#Him burning his mythomagic cards in the following book is so sad | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

rynnaaurelius · 3 years

Text

Titan’s Curse But Make It Time Loop: Nico di Angelo Edition

-Okay so I’m at work and not doing much and who wants to actually edit your shit drafts for your actual WIPs so that they’re less bad? No one, that’s who

-So I had an idea: The Titan’s Curse. Also known as the book where people start to die. It sucks to be a demigod in this book--for the first time in the original series, it really does.

-Not everything is fixed, not everyone is saved, and people start to have to make really tough decisions.

-So we fix it. Not by throwing Percy, or Annabeth, or Thalia, or, hell, even Bianca or Grover into the mix.

-Throwing the marginally more grown-up, more trained, and more knowledgeable demigods into the fire, who’d get everyone alive and safe by the third time ‘round? Nah.

-We’re making Nico fix this.

-Because here’s the thing about Nico di Angelo: Sure, he grows up to become a major badass, the Ghost King, so on and so forth. But not yet.

-For now, Nico is baby, a ten-year-old whose experience with any kind of fighting consists of one (1) Capture The Flag game and who’s still half-reliant on Mythomagic to explain what the fuck is happening.

-He’s also got the worst knowledge makeup possible! He knows he’s a son of Hades, which is bad, he knows to stick monsters with the pointy end of swords but nothing else, he knows that Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace are Very Big Deals (But also doesn’t know why beyond parents), and he’s, at best, vaguely aware that there’s some kind of bad prophecy hanging around.

-Also by the end of the book, he’s just been told his last immediate family who isn’t Hades is dead in one of the worst ways possible, and he--pretty irrationally IMO, but Nico’s a kid who has been through a lot recently, so we’re not holding that against him--blames Percy Jackson.

-Literally, you probably can’t pick an angstier or worse choice to run through the time travel trope. I love it.

-We’re making this kid save Bianca’s life via time loop, which happens due to. . .hmm, we’ll say the Fates did it.

-So, Loop 0 = Canon, only at the end of the day on December 21st, after the conversation with Percy, Nico falls asleep only gods know where only to wake up the day he meets Percy Jackson:

Loop 1:

-Nico doesn’t actually change anything meaningful at first.

-Spends most of it shellshocked and not unconvinced the last week (For him, anyway) wasn’t a horrible nightmare; shellshocked and staring at Percy Jackson, anyway.

-(Percy’s wondering what’s up with the silent kid his sister had talked up as a cheerful chatterbox)

-It’s only when Bianca agrees to join the quest for Artemis that he starts kicking up a fuss; demanding to go, screaming that she can’t leave him even more, not again.

-(Bianca hesitates; briefly, enough to remind Nico that she loves him. But she’s not their mother, and she needs this)

-Bianca still dies. Percy comes back pale and guilty. Nico doesn’t yell at him when he returns--he already knows. He accepts the Hades figurine so that he can throw it into the lake.

-He slinks off back into Cabin Eleven and falls asleep, hoping desperately that he gets a third chance.

Loop 2:

-He does.

Loop 3:

-After a very painful death at the hands of Dr. Thorn, Nico, generally being a straightforward person at this stage of life, takes the obvious path this time around: He tries to tell Bianca--who brushes it off as a dream.

-Annabeth still goes over the cliff when Nico takes the initiative of attaching himself and his sister to Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace at the dance. He tries to tell Percy and Thalia when Bianca still joins the Hunt, promising Nico that whatever he saw, she’ll be extra careful.

-(Bianca’s fearful of what Nico's saying, and thinks that if these sworn sisters can’t keep her safe, who can?)

-Artemis gives Nico a speculative look but agrees when he begs her to protect Bianca at all costs.

-He doesn’t get on the quest. Being a reasonable demigod of questionable parentage, he sneaks out of camp.

-He gets caught, because despite being aware of his awesome new powers, he doesn’t know how to use them, and is still a ten-year-old who can barely hold a sword the right way.

-He gives Percy the puppy dog eyes and shows off said awesome new powers. Percy forces him back.

-Nico follows him.

-Repeat until Percy dies saving Nico from the Nemean Lion in Washington, DC.

-Nico can’t find it in himself to be terribly sad--especially when he doesn’t make it much longer.

Loop 4:

-He’s really stuck like this, huh?

-Oh, Di Immortales.

-(Before Percy gets his chest ripped to shreds by a lion and Nico meets skeleton cats, he learned how to hold a sword properly and curse fluently in Greek. Percy probably only meant to teach him one of those things)

-In unrelated news: Having a big crush on a guy who thinks he’s only known you for a couple hours? Terrible.

-Trying to hate the guy who let your sister die when he’s that stupid and nice? Even worse.

-That stupid lion.

