The weekend came slower than Jason would have liked, he was planning to go visit the graveyard again on Saturday to find out who was buried in the grave Nico had sat against after their sparring match. He knew that maybe he shouldn't be spying on Nico, but he had been spying on Nico when he saw him with the grave so Jason couldn't very well ask him about it. It was a good enough week, Jason turned down an invitation to go play laser tag with Piper and Leo. He didn't want to, but he had other things besides going to the graveyard this weekend. He needed to clean the house, cut the grass, and spend time with his mother to make sure she would be okay through the next week while he was away through the days, with homework on top of that he wouldn't have time for much else.

When the Saturday morning finally dawned Jason got up as early as he would have on a weekday, maybe he would let himself sleep in a bit on Sunday. He went through his morning routine then sat down at the table in the kitchen to work on some of his homework and wait for his mother to wake up. Once she was up Jason made them both pancakes for breakfast and they ate together, his mother didn't ask him about his week again, only chattered about things that either made no sense or Jason had been told a hundred times, he blocked her out. Once breakfast was done she wandered away back to the TV and Jason called after her that he was going, she didn't answer but he knew she had heard so he went anyway.

It was a bit chilly today so Jason grabbed a sweater on his way out slipping it on over his T-shirt. He thought he could remember the graveyard was but he had forgotten how surrounded by trees it was, so he walked by a couple of times before spotting it and making his way in through the trees. He ducked under a branch and came out in the clearing with the graves, he paused for a moment. It was so quiet, a lot more quiet than he had ever heard it being in a city. It could have been creepy but Jason chose to see it the way Nico would, calming, safe. Jason walked through the graves, the tips of his fingers brushing over the rough stone on their tops as he made his way slowly toward the large grave Nico had sat against.

By the time he got there he was wondering if he should have come here, was it worth it? The name on the grave might have meant nothing to Nico and would almost definitely mean nothing to Jason, what could it explain? More than that, if the tombstone did hold an explanation, Jason wasn't sure that he wanted to see it anymore. He knelt down in front of the tombstone without looking at it at first, his head was bowed looking at nothing at all, finally he took a deep breath and looked up at the grave stone.

Maria Di Angelo

Lived 1977-2008

A lover of death even in life

May she find comfort in its eternal embrace.

Underneath this someone had scratched and her daughter Bianca Di Angelo 1994-2010. "Oh God" Jason covered his mouth with one hand, well those names did mean something to him, Nico's family.

"What are you doing here?" Came a harsh voice from behind Jason and he whirled around to see Nico standing with his arms crossed glaring at Jason more angrily then Jason had ever seen him.

"I..I..uhh." Jason said unsure of what to say, but then he stood up and hugged Nico. Nico stiffened and didn't return the hug.

"I don't like being touched!" He said angrily but seemed to frozen to push Jason away.

"I know." Jason said letting go slowly. "Are they your family?" He said, they both knew what he ment. Nico sighed.

"Yes, my father moved my mothers grave here when he left me and Bianca here." Nico stepped around Jason without looking at him, and kneeled down on the soft earth. Jason knelt next to him.

"Left you?" Jason asked hesitantly, Nico nodded.

"At first he looked after me and Bianca after our mother died, but eventually he got bored of us. He had better things to do then look after a couple kids from a woman he wasn't married to so he brought us here with him on business. We didn't know it, but the business was paying of the manager of a hotel to keep us and then leaving without saying goodbye.

"We stayed there for a while, I liked it there were video games and a pool and I thought it was fun to live in a hotel but Bianca hated it. Eventually she decided we should run away, at the time I thought she was practically a god so I would have gone along with anything she said."

Nico's eyes had sort of clouded over and Jason was pretty sure Nico had forgotten he was there but Jason didn't say anything, he wanted to know this. "At first everything went fine." Nico continued. "Bianca looked after me pretty well but then we were attacked, I don't remember much of it really, only that this boy came to our rescue.

"He said that he came from, sort of a camp for runaways where we would be safe and we went with him. At first it seemed like everything he said was true, when we got there it was a camp with almost all kids and I thought it was so cool, and he was so cool. We stayed for a while but the guy who saved us said he had to leave on another 'mission' and he wanted Bianca to go with him, she agreed. I wanted to go to but I was only nine at the time and too young, I knew that it was dangerous, whatever they were planning, but he promised to bring her back safe. I trusted him to keep his word. I thought he was a hero how could he fail?" Nico gave a small harsh laugh. "I was wrong, he didn't even bring back her body, I guess it wasn't important enough to bother about. I tried to tell someone to get her a funeral at least but no one believed me so this was all I could do." He trailed over her scratched name on their mother's tombstone "Hopefully it's enough to let her rest."

Nico's head was hanging, his hand still pressed again and Jason hesitantly put one arm around Nico's shoulders. At first Nico jerked a bit in surprise but then he leaned against Jason excepting the comfort., Jason put his other arm around Nico too, feeling how thin he was, he was shaking. If Nico didn't have any family here besides Hazel and he didn't live with Hazel, where did Nico live? What did he do all alone, no wonder he was so attached to Hazel and so distrusting of everyone else.

"What happened after that?" Jason asked hesitantly he knew Nico might not want to talk, but then again maybe he would and Jason wanted to give him the choice.

