Day three of Christmas!
DISCLAIMER: Don't own the characters, just the story.
...
Through the next few days, Nico slowly got used to his schedule, managing to make it to class on time. Even though he still struggled, things were starting to get easier.
The pain the plagued his body was finally clearing up, his muscles no longer fighting with him with every movement. His shoulder was starting to get better, even to the point where it didn't hurt to move it. He tried to push everything behind him and move on, no matter how hard it actually was.
And by the time he got to his Magical History class, he was five minutes early and had his books all set out on his desk.
As he was going through his things, something stuck him as off. He noticed that he had packed the book that Chiron had given him the first day.
It was a strange book, the outside showing it to be well used. The lettering on the cover was foreign to him, but as he opened it up, the weak spine giving away to what seemed like centuries of use, he was surprised to find that the only hard thing about the book was the hand-written aspect of it.
It appeared to be hand-inked, with pictures to match the cursive writing. Creatures of all sorts roared to life as Nico flipped through the aged pages, yellowing with time.
He gently dragged his hand over one of the pages, smoothing out the paper that had become warped. Nico trialed the words with his fingers, following the steady lines that swerved gracefully.
"Alright class," announced his teacher as she made her way to the front of the class, her hair in a high ponytail as she set a grey book she was carrying on to her desk at the front, "please get your text books out and turn to page one-ninety-two."
Nico quickly shut the book closed, muscles tensing as he remembered that the book was fragile. He shoved it back into his bag and hauled out his text book instead, turning to the page his teacher had instructed him to do.
"Now, can anyone translate the first sentence at the top of the page and tell me what it says?"
The class went silent as the sound of pages being flipped echoed throughout the class.
"Tenebris Deus...?" someone spoke out hastily.
"Yes," she spoke, looking around the room with a calming smile.
"'God has'...?"
"Looser, try reversing," the teacher said, turning her back on the class.
"Um," came from the same girl, running her finger over the word. "'Dark Gods'?"
"Correct, but a looser translation would be Gods Darkness. Any idea on what that means?"
The class went silent as the teacher turned back and scanned the eyes of the students.
"C'mon, it's quite simple if you put it into context. This book is ancient, don't trust too much on it's loose translation that google could have done better. Read and tell!"
A girl with a face full of freckles and hair bigger than the mess in her backpack slowly raised her hand, her nails chipped and mismatched coloured.
"Um, does this entail we will be learning about dark magic?"
"Yes, Dare! Exactly that!" The teacher turned from her students, her ponytail flowing with her sudden movements. She started writing down small words in both English and Latin, doodling small pictures beside them. "These are more commonly illustrated with the dark arts and black magic, but there's a fine line between black magic and black magic used for evil intent, and that's where we are going to study."
"Are you allowed to teach us this?" a boy with choppy brown hair asked, raising his hand slowly.
The teacher stopped her writing and turned around, staying silent.
"No," she answered after a few moments of silence. "What they have in the text book is all I'm allowed to. But what I will be teaching you is for your own protection."
She got out from behind her desk and started walking around with her arms crossed.
"Can anyone tell me what the simple I drew in the middle of the board is?"
The ginger girl put her hand up, looking awkwardly around at the rest of the students.
"Dare?"
"Isn't that a pentagram?"
"Exactly," she said, heading back over to her desk and leaning on the front, arms still crossed as she examined the students that sat eagerly in their desks, "and do you know why I am going behind the schools back and teaching you this?"
"To prepare us for something...?" a smaller built girl spoke up, eyes wide and amused, yet scared.
"Exactly. Look, they may teach you how to defend yourself, but how are you supposed to know the proper way if you don't know what you are up against. I know your magical beast teacher will teach you the basics, but I have seen too many fall victim to those creatures that are deemed too dangerous to teach about, especially when they are wielded by those full of hate.
"The original reason why they cut this course is because a long time ago, someone young like you used these lessons and turned them against us. There are people out there that do not approve of our way of training you; they claim that we are building an army, but in reality, we are preparing you for a war you will have to fight on your own."
The entire class sat in silence, no one dared to speak after the teacher, no one wanted to. What she had said really stuck a cored with everyone, and the after the silence was broken by the teacher herself, Nico found something pulling at him. Something about this was the answer to some question he didn't know, and it bothered him that he couldn't quite place it.
...
Nico's mind was still swirling about from his previous class on magic history. Everything his teacher said intrigued him and he wanted to learn more. But at that moment, he had to wait till after his final class.
