I feel kind of bad because the last chapter was so short. And so...weird...not my best chapter. /)_(\ Please don't hate me. This chapter will be (HOPEFULLY) well-written angst. Just some filler stuff before Hazel gets back. (It's these things that make me scared I'm not going to be able to fulfill my duties. Iwill have to make up a lot of things in this.)
Question of the day: Do you think they'll be Nico chapters in BoO? I hope so. That would be AMAZING. Poor Nico. He never gets any attention. :3 It gets better (Actually, it probably doesn't since Rick Riordan controls your life.)

Enjoy!


Nico

Nico was surprised to see where he landed. As soon as the shadows reopened and he tumbled out, (He should have been concentrating better, but the fact he had just told Leo Valdez, the person he probably hated the most, about Bianca's death had him too frazzled to focus on his landing.) a familiar smell hit his nose. The smell of seawater and sand. His eyes wide, he scrambled back against the wall.

He had landed in Percy Jackson's room.

Since Percy had fallen into Tartarus with Annabeth, the crew had offered Nico the use of his room. Nico had declined the offer, though. He didn't want to touch anything, to mess anything up. He wanted Percy to come back to his room looking exactly the same as it had when he left it.

Nico hesitantly stood up and glanced around the room. The bed was only halfway made, some of the aqua colored sheets laying in a pile on the floor. The dresser was the same color as the sheets, and the walls were simply the color of the ocean, with a carpet the color of sand. Leo had customized each room to match the person who would be staying in it.

Despite hating the son of Hephaestus, he had to admit- Leo had gotten Percy exactly.

Nico breathed in the smell again. It smelled like the beach, just like Percy. I should get out of here, Nico thought, before I ruin anything. He walked to the door before turning around and taking one last breath of the perfect smelling air. He allowed a small smile to dance on his lips before he turned back around and opened the door.

Which hit a certain blonde haired wonder in the face.

Hard.

"Ow!" Jason Grace exclaimed, his hand flying up to his nose.

"Oh, gods, I uh, um, I mean...sorry!" Nico stammered. He dug around in the pocket of his aviator jacket before pulling out a square of ambrosia. He tossed it to the son of Jupiter, who was muttering curses under his breath in Latin. As Jason ate the piece of ambrosia, Nico stood there, a blush forming on his face. He had no idea why he was acting so flustered. Maybe it was because Jason had just caught Nico in Percy's room. Technically, the room had been offered to him. So he doubted they would get mad. But they would wonder what he was doing in Percy's room. That might make them suspicious. He couldn't risk that. What if they put two and two together, Nico wondered, and they figure it out? If he really stopped and thought about it, though, he had done a pretty good job of keeping his secret to himself. But now, it seemed, the world was ending. Jason would know. Oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, oh gods, Nico kept thinking to himself. Please kill me now, kill me now, kill me now!

Jason swallowed the last of the ambrosia and touched his nose, which had already begun to heal.

"Thanks for the ambrosia, Nico." Jason said, a smile on his face. "Finally warming up to me?"

Nico couldn't help himself. If Jason was about to release his big secret, maybe he could pretend to be clueless.

"I hit you in the face with a door." Nico deadpanned, "I broke your nose."

"Well, yeah." Jason said, "But it was an accident. You gave me ambrosia."

"I figured if I ran away, you would hunt me down and zap me or something." He confessed, a small laugh escaping his lips. Suddenly he stopped himself, all humor gone, his lips forming a thin, straight line.

What is wrong with me today? He asked himself. Why am I acting so differently?

"Well, I'm going to the mess hall to get a snack. Want to come?" Jason offered.

"No. Uh...no thanks. I'm going up to the deck to wait for Hazel." Jason raised an eyebrow.

"What happened to Hazel?"

Nico filled Jason in on what had been happening while the son of Jupiter was asleep. "...but Leo and I have it under control." Nico finished. "You can go get your snack or whatever and go back to sleep. We'll wake you guys up later."

Jason looked reluctant, like he wanted to help, but he just shrugged instead. "Okay." He said before walking past Nico. "See you later, Nico."

Once Jason was out of sight, Nico leaned against the wall and slid down, until he was sitting on the floor. He put his head in between his knees, trying not to throw up.

Did Jason find out, or was he just being paranoid?

He prayed to whatever god handled morbidly embarrassing secrets that Jason hadn't found out. Then he prayed to the god of love Cupid that Jason didn't find out. Then he even prayed to Demeter and Hades that if Jason did find out, he would eat some poisoned cereal so he wouldn't have to live through Jason telling everyone. He didn't care what they thought if he was dead. If he was alive and forced to live through it, well, that was a whole different story.

I'm a child of Hades, and so is Hazel. We're cursed to live horrible lives, he told Leo.

Was this part of the 'curse'? To hate himself, to be disgusted by himself for being...no. He couldn't even think it!

His life is already so horrible. His mother, the Lotus Casino, Bianca, Percy and Annabeth falling into Tartarus, just Percy all together...why him? Just because his father is the god of death? He didn't ask to be a demigod! He didn't get a choice! It wasn't fair! He wasn't allowed to choose his parent.

Although, he did have to admit that he probably would have chosen Hades, anyway. Hades was pretty powerful in Mythomagic, and- no. Mythomagic was his past. He didn't play that stupid game anymore. He had grown out of it. He had burned all of his cards except for one, and he threw all his figurines in the River Styx. Well...all but one. He kept the first card he ever got, because Bianca had given to him for his birthday. He kept the little Hades figurine Bianca had died for.

He couldn't stand to throw it away.

"Hey, Death Breath to the main deck. Hazel is coming up." Leo's voice buzzed through an intercom.

Nico jumped up, and was at the deck faster than Leo could say "Flame on!"