Loop 5, 6, 7, 8, 9:

-Nico repeats: That stupid lion.

-Somewhere in Loop 7 he starts to steal supplies out of the camp store when he follows Percy following the quest.

-They forcefeed the lion enough trail mix and frozen ice cream in Loop 9 that they don’t die this time.

-At least until someone called the General shows up and Nico’s dead before he can raise his sword.

Loop 10:

-Nico wakes up in his and Bianca’s room in Westover and starts crying. Bianca tells the headmaster they’re both sick and Nico lets her hold him all day.

-They fall asleep and Nico swears he won’t let her die again.

Loop 11, 12, 13:

-He wakes up and he still can’t get out of bed without feeling that blade cutting between his ribs, burning like it’s on fire.

-Gods, he’s so sorry, Bianca. Dispiace tanto.

Loop 14:

-He can get up without feeling like he’s about to die again. Bianca fusses but assumes it was just a bad dream.

-Nico is caught stealing and can’t follow Percy until it’s too late.

-Everyone assumes this means he’s a son of Hermes, however, and Nico can’t correct them without opening his mouth and letting the sobbing laughter out.

-Figuring he’s about to get another chance next round anyway, he takes Travis and Connor Stoll up on their offer to learn a thing or two so that he doesn’t get Cabin Eleven slapped with kitchen duty from now until Doomsday.

-He likes the Stolls. He spent most of the time, pre-looping, actively avoiding everyone at camp as he waited for Bianca and Percy to come back, but they’re not that bad.

-Percy comes back with the figurine and no sister and Nico remembers why he’s stuck.

Loop 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23:

-After Loop 12 and being killed in Washington DC again, Nico realizes: He needs to learn how to fight.

-Unless he gets killed early or refuses to leave Westover, the loop resets after seven days. So, he has seven days to train each time.

-He gets to camp, finds the arena, and meets Clarisse La Rue. He demands she teach him how to kill monsters.

-She laughs, and tells him that attitude in his size will make monsters easy to kill, they’ll laugh so hard.

-Clarisse teaches him how to swing a sword each time--but only after mocking his unamused face.

-Somehow, Percy coming back with news of Bianca’s death only hurts more each time.

Loop 24:

-Nico wakes up before Bianca this time. He looks over at her bed and knows. He’s got to try this time.

-It’s disturbingly easy making friends with Percy Jackson after the last loops.

-Bessie’s new. Cute, but new.

-Nico wonders just how much he’s missed in the past--he thinks of Annabeth Chase, and hopes she hasn’t been dying each time.

-Percy doesn’t even argue when Nico shows up in the stables with a bag slung over his shoulder, and the sword he’s been stealing out of the shed strapped to his hip.

-Nico suggests the ice cream--again--to Percy in DC before

-Nico might be getting the hang of this.

Loop 25:

-Nico is not getting the hang of this.

-Zoë Nightshade’s refusal to accept Percy and Nico on the quest--violating a prophecy, and gods, Nico’s curious if that prophecy ever mentioned this--has so far gotten them attacked and killed by spartoi once.

-And again. As Nico bleeds out on the floor, he watches a panicked blond man--a demigod--plead for mercy.

-Isn’t he on the other side?

Loop 26:

-His name is Luke Castellan and he apparently wants the gods dead.

-Nico can relate at this point.

-The General is Atlas, and Nico knows enough about Greek mythology, real and wrong, at this point to know that is bad.

Loop 27:

-Twenty-six tries, but they finally make it out of DC. Threatening the questers with Atlas killing them all is more than enough.

-For the first time, Nico doesn’t know what happens next. He glues himself to Bianca’s side and glares at anything suspicious.

-With help that Percy refuses to name, even when Nico tries his hardest, they go to New Mexico.

-There’s a boar and it’s so close, they make it to what the others are calling “the junkyard of the gods”.

-Nico sees the Hades figurine on the ground.

-Bianca grins in delight and picks it up, calling for him.

-He can’t help it.

-Nico starts screaming.

Loop 28:

-His sister’s murderer was never Percy Jackson.

-His sister’s murderer was a force of mechanics that makes Nico fully understand, for the first time, what the gods are, beyond stats on a card.

-Talos.

-Nico is going to destroy him.

Loop 29:

-She dies.

Loop 30:

-Again.

Loop 31:

-Again.

-Loop 32, 33, 34, 3536373839FortyFo r t y O n e--:

-Again. Again. Again. Again again againagainagainagainAGAIN--

Loop 42:

-Nico gets out of bed. He finds Percy Jackson at the dance, hugs him, and tells him he’s sorry.

-Nico walks outside and waits for Dr. Thorn in the snow. He can feel the shadows curling at the edge of the wood like a sixth sense, now. Waiting for him to summon the restless dead out of them.

