You Give Liberty a Bad Name (a Percy Jackson AU)

Avenging Bianca

Virginia: July 12, 1776
    It had been six months since Bianca had been killed by the British. Six months. Hades had thought his son's grief may have lessened in that time, but it had only grown heavier. Every morning, Nico would close his eyes to the world and every evening, he would open them to see a world where shadows existed without light.
When dinner came, it was brought to him by one of the household slaves, a young woman named Hazel. Usually, Nico grunted when she brought him porridge, but today he said a soft "thanks."
"You're welcome, Mister di Angelo," she said softly.
"Don't leave, Hazel," Nico said impulsively.
Hazel tensed, but nodded, her eyes flickering towards the door.
"Sit down," Nico said, his voice quiet with an authority he could not hear because he did not have to listen for it.
Hazel nodded, but her fingernails dug into her hands, which were dry from doing laundry, as she sat as far apart as she could. Nico was unsure of what to say. How could he communicate what he had learned last night?
"You're my sister," he said.
She nodded, but no surprise rippled in her golden eyes.
"You knew?" Nico asked.
"Yes, Mister di Angelo," Hazel answered, her voice as thin as the worn-out dress she wore.
"I'm your brother," Nico said. "You can call me Nico."
"And your father owns me, as do you," she said. "I may be your sister, but I am also your slave."
"I never knew before yesterday," Nico said. "How did my father — did he love your mother?"
"You can't love a human that you own," Hazel said, starting to edge off of the bed and onto her feet.
"What do you mean?" Nico said, surprised that curiosity had pulled him out of the heavy grief that was usually draped over his shoulders.
"If you love someone, you treat them as an equal," Hazel said. "Men cannot love the wives they beat nor the slaves whose lives they steal."
"Steal?" Nico echoed.
"Everything evil in the world is thievery," Hazel said, standing near the door. "When you kill someone, you steal their heartbeat. When you enslave someone, you steal their life. When you rape someone, you steal their body."
       Steal their heartbeat . . . Bianca's heartbeat had been stolen. The British had stolen it. Nico would never get it back. Thou shall not kill. Nico was going to kill them. He was going to kill the redcoats.
        "I shouldn't have held you up," Nico said. "I wish you were my full sister."
     Hazel met his eyes and replied, "I do too."
     The two of them knew that each meant it differently.
    Then, she walked away and Nico knew that he had lost another sister. It didn't surprise Nico when he found out about Hazel. His father's current wife, Persephone, has been his previous mistress.
      Nico has heard people mutter and ask why Hades di Angelo had taken an indentured servant as his new bride. Maria di Angelo has been a respectful daughter of a wealthy planter. Persephone di Angelo had been a woman who did the laundry. She cleaned up messes, but though she had cleaned Hades's grief, Nico's grief had only grown more soiled with time and Bianca's death had added more stains to it.
           Nico left his father's plantation and decided to wash the laundry of grief for once.