"Seriously?"
"Is it really that surprising?"
"Well… no, I guess not." Becki shrugged, leaning between them and picking up another bright blue cookie. "Do it again."
"Giallo."
"Yellow."
"Indaco."
"Indigo."
"Arancione."
"Wait—no, I know this one… wait, wait, wait…. Oh, orange!"
"Verde."
"Green."
"Becki, are you going to help me or are you done?" Jesse said without turning around from where he was working.
"I'm helping." His little sister defended herself indignantly, taking a pointed bite out of her cookie from where she was curled up on the couch. "Ms. J would be insulted if I didn't eat these. Right Nico? Tell him I'm helping."
The son of Hades shot her a mild glare from where he was curled up on the opposite end of the couch, mirroring her position of leaning against the arm rest and careful of the plate of cookies between them that Ms. Sally had forced upon them. "Non é colpa mia se siete pigri." (1) He said pointedly.
She frowned at him suspiciously, still not up to par on Italian enough to know what he'd said, and then looked at her brother's back pointedly. "See? He agrees."
Nico huffed and rolled his eyes, but didn't comment. All three of them knew that was not what he'd said, although two of them weren't sure what he'd said at all.
"And see? We're almost done!" She gestured to the wall he was working on, and the elder son of Iris huffed.
"No, I'm almost done." He muttered, stepping back and admiring his work.
Nico glanced at the clock, currently on the floor next to the couch he and Becki were occupying. "Good timing too, it's almost six."
"We'll have another hour to let this dry and then put everything back if Joshua and Jimmy keep them busy like they promised." Jesse said, satisfied as he dipped his paint roller in the tray once more. Becki just hummed and snagged another cookie, watching him in mild interest.
True, she'd helped a lot in the beginning, but then she'd lost interest after Nico had wandered in. He'd only raised an eyebrow at their work and was about to continue on his way until Becki had stolen his attention. With the aid of Ms. J's oh-so-delicious cookies—that she was baking as a thank-you for the children of Iris' surprise to her son— she had been able to spend the last hour drilling the son of Hades on Italian.
And it had nothing to do with the fact that she was highly interested in getting Marco Rossi to ask her to the winter dance this December. Unfortunately the Italian exchange student, although knowing a lot of English, preferred his native tongue, so the daughter of Iris had found herself implanted between Nico and Marco in their shared Freshman history class trying to absorb as much of the language as she could. Nico never failed to roll his eyes impatiently every time she asked for help, but he'd also never said no as of yet.
"You missed a spot." She said brightly to her brother, who froze, but didn't turn around to react. He just calmly lowered his roller and picked up a nearby brush.
"The only reason I'm not chucking this can of paint at you is because you're sitting on Mrs. Jackson's couch," He told her matter-of-factly as he continued working.
She beamed, watching him add in the last of the swirls.
He stepped back, and all three of them took a moment to appreciate the designs.
The Jackson apartment living room was now a beautiful royal blue, traces of deep green and tyrian purple swirling through it in a way reminiscent of ocean tides, and barely noticeable if you didn't look straight at it for a second or two. All the trimming a gleaming white, contrasting with the present dark-wood floors and the already-beach-like decorations Ms. J had in here, transforming the apartment feel into something very… ocean-like.
The two children of Iris weren't very good at fighting or strategy or pranks or anything like that, but they were damn-good artists. As a junior, Jesse already had his eyes set on a animation and design college in Maryland, but Becki, as a freshman, only knew that she didn't want to get arrested for her favorite pastime of marking up the blank walls of Manhattan with graffiti.
This morning had been a whirlwind ever since their mother had waltzed into their creative drawing class and decided they should visit the Art Museum a few blocks over. Chaos had ensued.
But it'd been the best day ever, so far as Jesse and Becki were concerned, so the minute they got home they'd all but begged Mrs. Jackson to let them do something to say thank you. Apparently their mother knew Percy on a personal level and didn't hate him—although she didn't really hate anybody it seemed— and she had let it slip who was organizing this entire thing. After the hours with their mother, their creative energy had been ready to burst, and Ms. J wasn't about to say no to their idea.
She had loved it, and when Paul came home he had been floored, but obviously loved it too—Becki noting that surprising things had been less and less surprising for the man as the weeks went on. The two were now in the kitchen, Sally baking (because she couldn't make only one batch when there were roughly forty more demigods who would sniff the treats out in all due time) and Paul grading their homework from that day.
