Misery Loves Company - WordsOfASarcast - Percy Jackson and the Olympians (2024)

Chapter 1: Will’s Guide to Measuring Time

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Will had always thought his most memorable day with Nico would be their wedding day.

He'd never told Nico, but he thought about that day a lot despite them having only dated for several months. He'd pictured the all-black suit Nico would wear, standing at the end of the aisle as Will walked down it with his mother at his arm. He'd thought about the flowers; having begun tending a patch of Moonlace Percy had gifted him. He'd thought about it so frequently because it had to be perfect.

Because Will had always thought their memorable day would be their wedding day.

Not the day he left.

Will would come back to this day everyday for two years, pulling apart his memories trying to find a sign. But he could never see it. Nico had been quietly happy that day, his soft smile was no longer a rare sight and it lit up a room like glittering stars on a moonless night.

Dear Will ,

Will knew Nico still had bad days; days where he didn't see the sun, or his mind made him think he was only dreaming, convincing him that when he ‘awoke’ he'd be back suffering like he was during the wars. Nico didn't share much about those times, and Will knew better than to pry. The son of Hades had taken to talking with Mr. D which seemed to help; Will was grateful for that.

I'm not good at apologies, you know that, but I owe you one. I'm not apologising for what I've done but for the hurt it'll cause you. I should have seen this coming, the Fates must be laughing down at me from Olympus; I got attached, that was my mistake.

He'd had a good day the day before he left. Funny that was how he measured his life now, the before and the after. It used to be the wars that he used to measure the passage of time but there had been three of those now and he wasn't stupid enough to think another wouldn't come. So his life became divided into the before Nico, during Nico, and after Nico.

Why did there have to be an after?

I can't explain, truly it's better you don't know . I know you deserve an explanation, Gods you deserve someone who will stay with you. And I'm not that, I'm good at running, Will, you know that.

The last day of ‘ during Nico’ , the day before he'd left, seemed like any other. Nico had sat at the Apollo table for breakfast Chiron didn’t even give them a second glance anymore, and he'd eaten half his food which was more than usual. Will remembered little details like that even five years later. He could remember that he'd had toast with strawberry jam, cut in half diagonally because that's how Bianca used to do it. But he was forgetting the colour of his eyes. Were they the deep black-brown of squid ink or were they closer to home-brewed coffee?

He'd spent the morning in the infirmary with Will since after the war he'd taken to helping Will, though he rarely said a word to any of the campers who came in. Nico had always thought the campers were unnerved by him, looking back Will knew he was right, but all those years ago Will would just hug him close and tell him his mind was lying to him, that he was loved and wanted at Camp Half-blood.

The infirmary emptied quickly, Will discharging the few who got injured in the most recent attacks on the Camp border. The attacks had become commonplace, every few days packs of monsters would scout Half-blood Hill or try to breach through the forest. The Ares Cabin had taken up a border watch, a curfew was put in place and the demigods were confined within the Camp. Something was coming, everyone could feel it. No one admitted it though. Even if everyone watched Rachel Dare a little closer when she came to visit, awaiting that dreaded green fog.

Don't try to look for me, I had to say it even though knowing you, you won't listen.

Nico had hidden himself away in the Infirmary’s office, lying lazily on a spare patient bed throwing a ball made of shadow up and catching it again and again, eyes tracking the movement although glazed by deep thought.

“Hey, Angel.” Will had said from the doorway, bathing in the warmth of Nico’s smile as he perked up hearing Will’s voice.

“Hey, you. How are the patients?” He dispersed the shadow ball he was throwing in favour of reaching out to Will.

Will obliged, twining the outstretched fingers with his own and seating himself across from Nico on the bed, the sheets rustling as he got settled. “The infirmary is officially empty again, let’s hope it lasts more than one day this time.”

Nico chuckled, thumb drawing circles on the back of Will’s hand. “We have a literal lava wall, I doubt you’ll get more than an hour's peace.”

“Better use it wisely then.” Will smirked, hand rose to cup his boyfriend’s face. Nico pressed his cheek into it, his skin cold as always against Will’s own warmth. Nico’s free hand grasps Will’s t-shirt, dragging him forwards till their lips met over their joined hands. Sparks flew like butterflies around Will’s stomach, drinking in the sensation.

Nico’s hand dropped Will’s shirt, landing at his waist where it roamed and fiddled with its orange-toned hem. Nico was never comfortable with more than that, though Will longed to kiss every scar on the son of Hades’ torso. Nico kept his shirt firmly on and Will copied in solidarity. Will knew the scars hurt him, that each one reminded him of whatever had happened during the wars, and maybe even before then.

Whatever had happened, Nico would tell him in time. They’d only started dating months ago and Will could be patient. He was jolted from his thoughts by the brush of winter against his abdomen.

His eyes had jumped to Nico’s, which stared back at him questioningly, his hand hovered over Will’s now bare skin, having lifted his t-shirt minutely to touch skin-to-skin. Will shucked off his shirt, eyes not leaving Nico’s, his skin singing with electricity at the sensation as Nico’s hand began to dance over his skin. His lips found him again in a desperate kiss, lips-to-lips, skin-to-skin.

Will kept his hands on Nico’s face, in his hair; safe places they’d discussed. Will had had his eyes closed when the sensation paused, then stopped all together. He opened them when he felt Nico shift away, eyes dropping to where Nico’s gaze was set.

To the soulmark that was inked on Will’s skin below his pectoral: A pomegranate branch, ripe with a singular pomegranate sliced in half, seven seeds falling from its flesh, down his abdomen.

The soulmark had appeared during the Giant’s War while the seven raced to Rome in an attempt to stop Gaea from rising. It had puzzled him to no end. Why seven seeds? And why when he had touched it, he was bombarded with a paralysing sense of pain and a seemingly endless pit of hunger?

Pain wasn’t unusual for his soulmate, that thought alone kept Will awake some nights. During the Titan War, Will would accidently brush one of his soulmarks only for his body to explode in pain, just an echo of what his soulmate was going through. He’d originally suspected one of the seven or a veteran from the Titan War, Will’s body was covered in soulmarks, a testament to how much his soulmate had been fated for, how much they had accomplished. So of course, he suspected they were one of the Heroes of Olympus. But Percy and Annabeth discovered they were soulmates when she found him at Camp Jupiter, though she figured it out many summer’s prior, Percy was just oblivious. Hazel and Frank were soulmates too, Leo didn’t have any soulmarks, and Piper didn’t swing that way.

Then he thought maybe it was a brave Roman soldier, hidden away in Camp Jupiter, unaware of Will’s and the Greeks’ existence until a few months ago. But if he was honest (and he was the son of the God of Truth), he wanted it to be Nico…he prayed to all the Gods it was Nico, he just wasn’t sure.

Nico never spoke about his soulmarks, most times they were covered by his jacket sleeves. The few times Will had seen them, like the flowers that were inked on the back of his hand or a peek at the silhouette of Manhattan Bridge on his shoulder, didn’t help him confirm his suspicions.

Will had never brought it up, neither had Nico. So when Nico saw Will’s soulmark, Will had hoped for a hint of recognition, an indication that perhaps pomegranates meant something to Nico, that it represented a part of his life.

You won't find me so I ask that you move on. Go to New Rome for Med School, I'll never forgive myself or you if you give up on that dream .

But there was nothing, emotionless eyes lingered on the soulmark for a few moments, then nothing. Nico just pulled him back into a chaste kiss, before tangling his fingers with Will’s and pulling him off the bed and towards the door.

“Come on Dr Solace, I’d say we’ve worked up an appetite.” He had said, guiding them to the dining pavilion.

Will had laughed, throwing his shirt back on, his thoughts of soulmates and pomegranates and his growing sense of foreboding leaving him as he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s shoulders.

They’d chatted at dinner and laughed late into the night at the campfire. Everything felt right.

Nico left in the early hours of the next morning, leaving nothing but a letter in his penmanship behind. How could everything go so wrong?

I don’t expect your forgiveness, not in this lifetime. I’m sorry, Tesoro.

Ti amo con amore,

Nico.

Chapter 2: A chance Meeting... With A Dead Man

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When he left the suffocating concert hall, mind fuzzy from smoke machine fumes and the static of an ill-configured microphone, Will expected the blast of the cold winter California air and a moment to breathe. He expected the broken glass that crunched under his muddied sneakers, and he expected the low lighting of the seedy alley that made him strain his eyes.

What he didn't expect was the sounds of battle, clashing blades and monstrous shrieks, echoing off the brick walls of the alleyway that the backstage door opened out to.

They say curiosity killed the cat. That might certainly have been the case, Will hadn’t fought or trained with the dagger he now gripped in his hand for well over a year. Monsters were so rarely hostile these days, if they were seen at all and training brought back painful memories. Memories of pale skin, deep brown eyes and flirtatious taunts.

Lou Ellen said Will had a death wish. Of course, they said it in reference to him overworking himself at med school, taking too many placement shifts and research bursaries and whatever else would keep his mind from taking him back to during. But they were right in this context too, Will mused as he snuck out of the alley, in the direction of the probably-definitely-dangerous fight.

The sight he was met with made his jaw drop.

Will was no Percy Jackson, but he had been fairly confident he’d encountered most types of monsters. Nothing like the Minotaur of course, or even the Furies of the Underworld, but he’d seen his fair share. The monsters before him weren’t anything he’d seen before, winged daimons with razer-sharp bat-like wings so black he had to squint to see them against the light-polluted night sky. Their skin was night itself, and each extremity was tipped with viscous looking claws. They squawked and dived at another figure in the street, this one was vaguely humanoid and clocked in shadow. With wings much like the flying monsters, tucked in tightly at their back. Though where the monster's wings were sharp and angular, the figure's were silken black feathers. Like a fallen angel.

The figure was expertly evading their attacks and appeared to be goading them if their angered shrieks were any indication. The first of the evil-bird-things, seriously Will had no idea what they were, swooped down and landed before the dark figure. There were four of them, so not the Furies, and the piles of golden dust shifting in the cool breeze told Will that more had been here.

The monster which had landed stalked forward, hissing something too low for Will to hear but whatever it was it made the figure chuckle.

Will stopped breathing at the sound, the familiar melodic laugh ringing in his ears. Will's body moved on its own, navigating into the street as if drawn in by some invisible string. The monster lunged at the figure, who only flicked their wrist and watched as the ground opened up beneath the mutant-bird sucking it into the depths of Tartarus. Good riddance. But Will was certain now, he'd heard that laugh before a hundred times, had seen those monster-banishing, undead summoning crevices in many a battle.

“Nico?” Will was only a few strides away when he called out, oblivious to the monsters still flying overhead.

The figure whirled, the shadows disguising their form dispersed and revealed twilight black hair and coffee brown irises. And wings?! When did that happen?

The son of Hades’ eyes were wide, his whole body locking taunt as he realised who stood before him.

He opened his mouth as if finally regaining bodily control and Will braced for whatever his ex-boyfriend would say. Whatever apology he would weave.

Except Nico didn't apologise…he swore.

“f*ck!” Nico looked at him with ill-concealed horror.

Seriously that's what he said after being missing in action for five years? Will was about to say just that when Nico composed himself offering a haunty smile.

“Oh hey Solace, long time no see! Now's not really a great time, but why don't we catch up for coffee later. There's a nice spot a block away, you could go grab a table for us and I'll meet you there.” He said this as he returned his attention to the monsters above.

Will growled, anger rising with every word out of the son of Hades’ mouth.

Nico observing his anger and lack of movement sighed, “Yeah I didn't really expect that to work.”

“Where the Hades have you been?” Was what Will should have demanded in that moment, but what came out was, “You have wings.” It was more a statement rather than a question, testament to the short-circuiting his brain was experiencing. The wings in question twitched as if noticing his attention on them.

Nico must have thought it odd too because he said. “Umm yeah. Of all the questions I expected you to ask if you ever saw me again, that was not one of them.”

Will shook his head, more to clear the confused fog that was making it hard to piece together a single thought. “Where the Hades have you been?”

Nico smiled at that, though it was a cold imitation of the expression, “That's more like it.”

Will had opened his mouth to ask again, but Nico didn’t give him a chance, as one of the creatures dove down towards them, Nico leapt forward shoving Will full force into the wall of the onlooking terrace houses.

Will, let the record state, would have re-entered the fray, probably at the expense of Nico’s focus and demanded answers then and there, if a tentacle of solidified shadow didn’t appear and pin him to the wall. When Will struggled against it, Nico threw a frustrated glance over his shoulder.

Nico had always been an impressive fighter, despite his lack of training at Camp Half-blood, the ghostly tutors Minos had had him summoned for lessons and constant need to fight for survival during the wars had turned him into a whirlwind with a blade. But in the past five years it seemed he’d graduated from skilled, to deadly. His familiar Stygian Iron sword an extension of his arm as he fought, the shadows moving with him as he used them to lash out at the winged monsters. Disappearing and reappearing at the bird-thing’s back every now and again to catch it off guard. After a few minutes, he managed to immobilise the monster with ropes of shadow before opening the ground once more, sending it back to Tartarus. Why he didn’t just stab it through with his sword Will didn’t know, maybe he was being dramatic.

The two last winged monsters let out an outraged cry, swooping down with their claws outstretched.

“Son of Hades you will pay for that!”

“You and your sisters say that every time we do this, it's boring and repetitive.” Nico criticised with a bored tone. “Seriously, you escape Tartarus, you spend weeks searching for me, you might as well make use of the time and come up with some more creative threats.”

The things hissed angrily, their flapping wings sending dust and litter skittering across the asphalt. One struck out with a razor sharp wing but Nico shadow travelled away, sword raised.

Nico looked steady on his feet, but Will knew he must be fatigued from shadow travelling so frequently. Memories of pale fading skin flickered to the forefront of his mind and Will couldn’t stop the panic that rose in him. Nico may have broken his heart, possibly stomping on it when he left him five years ago, but Will couldn’t watch him fade, not again.

He might be pissed and hurt and frustrated that his ex-boyfriend had come waltzing back into his life after he’d finally moved on, but he was a healer and he wouldn’t stand by while someone was hurt.

Especially if that someone happened to be his soulmate.

Will summoned pure light to his palm, a rare gift from Apollo that he’d begun practising regularly a year ago. It was draining and hard to control, often making his head spin and his limbs heavy - especially at night - but it had its uses. Like chasing away his ex-boyfriend’s shadows.

Will grasped the shadow tentacle holding him in place, focusing his light into it.

He heard a loud cry, a sound of pure anguish and Will’s head snapped up.

Chapter 3: The Fates were Laughing from Olympus

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Nico was riling up the Arai one moment, his mind churning through battle strategies as he tried to lure the monsters to the ground. The next moment, he was in agony as if his body was being torn apart.

He couldn’t stop himself as he fell to the ground gripping his head as his wings and body flickered in and out of solidity, his face contorted in anguish.

The Arai paid him no mind, despite his weakened state, it had its eyes locked on a new target. Nico barely managed to tilt his head to see what it was looking at, and his heart dropped.

“Son of Apollo, how kind of you to join us.” One of the Arai giggled, landing behind Nico and kicking him aside. It looked at him with glee as he failed to pick himself up from the ground. What the Hades was going on?

“Perhaps we should thank you, young demigod. You have made this much easier.” The other Arai flew down, hovering off the ground in front of Will. “Your skill set would be a great asset in our masters endeavours.”

That was when Nico noticed the light that lit Will’s palms. Oh the Fates were laughing down at him from Olympus.

In the five years since Nico had left Camp Half-blood his powers had grown tremendously, through the help of his father, training and years of fighting the Arai and the other creatures the Goddess sent after him. He could no longer fade from overuse of his powers, Hades and Thanatos had ensured that. But the Fates needed balance, he was powerful, especially after becoming Hades’ heir, among other titles, he needed a weakness - apparently.

It had developed after he took up the title of Prince of the Underworld and Heir of Lord Hades, a sensitivity to light and life. The opposite of his shadows and death.

Sensitivity was an understatement, he thought as Will’s blazing hands continued to send torturous jolts through his body. As he began to fade.

Gods he didn’t miss this feeling. It had been four years since the last incident and he was not enjoying getting reacquainted.

He’d lasted five years, he wasn’t about to get dragged into Tartarus again because his ex-boyfriend got himself involved.

Nico groaned before slamming his palm into the road, trembling at the rush of energy that drained out of him as he opened up a gorge straight to Tartarus. The Arai watching over him was sucked inside, banished back into the Pit, but not before it said, “She will know your weakness now, Prince of Darkness. Your fall draws near.”

Then it was gone, the narrow canyon closing back up at Nico’s will.

Only one left now.

The last Arai glared at him angrily but turned back to Will. Nico felt the control of his body return to him, the pain of the pure sunlight finally leaving him and his body and wings becoming corporeal once more. Thank the Gods.

He would not allow himself to be delivered to Akhlys, he had evaded her for five years, he would continue to do so. But first he had to help Will, then he could disappear once more.

Will had drawn a Celestial Bronze dagger as the monster approached him.

Cazzo! He didn’t know about the Arai’s curses. The last Arai was smart, unlike its sisters it hovered too high off the ground for Nico to banish it using his geokinesis.

Nico didn't get the chance to think of a new plan, not as Will drew back that dagger, aiming it at Arai's chest.

He could pray it would miss? Who was he kidding? Will was a son of Apollo; his long range aim was practically blessed.

So when Will pulled his wrist back prepared to throw, Nico beat him to it.

“Fottuto idiota, sei fortunato che ti amo!” Nico muttered, shadow-travelling so he was stood behind the hovering monster.

A Stygian Iron throwing knife pierced through the Arai’s ribs and into its chest from the back before Will could release his own weapon.

The Arai fell from the sky, landing in a heap as it began to disintegrate. It turned to face him in its final moments.

“I wonder what curse I shall give you, son of Hades.” It cackled before crumbling to gold dust, it's soul sucked into the dagger.

The two ex-boyfriends and fated soulmates stared at one another for one moment, two moments…

Then Nico collapsed.

Chapter 4: With Great Power...

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“Annabeth, I need someone at my location as fast as divinely possible. Medkit required.” Will pressed the phone against his shoulder to wedge it to his ear as he tore away the blood soaked shirt of his ex-boyfriend. His armour had disappeared the moment he collapsed, rippling away like it was a mere illusion and in its place was casual, if not over-accessorised clothing.

Annabeth, Gods bless her, switched to battle-hardened strategist in less than a second. “On it, I’ve tracked your demi-phone, Percy’s on his way with Blackjack, he’s twenty minutes out.”

Nico grimaced beneath him, they both knew that was too long.

“We need him here faster.” Will forced calm into his voice, breathing deep in an effort to summon his healing magic, but his nerves were fried and his powers erratic with his distress.

“Will, there’s no way-”

Whatever she said next was cut off by the sensation of cool skin latching to Will’s wrist, and then darkness. Stinging cold darkness enveloped him, invisible wind whipping at his face and clothes. Then he was crashing onto grass, that cold hand losing its grip as Nico was thrown a few steps away. The son of Hades groaned, hand pressed to his bare stomach which was bleeding profusely. Will hadn’t even seen him get injured in the fight, it was like the wound appeared out of nowhere.

“Will- what just happened? You were on the far side of the city, now you're just outside the tunnel entrance to Camp Jupiter?”

Will couldn’t answer, too busy throwing his guts up from dizziness. Gods he did not miss shadow-travel.

“Will?”

Will wiped his mouth, hurrying back towards Nico. “What’s Percy’s ETA?”

“He’s two minutes out.” Annabeth’s awed voice replied. Will sighed with relief before hanging up.

Returning his attention to the winged man, Will drew his healing power into his palms, thankful when his hands lit up with a golden glow. Nico however, began to drag himself away, pupils wide with panic as Will brought his hands towards the bleeding claw wound - a large slice that bled and bled onto the browning grass. Huh guess plants still hate him.

Will shook the thought from his head. “Nico, you need to stay still.”

Nico kept backing away, “Not…Light…” he rasped, breathing heavily.

But Will ignored the stubborn idiot, closing the space between them and pressing a healing hand to the bloodied skin.

The guttural scream that tore from Nico’s throat and pierced the humid night, smothered Will’s light immediately. A weak wave of shadow exploded from the son of Hades, pushing Will back. What the Hades was that?

Nico’s head lolled, eyes focusing and unfocusing rapidly. “f*cking saw that one coming.” he muttered.

The son of Apollo stumbled forward again, and Nico pinned him with a glare that rivalled the Romans’ Wolf Stare. Maybe he’d been taught how in his time at Camp Jupiter? When his vicious look didn’t deter Will, Nico drew a golden dagger, albeit extremely hesitantly. He’d pulled himself into a low crouch, one crimson-stained hand around his wounds staunching the blood, the other held the weapon in a throwing grip.

“Nico, let me help.”

Those black wings flared, “Hades no, you’ve done enough.”

Stubborn as ever, Will pressed forwards. Nico let the dagger fly, and Will felt the sting of its blade as it brushed the skin of his shoulder. No deeper than a paper cut, a thin line of blood had appeared stinging slightly in the cold breeze. A warning shot.

“Not another step.” His ex-boyfriend said, tone laced with the threat. Will raised his hands in surrender, pausing his movements. He hoped his manner presented as calm despite the storm of anger and worry and hurt that swirled inside him. The sheer desperation on Nico’s face cut deeper than the wound to his shoulder; desperation to leave. Nico clearly didn’t want anything to do with Will, even with a fatal wound, and that f*cking hurt.

Thankfully, Percy arrived at that moment, landing beside Will and dismounting Blackjack smoothly.

“Nico?” The son of Poseidon blinked confusedly.

“Hey Percy, long time, no see.” Nico replied with false enthusiasm. A tendril of shadow wrapping around his wounds to staunch the blood flow as the son of Hades stood warily.

Percy seemed to have short-circuited, mouth hanging agape as he stared at Nico.

“The staring is getting awkward now, Perce. How about you pass over that medkit?”

Will didn’t know if Nico had somehow developed some form of charmspeak or if Percy was just in severe shock at seeing his presumed-dead friend but the son of Posiedon began to move forward, medkit in hand. Will stepped in front of him, “No way, you’ll just run off with it. Let me heal you.”

Don’t leave. Please don’t leave again.

Nico’s death glare seemed to grow more fatal by the second. “In case you didn’t notice Solace, your healing did the exact opposite. Hand over the medkit and stay out of things you don’t understand.”

He had another dagger in his free hand now, not Stygian Iron, thankfully those remained holstered at his hip.

“No.” Will said sharply, “If you won’t let me heal you, then I’ll patch you up manually. You’re seriously hurt.”

Percy seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in, “Nico, let us help, no questions asked.”

Okay, Will had never agreed to not asking questions, like Hades was he going to see his soulmate after five years and not demand answers to where he’d been or why he left. Nico must have read the discontent on Will’s face because he scoffed, raising his dagger. “The medkit, please.” Again, Nico must’ve seen Will’s stubborn expression because he added, “Or I’ll take it by force.”

Alarm bells peeled in Will’s head, the Nico he knew wasn’t quick to violence and he certainly wouldn’t hurt his friends, not without cause; no matter how much time had passed. Something was wrong. Was he possessed? An eidolon perhaps, but they were spirits of the Underworld over which Nico had jurisdiction. And it wasn’t amnesia, the son of Hades had recognised both Will and Percy. Maybe he was just skittish from the monster attack?

Will knew he was grasping at straws. But his gut told me something bigger than a random monster attack was at play.

Percy glanced at Will as if to ask, ‘We hand over the medkit now right?’

Will shook his head. No, if Nico left, he took answers for the past five years with him.

If Nico left, he might die from that wound.

If Nico left, Will might never recover. Please don’t leave, not again.

Percy, dropped hesitantly into a battle stance, Riptide released from pen-form and glowing in the dark. “Nico, you’re in no condition for a fight.”

“I’ve survived and fought with worse.” Nico rolled his eyes and the ground began to rumble.

“Please tell me that’s you, Percy?” Will hissed at the older demigod and his heart sank when the Hero of Olympus sent him a look that read, ‘Dude I wish it was me’.

Ten skeletons erupted from the ground, leaping immediately into action on unspoken orders. They all ignored Will, diving for Percy or more specifically the medical supplies in his grip.

They barely used their weapons though and seemed to pull their punches as they fought the son of Poseidon. Nico was clearly holding back just as much as Percy was. Where Percy’s sword struck the skeletons down, they only reformed and stumbled clumsily back into the fray.

“Will, what the actual Hades is going on?” Percy said, dodging another skeletal strike. “Do you have a plan? Cause I really don't want to hurt him…”

Nico laughed quietly at that, “Don't worry, you won't.”

Then the sound of metal shrieking against metal sounded as Nico’s well-aimed dagger knocked Riptide from Percy’s grip. The sword and dagger landed in a mound of dirt out of reach. Nico sighed, shifting slightly likely from discomfort, if they didn’t get him medical attention soon, Will wasn’t optimistic about recovery. Especially, when it seemed like healing magic wasn’t working. He and Percy needed a plan and fast.

But Nico seemed to have a plan of his own, standing in a circle of decaying grass one moment, then Will blinked and the son of Hades was gone. He emerged from the shadows behind Percy, hand darting out to grab his arm. As soon as he made contact, the son of Poseidon dropped like a stone, eyes rolling back in his head and snoring loudly.

What the Hades did Nico do?

A shadow tendril detached Percy’s grip from the medkit and floated it up to Nico.

f*ck no. Will was not about to let Nico go. His soulmate had walked back into his life whether he wanted to or not, with a life threatening injury and answers for his five-year absence.

Will rallied a power he so rarely used, reserved for desperate moments and life-threatening injuries: this seemed to qualify. As Nico grasped the medkit’s handle Will unleashed it, a wave of white hitting Nico square in the chest.

“Two can play that game.” Will muttered, shaking away the dizziness of power exertion. He watched his ex-boyfriend fall to the ground unconscious, held in an induced coma, beside the still-snoring Percy Jackson. The summoned skeletons were reduced to piles of inanimate bones instantaneously.

Now Will just had to figure out how to transport two of the deadliest demigods, while they were unconscious, back to New Rome.

Chapter 5: Coma [noun]; Medically-induced Trip to the Realm of Nightmares.

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Nico had a no love, all hate relationship with sleep.

In fact, he’d been actively avoiding sleep for the past five years, holding out for days at a time before passing out and repeating the cycle. He knew it wasn’t healthy, he could practically hear Will scolding him for it.

Gods Will! Aphrodite was probably patting herself on the back at that moment, proud of a job well done. How else did he end up battling Arai in the same street his ex-boyfriend and soulmate just ‘happened’ to be walking down?

Hadn't he done enough for the Gods that they could stop messing with his life?

His life for the past five years had been governed by three rules.

First, constantly evade the maniacal Goddess hellbent on dragging him down to Tartarus.

Second, do what the Gods ask of him and try not to piss any of them off - really it was harder than it sounded.

Third, leave his old life in the past. Especially William Solace.

Now, he was probably in New Rome, Will had seen him, he had a cursed wound and the aforementioned maniacal Goddess was still seeking his capture and she was now armed with the knowledge that Apollo's light practically incapacitated him. His fragile life was falling apart.

And instead of patching his wound up and disappearing from demigod society again, he was stuck in a Solace-induced coma wracked with nightmares. Nightmares that he had now been trapped in for three days. He was more than a little tempted to kill his ex-boyfriend when he woke him up.

True, Nico had some power over dreams. Especially since Hypnos had given him lessons a few years back in exchange for some Lethe water. Unfortunately, though, his control only extended over other people’s dreams, leaving him confined in his hyper-realistic nightmares. If he’d had a little more warning he might have dream-walked himself into Percy’s dreams but alas, his ex-boyfriend had taken him by surprise. Nico would be impressed if he wasn’t currently being tortured.

The purple dagger stabbed into his dream-body once more, making him cry out though the sound was distant compared to the piercing ringing in his ears. He hated this memory; hated the weakness and helplessness that bore down on him as he recalled his days in Tartarus.

This particular memory was from his days within the Brass Fortress, bound to a supporting pillar by barbed Adamantine wire that glittered translucent white and light green like a cross of silver and diamonds. Where the wire met his skin, he bled, the divine metal now soaked crimson from the hours it had held him slumped against the cold stone column. His whole body ached, and the poisonous air singed his throat as he took shallow breaths, each rise and fall of his chest pressing the barbs further into his skin.

From his hazy memories, Nico recalled normally it was Eris who visited him during his days of torture at Tartarus’ orders. The Goddess of Strife had taken great pleasure in breaking him bone by bone, only to wipe away the evidence with the fire waters of the Phlegethon. Her shining eyes and cunning smile haunted him in years past. The image of her pale skin and blood-red lips burnt into his subconscious.

But in this memory, it was her brother who held the knife. Dolos, the God of Trickery and Guile though he did not wear his true skin.

Instead he wore the face of Percy Jackson as he stabbed that blade into him again and again.

He spoke in the voice of Percy Jackson as he tortured him. Laughing cruelly as he wove his deceptions.

“ You lied to me in New Rome, Nico. This is what you deserve.” Dolos-Percy insisted, holding Nico’s chin in a jaw shattering grip forcing him to look upon the false Percy.

“ You betrayed me; led me to your father so you could be the prophesied Hero.”

Another stab.

“ You let me go on a dangerous quest with no memories, you left me to die.”

Nico could barely feel the knife pierce him anymore, his whole body screamed in agony so much so he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where he bled. Dolos shifted and it was no longer Percy standing before him but Bianca.

“ You let me die.”

Stab.

“ You drove me away to the hunters.”

Stab.

“ I was ashamed of you.”

In real-life Nico had fainted then, blood loss sweeping him into sweet oblivion. But trapped in a coma, confined in his own mind he was only swept into another ugly memory.

~

“I thought you said you put him in a coma.” Lou Ellen frowned from where they stood over the son of Hades.

“I did.” Will said, looking back to the sofa where they'd laid Nico after stitching him up again. The wound had reopened itself each day and Will couldn't figure out how.

He'd tried his healing magic again, and now Nico's pained scream haunted him. He never used to react so poorly to Will's powers but the instant the light had touched him his whole body began to convulse and fade.

Why did things have to change?

He hated it. Hated the fact that Nico wasn't the same. His wings were an indicator of that enough. But, now this incompatibility with Will’s very essence created a wall he didn't know if they could overcome.

Overcome? No, he shouldn't be trying to break down those walls. The Gods knew how broken Will was when Nico had left. He couldn't go through that kind of pain again.

“I thought comas were supposed to be peaceful.” Lou Ellen commented, watching as Nico’s face distorted in a silent scream.

“You said there was something off about his injury, like trace amounts of magic, could that be doing it?”

Lou Ellen shrugged, “Could be that, or you used to say he had nightmares.”

Nico had never shared what those nightmares were about; dreams so bad they drove him from sleep until the sun pierced the darkened sky once more. But surely five years were long enough to heal from whatever had haunted him after the wars.

“I finished the wards hours ago, you can’t avoid waking him up forever.” Lou Ellen said.

“I don’t know what to say.” Will admitted, “I thought I had finally moved on, and he stumbled right back into my life again”

Lou Ellen patted his arm sympathetically. Will continued, “I prayed for this, for two whole years I prayed to at least a dozen Gods to bring him back to me….And now, he’s back and he didn’t even want to see me.”

Will hated the tears that trekked down his face, hated that this man could still break his heart after so much time. Still Lou Ellen didn’t say anything, they just wrapped him in a warm embrace. He breathed in the honey and sage scent that clung to their cardigan.

“What am I supposed to do?” Will whispered.

“You decided two days ago you would take him in, he could have gone to New Rome Hospital but you brought him here.” Lou Ellen said, “So, you do your job, you help him. Or you let me kill him for how he broke your heart.”

“Trust me, part of me wants to see that. And I hate that the other part of me still loves him enough to stop you.” Will put his head in his hands, “I just- I brought him here for answers.”

“Then he doesn’t leave till you get your answers.” They said simply.

“Then he doesn’t leave till I get answers.” Will echoed, barely a whisper over his tormented emotions. “He’s going to be angry.”

Lou Ellen grinned, “No point delaying the inevitable, let’s get this party started!”

Chapter 6: Not by Choice

Chapter Text

There were two souls in the room with him.

That was the first thing Nico catalogued when he woke up in the unfamiliar space. Will must have lifted the magic holding him in a coma, which meant he only had precious seconds before he was expected to ‘wake up’.

He let his mind slip into battle mode.

Two souls in the room; the blinding yellow one was doubtlessly Will Solace, the other the glowing green of a Hecate child - he suspected Lou Ellen. His holsters were empty which meant they had disarmed him of his unconcealed weapons. Which was worse for them than it was for him, now his only easily accessible weapon was lethal - he really couldn’t be blamed for that. His metal sense, though nowhere near Hazel’s skill, told him that his Imperial Gold and his silver daggers were across the room.

He tried to expand his soul sense, needing to know if there was anyone guarding the room. There were no other souls in what seemed to be a decently sized two bedroom apartment but when he tried to search further he was met with resistance. Wards, he realised with no small amount of horror.

Clearly not keyed to stop him from extending his magic, since he could still sense the shadows and souls outside with minimal effort - no, these were designed to keep him in; to prevent his shadow-travel. Nico might actually kill someone, his rage was simmering under his skin.

His wound was stitched up and his energy regained from his forced unconsciousness, that was all he needed to know as he shadow-travelled off the plush surface he’d been laid on.

He didn’t attempt to get past the wards, not yet anyway that would only drain him and Hecate herself had raved about Lou Ellen’s talent. Instead he shadow travelled to where he suspected was the doorway blocking their escape.

When he reappeared he allowed himself to look around, taking stock of his surroundings. His first observation, the room was yellow. An abrasive and obnoxious shade of sunshine that made Nico even more desperate to leave. Seriously, no wall had escaped the paint job it seemed. His daggers he could see were tucked under the TV cabinet, glinting in the shadows. Reaching into the shadow of his wing, he focused on the shade in which his non-soul-sucking weapons laid and pulled, watching as the shiny metal disappeared and feeling their weight drop into his waiting hand.

The two occupant’s eyes had found him by then, Will’s flicking from the TV cabinet to his now armed hands.

“Well that didn’t work.” Lou Ellen said dryly, but their eyes’ flickered with burning hatred. Nico was sure he looked the same.

“I thought you’d rather these, than my Stygian Iron.” He sheathed one dagger in favour of pulling off his skull ring and flipping it in the air, catching the familiar black sword that appeared midair. A much deadlier threat.

Lou Ellen frowned, “I couldn’t sense that glamour spell, why?”

“Your mother cast it.” Nico smirked, indulging in the shock that appeared on the two roommates faces.

Then he addressed the child of Hecate with a glare. “How long?”

“You’ve been out for three days.” Will answered, but Nico didn’t spare him a glance.

“Not what I meant.” He scowled, repeating to Lou Ellen. “How long?”

How long will these wards keep him here? How long was he putting them at risk?

“One month.”

Nico had survived the world ending twice over. Once when Kronos tried to overthrow the Gods and again when the literal Earth Mother had risen and sought to kill them. But this feeling came close to those times. Nico couldn’t spend more than five days in the same location without the Goddess’ monsters sniffing him out. If they found him here, they would attack New Rome. And if their siege of the Roman city succeeded, they would find Will. How poetic that he had run away to save the Son of Apollo, only for him to be his own doom.

No, Nico did not leave his whole life behind five years ago for it all to fall apart now. He would just have to escape before the Goddess’ creatures could find him again.

“No.” Nico clenched his fist around the hilt of his sword. Lou Ellen scoffed. “Drop the wards.”

“No.” Will spoke this time, “You are still recovering from your injury and we could only give you so much ambrosia, you need to stay here and heal.”

Nico’s anger tipped over the edge, as he shouted, “No, I need to leave. Now!”

He could see that the shadows had shifted with his mood, writhing along the walls and spilling out from underneath the bright coloured furniture.

“Nico, calm down.” Will tried to soothe.

“Don’t tell me to calm down.”

One month. People would die. The people he had left to protect would die if he stayed. The walls seemed to press in as his panic rose. Terminus’ borders would only hold for so long before the city would be overrun. What if the demigods tried to kill the Arai like Will had?

Nico could almost see the blood that would stain his hands. He wouldn’t let people die for him.

“Look, I’m not particularly pleased with you right now either-”

“-Then why bring me here? Presumably this is your apartment. Why not pass me off to the hospital?” Nico snapped.

“You'd just leave the moment you woke up.” Will said, “Here you're stuck until you're fully healed.”

“That wasn’t your decision to make!” Nico shouted. f*ck, people were going to die if he stayed here. Hazel, Frank, Percy, Annabeth they all lived in New Rome. He couldn't let them get hurt.

Will crossed his arms, “I want answers.”

“Tough luck, you won’t get any.”

The anger that leapt onto Will’s face and twisted his expression was one Nico had rarely witnessed in the months they had dated.

“Then I'm afraid you won't be leaving.” Lou Ellen interjected smoothly.

“Yeah, we'll see.” Nico muttered. The likelihood of them just letting him out was below zero, Will was too stubborn for his own good. Nico certainly didn't want to fight them, aside from his personal feelings towards Will, neither of the two demigods were properly combat trained - it just wouldn't be a fair fight. Nor would it actually help him out of the apartment.

Unless he threatened one of them at knife point. Honestly, that was becoming more tempting by the second. But it would also get him marked as a traitor of New Rome, probably both camps too. Given how many new demigods he'd been shuttling to the borders, getting banned wasn't ideal.

So that left destroying the wards by brute force. Not a great plan, but the only one he had. If he overloaded the wards with enough Underworld magic he might be able to slip through them…Nico pulled the shadows of the room towards him. Ropes of shadow leaping into his hands, curling around each other into a writhing ball of darkness.

