I wanted to write a one-shot, but I wasn't really sure what to write about. I don't know exactly where it came from, but eventually this hit me. I hope it's good! :)

This had been sitting in my Document Manager for about a month now, but I still didn't think I was going to post it. Thanks for looking it over, OMGIhavebluehair!

EDIT: Today, I read this over again, and found many things wrong with it. It was rushed. It had some typos. A grammatical error or two that I only learned about relatively recently. So I went through the story and edited it. Hopefully, it's better now. xD

Annabeth was walking to her cabin when she heard the crying.

She stopped. She listened, and wondered. From where was this crying coming? From whom were the tears spilling? She wanted to know. She was curious. Wouldn't you be?

So she followed the sound. Looking back on it now, she would say that it might not have been the brightest decision she'd ever made. What if she started a fight? What if she walked in on a fight? What if she walked in on something horrible?

But a decision made was an action done, and Annabeth followed the sound.

As she followed it, she found herself nearing the Hades cabin. It couldn't have been coming from there, she decided. The only occupant of the Hades cabin was Nico di Angelo. Why would he be crying?

But as she came closer, she realized that the sound was indeed coming from there. That was odd. It couldn't have been Nico, could it? No, there must have been someone else inside. Or maybe it wasn't even crying she was hearing; the sound was rather muffled. Maybe it was laughter.

But to be sure, Annabeth climbed the steps of the cabin and knocked lightly on the door. She called Nico's name softly. A reply came, but the words were indecipherable, the syllables lost to the stubborn earth around them.

She rapped slowly on the door again. As she did, she considered the possibilities. It was definitely crying she was hearing; she knew that now that she was closer. The sound was definitely coming from within the cabin. She doubted someone else was in there spilling the tears. Wouldn't Nico be at least trying to do something to comfort the poor soul? Annabeth heard no words of the sort. So either Nico was an insensitive moron, or he was a quite sensitive innocent.

Annabeth knocked one more time, asking for permission to enter. When no reply came, she slowly turned the knob and pushed the door aside.

Nico sat on the floor of his cabin pretzel-style, his back to her. He was hunched over his legs. Annabeth had been correct – he was weeping softly, like a child. Well, he was a child.

Annabeth wasn't sure what to do. She didn't know exactly how to react to such a sight – a young boy in a room all about death, crying like someone who had lost his ties to the living. She didn't even know what he was crying about. Well, maybe that was the first step, then. Don't move on to the hows yet – first handle the whys and then see where you are taken.

The girl stepped gingerly over to where her friend sat, and then knelt down to his height.

She asked him what was wrong, because she wanted to know and she didn't have a clue what else to say.

Nico raised his head to look Annabeth in the eyes, and she saw sorrow there. A dash of longing, with a pinch of misunderstanding and maybe a sprinkle of loneliness. A recipe of a thousand ingredients, but with only one end result – one that Annabeth recognized, but could not place ...

A few moments of silence passed between them. Annabeth sat and looked at him directly in the eyes. She saw him harden himself. She saw sadness, and she saw him shove it away. She saw his mask return. Annabeth's face softened. She gave Nico a sympathetic, pleading look.

"I'm fine." The first two words that left Nico's lips were a lie when combined, and apparently it was the final lie he intended to speak that night, for he immediately lowered his gaze to the floor as another tear rolled down his cheek. He brushed it away; it could not be seen. Not anymore.

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. Fine? Not by the looks of it, he wasn't. "No, you're obviously not, and I want to know why."

Nico turned away from her. "Go away. Please."

"No, I won't." She gripped his right shoulder imploringly. "It's okay, Nico. You can tell me. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

Apparently Nico found the left wall of his cabin most intriguing, because he refused to turn away from it.

Another silence. Each waited for the other to relent, yet neither did.

Finally, Annabeth sighed. "Fine. You don't want to tell me what's wrong, you don't have to. You don't want my help, I don't need to provide it." She stood, and had started for the door when Nico spoke again.

"It's my sister."

Annabeth turned. "Bianca?"

Nico rotated his body so that he was facing her. He nodded. He felt more tears threatening to burst out from within, but he held back. Nico was not supposed to be seen at these times. He could not allow it. This was another side to him, one that he had always tried to conceal. Occasionally he cried before his friends, but not since the war. Most definitely not. They thought he was fine. And he was fine. But occasionally ... it just ... came out. He was ashamed. And Annabeth could not know.

But then why had he told her? Stupid! He wished he could rewind through the last few moments and then, right before his dreadful mistake, grab the words out of his mouth and shove them back down his throat, never to be spoken or heard. But that was impossible, and the words had been said. The beginnings of a confession had been made. No turning back now.

When he left his trance, Annabeth was standing directly in front of him. She sat down and crossed her legs as he had. "So ... what about Bianca?"

For a while, Nico said nothing. Annabeth tried to break through his mask, but he was good. His eyes showed no emotion, nor did his face.

She waited. "Nico?"

At first, he was not going to respond. Then he thought it might feel good to tell someone how he was feeling. Who knows? Maybe Annabeth would understand, even if he didn't. Then she could explain it to him. That would be nice.

