Chapter 4: The Many Tales of The Snake

Late Happy New Year, guys! Sorry for not updating in a while, but I had no inspiration ^^" But I'm back now~ To those who read this fic, hope you enjoy!

That night, Nico had a hard time falling asleep. He tossed and turned, thinking about what could possibly happen tomorrow morning. Finally, he passed out when thinking became too tiring.

However, he'd already received an unexpected call.

Nico found himself in what looked like a vortex. He was floating midair, unsure of where he was and why he was even there. Until the dark figure came.

"Father?" Nico asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

"Hello again, my son," he said. "How have you been doing in that job I assigned you with?"

Nico was baffled. "I haven't even started yet!"

"Oh. You haven't?"

"Of course not!"

"I see. Time is confusing in the Underworld. Do hurry up, will you? The paperwork is piling up by the minute."

Nico tried not to roll his eyes at the god's attitude, but he had to ask something. "Father?"

"Yeees?"

"Why did you choose me to do this?"

Hades shrugged. "You are my child, are you not? This is your chance to prove yourself, to show you are a true son of mine. Besides, I want to see if your 'emotions' have not yet changed you or got in the way of your duties."

The demigod sighed at that and lowered his head. "Yes, Dad…"

"Good boy. I insist on seeing improvement next time. Be careful with these 'dead snake children'. You don't know what else they are hiding. Good night, boy."

When Nico's eyes fluttered open, he almost bolted upright when the first thing he saw was Will's face, oh-so-close to his. He sat up straight and almost backed away. "Will?" he gasped.

The son of Apollo's face chuckled back at him. "Well, I didn't expect you would react like that."

Nico was about to ask what he was doing back here until he blinked, and Will's face was replaced by a smirking Kano. "Ohayou~" he greeted.

"What…" Nico stuttered. "How—"

"Fooled you, didn't I~? I wanted to see what you'd do when you suddenly saw your boyfriend early in the morning~"

"Will is not my—How did you even do that?!"

"My eye power! It's called 'Deceiving Eyes'. I tricked you into thinking I was that Will guy!"

Nico blinked, still shocked. "Why…"

"Caught you in a daze, huh?" Kano giggled. "Anyhoo, there's food cooking in the kitchen in case you want some. Kido's preparing breakfast this time, so you'll probably like it~" With a wink, he practically skipped out of the room.

The son of Hades blinked again before sighing in frustration. Was he supposed to get used to wake-up calls like that too?

After changing into his usual aviator's jacket, black shirt, and jeans, he headed out the room and into the kitchen. Kido was by the stove, cooking something that distinctly smelled like bacon. The scent filled Nico's nose as he sat down. Distracted by the smells, the green-haired girl set a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon down for him as he inhaled the heavenly scents.

"So they wake you up early in this camp of yours too?" she said.

"Well," Nico hesitated. "Yes, but I was planning on sleeping in a while longer until your friend Kano woke me."

Kido scowled. "Kano, huh? Figures. Always causing trouble for the newbies."

"He said he 'deceived' me with his eye power…"

"Mm-hmm. 'Deceiving Eyes'. Our powers are named things like that because our eyes turn red when we use them."

"What's yours then? It probably has something to do with invisibility, right?"

Kido nodded as Nico took a bite of eggs. " ' Concealing Eyes'. By the name itself, I can conceal myself and anyone I allow from everything else. It sort of defines me, really…"

The young teen nodded slowly, seeming to understand. He would've wanted an eye power like that. "Yesterday, you said that you got eye powers because someone else…'died' with you?"

Kido nodded again but sighed as if it was a sore subject. "We all died before but we were reborn again into the people we are now. But when we died, someone we loved had to be sacrificed for us to revive. The others have their stories, but I died with my sister. We were stuck in the 'Heat-Haze' until I got my eye ability."

Suddenly, Nico softened up to her. He knew what it was like to lose a sister you loved. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault. But I envy Hibiya. Hiyori was with him when he died, but since he's the youngest and most recent member, both of them were able to come back. So did my step-sister Ayano, but you know…"

"He must've been very lucky…"

"Mm…"

"What's his eye power?"

" 'Focusing Eyes'. It helped him see objects and places far away or deep within. Each one of us has a different eye ability."

"What's Konoha's?"

"Do you always ask this many questions?" Kido blurted out.

Nico was taken aback. He hadn't realized he was asking so many things. This Kido girl really reminded him a lot of someone…himself. "No…sorry."

The girl only sighed. "It's fine. Konoha's power is 'Awakening Eyes'. When he was still nothing but a fragment of Haruka's imagination, he wished to become stronger, thus Konoha was born. It's a long story, really, even I don't understand."

"It's OK. You told me enough."

"You going to use that information for something?"

Nico hesitated, taking the last bite of his eggs. "Maybe it could help when I'm interrogating Kuroha…" Then he pushed his empty plate away and stood, saying, "Thanks for breakfast. It was delicious."

