Percy crossed the broad lit street, slipping down another lightless alley. He did this on a regular basis when he couldn't sleep, the city showed it's true colours at night. Monsters were what they were, and regular humans were running and hiding or safe in their homes. Percy did his best to walk like he belonged there, it cut back on the confrontations he had. He had long since mastered the look of 'no matter how bad you are, I'm worse."
As it always did on this walk, his mind wandered back to other night time walks. Specifically ones from when he was a kid, when his mother was working late, his step dad had had too many beers and home was no longer safe. At that point it had been easier to just leave and go for a walk, making sure to get back just a few minutes before his mother so she wouldn't worry. Gabe was too drunk to remember to tell her and besides nothing ever happened on those walks, until as usual one night it did.
He had been cornered by a gang of teenagers, still young enough to think that beating up a kid would prove that they were tough. Percy had run at first but they had quickly cornered him against a wall, all he could think of to do was cower and hope for the best. He doubted the best is what he would have gotten if they hadn't been interrupted, but they had been.
Another boy had come barreling down the alley, skidding to a halt between Percy and the older boys. He had pulled a long wicked looking black knife out of his belt and spun it like an expert.
"Come on then corpses. Let's see you fight someone actually armed huh?" None of them had moved, a few of them had taken a step back. "Oh is that so?" the boy had growled taking a step to follow them and holding out the wickedly sharp blade. "Come on let me give you wings, we can all fly once we don't have flesh to hold us back." He had made Percy shiver with the wedeling, almost sweet, tone he used. Apparently it had had the same effect on the teens, because they had turned and fled.
When the boy turned to Percy, he had cowered even farther back against the wall but the boy had slipped his knife back into his belt and held his hand out to Percy.
"You're alright now, idiot." He had said. Percy had realized that this boy was actually younger and smaller than him. "What are you doing out here? You don't belong in the dark."
"I-I uhh." Percy had stammered and the dark boy had rolled his eyes.
"Fine then, smart one, where do you live? I'll walk you home." He had a gentle accent Percy wasn't familiar with but liked. Slowly he relaxed and told the other boy where he lived. "Okay then let's get you back." Without saying anything else he had turned and started leading the way back to the main road, walking with Percy all the way to the door of his building. When Percy had turned the boy was gone like the shadows had swallowed him.
After that Percy had spent just over a week inside at night too scared to leave. After one particularly bad night with Gabe, he knew he needed a break. Next time his mother was gone he left as well. He wandered a little while without thinking, when he came to again he was in the place he had first seen the dark boy. Percy hadn't realized he had been thinking about the encounter until now. He stood still staring at the wall where he had been trapped blankly.
"What are you doing back here at night, smart one?" Percy started and turned, quickly seeing the dark haired boy perched awkwardly on the edge of a fire escape above him.
"I uhh I didn't learn your name." Percy stammered intelligently.
"Is it that important?" The dark hard boy ask lowering himself off the first story fire escape until he could drop to the ground in front of Percy.
"Yes." Percy said firmly and then backtracked. "I mean you helped me and no one but my mom has really done that before so..." He trailed off as the dark haired boy stared at him intently, his black eyes like coal absorbing all light around him.
"Huh, I'm Nico, Nico Di Angelo." Nico said and Percy smiled.
"I'm Percy Jackson." Percy answered happily holding out his hand which Nico reached out and shook quickly and firmly.
"I suppose it's nice to meet you, Jackson. Now did you want anything in particular?" Nico asked raising his eyebrows again.
"Well no, but I can't go home right now and I just… I brought candy." Percy said, rummaging in his bag and pulling out one of the bags of 'free samples' his mother brought him some times, especially when she noticed bruises on him.
"Why can't you go home?" Nico asked staring with intrigue at the Candy.
"If you're not busy, sit with me and I'll tell you." Percy said grinning happily.
"Okay." Nico said shrugging. "Come up a little first though, people don't tend to look up, it's safer to be off ground at night."
"Okay." Percy said amiably and followed Nico up three flights of extendable steps until they could settle on the fire escape of a dark apartment with closed windows. Percy sat cross-legged and Nico dangled his legs over the side. Percy opened the bag of candy, rolled down the plastic so it could be more easily accessed and then put it half way between them.
Nico reached out to take one and Nico started telling him about Gabe. Nico was a good listener, he seemed genuinely interested too, Percy ended up telling him more than he meant to. Nico prompted him occasionally, alternatively watching the street below them, and looking at Percy. By the time Percy remembered to look at his watch he leapt to his feet startling Nico.
"Shoot my mom's going to be home soon and I need to be there before she is." Percy noticed that Nico was getting to his feet as well and quickly added. "You don't have to come with me."
"No I will. And if you need protection on the streets at night come here again okay? I don't usually have anything better to do anyway." Nico held out the bag of candy which was still half full to Percy who had almost forgotten about it.
