A/N: I wrote more Nicolas Angel in this chapter. I need to stop doing that, there's theoretically actual plot in this fic… Except… Nicolas Angel is fun. Anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope you guys like it. Please review!
And apparently I haven't responded to reviews in like four chapters, so I'll do that now.
Reviews for Chapter Seven:
countingmoons: I'm so glad you like Adrianne and her friends! They're really fun to write, sometimes it's not okay. Thanks for reviewing!
ObsessedwReading: Well, now you've seen how Hazel and Frank reacted to him, you should see Jason, Leo, and Piper pretty soon too. Thanks for reviewing!
Awesome as Annabeth: Can we… share Iron Man? Does that work for you? And the stupid reason why Spiderman is not an Avenger (in the movies, anyway) is because Sony owns Spiderman and Disney Marvel owns the Avengers, and they're both too stupid to realize that crossovers will just make them more money. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!
Fireblaze: I'm glad you agree that torturing Nico is an entertaining pastime. Yeah, if and when he actually asks Adrianne out, it's gonna be… mucho, mucho awkward. But they'll get through it, they're heroes, Nico will figure something out. Anyway, thanks for reviewing.
Guest: I established this in a previous A/N, but I'll just say it again: worry not, dear reader. If and when Nico asks Adrianne out, she will know that she's his sister, and it'll be only as friends. Jeannine might not be happy about it, but Nico will make sure he goes on a date with a sister in the least incestuous way possible. Thanks for reviewing!
angelus satanas: I'm… not gonna question… Thanks for reviewing? I think?
2 nerdy girls: Yeah, it's pretty intense. But I'm glad you like it. Thanks for reviewing!
MisunderstoodSociopath: Steve is amazing, that's kind of a given. YOU'RE AMAZING TOO. I'M GONNA KEEP SAYING THAT UNTIL RR WRITES BACK! Thanks for reviewing, bestest friend :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Smart Girl: I love Hades in that chapter too. He'd be a great super-spy. Or, like, the intelligence part of it, you know? Like, Nico's Iron Man, and Hades is JARVIS? Shoot, now I have to write that, don't I? Thanks for reviewing! :D
Reviews for Chapter Eight:
Smart Girl: I think I replied to this review via email, so I'll just say- Yes. This fic is literally about Nico and his sisters, and nothing else. Except now it's also about me expressing my obsession for a non-existent book series, but that's not important. Thanks for reviewing!
Awesome as Annabeth: Glad you liked it! Thanks for reviewing!
countingmoons: I LIVE TO MAKE YOU CRY AND NOTHING ELSE. MWA HA HA HA HA HA! No, not really, just, you know… Frazel. I don't even love it in canon as much as I do in chapter eight alone. There's (some) more Frazel in this chapter, so you're welcome. Thanks for reviewing!
ImmortalMystery: Yay I'm so glad you think I'm a good writer, that makes me really happy :D :D :D And, no, Tris is not actually Tris from Divergent. She's Jason and Piper's daughter, named after Tristan, Piper's dad. Nico will make all the Divergent jokes, though, don't worry. No one will get them. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!
Misunderstood Sociopath: HAZEL IS INSANE BECAUSE… she died. Therefore, mental problems are kind of guaranteed. Also, as I told others, I LIVE TO MAKE YOU CRY. Thanks for reviewing! :D ALSO YOU'RE AWESOME
ObsessedwReading: I'm so happy you love it. Thanks for reviewing!
Renata: Your penname is cool! And it sounds like it means reborn, so that counts. I'm glad you like the way I write the characters, I'm never sure about them when I post. Thanks for reviewing!
seaweedbrain's sister: HI ANNABETH! I always look forward to your reviews, so I'm glad you have an account now :D (although I am probably way too entertained by the fact that you went from Percy's girlfriend to his sister :P) And I love that your friends read this fic too :D Tell them to review, if they ever need something to do ;P Anyway, thanks for reviewing!
Guest: Well, I updated. Thanks for reviewing!
BOBBOB The Build: Calm, child. No need for censored curse words. Nice words will bring updates. (Although your review did remind me that it had been way too long since I'd posted, so thanks) Thanks for reviewing!
Reviews for Chapter Nine:
WhatIfNicoWasSCREAMINGLYgay: Your penname entertains me. Like, way too much. More than is healthy. Anyway, you are definitely not the only one who wants to hug Nico. I think everyone wants to hug Nico. He's theoretically a very huggable person. Thanks for reviewing!
