Author's Note: I cannot even begin to say how sorry I am that this chapter took over a year to get up. You must believe me, though, dear readers; I feel absolutely awful about it. Truly. But you have no idea how much your continual reviews and messages have motivated me, and it's no one's fault but my own that this took so damn long. The silver lining, however, is that my procrastination on the front of writing this chapter gave me time to persuade the wonderful Proud to Be Plug to edit the first seven chapters, and he managed to patch up all grammatical errors, while I edited some small plot holes. So, if anyone wants a refresher by going back and reading earlier chapters, they're shinier than ever!
In other news, this fic is now Ghost Writers Approved! I know right!? How cool is that shit? I'd like to thank my mother and father for conceiving me, and then a doubly thanks to my mom for giving birth to me and for then sustaining my life and providing me with love and an education so I could learn how to read and write and stuff. Because, really, if none of that had happened, The Healer would not exist. But yes, I'm really flattered by the fact that this fic is found to be quality and entertaining and original, especially considering how horrifyingly wrong Nico/OC fics go most of the time. So, yes, thank you all, and enjoy this next instalment, in which plot–wait for it–moves forward!
Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or The Heroes of Olympus.
And I don't mean to rain on anybody's cabriolet
One of those games you're gonna lose
But you wanna play it just in case
- Black Treacle, Arctic Monkeys
-o-
"So," Perenelle said breathlessly, futilely attempting to keep her hair out of her face. "What's the game plan?"
"We have one?" Nico said.
Perenelle sighed heavily. "Why is there never a game plan? Plans are good. Plans are efficient. If demigods had plans more often, then maybe we wouldn't be in situations that provide us with stalker ladies who evidently want us dead."
"You know who'd like you?" Nico began.
"Everyone."
"My father."
"He already likes me, remember?" Perenelle rolled her eyes.
"Whatever," Nico said nonchalantly, because she was right: he did. And it was really, really weird.
Nico and Perenelle were crouched outside of the warehouse's huge sliding door, which was cracked open slightly. Through that crack they were peeking, trying to make out something, anything, on the inside. After their successful attempt to gain more time (and avoid being arrested) by making the police officer who had arrived earlier think them to be no more than silly college students trying to get some in private, they decided they might as well try to do some surveillance on the warehouse while they could. They knew they only had half an hour, but Nico said that he saw no life-forces of any kind, so they figured they were in the clear to take a quick peek. The door to the warehouse would have to be pulled by the chains. which acted as doorknobs of sorts, if it were to be opened completely, which was a task Nico and Perenelle were not planning on attempting, as it was bound do be very difficult and, worse yet, noisy.
"Can you see anything with your Death Boy Night Vision?" Perenelle asked.
"Afraid not."
"So you can see people's life-forces, but you can't see in the dark." Perenelle gave a heaving sigh, which Nico found to be rather uncalled-for.
"Look, we can either go in and take our chances and find what we will, or we can save it for another day. Your choice; she's your stalker."
Perenelle sighed again. "I hate putting things off." She turned to him, and nodded once. "Let's do this," she finished, resolute and determined.
"Let's," Nico said drily, and Perenelle gave him a quick look of approval.
Perenelle went for the most obvious point of entry: the crack left in the door. It was practically an invitation, as Nico was sure it wasn't something their mystery woman had done accidentally, and he was pretty sure Perenelle realized this too, but it was the best choice. Shadow-traveling into unknown enemy territory wasn't the smartest plan, and there were no other points of entry, save the windows, which were scarce and made of heavy glass.
"Oh, my gods," Perenelle whispered as they entered the dark, cold warehouse. "It's so dark in here. I feel like I'm dead."
"That is the most unnecessary stream of commentary that I have ever heard anyone give during a covert operation," Nico said, shaking his head. "Ever."
"Look, I don't know what you expect us to do here," Perenelle hissed. "I was under the impression that you and cats had more in common than just an uncanny talent for lurking. This entire covert operation relies on being able to see what is going on in here, and we don't even have a flashlight."
"You're really bad at this," Nico decided. "Why didn't you bring a flashlight?"
Despite the fact that they could see nothing in the seemingly endless darkness, Perenelle's foot made a solid target against Nico's leg, causing him to stumble back against the wall of the warehouse. He managed to grab hold of Perenelle's arm, however, so they both thumped into the wall and slid to the ground.
