As promised: Chapter 9
Word Count: 4,744
The shadows and ghosts he'd passed on the way had been vibrating with excitement, and it was pretty obvious why.
Percy was leaning against the cool stone of the castle, hacking and shuddering, and glaring at Nico. He had a kind of angry fire in his eyes that Nico had come to associate with tidal waves, earthquakes, and riptide.
"Nico," Percy rasped, "Just so you know, I'm going to kill you when this is over."
Nico looked down at the ground and hoped that his father, whatever he was doing, could hear him.
Why you slimy no-good demon of a son of a titan heathen-worshiping…
He cut that train of thought short before he could really get going. Oh, this was so his father, backward and forward. Meddlesome, irritating, back robed son of a damn you. Nico tried to keep from thinking it too loudly, because Hades was still a god, but… damn him. Just damn him.
Nico watched Percy try to recover, but said nothing.
"Honest to whatever God might be listening," Percy was getting his breath back, and he chose to use what air he did have on his rant, "I'm going to take Riptide and shove it thought that hollow space where most people have a brain and you got stuck with dead matter."
Nico didn't doubt it. He knew Percy was pissed, and he knew damn well why.
"Look, Percy-"
"Not one word. Not one godsdamn word. You can apologize in the form of gold if you're still alive when I've finished killing you."
"Are you done?"
Percy's eyes met Nico's sharp and clear for an instant, "Yeah," he finally said, "I'm done."
"I am sorry."
Percy just shrugged, letting out a long sigh. "Whatever. What would September be if a god didn't try to mess it up for all of us?"
"Probably a lot nicer," Nico mused.
"On the plus side, I ditched school for this. With all of the whining you do," Percy glanced appraisingly at the castle, "This isn't that bad."
Nico rolled his eyes, "You're in college, though. That's different."
"Please, Nico. Don't tell me you'd rather be at… what was that school called? Middleton Prep? Your Sophomore year?"
Nico couldn't quite muster a dark enough look at Percy's jest, "well, get on with it then. What does he want now?"
"First, he says hurry up. Don't know why he needed me to tell you that. I thought I got some perks or something for that idiotic flower I got last year, but no. I'm still a messenger- speaking of, isn't this our wing-footed friend's job?"
"No jurisdiction in Europe, apparently," Nico reminded him, "so no."
Percy scowled, "yeah, well. Second, he says to take out Dumbledore too, while you're at it. And third, and this is from Chiron and myself as a senior counselor, we need you back at camp."
That last one surprised Nico, "what for?"
"Winter enrollment, mostly, because our numbers have spiked and Clarisse is having trouble managing all the swordsman classes."
"I'm a little tied up at the moment."
"Yeah, about that. What is it, exactly, you're doing here?"
"Apparently killing people." Nico added Dumbledore to his mental list of people he'd have to off.
"Thought that was that other guy's job," Percy queried, disinterested.
"No jurisdiction in Europe."
"Ah, right. Seriously though, aren't they gods?"
"Yeah, but the Ancient Laws and stuff. Too complicated for us puny mortals to understand." Nico picked at his fingernails. "Dumbledore? Really?"
"Yeah, is that a problem?"
"I just have to entirely rethink my plan," Nico said, "Scrap six months of work, and betray everybody I recently convinced to trust me."
"Sounds fun. Sometimes I wonder how we put up with all of this."
"I second that. Now, you can go."
"Actually, I can't. Jurisdiction, you know."
"How are you getting back?"
"Hadn't quite figured that one out yet."
Nico frowned, unhappy with the moral aspect of having Percy looking over his shoulder. He didn't have the strength to send the demigod back to New York himself, and he knew Percy wouldn't settle for just hanging in a Hotel until Nico finished working. Percy was now officially in on this. Nico didn't like that at all.
"So, I guess you'll be sticking around for a while?"
"Yeah," Percy said, shifting, "Probably only a week or two, Mrs. O'Leary should be coming up eventually."
