AN: Everything throughout the story that is between ~this mark~ is an alternated version of story prompts and stuff on Tumblr. Whatever is between ~this mark~ I don't own. Nor do I own Nico or Will or any of Riordan's characters.
Prologue
~When I knew you were gone I screamed. I wailed, I cried and I screamed. As loud as I could. I halfway hoped that if you could hear me screaming on your way to heaven, you would turn around and come back to me.~
But you didn't.
~All the memories come back but you never do.
Memories. Some memories never leave your bones, like salt in the sea; they become part of you. And you carry them.
These memories...
Most nights I fall asleep in the arms of your memory. And most nights, it's not enough.
Nico... I do still love you. But it's not an aching kind of love, it's more of an I wish we could have worked out kind of love.
And maybe in five years,
our paths will cross again.
I will tell you how desperately in love I was with you
And we can laugh about how we broke each other's hearts.~
And after those five years, you'll see I've changed. And you helped me. You helped me see the reason I'm on this earth. You helped me see that I didn't have to deal with the shit my parents did. You helped me see that I was more of a soldier than you ever were.
Because you, you follow orders. That's the only reason you're in this war.
But I, I do it for the ones I save.
Because I, also, ~was born a fighter, gatekeeper of an endless war, where justice and revenge are dishes best served warm. Where there are lines between right and wrong, they do still exist.
You are judge, jury, and executioner.
I am defendant, plaintiff, and victim. I am the sheriff that watches over his people.
You, you were the last thing people would ever see. I, I am the thing that sets them free.~