-So many attempts to save his sister, ranging from sacrificing himself to sacrificing Percy--not that Percy needs the push, Nico has found--to any and all members of the quest.

-She dies. Always, always dies. Whatever Nico does, that junkyard is full of the death of Bianca di Angelo.

-He tried avoiding it. Once. Loop 33. Nico threw such a fit he’s surprised he wasn’t sent back to Camp Half-Blood by the Hunters, but it kept them out of the junkyard.

-He tries not to remember how little was left of his sister’s body by the monsters that time.

-Son of Hades. After all this time, Nico’s beginning to wonder if this is what it means. Death and death and death.

-Dr. Thorn walks outside, and Nico can feel a ghoulish grin crossing his face that has no place on a ten-year-old.

-One of them is going to die, this loop. And Nico will not go to New Mexico.

Loop 43:

-Nico wonders if there was a past life of his he needs to remember. Who could he have made this angry?

-He lies to Bianca and they stay in Westover again this time. Better than death, anyway.

Loop 44:

-Nico tries a different tack this time. A more roundabout way of things.

-He takes Bianca and throws the two of them in the way of the battle with the manticore.

-After all this time, he still doesn’t know much about Annabeth Chase. She gets kidnapped and returned safely to Percy every time, to the best of his knowledge.

-Nico dies holding up the sky, but at least Bianca lives, under the protection of Artemis.

Loop 45:

-Nico looks in the mirror and studies the new grey streak with fascination. And, maybe, some hope.

-Things can change.

Loop 46, 47, 48, 49, 50:

-Nico gets kidnapped a few times. Once, he’s killed in a rage by a Titan with horns, but it’s quick. Mostly, he holds up the sky to get Artemis out.

-She looks at him strangely each time and Nico wonders if she can see what he’s done.

Loop 51:

-They figure out he’s a son of Hades. They offer him Olympus. Olympus and Bessie--the Ophiotaurus, rather.

-Nico says no.

Loop 52:

-Nico says yes.

Loop 53:

-Being on the verge of overthrowing the gods and keeping everyone he’s grown to care for--in the case of several Hunters, against his will; in Percy Jackson’s case, Nico loves him as much as he hates him at this point--doesn’t do much, apparently.

-Nico stays in Westover again. He resists the urge to tell Bianca that would-be destroyers of Olympus don’t need to brush their hair, whatever she says.

Loop 54:

-Nico goes over the edge of the cliff again, but with Percy Jackson.

-This isn’t the first time; in Loop 46, Percy had taken the sky for both the sake of Artemis and Nico until it killed him.

-What’s different, is Nico’s in the middle of what’s become the usual panic attack when he’s about to die for the hundredth time, and his powers react.

-Percy holds him close and calls him cousin. Tells him he’ll never leave Nico.

-You have no idea, Nico whispers. You can’t leave me.

-You think I want to? Percy whispers back. You’re not alone, Nico.

-Nico’s sobbing sounds like laughter.

Loop 55:

-Nico tells Percy the truth for the third time. This is the first time he hasn’t told Bianca first.

-They’ve just found the Erymanthian Boar, Thalia’s told Nico his goth needs work--whatever that means--and Nico’s bracing himself for the junkyard again.

-Getting kidnapped by the Titans really gets old after a while.

-He still has the grey streak, and no number of excuses will fully soothe his sister, but the Hunt’s a good distraction from it.

-Nico doesn’t blame Bianca anymore for it. He thinks.

-Nearly a year into this loop and Nico’s finding it hard to blame anyone for much of anything, anymore. Especially when he sees what she’s faced. Again. And again.

-For now, this time, Percy Jackson is staring at Nico with wide eyes at what Nico’s told him--through these loops, Nico’s starting to wonder if he now knows more about Percy than Percy’s own best friends--and says he believes him.

-Once, Nico would’ve exploded from joy. Now, he just sighs and nods.

-Percy tells him how to condense the conversation for the next loop. He advises Nico to research Talos, “like Annabeth would.”

-He advises Nico to warn Percy’s next loop self about Annabeth’s kidnapping. Nico wonders if he’s gone insane that he’s considering it.

-Bianca dies.

Loop 56:

-Nico makes the executive decision this time to try and befriend Annabeth Chase. As such, he takes Percy’s advice.

Loop 57:

-It takes him two tries to befriend Annabeth Chase and learn about Talos.

Loop 58:

-Three times.

-But the nail. The nail in the ankle of Talos.

Loop 59:

-He hangs back at camp again this time and meets Charles Beckendorf, head of Cabin Nine, and son of Hephaestus.

-Nico figures that short of finding the god himself and committing temporary suicide--not that it hasn’t crossed Nico’s mind--his son will have to do.