" 'Welcome. The others will be down in a minute so good thing you liked it."

"Hey, I'm going to go around, check your base out, if you don't mind."

Kido scoffed. "You probably won't find much. We're not exactly a popular group, in case you haven't noticed."

Rolling his eyes, Nico left the room. He crossed halls and passed by many doors that led to various rooms. Nico was surprised at how much can fit into one big house. It almost reminded him of the cabins back at camp.

Just then, one of the doors opened and Nico turned to it. A black-haired boy in a red jacket came out, wearing a rather blank expression.

"Hey," he said in a bored tone. "You're that guy that's supposed to be staying over here, right?"

"Temporarily," Nico corrected. "Soda Boy, right?" he smirked.

"…Emo Death Boy, right?"

"…Good morning, Shintaro."

"Ohayou, Nico."

"Aww, Goshujin made a friend!" a voice from his pocket beeped out.

Sighing, Shintaro slapped his side. "Be quiet, Ene," he hissed.

"Let me out, Master! I want to see the boy again!'

Through gritted teeth, Shintaro pulled his phone out of his pocket and a blue-haired girl with pixilated legs popped onto the screen. "Hello~" she greeted cheerfully. "I am the Super Pretty Cyber Girl, Ene! Nice to meet you, Nico-chan!"

Biting his lip, Nico said, "Would you please drop the –chan?"

Ene giggled. "Sure, Death Boy~!" Wow, did Nico start to hate her.

Changing the topic, he said, "Hey, I heard from Kido that you had eye powers. Is it true?"

Shintaro raised an eyebrow. "Would we be here if we didn't?"

"…No, I suppose not. What's yours?"

He hesitated for a moment. " 'Retaining Eyes'."

"…What? What is that?"

"…I have no idea."

Nico stared, dumbfounded. He didn't know his own eye power?

"Don't listen to my boring ol' Master!" Ene shouted. "He's just annoyed 'cause he has to share his ability with Ayano-chan."

"T-That's not true! Besides, you have to share your ability too!"

"Why, what's your eye power?" Nico asked.

" 'Opening Eyes.' It means I get to be immortal and hack everyone's computers while my other half gets to be the human version of me."

"I'm assuming you're talking about Takane…"

"Yep! Though she's like the body of our soul, we still don't talk much because a certain somebody is still too freaked out to talk to the friends he thought were dead for two years!"

"You can't blame me!" Shintaro argued. "Sometimes, I can't even look at you or Konoha without knowing you used to be Takane and Haruka!"

"We separated into different bodies and minds already! Get over it!"

"Hey, guys, chill," Nico said, getting annoyed by their fighting. "Calm down, maybe I can talk to them next. Thanks for answering my questions, though."

"Sure, anytime," Shintaro said distractedly.

"Hmph! Like you have time for anyone,"

"Shut up, Ene!"

Hoping the next pair would be a bit quieter, Nico went to look for more rooms.

Nico went to a different, darker part of the halls and found more doors. 'Maybe I can find someone here,' he thought. But when he opened one door, he found the room empty. Judging by its simple, girlish-boyish theme, Nico assumed it was Kido's.

He walked over to the bedside table and picked up a picture frame. In the photograph, he recognized a younger-looking Kido, a small but still troubled-looking kano, and a shy-bearing Seto. Behind them, looking like she was giving all three kids a hug was a brown-haired girl with a red scarf wrapped around her neck. She looked intently proud as she grinned solemnly at the camera.

"That's Ayano."

Nico whirled around and found a softly smiling Seto, leaning against the doorframe as he glanced at the picture. The son of Hades nodded. "Ene mentioned her today. So did Kido and Kano. She's their step-sister?"

"And mine," Seto sighed. "She's also Takane and Haruka's friends and Shintaro's sort-of best friend. She's the true leader and founder of the Dan, the one who brought all this together."

"I didn't know you, Kano, and Kido were siblings…"

"Not by blood. We go a long way back. We grew up in the same orphanage together until Ayano's mom adopted us. We kept our last names though. Our adoptive older sister called us by our first names: Tsubomi is Kido, Shuuya is Kano, and I'm Kousuke. When she formed the Dan, our last names were our code names. Ayano nee-chan died protecting us and we got sad for a while. But now we're glad she's 'back from the Haze'."

Nico took one more look at the picture. He could see the family love. "How did she feel about everything after she got back from this 'Haze' I know nothing about."

Seto chuckled. "The Haze is like this realm where the dead people are stuck in it until it's decided who dies and who gets the eye ability. Nee-chan went alone, so she was stuck in the Haze, immortal and never aging until Shintaro came along and joined her. Now both of them came back and all was well."

When Nico didn't say anything, he continued. "As for your earlier question, she actually knew about Takane and Haruka's fates. She thought she could save them too, but even with that soul and body division thing, she's happy their all right."