So, finally, he told her.

"Well ... she's dead. I miss her. I miss her a lot, and when I think back to our times in the Lotus Casino, I ... I almost want to go back there. Stay trapped in eternal childhood forever. Be with her forever.

"And I wonder ... does Dad have her? Is he holding his own daughter as a prisoner in his world? How could he do that? He's a horrible father; I've always known that. But to keep your own kid trapped in that horrible place forever ... am I going to face that someday? Will my father come for me? And so sometimes ... this happens." His hands waved down his body, gesturing his position and what he had been doing only moments before. "Just for a little while. Just to let it all out. Because I miss her, you know? And it aches. I ... I wasn't even with her when she died. I know it was years ago, but ... every once and a while ..."

Nico's head dropped back down to where it had been. It had been said.

They sat like that for a while, an unnatural silence hanging over them. This one was different than the previous; this one was almost impenetrable. The kind of quiet that you know you should break, but you just cannot seem to bring yourself to do it. That was what Annabeth was experiencing – she knew she had to say something, but she just ... couldn't. And right when she thought she might be able to do it, Nico beat her to it. "Could I hide from him?"

"Uh ... what?"

"This is another thing I've been thinking about. Do you think it would be possible to cheat death?" He looked up again, meeting Annabeth's eyes. "For me to revive Bianca and be on the run from Dad forever? Never to be found, always living in the shadows ... but living, and together? Or maybe back in the Casino! I could revive her temporarily, and bring her there! She would be sustained, and we'd always be together, and we'd never have to die. Do you think I could do it?"

Annabeth had not expected such an outpour of emotions from this boy. And she wondered ... could he be right? Could he hide from death? No, she decided. That couldn't be.

But as she thought about it, she realized that maybe he could do it. He'd brought back the dead before. It only lasted briefly, but if he managed to get her inside the Casino … could it be true?

Then her mind started to wander. Maybe she could revive Luke. Or maybe Silena. The idea was tempting. She would be able to spend an eternity with her friends. And no pressure, either. She would have to deal with saving civilization all the time.

But then she thought about how her friends would feel, coming back from the dead that way. Their eternal peace would be disrupted, and for her own selfish reasons.

No. This was wrong.

She waited for him to continue, until she realized that he expected an answer from her. He wanted her honest opinion. And so, she gave it to him. "No. I think it might be possible, if you were careful – but that's not the right thing to do, Nico, and you know it. You don't want to do it, either. You don't really want to revive your dead sister and spend an eternity with her, do you? She's where she belongs."

Annabeth continued. "I think that you're just reaching that point in your life when you wonder ... is it all worth it? Are the good times really worth all the insanity and the suffering? Or would it be better to just disappear, to fade away from reality altogether? I had that time. Percy, too. Hades, we still have those times on occasion; everyone does. But when we're at our worst, we know we're there for each other. We know we are loved, and that makes all the difference."

Nico nodded, considering this. "So ... love is the key?"

"I know, corny, huh?" Annabeth smiled. "Such a cliché. And yet, this time it's true. Well, there are a few different things that can do it, I guess. But love always works." She ruffled his hair, and he smiled. "You've got friends, and you need them, and they need you. Your time will come, Nico, and then you'll see your sister. But for now, enjoy living here. Enjoy life. Then worry about death."

Nico nodded.

"Oh, and one more thing. Your dad? He's not that bad a father. Not too much worse than any of the other gods, anyway. He's not keeping Bianca as a prisoner – she had her time with you, and now she gets to have her time with him. He didn't send her the death penalty and take her hostage. He simply was administering the way life goes." She paused. "Now, I agree that's he's an awful father. But just because he's bad, that doesn't mean that you can blame him for everything."

Nico smiled. "Thanks, Annabeth."

Another silence took over. This one was mainly comfortable, with a slight bit of awkwardness weaved in. It was also brief. After a few moments, Nico let out a small laugh.

"What?" Annabeth asked, smiling now.

Nico shook his head, still chuckling softly. "Nothing, nothing … but you were like a completely different person. Did you notice that?"

Annabeth laughed once, and rolled her eyes. "You're right. Weird. That totally was not me."

Then she shot him a death glare. "If you tell anyone about this conversation, I'll destroy you."

Nico grinned. "Agreed. In fact, I was about to say the same thing."

Annabeth smiled, then ruffled his hair again. She then stood. "Well, this was fun, but I'm going to go back to my cabin now."

Nico rolled his eyes. "Good night."

"Night."

Annabeth closed the door behind her.

Nico sat for a few moments more. He knew he'd be back in this position another time, but she had cheered him up for now. And he knew that from now on, his miniature breakdowns would be less frequent and shorter, now that he had these words to ponder.

The son of Hades smiled and stood. He was going to take a nap now. He felt like he needed one.

Annabeth walked away from the cabin, hoping she was able to help him in some way. Being the daughter of Athena, she was a wise girl. She had hope that some of her wisdom had rubbed off on the little death child. Maybe. Maybe not. But that was okay.

What was important was that she knew they were friends.

And that made all the difference.