-(He’s tried his hand at summoning ghosts, but Daedalus refuses to show, for some reason)

-Beckendorf frowns and tells Nico he would have to see Talos himself.

-Nico hadn’t realized just how much cursing he had picked up off of Percy and Thalia until that moment.

Loop 60:

-Nico knows what the prophecy says. One shall be lost in the land without rain.

-He knows it’s why he’s been failing so much.

-The trouble is, he no longer cares.

Loop 61:

-It took him a try, but he gets Beckendorf on the quest, prepared to defeat the Talos prototype.

Loop 62:

-Strike that, two tries.

-Nico really hates the Nemean Lion.

Loop 63, 64:

-Nico has solved half a problem: How to defeat Talos without putting someone inside the robot.

-The other half of the problem is now that they are all electrocuted by a dying automaton for their efforts.

Loop 65:

-Beckendorf’s crush--girlfriend? crush, they’re both insisting--Silena Beauregard comes along this time. Nico won’t complain over the extra manpower, even if he’s positive that eight campers and Hunters are patent overkill for one quest.

-Silena pulls Bianca out of the wreckage. Nico’s heart stops.

-Silena’s crying when she mentions that if they had been a bit earlier, she could have been revived.

-Nico wonders if Thalia’s going to stab him as he starts whooping. And takes notes about where Talos falls.

Loop 66:

-Nico swears, if Percy Jackson tries to sacrifice himself for Annabeth Chase one more time--

Loop 67:

-Bianca.

-I found you, he sobs. I found you.

-Gods damn the Hoover Dam.

Loop 68:

-And again.

-Despite having the distinct inkling at this point that he doesn’t much like like girls, Nico could kiss Silena Beauregard and Thalia Grace when they manage to revive his sister each time.

-She’s shaky and leaning on him and was dead, he could see her soul floating away--

-But she’s there.

-Nico refuses to let his sister out of the sight at the Hoover Dam and Percy befriends the Naiads this time.

-At least, until the Titans--who Nico made the very big mistake of taunting at DC--sends monsters he can’t control.

Loop 69, 70, 71, 72, 73:

-They keep dying in various combinations at the Hoover Dam now that Nico’s figured out how to save Bianca.

-At least, until he gets separated from Percy in Loop 73 and he meets a redheaded girl with a penchant for calling Nico pint-size.

-Athena dislikes Percy, Nico, Bianca, and Thalia in equal measure. Having learned of the Great Prophecy in Loop 16 and Percy’s mooning over Annabeth in. . .well, every loop, Nico can’t quite blame her.

Loop 74:

-Her name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Nico likes her. She takes none of their shit and if it weren’t for the fact that they already have eight people on the quest, he’d want to take her along.

-Bianca gets in a fight with the Old Man of the Sea. Thalia electrocutes him when he throws Bianca in the bay.

Loop 75:

-Nico wakes up in Westover with the distinct feeling that he was drowned on dry land.

-He stays in bed shivering, that day.

Loop 76:

-Atlas is the father of Zoë Nightshade. Nico learned this around Loop 50. He had realized around five loops ago that this probably meant she was going to die “by a parent’s hand.”

-He hadn’t realized that it was going to hurt to watch.

Loop 77, 78, 79, 80, 81:

-Now that he’s figured things out to about San Francisco, it seems the world is out to get him. The number of fights or mistakes that he either makes himself or has to head off are ridiculous.

Loop 82:

-Nico is so very tired. And wishes he felt ten years old again.

Loop 83:

-If Thalia gets in one more fight with Nereus, Nico's going to walk into the sea.

Loop 84:

-He wanders off, in this one. Grover had been killed in Hoover Dam, so Nico’s waiting for the reset at this point.

-In the meantime, Nico figures there are worse things to do than enjoy a good afternoon in San Francisco. He even meets a boy in a purple shirt.

-His name is Jason and he has hair like the sun.

-If he ever fixes this, Nico wants to find him.

Loop 85:

-Nico’s not fast enough in the junkyard.

-In San Francisco, he tries to find the ugliest, biggest trouble he can find.

-He finds a pair of teenagers in armor who yell Latin at him instead.

Loop 86:

-There’s a dragon that will attack them in the Garden of the Hesperides if they make it angry enough and Nico is so tired.

Loop 87:

- Zoë Nightshade is dead. They’ve won.

-Funny definition of “win”, considering they’ve all almost died this loop about a dozen times each, and Nico can’t explain why he’s crying on the body of a Hunter he only met a week ago, in their eyes.

-She hates him, some loops. More loops, she looks at him with ghosts of old grief in her eyes and hands him a knife.

-The gods execute Bessie, and then, Nico watches as his father turns to him and Bianca with sorrowful eyes.

-Nico should’ve figured, after almost ninety loops.

