Death is an Art - I am an Artist

The first thing Regulus noticed were the windows. They were made out of thick, colorful glass that reflected the warm sun outside, and there were people to be seen in the glass. Especially a woman with brown hair seemed to be popular, as he had seen her in multiple windows now. He almost expected them to start moving and wave at him.

No matter how long he stared at the windows though, they stayed the same. The women stayed immobile and the winged people - he wondered whether they were some sort of near-human or half-human creatures that Muggles ended up idolizing. It had happened before - stayed as nothing but interesting looking beings.

“God is especially close to us here.” a voice took him out of his musings.

He wasn't sure where it came from, as every single sound in this odd, yet beautiful building echoed as if it had been spelled. It was interesting, as even though the big hall in Hogwarts had been much, much bigger than this building, it had not once echoed. It must have been magic, he supposed.

He glanced around him, until his eyes rested on an old man with kind eyes who was wearing something that looked like a robe, but yet different. Regulus sure knew that he would perhaps even have worn it. He only wore black clothes - he still did to the chagrin of his mother - in his past life, and this outfit was mostly completely black.

“What is your name, son? I'm Father Ricci.”

Before Regulus could answer, his mother slid in front of him. He hadn't seen her before or heard her footsteps. Maria di Angelo often joked that Regulus's father was like a living shadow, but he had not once in his life heard her walk and he had never once seen her wear any other shoes but high heels.

“His name is Regulus.” She stepped towards him with a warm smile on her face. “It is good to see you again, Andrea.”

The man he now knew to be Andrea Ricci smiled warmly, before shaking his head in faux disappointment. “Maria, we're in the house of God. Have some manners.”

Maria tutted. “We both know that temples are made for laughter.”

Andrea sighed faux disappointedly. He seemed to like doing that. “I see that I still haven't managed to converge you, despite your name?”

Maria shrugged. Despite the casual gesture, she still managed to look graceful. “The chances of that are as strong as me convincing you to pray to a Greek God, Andrea. He might exist, might not. In the end, I'll keep it at what I know to be the truth.”

Regulus frowned. That was oddly specific. He looked up at the creme colored walls, the hundreds of individual stones that clearly had been cut by hand and care. The gorgeous windows once again greeted him.

“Regulus is a miracle, indeed.” Andrea simply replied. He stepped forwards and kneeled in front of him.

“Do you want to know a secret?” He stage-whispered.

After Regulus nodded, Andrea stood up again and grinned at Maria, who immediately scoffed.

“When I was your mother's age, my younger sister - that is your grandmother - told me that she'd name her first born daughter ‘Maria’ later so she'd always be close to God. And what does she do? Believe in the Lord? No, of course not! She falls in love with a Greek God instead!”

Regulus sniggered undignified at Andrea's antics - he blamed his younger body for that. It turned out that being reincarnated had some effects on his mental state and biological state, after all. Who could have thought?! It was fortunately only slightly though, so he didn't mind it too much.

He analyzed the looks of the man in front of him. He was practically a golden-eyed copy of his father, so it wasn't surprising that he couldn't see much of the older man in himself, but he did share his mother's smile, olive colored skin and his mother's pitch-black, wavy hair. He could tell by the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled, much like his mother did.

“It is always nice to have more family than you expected.” He settled on.

Andrea nodded, before turning his head dramatically to Maria, who looked as if Regulus's little sibling might be born any second now. He couldn't wait to be an older brother. Not only would it mean finally getting a younger sibling, but it would also mean that he'd get to see his father more times! Regulus had only seen Hades on his birthdays.

He was about to say some more, only for a shoe to fly against Andrea's head and the man to stumble and fall on the ground next to Regulus. Even when sitting down, he was still taller than him. Regulus couldn't wait to be tall again.

“Maria! Attacking a priest in the house of God! Have you no shame?!” Andrea gasped with a hand over his heart. He grabbed the shoe she had thrown at him. “And even with such an ugly shoe! This is sacrilege!”