“Last chance.” The ball became an ebony spear.

It must have come off more menacing than intended, or maybe Lou Ellen thought the spear was aimed at them and not the weak point he'd detected in the wall beside them. No matter the reason, Lou Ellen’s pupils flashed with determination, a low murmur in their throat.

Nico felt rather than saw the new barrier that erected around him at the same time that his shadow spear was released. Where it met the new wards, it didn't pierce through, instead the shadows dispersed, outlining the invisible walls that now locked him in a tiny diameter of space.

All of a sudden it felt as if the air had drained from his new containment. Anxiety spiking as he realised just how small a space Lou Ellen was locking him inside of.

All of a sudden it was like he was back in that f*cking jar.

Chapter 7: A Sword to the Throat

Chapter Text

Nico couldn’t breathe. The air around him had turned to acid, flickering red as his mind and memories collided and left him panting for relief.

The light wood of the floors turned to shattered glass sand, burying itself in his palms and his knees as he fell to the floor. Bronze walls flashed in his peripherals.

No. no. no no no no no no.

He couldn’t do this, not again. Tears were falling freely now, his mind and soul floating away into the depths of Tartarus. Please, not again.

His shadows clawed at the invisible cage, the jar, that he was held in. Aching for release, for air. His hands were shaking now, moving on their own accord towards the pouch that hung on a silver chain beneath his shirt. To the ten pomegranate seeds that he always carried.

f*ck

His breathing was shallowing, his throat burned and raw. He couldn’t do this again, would he survive another death trance?

A pomegranate seed had nestled itself in his palm, his brain so engulfed in red-clouded fog that he couldn’t recall how it had gotten there. The pulse in his ear was slowing - lack of oxygen, he realised distantly. The thought sweeping out of his head as quick as it arrived, chased out by the screams of Tartarus dwellers that echoed over and over.

Nico stared at that tiny seed, its edges seeping like watercolours as spots began to form in his vision. It was now or never. But Nico didn’t want to fall into a death trance, didn’t want to spend so many months, weak and unable to eat.

He just wanted death.

~

“Will, do something! This won’t hold him for long.” Lou Ellen said through gritted teeth, sweat beading on their brow.

sh*t.

Nico was engulfed in shadows now, no longer visible in the spinning torrent of inky black. They battered the invisible barrier again and again, and each time Lou Ellen winced. When had Nico become this powerful? What had happened these past years.

“I’m calling Annabeth.” Will said, edging past the contained whirlwind of death to their shared Iris message setup. Leo had made them the device from an air humidifier, Will switched it on.

“Oh Iris Goddess of the Rainbow, show me Annabeth, New Rome.”

The shimmering image of Annabeth appeared in front of him, Percy at her side. Annabeth’s brow was creased in thought, she and Percy standing in their kitchen, when she noticed Will.

“Hey Will, what’s up?” Annabeth asked, Percy moved further in frame.

“I assume Percy filled you in?” Will just said.

My ex-boyfriend is back after five years of no contact. My soulmate who left me behind. Who now seems content to murder me and my roommate. Nico’s shadow tantrum was still raging in front of Will, out of view of the other couple, and he eyed it warily. In the past, Nico would have expended all his energy using this much power, he would have passed out for days. Was he already fading inside Lou Ellen’s barrier? Part of Will wanted to tell them to release him, picturing Nico flickering out of existence. But he would not risk their life, the shadows had not shown any sign of slowing or weakening.

“Yeah, he said Nico’s back in town, that you’re looking after him. That must be hard.”

“Yeah well, we have a problem. How soon can you get here?”

Will glanced at Lou Ellen again, they had one hand on the daffodil-yellow wall of the living room, holding themself up as if her knees threatened to buckle.

“Hold on Will, we’re leaving now!” Annabeth said, steel in her voice as she swiped through the message, leaving Will to stare at Nico’s shadows once more.

“Help is coming Lou,” Will said, placing a hand on their forearm and sending a wave of healing energy through them, “Just a little longer.”

Lou Ellen nodded tightly.

Four minutes later a knock sounded at the door, Will sprinted to open it, revealing Annabeth and Percy. Percy held Riptide in pen form, eyes already scanning for a threat, Annabeth had strung her sword to her back but had yet to draw it.

“He - He got upset, when he found out Lou Ellen warded the place to stop him leaving.” Will said before letting them enter, “They acted in self-defence, but… well you’ll see.”

He opened the door fully for them, walking them from the entryway into the living room. There were ten seconds of stunned silence as the pair took in the scene.

Ten seconds and then everything went to hell.

The next moment, Annabeth was running directly toward Nico, shouting something Will couldn’t make out because he was preoccupied by the cool Celestial bronze of Riptide getting pressed to his throat.

“Are you f*cking sick?” Percy yelled, face contorted in rage Will had only seen directed at monsters or meddling gods.

“Wha-” The blade pressed harder against his throat, and Will inhaled sharply.

“I know you’re pissed that he left, we all are.” Percy continued, “But you’re supposed to be a healer, almost a doctor, I thought you would put your history aside for a patient.”

Will tried to respond, tried to voice his confusion but to no avail. What had Will done? Nico had threatened them, for Hades sake.

Annabeth was yelling at Lou Ellen, hands pressed against the invisible barrier, “Let him out Lou Ellen, let him out now!”

“You’re insane, I’m not releasing him when he’s going to kill us!” His roommate exclaimed, shaking with the effort.

Percy, noticing them finally, struck Will in the gut with the hilt of Riptide, before striding across the room to Will’s roommate. Will crumpled to the floor as the air rushed out of him.

Percy raised Riptide at Lou Ellen, his voice a low growl, “Release him, now.”

Lou Ellen looked to Will, on the floor, the hand clamped around his stomach wreathed in golden light as he healed himself. They seemed to realise a fight against Percy would have the same result as releasing Nico.

They let their hands drop, tensing as if preparing for a blow. Will expected the shadows to explode the moment the barrier dropped, his muscles bracing for the impact. But as quick as they appeared, they were sucked inwards. Nico was no longer standing, but was curled up on the floor. His shadows returned to his shoulders, reforming as draping dark wings and Will could see his whole form was shaking.

“You’re not there anymore Nico, it's okay, you’re okay.” Annabeth was saying softly, crouching in front of the son of Hades. She held a hand out, tentatively, Nico flinched violently.

“I’m not going to hurt you Nico, you’re safe now.” She soothed. A shadowy tentacle unfurled itself from Nico’s wings, and Will opened his mouth to shout a warning, but the tendril just laid itself gently on Annabeth’s palm.

“We’re leaving,” Percy said lowly, “with Nico.”

Lou Ellen huffed, “Like hell you are. You may leave, but the wards won’t let him -” they scowled at Nico - “leave for a month.”

Percy looked like he might impale Lou Ellen, before saying, “Then you’re leaving.”

He grabbed their forearm and forcefully dragged them toward the door. Magically exhausted, his roommate barely fought against Percy’s pull.

“You can’t kick me out of my own apartment!” They exclaimed, attempting to extract themself from his iron grip.

“After the sh*t you just pulled, you’re lucky to be leaving unharmed.” Percy said, pushing them the final few steps towards their front door, in favour of grabbing Will’s shirt and hauling him off the floor.

“The sh*t I just pulled?” Lou Ellen was fuming now, “I was defending myself from that psycho.”

Nico flinched on the ground but said nothing, gaze firmly on the ground. Annabeth on the other hand was glaring daggers at his roommate.

“Are you f*cking serious?” Percy released Will to advance on Lou Ellen again. Their kitchen sink exploded, water spraying the ceiling. “What did you expect to happen? You locked him in a f*cking invisible cage. Given his history, I’d say his reaction was pretty damn mild.”

His history?

“Percy-” Nico’s voice is almost a whisper, but hard as iron. “-They don’t know. I- I never told him.”

And with those seven words, Percy’s anger leaked away. The sink stopped spilling water, leaving the tiles slick and the cabinets dripping, Riptide turned back into a pen with an audible whoosh, and Percy stepped back from the flat owners.

“Is there a private room you two can accommodate for the next hour?” Annabeth asked, glancing down the hall where their two bedrooms lay.

“Umm, yeah. We’ll leave you to it?” Will said, shakily dragging Lou Ellen away from the three demigods. They were being dismissed, and for once in his life Will wasn’t too upset about it.

The two of them entered Will’s bedroom, closing the door behind them.

The last thing Will saw as the door swung shut was the shattered, distant look in Nico’s eyes.

Chapter 8: Liar, Liar

Chapter Text

“Why didn’t you tell him?”

“At first the memories were too fresh. Then, it would have raised too many questions,” Nico rasped, his breathing slowing after his episode of panic, he’d peeled his jacket off in an attempt to regulate his temperature. “Or it would have answered his suspicions.”

He gestured at the soulmark tainting his skin, the pair of hyacinths that marked his right hand.

At Percy’s confused expression, Nico explained, “He’s got a soulmark on his chest… a pomegranate branch, with seven falling seeds.”

“Oh.” Percy sighed, seating himself on the floor beside Annabeth.

“It doesn’t matter now. He figured out what we were after I left.” Nico just said, racking a hand over his face. It came away wet from his tears.

“I didn’t want to hurt them,” he whispered.

“We know.” Annabeth said, “You could have, and you didn’t.”

“I wanted to.” Gods he was a monster.

“I wanted to as well,” Percy admitted, “And I didn’t go through what you did.”

Nico glanced at him sidelong.

“Why did you help me?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“I left.” Nico said simply. “I- I left all of you.”

Percy’s sea green eyes pierced his as he said, “I really missed you, Nico.”

sh*t. sh*t. sh*t.

He needed to get out here now. The Arai’s would already be reporting back to the Goddess about who came to his aid. If she found him now, they’d all be at risk.

“I need to leave.” Nico said, standing up on weak legs.

Percy’s face fell, disappointment coating his features.

It was Annabeth that said, “What about the wards?”

“You're the wise one? Got any bright ideas?” Nico fired back.

“Nico, you need to rest, you were dying a day ago, you can’t just walk that kind of thing off!” Annabeth said, “Besides, ward magic is fickle, only children of Hecate really understand them.”

Nico let himself gaze out the wide window of the living room, watching the streets of New Rome outside the apartment. Demigods and legacies moving about peacefully…smiling, laughing, free . Nico pushed down the longing that filled his chest as he watched them all. He was not like them, he never would be.

He must have been silent for a few minutes when Annabeth tried again, “Nico, where have you been?”

Arai flashed in his mind, Empousai and flocks of Stymphalian Birds that clawed at his skin. Akhlys in her tattered dress, hunting him, taunting him. “ You will be mine once more, Nico di Angelo.”

Nico just shrugged at the two demigods, his attention not leaving the window. He would not drag them into this mess. Let them live in peace.

Percy spoke this time, “Nico, why were the Arai after you? How are they out of Tartarus?”

Nico couldn’t stop himself from flinching at its name, memories threatening to collapse the little control he still had of himself.

Red clouds. Roaring waters. Fractured glass splintering his skin.

Annabeth’s eyes narrow at the sudden movement, observing.

“Nico, if you’d just let us help you.” Annabeth pleaded, stepping in front of him and blocking the view of the street below.

Nico gave her a look, “Then help me leave .”

She sighed, glancing at her boyfriend - husband? - Nico hadn’t seen them in so many years, had they gotten married? He glanced at their conjoined hands, at the twin silver rings that were nestled there. Nico ignored the ache that arose in him.

Annabeth noted his gaze, “We got married two years ago.”

Nico just managed a nod.

“I wanted you to be a groomsman.” Percy said, and that ache grew in Nico’s chest. A roaring fire that burned with longing.

He managed to reply, “Congratulations”. The word came out coarse and broken.

“Thanks,” Annabeth whispered.

“Kids?” Nico couldn’t help but ask. How much had changed since he’d left?

“One day, we hope.” Annabeth said wistfully, “The gods weren’t done with us after Gaea, and then after Apollo, there were temples to design, a camp to rebuild, and now university to attend. Maybe one day we’ll have a chance to settle down.”

Nico understood that hope, he mirrored it. “Maybe one day.” Maybe one day the Gods would leave him alone too.

Annabeth must have heard the melancholy in his voice because she looked at him, eyes full of sympathy.

“Where have you been?” Those grey eyes were piercing, searching his soul for an inch of truth. Nico’s jaw clenched, he couldn’t - wouldn’t - let them get involved.

They had escaped Tartarus. He would not drag them back.

“Everywhere,” He responded, it was the truth - in the past five years his father and the other Gods had sent him across the globe, and when the Goddess’ minions came for him, he’d hidden in the desolate corners of civilisation. “All the states, South America, Asia, Europe - returned to Venice for a time - revisited China, intentionally this time. Stopped off in New Zealand too...”

It wasn’t the answer she wanted, he knew.

“Working for your father?”

Nico’s gaze flicked from the window to his unconcealed right forearm, as he held his tongue. Annabeth caught the movement, shuffling till the mark on his arm was visible to her as well. Nico could have stopped her, could have covered the symbol that lay there and all that it meant - Nico knew she wouldn’t press, wouldn’t force it, but he selfishly wanted them to know. To understand, in some small way, who he was now.

They would jump to the wrong conclusion, of course, but it was the only truth he could share without endangering the couple, and he hoped they’d know to leave well enough alone. A gasp escaped her as Annabeth’s eyes landed on the golden ink on his forearm, so distinct from his soulmarks. A winding serpent, coiling itself around the keys of death.

Nico lifted his gaze to hers, flinching at the fear that swam in her stormy iris’.

“What is it?” Percy spoke then, brows furrowed as he took in the tattoo. Nico didn’t trust himself to speak, instead watching Annabeth with predatory stillness.

“It’s a servitude mark,” She breathed, eyes not leaving Nico’s face. What was she searching for remorse? Shame?

She continued, “N- Nico is bound to Hades, required to fulfil his orders.”

“As are all Demigods to the gods,” Percy scoffed, “If we don’t do their quests, they’ll smite us or make our lives miserable.”

Annabeth looked to Percy now, eyes flashing, “But we can say no. Sure, we’d likely be killed or punished, but there is a choice .”

She turned back to Nico, but he fixed his attention to the window, watching the flow of bodies in the street below. “To have a servitude bond, is to be indebted for eternity, forced to comply with every order. There is no choice . Even if Nic- if they wanted to disobey, their body would act out the order on its own.”

The stunned silence burned his ears and Nico forced his face to remain blank - bored, uncaring.

“You need to leave?” Nico could practically hear the gears turning in the daughter of Athena’s mind, “You have orders.”

It wasn’t a question, but Nico nodded anyway. It was half-true, his father had left him an order, of which he was forced to comply with, but it didn’t require him to leave the Sanctuary of New Rome or this apartment. That was his choice.

‘Do not return to me until the threat has passed or been neutralised. The Underworld is not safe for you now. Stay safe my son, it is not yet your time.’ Hades’ final order echoed through his mind and body.

“What happens if you don’t follow these…orders?” Percy asked.

Nico was saved once again from answering.

“His body will not cease trying to comply, it could push him to exhaustion and insanity, and his soul will begin to shred -” She said, hastily adding “-which won’t kill him, but is said to be torturous.”

“Okay, so that’s not an option. Noted.” Percy winced, “Can we break the whatever-its-called bond?”

“No.” Nico answered this time, the word swift and sharp. He sighed, “I would know.”

“Can you be released from it? Like if we convinced Hades…”

Nico shook his head. Truthfully, he had few qualms with his servitude bond, his relationship with his father was mostly unchanged and his forced obedience had never been abused. He had agreed to it for a purpose, which still served his needs. But he couldn’t explain his reasons, not without revealing the maniacal Goddess intent on his capture, so he said instead, “It's eternal, so no. I won’t be released, even in death. And even if it were possible, the Underworld is currently closed and I can’t leave this flat.”

“So you’ll just go insane and be tortured.”

Guilt wracked through him, twisting his stomach like a constricting python. Liar, liar, liar. The word seemed to burn itself onto the skin of his chest, branding him sharp as a hot-poker.

“Unless I can leave.” The lie tasted foul on his tongue, the acidic air of Tartarus seemingly seeping into his mouth and nostrils once more. Liar, Deceiver, Destroyer his mind screamed.

“If you just explained to them…to Will-”

“No.” So much venom coated his response. No, because Will would see through him in an instant, he would know Nico would never agree to servitude like this without cause. He knew Nico valued freedom above all else.

And Nico couldn’t explain, he couldn’t tell him about Akhlys, he couldn’t let him get hurt. His soulmate - could he even say that when they could never truly be together? - who knew him better than anyone, would know his lies and demand answers Nico couldn’t give.

“Nico-”

“-He can’t know.” His tone left no room for argument. Perhaps they would assume he had been ordered against speaking of it to Will, Nico didn’t particularly care what they thought as long as Will remained oblivious.

Annabeth pursed her lips, a thin pressed line. “And you can’t remain here for a month?”

“Not without consequence.” Nico replied in truth. If he stayed in New Rome he would draw the Goddess’ hordes of monsters to him and the protective barrier around Camp Jupiter and the city would fall eventually. Nico refused to put innocent lives at risk, it was why he had stayed away for so long.

“Then I will begin my research on Hecate wards.” Annabeth said firmly, “Though I wish we could spend a month together.”

Nico allowed himself a small smile, tampering down the longing that flared in his chest, a smouldering flame he tried to suffocate. “I would have liked that too.”

Percy looked inclined to hug Nico in that moment, and Nico was sure if he did he would break down and admit everything, so the son of Hades stepped back, clearly distancing himself. When hurt flashed across Percy’s face, he tried not to wince.

Percy, hands awkwardly at his sides, said, “We need to explain to Will and Lou Ellen-” Nico opened his mouth to decline once more but the son of Poseidon continued, “-about our reactions…about the jar.”

Nico sucked in a breath.

“I kind of tried to choke Will with Riptide,” Percy winced, “They deserve an explanation.”

Nico couldn’t help but smirk, “That’s at least two people in this flat you’ve almost choked out with that blade of yours.”

“It's a reflex!” Percy exclaimed, rubbing the back of his neck guiltily.

“Before, I couldn’t talk about that place , or the Jar, the Argo II or even the return trip with Reyna; it was all too fresh. The memories filled my nightmares and I didn’t dare speak them during the day lest the memories haunted me then too. Then I saw his soulmark, and I couldn’t tell him for fear of him finding out.” Nico breathed, steeling himself, “But there is really no reason he - they - can’t know now.”

“Do you want to tell it?” Annabeth asked gently.

Nico shook his head, “I -umm- I just had a lot of flashbacks. I’m not…really in the right state.”

“We can do it, if you’d prefer.” She offered, “You can fill in the blanks if we miss anything.”

“Thank you.” He breathed, and set his posture so he stood tall, willing himself to be like the obsidian stone of home. Unreadable, unbreakable, grounded. He tugged his jacket back over him, covering the servitude mark, the Arai had done a number on the leather and he’d have to replace it eventually.

For now, it was time to face the music.

Chapter 9: China is Lovely This Time of Year

Chapter Text

”We owe you an apology…” Percy started. Will and Lou Ellen had returned to the living room, Will perching himself on the sky blue armrest of the couch, his legs aching from pacing for the past hour that he and Lou Ellen waited in his room.

Lou Ellen scoffed at his words, glaring daggers at the three demigods in front of them.

“…and we owe you an explanation.” he finished, glancing at Nico as if for confirmation. Nico gave the smallest dip of his chin, his face an icy mask of indifference. Will knew it was the calm that hid the raging storm of emotion within him. Perhaps not everything had changed in the five years since Nico had disappeared.

“As you know, the year Hera abducted me,” Percy practically spat out the Goddess’ name, “- I was taken to Camp Jupiter without any memory except for Annabeth’s name.”

Colour stained Annabeth’s cheeks at that, Percy continued, walking to stand by Nico near the bay window. “This dick was already there, checking in with Hazel.”

Nico chuckled lowly at that, the ghost of a smile staining his lips for a moment. The sound set Will’s lungs on fire. Gods the fates must hate Will, why else put him through this?

“I thought he looked familiar, the brat -” Percy jabbed a thumb toward the son of Hades, “denied ever meeting me and f*cking introduced himself! He was all, ‘Nico di Angelo, it's nice to meet you’.”

Will gaped against his better judgement, “You didn’t tell him you knew each other?”

Nico shrugged, the worn leather sleeves of his jacket shifting. “My father made me swear on the Styx not to tell either camp of the others’ existence, so I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. And this dick held Riptide to my throat and tried to kill me the summer earlier, and then left me in the Underworld with a pissed off Hades…we weren’t on the best of terms.”

His dark gaze landed on Will’s own neck, dark orbs swirling with unreadable emotions. The soulmark of Riptide that lay there, Will realised with a start, his hand jumping involuntarily to his throat. It represented when Percy had tried to kill Nico the summer before Manhattan.

Nico wouldn’t meet Will’s gaze.

“Anyway, he denied ever meeting me and I didn’t get the chance to interrogate him any further since I was thrown into Camp Jupiter’s war games. I was given a quest by Mars, and Nico disappeared claiming the Doors of Death were broken - or whatever. While me, Hazel and Frank went to free Thanatos who had gotten himself all chained up in Alaska, Nico had gone to search for the Doors…” Percy paused, green eyes watching the son of Hades warily before saying, “…and got himself pulled into Tartarus.”

Will’s world collapsed in on itself as the world Tartarus clanged through his mind. Percy and Annabeth had survived Tartarus together - barely - and he knew it still haunted them. He’d made them both sleeping draughts to help with the nightmares in the months when they’d still lived at camp.

Nico had had nightmares too, dreams that made him shutdown for full days, a ghost of himself. He’d never told Will what they had been about...Tartarus.

Percy was still speaking, though Will was only half-listening, brain still processing his revelations. “…I won’t speak to what happened down there, honestly I don’t know, but if it was anything like what Wise Girl and I experienced…I wouldn’t want to talk about it either.”

Those dark wings curled around Nico, writhing with shadows, as if soothing their master whose gaze was firmly glued to the pine floors.

“The next time I saw Nico, it was in a dream.” Percy continued, “He wasn’t in Tartarus, but in Rome. Two giants had captured him and put him in a bronze jar. No fresh air, just the poisonous gases from Tartarus.”

Percy’s stare found Will’s as he concluded, “It was a jar that could hold the God of War himself, so he couldn’t just shadow travel out, and he was running out of oxygen. So, Nico put himself in a Death Trance - something the children of Hades can do…when they eat pomegranate seeds. Nico had seven seeds left when I dreamed about him. Seven days in a death trance, trapped with little air.”

Seven pomegranate seeds.

The number had always struck Will as strange when they had started to appear on his skin, one everyday. And the feelings of starvation and aching pain that had greeted him when he touched the soulmark. Nico had known when he’d seen that tattoo, had realised they were soulmates, and a day later he ran.

Will’s hand touched his shirt right above where the soulmark lay beneath. Tartarus. Death trance. Suffocating in a f*cking jar for a week.

“I didn’t think they would rescue me,” Nico’s voice was distant, “I dreamt of Percy too - when I was in…there. They were talking about me, on the Argo II, debating if they should try to rescue me or sail on to Greece to meet Gaea. I thought I would die…The Seven knew I was bait, that rescuing me was a trap. Hazel spoke on my behalf…” ‘No one else did’ were the words left unsaid, but Will heard them clear as day.

“You wanted to leave him!” Will couldn’t keep his anger from his tone.

“I didn’t know you saw that.” Percy said ignoring Will, a look of horror written across his expression as he addressed Nico.

The son of Hades just shrugged, “It didn’t seem important.”

Will scoffed, “You wanted to leave him to suffocate to death! You would leave him to that fate?”

“Obviously not, he’s here now.” Percy grounded out, as if reigning in his own anger. “At the time, the guy had not a year earlier tricked me into being trapped in the underworld-”

“I was like twelve years old for Hades’ sake!” Nico levelled back, “And I think making you invincible and then giving you three gods and an army of undead more than made up for it.”

“-and pretended he didn’t know me when I arrived at Camp Jupiter.” Percy continued, sounding truly apologetic, “It wasn’t right, of course I know that now. But I didn’t trust him.”

“It doesn’t matter now, what’s past is past.” Nico said firmly, rolling the tension from his shoulders. “Long story short, I’m claustrophobic and just had enough not-very-pleasant flashbacks to last me a lifetime, so if we could refrain from repeating that incident again, it would be greatly appreciated.”

It was his ambassador voice, Will couldn’t help but think, ironclad and no-nonsense.

“For what it's worth, I’m sorry for hurting you Will, it was wrong.” Percy said, “I was concerned for Nico and I overstepped.”

Will nodded his acceptance, staring down Lou Ellen until they did the same. He’d forced Nico to relive Tartarus and dying in a jar, for Hades’ sake. Will was surprised Nico hadn’t killed them, or summoned enough undead to do it for him. Instead, he was peacefully standing in front of them, no skeletons in sight, explaining himself.

It felt like a slap in the face. Selfishly, Will wished Nico would rage at them, he had always been quick to anger, and this calmness just proved this man wasn't the Nico Will knew. It hurt more than Will wanted it to.

“Are you going to attack us again?” Lou Ellen asked, their exhaustion hiding behind the suspicion that was etched in their expression.

“Are you going to let me leave?” Nico snarked, but his stance remained non-threatening, wings tucked in tight and hands in his pockets.

“Careful, I’ll make it two months.” Lou Ellen smirked. Nico’s snarl ripped through the room.

“How about we refrain from threats.” Percy interrupted, hands up in a placating gesture.

“This wouldn’t have happened if he hadn't tried to kill us!” Lou Ellen laughed darkly.

“If I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.” Nico stated bluntly. Will couldn’t help but agree, he wasn’t a fighter by any means, and Lou Ellen was well-versed in magic but stood little chance against a child of The Big Three.

“Bold words for someone trapped in here.” Lou Ellen raged, the shadow of the doorway darkening the fury in their eyes. “I-”

Whatever they would have said was cut off by the snap of Nico’s fingers and Lou Ellen disappearing into thin air.

Will whirled on his ex-boyfriend, “What did you do?”

Annabeth and Percy had both reached for their swords, eyeing Nico with a mix of shock, wariness and fear.

“You know, you really shouldn’t stand in the shadows when you threaten me, it's quite literally my domain.” Nico sighed, he had palmed a dagger and begun cleaning his nail beds with it. Will shoved down the part of him that thought it was hot.

“What. Did. You. Do?” Will repeated. Lou Ellen was the friend that stuck by him when Nico left, had helped him out of the pits of depression, made him move on with his life, moved with him to New Rome and dealt with his drunken rants when alcohol dissolved his filter. And he had convinced them to let Nico heal here, that no harm would come from him. Did he get them killed?

“Calm down, I didn’t kill them.” Nico said. Annabeth and Percy visibly relaxed.

“Then where are they?” Will said, trying to urge calm tones into his voice, but the words came out laced with panic. He couldn’t lose another friend.

Nico didn’t answer, just turned to face the door blank-faced. Two seconds later, the front-door frame shook as the door was thrust open, revealing a seething Lou Ellen in the hall.

“You motherf*cker” Lou Ellen growled, stomping back inside, magic radiating from them.

Nico smirked, “Thought you could use some fresh air.”

“You shadow travelled me into a f*cking dumpster.” Oh, Lou Ellen was pissed.

Percy snorted, a hand flying to his mouth to hold in his laughter. A second later, Will heard the omph of Annabeth elbowing her husband in the stomach.

“You can shadow travel other people without travelling with them?” Curiosity laced Annabeth’s tone. Probably not the time to ask about Nico’s new abilities, lest he decide to show them off again.

Nico shrugged at her, then addressed Lou Ellen, “Would you have preferred a trip to China? It's lovely this time of year.”

Nico looked pointedly at the deep shadow of their kitchen bench which Lou Ellen had planted themself in. They noticed it too, jumping back to bathe in the warm glow of an overhead light. Will subtly did the same, moving himself to stand beside where Annabeth stood under the living room light. Albeit he mustn’t have been very smooth at all since Nico’s dark eyes tracked the movement.

“I’m sure China is wonderful, Nico.” Percy tried again, “But I think we’d all prefer the chance to pack, maybe learn the language, and plan some sight-seeing. So let's put a hold on that idea.”

Percy continued, “I know that staying here is not…ideal.” The last word was strained, as if Percy too wanted Nico to be able to leave the apartment. Did he know something? Had Nico told them what was going on? Will cursed the pain, and well, jealousy, that arose at the thought.

“But until you’ve healed, and we’ve sorted things out, you’ll have to stay here.” Percy finished, adding hastily, “Without killing the occupants.”

Nico rolled his eyes, the familiarity of the motion felt like a stab to Will’s chest. Nico holstered the silver dagger, holding his hands up in surrender.

“Good,” Annabeth said, “Do you have a way for us to contact you Nico. Leo invented a modified phone, its signal doesn’t alert monsters, I could get one for you if you don’t want to Iris message.”

Will hadn’t even thought that Nico might not be caught up on the latest technology, having fallen off the camp’s radar.

“No need,” He reached into his back pocket - Will didn't miss Lou Ellen stiffening at the movement, waiting for a weapon to be drawn - he pulled out a thin black slab. A phone, Will realised. He indicated for Annabeth to do the same, and when she offered her device, a hologram popped up above Nico’s screen, scanning Annabeth’s own phone before a check mark appeared glowing green.

Annabeth was already inspecting the device, which Nico handed over willingly without a word. Will knew his own jaw was hanging open like Percy’s.

“Looks like Valdez has been holding out on you all,” Nico smirked, “He lets me test out all his new toys.”

“You’ve spoken to Leo?” Percy said, and Will is grateful that he wasn’t the only one hurt by the revelation that Nico was still in touch with one of his friends.

“Yes,” Nico said simply, eyes moving to hold Will’s gaze, “And before you get pissed at him, he’s oath-sworn to never communicate that he has contact with me.”

“You made him swear an oath!” Will was fighting against the anger that threatened to overwhelm his better judgement and strangle the Italian.

“I didn’t want to be found.”

“Why speak to Leo then?”

“Valdez doesn’t ask infuriating questions,” Nico said and Will sensed his patience had worn thin to tatters, “And I needed a phone.”

“If you find anything, let me know.” Nico said to Annabeth, a clear enough dismissal, the conversation was over. What was Annabeth going looking for? What were these three hiding now?

“I will,” Annabeth nodded, handing back Nico’s device - it likely had a button that would explode the building, knowing Leo - and gave his hand a squeeze. She said to the whole room, “We’ll leave you to it, probably check back in a couple days from now.”

She gave Will and Lou Ellen a hug each before leading Percy out the door, leaving Will standing between a glaring Lou Ellen and a smirking di Angelo.

Gods help him, it was going to be a long month.

Chapter 10: Facade

Chapter Text

Nico had been given Lou Ellen’s room, much to their dismay. He was sat on the plush bed, as he had been for the past four hours since Percy and Annabeth left, wondering how the hell he got himself into this mess.

All signs were pointing to it being entirely Will’s fault.

If Will hadn’t showed up, Nico wouldn’t have had to stupidly kill the Arai that cursed him, he wouldn’t have a wound that sent lightning flashes of pain through his body at annoyingly irregular intervals. And if he wasn’t cursed with the miserable injury, then he wouldn’t have been brought here, to the one place he could never stay.

The fates must be laughing down at him in delight.

Nico pushed around the food on his plate, too miserable to appreciate the Italian cuisine. Persephone had taken to leaving a plate of dinner in the shadows of the Underworld kitchen for him to summon lest he go hungry. Years on the run weren’t usually conducive to healthy eating habits, but his step-mother was determined to keep him satiated. Tonight it was Fegato alla Veneziana, likely made by one of the Italian souls that worked in their kitchens, Nico had enjoyed talking to them before he had to flee the Underworld, they were good company.

Gods he was sick of feeling homesick. Sick of missing the Underworld; he would have happily sat through Demeter’s cereal lectures if it meant attending a family dinner again. He was sick of missing the Camps, seeing Percy and Annabeth had only strengthened his longing. He missed Hazel, and he dreaded that Will or one of the others would tell her he was here. He couldn’t bear seeing her or facing her anger.

A knock on the door stirred him from his thoughts, as Will entered the room stopping a few steps away.

“Where’d you get that?” Nico realised he was looking at the half eaten plate of liver and onion.

“The Underworld.”

“You left?”

Nico couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes. “If I could leave, I wouldn’t still be here.”

He ignored the hurt that flashed in the son of Apollo’s eyes, better to keep him at a distance. Akhlys would hurt him far worse than Nico ever could.

“Persephone sent it.” Nico conceded.

“Oh”

“Yeah.”

If Nico strained his hearing he could probably hear the crickets in the war games field of Camp Jupiter in the silence that held the room.

Will finally said, “I was going to ask what you wanted for dinner.”

“I’m all set,” Nico ate another bite just to prove a point before adding, “Thanks though.”

“No worries.”

Will didn’t leave. Which was strange because he had asked what he came to ask, received an appropriate answer, and now would - in Nico’s opinion - be the perfect time to depart the already uncomfortable conversation. But instead, Will just stood there, golden hair glistening in the flickering candle light of Lou Ellen’s room and stared directly at Nico.

He resisted the urge to squirm, drawling, “Can I help you?”

Will blinked, dispelling whatever he had been thinking about. “I- I just wanted to apologise for earlier, and the distress it caused.”

“Don’t apologise.” Nico growled.

“I didn’t know, otherwise-”

“Otherwise you wouldn’t have trapped me here?”

“No, you need to heal. I knew you wouldn’t stay of your own will.” Will crossed his arms, Nico refused to dwell on how it showed off his biceps, keeping his gaze firmly on Will’s face. His stupidly handsome face. Shut up, brain!

“Then don’t apologise. You won’t get my forgiveness.” Seriously, this man knew how to push all of Nico’s buttons, and his anger was beginning to rise.

“I just-”

“Solace, I don’t accept your apology. Nothing you say will change that now. I suggest you leave before I get upset again.”

“I don’t believe you’d hurt either of us.” Will replied. He really thought he still understood Nico, that he hadn’t changed in the last five years.

“Really? Because I have a theory that Hecate ward magic is directly linked to the life force of its caster. And if I got desperate enough to leave, I might be inclined to test it out on your roommate.” Nico willed menace onto his face, jaw clenched and eyes gleaming. He had worn that mask enough that drawing on it was as easy as breathing. Nico knew it had worked when fear flashed across his ex-boyfriend’s face. Fear, shock, horror.

Will said nothing as he left the room, closing the door behind him with a rough tug.

Nico disappeared his plate and fell back onto the bed, a whirlwind of emotions swarming him until he finally fell asleep.

~

”Are the wards tied to your life force?” Will asked as he entered his own bedroom where Lou Ellen was camped out on the bed. His mind was still reeling, the murderous glint in Nico’s eyes, the fact that Persephone was sending him food - since when had she decided against turning him into a plant? - and Will’s own life felt like it was falling apart.

“Well, we knew the guy wasn't stupid.” Lou Ellen shrugged, “Yeah, I die and the wards fall.”

sh*t.

Part of him wanted to believe his soulmate wouldn’t kill his roommate, that he was the kind, loyal, misunderstood boy he used to be. But Will couldn’t get the look in Nico’s eyes out of his head, it was bloodthirsty.

‘ Hades’ kids, their fatal flaw is holding grudges. It's best not to piss them off!’ The Stoll brothers had once told Will.

“And if you leave, if you were to stay somewhere else for a month? Would the wards stay in place?”

“You're really worried?” Lou Ellen seemed surprised.

“I don’t know him anymore.” Will admitted, running a hand over his face, “I don’t recognise him.”

Lou Ellen nodded, considering. “I can stay with Cecil, the wards will stay active and I can do any maintenance from the building’s exterior if need be. Are you sure you want to be left alone here?”

Relief flooded Will, “Yeah I’ll be fine.”

They studied him for a moment, then conceded. “Okay, I’ll call Cecil and check if it's okay with him. And then I’ll leave in the morning, I can pack my stuff when he falls asleep.”

Will just nodded.

“It’ll be okay Will.” Lou Ellen patted him on the shoulder as they walked from the room, phone already held to their ear dialling.

Will heard Cecil’s cheerful voice in the background as he picked up the call as Lou Ellen walked away.

Chapter 11: Shadows & Threats

Chapter Text

Lou Ellen’s suitcase was sat beside the door when he woke to the sound of eggs frying. Will had slept on the couch, giving his roommate his bed for the evening, in favour of keeping watch in the living room.

He’d fallen asleep for a few hours, plagued by nightmares he was eighty percent certain Nico was sending him, revenge for trapping him in a coma with his own dreams, then trapping him in a 70sqm flat.

Lou Ellen, noticing he was awake passed a plate of eggs and toasted sourdough, smiling lightly.

“I’m about to head off, I was waiting for you to wake up.”

Will opened his mouth to reply, but was quickly stopped by the sight of Nico phasing from Lou Ellen’s bedroom through their living room wall. His jaw hung open.

“Leaving so soon?” Nico wore a faint smile, hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket as he solidified again.

“My dad’s got a new girlfriend in his life, wants me to meet her. I’m staying with them for a couple days.” Lou Ellen lied smoothly.

Nico nodded, though Will’s gut whispered that the son of Hades had caught the lie with ease. But Nico made no move to stop Lou Ellen from leaving as they headed for the door. He just stood watching, leaned against the wall as if without a care in the world.

His roommate gave him a brief hug, a whispered “Good luck” and with a last suspicious look toward Nico, grabbed their suitcase, pulling the door ajar.

“Enjoy your time with your family.” Nico said before they could depart, voice low. “I’m sure there will be no reason to mention me, but just know that if anyone in New Rome hears of my presence and comes knocking on that door…no shadow will be safe for you.”

