Piper looked like she was about to throw up. She didn't take all the information well and hardly ever asked questions.
"Oh gods" She placed an hand on her forehead "Oh gods, oh gods"
Nico hated to be the one to tell Piper about everything that has happened since the Great Prophecy had been announced, but he felt that the oath he'd made to reunite Jason's family forced him to be the one to do so.
"I'm sorry we kept you in the dark" Nico said "It was best for you and Tom"
"And- and that final prophecy" She looked like she was shaking "is happening now?"
"Camp Jupiter's forces have already arrived at Half Blood Hill" Nico replied "It could be any minute now that Jason and Tom meet and kick start it."
"I don't understand." She said "Why Jason and Tom? Why my family?"
Nico wanted to give her an answer, but his guess was as good as any. It could be that either of them was the child of Rome in the prophecy. There was no telling, but he knew that, soon, all his questions were going to be answered.
"We have to get back" Nico stood "They need us."
Piper nodded. She stood and slipped her hand into his, indicating that she was ready for the fight of her life. Nico hoped he still had enough fuel to transport back to camp without disintegrating into shadows. He made a small prayer to his father, Hades, and willed the darkness to obey.
In his dreams, Nico was running away from a winged figure.
He wasn't surprised to find himself a teenager again. Most of his dreams displayed him in that figure, back when he was living the worst days of his life. Despite Nico wanting to leave them in the past, his unconscious kept throwing his past trauma at him as if saying Here, deal with this!
Tonight, he was in a dark alley. He couldn't see anything past his hands, but at the other end of the alley, there was a man's silhouette, barely distinguishable in the darkness. He had a lean muscular body and was about six feet tall. He had huge wings sticking out of his back, but the most noticeable feature was his bright red eyes that glowed brightly.
The man started flying in Nico's direction. Every tissue in Nico's body screamed run, but he couldn't. Normally, he was able to control his dreams, but lately they've been too powerful. All he could do was stand there and watch the man attack.
"Listen!" The man said, in a familiar voice. "Listen to it, Nico"
Nico tried to scream. He wanted answers to why those dreams were haunting him. What was the meaning of all this.
The angel man descended in front of him but he could barely make out his face in the darkness. There was a grin on his face, which Nico interpreted as one of those troublemaker kid smiles that was trademarked in the Hermes cabin. It wasn't an evil smile, but more of a 'I'm planning something' kind of look, and even though Nico could swear this alley was situated somewhere in Manhattan, he could smell salt in the air, like the smell of the sea.
Nico woke with a start, overhearing the pirates yelling all around the ship. The cabin was dark and Will still looked peacefully asleep next to him.
Nico slipped out of the bed, careful not to wake him. He put on his aviator jacket over his Winter War Games 2025 sweatshirt, and found his way back on deck. Up on the main mast, the look out was snoozing off, which wouldn't have been good. Nico could still hear the voices of pirates rowing downstairs, cursing to their hearts' content.
On the helm stood Percy Jackson. He still wore slacks and a white dress shirt from his wedding tux. His sleeves were up to his elbows, clearly not bothered by the cold weather. It wasn't snowing anymore, but Nico's arm hair still stood under the sleeves of his jacket.
"Can't sleep?" Percy asked him as Nico walked up the stairs of the quarterdeck.
"Nope, you?"
"Not even a wink." He admitted "Texas is still a few days away."
Nico was still reluctant about asking dragging Hazel into all this. It just seemed too convenient for a witch to be able to track another witch. He'd always thought sorceresses were all-powerful beings, but Percy and Will thought it couldn't hurt to ask for help, especially after Panacea mentioned her by name. Frank will obviously have to tag along, just because Hazel is. In the Iris message, they agreed to use the Labyrinth to arrive at Leo's then meet at the port in Galveston, Texas.
"Okay I can't believe I haven't asked you this yet" Nico ventured "But how are you?"
