FicWad

"Ari, you've done well," Noro's voice cut through the silence. His large shadow form slinked out of the darkness, his four sets of red eyes softening as they fell upon the child in the Goddess' arms. "She's perfect. Like you."

Ari chuckled softly, her body weak and tired from labor. Her pale arms still managed the strength to cradle the child. Her multicolored eyes slipped over to the Titan, and a smile pulled at her lips. "We did well." Her smile quickly faded away and was replaced with a frown. "Noro, what will happen when the Gods and Titans discover our Oria?"

Noro's two sets of eyes narrowed with protectiveness. His lips twitched angrily. "Hades and Zeus will not find out. I am too cautious for that. But if that were to happen,, leave Oria with me. Hades would least expect her to be a God." He brushed the knuckle of his claw against her delicate soft pale cheek, a sort of purr rising from his throat. "She'll be in good hands, my love." Ari reached up with her hand and touched his cheek with her finger tips.

"I know, Noro. But she'll grow up with out a mother," she said, sadness in her voice. "Who will be her mother?"

"I'll tell her you died in labor," he told her, sadness threatening to choke him. He bent down and plated a kiss on her forehead. "You must go, I sense Hades presence nearby. Give Oria to me, love." He took the child from her mother, melting into the shadows. He cradled the child in his arm as he proceeded to the gates of the Underworld. Sadness made a lump in his throat, and tears burned at his eyes as he left his weakened mate behind.

"Noro?" Atlas called from the pits of their fiery home. "Are you back? Where have you been? Hades has been on a furious fit for the past seven hours."

Noro glanced at his dear friend holding the earth and the heavens on his shoulders. "I...I had to..." Words were beginning to fail him, he couldn't think of a clever lie to explain the child in his arms.

"What's that in your arms?" Atlas questioned, snapping Noro out of his debating game.

"A child," Noro replied, with a somber tone. "Her mother died giving birth to her. I found her out in the forest, some Demi-gods trying to snatch her away. I saved her and I'm going to raise her as my own." He slid past the large Titan, pressing the precious bundle closer to his chest. He could sense Hades' furious presence and felt a hole being burnt in the back of his head. He coolly turned around, looked down at the God of the Underworld with his red eyes. He hid his true expression carefully, he knew and he felt Hades' wrath before.

Hades narrowed his eyes as he looked at the child in Noro's arms. "What. Is. That?"

"A child," Noro responded carefully. "I found her in the..."

"I don't want to here it," Hades spat. "Just keep that thing away from me. I'm watching you, Noro. I'll find out what you're hiding." He strode past the Titan of Nightmares.

"Don't worry, my Oria," Noro purred. "You'll be strong enough to defeat Hades, I just know it."

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17 years later

"Dormor!" Oria called, her Shadowbone bow clutched in her hand. She frowned behind her metallic mask, pulling her worn black hood over her head even more. The shade of the forest always felt cool against her heat battered skin. She didn't complain about her home, she had learned not to do so. It annoyed Hades, who already disliked her enough, and it annoyed her father. She had never known about her mother, he had seemed to grief stricken to talk about her. Oria never pressed, she was raised too well by her father and the other Titans she called family.

Her father had giving her a creature of shadows called Dormor. He a creature able to turn into any sort of beast he wishes and he was to keep her protected.