Shadows In Light

Chapter I

. . .

NICO

Nico stared out across New Rome noting the festive air. The Feast of Fortuna was in full swing and judging by the party hats it looked like Octavion predicted good luck this year. Numbly Nico wondered if Piper would visit him with all this festivity going on. The happiness he saw in the streets would seem much more appealing to the Daughter of Aphrodite than spending time with her mental case cousin. The laughter he heard ringing not to far down the hall answered his question. He felt torn between odd warmth at Piper's devotion and feeling of slight guilty for distracting her from the festivities and, of course, Jason.

Since the end of the Giant War, Piper had became the official Greek Ambassador for Camp Half-Blood. All in all she really was the best person for the job. Her Charmspeak combined with her friendly nature, tact, and reputation as one of the Greatest Demigods of the Age made her the best, and perhaps only choice. Annabeth could be tactful, but she was stubborn, and much like her dislike of Hera had caused problems in Rome, the blatant hatred shared between her and Octavion would have caused a tension that they didn't need. Nico had only heard stories of what occurred when he was captured from Piper, but he knew Annabeth enough to picture just what would have happened if her and Octavion had been allowed to have the epic showdown/verbal fight to the death that they both wanted. There would have been at least a lot of maiming if not a civil war. Percy was quite frankly a warrior not an orator. Leo was busy working his way steadily through any inventions he discovered in the secret bunker and he probably would have made jokes at inappropriate moments until the Romans pulled another Julius Caesar.

Yes, Piper was the best choice, plus she was pleased with the arrangement since it allowed her to spend sometime with her boyfriend. Though from what Nico had heard when she visited him in his room in the Medical Bay this free time was few and far between with the after war chaos. Thus Nico's guilt.

When the door opened Piper looked, as Nico expected, wonderful. Hair thick chocolate brown hair had what looked like thinly spun pure gold threaded through it, with pure gold lilies as hair decorations. Her delicate gold diadem crowned her like a grinning Cherokee Princess. She wore a Greek chiton that was made of silk and was white with gold embroidery showing some of Piper's more memorable heroic adventures; including saving her father, Charmspeak healing Jason, and killing a giant with the help of Hecate and Nemesis. The pictures were moving.

Nico raised his eye brow in silent question and Piper's grin grew in response.

"A gift from my sisters and some Daughters of Athena. Apparently I'm supposed to show the Romans that Greeks can dress up without wearing ridiculous togas."

Nico nodded impressed by the skill. He wasn't really surprised though. Daughters of Athena could have quite a bit of skill in making clothes. It came from having a mother who invented the loom. Few used it though, preferring architecture or more 'intellectual' pursuits. But when they did the work was amazing and if combined with the imaginative genius of the daughters of Aphrodite the could make something so fine Aphrodite would weep with envy, not that many dared make something like that without dedicating it to the goddess. The were the daughters of the goddess of wisdom after all.

"Reyna and Jason are doing praetor stuff, so I decided to come visit you." Piper told him and glided over to sit gracefully in the seat beside Nico's bed. It was her seat by now, she'd visited him at least once a day since she'd become the Greek Ambassador.

"You look a little winded." she noted mildly. "Were you exercising?"

Nico nodded. Ever since he'd gotten all the movement back in his body, and the desire to move, he'd been working out, trying to get in shape from the thin wraith he'd been these past few months. It had only been a few weeks ago that he'd spoken again. The first time since the combined efforts of Dionysus and Aesculapius had woken him from the coma and induced madness from that dark time in Gaea's grips. It had been one of Leo's visits and he'd started to annoy him. Usually Piper would tell him to shut up when he started to, but she had been distracted by a Roman who'd come to talk to her about some urgent message from Octavion, which could be anything from really important to something inconsequentially sent solely to annoy her. Nico had kept throwing Piper looks trying to catch her attention and signal for her to get Leo to no avail. And finally Nico couldn't take the naturally bubbly, hyper son of Hephaestus any longer and said two simply words shocking every one into silence. "Shut up." Leo had of course been the first to recover and had been offended about the first thing Nico saying to him was to tell him to shut up.

Piper had just smiled though, like she always did. It was that small happy smile that stopped Nico from telling Leo to shut up a second time. It had made him realize why exactly he liked Piper so much. That smile was a combination of Bianca's smile and the hazy one he remembered to be his mother's. And that was exactly what Piper had become a mixture of mother and sister, not that Nico would say it out loud. Some part of him didn't really think it mattered if he did, sometimes a certain look on Piper's face, a mixture of gentle sympathy and fondness made him think she knew what exactly he thought. His pride though, what remained of it, kept him silent.