Lou Ellen blanched, the threat ringing clear as daybreak. Their eyes flicked to Will’s as they nodded, dragging their suitcase into the hall and shutting the door with a firm click .

“You didn’t kill them.” Will remarked.

“Not yet.” Nico shrugged, walking to the kitchen and pulling the pantry cupboard open.

“Help yourself to whatever you want.” Will said, digging back into his own breakfast, which he almost choked on when Nico’s arm reappeared from the pantry carrying a plate of steaming pancakes swimming in maple syrup.

What in the Hades?

“How does that work exactly?”

“My stepmother has become concerned for my eating habits these past years, so she has directed the palace’s kitchen staff to make extra of each meal and leave it in the shadows.” Nico paused his explanation, burning a small piece of pancake in the prayer candle Lou Ellen had supplied them, murmuring a brief prayer, before resuming. “Then I just summon it.”

“How do you know it's there?”

“I just do…” Nico non-answered, “How do you know where someone is hurt?”

“I don’t know, it's just natural.”

Nico nodded, “Same thing.”

He held a hand underneath his plate, where it cast a round shadow on the kitchen bench and Will’s phone appeared in it. His phone which he had left charging under his bedside table…in shadow. Nico just handed it over, demonstration complete.

He took a seat on one of the stools around the kitchen island, his back to Will, his dark wings on display as he began to eat.

“You never used to do that.” Will said, desperate to avoid that awful echoing silence that threatened to fill the room.

Nico doesn’t look back over at him, “Do what?”

“Willingly turn your back to someone.” The comment earns him a flicker of movement, Nico’s wings shuffling as if on reflex.

“I’ve changed,” Nico said dismissively, “And I have the upper hand.”

“You seriously think you have the upper-” Will doesn’t get the chance to finish as his foot, which was planted on the floor in front of the couch where he sat, was firmly grasped and his ankle secured to the couch leg by a wisp of solid darkness. The tendril had darted out from under the couch as if it were lying in wait.

Nico didn’t even turn around, just continued eating his breakfast stack smugly.

Will summoned a ball of light in his palm, pressing it against the bonds around his ankle firmly.

Nico’s wings flared, a quiet hiss escaping him as Will’s light burned the shadow away. The son of Hades rubbed at his temple, sending an irritated glare over his shoulder before returning to eating.

“You’ve been practising.” He says.

“Seems like being a literal night-light has its advantages.” Will replied ignoring the wooziness that had come on from his light summoning, he’d have to recharge in the sunlight later.

They finished their breakfasts in silence, and Nico to his surprise took Will’s empty plate and washed it up with his own. He walked his now clean plate back to the pantry where presumably he sent it back to the Underworld kitchens, leaving Will’s on the drying rack.

“Can I check how you are healing?”

Nico froze, every muscle stiffening but the next second he relaxed, and Will couldn’t help but wonder if he imagined the tension. Nico obliged, folding his jacket on the stool before walking over to the couch. He perched himself on the coffee table directly in front of Will, and without argument tugged the black t shirt he was wearing over his head.

Will had seen Nico shirtless while patching him up so he shouldn’t have had any reaction, albeit he was bleeding out and Will was a little too busy to think about his abs, scars and soulmarks. Will hoped Nico didn’t notice him pinching himself to bring him back to the present. Come on Will, doctor mode, now isn’t the time to stare at his sculpted chest.

Will forced himself to blink, to lean forward and focus on the bandage that covered the left of Nico’s torso. The bandage that was drenched in blood.

That snapped him out of it.

“Can you lie back for me, just lean back on your elbows or something?” Will instructed, hands already unwrapping the bloodied gauze.

sh*t.

“You tore your stitches, why didn’t you tell me?” Will asked, staring at the gaping wound that was leaking blood. He wasn’t stupid enough to ask ‘ How are you still standing?’ because the Gods knew Nico’s pain tolerance was unmatched.

Nico rolled his eyes, “I didn’t tear the stitches, it's a curse. The wound will reopen until the curse is through.”

“And you didn't think to tell me?” Will exclaimed.

“I thought Percy would have mentioned it while I was unconscious.”

It was Will's turn to roll his eyes and scoff, “ He didn’t. And I'm not going to let you walk around with a gaping wound in your side. How'd you get cursed anyway?”

“ Signore, abbi pietà ” Nico mumbled to himself before explaining, “The monsters that attacked me were Arai - if you kill them they pass on a curse someone has wished on you. I'm honestly surprised it's so mild, people like to curse the children of Hades.”

‘No one likes a child of Hades.’

‘I don't belong’

So many years ago, Will had dismissed Nico's words as clouded by self-doubt but someone had cursed him, likely for no other reason than his parentage. Guilt made his stomach clench.

“How long will it last?”

“I usually rile the Arai up, they’ll get angry enough to touch the ground and I can send them straight to Tartarus. I'd gotten rid of three before you showed up.”

“But you killed one, knowing you'd be cursed?”

Nico huffed, “You were about to kill it, better me than you…”

sh*t, Nico had gotten himself cursed because Will had stupidly gotten himself involved.

“Thank you.” Will whispered, beginning to hand stitch the wounds instead of using his healing magic after Nico’s adverse reaction a few nights before. He’d never had problems healing Nico before though, why did everything have to change?

“No worries.”

“Do you know what the curse is? Who gave it to you?”

“I have a hunch,” Nico chewed his lip as if considering whether or not to tell Will, then he caved, “There was a girl after the war with Gaea, she'd been clawed up by a Telekhine when she went scouting a week before the actual battle. The beast had poisoned its claws. You'd been healing her for two weeks, but no-one could determine what poison was used and it seemed to resist your magic. She died the day you brought me into the infirmary.

“Her brother was there, he blamed me, said she'd been fighting until I showed up. Then he cursed me. If I'm right about the curse, it'll last a fortnight - well, eleven days now.”

“You didn’t tell me that happened.” Will couldn't keep the hurt, and the shame, from spilling the words out.

“You told me their hatred was all in my head. Yelled at me actually, in the middle of battle.” Nico half smiled at that, as if the memory amused him.

“I thought it was…all in your head that is. Gods I'm a dick.”

“Nah, you're just a born optimist.”

Will was silent then, finishing off the stitches and offering a shot of unicorn draught.

“You're poisoned too then?”

Nico winced, ever the disobedient patient caught by their doctor. “Umm yeah.”

He pushed up, standing and pulling his shirt back on, which Will noticed was modified to accommodate for his new wings. Then he walked into the kitchen as if he could escape the discussion.

“You realise I'm not going to just let you be poisoned for eleven days right?”

Nico shrugged, “You didn't figure out the antidote the first time, and the curse will just reset it each day anyway. I could maybe have Percy manipulate it, but he promised Annabeth he'd never use the ability again. Seriously Solace, I'm fine.”

Will tucked away that little piece of information, he'd had no idea Percy could control poisons. What about blood, oil, gasoline? Questions for another day , he chided himself.

“A girl died from that exact wound and poison, sorry if I don't believe that you're ‘fine'”

He considered grabbing Nico to prove his point using his vitakinesis, then realised there was a much more convenient way. One with only a fifty percent chance of getting his arm cut off - better odds than his first idea. Will steeled himself, eyes not leaving Nico's face and pressed a hand to the exposed soulmark at his neck; the miniature depiction of Riptide.

White hot pain shot through him. His blood felt like it was being poured over red-hot lava and his vision blurred. Will was vaguely aware of falling to his knees and a steady stream of Italian curses being shouted. Light footsteps and cold hands. Then the pain stopped, his own hand having been pulled from the soulmark. That was an echo - an ECHO - of what Nico was feeling.

“ Che cavolo state facendo ?” Italian always took hold of his tongue when he was stressed. A deep breath, then in angry English, “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was proving a point.” Will bit out, rising on unsteady legs, “How the f*ck are you standing?”

“I was going to go lie down before you did that.” Nico growled, half lifting Will as he moved him to lay on the couch.

“We are finding an antidote.”

“That would be a lot easier if I could leave this apartment.”

“You are not going anywhere,” Will snapped, and maybe it was the residual pain speaking because he continued, “If it were up to me you'd be grounded for three months. Maybe I'll contact Lou Ellen about it.”

“Don't. You. Dare.” Nico’s tone was murderous and his dark wings snapped open. “You don't know what you've done in trapping me here, do not tempt the Fates further.”

“I don't know because you won't tell me!” Will shouted.

His sudden volume made Nico flinch, a brief movement before the son of Hades recovered and his face became strategically blank. The son of Hades said nothing as he turned on his heel, and walked into the bedroom. The door closed with a light click. Will wished he had slammed it.

Chapter 12: Arson and it’s not Leo’s Fault!

Chapter Text

Nico awoke to the irritating blaring of a smoke alarm.

Now he'd spent enough time with Leo to treat every fire alarm as if it was a real, deadly, likely Greek Fire, explosion. A few too many close calls and it was just easier that way. So, he was awake and moving as soon as his brain processed the sharp noise. He touched his doorknob with the back of his hand, and when it came away cool, he deemed it safe to proceed into the hallway.

The sound of Texan cursing hit him as his door swung open, a steady stream of phrases that shouldn't be repeated. Will was frantically waving a towel at his stove, where a fry pan was engulfed in torrent of orange flames.

It would have been comical if not for the ever growing height of the molten fire, the increasing amount of smoke and the fact that he was still very pissed at the man doing the panicking.

A fire extinguisher was strewn on the island bench, its pin missing indicating it had probably been used previously and never replaced, leaving Will to resort to flapping a towel at the flames, which only aided in giving the fire more oxygen. The son of Apollo seemed too stressed to notice that though.

“For someone who's friends with Valdez, you should really make sure you have a working fire extinguisher.” Nico called, noting the way Will jumped at the sound of his voice. The son of Hades had been stubbornly ignoring him for two days now since their last five ‘conversations’ had devolved into yelling matches.

Will was convinced he'd done the right thing in trapping Nico in his flat, claiming he needed answers for Nico's absence in order to heal or move on or whatever.

And Nico refused to give him any answers that weren't “f*ck you” or something similar. Truthfully, he was terrified of what his presence would mean for New Rome. If Akhlys’ monsters sought him out here and people died…he'd never forgive himself. It was easier to blame Will for an otherwise avoidable predicament.

It didn't help that his feelings for Will had never changed, despite Will having clearly moved on. It was easier to channel those emotions into anger and frustration.

“Why do you think the fire extinguisher was empty in the first place? One too many of Leo's inventions exploding here.” Will retorted, still flapping away at the flames, coughing as he inhaled smoke.

“Ugh just move.” Nico strode forward, pushing the son of Apollo out of the way. He reached out a hand, drawing on his Underworldly aura to send a blast of frozen air at the flames. They died out instantly as the stove was coated in a thick layer of hoarfrost.

“What the Hades were you doing?” Nico scolded, frowning down at the mess that had been made.

“Cooking?” Will had the decency to look sheepish.

“How have you survived this long?”

“Lou Ellen usually cooks…” Will combed his hand through his hair, “I'll just have to go without, I'll be late for my meeting.”

“Meeting?”

“Yeah, I took time off university so now I have to meet with my professor - find out what I missed and all that.” Will said.

“Go get ready, I'll cook you something.”

Surprise lit Will's face, “You can cook?”

“Better than you,” Nico said, almost teasingly. “But that's a pretty low bar.”

Will had the audacity to look affronted despite the burnt remnants of his breakfast still in front of them. But he didn’t retort, he just looked at Nico doubtfully before disappearing into his room.

Nico, in the five years past, had taken to spending his free time in the kitchens of the Underworld, listening to the spirits regaling him with tales of their past lives and the chefs’ patient instructions. His bath in the river Lethe had wiped any memories of his childhood in Italy, but there was a familiarity of cooking Italian dishes that told him he must have helped his mamma in the kitchen.

It was in the way he kneaded pasta dough with practised movements he couldn't recall learning. Or how he just knew when the sauce was ready. And how, without fail, the same gentle lullaby wound its way into his head when he cooked.

It hurt; the little memories he knew he once had, the sense of déjà vu that hung over him. The weight of their absence reminded him of what he once had, what he had lost. And maybe it was benign masochism, to labour away in the kitchen in some attempt to feel closer to a mother he couldn't remember, exposing himself to the pain of forgetting. But it brought him sweet contentedness between the bouts of stinging déjà vu, so he learned to love it as much as he hated it.

With the stove a charred mess covered in frost, Nico preheated the oven, hastily searching for the ingredients he'd need. Apparently, Lou Ellen kept the pantry well stocked despite Will's clear inability to cook.

‘Uova in purgatorio'or ‘Eggs in Purgatory’ seemed like a fitting dish for both a child of Hades and the predicament he'd found himself in. The roommates however didn’t have any Italian sausage or a worthy substitute, so it wasn't particularly exciting; tomato and oregano sauce, onion, garlic and two eggs.

When Will returned some time later, clad in a light blue button-up and cargo shorts, Nico had pulled the skillet from the oven, leaving it to cool on the bench. He'd found a container Will could carry and placed the three slices of sourdough - the last of the loaf - into the base, pouring the sauce over them a moment later.

“It smells good.” Will said, peering over the container rim to inspect the contents.

Nico rolled his eyes, “Of course it does.”

He pushed the dish towards Will as if it could act as a physical barrier between the two of them. He'd fully intended to hide away in Lou Ellen's room until he had an escape strategy, not willing to face his ex-boyfriend for any prolonged period of time. So much for well laid plans.

That was another thing that hurt. The way Will was always in his space, the dandelion yellow of his soul glimmering at his peripherals, or the sound of his gentle humming from another room. Reminding Nico of everything he had left behind and everything he would have to leave behind again. It had almost broken him the first time. To do it again…

So he'd been distancing himself. Refusing Will’s company - which was just the son of Apollo asking the same questions again and again as if he thought Nico would eventually break.

‘Where have you been?’

‘Why did you leave?’

‘What were you doing in San Francisco?’

‘Why didn't you tell me we were soulmates?’

Nico didn't miss the past tense of the last question. “We were soulmates.”

On and on and on he questioned him.

“Well thank you,” Will said in the present, “For this and you know, stopping the apartment from burning down.”

Nico gave a terse nod in reply, busying his hands with soaking the skillet in the sink watching the water foam; anything to avoid those piercing blue eyes.

“The last thing I need is my landlord giving me another lecture about fire safety. Last time it wasn't even my fault!”

Nico couldn't help but think that Will probably did need another fire safety talk, given he was rather unsuccessful in stopping the fire by himself. But he chose to keep his mouth shut.

Words continued to tumble from Will’s mouth, filling the awkward silence before it could even arrive, “Thank the Gods we didn’t have to evacuate, I definitely can’t afford for the flat’s management to on-bill the fire service’s fee-”

“You mean, ‘thank the Gods you didn’t have to evacuate’” Nico corrected.

Wow he really hadn’t thought this through, Nico realised at the confused look Will sent him.

“I can’t evacuate.” Nico said, “In case you didn’t realise, if anything happens to this apartment, I’m f*cked.”

“Lou Ellen could change the wards in that scenario” Will said, but even he knew the argument was weak. Lou Ellen would simply be too far away.

“I’d die of smoke inhalation before they got even halfway here.” Nico scowled, “And then my father would kill me again for dying in such a stupid way.”

Nico continued hotly, sarcasm coating his tone, “But I’m so glad you thought this whole situation through so thoroughly.”

“We wouldn’t be in this situation if you didn’t disappear in the first place!” Will snapped back.

“That was five years ago, move on.”

Move on because I don’t want to hurt you anymore. Move on because I will never be able to.

“I’m trying to! But that’s kind of hard when you refuse to give me an explanation for leaving in the first place!”

“Just drop it Solace, I’m not telling you sh*t.”

Will looked inclined to shout at him further, but a glance at the sun shaped clock on the wall had him muttering, “I have to go.”

He grabbed his breakfast from the bench before stalking out the door, leaving without a backward glance or goodbye. Nico rubbed at his face, letting the frustration drain from his body.

Turning away from the door he inspected the stove top - charred remains of food, melted spatula, slowly melting snow…yeah no, cleaning that up was Will’s problem.

He wrote a note hastily on one of Will’s highlighter-yellow sticky-notes that adorned the fridge, peeling it off and sending it through the shadows into the depths of the Underworld. A note in response, this one written with white ink on grey parchment, appeared in response a few minutes later.

~

Will returned to his apartment in the early hours of the evening, having spent the rest of his day in the library after his meeting. He told himself it was to catch up on all the work he’d missed, though frankly he’d done nothing but stare at his textbooks blankly for hours.

His thoughts had always circled back to Nico.

There was no sign of the son of Hades in the living space, likely having hidden himself away in Lou Ellen’s room once more. Will glanced at the kitchen, groaning at the sorry sight that was his stove top. He was about to call in for takeout - not in the state of mind to even attempt to clean up his disastrous attempt at cooking, let alone try and cook dinner for himself - when he spotted the sticky note on the bench.

In cursive writing which was frustratingly difficult to read with Will’s dyslexia, it read:

Solace,

The Palace staff will be making your meals from now on, I’ll summon them. Your dinner is in the oven.

Try cooking again while I’m here and your afterlife will be one very long fire safety education program.

Nico.

Will couldn’t help the amused twitch of his lips at the threat, trying not to dwell on the mess of feelings that arose within him. The anger that still boiled under his skin at the lack of explanations, the gratitude that Nico had thought of him, the confusion at the sudden act of kindness - or was it just a healthy sense of self-preservation since Will’s cooking could be considered a threat to his life.

And then there was startling disappointment that swelled in his chest, because some part of him had hoped Nico would cook for him again.

Chapter 13: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Chapter Text

Will was walking aimlessly through the streets of New Rome. He’d contacted his professors at New Rome university, stating he needed the week off to handle a ‘family emergency’ - it was easier than explaining his ex-boyfriend and soulmate who up and left him five years ago, had returned with a deadly curse and hated his guts. His absence had been approved, which had left him here, wandering the streets avoiding going back to his apartment which now Nico seemed to be trying to convert into a Winter Wonderland with his foul mood.

They were seven days into the curse now and Nico spent his days in Lou Ellen’s room emerging only when Will forced him into the living room to be stitched up. Will was grateful for the distance, the two of them could barely go five minutes without angering the other. Nico’s skin had taken on a green sheen, and Will suspected that his self-inflicted isolation was partially due to the pain of the poison starting to wear away at him. Will saw the dark circles under his eyes, darker than when he had arrived, and the tremors of his mysterious wings.

If he didn’t look dead on his feet, Will would have considered him a fallen angel, the shadow-feathers falling from his back like an imperial cloak.

He used to call Nico ‘Angel’ , for his surname. Will could practically hear the fates laughing down at him at the irony.

Will was deep in his thoughts of those dark wings - definitely not considering what they would feel like to touch - when he ran directly into Hazel Levesque. Zeus have mercy, the fates were having a field day.

“Will!” Hazel exclaimed, “I thought you had classes today?”

Trust Hazel to know his schedule by heart. “My professor is sick so classes were cancelled, I was just headed back home.”

The lie made Will’s throat close-up, why did Apollo have to be God of Truth? But Hazel didn’t seem to notice Will’s battle for air, as she smiled. “It must be nice to have a day off, med school keeps you so busy these days, I miss seeing you.”

“I miss you too Hazel, how’s Camp Jupiter fairing?”

“Not too bad, Frank’s got his hands full with a few mischievous probatios. I just finished a painfully long senate meeting.” Hazel said, “I’ll walk you home, I’d like the chance to catch up.”

sh*t.

“That’s sweet of you Hazel, but don’t let me keep you from your Praetor duties.” Will smiled tersely. Gods if she saw Nico, well Will would either be killed by Hazel herself or the wrath of her brother.

“I’ve got the rest of the afternoon free,” Hazel smiled, and Will found himself wishing she wasn’t so nice. “What have you been up to lately?”

They started off in the direction of his apartment, where Will prayed Nico was still hidden away in Lou Ellen’s room.

Will tried to keep his voice even and friendly as he replied, “I was in New York for a few days, Ma had the last few stops of her tour there so I dropped in to watch her show. Lou Ellen is staying at Cecil’s for a while so I’ve got the apartment to myself”

“Aw that sounds nice, how is Naomi?” Hazel asked.

“Exhausted after tour, I think she’s giving herself a few months break to de-stress. She’s hoping to write a few more singles now that she’s off the road.”

“Ah, I can’t wait, I’ve got some of her latest album on my playlist, they always make me smile.”

Will smiled at the thought of Hazel singing along to his mother’s country accent, reminded of Nico’s poor attempts at mimicry when they dated.

“What have you been up to?”

“Our transfers from Camp Half-Blood just finished off their rotation at Camp Jupiter, it was nice to see the familiar orange t-shirts. A couple of Hephaestus kids put our Centurions to the test, and the war games were particularly chaotic.” Hazel’s smile faded, “Dad cancelled our meeting again, he’s closed the Underworld completely now, he won’t tell me what’s going on but it’s really serious.”

It couldn’t be a coincidence that Nico showed up out of the blue right as the Underworld locked itself down.

“I’m sure it’s fine, we haven’t had any prophecies so it can’t be too serious.”

“Yeah, I’m just…worried. Dad’s been avoiding meeting with me for five years now, since he disappeared, I just want some answers.”

Guilt tore through Will’s chest at the words. The two demigods reached the internal stairs of his apartment, Hazel coming to a stop at the top and pulling Will into a short hug.

“It was really nice to see you, Will,” She smiled, “We should do it again sometime, don’t be a stranger.”

Will was about to respond with a brief goodbye and usher the daughter of Pluto down the stairs before she realised who was living with him when a CRASH came from the other side of his door. Followed up by the distinct sound of Italian cursing, “ Figlio di puttana- ”

Will would bet good money Nico had decided to try shadow-travelling outside of the wards - again - and slammed himself into some poor piece of furniture.

Hazel’s eyes flicked to the closed door, and a storm swirled within them.

“I thought you said Lou Ellen was staying with Cecil?” Hazel voiced, walking toward the door.

“They are.” Will confirmed.

“Then who, pray tell, is in your apartment right now?” Hazel enunciated. Will winced, hands already up in a placating gesture.

“Will open the door.” It was the voice of a Praetor. Mutely, he handed over the keys.

Dead, he was so unbelievably dead.

Chapter 14: Sibling Quarrels

Chapter Text

The key turned in the lock with a thunk, the door swung open, and a pissed off Hazel stormed into the room.

Nico was standing holding a fallen lamp - he must have knocked it over in his attempted escape - and was in the process of picking it up. But at the noise his battle reflexes overtook him, his wings flared out almost to full size, he bent to a crouch and a black dagger appeared in his hand.

Then he realised who exactly had caused the commotion and the dagger disappeared, though he remained in the low fighting stance, eyeing his sister warily. Hazel had stopped for a moment, likely taken aback by the appearance of wings on her half-brother, but she recovered quickly.

“Nico di Angelo, where in Hades name have you been for the past five years!” Each word was shrill with anger. Nico winced, backing away as Hazel strode towards him with fury in her eyes.

With a wave of her hand a glittering pillar of diamond skewered the floor of his apartment, driving up through the wooden planks and blocking the hallway Nico had been backing towards. “Don’t even think about leaving.”

Will couldn’t help but think of the earful his landlord was going to give him for the damage. He’d have to ask Praetor Levesque to sort that one out.

Nico backed up into the wall of riches, and Will was certain his lips pulled upwards into a small smirk as he went fully incorporeal and phased through the barrier. Hazel sputtered, whirling towards Will, who just shrugged desperately trying to hold back his chuckle, “He does that sometimes.”

She growled, waving her hand again and the diamond pillar retracted, leaving a large crack in the floor, looking down to the apartment below, and revealing - in the place Nico should have been standing - a small skeletal kitten meowing up at Hazel.

Will couldn’t stop the laughter this time, watching as the bony kitten rubbed itself up against Hazel’s leg with a purr. Then, the faint click of the bathroom lock turning.

“Di Angelo, get out here right now!”

“Hazel, we can talk about this.” Was the muffled reply.

“We are way past talking, young man.”

“I have literally lived longer than you, don’t call me ‘young man’!” Nico called exasperatedly.

“I will melt this lock if I have to Di Angelo, don’t think I won’t get in there.”

Will hoped Nico would open the door and avoid further property damage but he wasn’t surprised when the door remained locked.

There was a low pinging noise and then Nico was talking again, ignoring Hazel entirely. “Hey, Annabeth? We’ve got a problem.”

“Annabeth?!” Hazel was screaming again.

“Hey Hazel, why don’t you take a breath and maybe Nico will explain.” Will placated. A mistake on reflection because she had forgotten his presence and now her rage was fully directed at him. She stalked towards him, her own Stygian blade in hand trembling with frustration.

Will’s breath caught at the violence shining in her eyes. This was the woman that searched for her brother for two whole years, only returning when her Praetorship was threatened and she had a responsibility to New Rome. This was the woman who knew he wasn’t dead despite everyone telling her otherwise, and it hurt more because he had left her behind. And now, her brother had seemingly been hiding from her, right in New Rome and that hurt and pain and betrayal was dredged back up again.

“Hazel, I need you to take a deep breath for me. Put the dagger down, okay?” Will pleaded, keeping his hands visible, trying to communicate he wasn’t a threat to her. Will took a step back, planting his feet right in the shadow of the kitchen bench, the only defence he had. Not a good sign, since his only hope of rescue hated Will too.

Will didn’t let his eyes leave Hazel’s as he saw Nico in his peripheral vision, phasing back through the bathroom door, one arm pressed to his stomach where blood was clearly soaking the shirt and his other holding a dagger reluctantly. Hazel took another step towards Will, fury and pain swimming in the tears that lined her eyes. Then Will was falling, wrapped in the cool embrace of familiar darkness. Wind whistled past him and when he emerged he was standing in the shadow of Nico’s wing, vision spinning. At least he didn’t throw up.

“Leave Solace out of this Hazel.” Nico’s voice was hard, the same voice he used on the battlefields commanding undead soldiers. “Hazel, please let's just talk about this.”

“Why- How are you here?” Hazel’s voice was coated in longing.

“I can explain, why don’t you put the dagger away and we can sit down.” Nico reasoned.

Hazel blinked down at the weapon, as if only just realising she’d drawn it. A pink blush rose on her cheeks as she murmured an apology, sheathing the Stygian blade. Will heard Nico release a long breath, disappearing his own dagger from his hand. He lowered his tall wing, folding it inwards as he turned to Will.

“Think you can help me out?” He gestured to the blood that stained his hand and dripped to the floor. Will gave him a small smile, guiding him to the coffee table which had become his operation table since neither he nor Nico wanted bloodstains on the couch.

“Hazel, sit down please.” Nico said again, gesturing to the couch in front of him before removing his jacket and the storm-cloud grey t-shirt he was wearing. Revealing once-white bandages now stained crimson.

Hazel sat, eyes wide as she took in the injury. Will got to work cutting away the gauze, hissing as it revealed the angry gashes on Nico’s torso. Nico had one arm pressed close to his body, leaning back on the other elbow, looking down to inspect the wound.

“The poison dissolved the stitches,” Will groaned, threading a needle in preparation of stitching him back up.

“Poison?” Hazel seemed to have gone into shock, her whole body stiff.

“Annabeth is on her way, she and Will will explain everything.”

Will didn't bother pointing out that he barely knew anything, and that Nico was still keeping secrets.

Annoyance flashed in Hazel’s golden eyes, “And why can’t you explain!”

Nico rolled his eyes, but the movement was sluggish. “Hazel, calm down, I’m not going anywhere-” the words were bitter as he pinned Will with a weak glare. “They are going to explain, because I am about to pass out from pain.”

“Oh-” Hazel jolted, apology likely on her tongue. But true to his word, her brother's elbow slid out from under him and the son of Hades fell unconscious.

Will continued stitching the wounds. The poison in Nico’s bloodstream would eat through them again but it was better than him bleeding out now, and Will had yet to find an antidote. Hazel remained silent during the process, watching as Will stitched her brother back together.

When Will was satisfied, and had cleaned up as much as he could, he sat himself beside Hazel.

“Will he be okay?” Tears were streaming down her cheeks, the emotions finally catching up to her now the adrenaline had faded.

“Yeah, he’ll be alright for now.” Will said, folding an arm around her shoulders. Hazel lay her head on his shoulders, wiping at the tears that clung to her jaw.

“He has wings.”

Will chuckled, “Yeah, he’s yet to explain that to me.”

“You think he can fly?”

“I think Zeus would smite him out of the sky if he tried.”

The sound of the front door opening halted whatever Hazel would have said. A windswept-looking Annabeth hurried into the room, fierce determination turning her features icy. “Praetor we have a problem, a horde of monsters is attacking the Eastern Border.”

Hazel sent Will a desperate look, “I’ll look after him, don’t worry. He’ll be here when you come back.”

~

“Hazel?” Nico’s voice called from Lou Ellen’s room where Will had relocated the son of Hades after Hazel and Annabeth left.

Will invited himself into the room, sitting on the end of the bed. “She’s fine. A swarm of monsters attacked the city’s border, she took a legion out to dispatch them.”

Nico startled upright, his face impressively blank despite the pain Will knew the movement would have caused.

“Lie back down.” He chided, “There’s nothing you can do right now to help, Hazel will be fine.”

Nico outright glared at him and remained seated, but he took the shot of unicorn draught that Will offered.

“What kind of monsters?”

“I don’t know, I’m sure Annabeth will report the details back once the threat is neutralised. They’ve been gone for about three hours, I’m sure they’ll be coming back soon.”

“Three hours?” Nico’s eyes went distant, clouded as if he had been pulled into some distant thought or memory. Then he jolted and his near-black eyes cleared. “Their fighting cyclops, empousai and Arai, few of which remain but the Arai can’t be killed by regular means.”

“How the f*ck do you know that?”

“It’s night time, I just searched all the shadows in the nearby radius till I found the fight. They’re going to need help.”

“Help you can’t offer when you can’t leave this apartment.” Will scolded.

“Says who.” Nico smirked, raising his hands to chest height and shutting his eyes. His fingers began to twitch as if he were pulling at invisible strings. Beads of sweat started to form on his brow as the minutes passed.

Will swore, Nico had just woken up from an injury that knocked him unconscious, and was now flaunting his powers about. It's like he wanted to fade again. Will couldn’t move, too scared to rouse Nico from whatever shadow trance he was in, and too busy failing to push his panic into the darkest corners of his mind.

Pale translucent skin. Darkness consuming. Hands cold as ice.

The memories of Nico’s fading came quick and heavy, pelting him as he watched his soulmate pull at invisible strings and fall deeper and deeper into his mind.

Vacant eyes.

Nico hadn’t even explained why he’d left, where he’d been, how he had f*cking wings. So many unanswered questions. So many things left unsaid. Every time he’d tried to get an explanation, Nico had outright ignored him or shadow-travelled himself into Lou Ellen’s wards in an attempt to escape. But hey, at least he wasn’t trying to kill him.

Hand passing through hand.

Will tried to calm his breathing, tried to ground himself in the room - what could he see?

The bed, Lou Ellen’s ebony candles, Nico’s jacket which Will had laid at the end of the bed. It was different to the one that the Arai had wrecked, a black bomber jacket. Where was he getting his clothes? Will hadn’t even considered that Nico was magically supplying himself with outfits despite having brought no luggage. He must have been summoning them, probably from the Underworld, shadow-travelling them here. Will ignored the ache that spread when he thought about how Nico had made a home in Hades’ Palace, that he had a wardrobe and belongings there.

Will turned his attention back to the black jacket, it was simple and unmarred except a single patch on its sleeve, a small black sun. Will’s breath hitched at the sight of it. He couldn’t dwell on the meaning of it, not when Nico sucked in a breath and swiftly collapsed.

Will couldn’t keep the memory of flickering, pale skin from his mind.

Chapter 15: Puppeteer

Chapter Text

“You should have seen it. The shadows came alive and dragged the Arai down into cracks that just opened up in the ground. It's like they had a mind of their own.” Percy said.

f*ck, Nico had been controlling the shadows and banishing the Arai from a distance.

He continued, “Just as well, we were getting our asses handed to us, without being able to kill the Arai outright we were playing for time till Annabeth figured out a plan.”

Annabeth flushed, “I didn’t think we’d ever have to see them again after Tartarus, how are they even here?”

That was news to Will, how had the Arai escaped Tartarus into the Overworld and why choose to attack New Rome whose borders were magically enforced by a God.

“The better question is what the Hades killed them?” Percy pointed out, throwing himself onto the couch with an exhausted sigh.

“Nico.” Will didn’t really mean to answer him, but the name just slipped along his tongue.

“I thought he couldn’t leave the apartment?” Percy recalled, brow furrowed.

Will sighed, running a hand through his hair. “He didn’t. He woke up after he blacked out from the poison in his bloodstream, I told him Hazel was off fighting monsters and he said you’d ‘need help’. Then he sort of meditated…I don’t know, he said shadows were his domain, knew exactly what you were fighting, and went into a trance. He looked like he was puppeteering invisible strings, then he fainted again and you all showed up claiming possessed shadows saved your lives.” Will shrugged, “Sounds like Nico to me.”

“That border is blocks from here, that kind of long distance control would require a ridiculous amount of power.” Annabeth said, gaze landing on Lou Ellen’s closed bedroom door. “If he can do that, I think it's safe to assume his powers have grown far more than we predicted.”

“Can you control the lake from here?” Hazel turned to Percy.

Percy’s eyes clouded over with familiar vacancy, hands twitching at his sides. “There’s a fishing vessel out there now,” Percy blinked, vibrant green returning to his irises. “I could sink it from here, but it would drain me and give me a killer migraine.”

He followed Annabeth’s gaze to the bedroom door, “And the lake is closer to here than the battle was, and I’m older. I honestly don’t know how he did it.”

The four demigods sat in silence, watching that closed door as if it was going to explode in on itself at any moment. Will broke the silence to order food for them all, laying it out on the table when it arrived and signalling them all to join him.

“Nico said you’d fill me in,” Hazel addressed Annabeth and Will, breaking the silence.

“There’s a lot we don’t know,” Annabeth admitted.

Hazel sighed, pushing her fried rice around on her plate, “How’d he get hurt?”

“He was in New York, facing eight Arai, though there were only three left when I arrived,” Will recalled, “He was trying to rile them up, get them to land on the ground. When they landed he could send them straight back to Tartarus without being transferred their curses.”

Annabeth hummed, “Of course, indirectly killing or at least banishing them would mean the curses had no target.”

Will nodded, continuing, “I didn’t know about the curses, and well I got myself involved thinking he was in danger. He knowingly put a dagger through the thing's heart to stop me from getting cursed.”

Will was pretty sure he heard Percy mumble, “Self-sacrificing idiot” from down the table.

“The curse was one spoken by an old camper, way back in the days after the battle with Gaea. The boy’s sister died the day I dragged Nico into the infirmary for those three days. He blamed the son of Hades and wished the same injury on him for twice as long without ‘the mercy of death’. Hence the gaping wounds that reset everyday and the poison that past and present me can’t find the antidote for.”

He’d already relayed the curse’s details to Annabeth and Percy in the hope that their combined knowledge of poisons might help them find an antidote. But Percy still looked downright murderous, glaring at his plate.

“He says it could have been a lot worse, people aren’t kind to the children of Hades.”

Hazel nodded grimly at that. “What about before that, where has he been?”

Will shrugged, but Annabeth replied. “Pretty much everywhere. Europe, Asia, North and South America - “

“Did he say Australia?” Percy tilted his head trying to recall.

“New Zealand actually.”

Why the f*ck was he in New Zealand?

“So everywhere but here?” Hazel guessed. Annabeth nodded sorrowfully. Hazel questioned, “Then why’s he here now? Seems an awful lot like he’s been avoiding all of us, and yet when I turned up today he didn’t shadow travel away. And despite injury, the Nico I knew wouldn’t have willingly fought today’s battle from blocks away.”

Will winced, “That would be my…decision.”

“A f*cking stupid one” Percy mumbled, igniting a flame of frustration in Will’s chest.

“What did you want me to do? The ‘self-sacrificing idiot’ would have left the first chance he got, taking his cursed injury and answers for the past five years with him!” Will snapped.

Percy opened his mouth to retort, but his wife sent an elbow to his stomach. Will would have thanked her, but her expression wasn’t one of reprimand, but one that said ‘Shut up before you say something you shouldn’t’.

They were hiding something. Whether it was something Nico had told them, or something Annabeth had figured out on her own, Will didn’t know, but they were keeping it from him.

“Somebody needs to explain, please.” Hazel cut in, watching the conversation as if it were a tennis match.

Annabeth elaborated, “Lou Ellen placed wards around the apartment before they…left. Nico can’t physically leave the flat for a month.”

Percy looked like he was going to skewer Will, or dice him up into tiny pieces very slowly.

“A month seems extreme.” Hazel just said, watching Will now.

“I told Lou Ellen to make it two months.” Will said, earning himself a growl from the son of Poseidon. “But they didn’t want to be murdered in their sleep, so one month was the compromise.”

“You wanted time with your soulmate.” Hazel concluded, eyes skimming the soul marks on his neck and arms.

“I wanted him to heal,” Will said, “and yeah, I wanted answers.”

Annabeth jabbed Percy’s gut again before he could open his mouth. Sending Will a faint smile that oozed fake sentiment.

Will pushed himself up from the table, “It's late, you guys can sleep on the couch, it folds out into a spare bed. Hazel, I assume you want to look after Nico for the night - Lou Ellen’s bed is a queen size so you can sleep in there. I’ll wash the dishes in the morning.”

And then he was moving to his own bedroom, leaving behind Percy’s angry looks, Annabeth’s false mediation, and Hazel’s despair. He had enough to deal with right now.

Thankfully, his sleep yielded no nightmares.

