Title: Walls

Chapter: 1 (approx. 1250 words)

Rating: T – mild swearing

Characters/Pairings: Rachel Elizabeth Dare/Nico di Angelo

Summary: Rachel knew she never should have let her guard down at all.

Notes: I decided to be more organized so I decided to do this thing lol. More detailed author's notes at the bottom; enjoy. :)

There were walls around Rachel Elizabeth Dare's heart; thick strong ones that were built brick by single brick throughout the years since she was a young girl, and that which covered every single inch of her heart, shielding it from the worst kinds of pain anyone could ever endure: loneliness and heartbreak.

She had had a few boyfriends over the years before, but the only time those walls were really taken down she had kissed Percy Jackson on the lips and had only achieved pain in the process when she knew he didn't reciprocate her feelings at all. Those walls had come up again, bigger and taller and much stronger than before. Then she became the Oracle, and it was like a cannon standing in front of a fortress that helped to defend her broken heart from any more damage. Since then no one had been able to tear down the defenses around her heart.

Then came along a certain black-haired half-Italian boy with olive skin and onyx eyes. He had entered her life again after five years, and he had changed. A lot. The once small and scrawny little boy who was obsessed with Mythomagic had become a tall and handsome young man with a brooding look on his face 24/7 and scruffy black hair which said person liked to run his long fingers through.

They had become friends at first, and Rachel had slowly let him through the first defenses and into the place where people like Percy and Annabeth were – her good friends. He had then slowly picked his way through the next few walls before one day reality hit her like a slap in the face. Those feelings she had when she was with him was something she had felt only before she became the Oracle. Her pumping heart, her hitching of breaths when he came close to her, goosebumps up her skin when those ghostly fingers came into contact with her skin, even slightly; unknowingly she had fallen in love with him.

Nico di Angelo had driven a bulldozer through those last few defensive walls, crashed the whole damn thing down and crumbled every single brick of it to dust.

She didn't want to accept those feelings at first; she was afraid. Afraid that Nico would hurt her, just like how everyone did. Just like how her parents ignored her when she was a child, just like when people dated her only because of the fact that she was the sole heir of the richest family in Manhattan. She had put on her toughest look and laughed when Percy and Annabeth told her that she and Nico should get together, ignoring the pointed – and sometimes hurt – look that Nico had on his face when these jokes cropped up amongst the conversation.

Then one night Nico had confronted her in the elevator on the way up to her apartment, for he was frustrated with her trying to avoid him all the time. He had slammed down on the emergency button in the elevator, then turned to face Rachel, his eyes burning with hurt, fury, and so many emotions that fleeted through those gorgeous orbs.

"What's going on, Rachel?" He had asked. "Why are you avoiding me like the plague?"

Rachel had put on a overly enthusiastic smile, and said a tad too brightly, "It's nothing, Nico! I've just been a little busy lately."

Nico's eyes glinted. "If you really expected me to believe that, you would be daft. And you're not a daft person."

Rachel shook her head. "No, really, I was just a little busy lately, and with so many prophecies from the Or-" Rachel squeaked softly as her hands were forced up above her head, against the wall. She tried to squirm away, but Nico was too strong for her. She was pinned, helpless.

"Tell me, Rach, did I do something wrong to make you angry?"

"Let go of me, Nico. Please."

"Not until you tell me what in the world in going on here."

"Let go of me."

"No."

"Let go of me! You wouldn't fucking understand, even if I told you!" There were tears in her eyes, and she glared at him.

"Do you know how hard it is to love someone, and not be able to accept him because of so many fucking walls you built around your heart? Because you are so afraid of getting hurt once again after being hurt so many times before?" Tear tracks streaked her cheeks, smudging the mascara she had put on for the evening. She looked down, unwilling to face Nico, but he let go of her hands, and tilted her chin up so she could look him in the eye. He gently used his thumb to wipe her tears away, and asked, "Who?"

Rachel swallowed, before whispering hoarsely, "You." Before she knew it, Nico's lips were on hers, hungrily kissing her, and she melted into him, all her resolve flying out the window. Nico's fingers ran through her messy ponytail, and he pulled apart from her.

"Give me a chance. I won't hurt you. Ever. I promise."

Rachel hesitated, and Nico whispered into her ear, "I swear. On my life."

Rachel took in a deep breath, before nodding. Nico pressed his lips on hers, and gently kissed her.

The rubble from Rachel's protective fortress slowly disintegrated as she spent more time as Nico's girlfriend. He slowly, bit by bit, helped her get over the trauma of hr parents' messy divorce, and all the hurt she had gone through. And then when she finally felt like there wasn't a need to build protective boundaries anymore, she got stabbed in the heart once again, this time by a Stygian Iron sword.

"Rachel, I don't think I can continue to be with you anymore."

The words were like a nuclear bomb, destroying all the trust and comfort she found in Nico within seconds. "W-what?" she stuttered.

"I'm breaking up with you."

"Why?" Tears were welling up in her eyes.

"I don't love you anymore." Rachel pretty much crumbled when she heard those words.

"Really?"

"Yeah." Nico closed his eyes, before opening them again. "I'm sorry."

Rachel turned away, facing the wall, trying not to cry as Nico walked out of her apartment. She didn't see Nico's expression as he left, him biting so hard on his lip that it bled, only to prevent himself from going forward to embrace Rachel and tell her that he was only joking, that he would never leave her. But he couldn't. And he didn't.

He shadow-travelled back to his own apartment, and the waterworks started. He gritted his teeth, and punched the wall, making his knuckles burn, before sliding down to sit on the floor. He held his head in his hands, and pulled on his hair. He replayed the whole scene again in his head, remembering the reason why he did it in the first place.

Hades (or rather, his hologram) appeared in his apartment right in front of him, and then handed him a piece of paper. "Apollo is angry. And by that I mean very very angry. He threw a fit during our meeting today, and he has declared that if you do not leave the girl, he will force the Oracle out of her body. And you know the Oracle of Delphi cannot be forced out of its host's body, otherwise the host will die. Make your choice, son, know that even if you try to run he will still find you."

Hades disappeared, and Nico stood there stunned. Rachel will die if he didn't leave her. He ran his fingers through his already messy hair, and sighed.

He wanted to stab himself with his sword. Nothing hurt him more than giving up the love of his life so she could live. He knew, he knew that after being dealt this blow she would never be able to trust anyone ever again.

Rachel could feel all her walls building up again, and this time she was determined not to let it fall ever again. Nico di Angelo had promised her he would never hurt her, and he did. She had given her heart to him, and he had smashed it on the ground and stomped on it. She knew she shouldn't have let her guard down at all.

Those walls were never ever going down again.

Ever.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this, if you made it till the end. :) I might update this and make the both of them have a happy ending, but that depends on whether I have the time to do it or not, because school has been really busy and stressful lately and I have a competition coming up for my co-curricular activity in school in which I play the double bass for a string ensemble. To those internally cursing me over not updating SIHN, I would just like to say that I've decided to 'revamp' the story, in a sense edit it to make the story flow better because my writing skills in that story were a horrible disappointment omg. So yeah, once I'm done revamping I'll start updating again, and I'm sorry for not being active for such a long time haha. Anyway, reviews are highly appreciated!