"Good afternoon fuckers!" Ares said smiling "Someone told my father I curse in front of the children. So unless someone wants to confess all of you are sparring without the safeties!".
Ares had brilliant redwood colored hair, and blood colored eyes. He also had tan skin, and his face and arms had battle scars, which was slightly covered by the Spartan armor he wore.
Ares looked at me, and my brother Seth "What about you two? Mary and Seth. Twins of Hades." He said.
I probably should introduce myself now. I'm Mary, Daughter of Hades and step daughter of Persephone. My brother Seth is my twin brother. You see Hades is only allowed to have children during the spring. Like most of the original six gods he had limits on how many children he could have. That being said, my father had stricter limitations than the other gods, as for why I dont know. However he was pretty loyal to Persephone thus he didn't have children often. Unfortunately he had twins. Doubling his power with a personal army. It scared most of the gods, but honestly my dad was too nice to use his children as weapons. That and he had way less children then my uncle Zues.
"Wasn't me, sir. You sis?" Seth asked me.
"Nope. What about the Athena girl?" I said.
The Athena girl, one of the only kids of Athena in Ares' gym glass. She had brown hair, grey eyes, white school uniform, and a blue owl patch on her right arm. Her actual name was Penny, but hardly anyone called her that. Ares looked at her, he despised Penny and her decision to sign up for Ares' gym class (which was a fancy 'modern' term for combat training). The class was optional, and he felt she took it just to spite him. Penny shrugged and smiled.
"Grab a sword and shield Owl Eyes, you too Dead Hair." Ares said.
Dead Hair, a nickname I absolutely despised. When I turned fourteen my hair kind of died, I woke up one day to see my hair turned a pure snowy white. That and my eyes lost their color, and turned white as well.
I sighed, and grabbed a steel training xiphos (an Ancient Greek sword) and shield and knelt down on a black line. Penny did the same, and knelt down on the line across from me. I prayed silently to my father. My shield changed from a wooden shield to a steel shield with a Cerberus decoration, and my sword changed from a basic steel sword with an oak handle to ebony handle with a marble finish. Penny's shield turned into a bronze shield with an owl embossing. Her handle on her sword became a solid oak with a leather wrap finish. It balanced perfectly when she slowly lifted it.
We both stood up. Penny put her shield in front of her, and she held her sword back. I put my shield in front of me as well, and balanced my blade on the top of my shield. Penny stepped forward. She slashed for my leg, and I blocked it. I hit her shield with mine. I sliced her leg, and spun slicing her other leg. She stepped back, and got back in her stance. Her legs bled, and I stepped forward. I came up from below trying to cut her stomach. She blocked with her shield, and I smacked her in the face hard with my shield sending her to floor. I put my sword to her throat. The bell rung before she could yield, but the fight was mine. I set my weapons down, helped Penny up, and set my shield and sword on the wall. They turned back into a regular training sword and shield, and I walked out with Seth.
Seth's white skull patch on uniform glowed a bit with mine. "Father's happy." I said smiling.
As we walked through the hallways I saw several more patches and uniforms. Red uniforms with crossed swords patches, children of Ares. Pink and white uniforms with a heart patch, the beautiful and handsome children of Aphrodite. Grey uniforms with silver lining, and a bow patch that pointed right. Those were Artemis' Huntresses. Artemis only had one child cause she was outvoted at a council meeting, but she was hard to find. The most common uniform was a leather brown uniform with the caduceus staff patch, the children of Hermès. The least common was the uniform of Hera. She never had any children with mortals thus there was no one to wear them.
I got to the cafeteria, and Seth went left at the door to go talk to our our father. The cafeteria looked like any modern day cafeteria. Other than the nymphs, satyrs, and the agriculture gods. Dionysus was trying to slip wine to his favorite student, and Demeter shot him glares making him stop.
My step mother, Persephone, walked through the kitchen. The flowers in her hair were wilted and sickly, and her dress was tattered and the color was dull. It wasn't spring yet so she wasn't in her prime. She clung to this portion of the mortal world as much as she could, clung to her mother, Demeter, as much as she could. Persephone loved my father, but her love for her mother was far greater.
I sat down at the first table I could and saw Mino. His real name was Theseus, but Ares called him the abbreviation for the famous monster the original Theseus fought and it stuck.
"Hey Dead Hair, a little birdie told me you sent Owl Eyes to lunch on her shield." Mino said.
I looked over at him. He wore a stormy grey uniform with platinum and gold lining, on his left sleeve he had a lightning patch that marked him as a son of Zeus.
"Just because you heard about it, doesn't mean you can talk about it Mino." I said, pouring hate into my words. Penny had been my professional rival for years, every trick I showed off just made her quicker.
"Alright Mary, but a daughter of Athena? That's huge." Mino said.
Penny sat down "Didn't I knock you out with a single punch?" She said looking at Mino, he sighed and looked down at his feet in defeat.
"As for you Mary. A spear is more preferable for Spartan fighting styles. Also the handle slows you down, but I guess since you use brute strength it doesn't matter." Penny said.
"Last I checked brute strength won the Peloponnesian War." I said smiling.
Penny was taken aback by that statement. That war was a sore spot for all Athena kids, and Athena herself. It was also a cause of argument, to this day, between Athena and Ares.
"Gods curse you." Penny said.
"To where? The Underworld? If I die I go to Elysium, and if I live I go to Elysium." I said sitting back.
Penny rolled her eyes and got up. She walked off, and I sat there smiling.
Lunch went by, and I went to my last three classes. My English and tactics class taught by Athena, my Marine Biology (AKA listen to a god complain about mortals for an hour) class taught by Poseidon, and my Archery class taught by Lady Artemis and her brother Apollo.
After Archery class I went to my Father. He sat at his desk. Theseus (The real one) stood next to him. Hades had a worn and tattered black suit on. His right sleeve and sections were held on by threads. His tie had a metal skull clipped on it. He was incredibly pale, his hair was slicked back, and his eyes were pitch black. On his desk he had a spool of yarn, and a tattered baseball cup with a skull on it. The famous golden yarn that led Theseus through the Labyrinth, and Hades' helm of invisibility.
"Hello Mary. Happy Friday. I would love to talk more, but I really must go now. Right, sir?" Theseus said.
Hades nodded and waved his hand. Theseus sunk into the floor and disappeared completely. "What do you need sweetheart?" Hades said turning towards me.
"Hermès had a substitute today." I said.
Hades nodded and chuckled. "Your uncle Poseidon and Zeus are keeping him busy. Artemis brought concern to Typhon growing in power. Zeus plans to take Typhon on with Poseidon and Apollo to defeat him before he gets to full strength." He said.
Typhon, a monster so horrifying that he beat Zeus and scared every other god. Hades smiled and waved his hand. My body became see through, and I sunk through the floor.
When I got back to my physical form I was at the steps leading to the river Styx. It was all black stone veined with gold and white marble. Stairway to Hell I thought to myself starting to walk down the steps.