gone girl.
━━━ chapter fourteen
❀
"You're my sister, Amaryllis. You're a daughter of Hades."
The blonde stared at him for a good minute, before pressing her lips together as to not make obvious the laugh rising in her throat. She was unsuccessful and ended up letting out a snort that evolved into her wheezing while laughing. Nico looked at her in disbelief, half-confused and half-disappointed at her reaction.
When she saw his expression, her laugh slowly stopped. The boy didn't seem to be the kind of person that went around telling jokes or pranking people, but there had to be a first time for everything. Amaryllis expected him to smile or at least smirk mischievously, but it never happened.
"Wha- You're kidding, right?"
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" Nico asked her, putting his hands inside the pockets of his jeans.
"Look, you're wrong," she tried to explain it to him, though his words didn't seem to leave her mind. "I was claimed the moment I arrived at the Camp. Apollo is my father."
"Do you have any powers? Has Apollo ever talked to you? Have you ever felt a connection to him?" Amaryllis opened her mouth to reply, only to realise that she had nothing that linked her to Apollo other than the fact that she was claimed by him when she was eight.
Nico continued. "I figured out when we were still inside the Labyrinth. There was something... off about you, a certain type of darkness not anyone can notice. Remember the fight with Minos in Daedalus' lab? I tried to summon a portal to the Underworld, but then I lost my sword. Yet, the portal opened anyway. At first, I thought I had done it until I realised that I wouldn't have been able to do it without my sword and that it was you. You opened the portal."
"I froze mid-battle."
"That was why. You used your powers unconsciously," he said, unable to stand still as he elaborated. "You said you hated heights, which is Zeus' domain. The children of the Big Three typically don't do well in the other two gods' domains. Once you told me you have no powers, I started thinking it over. Then it was Pan - before he died, he told you you weren't aware of your true identity. The Pegasi only had a problem with you and me. There were too many signs, it- it couldn't be a coincidence!"
Amaryllis didn't realise it, but she had been holding her breath as Nico was talking. She didn't want to believe him, it went against everything she ever believed in. She couldn't be a daughter of Hades, a child of the Big Three. There was no way something like that could happen. There were still too many unanswered questions, but whatever Nico was saying made sense, a bit too much sense.
"That doesn't mean anything," she whispered. She was trying her best not to spiral. "I- If I was a child of Hades, then wouldn't I have powers just like you? Wouldn't all the gods, especially Zeus, constantly try to kill me? Wouldn't that be against the pact?"
"All the gods broke the promise they made. They swore that they wouldn't have any kids with mortals, but Zeus had Thalia, Poseidon had Percy and Hades... he had you." Nico took a breath. He seemed hesitant to keep talking, but he did. "I have talked with father. I needed to make sure my theory was correct before telling you. He... confirmed it."
"What the fuck?" Amaryllis muttered, suddenly feeling too dizzy to be standing up. She sat on the sand, her hands going through her hands in a panicked motion. "What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck-"
Nico got down on her level, maintaining a distance between them. "I know it's a lot and I- I tried asking more, I did! He wants to talk to you."
"Does he? Fuck him," she spat out. The ground under them rumbled, like a gentle reminder that she needed to watch her language when she talked about the gods. Amaryllis was too caught up on her feelings to give a shit. She hated him and the rest of that stupid motherfucking immortal pieces of shit gods, she felt like she hated everyone around her at that moment. "Είσαι μαλάκας! Yeah, what are you going to do about it?" she screamed and punched the ground, hoping Hades heard her or at least felt something.
Under normal circumstances, any demigod would be relieved to find out their godly parent. That discovery explained so many things about their lives and felt like finally putting together a puzzle that you thought you'd never be able to make. Amaryllis felt so many emotions at once and none of them were good.
Because if she was being honest, it made sense for her to be a child of Apollo. Not just appearance-wise, but also personality-wise. She might not have had the powers her other siblings had, but she felt like she belonged. Now her entire reality had shifted. She was a completely different person and she didn't even know it until then – she was tricked by her own father.
She couldn't understand. She looked at Nico and saw that they were nothing alike, at least not on least surface. She remembered his words back when they were in the Labyrinth. He never felt like he belonged at Camp with the rest of the half-bloods, just because of his godly parent. Hades was an outcast himself and now it seemed like Amaryllis was one as well. If people found out about the truth, about her real father, she wouldn't be accepted, but feared.