"But what about…you know, Kuroha?"

Seto was silent. Nico had already set the picture down and the two were just staring at each other. The Dan member just kept opening and closing his mouth (like a frog's), unsure of what to say.

"The founding leader avoids him."

The two turned to find the white-haired Marry at Seto's side. She stepped forward and Nico was surprised to find a stern look on her face.

"I liked Konoha," she said. "I also liked Haruka. They're both kind and nice. But I can never trust Kuroha. The Snake of Clearing Eyes possessed Konoha just for him to be alive and I've never forgiven him for that. Life has been harder with him around. The three might have come from the same person but he's very different. Ayano-san avoids him; and if you ask me, so should you."

The demigod just stared at her. Was Kuroha really that bad? That's why he was here, right? To somehow make Kuroha seem better? But no one even had faith in him…

"Marry," Seto said soothingly. "Nico has a job to do here. He can't avoid Kuroha because he needs to work with him."

"He's the one that made my grandmother create the Haze in the first place," Marry mumbled. "He tried to kill you all. He made me repeat the same timeline over and over again. I don't think he'll ever be a better person."

"Ah, but you have to believe a little, right?" Nico asked, slowly inching away from them. "But I appreciate the reminders, you two. I'll see you around." Then he took off, leaving a confused Seto behind (with a still slightly furious Marry).

Nico's thoughts ran through his mind on a treadmill. These people really hated Kuroha, huh? He can't even make any friends here. What can Nico, a complete stranger, do?

He walked into the living room again, but suddenly, he wasn't alone anymore. Two more people were there, sitting on the couch. One was sketching something in his pad while the other was talking to him about another. When Nico came in, they immediately stopped talking.

"Ohayou. Did you sleep well, Nico-kun?" the boy said politely.

Thankfully, Nico recognized them. "Yes, thank you, Haruka."

Haruka turned to the girl, Takane, who didn't seem to be looking at Nico. "Takane, say hello."

The girl was silent for a moment, making Nico raise an eyebrow at her. Finally, she quietly said, "Hello…"

"She's shy," Haruka explained.

"She's certainly different from Ene," Nico blurted out, immediately regretting it.

Takane huffed at that, crossing her arms. "We were actually talking about you," she said matter-of-factly.

"Well, you and my other half," Haruka said.

"Which one? Konoha or Kuroha?"

"Hey, back off," Takane snarled, unfazing Nico. "Kuroha is not his 'other half'. They're nothing alike."

The teen boy only shrugged. "If you say so."

"Takane…" Haruka sighed. He turned to Nico apologetically. "She thinks that there's no way you'd be able to change his point of view of things. She thinks he'll never be like me or Konoha."

"Which is true!"

Nico frowned. "You know, some people deserve a second chance—"

"He's all out of chances," Takane grumbled.

"Takane, we've talked about this," Haruka said. "It wasn't Kuroha's fault, it was the snake living inside him. It controlled him, and Kenjirou-sensei too. But now it's gone."

"They still sound like the same people to me…"

"Speaking of the snake, may I ask your experiences with it?" Nico asked, hoping to break the tension.

"Well, I was still in the 'Haze' when he appeared," Haruka admitted. "Konoha took a greater deal from it. But whenever, I look at him, I just see a different version of myself…someone stronger, who could've protected my friends better…"

"Haruka…" Takane started, but he let himself continue.

"I'm completely fine with having a 'counterpart' like Konoha. But when I see Kuroha, I feel like he could the complete opposite of what he does. And whatever they do, I only feel concerned and responsible."

"Haruka, you're a different person from them. What they do has nothing to do with you."

"Like you and Ene," Nico suggested, but was ignored.

Haruka sighed and Nico got a better view of what he was drawing: himself, with Konoha and Kuroha. "I do wish he became a better person…I wish we even knew what he was planning now."

"I'll do my best, Haruka," Nico promised quietly. "I'm not even allowed to leave until he changes his ways. I'll think of something."

Haruka smiled his usual gentle smile. "Thank you, Nico. You are a blessing, really."

"Well, I was sent by a god…"

Haruka chuckled while Takane frowned. "How do you even manage yourself with us?" she asked. "Don't you think we're weird, or abnormal, or something completely out-of-the-ordinary?"

Nico sighed, wishing this were true. "Believe me," he assured. "I've experienced worse."

Once again, he left the room before anyone could say anything more. He went outside the building and gazed up at the sun above, shining down on him. Nico sighed again.

Were they really all right? Will Kuroha be that difficult to handle? If so, how can he deal with that? He knew he was the son of Hades, but would he really be able to succeed?

Suddenly, Nico heard footsteps coming up from behind him.

And here's chapter 4! I don't know when will be the next time I update. Maybe when I feel like it or when I'm motivated enough. But anyway, hope you're still reading this!