Loop 88:

-Luke offers one of them the entrails of Bessie again.

-Nico takes them.

Loop 89:

-For all the good it does. Nico wakes up as he does every time now: Powerless, in bed, and with only a grey streak to show for his efforts.

Loop 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98:

-Nico doesn’t know how to save Zoë Nightshade. Bianca, he could trick and fight his way into it. Beckendorf and Silena and Percy and a loophole in lost could save his sister.

-Her, she just. . .dies. Sometimes in DC, sometimes in San Francisco, sometimes on the hills of Mt. Tamalpais. Always at the hands of Atlas.

-Always, being murdered by her father.

-It’s not as gutting as watching his sister die, but it aches more in his chest, somehow.

Loop 99:

-He sticks close to Zoë this time. Same as he’s done with Percy, Annabeth, his sister, Thalia, and Grover, time and time again. But not her, Nico is realizing. Not the clinging he’s achieving now.

-Hoping for. . .something.

-He knows better than to tell the immortal Lieutenant of Artemis the whole truth. The loneliness is enough.

-She’s less frosty to him from the start than to, say, Grover or Percy, after Annabeth goes over the cliff again. When he shows up in DC, she’s much less angry than he’s seen her.

-Along the way to New Mexico and then San Francisco, he listens. He’s grown better at it, this far in. When the others are asleep, when Bianca is being fussed over after Talos, when everyone but them is asleep by the fire, he listens.

-And she tells him about her sisters. About her father, when the world was young and Atlas had looked on every daughter of his with pride. She tells him, pride glistening in her eyes, of the battles she has seen, the hunts she has overseen at the command of a goddess, the monsters she has killed, and the epithets she has been given.

-He doesn’t ask anything of her. Not until they’re in the house of Annabeth’s father, drinking lemonade the night before the battle, and Nico knows she is about to die again.

-What do you want, he asks. You’ve done everything. What’s left?

-She stopped, ice seems to creep over her again, and Nico wondered if he’d hit some sore spot.

-He’s opened his mouth to make his apologies when she answers, so quiet and quick he thinks he’s imagined it.

-To be remembered. When my lady has taken another lieutenant, as she must, and I have gone to where all gods go when they die, I wish for my memory to remain. And. . .

-Nico waits, and ignores the sudden, terrifying thought that he no longer knows what he wants.

-I wish to see the stars again. I was born a nymph of the sunset; starlight is precious to me. I want to see it again.

-Nico dies to preserve the memory of Zoë Nightshade.

100:

-Nico di Angelo wakes up in Westover Hall. He hopes for the last time.

-He does everything right: Annabeth goes over the cliff, his sister joins the Hunt, Percy is soon his friend, and he convinces Silena and Beckendorf to join the quest.

-The Nemean Lion never stands a chance, and Nico is glad to be rid of it.

-His sister lives.

-Nico watches Percy watch Rachel Elizabeth Dare go, looking like he’s just taken a frying pan to the face, and fights the urge to snicker.

-Thalia doesn’t start a fight with Nereus, but Percy certainly does. Nico could’ve sworn he saw the boy with sun-hair again, watching with curiosity.

- Zoë Nightshade dies in the arms of Artemis and is made into the stars she loves so dearly. Nico promises her soul that he will remember.

-For, he has found, the dead have a tendency of remembering things they shouldn’t.

-Annabeth and Percy now have grey streaks to match Nico’s, and Nico can’t wait to spend the rest of his life trying to explain that.

-It’s closer than he would like, but much less close than other lives with Olympus. The Ophiotaurus is alive and safe, and they are all alive.

-As Nico walks out of the council, he looks off to the side. By the fire is the familiar girl with red eyes--the Lady Hestia, looking much closer to Nico’s age than that of the Olympian she is.

-Besides her are three old ladies. Nico’s heard about them from Percy, in Loops 26, 53, 61, and 62.

-One lady holds a ball of string that is the color of a warm umber. The other is knitting what looked suspicious like socks. The last. . .

-Scissors, in one hand. Just as expected. Nico swallowed.

-In the other, was a knot of burnt string, tied to the socks. Behind her, Nico could see discarded string of all colors: an electric blue, a stormy grey, a black that seems to glisten with the promise of a storm, string the soft, hopeful pink of love, yarn run through with bright copper.

-Glowing threads that Nico could only describe as the color of starlight.

-As he walked out, firmly between Percy Jackson and Thalia Grace, the Hunt of Artemis behind him, Nico hears one last promise:

It is done, Nico di Angelo.

127 notes · View notes

solangelofangirl123 · 4 years

Text

Solangelo The Italian Angel and The Solace of Apollo

chapter one (This story is my work the characters being used is By the author Rick Riordan you can share this on another web as long as you credit me and make sure to credit Rick Riordan too thank you!)