Chapter 16: Liar, Deceiver, Manipulator, Monster.

Chapter Text

Nico could sense four familiar souls in the living room. That was the first thing he noticed as he woke up. The second, was his pounding headache. And the third was Will must have restitched his cursed wound while he slept, since he wasn’t bleeding out like every other morning for the past week.

His memories of the night before were foggy. Hazel had come, she probably hated him, and then she’d left. There was a battle - Akhlys’ minions had found him in New Rome and launched an attack on the border. And he’d killed them with shadows - from a distance - that explains the migraine.

Nico took stock of the mess his life had become:

He was still poisoned and at risk of bleeding out daily, which was bad.

Akhlys’ had found him in New Rome, and would destroy the whole city to capture him, which was also bad.

And he was stuck in an apartment, with his ex-boyfriend and soulmate - the one other person Akhlys was searching for - not that Will knew that - to torture or kill him while Nico had to watch. Which in Nico’s vast experience, was also very bad. He was so f*cked.

He needed to get out of this apartment and New Rome now. He’d only sent the Arai back to Tartarus, which they had clearly been able to escape from before, and there were enough other monsters that hated his guts, that the Goddess of Misery had her pick of soldiers to fight for her.

A plan formed; a terrible, manipulative plan that made Nico’s insides shift with guilt…but a plan nonetheless. He couldn’t break the wards, he’d tried every night with no effect but Hazel was Hecate’s champion.

Hazel wouldn’t break the wards if he asked her, especially not with him still injured; she'd never allow him to leave New Rome.

Annabeth had had no luck with her research on wards, aside from killing the caster - which if Will didn’t care so much about Lou Ellen, Nico would have started seriously considering it - he already knew he was a monster anyway. But Annabeth was smart, and persuasive, and Hazel would trust her judgement.

So if Nico, a f*cking liar, was forced to obey imaginary orders from his servitude bond and his ‘soul started to shred’, Annabeth would go to Hazel to break the wards. Or Percy might just outright threaten her upon pains of death.

And he would go free. Leaving New Rome, his friends, and his soulmate out of Akhlys’ reach.

He was a f*cking monster.

‘Liar, Deceiver, Manipulator, Monster.’ his mind screamed.

They would never forgive him. Never trust him again.

But they would be safe.

Making up his mind, Nico shadow-travelled directly into the apartment’s wards.

The effect was instantaneous. The magic burned his shadowed form, combined with the poison boiling his blood, Nico couldn’t stop the groan that escaped him. Then, he reappeared in the middle of the living room, slamming into the floor, wings twitching.

“Would you stop doing that?” Will shouted, already moving to check Nico over for injuries.

Nico pushed the son of Apollo away, refusing to let himself dwell on the masterpiece that was Will’s bare torso, as he stood himself up.

Annabeth, Percy and Hazel had all jumped up from their respective seats but it was Annabeth that Nico looked to as he replied to Will, “Sorry, I must have done it in my sleep.”

It was a poorly constructed lie, one that he knew Will wouldn’t believe but it was Annabeth’s reaction that Nico watched. He had to stop himself from collapsing with relief when her eyes widened and gaze dipped to the servitude mark that was hidden by his long sleeves.

Will was already turning away from him, moving back into the kitchen. Nico hated the hurt that curled up in his gut, that Will would dismiss him so quickly. With Will’s back turned, Nico made his form flicker briefly to incorporeal. Poured every drop of his fear for his friend’s lives into making a show of jerking his head as if to snap out of a trance, and wince in pain.

Hazel gasped, a noise that stirred that terrible voice in his head to whisper once more, ‘ Liar, Deceiver, Manipulator, Monster.’

But when Will turned around, Nico was fully corporeal and staring blankly out the bay window, as if nothing had happened at all.

Liar.

Annabeth joined him at the window, eyes not leaving his and she held his hand. Nico shoved the part of him that had missed those simple gestures of touch that he had finally learned to love, down, down, down. He couldn’t get attached. He forced his fingers to turn to shadowy wisps in her palm. She gripped his hand tighter.

Deceiver.

Nico made himself drop her hand, sending her a small smile as he walked to the pantry and summoned his breakfast from the Palace’s kitchen. But he didn’t eat a bite, he just stared out at the window, pushing the hashbrowns around on his plate; planning.

He’d need to leave New Rome as quickly as possible, but he couldn’t shadow travel too far or the monsters wouldn’t find his scent for a few weeks. Weeks that they could attack Camp Jupiter and New Rome, not realising his absence. So, he would stay in San Francisco for a few days, moving about the city, then make his way to the East Coast. After that he could take a longer jump, it would give him a few weeks to recover before Akhlys found him again and finally some time to catch up on the duties he'd missed.

Was she sure he wasn’t still her perfect miserable creation? He felt f*cking miserable.

Except for the fact that Will was alive, and he would be safe, and Nico had been gifted this small chance just to see him again. Even if his soulmate hated him, just looking at him sparked hope.

Manipulator.

When the other demigods finished breakfast, Nico dismissed his plate, entirely uneaten back to the Underworld. He announced he was going to rest, refusing to meet their searching gazes as he returned to Lou Ellen’s room.

Monster.

Nico let the tears fall.

Chapter 17: Plans and Pastries

Chapter Text

Annabeth caught her elbow as Hazel got up to follow after Nico.

“Hey, can we talk for a second?”

Hazel looked at her quizzically, but the urgency in the daughter of Athena’s gaze made her nod her agreement.

“We’re just going for a coffee, the café two doors down has amazing pastries - did you guys want us to bring you back any?” Annabeth smiled at the two guys but both shook their heads. Will watched them with poorly veiled suspicion and Hazel forced a sweet smile to her lips as Annabeth led her out the door.

“What’s going on?” Hazel murmured as they took the stairs two at a time.

Annabeth shook her head as if to say ‘Not yet, not here’. So Hazel pursed her lips and stayed silent until they reached the coffee shop where Annabeth ordered them both drinks and pulled Hazel to a shaded table in the far corner.

They didn’t speak until the waiter delivered their drinks, Annabeth receiving an alternate-milk mocha and Hazel a hot chocolate.

“We need to talk about your brother.” Annabeth started.

“We could have done that at the flat.”

“Not this,” Annabeth sighed, and Hazel suddenly noticed the girl’s weariness as if she’d spent many nights kept up by a puzzle she couldn’t solve. “Will doesn’t know.”

“Oh,” Hazel remembered the suspicion in the son of Apollo’s eyes as they left, “Well, he certainly knows somethings going on, he clearly doesn’t trust you.”

“He knows we disapprove of Nico’s…situation. Just not for the reason he thinks.”

“What’s the reason then?”

“Nico’s dying or at least being tortured.” Annabeth breathed, watching Hazel with those piercing storm-cloud eyes.

“Yeah you told me about the poison, but the curse only has five more days and Will has been patching him up daily.” Hazel said matter-of-factly.

“Once the curse is removed, Nico won’t…get better.”

“Annabeth, I’m going to need you to be more clear.” Hazel said past the rising panic that washed over her.

“Nico, has been working for Hades for the past five years. Not as the Ghost King, or on quests like a regular demigod. He has a servitude bond.”

“No.”

“Hazel, please. I swear on the Styx that what I say is what I think is true.” Annabeth implored, “I know it's hard to believe, but Nico is indebted to Hades, and being trapped in that apartment is going to shred his soul apart.”

Hazel had gone numb, a buzzing that started in her fingertips and filled each limb until they lay heavy with disbelief. Nico was Hades eternal, blood sworn servant.

“Nico wouldn’t be stupid enough to take that oath.”

“Well he did, he has the tattoo.”

“Maybe he was forced then, Nico wouldn’t have left me and sold his eternal soul and freedom to Hades. He wouldn’t do it.”

“Hazel, please. He would never tell you this, that’s why I’m telling you. Nico took the oath, he has the servitude mark - ask him, it's on his right forearm! He has orders he is being forced to act on.” Annabeth took Hazel’s hand in her own, “Orders Nico can’t follow because he’s caged in that apartment. Orders his body is forcing him to follow, why do you think he shadow-travelled into the living room this morning?”

Hazel remembered Nico’s pained wince, his body flickering to shadow, staring out the window through breakfast.

“I- I just don't understand. What if we’re wrong, what if we let him go and he gets killed doing whatever orders Hades has given him?”

“He’s already in pain, Hazel. His body is tearing itself apart and it's hurting him.” Annabeth’s breath hitched at her next words, “He- He’s considering putting himself in a death trance.”

“What!” Hazel whisper-shouted, “That almost killed him the last time.”

“He’s carried pomegranate seeds in a pouch hung at his neck since Rome, a pouch which he spent all of breakfast fiddling with. He knows he almost died, he couldn’t even look at a pomegranate for a year after the jar, you must realise how much pain he is in if he is considering putting himself in a trance to make it stop.”

“He’s already been through so much, I don’t want him to be in pain” Hazel whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

“He won’t be, not if we can help it,” Annabeth said firmly, “The curse needs to lift for Nico’s physical body to heal, but after that he needs to be freed so he can complete Hades’ orders. After that, we can hope that he might return…willingly this time.”

Annabeth continued, “Nico wouldn't want you involved but you are Hecate’s champion. You could rewrite the ward magic.”

Oh gods. Could she do this? Her brother, indentured to their own father, had finally come back to her, it had seemed a blessing. A small miracle that she had prayed for every meal.

And his life rested on her letting him go.

“Hazel, we’ll get him back.” Annabeth soothed, “But right now he needs our help, he needs your help.”

Hazel lifted her gaze to meet those glittering, intelligent eyes.

“I’ll do it. What’s your plan?”

~

Nico wore a soft, fractured smile as he listened to the shadows of the café where Annabeth was revealing her plan to his sister, to the soundtrack of clinking glasses and coffee grounds.

And he was thankful to the gods for his friends who hadn’t given up on him after five long years.

And he prayed he knew what he was doing.

Chapter 18: Another Broken Promise

Chapter Text

“Annabeth told me about the servitude mark.” Hazel was sat at the end of his - Lou Ellen's - bed, fidgeting with the deep purple duvet.

“I know,” Nico said softly. Hazel's head shot up in surprise.

Nico explained, “I think Annabeth wanted me to hear her plan. She practically announced to the whole building which café you were going to, and picked the one table in the whole establishment that was shaded. I think she knows, or at least suspects, that I can move my consciousness through shadows and spy.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Hazel laughed, forever amazed at the daughter of Athena's schemes and Nico's new abilities.

“Can I see it?” Hazel gestured to his sleeve covered arm.

Nico nodded grimly, pushing up his right sleeve, the golden tattoo glittering in the morning and flickering candle light. Lou Ellen must have enchanted the candles to burn infinitely without ever melting the wax or burning away the wick because Nico had never needed to reignite the flames.

Hazel touched a hand to the servitude tattoo, gently tracing the outline of the winding serpent.

“I don't understand.” Hazel met his eyes, those honey-brown irises pleading.

“I know.” Nico took her hand, drawing circles on her palm.

“You won't tell me, will you?”

Nico couldn't lie to her, “No, I'm sorry.”

I did it to save myself.

I did it to save you.

“I hope it was worth it.”

Nico stared at his beautiful sister, at the kind and generous soul who had taken her second chance at life with both hands and lived it to her fullest.

He smiled, “It was.”

Because Nico would do everything the same, repeat every choice, relive every memory and trauma for her. For Will. For his friends.

“Swear you'll come back to me.” Her tears fell on the skin where their hands joined.

“I swear on the Styx, Hazel Levesque, we will see each other again.” He said without hesitation, placing a hand lightly on her check and wiping away her tears. When Akhlys was gone, Nico would find his sister again.

She smiled sadly at him, and the expression didn't suit her at all. “You have five days.”

“Five days.” He confirmed, more to reassure himself. Five days till he would leave and Hazel and New Rome would be safe.

“You should talk to Will.”

“I can't tell him Hazel, he'd never understand. And I can't give him the answers he wants.”

“I know. But tell him something. Don't waste the time you've been given here. He loves you, Nico. He never stopped loving you.”

It was Hazel's turn to catch his tears as he whispered, “I love him too”

The admission carved him in two.

Hazel pulled him into a hug as he cried. He locked her lingering cinnamon scent and soothing voice, into a box in his mind; ‘Memories of love' he'd name it.

He might have decided to stay there forever with Hazel, to forget Annabeth's plan and the world outside of that singular moment. Then the scout's horns blared throughout the city.

“Monster attack!” Hazel jolted, pulling away and the world came crashing back.

Akhlys. Cursed. Blood-sworn. Trapped. Everyone was at risk. Liar. Manipulator. Monster.

“Go Hazel! If there's Arai get them on the ground, you're better at geokinesis than me anyway, send them straight to Tartarus. It's daylight, so if you get overwhelmed you’ll have to get them into a shadow, I'll help you.”

Then he was pushing his sister from the room, praying to Hades he wasn't sending her to her end.

~

Percy caught up to Hazel, Frank and two Roman legions as they converged on the northern border of New Rome where two dozen monsters were besieging the magic barrier.

“We haven't had a border attack in almost a year, now we've had two in two days.” Frank was saying, “Something's changed.”

Hazel nodded grimly, “They're rarer monsters too, who don't usually hunt in packs. And now the Underworld has locked down. Something bigger is at play.”

“Thanks for coming, Percy.” Hazel greeted him before turning to brief the Roman soldiers. “Scout's have reported two dozen monsters, two of which are Arai. Under no circ*mstances are you to engage the Arai, you are to lead them to me, I will banish them. The rest are free game.”

“Fourth and Five cohort,” Praetor Zhang called, “Ad latus stringe! Sive pugnas sive seques inimicum sive aequalis facies, non forte minare ut ne sparges tu suum ordinem.”

The cohorts joint shields, bellowing their battle cries. Frank shouted, raising his sword, “Signo sequute! Moveo!”

The Romans marched forwards to engage the monsters. Percy fell into step, his brief legion training keeping him from disrupting the lines, as he swung his sword at the head of a gryphon an archer shot down. It collapsed in a pile of golden dust.

Eight other gryphons flew overhead, flanking the two Arai that swooped down on the Roman’s ranks. And foot soldiers battled ten Telekhines, the creatures were a strange blend of Doberman Pinscher, human child and sea lion and stood seven feet tall, swinging their sharp claws at the demigods and legacies.

Percy thrust Riptide into a Telekhine’s spine as it clawed at a young girl, her red hair splattered with the deeper crimson of blood. He called for a medic before he continued to fight his way toward the ponytail of chestnut curls that Percy recognised as Hazel.

The Praetor was taunting the Arai, trying to trick them into landing as Nico had done. Four skeletal warriors fought beside her, the only protection her brother could offer them from afar. Percy didn’t know how the son of Hades had summoned them at such a distance, nor how he kept them animated after using the same long distance power only the day before.

But it gave Percy an idea. He looked to the aquifer that stood seven-hundred-feet/two-hundred-metres to his left, feeling that familiar tug in his gut as he drew the water out of the halfpipe and into the air. He heard the legionnaire's sharp intakes of breath as he made the tentacles of water spear through the air and down the gryphon's throats, the beasts dropped from the sky writhing as they fought for breath where the Roman soldiers waited for them with imperial gold blades.

It made his blood sing, the rush of power that came with the distance wielding despite the exhaustion that began to seep in from summoning the water from the distant aquifer and manipulating it fifty feet in the air for a prolonged period. Still, it unlocked something within him, a power he’d been hiding since Tartarus and the floodgates opened.

Percy couldn’t stop the wave of power that washed over him, high on the feeling of his senses expanding till he could feel the moisture in the monsters’ blood. He was helpless to stop as he fisted his hands, as if to grasp that feeling and hold it close. And he still couldn’t stop as he took control of their blood, as he pulled the moisture from their bodies and they screamed, Percy was unblinking as they were drained to husks. Until he was surrounded by just piles of golden dust.

He fell to a knee, exhaustion sinking into his bones as he realised what he’d done. The promise he’d broken. But he couldn’t think about that now. Percy’s gaze swept the battle, only one Arai remained and the Roman cohort followed their orders leaving the fight to Hazel. Percy finally spotted the daughter of Pluto just as she was thrown to the ground, the Arai clawed at the wall she’d been knocked into sending stone debris falling on top of Hazel. Nico’s skeletons had long since been reduced to rubble, so the Arai was unchallenged as it approached the fallen Praetor menacingly. Percy reached for the water he’d pushed down the Gryphons’ throats, feeling the tug in his gut as he drew it towards him. He couldn’t let something happen to Hazel, especially not after Bianca. But the Arai was almost to Hazel and Percy’s water too slow.

Hazel appeared to be murmuring something, her midriff trapped under a slab of stone and too shadowed to tell how bad the damage was from where Percy stood. He couldn’t hear her words so it surprised him when Hazel disappeared; she definitely couldn’t shadow travel like that. Percy’s concentration slipped and he lost his control on the water for a moment.

Then Hazel reappeared in the Arai’s shadow, directly behind the foul beast, hands spread as she formed a Tartarus-deep crevice below the monster. Frozen in surprise the Arai didn’t fight the pull of the crevice at first, just screeched loudly as it was dragged into the earth. It was only at the last moment did it lash out, claws extended to Hazel as it attempted to pull her with it into the depths.
But Percy was prepared this time, and a tendril of water wrapped around the winged monster, forcing its clawed arms to its sides until it completely disappeared into the ground.

Hazel sent him a grateful look, closing the crevice with a wave of a hand and furrowed brow. Cheers came from the accompanying soldiers, Percy himself joining in as Hazel blushed. The wounded were sent to New Rome’s hospital, and Frank guided the other soldiers to the barracks to rest, leaving Hazel and Percy to return to Will’s apartment.

As they slipped back within the border, passing under a stone archway, Percy heard Hazel whisper into the casted shadow, “Thank you, Nico”.

Chapter 19: In Your Dreams

Chapter Text

Percy, Annabeth and Hazel decided to stay with Will after the battle, though Percy was avoiding spending any quality time with Will lest his frustration get the better of him and he did something he’d probably regret.

It's not his fault, he doesn’t know that he’s put Nico at risk , Percy constantly reminded himself.

Annabeth, Hazel and Will sat at the dining table formulating theories around the latest border attacks. Two in two days was unlikely to be a coincidence, was it the start of the next great prophecy?

Gods, Percy hoped not, he was so done with prophecies. No one had been given a prophecy or quest in almost five years, maybe Percy had been taking the break for granted.

“Do you want to talk to him?” Will’s voice drew Percy from his thoughts. The son of Apollo held a murky potion flask.

“He’s still passed out isn’t he?” With the distance magic Nico had used, twice in two days now, Percy would expect him to sleep for a week. His own magic felt depleted from what he had attempted in the battle.

“Yeah, it won’t stop him though.” Will chuckled darkly, “He doesn’t rest.”

Percy sent him a questioning look, to which Will answered. “This is a sleeping draught, take it and I bet you ten drachmas Nico visits your dream.”

“He can do that?”

“Yeah, says ‘sleep and death aren’t that different’. He used dreams to communicate with Clovis during the Giant War, let us know the Athena Parthenos was on its way.”

“I knew he could send people to sleep, its how he broke me out of the Underworld dungeon. I didn't know that he could dreamwalk though.”

“Seems like he’s been practising since the Wars, now he can send you to sleep, dreamwalk, manipulate dreams and I’m eighty percent certain he can send you nightmares.” Will huffed.

Percy chuckled, “I take it he’s been abusing that ability in his anger.”

Will nodded, handing Percy the vial of sleeping draught. “Just hope he’s not angry with you, and actually shows up.”

Percy smiled, then arranged himself comfortably on the couch before knocking back the potion. Sleep claimed him instantly, drawing him into the same dream he had every night: him sitting on the shore of Montauk beach looking out at the calm sea, the songs of sea nymphs floating on the light breeze.

Percy felt rather than saw Nico arrive, a dark presence appearing beside him before the figure solidified. The son of Hades’ dreamself was much the same as reality, dark trusses framing his face and shifting with the seabreeze. He wore his old skull t-shirt, one he had left behind in his cabin at camp half blood. And where his arms were exposed, the skin was unmarked, not a soulmark in sight. Percy couldn’t help but wonder why he had removed them, did he hate Will so much? Somehow Percy couldn’t believe that was the reason.

“Do you want to talk about it?” The son of Hades asked softly. Talk about the promise to Annabeth he’d broken, the powers he’d let loose. Percy shook his head, he didn’t want to think about what it meant, he didn’t want to think about how it would affect the future.

After a long moment Percy asked, “How do you do it?”, staring out at the calm sea.

“Do what?” Nico’s faint Italian accent was slightly more present in the dreamscape.

“The distance-magic-whatever,” Percy elaborated, “I tried it today, barely half the distance you’ve been doing, feels like it’ll take days to recoup.”

“Lots of practice.” Nico shrugged, “It's the only magic within my domain that makes me faint nowadays. I can shadow travel with barely any consequences, and raise an army of hundreds. But distance magic takes a lot out of me still.”

“You won’t start fading will you?” Concern evident in his tone.

Nico chuckled, “I won’t fade anymore, a gift from my father after the Giant War.”

“Oh.” Percy hadn’t realised Nico had even been given any gifts from the Gods after the Giant War. Himself and some of the Seven had received a Blessing or two from the Gods, but Nico had only been named a Hero of Olympus - again - and sent on his way at the time. And Percy hadn’t even fought for more for him.

They stayed like that for a while, both staring out at the ocean, sitting comfortably in the quiet.

“Do you like your dreamscape?” Nico asked. Percy glanced at him confused.

Nico wrung his hands nervously before explaining, “It's just, I didn’t know what you’d want to dream about and I didn’t want to riffle through your memories without consent…Your nightmares about that place were so bad, I wanted to help, so I sent you here.”

Nico took a deep breath, eyes finally meeting Percy’s. “I was just thinking, if you wanted me to change it, to another place or a happy memory, I could do that.”

“You’ve been sending me this dream?”

“Well, yeah. Annabeth too. I know how bad those nightmares can be, it’s the least I can do.” Nico shrugged, clearly watching Percy for any sign of anger.

“I thought the nightmares had just gone away.” Percy admitted.

Nico shook his head sadly, “Your subconscious has been trying to send you nightmares for the past five years every night, doesn’t seem to plan on letting up any time soon…sorry.”

“What about your dreams?”

Nico flinched, causing Percy to frown. A minute passed in silence before Nico admitted, “I can’t manipulate my own dreams, that’s why I dreamwalk as much as I can.”

“So you still have them, the nightmares?”

“Yeah.” Those dark eyes flickered under the moonlight.

“I’m sorry, Nico.” The boy just shrugged, so Percy changed the topic sensing their shared discomfort. “What dream did you send Annabeth?”

“She and Daedalus designing buildings for the Underworld. We’re expanding Elysium at the moment, so I’ve been giving her dream designs to the real Daedalus downstairs and he’s been implementing them.” Nico chuckled, “Elysium has never looked better.”

Percy gaped, in the past days Nico had been bitter, sad and in pain so much so that Percy had forgotten how thoughtful he was. Percy hadn’t properly realised that the son of Hades despite his pain and frustration, had been depleting his magic by battling for New Rome from a distance - something the legionnaires would never even recognise with honour, and apparently, despite leaving them behind, he’d been chasing away his and Annabeth’s nightmares for five years.

“Thank you.” Percy breathed, knowing nothing he could say would cover the gratitude Percy was feeling.

“Thanks for looking after Hazel, both today at the border and for the past five years. It means a lot.”

Percy nodded. Then smirking, “So I hear you’ve been sending Will nightmares, that’s petty even for you!”

Nico chuckled darkly, “If you can even call them nightmares…I mean seriously, I’ve just been sending him dreams where he has to take a sick day off from the infirmary or he’s given a day off or he gets kicked out for working fourteen hours straight. The guy is a workaholic!”

Percy snorted, imagining Will waking up in a cold sweat because he got kicked out of work early. Some nightmare .

“I should go, my body’s ready to wake up again.” Nico said, rising to stand on the sand dune.

“Already? After that long distance shadow puppeting?”

“I told you I’d been practising.” Nico smiled slightly.

“Thanks again, for…you know, this” How do you even thank someone for giving you peace of mind, for letting you heal?

“No worries. My dream magic will hold off you and Annabeth’s nightmares hopefully indefinitely. It doesn't take much energy so as long as I don’t deplete my powers entirely, or get in some really serious trouble, you two will be sleeping peacefully for as long as needed.”

“And when you're ready to talk about what you did today, come talk to me, I’ll help you.” Nico gave him a small smile, and waved his hand through the air making the dreamscape ripple and shift. He whispered as his form disappeared, “Sweet dreams.”

Percy dreamed of his underwater kiss with Annabeth, reliving the happy memory as if for the first time again.

Thanks, Nico

~

“ Cazzo!” The loud curse roused Percy from his dream, then the hand shaking his shoulder frantically had him blinking his eyes open.

“Nice dreams?” Nico smirked down at him but there was an urgency in his eyes, “Sorry to interrupt them but you guys have got to move.”

Percy noticed Hazel, Will and Annabeth were gathered around him as well.

“What’s going on, Nico?” Annabeth asked. Percy was thankful he wasn’t the only one confused.

Nico pulled Percy up by the arm, surprising the son of Poseidon at the show of unexpected strength, saying all the while. “I’m about to get a visitor, and he can’t know that you're here,” Nico paused as if considering, “- or that I’m here for that matter.”

Nico pushed Percy into Will’s bedroom, the other demigods filing in behind him.

“Stay here, stay quiet, do not come out or draw attention to yourselves in any way. Comprendere ?” Nico didn’t wait for an answer, pulling up a dome of solid shadow around the demigods, leaving the son of Hades on the outside.

They stayed silent, nervousness palpable in the air around them all. What was going on?

Will looked like he was about to ask the same thing, opening his mouth but Annabeth had a blade pointed at him in a flash, shaking her head warningly.

Whatever was going on, Nico had made it clear that their presence would only make things worse.

Then a familiar voice spoke from the other side of the shadow dome.

Chapter 20: Uninvited Guest

Chapter Text

“Son.” Hades’ tone was commanding but Percy swore he heard a hint of concern.

“Father.” Nico’s response was void of any emotion, no hint of the anxiousness he’d displayed before Hades arrived.

“You failed to report to the council this week, the Gods are concerned. What is the meaning of this?”

sh*t, Nico had missed a meeting with the Gods while he was trapped here. Percy was ready to throttle Will all over again. He sent a wolf glare to the offender who still had a dagger pointed at him.

And why the f*ck was Nico meeting the Olympian Council?

“My apologies Father, I have been indisposed this week. I had a run in with some Arai.”

“You know better than to kill an Arai, Nico.” Disappointment leaked into Hades' voice, along with something akin to worry. Will flinched at the sound. Probably feeling guilty after getting them all in this mess.

“Yes, Father. There was an inexperienced demigod present, so I made the decision to take on their curse knowingly. I have a cursed injury and an unknown poison in my bloodstream - though I have my suspicions as to what it is.”

Will looked surprised at that. Percy was still inwardly chuckling at Nico calling Solace an “inexperienced demigod.”

“Your suspicions are correct.” Hades said. Nico muttered a string of presumably curses in an impressive range of languages.

“Then there isn’t a cure.”

“I could send for Apollo, he could lift the Arai’s curse. Though you did react poorly to his magic last time.”

Nico didn’t even consider the offer, responding quickly, “I already owe him from the last time, I don’t want to be even more in debt to that jack-ass-of-all-trades.”

Hades chuckled at his son.

“You could contact young Perseus, with his poison control and Annabeth's wisdom they would likely be able to create a cure-“

“No, I will not involve them in this.” Percy and Annabeth glanced at each other, her grey eyes were swirling as they always did when she was trying to solve a puzzle. Hades audibly sighed.

Nico continued, “The curse will lift in three days, I will recover quickly after that. I apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.”

“Very well, my son. You are still to attend the Olympian Council meeting next week, they are expecting a report. Along with the Death God council meeting in a fortnight. I expect the paperwork assigned to you from the past week to be completed as usual, Thanatos sent some too I believe. I also need you to contact An-“

Whatever Hades said was cut off as the shadow walls around them thickened, muffling the words. After a few moments the walls receded and Lord Hades could be heard once more. Whatever he had said, Nico didn’t want them to know.

“Fail again and without contacting me and the Gods will be far less understanding.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Where are you currently? Hades questioned, Nico must have somehow blocked his location from the God.

“San Francisco.” Interesting that he didn’t say New Rome.

“That’s risky isn’t it? Awfully close to-“

“I don’t intend to stay much longer.” Nico interrupted, voice robotic and disinterested.

“Very well. Heal well, and of course I wish you every success with your Quest.” The shadow walls around them pulsed at that, as if Nico hadn’t thickened them in time to block out whatever he didn’t want them to hear.

“Thank you, Father.”

There was silence then for several moments, then a quiet groan from Nico after which the shadow dome dispersed.

Percy was the first to leave the bedroom, peeking out the doorway to see Nico staring in dismay at the dining table which was now swimming beneath stacks upon stacks of paperwork.

“I knew I should’ve used my paid sick leave.” The son of Hades muttered, reaching for one of the files on top of the closest stack to him and flicking through it. He summoned a black fountain pen and hurriedly scribbled something on the paper, turning the pages and continuing to fill out the form. He didn’t look up as he reached the last page, summoned what appeared to be a calligraphy quill, drew a silver knife from his hip holster and cut his palm. Dipping his quill into the blood welling in his hand he signed the paperwork which disappeared after he lifted the quill.

Percy just stood there, watching the scene unfold, unsure exactly how to react.

“Sorry about waking you up so suddenly.” Nico said to him, not looking up as he reached for another file.

Percy just starred. It was Will who broke the silence, “What in Apollo’s name just happened?”

Nico hissed, “I suggest you avoid summoning another God to this apartment, it will not end well. Especially since I’d rather he didn’t call in my favour while I’m stuck here.”

“Fine, but you better start explaining.”

Nico glared at his ex-boyfriend-soulmate-captor (really, their relationship was too complicated!). “What is there to explain? I have a job, one that you interrupted by trapping me here, I warned you there would be consequences and that was a consequence. Honestly, given the importance of the meeting I missed, I’m surprised he didn’t smite me.”

“You have a job?”

Nico looked murderous now, “Obviously. What did you expect after five years?”

Percy stepped between them, before things could get more heated. “This is a lot of paperwork.”

Nico sighed, putting down the file. “Ask your questions, I know you have them.”

He plopped himself down on the kitchen stool, dark wings shifting. Hazel stepped forwards, looking her brother over. “What is your job exactly?”

“I can tell you but afterwards we’ll have to take a break, while Percy and Annabeth recover.”

“Recover from what?” Will asked, his doctor's tone seeping into his voice.

“Memory recovery.” Nico shrugged, watching Percy carefully.

It was Annabeth who figured it out, no surprises there. “We ran into you, within the past five years, didn’t we? And then someone erased the memories.”

“If it was Hera, I will-“ Percy growled, ready to march up to Olympus and confront the meddling Queen of Gods, but Nico interrupted.

“Hecate actually. She made a Mist spell so that once I was out of sight, anyone who had seen me would have their memories rewritten so they wouldn’t remember they saw me. That’s why I had to avoid Hazel, as her Champion, you’d likely see through the memory spell.”

“Why do you need the spell at all?” Hazel asked.

Nico pursed his lips, “I can’t answer that, but I can help these two remember their rewritten memories - I don’t think there’s any harm in removing the spell.”

Annabeth and Percy nodded, Percy was not happy about suffering even more memory loss in his lifetime.

“Very well, I guess I should reintroduce myself,” Nico stood a shy smile gracing his face and his outfit flickered, turning from his typical jacket, shirt and combat pants to a void-like black toga cuffed with a silver skull on one shoulder, a silver laurel in his hair and a large black scythe strapped to his back, with his sword and silver dagger hung from his silver chain belt.

He looked like a God, Percy couldn't help but think.

He muttered something that sounded like, “Man I really hate this part” and “Why did it have to be a toga, Aphrodite your blessing sucks!” before straightening up where he stood and saying, "I am Nico di Angelo, Son and Heir of Hades God of the Underworld, Champion of Thanatos God of Death, Champion of Hestia Goddess of the Hearth, Ambassador of Pluto and honorary Senator of Rome, Hero of Olympus, Lone Survivor of Tartarus, Veteran of the Titan War and the Giant War, Guardian of the Athena Parthenos, and receiver of Olympian blessings. Prince of the Underworld, the Ghost King, and Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Gods."

Percy only managed to say, “Well, Champion of Thanatos, that explains the wings-“ before his vision titled and the world faded to black.

Chapter 21: A Walk Down Memory Lane I

Chapter Text

Opening his eyes, Percy knew he was in a memory, his vision slightly blurred as if he was watching through a fog - probably seeing through the Mist spell that had held the memory back. It was a year and a half after Nico had disappeared, and Percy and a party of Greeks had travelled to Olympus, intent on crashing the council to express their growing concerns. The Gods were staring at them with displeasure while they waited for the final throne to be filled to begin the council.

“Sorry I'm late," a familiar voice drawled.

Percy turned around, heart stopping and jaw hanging open as he saw who stood in the entrance to the hall of Gods. Dressed in an immaculate pitch black suit, a waterfall of silk falling over one shoulder akin to the folds of a chlamys, cutting off at the waist where a familiar black soul-sucking sword hung from a silver chain. Nico's eyes slid over the group of assembled demigods, expressionless and cold - if he was surprised at their presence, it didn't show.

"For someone who can teleport you have a nasty habit of being late, Princey"

Princey?

Nico shrugged, dusting himself off, a smirk playing on his lips. "There was traffic."

The Stoll brothers snorted from somewhere beside Percy. Nico's footsteps were silent as he moved towards their group...and then passed straight by them towards the Gods' thrones. Percy knew his confusion was seeping through his expression. What the Hades was going on?

Nico bowed before the Olympians, a graceful, practised movement.

"You got your humour from Hades, that is certain." Apollo laughed.

"And his love of dramatic entrances." Nico quipped in response.

Many of the Gods nodded back respectfully as the son of Hades straightened from his bow. He strolled towards his father's empty throne and Percy expected him to sit on the ascending steps as he once had at the end of the Titan War. But Nico seemed to have a death wish since perched himself on one of the throne's armrests

Percy wasn't the only one outright gaping. Was Nico trying to get himself smote?

But no lightning came, in fact most of the Gods didn't even bat an eye, Hermes was grinning at the demigod's reactions.

"Shall we begin?" Nico said in that same bored drawl.

"I, Zeus, King of the Gods, call this meeting of the council to order." Zeus boomed, "The first item on the agenda, our demigod guests who saw it fit to intrude on our meeting."

Percy winced, stepping forwards. "Umm sorry for intruding, but we've been worried that something is brewing. For almost a year now we've not had any monsters try to attack either camp. And when I was travelling this week, most of the monsters we saw outright ignored us, despite my being a child of The Big Three, and being hated by pretty much all monsters''

Percy paused his speech, noticing none of the Gods gazes were on him anymore, they were all looking at Nico, who remained impassive. When the son of Hades finally noticed their stares he arched a bow as if he wanted to say 'Seriously?! Why me?!' but instead he nodded formally to the Gods before turning his gaze to Percy and the Greek demigods.

"It’s true that monsters are roaming in packs and with little interest in demigods outside of the Camps. It is our belief that they are searching for something under the orders of a minor God, Titan or Primordial."

"I'm sorry, but what is he doing here? Why does no one seem to care that a Hades spawn is waltzing around like he owns the place, I mean the freak is trying to speak for the Gods." An Ares kid raised his voice from the crowd.

Percy grit his teeth at the insults, his friend - despite having run away yet again - had saved the world at least twice. Nico didn't even react to the harsh questioning, but Zeus crackled with energy.

“I will not tolerate such disrespect.” The King of Gods gripped his lightning bolt with white-knuckled anger.

“Disrespect? That devil child is sitting on a God’s throne as if it belongs to it. We have come for an honourable quest and will not be turned away by that freak of nature!”

Percy was about ready to punch the son of Ares, the only reason he didn't was he was trying to stay out of range when he was inevitably struck by lightning.

"You dare insult a representative of the Olympian Council," he growled, thunder rumbling in the distance.

Nico, a representative of the Olympian Council, had Percy heard that right?

The son of Ares let out a non-threatening squeak at the sound of thunder but did not stand down. Ares himself seemed to be debating striking his own son down for his stupidity.

“You let it be a member of your council. Hades spawn are infamous for their insanity, cruelty and disloyalty for goodness sake. What has he ever done for you?”

“More than you.” Percy muttered under his breath.

His sentiment was shared by Hermes who rose to Nico’s defence. “For starters, he turned the tides in both the Titan and Giant Wars and has earned the title of Hero of Olympus twofold. Can you say the same?”

Throughout all of this, Nico didn’t bat an eye, he just watched with a distant expression. He was used to this, expecting it, Percy realised with no small amount of horror. Nico had heard all these insults a thousand times over at both camps, he didn’t even flinch anymore.

“His brother started World War Two, insanity taints his bloodline.” The idiot retorted.

Nico finally reacted to that, rolling his eyes. “And your father, the God of War, was whispering in his ear. With your logic your bloodline is as tainted as mine-”

The Ares teenager - who Percy had permanently renamed to idiot-jerk-face - was moving before Nico could even finish his sentence, his combat sickle flying towards Hades’ throne. His aim was perfect, likely a power granted from Ares, the miniature scythe-like blade soaring towards Nico’s head.

The son of Hades didn’t move, not as that wicked blade closed the distance and…went straight through the demigod. Nico’s form remained incorporeal as he stared unimpressed at the son of Ares. Percy felt fear rise in him as he remembered Nico’s fading form after he shadow travelled the Athena Parthenos across the world, but his worries were quickly resolved.

