Nico's first word! (And Regulus's very bad day)
Say it.” Bianca hissed excitedly, eyes shining with glee.
“B..” Nico mumbled, stumbling over the letter.
Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. The white narcissus flowers Nico had braided into her hair all died at the same time because of her excitement. Regulus was all too familiar with that particular feeling. Persephone loved to give them flowers, especially her sacred flowers, but he had yet to not immediately kill a plant he touched that was still connected to its roots. It was why he was forbidden from even going into the garden until he could control that particular ability. It was unfortunate, but understandable.
After Nico's birth, their step-mother had started to just give them flower heads, as they - especially Regulus, unfortunately - were forbidden from touching any living, potted plants around and in the house. It probably was a good thing that Giallo already was a creature of the Underworld, as he didn't want to accidentally kill his sister's pet dog.
“Yes, Nico! You can do it! Say it!” Bianca encouraged him, putting a tiny fist in the air in excitement.
“Bi..”
Regulus leaned forward in anticipation. His little brother was about to say his first word ever. He quickly pondered whether he should call his mother, who was probably attending to her garden right now - which had grown significantly and had grown much healthier and more beautiful, unnaturally so, since her friendship with Persephone had started, which only made it worse that he couldn't see it close up - but he waved the thought away just as quickly as it came.
This was not just some common peasant baby Regulus couldn't care less about if he tried.
This was Nico.
His Nico.
His little brother.
He would not want to miss the first word of his little brother for anything in the world. He had heard Bianca's first word, which had been ‘Reggie’, much to his mother's chagrin and his delight, and he would hear Nico's. It was a huge milestep he simply could not miss. Even if his mother had to miss it so he could be there.
Still, he regretted that his first word would be Bianca instead of Regulus, or Reggie. Two out of two siblings saying his name as a first word would have been absolutely perfect.
He wasn't too worried about it, though. Bianca had spent far too much time with him, when he should have been there instead of going to school and learning about religion and the greatness of Italy and the Roman Empire. He could admit that that was admittedly interesting, if not full of propaganda, but the children around him, the professor, and the ever-moving letters ruined it.
His teacher had even called him stupid for it! Him! Merely, because the letters kept moving. It was not fair.
Regulus would not bow down, though. One life of mindlessly doing whatever his mother and society told him to do and then bowing down to a megalomaniac dark lord who did not even believe the very words he preached, the very words Evan had DIED for-
The plants in the room died one by one, like some sort of rotten and cursed domino effect. Regulus winced, his mother loved these flowers. They were the red roses that smelled like blood that Persephone kept bringing. Why his mother liked the scent of blood, he did not know. He wouldn't judge her for it though; Regulus had killed them by accident, like some sort of accidental magic. They all had their quirks.
He breathed in deeply. One of these days he needed to start controlling his accidental Godly magic powers, or whatever the official name of his inherited death magic was.
After taking yet another deep breath, he squared his - still far too small - shoulders.
The earlier point was that he would never submit to anyone ever again. Not to a dark lord. Not to his family (although he doubted they would ask something like that of him), and certainly not to Miss Rosetta, who seemed to hate him for no reason at all.
It was not his fault that he accidentally killed the roses in her classroom by accident when she hit him with a stick because he was unable to read the text he was supposed to read out loud.
“...Bitch!” Nico squealed out, convinently saying exactly what he was thinking.
Wait.
Regulus choked over his own spit and turned his head faster at Nico than he had ever turned his head at anyone before.
“What did you just say?”
Bianca burst out in cheerful laughter. "SÌ,
Nico!” She cheered, doing a tiny, silly victory dance. “You did it!”
“Bitch!” Nico repeated happily, sounding as if he was experiencing his very first Christmas again. Regulus had only been vaguely familiar with the holiday before this life because of the celebration in the great hall in his past life, but here in Italy, it was extremely different.
It was nice.
