Nico looked around the table at the five other demigods, twisting the ring on his finger absently. It had been a gift from his father to help channel his power, but right now he was using it as a stress reliever. He didn't like how things were going at all. It was looking more and more like they would have to pass through the House of Hades on their quest, and if they did that he would have to go with them. It wasn't that he wasn't grateful for them releasing him from the giants who had captured him. It was just that he had thought. The first time he heard this prophecy that he would be left out of it, but it seemed that even if he had nothing to do with a prophecy he would still be forced into some responsibility.
He knew perfectly well that he had to do this and that it was for the greater good. Despite that, he had the strong urge to leave the demigods actually given the quest to fend for themselves and go home. He missed Slenderman's mansion, missed the dynamics and the sounds of Jeff and BEN fighting. He missed Sally and Ira, and Masky and Hoody. More than anything he missed Toby. He missed being able to curl up next to Toby in bed, missed his passionate babble about the things he was interested in, missed his wood smoke smell and generally missed everything about him.
It didn't help that both Leo, and Percy, reminded Nico of Toby in their own different ways. It made the way both of them looked at each other rip into him even more. Leo was afraid of Nico, it was obvious in the way he flinched and started every time Nico came into a room. Percy was still angry and distrustful of Nico. The only reason that Nico hadn't already left was his sister. If they failed they would drag her down with them, and to a lesser extent, Annabeth. He admired her for all, but he didn't like her very much. He trusted her to know what was best and so if she believed he needed to go with them he would.
The problem is that Percy and Annabeth aren't even here, which means the only person here who knows him, and trusts him to any extent is Hazel. And the others seem to question her judgment when it comes to him. Which he supposes is fair. He has a hard time seeing clearly when it comes to his family as well, which is why it took him so long to admit that Bianca had abandoned him. He was pulled out of his thoughts by Jason saying his name. He didn't need to have been listening to know what he needed to communicate, they had already talked about this.
"I communed with the dead last night." He didn't miss the shiver that went down Leo's body but he ignored it. He doesn't need Leo to like him, Jason seems to be the leader now and Jason understands at least. Understands that it was Nico's responsibility to keep the camps separate, not his pleasure. Nico told them everything he knows from his time in Tartarus, and from the dead. Everything he can that would be useful to them. Or tried to, but he was cut off by an explosion on deck that sent him flying into a wall, knocking the wind, and sense out of him.
He was aware of the commotion around him, but not conscious enough to understand it until it wasover and Jason and Leo are gone. Hazel and him are alone. She was staring at him strangely as he sat up, his breath still rattling in his throat but coming more evenly now.
"Nico?" Hazel questioned hesitantly. Nico looked at her attentively waiting for her to continue. "There... there are still more worlds you aren't' telling us about aren't there?" Nico hesitated thinking about his response for a long moment.
"Yes there are." Nico relented finally. "But I can't tell you about them for a reason. You understand that right?"
"Yes I understand, Nico." Hazel said, if anything she just looked worried about him. "But that's not an easy place for you to be. I mean it's hard enough being between dead and alive and past and present, I know those two are more than enough for me. Are you okay?"
"I'm okay Hazel." Nico said, feeling a twist of affection for his sister he gave her a quick one armed hug. "One of the other worlds I fit into much better than this one. I was doing well there before all this. I suspect I'll go back to it once this is over, but don't worry I'll always be there for you. You know the Roman camp has no place for me and neither do the Greeks, really."
She nodded but she still had a worried look about her. He appreciated her worry but he felt a bit guilty about that.
"Please don't worry about me, Hazel. I can look after myself and there are people in that world who will look after me as well." He tried to reassure her.
"You really care about them, don't you?" She asked looking at him hard with the old eyes he knew they shared.
"Yes I do." Nico admitted. "But don't worry I won't let that get in the way of this quest or me helping you. We're family after all." Hazel nodded seeming reassured.
"I just wish I could meet them if they're so important to you." She said blandly.
"No, trust me, you wouldn't get along with them. There's a good reason that, unless the gods say otherwise, I don't think these are worlds that should meet." Hazel watched him carefully but that was nothing new, she had almost always looked at him like that. Like she was amazed he hadn't broken yet, Nico shrugged and met her eyes evenly. She didn't look away as quickly as everyone else but she still looked away first and Nico knew she wouldn't ask again.
With that settled, Nico left the mess hall again and went back to his usual place in the look out nest of the ships recently repaired mast. Even though usually heights scared him, and he hated being close to Zeus' domain, recently this had felt like the best place for him. The wind that whipped around him was fresh here, chasing the smell of stale air and death out of his nose, and clearing the shadows from his mind. He did his best not to think when he was up there. There was almost nothing productive to think about, and if he let his mind wander he would only start worrying about something. It might be the future, what they would do once they reached the House of Hades, if the other demigods could defeat Gaia and if Hazel would be okay, the past, reliving the time he had spent in tartarus or with the giants or the present, how Annabeth and Percy were faring. And more importantly, where Toby was and how he was doing.