"You keep it if you want." Percy said grinning. "My mom works at a candy shop so she brings me enough." Nico didn't argue and again they walked back to Percy's building in silence. Once again Nico disappeared at the door. Percy had realized at that point that that night Nico had learned almost his entire life story, but he didn't know anything at all about Nico.
Percy had taken the next opportunity he possibly could to head back to their meet up spot. He had leaned against a wall waiting for about twenty minutes before Nico turned the corner into the alley. He seemed surprised to see Percy but he smiled anyway. This time they headed to a river with walking paths along it that had some bikers on it even at this time. It was safe enough that they sat on the bank together. This time Percy had brought a bag of nachos he had stolen from Gabe's poker table. He almost thought of it as an offering in exchange for Nico's time.
So I told you why I'm out here at night, why are you?" Percy asked after half an hour of aimless chatting. Nico tensed and for a moment Percy thought he had made a big mistake but then Nico relaxed and shrugged.
"No where else to be." He said casually reaching out to take some Doritos from the bag. "I hate those damned shelters, I'd rather sleep on a rooftop somewhere or in the old subway tunnels that aren't used anymore. But it's safer and warmer to sleep during the day and keep moving at night."
"Oh." Percy said and he felt a twist of pity until he caught Nico glaring at him. Nico didn't want his pity and Nico didn't want his help. If Nico had anywhere else to go that was better, he would have gone there by now, so Percy swallowed down his pity and his uninformed, unwarranted opinions and instead just said. "That makes sense?" It came out like a question but the question was really just "Is this the right thing to say?'
Nico's gentle smile told him it and he felt a small warmth of pride grow in his chest.
"You know your mom must love you a lot." Nico said suddenly. "Why does she let that step dad of your bully you." Percy paused for a moment, he had thought about this a lot but it was still worth pondering.
"I don't think she feels like she has a choice, but I don't know why. Whatever it is she's trying to protect me from it and that includes not telling me about it. What about your mom? Mine would never let me be on the streets if she knew."
"My mom's dead, died when was nine I think." Nico said shrugging. "My sister looked after me for a while but then she died too, was killed stealing from the wrong people."
"Stealing." Percy asked uneasily and Nico gave him a wry smile.
"Percy how else are people with no money supposed to get anything we need?" he asked. Percy was at a loss of how to answer. "We can get food from drives if we don't mind being looked down on by all of the people who are better off and so self righteous about "Look at me helping these poor helpless homeless people. They're probably just too lazy to get a job but I should descend to their level because I'm so much better then them." Nico was scowling fiercely now and he had drawn and was now fiddling with his knife.
"Clothing is the same, but only the clothes that no one will buy, stores donate whatever they can't sell and most of it is hideous. Stealing is the only way we knew to get anything we wanted." Nico said and Percy nodded, it was sad but he knew it was true, maybe that's why his mom hadn't left Gabe yet.
"Did you steal that too?" Percy said nodding at the knife and Nico glanced down at it.
"No it was a gift from my dad, the only one he's ever given me besides this ring." Nico said twisting a silver skull ring Percy hadn't noticed before. "He skipped out when me and Bianca were young. He wrote to us sometimes, sent us gifts on a couple of birthdays, but he didn't come looking for us when mom died so I guess that's that. My mom used to call me her Angel, that's what my last name means, Anglo? But if you put it together with my first it means Angel of Death, who knows maybe that's what I am." Nico had chuckled harshly at that. Percy had felt a twist in his stomach but not of fear, but of pain and sadness for Nico.
They had sat like that a few more times and Percy had started to consider Nico his friend. He knew Nico felt the same way about him because the second to last time they had met Nico had showed him into the old tunnels under the city where Nico liked to stay during the day most. Percy had thought they were cool but he had gotten claustrophobic quickly, they had gone back up to the surface and back to the shore of the river.
The last time they met Percy had just gotten his first paycheck from his summer job and he was excited. Most of it always went to help his mother but he had some extra to spend on whatever he wanted and he knew exactly what that was. Nico was already in their familiar alley when Percy reached him bouncing in his excitement.
"I just got my first paycheck from my summer job! Where's the nearest fast food restaurant? I want to take us both out for burgers!" Nico had looked at Percy suspiciously at first but when he saw only excitement and no hint of charity or pity he had agreed. He lead the way to a nearby McDonalds, Percy had bought them both meals. They went to the roof of the nearest building to eat while looking at the stars from their vantage point as high above the light pollution of the city as possible.
"Have you tried to get a job?" Percy asked Nico curiously as they ate.
"Of course I have." Nico said nodding. "But the way it's set up, I need a birth certificate and social security number and a bunch of stuff to get a job. To get those things I need both an address and money, to get an address and money I need to get a job and I can't get a job without the forms. It doesn't help that my mother was never a citizen of America. She brought me and Bianca here from Italy and died before she could become a citizen. If I tried to get a job now there's a good chance I would get deported. Unless I worked under the table, and most of those jobs are dangerous and nearly as bad as slave labor."
"Oh." Percy said unsure of what else to say, he had never thought of himself as lucky before but now he realized he really was. At least now he know what Nico's accent was. "So what will you do?" He had asked tilting his head to the side curiously.
