Famiglia Per Sempre

The Past

A/N: Inspired by doll_dizzy's "Percy Di Angelo: Son of Hades". Disclaimers in the description apply to the entire story. Text underlined in this story is taken directly from the PJO series and is not my writing. Without further ado, let the story begin!

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  Maria di Angelo was a beautiful woman. She had a smile that could rival a movie star's. She had soft, black hair that was naturally wavy, flowing down her back. Her face was kind and regal with dark brown eyes like the richest soil of the Earth. Her poise was perfected and her olive skin was like polished bronze. But it was her heart that made her beautiful.

  Her open heart allowed a brooding man to make a home. A man—a god, technically—who preferred the dark but could not escape the light that was Maria di Angelo. They met at a bar in Washington D.C. long ago. She was an Italian diplomat's daughter—a wealthy, respectable, well mannered young lady.

  Hades had always been attracted to kind women, full of life. He adored his wife, Persephone, but a century with only one person, even if for only half a year at a time, would drive anyone crazy. He had millennia with her.

      "May I buy you a drink, madam?" Hades spoke boldly, his Greek counterpart coming out of his shadows for the first time in years. 

      "Good sir, don't you know it's polite to ask for a lady's name first?" Maria jested amusedly.

     "And if you gave me your name, would you allow me to buy you that drink?" he asked.

      "That depends," she continued to flirt. "Are you a dancing man? I do love a good foxtrot. My father doesn't approve. But dancing is great fun, isn't it?"

      "Ah, my dear, I assure you, no one can dance as great as I. What is your name, darling?"

  Maria blushed but managed to look as refined as ever. "Maria di Angelo," she replied. "And yours?"

  "Aidoneus," was all he supplied.

  Maria stared intently into his eyes. She had always seen things she dared not speak aloud lest she be called a witch, possessed, or insane, possibly all three. She saw what others could not, heard what others could not. Though they never approached her, not on purpose. Looking at this man felt the same way. She wracked her brain for helpful knowledge. Her studies were mostly on the classics that a respectable lady of her class ought to know. Thinking back to her Ancient Greek history lessons, she figured it out.

  A glimmer of recognition showed in her eyes, but Hades mistook it for excitement.

      "I'll take a spritz, Aidoneus. Before that dance."

  It was the wink she gave that dragged Hades down and had the god willingly fall for her. It was everything after that made him want to stay.

  They drank, they danced, they laughed, they talked. It was one of the best nights either of them had.

  The next day, Hades met her at a local café. It was odd for the lord of the the underworld to roam around the streets in broad daylight. But he would do it for Maria. They sipped coffee as they watched the bustling people go by. It was a pleasant morning, and it was then that she admitted to knowing his identity.

      "You are not what I had expected, Lord Hades. And for that, I am pleasantly surprised."

  She left him wide eyed and flabbergasted. He was stunned to have met a clear sighted mortal who had no qualms with his true self.