One of Nico’s shadows pulled from the weapon from where it had embedded itself in the back of the throne, leaving behind a small crack which Nico tsk-ed at, likely imagining his father’s reaction.

The shadow tendril dropped the weapon into his now re-corporeal palm, and he inspected it briefly. It was celestial bronze, the shaft ornately decorated with whorls and patterns, and the curved blade was well sharpened.

“Cute,” Nico said, waving his free hand where a mass of black appeared. “But I like mine better.”

The light in the room seemed to dim as Nico’s own weapon appeared, not his familiar black sword but a Stygian Iron scythe. The son of Ares' knock-off sickle was laughable compared to the six foot, soul-sucking, one-cut-and-you-die weapon.

“That’s so sick.” Travis Stoll muttered from beside Percy.

His brother stage-whispered back, “Reckon he’d give us one of those?”

Of course the two brothers could care less about the fact they were about to witness a smiting, or a much more graphic death by Nico’s hand.

“Unlike you, Ares-son, I will not resort to violence.” That shocked Percy, Nico had never been one to let a slight against his father go.

“You are a coward then” Idiot-jerk-face spat.

“You misunderstand him. There are worse fates than losing a battle.” Hermes looked almost gleeful at the unfolding events as he spoke.

Nico smirked, his scythe vanished and in its place he held what appeared to be a glittering silver business card.

“Fifteen years old, son of Ares, six foot two. Current residence Camp Halfblood, only living relative is mother who resides in Florida. Ahh and a Giant War veteran, so automatically flagged for Elysium.” Nico read off the shimmery card, then lifted his gaze back to the demigod, who’s tan skin had taken on a green sheen.

“You’ll have a lovely, nice Afterlife in paradise…or you would have anyway.” That was the only warning before the hand that held the business card no, his ticket to Elysium, burst into green Hellfire flames. That was a new power.

In three seconds flat, the ticket to literal paradise was nothing but ash falling to the ground. “…Oops!”

Nico chuckled darkly before continuing, “Now unless you’d like to fast track your way to the Fields of Asphodel, I suggest you keep your mouth shut about things you don’t understand.”

But idiot-jerk-face scoffed, “You don’t have the power to bar me from Elysium. You can try to play God but we all know you are nothing. When I fall in battle I will stand trial and reach Elysium, your opinion of me will not affect that.”

Hermes was outright cackling now, bent over himself in his throne clutching his stomach as he tried to breathe through his laughter. “Hear that Princey?” The Messenger God laughed, “Hades, this is too rich.”

Some of the other Gods were chuckling too, or sending pitiful glances to the son of Ares who blinked back at them in confusion.

Zeus interrupted, "Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the role the son of Hades plays in our world, to think him ‘nothing’’”

Nico looked exasperated now, clearly seeing where Zeus was going with this.

"Introduce yourself di Angelo-." Zeus commanded firmly. “-with your titles please.”

With little choice in the matter, Nico undraped himself from across his father's throne and stood with rehearsed authority. A ghostly crown flickered into view on his head, nestled in the ebony hair, a translucent silver. And as he stood, the Mist which Percy hadn’t noticed surrounding the son of Hades parted, revealing a pair of large black, feathered wings that seemed as if they were made of solidified shadow. They rustled slightly, and hints of silver streaks were evident in the feathers. Was he hallucinating?

But Connor and Travis looked equally shocked and awed so Percy presumed that they were in fact real or Mr D had decided to bless all the present demigods with a shared hallucination.

Nico glared briefly at Zeus before stating, "I am Nico di Angelo, Son and Heir of Hades God of the Underworld and Wealth, Champion of Thanatos God of Death, Champion of Hestia Goddess of the Hearth, Ambassador of Pluto and honorary Senator of Rome, Hero of Olympus, Lone Survivor of Tartarus, Veteran of the Titan War and the Giant War, Guardian of the Athena Parthenos, and receiver of Olympian blessings. Prince of the Underworld, The Ghost King, and Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Gods."

Percy didn't think his jaw could drop any further; he was wrong. Sure Percy's title list was long, especially with all the 'Slayer of [insert almost every mythological beast ever]' titles, but di Angelo it seemed had been busy collecting titles in his time away.

"As formally named Heir to Hades, Nico may take his father's place in council. Furthermore, as our Ambassador and trusted advisor, his word is as valued as those of the other council members. So I suggest you do not question his authority again."

The son of Ares blanched, slinking behind Percy as if he would defend him. Thankfully, at least, the idiot shut his mouth.

Percy broke the silence, "If these hoards of monsters are looking for something, should we not send a quest to find whatever it is first?"

Athena replied, "A quest has already been given, Perseus. I suggest you do not concern yourselves with it any further."

"Who is on this quest? Because I know for a fact that neither Camp Jupiter nor Camp Half-blood has received a Godly quest in over a year. If you've sent some young, rogue demigod off on a dangerous quest...so help me." Percy grounded out, fearful of the Gods using yet another untrained demigod as a pawn.

"Do not sound so bitter about your lack of quests, Perseus. You would do well to show some gratitude, it has come at great cost.” A few of the Gods shifted in their seats at her words, but Athena remained still, grey eyes boring into his.

“What cost?” Percy was struggling to maintain his calm, but he couldn’t help but feel the wrongness weighing heavy in the air of the Hall, there was something they weren’t telling the demigods.

“Perseus, do not push this, son.” came Poseidon's gentle warning.

Percy went to speak again, to demand answers with an unhealthy amount of sass for good measure, but was interrupted.

“Percy,” The son of Hades’ voice was tense, “don't.”

Percy searched the depths of those coffee-black eyes, so familiar and yet, it had been too long since he'd seen his friend; they'd changed. They were once a fractured window into a broken soul, the effects of…down there having worn away all brightness. Now, they were unreadable, unfamiliar, and cold.

But Percy trusted his old friend, who kept every promise he made (when even Percy couldn't) and who'd saved his life too many times over.

Then Nico looked to Zeus, sensing Percy had decided to let it go. “I can't stay here much longer, we should move on to other matters.”

The King of Gods nodded his agreement. “Are there any other matters to be brought before the council?”

The next half an hour was spent listening to the Gods' various complaints, mostly about the latest works of the Muses, not having enough statues and several minor gods causing mischief. Percy was bored, his ADHD not compatible with standing still and silent. So he had taken to tossing Riptide in pen form from one hand to another (with the occasional trickshot) and watching the son of Hades. The demigod - was he still a demigod with all those titles and apparent blessings or was he like a three-fifths-god? - whilst he maintained an unreadable expression, was clearly losing patience and had begun cleaning underneath his nails with a Stygian Iron dagger. Its hilt was embellished with blood rubies, glittering a deep crimson against the darkness of the metal. Noting Percy’s attention, Nico smirked at the son of Poseidon who was practically jumping up and down with pent up energy.

Then, taking pity on the bored-out-of-their-minds demigods Nico spoke to the council. “My time is up, I apologise. The Underworld has nothing new to report, the new streamlined process for demigods to achieve Elysium is functioning and Thanatos isn’t chained up anywhere so all is well. I will continue to track the quest’s progress, and update the Council. I will be in Egypt for a few days, contact will be restricted for that time.” Nico then turned to the demigods, “Now that you’ve all been sufficiently bored to death, I can transport you back to Camp Halfblood.”

Zeus nodded his dismissal, and before Percy could express his concerns about Nico shadow travelling the group of eight demigods, shadows erupted around them and his vision went black.

Chapter 22: A Walk Down Memory Lane II

Chapter Text

Percy’s next forgotten memory of Nico was a year later again, in the cold, snow-coated winter. Percy had had a demigod dream, two nights prior of a little girl tied to a post in the middle of a camp of monsters. Her face was bruised, her wrists rubbed raw with rope burn and her vocal cords fried from screaming for help. But the monsters never killed her, they were waiting for someone, he’d heard them say in his dream.

So Percy had dragged along Clarisse, since Annabeth was still working on the temple designs left by Jason in New Rome, and Percy wanted the extra muscle in case things went sideways. It had been so long since he’d last fought a monster, he didn’t intend on getting co*cky.

He’d gone to Grover initially, asking the Lord of the Wild for assistance in finding the monster's camp in the woods. The tree nymphs had quickly communicated it was a two hour hike outside of camp, deep in the Long Island woods. They’d been scouting the estimated area for thirty minutes when Clarisse imitated a bird call, signalling she’d found the camp.

Percy made his way through the woods, spotting the glinting top of Clarisse’s spear among the foliage. Ducking behind the brush beside her, he looked around the camp. The clearing contained three tents, all worn and too snow-covered to see what colour they were initially. In the centre of the tents was the girl, shivering from exposure to the winter evening air, her dress crinkled and stained and her thick black hair braided messily in two plaits. A cyclops stood in front of her looking out into the woods as if expecting something, a Hellhound lay at his feet napping, and two other cyclops idled about the camp talking animatedly.

One of them called out to the watch-keeper, “Any sign of him?”

“ She said he’d show, so he’ll show.” The watch-keeper replied. Who was this ‘she’ they were talking about? How did she know he’d come?

“You sure we can’t take a little bite?”

“Have some patience, he’ll arrive soon enough.”

Percy was about to make his presence known, when the shadows in the clearing began to writhe and stretch.

A black-clad figure emerged from the woods, right in front of the watch-keeper cyclops, who grinned in response. Nico di Angelo, who’d been missing for two and a half years, stood calmly before the monster camp.

“You called?” Nico said, his Stygian Iron sword twirling in his hand.

“You have come to your doom demigod, she will finally have you at last-”

Percy didn’t get to hear the rest of the villain monologue since Nico disappeared from the clearing’s entrance and reappeared behind the cyclops, his sword through the monster's gut. The watch-keeper exploded in a golden cloud.

“Yeah, I’m feeling pretty confident honestly.” Nico snarked. Swinging his sword at the Hellhound who had awoken upon his arrival and was attempting to bite off the son of Hades’ limbs. A sword through its neck had it transforming into a pile of gold dust.

Nico turned his sword towards the two lingering cyclops. One of whom had drawn a blade, holding it to the little girl’s throat.

“Not another step, son of Hades.” It chuckled. “Put down your sword.”

Nico did as he was told, throwing his sword into a pile of snow where it sunk out of view. But the demigod didn’t appear phased in the slightest, in fact he only seemed to grow more confident.

That was when Percy noted that the other remaining cyclops had completely disappeared, the only trace of it, another pile of golden dust mingling with the snow, and a black stygian dagger lying amongst it. Percy hadn’t even seen Nico throw the blade.

“Let the girl go and I’ll come quietly.” Nico bargained. Percy was about to storm into the clearing when Nico looked directly at him, shaking his head minutely. Clarrise, having caught the movement too, lay a hand on Percy’s shoulder holding him there.

The cyclops laughed and cut the ropes holding the girl, who squeaked with fear and quickly darted away. “As you wish, Hades-son. But cross me and fail and the girl will be tracked and killed.”

Clarissemoved away from Percy then, giving him a warning look to stay hidden, as the daughter of Ares followed quietly after the fleeing demigod.

Percy turned back to the clearing, where the cyclops had produced a set of iron cuffs and was approaching Nico with a sh*t-eating grin. Ignoring Nico and Clarisse’s non-verbal instructions, Percy moved to stand - there was no way he was letting Nico get captured by monsters. He’d taken one step before a shadow tentacle wrapped itself around him tightly, and secured him to a tree. Pulling at the shadow bonds only made them tighter or Nico was getting more pissed at him for trying to save the day. But Percy still had a good view of the clearing.

“ She will be so pleased with me, for so long you have evaded her but now you will bring me glory.”

Nico just extended his wrists for the cuffs wordlessly, rolling his eyes when the monster had him turn around so his hands would be behind his back.

The cyclops went to grasp Nico’s pale wrist, only for his meaty hand to go right through it.

“Oops” Nico said, smiling sweetly, “Sorry, that happens sometimes.”

The cyclops growled, throwing a punch toward Nico’s gut which phased straight through the demigod. Nico laughed, “Unfortunately for you, I’m really not a fan of being locked up.”

Then he re-solidified and stabbed a black dagger into the cyclops' eye. Howling the monster lunged for Nico but the son of Hades had shadow travelled behind it, stabbing his sword which had returned to him in the form of his skull ring, through its heart.

“I’d tell you to send Her my regards, but you won’t be reforming, your soul is now mine.” He twisted the sword. The monster exploded into dust.

Nico brushed himself down, transforming his sword back into its ring form and slipping it onto his finger, before stooping to collect his daggers.

“You can come out now, Percy.” Nico called, his shadows releasing the son of Poseidon and his eyes finding Percy easily despite the dark woods.

Percy popped up, scowling. “Was tying me to a tree really necessary?”

“I didn’t need your help.”

Percy entered the clearing, thinking about Nico’s incorporeal state. “Are you fading?”

Nico shook his head, “Nah, just a new trick of mine.”

Percy nodded, unsure what else to say. The two hadn’t seen each other for two and a half years (or so he thought), since Nico left both Camp Halfblood and Camp Jupiter. He had broken Will’s heart, had hurt them all when he left so soon after Jason’s death.

Clarisse saved him from having to make conversation, re-entering the snowy campsite with the little girl in her arms. Popping the girl back on her feet, Clarisse smiled as the girl beelined to Nico, wrapping his legs in a tight hug. Discomfort was written all over the son of Hades face, but he smiled shyly back at the little girl, and when she released him he knelt down to her height.

“Thanks for saving me!” The girl said.

“It was my pleasure,” Nico smiled, and Percy had forgotten how much the expression suited him. “What’s your name?”

“Bianca.”

Percy’s heart stopped. Nico however, only blinked, his smile never leaving his face.

“Well, Bia…can I call you Bia?” The girl nodded her head excitedly, “Well, Bia, Clarisse here is going to look after you now okay? She’s going to take you to a very cool camp where there’s heaps of other kids just like you and me.”

Percy didn’t fail to notice that Nico hadn’t included Percy in looking after Bianca, and he couldn’t blame him for it.

“Really? Like at school?”

“It's much more fun than school, Bia. You’ll love it. And Clarisse is one of the bravest girls that I know, you’re in good hands.”

Clarisse came forward then, sensing it was time to get the girl back to camp.

“Do you guys want a lift?” Nico smirked.

“Nah, you prick, we want to walk two hours back to camp!” Clarisse said sarcastically.

Nico offered the little Bianca his hand, “Hold on tight, Bia.”

Then Percy’s vision went black once more.

Chapter 23: A Walk Down Memory Lane III // A Not-So-Merry (Late) Christmas

Chapter Text

Annabeth had left Camp Jupiter for the weekend, travelling back to New York for some early Christmas shopping, preferring to avoid the crowds. She’d been window shopping for the past hour, unsuccessfully trying to decide on what to get her fiancé, much less the rest of her friends, when she’d spotted the little café with a tawny owl logo.

Something about the place felt comforting, warm, right, drawing her in, and any tribute to her mother made Annabeth smile. So, the daughter of Athena had paused her unproductive shopping to duck inside the small café. The bell on the door rang as she pushed inside and the smell of coffee grounds and cinnamon was a welcome reprieve from the streets of New York. She waited at the counter for the waitress to return and take her order, faintly hearing in the background the doorbell ring once more. She ordered herself a coffee, hoping it would imbue her with the energy to finish her shopping.

When she turned around, she was met with a familiar face.

Nico di Angelo, had changed in the four years since she’d last seen him - before he disappeared in the night from Camp Half-blood and never returned. His ebony hair had grown longer, enough so that he could probably just tie it back if he wished, but it hung just above his shoulders then, cut to frame his face. He’d filled out, no longer malnourished, though he was still skinny and his cheekbones and jaw still pronounced. But what had changed the most was his smile, which he was now giving her.

Annabeth was not used to Nico smiling, it had been a rare sight during the Wars and afterwards, when they were all healing, the sight was reserved for Will Solace.

“Hey Annabeth, it's been awhile.” he smiled, giving her the opportunity to pull herself together and stop staring dumbfounded at the son of Hades.

‘Been awhile’, understatement of the century di Angelo.

She stepped aside to allow him to order, and when the waitress asked for the table number, Annabeth gave her own. She wanted answers to his disappearance, and she would get them.

She guided him to her table, and he dropped the shopping bags he was carrying rather ungracefully beside his chair.

“How have you been, Chase?” Nico asked, settling into his seat.

“I’m jealous of all the shopping you’ve managed to do. I wanted to get all my Christmas shopping done early, but I can’t decide on what to get everyone.”

Nico laughed, “I know the feeling. It took me four hours to find all these, and I’m starting to wish I just bought gift cards with how heavy these bags have gotten.”

It was surprising how easily the conversation flowed, so unlike the stilted conversations that haunted their past. But all those years later, it seemed so easy; Nico was smart and receptive and his eyes didn’t glaze when she began to explain the architecture she saw on her recent family vacation. Nico asked about her Christmas plans which she explained while they waited for their drinks to arrive. He asked about Camp Half-blood and Camp Jupiter, how her family were, whether she’d designed any new architectural marvels. It was fun, Annabeth realised, to talk about herself and her life, and she rambled on until their drinks were long finished.

It wasn’t until Nico had pulled his gift bags up onto the table, apologised for having to leave and gave her a brief hug, striding out the door that Annabeth realised he’d barely said a word about himself.

His dark figure wove its way through the crowd and when it disappeared into the mass of bodies, Annabeth’s brain seemed to rewrite itself, the memory of the past hour lost to her.

She spotted the gifts on the table, huh she’d already finished her Christmas shopping, what a productive day.

Annabeth picked up the heavy bags, not noticing the second empty cup of coffee at her table or the extra tip left to the waitress.

The memory faded to black.

~

“You tied me to a f*cking tree?!” Percy yelled from the couch where Nico and Will had moved Annabeth and him after they passed out from memory retrieval.

Nico laughed, “I don’t seem to recall needing your help, you just wanted to play the hero.”

Percy scowled at him, but was interrupted by Annabeth who had woken up as well.

“I didn’t buy those presents?!” She cried, “I can’t believe I stole your gifts!”

“You know I planned it that way right? I bought the seven and some of the others gifts, picked that coffee shop and lured you inside. They were your gifts to give - given I couldn’t do it myself.”

Annabeth half-glared at him, her blonde curls falling across her face. “I know that, prick. It's just that I was really proud of those presents, I thought they were the best I’d ever given. Now I know why.”

She was right, Nico had bought great gifts, mainly because he’d scoured local, foreign, mortal and godly avenues alike for the perfect gift for each of his friends. Percy had gotten a year round pass to all six aquariums in New York and California complete with a behind-the-scenes pass. Leo got a stash of Greek Fire that should have lasted him over a year but he managed to go through the supply in a month. Hazel had received horse shoes for Arion that were charmed to draw up gold for him to eat. For Frank, an illustrated guide to rare and exotic creatures for some shape shifting inspiration and an Artemis-blessed bow. And Piper had gotten a pride-themed basket inclusive of movie-tickets for a date night with her girlfriend.

“Did you lure me in with Hestia’s blessing?” Annabeth asked, of course she’d already figured his whole plan out. Nico nodded, “Yeah, made it feel homely. The owl logo was the cherry on top.”

“Was that the year I got the aquarium behind-the-scenes passes?” Percy asked.

“Um yeah, I got you the conservation ones so you could check out the marine hospitals and rehab wards, I know you like that stuff.”

“Aww shucks man, thanks.”

Nico knew he was blushing, he’d kind of hoped they wouldn’t remember the Christmas gifts; he hadn’t done it for praise or gratitude, he’d just been missing his friends and needed an outlet.

“That umm, was the only year I managed to do that, get the presents to one of you, that is. Will, Thalia and Hazel were kind of a pain in my ass with the whole Mist spell thing, I couldn’t be near them…sorry sis,” He winced when he saw Hazel’s pained expression. He pressed on, “But I bought them every year, so…Merry -late - Christmas I guess”

Nico waved his hand, concentrating on the storage chest in the Underworld Palace that contained the many gifts he’d bought over the years, summoning the ones he’d bought for the four present demigods. The pile of presents appeared under the coffee table.

Percy shot up immediately, clapping like a little kid and began handing out the presents. “I forgive you for tying me to that tree, I love surprise gifts!”

He handed Will a yellow wrapped package, and Nico couldn’t avoid looking at him any longer. The son of Apollo's face was filled with some emotion Nico couldn’t read.

“I got a sun globe that year.” Was all he said.

Nico nodded, “Yeah, I called in a favour with Apollo, he gave me a hyacinth, I got it preserved in glass in Venice and then Apollo blessed it with a drop of sunlight so it would glow when touched and never run out of battery like your old one did.”

He rubbed the Hyacinth soul mark that curled across the back of his hand. When Will didn’t say anything, Nico continued to fill the silence, “I was worried about making it glass, in case it smashed but in the end I decided it would look better and your not very clumsy so it would probably be fine-“

“Stop.” Will growled, putting his head in his hands, his unopened gift forgotten where he’d put it back down on the table. The other demigods in the room moved to the kitchen to unwrap their gifts, giving Nico and Will space. “Just stop please.”

“Okay.” Nico whispered, moving towards Lou Ellen’s room. He turned back when Will spoke again.

“I just don’t get you. You run away in the middle of the night, leaving behind only a note, and disappear off the face of the planet. You break my heart and then come back saying you bought me a gift every year. Do you understand how confusing that is for me? How selfish you are being right now?”

Nico didn’t respond, he just stood there waiting.

“I thought you had left for a week at first, then when you didn’t come back I was worried you had died even though Hazel was certain you hadn’t. I thought it must have all been a sick joke, that you didn’t actually care about me. And then, I remembered your reaction to my soul mark, the pomegranate branch and I realised we must be soulmates. I realised you just didn’t want me as your soulmate - that I wasn’t worthy of you.” Will was half shouting now, trembling with pent up anger. “And still, I searched for you, I spent two years searching for you. I begged my Dad - I even begged Hades - everyday to bring you back to me. But you were gone, you left me. And so I moved on, I decided you weren’t worth it.”

You weren’t worth it. The words felt like they were burning into his skin, his mind and soul. Tearing him up because he heard the truth in them. You weren’t worth it.

Nico already knew it. His flickering into incorporeality wasn’t even fake this time, he wanted nothing more than to disappear.

“And then you come back into my life, and you’ve changed; so much you are unrecognisable. You are cold and distant and you were downright cruel to Lou. You don’t say a word to me, you send me nightmares and you keep secrets. Except then you have Persephone leave me a meal as well as you, and you use your powers to fight for New Rome even when you can’t leave the flat, and you used up a God’s favour to make me a gift. But all you want to do is leave again, to leave me again. How am I supposed to react to that, Nico? Because I feel like I’m going insane.”

Will collapsed to the couch rubbing his face, eyes puffy and red.

“I can’t even tell if it - if we - were real, anymore. Was I just a distraction after the war? I want to believe you loved me but I honestly don’t know anymore. And I hate that I still care.”

Nico looked down at his hands, which were fully see-through, the cold feeling of misery washing over him and he could practically hear Akhlys cackling at his sorry state. He couldn’t even bring his physical form back. He wouldn’t fade, no, this was just a physical reflection of exactly how he felt.

Miserable and unworthy; a ghost.

‘I decided you weren’t worth it’

Nico didn’t stay in the living room any longer, turning his back on Will wordlessly and walking directly through the wall into the bedroom. The wards kept him from phasing through the floor at least, otherwise he might have sunk all the way into the Underworld, but he couldn’t even bring back enough of his physical form to lie on his bed. So, Nico curled up on the floor and fell into a fitful sleep, tears still drying on his cheeks.

His dreams were filled with Akhlys’ cruel laughter.

Chapter 24: Putting the Pieces Together

Chapter Text

Percy didn’t say two words to Will for the rest of the night. He didn’t trust himself not to kill the demigod. What right did he have to accuse Nico of being selfish when he had locked him up, unintentionally putting him at risk of having his f*cking soul shredded, all because he wanted answers?

Hypocrite much! That was a word Annabeth had taught him.

Percy wanted to talk to Nico, he had so many questions, but he suspected that he needed to be alone. Will’s words had really affected him if his translucent state was any indication. Or his soul was already being shredded, but Percy really hoped that wasn’t the case.

So instead, he sat himself down and unwrapped three years worth of Christmas gifts together with Annabeth.

The first gift he opened was a leather necklace with a single porcelain charm depicting a horn of plenty. Nico had written a note with it explaining he’d tracked down the Nymph Hagno who Percy, Piper and Jason had saved in Rome and she’d blessed it to hold roughly bathtub’s worth of water - for in case he “got stuck in a desert or something”. Percy immediately put the necklace on layered with his camp beads, tucking it under his t-shirt.

Annabeth had received a sketchbook, filled with the designs and sketches of some of the greatest architects of ancient Greece and Rome - though Annabeth was sure there were some Egyptian influences in there as well, even if she knew Nico had no access to that afterlife. Nico’s note said he’d passed it around the architecture commons of Elysium and had gotten stuck there for a fortnight while the ghosts all amended each other's designs.

His other gifts were equally thoughtful; a formal invitation to Camp Fishblood (who’d avoided seeing him while he was on the quest of seven) and a collection of letters from Beckendorf and Silena keeping him informed on the Elysium gossip and wishing him happy holidays.

Annabeth was already using the architect's sketch supplies she’d received to add her own drawings and annotations to the sketchbook and had swapped into the pair of combat boots she’d gotten - the boot of her weak ankle having an inbuilt internal brace installed for extra support.

“I feel terrible.” Percy kept his voice low, not wanting to encourage a certain son of Apollo to join the conversation.

Annabeth looked at him questioningly, charcoal already smeared across her cheeks.

“We said some really terrible things when he left. We were hurt and angry and we didn’t even consider that maybe it wasn’t his choice.” Percy finally let the guilt that had been weighing on him out. “I mean just look at these gifts, they are perfect and thoughtful. Gods Annabeth, he’s been blocking our nightmares of down there for five years now.”

“What?” Calculating grey eyes stared back at him.

“Your dream about designing parts of the Underworld with Daedalus, he’s been sending you that dream because your subconscious has been trying to make you relive literal Hell every night. He sends your designs to the real Daedalus, you know? They are literally being built in the Underworld as we speak for the Elysium expansion, Nico told me last night. There’s probably a plaque in your honour on every single new building”

“I didn’t know he could do that.”

“Yeah, mine’s just a peaceful night at Montauk beach. And he’s been sending Will nightmares about having to take a day off from the infirmary for the past week.” Percy chuckled.

Annabeth let out a startled laugh, “Of course Will’s nightmare is time off work.”

“I just- He’s been doing so much for us behind the scenes. The narrative doesn’t fit anymore, why leave us in the first place? The more I think about it, the more it seems like he didn’t want to leave.”

“I don’t think he left us willingly, Percy.” Annabeth chewed her lip, wringing her hands like she always did when a puzzle needed solving.

“You think his father forced him, with the you know… ” He didn’t want to say servitude bond with Will still in the room, despite them both speaking in whispers.

“No, he definitely didn’t have that tattoo before he left, nor did he leave camp long enough to do any of the ceremonies that are required for it.” Annabeth sighed, “But I do think that his continued absence wasn’t by choice. We know he has an order that is forcing him to leave New Rome, I think it's safe to assume that he’s been given similar tasks for the better part of five years.”

Percy jolted at that, his forgotten memory coming back to him. “The Quester.”

“Hmm?”

“One of my memories of Nico that was erased. I had gone to the Olympian council, you must have stayed in New Rome, and I voiced our concerns about the lack of attacks on camps and monsters travelling in non-violent packs.”

He continued, “Nico was there in Hades’ stead, sat on his throne and everything, cause he’s Heir and Prince of the Underworld and the Gods’ Ambassador, I guess. Which, can I just say is crazy, like -”

“Percy!” Annabeth scolded before his ADHD got the best of his train of thought.

“Anyway, he spoke for the Gods. Explained that they thought the monsters were looking for something. I suggested they give us a quest but they already had given one.”

“But no one in either camp has received a quest or prophecy in five years.”

“The exact time Nico had to leave. What if Nico was the one given that quest!” Percy whisper-yelled, his brain in full conspiracy theorist mode, like when he and Annabeth listened to true crime podcasts in the car.

“Percy,” Annabeth looked at him with wide eyes, “I don’t think he was given just that quest.”

“What?”

“Nico has been missing in action for five years. There have been no quests or prophecies in five years. And Nico has clearly been earning and calling in favours from the Gods, just look at all the gifts he’s given; Will’s sun globe from Apollo, I’m willing to bet Frank’s bow was from Artemis, Arion’s gold-magnet shoes probably had Pluto’s blessing.” Annabeth paused, “I think Nico has been doing all the quests so the campers could have a rest after the Wars.”

“Why would he do that? He fought in both those wars too, he needs a rest more than anyone.”

“And if his father loaned him out? Ordered him, you know how , to accept any quest offered by a God? Or maybe its part of his job as their Ambassador?”

Holy schist.

“Percy, this is really bad. Not only is Nico fighting against Hades' orders, but he could be racing against a quest deadline.”

f*ck.Not to mention, Nico had the meetings on Olympus that he was scheduled to attend in less than a week's time.

“We need to talk to Nico,” then she added, “and Will.”

“Why Will?” Percy’s disdain was clear in his tone.

Annabeth frowned at him, “He doesn’t know what’s going on Percy, don’t be too hard on him. We can’t tell him obviously, Nico made that clear, but maybe we can get him to lay off Nico and avoid another incident like tonight’s.”

“He said Nico ‘wasn’t worth it’.” Percy argued.

“So did we, Percy. When Nico left us, and it hurt, so did we.”

The truth was a knife to his heart.

Chapter 25: Oh to Disappear

Chapter Text

Nico awoke to his own ear-shattering scream, the taste of Tartarus’ air still on his tongue and burning his lungs.

Percy burst through the door, though Nico’s vision was so blurred that he could only really make out the vibrant blue of his soul.

“Nico, are you okay?” Percy, he thinks, knelt beside him.

Nico’s ears were ringing, making the sounds around him distorted as though Nico were drowning underwater. That’s what he felt like, the thick blanket of misery clung to him and Nico knew without checking that he was still incorporeal. And to make matters worse, the poison was setting his bloodstream on fire.

Akhlys’ blood. Nico had figured out it was the unknown poison, as Goddess of Misery and Poisons’ her own diluted ichor was a deadly poison, not intended to kill but to cause suffering. At least Nico now knew for certain the poison alone wouldn’t kill him. No, that pleasure was reserved for Akhlys herself it would seem.

“Nico, can you hear me?”

Nico tried to nod, the movement causing such searing pain that he had to bite down his scream, turning it into a muffled cry.

“Schist! I’m going to get Will okay. I know you probably don’t want to see him after yesterday, but you definitely need a doctor.”

Nico didn’t bother trying to tell Percy that Will wouldn’t be able to help him while he was stuck in his ghost-like form. He just closed his eyes and let the pain rage through him.

Nico didn’t know how long he had been waiting when Percy returned with Will.

“Nico, are you awake?” Will asked gently. Nico just opened his eyes in response, anything else would hurt too much.

“Nico, your wound looks like it's bleeding pretty badly, I need you to solidify so I can stitch you up.”

Nico rolled his eyes, seriously, he could have sworn Will had been smarter than this when they’d dated. If he could solidify he wouldn’t have slept on the uncomfortable floor, let alone let his wound bleed out.

WIll assumed his eye roll was poor attitude and began to lecture him about caring about his well being. It wasn’t entirely undeserved; Nico had made his fair share of poor health decisions over the years and still had a shocking lack of care for his well being. But that didn’t mean he was in the mindset for another ‘doctor’s orders’ lecture when he really had done nothing wrong this time. If Nico could move without screaming he might have been tempted to stab the student doctor.

That was a lie, a denial, a refusal to acknowledge that in fact his first instinct was and always would be to kiss him instead.

Ignoring that dangerous train of thought, Nico bit back his cry as he lifted a hand off the floor, pointing towards Percy and channelling his sleep magic towards him. Percy dropped to the floor asleep. Nico let his own eyes roll back into his head and began to dreamwalk, Will’s voice, now shouting, fading into the distance.

“Seriously Nico!” Percy exclaimed as soon as Nico arrived in his dream, “I probably got a concussion from falling asleep standing.”

“Sorry.” Nico said, not remotely sorry at all. “I can’t speak, poison’s really doing a number on my pain receptors it seems.”

Percy wore a look of concern now, “Oh, so this was your way of communicating with me.”

“Yeah” Nico shrugged, as if he wasn’t dreading waking back up to intense pain. “And Will was lecturing me so I’d rather talk to you.”

I don’t know if I’d be able to control myself around him. Will hating him, particularly yelling at him the previous night, did nothing to lessen Nico’s feelings for the son of Apollo. In fact, their continued close proximity within the small apartment was starting to drive him crazy. Add to that his frustration, emotional hurt and his injury - the less he saw of Will Solace, the better.

Fewer chances for him to get too close again.

Fewer chances for him to ruin their relationship any further.

Percy nodded letting Nico continue. “I can’t make myself solid. And before you ask, no I’m not fading. I can’t fade anymore, not by my own powers anyway - I’d have to be exposed to pretty extreme light for me to fade. Like Apollo’s healing, I’m sure you heard my dad say I had an adverse reaction to it.”

“Ok, so why the ghost state then?”

“It’s linked to my emotions,” Nico said, chewing his lip before continuing, “and I’m feeling pretty sh*t between the poison, nightmares and Will yelling at me last night.”

“You had nightmares last night?”

“Umm yeah, that's why I was screaming this morning.” Nico said shyly, he didn’t really want to discuss his torturous dreams of Tartarus.

“Why didn’t you dreamwalk?”

“I fell asleep before the rest of you, so there were no dreams to walk into. And once I’m in my nightmares I can’t get out, I get stuck for the night. Power-exhaustion induced naps are a little different, my brain is still active so I have more control and am usually not at risk of nightmares.”

“Oh. What are we going to do right now though? Will thinks you’ll bleed out!”

“I might be able to make a bandage out of shadows, try to keep the pressure on it till I re-solidify. I can’t see myself gaining my physical form too soon.”

“Okay, let’s do that then. I’ll explain to Will so you can focus your energy on keeping your blood inside your body.”

“Thanks Percy.”

“No worries.” he responded, then said hesitantly, “Me and Annabeth opened your presents by the way, they were perfect. It means a lot you know, that you were thinking of us. You mean a lot Nico”

Nico distantly felt his form flicker - solid for the briefest of moments.

You mean a lot Nico. It rang in his head for a sweet, gentle moment. Then it was drowned out by a chorus of ‘You weren’t worth it.’

“Hey Nico?”

“Hmm?”

“I need you to wake me up.” Percy chuckled, resting a hand on Nico’s shoulder’s within the dream.

“Oh yeah” Nico grinned, ignoring the panic that came when he thought of waking up. “See you out there.”

He waved his hand and the dream collapsed.

~

Will had stopped yelling when Percy awoke, instead chewing his lip and wringing his hands in clear panic. Percy knew Will was feeling torn between being stressed and terrified since his soulmate was hurt, and angry and hurt by Nico leaving him five years ago and seemingly wanting nothing to do with him. Still, Percy couldn’t help being pissed at the son of Apollo.

But Percy swallowed his frustration, acknowledging that when Nico regained physical form he’d need Will to stitch him up.

“Oh good you're awake.” Will offered a hand to him, which Percy took. “Sorry he knocked you out.”

Percy sighed, “It’s fine, he’s in so much pain he can’t physically talk. He put me to sleep so he could communicate what was going on.”

“But why didn’t-”

“-he put you to sleep?” Percy finished for the son of Apollo, “Maybe because you were f*cking yelling at him.”

“I-” Will took a breath, “I’m just… it's like I can’t stop myself; I’m angry and confused…and I’m scared. I’m so f*cking terrified he’s going to die.”

Percy took a deep breath trying to wrangle his own temperamental emotions, “Nico’s going to wake up any second now. He can’t make himself corporeal - no he’s not fading, before you ask, he can’t fade anymore, not from his own powers…I don’t really know. But his ghost form is linked to his emotions and between the poison kicking his ass and you yelling at him last night he’s feeling like schist.”

“So what? We have to cheer him up?”

“Seriously dude?” Percy bit down against the frustration rising in him, “How do you expect to cheer up someone who is burning up with poison, bleeding out and emotionally unstable. Let alone the fact that all three of those things were partly your fault.”

Percy continued, “Anyway, he’s going to use some shadows to make a bandage, keep the pressure on it until he solidifies. As long as he doesn’t pass out from pain, it should buy us some time.”

As if on cue, a shadow wrapped itself around Nico’s abdomen tightly, hiding the translucent wound from view. Nico didn’t open his eyes, or move a muscle but the shadow control was indicator enough that he was conscious again.

“Hang in there, Nico.” Percy whispered, before stepping out of the room to call Annabeth.

Chapter 26: Memories of Love

Chapter Text

“So miserable, tell me Nico di Angelo, why do you run from me? I understand you better than anyone, I would make you perfect.” Akhlys’ voice tormented him.

‘f*ck off.’ Nico shot back mentally, his mental shields against the Goddess must have been weakened by the fuzziness in his head caused by her poison. Nico put as much energy as he dared into reinforcing those mental walls.

Akhlys’ laugh rang in his ears as her presence in his mind faded once more.

Unfortunately, that left him alone with his own thoughts, fighting desperately to stay conscious despite the pain slicing him up, and using his powers to hold his own blood inside his incorporeal body. His life had been pretty sh*t for the better part of five years but this was a new low even for him.

But there was no chance Nico would let Akhlys get the better of him. Not a chance.

So Nico drew upon his happy memories - the ones he’d locked away for the past five years, and the new ones he’d acquired.

