Disclaimer: I do NOT own Percy Jackson. (Insert funny disclaimer here.)
Main Pairing: Nico/Percy (Nicercy)
Warnings: Slash, Death, Mental Disorders, Swearing, Drugs, Child Abuse
AN: Oh. My. Gods. No way. Is it true? An update on Monsters in the Closet? Why, yes! Yes, it is. Sorta. It's a rewrite. With a full outline this time, so this means completion! Yay! I promise, I won't leave you guys just hanging. Thank you so much for your patience.
Also, there are a few key differences in the first chapter, even if it sounds similar. So I'd recommend rereading.
Chapter One: Sickly Sweet
Nico di Angelo was dead. Had been for around ninety years now. He couldn't remember what killed him, but was sure it had something to do with an explosion when he was seventeen. He didremember waking up and being told by a man dressed in black robes that he was now a Shadow Man, whatever that was. The man took him to a place he called the Underworld and explained to Nico that he had just died.
This didn't come as much of a shock to Nico (He had his suspicions when someone had walked right through him a bit earlier). No, what Nico found unbelievable was the man was Hades, the God of the Dead. And Hades had just chosen Nico to be his heir.
Hades said that he had been watching Nico ever since he was fourteen when he joined Cosa Nostra. Nico rose through the ranks very quickly and wasn't afraid to take what he wanted. He was born a poor boy in Italy and soon earned enough money to support his mother and sister even though he was only a teenager.
That was the kind of person Hades needed. So, when Nico died Hades kept his soul instead of letting him be judged. The result was a new Shadow Man.
A Shadow Man was a bringer of nightmares. The monsters that hid under the bed or in the closet. The figure that flickered in the corner of your eye. The creeping shadow down a long, dark hallway.
Nico was one of them. Of course, he had objected at the time. More than that, he wasn't cut out to be a...prince or heir or whatever the hell Hades wanted him to be. Hades had surprisingly understood and let Nico leave the Underworld (sometimes called the Otherworld, Netherworld or Shadow World) with one last word. If he did not fulfill his new nature by feeding on the fear of humans he would be cast into Tartarus, a hellish place for demons like him.
Nico ignored the warning and tried to live without doing as Hades said. He did not want to become a cause of fear. Days passed and Nico grew weak.
Very weak.
It was then Nico had a breakthrough. One night, he was sitting on a fire escape and watching the night sky when he heard a scream from below. He glanced down and saw a woman struggling against a heavy-set man who appeared to be trying to hold her down. Without a thought, Nico jumped from the fire escape and approached the two struggling people. His footsteps were heavy from his combat boots he'd found a few days earlier at the Salvation Army store. The humans both stilled and turned to Nico, though he knew they could not see him. No one mortal could.
"Who's there?" The man had called, his voice harsh but his eyes fearful. Nico did not attempt to speak to the man or the woman who was frozen and searching the alley. They could not hear him either, so why bother talking?
"Show yourself!" The man demanded again, only this time his tone wasn't as strong. He even let go of the woman's arms to grab a knife from inside his filthy coat. The woman finally seemed to come to her senses. She turned away from Nico and ran down the alley to the street. The man barely spared her a glance. He was too busy holding out his knife in protection and searching the alley for the owner of the echoing footsteps.
Something was happening to Nico. He could smell something tantalizing in the air, strangely emanating from the man. It was sweet, salty and all around...delicious.
The man was afraid.
Nico could see it by the way he was shaking, the way he smelled. Strength surged through Nico's body and his heart started to race. (Yes, he still had a heartbeat even though he was dead. It was just slower than normal.) Nico walked purposely slow just to toy with the man and stepped extra hard so his footsteps echoed.
"Please, just leave me alone!" The man yelled as he spun in a circle, unaware of where the sound was coming from.
Nico's lips curled into a wicked smirk as he continued toward the trembling man.
He ate good that night.
…
Years passed. Nico was strong from his nightly feedings of fear from bad people. It wasn't the best way to live, but at least he wasn't in hell. And he liked to think of himself as some kind of hero almost. He made criminals confess, he punished the sinners, and so on. He only scared the people who deserved it.
At least, that's what he told himself.
Hades found his...diet choices...amusing and refreshing. He was welcome to the palace in the Underworld anytime he wanted and he had even done a few training sessions with the death god. His favorite power was something called Shadow Traveling which Nico thought was just fancy words for teleporting. They were on their way to becoming fast friends, even though Nico still hadn't accept Hades' offer to become his successor.
Despite Hades' odd company, Nico was lonely. The other Shadow Men weren't very human anymore and the people who were actually humans couldn't see or hear him. Animals hated him too.
He was an outcast.
…
Another year passed and Nico was hunting for some scumbag to feed from. It was night, a Shadow Man's prime hunting time, and a dark one at that. The sky was too cloudy to see the moon or stars, not that you could see them very well anyway. It was New York, after all. However, it was no matter to Nico. The darker the better.