He had yet to contact the creeps, and he wasn't sure he wanted to. Seeing them would only make being away from them harder and he couldn't go back yet. He still had responsibilities to see to. Beneath him he heard Leo mention that they needed to go to Venice. Oh good Nico's old home that he still couldn't remember. Sometimes he went there still, wandering around trying to find something familiar. But there were only a few places that stirred feelings in him and only one of those places caused a pleasant one. The steps of some great church, he thought maybe he and Bianca used to play there but he couldn't be sure.
The inside of the church triggered a much different feeling. One of shame and fear, though he could never seem to call up why. Muscle memory had brought him to the fifth row of seats back from the pulpit where he had sat down. Closing his eyes he saw a blurry memory and the sound of yelling, but then a group of tourists had come in and broken his concentration. With a sound like a strike his half memory had shattered and he had left quickly.
Still when they reached the city, Nico came back down. They would probably need someone who could speak the language and knew the city, at least a little. Sure enough, Leo read out the address and Nico had to translate. He didn't miss the way Frank flinched when he realized Nico was there. He hadn't been trying to stay unseen but apparently it had become habit. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes when Frank seemed surprised that Nico could speak Italian. Instead he gave Frank a warning look discouraging questions, he wanted to avoid speaking as much as possible because his throat still hurt.
"I'll go with Frank." Nico sighed, he didn't want to but he knew he had to. There were too many angry dead in this city for Frank to go on his own and Frank made Hazel happy, so Nico needed to keep him safe if he could.
"Uh… you're good with animals?" Frank asked Nico uncertainly. A few months ago Nico might have laughed but he didn't feel like he would ever laugh again. Instead he forced a smile, though he knew there was no actual humor in it, and it probably looked creepier than anything.
"Actually, most animals hate me. They can sense death. But there's something about this city…" His eyes roamed over the rooftops. Something familiar his mind supplied, but kept to himself, instead fixing on the dead and making him frown. "Lot's of death. Restless spirits." He shook his head, his speech was disconnected and his mind slow. He had always felt that, even at his best he was only about eighty percent alive. Now he was pretty sure it had decreased to… maybe forty percent, being generous. Sixty percent dead, he wondered how dead he would have to be before something actually came of it. "If I go, I may be able to keep them at bay. Besides, as you notice, I speak Italian."
"Lot's of death huh?" Nico heard Leo say from behind him "I try to avoid lots of death, you guys have fun." That would be why you avoid me I guess. Nico thought to himself with another dry smile. He was glad when Hazel said that she would go with them. Nico couldn't imagine anything more awkward than going somewhere alone with Frank. He stared at the water for a minute wondering what would go wrong on this mission, because, of course, something always did.
"All right, then. Let's go get the owner of that book." Nico left the ship, easily maintaining his blank face and pretending that he was seeing all of this for the first time.
At first everything seemed to be going fine but then the cow creatures attacked. Of course they did. Nico had been here at least five times without incident, but the second his sister and her boyfriend were with him everything went to shit. Nico was still so weak he could hardly defend himself, and when Hazel got a breath of the green gas in the face it was all he could do to dissolve the monster that had done it. Frank realized what had happened and for a second Nico was sure that Frank was going to kill him, then they were interrupted.
A man Nico didn't recognize ushered them into the black house they had been trying to find. Well that made getting in easy. He said he could cure Hazel. He followed Frank into the house and stayed quiet until he had something useful to say. He felt stupid as hell when he realized that monster he had seen many time was one he had read about before but he explained it anyway.
And then, oh shit another person with a grudge against the children of Hades, just what they needed. The world seemed to have it in for them. Not that Nico could really blame them, after all children of Hades had a very bad track record. Still it wasn't like he had done any of the things his sibling had and Hazel was a fantastic person. Maybe he deserved this treatment for having fallen in love with a murderer, but Hazel certainly hadn't done anything wrong. His anger made him even more stupid than normal. He should have known not to threaten someone who could possibly be a god, but he didn't and then he blacked out.
When he came to again everything was over but it had obviously been one hell of an adventure considering Frank seemed to be almost a half a foot taller. Once they had found out the secret of the House of Hades they left quickly. Nico did not want to spend any more time than necessary with the person who had turned him into a corn plant and both Hazel and Frank seemed to want to get going too.
"He killed the puppies." Nico jumped as the warbling inhuman whisper came from above them. Neither Hazel or Frank seemed to notice. They kept walking, Nico stared at the creature clinging to the wall of the grey building on one side of the square. It was the same colour of grey as the stone and seemed to blend in perfectly. Until it detached itself from the wall and fell to the ground landing catlike. It went to run after Frank but stopped when Nico spoke.
