Summary: Nico di Angelo is not who you think he is. Nico has no one left in this world that cares about him. His sister is dead, his father practically ignores him most of the time, and talking to the dead... forget it. He's alone, deserted by everyone. How does he cope with the feeling? Set after the Titan War.

ALONE

If you were someone else in Camp Half-Blood, afraid of the son of Hades, with crazy thoughts lingering in your head about how he could hurt you with a swipe of his sword or how he's always angry and will betray this camp one day, you're wrong.

Nico di Angelo... he's a kid who went a lot through his life. He lost his mom when he was young, was dipped in the river Lethe and have no memory whatsoever of his past life, was put into the Hotel Lotus Casino for 70 years, lost his only sister on a quest, and has a father who doesn't really care about him.

Whenever Nico visited Camp Half-Blood, kids were afraid of getting near him, thinking he's a psycho. But you don't know that he hasn't slept in days with dark heavy bags underneath his eyes, and how as each day passes by, he gets skinnier and paler.

His black tousled hair is in a heap of a mess, him not caring about brushing it because no one cares about him anymore. His dark clothes have faded into a light black fabric, and how they are rips in almost every inch of his clothing.

Some days Nico mourned about his sister, crying and screaming, punching the walls, and always wondering why Bianca had left him. Her absence left a deep hole in his heart. You think he was tough? Keeping all his feelings bottled up for years?

Yeah right.

He's not as tough as you think he is.

Nico always had kept an empty expression plastered on his face. But if you look just a little bit closely into his dark black orbs, behind the hardness of it, you'll find pain and sorrow buried beneath them.

That's one of the reasons why he always wears aviator's sunglasses. He hides his eyes, hoping no one will see it and find dark secrets that are getting ready to be revealed. As the long day drones on by slowly, Nico gets better in sword fighting. Without anyone to talk to, he spends most of his time working on his strength and strategies with his sword.

Don't ever underestimate Nico di Angelo. He has surprises up his sleeves, and even if you try to talk to him, he'll ignore you and walk away. He needs help, he knows it, but he's too stubborn to ask for it.

When it's time for dinner, Nico hides in the shadows' of the pavilion, watching miserably as everyone sitting around him laughs and jokes about random things.

He knows that Percy is always watching him, trying to bring him into the light, and meet new friends. Nico has a hunch that Percy doesn't really care about him, only trying to be nice, because of the guilt of what happened years ago with his sister's death.

Nico is touched, really, he is. But he doesn't want Percy to hang out with him just because of the guilt. Nothing will change. Nico's sister is gone, forever.

You probably feel pity for the son of Hades now, don't you? You feel like a new space opened up in your heart and you try to forgive yourself for thinking wrong things, right?

Well, don't waste your time.

Nico learns that if you have someone to care for or if someone loves you, they will walk out of your life one day. It might not happen soon, but one day, you will wish you listened to Nico. That's why he separates himself from everyone around him. Why waste your time?

The point is that Nico di Angelo is just a kid who needs help. God forbid, if Nico is that dangerous at the age of thirteen, who knows how dangerous he'll be when he is in his college age.

Now think about this: you have no idea how Nico feels. You probably have a better life than he does, and he would wish that he could switch with your life for just for a minute. You probably think, wow, Nico is so lucky. He gets to talk to the dead and shadow travel! But Nico isn't lucky. After feeling the experience of shadow traveling, you could pass out instantly. Sometimes you might never wake up. Besides, talking to the dead isn't fun. You're just talking to the spirits who mourned about their past life and how they wished they had one more chance to fix it.

Now, I know what's going to happen after you read this: you'll forget about what I have just told you after a few hours and it'll be put into your short term memory slot in your mind. It happens to everyone, don't deny.

But do me a favor.

Just remember that Nico will always be alone. He will not have someone to care for, not have any siblings to argue, and most importantly, he won't have love.

Nico di Angelo will always, and always will be alone.

This is just a dark one-shot that I wanted to write. Nowadays, I am going to be writing a whole lot of one-shots just for the fun of it. Besides, I have been waiting forever to write a one-shot about Nico di Angelo, but I never had the inspiration. Now I do. ;)

R&R!

~GreekMythologyFreak12