First day of summer. Camp Half-blood is bound to get new campers. Oh, Joy, I thought. How great. (And I do mean this sarcastically.)

It's been two years since the war, and most probably, we'd have to educate the new campers with the story of the Hero(es) of Olympus. I bet Percy gets a kick out of this every summer.

Since being almost invincible, he's been getting too pigheaded. Annabeth doesn't mind him; she think love conquers all, a stupid mantra for a daughter of Athena.

Chiron has been instructing the cabin leaders on different sets of duties, like making the plants grow (for the Demeter cabin), prepare something educational (Athena's cabin), and make sure everything's organized. Percy and I have been assigned to welcome the new campers crossing the borders, make sure they won't freak out after seeing Peleus and basically talk to them and make them feel welcome and all.

It was a dull task. I could've just been assigned to sharpen the swords at the arena but no, I had to get stuck here. I sighed. Only a few campers came. Three boys and two girls. All of them, unclaimed. It was already late in the afternoon so maybe the other campers would arrive by tomorrow.

Percy entertained everyone, telling them stories about the gods and practically shocking their oh-so-innocent minds. Four of the newbies were so eager to listen to him babble about the truths that we were demigods and stuff like that. The last one (who was a girl) didn't seem to listen to Percy and just continued walking while staring at the sky.

I decided to follow her, not because I wanted to, but because she might get lost and have the harpies eat her bit by bit. It would have been fun to watch but then again, I am not a fan of gore, and Chiron might get mad at me for not supervising her.

The wind was blowing freely; you can sense the faint smell of strawberries lingering through the atmosphere.

I took quiet steps in following her, hoping in Hades that I would not have been noticed. She didn't seem to mind, as she went on with her slow but definite steps.

From the back, she had silky chocolate colored locks that fell inches above her waist. Her body was defined, I could tell. She was wearing a checkered polo, denim shorts and a pair of chucks. Her legs were firm and smooth and contoured. She had a reasonable height, only a few inches shorter than me. Her hips swayed with a rhythm and- Wait a sec, I should not be noticing these things!

I took a sigh and heaved out whatever thoughts of her I had in my head. She noticed, turning around to face me. I stopped walking a bit too late, I was almost near her face. Crap. She was startled at my accidental closeness and took a step back.

"Sorry." I managed to say. I had nothing else in my mind other than her startlingly green eyes, seeming as if it would take an eternity to see the meaning in it. She was a pretty face, to say the least. Probably a daughter of Aphrodite. I groaned at the thought. The Aphrodite cabin was one of the most populated here.

"Oh, I uh- Okay." She stuttered. Crimson streaked her face as she looked down.

I didn't realize where we were. We were at the beach. The sea was out making small shallow waves, and there were a few seashells scattered about. The sun was still high, resting only a few inches from the sea's calm orange hue. No campers at site.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to do anything bad to this girl.

I just sat down by the warm sand and let my head rest on my knees for a while. Best to ignore this girl for a while.

"So, why were you following me?" a calm voice of hers asked. Chills went down my spine as her breath circulated at the back of my neck.

"You might get lost," came my blunt answer. "Chiron would get mad at me if something happens to a new camper."

"Oh. So who's this Chiron guy?" she asked innocently. "Camp director?"

"Sort of. Mr. D's the director. Chiron's sort of like the assistant. They like pinochle." Pinochle? Seriously? I cannot believe I would say something as lame as that.

"So what have I gotten myself into? Tell me." I could say that she was rather curious about things. She was being herself, and I honestly like it. She wasn't trying hard to impress me like the girls from the other cabins from the previous years.

"Well, I don't mean to shock you, but you're a demigod." The easiest way to make someone understand is to say it straight.

"Mm-hm. My dad's a mortal, so that means I have a goddess for a mom. Wow." She said, her eyes twinkling with excitement. "And you're a son of?"

"Hades." Great. I'm gonna scare her. I looked away from her, to hide my scowl as I said the name.

