All rights to PJO characters belong to Rick Riordan.
"You shouldn't have done that," she said, as they walked down the street. They passed a row of empty storefronts, and Nico steadily avoided her gaze by peering into the semi-reflective display windows. Looking one way, he could see beyond the glass, where there were dark rooms littered with packing foam, scraps of paper, and other remnants of the previous owners. Looking the other way, he saw his own scowling reflection. His skin was deathly pale, like always, his black hair was growing out a little more than he'd intended for it to, and was now covering one of his dark brown eyes. Usually he would have been annoyed by it, but today he was grateful, since it helpfully concealed his new bruise. It would be a black eye by tomorrow, too big to cover up, but he'd have an excuse by then. One that hopefully wouldn't get him or his sister Hazel into too much trouble. Not that they should be in any trouble anyways, those idiots had obviously started it.
His scowl deepened as he recalled what exactly they'd started. He'd been leaving his last class and heading to his locker when he saw his sister through one of the windows. She'd just spilt off from a group of girls she played volleyball with, when Reuben came up to her. Or more accurately, came onto her. Reuben was just one of the school's snotty rich kids who thought they owned the world, and everything in it, because of their parent's bank account. He'd cornered Hazel, and ignored her when she told him to back off. Angry as it made Nico, he usually wouldn't have needed to intervene. Hazel could handle herself just fine. Or at least, she could when Reuben wasn't accompanied by two of his quarterback-sized friends.
By the time Nico got there they'd closed in on her until she was backed against a wall, and started jeering at her for "being pretty stuck up for someone whose own parents didn't want her", and "she should be grateful they'd even noticed her". He knew Hazel wouldn't have backed down from those jerks, but it didn't mean things would have gone well. So he'd walked up behind them and calmly said, "Back the Hell off."
He smiled a little as he remembered the look on their faces when they'd turned around. Most people were uncomfortable around Nico, it was just a fact. When he was younger he'd been teased for being "different", but a few years ago when he'd hit a growth spurt and suddenly wasn't so small and weak looking, they'd stopped. Something about him gave off a bad vibe, and people usually made an effort not to get too close to him. They especially didn't like it when he silently appeared next to them.
Unfortunately, Reuben and his friend's unease had quickly faded as they took into account the stacked odds. Three buff football players against a high school girl, albeit a high school girl with good self-defense skills, and her creepy half-brother. The odds weren't exactly in Nico and Hazel's favor. Or at least, they wouldn't be if Nico and Hazel were ordinary teenagers.
As it was, they weren't ordinary. But they needed to appear like they were. The last thing they wanted was to draw more attention to themselves; especially now that their lives were finally starting to move on from the Accident. So they kept low profiles, did alright in school, and didn't do anything to stand out. At least not anything they could control. This was their third school since the Accident, and Hazel in particular wanted to make it work. She was tired of starting over just to fail, and Nico didn't blame her. But they couldn't let themselves be victimized either; so when one of Reuben's idiot friends swung at him, he didn't hesitate to fight back. They could find a new school later.
Of course Hazel wasn't just going to stand on the sidelines waiting to be saved. Once a fight was inevitable, she put her self-defense classes to good use, and by the time Nico had dodged the guy swinging at him, she'd already left the other one on the ground groaning in pain. Nico hoped he hadn't been planning on having kids. He easily knocked his larger opponent over, taking advantage of the agility his slimmer size gave him. One well-placed jab later and he was out cold. That left Reuben, who'd taken their distraction as an opportunity to edge around them and catch Nico off-guard.
"You shouldn't have done that, freak," he'd snarled, aiming a punch directly at Nico's eye. He didn't dodge fast enough that time though, and the hit caught him head-on, temporarily disorienting him. He'd heard Hazel shout something, probably cursing Reuben's existence, and when he opened his eyes she was swinging her own punch at Reuben. He caught her arm at the last second, and twisted it until she'd cried out. That cleared Nico's mind immediately, and before he realized what he was doing he'd shoved Reuben against the brick wall as hard as he could. He could feel years of blind rage building up inside him. No one hurt his family. No one.
Not this time.
Reuben had lifted a hand up to the back of his head, and when it came away his fingers with tipped in blood. His eyes had shifted back and forth between Nico, whose eyes still gleamed furiously, and Hazel, who had joined Nico and was now glaring at him menacingly.