"Now, magic isn't the only way to defend yourself," Mrs. O explained, pacing with her hands behind her back. "Physical means can be just as tactical as magic, especially when faced with an opponent that is equally matched with you."
She stopped and looked at the group of students, her eyes judging as she turned away.
"Now, please get together with a partner and get into position."
Nico had his hands in his pocket as he looked around at the groups of people that had already paired off with their friends. It wasn't until he felt a tap on his shoulder did he turn around and scowled.
"Hey, newbie, I'm sorry for what happened the other day, I didn't know you had no previous training or I wouldn't have gone so hard on you," Octavian explained with his voice dripping with sarcasm. "How about we put that behind us and be partners?"
"Why would I ever want to be your partner again?" Nico asked on guard, eyebrow raised.
"Aw, I'm just trying to play nice."
"Then go play nice somewhere else," Nico shot back, turning away from.
Octavian's face dropped as he put a hand on Nico's shoulder, ready to turn him around to face him, but his plan was cut short when the teacher made her way over to them.
"What's going on over here, you two?" she asked, her hand on her hip, hair being ruffled in the wind and finger-less gloves seeming like a bad fashion statement.
"Oh nothing, Mrs. O. I was just coming over here to tell Nico that I am sorry for what happened and that I would like to put it behind us and be partners to show him that I mean him no harm," Octavian continued to sweet talk his way out.
At first she seemed suspicious, but then she smiled and placed a hand on Nico's and Octavian's shoulder, looking at the two of them with pride.
"I'm glad you two are over that incident, and if you wish, would you like to demonstrate the proper technique?"
"That would be wonderful, Mrs. O," Octavian continued the fake act with a smile so wide Nico was waiting for it to fall off of his face.
"Amazing, but just so you know, you two have to take it easy."
Nico wanted to protest, but by the time he tried, she was already dragging them off to the main area.
"We will be taking turns in a few, but these two have volunteer to show us how to properly fight before we move on to more advanced moves."
"Wait, what?" Nico said out loud, not knowing that this was going to be a real fight. He thought she meant that they would show a move or two. He was really behind in these classes and he was going to pay for it.
Octavian cracks his knuckled as he gets ready, shaking his hands out in preparation.
"Now, keep it simple, you two. Contact is allowed, but please keep the blood to a minimum, alright?"
She blew a whistle, and the moment the sound reached Nico's ears, Octavian was already half way to him with his fists up and ready.
Nico managed to block the first move, sending Octavian tumbling behind him as he got out of the way for the next blow that connected with his abdomen. Nico could feel his breath leaving me as he shot a punch out at random, making connection with his nose.
Octavian stepped back and spat to the side, eyes still burning holes in Nico's skull. Nico wasn't all the proud to admit to it, but he got in more than enough fights to not die five seconds in, but ten... he wasn't all that sure.
"Keep it clean, boys," their teacher shouted, her arms crossed as she watched the two boys threw a tidal wave of attacks at one another.
As one made contact with the other, that person had a punch ready to throw back right away. Nico's shoulder was starting to hurt, but at least he seemed to be winning. Octavian was fast with his fists, and maybe even with straight-on running, but Nico found that he was not all that great with coordination with his feet.
Nico kept pushing forward, moving in just a way that would force him to back up, but trip on his own feet. As Nico threw one last punch, he made connection with his chest, pushing Octavian back and on to his back as he fell over.
Nico felt pride as people started to take notice of his lead. He felt that for once, he was going to be on top, but then in a split moment, everything change. Octavian kicked his foot up and smacked Nico crossed the face, using that momentum to project himself back up to his feet.
With one swift kick, Octavian has him pinned to the ground, in pain and out of breath.
"That's enough boys, thank you," their teacher called out, walking between the two of them.
"Don't ever think you can beat me," Octavian spat underneath his breath at Nico, eyes aiming to kill.
As he walked away, Mrs. O extended a hand and helped Nico up. She pats him on the back and set the hand on his shoulder.
"You should go get those checked out," she whispered. Even thought no one else heard, they still knew, snickering at him. "You have permission to leave class early."
If Nico thought that maybe things were getting better, he suddenly felt the weight of the exactly opposite fall on him, weighing him down.
With a scowl, he wiped his plain grey tie on his nose after noticing their was blood dripping.
"Just great," he muttered, kicking a rock and not planing on heading to the infirmary.
