𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀 | No way out, nothingness, or the impenetrable. A puzzle or something puzzling.
Esmerelda spent the school year dog-hunting after discovering the truth about the mortal side of her family during a 'visit' to the Underworld. Her summer v...
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▬▬▬▬▬ CHAPTER TEN ▬▬▬▬▬
ESMERELDA'S VOW TO NEVER SEE her father again lasted about two days, embarrassingly enough. She blamed it on the stress of the new job, but it was actually just a combination of curiosity and longing to build some sort of decent relationship with her dad.
Though she had no idea how the latter would even happen. Regulus was to be tortured for all eternity (and oh shit, did she even put him back in his shackles? Whoops), and she was practically his jailer. Not a very good start for a normal father-daughter relationship.
"I can't believe Hades is making you walk his dog all around Los Angeles." Percy said blandly from the Iris Message.
"It's Lord Hades, Percy," she corrected, but there was pretty much nothing anyone could do that could make Percy respect any of the deities. Not that she could blame him. "And it's actually really fun! Cerberus is adorable, plus it's funny to see how the mortals react to him. They think I'm walking with three little rottweilers around rather than a three-headed dog that's as big as a building."
Of course, taking Cerberus out on walks came with some downsides. Since he was extremely heavy, he'd sometimes leave cracks on the ground that Esmerelda would have to fix. He also had the tendency to rip trees out from their roots and drop them at her feet because he wanted to play 'fetch'. The worst was when he had to pee. There was literally no safe place for him to do it so he'd just pee on the spot. Esmerelda learned to bring an umbrella, but the Mist made the unfortunate mortals see it as rain instead of what it really was.
"So what'd you IM me for, again? Something about, uh, daddy issues? 'Cause to be honest, I'm not really the best person to go to for that—"
She cut him. "—No, it's not daddy issues! I just noticed that you seem to have a good relationship with your mortal parent and well... I need help." She heard a loud noise behind her and looked over her shoulder just to see Cerberus sink his teeth into yet another tree and called out, "No! Bad Cerberus! Don't pull out the tree!"
Cerberus let out a whine before releasing it. He settled with chasing a butterfly he spotted instead.
"Your dad the mass murderer?" Percy asked.
"No—well, yes—but that's the wrong person. My dad's not actually Sirius Black, it's his brother, Regulus Black, who's... also a mass murderer." She grimaced.
He furrowed his brows. "What's with the weird names?"
"Black tradition—the kids have to be named after stars," she said dismissively. "Anyways, I found my dad in the Fields of Punishment and had a... talk(?) with him. Turns out he tried to do a good thing before he died but it was too late for him to get a better sentence."
He gaped at her. "You actually talked to your serial killer dad? And now you wanna build a better relationship with him? Dude, the Underworld's made you lose your mind."
