Nico had thought his day was confusing before he remembered that nothing is ever just a story. He had walked out of his cabin in the wee hours of the morning only to be kissed by a very drunk Percy and then an equally drunk Jason. Then the two older looking demigods started making out and Nico decided he'd better just shadow travel away from the inebriated heroes. After that Nico needed to just walk somewhere where he wasn't likely to be found by other demigods. He decided that Brighton Beach was probably a good bet and decided that as long as he was on a beach before dawn he might as well stay and see the sun rise.
Walt and Anubis jointly decided it was time to get out of Brooklyn House when the ankle-biters' picture started coming to life at two in the morning. Part of them felt guilty leaving the others to deal with the deadly artwork, but it probably wouldn't take very long anyway and they really needed some air. They decided that maybe they should change it up and go to Brighton Beach, at least it would make it harder to find them. They hailed a cab and got to the beach not long after.
They were walking along the beach when they noticed a teenaged boy with an incredibly strong aura of death around him.
_
Nico looked up to see a very startled looking teenager stairing at him. Then he saw this guy's aura and was sure that his expression mirrored that of the other.
"Thanatos?" Nico asked, fairly sure that that wasn't the correct answere, but knowing it at least gave the conversation a starting point.
"Who?" asked the stranger.
"I didn't think so, but that does raise the questions, who are you and how do you have such a similar aura to myself?" Nico said instead of answering the question.
"I'll answer the second first and then you answer the same questions," Walt/Anubis offered.
"Deal," Nico said.
"I host the Egyptian god Anubis, god of death and doorways and funerals etc. Because of this the answer to who am I is a little more difficult. I am Walt a magician of the House of Life and the eye of Anubis. That means that Anubis and I are essentially one person, so I am also Anubis which basically means I get confused about what name to tell people and I tend to refer to myself in plurals," Walt/Anubis explained. Nico just stared at him for a moment.
"Sorry, I was just trying to process what you said," Nico apologised,"I should probably tell you about myself then."
"I am Nico Di Angelo, King of Ghosts, demigod son of Hades the greek god of the underworld. And to answer your earlier question Thanatos is the greek god with basically the same job description as you," Nico explained," I thought you must be him because he's the only other person I know who has such a similar aura, excluding my father of course."
Walt looked like he had a massive headache and his aura changed significantly.
"What's happening?"Nico asked alarmed.
"Anubis just went into shock and separated from me slightly. My being his host is all that's keeping me alive," Walt explained through gritted teeth. Nico rushed over and touched him feeding his life-force. He quickly changed tactics when he saw what exactly the problem was.
"You're missing a sixth of your soul," he said.
"What?" apparently that statement had snapped Walt and Anubis together again, because Walt stopped dying.
"There's a chunk of your soul missing," Nico said again.
"You said a sixth, but the soul comes in five pieces," Walt/Anubis said.
"If you tell me what those pieces are I could probably tell you which one you're missing most of," Nico offered.
"There's your personality, your true name, your heart which is a record of all the good and bad you've done in your life, your shadow which is the blueprint for the rest of your soul, and your life-force," Walt/Anubis said.
"Ah," Nico said smiling, "That would explain it. You're missing most of your life-force. Also, I keep referring to you as Walt/Anubis in my head and I suspect you do to. I suggest that you choose a name to call the mesh of yourselves by and ask people to call you that. It would probably be less confusing for everyone and it would almost definitely help you think of yourself as one person."
"Thanks!"they said, "On a different topic, I think we should keep each other a secret from our respective sides."
"I was just about to say the same thing,"Nico said seriously,"When they do find out about each other they're gonna kill me because you're not the only ones I'm keeping secret from them, but I agree that it needs to stay secret for as long as possible."
"Deal then,"Walt/Anubis said holding out their hand to shake on it.