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They were all walking along the side of the road, the bus they were on broke down a while back. Well, she says broke down, but really, there was a small scuffle, and she guessed her new friends weren't big on violence cause they freaked out.
A little bit of fighting didn't really bother her much, how could it? She was part ghost after all, and with Dante as her brother, it was easy to become desensitised to a little violence.
Her Mama does try to hide any of his serious fights from her, but she always gets to watch (and maybe participate) in the more playful fights he has with his friends/rouges.
Anyways, as soon as they were all able, they pulled her off the bus, and now they're walking along the side of a deserted road. She thinks they're going to Las Vegas, but she couldn't be sure, she doesn't think it matters either way.
Percy and Thalia were having a hushed conversation, something about Thalia's dad. They sounded really worried, and while that made her concerned, she's sure they'll tell her about it when they're ready. Auntie Jazz is always going on about trust in healthy relationships and not to push or rush people into telling you things.
Whilst Percy and Thalia were talking a few steps behind her, she and Nico were talking about Nico's dad and her mama. Nico seems to think that her mama and his dad were related, which whilst that seems a little weird, it doesn't sound impossible.
Ghost relationships were a bit blurry compared to humans, Danny won a few relatives during his conquest of Pariah Dark plus with him being in so many other peoples fraids gains him new relatives. For instance Danny being in Clockwork's fraid means he's related to anyone else in Clockwork's fraid.
However, if Danny is in Clockworks and Pandora's fraid it doesn't mean that Pandora and Clockwork are related. Ghost relationships are based strongly on emotions, biology rarely plays a part in it. In fact it's incredibly rare for ghosts to be related on a biological stand point, her and Dante seem to be a rare exception.
Ghosts are usually only related through strong familial emotions for each other, say for example if CW held strong emotions for her mama, like she knows he does given that he's her grandpa and all, but he also held those feelings for someone else that'd make them and Danny related. It's all about perspective really.
She's shaken out of her thoughts by the sound of a car and by the panicked grasp of Percy's hand on her elbow. He dragged her off of the side of the road and over to the bushes, where they then all hid in said bushes. She hid her snicker behind her sleeve, her new friends were so jumpy.
The car slowed down to a stop right outside of where they were all hiding in the bushes, she felt all three of her friends tense up. The car door and she could hear the sound of heavy boots hitting the floor before they came to stop in front of the bush.
"Ya hiding in bushes now, pipsqueak?"
"DANTE!!!" She shouted excitedly as she stuck her head up from the bush, despite Thalia's protests.
There Dante stood, wearing his black combat boots, wide legged blue jeans, a black belt and a white tank. He had a half smoked cigarette dangling from his mouth and she watched as he put it out with his boot before speaking.
"That's the name, squirt" he grinned at her, teeth on full display.
She jumped out of the bushes and ran and gave him a hug, letting out a squawk of protest when he began ruffling her hair semi roughly. When she finally managed to pull away, she saw that her friends had finally migrated out of the bush and back onto the road.
"Guys, this is my big brother Dante, he's a bit of an arse but he means well." She said gesturing to Dante before turning her attention to him.
"Dante, this is Percy, Thalia and Nico, they're my friends!" She gestured over to them, pointing at the one she was referring to when she spoke their name.
Dante nodded his head at them in acknowledgment, "Ma' said you picked yourself up some new friends."
"It's, uh, nice to meet more of Ellie's family," Percy said awkwardly, shifting his weight.
"I'd say the same, but then I'd be lying, I don't exactly appreciate you brats dragging my little sister into your family drama."
Ellie looked up at Dante confused, she wasn't aware that something involving her friend's family was going on, especially something that involved her. Is that what Thalia and Percy were whispering about earlier, and why they looked so worried? Is that why they're all going to visit Nico's dad?
Dante clapped Ellie on the shoulder, "get in the car you brats, i'll take you to your next stop."
Ellie happily skipped over to the passenger side and got in, gesturing for her friends to do the same. Once they were all in the car, Dante went round to the drivers side and started up the car.
"Everyone buckled up? I don't need Ma getting all pissy at me for killing the brats friends. " He looked at the three demigods in the back through the review mirror.
