Author's note:
Yes, I know, another Nico POV. I'm sorry. But this is kinda important. There'll be a long author's note at the bottom here, for all those wanting to punch me. I'm sorry this is so late, and you totally should punch me.
Disclaimer: If I was Rick or Rowling, their stories would have more sex and more death. Therefore I am neither of them.
Nico:
Two days had passed since the failed attempt at raising ghosts. They were still the loners at school, but Nico didn't really mind. Actually, he had almost stopped noticing it. There was too much spinning around in his head. The Eternals- he still hadn't told the others. And he wasn't planning too. But he had made a decision. Nico needed to know about his family. Everything there was. Especially however the fuck they were involved with the Eternals. And considering how little information Hades had been willing to give back in the day when he had dragged Percy to him, the god wasn't going to help. He had to go there.
But first, he needed to talk to Kai. Nico didn't know how all of this had gotten so fucked up, but the wizard deserved to know. Or at least to have the choice. Maybe the relationship was at an end, but the son of Hades needed a blank slate for his next mission. He would feel forever guilty if he did not do this now, because he knew, he'd never get a chance to do this again.
Kai was in the common room that night, but went to bed early, as Nico had expected. Since shit had gone down, the wizard had used sleep as an excuse to stay away from the italian.
Nico said Percy goodnight, who was trying to finish an essay for Flitwick, and fist bumped Annabeth. Leo and Calypso were making out on the other couch and Nico ignored them. If he got any closer he might catch the straights, yuck.
He walked up the staircase, opening the door to the bedroom. Kai was fake snoring as always.
"Wake up!" Nico hissed.
The fake snoring continued.
The Ghost King moaned. Jeeeez that guy could be annoying. He walked to the others bed, and ripped off the blanket. The shirtless Kai stared at him angrily. If Nico hadn't been so pissed, he would have been turned on.
"Fuck off!" Kai made a grab for his blanket, but Nico threw it across the room.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. But we will talk. And it won't be here." Nico had crossed his arms in front of his chest.
Kai stared at him for a moment. "Sure." he said, sullen.
"Then take my hand." Nico stretched out his arm. Shadow travelling was going to be the easiest way to get somewhere without the others seeing them.
"What the fuck?" The wizard seemed pissed.
Nico rolled his eyes. "There's nothing fucking romantic about it. You'll see." For a moment, he was sure Kai was just going to turn onto his side and let Nico stand there, but he didn't. Their fingers intertwined.
"What now?" Kai asked through gritted teeth.
"Hold tight." Nico smirked. The shadows enveloped them.
They came out within the new demigod headquarter-classroom. It was dark, but Nico quickly ignited some torches by snapping his fingers. No one was in there- not surprising. The ragged Camp Halfblood flag flopped lazily in the slight breeze the open window caused. The weapon racks were neater than before- doubtlessly Annabeth had ordered them before going up to the common room.
Kai could only stare. His shoulders were still tense, but his eyes gleamed with a hint of curiosity. Still panting from shadow travel, he asked "What the fuck?!" Only this time it was a lot less aggressive and a lot more confused. Nico almost smiled. "Wait wait wait did you just apparate?! Within Hogwarts?! How the fuck is that even possible?" He threw up his hands in resignation. "Great, and now you're making me forget that I'm supposed to be mad at you."
Nico pulled over two chairs, facing each other. His heart was pounding. "Sit." He offered, pulling two beers from a shelf and handing one over.
Kai had tensed up again, his lips a thin strip of anger.
Nico sighed. "Look, I know all of this is my fault. But what you have to understand is that I didn't choose any of it."
Kai's eyebrows furrowed. "Seriously?! That's all you can come up with?! Of course you had a choice. You could have told me before you left. You worried me sick! And then you appear out of nowhere, half dead, without so much as an apology?!"
Nico ground his teeth. Why couldn't Kai understand?! Did he think the italian had fun doing all of this?! "LISTEN!" He took Kai's hands in between his. He hadn't felt the sadness, but suddenly he was aware of the wetness of his cheeks. "Please. just, listen." the ghost King mumbled.
Kai went quiet. "Look, if you want me to, I will tell you everything. And I mean, everything! Stuff none of the other Americans know yet. But you have to decide. Because Kai, whoever knows of this will be hunted. And sooner or later, probably killed."
There was a long silence.
"I didn't tell you any of this because I wanted to protect you, from everything out there. But now I realise that whatever happens, if I cannot trust you then I can't trust anyone. So you need to make the decision. Do you want to know the full truth, and live with that danger, or will you trust me when I say that I have good reasons for everything I have, and will be, doing?"
For the first time since having returned from the dead, Nico looked into Kai's eyes. Man, how he had loved those eyes. Now, with the mission before him, he wondered if he would see them ever again. And if they would meet again, if these eyes would ever look at him like they had once done.
Kai swallowed. "You're leaving again, aren't you?" He whispered.