...
As Nico continued to dab is still bleeding nose, he cursed it, kicking the side of the school, sending even more pain up his foot.
"Fuck," he shouted, pinching his nose more after checking his bloodied tie to see if it had let up, which it didn't.
He sighed, wondering where he should go to ditch. He thought about going back to the dorms, but that would involve tracking blood through his room, and that was something he didn't want to do. So, once again, he was back at square one, wondering around aimlessly, trying to find something meaningful to do.
Or at least cure his boredom.
"This is really fucking hurts," Nico mumbled as he leaned his back on the structure behind him.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt as much if you were pinching it off properly," came a voice, deep and familiar, "or even if you had a cold cloth on the back of your neck."
Nico turned his head up to notice the blond that had treated him in the infirmary just a few days back.
"Get lost," Nico mumbled, resting his head back and closing his eyes.
"I wouldn't do that," he said, setting down a book that was in his hand. He untied his blazer from around his hips and set it beside the book before heading over to where Nico stood. "Here, let me help you."
"I'm fine, continue on with that you're doing," Nico said nasally, waving his blood-covered hand aimlessly.
"Look," the other boy started, tying his hair up in that adorable tiny ponytail that he had last time Nico saw him and grabbed the tie and pinched the bridge of his nose properly, "just let me help you and you can go on your way. Just, stop bleeding everywhere, it's not sanitary or safe."
Nico tried to push the blond away, but missed, swiping at empty air and losing his balance.
"Here," the blond said, holding Nico up an supporting him, "just sit down and let me do this."
"I don't need your help," Nico continued to fight, but the blond wasn't having any of it.
"Then don't think of it as helping," he tried, "think of it as... assistance. I'm just here to make sure you don't mess up."
"Ha ha, very funny," Nico replied flatly.
"Stop talking will you, it'll only make it worse." As the blond continued to pinch the bridge of Nico's nose, the sound of conversations passed in the distance, bouncing from wall to wall and back into the forest.
The blond took off the tie to look at it, scrunching his nose as he brought his finger slowly up to Nico's nose.
"What the hell are you doing?" he asked defensively.
"I'm just trying to heal it faster so it stopped bleeding. I have no idea why it's not." Nico wanted to protest more, but he was blinded by the cold touch of the blond's soft hands as a light emulated from his finger tips, gently brushing the swollen (and possibly broken) section of his nose.
"Shit! Ow," Nico yelled, body revolting backing from the sudden pain that followed, but the blond had an iron grip and held him in place, continuing to press his fingers to his nose, the blood slowly coming to a stop.
"There," he said, beaming with pride, "all fixed... ish."
"That really fucking hurt," Nico hissed, putting his hands up to his nose to cover it from any more sudden "healing" attempts.
"I never said it was going to be painless," the blond explained, grinning slightly, "and anyways, it doesn't hurt anymore, right?"
Through all that had happened, it never occurred to Nico that his nose no longer hurt, or was now dry.
With gentle fingers, he carefully brushed his nose, surprised by the lack of pain.
"Shit, you're right," he muttered, hands still covered in drying blood.
"Now," the blond spoke, standing up, "you might want to go get cleaned up." He turned to pick his things up from off the ground and turned to face Nico, extending his hand. "Name's Will," he introduced himself, smiling.
Nico just stared at the hand as if it was about jump out at him. He picked himself up off the ground and dusted him pants off, even though that did nothing for the blood staining his uniform.
"Is that supposed to impress me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and gripping his blood-soaked tie.
"I just thought you would want to know the name of the guy who saved your life," Will joked, smirking.
"You did not save my life," Nico shot back, sending a glare the blond's direction.
"Who knows, maybe I will, and then you'll thank me," Will replied, his smirk turning into a full smile.
"Whatever," Nico huffed, turning and walking away, leaving Will behind him.
...
That night, something was bugging him, and it wasn't his extreme attempts at getting the blood stains out of his uniform; he went to the Hermes house and asked them to help him with it, seeing as they were like the "Dorm Mothers," as Hazel had put it.
No, this was something that had been eating away at him for a while. So, he grabbed his bag and sneaked around the school after dark, trying to avoid getting caught as he made his way to the library. He thanked what ever god was willing to hear him out for the library still being open, well, at least unlocked.
He managed to get through and find a small blocked off place where no one would be able to see the small candle he had brought with him for light if they had entered, unless they went searching thoroughly.