Becki had made herself quite at home on the couch cluttered up with all the furniture they'd moved to the center of the room to get access to the walls. There, with her plate of cookies, two surrogate parents talking peacefully in quiet voices nearby, the son of Hades listing off words in Italian for her to memorize, and the smell of freshly melting chocolate and paint made it the homiest environment she could've ever imagined up, so no, she felt no more motivation to help her brother, who was all work and no play and had it all under control anyway (i.e. he was a control freak. And a perfectionist. And super anal about the detail-oriented part of painting. The list goes on).
"There." Jesse stepped back and admired the now competed walls, smiling in satisfaction. "We need to move the furniture back." He turned to the younger two, eyeing his sister in a way that told them she would be helping now.
She rolled her eyes but swung her legs off the couch anyway, shoving the rest of her cookie in her mouth and getting up to start moving stuff around. Jesse scooped up all the painting stuff and took it out of the room, back to their own linen closet in his apartment that now doubled as a dumping ground for all their art materials. Nico actually got up without a word too and helped her move the couch back, which was surprising in a pleasant way.
But then she picked up the picture frames to put back on the side tables and Nico gave her a very strange look as she haphazardly put them upright in a cluster.
"Non stai facendo nel modo guisto," (2) He told her in a blunt voice, shooing her away with his hands and them rearranging the pictured neatly.
Becki had no clue what he'd said, but how carefully he moved the frames into perfect alignment entertained her. "You're as anal as Jesse," She laughed, and he frowned but didn't look up as he worked.
"I don't know what that means."
"It means you're OCD like him."
"I still don't know what that means."
She rolled her eyes. "21st century lingo dude, don't worry about it. But that right there is OCD, and you have it." She joked as she pushed a frame slightly to the left and he shot her a vivid glare as he quickly put it back into place.
"Whatever." He brushed it off, obviously not understanding, but not caring about it either. "Andare a fare qualcosa di utile si sociocco pigro." (3)He dismissed her, and she huffed as she pushed things back into place once more.
"I know what pigro means." She reminded him.
"Sciocco pigro." (4)
"I know what that means too."
"Grande." (5)
"Wow, can you say sarcastic much?"
"Sarcastico molto. Ottenere su di esso." (6)
"Oh, rude!"
"Non mi interessa." (7)
Becki snorted, pushing a chair back in place. "Of course you don't. Ok then, if you don't care then-!"
"Uh… guys?"
Both freshmen straightened up and whipped around to see a very confused Percy Jackson standing in the doorway, glancing around with his eyebrows arched high at the scene in front of him.
Beck grinned slyly. "Surprise!"
000
…Four months ago…
000
"Hey."
This time, Leo was prepared.
"Sup?" Leo said, biting back a yawn. Nico was by his side, having appeared from in the dark around him in that freakishly quiet way of his. Leo didn't know how he knew he'd approached, but was simply thankful he didn't have to have another heart attack again. It'd been a long day of delay after delay, and now the current ETA for the Apennine mountains was dawn.
God, if this took any longer they'd get to Greece by the end of the month, not next week like they'd planned.
Jason, Piper, and Hazel had finally gone to bed, Frank and Coach Hedge arguing about something (or Coach talking loudly and Frank trying to edge away) on the bow of the ship, looking out for monsters late at night yet again. One might think that Frank would've tried coming to talk to them to escape the annoying Satyr, however, Leo thought wryly, his choices were either dealing with Hedge or standing awkwardly near the guy who was a twin to his girlfriend's long-dead ex and his girlfriend's dark, unnerving-as-hell brother who only seemed to tolerate the thought of his sister dating him. Since Frank was still enduring Coach's ramblings, it seemed obvious what he'd picked.
Leo's energy was seriously depleted after the long day of monster-initiated-delays, but Nico seemed to have come alive as the sun set. He couldn't help but notice that the Son of Hades seemed to fit right in with the shadows, his pale skin luminescent, yet still a blended grey against the dark blues and purples of night. He also seemed very awake, more alive than Leo had seen him in the short time they'd met. He was in his element now, just like Leo had been for those couple hours after the sun had risen at dawn.
Nico didn't immediately answer his question, blinking slowly out at the dark horizon thoughtfully. Leo had a weird feeling that Nico could see through the darkness much better than most people, and half wondered what the horizon looked like to him.
"What if I said there was a chance everyone could make it home again?" He said suddenly, just quiet enough that Leo immediately knew he didn't want Frank or Hedge to hear them speak. Not that either would be listening anyway: Hedge barely heard anyone but himself, and Frank was giving them a wide berth.
Leo felt a thrill of suspicion and worry at keeping secrets, but took the bait anyway. Damn his curiosity.
