Title: A Broken Promise

Chapter: 1 (approx. 1604 words)

Rating: K

Characters/Pairings: Nico di Angelo/Rachel Elizabeth Dare

Summary: Promises aren't always what they seem to be; broken ones are the worst. Rachel is left in shambles after Nico is gone from her life. "I will always find you," he had said.

Author's Notes: lol angsty fluff ha ha ha; more detailed author's notes (aka my ramblings) at the bottom

Rachel's eyes snapped open. She was in her bed, and was curled up into a tiny ball under her thick duvet. Her hands gripped tightly on the oversized black cotton tee she was wearing, and she squeezed her eyes shut tightly, holding back tears that were threatening to fall.

It had been about a year since Nico was gone. She still remembered that day clearly, when Percy and Annabeth had come back to camp by themselves, a day after sending word that the quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece (again) was complete. Rachel had ran towards the entrance with a smile on her face, expecting Nico to be together with them, but when Percy and Annabeth's faces fell when they saw her, she knew what had happened. They had passed the Fleece to Chiron, and Annabeth chased after Rachel.

She ran back into her room in the Big House, and crouched into a corner of the room, tucking in her knees and sobbing into her arms. Annabeth had barged in seconds after her, kneeling beside her and embracing Rachel in her arms, trying to comfort her. It had taken Rachel an hour to finally calm down, and ask Annabeth what really happened to Nico.

"Well, he- he was taken. A-and," Annabeth swallowed, like she was trying to hold back her tears for the sake of Rachel. "Killed. He was beaten to death in front of us; I'm so sorry Rachel, we couldn't do anything to help him. We tried to save him, we really tried, but... I'm sorry." Rachel hadn't said anything, but she had let out a muffled sob and started crying again. Annabeth had sat with her until Rachel finally fell asleep.

The next morning Rachel found herself in her bed, but she barely noticed anything. She didn't care. Nico was gone now; nothing mattered anymore. Rachel had gripped her blanket tightly, and had tried to blink back tears, but to no avail. He had promised. He promised her he would come back for her. "I'll always find you," he had said.

And now he had broken his promise. He had never broken a promise to Rachel before; not before, not ever. This was the first time he had ever done so. When she was sent home that night, she had put on one of Nico's t-shirts and cried herself to sleep.

Percy and Annabeth and many of her friends had given their condolences; but Rachel ignored them all. Her eyes were bloodshot and red from all the crying, but the worst was the empty and blank gaze in them. She had lost it. No one was there to pull her back.

For a month she had been like that - blank and soulless, and for a month she had been trying her hardest to forget. On the outside she looked like she had returned back to her usual self, and her friends, dad, and Apollo seemed to believe that she had gotten over it. But she hadn't. Every night she had to try to forget; it was the same vicious cycle every single night. It had now been months, and Rachel was still trying to forget.

Rachel shook herself out of her reverie. She quickly wiped away her tears, and dragged herself out of bed. After brushing her teeth and washing her face to remove the telltale signs of her crying, she changed into a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, and walked to the mess hall. All she wanted to do right now was to get a quick breakfast and sweat a little in the arena before going about her daily activities at camp. Life had gone back to normal for her in the day at least; she had to put up a strong front.

ยง

After a day of lugging herself around, Rachel was exhausted. These days she used exhaustion to help her forget about Nico. It was one of the most effective ways for her. The exhaustion would make her sleep better; keeping her mind occupied during the day stopped her from thinking about... him.

After taking a shower, she headed to the mess hall, had a quick dinner, and was walking back to the Big House so she could get an early night's rest, when a commotion distracted her. As she pushed her way through the crowd, all she could see in the moonlight was two figures helping a limping figure up. The crowd was silent, as they watched the two people bring the third to the infirmary. The third figure looked oddly familiar... no it couldn't be. It couldn't be... Annabeth had said he died, didn't she?

Rachel decided to go back to her room first; Chiron would make an announcement about the incident tomorrow morning during breakfast. It couldn't be him, anyway. She had given up even trying to believe that Nico was still alive. She was as dead as he was on the inside; her heart was dead.