"Oh," Nico'd forgotten about the pet hellhound, "Okay. I'd offer for you to stay here, but—"
"Oh, no, I'm good," Percy glanced distrustfully at the castle, "I know your taste in schools, and I'm perfectly happy not staying here."
"Alright then," Nico paused, and they stood in silence for a minute.
"Um, is there a way to London from here?"
"Nope."
"Any small, neighboring towns?"
"Not really."
"Got a tent?"
"No."
"Oh. Well then." Percy sent a look at the castle, "I guess I really don't have any options, huh?"
"True," Nico replied, also gazing up at the lights of the castle, "Should I introduce you to the headmaster?" This was throwing off his plans. A lot.
"Might as well." Percy was obviously as reluctant to come into the castle as Nico was to bring him. "So the gods really don't have any jurisdiction here?"
"They have enough that you shouldn't say what you're about to say," Nico cautioned, knowing what was on Percy's mind.
Percy scowled, "so, they can't help us when we're in England, but we still can't question their supreme authority without running the risk of being incinerated."
"Yeah," Nico said calmly. He'd long since accepted that when it came to the Gods, rationality and reason were two inconceivable concepts, far-fetched dreams that had no practical applications, "Now shut up, because I'd really rather not have to watch you spontaneously combust."
"'ppreciate it," Percy replied, "So what are you doing here, anyway?"
"Reaping souls," Nico answered, pointedly ignoring Percy's momentary wince at his response.
"Sounds fun," Percy said lightly, "So, who's on your kill list today?"
He was very good at not being affected by the dramas of Demigod life. Nico could see he was troubled by the blatant revelation, but Percy was as good a leader as he was a swordsman, and he knew how to hide his true thoughts.
Nico sighed, "one more person, thanks to your message. I've got a target on a guy named Tom, whose death should have come a long time ago, and I was trying to get to him through… well, its complicated."
Percy raised both hands in an appeasing and deflecting gesture, "Never mind. I don't really need to know, so you can just do your job. I'll hang here until I can get home, and if you need an assist just let me know."
"Thanks," Nico was relieved, but his conscience was wary. Percy here, it was like suddenly being put under a moral spotlight. Nico, as a key part of his nature, functioned better in the darkness. His actions, his thoughts, they were very questionable when thrown in sharp contrast to the pristine, clean and clear hero that was Percy. He had no qualms about killing, because souls were immortal and he didn't see it as killing so much as carrying out the natural order of events. However, he was worried about how Percy's perception of him would change based on what he witnessed here. Could he still be trusted to instructed young demigods, with this kind of blood on his hands? Would he see judgment in Percy's eyes, disapproval? He didn't know why he yearned for the respect of the older half-blood, he wasn't sure why he was so dependent on Percy's opinion of him. Nonetheless, he was nervous about how Percy would react to Dumbledore's death.
"Well, lets go get set up then." Nico ignored his qualms, knowing that Percy wanted to be party to this as little as Nico did.
Surprisingly, Dumbledore took Percy's appearance in stride. In fact, the old wizard didn't even blink when Percy sat at the Slytherin table at breakfast the next morning. He and Nico were relaxing at the end, away from the students.
Percy was frowning at the ceiling, "they really tried, didn't they?"
Nico glanced at the murky sky, "yeah. It is fairly impressive."
He heard Percy's scoff, and knew the demigod was comparing the Great hall to Olympus.
"I should take a picture," Percy mused, "Annabeth would have a field day with this castle."
"I imagine," Nico replied dryly, then raising the pitch of his voice, "oh look at that mid-sixteenth century gothic! It looks just like what that random medieval architect did in the mission palaces in France! I wonder if these arches are original?"
Percy was laughing, but he fought to hold it back, "watch it," he warned, smirking, "that's my girlfriend you're talking about."
"How is she? Olympus and everything, she must be stressed."