Percy and him in the dreamscape, staring out at the calm ocean waves. Percy thanking him for giving him peaceful sleep.

Percy’s excitement when the presents appeared under the coffee table, that little-kid enthusiasm which was nothing but contagious.

The view of Camp Half Blood from the roof of the Hades cabin, looking out at the glittering constellations.

The seven and Nico sat at the Poseidon table, blatantly ignoring camp rules, as they ate together. Piper scolding Leo for setting himself on fire for the third time that meal and Percy drenching Leo with blue lemonade to put him out.

The Capture the Flag game they’d won. The Big Three sons against the rest of camp, though they’d gotten lucky that Annabeth was away in New Rome at the time - they didn’t have to outthink the daughter of the Wisdom Goddess.

His lunches with Reyna, Gods he missed her. And then, their Iris Messages when she became a Hunter of Artemis. When he finally forgave her for leaving him for the hunters, their relationship was still tenser than before, a lot left unspoken but Reyna had been able to let go of her guilt for having broken Roman laws, and she was happier than ever.

Hazel teaching him more control over his geokinesis, the two of them cackling as he blocked the son of Poseidon inside his own cabin with a wall of obsidian stone.

Nico’s form was solidifying now, he could feel the tingling of sensation returning to his extremities. He let the memories flow.

Percy. Annabeth. Hazel. Frank. Reyna. Piper. Leo. Jason -

“Nico, I’ve seen a lot of brave things. But what you just did? That was maybe the bravest.” Jason had told him after their confrontation with Cupid. Nico didn’t let himself think of the pain of Jason’s death; the buzzing that had filled his ears as he felt his best friend’s soul depart. Instead he remembered Jason’s plots to get Nico and Will together, elaborate plans that never truly worked since both of them were oblivious.

He thought of Jason, Percy and him in the arena, three-way sparring. Percy would whine about Nico’s shadow travelling, saying how unfair it was that he could call up an army and teleport. But then Jason would zap him with a bolt of lightning and the fighting would begin anew.

Nico intentionally didn’t think of Will. He could feel those memories trying to escape from that locked box in his mind, where he’d hidden them away during his years of absence; knowing if he let them out he’d go back to Will, to the Camps in a heartbeat. But back then, and now, he knew the memories would only bring with them heartache and longing. And he didn’t need them now, not when he remembered his friends.

He may have left them, but they had never left him. He would carry their memories, even when he had to leave them again. And he would keep them safe.

With each memory his body flickered to corporeality until Nico was able to sit himself up, physical form restored, holding back a scream as his whole body flashed with white-hot pain. He moved himself to the bed where Will had left his suture kit. No one had returned to his room, a quick soul search told him that Percy, Annabeth and Will were in the living room probably trying to come up with a plan. He could call out to them, get Will to patch him up now but Nico didn’t want to see Will right now.

He was frustrated and hurt and only barely managing to not completely break down. So, Nico prepped the needle with practised ease and cleaned up the blood surrounding the wound. He didn’t take any pain medication, not when his pain receptors were already in overdrive from Akhlys’ poison and Nico began to stitch himself back together.

He thought of the hundreds of times he’d watched Will sew up his patients, his hand steady and voice gentle as he distracted them from the process.

Nico thought of the hundreds of times he’d helped in the infirmary, though his presence was not particularly wanted by anyone other than Will. He’d rarely spoken to the patients, stitching them up in silence, his stitches neat and exactly how Will had taught him.

And Nico thought of the hundreds of times that he’d stitched himself up. The past years had not been kind to him and the scars littered his skin, but the skills Will had taught him had saved his life many times over.

Nico tied the stitches off, looking down at his handiwork proudly. Despite the pain, the rows of stitches were neat and uniform. Putting the supplies away, he slid into the hallway, footsteps silent, and made his way to the bathroom; washing away the blood on his hands. The water ran red and he tried not to think of the blood red clouds of Tartarus.

He padded into the open plan living/dining room, keeping to walls shrouded in shadow to remain unseen by the other demigods. Nico perched himself on the armrest of a chair at the dining table, he had yet to figure out a functional way to actually sit in them with his wings; the backrest and armrests making any iteration of sitting either impossible or very uncomfortable. He reached for the first pile of paperwork, Daedalus’ latest proposal for Elysium’s demigod community inclusive of his report and recommended designs. Nico flicked through the documents, signing where required or annotating his own thoughts within the margins before sending it through the shadow of the dining table to the Underworld.

Glancing up he noted that his presence had yet to be noticed. Will was pacing, eyes fixed on some point outside the window. Nico knew he was feeling useless, a feeling he had struggled with during both wars, hating being ‘just a healer ’ among his siblings who inherited archery skills from their father. Will, if he still cared about Nico - jury was still out on that one, but Hazel claimed he did - would be anxious and scared and feeling out of control.

Nico should really tell him he was okay, it was cruel to make him stress just because Nico wanted to avoid talking to him. Nico allowed himself to put it off for two more files, then he finally sighed.

“You three have gotten rusty.” Nico called, pulling another file into his lap just to keep his hands busy and it was an easy excuse to avoid eye contact. “For three war veterans, you’re certainly oblivious. I’ve been doing paperwork for the past few minutes.”

“What do you think you’re doing up?” Will squawked, ever a mother hen, rushing over to the table.

“Relax Solace, if I was bleeding out I’d still be on the floor.”

“Your corporeal again.” Annabeth was the first to observe.

Nico smiled, “Yeah, I was able to stitch myself back up.”

Will opened his mouth, then closed it quickly as if thinking better of it but Nico knew what he was going to ask. He raised the hem of his shirt to display the newly sewn stitches. Will looked at him funny, an odd mix of embarrassment and gratitude in his expression. He came closer, inspecting the stitch work carefully hovering a tanned hand near Nico’s abdomen.

Nico purposefully ignored the skeletal butterflies that swooped in his stomach at the almost-touch.

“You did a good job.” Will said, withdrawing his hand.

“I had a good teacher.” Nico smiled, not looking at Will as he said it, keeping his eyes on the paper in front of him.

“You were pretty decent before I taught you.” Will mused, Nico could feel his stare sending tingles through his spine.

“Yeah, Minos taught me when I ran away from camp the first time. I came across some Hellhounds or something and I needed to stitch myself back up. Nothing like learning from experience.”

“Is that why your stitching is better than it was five years ago: experience?” Will’s frown could be heard in his tone.

Nico shrugged, “Yeah”

“Are these Hieroglyphics?” Annabeth asked, the question jolting him out of his focus on Will in a panic. The daughter of Athena was pointing to a file that had fallen open on the table. Likely one sent from Anubis, probably another soul who ended up in the wrong pantheon’s afterlife. Nico had discovered the world of the Gods was much bigger than anyone had realised, there were more pantheons than he’d ever expected and his role as Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Gods meant it was Nico’s job to liaise between them.

Not that he could tell anyone about it. That was one of the proper orders Hades had given him through the servitude bond; he physically couldn’t communicate with anyone about the other pantheons unless they already knew of their existence or had a distinct connection to a pantheon.

So Nico ignored Annabeth’s question, throwing a file on top of the problem-causing file as if that would help. But Annabeth didn’t pry, she just narrowed her storm grey eyes at him accusingly. Nico stared right back. He knew Annabeth knew about the Norse Pantheon, Nico had met her cousin a few times over the years. He knew she’d know the significance of him having Egyptian documents; he just wanted to avoid her questions.

“Where’s Hazel?” Nico changed the subject, not even trying to hide his intentions.

“Praetor duties,” Annabeth replied. “She tried to get out of it but with the Feast of Fortuna coming up, preparations need to be made.”

“I think you mean a feast for tuna!” Percy laughed.

“I think Percy and I should get back to our apartment now, we’ve been camped out here for the past few days but I’ve got class tomorrow and research to do.” The last part was directed at Nico, both of them aware that his planned escape was creeping up on them and Hazel and Annabeth needed to figure out a plan to get Will out of the apartment and Hazel in to rewrite the wards.

Nico nodded, waving goodbye as the couple left the apartment.

Chapter 27: Breaking Dawn

Chapter Text

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Will said after a few minutes in silence. The question took the son of Hades by surprise, wasn’t he still upset at Nico over the christmas presents, why was he talking to Nico now that the others were gone?

The presents in question were still sat by the living room table not yet unwrapped.

As if sensing Nico’s train of thought Will said, “I’m sorry for the other night. I’m just- being around you like this is hard. And I know I put myself in this situation, I know being here isn’t what you want, and I think that hurts more. But I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on you like that. I was just hurt and confused and I guess I was trying to cling on to the narrative I wrote for you. Which wasn’t fair to you, so yeah… I apologise for what I said.”

“Thanks, Will,” Nico nodded his forgiveness.

Will blinked, “You didn’t call me Solace.”

Nico cursed himself, he’d been trying to distance himself using Will’s surname like he had before they started dating. Apparently the poison was messing with his verbal filter too. “Is that a problem?”

“You call me Solace when you hate me. When I used to force you to stay in the infirmary or we had a fight, and now when I practically jailed you here. Why the change?”

“I never hated you.” Yep his filter was definitely gone. f*ck, could the Fates give him a break for once. Will made a strangled noise. To save himself from the conversation, Nico answered his initial question, “If you want to help, can you put anything written in Latin in a pile over there.” He pointed to the end of the kitchen counter. “Oh and if its in Greek, or I guess any other language you might have started to learn, don’t read it. I don’t want to know what my father would do.”

Will nodded and began shuffling through the papers. “I don’t hate you either. I know I said some things the other night that might make it seem like I do, but I really don’t. I’m just…confused.”

“You’re allowed to hate me, you know.” Nico said softly, “I hurt you, I would deserve it.”

Will huffed out what could have been a breathy laugh, “I don’t think I could ever hate you, Nico. Even if I wish I did sometimes.”

Nico didn’t know what to say to that. Will carried a stack of files across to the kitchen counter, Nico’s gaze following him as he did. Watching the way he still favoured his right side when he walked, and when he blushed his ears still burned red.

“I know it's not fair to you. That I’m angry, when you didn’t even choose to be here. It just hurts; I’ve spent the past five years praying to any God who will listen for you to come back to me, and when you do, all you want to do is leave again.” Nico pretended not to notice the tears that glistened in Will’s eyes and the pain in his own chest that developed at the sight of them.

“It would hurt you more if I stayed.” Nico said honestly, thinking of everything Akhlys would do if she found Will, if she discovered they were soulmates.

“I don’t believe that.”

Nico couldn’t help but laugh bitterly, “I've told you once before and I’ll say it again; you don’t know what you brought onto yourself when you trapped me here. I’ve already missed the Olympus Council, what happens when I have to miss three meetings with the Gods next week?”

Was Nico lying about why he was so scared to stay in New Rome? Definitely. But it was a valid point, if he kept skipping meetings his father wouldn’t be happy. They might have a good relationship now, or at least they did before Akhlys drove Nico out of the Underworld, but Hades would still punish Nico if he stepped out of line.

“If you just explained to your father-”

“He’d smite you.” Nico finished for the son of Apollo. “He’d either take insult to you ‘capturing’ his only Heir or he’d think you were a distraction from my duties to the Gods and the Underworld. You don’t understand their world Will.”

“Then help me understand. Why did you leave?” Nico could hear the real question Will had wanted to ask clear as day: Why did you leave me?

When Nico didn’t reply, Will begged, “Please Nico just give me something here!”

Nico's soul felt like it was shredding itself apart, maybe that was karma for lying to his friends.

“Fine.” Nico flinched at the bitterness in Will’s tone. But he didn’t press further, instead he asked, “Can you explain the wings?”

As if listening, his wings rustled slightly. “They were a gift from Thanatos when he named me his Champion. I-'' Nico hesitated for a moment before continuing, “- I had a fading incident soon after I left, the worst I’d ever had. Thanatos pulled the darkness that I had absorbed out of me and transformed it into wings. It's why I can’t fade anymore, not by my own magic anyway, I don’t draw shadows into myself, instead they go into my wings.”

“Can you actually fly with them?”

“At night time. Zeus gave me his blessing to enter his domain, so I don’t have to worry about being zapped out of the sky. But I’m a lot weaker during the day, more than I used to be, could be my growing ‘Underworldy powers’ or the Fates needed to give me a weakness since I don’t faint so much these days.” Nico shrugged.

“Do you like them? The wings?”

Nico smiled and admitted, “I used to hate them. They reminded me of Cupid - and you know how I feel about him - and then it took me a fortnight to even be able to walk straight, another month to learn to fly and a year of training to be able to fight like I used to. They’re heavy and they use back muscles I didn’t even know I had. Now, I don’t know…they’re a part of me I guess.”

And then his poison-addled brain didn’t stop him from asking, “Do you like them?”

Will’s shocked expression was short lived, morphing into a smile. Maybe he hadn’t expected Nico to care what he thought anymore? That was a sad thought.

Will tugged his dandelion-yellow shirt over his head, and Nico couldn’t help but stare. His skeletal butterflies were kicking up a storm in his stomach and his mouth went dry. Will, if he noticed Nico’s stare or the blush heating his cheeks, didn’t comment, he just turned to show off his back - specifically the pair of black feathered wings that were depicted on his shoulder blades.

Nico stood, moving over to Will to inspect the soulmark. He couldn’t help but press a cool hand to the magic ink, tracing the wings gently.

“I guess I have to like them.” Will smirked, looking back at Nico over one shoulder. And holy f*ck, that was hot. “I always wondered what that soulmark was supposed to represent, guess it was rather literal.”

Nico forced his hand to drop away from Will’s skin and removed his gaze from the soulmark and Will’s sculpted back to look him in the eyes.

“I like the wings, Nico.” Will said softly, “Though I think the Fates took your last name a little too seriously.”

‘Angel’, that’s what Will used to call him.

“Did you get any new soulmarks?” Maybe Will had lost his filter too? Or the proximity was affecting the both of them.

Nico nodded wordlessly, removing his jacket and folding it over the back of a chair. Pointing to the white tulips on his wrist. He cleared his throat before saying, “Two years after I left, Lou Ellen convinced you to move to New Rome with them, to finally start your pre-med program. They umm - white tulips are supposed to represent moving on…”

“How did you know that? That Lou convinced me to move here with them?”

Nico winced before admitting, “Leo told me. I summoned undead test dummies for some of his more explosive inventions and in exchange he kept an eye out for you. I wanted someone to be looking out for you when I couldn’t be there.”

Will wrapped a hand around Nico’s wrist, tracing the tulips there, the touch sending shivers through him. Gods, Nico was so f*cking screwed.

“Any others?”

Nico pulled off his shirt, “Yeah, it umm turned black when I left.” The son of Hades pointed to the star soulmark that had first appeared on his peck sometime between Nico’s three days in the infirmary and when he and Will started dating. It had turned completely black.

Will reached out and touched it, again tracing the lines of the magical ink. Nico was frozen there, heart pounding, staring at Will with wide eyes. He didn’t know what he wanted anymore.

He wanted to save him from Akhlys, to do that he would need to leave him behind.

And he wanted to kiss him.

Why was his entire life torture?

“This one was my first monster attack.” Will said, warm hand now pressing on Nico’s right collarbone where a cruel looking raven flew, claws extended as if bearing down upon its prey. “They were Stymphalian Birds, who attacked me and my Ma while she was on tour. Thankfully, a Satyr found us but Ma and I were pretty beat up.”

Will looked at himself then, pointing to the soulmark on his own shoulder, a withering hyacinth. “What’s this one mean?”

Nico swallowed, “Cupid. It’s where he shot me with his truth arrow - hurt like a bitch too.”

Will nodded, Nico had told him the story before they started dating, explaining that his coming out was forced and traumatic to say the least and being from the 1930s he was still getting comfortable accepting himself and that times have changed.

“What’s this one?” Nico asked, pointing to the matching hyacinth soulmark that spread itself across the back of his own right hand.

“When I came out to my siblings in the Apollo cabin.” Will smiled, “I was really nervous, and Lee called a cabin meeting just for me to announce it. Little did I know it's pretty much hereditary in the Apollo cabin!”

“I remember how nervous Kayla was to come out to the rest of your cabin, she didn’t realise either. Then you pulled out the pride themed camp t-shirts you all had made.” Nico smiled at the memory.

Will pointed to another soulmark on his own tan skin, the word ‘tesoro’ in cursive scrawl above Will’s left elbow. Nico pointed to the soul mark directly beneath it first, a broken arrow, whispering “Bianca’s death”. Then he moved his hand up to point to the Italian word, “When I found out how my mum died.”

“What does it mean? Tesoro?”

“You just want to know because that’s what I call you.” Nico didn’t correct the tense, truthfully if he could still call Will that pet name he would, but it would cause more harm than good these days. If Will noticed the present tense he didn’t react.

Nico did answer though, “It means my treasure.” Nico kept his eyes glued to the soulmark, refusing to meet Will’s eyes.

He heard the grin in his soulmate’s voice, “I knew you were a sap! All that time you claimed to not be romantic, and you’d been secretly calling me ‘treasure’!”

Nico grinned back. “My turn, what’s this one for?” He pointed to the pine tree on his own forearm.

“It’s Tahlia’s pine, for when I first arrived at camp.”

Nico nodded and when Will pointed to the next soulmark he couldn’t help but flinch.

‘Nameless’ was scrawled above the word ‘tesoro’.

“ Bryce.” It was all Nico could say. Tartarus had transformed his powers, he’d learnt that over the past five years discovering new and terrible abilities he wished he didn’t have. Will knew what Nico had done to Bryce, had accepted it, but Nico didn’t want to tell him he’d used the ability again.

Sure it was on monsters, so more banishing them to Tartarus than outright murder, but it still felt terribly wrong. The opposite of Will’s healing.

Healing that now hurt Nico. Nico had been trying to ignore that little fact, that Will’s light felt like it was burning him from the inside out. What did that mean for them?

Doesn’t matter anyway there is no ‘them’, he thought bitterly.

“All of yours are sad.” Will sighed, staring down at the moments of Nico’s life stained on his skin.

Nico had realised it too, “Yeah, I know.”

He reached forwards touching and naming each of the soulmarks he could see on Will’s torso.

Riptide. “Betraying Percy”

A starburst. “Octavian”

The words ‘I promise’. “Percy and Annabeth’s fall.”

The wrist cuff of a river of flames. “T-Tartarus”

The pomegranate branch. “The jar”

“This one isn’t sad,” Nico pointed to crown made of bones around Will’s other wrist, “Taking the Ghost King title from Minos”

“And these two,” he pointed to a gem symbol, “that’s when I met Hazel,”he pointed to the trident he knew was on the back of Will’s calf, “and meeting Percy.”

He didn’t mention the other soulmarks he knew about, like the lightning on the back of Will’s neck that appeared after Jason died, or the star in the middle of his back that weeped black ink while Nico was fading.

Will stepped closer to them, so close Nico could feel his breath on his cheek. The son of Apollo tapped the soulmark on Nico’s outer shoulder. It was a detailed illustration of the Williamsburg Bridge broken in half. “That one is for Michael, during the Battle of Manhattan.”

Will shifted again to point to the bow with a broken string that lay beneath the pine tree soulmark on Nico’s forearm. Nico fought the growing urge to lean into Will’s warmth, their proximity becoming unbearable as Nico tried to breathe normally. “And that one’s for Lee, in the Battle for Camp Half-blood.”

Will smiled sadly, his sky blue eyes meeting Nico’s. “It’s okay to have sad moments.”

“Thanks, Will…”

Will tapped another tattoo on his arm, “I don’t know what that one’s for.”

Nico looked down in dread, Will had pointed out the golden servitude mark on his forearm. sh*t.

“It’s not a soulmark.” The answer came out cold. Driving a frigid wedge between the two demigods, the warmth of their proximity lost to those four words. Will was the first to step away, familiar anger flickering across his expression before his hands dropped. It was clear to them both, the change of atmosphere.

“I’m going out for a bit, it’ll let you get some paperwork done.” He said, not waiting for an answer as he tucked his wallet in his pocket, grabbed his shirt and crossed to the door, shutting it gently behind him.

The sound of the key turning in the lock, then silence.

“It’s okay to have sad moments.” Will’s voice stuck in his head persistently and Nico just stared out the window blankly. Wishing Will was there, wishing Will had just held him instead of leaving. It was rare to find himself sitting in silence in that Godforsaken apartment and Nico didn’t know if he’d ever felt more alone.

Nico hit the floor, his sobs wracking his body, the sound echoing through the empty flat.

Chapter 28: Nothing Good to Come

Chapter Text

Will didn’t know exactly where he was walking to until he found himself outside of Cecil’s building. The red brick apartment building was a generous size, like many of the other ‘Hero Housing Centres’ that had been built to accommodate the Greek war veterans who transferred to New Rome after the Giant War or the Battle of Nero’s Tower.

Will climbed the interior stairs, knocking on the door. Lou Ellen opened the door seconds later, an annoyed scowl on their face that quickly dissipated upon seeing him.

“Finally ready to kick him out?” Lou Ellen asked, stepping aside to allow Will inside.

“At least you're not angry with me.” The son of Apollo muttered, entering the apartment and sitting himself down in one of the leather armchairs. Lou gave him a questioning look.

Will frowned, “It just feels like everyone’s angry at me right now. Like it's safer to assume everyone in my life is a little pissed at me right now.”

Lou Ellen collapsed onto the armchair across from him, “Any particular reason for that?”

“Nico.”

“Anyone in particular who’s angry with you, or are you just going through a late teenage ‘everyone hates me’ phase?”

“Nico, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel…” Will counts them off on his fingers.

“So Nico, his sister, and the guy who’s known him since he was ten years old and would do practically anything for him, plus said guy’s significant other who is also close friends with Nico.” Lou Ellen said dryly.

Will really didn’t know what to say to that.

“Look, all I’m trying to say is of f*cking course they’re going to take his side! Now, do you want my opinion on whatever sh*t you’ve gotten yourself into or…”

“I just- Nico and I were having a good morning, you know? We were talking about our soulmarks, explaining the new ones that had appeared these past few years. He was telling me about his wings. I don’t know, it felt like it used to. And then, he just closed off again, he was all cold and distant.”

“What did you ask him about?” Lou asked.

“He has this weird golden not-soulmark on his forearm. At least he told me it wasn’t a soulmark, that's all he would say.”

“Ok, weird. Has he told you why he left, or where he’s been?”

Gods Will hadn’t realised how preoccupied he had been with Nico in the apartment, how had he gone so long without talking to his best friend?

Will summarised everything he now knew about Nico as briefly as possible. Which is to say, very briefly given how little information he had. Nico had left for an unknown reason, got a sparkly gold tattoo that he decidedly didn’t want to discuss, faded at some point and was gifted literal wings from the God of Death which fixed it, became Heir of Hades and Ambassador pleni-something of the Gods among other things, and at some point Persephone stopped turning him into a flower.

“And these titles he has, are they important?”

“Important enough to warrant Hades coming to our apartment because he missed a meeting on Olympus.” Will mused.

Lou Ellen chewed their lip. “Sounds like he’s got a lot of responsibilities these days and that maybe there’s a lot of things he can’t tell you.”

“He could tell me, I’m his soulmate for Hades sake!”

“I don’t think your being soulmates would matter all that much to Styx.” Lou replied wryly. “Have you maybe considered that he physically can’t tell you anything? I’m not defending him. I hate the guy for what he did to you, you know that. But he was forced to keep the Romans a secret during the war.”

Will hadn’t thought about that. He was so used to Nico keeping secrets that he hadn’t considered that he wasn’t leaving him out just to be cruel. He’d been made to keep Camp Jupiter a secret with an oath to the River Styx, who’s to say he hadn’t made other oaths.

“I think Annabeth has figured something out, and that’s probably why her and Percy aren’t too happy with me” Will said instead.

Lou shrugged, “Probably, she’s a daughter of Athena after all. But I doubt she’d share whatever she figured out, not when Nico could be blamed for the fallout of any information she found.”

“You think he’d get in trouble?”

Lou rolled their eyes, “Stop looking like a kicked puppy! If he’s the Gods’ Ambassador or whatever, he knows more about the Gods than any demigod in recent history, and those secrets probably came at a steep price.”

Lou eyed Will before adding, “So if you care about him, leave it be. Actually, leave it be anyway, nothing good will come from him.”

Will nodded, he wouldn’t push it anymore. If Nico could tell him he would, and if he couldn’t Will would work it out in time, without putting the son of Hades at greater risk.

“So, how important do you think the position of Ambassador pleni-whatever makes him?” Lou asked. But Will was far less read than Annabeth on the positions of leadership of ancient Greece and Rome.

“Percy said Nico literally went to the Olympian Council meeting in Hades place. Sat on his father’s throne and everything. The Gods didn’t even bat an eye.”

“So if we turned this into a hostage situation, you think the gods would pay a good sum for him?” Lou asked, entirely serious. When Will looked at them alarmed they said, “You wouldn’t have to worry about med school debts…”

“You’re just asking to get shadow-travelled into another dumpster now.”

“Ok but seriously, do you still want him around for the rest of the month? You seem…sad.” They were never one to mince words.

“I’m not sure anymore.” Will admitted, staring down at his hands. “It hurts. Being this close to him again hurts.”

Lou unfurled from their chair, enveloping him in a sage-scented embrace. “I know. But you don’t have to do this, you can let him go.”

Let him leave? Or let him go? He wasn’t sure either was entirely possible for Will anymore. “He’s still healing, only two or three days of the curse left now.”

“And after that?”

“I still haven’t got any answers. I know he might not be able to tell me anything, but he could at least admit that. And I think he still feels something for me, I just- I’m scared of getting hurt again.”

“Then give him an ultimatum, he gives you whatever answers he can, or gets out. You don’t need to torture yourself, Will!” At Will’s indecision, they said, “Just think about it.”

Will was trying to find the words for any kind of response, unsure of exactly what he wanted, when the border alarm blared through New Rome.

“Seriously? Again?” Lou Ellen groaned, standing from their chair.

“They’ll need a combat medic. I should get to the border.”

Lou frowned at him, “Fine but don’t get hurt, Nico will kill me and burn up my ticket to Elysium or something.” Will couldn’t ignore the warmth and giddiness that filled him upon hearing that. Lou seemed to think Nico still cared about him, though they clearly weren’t fond of the demigod. Despite all the evidence telling him Nico still liked - if not loved - him, Will was yet to be convinced. Self-doubt and self-preservation fighting to keep him in denial.

“Hey! Stop preening at the fact Nico would screw over my afterlife for you, and get moving, Solace!” Lou Ellen scolded, throwing Will a couple of spare arm guards from Cecil’s closet. They told him they didn’t have any spare chest plates, instructing him to avoid areas of heavy combat and stick to the edges, the soldiers would bring the injured to him. He could use the celestial bronze arm guards to block a blade if he got desperate.

Will didn’t have a weapon, he had never bothered to get one licensed to carry within Terminus’ borders , and he didn’t ask Lou for one. Despite Nico teaching him the basics of weaponry when they’d dated, Will hadn’t kept up his practice in the years that passed; monsters hadn’t been attacking demigods, and sparring made his heart ache with memories.

Will left the apartment, Lou staying behind to make sure Cecil arrived home safe. He swiftly found Annabeth and Percy on the street, Hazel’s voice from Annabeth’s phone directing them to the fight happening three blocks away at the South-West border; they were facing a horde of twelve which were focusing on the border rather than the demigods defending it. Annabeth hung up the phone and passed on Hazel’s suspicion that the monsters had some plot for breaching the border, perhaps a kind of magic or magical object, since the last few attacks they’d shown little interest in getting inside.

Will’s lungs burned by the time the fighting came into view and earshot, and he found himself selfishly wishing for Nico’s shadow travel. He kept pace with Annabeth and Percy though, and when they dove through the border, Will stayed on the other side where he would treat the injured.

A minute later the first injured soldier was drug through the border, his comrade pulling him hastily away from the pursuing monsters.

“What happened?” Will raced forward, his hands already bright with healing magic as he assessed the damage.

“Mean ol’ Stymphalian Bird flock got to him, at least five of ‘em, took a good bit out of his leg.” the soldier reported.

Will tore the bloodied pant leg away, inspecting the gorge quickly before he began to hum watching the tissue weave itself back together. When he was done he told the soldier not to return to the fight, having his comrade lead him at least a street away from the fight in case the monsters managed to breach the city.

He didn’t get a chance to rest with several other injuries coming in, from Stymphalian Birds, Empousai and there were reports of an Arai present. The sounds of battle echoed through the street, clanging swords and the cries of monsters exploding into gold dust.

Will was so immersed in healing the latest injury he didn’t see the Arai that plunged a glowing dagger into the border, carving a monster-sized doorway into the barrier and stepping through unimpeded. He only noticed the breach when one of the Stymphalian Birds flew through the carved tear in the border and lunged at him, burying its beak deep above his clavicle.

Will cried out, attempting to pull the monster bird away as it ate at his flesh. Without a weapon he pulled off one of his celestial bronze arm guards and bashed at the bird until it fell away from him. It lay there dazed, Will took the opportunity to throw it back through the border in the hopes one of the soldiers would put their sword through it. Holding a hand to his bleeding clavicle he did a quick assessment of the damage. It had messed up his tendons pretty badly, he likely wouldn’t be able to use his arm until it fully healed, and the blood flow hadn’t ceased which meant it had likely hit his subclavian artery perhaps even broken his clavicle bone from the pain he was experiencing. He’d know for certain when he used his healing magic on himself but to do that he needed to find some shelter and a first aid kit.

He decided heading to Percy’s, only a few streets away - would be the best option, setting off at a light jog so as not to risk jostling his wound too much but getting there fast enough to not bleed out. What he didn’t plan on was running directly into an Arai who was stalking the next street sniffing at the air.

And he meant literally running into it, letting out an ‘oomph’ as he fell to the ground from the impact.

“What do we have here?” The Arai giggled, peering down at him. Will began to push himself away, trying to distance himself from the monster but with only one functioning arm it was a slow crawl that seemed to only delight the creature.

“I have missed the taste of demigod blood, surely Mistress will not mind if I have a quick snack before I bring her prize.”

Chapter 29: Praying to the Dark

Chapter Text

Will scuttled back more frantically now, wishing he had taken a weapon after all, he would take a curse over being eaten any day. Maybe he’d just get cursed to speak rhyme for a week? He tried not to think about the cruelty of the curse Nico was suffering.

The Arai inhaled deeply and its eyes narrowed at him, “You smell of the son of Hades, little demigod. Tell me where he is and I will let you live.”

“What do you want with him?” Will demanded, still crawling backwards. His heart stopped when he felt his back meet a solid wall. sh*t. sh*t. sh*t.

“My mistress has been searching for him for many years now. He has managed to evade us, pesky demigod, but now she will have him once more.”

“Once more?” Will kept the beast talking as he searched his surroundings. There was a shed a few feet away, the door ajar. Possibly one of the emergency weapon caches, he really wished he had paid attention to the map of where they were located when it was announced a few years back. If he could distract the Arai, slow it down, maybe he could get inside and hide at best case scenario, worst case he’d at least have a weapon to fight with.

“They have met before you see, he was to be her Champion. So perfect he was, and then he returned to the surface. He fell in love-” The Arai spat out, “He was ruined and now she will make him perfect once more.”

What the f*ck was going on?

“But that doesn’t matter right now, no I will find Death’s Angel after I am finished with you.” The Arai laughed, marching up to Will with a greedy gleam in its eyes.

Will threw out his hand, summoning a bright ball of light which flew toward the Arai’s face causing it to cry out as it was temporarily blinded.

“Curse you son of Apollo, I will make you pay for that.” The Arai hissed but Will was already moving, pushing himself up and sprinting for the shed. Throwing the door open and shutting it hastily behind him, sticking a spear through the handle to hold the door closed buying himself at least a few seconds.
He had been right, the shed contained various imperial gold weapons, none of which he was particularly confident using. He grabbed a sword off the rack, knowing that a dagger was too short range and he didn’t have any training with a spear. He had hoped for a bow but was unsurprised by its absence, the legion had very few archers.

The Arai slammed its weight against the door, and Will heard the sound of wood splintering. He could barely see in the darkness of the shed, but he knew the door wouldn’t hold the Arai for long. Will readied his fighting stance, there was nothing to hide behind so he would have to risk fighting the Arai, but he tried to remain hopeful. Perhaps Nico’s lessons would come back to him?

Another slam against the door had it flying open, the spear he’d placed fractured in half. When the Arai saw him, he had his weapon in hand and was lowered into what he hoped looked like a combat stance.

“Come on little demigod, you cannot kill me, lay down your weapon and greet your death.” It crowed.

“Like Hades I will.” Will brandished his sword, murmuring a prayer to Apollo just in case.

The Arai leapt forwards with shocking speed, clawing at his already wounded shoulder, making him scream in blinding pain. Another strike had him falling to his knees, sword still gripped in his hand but without the strength to lift it.

The monster opened its mouth to speak again, probably to brag or give the typical villain monologue only to be tossed aside by a tentacle of pure shadow. The Arai crashed into the wall of the shed.

“Hey Nico, nice of you to join in.” Will said breathily, his vision blurring. The shadow tentacle wrapped itself tightly across his bleeding clavicle acting as a temporary bandage.

“So it is you that he protects, Son of Apollo. I shall take you both to my Mistress then, she will be most pleased.” The Arai untangled itself from the weapons and debris which had collapsed on it, stalking forwards. But the darkness around Will thickened, swirling like a hurricane

“I’ll find you, Angel of Death. See you soon.” The Arai cackled and with that Will was shadow travelled away.

Darkness.

Shadows.

Cold.

Then, Will found himself slamming down onto his apartment floor.

Chapter 30: To Kill and to Curse

Chapter Text

“Cazzo!” Nico’s voice was a distant comfort.

Will had emerged from shadow travelling on the living room floor, burning pain tearing through his shoulder as it slammed into the ground.

“Sorry for the rough landing, Tesoro.”
Will might have cried at the familiar nickname, had the events of the past few minutes not come rushing back to him.

“It’s coming!” Will gasped attempting to sit up, only to have a strong arm push him back onto the ground.

“I know, I heard.” Nico said, “Not much we can do about that now.”

“You have to go’ Will breathed trying to push Nico away from him.

“I can’t go anywhere, Will.” Nico reminded him gently, “Otherwise we really wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.”

sh*t. Nico had warned him trapping him here was a mistake, why hadn’t Will just listened? Now the two of them were nothing more than sitting ducks! More and more he was regretting his stupid, selfish choice.

“I’ll call Lou, she can get rid of the wards.” Will said through gritted teeth. He felt Nico’s hand leave his chest, his footsteps walking away before returning again.

“No time for that anyway. We’ve got ten minutes at best before it finds me.” Then he muttered, “Joys of having a Big Three scent.”

Nico continued, “We’re going to get you bandaged up for now, I’m assuming you're too drained to heal yourself.”

Will nodded, thinking back to the ball of light he’d summoned. He’d need a day at least to recoup that kind of magic unless he wanted to burn up. Nico cleaned the wound up, pouring a healthy dose of nectar over it, then methodically applied the gauze and wrapped it tightly with a bandage.

“It’s pretty bad, but the nectar should heal it enough to get the blood clotting.” Nico sounded anxious though, hands stained crimson as he handed Will a square of ambrosia which he scarfed down.

“Can you banish it? That was some serious long-range magic you just did shadow travelling me here.” Will said, scanning Nico for signs of exhaustion. Sweat beaded the son of Hades’ forehead but he was standing steadily enough.

“I have to kill it.”

“What?” Will cried, “You’ve still got the last curse, are you so desperate for another one?”

Nico scowled, wiping his bloody hands off on his jeans. “If I banish it, it’ll return to Tartarus and tell its Mistress about you. Which was the exact thing I have been avoiding for the past five years.”

“Huh?” Will had wanted to ask Nico what he meant but the words just didn’t come to him, a haze settling over his thoughts that wrestled away control of his tongue.

“It doesn’t matter right now, we need to get ready.” Nico walked away, flicking off all the lights in the room except for the one above Will. Nico confirmed Will’s suspicions when he said, “I assume you’ve got sun lamp light bulbs? Valdez was pretty proud of that invention. Don’t move and let it help you heal.”

“What about you? Aren’t you better off with it fully dark?” Will rasped, trying once more to push himself up into a sitting position.

Nico grimaced, “I’ll be fine, the rest of the room is dark enough. Don’t draw attention to yourself and the Arai should come after me and I’ll stay in the dark. The bad news is it can clearly break through wards so it may be able to take me out of the apartment if it overpowers me, which would be really bad.”

His outfit rippled then, transforming into his familiar black armour though it now accommodated his wings. At Will’s questioning look he just said, “Aphrodite’s blessing, the perfect outfit for every occasion…apparently.”. Will chuckled at that, remembering how Nico’s outfit had been changed into a Godly toga when he listed his titles a few days earlier. Tossing his skull ring in the air, it transformed into his soul-sucking sword.

Nico handed the imperial gold sword Will had shadow travelled back with back to him, with a muttered “in case you need it.”.

Will noticed that the dining table was once again visible, the piles of paperwork absent. His thoughts were increasingly fuzzy now and maybe that’s why he commented, “Woah you work fast, I thought all that work would take you days!”

“What can I say, I’m good at my job.” Nico smirked. In that moment Will could pretend like a monster wasn’t out to eat him and his wound wasn’t potentially fatal.

But of course reality had to come crashing back upon him. Nico must have been using his shadow spying abilities to track the Arai because he stiffened coming to kneel beside Will once more, “Just, don’t do anything stupid, yeah? You lost a lot of blood, and I- I can’t lose you, Will.”

Will jolted at the raw fear in Nico’s eyes when he looked at Will. The past fortnight Nico had been angry, frustrated, sarcastic, pained but never scared.

