Anubico Oneshots based on prompts

"I will protect him."

Prompt: Could you please write one where Anubis meet Maria Di Angelo? While she was alive / dead Just... Please, make them meet.

Anubis was visiting Venice in one of the few vacations he had as a god of death. (Although, he couldn't really call scouting out potential new souls as vacation, but he wasn't about to complain about some time away from the Duat.)

No one really payed any attention to him strolling about the graveyards. It was rather late and few people were paying their respects to the dead that evening. However, among them was a woman, a little girl barely walking at her side. Her belly was enlarged under her elegant dress, another unborn child.

Anubis regarded the child at her side. It was a girl with dark hair and equally dark eyes, she peered up at her mother every now and then.

The child seemed to ooze of something familiar to Anubis, like death and the Underworld. Ah, a child of Hades no doubt. It had been a while since he'd met any demigod with Hades as their godly parent, it seemed there were fewer and fewer each century.

Anubis watched on as the woman made her way to a gravestone. She knelt by the stone, keeping a hand protectively under her stomach. The girl looked confused but sat down beside her mother when the woman beckoned.

"This is my daughter, Bianca," the woman said, addressing the stone. She spoke English but her native language was clearly Italian, some of the melody shining through. "She has death in her. It will protect her, I'm sure of it."

A curious way to put it.

"Here I have Nico," the woman continued, stroking a fond hand over her belly. "He will become a great man one day, and along with his sister, he shall accomplish many things. Together, they shall overcome every obstacle."

She paused and placed her hand on the girl's head, "They will protect each other."

The woman lowered her head and kissed the stone, "Mama, Papa, I'm sorry I couldn't give you your grandchildren while you were alive. They are here with me now, and we all miss you."

Anubis felt like he was intruding on the woman's grief and quietly turned around. He took one step but stopped as the woman spoke up.

"Wait. You are a god, are you not?"

The Lord of Funerals turned back around and looked at the woman. She was looking straight at him as she awaited his answer.

"I am indeed a god, Anubis in fact," he replied, taking the woman's now outstretched hand and placing a light kiss to the top of it. "I take it you can see through the mist, considering you recognised me as a god."

The woman nodded, "I am Maria Di Angelo, pleased to meet you, Anubis."

---

"Be careful with his hair, Nico," Maria scolded the child currently climbing on Anubis' back. He'd grabbed a handful of the god's hair to keep his balance.

"It's okay, Maria, just let him play as he wants, I can take a little hair tugg- Ow! Nico, stop that," Anubis winced as the boy bit his ear again. "Okay, that's it." He reached behind his head and grabbed the child of Hades. He gripped the boy's nubby hands and tickled his stomach. Nico laughed and squirmed in his arms.

Anubis stopped the tickling and stroked the child's wavy, dark hair. Nico stared at him with his big, brown eyes and reached a hand up to touch the god's face. The god smiled and leaned into the tiny hand on his cheek.

It had been a long time since he'd spent any time with children. He couldn't say he didn't enjoy every time he met the tiny rascals.

He glanced at Maria. She sat with Bianca in her lap, reading a book for her. Even though they were in a graveyard, the children still managed to lighten the place up.