The infirmary

"C'mon Death boy Time to go to the Infirmary". Will said cheerfully dragging the grumpy looking Nico. "Do not Drag me, I'm not a dog!" Nico Protested. Will shook his head, slightly skipping.

When they arrived to the infirmary, Will ordered to Nico to lay down on a bed. "Right, there is no way I am letting you go in just three days since you think your werewolf wound is "Nothing". Will said briskly. Nico rolled his eyes.

The wound was purple and the stitches were wearing off. Will fumed. "Who even did that horrible stitches on your chest?" Will asked critically. "My friend....." Nico paused for a moment. "I mean....Reyna did it she's the Praetor of rome. Please don't insult her work." Interesting. Will Thought. Why hadn't he called her "friend" Instead of just "Reyna." Was it possible that he thought that People didn't consider him as a Friend? Did Nico even know that people considered him as a friend? Did he know that Will was concerned for him?

"Nico". Will said sternly. "Tell me about your past". Will saw Nico Wince. The past was a painful subject for Nico. "Doctors orders." Will added smirking. Nico glared then took a breath. Nico told Will from the part where he and his older sister Bianca were frozen in a place called "Lotus Casino". A hotel that makes time goes faster. Nico explained about how his older sister joined the hunt and Bianca died and when he spoke to the dead for a long time and other stuff. Suddenly when Nico finished he blinked. "Wait why did I agree to tell you about my...." Nico scowled at Will.

Will put his hand on Nico's shoulders. "Don't worry I'll keep it a secret" Nico nodded then Will noticed that a tear trace from Nico's cheeks, followed by another and another. Nico was crying. "For a time, I blamed Percy for Bianca's death but now....what if....I caused her death?" Will put his arms around Nico. "Nico you know that's not true". Will said gently. But Nico shook his head . "If I was never born, Bianca wouldn't have to had join the Hunt and maybe she wouldn't have died maybe if I was never so...so...." Nico's voice trailed away. Will assured him that it wasn't his fault and that Bianca had made her own choice.

"That's what everyone says!" Nico cried. "But now that I think about it, I always have a feeling that it was my fault!"

"You know it wasn't!"

"Your just saying that to comfort me!"

"I am Not!"

"Yes you are!"

"Oh c'mon Death Dove!"

"Wait what did you just call me?"

"Oh..uh...erm..."

"Wait where were we?"

"Bianca.. "

"Don't say her name!"

"You were asking-"

"EVERYBODY SAYS SHE'S MADE HER OWN DECISION TO ME BUT I CAN TELL BY THEIR FACE'S THAT THEY WEREN'T CERTAIN!!! DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW WHAT-" Nico held his hand up his face red. "I'm sorry I wasn't thinking." Nico muttered as he fumbled with his fingers.

Chapter two

Nightmare

Will was bored as the Son Hades who was reading what seemed like a thick book. "What are you reading?" Will demanded. Nico looked up as if he snapped out of some sort of trance. "I'm reading about Hades". Nico said calmly. "Also why do you always wear black." Nico glared at Will as if saying "Buddy are you judging my style?" Nico looked at his shirt. "I wear black because its"-"Depressing?" Will answered innocently. Nico snapped the book shut. "Nice". Will blinked. "Wait so you think Black is Nice." Nico nodded. "I also like to wear dark colors with skulls." Will Blinked again. "You know that's depressing right?" Nico Grinned without Humor, he looked scary when he did that. "So I've been told, I'm used to it though." ALthough his voice sounded calm his expression was clear: Say that again and you'll never see light ever again

Will looked at Nico, his face was terribly pale. His figure was undesirably skinny. Will made a note to feed Nico lots of food. "Nico". Will asked gently, Nico went back to reading and answered, "Yeah?" Will drummed his fingers on his knees. "Do you have..friends?" Nico winced at that question. Will knew he had hit his nerves but Will wanted to know. Nico closed his book again and looked at the white blankets. "Friends huh." Will heard Nico murmur, His voice was soft and barely audible. Nico sighed. "To be honest I don't know." Nico opened up his book again and began to read.

**Nico**

Nico had no idea what to answer when Will had asked him if he had friends or not. Do Reyna, Percy, Annabeth, Hedge, Jason, Frank, Hazel and Piper consider him as a friend? Nico never asked, partly because he was afraid of their answer and partly because his voice wouldn't work when he tried.

Nico felt subconscious when Will kept staring at him with his calm blue eyes. Nico was tempted to say to stop staring at him but Nico for some reason felt guilty when he imagined of himself saying that to Will, Will only cared about him.