She had already lost one family and one home. She couldn't lose another one.
Nico stopped her. "He told me he'd explain everything. He wants to have dinner, all of us together."
"When?"
"Now."
"So that's why you're here," she scoffed. "All this time you knew but didn't tell me until Daddy said it's fine, huh?"
Nico lowered his head. "I'm sorry. I only wanted to help, I swear."
Despite her anger, her urge to yell at the boy in front of her until he felt exactly how she did, Amaryllis couldn't stay mad at him. He was just a eleven year old boy and she could see it in his eyes that he was being genuine. Amaryllis knew his story – Percy had told her about the casino and Bianca. Now Nico had found out he had another sister and Amaryllis couldn't stand the idea of even pretending to hate him. If they truly were siblings, she was determined to act like one.
She took a minute to relax, practising all those breathing exercises Annabeth had taught her. When she finally calmed herself down, she turned to see Nico.
"We don't need to do this today," he said. "If you need to take some time to process everything, I'm sure-"
"No. We're going right now."
They both got up and dusted themselves off. Amaryllis hadn't realised it but her nose was still broken and bleeding, her white t-shirt having a red stain on it. "Want me to heal it?" Nico asked.
"Does it make me look badass?"
He shrugged. "I guess."
"Good," she clenched her jaw. "Take us to the Underworld then."
❀
It was the first time Amaryllis shadow-travelled and she couldn't really say she enjoyed it. It was very dark and cold and most importantly, they travelled so fast that she felt like her skin was peeling off.
"You'll get used to it," Nico said once they arrived to their destination.
They were definitely inside the Palace, she could tell by the lack of light and the creepy, cold atmosphere. It had stone floors and walls, which were decorated with torches lit with blue fire. There were also two stone stairway entrances on each side with a red carpet in the middle, which seemed ridiculous and Amaryllis would have probably commented on it if she wasn't so nervous.
Nico signalled her to follow him. "You've been here a lot, haven't you?" she asked him and he nodded.
"Yeah. I have a room too. Sometimes I stay here," he said and before she asked him anything else, he turned his head to face her. "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit, but I'll deal with it," she muttered. There was no easier way to describe her feelings at that moment and she was starting to regret her impulsive decision to say yes to the dinner.
Amaryllis found herself thinking of Percy, Annabeth and Will and how much she wanted to tell them. But if she did, there was no way she could guarantee that they wouldn't hate her. She decided that she couldn't risk it, even if that meant bottling her emotions up until she had no choice but to explode.
Once they arrived at the Throne Room, Amaryllis realised that she had seen it before in one of her dreams. It was hard to forget the throne made of bones that seemed to emit fear and death and even harder to forget the man that it belonged to. While she hadn't paid much attention to him during her last dream, it was impossible not to when she was standing in front of him. Hades was intimidatingly tall and muscular, with skin as white as paper and black eyes.
Next to him, on a throne made of beautiful flowers sat Persephone, his wife. Somehow she was just as scary as Hades, even though she appeared much warmer. She was wearing an orange dress and had extremely long black hair that were touching the ground. Her pale face had formed a scowl and she had her arms crossed over her chest, looking mildly annoyed at the sight of Nico and Amaryllis.
They stood in front of the two gods. Nico bowed, but Amaryllis didn't.
"Amaryllis," Hades said. He wasn't smiling, but it seemed like the closest to a smile he could achieve. His teeth were sharp, like small blades and it made him look like a real-life vampire. "My daughter, we finally meet."
"Hello, sir," she said with a blank expression and then nodded at Persephone's direction. "Ma'am."
She was still mad at them, but at the same time, she knew how to choose her battles. Under her confident facade, she was incredibly nervous – it was the first time she would be meeting her father, her true father, after all. Plus they could probably only take so much disrespect before snapping and burning her alive, even though it seemed like a more appealing option than spending time with them.
"Yet another child of yours that seems to completely ignore decorum," the goddess said as she stared at Amaryllis' bloodstained t-shirt and dirty jean shorts. Did she expect her to wear a freaking gown?
The girl had to physically restrain herself from answering by clenching her jaw. You can't call the queen of Underworld a bitch, she reminded herself.
"I did what you asked me to, father," Nico said. Only then did she realise that he was completely ignored until that point. Hades had barely looked at him, his focus entirely on the girl.