‘-I can’t lose you, Will’ he had said, voice cracking with everything unsaid between them.

Nico pressed their foreheads together for the briefest of moments and Will wanted to pause time, to breathe in Nico’s closeness forever. “I was so scared, Will.” Nico whispered against his skin.

Then he was pulling away and Will wanted to follow him, he wished his body would obey him rather than just shaking uselessly from blood loss. He wanted to cry, to hold him, and maybe to slap him for the secrets he was still keeping - even if the web was beginning to unravel, everything the Arai had said lay in the back of Will’s mind.

But most of all Will wanted to kiss him.

Nico retreated back to hold his ground between the door and Will. He looked to Will again only briefly, the fear he’d just displayed now hidden beneath a war-hardened exterior. “I’ve got to kill it so it can’t report back to the Goddess. Stay out of the fight and save your energy, I’ll probably need you to help patch me up from whatever curse I get.”

Then he added hastily, “And don’t mention the soulmate thing.”

Will gulped, the seriousness of the situation settling over him. A monster was coming to the flat, one that could track Nico’s scent. Nico was tired from distance-wielding his powers and couldn’t use his shadow-travel as a last resort since he was warded in the apartment. Will could barely move, and the light that was on to heal him would subsequently weaken Nico if he had to come protect Will.

Will’s pulse was beating in his ears, so much so he mistook the rattling front door for his erratic heartbeat.

That was until it burst in on itself.

Chapter 31: Johanna

Chapter Text

The front door exploded in a flurry of splinters which Nico blocked with a quickly formed shadow shield.

“Son of Hades, at last.” The Arai sneered, its clawed feet scraping the pine floor as it stalked inside.

“Which one are you again?” Nico sassed, Gods he really had been spending too much time near Percy .

“We daughters of Nyx have no name, not one that the mortal tongue could pronounce.”

“Umm, okay. What should I call you then?” Nico stalled, “How’s Johanna? You look like a Johanna.”

The Arai hissed, “Son of Hades, your wit will not save you now. I will bring you to Akhlys and she will reward my sisters and I for my success.”

“See I’ve told Akhlys that I’m not really interested in meeting up, so I’m going to have to pass.” Nico shrugged. The Arai cackled and then lunged.

Nico dodged its first clawed swing, swiping his sword in response. The Arai avoid the sweeping attack, circling Nico smugly as if he were just defenceless prey. Nico went on the offensive, attacking with the extra speed and strength that Ares had blessed him with over four years ago. He let the feeling of battle calm settle over him, his senses expanding and mind clearing until his only focus was the monster before him. The Arai fought with claws and teeth and a glowing purple dagger that every part of Nico screamed at him not to touch.

Likely cursed then, Nico predicted, dodging a stab to his thigh and returning with his own thrust at the Arai’s torso.

Nico shadow travelled behind the creature, attacking immediately upon landing but the Arai swung around at the last second and parried the attack with its claws.

“Silly demigod, we have fought you for five years now, we have learnt your tricks and return stronger each time.”

“Yeah but-” Nico retorted as he attacked again, “-You forget that I’ve beaten you every time, this time will be no different.”

“Ah, but something is different this time.” The Arai laughed maniacally, “You are not alone.”

Nico watched in horror as that glistening dagger which had been aimed at him was redirected with a flick of its wrist, flying towards Will. The son of Apollo’s eyes were glassy and disorientated, probably from the pain in his shoulder. Will tried to move out of the line of fire, but his limbs refused to cooperate. He wouldn’t get clear in time.

Nico didn’t hesitate, not as he pulled the shadows around him and shadow travelled directly into the path of the flying dagger. He called a wall of solid shadow up to block the weapon, only to hear it shatter like crystal as the dagger slammed into it…and through it. The magic upon the dagger must have made it immune to his shadows.

He only had time to shift his body slightly, the dagger sinking deep into his left arm instead of piercing his heart. Said arm exploded with pain, a burning sensation bringing tears to his eyes.

“So predictable child of Hades.” The monster screeched, “Do you give yourself up yet?”

“Never.” He spat. Internally he was weighing the merits of pulling the dagger out. If he pulled it out he’d likely only have several minutes before he’d suffer the symptoms of blood loss and eventually pass out which would allow the Arai to transport him to Akhlys undeterred. If he left it in, he left a dangerous weapon with unknown magic inside of his body.

The Arai interrupted his internal debate, attacking him once more. Guess the dagger stays in for now.

He kept up his defence, refusing to allow the Arai any closer to Will’s prone figure. The son of Apollo seemed to have become more disorientated and he looked ready to pass out any minute now.

Then his wings began to flicker. Flicker in and out of existence, or the shadows were being sucked back into his body, pulled by some force. The sensation distracted and unbalanced him enough that he didn’t dodge the Arai’s claws, feeling them rake down his back. Nico refused to scream, he would not give Akhlys and her minions that pleasure, instead biting down hard to remain silent. He picked himself back up, body aching from the jagged lacerations on his back, the stitches that had torn on his cursed wound, the dagger still stuck in his arm and the poison still in his bloodstream.

f*ck.

His shadow control seemed to have been affected by the cursed dagger, probably a God or Titan blessed weapon meant to destroy shadow magic but he was still left with his power over the dead. He raised five undead warriors, setting them on the Arai. It cried out in frustration and Nico used the extra time to grab a bandage from the first aid kit that was still set on the floor. He pulled out the knife in his arm, tears flowing freely down his cheeks as the pain ripped through him.

f*ck f*ck f*ck.

Whatever the blade was doing to his powers, he didn’t want to risk long term effects, he’d have to risk blood loss. He wrapped the bandage quickly but tightly around the stab wound after pouring a flask of unicorn draught over it and taking a quick swig as well.

He raised another few undead, using them to buy him time as he moved Will into the hallway, dragging the dazed demigod away, then pulling a wall of obsidian stone from the ground to block him from the Arai. It was the only protection he could really offer.

“Come on Will, you have to stay awake for me. Can you do that?”

The son of Apollo responded with only a pained groan.

“Will, please. I need you to fight this, yeah? I- I can’t lose you.” Nico choked a sob, glancing back at the monster demolishing their undead protectors.

“I need you, Will. Do you hear me? Don’t you dare f*cking die.”

Will’s head lolled and Nico could feel tears on his face, watching the bandage at his collarbone stain crimson and desperately trying to ignore the grey aura developing around the Son of Apollo.

“It’s my fault, I- I didn’t want this. I wanted you. I wanted us . I- I’m so sorry, Will.” Nico whispered, pressing a featherlight kiss to his soulmate's forehead.

“Stay with me, Tesoro. I’ll fix this.” And with that he was pulling away. And Gods it hurt, he wanted to hold Will in his arms and never let him go. But he had a monster to kill, a soulmate to save. Nico stepped back through the obsidian stone he’d erected.

The Arai saw what he had done and laughed cruelly, “You protect him so valiantly, demigod.”

It lunged forward with unnatural speed, grabbing his wrist with a clawed hand and tracing his hyacinth soulmark there, leaving a line of dribbling blood. “Akhlys will be pleased to know how desperate you are to save your soulmate, Angel of Death. She will have such fun with the two of you.”

Nico turned himself incorporeal, phasing his wrist through the Arai and out of its clawed grip.

His powers had barely used up his energy so far, but the pain he was in was starting to truly take effect and if he passed out, he was done for, he’d be delivered to the Goddess of Misery on a silver platter and Will along with him. He wouldn’t let them hurt Will.

He wouldn’t let the past five years go to waste.

Nico dove back into the fray, raising more of the dead to aid him as he attacked the Arai with vengeance.

He allowed his training to take hold, knowing when to thrust and parry, when to throw up his sword going fully incorporeal to avoid a deathly attack and solidifying to catch its hilt. When his bleeding arm became too weak to hold his sword, he simply changed hands and continued his plight. When his vision developed a vignette, black spots dancing like a film negative developed with air bubbles, he barely noticed. Everything and nothing hurt all at once.

Nico used bones from the ground beneath them to anchor the Arai to the floor, caging its scaled limbs. He could see the grey death aura begin to form around the monster; the Arai was weakened.

Taking his chance, Nico pointed his sword aimed directly at the monster's heart.

“I wonder what curse you’ll get from me, Son of Hades.” It mused, ceasing its futile struggle against the makeshift shackles of bone, grinning despite its approaching death. “There are so many to pick from.”

Nico didn’t wait to hear more, stepping closer to drive his blade into it’s chest-

“Nico!” Hazel called in alarm, flanked by Percy and Annabeth in the doorway, all panting heavily and looking worse for wear.

Hazel threw out her hands, the ground shook and cracked. Nico couldn’t move in time, couldn't do anything but watch as the ground swallowed the Arai.Sending it right to Tartarus, directly to Akhlys with all its knowledge of Will.

He was faintly aware of himself screaming “No!” as the Arai disappeared into the earth. He stumbled forwards a step, then another, before collapsing in front of the spot where the Arai had stood.

No no no no no

Someone’s hand was on his face, then at his injured arm. Their figure swam in front of him, rippling as if a reflection upon a lake. Nico tried to blink away the feeling, but with each blink his body was heavier, his arm more sore, and his thoughts less and less coherent.

He barely managed a whispered plea, stretching his uninjured arm towards his wall of obsidian stone, before he lost consciousness;

“... Will”

Chapter 32: All the Broken Pieces Made Whole

Chapter Text

Nico awoke to soft voices.

“I think I messed up,” Hazel was saying, “He had the Arai pinned to the floor, if he wanted to banish it he could have, instead he was going to kill it.”

Nico didn’t mean to make a groaning sound, but as memories of his fight with the Arai flooded back to him, he remembered how f*cked his life just became.

“Nico?”

“Hmm?” Nico was pleasantly surprised he could sit up. Hazel was sat on the end of Lou Ellen's bed, watching him closely while Annabeth stood in the doorway.

“You've got a lot of nectar, unicorn draught and ambrosia in your system so try and take it easy.” She instructed.

“Is Will okay?” It was his first thought, okay? Sue him.

Hazel smiled, “Yeah, he's fine. He's worried about you. We had an Apollo healer come in and heal him, but he can't remember much of what happened. The Arai hit his artery in its attack, he'd lost a lot of blood. He woke up two days ago, you’ve been unconscious for three days.”

Nico nodded, absorbing the information. He was glad Will was okay, for now.

Hazel's face fell. “I really messed up, didn’t I?”

Nico wanted to lie to her, to tell her that everything would be fine. He wanted to give her a hug and thank her for saving him from another horrid curse. But she was his sister, and he’d already lied to her enough. His silence spoke volumes and Hazel put her head in her hands.

“I’m sorry, Nico.”

“I know, Haze.” He assured her, pulling her into a hug. After a few moments he released her, “I’d like to go see Will now.”

His sister’s smile was a little wobbly as she helped him up, his body already aching again. Seeing Will waiting in the hallway, he said quietly to the two girls, “Give us a moment, okay?”

They slipped into the bedroom wordlessly, the door clicking shut behind him. Will rushed forward the moment they left, eyes scanning Nico for any sign he’d collapse in front of him.

“I’m alright, Will.” He assured him. Strangely enough he felt better than he had in weeks.

The son of Apollo raised a brow, “Forgive me if I don’t believe you, Angel . If memory serves you have a ridiculously high pain tolerance and a nasty habit of lying about how much pain you’re in.”

“I’ve got to keep you on your toes somehow.” Nico teased, though his tone was still laced with worry while his stomach did somersaults upon hearing the familiar nickname. “But seriously, I feel surprisingly fine.”

Will looked uncertain but he did explain, “Your curse did lift yesterday, the wound has stopped resetting itself and the poison should be diluting over the next few days.”

“Are you okay?”

At Will’s nod, Nico felt tears cling to his dark lashes, “I- I was so worried, Will. I thought- I could feel you- It’s all my fault.”

Warmth embraced him as Will’s arms wrapped around his torso. Nico clung to the son of Apollo as though he might be only an illusion, or a ghost that would dissolve without his touch. He was probably shaking but he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Will was there. Will was alive.

“I’m here, Neeks. I’m okay.”

“It’s all my fault.” Nico whispered again, head buried in Will’s chest.

“I heard Hazel banished it?” Will asked cautiously.

“Uh- yeah.” Nico didn’t want his sister to feel any worse than she already did, working hard to keep his panic internal.

“That’s bad isn’t it?”

Nico pulled away from Will only minimally, running a hand over his own face, he didn’t want to think about how much harder their lives would become. “It’s- well, it’s not good…”

Will snorted, “You have such a way with words, you know?”

“Pensavo che ti piacesse il mio modo di usare le parole ?” Nico smirked, watching the pink blush colour Will’s cheeks and the tops of his ears. [ Italian: I thought you liked my way with words ]

He hissed, “Stop that!”

“ Ti è sempre piaciuto quando parlavo italiano ” Nico commented, tilting his head. [ Italian: You always liked it when I spoke Italian ]

“That has no business being as hot as it is.”

Nico shrugged. “ c'è una ragione per cui è considerata la lingua del romanticismo ” [ Italian: there's a reason it's considered the language of romance]

“You’re a prick, you know?” Will grated out. He stepped in closer to Nico, making his breath hitch in his throat. Will ran a hand along the star soulmark on Nico’s chest.

“I was really worried about you too, Angel.” Will’s voice was barely more than a whisper, the tone husky nearly sending Nico to his knees.

Nico stared at Will, the sensation of his hand on his skin short-circuiting every neuron pathway in his brain. The worst had happened, Akhlys would know who and where his soulmate was, she would attack Will to bring Nico more misery. So really what was holding him back anymore?

He’d spent five years running away.

Five years alone, knowing his own soulmate hated him, a servant to the whims of the Gods, constantly on the run.

“f*ck it.” Nico said, collapsing the distance between them and pressing his lips to Will’s.

Will hesitated for less than a second, then he was kissing him back with addictive desperation. It wasn’t a gentle, chaste kiss but pining and drawn out. Hands were in hair and roving skin as their bodies drew into each other. They parted, breathing heavy, Will’s hand still on his waist.

“I missed that.” Nico breathed.

Will chuckled, the teasing sound made his toes curl. “Me too.”

Will tilted Nico’s chin up, pressing another kiss onto the corner of his lips that made him sigh and his pulse race. But Will pulled away again far too quickly, holding Nico at arm’s length. Nico missed his warmth instantly. Seriously, how had he survived five years away from this man?

“I can’t do this anymore.” Will’s words stung; alcohol on an open wound.

But Will wasn't finished, “So if you're going to leave again, save me the delusion of hope and leave now.”

He pressed cool metal into Nico’s palm, forcing Nico to drag his gaze from Will's face to stare down at the dagger now in his hand. And almost dropped it as fear jolted through his body.

Without its ominous purple glow, Nico almost didn't recognise the blade the Arai had stabbed him with a few days earlier. But sure enough, there were the intricate rune-like whirls and patterns inlaid into the hilt that had been stuck out of his shoulder only days earlier.

“It's perfectly safe now. I had Lou remove the anti-shadow curse or whatever was on it.” Will said when he saw Nico's confused expression, “Lou's outside changing the wards as we speak, but this was more… poetic .

Will continued, “The dagger is a primordial blessed ward-cleaver; apparently it's how the Arai got through Terminus’ border. So here, in case you get yourself stuck in another situation like this.”

Primordial-blessed . That was a problem for another day; figuring out which Primordial hated him enough to ally with Lady Misery herself. He holstered his new dagger at his side.

“I'm not leaving.” Nico said quietly. “I mean…if you'll have me, I don't- I don't want to leave you.”

There was no point in running away again, not when Akhlys knew who Will was and where to find him. Here, at Will’s side, Nico could protect him. And of course it had nothing to do with how much he wanted to kiss the son of Apollo again.

Will sucked in a breath, “I don't- I can't be heartbroken again. It'll kill me.”

It would kill Nico too.

“You owe me an explanation.” Will said, appearing to brace himself, shoulders tense. "The Arai, it liked to listen to itself talk a lot…It said, something about bringing you - bringing us - to its Mistress. That you’d met Her before?”

"Akhlys." Nico answered honestly for the first time in weeks, and the weight that hung heavy on his shoulders for the past five years fled with one word. "I met her in Tartarus, she loved me; said I was perfect, that there was nothing she could do to me."

Nico laughed bitterly at the memory. Will's hand twitched as if he wanted to reach for Nico, devastation written on his face.

He continued, "She gave me over to Tartarus, who was angry I had entered his domain. For some reason people think I wasn't down there for more than a few days but I was there for two overworld weeks. One week to find the doors, then Akhlys handed me over to Tartarus and h-he... he had me tortured for a week. But time flows differently down there, and it felt like far longer. "

Will squeezed his hand, "You're not there any more, you're here with me now. "

Nico breathed deeply, grounding himself in the present. ‘ You’re here with me now.’

"Then the giants came, "Nico said bitterly, "And they put me in that jar to die slowly and painfully. I put myself in a death trance - which felt worse than dying if I'm honest. Ahklys visited me in my nightmares, making me relive my memories over and over, even after I was rescued, she visited me.

"So when I met you, and you and Mr D. started helping me, when I started to really be happy she got angry. I was her perfect creation and I was ruined. I kept her from seeing you in my memories, giving her my traumas to distract her, I had Clovis teach me how to manipulate my dreams to hide my soulmarks from her. I didn't want her to put the pieces together; that I'd found my soulmate and they made me happy.”

Nico knew he was shaking as he said, “But she figured out I was hiding someone, and she sent monsters after me in the hopes of finding you, she would torture you in front of me; to make me perfect again. And then you started getting hurt, in the attacks or burning yourself up healing those who got injured defending the camp. And I couldn't bear the guilt knowing it was my fault and my scent they were tracking. So I ran, I didn’t want to leave but it hurt too much to stay…”

Will hugged him tightly, “I- I didn’t know.”

Nico continued his story, “ I got attacked and very nearly faded, ended up going to my dad for help.”

Nico pointed to the servitude mark. "He offered me a deal. I agreed despite the cost. I don’t regret it "

Will sucked in a breath, chewing his lip before whispering as if fearful of the answer. “What was the cost?”

"To start, the tattoo is what's called a servitude mark and it indicates the bond forged between me and my father. It allows him to give me orders, whereby I’m physically forced to comply."

"What happens if you refuse an order? "

Nico winced, "I can't. My body will carry out the instructions against my will. "

"So if one of us pissed him off, and your father instructed you to kill us... "

"You'd die." Nico's stare was fixed on the damaged room state of the hallway floor. "Percy might stand a chance, if he used his new abilities unlocked down there ... but with my own T-tartarus abilities, and the power boost along with some Olympian blessings… and he'd be holding back as to not hurt me, I'd have no such limitations.”

He fidgeted with the hilt of his new dagger, hating the stunned silence.

"Would he give you that order? "

"I can't speak of his military strategy. But it is very rare that he gives me a formal order; I've been obedient without orders so he doesn't usually bother. Neither of us are too fond of the arrangement but it was the only way.”

“You said you now have a ‘power boost’?”

Nico looked at him pleadingly, his own explanation dying on his tongue as his body locked up, every cell on high alert. His father had explicitly ordered him never to communicate in detail of the ritual or its subsequent power transference. Now that order held his tongue and body hostage, unable to do much more than breathe of his own will.

“That's the trade off, isn't it? Channelling your father’s power directly in exchange for free will. It's a safeguard, making you a weapon only they can control.” Annabeth’s voice from the bedroom doorway surprised them both.”Sorry, thin walls, we could hear ‘most everything.”

Nico would have confirmed her theory if he had control over his body.

“They?” Will questioned.

“The Gods. Percy and I had a theory that Nico's father loaned him out to the other Gods to do quests and such. It's why they trust him so much, he physically can't betray or attempt to overthrow them.”

“Is that true, Nico?” They were staring at him now. Nico tried to clear his mind of the conversation, reset his thoughts so it didn't think he was going against his orders. Which he wasn't, he was just trying to get around them.

“I think he's on lockdown. Probably an overarching order not to discuss the nature of the servitude bond, more specifically the power transference side of things.” Annabeth observed, living up to her heritage as a daughter of Athena.

“Wait so he can't speak or move at all?” Nico hated the horror written all over Will's face. Maybe he shouldn't have told him.

“What part of ‘Nico has to follow every order or his body will force him to anyway’ don't you understand?” Hazel snapped. “It's a sacred bond in the Underworld, Hades can cast it thanks to his jurisdiction over souls. It has authority over Nico’s mind, body and soul .”

Nico knew Hazel’s harsh tone was unintentional. The stress of the past few days was catching up with his sister, who’d had to watch him recover from yet another gruesome injury and sit with the worry over what she had done. And now, having to watch as their own father pulled Nico’s strings.

“I just- I can't understand why he'd agree to it!” Will’s hand was a hair's breadth away from cupping Nico’s face, a faraway, panicked look in his eyes.

“Don't you see?” Hazel cried, “Akhlys threatened you , Will. His soulmate. He needed enough power to go against her - A literal Goddess - if she ever managed to get her claws on you. My stupid self-sacrificing brother did it for you!”

Nico felt himself regain control, “You would have done the same for Frank.”

She blushed at that, giving him a small smile. “Yeah, I would.”

Will didn’t say anything, just stared wide eyed at Nico. It made him shift uncomfortably wishing they would stop pitying him.

“I don’t want your pity, I don’t regret my choice. And I’m glad that I was able to give both Camps a rest after the Wars.”

Will’s hand finally slipped into Nico’s, squeezing gently, and Nico thanked all the Gods for the warm sensation that swept over him with the touch. He never wanted to let him go again. Will was holding his hand, even after everything Nico had admitted.

“Percy was right then? You’ve been doing all the quests for the Gods.”

Nico rubbed his arm feeling awkward. “Uh yeah, they trust me…for obvious reasons. And it gave me a purpose outside of being on the run from a psychopathic Goddess.”

“Was being on the lam not entertaining enough for you?” Will laughed uneasily but Nico was grateful to see an expression other than sadness or pity on his face.

Nico snorted, “Nah, there was no variety. Same old monsters, same old villain monologue.”

Chapter 33: Promise Me

Chapter Text

“So, you have an evil Goddess that you met in Tartarus after you. She’s also after me because I made you happy-”

“You make me happy.” Nico corrected.

“And you sold your soul five years ago to your father in exchange for the ability to channel a Godly level of power in case she captures you or me. And then you took on a heap of titles and quests for the Gods because you were…bored. Did I get that all right?”

“I didn’t really have a choice with the titles. It was more of a ‘you know too much, so either become Ambassador or be smote’ kind of deal. You know?”

Will gave him a look that clearly read ‘no, I really don’t know’.

“You’re taking this all surprisingly well.” Nico said.

“Yeah well, we fought literal Mother Earth a few years back, and then my dad was turned into a mortal teenager… this isn’t that weird by comparison.”

“Okay, but Gaea was trying to kill everyone. This Goddess wants to kill you specifically.”

Will’s hand found Nico’s, rubbing gentle, lazy circles on its back for comfort.

“Yeah but she’s confined to Tartarus, and we have a whole legion here to protect us from her lackeys. We’ll be okay.”

Nico hated the idea of putting the legion at risk just to protect them, but for Will he would do it; he would stay.

“So there is a ‘we’?” Nico couldn’t help but ask.

Will looked down to their joined hands, “I- I’m still working through my emotions, it could- it could take awhile, we can’t just go back to the way things were. But I’d like for there to be…you and me again, I’d like that.”

Nico smiled, “I’d like that too.”

Nico fidgeted a moment, there were words bottled up inside of him that swirled and tumbled around and he struggled to grasp them long enough to put into speech. It took him a minute in the silence before he began to speak, pulling his hand gently from Will’s grip.

“I would understand if you didn’t though.” Nico breathed, and guilt weighed down each word, he could feel each syllable sink in the air between them. “It’s my fault she’s looking for you, if I hadn’t fallen for you, you wouldn’t have been dragged into this mess. And I know I’m not worth the trouble, so if you want me to leave, just say the word.”

“Nico, it's not your fault. It’s not your fault that some God wants to meddle with your life again, it's not your fault that the sh*tty hand you drew in life made her think she is somehow owed your suffering. And I would never blame you for the monsters that she is sending after us.” Will said sternly, imploringly. “I’m upset because you ran away again. At the end of the war, you told me you’d stay and you left. I’m upset because I would have rather suffered at her hands than spend those five years without you.”

“Oh.”

Will huffed, “You’re ridiculous, you know? You’re f*cking incredible and you can’t seem to see that. You put me on some stupid pedestal and tell yourself you’re not worthy of me. And that’s not true.”

Nico had a hard time believing he was incredible. In fact, he was certain he was not. He was broken and torn at every edge. And each of his edges were so sharp he cut those around him whenever he got close, he’d make his loved ones bleed.

Will. Hazel. Percy. Reyna. They had all suffered because of him at some stage in their journeys.

Whenever he got close he’d make his loved ones bleed… and die.

Bianca. Jason. They were his everything. The last of his first family and his best friend. Both gone and where did that leave him? Watching as they bled out from his mistakes, and maybe his fatal flaw was holding grudges, or maybe it was being selfish enough to let them get too close.

Again and again and again. The cycle repeated itself because he was too selfish to stay away. He’d tried to, for five long years he’d tried to save Will from that fate. And somehow he’d been drawn right back, magnetised towards that burning yellow soul. A compass seeking its north.

But Will didn’t seem to care about Nico’s torn up edges nor how much he bled when Nico was near.

“You’re thinking too hard.” Will huffed, forehead creased in concern.

“I just- If you got hurt because of me again, I couldn’t live with that.” Nico tried to make him understand, tried to explain that if Will didn’t push him away right now, if he told him to stay, he’d only cause Will pain.

“I can look after myself.” Will said, glaring at Nico’s doubtful expression. “Ok, maybe I need to start training again, but it's not your job to protect me. And it's not your fault if I get hurt.”

“Is this your way of asking for private lessons again?”

While they were dating, Nico had taken to teaching Will the basics of fighting with a dagger, alongside the ghost tutors he would summon. For someone who claimed he couldn’t fight, he was able to hold his own against most opponents, though he was a little too eager to use his knowledge of pressure points to his advantage.

Will arched an eyebrow, “If they’re anything like our old lessons, we’d be doing more kissing than sparring.”

“You say that like it's a bad thing.” Nico pouted. Will snaked a hand around his waist, pulling him in to press a kiss to his lips.

“Hmm, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.”

Nico shoved him away playfully. The guilt coiled in his chest loosened a little, making way to the butterflies that fluttered awake with Will’s affectionate acts. Will just pulled him right back in, holding him to his warm chest.

“Promise me you’ll stay this time.” He whispered into Nico’s hair.

Nico’s breath hitched. Will knew how seriously Nico took making promises. After Percy’s disastrous promise all those years ago, Nico never made a promise he wouldn’t keep.

He wanted to, he wanted so badly to stay in Will’s arms.

But if Will got hurt-

But Will would get hurt whether Nico stayed or left. Lady Misery knew who he was and what he was to Nico. Soulmate. Sometimes that still scared him: the idea that Will was made to be his other half, that they were written in the fates.

If Will got hurt that was Akhlys’ fault and Nico would never let that happen again: he would be there with him from now on.

“I promise I’ll stay.”

Will hummed contentedly, not releasing Nico from his embrace. He murmured in a low voice that sent shivers down Nico’s spine, “I missed you, Angel. I missed you so f*cking much. I missed you like the sun yearns for the moon”

Nico couldn’t help the snort that escaped him, “You sound like your dad with all that poetry-sounding sh*t.”

“Actually dad’s more of a haiku kind of guy,” Will laughed.

Nico pressed his face into Will’s shirt committing the sound of his beating heart to his memory.

“I missed you too, Tesoro.”

Chapter 34: We’re Monsters; You and I

Chapter Text

The sound of the gryphons dying, screaming as he drew all the water from their bodies, played on loop. Over and over his mind forced him to remember, to relive what he had done. The promise he had broken.

Another broken promise.

Even days later, despite avoiding his powers ever since, he couldn't stop thinking about it. And then there was the other sound, one he had been ignoring ever since escaping down there. It was louder now, so much harder to ignore. The sound of blood. The sound of rushing water in the veins of the people around him. Calling him.

Terrifying him.

Annabeth hadn't said anything, but he could hear how her heart rate sped up, her blood rushing faster, when she looked at him. She was scared too.

It was her fear that brought him to the familiar apartment door, knocking lightly before he could reconsider.

The door opened to reveal a familiar mop of inky-black hair.

“Hey, Percy” Nico hadn't even looked at him, only turning his head to the open doorway after greeting him.

“How'd you know it was me?”

A dark smirk graced the young man's face, “Your soul.”

“Oh…” Whether he was joking or not was lost on Percy, but honestly he wouldn't be surprised if Nico had some sort of soul sense.

“Yeah” Nico just said, face carefully blank and his eyes scanned Percy's face. What was he searching for there?

“Are you going to come in or did you just come to stand in the doorway?”

Percy jolted out of his thoughts then, stepping into the living room. “Sorry.”

Nico's smile was gentle this time, faint and brief.

“Is Will home?” Percy didn't need anyone else hearing this.

“No, he's got class. Won't be back for a few hours.”

Percy sat himself down on the blue couch, slipping his shoes off to put his feet up on the coach, knees tucked under his chin. Folded in on himself listening to the steady flow of the blood in Nico's veins. Gods he was starting to sound like a vampire.

“I'm scared.” Percy didn't know what else to say.

“I know.” Percy's gaze snapped to Nico, who had sat himself down on the coffee table across from him. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

Percy found himself nodding, the weight of all his stress bubbling up inside him and for once, he wanted to release the burden. It was hard to start, his mouth was dry and the words stuck in his throat and caught on his tongue. But he said, “It was at the border attack the other day, we were getting overwhelmed and there wasn't any water source around. I don't like that about New Rome - I hate it actually - there's the salt water lake but no sea and the day was hot with the dry kind of heat, like all the air's moisture had already evaporated away.”

He took a breath before continuing, voice low and shaky. “So, I tried the distance wielding, I saw your skeletons protecting Hazel and it gave me the idea to use the aquifer. And it worked, I made these tentacles that pulled the gryphons into arrow range…”

Percy was shaking now, and his eyes stung with salty tears that threatened to spill. Nico didn't push, he just sat there patiently, twisting the skull ring on his finger.

“But I felt that tug in my gut, calling me to do more. A-and I listened, I answered.” The next sentence was barely a whisper, “I pulled the water from their blood, dehydrated them from the inside out.”

Percy waited for Nico's fear, for him to realise the monster he was with, waited to hear as his blood flow sped up.

It never came.

“You're not scared?” Confusion leaked into Percy's words, and the tears did fall this time. Why wasn't he afraid? He should be afraid.

“No.” Nico said simply. “I'm not afraid of you, Percy.”

“You should be.” But it came out wet with tears and choked in emotion. Confusion and fear and…relief. Because here Nico was, calmly sitting with him despite everything he'd done.

“Why?” Why didn't he care? Why wasn't he afraid? Percy himself was terrified.

Nico shrugged, his hair brushing his shoulders as he did so. “We aren't the same people we were before.”

Percy had suspected his newfound abilities had stemmed from Tartarus. The Pit had messed with his mind and body, why not his powers too? Is that what Nico meant, was he going through this too?

Nico's blood was a steady pulse, constant and calming as Percy tried to relax his breathing.

“But I killed them, I'm a monster.” Percy cried, hugging himself in an attempt to soothe the tidal wave of his emotions, digging his nails into his arm. Nico leaned forward, gently pulling his hands away from where Percy had pierced his skin. The sight of the red liquid, the feeling of it calling to him, only made him hyperventilate more.

“Percy, my powers are literally darkness and death, everyone who knows me, my titles or my heritage is afraid of me. So, if you think I'm going to judge you for your powers then think again.” Nico didn't let go of his hands, squeezing them slightly.

Percy scoffed, “Yeah, but you can't kill someone with a single thought!”

“Can't I?”

The son of Hades rolled his eyes, dropping one of Percy's hands in favour of reaching towards the turquoise fruit bowl on the coffee table beside him. The glass of the bowl was reflecting glowing blue flecks on the tabletop. Nico plucked a shiny red apple from the pile in the bowl, placing it in Percy’s still outstretched hand.

Not a second later the apple began to grey, wilting and collapsing in on itself until it shrivelled into dust.

Percy gaped at the lifeless dust in his palm.

Nico stared down at his hands. “I didn't want to scare you, I just - you're not alone, okay?”

Percy surprised himself when he admitted, “I'm not scared.”

And it was the truth, if anything he only trusted the son of Hades more. He felt relieved honestly, he wasn't alone.

Maybe that's why he said, “I can hear your blood.”

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the best way to phrase it, in retrospect.

But Nico only tilted his head, coffee black irises watching him. His blood pressure didn't rise, the man was perfectly calm.

“What does it sound like?”

Percy shrugged, wringing his hands. “It's calling to me. I think…I think if I wanted to I could control it, you know sped up the flow or stop it”

“Answer the call.” Nico instructed.

“What?” Percy hissed, scrambling across the couch away from Nico. “Are you crazy?”

Nico put his hands up placating, “Right now you're scared because you don't know what you can do. You don't know your limits or how powerful you actually are. What happens if you get scared again and you lose control?” Nico said, “You need to learn to control it, Perce. If only so you won't accidentally use it.”

Percy’s hands were shaking again and he gripped his jeans with white knuckles. “I promised Annabeth I wouldn't use it again. I turned Akhlys’ poison -” Percy didn't miss Nico flinch at name “-against her and it scared Annabeth pretty badly. And now she's terrified of me again.”

“That's a stupid promise,” Nico grumbled, “It is not fair to expect you to be in control of a new, dangerous ability, you need to learn control before something bad happens. Something I would gladly explain to her. Besides you already broke your promise, so give it ago, speed up my blood flow.”

“Nico-”

Nico pinned him with a glare but his tone was soft. “I trust you, Percy. You know that I'm perfectly calm right now, my blood pressure hasn't risen, I feel safe. And if you lose control, I'll just put you to sleep or something.”

That made Percy feel better. Truthfully, he wanted to try it, the song of blood had been ringing in his ears for so long and he just wanted to listen to it. If there truly was no risk, and Nico was willing…

“Okay, I'll do it.” It was barely a whisper.

Nico just nodded, putting a hand on his own wrist to monitor his heartbeat and waited.

Percy took a deep breath, releasing his jeans from his death grip and held his hands out towards Nico. The blood song grew louder in his ears, the sound of a steadily flowing estuary, that whispered his name. The son of Poseidon let his mind sink into the feeling, following the flow of blood, as if he were a pebble in a stream. He felt the pull in his gut and tugged, imagining Nico’s blood rushing faster.

He heard Nico’s slight intake of breath, though the sound seemed distant as if it got caught in the very air before it could fully reach his ears.
It was addictive, the feeling of blood, the control and power that coursed through him. Far away he felt Nico tap his arm lightly, snapping his mind back into his body and releasing his hold on the son of Hades’ blood.

He opened his eyes to find Nico already watching him, his blood flow slowing back to a calm pace.

“How do you feel?” Nico asked.

“Like I can breathe again.” Percy admitted, “Locking this up and hiding it away was really starting to get to me.” It was true, the song of Nico's blood did not tempt him so much, more a dull hum than an insistent siren call.

Nico hummed. “The sea does not like to be restrained.”

Percy nodded, flexing his fingers slightly. “What did it feel like?”

Nico thought for a few moments before replying, “Strange. If I didn't know what you were doing, I probably wouldn't have noticed your influence at all.”

Percy nodded again, “Thank you for helping me.”

“Since I’m staying in New Rome, you can train with me if you'd like, you know, come around and take the edge off.” Nico smiled faintly.

“You'd do that?”

Nico rolled his eyes in fond exasperation, “I wouldn't offer otherwise.”

The son of Poseidon chewed his lip, standing from the couch. “I'm scared I'll hurt you.”

Nico scoffed, standing too and stretching slightly.

“Fine, if I prove you won't hurt me, will you agree to practise with me?”

At Percy's agreement, Nico waved for him to try manipulating his blood. Percy raised his hand towards Nico. He barely had the chance to focus when his hand locked up. Frowning he wiggled his fingers, the movement now stiff as if something was fighting against him. The sensation grew and his hand spasmed as if his bones themselves were shifting.

His eyes shot up to Nico, who was staring intensely at the targeted extremity with a faint smirk.

Nico was manipulating his bones.

Percy refocused, ignoring the sensations in his hand as he tugged at Nico's blood, pulling its flow away from his fingers; hopefully, giving him a bad case of pins-and-needles.

Nico raised a brow and Percy thought he'd lost concentration as his grasp on his blood slipped.

But no, Nico's blood had vanished.

Percy dropped his hand with a scowl as he looked back at his translucent friend.

“That has to be cheating.” he frowned.

Nico chuckled, “I think I proved myself a worthy practice partner.”

“What did you do to my hand?”

“You can manipulate blood, I can manipulate bones.” He shrugged, becoming corporeal again.

“Can you make them move? Like make someone wave or something?” Percy wasn't scared per say of the answer, he didn't know what he was feeling exactly.

Nico shook his head, jostling his dark curls. “I can umm,-” he hesitates, his shaded-brown gaze flicking across Percy’s face before he admits, “For you, I made your joints lock up, but if I needed to I could break them or turn them to dust…or summon them.”

Percy shivered at the implication of what summoning bones from a living being would look like, but before he could think of a response, Nico continued. “I think you would be able to make bodies move to your will. If you manipulated the blood flow to certain muscles…anyway, just something to think about. We’d definitely be able to do it working together anyway.”

Percy couldn’t bring words to his tongue.

“Let me know when you want to practise. I’ve been wanting to have a good spar.”