"Are you kidding? She's glowing. I've never seen her so happy. Sometimes I think she's going to crash, and then she sees a new building and its just right back on. Olympus is her baby."
"Jealous?" Nico asked, amused.
"Is it possible to be jealous of a place? Nah, I've always known her architecture comes first."
People were starting to mill away from the hall, getting a jump on classes as Snape handed out the schedules.
"what are you doing today?" Percy asked, as Snape got closer, "and can these guys do the mist thing, or not?"
"Nah, Mist gets them every time," Nico said, taking a final sip of water, "I'm going to look for what I came for, feel free to explore. If you really want to be a friend, you could go to my classes for me."
Percy accepted the schedule Nico gave him, along with the glare from Snape.
He glanced down the list, "The Hades is this? I mean, um, what's this?" he bit off the curse at Nico's glance, "Charms? Transfiguration? Seriously?"
"Yep," Nico consulted the schedule over Percy's shoulder, "magic school."
"Um, I can't do magic."
"Mist, Perce, Mist is your friend."
"I'm also a good three years older than everybody here."
"Mist," Nico replied, "is your friend."
"Okay, okay. Where the hell—sorry," Percy met his friend's second sharp glance of the day, "the dungeon, though? Seriously?"
Nico snorted, "see the pratty blond? Follow him. You have the same schedule."
Percy's eyes unfocused a little, "follow, right. I'm great at following."
Nico rolled his eyes and stood up, "you'll do fine."
"Nico…" Percy's tone made him hesitate, "you are aware that you are leaving me, unsupervised, in a magical castle surrounded by impressionable teenagers?"
"That's what a certain god of death told my father, I presume," Nico said with a grin, "which is probably the real reason you're here."
Percy groaned, "the men upstairs. Why do they never get it?"
"Because this one doesn't live upstairs," Nico muttered, "and he thinks it's funny."
"Hang on another minute?"
"I'm really short on time, got that whole plan to rethink now."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, it's just… how many people do you have to kill?"
Nico frowned, "Today?"
"Total."
"Oh. That's, um, that's a sort of big number, Perce."
"Okay. I mean," Percy rubbed the back of his head, "we all do things for our fathers that we'd rather didn't happen."
"Wait, wait, what?"
"I'm just saying, if you need help with it… it wouldn't be my first round. Alright? Don't… I mean… I don't judge you, Nico. That's all I'm saying. I won't judge you."
Percy stepped back and away, disappearing behind Malfoy as Nico stared. His father was the evil God, right? His father was the one who stole souls, demanded deaths. Not the Sea god. Not Poseidon. Right?
Thoroughly confused and a little disturbed, Nico fell back into the shadows to think.
What he came up with was less than promising. If he killed Dumbledore first, then Riddle would probably take him more seriously, become flighty, might get scared. But in order to kill Riddle he had to find Riddle and all of the little chopped off bits of Riddle that had been scattered all over the place.
This was not as easy as he wanted it to be. But then, life never was.
The Ghosts wanted to know about Nico's new friend. Nico wanted the ghosts to piss off and let him be for two seconds. He needed to think.
"Hello? My Lord?"
He was glad he looked up before flinging the spirit out of existence. She looked absolutely devastated.
"Yes, what is it?"
"You're seeking information about Tom Riddle."
Nico shifted, then, interested, "How do you know that?"
The woman looked down, "We do hear rumblings from… from the other side. Sometimes, especially when people such as you are near, we hear things. I'm… well, I've always been just a little cleverer than most. You're looking for information on… on Tom."
"More or less."
"He split his soul, right?"
"Cleverer than most?"
Her cheeks went a little paler, her drift was agitated now. "I don't know. You would know more, I think. In the centuries since my death, things have changed so much… I don't know. But he split his soul. His insult to our Lord and Master was greater than even he knows, I think."
Nico took another look at her. "Who are you? What's your name?"
"They call me the Grey Lady, but I was born Helena Ravenclaw, at your service."