"I see. How do we find out who our godly parent is?" Maybe she was genuinely interested, but I could sense hints of regret, like she regretted asking me who my dad was.

"Usually, at dinner, once you send an offering, your Olympian parent claims you."

She gulped. "Offer? I mean…"

"Oh, no no no. Not that kind of offering," I guess she was referring to sacrificial offerings, where you kill people and stuff. "You just burn part of your food and offer it in the name of the gods. They like the burning smell." I explained. She seemed to understand, nodding at everything I said.

We talked and talked, about random and trivial things, about the stars, my previous adventures, the story of the heroic (cough) Percy saving the entire world. In turn, she told me about being attacked by monsters and stuff.

"It was scary. And what's worse is that I couldn't tell anyone. You can't just go running around screaming and telling everyone that you were attacked by cyclopes, giants and gryphons. People would think you're crazy," She elaborated. When she talked, she would add hand gestures, which was really amusing.

It was already sunset, and I stood up. "It's time for dinner. You sit with the Hermes cabin. Just look for Travis and Connor Stoll, they look like twins, but they're not."

"Why?" she asked.

"Cabins and tables here are a tribute to the gods. You have to place respect somewhere. And since Hermes is the god of travelers, they have an acceptance policy, meaning that they'll take anyone undetermined to their shelter," I told her. "But since all the gods swore on the River Styx that they'll claim their children by the age of thirteen, you'll be claimed either later or tomorrow. Wait, how old are you?"

"Fifteen." she said hesitantly, probably embarrassed by her age or something.

"A year younger than me."

"Hey," she whispered. "You haven't told me your name."

"Oh, sorry," I said, scratching my head. "Nico di Angelo, son of Hades," I recited the proper way (as Chiron would call it) of introducing yourself at camp.

"Victoria Vanguard, undetermined." She said it with a smile, and reached out her hand for me to shake. Not wanting to disappoint her, I hesitantly took her hand and gave it a wobbly shake. Her hands were softer compared to mine. It was warm and welcoming.

"Uh, Nico..? You can let go now."

I was still thinking about her hand (yes, her hand) that I forgot that I was still holding it. I immediately let go and faced away from her, feeling the hotness in my face.

We went to dinner and got a lot of stares, especially from the Aphrodite cabin. I just sat alone at the Hades table, getting glimpses of how Vivi (what I had decided to call her for the time being) was getting along with the Stoll brothers and the other Hermes campers. She had joined the other new campers at the side of the table, with her staring precariously at her food.

The time came for the offering and Vivi looked nervous, along with the other new demigods. She's probably troubled with what she would say in offer of respect. Since the Hermes cabin goes first, I really can't come up to her and help. Hopefully, she'll know what to do by then.

The five of the transferees (as I would like to call them) went up to the fire and scraped a quarter of their dinner into the flames, all of them reciting a silent prayer of some sort. The girl opposite Vivi was a daughter of Aphrodite, as the scent of perfume enveloped the air that surrounded her; I didn't quite catch her name, but it was to no obvious use to me so I just ignored her as she went down from the fire. Two of the boys were sons of Hypnos, which would explain their somehow sleepy look. The last boy, Jasper Elizalde, was a son of Apollo, as where all of the other good-looking guys went.

Vivi was the last to be claimed. It was unusual. Colors of the rainbow enveloped her entire form iridescently, making her quite stunning to look at. Everyone cheered. Apparently, she was the first daughter of Iris here, as opposed to Butch who was a son of the same goddess (Oh, by the way. You must know that Butch is not here due to college and other stuff related to his mortal family.) The rainbow then led her to table #14, the table next to mine. She was alone there, which sort of made me somewhat happy, because she would feel the same kind of loneliness that I felt at dinner. I gave her a reassuring smile: something that looked like "hey, you're gonna have a great time here", but most likely showed sympathy, seeing as we might be feeling the same way.

Since she's the only daughter of Iris here, she's immediately appointed as cabin leader.

I guess that would mean a lot of pressure. For her, at least. Since being here for almost two years, I've been used to being alone, doing my own stuff. It could be a little hard for her to fit in.

