"Hey, Will!" Jason shouted across the dining pavilion, causing the blond medic to look up from his breakfast, "Any chance that you've seen Nico yet?"
"Uh, no. Why," he asked, thinking of about a dozen ways the child of Hades could have gotten himself injured, again, and walking over to Jason. A worried look crossed Jason's face, "No reason, I just didn't know if he'd left his cabin yet, and since you seem to know almost everything about him…"
Jason trailed off at the end, leaving Will with a slight blush as he stuttered out, "I-It's not like that!"
He was given a lopsided smile as a response, "Sure it isn't."
"Anyway," Will continued, "Are you sure? He should know better than to skip out on breakfast."
"Solace, I already told you," He said, his trademark smile being replaced by a somber look, "and I'm worried about him too, I just hope he didn't leave camp again."
"I'll see what I can do, alright?"
At that, Will left the dining pavilion, snagging his half finished waffle and, after a moment of consideration, a chocolate chip muffin for Nico on the way out. He soon found himself lost in thought.
'He couldn't have gone far, and if he did then he better hope I'm not the one to find him. How many times do I have to tell him not to do anything too strenuous just yet…'
As he wandered he kept an eye out for Nico, until finally giving up and settling down on the porch of the Big House, gazing out at the hill with Thalia's old pine tree on it. Just as he was finishing his breakfast, something in the tree caught Will's attention.
'It's early summer, there shouldn't be any brown leaves yet, let alone black…' His thoughts raced as he rose from the old rocking chair, breaking out into a run. 'I swear to the gods Nico, you're gonna be the death of me one of these days.'
Soon he was at the base of the pine tree, looking up at the branches looming over him, and sure enough, there was one Nico Di Angelo, nestled among the branches and needles. Sighing, Will tried to think of a safe way to wake up the demigod, one that didn't involve him climbing up or Nico plummeting to the ground.
'Well, at least if he crashed to the ground I would be here to help,' Will mused, a mischievous smirk on his face. "NICO, TIME TO GET UP!" he yelled, watching in amusement as the son of Hades jumped, lost his balance, and tumbled out of the tree, each branch lessening his descent.
Despite this, Nico failed to stick the landing, and fell on back, giving out a yelp in pain. 'Ow, that may have been a bad idea.' the blonde thought, cringing as Nico sat up, grumbling about "stupid son of Apollo... waking me up early...need more sleep," and gently rubbing his back.
"...You didn't break a wing, did you?" Will asked hesitantly, "because from what you told me, they're pretty durable, but when they break it's bad and so help me if you deny another injury…" he rambled on, oblivious to Nico's amused expression. "...and I remember you mentioning that you're more stubborn than Fang when it comes to needing medical attention, so-"
"Solace, you can shut up now," Nico interrupted, his voice suddenly becoming unusually tense as his most recent nightmare came to mind, "and what did I tell you about bring them up again!"
"Well, it's just that-
"That what!" Nico shouted, eyes ablaze with anger and glazed over by raw fear, "That when I was finally yanked out of the stupid casino I wound up being experimented on? That the sicko's there had the nerve to call themselves doctors and treat us like dirt! That when," he faltered for a moment, "when Bianca and I escaped it was already too late for us? That we were turned into bigger freaks than we were to start off with? "
"No, it's not like that, I meant-"
"Yeah, it's just that I had to spend half that summer locked in a cage and the other half on the run, right? I'm sure I'll have absolutely no problem freely talking about having to hide 13 foot wings under a cramped jacket or anything," Nico finished, sarcasm dripping off his words
Sighing, Will tossed Nico the muffin "Nevermind."
There was a long pause as they walked to the Big House, Will feeling too guilty to say anything, while Nico was silently fuming and scarfing down the muffin.
"Anyway," Will spoke, breaking the silence, "You scared the schist out of Jason, what with you missing breakfast. You really need to stop taking those morning 'walks,' or at least leave a note so remember to eat something afterwards. After all, you and I both know you can't afford missing any meals right now."
Nico glared at him, which would have been terrifying had it not been cut short by a yawn. "Yeah, but where's the fun in that," he questioned, crushing the muffin wrapper into a ball, "Besides, it's not like I need to stay at camp for much longer. Once you clear me as 'recovered,' I'll be free to go."
'Free to fly, free to explore, free to see if Max and the others are still alive,' he thought, a faint smile on his face, which quickly disappeared as he spiraled down a darker train of thoughts.