"I'd say you're rattled, but I'm listening." He frowned, also looking out at the sky thoughtfully.
Nico paused for a couple minutes again, and Leo let him, his nerves building the more the son of Hades hesitated.
"…I need your help."
Leo turned and fixed him with a strange look.
"We're all friends here." He shrugged. "What do you need?" But Nico was already shaking his head.
"No, I need your help. No one else can know, please."
Leo blinked in alarm for a beat before frowning deeply. "What can I possibly do that no one else can? That someone else couldn't do better? Unless it involves something being incinerated." He said with a wide, pointed look.
Nico sighed. "First of all, I need you to keep a secret."
He rolled his eyes. "I should tell you, I'm a blabber mouth, I don't really think-"
"Did you tell anyone about your mom?"
Leo's eyes bugged out and he took an involuntary step back. "H-how did y-you-!?"
"I was kidnapped by Gaea if you remember," Nico said darkly. "She's planning on using that against you. As well as a whole list of stuff against everyone here. But… I'm not saying, it's really not my business. What I mean is that you do know how to keep a secret, and I need is for you to keep one more. On my life, I you need to."
Leo only stared. "I… I mean… aw hell, whatever. I'm in."
Whatever this was, it was big. And dark. Big and dark. And they were all gonna be dead anyway, so it didn't matter. Belatedly he realized this was probably exactly why Nico wanted to confide in him rather than others.
"You're only in because you don't think anything will work." Nico put together, dark eyes narrowing at the mechanic as if to confirm what both he and Leo already suspected/knew.
"Nope." Leo said falsely bright, popping his 'p'. Truth be told, he was still reeling from some guy he barely knew bringing up his mom. It freaked him out. As if he didn't already have a million things to stress about, but bringing up old wounds? Not cool.
Nico rolled his eyes. "Which is actually why I think you can help." He said, and Leo shot him a curious look. "Look… before I was captured, I learned a lot about the Doors. I learned even more after I got caught. The point is… they can't be closed. Not the way everyone is thinking."
Leo felt his heart drop in his newly ice-filled stomach.
"You're saying this is in vain." He breathed. It went along with what he'd been thinking, but still… to hear it…
Nico paused a brief moment. "It is if we can't fix it. And I hear you're good at fixing things."
Leo blinked slowly.
This WAS big and dark. Secrets be damned, this couldn't be for nothing. So many people would be dead quite soon if it were. To hell with it, he wasn't about to let that rest.
"What do we need to do?"
Nico seemed relieved at the grimly determined note in the mechanic's voice.
"We? Not much. I however… I was there once, in Tartarus, I watched how they worked the doors from down there. It doesn't work the same way as it does up top. When we get to the doors, I can teach you all how to close them from the House of Hades… and I need to be on the other side to close them there."
Leo knew his face was one of horror, but his mind was utterly blank.
He couldn't even process what he was hearing.
"What… I…?"
"You need to make sure no one stops me." Nico said grimly. "Jason, Piper… Hazel… they're going to argue. But the stakes are too high. We can't hesitate if we only get a moment to act on it."
"You're essentially asking me to kill you." Leo said, his voice frighteningly dead and sharp. It was so out of character it even horrified himself. Or, the horrified feelings surging in his chest could've been caused by any of the other things being said in this conversation, but whatever.
Nico remained gravely silent, letting it sink in.
Leo couldn't think about it. He'd damned Percy and Annabeth to that place, and here Nico was asking him to do the same to him. Percy and Annabeth were at least older, more capable than him. He barely new Nico except the kid was at least two or three years younger.
But… there was no other way. It was all hopeless anyway, and this was one small chance they could actually do this if they even made it as far as the Doors.
He couldn't.
He had to.
He'd never felt more trapped in his life, and he fucking hated it.
Leo gave the son of Hades another look-over. He was so small, painfully thin and malnourished. Nothing about the kid led Leo to believe he'd had any easier a life than he himself had endured. And still, here he was asking to be condemned to a fate worse than death when all Leo could think of is when this would all be over. Nico would never get Elysium, would never get peace. He was going to be tortured forever, for the rest of all eternity, and no one was going to come and save him.
And he was going to do it anyway.
Leo didn't know when the tears had started running down his cheeks, but Nico didn't so much as blink as they sized each other up silently in the middle of the night.
Nico's Italian:
"It's not my fault you're lazy."
"You're not doing it right."
"Now go do something you lazy fool."
"Lazy fool."
"Great."
"Sarcastic very. Get over it."
"I don't care."