"Those weren't puppies, you should be able to see that." Nico said softly enough that the creature could hear, but he knew Hazel and Frank couldn't. The creature rounded on him, stalking a circle around him appraisingly. The black half of his face blank, and the white half sporting a black grimace.
"Poisons puppies. Even better." It growled angrily. "Who are you!?"
"The Ghost King." Nico said standing up straighter. "Who are you."
"Oh you're one of us?!" The creature asked excitedly. The frown disappearing on the white half, as a white smile appeared on the black one. "I'm Kagekao."
"If you're one of the creeps then yes, I'm one of you. I'm fairly new but I work with Slenderman's proxies from time to time."
"Oh goody goody!" Kagekao warbled, bouncing on his bare toes and clapped his clawed hands his smile widening. "Is there news, are you here to play?" He reminded Nico of Sally and Laughing Jack, he had a feeling Kagekao's games were not ones he wanted to play.
"I'm afraid I've been sort of… out of this world for a few months so I haven't heard any new. I'm only here because the dark skinned girl who was with me is my half sister. She's still human, but I care about her a lot and I'm here to protect her."
"Oh well you're no fun." Kagekao frowned. "That Asian boy is her boyfriend? I'm from Asia you know. I like girlfriends. I like killing them and blaming the boyfriends."
"Well she's MY sister so you had better not." Nico said scowling and reaching carefully for his sword. Kagekao held up his hands and smiled.
"Okay, okay, Ghosty, don't you worry! A lot of creeps have humans they want to keep!" He giggled at his rhyme and shrugged. "The doggies will come back sooner or later anyway. They're like Jeff and Jane! You never ever manage to kill them completely, just wait for twenty four hours or so and POP they're back!" He exclaimed and giggled excitedly. "But your humans don't know about us right?"
"No they know nothing." Nico said shaking his head adamantly. "My sister is a gentle spirit she wouldn't understand or approve. It would make her afraid."
"I suppose you can't make her one of us like Jeff made Jane?" Kagekao asked sliding a little closer to Nico, who didn't back up facing him down.
"No, she would break before she changed." Nico said. Kagekao sighed and dodged away again.
"That's the way eh? Tooooo bad." Kagekao said in a sing song voice.
"Nico?" He heard Hazel call from a little ways away from the two of them and looked over his shoulder towards the call.
"Your human name?" Kagekao asked and Nico nodded. "Well then I suppose I should scamper away before I scare your sister. Besides places to go people to prrrrank." He purred and in a flash he was up the wall and scrambling over the rooftops. Nico watched him go and then jogged to catch up with Hazel and Frank.
For the next few days everything was quiet while they were traveling. It was driving Nico even crazier than he had already been. He welcomed the monster attacks that happened now and then just for a break of the monotony on the ship. He knew for the others on board it was different but that was because they all had someone to talk to. Hazel and Frank had each other and so did Piper and Jason, Leo had his machines and Nico had no one. Hazel tried to talk to him now and then, but she had to go out of her way to do it, and if Nico approached her himself he always felt like he was interrupting something.
That was the last thing he wanted. She was adjusting to this time better than he had, finding a new life and he did not want to get in the way of that. He enjoyed seeing her happy and often watched her and Frank, or her and Leo talking from above where he couldn't eavesdrop just to see her smiling and laughing. She rarely smiled or laughed around him because she was always to busy worrying about him to really have a good time.
More than anything he wanted to contact Toby but he hadn't found a way yet. It was basically impossible to Iris message while moving and the ship never stayed still. He might have been able to do it below deck but since he had no room, there was nowhere he had guarantee of privacy and it seemed like the creeps and the demigods were still to be kept separated. Or at least he guessed as much by the fact that Hazel and Frank hadn't seen Kagekao in Venice when really they should have heard him at least.
With that resolution and lack of access to a phone or a computer, Nico was at a loss as to how to contact Toby. He might be able to send one of the dead with a message, but without Nico's presence there was no guarantee that the spirit would be able to manifest fully enough to be seen by humans.
When Nico finally got a chance to try Iris messaging a few days later, when Hazel and Jason had gone to talk to a pirate, it didn't work. He assumed it was just a one off sort of glitch until later when Cotch Hedge (who Nico still hadn't gotten used to) mentioned that the reception was bad all the time that it occurred to Nico that the split personalities all of the gods were dealing with, might be affecting Iris as well. There were tons of gods and goddesses that no one had thought about but might have been affected. Suddenly Nico was very worried about Hestia. He hadn't seen her in a long time and he didn't know if she had a Roman form or not, was she suffering too?
He had no way to check but surely she knew that she could come to him if she needed to right? Even gods needed help sometimes and he was sure he had established himself to her as a friend, or at the very least a willing ally. But he couldn't worry about that now, there were other things to worry about, namely finding the scepter of Diocletian.
