A/N: I've been a fan of Percy Jackson for, like, three years now? Something like that. And I find it a little weird that I haven't posted anything for this fandom yet, because it's one of my favourite series and it's what drew me to this site in the first place. So, I finally got around to writing something, and it was sitting in my documents for a while. I'm not entirely happy with this, but there's a bunch of stuff I want to do with this series (mostly Percabeth, because they're my OTP), and right now this is all I have. I'll probably re-write this later.
I feel morally wrong about using Nico to talk about darkness since it's been done so much, but it's the best place to start. He kind of builds the stage for the rest of the chapters.
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Maybe it took coming to camp and realizing who I am to figure it out, but somehow I've always known darkness is everywhere. Mostly inside people.
It fuels anger and grudges and hate. It births shadows and fear. One of the most common phobias in the world is fear of the dark.
But there's lots of types of darkness. Some are beautiful and some are scary or dangerous or whatever. Darkness is everywhere and in everything. Maybe it's only descendants of Hades that realize how common it is. But it is everywhere. I can't go anywhere or do anything without seeing it.
Darkness can be beautiful, like the night sky. If there wasn't any darkness, you couldn't see the stars. If there wasn't any darkness there'd be no such thing as light.
I think most people are scared of the dark because they're scared of the unknown. You can't see what's hiding in the shadows. You don't know when or if what's hiding inside will pounce. You don't know if it can destroy you.
That kind of unknown darkness is the kind that's inside people. Limitless dark. It's just whether you shine a flashlight in there or not. Some people give in to darkness, letting it take them over. Other people fight it, trying to power enough flashlights to light up their whole soul. Then there's people like me. People who know the dark is there, accept it, but keep it locked up. People like me —if there even are any out there— don't fight darkness. But we don't let it control us. Or at least, that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying not to hold grudges, like Bianca said; and I'm trying to get close to my father. I'm learning to accept the truth: people die, people move on, and people can't beat darkness. Accept or fight.
The darkest places in the world are inside people. You just have to choose what to do with that darkness.