'But what if the School still exists and they're still hunting you, what if Max hate you for abandoning them, what if they don't trust you anymore, what if you accidentally hurt one of them after a nightmare, what if you get one of them killed, what if another war starts up at camp and I'm too busy to help, what if...'
He hadn't noticed that his pace slowed down, or that his breathing had become rapid. His head became filled with more 'what if's.
"-co, Nico!" Will said, concern lacing his voice, looking the gothic boy in the eyes, "Hey, deep breaths, remember. In for 4, hold for 7, out for 8." He placed a hand on Nico's shoulder, "I guess we'll be back at the infirmary working on your PTSD, huh."
It wasn't too uncommon for demigods to have PTSD after fighting in one war, lead alone two, but Nico's case in particular worried several of the camp's healers. They had yet to figure out his trigger, but he already knew.
It was family. More specifically, harm coming to his family, and him being unable to save them.
After having his memories of his mother taken, his father out of contact for several year, and left to rely solely on his sister, he was upset. During their stay at the Lotus Casino, he began to wondering why no one wanted him or his sister.
Once they left and were sent to the School, the siblings started to bond with the other experiments, Nico taking a liking to Fang especially it seemed. Soon after their arrival though, the white coats began their testing. Almost four months later, the 'doctors' had finally come to an agreement. It was decided that the Di Angelo's would be grafted with Raven DNA, both to further their research and to test how well the DNA grafting would go on a 'normal' human that had never had wings before.
As they recovered, the Flock, with the help of Jeb, had devised a plan of escape and were waiting for the newest additions to the School to return. Sure enough, a month later they were deemed 'healthy' enough to be sent back to the other experiments. Then, their escape was made. Weeks passed before they found the safe house Jeb had claimed to reserve for them. The days that followed were filled with a combination of nightmares, assigning shifts for watch, and combat training courtesy of Jeb. Despite the tough times, Nico had started to think of the Flock as a second family. However, a few months after their escape someone had requested the DI Angelo's.
"How did you find us," Jeb had demanded, "and what do you want." The old woman at the door merely smiled, seeming amused at his questions.
"I only need Nico and Bianca. You can hand them over peacefully or I can take them by force, your choice," she spoke, her voice, sweet and kind, was more unnerving than her smile, and seemed out of place considering the leather jacket and cold, calculating eyes.
Against his better judgement, Jeb let the pair leave, never to be seen by the Flock again, his only words for them being, "Don't come back here. I don't care how much you miss us, we'll see you again eventually. Until then, I don't want to see either one of you back here. Understood?"
In the morning, when Angel asked where Nico and Bianca were, Jeb cleverly responded with an "I don't know," and "Maybe they left in the middle of the night." The Di Angelo's disappeared from the Flock's lives and things continued per usual, Nico and Bianca hiding wings under layers of clothes at Westover Hall, the Flock training to fight Erasers and escape their clutches in emergencies.
Once more, they were torn away from their family, only for them to be rescued, this time by demigods and hunters. They had mostly forgotten about their time at the School, or at least blocked out the more gruesome parts. Something was different about this rescue attempt though, rather than be taken away as a pair, they were separated. A quest was issued, promises were made and broken, lives were lost, and the end result was one broken Nico Di Angelo, far beyond trusting his new 'family' again, who ran away by his own free will.
One year later, so much had changed. The happy, curious, cheery Nico that Bianca, that the Flock, once knew was gone. He was replaced by a bitter, angry boy who believed his only home to be among the dead in the Underworld. True, during his time with Minos he had mastered his demigod abilities, along with using the Mist to hide the shape of his wings under his jacket, but this only helped so much when he knew it was just a matter of time before he was found, whether it be by Erasers or the Flock themselves.
As the Titan War approached and then came to a close, Nico had started to become the sort of hero that Chiron had hoped all half bloods to be: bold, brave, and was almost accepted by the other demigods. Almost being the key word. Weeks after the Titan War, the novelty of his heroic acts had worn off, and campers had taken to avoiding him yet again.
Time wore on, Percy disappeared, Tartarus happened, Percy was found, then lost for a second time, secrets were revealed, there was a war again, three plus days were spent in the infirmary with Will "Don't do anything too strenuous" Solace, then it was back to camp as usual. For the most part anyway. Reyna now knew he had wings, so did Coach Hedge and Will, and Nico had the slight suspicion that Jason might have known as well. Regardless, that was about as normal a life as a demigod with genetically recombined DNA could ask for.
He knew he had a family, he just didn't know how long this one would last for.