a/n: Hey y'all, it's me again. I know the last chapter was rather short and slow-moving. Sorry for that but as I mentioned last time, I'm fairly new to this. This particular chapter will contain mentions of self-harm, and coarse language so, please do not read if any of these themes upset you.

Once again, I own nothing but the plot, all rights go to Rick Riordan.

Nico's p.o.v

The boy opened his eyes to the calm breeze and bright rising sun. Through the thin curtains, he could see the waves rolling upon the shore. He felt deeply calm. He felt at peace. At least until he remembered his predicament. The reality of the past day came crashing to him like a typhoon, the fact that he remembered nothing.

He decided to sit up, leaving the peaceful warmth of the blankets. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he pulled the curtains aside, breathing in the fresh air deeply. He decided to look at what was on his person to see if that might reveal something about him.

First of all, he had a rough, worn skull ring on his ring finger. He wondered if maybe he was goth. Next, he was wearing a long sleeve black shirt and black skinny jeans. So much black...he must definitely be goth. Nico had been feeling a strange ache in his arm since the previous day. He suspected that he must have a bruise or something minor. He peeled back his sleeve and he did in fact find a bruise. But what else he found greatly disturbed him.

(Mention of self harm starts here)

What he found was a long column of scars. Some were thin, some thick, some looked red, others were white, some were very short while other reached almost all the way across his arm. He looked at his other arm and discovered almost the exact same thing. What more that he had found was, again, surprising to him.

Most of these scars looked self inflicted but there were many that appeared jagged, random and appeared to be from a fight. But from what fight? Nico never remembered fighting with anyone, not that he could really recall much else.

(Mention of self harm ends here)

He turned to his right and leaning on the bed, right next to his black leather jacket, was a black sword. It seemed to to actually absorb the light around it. The boy picked it up cautiously but also in awe. The metal felt strong and heavy but also balanced. His fingers curled around it almost instinctively. Nico felt a strong connection to this sword, almost the same one he had felt with the ring, he just hadn't been able to describe it.

He heard a creak of a floorboard and completely on instinct, he held his sword in front of him and his knees slightly bent. Clytie entered the room and saw him in shock.

"Nico!" she screamed. His sword clattered to the ground. "What the hell are you doing in here?" she demanded.

"I was just looking for my stuff and then I saw this so I picked it up and then i heard you and then I just held it like it was an instinct," Nico explained shyly. A blush crept onto his cheeks. Clytie hadn't meant to seem cross, she was just caught by surprise by the boy seeming to be ready to attack her.

"Well," she started, "how about some breakfast?" The boy nodded and followed her out through the hall and into another room. This room was the kitchen. It was small and cozy, much like the rest of the house. The kitchen contained a stove, small oven, a few counters and a sink. There was a large window on one wall and many plants on the window sill.

Clytie led Nico over to a small wooden table that had a plate with a small omelette and a glass of juice. They both sat, and Nico picked up the strange micro-green off of his eggs and studied it carefully.

"I grew it in my garden," she explained, "it's micro-basil. Do you like it?"

The boy took the green in his mouth cautiously and chewed then swallowed. He decided after a moment that the taste fas fresh and not too soapy.

"I do like it," he explained, "it's quite good, and fresh." This comment put an immediate smile on the woman's face and he wa glad to see it appear. The way that her eyes brightened and shone when she smiled was truly beautiful and calming.

The rest of the meal was spent in silence, the two peacefully eating their eggs. Nico decided that he wanted to head outside and explore.

Clytie's p.o.v

She was worried about the boy. When he had arrived last night, he looked pretty beaten up and weak. He was skinny and pale. The woman worried for him. She also knew that he must be one of the offspring. And that he would soon have to leave her. This saddened her deeply because she would, once again be all alone, with nobody to cook for or to share meals with and the way that he had talked about her herbs, how he thought they were good.

She saw all the scars on the boy and, it worried her. She knew that many were simply from routine brushes with monsters but she also had a sinking suspicion that many were also self inflicted. She saw the pain and sadness in his gaunt eyes.

She didn't pity the boy but she felt for him.

The woman sat there for a while more simply pondering what was to happen to the boy and how she felt about him. Then, she decided that he'd probably be in soon and that she would start dinner.

Nico's p.o.v

He spent most of the day just prancing through the fields, observing the hills and peculiar species of plants that seemed to flourish there.

By the time he had returned to Clytie's domicile, he had one question weighing on his conscience. He found that dinner was ready and he headed to the kitchen.