Nico nodded. "I have no other choice."
"Will you ever come back?" He asked.
"I don't know. It's unlikely, but if I survive I will find you. Maybe in i a month, maybe in a year. Hell, maybe in ten. But if I can, I will come. I owe that to you."
Kai's eyes had filled with tears. "You talk as if you were already dead."
"To be honest, I kind of am."
Kai leaned back, brushing some hair out of his face. "Couldn't I come with you? Protect you?"
For a moment Nico was tempted. The road he knew he needed to take would take him far away from all his friends. Kai would cheer him up. Laugh with him. Love him. Hell, I don't want to die a virgin, Nico thought. But as tempting all of that sounded, he couldn't risk it.
"I didn't tell you any of this because I want you to be safe. You seriously think that after that would want you to follow me into the lion's den?"
Kai shook his head and smiled weakly. "You're right. I would probably only be a hinderance anyways. But, Nico, that much you owe me. If you are likely to die like you say you are, I want to know. About you. Where you come from, what the hell you've been up to. Everything. And I want to know that from you, not from your friends or anyone else. If I can't accompany you, at least let me carry the burden of the truths you've been hiding. At least let me remember. If you're gone, I want your memory to live on. Maybe I can write it down somewhere once all of this is over."
Nico could see the tears in Kai's eyes. The guy did love him. But yet, somehow Nico knew that there was more to Kai's story as well. He wasn't only broken because of this. Something else was going on. But for now, he had no time to consider that.
"Well, it's hard to explain, but I guess this is where I should start. The Greek Gods exist, and they have children with mortal humans. Perc, Annabeth, Leo, everyone at the "school" of mine is such a child. We're demigods. And our troubles started when we learnt that the magical world exists."
Nico talked and talked, and slowly Kai's eyes grew wider and wider. He looked less sad now, but fascinated. When Nico came to the Eternal attack on Camp Halfblood he gasped in horror at the death and destruction, and was dumbfounded by Nico's death and resurrection. But the ghost king didn't end his story there. He continued talking about things he had told no one; his new nightmares, his fears, the di Angelos and the Eternals. When he had finished, a long silence followed. Nico's throat was raw from so much talking; he wasn't used to anything other than quick sarcastic remarks.
Nico had left out everything about Dumbledore; he knew how high Kai valued the headmaster. Nico felt guilty about that, but it couldn't be helped. He would not jeopardize his friends mission to such an extent.
Kai just sat there, unmoving, trying to take it all in. Then, he finally opened his mouth. "You think, based on your dreams, that the Eternals once had a civil war, that the good guys won, and that your family was part of the good half of the eternal organisation? And now you think that these Eternals you have fought at Camp Halfblood are resurrected bad Eternals? Daaamn and I always thought Annabeth was the smart one in your group."
"Its a hunch. No more. Maybe its the other way around. Maybe the good eternals were the ones exterminated. But its the only thing that makes sense to me at the moment. It explains the ghost's statements. It explains my dreams. It even explains why Hades never wanted to talk about my mother."
"But what exactly are you planning to do? Where will you go? And most importantly, why? Why do you need to leave us again?"
Nico heard the pain in the last sentence. Kai wasn't asking why he left them all. He was asking why he would leave him.
"The only way we can defeat these monsters is by learning about them. And the best way to learn about them is to find those that know them." Silently, Nico added that he needed to know. He needed to know what his family truly was. He wouldn't be able to bear it if he found out he was related to even more monsters.
"I need to save my friends. The ones here, the ones at Camp Jupiter. And now that you know of this, I need to save you too.
I will find where my other relatives, these good Eternals, might be. I will talk to them. And hopefully I can secure their strength in helping us defeat the bastards that destroyed Camp Halfblood, that destroyed my home. Of course the monsters will try to stop me, every step of the way. They are unbelievably strong. I'm a good fighter if I say so myself, but they're on a whole fucking other level. I might fail again. Die again."
Kai nodded silently. He was pretty damn sad about it, Nico could see, but he understood that Nico had to do it.
"I know I'm putting you through a lot, and I do have a mission for you as well. Tomorrow, first thing in the morning could you tell my friends about my dreams? About my mission, about everything? They need to know."
The other must have found it weird, that Nico wouldn't do it himself. But he didn't question it. The Ghost King knew that Kai would trust him, after all this.
Nico moaned. "I'm sorry about all of this. I wish we could have just been a normal teenage couple, but the way things stand….
Kai shook his head. "Look, much of this is my fault as well. There's some shit going down with my family back home. If I seemed a little teary and unstable lately, that's why. We should have talked way sooner, I shouldn't have shunned you like I did. I'm sorry for that, that's on me."
Nico blushed. Why did the bastard always have to be so damn morally righteous? It was too bloody cute. "Well, we better get back to bed." he said, trying to overplay his emotions.