"Since when does Nico Di Angelo care about feelings?" Percy smiled sarcastically.
"Shut up, Jackson" Nico paused "I'm serious, you okay?"
"I'm fine" Percy smiled again, but it looked more forced this time. Nico stared him down until he took a deep breath. "I miss them obviously, but I gotta do this before I get back."
"How do you do it?" Nico asked, determined to understand what's going on in Percy's head.
"Do what?" Percy spun the helm, rocking the ship a bit.
"Not blame the world for everything"
"What good would that do?" Percy leaned his arms between the handles of the helm, steadying the course of the ship. "When the world fights against me, I have to fight back in order to get what I want. Holding grudges doesn't get you anywhere."
Nico let go of a small chuckle, noticing the irony in what he'd just said.
"Now can I ask you something?" Percy raised an eyebrow, his face more serious this time "Did you ever forgive me?"
"Forgive you?" Nico repeated, not understanding what he meant by his question.
"For... Bianca" Percy admitted "We never got the chance to talk about everything when we were younger."
"I was a kid." Nico felt blood rush to his face, realizing what Percy indicated by the word 'everything'. In so many ways, Percy still had that effect on Nico. Old crushes never seemed to leave Nico alone. Maybe it was because of Nico's silly childhood obsession with pirates and looking at Percy now, he was the captain of the most famous pirate ship in history.
"I'm sorry that I never knew." Percy straightened his back but still avoided eye contact.
"I'm sorry I was difficult." Nico admitted, both of them quiet for a second. Percy then turned at Nico and all of a sudden he felt like a ten year old kid again, being saved from a Manticore by the hero with deep green eyes and raven black hair.
"Did you..." Percy hesitated "Did you love me?"
"Remember Mythomagic?" Nico asked then Percy nodded in agreement "You were like a character in a game to me. A legend. A true hero. I idolized you... admired you for so long that it eventually developed into feelings."
Percy didn't drop his gaze. He was either a very good listener, or he wanted the answer to his question really badly.
"It was never love" Nico admitted.
Percy exhaled, probably in relief. He turned his head back forward, breaking the mini staring contest they were engaged in
"Do you love Will?" He asked.
Nico thought about that. Percy was Nico's first crush, and he could make Nico's stomach do back flips with as much as a look, but Will Solace was more... easy going than Percy. Will could always force Nico's stomach to conjure up a swarm of skeletal butterflies. Although the feeling of back flips was way more intense, Nico liked the butterflies more. He thought a lifetime with butterflies in his stomach would be easy, but a lifetime doing back flips would be too tiresome, but was comfort and ease of mind a reason to love Will?
In many ways, Will made him a better person over the past few years. They'd shared many amazing experiences together. They were even handpicked together by Chiron to run camp. On the other hand, Percy made him want to be a better person. He'd jumped at the chance to help him on his quest, for reasons that he could never admit out loud.
Suddenly, Nico could feel his own body move closer to the son of the sea. It seemed as though he was completely lacking control of the muscles in his leg. He was just drawn to him, like a trance. His brain kept insisting on opening the door he'd kept closed since he was fourteen years old.
Percy was still eyeing the ocean in front of him, not noticing Nico advancing until he was dangerously close.
"Nico-" Percy couldn't finish the sentence, as he was cut short by Nico's lips. It was a brief kiss, barely lasting a few seconds, but every fiber in Nico's body screamed that it was wrong. Other than the feeling of guilt that washed over him, the kiss with Percy wasn't like anything Nico had ever imagined.
His lips tasted salty, which was a taste Nico was never fond of. He was always so used to the taste of honey on Will's lips, that it never occurred to him that Percy's lips would taste like sea water. The chemistry between them was completely wrong. Maybe it was the fact that Percy didn't see it coming, but the kiss was awkward and... just didn't feel right. He didn't know where to place his hands or how to make it last longer than a few seconds.
"I'm sorry" Nico felt his own face getting redder as he let go and began to walk away. He was determined never to show his face to Percy again until Percy caught up to him and stopped him.