Perenelle slapped Nico's arm - apparently for emphasis - once they had become stable again, leaning against the wall. "You're supposed to be helping me with all of this! I showed up at Camp Half-Blood afterall the shit went down. I don't have nearly as much experience with this covert operation bullshit as you do, and I was under the impression that you were trying to help me."
"I am," Nico said, his voice dripping with exaggeration.
"Well, then, think of something!" Perenelle hissed.
"I'm trying," Nico said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Perenelle and Nico jumped suddenly when a loud clang rang through the warehouse.
"Shiiit," Perenelle whispered. "Let's go towards that noise."
"What?"
"Got a better idea?"
"No," Nico admitted.
"Then let's go," Perenelle said, standing easily and grabbing Nico's arm, pulling him up.
They made their way through the dark warehouse, hands extended in front of them, staying close so as not to lose each other. As they made their way in the general direction of the noise, Nico suddenly lost his footing, falling downwards, only half-realizing that they must have come to stairs. Another part of his mind also noted that Perenelle's hands were still on his arm, clutching tighter now, which must have meant that she was sliding down the damp steps with him.
Finally, they slammed down onto solid ground. Perenelle groaned and rolled onto her side, and Nico muttered an apology, sitting up, touching his fingers lightly to the imprint Perenelle's hand had made on his arm.
"Wanna keep going?" Nico said quietly, gesturing to the even darker and colder expanse that laid before them, even though he knew Perenelle wouldn't be able to see him do so.
"Yeah, okay," Perenelle said, finding Nico's shoulder with her hand once again, and pulling herself up. Nico followed suit, and they continued walking through the darkness, not sure of what they would find, but figuring it was a little late to call the mission off.
"Sorry," Nico murmured again.
Perenelle didn't respond for a few long heartbeats, and Nico was about to repeat himself when she said, "It's not your fault."
The silence became not only eerie but awkward after that, and the room became colder and colder. When Perenelle's voice broke the silence, Nico almost jumped.
"Maybe we should just call this off for tonight," she said, her voice shaking slightly. "I mean, we're not at all prepared, and the cop will be back soon anyway, and honestly this is just stupid overall."
Nico was about to agree with her (if only because of the unmistakable fear in her voice), when suddenly the floor gave out. Not like it had before, when Nico had simply lost his footing and they had half-fallen, half-slid down the steps. No, this time the floor quite literally ceased to exist, and they fell down, down, down, until suddenly they were drowning.
Like with the stairs, only a small part of Nico's mind that wasn't busy panicking realized that he was underwater. Only this time it was so much more of a shock, because it was freezing and he was choking on the dirty, dark water. There was no going up, because it was like the river had a ceiling, and every time he tried to break the surface, he hit that ceiling. Not only was he scared and cold and dying—he was angry. He clawed at the surface above him that was holding him under, but to no avail.
A hard pinch on his arm jolted him out of his panic, and it was only in that moment that he remembered Perenelle was still with him. He didn't dare try to open his eyes in the freezing water, but he knew it was her. He could feel her shaking him, and at first this made him panic more, and get angry at her, because what kind of way is that to treat someone when they're drowning? But then, thank the gods, the rational part of his brain, the part trying to override the panic and actually help him, noted that Perenelle was in the exact same situation he was. The more she shook him, too, the more it felt like she was trying to tell him something. It didn't feel erratic, it felt insistent, he was sure of it, even through the rough current and his brain's decreasing ability to function.
And suddenly, the rational part broke through, and he knew exactly what he had to do; he knew exactly what Perenelle was trying to say. He moved his arms sluggishly through the water, grasping around her waist, and she did the same to him. And then, he thought of anywhere but there.
The next thing he knew, his back collapsed onto solid ground; hard and painfully, but all he could be was happy. He felt a body roll off of him, and heard wheezing next to him, and a part of him thought, that must be Perenelle. He didn't dare open his eyes, but he began to smile, and the smile turned into a laugh, until he was coughing up water, too.
When he finally opened his eyes, he looked over to Perenelle. She was on all fours, still coughing, although it didn't sound nearly as violent as it did before. She glanced over at him, gave him a look he couldn't quite place, then rolled onto her back, jostling him slightly as the sides of their arms pressed against each other.
"Um," Perenelle began, hesitantly. She gave another weak cough before continuing. "Where are we?"
The sky was big and dark blue and full of stars, so that definitely eliminated New York, Nico thought. He knew they were lying on grass; clean, wild, dewy grass. He couldn't hear any sirens, or people talking far too loudly. So, no city Nico could think of.
