous, Hadronia." Antiope said quietly before she let go.

Hadronia looked up at the cloudless sky and groaned to herself. No clouds, no shadows. Then she looked down at the sand and narrowed her eyes at her own shadow, trying to remember that feeling of longing to just... disappear. Judging by the smile on Antiope's face, she succeeded. I was a strange feeling now that she was aware of what was happening. It reminded her of when an arm goes numb and your entire body becomes lighter to carry. This was like that, but a hundred times worse. It made her uneasy. So she moved toward the ocean and laughed when she quite literally hovered above it, jumping up to reach the sky. Then she passed the invisible boarder between the outside world and Themyscira and her life would begin all over again.