Christmas, to him, meant baking with his mother, singing songs with his family, and most importantly, Andrea getting so drunk he would try to baptize them all again (Hades and Persephone were hilariously enough included to that). It always ended with his mother throwing a shoe at him.
“Bitch!” Nico repeated just as gleefully as Bianca looked.
Regulus glared at his little sister. Nico saying it once was an accident. Twice could have been a coincidence, but thrice meant that it was a pattern.
Bianca grinned smugly back at him, showing exactly zero remorse.
“Where did you even learn that word?” He gasped, scandalized.
She smiled innocently. “I have my ways.”
What-
What did that even mean-
“You have your ways?!” He sputtered. “How?! You're always inside. You're literally not even three years old.”
Bianca rolled her eyes overly dramatically. How is a not even three year old child able to be this sassy? Regulus was not this sassy! Lady Magic forbid if both of his little siblings will turn out to be such pains! Oh no. He had jinxed it now, did he?
“You killed the flowers.” She replied, grinning. “Mamma wouldn't like that.”
Regulus gasped again. “Are you trying to blackmail me?!”
Bianca gently kissed Nico's forehead. Nico happily grinned back at her. “Bitch!”
His sister shook her head. “I would never, Reggie! I would only tell the truth to mamma! She always says that we shouldn't lie to our family!”
He squinted his eyes. “Alright, what is it that you want?”
Her face lit up adorably. She was such a Slytherin already. Regulus was both perturbed and impressed by her ingenuity. And a little terrified, to be honest. Not for himself, but for the world. It was a good kind of anticipation, though; Bianca would one day be a force to be reckoned with, and he would certainly be proud to be on her side.
“Play with the shadows!”
He sighed. “Papa told us that it can be dangerous to play with the shadows.”
Bianca shook her head and pouted. “Papa is wrong.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Think about what you just said, Bi.”
She grumbled. "Ok.", she admitted. Nonetheless, his little sister remained stubborn as usual, the look on her face unwavering. "Then I'll play with the shadows. Alone." She stated, turning away with determination.
Grabbing Nico in his arms - because he would never leave his one year old baby brother alone. Especially as there might suddenly be a literal monster that would eat him, and Regulus could never forgive himself if that would happen - he quickly walked after Bianca.
“Wait!”
She stopped in her tracks, turning around and grinning exactly the way Nico had grinned earlier - as if Christmas had come earlier. Even though it really had been last month.
He took a deep breath. Bianca would be the reason he'd have gray hairs by the age of ten..
“There are rules, though.”
She nodded calmly, as if she were the reasonable one here.
He held up a finger. “Firstly, we will tell mamma that we're going to play.” He could already imagine the horror she must otherwise feel if they would be suddenly gone.
When Bianca nodded again, he held up another finger. “Secondly, when we're in the shadow room, you will always hold my hand.” The shadow room was what Bianca called the shadow place between places.
It was the location where innumerable voices whispered over each other in so many languages that they couldn't be understood even if they tried. It was also the place where you could quickly become disoriented if you lost sight of your destination, even for a brief minute.
Regulus saw it as what would happen if you did not focus enough while apparating, except the consequences would be much worse. If you apparate while intoxicated, you risk losing an arm or a leg. He could only imagine what might happen if you lost attention while shadow-apparating. Would you become one of the faceless, mumbling souls in the shadow room?
He did not want to ever risk becoming anything like an Inferi ever again or drown, even if it wouldn't be in shadowy water, but in literally shadows instead. He involuntarily shuddered at the idea. He hadn't had Inferi and drowning nightmares in a while now; it was for the best to not think about those creatures anymore.. Out of sight, out of mind and all that.
It also probably was better to not know what would happen when you'd get lost in the shadow room. Yet, not knowing something when he could was not in his nature. He would always remain curious if he wouldn't find out, and that was never a good thing. He'd have to ask his father about that when he'd see him again.
“And the third rule?” She asked, cutting through his thoughts.