"You look familiar."
"I… I suppose I would. I am descended of an ancient and noble line. On… on the other side, there may be many with features like mine. But that matters little. I'm at your service and there's much to discuss."
"How did you know about splitting souls?"
"I'm cleverer than most," the ghost repeated, "and… well, with my condition…" she gestured at her transparent body, "I learned much from the other side."
"You shouldn't have ever been able to see anything from the other side. Cleverness wouldn't help with that."
She lowered her eyes. "Please let me help you. I'm at your service, and eternally at the service of my Lord and Master."
"At my—you're kidding. You aren't…" Nico looked at her again, entirely differently, "How did you end up here?"
She floated a little higher, "My mother built this place," she waved a hand at the wall, "She founded Ravenclaw house. This was before New York was the west. These were the dark ages in Europe, in a transition year. Your father—"
"Our father."
She refused to look at him, "Our lord and Master is the first and the last to move in a transition time," she said, "He came first to England when the magic was beginning to spread, in the darkest of the dark ages, and he moved last as the last Roman emperor was accepted into his arms. My mother was the strongest and smartest witch of her time. I suppose it made sense."
Nico coughed, "It always seems to make sense to them at the time."
"Will that suffice as reason enough for both my knowledge and interest?"
"That depends on what else you know."
"My mother had in her possession an artifact forged from hell's iron and tempered in hell's rivers. A gift, I believe, from our lord and Master. I stole it from her. Perhaps that is why I never… but this is not relevant. Either way, Riddle coveted the artifact. He knew of its location. The charm he used to sever his soul worked best on items already touched by death. I believe he would have sought the diadem out for that purpose."
"Do you know how many times he's split his soul?"
"seven times, eight pieces. But one is already destroyed."
"What? When? How?"
"I don't know. I am bound by these walls, I know not of any details beyond this. But if you are looking for the pieces, there are seven outside of his body, one has been destroyed, and one is in the diadem."
Nico paused. "Seven, you say?"
"Yes."
He counted for a minute. The Cup, the ring, the locket, the diadem, one that had already been destroyed, that one question, and… "No."
"Sir?"
"I just… things just got harder. Thank you."
"I… if you could…"
"I'm sorry. I can't help you."
"No, not me. Just… my mother is long dead. I know she longed to see me before her death, and I was a selfish cow for running. Her name is Rowena Ravenclaw. I believe she would be in heaven, or wherever the gifted souls and lovers of the devil go."
Nico nodded. "I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you."
His faith in his father was sitting like a hard lump somewhere below his stomach and he wished it would just go away. He wondered if Hades was even aware of the centuries-old ghost of a daughter who'd been locked in the purgatory of this castle. He wondered if she'd done something to truly deserve it. He wondered if that would be his fate when his usefulness ran out.
"Are you okay?"
"Me? Fine. Yeah, I'm fine."
Percy's eyes were worried. "You're flickering."
Nico focused on keeping his form out of shadow, "Sorry."
"Bad news?"
"Huh?"
"It looks like you got bad news."
"Oh. Well. My life has been a series of getting bad news interspersed with getting worse news. I'd give this about a six on a scale of one to ten."
"What's one?"
"When I realized building a cabin out of black obsidian in the middle of summer in New York was a bad plan."
"And ten?"
"Seeing my sister in Elysium."
"Oh."
"So it could be worse, all things considered," Nico sat at the table, waving to Percy, "What were you talking about earlier?"
"Hmm?"
"Earlier. What you said about your father. What were you talking about?"
Percy's eyes were glacial. "Leave it alone, Nico."
"You're here. Why don't you leave me alone?"
"I can't."
"Oh, go jump in the lake."
"If I could get to the Atlantic from there, I would. You don't happen to have a rowboat, by any chance?"
"Sorry."
"Alright," Percy pulled a familiar pen out of his pocket, "Point me in the right direction, then."
"The old man at the head table."
