Nico pressed his face to the train window and grinned. He had never been so excited.

A few days ago, his mother had announced a family vacation.

In his six years, he had never left Venice. Now he was in Croatia, speeding along on the shiny new railway system. They were going to see Emperor Diocletian's palace! A really cool military general who defeated a lot of enemies! Nico could hardly wait!

Though he couldn't explain it exactly, it also stirred something like...not really a memory, but like a kinship. He felt connected for some reason, as if Diocletian was a long lost relative.

But he didn't dwell on it. He just continued to look at the Croatian landscape.

His mother gazed at it intently too. She looked pensive and melancholy as if she were thinking this was the last time she would ever see scenery like this.

"Nico, stop it." Bianca chided him from the next seat. She grabbed his hands and tore them away from the glass. "You're smudging the windows."

"Aw, but I wanna see, Bianca!" he wailed.

"You can look without touching." Bianca insisted sternly.

Nico pouted and crossed his arms.

"Now, now children." their mother said, breaking away from her quiet sulk. "We're almost there."

The train arrived in Split a few minutes later. The town was amazing. The streets were full of pedestrians and vendors. Strange music came into focus as they passed street musicians.

Bianca got him an ice cream that he ate while he stared in fascination at an organ grinder's trained monkey.

The palace was visible in the distant horizon of the city and Nico and Bianca made their way to it, their mother silently watching them a few steps behind.

It was a huge building with so many wings and gables and gardens that Nico couldn't count them all.

He got so dizzy looking up numbering the spiraling towers that he fell down.

"Oh for goodness sake." Bianca laughed. "Can't I take you anywhere?"

She helped him up and wiped the tears from his face.

Nico sniffed, scrubbed his face with his sleeve and suddenly smiled mischievously.

He snatched Bianca's green cap and announced "Keep away!" running at full speed toward the palace.

"You little brat!" Bianca yelled, racing after him.

Nico laughed with a wide smile, exposing a missing tooth as he looked back at his pursuing sister. Abruptly, a sharp wind cut through him and he skidded to a halt.

Bianca nearly ran into him. She grabbed her hat huffily and placed it back on her head before she saw her brother looked scared.

"Nico? What is it?"

"I..." Nico strained to see something on top of a tower. "Nothin', Sis."

Bianca ruffled his hair.

"Okay. What do you say we find mom and get some lunch?"

"Carry me?"

"You're too old for piggyback rides."

"Please?"

"Fine." Bianca groaned.

She smiled and lifted him onto her back.

As Nico held on he looked behind him one more time. He shrugged and turned back, chatting relentlessly about what he wanted to eat.

When he was out of sight, a young man with long dark hair and blood-red eyes appeared on top of the tower. His eyes swam chaotically but he had an icily calm smile.

"Nico di Angelo." he murmured. "What an interesting boy. What an interesting fate."

The image of the boy seared into his mind. The bright eyes, the missing tooth, the mused hair, his sister's cap. The hollowed and lonely face he knew he would someday have.

"We will meet again soon."

A/N: Requested by PJO rulz, who requested something about Nico and Bianca when they were little! The cupid chapters in HOH were pure pain, but I wanted to do something about that too.

I hope you liked it and thank you for reading!