hiraeth

twenty one

xxi. Nia

In her defense, she'd thought it would be a hilarious opener, but greeting the God of the Dead and Riches with "Hi, Daddy" might have been a poor misstep on her part.

Luckily, Hades only peers down at them with cold calculation from his onyx throne. His pale skin is a stark contrast to the tar-coloured walls. "What is your name?"

Nia curtsies dramatically, sending Enne into a fit of violent giggles. "Nia. I'm your daughter. this," she says, tilting her head, "is Enne. She's been through it recently. demigod stuff and whatnot."

Hades' expression is neutral. "And to what do I owe this disturbance?"

"There was this dream I had."

"More like a nightmare," Enne inputs.

"You had a sketchy convo with someone named John. or was it Jordan? honestly I can't remember"

"Conversations with servants are hardly out of the ordinary." His expression turns stony. "If you have nothing better to waste my time with, the guards will see you out. Now, if you'll excuse me, I will resume my judgements."

He sweeps his hand forward, and a dead guard rattles closer to her on command. Its aura rolls off her - a malevolent, invisible smoke - so close she could reach out and...

"Nico is missing, isn't he?"

Hades narrows his eyes. He raises a hand, and the guard halts.

"This is the information you received, is it?"

"Uh, yeah" Nia grumbles. "We came all the way just to see you."

"And your journey would have been longer had you not meddled with Charon and Cerebus. You were merely granted passage to my palace due to the disturbance you caused." Hades reclines back in his seat. "Hmph. It seems you and Jackson share the same-"

"brain cell?" suggests Nia.

"no, that's us," says Enne.

"I was going to say idiocy," responds Hades.

Nia shrugs. "Eh, enne and I share that as well. anyways, it's not my fault neither of them believe I'm related to you."

"Hmm, you intend to keep up this game?" Hades muses, torches blazing to life. "I do not know where you received such ideas, but you are not my child, let alone a godling."

Her blood turns to ice, the room tilting on its axis.

Not a godling? Not a godling?

"But you claimed me!" Nia splutters. "in the woods, there was-I raised the dead! Surely that counts for something!"

"Nonsense," he dismisses. "I did not know of your existence before this. How did you two get down here in the first place?"

"We fell," says Nia, still processing and not in the right mind to provide details.

"You fell?"

"like Alice in wonderland"

"We were the ones your lackeys found in New York," Enne pipes up for her. "we were the lead they supposedly found"

At this, Hades loses his composure and scowls deeply. "You are involved with my son's disappearance, then."

"No! well, we don't know. we only knew Nico was missing because of Nia's dream"

Nia thinks she's gonna hurl the contents of her stomach all over Hades' shiny ass floor. "I know this is hard to believe, but-"

"Guards-"