"You're going to regret this," he'd sworn, looking at them with a mixture of disgust and hatred. "You're going to wish you'd never come here."
"If you say so," Hazel had said. "But from where I'm standing, you're the one who has some decisions to regret. Not that this will be the last thing you regret in your pathetic life. Far from it. Now get out of here and take this as a lesson. Leave my brother and I, alone.
For once in his life Reuben listened, and he and his friend, the one who was still conscious and had wisely decided not to try and fight Nico and Hazel again, dragged their third friend away, while the siblings glared. Afterwards Nico and Hazel had gone back inside the school, which was empty save for a few after-school groups, to collect their things and began the long walk home. They'd missed their bus.
"Nico?" Hazel asked, as they reached a crosswalk. "Did you hear me?"
"Yes," he said, as they waited for the line of cars to pass. "I heard you," he began, kicking a crushed can across the sidewalk. "But what did you expect me to do? We're siblings, we watch out for each other."
"You know that's not what I meant," she sighed, as they crossed the street. Her wavy hair was frizzy from the moisture in the autumn air, and she pushed a loose strand behind her ear in annoyance after it was blown across her face by the wind. Nico pulled his worn aviator jacket tighter against the cold breeze and cloudy sky as they walked past the park, and wished again that he didn't get cold so easily. Hazel always teased him for it, saying that she couldn't believe someone who spent all his time in the dark and was so pale could dislike the cold so much. Had anyone else teased him he would have been annoyed. But it was different with family. Half-related or not. Everything was different with family…
"I meant," Hazel said, pulling him from his thoughts, "that we agreed not to draw attention to ourselves. Not that many foster homes wanted to take us to begin with, what's going to happen if we start causing trouble? We've already changed schools three times!"
"We'd handle it, like we always do." He replied. They'd passed the park, and were walking down another street of worn storefronts and cracked pavement. The smell of car exhaust and garbage from the alleyway dumpsters was doing nothing to improve his mood.
"I'm serious Nico," she said, frowning. "I don't want to be the new girl again. I want to be able to stay somewhere and know I'll be around long enough to actually make friends. It's been four years, we should be able to move-" She stopped as she realized her older brother was no longer walking beside her.
"Five." He whispered, still several steps behind her.
"What?" Hazel asked.
"It's five years this Friday since Bianca died," Nico said softly, his head turned down.
Hazel's shoulders sagged. "Right," she said sadly, memories swirling inside her mind. "Five years." A few raindrops fell on the siblings, and Nico raised his head to look at the sky. For a moment it felt like he was falling upward into the gray clouds, soaring between the falling droplets and leaving behind the crowded mass of the city and all it contained. For a moment, he felt peaceful, and he smiled. Bianca used to love standing in the rain. She'd run outside in the wildest of storms and laugh as she was soaked to the bone. She'd always said it made her feel like she was flying, like she was free and if she could just find a way off the ground she'd never have to come back. That had always scared Nico, the idea that his big sister would leave him and never return. But now, the idea seemed strangely peaceful. Then Hazel said his name, and he was dragged back down to reality. He slowly became aware that he was soaked, his wet hair plastered against his skin dripping rivulets of water down his jacket like rivers running down the side of a mountain. He looked at Hazel, his eyes distant. For a minute he stood there, looking at his half-sister in the fading light as the storm began to roll in full force. He thought about the freedom he'd felt, the peace that came from the thought of leaving everything behind, and then he thought about the way he'd felt a little less than five years ago. The pain and sorrow he'd felt as the water that ran down his face had been burning tears. The incredible sense of loss and hopelessness. He thought about what had happened less than an hour ago. The look of fierce determination in Hazel's eyes and the trust she showed in him even when everyone else called him a freak and insisted there was something wrong with him. No, today wasn't Nico's time to depart. It was time to stay, and time to grow strong. It was more or less five years past, and it was time to move on.
"Come on," he said, walking up to Hazel. He smiled genuinely this time, as Hazel did a second later. "Let's go home."
AN: I'm not great at writing action scenes, so I decided to write a fanfic that allowed me to practice writing action. But then of course because I'm me I had to go and add a big back story and bad weather (I love how moody storms make thing). I'm debating whether or not to write more of this. I'd planned for it to be a short one-shot just for writing practice, but I think there's a lot I could do with it. Maybe. What do you all think? Either way, I hope you enjoyed the story!