Kai chuckled. "This is your last night in Hogwarts with your boyfriend before going on a deadly quest and that's what you wanna do? Get to bed?"
Nico was confused. "Yeaaa?"
Kai broke out laughing. "Didn't you say you wished we were a normal teenage couple? Then let's be one! Put on some music, bring out another few beers and lets stay up late, just like the normal bastards."
Nico smiled. His heart jumped a beat, just like it had before his resurrection, every time he had seen Kai.
The wizard pulled out his wand and created a small disco ball and new lights, turning off the torch. With another wand wave he had turned on some party music.
"C'mon, you know I'm a Metalhead!" Nico said laughing.
"I know, I know." Kai pulled him into a kiss. "But that stuff is too sad for your last few hours here."
The song raged, the second beer was making Nico a little dizzy. They were dancing a slow walzer, which didn't fit to the song. Nico had no fucking clue what he was doing, but Kai was leading, and he seemed to be experienced. Nico had never been a dancer, yet somehow it just felt right, the wizards fingers intertwined with his. The rainbow light illuminated Kai's smile. They joked and teased each other over the music.
"You know, I really thought you might be dead. I didn't eat anything for four full days when you were gone. I was a fucking mess" Kai said, still smiling.
"Drama queen!" Nico jested in a high pitched voice.
"ahhh maybe so, but I'm your drama queen after all"
If you got jack in your cup go raise it up
If you aint got enough go fill it up
and if you aint got shit, throw your hands up!
The disco ball was spinning quite fast, the lights moving like crazy. Nico and Kai were kissing. Somehow, the ghost kings tongue had gotten into the others mouth. He relished the feeling.
We only leave a pre-party to go party some more
I'm already shit-faced before I walk in the door
Kai slowly slipped his hand down the back of Nico's pants, his eyes asking for permission. Nico only kissed him harder. It felt like heaven.
this girl's rubbing on my leg I never met her before
and now she's making her way down to my gentleman's sword
Kai squeezed Nico's ass, and together with his tongue in the other guys mouth it was too much for the Ghost King. He moaned a little, the bulge in his pants quickly growing and pressing against the wizards legs. Kai broke off the kiss and raised an eyebrow, smirking. "You wanna go so far? Daaamn."
"Shut up you bastard. We ain't having sex. I'm only fucking you once I know you've stayed faithful for the ages I'll be gone." Nico replied, laughing as well by now. "You still better take that shirt off, I'm not done kissing you."
Kai complied, although it was hard to remove it while bent double from laughter. Somehow, the closeness of their possible deaths made everything more hilarious. The wizard pulled his wand and waved it, turning down the music. He then pulled Nico down onto the couch with him. Their lips met once again, the ghost King's fingers tracing Kai's muscled body, moving from abs to chest and back down. He stopped only to remove his own shirt.
They fell asleep at 2 in the morning, shirtless and on top of each other. When Nico woke, his face muscles ached from all of yesterday's smiling. Kai beneath him was still smirking within his dreams. The Ghost King knew he couldn't wake him. If he did there would be tears and a long goodbye; they didn't have the time for that, and he didn't have the emotional strength to survive that again either.
Nico could only pray they would see each other again, and that soon. But the gods were cruel; maybe this would be a goodbye forever.
His eyes stung as he gave his boyfriend a quick kiss on the forehead. "We will see each other again, in this world or the next." He whispered, and with that shadow traveled out of Hogwarts.
Okay. So thats it for the moment. Hope you enjoyed. So WTF has taken me so long? Well, I had tendon problems (still do), actually dictated all of my school exams instead of writing them etc. and now during the summer family was priority. Also, I've been kinda battling with my bisexuality and worked on some other hobbies that put less strain on my f'd up hands. No excuse, I know. I'm sorry, I'm a mess lol.
THIS PART IS ACTUALLY IMPORTANT IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN THE STORY:
Do not expect another chapter soon. I've been using the distance I gained from this story over the last couple months to truly evaluate it. I see so many bloody problems. You remember when I said I wanted to do major edits? Well now they actually are turning major. I think most of my characters are way to bland and I'm working on giving them each personal motivation etc etc etc.
So, I'm planning to rewrite the first few chapters and then slowly upload the truly finished version on archives of our own. Once I've caught up with the plot there I will exchange these old chapters with the new versions of them on here as well. Then I will focus again 100% on adding new chapters. I will probably add a chapter here and there over the next few weeks or months, but don't expect anything regular. The story on AO3 will have the same name. I'm hoping I can bring out the first chapter (completely re-written, altho the basic plot won't change) there in latest a week.
Lets hope I can stick to this plan. You know how bad I am at sticking to plans. Like Eren Yaeger bad LMAO.
Well, If any of you actually read this, I am bloody happy and grateful. Leave a review if you want to punch me. I will gladly punch myself in your name. Hope you enjoyed.
Fives over and out.