"Yeah, yeah, we're all buckled in." Percy nodded his head, soon followed by Nico and Thalia.
Dante let out a grunt as he turned back onto the road and began driving. Ellie was quick to dig through the glove box, coming up with a few bags of snacks that she soon distributed to the demigods in the back.
"Ma already told me you lot are gonna go see the death boy's dad?"
"His name's Nico," Ellie grumbled, resisting the urge to, playfully, punch Dante as he was still driving.
"Yeah, what I said." Dante brushed Ellie's objections off, turning his attention back to the three demigods in the back.
"Uh yeah, despite his reputation, Nico's dad is usually pretty chill, so we're just going to go hang out in his place for a bit while everything gets 'sorted.'" Percy interjected the siblings squabble, finally answering Dante's question
"Yeah? Well he better be, cause if he hurts the brat, it's our Ma he'll have to worry about."
"So, uh, Dante, Ellie mentioned that you don't really spend time with mortals..." Nico broached the subject with the subtlety of the party ponies at an all-inclusive disco.
"Huh? Yeah, suppose I do. Ma's more than happy for the company and can't say I'm particularly fond of most mortals either." Dante shrugged, not appearing bothered by the obvious prodding.
"Mama's got this weird guilt complex, so as long as we're not breaking any rules, he lets us do whatever we want." Ellie chimes in, turning to look at the trio in the back, "Dante doesn't take advantage of it often, only to get Mama to let him stick with him back home instead of the mortal realm."
Dante rolls his eyes, "unlike the pipsqueak, I don't enjoy guilt tripping, Ma."
"I don't guiltrip him! Besides, you do the same thing whenever Mama so much as tries to address you getting out into the mortal realm more." Ellie refutes, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever squirt." Dante huffed, rolling his eyes once again
The car was silent for a moment before Percy spoke up, "So what's your mom the God of anyways?" Percy let out a pained huff as Thalia's elbow made contact with his ribs.
"Ma? By the present day, he's considered the God of eternal winter, the balance between life and death, war, restlessness, and the stars." Dante answered surprisingly easily. The trio wasn't sure why, but they half expected Dante to refuse to answer.
"Mama says I get my free spirit from him cause of the whole restlessness thing, that's why he lets me travel so much!" Ellie's quick to interject, freely offering up the strongest trait she inherited from her mother.
"Yeah, Ma can be a bit of a free spirit at times as well. He usually tries to take time to wander about with the brat once every six months." Dante hums.
"Mama likes to visit at least once every two weeks, but every now and then, he takes me travelling himself. It's like the best thing ever!" Ellie adds, grinning from ear to ear.
"So if Ellie inherited the restlessness from your mom, did you inherit something as well?" Percy asked, once again getting an elbow to his chest from a one Thalia Grace for his prodding question.
"Well, we both inherited all of Ma's divine traits to varying degrees, but my strongest trait would be war." Though Ellie and Dante couldn't see it, the trio shared a look between themselves at Dante's confession, no wonder he reminded the three of them of Ares a bit.
The car was quiet for a moment before Thalia spoke up, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "You said that's what your Mother was known for by the present day, did he used to be known for something else?"
"Hmm? Yeah, Ma used to hold all kinds of titles back in the ancient times, he's shrugged most of them off nowadays though. Ma never has cared much for titles, at least not since I've been about, can't tell ya too much what Ma was like back then." Dante hummed, though the trio had a feeling that he was holding some information back, but they weren't going to push their luck by prodding him any further.
The car fell silent once again, the trio seemingly having asked all the questions that were at the forefront of their minds. The car turned off into a small lay-by by the side of the road, right outside a diner. Dante had driven all of them to what looked like a small town, it certainly saved them the hike they would've had, had they walked here.
"Alright brats, out, I ain't got all day." Dante says, turning the car off and stepping out waiting for them all to do the same.
Ellie, of course, made sure to stuff the leftover snacks in her brother's car into her bag. After all, what good are siblings for if not for robbing each other blind the first chance you get?
"Alright brats, here." Dante chucked a pouch over to Nico, "should be enough for some proper food and the bus fare, take care of the pipsqueak alright?"