The shoe was not ugly. Regulus should know; his fashion sense was polished. In his previous life, he had frequently purchased Italian clothing - those satin robes were the most comfortable he had ever had - and now that he was an Italian, he had even more credibility regarding fashion (and cuisine, given his mother's cooking expertise).

Maria rolled her eyes. “The shoe is beautiful.” She huffed. “Besides, was it not you who threw a hideous sandal at me when I told you that my children would not be baptized?”

He looked at Regulus as if to say ‘Can you believe this?!’. “All I wanted to do was smuggle you and your siblings into Heaven.”

Maria threathenly held up her other shoe. “They are literally children of the Greek God of the Underworld. Don't you think that would have been offensive to him?”

Andrea shrugged. “Hades may be baptized too if he wishes to. The Lord does not discriminate, and what is a Greek God if not a being of another race created by the Lord?”

Maria stepped forward and smacked him on the head, only for her dress to turn wet and her to sit down on a church bench. “Mio Dios! My waters just broke!”

Andrea grinned victoriously. “Your baby will be born in the church. This is a sign, Maria! A sign!”

A nun ushered Regus away and gave him the Bible to read. It was good practice for his Italian. He was four years old, so he had already been taught how to read by his mother (which had been more challenging than expected, considering he already knew how to do so. Alas, no matter how much he read or focused on reading, the letters still stubbornly ignored his pleas to not move. It was rather annoying, but Regulus was nothing if not determined and ambitious).

Nonetheless, the book was quite intriguing. It reminded him of the legends he used to read in the Black Library as a boy. The idea of a 'God' who created everything seemed preposterous to him, but what did he know? Death was real. Greek gods were real. Reincarnation was real. Regulus would not deny the idea, but, like his mother, he would not pray to this God.

Lady Hekate continued to have that honour and would always do so. She had given him magic, which was everything. Even if he was no longer a mortal wizard but rather a Demigod, magic continued to exist. Regulus respected that.

He chuckled to himself after reading some more, which essentially entailed trying to read the same pages over and over, straining to read the phrases despite the letters appearing to do the tango (had he been cursed? It was such a clever curse too, exactly something petty he would have cursed Barty with and then gaslight him into believing he just needed to sleep more).

His mother's name and the popularity of the name suddenly made a lot more sense. For years, he assumed that 'Ave Maria' was a song his mother adored simply because it was her name, but now he knew why! Maria ironically also was the mother of a Demigod!

Trying to ignore the screaming of his mother not far from where he was, he glanced at the window above him. Regulus was in one of the private quarters of the nuns and priests that lived here. It was an extremely bland room with a large wooden gross above the bed. Not his personal fashion choice, but he'd seen worse.

In this window the woman (who he now assumed to be Maria), was again to be seen. In the way she was presented, he couldn't help but think that she resembled his own mother a fair share. Not necessarily in looks, but in the motherly, yet bold air she radiated.

It was impressive that this was but a window. Once again, he wondered what she would have looked like if a wizard or witch had enchanted the window. He couldn't wait to be able to do magic again, no matter how limited it might turn out to be.

“Your sister is born.” a voice from behind him spoke smoothly, yet more excited than he had ever heard him speak.

He turned around and saw his father smiling bigger than Regulus had ever seen him smile. Even his pitch black eyes looked like they were just as bright as Regulus’ own eyes were at the moment.

“I have a sister?” He whispered half to himself, half to his father. Half to no one and yet everyone at all.

When Hades nodded once, Regulus leaped up from his position. "I have a sister!" He shouted. He could swear that the sound echoed throughout the entire building, but it didn't concern him at the time.

The entire world could know that Regulus was a big brother now. He'd be the best ever! Without thinking about what he was doing, he ran towards his father and pulled his arms around his legs. Hades stiffened for a second before reciprocating the hug and gently taking him up.

Regulus was so overjoyed that he didn't even mind that his father held him like a sack of potatoes.

“What is her name?” He eventually whispered, afraid that if he'd say it out loud he'd wake up and discover this to be nothing but a dream.