"Him?" Percy looked up at Dumbledore, putting the pen back in his pocket and looking at the clock, "I'd say give it a month or two and that should take care of itself."
"I tried that four years ago."
"Four years? Wow."
"Yeah. Oh, and there's one other thing. Did you happen to see this in your roaming around the castle?"
"What's that?"
Nico sighed, "best I can figure? A crown. Diadem, I think they said, but it's basically a tiara. I sort of need it."
"What for?"
"it's got a piece of a soul trapped inside it."
Percy looked closer. "Well. It's lovely. I'm going to go kill the old man, I hope the tiara works out."
"Wait, wait, there is one other tiny little thing."
"And that is…?"
"Kid over at the red table, glasses next to the redhead?"
"What about him?"
"Him too."
"What, kill him too?"
"Yeah—" Nico jolted, "what are you doing?"
"Your wish is my command," Percy twitched his fingers, "You didn't specify how."
Up at the high table, Dumbledore was slumped against the side of his chair. Nico shoved Percy.
"Not right now!"
"When?"
"Stop it, he's fading!"
Percy twitched his fingers again and Dumbledore coughed back to life, looking tired but awake. "What's wrong?"
"You can't just kill him!"
"Why not?"
"It'll be a mark on your mortal soul!"
Percy glanced sideways at Nico. "And yours?"
"Whatever. You're a hero, you can't have that on your conscience."
"I think you'd be surprised to know what's on my conscience already," Percy muttered, "It's a little manipulation of the water and electrolytes."
"You drown him?"
"Technically, uh, yes. But hey, if you don't want him dead it's just as easy to not," Percy shrugged, "Let me know."
"Yeah, yeah I'll do that. I need him for a few minutes, though."
"Alright. The potatoes are good."
Nico stared, "Gods, Percy, how often do you do this?"
"How often do you?"
Nico had to set his fork down, "Okay, backtrack, let's talk about, um, camp. And Annabeth. And not this."
"Fine."
Nico took the long way up to Dumbledore's office after dinner. It gave him time to think.
"Another visit? To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"The seventh horcrux."
Dumbledore's eyes were wide, "Well. Sit down, Nico. It appears we have much to discuss."
"Time is running out. You didn't take the boundaries down."
"I decided to try my luck. How do you know about the Horcruxes? Making a bid for the immortal on your own?"
"What?"
Dumbledore was surprised at how perfectly confused and nearly offended Nico looked by the question.
"It is hardly unheard of for wizards your age, with your background, to be tempted to the darker sides of magic by doubts about your longevity."
Nico looked legitimately confused for another second before his face twisted into a scowl. "I'm no coward," he said, "I'll meet my maker when my time comes. Just as you will, in a few days, if you don't take the boundaries down."
"The horcruxes, Nico. How do you know about them? Until now, they were only a scant suspicion of mine."
"That's why you're losing the war," Nico muttered, "Obviously. No, the Horcruxes are very much real, and even with your scant suspicion I imagine you were very much aware of the consequences of a divided soul?"
Dumbledore frowned, "I'm not entirely sure what you're referring—"
"The Potter boy."
"What of him?"
"Now is hardly the time to be playing dumb."
"I… I had suspected. But it's true, then? Harry holds a part of Voldemort's soul?"
"Riddle, and yes."
"Can it be destroyed without destroying him?"
Nico twisted his skull ring. This was the harder part. "Not by me."
"You? You intend to destroy Voldemort?"
"Well what did you think I was here for?"
"Ah, you intend to replace him?"
"Replace him? What?"
"You are his child, are you not?"
"I'm his what?"
"His child. Voldemort's. I did not believe he had children, but you could be—"
"No! No, no, no! Absolutely—gah! No!"
"Oh. I apologize."
"No, I'm killing him because he needs to die! Mother of—no!"
"My mistake."
"Yes, it is, what—no. Come on, that's what you came up with? I'm gonna be sick."