BoysLikeGirls13: I think once I (eventually) finish this fic, I'll work on actually writing all of Nicolas Angel as a spinoff. That would make me happy. Thanks for reviewing!
2 nerdy girls: I'm glad you liked it :D Thanks for reviewing!
Awesome as Annabeth: Yay I'm glad you love it! Thanks for reviewing!
kittyhawk09: I'm glad you liked the chapter. All the characters haven't come together just yet, but they will in the next chapter, so look forward to that. Percy did not write himself into the books, as expressed in this chapter, but Greyson is Grover, for the record. I'm so happy you think the story's coming along well, that's great to hear :D Thanks for reviewing!
creamtherabbit77: ISN'T HE PERFECT? Unfortunately (and it's not stated in this chapter, but I've just decided) once Nicolas gets his shadow powers, he uses them to hide his scar, just cause I feel like that would be a detail Percy would often forget about and then get really annoyed with it. But, yeah, the abs are pretty great :D Thanks for reviewing!
countingmoons: He makes me so happy, it's not even okay. Thanks for reviewing!
Smart Girl: I already talked to you, goodbye. Thanks for reviewing.
MisunderstoodSociopath: YOU'RE THE BEST. YOU'RE AMAZING. YOU'RE THE AWESOMEST OF ALL THE PEOPLE. Yeah, that's all you get for now. Thanks for reviewing!
ObsessedwReading: I'm glad you like it :D Thanks for reviewing!
Okay, chapter time! WARNING this chapter delves into its T rating (it's not even the stuff in the fic, it's stuff that Percy wrote), so for my younger readers (I'm looking at you, bookgirl) just letting you know. ALSO, HOUSE OF HADES SPOILERS. If you haven't read that book by now, you should not be reading this fic. Or you've already been spoiled by tumblr or something. But I love you guys, so, I'm telling you in advance.
So here's the chapter, I hope you like it. Please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own PJO. I technically own Nicolas Angel, in ways that are so not legal it's sad.
This chapter is dedicated to fanficlena. You wanted Percico. I gave you… like three paragraphs of one-sided Percico, from neither Percy nor Nico's points of view. But, it's something. Hope you like it :D
Chapter Ten
The books were good. Like, really good. Not to say that Nico hadn't expected them to be- Percy was a best-selling author, his writing had to be at least decent- but these books were about him. They had his thoughts, his opinions, his fears.
And they were, like… accurate.
Nico was back in the hospital, reading in a chair next to Hazel's bed while she slept. He'd explained to Frank where he'd gone (the son of Mars had cut him off halfway through with a bone-crushing hug, and Nico had had to shadow travel to the other side of the room just so he could breathe again), then took a seat by his sister while Frank went to run some errands.
And though he felt kinda bad about it, Nico was glad Hazel hadn't woken up in the two hours he'd been alone with her. He loved his sister, but she scared him.
Nico tried not to think about Hazel's current mental state as he read Percy's books- mainly because there was nothing he could do about it at the moment. He'd messed up big time when he'd decided to go into the Lotus, and he'd hurt a lot of people, as he'd learned over the last couple of days. He was trying to fix everything, as best as he could, but there was only so much he could do. So, he was taking things one at a time.
Step one was to get Bianca back.
From what he could tell based on the first three chapters he'd read of book one, the Nicolas Angel series was about a thirteen-year-old high school freshman whose secret double life consisted of him being the leader of a civilization of ghosts that lived inside certain people and objects and caused havoc around the world. Nicolas had managed to control his people for the last three years, so that they'd become more peaceful and less evil, but then the second husband of his late mother showed up out of nowhere, after Nicolas had thought he'd moved to Greece to be a stand-up comedian, and took the throne from Nicolas in a bloody, legal battle of epic proportions until Nicolas was banished from his home and forced to live with his older sister Bi who'd dramatically left the Angel family to go to college when her brother became king.
Okay, maybe he'd read a little more than just the first three chapters. Like he said, the books were good.
As the book went on, Nicolas and Bi worked together to infiltrate their stepfather's castle and destroy the Oblivion Crystal that was keeping Nicolas from ruling the kingdom. Nicolas's best friend Jace joined their team after he was possessed by one of the evil ghosts and almost died (Nicolas tried to convince him that it was safer for him not to help them, but Jace insisted, because he was stubborn like that- he was based on Jason, after all), and eventually so did Bi's sorority sisters Talia and Zoe (Nico wasn't sure whether it was out of respect or laziness that Percy barely changed Zoë's name for the book, but he didn't judge). The five of them managed to defeat the Angel siblings' stepfather and destroyed the Oblivion Crystal, only to have it explode in their faces, quite literally.