Instead of getting an answer, the blissful moment of being held by his father and him looking at Regulus with eyes full of love continued. Hades walked out of the room, clearly already knowing the layout of the church. The closer they got to his mother and little sister, the bigger the smile on his father's face became.

When they entered the room, his mother laid in bed with his little sister (!) in her arms. Looking at his sister in his mother's arms, he couldn't help but think that she was so incredibly fragile. Like a breeze could blow her over and take her away from him forever.

Hades’ smile somehow only got bigger when he looked at Regulus's breathless reaction of awe. “She does not have a name yet, but she will have a worthy one. Just like your name is more than worthy, my little king.”

His cheeks reddened at the nickname. His mother almost always called him that (she only didn't when she was angry or extremely serious, like when Regulus accidentally ended up bringing back a dead bird he had found in the garden, and it flew away as if nothing had happened at all and told him not to do it again without knowing if there'll be any side-effects for him), but his father had only called him by his full first name yet.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Maria's weary voice inquired. Her head was covered in sweat, but she, too, had the largest smile Regulus had ever seen on her face, as well as love-filled eyes.

Hades stared at the duo for a moment, instinctively holding Regulus so tightly he couldn't move anymore. “She is.” He breathed out. “She looks just like you.”

Maria chuckled. “Which is for the best! Imagine that both our children were your complete copies!”

Hades huffed amusedly. “Yes, imagine that.” He glanced pensively at Regulus, but kept smiling merrily nevertheless. “How you managed to resemble me to this extent, I wouldn't know. If not for your eyes, you might be confused for me by my family!”

Maria hummed as if she thought Hades was acting especially stupid. “Not especially with his eyes, mi amore?”

Hades scrutinized Regulus once again. He did not really mind it, but it was weird to be looked at directly in the eyes for so long. “You might have a point. Mortals are not supposed to have eyes like this.” He gave Regulus a nod. “Which makes you extra special, my little king.”

His mother cleared her throat softly, trying and failing to hide her amusement. “You just say that because you have never had a child that resembles you as much as our little king.”

Hades gasped, matching Maria's dramas. “I would never!”

“Oh, really?” She teased.

“Of course, I love all my - well okay, I love most of my children - but all of them have had my pitch black eyes. It's a sign they're mine. Like children of Athena having gray eyes, or children of Apollo and Zeus having blue eyes.”

At exactly that moment, Regulus's little sister chose to open her eyes for the first time. They were the colour of dark chocolate, exactly like his mother.

“She even has my eyes!” Maria said triumphantly.

“Which makes her your exact clone.” Hades concluded. “It appears both of our children have special eyes.” He stared lovingly in her eyes for a moment too long if you'd ask Regulus.

He wiggled in his father's arms, which kept holding him tighter and tighter. Being suffocated by arms would be a hilarious death in hindsight, but not one he desired for himself.

Do you have a name in mind?” Hades asked, putting Regulus carefully down.

After looking at his little sister, who looked at the world with big, curious eyes, a moment, his mother beamed. “Bianca. After my mother.”

“Bianca, meaning ‘white’.” Hades walked closer to Maria and Bianca, softly caressing the tiny olive coloured face of his sister. She reached with a joyful baby shriek. “It is rather on the nose, but it would do.“

Maria smiled cheekily. “It would do? Just that? Why, Hades, only for that, I will make her second name ‘Andrea’.

Andrea, who had personally insisted on helping deliver his grand niece, took that moment to walk into the room. “She would have loved that.”

Hades nodded politely at the man. He knew his domain and how to react. Normally he wasn't one to comfort a mortal about the loss of a loved one, but now he might have. If only because Maria cared about him and he was the grand uncle of his children. Yet, he could tell that it was not necessary. This man had long since made peace with death. It was not something that mortals often did.

Hades looked at the beaming Andrea in front of him, who had put a hand in front of his heart. “Andrea. Warrior. Once again, a bold name for a hero.”

He stepped closer to Maria and put Regulus down on the bed (he had been trying to get on it but he was still far too short).

“May I hold her?”

Regulus knew that his life would soon be even better than it already was.