Arachne furrowed her brow.
"Do a got to go?" She looked back at Hades.
Hades was having a difficult time. Mostly because he didn't know what to make of this 'niece' of his. She showed not one iota of fear towards him and, in fact, treated him like they were close family.
"Go back to camp." He waved at her, having opened up a path back.
Arachne pouted.
Hades was not used to mortals wanting to stay in the Underworld.
And it didn't help that Cerberus was whining about its playmate having to leave. In fact, both she and Cerberus were giving him the same look.
He almost gave in.
Almost.
However, he was a parent.
Without another word, he waved his hand and sent her on her way. Arachne went flinging through the hole in space-time, flipping upside down until she didn't know up from down. That was until a light hit her face and she was spat out of a hole right where she had been taken before.
It was the middle of camp, and the few people around watched as a hole opened up and unceremoniously spat her out onto the ground.
Arachne looked around, slightly distorted.
They watched her stand up, brush herself off, and then abruptly jump back into the hole right before it closed.
A few moments later, a second hole opened up; this time everyone immediately knelt down as a god descended.
Or ascended in this case.
"Hail, Lord of the Underworld!" Chiron came trotting over at breakneck speeds, nearly sliding to a stop as he knelt down. "Hail, God of the Dead, God of Riches!" Chiron was panting slightly from having run all the way across camp the moment he sensed the god appearing.
He couldn't recall the last time the God of the Underworld appeared in Camp. It was a big enough commotion that Chiron was taking no chances.
He then raised his head to look at Hades to see him holding a certain camper by the collar.
Arachne was struggling in his grasp, pouting as the God of the Underworld had an emotionless expression on his face.
He dropped her on the ground before silently turning and walking through a portal back into the Underworld, it closing behind him immediately.
Arachne sat on her butt, arms crossed, huffing indignantly.
"Hey, Chiron." Arachne stood up again, happily waving to him.
"…Hello, Arachne." Chiron said carefully. "Miss…Schweinorg, would you be kind enough to explain what happened? You…disappeared." He didn't want to say "kidnapped," as that would insult Hades. Despite it being accurate in this case." – For several hours."
"A was playing with Cerberus." She said proudly. "He's a good boy."
"Right." Chiron. "And why were you in the Underworld?" It was exceedingly rare for Hades to bring a mortal to the underworld; it was even rarer for him to let them come back.
"Uncle Hades was mad that I threw my spear at him." She shrugged as if it explained everything. "It's okay now; Uncle Hades was just being stupid."
Chiron blinked once and decided not to ask for further details. "Welcome back to camp." He said and turned to walk away.
Arachne was now unsure of what to do. She was in the middle of something before Hades took her, but now everyone was gone.
And Chiron was very adamant about putting some distance between them.
She just shrugged and went to find Mr. Blueberry. She already knew where he was; as her perfect and amazing familiar, she could sense him at this distance.
Mr. Blueberry was sleeping at the Hearth with the Goddess again.
Arachne didn't immediately wake up. She walked over and sat beside him and rubbed his head gently as he slept peacefully.
Despite all the commotion and arguing happening among her siblings due to Arachne, Hestia didn't say a word. There was no condemnation, no demands, no probing questions.
Her Hearth accepted anyone peacefully.
Arachne curled up against Mr. Blueberry and closed her eyes, taking a nap.
[Line Break]
Arachne's nose twitched, and she slowly opened her eyes, yawning a little. There was a shadow cast over here that impinged on her senses even as she was napping that made her wake up.
"What do you want?" She addressed the girl standing over her.
Annabeth stood there with a firm frown on her face. "I've been looking for you!" Her voice was tight, but it was obvious she was trying too hard to keep her emotions in check.
Annabeth was told—taught—that children of Athena don't have emotional outbursts. They're calm, collected, and logical.
"Chiron said you were back." She put her hands on her hips.
"Ye, and?" Arachne sat up in mild annoyance. "A was havin a good nap."
Annabeth deep down wanted to scream. This isn't how she expected this conversation to start out.
Truthfully, though, she didn't really know what to expect.
"Do you not even care!?"
"'Bout what?" Arachne yawned again.
"Everything!"
"….."
"Y-you!!!" Annabeth was having trouble finding the words. "The first thing you do is show up and just cause chaos, and instead of getting punished, Mom rewards you!"
"…reward?" Arachne blinked in confusion.
"She personally came down to see you, more than once! Do you know how many of us have actually seen her before now? Very few." Annabeth was having trouble keeping her voice down at this. "You literally call yourself 'Arachne'!" You're directly insulting her, but she doesn't even care!"
"It's mah name." Arachne frowned, slowly getting frustrated by the direction of this talk.
"You don't even care!" Annabeth pointed at her in accusation. "You get treated so specially despite being new here, you walk around like none of our rules matter. It's like everything is a big joke to you!"
Arachne just blinked again. "A didn't do anything."
"Why are you treated so differently!? Why does it seem like everything we struggled for suddenly seems so insignificant now?"