"But Harry, regardless, you can't destroy one without killing the other?"
Nico still looked preoccupied, "his son? You think I'm the son of that sniveling cowardly no-good sonofabitch excuse for a human being?"
"what you came up here for? Harry? Is there a way to save Harry?"
Nico's skin had gone pale and then green and he fell limply into the chair, "Harry. Yes, you can save him, but I can't do it. Not on my own, anyway. Has to be magic, your kind of magic."
"And the other horcruxes?"
"With me, for the most part. I'm going to destroy them all at once so he has no hope of making more. That's the plan, anyway. Um, that's up to you, really. If the Potter boy's soul isn't severed from Voldemort's by the time I'm ready with the other horcruxes, he'll die too."
Nico's earlier conversation with Helena was still sitting heavy in his gut. He didn't want to kill the Potter kid for his father's sake. He didn't want to do much of anything for his father's sake right then.
"I'll find a way to save him," Dumbledore promised, "But I can't do that if I'm going to die in a few days."
Nico blinked, "Then take down the stupid wards."
He left the office then, winding his way through the castle. Poor Potter. Dumbledore was his only shot. He was doomed.
That idea made Nico more and more glum the more he thought on it. Sure, the kid was annoying, and privileged, and stupid-looking, and whiny. But he didn't deserve to die, did he? Maybe there was something in that library that would help Potter live. Nico wasn't doing anything else. He might as well try, at least a little. To ease his conscience, if nothing else.
He nearly tripped over the girl.
"What?"
"Nico?"
"Her-he-sorry, what?"
"Hermione," She said, "remember me? First year."
"Right, right," he murmured, "Sorry, I didn't see you."
"Ron said you were back. Are you alright? You look tired."
Nico frowned at her, "You're friends with Harry Potter?"
"I… yes, I am, what…?"
"You're the clever one, right? He needs your help. Here, sit down."
"What's going on?"
Nico pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen, "Here's the deal. You need to find a way to separate two souls without killing one or the other. Find out everything you can about Horcruxes, alright, and listen—listen to me. Harry is a Horcrux. I'm going to say that again and when you look it up you'll understand. He's a Horcrux. Say it."
"Harry is a Horcrux."
"Okay. He has a week at most before that needs to be fixed, you understand? A week."
"I don't—"
"Hermione, the people in charge don't care if he lives or he dies. It's up to you. One week."
"Okay."
Nico left the library feeling much better. He went to go find Percy. Instead, he found a confrontation.
"What the—Percy!"
"Hmm?"
"What are you doing?"
"Who, me?"
Nico had forgotten just how playful and mischevious those green eyes could be when they had mind to, had forgotten just how fickle and changing the sea was, "Percy, I can't deal with this!"
"So don't. Oh, I found this." Percy tossed him a crown and Nico dropped it immediately, fingers stinging.
"Ow! Damnit, Percy! Warning next time!"
"What's wrong? It didn't burn me."
"You aren't sensitive to it. Pick it up for me, would you?"
Percy did, "Is it the right thing?"
"Yeah. Wrap it in something, would you?"
Percy leaned over and picked a robe up off the floor. It was sopping wet.
"Oh, seriously?"
"I'll have it cleaned up," Percy promised, "This was just a… trial run." He snapped his fingers and the waves vanished. "See?"
"Yeah, I see something alright. Dry this, would you?"
Percy sighed, touching the fabric again. It was bone dry as Nico stuck the well-wrapped diadem into his back pocket. Pride, the locket, fear, the ring, insecurity, the cup, and now arrogance. He had enough arrogance for a lifetime, he wouldn't wear the crown, and he didn't really want to wear a crown in the first place.
"This is more trouble than its worth."
"Agreed."
"I want to go to bed."
"Doubly agreed—"
"what in the world do you think you're doing?"
They both looked up at the greasy-haired professor who had his arms folded and was glaring across the hallway at them.
To be Continued.