Nico started Thinking about why he pushed people away. Several people asked him and Nico just ignored them, Truth to be told: Even Nico didn't completely understand why he did that. Okay sure one reason was that Nico was afraid of those who Nico befriends Leaves him like his Sister did. Going to tartarus be himself and surviving it all alone didn't help his sadness and pain from the past, Tartarus swirled with darkness and Giving Nico Painful memories endlessly. Nico's heart was shattered he had scarred himself. Nico was afraid of people rejected him well, they always did so what was the point of making more friends? Nico had heard all the insulting comments made by other campers. Insane, Stupid, Creep, Evil, Traitor, Useless ect ect.

"NIIIIIICOOOOOOOOOO!" Will said loudly. Nico looked around and saw other wounded people look at their direction. Nico had been lost in his thoughts completely! "What?!" Nico said annoyed. Will rolled his eyes. "Wow I waved at you for one minute straight and you didn't answer and I even shouted at you too!" Will added making Nico scowl. "Okay......what do you want anyway Solace?" Nico snapped. "If you think my bruise on my elbow is a problem then just say so and I'll do any treatments you required." Will slapped him gently on his shoulder. "No Stupid although if I had a way I would insist on doing treatments." Will admitted nodding slightly. Nico sighed. Why was Will so over protecting to him? What did the Son of Apollo see in Nico who was the son of Hades, gloomy, broody, moody, spooky, scary and other things. He was the complete opposite of what a Child of Apollo would be. "So what do you wanna say?" Nico asked scowling. Will casually shrugged. He looked so energetic, light and so full of life. "Well I wanted to ask you what you wanted to eat!" Will said this like, "Well I wanted to ask you if your alive!" Nico frowned. "I'm not hungry." Will grinned. "Good choice Nico I'll bring you a sandwich and glass of Milk just like you asked!" Will ignored Nico who was looking daggers at him.

As Will left Nico flopped down on his bed, he pulled out a figure, a wooden statue of Hades his last gift from Bianca who died joining the Hunters of Artemis. The statue was part a game of a stupid board game Nico used play called Mythomagic. He burned most of the figures and cards he had, But Nico kept the wooden statue of Hades. Nico couldn't quite remember the reason why he kept it, It wasn't like hades was the best dad in the world and Nico couldn't quite recall a good time with Hades and he'd barely knew his Mother who had died in Hotel explosion. But Hades does have rare occasions of son bonding time.

Will had returned with a sandwich and milk on a silver tray and plopped it onto Nico's knees. "Eat" He commanded like he was commanding an entire army of demigods and mortals. Nico resisted the urge to argue back, Nico hated when others were telling him what to do. But Nico didn't want Will to say "Doctors orders". That annoyed him even more. Nico quietly ate up and decided to at least get some rest so Will wouldn't force him to do something.

Nico dreamed that he was back at tartarus he saw Will tortured then he was there in the bronze jar curled up but he couldn't breath, he heard campers hurling insults at him, laughing at him, he saw Percy calling him a traitor, he saw Bianca speaking to him, when Nico couldn't hold his breathe anymore he woke upon the infirmary bed gasping.

Will looked alarmed and asked him what had happened. Nico rubbed his Temple. "N-nothing I had just a dream". Will knitted his eyebrows. "You sure?"

Chapter three

Stubborn Will

"Yes I'm fine!" Nico said for the fifth time . Will looked at him like he didn't believe Nico, Will was right of course but he barely knew Will and Nico was against telling a camper who he barely knew with a chance of leaving him and destroying his heart, about nightmares he'd been having. Not a chance.

Will crossed his arms indignantly. "C'mon Nico I can't help you if you don't tell me!" Nico clenched his fists, by now he would've yelled at him but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. "I Barely know you Solace how do I know I can trust you?" Nico Growled. Seriously what WAS his problem? Doesn't Will know ANYTHING about personal Business?

"Doc-"

"Don't you dare finish that Solace!"

"Ters-"

"SOLACE!!!"

"Ord"-

"Send me to Tartarus"

"DERS!" Will said with triumph, A smirk flickered across his face.

Even Nico couldn't avoid "Doctors orders".

**Will** POV Nico sighed in defeat."Fine I had a nightmare about Tartarus". Nico said scowling at him. Will's smirk faded and was replaced with a concerned expression. "Tartarus?" Will asked his eyes widening. "Like where Annabeth and Percy went through?" Will didn't know that Nico had gone through Tartarus. NIco nodded. "Percy and Annabeth got lucky they only saw the watery version of Tartarus." Nico admitted. "And you?" Will wished he hadn't said that because Nico's expression hardened like Amber. "I took a different route." Nico mumbled twisting his silver skull ring. Then Will understood. "You saw the real Tartarus didn't you." Will guessed like he was telling a forecast. "And you did it all by yourself and"- Will was cut off by The angry looking Nico. The memory must've been too painful for him, all his pain and misery he had in the past was enough to drive his sanity insane yet he plunged into Tartarus The real Tartarus by himself with all his pain and misery, Will guessed that he was reminded of his past by Tartarus like a swirling mass of pain.

