What time is he coming? Oh, I'm so excited.
The Underworld was a dark place, and stalking the world above didn't make him feel any better. He knew it was bad for his temperament; that his life of living like a corpse, viewing his friends through that spectral mirror of the Underworld's rivers, it was not human.
And still he continued to do so.
He was still in love, of course. They had broken up a few times, as many couples do, but like there was a string pulling them together, they always came back together. Nico had remained at camp for a while, after the wars and quests, but slowly their youth had slipped on and he'd felt the brunt of reality hit him.
They were no longer children, friends playing heroes, roaming the world and finding monsters. He was a married man, with a job and security and responsibilities. Nico's crush on him was no longer just unhealthy; it was dangerous now.
He thinks that, as his finger stirs the river's once again, watching Percy's face shimmer as the ripples spread across, before it crystalizes again.
He watches, with eyes that would've once flinched and teared up but have now run dry, as Annabeth flings a pot at Percy, who is on his knees, and although Nico can't see them, he knows there are tears on his face. She screams and exits the house, leaving just a broken, lost hero, sobbing on the floor.
Nico doesn't even know why he hurts himself like this. He's watched the same scene play out a dozen times with slight variations, like a bad cliché. Sometimes Annabeth is slamming the table, sometimes Percy ends up on the couch, sometimes Percy remains soulless for days. His father is worried; Hades wonders why Nico spends so long lurking by the river, and although he loves his son's company, the curse still remains on his mind.
Maybe he likes the pain, likes watching Percy in pain, because it makes them similar.
He's coming today. I haven't seen him in so long.
He gazes at the river for a while longer. If he were younger, with that trace of innocence he used to keep alive in his heart, he would dream that Percy would want company, that he would mutter his name in between the sobs, and Nico would appear in a flash of shadows and comfort his hero.
But he was 16 now, and far too old for fantasy.
He was going to meet Hazel today. It had been a year since he'd receded into the Underworld, away from the Earth which had cursed him so much. But she missed him, she wrote in those letters, and he simply must go visit.
Nico felt that familiar feeling pulling at his gut, and the world spilled outwards in a puddle of light and color. It had been too long since the sun had caressed his too-pale skin, and he felt his skin shrivel up a tiny bit. It was like he was an old man, trapped inside a teenage body.
He flinched, as he felt her arms wrap around him. They didn't speak; he just felt her heart thump against his back.
After letting go, he turned around and forced a smile for her. Gods, it had been so long since he'd moved his mouth like that, and it sort of hurt the corners of his lips.
She looked slightly older, and yet a stranger would never guess they were siblings. She had beautifully smooth skin, a light shade of cocoa, and almost radiated happiness. How ironic, Nico thought, that from dark childhoods both an angel and corpse could grow.
She led him hand-first into the house, a small Californian villa, and he stepped inside.
"Surprise!"
All those people, memories from his past, jumped out and beamed, and he forced another smile (this time wider), but his eyes caught him immediately. Slender neck, drawing up to that beautifully anguished face, leaning against the corner in the back of the room.
Their eyes met, and he saw it all- the small fringes on the corner of reddened eyes, the concealer that Percy had applied lightly- they were his eyes, not those gorgeous, green ones.
Those were his eyes. Those were the eyes of Nico di Angelo, marred with darkness and scratches and all that shit that the world threw at him.
He blacked out.
Is he alright?
Probably just had too much sunshine and air at once. A laughter.
Hazel. Stop it guys, it's not funny. What if he's actually hurt?
The chorus of voices grows, and Nico feels his head ache. Different voices, some he recognizes, some he doesn't. There's one missing- his Prince.
He's careful not to open his eyes, but he fakes a groan and turns around, letting his eyes look into the shadows of the bed. Around the room, there are people milling, Hazel standing near him with a wet towel. Percy's gone, he's gone.
He's gone.
He turns back over and opens his eyes, lurching upwards and sending Hazel, surprised, jumping backwards.
His head was spinning, something about the air outside and the sun spilling in at that angle, and that dark broken look in Percy's eyes, but that precious empathy link he had built all those years ago- it snapped.
He snapped.
Out the door, leaving the hinge unrooted;
Swirls of shadows flying every which way;
He sees the shadow of his lover, hunched over a bed
Into the shadows he goes-
Nico finds him
Hunched over her.
She's dead.
A/N: 1 more chapter 0_0 Hopefully within a few days.