When Nico had finally realized what he had to do as he and Perenelle had drowned, he had simply imagined a place that was the exact opposite of their situation in that moment. Calm, peaceful, with plenty of air. He had no time to think of specifics. And it seemed that he'd brought them to such a place. But it definitely was a problem if Nico had absolutely no idea where they were.
Glancing over at Perenelle again, he was startled by the look of desperation on her face. So, he sat up, surveying their surroundings, looking for an answer.
"Oh," Nico said, taking in the rolling green hills that seemed to go on forever. "I know exactly where we are."
"Good?" Perenelle said uneasily, looking around at their surroundings nervously.
"Scotland," Nico supplied. "It's my safe place."
Perenelle started. "Your safe place?" she repeated.
"Um," Nico said, realizing he'd divulged a very childish bit of himself. "Yeah. A lot of times when I've been in trouble or losing a fight or something and I'd shadow travel out without thinking about it, I've ended up here. When I was first practicing shadow traveling, I ended up her a lot, actually." Nico ran a hand over the back of his neck uncomfortably.
"Oh." Perenelle looked around again. "Well… it's very pretty."
They sat in silence then for a few moments, the surreality of the rolling hills and their absolute isolation filling the silence easily. Suddenly Perenelle gasped, shooting into a standing position, running her hands through her hair, practically screaming, "The car!"
"The car," Nico repeated dumbly.
Perenelle gave him a look of disbelief, actually leaning forward as if to see if he was joking inopportunely. "Karey's car, Nico! Oh, my fucking gods, what we just did was so stupid."
"You mean me traveling us here?" Nico said quickly, getting defensive.
"No," Perenelle shot out, annoyed. "Going into the warehouse in the first place! It's all so stupid," she spat the word again, like it disgusted her. "This is exactly the problem with us!" Nico assumed Perenelle was referring to demigods as a whole once again. "Because we can't fucking sit still we make stupid, knee-jerk decisions like going into that fucking warehouse when a cop warned us that he was going to be back in fucking minutes! Who does that?" Perenelle said, apparently having already supplied herself with the answer to that question. She bent down so she was crouching, face in her hands. "This whole plan we've half-ass concocted is all so fucking stupid," she said through her fingers.
Nico was startled by Perenelle's angry speech, but he was able to say without wasting too much time, "I can bring us back." Perenelle looked up at him. "I mean, there's not exactly a limit on the traveling? At least, not all the time…" he trailed off. "It might be kind of difficult, because of how much strength I lost when we, uh, fell into the water." He let that hang in the air for a while, as it was the only thing Perenelle and Nico had yet to address that was truly a Big Deal. Perenelle just stared at him, her face unreadable. "I mean, is it really important?"
"Di Angelo, if the cops don't tow it first, somebody will steal it. It's a BMW," she said, still exasperated. "And there's a gun in it," she added, shaking her head.
"Yeah," Nico said.
Perenelle puts her hands on her hips, closing her eyes and breathing through her nose, apparently not trying to fly completely off the handle. "Let's just go back," she finally said, straining to keep her voice calm.
Nico nodded, ignoring the fact that there could indeed be a great physical toll should he bring them back. But something about the look on Perenelle's face, a mixture of anger, exasperation, and hopelessness, made the most determined and resolute part of Nico's mind kick into gear. He suddenly felt an inexplicable and overriding need to fix this, to prove himself – an emotion he had only ever felt in relation to his immortal family and demigod relatives, he realized.
"Let's go," he said, stupidly.
-o-
The minute they popped back into existence on the dirty, warehouse covered beach, Perenelle screamed and Nico threw up.
"No, no, no, no, no!" Perenelle shrieked, head in her hands, turning in circles irrationally. The car was gone. The car, Karey's car – was gone. The car with the gun in it: gone. The hugely expensive car: gone. Karey's hugely expensive car with a gun in it was gone. Gone, gone, gone.
The minute after Perenelle popped out of her bout of self-pity and managed to shake away the awful feeling in her chest for a moment, she noticed Nico. He was on his hands and knees, coughing uncontrollably now, but she could see that he had already emptied the contents of his stomach onto the ground.