"I want answers," was the only thing Amaryllis said. "And I want the whole truth. No more secrets."
"Of course. But first, let's have dinner."
He snapped his fingers and suddenly shadows appeared from thin air, covering the whole room. Once they vanished, they were suddenly in a entirely different room. There was a big table, full of so much food that it could probably feed a whole legion and four chairs, each of them away from each other.
"Sit," Hades ordered. He seemed to be the only person that didn't completely loathe the idea of a family dinner, though he didn't appear that enthusiastic either.
Once they sat, shadow figures started serving them. They were so quick that Amaryllis didn't even notice how suddenly her plate was filled with luxurious food. It looked delicious, but also incredibly expensive, though affording it was hardly a problem for the King of the Underworld. As much as she didn't feel like eating, the smell of her favourite Mediterranean dishes made her stomach growl.
Completely ignoring the fact that not everyone had their plates full yet, Amaryllis started devouring the chicken. She could sense Persephone's disapproving gaze, but she couldn't care less. The food at Camp was decent, but it was nothing like that.
Her eyes caught Persephone nudging her husband, before Hades cleared his throat. "I suppose I should ask how you've been," he said. For someone who was supposed to be the most feared god of the Pantheon, he was very awkward and she wondered whether he was like that with everyone or just her.
"Not that well, thanks to you, sir" she said, not avoiding eye contact as much as it made her nervous. She gently wiped her mouth and stopped eating. "Were you the one that sent me to Ogygia?"
Hades sighed. "Maybe it would be better if we started from the beginning..."
Amaryllis insisted. "Were you the one that sent me to Ogygia?" she repeated. She kept a cold exterior but it was hard to mistake the pain in her voice.
"Yes," the god said.
It had been four years. Four fucking years and yet he stated it so calmly, like he didn't understand the gravity of what he did. It infuriated Amaryllis. She had been right all along – gods were cruel and didn't care about anything but themselves.
"But I only did it to protect you," he continued, ignoring her burning gaze. "When my brother's lightning bolt got stolen, I knew the situation would get dangerous. Everyone, included you, believed you were a child of Apollo, but I couldn't risk any accidents happening. If your true identity got revealed, you'd be in terrible danger."
"What about Percy?"
"Don't compare yourself to the son of Poseidon. Zeus and I always had a very... complicated relationship. To put it simply, we kind of hate each other. Sure, the fact that I tried to kill his daughter didn't exactly help, but-"
"Thalia Grace," Nico chimed in. Amaryllis remembered that name and the story behind it – during her death, the daughter of Zeus had been transformed into a tree that protected the Camp. Afterwards, she turned back to a human and eventually joined the huntresses of Artemis. Annabeth often spoke about her, since she was the person she looked up to the most ever since she was a kid.
"Yeah, well," Hades shrugged. "My point is that if Zeus knew about you, he wouldn't take it as lightly as he did with Jackson. He would have killed you. Ogygia was the safest place I could think of, considering most gods didn't care enough about Calypso to check on her."
"Tell me about it," Persephone mumbled under her breath.
"But what about Hephaestus or- or Hermes? They visited."
"Aw, them," Hades said, with a dismissive flick of his hand. "A little blackmail and they know how to keep their mouths shut. They might be Olympians but they know their place."
"And what about Apollo?" Amaryllis asked. "He claimed me the moment I arrived at the Camp. Why would he do that?"
"He owed me a favour."
She suddenly remembered what she heard the two gods discuss in the dream she saw back when she was in the Labyrinth. She quickly connected the dots and suddenly, it all made sense. "You broke the rules to make sure his daughter would get in Elysium. That's why he owed you."
Hades nodded. "And my plan worked, didn't it? You look like you could be one of these children of Apollo. You have... her golden hair." For a second, she swore she could see his gaze soften, but it was quickly covered by the same serious look he had when he saw Persephone glaring at him.
"My mother's," Amaryllis muttered. She shook her head at the thought that crossed her mind. "No, it can't be. Were you the one that erased her memories?"
Hades looked guilty, pressing his lips into a thin line and that was the only answer she needed.
Hatred. She felt hatred.
"Why would you do that?" she yelled at him. As she got up from her seat, Nico did as well and came besides her, as if he was preparing himself to hold her back in case she tried anything. "I was missing for four fucking years, because of you and all- all i wanted was to see my mom. She looked at me like I was a stranger," she choked back a sob.