"I would have been here sooner," Piper began, her voice drawing him back to the present. "But the First Cohort boys seems to be under the impression that 'I'm dating Jason' and 'I'll cut you' are code for I'm yours, take me." Piper shook her head seeming mystified by the stupidity of Octavian's soldiers. "I only just escaped and they're lucky I did or several of them might of lost some appendages instead of just getting some small cuts from Katoptris."

Nico's lips twitched upward in amusement. It was a testament to her grudging respect fro Reyna and her trust in Jason that Piper wasn't more upset about Jason having to do official business with his fellow Praetor instead of spending the festival with her. It was especially impressive when you take into account that Reyna had only just recently given up her romantic interest in Jason in the face of a very angry, very possessive Daughter of Aphrodite the first time Reyna had really tried something significant. The friendly duel that followed left no doubt as to why getting between a child of the Goddess of Love and their chosen mate was an incredibly stupid idea.

As Piper began talking about the festival Nico considered how these past few months had been. Besides Piper the only people who visited him regularly was Leo, Jason, and Thantos. Leo annoyed Nico to no end just to get him to talk, and even if Leo did like the boy that did not mean he liked to hear his corny jokes every three seconds. Even if some of the them were funny. Jason's visits were rare, but the relatively quiet, gentle boy with his slightly mournful air was someone Nico found himself liking without much thought. There was just something friendly about Jason and he could visit and not say anything and Nico could still feel as if he'd had a wonderful conversation when the blonde left. Thantos frankly scared everyone else in Camp Jupiter out of their minds when he popped in for a surprise visit. The God of Death and Nico had formed an odd working relationship, what with Nico being the Ghost King. But Nico hadn't known Thantos had actually liked him until he first popped in causing Leo to fall out of his chair with a very girly scream and Piper to nearly stab him with Katoptris before she recognized him from Hazel's descriptions. Though his sister didn't like Thantos, her newly found friend, and Nico's, Piper, got along with the God of Death startlingly well. She was the only one who didn't flee the room when he showed up and last time they'd actually had a pleasant conversation about, of all things, what soap worked best on feathers. Something Piper had only learned about because her mother had given her a pink dove for her birthday, something Nico had laughed at, but both he and Piper had become fond of Einstein, who was living up to his namesake. Percy and Hazel would have visited, but along with Frank they were helping Thantos track down the surplus of escapees while Nico was out of action. They did send him Iris-messages twice a week.

"I really can't figure out what Rachel sees in him. He's an arrogant, overly ambitious jerk." Piper muttered shaking her head mystified. This caught Nico's attention.

"Rachel?" he asked in a whisper shocked, picturing the artsy redheaded oracle. "I thought she had to remain a maiden forever."

Piper didn't look surprised like the others did when he spoke, which made him feel a little happy. Even though he did talk again, he rarely did and the others were still insultingly obvious about it every time he chose to.

"So did I, put Rachel's been visiting the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus quite often, and I just ran into her giggling in some alcove with a certain blonde jerk. Apparently hands off the oracle does not apply to Roman descendents of Apollo." Piper looked thoughtful.

"Is she honestly getting along with him because he's the only choice?" she said to herself, looking bewildered.

Nico didn't comment too shocked to really pay attention. He was shocked, not only by Rachel Elizabeth Dare's apparent fling with Octavian, who was widely regarded as a manipulative jackass, but by how frustrated he felt to hear it. Was everyone moving on but him? Piper was happy with Jason. Annabeth was planning on attending college in New Rome and majoring in Architecture. Percy planned on setting up a house for him and his now girlfriend in New Rome while spending the summers in Camp Half-Blood. Leo was busy tinkering. Hazel and Frank were in love and obvious about it. Even—he flinched slightly at the thought as he always had—Bianca had moved on being reborn. Heck nobody would be surprised when the inevitable announcement of cyclopes-Harpy Hybrids was received from Tyson and his girlfriend Ella.

Nico did not like the thought of being left behind. After all the suffering he'd went through with Gaea he'd gotten through it knowing he'd get out somehow, knowing he'd keep living. But all he'd done was exist in this half life. Never leaving the Medical Bay. He hadn't even touched his weapons since then. Nico looked over at the bedside table and something rang through him as his Stygian ring called out to him along with his matching knife. He made a decision.

Without pausing to explain to Piper, he reached over and opened the drawer. He hesitated only a moment before picking up the familiar skull ring and slipping it on his finger. It greeted him like an old friend sending a wave of energy through him, like all things connected with the Underworld did. Piper looked at him with a silent question.

"I'm going to help my sister." he said. Piper gave him a wide proud grin, not needing any explanation and without warning pulled him into a soft warm hug. Nico didn't fight back to overwhelmed my the familiarity of those arms and the maternal way Piper squeezed lovingly. In that moment Nico loved her just as much as Maria di Angelo and his reborn sister.