Bi was the only one to avoid the explosion, though Nico was convinced that she soon regretted it. The energy emitted by the Crystal (somehow) gave Nicolas shadow powers, Talia and Jace lightning powers, and Zoe water powers (Nico had to think back a couple years to remember Zoë was some kind of nymph, and since Percy didn't write himself into the books, someone had to have the water powers).
Near the end of the book, there was this dramatic scene where the five heroes all hung out in Bi's dorm room, eating Nicolas's favorite dessert, blue cake (Nico read that and literally glared at the book for twenty minutes), and Nicolas had this big, dramatic realization that he finally had friends who knew who he really was, something he hadn't had in a very long time (he did not specify when the last time he'd had that was, which Nico thought was a little suspicious, but he didn't question it), and after they'd finished celebrating, Nicolas returned to his castle to reclaim his subjects once again.
Pretty soon, since apparently books in the future had magic translating powers and so Nico was easily reading the Nicolas Angel books in Ancient Greek (and he'd learned fifteen years ago that when he wasn't reading in English, he was a pretty fast reader), he had finished book one (Nicolas Angel and the Sabotaging Stepfather), had read the dramatic last sentence of, "And Nicolas Angel disappeared into the shadows, the Ghost King at last," and was about to start the sequel, Nicolas Angel and the Gratifying Godmother, when Hazel woke up.
"You're reading those books, huh?"
Nico looked up in surprise to see his sister sitting up, smirking at him from her hospital bed. "Hazel," he breathed.
"Percy let us read them when they were first written," Hazel continued, gesturing towards his pile of books. "They're not bad, although I think my character's kinda whiny."
Nico exhaled in a nervous laugh, his brain frozen in a sort of omg my mentally ill sister is talking to me and not sobbing and/or trying to attack me state of shock. "I haven't gotten to her yet. I'm sure she's perfect."
Hazel smiled at him, a loving radiance shining off of her that Nico missed seeing in Bianca and had not yet encountered in Adrianne. "I still can't believe you're here," she told him. "Have I... Have I freaked out on you yet?"
Nico tried to smile encouragingly, though he wasn't sure whether it worked or not. "Uh, yeah, a couple times."
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Frank tells me they're pretty bad. I don't remember the… episodes, though. Just these little moments of sanity." She smiled again and Nico found himself smiling for real. "But you're here," Hazel went on. "You're really here."
Nico nodded. "Yeah. I'm here."
"And you're... Alive?"
Nico looked down at himself, then back at his sister, trying not to smirk. "Um... I think so."
Hazel laughed, one of the most beautiful sounds Nico had ever heard (Bianca's laugh had been just as beautiful. He didn't know what Adrianne's sounded like). "Good," she said, smiling. "That's good."
The two were silent for a moment, just enjoying each other's presence, and then Nico opened his mouth, ready to give a speech about how it was all his fault that she was like this, that he shouldn't have ever left her, or at least should've told her where he was going, that maybe he shouldn't have taken her out of the Underworld in the first place because according to Hades that was what had made her so messed up, but before he could get even one word out, Hazel asked, "So why are you reading Percy's books?"
"Oh," Nico said, looking down at the book in his hands. "I'm, uh, making an appearance at his book signing on Saturday. The fans have been told that there's a real-life Nicolas Angel lookalike coming to speak to them."
Hazel smirked. "Yeah, you do look a little bit like him."
"Percy seemed to think so."
Hazel laughed again, and for some reason Nico couldn't stop himself from smiling. Gods, he loved his sister.
"Well, I'll let you get back to it, then," Hazel told him, lying back down on the bed.
"No, it's okay," Nico was quick to assure her. "I got plenty of time, you don't have to-"
"Read to me," Hazel cut him off. When Nico stared up at her in shock and confusion, she added, "Please?"
Slowly, Nico nodded, and looked back down at the book when Hazel grinned at him. He took a minute to switch the book back to English, knowing it would make him read more slowly (he usually didn't mess up too much when reading because of his dyslexia, but he could spend hours trying to figure out what one sentence said, especially when he was tired or distressed), but also knowing that it would be easier for Hazel to process what he was reading to her if she didn't have to translate it first.
As Nico began reading the second book in the Nicolas Angel series, a small part of him realized that his younger sister was now twenty-eight, more than a decade older than him, but sitting there next to her, it still felt like she was thirteen, fresh out of hell and needing him to teach her about the world.
And as much as he'd hated it at the time, there was nothing else he wanted more.