"Stop running away!" Percy turned Nico around so that they were face to face. Nico stifled a sob, then regained enough strength to meet Percy's eyes. In reality, he was only about two or three inches taller than him, but Percy seemed to be ten feet tall right now.
"I needed to know how that felt" Nico's voice was small "To make sure that I really love Will."
"You shouldn't need to kiss me to know how you feel about your fiance"
"Easy for you to say," Nico said "You've been completely in love with Annabeth since you were fifteen"
"So have you!" Percy scolded him "I've watched you fall in love with Will when you were a kid too, so why did you ever doubt it?"
"I don't know" Nico's eyes watered in the presence of Percy. He vowed to never do that again, but he couldn't help the tears falling down his face.
Percy didn't drop his gaze. His nails were still digging into Nico's arms. He wasn't satisfied with the answer, even though that was the truth. Will had been nothing but amazing to him. There shouldn't have been a reason for this doubt about this relationship. His brain and his heart both told him to go live happily ever after with Will Solace, so what was stopping him?
Unfortunately, there was no answer.
Nico pried Percy's hands away from his body, then he turned around and kept on walking away. This time, the son of Poseidon didn't stop him.
"If you can't even listen to your own soul," A new voice said "How would you listen to the souls of the dead when you are judge?"
Nico dared to turn around at Percy again, but this time his sea green eyes were the color of grey. It wasn't anything like Annabeth Chase's stormy grey, but rather full of pain and misery, like they'd seen a share of bad choices and consequences.
"Who are you?" Nico asked
"It doesn't matter" Percy replied in his new voice. The voice that spoke wasn't Percy's , instead it was more feminine. Nico's right hand tried to reach for the hilt of his sword, only that he forgot to strap it on when he woke up. "What matters is that you need to learn to listen to souls."
"I've been summoning souls since I was ten."
"But have you ever listened to them?" Percy tilted his head "You were once misguided by King Minos' ghost because you failed to study and understand his essence."
"I've been trained by Hades himself." Nico threatened "I doubt he missed a class lecture about listening."
"Hades never paid much attention to his subjects" He shrugged "He isn't even in charge of judging who goes where in the Underworld."
"Are you calling the god of the Underworld incompetent?" Nico asked, hoping his father was listening to the insult that would be uttered by whoever that being was.
"Gods, no" Percy shook his head with a smile "Lord Hades is very suited to run the kingdom of the dead. I'm saying you are not suited to be a judge of the Underworld... yet. Nearly twenty years ago, my husband took a special interest in you. Now it is my turn, Nico Di Angelo."
"Your husband, listening to souls..." Nico deduced, suddenly remembering one of the most painful experiences he'd ever endured "You're Psyche, wife of Eros."
"Indeed, my dear pupil" Psyche nodded "And your first lesson is understanding that your own soul is in great conflict. It has been trying to contact you for sometime."
"Can I shoot it an email or...?"
"Your soul- all souls are vulnerable, impermanent, but strong... Stronger than you know. There's a reason the Underworld even exists. Gods couldn't find a way to get rid of human souls. They're full of energy, full of light, full of great power. They can be bludgeoned, tortured, but never broken."
Nico didn't want to listen to a philosophical lecture any more than he wanted to talk to Eros' wife. He wanted answers to his problems, and an explanation on how his inability to 'listen' to his soul had been a cause for his current issues.
"That's beautiful, but-"
"My sisters had once managed to use my soul's sense of curiosity to destroy my happiness. Your soul holds your biggest, most fatal flaws... and biggest strengths. You soul makes your core character. I offer you this advice: Stop listening to your brain and your heart, and start listening to what your soul is telling you. Let it lead the way."
Psyche nodded one last time before she closed her eyes and exited Percy's body, returning his eyes to their normal green color. He didn't seem to notice his body being possessed because he still stared at him with disappointment.