Nico set his bag and candle on the small desk and hauled out the book Chiron had given him the first day. He hadn't had much time to really look at it, so he thought that if he had any questions, being in the library would be the easiest way to solve that.
As he opened the book, he was amazed once again by the way it was written. The print was something out of a fantasy movie, something he could only dream of reading, yet here he was, living just that.
He wasn't sure why he was so quick on accepting everything, but the longer he stayed here, the more he was willing to acknowledge that it wasn't a dream, at least not a nightmare.
Nico skimmed for a little while until he came crossed the section on the creature that had appeared the day this all began. There was a hand-drawn picture of that thing he had seen the day this all had started. Its beady eyes still haunting his memories, even through the artwork. The picture would have been hard to identify if he hadn't seen it up close already, as the creature was shrouded in inky black fog.
"'Quæ sedes in umbra - if referred to, commonly known as Shade. This creature is one to not appear unless it is summoned, forced, or is needed. This creature is not commonly found, but can be located in the Underworld, and can be seen/heard at sights of grave misfortune and death on a massive scale.
"Powers: Unknown. Size: Unknown. Extremely dangerous, if encountered: Run.'"
Nico took a deep breath and stretched his back, letting the small bit on information wash over him. That was it, that was all that was written about it. He skimmed over the text again, coming up with the same information as before. He was at a dead end, and he was no where near closer to finding out an answer.
Why was he here? Why was he special? Why was he so late with his powers, and why was this creature the one to find him?
These questions stormed his mind, and he wanted answers.
He stood and picked up his candle, carefully making his way to a section and seeing if they had any information. He scanned the shelves and by the time his hands where full, he had several books on black magic, hoping that maybe these would help.
...
Nico had very little sleep getting back to the dorms at two in the morning after staying up all night reading, hoping to find some sort of answer, but after that night, he had more questions then.
He struggled to put his uniform on that morning, thanking the Hermes house for cleaning his uniform, making it free of blood. It wasn't until his last class of the day did he get pumped up, feeling something inside of his fuel, burning a match that wasn't there before. He didn't know what it was, but he liked it.
He stood there, listening to his Defense teacher go on and on about safety - mainly after what occurred yesterday - and talk about how it will now be a matter of who wants to participate in those sorts of activity.
Nico didn't hear what she was saying, all he could hear was his heart beat in his chest. He had to avoid looking around, mainly because of Octavian continuing to mock him just off to the side.
"Hey, I heard you went crying like a baby to the nurses office because of a bloody nose, can't handle pain?" he mocked, voice low so he wouldn't get in trouble.
"Today I want to focus on combat with magic," the teacher continued, moving her hands around to show what she meant.
"Did they pity you?"
"Combining what we have learnt into a show of ability."
"I bet they laughed at you," Octavian spat in his ear, sharpening his words.
"We will take volunteers for those who wish to try with a partner."
"I would have."
"Anybody want to go first?"
"I would have laughed at your crying face."
"Following the new rules, remember."
"And I would have spat in it."
"I will go first," Nico announced, surprising the teacher and Octavian who had to suddenly stop with his antics.
"Nico, you know you don't have to-"
"I said I want to go first," he stated again, stepping forward, fire burning behind his eyes.
"Alright," she said hesitantly. "Who's your partner?"
Without missing a beat, he said, "Octavian."
Everyone was silent, event the blond in question fell short of words.
"Look, Mrs. O, I don't think this would be smart, I already beat-"
"Are you saying that you think you'll lose to me?" Nico interrupted him, spinning on his heel in the damp grass. The wind blew the silence over the field, enhancing the tension that had been created.
"No," Octavian stuttered in defense as he slowly made his way to the side he was meant to stand.
As the two faced one another, both burning with hatred, the teacher cautiously explained the new rules, but neither one was listening.
"You're dead, di Angelo," mumbled Octavian.
"You're going to regret saying that," Nico shot back, eyes dead set.
When they were told that they could begin, neither side moved, the wind rustling. Nico had no idea why he was doing this, he had no magic, no ability, and even if something came out to help him, what if it was something stupid and that's why it took so long for it to even show itself in the beginning. He was going to get humiliated again.
Octavian was the first to move, he ran forward at an intense speed, carrying out the same tacit he had used in their last fight. His hands started to glow yellow, shining off of his tie and reflecting back at him. With a quick breath, Nico moved out of the way, letting Octavian's weight and strength be used against him, sending him reeling forward by his own force.