Nicolas Angel was not used to having people care about him, and it was becoming a problem.
Sure, he'd had friends before. He'd even had best friends, ones who'd known he was the Ghost King from the beginning and simply didn't care because they "liked him as a person" and simply thought "being the ruler of an undead civilization was just part of who he was" because "God had made him that way" or something stupid like that.
And then there was Bi, of course, who'd been the mother he'd never had (or at least the one he'd actually wanted) and he loved her more than anything, had since the moment he was born, but Bi was an independent semi-feminist who had given up the throne to her ten-year-old brother so she could go to college and get a Bachelor of Fine Arts in choreography and join a sorority that took "sisterhood" to a whole new, scarily extreme, level while pretending that she was an only child, a high school graduate, and- most importantly to her new "sisters"- a virgin.
Jace was an entirely different story.
Nicolas had met him at Freshman Orientation, when the principal of their New York Public High School had the brilliant idea to group the incoming freshmen by their birthdays, "for bonding purposes", and Jace and Nicolas had been the only two who were not yet 14, and wouldn't be until late January. Jace had decided to be awesome and hadn't tried to talk to Nicolas as long as their principal was out of earshot, save for the ever-expected question of, "So what's with the scar?" to which Nicolas could have answered in many, many ways but decided to go with, "I stole a TARDIS and transported myself into the middle of Star Wars, where Princess Leia slept with me in return for destroying Darth Vader. This is the result of my confrontation with Luke Skywalker." Jace had stared at him for a good ten seconds, then had grinned and said, "That is kind of extremely awesome."
Nicolas had decided then and there that Jace was going to be one of those rare people who he didn't hate.
But then it turned out that the students' schedules were to be set up the same waytheir orientation groups had been, because Nicolas's school was literally that stupid, meaning that Nicolas and Jace had every single class together, and Nicolas had the feeling that his opinion of the other boy was very soon going to change.
And yet, somehow, it didn't. And somehow they became friends without Nicolas having the uncontrollable urge to sic some ghosts on him and watch him suffer (something he'd done to a best friend of his before, before realizing he was quite possibly in love with that best friend, and killing them probably wasn't the best idea; it wasn't a time he was proud of). But Jace had been someone who didn't know the whole story, who didn't really know who Nicolas was. Nicolas had spent so much time at Jace's house that he was on a first name basis with his parents, and yet Jace had no idea where Nicolas lived, except for Nicolas's casual, "oh, you know, close to Brooklyn," because Nicolas lived in a castle hidden by an abandoned warehouse where he resided as the king of an immortal group of ghosts that had secretly been the cause of World War II.
Except now Jace did know. And yet Nicolas wasn't completely sure that that was a good thing.
It wasn't long before Hazel fell asleep and Nico realized he was talking to open air. He quietly closed the book and returned it to the pile on the floor, deciding to take a break since Frank would be back soon, and Nico had to get back to his father within the next hour and a half anyway.
Only a few minutes later, the son of Mars returned, laden with pizza and frozen yogurt, both of which he promptly shared with Nico (Nico didn't eat much, but he ate more than he would have fifteen years ago, for which he was very proud of himself).
"Did Hazel wake up at all?" Frank asked after a few minutes of eating in silence.
Nico nodded. "She was... calm. We talked a little. I read to her." He gestured towards his pile of books.
Frank smiled. "You're reading those, huh? Are you coming to Percy's thing on Saturday?"
"Yep," Nico confirmed. "I'm making an appearance as Nicolas Angel's doppelgänger."
Frank laughed. "Sounds fun! But, uh..." His smile faded. "You do know the rest of the seven will be there, right?"
Nico frowned. "What?"
"Jason, Piper, and Leo," Frank clarified. "I think Grover's gonna try to come too. We usually plan our reunions around Percy's events, cause it's easier that way. Plus, you know…"
"What?" Nico asked again, nervously.
"Well…" Frank paused to scrape at the bottom of his froyo cup with his spoon, an unnecessary hesitation that Nico did not appreciate. "Saturday's also the anniversary… of the day we all realized you were… you know… probably dead…"
The silence was deafening, and possibly the most awkward thing Nico had ever experienced. After a minute or two, Frank continued.
"We've been visiting your grave separately all through this week, but I think we were planning on going together after the book signing."
"And… Now you don't have to…" Nico awkwardly concluded.
"Pretty much," Frank agreed, "which, I mean, I guess is a good thing. Gives us more time to catch up. Less crying."