The anticipation that filled Percy’s chest was unexpected, the thought of using and mastering that power - and fighting a worthy opponent was enough to overcome his initial reservations.

“Can we start tomorrow?”

Gods what was he going to tell Annabeth, he couldn’t keep this from her…could he?

Chapter 35: The Calm...

Chapter Text

Nico couldn’t remember the last time he’d stayed in one place for more than a week. Maybe the Underworld Palace, adapting to the sheer power that the servitude bond had imparted on him and training with the new mass of feathers at his back. Or Camp Half-Blood, after the war with Gaea when he’d mistakenly hoped the Fates would give him a rest or forget about him entirely.

Instead, Apollo became mortal, his best friend died and the place he had wanted to call home was still wary of him.

Two months passed by in New Rome, Hazel had gotten a cake to celebrate his ongoing presence. She had meant well, but with every bite of coffee-infused sponge, guilt settled deeper in his gut. He couldn’t help but compare himself to Bianca - when things got tough, he’d left her.

He had promised himself he would be a better sibling to Hazel, and he’d failed.

Hazel didn’t seem to hold it against him, perhaps being a daughter of Pluto, not Hades, she didn’t share that fatal flaw. She acted as though every day with him was a Gods’ given gift, happily dragging him around New Rome when she escaped her Praetor duties.

It was nice, Nico decided, to indulge in her easy company and never-satiated sweet tooth that led them to many a bakery scattered throughout the city.

It was nice if he ignored the tense set of her shoulders after she returned from yet another senate meeting discussing the near daily monster attacks.

It was nice if he ignored the dark circles beneath her eyes from late nights talking battle strategies with Frank and their advisors.

It was nice until the border alarm tolled and reality crashed back into him. But Hazel assured him that she was okay, that New Rome and Camp Jupiter were prepared for a threat like this, that he wasn’t a burden or a safety risk.

Hazel had never been a good liar. Still, selfishly, Nico let himself believe her.

Will had returned to classes and Nico to his duties with the Gods. He attended his meetings, completed his paperwork and when he returned to New Rome each time he pretended not to notice the surprise in Will's eyes. While Hazel soaked in every second of his company that she could, Will held Nico at arm's length. The son of Apollo watched him constantly from the corners of his eyes as though Nico would disappear if he was without his gaze.

Will was a worse liar than Hazel. In fact, Nico was fairly certain he was allergic to outright lying.

“I’ll be back.” Nico would promise every time his presence was demanded by Olympus.

“I know”

“I believe you”

“See you soon”

Whatever the variation, Will would always lie. His voice choked and breathless like his throat had constricted around the words. And no matter how many times Nico came and left, always returning to Will’s side before the day was done, the lies remained.

“I’m home.” Nico would say each time he appeared in the apartment they shared. It had taken half a dozen skeletal handymen to fix up the damage of their fight with the Arai, and a weekend’s worth of furniture shopping to replace what was beyond repair.

“I didn’t have any doubts.” Lie.

“I knew you’d be home soon.” Lie.

Nico tried not to take it personally, he knew he deserved it, he felt the guilt every day. He didn’t know how to prove to Will he wasn’t ever leaving him again, especially when the temptation writhed under his skin like a living thing.

Hazel kept him from defending the border, despite him being fully healed. She claimed they didn’t need him, that it was too much of a risk to have him on the field. But he knew she was hiding the toll his presence was taking. He knew because Will worked extra hours at the hospital on days the borders were attacked. He knew because he could feel it every time a soldier came close to death.

He knew because the voice in his head screamed at him that he was selfish and a burden and worthless.

But Nico did not give in to the temptation, he did not listen to the voice that whispered to him to ‘Run!’. He had made a promise, and Nico might be a liar and a manipulator and a monster but he never broke a promise.

So he stayed. He stayed one month, and when one month became two months, he still stayed. He built a routine for himself; walking the streets with Hazel, sparring and training with Percy and teaching Will basic swordsmanship.

Will had requested it after his near disastrous confrontation with the Arai, but he still seemed hesitant to engage in their lessons.

Even two months into their lessons, they stood in the local park, Nico glaring at Will who looked back with faux cluelessness.

“Will, you actually have to attack me, you know?”

The blonde just stared at the ground where the two of them had been splayed mere moments before. Nico had swept Will’s feet out from under him, only to be pulled down too when Will grabbed his wrist with surprising agility and strength. Nico had ended up pressed on top of Will, the other demigod staring up at him with wide eyes and a blush rising to his cheeks.

Nico sighed, “Are you sure you don’t want to go back to using a dagger?”

“No, I want to use a sword.” Will snapped, though there was little force to the words. His tone sounded…nostalgic?

“Hey, you know you can talk to me, right?” Ugh, Nico was so not good at this whole feelings thing. But he hoped Will would understand the gesture all the same.

“Sorry,” Will sighed, “I just…all this makes me think of during.”

Nico didn’t know what that meant but luckily Will continued, “We used to spar all the time, you were teaching me to use a dagger even though it wasn’t your weapon of choice. But really those hours in the arena were an excuse to flirt…But then, I think about how I couldn’t even look at a dagger once you left.”

Nico flinched but remained silent.

“I can’t stop thinking about it. About how I’ve felt all these feelings for you before - I’ve loved you before - and then you ran. And I miss the way things were, before all of this. Before I couldn’t stop thinking that you’d disappear again. I miss us, and I hate that it feels like we’re starting from scratch.”

Nico sheathed his sword, stepping forward to take Will’s hand in his.

“You’re allowed to miss it, Will. The Gods know that I do.” Nico said.

‘It feels like we’re starting from scratch’ Nico wondered if that was such a bad thing. Maybe they were both too caught up in trying to be what they once were. But five years had passed, trust and hearts were broken and they weren’t the same people they once were. Perhaps, they just needed to let go.

“Will you go out with me?” The son of Hades blurted. Will looked confused, justifiably so.

“Our second first-date.” Nico explained, “I can’t turn back time, but I can make the most of the time we have now. We made some pretty great memories back then, but I think we can make some better ones.”

Will smiled, pulling him into a light kiss, “I always knew you were a romantic at heart.”

“Is that a yes?”

Nico thought it was ridiculous how nervous he was waiting for Will’s answer; Will was his soulmate, his other half, he wouldn’t reject him.

“Yeah Nico, I’ll go on a second first-date with you.” Will humoured him.

“Friday Night, 7pm, I’ll tell you where.” Nico said, excitement swelling.

Yes, maybe starting from scratch wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Chapter 36: ...Before the Storm

Chapter Text

The walk back from Camp Jupiter was made in awkward silence, his armoured guards not entirely sure as to why they’d been tasked to deliver Will back to New Rome - unaware of the target on the son of Apollo’s back - and rather grumpy that they were stuck playing babysitter.

Hazel had requested he update the legion’s Centurions on basic first aid training in light of monsters becoming a threat to demigods once again. Will suspected she was also offering him a morning outside of the city - the place he had come to call home had come to feel claustrophobic with the knowledge he couldn’t safely leave the borders. Nico had only stopped arguing against the idea when Hazel had confirmed Will would be accompanied by some of the legions finest. The morning in the end had gone sufficiently well, and whilst none of them would be certified doctors anytime soon, they would hopefully be well prepared to treat common battle wounds. And Will was grateful for the fresh air and change of scenery.

Will didn’t bother to fill the silence, content to let his thoughts wander, as they always did, back to Nico. Excitement buzzed, fireflies in his stomach, as he thought of their date that night.

Nico was planning the whole night, leaving Will in the dark, and the son of Apollo wished time would move faster, wished the winds over the fields of Mars would propel him into the evening time.

A date.

He was going on a date with Nico di Angelo.

A few months ago Will would have scoffed in disbelief at the thought, believing Nico to be forever gone and likely sequestered away in the Underworld - the thought made him shudder despite Nico imploring him to believe the Underworld was nothing like he imagined.

Will was lost in the memories of their past when he and his guards reached the border, all three of them slipping through and into the city. The tolls of the midday bells had the streets bustling with demigods and legacies alike, students making their way to the university and workers off on lunch break. Will gave the legionnaires accompanying him a friendly wave as they departed, heading further into the city, leaving Will to stand by the border.

Living with Nico in New Rome had been their dream once; Will studying medicine and Nico working intermittent jobs for his dad. Nico, at the time, had no interest in seeking a higher education - having never completed his schooling formally and without any interest in going back to school after the nightmare that was the modern-day military school he’d been to. Not to mention, Nico had an expansive knowledge on many a subject from the godly tutors that Minos, Hades and Nico himself had summoned. Unfortunately, New Rome University didn’t recognise ‘education from the primary sources themselves’ as sufficient prior education to enrol. Despite his own disinterest in accredited study, Nico had always been supportive of Will’s dream to become a doctor.

Somehow, even with the twists and turns and heartbreak and isolation that had hounded them both, they had made it. Living together, in New Rome. It was nothing like he had imagined.

It was Nico dragging him to the local coffee shop because he refused to allow Will to drink “the bullsh*t that was his instant-coffee”. The son of Hades and the barista had formed a bond over criticising Will’s “lack of taste” and their shared love for the colour black.

It was Nico dragging him away from his desk, where he had been hunched, studying for hours on end, leading him hand-in-hand to watch the stars from the rooftop.

It was homemade Italian meals for dinner and the pleasant sight of Nico humming over the stove when Will walked in the door.

It was nothing like he had imagined, and it was everything he could have wanted.

It was all too easy to fall for Nico di Angelo all over again.

And Will was f*cking terrified. The past two months with Nico had been the happiest he'd felt in a long time. And that's what scared him, because Will was going to get himself hurt.

Now, let it be known, Will wasn't a natural pessimist but he was a healer, and he felt like he was fairly qualified to identify potentially dangerous situations. This was certainly one of them.

Falling for his ex-boyfriend was not his brightest idea but Aphrodite clearly didn't care when she drove Nico kicking and screaming back into Will’s life. Because there was absolutely no way their situation was anything other than divine intervention.

Will had hoped that keeping his distance from Nico would make the inevitable hurt less. But Nico seemed determined to keep him on his toes. Every time he left to fulfil his Ambassador duties, it felt like the last. And fear would twist his insides until Nico would appear at his side once again like he’d never been gone.

Will knew that Nico could feel Will’s hesitation to trust him again, to love him again. The son of Hades did everything he could to soothe his doubts and fears. And with every kiss Will felt himself sink deeper, draw closer - if only he could let himself go.

He wanted to free fall, to trust Nico wholly again because he knew, he knew, that in Nico’s position he might have made the same choice. He almost wished for the Lethe to wipe away the pain of the past that had burned scars into his beating heart. Then he might be able to love Nico without reservation, without drawing away, afraid of that phantom heat.

“I promise I’ll stay.” Nico had promised. He wasn’t going to leave.

Will wanted to believe it, he ached to believe it. He was the one who was stopping them from moving forwards. Because Gods Nico was trying.

Will saw the way it tore at Nico’s soul to send soldiers out to defend him, to risk other people's lives while he sat in comfort.

He saw Nico wake from nightmares with a shining, feral look in his eye as if he’d bolt at any moment but forced himself to remain in bed.

Nico stayed for Will.

A scream pierced through his tempestuous thoughts.

Will would later reflect that his actions past this moment were impulsive and plainly, stupid.

But in the moment, Will just took off running, his field-medic instincts overriding the rational logic that urged him to consider what the chances were that someone would be attacked a mere minute after his guards had left his company. But alas, Will didn’t think, not as he ran back through the border and up the grassy hill.

If Will had stopped for even a second, he might have also considered how the scream had come from far enough away that only someone blessed with Apollo’s enhanced hearing would hear.

Though even if he had noticed those things, he wouldn’t have stopped nor turned around. Will was a healer first and foremost, just like Nico was a fighter - a survivor - and he would not standby knowing someone was hurt.

So call him stupid. Or call him selfless.

Will would call himself doomed. Because as he crested the hill, he was met with the intimidating sight of a pack of cynocephali watching him eagerly.

Trap.

That was the word that sprung to mind, too late to act as anything other than a jab at his gullibility.

The pack must’ve hidden among the sizable minority of friendly cynocephali living in and around New Rome. Will could think of no other way they’d have gotten this close to the city with Camp Jupiter on high alert. Unfortunately for Will, they didn’t seem very friendly, not as the pack closed in, flanking either side of the son of Apollo.

His second observation was the lack of any injured party anywhere within his sight line. A mystery quickly solved when a red furred body pushed through the pack of dog-headed men. It had the body of a lion and the hooves and tail of a horse. Its head, a cross between a horse's and a wolf's, with red eyes that bore into Will’s as the Leucrota ground its jaw.

Voice Mimicry. That’s what Leucrotae were known for, mimicking the voices of humans to communicate - or to lure foolish demigods.

“Son of Apollo, kind of you to join us.” Its voice was so eerily human. Will couldn’t help but wonder who the creature was mimicking, and whether they were long dead now.

Will didn’t dignify it with a response, drawing his blade.

The thing giggled. “The healer wants to fight.”

The dog-men roared at that, dropping onto all fours, shifting on their haunches.

“We don’t want to fight you, Son of Apollo. We are merely your escorts.”

“No thank you.” Will scowled.

“I’m afraid it's non-negotiable.” The beast huffed, nodding his furry head to the cynocephali who began their approach.

The first to reach him met the gold of his sword, exploding into a cloud of dust as Will twisted the hilt. He thanked Nico a thousand times over mentally as the battle reflexes he’d been training for the past two months kicked into gear.

Nico.

Nico had stayed for Will. Now Will had to stay for Nico.

Will swung and dodged and stabbed at the pack of monsters approaching him. His arms and legs became littered with bruises and teeth marks where the monsters were successful in grabbing a hold of him before he turned them to dust.

Will had never truly fought like this, had never felt his life weigh in the balance as his sword found its mark again and again. Where Nico looked so free when he fought, almost as though he were dancing, Will felt anchored to the ground, trapped in a body that couldn’t get enough air or draw enough strength.

But Will continued to fight, he did not let his sword arm droop, not even when chipped teeth sunk into his wrist. He kicked the monster away, a strong hit to the abdomen that had the beast releasing his flesh. Will spun, the momentum of the movement cleaving the dog-man’s head cleanly off, golden dust raining down onto the grass.

Will fought and he fought and he kept breathing. He could hear Nico in his head telling him when to duck and block or counter the attack. He could hear every movement the monsters made as they moved around him - the shift of their weight, the slight intake of breath before they leapt for him.

And slowly, their numbers dwindled until Will was left with only three: two cynocephali and the Leucrota.

“You have done well, little demigod.” It complimented, stepping forward to greet him.

Will raised his sword despite his shaky arm.

“But what will you do now?”

Will didn’t allow it to ponder its own question, driving his blade directly toward that lion body…only for the blade to glance right off, as if repelled.

“Leucrotae cannot be harmed with any metal created by man or god.” The monster offered an explanation. It deftly kicked out at Will, hoof planting itself in the centre of his chest, sending the son of Apollo flying backwards.

Will’s head slammed into the dirt and stars danced in his vision. He could almost pretend he was back on his rooftop with Nico, stargazing without a care in the world.

The weight of that same hoof pressing against his throat brought him back to reality. Will tried to suck in air, thrashing frantically when his lungs began to scream.

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t breathe. Hecouldn’tbreathe…

He tried to reach for his light, for anything really that might make the monster release its hold but his head swam too much to focus.

“You put up a good fight, young one.” Its voice flitted across his mind, his brain too oxygen deprived to decode its meaning.

Black crept into his vision, eyes growing heavy as his lungs stung and tears swam in his eyes. His sword being removed from his grip and his body being pulled by the arms across the dirt was but a distant feeling.

His last thought before he blacked out was of Nico.

He was going to miss his date.

Chapter 37: Lost, Not Found (Part I)

Chapter Text

“I wanted to thank you.” A voice said from behind where they stood in their previously empty bedroom.

“f*cking Hades, can't you knock?” Lou Ellen exclaimed, whirling to see the son of Hades leaned against their wall.

He raised a dark eyebrow, amused. “I did knock.”

“Oh.” Touché

Lou must have been too hyper focused on the pig balls they were making to notice the sound.

Nico hummed. He had one hand in the pocket of his black hoodie, the other fidgeting with its drawstrings. He'd mostly kept out of their way when the child of Hecate had moved back in, at least until now.

Lou Ellen held mixed emotions for the son of Hades. In part, begrudgingly pleased by his presence in their life, after all they'd expected him to leave the moment the wards were removed and break Will’s heart again. Nico had spent his whole life running, it was a predictable pattern of behaviour.

And yet, here he still was.

Lou Ellen hadn't seen the son of Apollo smile so brightly in years. That stung a little; that they had spent years pulling Will through his heartbreak, greeted with fake grins each morning praying to any God his real smile would eventually return. Only for his happiness to be restored on the wings of the one who'd made it disappear in the first place.

“They aren't for me, are they?” Nico eyed the pig balls wearily.

“Don't tempt me.” Lou warned and Nico raised his hands in surrender, mock seriously.

The spell balls were to restock Camp Jupiter's supply which were running low with the recent monster attacks. But now Lou Ellen was considering what Nico would look like as a squealing piglet.

“At least let me talk first, it would be awfully hard to express my gratitude as a pig.”

Lou Ellen nodded their assent, gesturing for the son of Hades to ‘go ahead’.

“I just- Thank you for looking out for Will when I left. I hate to consider what might’ve been different had you not been there for him. So thank you.”

“I hated you, you know?” Lou glared at the wall.

“Is this the part where you turn me into a pig?”

Lou ignored the comment, “Like yeah, you really hurt Will, he couldn’t even hear your name without breaking down -”

They took a shaky breath, “But you left me too.”

And it hurt, it f*cking hurt.

Nico had understood what it was like to be judged by your heritage. He battled the same prejudices that pervaded the camps.

Hades had never been well liked, shadows and death were ‘too dark’ for most, too feared. But at least Hades had fought for the winning side, the ‘right side’ - thanks to Nico.

Hecate had joined the Titans, she had chosen a side and lost, cursing her children to forever live with the consequences.

Add to that that they were both Chthonic deities: unknowns to be feared, to be misunderstood or to be ignored.

“You were my friend and you left in the night with nothing but a note, just like Alabaster did.” The tears that clung to their lashes were quickly wiped away.

Their damned brother who they'd never see again. Leaving Lou to be Head Councillor of an empty cabin. Leaving Lou to have to learn magic on their own. Leaving Lou with the legacy of traitorous blood.

Lou Ellen had decided to stay at Camp, despite the chance that the Olympians would smite them down for their mother’s allegiances. They stayed because all they wanted were friends, not to be pulled into the godly politics of a mother they had never met.

Instead they were accused of being a spy, a traitor or underestimated entirely.

Nico had left again when the first war was done, when Lou’s brother had been banished forever, and Lou almost ran too. Ran from the dirty looks and whispers that trailed them like a shadow. If not for Will, Cecil and Miranda they might have.

But their friends didn't understand like Nico did. They didn't spend late nights in the Hecate cabin after Gaea's fall researching runes and spells with Lou, just so they could feel some semblance of connection to their mother.

Will didn't understand their fascination with the Underworld, he tried to humour them but in the end it was Nico that answered Lou’s endless questions. As the child of a Chthonic deity, it felt like a second home even if Lou would never see it until death.

Nico had taught them how to ground themself, had explained how children of the Underworld Gods had a greater connection to the earth and from it they could draw energy. In exchange, Lou had shown Nico how to manipulate the Mist; though not as talented as his sister, the Champion of Hecate herself, he wasn't half bad.

Nico had summoned past children of Hecate who taught Lou Ellen rune and ward magic - oh the irony, they'd come to use it against him.

They weren’t close, no one but Will had managed to be close to the son of Hades, but Lou Ellen considered him their friend.

“I'm so sorry, Lou. You didn't deserve that.” Nico looked utterly devastated.

Lou Ellen watched as their ever-flame candle flickered and sputtered on the bedside table.

“I missed you, you know. And I grieved for you, because that was better than knowing you were alive out there and choosing not to be with us. I thought you were my friend and then five years later you come back and you threaten me.”

Nico winced, “In my defence, I was in a lot of pain at the time. And you did trap me in a 70sqm flat”

Lou raised their brow.

“But yes, I treated you like sh*t - and I really am sorry.” Nico hurried to add. “I’d like to make it up to you.”

“You have five years to make up for di Angelo, you think you can do it?” Lou wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. Apologies didn’t mend Will’s broken heart nor would they freeze over the burning anger Lou had directed at Nico di Angelo in the five years of his absence.

“I’ve never had a lot of friends and I’m certainly not going to let one of them get away because I made an impulsive decision out of fear and screwed everything up.” Nico said sincerely. Lou Ellen tried to tamper down the hope that arose at the declaration.

“You know I saw your mother after I left, she created a pretty impressive memory alteration spell, and I could probably recall how she did it…if someone was interested in recreating it, maybe adding it to their grimoire?” Lou tried their hardest to feign disinterest, it clearly didn’t work from the look of triumph in Nico’s eyes.

“This doesn’t mean I forgive you.”

Nico nodded before reaching into the shadows and pulling out a stack of papers coated in neat, cursive scrawl. He handed them over, “I came across some other spells, and runes and such in my travels, figured you’d have more use for them.”

It felt so familiar to all those years ago when Nico would appear in their cabin, stack of books in hand that he’d stolen from Hades’ library for Lou’s research.

“Thanks.” Lou Ellen said begrudgingly at first but their tone lit up towards the end as they began to read the complex spells and runes Nico had attempted to transcribe.

“So, I take it you’re not going to turn me into a pig this time? Because I’m kind of taking Will on a date tonight…”

“Break his heart again and you’ll be a pig for the rest of your life.”

Making the son of Hades audibly gulp might be one of their proudest achievements.

“You want to help me set up? I could use your magic touch.”

Lou Ellen actually smiled at that, both because they could imagine Will practically bouncing with excitement as he counted down the hours till his date with his soulmate, and it was hard not to warm up to Nico di Angelo.

“What do you have in mind?” They asked, green sparks already dancing along their fingertips.

~

Nico was certain Lou Ellen had saved his second first-date with Will. Sure Nico had had an idea, but Lou had truly made it spectacular.

Or it would have been spectacular, if Will showed up.

But it wasn’t uncommon for Will’s schedule to run late, he often lost track of time when he did anything medical-related or maybe someone had been injured and he’d offered to help out? He was only an hour late, Nico wasn’t too worried.

Or at least he was trying not to be.

Instead he lay back and stared up at the starry night sky, smiling slightly at the floating yellow candles Lou had spelled to hover in the sky around them. He’d dropped in to Leo’s workshop earlier that day and borrowed a portable movie player, equipped with anti-monster technology which was now spitting static, waiting for a disk to be inserted. The guy had scolded him thoroughly for the earful he’d apparently received from Hazel after she had learnt that Leo had been in semi-regular contact with the son of Hades after his disappearance. Thankfully, Nico had been able to escape Leo’s annoyance via the nearest shadow, back to Will’s apartment from which he borrowed his collection of Star Wars movies to watch.

An hour passed by with Nico laid out like that. He was trying not to let his fears get the better of him, making a conscious effort to steady his breathing.

What if Will had forgotten about him?

What if something had happened to him?

What if Will had decided Nico wasn’t worth it?

Nico honestly couldn’t pinpoint which scenario scared him the most. All he knew was the minutes kept ticking by and the son of Apollo didn’t show.

Not after another hour and a half. And now Nico was panicking. Full blown fear that impeded any rational thoughts he might have had, leaving him with the roar of his anxiety and self-doubt for company.

He doesn’t want you.

You scared him away.

Another half an hour and Nico was shadow travelling to any location he could think Will might be. He’d called Percy, dropped in on Lou Ellen and Hazel, but none had heard from the son of Apollo since that morning. The moon climbed ever higher in the sky and still no trace of his soulmate. In fact, Nico couldn’t sense Will’s soul at all.

Was this how Will felt when Nico had disappeared in the night? At least Nico had left a note.

Just as he thought it, his foot caught on something laid haphazardly on the ground. He’d been making his way back from Camp Jupiter back to the city, following the leads of some Lares who’d seen Will depart earlier that day.

And there, in the grass beneath his foot, was Will’s imperial gold sword, a thick layer of monster dust coating the grass like a glittering carpet.

sh*t.

Will was gone.

No, Will was taken.

A different kind of roaring filled his ears, one of rage and pain and longing.

No no no no no

It should have been him.

Upon the blade of the sword was spiked a folded piece of parchment: A note - how very fitting.

Nico’s hands were deathly still - not a tremor in sight - as he detached and unfolded the note, holding it up to his face to read.

In crimson ink it began: “Son of Hades…”

Chapter 38: Lost, Not Found (Part II)

Chapter Text

Hopelessness.

The feeling pressed in on him from all sides when Will came to consciousness. It weighed at his limbs and pressed upon his eyelids so much so that it was a great effort to peel his eyes open.

When he managed to, Will almost wondered whether he was unsuccessful after all; a dark fog swirled where he laid, impeding his vision.

The fog seemed to weigh him down, holding his limbs to the ground like shackles. He tried to move his head, noticing he seemed to be laid next to a river bed, the sound of rushing water close to his ear. The river bank was made of obsidian pebbles pressing into his back. He appeared to be in a giant cavern, glowing stalactites hanging from the ceiling so distantly they appeared like glittering stars.

‘Hopeless ‘

‘It's Not Worth It. ‘

‘Just Give Up.’

Again that aura washed over him, Will slid his eyes to where it seemed to radiate from, startling as he saw a figure watching him from a few steps away.

She shuffled closer till the details of her face became visible. Pale, colourless skin glittered like moonlight in the dim of the space, stark against black locks of her hair flowing to her hips. A silken dress hung off her shoulders, hugging her figure, its bone-white beading creating swirls and patterns across the material. Even without the diadem in her hair, Will would have recognised she was a Goddess.

“Where am I?” Will’s voice was rough and quickly stolen away by the churning river.

“I’m surprised you don’t know, your soul is entwined with the Prince.”

The Underworld then.

He, a child of Apollo, was in the Underworld. sh*t.

The thought of being so far away from the sun had his skin crawling, the shadows around him seemed to stretch and his heart beat frantically in his chest.

“I thought the Underworld was closed?”

“To your Prince perhaps, the monsters who call his kingdom home have loyalties that are easily swayed.”

“And you, you're loyal to Akhlys?”

She hummed, “You don't know who I am.”

It wasn’t a question, but a pointed, resolute statement.

Will opened his mouth to assuage her, not wanting to offend a Goddess but she continued, “Very few do. I am Aporia, Spirit of Want, Difficulty and Powerlessness.”

Well that explained the aura of hopelessness that pressed down upon the riverbed, why it felt too difficult to move, to think clearly.

“Sister to Akhlys, Lady of Misery.” She told him.

Well sh*t.

“And my sister wants something, as such it is my desire to help her.”

“She wants Nico.”

Aporia nodded, “But she will have him soon, it is only a matter of time. No, from you, her desire is quite simple. A drop of sunlight is all we ask for.”

“I-” Will’s thoughts felt too far from his mouth to verbalise.

“We do not see the sun as you do, son of Apollo. But we still yearn for it - especially my dear sister in Tartarus. All I ask for is a sun globe, infused with a drop of your power and I'll let you go.”

Will tried to shake away the haze in his mind, around his limbs, upon his tongue. But even that movement felt too distant, too weighted.

“You would swear it?” Will’s powers felt like they had been cut off and allowed to float back to the surface, returned to the sun. He couldn’t tell truth from lie as he usually might. Powerlessness, that was Aporia’s domain.

“I swear on the River Styx that if you use your power to alight this crystal, I will let you go.” The Goddess swore without hesitation, summoning a clear crystal ball that fit snugly in her hand.

Will might have thought it over, might have taken more than a second to breathe “okay” in a raspy whisper, if he didn’t feel like his brain wasn’t receiving oxygen. Will yearned to escape the weight of difficulty that held him immobile on the stony ground.

‘What’s the point in fighting? It was all hopeless anyway.’

The whispers of Aporia’s magic were right, Will was stuck in the Underworld, Nico was Gods only knew where.

Nico. The name clanged through him, but it didn’t bring with it the usual hope and happiness he associated with the son of Hades. Will just felt weak, defenceless, powerless.

Perhaps summoning a little sunlight would make him feel better.

The Goddess smiled, putting a moon-white hand to the back of his neck and pulling his limp body into a seated position. She brushed his hair away from his face, cupping his cheek gently. Will wanted to pull away but his body began to tingle, a warm glow spreading within as he felt his powers return. It still felt too difficult to move, but his light had returned to him.

‘It's useless to fight’ Aporia’s godly aura whispered to him; Will believed it.

The Goddess moved Will’s own hand atop the crystal, its cool surface biting at his palm.

“Show me your light, son of Apollo, it has been so long since I last saw the sun.” Aporia encouraged,

Perhaps she had some kind of charmspeak because Will wanted to. He had light to share, why not give it? His hand began to glow, bathed in golden light that spread into the crystal beneath. The glass fractured the light initially, sending the shadows surrounding them skittering away as beams of light shone out. But as Will poured more of his sunlight into the ball it began to coalesce turning the crystal a golden-yellow.

The sun globe took and took from him, eagerly sucking in the sunlight he poured out but the glow scared away the shadows of the Underworld and Will felt less afraid. Nico would claim the Underworld was good and just, not something to be feared but something to respect.

But Nico was born of shadows and darkness.

Will was not. Will was light and life and without Nico, he feared the dark.

His head began to pound, his palm began to burn, Will felt a wave of dizziness slam into him as magic exhaustion set in. His hand slid off the newly made sun globe, falling against the rocks beneath him.

Aporia admired the glowing crystal with reverence, twisting it around slowly and the light caught the beads of her dress and the dark of her eyes breathtakingly.

“Well done, Apollo-son. Rest now, we shall have company soon.”

Will felt her magic shackle his sunlight once more as she stepped away from him.

“You- You swore you’d let me go.”

“I did, I swore upon the very river you lay beside. But alas, your Prince has not taught you well of Underworld oaths.” She chuckled, the sound sending shivers through him.

She whispered beside his ear, “I never said when I would let you go, silly demigod. Perhaps I will set you free upon your deathbed.”

‘Hopeless.’

‘Powerless.’

Those whispers of Aporia’s magic laughed at him.

“Or perhaps I shall see what your soulmate will offer in return for your freedom.”

No, Nico!

No matter how much of Hades’ power Nico could channel through their bond, it would be useless against Aporia. Power was her domain, she could take it from them without thought.

Will felt his body twitch desperate to get away but it was no use.

‘No use - No use - No use’ Her aura echoed around him.

Aporia smiled at him with glee, running her hands over the sun globe, the gift for her sister shining bright while Will’s own skin had turned paler than it had ever been before. Her magic was a blanket over Will that began to squeeze. He couldn’t breathe - a feeling he was becoming unwillingly more familiar with recently. Before Will’s eyes rolled back into his head, he heard Aporia speak once more.

“-The son of Hades will be here very soon, after all.”

Then the world went black.

And Gods, Will detested the dark.

Chapter 39: The Deal is the Deal

Chapter Text

Akhlys’ note burned a hole in Nico’s pocket as he stood before his sister.

“How long will this mission take?” Hazel asked.

“Dad didn’t say, but I’m sure I’ll be back before you know it.” Nico lied through his teeth, shrugging nonchalantly.

Nico hated lying to Hazel, but he refused to leave her without a goodbye again - he owed her at least that after everything he’d put her through.

“I’ll miss you.” She pulled him into a hug and Nico almost feared she wouldn’t let him go. Gods he was going to miss her too. He tried not to dwell on whether he’d ever see her again.

Some would assume Nico had learnt his lesson and would have been truthful with his sister, after all, hadn’t he learnt time and time again that the truth would always come out? But Will’s life was in the balance, he couldn’t risk her wanting to get involved or trying to stop him, so he lied - maybe a liar was all he was these days.

An exchange; that’s what Akhlys had offered him. Give himself up, take the son of Apollo’s place and Will would be set free.

Nico knew it was a terrible idea, it wasn’t like he wanted to give himself over to the Goddess of Misery and Poison…but it was better him than Will.

Of course, if all went to plan he would draw on his father’s power and get both Will and him away from Akhlys’ and her monsters. But Nico acknowledged that as a demigod, nothing ever went to plan. He wasn’t stupid enough to believe that there was zero chance he would need to sacrifice himself for Will.

And he’d do it, in an instant. Nico would accept that life of misery with open arms if it meant Will would walk free. He just wished it didn’t mean he had to leave Hazel behind. So he had to believe, for her sake, that he was strong enough - powerful enough - to defeat a Goddess or at least hold his own long enough for Will to escape.

He hadn’t told anyone else he was leaving, it was easier that way. Percy and Annabeth would find out from Hazel eventually, that he had ‘gone on a mission for his father'. Nico would never ask them to get involved. Not with Percy’s own history with Akhlys, not when they’d finally escaped the life of quests, gods and monsters.

Nico hadn’t told Lou Ellen either, but they knew. One look at his face when he had returned from Camp Jupiter alone had them nodding sadly, saying in a commanding tone, “Go get him back”.

Nico would.

Nico gave Hazel one final squeeze as the deadline for his surrender drew closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he let the shadows sweep him away.

When he reappeared, he was at the predetermined meeting place outside the Roman borders, stood before a Leucrota - its horse tail twitching with anticipation.

“Son of Hades, at last.” The monster spoke with Will’s voice.

Nico would have stabbed it through if not for the uselessness of his sword against the monster, he knew the Godly metal would just glance off its fur. He was tempted to use his Hellfire and burn the thing to the ground but he needed to find Will.

“My Lady offered you a deal, to take the son of Apollo’s place for the boy’s freedom. Do you agree to her terms?”

“When her oath is sealed upon the River Styx, I will willingly take his place.” Nico knew the tricks of the Gods, he knew better than to take their words as honesty.

The Leucrota bobbed its head, “The deal is the deal. I will lead you to the son of Apollo, Ghost King.”

It indicated for one of its pack to move forwards, a dog-headed man who shuffled towards Nico, a familiar pair of shackles in its grip. A show of good faith. Everyone in the clearing knew Nico could escape the confines with ease, but Nico would need to comply if he wanted to see Will again.

Nico allowed the monster to cuff his hands behind his back, they had no magical properties thankfully and his powers remained unaffected - no, these cuffs were designed to be a test, a humiliation, a warning. So, he followed their instructions, gritting his teeth as he was manhandled onto a hellhound, this one not nearly as excited to see Nico as Mrs O’Leary would have been.

And with a burst of shadows they were gone.

When they re-emerged, Nico practically being tossed very ungracefully to the rocky ground, he recognised his location immediately by the way of how his powers rose up inside of him, called to the familiar atmosphere of the Underworld. It was strange to bring him here, a son of Hades into his father’s domain. Of course, Will would be weakest here but something like suspicion, doubt, curled up in his gut.

What was Akhlys’ plan?

The Leucrota guided him along the River Styx, inching towards Hades’ Palace, though not close enough to draw his father’s attention. Even if Nico didn’t know the Underworld’s geography like the back of his hand, the tingle of his servitude tattoo echoed his standing order: ‘Do not return to me until the threat has passed or been neutralised. The Underworld is not safe for you now.’

It would not allow him much closer to Hades, not until Akhlys gave up her vicious schemes or Nico defeated her.

Nico was beginning to grow concerned, his servitude bond beginning to pull taunt as they walked, ‘too close’ his body began to scream. He was so distracted by it that he didn’t notice the Godly aura of power ahead of him until he stepped into its radius.

Didn’t notice until it all went quiet.

The bond. The shadows that called to him. The dead that drew towards him - their Ghost King - at every waking moment.

‘Hopeless’

‘Weak’

‘Powerless’

Whispers stirred around him. He felt his connection to his magic cut away from him, as the cuffs at his wrists, holding his arms hostage, suddenly felt more constraining.

Trap.

He had known it, had decided to risk it anyway - for Will. But he hadn’t expected this. It was peaceful, if Nico were honest with himself. He didn’t have to fight the pull of the shadows at every moment, as they tried to convince him to stay, that he belonged among them. He didn’t have to hide from the whispers of the dead, begging for life. He didn’t have to fear the sound of buzzing in his ears, fear the feeling of knowing someone he loved had died.

Any other time he would saviour the feeling, part of him would want to wrap it around himself eternally, but now, it was only fear that threw its arms around Nico and squeezed. Fear for himself, yes. And fear for Will.

“Prince, kind of you to join us.” The Goddess emerged from the fog, brushing it aside to reveal Will unconscious at her feet.

“Lady Aporia, to what do I owe the honour?” Nico said, his diplomacy taking over.

Aporia lit up, a warm smile on her lips. “You know of me? It has been many centuries since I have been recognised.”

“I am the Gods’ Ambassador, am I not? I know of all I am called to serve.” Nico was not about to admit he only knew Aporia from Nyx’s Mythomagic Expansion Pack and recognised the effects of her aura.

“And yet you neglect my sister, are you not her Ambassador too?”

Right, because Aporia was Akhlys’ sister, Nico realised. There was little chance of swaying her loyalty then.

“I believe Akhlys would like me all to herself, how will I serve you and the other Gods if I am to remain only with her?” Nico asked, all the while desperately reaching out for his power; it didn’t answer.

Aporia sighed, “I suppose you will have to ponder that by her side, she is not one to be denied.”

“Yes, I have discovered that.” Nico scanned Will, sprawled on the ground. No visible injuries except blooming bruises at his throat, and the deathly pale of his skin. Bruises were likely forming at Nico’s own wrists as the cuffs chafed at his skin. Aporia followed his gaze.

“Then I suppose,” Nico drew the Goddess’ eyes back to him, hoping to keep her attention from Will as long as possible. “I have come to make an exchange.”