Hestia pretended to not be listening when Arachne glanced her way. It wasn't out of a sense of detachment but more of a polite gesture on her end. Arachne furrowed her brow because she now understood what was happening.
"Why do ya care so much?" Arachne finally asked her. " 'S not like she raised ya. She abandoned us with our Da's."
"S-she's our mom!"
"So?" Arachne was confused about this part.
Annabeth wasn't able to understand why she didn't care; Arachne wasn't able to understand why she cared.
It seemed like they were at an impasse.
"…..she's all we have." Annabeth whispered.
Arachne frowned again, this time not from annoyance, but a different feeling swelling up in her chest. "What about your da or other family?"
Annabeth snorted. "Yeah, I got my dad, but how long before a monster comes along and kills him trying to get to me!?"
"Then just kill'em?"
Annabeth stared at Arachne blankly. "What world do you live in!?"
Arachne tilted her head in response. "Then learn magic and set up Bounded Fields 'round yer house."
"I…." Annabeth was about to ask her what that even meant, but giving it a moment's thought, she could sort of glean the meaning of her words. "It's not that easy!"
"Why not?"
"….."
"Have yer mom do it then if ya care so much 'bout her." Arachne offered another alternative.
Annabeth was silent to that, a strange look on her face. "She…doesn't do things like that."
"Why?" Arachne had been repeating this word a lot in this conversation.
"B-because we need to prove ourselves!" Annabeth puffed up her chest. "We need to prove ourselves, so Mom…." She trailed off because Annabeth didn't even know what to say either.
Oddly enough, Arachne was also utterly bewildered, as Annabeth was. She couldn't understand why it wasn't so 'easy' to solve. Arachne thought of her 'mother' as a deadbeat, but the thought of her not doing the simple gesture of protecting her half-sister's dad despite everything was… foreign.
Arachne grew up in a big family, a very big family. A family that would move heaven and earth to help each other. A family that loved each other unconditionally. This was the first time she experienced something like this.
Oh, she wasn't unused to the shitty parts of the world. Her parents made sure she wasn't unaware of her higher status compared to most people. It was important to help keep a child grounded if they grew up in certain abundant households. But there were just some things she never saw firsthand, considering her age.
Arachne thought her 'mother' was a deadbeat; she didn't know the extent of it.
The thought that a child had to prove themselves to their parent for love was… it went against everything she ever knew.
"Fuck her." Arachne finally spoke.
"W-what?" Annabeth sputtered out, taken aback by the abrupt cursing.
"That's some bullshit." Arachne jumped to her feet. "Since you're my half-sister, then I'll help ya out." Arachne paused, not knowing what to do. This wasn't her area of expertise. "hug." She abruptly said once again, and before Annabeth could blink, Arachne was now hugging her awkwardly.
Annabeth just continued to stand there as her supposed half-sister, who was actually a demon or something, awkwardly hugged her despite Annabeth currently throwing all her frustrations on her.
The only reason the awkward hug stopped was because a small group of girls was walking over.
"Hey, there she is." One of them pointed out.
Arachne looked at them. "More of yer friends?"
"Uh no…." Annabeth was still thrown off by the onset of affection. "Those look like the daughters of Magic. They usually dress…um…."
"Emo?" Arachne finished, making Annabeth flush slightly in embarrassment.
The small group of girls stood there a few feet away, hands on hips, staring at Arachne.
The one at the front spoke up. "We got a bone to pick with you."
Arachne was unamused. "The fuck ya want?" She could already tell this was going to grate on her nerves.
That seemed to throw them off for a moment, but they briefly recovered.
"I'm Lou Blackstone, daughter of Hecate."
"Okay." Arachne replied emotionlessly.
Lou frowned. "You've got some nerve."
"…"
"You've been going around telling people to learn magic and all that. Do you have any idea how many people have been coming to us asking to learn!?"
"And…?" Arachne was waiting for what else she was inevitably going to say.
The daughter of Hecate harumphed. "Magic is our thing; you can't just tell people to start learning it, you y'now?" She said it as if it were obvious.
Arachne opened her mouth, then closed it again, her brow furrowing. "Yer saying that ya don't want people learnin magic?"
"We're the children of Hecate; we learn magic—that's how it's done. You, her." She jabbed her finger at Athena. "Are children of Athena, you learn your own stuff, stick in your lane."
Arachne looked at them silently for a long moment, then she moved. She looked at the ground, judging the distance. She then pushed her heel into the dirt about an inch downward and then began to draw it in a circle around the girls.
They too were silent, bewildered by her actions.
"What are you doing?" Lou asked.
"Sec." Arachne said pointedly, finishing the circle. She then began to – from their point of view – draw squiggles and symbols into the dirt. "Alright, I'm done." She said before actualizing the spell, she just carved into the ground via runes.
The Daughters of Hecate just stood there. Annabeth wasn't sure what happened, only that they seemed to be stuck in a daze inside that circle.
Arachne stood up, wiping her hands. "Okay, where were we? Right, hug –"
Before Arachne could hug her again, Annabeth quickly put some distance between them. "What did you do to them?" She pointed to the daughters of Hecate.