When they sat down for dinner, there was a slight aura of tension. Nico chewed his food without paying much attention to it. After all this woman had done for him, how could he ask her to help him do this? After all the kindness and hospitality she had shown him, how could he betray her like this? These questions weighed on his mind and he decided to finally ask the question.

"Clytie?" he said cautiously

"Hmm?"

"You know, I just wanted to say that I'm so grateful for everything you've done for me in the short time that I've been here but… I think I need to leave. There's just this feeling inside of me that I really belong somewhere else."

Clytie looked slightly taken aback but also like she expected this.

"Well of course you do, you're a hero," she said, "You should go gather your stuff and I'll prepare you a bag for the trip. Then, we can go and see the cave, okay?"

Nico nodded and headed of to the bedroom after having finished most of his soup. His stuff was quite easy to pack as he only had his sword and jacket.

He looked out the window and took a moment to simply take in the view of the ocean. Although he had only been here a short day, he was definitely going to miss it. Miss it all, miss the landscape, miss Clytie and miss the ocean.

Clytie had also mentioned a cave. This vaguely worried Nico. He didn't even know why but for some reason he felt like he had had very bad experiences in caves...or at least underground. A knock came at the door, disturbing Nico from his thoughts.

"You ready to go?" She asked.

"Yep," he responded as he grabbed all of his stuff.

On their way out the door, Clytie handed Nico a small cloth bag with some strange golden liquid, some buttery looking squares, some snacks and a water bottle. Nico was secretly deeply grateful for this woman although he didn't really know her.

The journey across the island was a long one but, the island itself wasn't that long. The whole walk was spent in comfortable silence. When Clytie stopped walking, Nico looked and saw a large rock. Clytie has said that there was a cave but this didn't look much like one. She calmly stepped forward and moved the rock out of the way almost effortlessly and revealed a large opening in the earth.

Nico stood there in shock just peering into the darkness in front of him.

"So," she started, "all you'll need to do is step in there and then think of where you want to go."

Nico was just confused, plain confused. He didn't know where he needed to go, why, or how stepping into a mysterious cave would get him there. He started to walk forward but turned around just short of the cave and ran to Clytie and hugged the woman. He then resumed his mission to wherever-the-hell-he-needed-to-go.

Stepping into the cave with uncertainty, he looked at Clytie one last time and she waved at him. The thing is, she didn't look sad. Of course she wasn't happy that he was leaving because of course, he was her only company in a long time. But she was happy because she knew what was to come for Nico.

The rock sealed itself back in place and the boy was left in complete darkness. He almost started to panic. He took some slow, deep breaths to calm himself.

Then, suddenly, the ground seemed to open up under his feet and he was swallowed by the earth. His breath caught in his throat. Even though he knew that, logically, he was underground, he could still hear and feel wind rushing past him as he seemed to fall. Then, once again, he was on solid ground. He opened his eyes to a car coming right for him, the sound of the horn filling his ears. Nico managed to jump out of the way just in time, not really thinking.

He looked up and saw a tall building with many windows, the unmistakable empire state building. So he was in New York. He still didn't know what he was supposed to do here but he decided to see what it was like in New York. He felt like he may have been here before but still like he couldn't remember.

He walked around the city that never sleeps for about two hours before he found himself in central park. He walked around and observed the plants. He still felt kind of nostalgic thinking of plants and Clyde's garden. He felt bad for leaving her yet he knew that, for some reason, he had to.

That's exactly when a muscular boy with ink black hair and sea green eyes approached him.

"Hey," he said, "Nico, what's up man?"

Nico was caught completely off guard. He didn't know what to say or who this boy was.

"Umm," he started, awkwardly, "hey, pal. Just one question, how do I know you?"

"Seriously, you don't remember me?" Nico shook his head, "It's me, Percy. Percy Jackson."

Percy Jackson, that name had some relevance to him. But why. Nico was lost deep in thought trying to rack his memory for where he had met this boy before but he came up with nothing.

"Dude, are you okay?" Percy asked, "You look pale and tired as fuck."

"It's just that I can't remember anything," he replied.

"Oh, I know what that's like. Look, it's getting late, we should head back to camp."

Percy said he knew what it was like to lose your memory but Nico had no idea what he was talking about. He also had no idea what this "camp" that Percy was talking about was.

a/n: Hey again, sorry that was slow-moving again, I'm hoping to be able to get things going soon. Also, how would y'all feel about this switching between p.o.vs? Anyways, thanks so much for reading! See y'all soon.