But the blond wasn't just going to stop there, he had a backup strategy. He pivoted on his heel, using the momentum to swing and propel himself forward. Octavian came charging, but Nico was ready. He was done being made fun of, he was done getting beat up in class, he was done of people laughing at him. This time he was going to show them what he could do.
As the blond came hurling at him, eyes full of hate and intent to hurt, even despite the rules, Nico watched and studied his movements, learning the best way to fight back. Just like the first fight, he could feel something build up inside him, something screaming to get out, and as he watched Octavian get closer, he was hoping what ever it was would show itself.
Octavian managed to land a hit on Nico's shoulder, the same pain as the first time coming back, searing red hot. But as the blond landed more attacks and Nico's strength was winding down from the pain, he could feel himself slowly blacking out, mainly because he could faintly hear the teacher trying to call things off, but Octavian was going to get all he could out of this.
But just before he could think, before he could notice the same heat in his hands, something snapped. Like a machine braking, everything started to fall apart all at once.
His hands started to shake, and he felt cold. Nico just stood there as something inside and around him changed. The temperature dropped and the wind picked up. The already cloudy afternoon started to get darker, drowning out the sun like a thick cloud of smog.
"What the..." Octavian stopped for a moment as he noticed the change. His guard was brought down as he and the rest of the class looked around in confusion.
Without a word, everything got cold. Nico's breath was like smoke, calmly and deeply exhaling in and out of his mouth. As Octavian tried to back up, to run, but he found that the ground beneath him was falling apart, rotting away. Grass that was once alive and well, was now colourless and dead, wilted like it had been touched by an early winter shock.
Fog formed around Nico's feet as blood started to drip from his shoulder and a small cut on his eyebrow. The ground shook, threatening to open up from the stress all around it. The air felt like all life had been sucked out of it, and when Nico opened his eyes and looked at the blond, there was no life found there either.
Octavian was paralyzed with fear, the ground holding him down with its dead, cruel hands. The violent ground tremors continued to get worse, but this time actually opening up the ground, the earth underneath Octavian's feet started to concave and give in, trying to swallowing him whole.
The screams of Octavian radiated over the fields, bouncing off of the school and for all to hear. Students flocked to the training field to watch in horror what was going on, watching as Octavian screamed and flailed for his life. But no matter how hard and loud he yelled, Nico couldn't hear him. Every sound that came at him was muffled by an obnoxious ringing tone, melting in the background of his thoughts.
Teachers and students alike shouted, trying to get through to him, but nothing worked. Mrs. O raised her hand and willed every last inch of her strength to gather. She shouted something incoherent to others as she prayed that her spell would work. And to her luck, it did.
The ground started to close after some protest and released the scared blond from its grasp. Octavian whimpered as he crawled to safety, watching in horror with the rest of the student body as Nico's power grew. The air continued to blow aggressively, the temperature dropping rapidly still.
Everyone was scared that it wouldn't stop, that it would only get worse, but it was only a matter of time before Nico's body started to reject itself, shutting off whatever had been unleashed, flowing freely. The boy fell to his knees, coughing as his mind started to blank.
Winds slowed and temperatures progressively went back to normal. The ground stayed its decaying colour, but the continuous rotting subsided, resulting in a giant ring around where Nico knelt on his knees.
If it hadn't been for the surge of magic from his teacher, there was no telling how far his body would have pushed, how far it would have gone before using up everything it had and decaying away itself.
By the time the darkness slowly retreated into the shadows and Nico gained full awareness, the damage had been done. Everyone stared at him like he was a monster, ready to snap and lash out at them.
Most of them had colour drained from their faces, looks of pure terror staining their once black expressions. Everyone was scared of him, and as Nico looked down at him own hands, shaking, so was he.
...
Ahhhhh, i still cant believe its already three chapters in, there's so few left!
Now, I just have to say something real quick. I know i joke a lot with you all about you hating me and then you all joking that I die, and thats a high honour for me, but i find that there is a fine line when I don't know if you are joking or not, so please just make sure your obviously not being mean if you aren't. Its always been good, just some things have come up that made me wonder how sarcastic you all really are.
Anyways, onto me telling you all how much I love you! You guys are so nice, like really! I try and tell my friends about you but they roll their eyes. What are you, my fans? My readers? You are all so wonderful and I love you all!
Review, follow, and favourite!
Kitty out!