Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On a chilly November 1st night a demigod was born. A great and tragic day for all parties. This demigod was not a simple child of Demeter or Ares. That would be too boring and The Fates hate being bored. This baby girl was a child of Hades. That made her interesting and being interesting has doomed her. 

We all know Hades to be faithful to his wife. He did so much to get and keep her after all. But every once in a while a woman shall entrance him. A woman whose beauty almost parallels his wife's. We had seen it in Maria and Hazel's mother in a way. This is one of the times he acted on his attraction, and from that came Nalia Pandora Penn. 

Ruby Penn knew that because of her baby's father both of their lives would be harder. They already lived in Gotham scraping by. But she would do anything for her baby. She would drive her to camp every summer, and listen to what they did when she came back. Even when she got sick and Nalia got claimed. A while after the Titan War, Ruby died. Nalia had already stopped going to camp to take care of her, now even after her death she didn't go back. Not even during the war with Gaia. She knew of it, she just didn't want to leave the safety of Gotham. Selfish, of course, she knew that. 

Nalia was probably the richest orphan in Gotham. Being the daughter of the god of riches, you'd expect her to be. Giving her money was the least her father could do. She lived pretty mundanely though. Small apartment, thrifted clothes, no phone(obviously(though she could have one(no monsters here)). She spent most of her money on school and food. She went to Gotham Academy, a grade below the third Wayne boy. She'd seen him in passing and never bothered learning his name. That school is obviously very costly and she always splurged on food. Food was special. She was picky and food was always something that reminded her of family. Every 15 year old needed that. 

You may ask why she never went back to camp. Not going back to camp because her mother died was sully, Nalia knew that. She didn't go back because it didn't feel right. There were no more weekend trips to Long Island when her mom would drop her. No more kisses before she ran to Half-Blood Hill. No more Ruby. She couldn't go if she didn't have that. Didn't have to anyways. Gotham rarely had monsters, the stench of crime kept them away. She dealt with the ones that found their way in. 

Not like any one noticed she stopped returning after the Titan War. She had "friends" but was only close with Will. No one knew that a child of Hades being claimed around the time Percy was. Will remembers her, no one forgets their favorite patient. He wonders if Nico knows about her. He should. They share a father, went to the same camp, fought in a war together, but they barely talked. Again, no one actually knew of her parentage. Shocking, considering the whole prophecy, but it wasn't a big, public claiming. Will knew but she swore him to secrecy. At the time I am documenting this, the war with Gaia has already happened and Nalia had no part in it. She only found out about it in a dream once it had started. 

All of that is useless backstory stuff. Where we are is a random Friday night. Nalia went to bed early. Thoughts of her birthday and the excitement it brought lulled her into a restless sleep. She had a dream, as demigods do. She dreamt of her father and brother in Hades' throne room. Nico told him he was going away to a place, she couldn't understand when he told him. Hades was skeptic but allowed him to go, mentioning a boyfriend. She woke in a confused daze. What was going on? Her birthday, her brother, what else would come to her? Who was in charge and why were they ruining everything now? After she rebuilt her life alone.

"What the fuck, gods? "

Life as she knew it would be getting harder. By the time she came to me, and told this tale, it had already passed. Leaving her with a family, friends and perhaps a partner (she wouldn't say, spoilers or whatever).With that I wish you a happy early All Saints Day. 

Chapter Text

That dream had messed up Nalia's morning. The only way to fix it was to reset. She did it when she got worked up. Moving furniture while listening to music, cleaning up, finding clothes to donate. It made her settle down. She would do school work as well. She had an art project and an essay to work on. 

She woke up late that morning after fighting very hard and praying to Hypnos to get back to sleep. She was never one for sleeping in, only when she got sick or upset or had to go places that day. So she was thoroughly upset when she saw it was noon. She decided not to waste her time eating now. She would work for a few hours then eat then continue working. Fool proof plan, right? 

Wrong! It was fool proof in the beginning. She worked until three, ate a sandwich then worked for another couple of hours. Now, it was eight in the night, the sun was setting causing fading light to seep through her windows. Beautiful, aesthetic, at least it was before a vigilante broke the fucking window! 

The gods play sick jokes all the time, this was one. Nightwing fell through Nalia’s window at a rapid speed, spreading glass around her living room. He shot up, because he had landed on the floor. In a panic, wondering where he was, darting his head back and forth between Nalia and her living room. 

“What the hell, dude?”

“I'm so sorry. I was fighting and I crashed.” 

How do you crash into a window while fighting? It seemed implausible, though so was this entire situation. 

“How the fuck did that happen? Gods, my window. I have to pay for that.”

“You? Where's your parents? Shouldn't they pay?” 

Oh, shit. He was gonna find out that she was alone. Him finding out Nalia didn't have any parents (here or human anyways) would make him concerned. She would have to deflect.

“You ask too many questions. That doesn't matter. There's glass everywhere. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I am. I should go. I am sorry.”

Fuck, she didn't want him to go. She was going to be alone if he left. It didn't bother her much but having someone there other than her two friends, made her realize how closed off she was. And in turn, she was lonely. She wanted a goddamn vigilante to stay and be her friend. I think it was obvious she was not okay with being alone. 

“Wait! You don't have to go. You did break my window, you could at least help clean.”

“You're right. While I help you could answer my question. Where are your parents?”