Nico was walking down a rundown street when he smelled it.
Fear.
Only this fear smelled different. It was...sweeter. Sickly so. Nico turned toward where it was coming from. An apartment building across the street. Nico cocked his head and a stray curl fell into his face. He blew it away in annoyance and focused his attention back on the apartment building. It almost looked abandoned because of its terrible condition.
Still, Nico knew it wasn't. Someone was in there and was extremely terrified by whatever was happening inside. Drawn to the fear practically oozing out of the building, he strode over to the door, not bothering to Shadow Travel because it was such a short distance.
He opened the door and let it close with no noise, not even a whisper of a breeze. A single, naked bulb hung from the cracked ceiling. It was enough for Nico to see that there was a hallway ahead and stairs to his right. He took another sniff of the air and concluded that the fear was coming from upstairs. He let his callused hand trail along the stained wall as he climbed up the stairs. Like his entrance, his feet made no sound on the metal staircase. He had much practice at being silent even if there was no need to be.
When he reached the top another light bulb hung from the ceiling, only this one flickered like a dying firefly. Luckily, Nico didn't need the light. The scent of fear was so strong he was sure would've been able to smell it from the Underworld.
He glanced at the number on the door where the smell was emanating from. Apartment 14B. He didn't want to have to open the door so he just walked through a shadow next to it and emerged on the other side.
And walked in on one of the most horrible scenes of his long life.
There was a man wearing a stained undershirt and boxers who was standing over a shaking, small body. He had a leather belt clenched in a fist and a beer can in the other. For a moment, Nico was so shocked all he did was stand there and watch as the man lifted the belt into the air.
"This'll teach you, bitch," The man growled, his words slightly slurred form what Nico guessed was the alcohol.
The man was about to bring the belt down, but Nico was quick to act. He sent the man an image of a looming, skeleton-like figure, holding a bloody knife. The man gasped and let go of the belt. It fell next to the child's head ,who flinched so hard Nico heard its head bang on the floor.
Nico made the figure walk toward the abuser with the knife raised high, much like the belt. The man choked on a scream, ran past Nico, and out the door. He slammed it with such force the door frame shook. With the man gone, the figure disappeared and Nico and the child were left alone.
Nico watched the child push itself into a sitting position and glance at the door where the man had just left. A boy, he realized when he saw the child's face. The child looked around the apartment with swollen, green eyes, as if he couldn't believe he was alone.
And then the strangest thing happened.
"Thank you."
Nico actually jumped. His head turned to look at the boy so fast he feared he might've given himself whiplash. Had that boy just-
The child was looking at him. Looking athim. Not through him. And...thankinghim?
"You..." Nico swallowed and crouched beside the boy, a feeling of desperation rising in his chest. "You see me..." Oh, Hades, what if it was just a fluke? What if the boy was talking to someone else? What if-?
"Of course I see you. Why wouldn't I?" The boy sounded so innocently confused that Nico actually laughed. Laughed. He hadn't laughed in...well, a long time.
The boy flinched and his eyes started to water with tears. Nico immediately stopped and gazed at the boy with something akin to horror. Oh, dear lords, what had he done now?
"Hey, what's wrong?" He was surprised at how gentle his voice sounded, but didn't think too hard on it. He was going by instinct at this point.
The boy bit his red lip, causing Nico to notice it was bleeding. Without thinking, he ripped off a piece of his black, cotton shirt and dabbed at the child's bottom lip. The boy froze and stared up at Nico in utter fear.
Nico gasped sharply, his nostrils flaring with the boy's scent. The same disgustingly sweet scent from before he entered the building. So this must be the its cause. "Please don't be afraid," Nico whispered. He dropped the piece of his shirt to the floor. "I won't hurt you."
The boy whimpered, from fear or pain, Nico did not know. "You laughed at me. When I said I could see you."
Oh, the utter guilt. Big, sea green eyes gazed into Nico's dark brown ones with such hurt Nico started to hate himself just a little more. "Oh, no, prezioso, that's not why I was laughing." The Italian word for "precious" slipped from Nico's lips easily. "You were just...I was..." Gods, he gets tongue-tied over a child? "Not that many people can see me." He finally managed with a small smile. "You must be very special."
"Oh." The boy mumbled, his face turning the slightest bit red. Nico had to suppress a grin at the boy's blush, just in case he thought Nico was laughing at him again. But, was it ever adorable.
"I'm Nico." He held out his olive-skinned hand for the boy to shake.
The boy took it shyly. "Percy."
"Well, Percy." Nico made sure to keep his voice calm and reassuring as he pulled the child gently to his feet. "Why don't we get you cleaned up?"
AN: Just so you know, I WILL finish this. Promise.