1794 (A Frazel AU)

Dangerous

"This is crazy."

"The summary of our lives."

Nico, Frank, Percy and Will were in a spare room in the house, where Will works and studies, training to become a doctor. He was sitting in front of a microscope, looking closely at the poison mixture in front of him. "Wait a minute", he swiveled around. "So your dad is having an affair with Venus? Like, the Venus?"

"Yeah, is she famous or something?"

"She is literally the hottest woman in town. And her husband is the blacksmith, Vulcan."

"I've seen him", Percy piped in. "Not the handsomest fella 'round the corner."

"Yeah, it was an arranged marriage by her father", Will explained, "he wanted her to be with a good, working man. She is said to be in love with others of course. Rumors of her affairs rise and fall in this town. A lot. Some new man every time. Funny part? Every man she gets with either disappeared or never existed."

"Scary", Frank said.

Will turned back to the table. "As for the poison, I believe this it a vegetable poison. Mixed from different poison species of plants, Romans used them to kill prisoners. But why is it white?"

He looked back through the microscope, the new question spiking his curiosity.

"Well, Frank", Percy started, turning to the Canadian, "now what?"

"Did you find the way to get the gasoline Nico", asked Frank.

"Called in some favors, they should be in by next week."

"Good. Did you find a way to tell Jason about the whole ordeal yet?"

"Yeah, you gotta hand it to the blond", Percy ran his fingers through his hair. "He actually kept it together. He was able to rally the slaves together without the overseers finding out."

"Slaves don't trust each other", Nico sighed. "A tactic of slave masters. Using slaves to oversees slaves causes strains in bonds between them. It fact, that's why slaves don't live as families", he glanced at Percy. "That is pretty amazing."

"Strychnine", Will suddenly announced.

"What?", asked Frank. He and his cousins flocked around the microscope.

"Strychnine, it's a poison that causes a person to become paralyzed and slowly suffocate until they die. That's what making the poison white, why the poison is white", Will said. "And if that's the case, it's already to late to save your parents Nico."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone rushed back to the Pluto estate, far from filled with hope. By the time they got there, they was already ready for the scene.

Carriages were there; morning carriages. They were meant to carry dead bodies to funerals.

Bianca was on the step of the house, sobbing at the loss of her father. Mars was kind of rubbing her back in comfort, but not well. The coroner was explaining something to her, but it was clear that she wasn't listening.

"We're too late", Frank said, shaking his head in disbelief.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The situation just became extremely deadly", Frank muttered to himself, pacing his room. It was a week after the funeral. He was alone, and panicking.

Knock knock.

"Come in", he said.

The door opened. "Hey Haz-", Frank started, semi-distracted. When he looked up, all the air left his lungs.

It was his dad, Mars.

"Were you looking for the little slave girl?", he asked his son. "I took her off the work force. Don't want the baby to be injured, ya no?"

"You little-"

"Hold your horses son, don't get upset", Mars whispered. "You don't want to get me upset. If you want a piece of her..."

"She's not some little toy you can just pass around", Frank fought back, " you believe everyone is your little pawn that you can just..sacrifice, move around the chest board."  He began pacing the room again. "So what now? You killed Pluto and Proserpina. Will you kill Nico and Bianca now, and inherit the estate?" He stopped. "No, too suspicious. You'd probably scare them off or actually kill them and hid the bodies."

Mars folded his arms and laughed. "Funny you say that, because I don't need to kill Nico. I already have leverage on him to report him to the state." He raised an eyebrow. "You know about that though, don't you?"

Frank didn't know what to say. On the one hand Mars could actually know and he doesn't have to say anything. On the other hand, he could be aware that Nico has a secret and wants to pry it out of Frank. Mars was just cunning like that.

"Anyways", Mars said, after a minute of Frank's silence, " he won't be a problem. And when Bianca marries, she won't be liable to the inheritance anymore. Once I get Jupiter's and Neptune's plantation, I'll be the richest man in America. And you can either get on board ", Mars stepped towards him, "or get out of my way."

"Or", Frank squared up. "I can stop you."

"How is that son?", Mars glared, "you gonna kill me?"

"No." And that's the last thing Frank said to him before he walked out.

Frank ran down the hallway and headed straight for the slaves unit. "Hazel", he yelled, trying to knock the door down.

She popped her head out. "Dear heavens are you trying to break down the door", she asked.

"I need you to clean my room."

Hazel looked confused. "Um...okay sir", she whispered. She stepped out and closed the door behind her. She was so lost. She thought Frank was better than this, than the masters that order her around. Maybe he wasn't.

She went onto the broom closet to get the cleaning supplies, and Frank pushed her in and closed the door. "I'm sorry about that", he said, sliding down against the door and curling into a ball. "I wanted to see if you were okay, I wanted to see if you were pregnant. I wanted...to say I'm sorry."

Hazel froze, scared.

"I'm sorry about my father and the rape and the murders and-"

She stopped him by taking him into a hug. "It's okay Frank. I'm okay."

"Are...are you..."

"No. I'm not pregnant."

Frank sighed a hefty sigh of relief. "Thank God."

Hazel backed up a bit to see his face. "We're all ready for tonight."

"This will soon be over. Hide for a while and look for a freed slave by the name of Sunny. He can help you get to freedom."

"I can take my mama?"

"Yeah, and one other slave. No one else. It'll be too much for him."

"Okay." She kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

Frank smiled. "Let's do this."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That night, the house was asleep. Well, it was suppose to be.

Frank, Hazel, Nico, Percy, Jason, Marie, and half the slave population were all ready to execute the plan of freedom.

"For freedom!", yelled the aware slaves, raising their pickaxes and shovels and torches. Even Micah joined in. The other slaves heard the ruckus and hurried to see what was going on.

Mars woke up with a start, and quickly understood the situation. "Son of a-", he muttered, hopping out of bed.

Nico was outside, pouring gas on the exterior of the house. Percy, Jason and Frank was helping Neptune, Jupiter and the domestic slaves out. Mars poked his head out the window, questioned why his son was outside already. When it finally clicked, it was too late.

Frank and Hazel, arms around each other, sent Mars a farewell greeting that you didn't need to know sign language to understand. Then Frank prayed forgiveness as the slaves lit the house ablaze.