What in the Hades is she supposed to say? He'd know if she's lying, probably. And even if he didn't it was late, either she was alone or her parents weren't there and he'd most likely wait till they came back. She ranted to herself as she gave him a broom and dustpan. She got herself gloves to pick the bigger pieces of glass. 

“I live alone.”

“Why? What happened to them?”

“Nothing. Don't worry about it.”

“How do you afford this stuff?”

“With my money.”

This was annoying Nalia. Before he could ask her about her money, she asked him a question. 

“Why are you called Nightwing? You don't have wings.”

He thought that was a dumb question. She knew it was, but she needed to keep him from asking too many questions too soon. 

“I was Robin, a Robin is a bird, bird imagery.”

“Cool.”

“Are you always this evasive?”

“Only to dumbass vigilantes who break my windows.”

She knew she was being mean. He did apologize and was actively helping her clean, but he was a random person, how else was she meant to treat him? He did break it in the first place. 

“I am really sorry about that.”

“It's fine. I just need to find a place to stay tonight. Can't stay here without my window but I also can't leave because my shit might get stolen. I'll just get new stuff.”

It didn't really matter to Nalia. If she had to get new stuff, she could buy a phone and communicate with her friends in a way that was convenient.

Nightwing was silent for the first time since he crashed into her living room. She was glad. His voice was peppy but sorry. Happy yet full of remorse. She hated it. It reminded her of Will, when he would accidentally hit her too hard while playing. They stayed in silence until the glass had been cleaned and thrown away.

“Thanks… for helping me. If you're ever around, you can always come over here. Gods, I sound desperate. You can go now.”

He left, not without assuring her that he or someone else would visit every once in a while. She realized how lonely the quiet was. Not the quiet it was after her friends left in the night or morning. A quiet that filled her heart with a fog, a fog that strangled her predetermined idea of happiness and popularity. 

She slept, a dreamless sleep in a hotel that did not give her any chance of rest. But she still slept. 

She spent the next day in the hotel until her new window got installed. So she was at the hotel that Monday morning for school. 

She walked into the courtyard waiting for a flurry of pastel green hair to run past her as it does every morning. The green hair belonged to her friend Thea. A bubble of ideas and media. Behind her came Benji, Thea’s boyfriend? Are they dating? Nalia believed they were. They called each other dumb nicknames, kissed each other’s cheeks and Thea always described nights they had. Then again, Thea always kissed her cheeks, but not like how she kissed Benji’s. She would focus on the semantics of their relationship later.

“Lia? I asked how your weekend was?”

“Sorry, it was alright. What about yours?”

Oh, it was awesome. Jiji came over when my Appa was making dinner so we ate a bunch and then we watched like five movies.”

As Thea went on about the dinner her father had made and the five movies she watched with Benji, Nalia zoned out. She had become less perceptive after her mother died, not bothering to check for monsters or things that looked weird. But as her friend talked, she took in the courtyard of Gotham Academy. The potted plants, the many students. It was big, open enough for a few hundred or less students to walk through. One stood out to her though. Tim Drake. She never noticed him much before. He was in a group consisting of Bart Allen, Cassandra Cain, Stephanie Brown, Conner Kent, and Cassie Something. He was in a few of her AP classes. 

She should have stopped staring at him before he noticed her, which he did. They shared eye contact for a few seconds before the bell rang, signaling the beginning of first period, which was Literature for her. Nalia split up with her friends and made her way to Mr. Demond’s class.

Nothing of note happened until lunch. Nalia had been walking with Benji and Thea to their usual lunch table in the back of the courtyard, the couple talking about a book Benji had read, Nalia not paying attention due to a slight headache she had. When Stephanie Brown called her name.

“Nalia, right? Would you and your friends want to sit with us?”

What  the actual fuck? She turned to Thea hoping she understood the look in her eyes saying yes.

“Of course we would.” Thea replied for both her friends. Letting Stephanie guide them to the crowded table where her friends were settled, chatting about something. It was all a drone to Nalia. They sat and Thea introduced them all.

“Hi, I’m Thea, this is Benji and Nalia. Think you knew that though. You seem like people who know a lot of things. Very nice of you to invite us to sit with you. I wouldn't have expected that. You all look very clique-y. Not to be rude, it just looks that way from afar, you know?” No one knew except Nalia and Benji. 

“Ha ha, I guess. We thought you guys looked cool. Nalia’s in my AP Chem class and you’re in my AP Lit class, right?” Asked a very pale Tim Drake.

“Yeah. I think you’re in Jiji’s French class. Do you take French? I don’t know.”

“I think so too. You’re friends don’t seem to do a lot of the talking do they?” Staring at Nalia staring at Cassie. 

Cassie seemed weird, different from the others. The same feeling she got from her camp friends but in another way, lighter, rubbed her in a different spot. She was intrigued. But she wouldn’t ask her any questions as she was in a conversation with Bart and Stephanie with Cassandra and Kon listening. Tim is the only one talking to them. 

“They do, Jiji’s nervous and Nalia has a headache, so no talking now. I talk all the time so that’s why I’m doing all the talking.” 

“Oh. That’s fine. I believe we’re going to get on great.”

And they did. For two weeks this was what they did every lunch. Nalia learned that Tim and Kon were dating, as were Steph and Cass, she confirmed that Ben and Thea were together too. Found out Cass and Tim were siblings in a way. Nalia talked to them more and became their friend. Later that week she moved back into her house. Life was fun. She never realized the ghostly presence that haunted Gotham now. Her new friends had, they were trained to, of course. But I'm spoiling everything.