Dinner was finished, and I saw her trudging over to the forest, opposite the direction of the other campers who were headed for their cabins. I hope she's okay with me following her again, I said in my head.

Now, don't be confused. I don't like her, but I don't dislike her either. Just the normal feeling you have over someone you just met. She was different from all the other girls here. I guess she had a naturally positive attitude towards others because she seemed to get along well with people, as I have seen during dinner. Maybe it has to do with the traits of her mom. Since Iris is a messenger of the gods, she has to be on good terms with people.

Here I go again, thinking of her, and this time, I didn't notice that I'd already bumped her. We toppled over, and I was on top.

"N-nico?" Came her rather exasperated reaction.

I just stared at her. Our faces were so close together, that when you look at us from afar, you would've thought us to be kissing, but I assure you, we're not. She pushed me off of her, got up and dusted herself. I did the same and apologized.

"Victoria," I choked out. "Sorry 'bout that."

"Don't call me that. Gimme a nickname of something. Victoria's too formal," she said.

"Vivi, then." I used the pronunciations of both her initials to come up with that. It seemed appropriate for her sort of cheerful attitude.

"Why are you following me again? Don't tell me I might get lost."

"Well, yeah, you'll get lost. But I also was curious. Why do you keep straying off?"

"I just wanted to be alone," came her reply. Man, I felt like I was intruding her personal space.

"D'you want me to leave?"

"No!" She yelped. I was rather shocked at her tone of voice. "I mean, no…Please, stay."

"Okay then." I said in response.

We were at Zeus' fist, and we were both quiet. I couldn't think of anything to talk about. And then things started to get awkward. I was too close to her again, and she was bothered about that. I moved a bit further away from her, hoping to give her space, but I guess she looked even more weird-ed out, like she thinks I think she's freaky.

"Nico, I just want you to know that…"

Her voice broke by the shrill sound of a harpy. It darted straight for me, totally ignoring Vivi. It pinned me to a tree and stared at me with ravenous eyes.

"Demigod flesssshhh for the harpiesssssss," it said with a screechy voice.

"Stop." An order came from Vivi. "Move. Away. From. The. Boy." While she was saying that, it really made the hairs on my arm raise. She was as scary as I could be. Her sinister eyes emerging from her face.

The harpy backed down and let me go. I mouthed a Thank You to Vivi.

"Daughter of Irissss." It hissed. "Don't ssstray from camp."

The harpy left and Vivi ran up to me and…

She hugged me. And then let go. Her hair was a mess and her polo ruffled up. But I didn't care. She was still beautiful. (Wait, what? Did I say that?)

"I'm so glad you're not dead meat." she cried.

"I-I…I, uh. How did you do that?" She saved my life, so I owe her one.

"Iris is the sister of the harpies. Close family ties, I guess. C'mon, we should probably head back to the cabins. Your cabin is directly opposite to mine, so we should just go together."

This time, she grabbed my hand and pulled me to the direction of the cabin houses. I felt my heart beat faster than usual. Could she be… Never mind.

We said good-bye and parted. I forgot to ask her what she was about to tell me before the creepy harpy attacked. Her cabin looked normal, but wait for it in the morning. It glows with color, and its windows were of stained glass. Different from my cabin: dark, black and had greek fire columns.

I took a short shower, put some clothes on and plopped down on my bed. She's different. She's wonderful. She saved my life. But I, the son of Hades, the Ghost King, the unaccepted, Mr. Lonely, can never love. It's not in my nature. I'm the embodiment of hate, of grief, of absolute misery. Child of the underworld, you can never love. What was this feeling? I shuddered and started closing my eyes. Perhaps I'd forget everything once I get some sleep. I slowly drifted away, fading in to the black darkness.

A/N: First fanfic here. I told the story from Nico's POV 'cause it seemed harder for me to portray emotion from my OC's POV. Anyways, Nico here is kind of like the camp's lonely boy so he seemed sort of sulky at first. Read and review! Tell me what you think. ;)