Chapter 1
Nico gazed at the light that filtered through the trees in the forest at camp half-blood. Light had never really been beautiful to him, even before his older sister Bianca had died and then especially after that incident. His breath momentarily caught in his throat as he remembered his anguish and anger when he found out how his beloved sister had sacrificed herself for the sake of the quest, and her friends. He shook his head to clear away those dark thoughts that occasionally tried to resurface. Despite his troubled past he had found a home here at camp half-blood and he wasn't going to ruin in because of some dumb light that shined through leaves. He needed to focus on the task at hand, capturing the other teams flag. When Annabeth had asked him if he was going to participate he was totally confused, Nico had figured that they didn't want him to participate considering he could just shadow travel to the flag, grab it, then bring it to his team mates. But, thankfully, his assumptions had been wrong. Since then he has participate several of the games but for the sake for fairness he restricted himself to his other Underwordly powers other than shadow travel. As he recounted how each of the games had went he heard a rustling in the leaves behind him. he quickly drew his sword and turned to face who had almost succeeded in sneaking up on him. To his relief he found it was his team mate, Will Solace. "What are you waiting for, death boy? We have a flag to capture." The corner of Nico's mouth twitched at Will's favorite nick name for him. When he had first arrived he had found it to be quite annoying but now it had evolved into a symbol of friendship, which Nico secretly hoped could turn into something more. Will waited patiently for Nico to come out of dream land. Good thing it did not take long because they could hear the mock battle raging in the distance. Nico smiled "okay Solace lets go kick ass."with those words they ran deeper into the woods where victory awaited them.
...Later that evening...
Nico smiled warmly at the scene around him. Everyone was here together at the dining hall eating dinner, laughing, and generally having a good time. Though he had already been her for several weeks this scene in the dining hall always made him happy. It made him feel like that dorky little kid again who had so much hope and happiness. It had been a long time since he had been able to find a place where he truly felt like he belonged. Heck, he had even been here before he made it a permanent thing but it had never before felt quite like this. As a son of the god Hades it was difficult to find a place to call home since people usually felt intimidated to be around descendants of the god of the underworld. This again made him analyze all the people around him but none of the were giving him distrusting glances or attempting to keep as much space between them as possible. Since his participation in the camp activities had increased he had finally been able to show them that they did not need to be afraid. His gaze happily drifted down to his plate which was mounded with food that Will made him eat. He had insisted that Nico make sure that he had enough to eat because even though it had been a while since he was trapped in a bronze jar, he shivered at the memory, or shadow traveled a roman demigod, a satyr, and the Athena Parthenos across the ocean he was still not at full strength. Needless to say he was thankful for the concern and the food was a definite bonus. He dug in without another thought letting all of his bad memories fade in the back of his mind for the time being. For that was what he had practiced for year. Pushing it to the back of his mind and keeping everyone at a distance but it was different now somehow. It wasn't that he was hiding from it but that he had come to terms with. He had been given a chance with Reyna to vent, to let out his true feelings with some. He doubted that she knew how much she had helped but without her...or Will... he did not want to think about it. He would be holed up somewhere in a cave with only the dead for company. Or worse, he could have melted into the shadows in fact, he nearly had. If Will had not have saved him... His thoughts were interrupted by a nudge to the side. He looked to his right to see Will looking at him with concern,"are you okay,man? You didn't even give the poor food a chance to enjoy the fresh air and now you are staring at the plate like it holds the meaning of life." Nico blushed and his face turned red, or in his case a dull pale red, as he looked down at his plate to found that as his memories had wisked him away he had stopped paying attention to his surrounding. Those who were at his table gazed at him with a mix of curiosity and concern. Jason was the first to speck,"Nico are you okay...? Do you need some space I know that after a big quest this can be a bit disorienting." He shook his head, "nah, I-I guess I was just hungrier than I thought..." he chuckled nervously. The others did not long convinced but ecided to leave it at that which Nico gratefully accepted. He loved his friends and all but sometimes that did not understand the meaning. It was in this moment that his mind remembered the groups missing member, Leo. His friends saw him look around then look away in grief and immediately knew what he was thinking because the same thing was on their minds. They all looked down simultaneously looked down remembering their old friend. Nico had been the one to sense his death, along with Hazel, but something had been strange about it, something had been different.. He had already gone to the Underworld to look for the spirit of his old friend but had found no trace of Leo ever passing through judgment. This is what had worried him so much. Where else could he have gone? Where would he be if he was not in his father's domain? He was reluctant to share this information with his friends. The had been through so much together and were finally able to settle down but not only that, Percy and Annabeth were the finishing highschool soon they were going to go to New Rome and have a peaceful life, he did not want to ruin that for his friends. This was a rare opportunity not only was it rare for a demigod to have an opportunity for safety but Percy Jackson's dad was one of the big three, Posiedon. Percy had been an old crush of his but the boy who ad admired Percy so much had been buried so deep there was little to no trace of him left. But he had every intention of smiling through his friends who without his knowledge had become his family and he refused to let them down. He would be strong, he would be anything he needed to be to keep them safe and happy. They had been through to mch to be brought down by Nico. Even when they all advanced to the next stage of their lives and left him behind he will not let them down but support them and protect him to the best of his life. He swore on the River Styx. This strange feeling in his chest was knew but felt similar to battle. It still gave him the same determined feeling but it wasn't driven by his normal cold, controlled anger. It normally felt like a bomb that if handled the wrong way would go off and consume everything he had worked so hard for. But this was different it was triggered by something more pure. It was made by love and hopes for a better future for his friends. It was stronger than ever before.