"Who knows." Nico had said with a shrug then stared intently at the knife "Maybe I'll be the angel they obviously meant me to be. Or the king he wanted to be." Nico had smiled crookedly. Percy had known that the answer wasn't meant for him, not really, so he hadn't asked for clarification. At the time he had assumed he would have plenty of time to learn more about Nico but he hadn't.
That night when he got back his mother was already home pacing frantically. And when she had shouted at him that she was worry he had told her to relax letting it slip that he did it all the time. That didn't calm her down, if anything it made her more horrified. She had stopped working night shift at the candy store so she could make sure Percy stayed home. By the time he got out to go back to Nico and his meeting place Nico had stopped looking for him.
That was years and years ago, Percy was an adult now and he had dated a few girls, Rachel, Annabeth, and Reyna. He had settled on Annabeth, or at last he thought he had until something else had caught his attention. A Story in the news paper.
Serial Killer Strikes again
He picked up the newspaper and read the article. "Killer known for carving wings into his victims strikes again. He has been dubbed the angel of death." Something tickled the back of Percy's mind. It mean Angel of death. Maybe I'll be the angel they obviously meant me to be. Black eyes reflected in an equally black blade.
Percy had dove into research about this new killer. The name didn't stay The Angel of Death long. The next Body was found with a note saying
Join me in my kingdom and you will fly.
Signed
The Ghost King
Again it triggered Percy's memories. We can all fly without our flesh. Be the king he wanted to be. Percy had smiled dreamily at the newspaper in a way that had made Annabeth uncomfortable.
After that Percy had started walking at night again and Annabeth had left him. He didn't care as he walked these familiar streets looking for a familiar face. Finally in this dark alley away from the noise and the lights of the main streets, he felt a sharp blade press against his throat. He hadn't heard the person approach, but then again if it was who he thought it was he wouldn't have.
"Join me in my kingdom." The voice is lower, huskier but there is the same gentle accent that Percy knew so well. He glanced down and he sees that the blade pressed against his throat is pitch black too.
"I already have Neeks." Percy says leaning his head back a little to expose his throat to the blade in a sign of trust. "Just tell me what you need."
"Percy?" Nico's voice is surprised and just a little shaky.
"It's good to see you Nico." Percy said a smile flickering across his lips, though the knife hadn't moved from it's place and he hadn't turned around. "I guess you became the king he wanted to be huh?"
"Ya I did." Nico said. Percy can hear the smile in his voice. "And the Angel they meant me to be, I help people fly." He sounds truly happy. Percy closes his eyes contently. "Do you… Do you want to fly Percy?" Nico asks hesitantly.
"I'd rather stay with you." Percy murmurs softly. "I've missed you."
"I've missed you too." Nico said. Suddenly the knife isn't at Percy's throat anymore. Instead Nico's arms are wrapped around him tightly from behind. Percy could feel Nico's warm breath against his soulder. "I thought I had scared you away."
"No Nico." Percy said in shock. "No, it was my mom who was scared, she found out I had been going at night. She stopped working night shifts so she could make sure I didn't go out anymore. She might have let me if I had told her about you but…" Percy hesitated. "I got the impression you didn't want anyone to know about you."
"Thank you Percy." Nico said and Percy squirmed in Nico's hold to turn and face him putting his arms around Nico's shoulders. Nico is still smaller than him, and lean and muscular as ever. Percy can feel the muscles move even underneath the thick cloth of Nico's jacket.
"I have my own apartment now." Percy said hesitantly and Nico looked at him questioningly. "It's just that if you still don't have anywhere safe to live still you could… if you want… maybe come live with me? My girlfriend left me when I started getting obsessed with finding you again so… there's space." Nico stared at Percy blankly for a long moment but then he smiled.
"That would be nice, Percy." He said in a slightly sing song voice making Percy grin. "But tonight I have to work. Come back here some other night. I'll find you." Percy didn't want to let go of Nico, but he did. Nico gave him one more smile before disappearing around the corner. Percy waited for a moment to give Nico time to disappear before he left the alley and headed home to his apartment. Instead of going to sleep he headed to the roof of his building, staring at the sky just the way he and Nico had when he was younger. In the distance he can hear sirens and he wondered if they're already on their way to find Nico's handiwork, and if it will be in the paper the next morning.
If it is he's clip it out and add it to the folder of other articles about the Angel of Death or The Ghost King. He hopes desperately that Nico will take him up on his offer of a safe place to live. Ever since Nico saved him when they were both kids he had yearned for an opportunity to protect Nico in exchange. Maybe even a chance to aid him in the mission Percy in convinced makes Nico truly angelic, who would want to live in a world like this? But maybe if Nico is willing to be the martyr and stay in this world to help others leave it Percy can make his stay a little easier. Who knew maybe Percy could even help Nico in his mission, after all two sets of hands where always better then one, especially for holding down anyone who didn't understand that Nico was only doing what was best for them.