"Oh, my gods," Perenelle breathed, running her hands through her hair, dropping to her knees next to Nico. Instinct took over, the same part of her coming out that always had when her mother had had one too many and she was forced to take care of her for the night. Perenelle put a hand on the back of Nico's neck, stroking the spot, wiping off the hot sweat that had collected there. She moved on to do the same to his forehead, pushing his unkempt hair out of his face, rubbing his back gently with her other hand all the while. After a few moments of that, once she'd managed to calm him down significantly, she rolled him onto his side, making eye contact with him, although his eyes were half-lidded.
"Nico," Perenelle said, the car forgotten for now. "I need to get you home."
Later she would convince herself she'd imagined it, but in the moment she was sure he gave a broken sound on the word home.
"But," Nico croaked, "the…car."
"It doesn't matter right now," Perenelle lied, feeling the familiar sick surge of her stomach at the thought of the lost car. Looking at him, however, Perenelle felt a distinct sympathy for Nico then; the kind she'd always felt for her mother, despite how angry and tired she had always felt as well. Aside from that, though, was how… broken Nico looked. Perenelle had been too caught up in her own ferocious worry about the car, her own self-loathing at how stupid she'd been, that she had ignored Nico's warning of how the second bout of shadow-traveling would affect him. But now the pallor of his skin, his shallow breathing, his barely coherent speech – it terrified her, and she felt the familiar tug in her gut, the urge to…to…
"Perenelle?" Nico's eyes lacked their usual sharpness, and that's when Perenelle knew exactly what she had to do.
Without saying anything, Perenelle rolled Nico onto his back, hands on his shoulders, knees digging into his ribcage as she knelt over him.
Hair falling into his face, Perenelle inclined her head towards him and asked, "Where does it hurt?"
-o-
Even through his exhaustion-addled mind, Nico realized what she was going to do. He struggled, but Perenelle had her hands pinned onto his shoulders, and she was surprisingly strong. Or maybe he was just weak right then. Maybe both.
"Perenelle, no," Nico tried to put a bite into his voice, but it lost all force due to the breathlessness he was still suffering.
"Nico, stop it," Perenelle said determinedly. Nico began to try to kick out his legs as well, but Perenelle quickly stopped this, straddling him and keeping his legs pinned down with hers.
Nico quickly realized there was no way he was winning this fight in his current state, and realized, with a sweep of anxiety, that his only weapon was his words.
"Perenelle." His voice still lacked a sharp tone, or really any tone at all that didn't involve heavy breathing. "We've worked too long at this, it'll be all of that down the drain if you let it – let it come back, and Apollo – and both of our fathers – you can't -"
Perenelle's hands were at the base of his throat then, though, lightly pressing into his skin, although the position reminded him of a chokehold.
The sensation that followed, however, was nothing like that of a chokehold.
-o-
Perenelle put all of her efforts into tapping onto that reservoir in her gut, that sensation that used to come so easily to her, but now felt as though a dam had been built around it. She bit her lip with the strain, focusing all of her thoughts onto her ability, recalling what it felt like to do it, how she would let it surge through her body like electricity, and then channel it into another life.
The dam broke suddenly, and Perenelle audibly gasped at the sensation. It was painful, truth be told. She felt as though she'd torn a muscle, but this muscle seemed to be rooted much more deeply within her. It had always hurt a little to heal, honestly – she'd been doing it constantly up until a month or so ago, and as Apollo had explained, every time she did it, she was giving away a portion of her own life-force. Part of her own soul, he had put it, looking rather pleased with his own wording. But this pain, this pain of breaking the boundaries she and Nico had worked on putting up, it was nothing like the stinging sensation she had felt all those times before, the achiness it would later lead to in her back and neck and wrists, the migraines it would cause. This was borderline unbearable, and she had to grit her teeth to keep from showing so.
Soon enough, though, the process began to feel… smooth. Smooth as it always had. Perenelle felt, amidst all the pain, a nostalgia over her power; she realized that she had actually missed its company ever since bidding it farewell for good. And, even more gratifying, was the feeling it gave her to see that her power was working just as well as ever, the evidence written in the more relaxed position of Nico's jaw, his muscles flexing and relaxing. She didn't expect to be so personally affected by the process; if anything she had thought it would come back to her easily and reflexively, like riding a bike.
What she did expect, from years of experience in people's reactions to her healing, was what happened next. Still, she hadn't exactly thought over how… inconvenient this reaction would be, given their current situation.
As Nico passed out, Perenelle rolled off of him, lying on her back beside him on the dirty beach, just as they had in Nico's "safe place".
"Shit," Perenelle muttered.
I'm back! Review?