Rachel had just sat down on the bed, when Annabeth burst into her room, breathless. "Rachel. Nico's back." Rachel stared at her in shock for a few seconds, then took a deep breath. "No. You told me he was dead."

"I'm being serious here. He wants to see you."

"No." Rachel refused to let her already broken heart get broken into even more pieces.

Annabeth's eyes widened. "Rach, you've got to go see him, he's not in very good shape. I'm not lying to you, he's still a-"

"No! You told me he was dead! And I believed you! And now you come along after a year and tell me that he's alive? Quit lying to me! I've had enough of lies and broken promises in my life!" Rachel had tears in her eyes, and her resistance was weakening. She had been hurt enough, she didn't need to be hurt even more by false hopes that Nico was alive. What if this all turned out to be a dream? And she would wake up, and Nico wouldn't be there at all? She just couldn't take the risk anymore.

Rachel lay down and shuddered. Annabeth looked at Rachel with a hurt expression on her face. "When you finally believe that I'm not lying, you can go see Nico at the infirmary," she said, before leaving the room.

Rachel's shudders became more violent. Tears that were kept for a long time flowed out of her eyes. She remembered the times when Nico went crazy whenever she went out without telling him; he always thought that she had been kidnapped by evil gods or an ex-boyfriend. She remembered the times when she fell asleep on the couch watching television while Nico was working, and would wake up the next day to find herself enveloped in his muscular arms, him spooning her. She remembered when she woke up before him on Sundays when they would sleep in; she would bury her face in Nico's chest and just breathe in his scent, waiting until he woke up so they could have breakfast together.

These things were gone, and Annabeth just had to remind her of them. She cried into her pillow, trying to muffle the sounds. "Rachel?" No. It wasn't possible. It couldn't be him. It can't be. A cold hand touched her arm, and she flinched. She refused to turn around, afraid of what (or who) she would see. "Rachel, baby, turn around. It's me." It sounded so much like him. Could it really be...? Rachel sniffed in, and slowly maneuveured her body around.

It was him. It was Nico. He was back. He was looking at her with a tender expression on his face. He slowly sat down on the bed, wincing a little as he did. Rachel couldn't stop staring, and she forced herself to speak. "Is that really... you?"

Nico smiled, and pushed her hair away from her forehead and cheeks, like how he always used to when he woke her up. Cupping her face, he leant down and kissed her gently on the lips. "Yes it's me, Red." Rachel lifted her hand and touched Nico warily on the cheek, trying not to put pressure on his bruised eye and cut cheeks and lips. Behind the bruises she could see, could remember just how beautiful he really was. "You're real." It was him. After a year of misery and heartache, she finally had him back. Nico lay down beside her on the bed, and Rachel moved closer to him, cuddling into his chest like she used to before he 'died'. She breathed in his mild scent, and she could feel his lips on her hair. She started to cry again, her petite body shivering.

"You came back."

"Of course, baby. I told you I would return. I promised."

Rachel's body shuddered violently, and she looked up into Nico's eyes. "It was a year. A year you were gone. I didn't want to live anymore. Did you have any idea how miserable I was without you?" More tears started to flow as she sobbed into Nico's dirty shirt.

"I almost gave up too, Rach. But you kept me going. I told myself I needed to come back to you." Nico's voice broke.

Rachel couldn't stop crying. She gripped Nico's shirt tightly, trying to hold on to him forever, so he couldn't leave her ever again. "Promise me you won't ever leave me ever again."

Nico put his lips to her hair again, and whispered, "I promise. And even if I do," he gave a long kiss on the forehead, before continuing his sentence.

"I will always find you."

A/N: omfg wow i made a spontaneous decision to write a oneshot today and i just i don't know what to say because this gave me so much feels even though it was so horribly written idek. i'm posting on livejournal as well, so yeah. check it out, i'll most likely be posting fics on both here and there from now on! thanks for reading, if you even got this far. review or fave if you liked it, it would be highly appreaciated! feedback and criticisms are welcome; it only makes my writing better. i know there are a few loopholes and ooc-ness here and there, but please forgive me. thanks for reading once more :D