"Just a illusion, they were bein dumb and a didn't want to deal with'em anymore." Arachne shrugged. "Alright, come with me, a got a plan!"
Before Annabeth could refuse, Arachne grabbed her and started dragging her away.
Mr. Blueberry woke up, looked at her running off, and went after her with a big smile on its face.
[Line break]
"If it isn't my favorite little spider." Dionysus smiled, raising his cup of wine towards her as Arachne dragged Annabeth towards the table he was sitting at.
"A need to ask ya something." Arachne stated.
"Why me in particular?" Dionysus took a sip.
"Yer the only other god here that a respect." Arachne said honestly.
Dionysus raised an eyebrow. Partly because he never had one of the campers say they 'respected him' so truthfully and not under the threat of divine wrath. Secondly, because he now was curious about number one. "And who's the first?"
"Hearth." Arachne said simply.
It was a small list. Mostly because the list didn't include gods from the Underworld.
"Ah, can't compete there, completely understandable." Dionysus nodded. "So, my little devil child, do you have any idea what's been going on since Uncle Hades kidnapped you?"
Arachne shrugged. "Don' care."
Dionysus just smiled even wider. "And that's why you're my favorite non-child demigod." He raised a toast to her. "But you should hear some of the arguing going on up on the mountain right now. Your dear mother is getting torn to shreds by everyone for, and I quote, 'mind-fucking the literal devil'."
Arachne didn't really care to elaborate and explain how that was wrong. But she found it funny regardless. "Da said that I'm the first Demigod Devil ever."
Dionysus had to force himself to not break out in laughter. The absurdity of it just made it even funnier, especially when it was Athena's fuck-up.
Inter-Pantheon mingling was bad enough in their eyes, but the fact that she had a baby with one of the most notorious figures ever in the world…well, they knew that Athena would never be able to erase this black mark from her record.
"They're debating on what to do with you. About half are in the 'let's smite her' camp." He eyed her to see her reaction.
Arachne rolled her eyes. "Whatever. A need to ask ya though, can I bring me big sister over for a few days?"
Dionysus paused, his cup not quite meeting his lips. "I think Pops would blow a gasket if I let more demons into camp. No offense."
"None taken, but she's human."
"Is that so?" Dionysus sounded particularly disappointed in his tone.
"If ya want, a can call me Grandma; she's the one who made the drink; she's from me da's side." Arachne offered.
Dionysus's eyes lit up, but he seemed to war with himself. "I can't, I can't." He said to himself. "As chaotically fun as it would be, I don't want my drinking privileges taken away so soon."
"A understand." Arachne said in solidarity to the god of wine.
Annabeth silently stood there, her mouth nearly hanging open. She had never seen someone get along with Mr. D so well before, and it completely threw her for a loop.
"Alright, if it's just a human, then I can give out a pass like the boyfriend's mom from before."
"Percy isn't me boyfriend!" Arachne huffed, though Dionysus didn't miss the faint red hue on her cheeks.
"Hmm." The God of Wine took another sip of his drink. "But I'm not in a particularly generous mood. Why do you want to bring someone over? Give me a good reason."
"This is Annabeth." Arachne gestured to her half-sister.
"We've met." Dionysus said dryly.
"She's an idiot."
"What!?"
"Anyone could see that."
"Bwah!?"
"Me big sis is smart; she can help her stop being an idiot." Arachne nodded sagely to herself.
"Well, that sounds delightfully entertaining. Consider your pass earned." Dionysus snapped his fingers, and a piece of paper fell out of the sky and landed in her hands. It read, 'Do what you want.'
"Thank ya, Uncle!" Arachne smiled brightly.
"The things I do for family." Dionysus sighed. "Anyways, break time is over. I have to go back up top and listen to everyone yelling some more." He popped away without warning.
She cast a glance at Annabeth. "Don't worry, my big sis is really smart and good at stuff. She can help you better than I can!" Arachne quickly took out her phone. "Big Sis!"
Annabeth wasn't far away, but she couldn't hear the other end. However, that became secondary to the fact that Arachne was apparently making a call through the barrier of camp. Something that should be completely impossible!
"Nah, A am fine." Arachne shook her head. "Whatcha doin'?" There was a pause. "So nothin important? Wanna come over and play?"
"A'm not in trouble!" Arachne huffed. "But a need yer help. Me Half-Sister is an idiot."
Annabeth huffed herself, wanting to argue, but she held herself back.
"Nah, not like da. Like…um, glasses girl idiot." Arachne found a suitable example. "Oh, you'll come over right away!? Okay, tell Auntie Rin thanks."
Before Annabeth could ask her what was happening, a colorful portal opened up not but a few feet away from them.
"Hey, squirt."
"Big Sis Mordred!" Arachne threw herself at her sister, hugging her tightly.
"So, where's the idiot you need help with?" Mordred looked around.
Annabeth had a strange sense of foreboding.
[Line Break]
a/n
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.m.c.o.m / astoryforone
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We also have 2 more Arachne chapters up after here, and the next Distorted Reflections if you're interested.