"I needed to erase her memories to protect both her and you," Hades said calmly, immune to Amaryllis' reaction. "The first time I only erased her memories of me. Ioanna never knew I was a god, but I still didn't want her to tell you anything that might had led to you finding out about your real father. The second time it was after I dropped you off in Ogygia. If she wasn't linked to you in any way, she wouldn't be in danger and she couldn't be used to lead to you. Trust me, Amaryllis, I would have never hurt Ioan- your mother."
Persephone got up from her chair, visibly upset. "I'll be in my Chambers, in case anyone cares."
"My love, please-" Hades tried stopping her, but she didn't let him touch her and with superhuman speed, the goddess left the dining room. He looked back to his two children, "She only found out about Amaryllis a few weeks ago and she still hasn't gotten over it."
"Clearly," Nico mumbled. The way he said it gave her the impression that Persephone was equally bitter towards him as well.
Amaryllis bit her lip. She was still very upset about her mother, but the more she thought about it, the more content she was with it. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if anything happened to her mother because of her.
As if he was reading her mind, Hades continued. "Once the war is over, I'll return her memories."
"You better," she said. She could tell the god's patience when it came to her audacity was slowly running thin, but she wasn't worried.
She had connected the dots.
"You freed me because you're hoping that I'm the hero of the Prophecy," she told him. "You don't want Percy to be the hero, but one of your children."
Hades nodded. "You're sharp. That's good." He cut a piece of steak and ate it. "I appreciate some good irony and what would be more ironic than have the outcast's child be the hero of Olympus?"
"But I- I don't even have powers!"
"You summoned a portal, back in the Labyrinth," Nico reminded her. "And you did it without even knowing that you could."
"Think of yourself like a volcano," Hades said. "You've been dormant for so long, partially because you were unaware of your true heritage and potential, but at times of distress you erupted. Think of how powerful you could be now and with the proper training." He shrugged. "You're turning fifteen in a few days, correct? You have one whole year to train."
"There is no one that could help me train back at Camp," Amaryllis said.
"There's your brother. And me," Hades said. Under normal circumstances, this could even be considered sweet, but she thought it was anything but. "Besides, no one can know that you're my daughter. Right now you're our secret weapon. Kronos knows about Nico, but he won't be expecting you."
"And why would I agree to that whole plan?" Amaryllis said, crossing her arms.
"Because you want the war to end, your side to win and your friend to be safe. That's the only way."
Amaryllis realised he meant Percy. If she agreed to follow Hades' plan to ensure that she would be the hero of the Prophecy, then Percy would be safe. He would finally be free of the burden that made his life a living hell for so many years. She'd be able to repay him for his kindness, his friendship and his loyalty. She'd be able to keep her promise to Sally, the promise she made to keep her son out of harm's way.
Amaryllis found herself wondering if it was worth it. She decided it was.
"You need to promise me that you won't hurt Percy," she told her father. "You need him out of the way so I can be the hero, but I'll only agree with the plan if you swear to Styx that you won't harm him."
She felt Nico next to her stiffen. Forcing any other god to take an oath to Styx would have probably resulted to her being burnt to ashes. But Hades needed her to be his pawn and that meant that Amaryllis had some control over him.
Hades' black eyes flared with purple fire – a sign that he was either holding back from killing her or that he was impressed by her. She hoped it was the latter.
"I swear on the river Styx that I won't hurt Percy Jackson."
She nodded. Nico mumbled under his breath that they should leave and he made his way to the exit. Amaryllis started following him, when Hades' deep voice stopped her.
"I've broken one oath already, Amaryllis. You better cooperate with me if you don't want me to break another one."
𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒.
▊dedicated to the loml, dara !! im way too untalented to make you any other gift so that's my gift i guess? hsjks go wish queen lannisports happy birthday!
▊thoughts on the recent developments and how the story's progressing? thoughts on amaryllis' new family? any thoughts at all?
▊hades is a little piece of shit but he cares in his own fucked up way so that's something i guess. amaryllis and him won't have an easy relationship, they'll be pretty much using each other most of the time tbh. siri, play daddy issues by the neighbourhood.
▊also lets appreciate amaryllis protecting her bf and putting him before herself <3 percyllis rights
❛ gone girl. ❜
( part 𝒐𝒏𝒆 of gone girl series )
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