"I ran." Nico said with a shrug. "I ran away from everything, I thought if I didn't stay in one spot maybe the pain wouldn't be able to catch me. I learned how to sneak on to boats and things, I didn't even care where they were going. I learned ended up in China that way a couple times." He gave a crooked smile before his brow furrowed again and he went back to staring into space. "I found Hazel during that time, she was homeless to at that point but I found her a safe place. She found a family and once I knew she was safe I started running again. I went to visit her often though and let her know how long I would be gone so she wouldn't worry.

"But then I bit off a bit more than I could chew, I snuck on to a military ship and before I knew it I was in the middle of a war zone. I think I went a little crazy while I was there, I spent a long time without seeing anyone alive. Plenty of dead though so I started believing I could talk to them, I guess I was just lonely. Then when I found the people who'd been doing the killing I guess it was just easier to see them as monsters from the Greek card game I'd loved as a kid than admit humans could do that to each other. Some of them kidnapped me, I thought they were giants at the time but I guess they were just men, they brought me back across the sea.

"I don't know what they were planning to do with me but luckily that's where Hazel came looking for me. She knew about the camp me and Bianca had stayed at for a while, I guess they thought they owed me something for taking Bianca away from me because they helped her get me out. Since then I've just been staying here, Hazel doesn't want me to run again. She's too worried about me, and I don't blame her." Nico let out a harsh laugh, Jason didn't know what to say, what could he say? He had thought his life was hard with the way his mother was but at least he still had a mother, and a sister even though she didn't live near him. He wanted to tell Nico it would be okay but he knew it wouldn't.

Suddenly Nico was crying and the Jason just held him, just held him and let him cry, that was probably the best thing Jason could do right now. He rocked slightly not saying anything or making a sound when Nico gripped Jason's shoulder, with a bruisingly tight hold. Jason had no idea how long they had stayed like that but after a while Nico stilled and was silent.

"I'm sorry." Nico whispered hoarsely.

"Why?" Jason asked his eyes widening, what would Nico have to be sorry for? Jason though it was the world that should be sorry for what it had done to the younger boy.

"I haven't even cried like that to Hazel, it's enough that I hurt, I don't have to depress everyone around me with it to." Nico gave a small sniffling laugh trying to brush off his earlier outburst as nothing as he sat up away from Jason.

"Don't be sorry, Nico." Jason said pleadingly "I'm glad you opened up to me, besides that's something you need to share. It isn't weakness to share a burden you can't carry alone." Nico gave another small laugh and scrubbed his face with his sleeve. "Hey when you feel a bit better why don't you let me take you out for something to eat? You are way too thin."

"Alright but I can't really eat properly anymore." Nico caught Jason's confused expression and frowned. "There was a gas, it burned my throat, I don't know if the damage is even real anymore or just left over pain. All I know is when I eat anything too hot or with sharp edges it hurts." Jason nodded realization dawning on him.

"So that's why I've really only seen you eat vegetables and fruit things!" He said his eyes wide.

"Yep, some things like that actually help. The fruit smoothies Hazel brings me sometimes especially, they're cold and smooth and they help." Nico said standing up, brushing grass of his black pants. Jason nodded and then grinned.

"Why don't we go to the mall then?" Jason said and Nico looked at him in confusion. "There's a smoothie place in the food court and you can get a salad from one of the other places or whatever you want. Besides I think Leo and Piper were planning to go the laser tag place there later today, I know you don't like people very much but you might like laser tag and it would be fun." Jason said jumping to his feet feeling excited about this idea. Nico didn't seem as excited about it as Jason was, but he did give a small smile though it seemed to be more at Jason's enthusiasm then the idea itself. He nodded silently agreeing to the plan before rubbing his face on his sleeve again and taking a deep breath.

"Okay let's go then." Nico said and Jason lead the way out of the trees looking up on his phone how to get to the mall through the buses and texting his mother about where he was going incase she noticed he was gone. He had Pipers number too and he texted her letting her know that he had changed his mind about going with them to laser tag, and asking if he could bring Nico. She texted him back right away saying that of course he could bring Nico! And she was insisting on paying for Nico to get in herself!

Jason grinned and relayed the information to Nico who gave a small smile and nodded. Nico had his arms crossed, though it looked more like Nico was trying to keep himself together then like he was angry. Jason put one arm around Nico's shoulders giving him another small squeeze before letting go quickly. He was pretty sure that earlier had been a one off, and Nico still didn't really like being touched by anyone but Hazel.

Nico didn't seem to want to talk through the bus ride so Jason let himself think about Nico's story. He wondered at what points Nico had collected the scars Jason had seen, there were plenty of opportunities for them. He also wondered about the camp Nico had talked about and the boy who hadn't brought who hadn't brought his sister back, Jason wondered if he would ever get the chance to meet that boy.

Once they reached the mall both Nico and Jason got smoothies, Jasons was plain banana-strawberry and Nico got a Pomegranate-Berry mixture. Then they both waited in line at a Greek food place when Nico got a salad with olives and feta cheese, and after that a chinese place where Jason got his food. They found a table close to the edge of the eating area because neither of them liked the idea of being surrounded by strangers then they ate.

Nico was very tense at first but he relaxed a little once he was used to the people and they started to chat, Nico seemed more willing to talk about things in general now that Jason knew about what had happened and Jason felt like they were just a pair of normal teenagers hanging out at the mall. That made him smile, that wasn't an experience he had had before and he was sure it wasn't one Nico had had either, he seemed to be enjoying it too.

I've started another fanfiction with Nico in it, a crossover with creepy pasta. It's called "Nico and the Creepypastas" if you ant to have a look at it. I don't knw if it's any good really but I had fun writing it and I think I'll keep going.