"Will, I don't want to talk about it!"

"But-"

"NO"

"Nico tell me!"-

"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO BE ALL ALONE AND..AND"

Nico seemed to be sobbing now but Will wanted to find out more to help him, if Nico didn't open up then how can Will help him?

"Nico tell me please!"

"NO"

"I can't help you if you don't-"

"NO I don't want to talk about it!"

"You have to"

"Who said that?"

"Me"

"You don't count!"

"I do"

"Where's the proof?"

"I-"

"Exactly"

They glared at each other for a moment. Nico's eyes were warm chocolate brown and seem to pierce through him but in a warm way.... No focus Will he told himself. Will sighed and said, “fine I’ll drop it for now but I’ll bring it up again.” Will said as he stood up and strode off to inspect other patients.

**Nico** POV Nico crossed his arms, There was NO way he was going to say that he dreamed about Will not a chance, Will will probably think that he was some sort of creepy boy who dreamt about boys or something. Then again Will was a doctor will a healer in camp halfblood, would a healer make fun of someone? If only his sister Bianca was here she’d give him advice. Besides Nico didn’t know how to interact with someone, it just wasn’t his style.

Nico decided to sleep. Again.

Chapter four, Bianca

Nico half expected to dream about Tartarus or something and he Half expected to see horrifying dreams what he did NOT expect to see was Bianca. “Bianca?” Nico said uncertainty, Bianca his older sister died join the Hunters of Artemis an eternal Maiden Girls club. Bianca wore a silver suit a uniform of a huntress, frickles were splashed across her face as always and her warm brown eyes, Her black hair was in a neat braid and she smiled at Nico her old smile Nico was tempted to break down and sob he hadn’t seen Bianca for a while not since the Titan war. “Hello Little brother it's good to see you.” Bianca said gently. Nico wanted to ask so many questions but now all he wanted to do was talk with Bianca.

Bianca approached Nico and hugged him well sorta, her touch wasn’t visible probably because Nico was alive and Bianca was well, dead. Then Bianca leaned away. “Nico how have you been?” her gentle voice was soothing, Nico was briefly reminded of all the good times he had together with Bianca, her voice was like a soft gentle tone of a song. Like charmspeak but this was more natural. Nico twisted his silver skull ring. “I got in a fight well argument with Will.” Nico muttered. Bianca laughed. “I thought you’d say something more like ‘Its been great!’. Nico hung his head. Then for the first time he realized that he was surrounded with comfortable images of his past, The one With Bianca tickling him, the one with the two of them watching the beautiful night stars on the school roof and the one with... Oh gods Nico felt his face burn. The one with Nico cheerful talking with Will Solace, The young Nico before he found out that his sister was dead, and ran away version Nico was grinning happily and smiling.

“You like Will don;t you.” Bianca said suddenly to Nico smirking

“Yes no I don't know!” Nico said his face flushing. Bianca smiled with happiness. “Nico the reason why I came to talk to you was because well, I wanted you to be happy and maybe return to your old self just a little.” Bianca said shifting her position a little. Nico sighed. “Bianca its hard for me to.” Bianca’s hand almost touched Nico’s cheeks as if she was trying to lift his chin up. “I know its hard for you but please understand I want you to be accepted.” Bianca said her voice fading, and the surroundings we’re starting to fade too. “ I have to go Nico.” Bianca’s voice was now softer than ever. The last thing Nico heard was, “There are plenty of people who’d want to be your friend, I love you”......

“No wait!” Nico yelled but it was too late he woke up in the Infirmary as usual. He saw clear sky blue eyes, ‘Will’ Nico thought immediately. And he was correct. Will was looking smug but Nico didn’t care. “What?” Nico asked crossly. Will’s smirk grew even wider that Nico was tempted to slap his face. “You owe me one week starting now!” He said brightly. Nico groaned. “Fine”. Nico grumbled, it wasn’t like he had a choice anyway. Will would force him to agree by doing his annoying thing “Ah ah ah.” He would say. “Doctors orders” Well that's what Nico thought how Will would say this time. The tray and plates were gone maybe Will had cleaned them while Nico was asleep?

“Will can I go to the campfire?” Nico blurted out. Nico didn’t know why he asked, it wasn’t like his friends would notice him plus Nico would just be standing in the shadows, Perhaps he was just curious. He was ADHD like the others after all. Will seemed to be in thought as he was tilting his chin slightly. he looked cute. WAIT CUTE?! He did not think of that wait why was he even thinking of this in the first place anyway? (My Wattpad User is Pixel1014

#solangelo

3 notes · View notes