Nico was pretty sure he made a physical sound of pain, but he was too busy being crushed by guilt to really notice.
"Nico?" Frank asked, putting a hesitant hand on his shoulder. "Are… you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Nico stood from his seat, maybe a little too quickly to be reassuring, but he really didn't care. "Sorry, Frank, I gotta go. I have to… fix something. Just, uh… leave the books here, I'll be back later."
He waited just long enough to see Frank nod before he shadow-traveled away.
Roughly six and a half hours after Nico left his apartment, Percy got a call from Jason.
"Percy, I have a problem and I'm freaking out," the son of Jupiter said as soon as he picked up.
Percy almost rolled his eyes. Over the years, Percy (and by definition, Annabeth) had become a sort of medium for Jason and Piper's relationship. Jason was a natural-born leader and therefore tended to have problems with his girlfriend/wife and then not talk to her about them. Percy just hoped Jason hadn't screwed up too bad- he did not want Nico to be re-introduced to his friends soon after their divorce.
"What's up, Jason?" Percy asked, daring to hope that this was something that would be easily fixed.
Jason paused for a minute, and Percy would've thought he'd hung up if he couldn't hear the other man breathing. Finally, "Percy, do you remember that… that thing I told you… like twelve years ago?"
Percy couldn't help raising an eyebrow in surprise, even though he was fully aware that Jason couldn't see him (Annabeth had yet to perfect the technology that would let their demigod-safe phones use holograms, like most cell phones nowadays). "Wow, Jason, that is so very specific."
"I know, I know," Jason apologized. "But it's that… that big thing. Remember? The thing that only you and I know? That you weren't technically supposed to know?"
"Are you talking about Nico having a crush on me?"
"Yes! Yes, that is the thing." Jason sounded nervous, though not without reason. Percy had been able to hide his nightmares from the rest of the seven (minus Annabeth, of course) for about a year and a half before Piper dragged them all to California for a "catch-up" and one mention of Stygian Iron had Percy shaking like an alcoholic on withdrawal. It hadn't been pretty, and he knew it.
"What about it?" Percy asked, trying to sound really super calm to show Jason he wasn't about to have a panic attack.
Jason responded with a question of his own. "Did I ever tell you how I acquired that information?"
Percy ran a hand through his hair, trying to remember. Twelve years, gods. "Um… You just said he confided in you, though I still don't know why he would've told you of all people- no offense."
"None taken," Jason said, "Nico and I were not close. Anyway, but, technically, actually, he didn't, exactly, 'confide' in me, per se. Not… willingly, anyway. You see, we were in Croatia, trying to find that dead-raising scepter thing, to get you and Annabeth out of… you know."
Tartarus was another thing they generally didn't talk about. Percy frowned, wondering what could've happened that would cause Jason to bring up both forbidden topics in one conversation.
"Nico and I ran into Cupid," Jason continued. "And Cupid used his… you know, god powers, convinced Nico to confess. I just happened to be there."
Percy was silent for a few seconds before asking, "Why are you telling me this now?"
"There's a point to this, I promise," Jason insisted. "It's just… I just got a letter. Like, an actual, physical paper letter, found it on my doorstep this morning. No envelope, no signature. But it was written in Latin- like, standard, Camp Jupiter-taught Latin- and it said… 'Love can make people do some pretty stupid things. Cupid taught me that. Sorry to cause you so much pain in the process.' The return address… was DOA Recording Studios. Los Angeles, California."
Percy was very tempted to hang up. If Nico had gone through that much trouble to avoid physically telling Jason he was alive, he obviously wouldn't mind Percy doing it, but still… this was not his secret to tell.
Then again, maybe Cupid hadn't been Jason's.
Before the son of Jupiter could ask what his cousin knew he was thinking, Percy answered. "Jason. Nico's alive."
There were about four and a half seconds of silence, and then the line went dead.
A/N: I feel kinda terrible for ending it there… But, yeah, I think I'm gonna end it there. Hope you guys liked it, the next chapter will pretty much just be the book signing. We'll get some more Nicolas Angel passages (because I'm apparently unhealthily addicted to those), some pre-HoO flashbacks, ALL OF THE ONE-SIDED PERCICO FEELS, and we'll get to officially see adult Piper, Jason, and Leo (and Piper and Jason's four-year-old child!) and catch up some more on the ways of the future.
Also, I'm just warning you, Leo's future life will be really really vague because House of Hades was evil, and so I don't know who to ship him with. But hopefully, I won't fail at him being awesome.
Anyway, hope you liked this chapter, please review and I'll try to update soon!