Regulus took yet again a deep breath. What was it with him today?
“The third rule is to not befriend any monsters and to immediately go back home with Nico if something happens. In that case, I would come back later.” He looked seriously at her, to see if she understood.
Bianca huffed. “They're friends. Not monsters.”
“They would literally eat you, and are attracted to your scent.” He replied dryly.
“You smell worse!”
Regulus gasped indignantly. “I do not!”
She threw a dubious look at him. “Flower-mamma says that I always smell like flowers and Spring because of the flowers that you always braid into my hair!”
He pinched the bridge between his nose, trying - and failing - to stop the upcoming headache from happening.
“Those are dead now because you were too excited to teach Niccolò a bad word.”
She crossed her arms petulantly. “You killed all the flowers in the room!”
“You killed the flowers in your hair.”
“Did not!”
"Yes, you did.”
“DID NOT!” She screamed, killing the flowers in the hallway.
Regulus winced. How was he going to explain this? The flowers in two rooms had already been killed. If this kept up, Persephone would look disappointedly at them, and that was worse than even Bianca's cold feet at night were.
Just when he thought that this day couldn't go any worse, his mother cleared her throat behind them. He did not hear her walk behind them. Seriously, she must secretly be some sort of witch or ninja, as he had never heard her walk before. Had his father given her shadow magic too? Was that even possible? And would it even be possible to use shadows for that?!
“What is the matter, my angels?” She asked kindly.
Regulus turned around.
Nico smiled brightly at their mother. “Bitch!”
He could feel his face pale. Even Bianca, who was now standing next to him, gulped audibly.
She gasped astaunished. “Did Niccolò just say his first word?”
Bianca nodded energetically. “SÌ! Reggie taught him how to!”
He could just so keep himself from gaping like some sort of moron at the little monster next to him. If not for the pureblood etiquette he firmly kept on (although this day was testing his limits), and was teaching his sister, to little success (in the way that she knew how to behave but just refused and only did it when it was convenient for her), he would have.
“I did no such thing!” He heatedly defended himself.
Maria hummed, entirely unconvinced, before ruffling his hair. “Of course not, my little lion king.”
She sighed. “Oh well, I owe your father a kiss, it seems.” She stage-whispered to them. “Hades predicted that Nico's first word would be a curse, especially with Persephone having given him a minor blessing, and her being the Goddess of curses. I hopefully predicted that it would be ‘mamma’, as none of your first words were that.”
He scrunched up his face. “Please don't remind me that you two kiss each other.”
She smiled amusedly at him. “It's nothing to be ashamed of, my little lion king. People who love each other kiss each other all the time.” She ruffled his hair again, completely ruining the way he had styled it for half an hour in front of the mirror this morning. Or should he say mourning? With the way this day was going, that would probably be more accurate. “You'll get it when you're older.”
Regulus sincerely doubted that. He had been older and didn't get it.
“Me and Reggie-”
“Reggie and I.” their mother corrected warmly, before leaning forwards and unbraiding Bianca's hair and putting the dead flowers out of it, in a bloom pot full of dead roses. Her hair was even more gorgeous when it was loose; despite how wavy it was - they all had wavy hair - it reached her lower back.
Bianca nodded happily. “Reggie and I wanted to play with the shadows!”
Regulus breathed out relieved. His mother definitely had enough sense to tell them they were not allowed to go. The day was saved.
Maria laughed at that. Of course you did. Your younger brother is too little for that, but you're allowed to go; it will be nice to play together! Take Giallo with you for protection. He'll also enjoy the playing time."
Well, there went his entire plan to not go. He carefully handed Nico to Maria, who immediately held him properly and kissed his forehead.
“You won't kill my flowers, would you?” She asked the baby, who giggled back.
“Bitch!”
Maria smiled. “Well, that's good to know.”
Bianca whistled highly for two seconds, at which Giallo appeared from the shadow next to them. She waved adorably to their mother and held his hand.