CHAPTER SUMMARY
Camp Half-Blood is helpless to stop Zeus's tornado. Persephone's quest takes a dark turn.
BEGINNING NOTES
Chapter Rating: Teen and Up AudiencesContent Warning: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Self Harm, Suicide (referenced)/Suicide AttemptWord Count: 3958
And all the characters are owned by JK Rowling, or Rick Riordan.
Credits at the end.
_THALIA_
Thalia dreamed she was in the Big House basement.
Thank the gods, Jason's all right.
Jason sat on the floor with Calypso, Piper, Frank, Grover, and Will. Forty other campers sat around them, trying to wait out the tornado. Fluorescent lights cast a blinding, artificial glow on everyone and everything. There were no windows, but every crack, bang and thud painted a very Oz-ish picture outside.
Thalia felt guilty. She knew she shouldn't-if she felt personally responsible for every time her father lost his temper, she'd never be happy again. But her friends were trapped by a freak weather incident that shouldn't be possible in New York, much less Camp Half-Blood. She knew things were heating up in Olympus, but she didn't see this coming at all.
"The storm won't get any better!" Calypso argued, "Leo's out there! I won't leave him!"
"I'm with you, Calypso," Piper whispered, "but you need to calm down before you cause a panic. Leo wouldn't want that."
"We don't know what he would want because he isn't here," Calypso sniffed.
Piper rubbed her arm. "Calm down," she said, turning on the charmspeak. "We'll find Leo, I promise."
"Calypso's right," Jason said. "Dad's holding us hostage. If we stay here, we'll be safe, but the storm won't stop until he gets what he wants."
Frank answered his silent question. "It's Nico. Jupiter sided with Hecate. He hates Pluto. Everyone Nico knows is in New York. Jupiter wants him to quit so Proserpine stands down."
"I hope the Jacksons are safe," Grover said.
Thalia scanned the room for her missing friends. Besides Leo, Percy, Annabeth, Reyna, Hazel, Rachel, and Lou Ellen were missing.
"I'm going out there," Jason decided.
"What?!" Piper shot up. "Jason, you can't!"
"I don't think he'll kill me. I'm his son."
"You're also one of Nico's friends! I know you want to find them, we all do! But, chances are, they're safe in one of the cabin basements. Zeus can't keep this storm going forever."
"You want to bet our lives on that? Piper, we don't have enough food or water to last more than a day! We have to do something!"
Piper grabbed his hand. "I'm coming with you."
"Me too," Calypso said. "I won't leave Leo alone out there."
Will tried to stand, but Frank held him back. "You can't, Will. You're Nico's boyfriend. If Riddle held you hostage to get to Nico, imagine what Jupiter would do." Will shuddered. The poor kid was still traumatized. Frank hesitated, then forced himself to say, "I'll stay, too, in case something goes wrong. Keep an eye out for Hazel, for me."
Jason ripped the basement door open to a chorus of screams and deafening wind in front of him. Calypso and Piper darted out the door, and Jason slammed it shut.
Thalia woke to find Newt the Thestral standing in paradise. A small, flowing creek encircled them, making them their own personal island. The grass was mossy and green below her feet, and a large pomegranate tree provided shade above them. She put her hood down, looking in awe around her. The blizzard still raged, but the creek didn't let it pass. Her companions were already awake and on the ground.
"Where are we?" Ianthe asked.
"I don't know," Thalia admitted as she slid off Newt. "Death boy and I were on watch, but we fell asleep."
Nico groaned. "I finally get Will to stop that stupid nickname, and now you? I take back what I said. You deserved those wampus cats." The others were bewildered at Nico's sudden change in attitude. They didn't know about his promise to make peace with Thalia.
Ianthe used the tree to cast a quick tracking spell. "We're near Cheyenne."
"I would like to know what this is," Roszí mused. "Springs do not appear on their own."
Nico surveyed their surroundings. "This is nature magic. It's Persephone." He gestured to the pomegranate tree as proof of his claim. "She became the goddess of nature magic when Pan faded. She was always skilled in it, but now she's unstoppable. I think that's part of why Hecate tried to kill her last year. She told me at the Santi Cosma e Damiano that Persephone was one of the few gods who could match her. She didn't want a rival."
"Right again, Mr. di Angelo." They turned to find a man lounging under the pomegranate tree. He was a bald, middle-aged black man, wearing a blood-red three-piece suit, his eyes the brown of dried blood. And his eyes were fixed on Nico.
He plucked a pomegranate from the tree and opened it with a pocket knife, then used the knife as a spoon to eat it. That knife looked sharper than a demigod's sword; Thalia didn't want to think about how mangled his tongue must be getting with every lick. He offered the second half of the fruit to Nico, who recoiled on instinct.
"Have it your way, son of Hades."
Nico clenched his fists. "I'm not a son of Hades."
"So I've heard." He tossed the empty pomegranate on the ground. "It wasn't a shock, with your history. I expected it; you've been on my radar for decades. I am Alastor, Greek god of family feuds. I specialize in the sins of the father, and you are quite the case indeed. In fact, it's an honor."
Nico lunged for Alastor. Thalia held him back. "It's his aura, Nico, don't give in to it. It's what he wants."
Nico spat at his feet instead. "So, whose side are you on? Hecate's or Hades'?"
The god laughed. "If I got involved in every Olympic spat, I would be as crazy as Aeolus."
"Then what do you want from me?"
Alastor shot Nico a devilish grin. "You are some of my finest work since the Renaissance. It's not often a father's love leaves scars." Nico went pale and, for some reason, instinctively covered his arms.
"What is he talking about, Nico?" Thalia asked.
"Uhh..." He was too paralyzed to say a word. Alabaster tried to get his attention, but nothing could get his eyes away from the god before him.
"Yes, I see your scars, son of Hades," Alastor continued, "And they run deep, don't they? Your family, your friends, all taken from you by sin after sin. You must feel so powerless, as powerless as your stepmother feels each October. Of course, you could also descend... perhaps, it's the only thing you can do to escape your genes..." Nico's thumb traced his wrist. "I know how much you want to escape your father's curse. But you can't escape your family."
"Family calls to us all..." Nico said. He was hypnotized.
"Nico, snap out of it!" Alabaster screamed.
Nico didn't move. Alastor stepped towards him. The leaves of the tree cast a shadow over his face, one that shifted with every step. "No wizard will interrupt you now. You can't escape your fate."
"You can't escape your fate..." Nico echoed. He walked towards Alastor, one hand drawing his sword. The god touched the tip with a smile, wetting the tip with pomegranate juice... and Nico turned it on himself.
"No!" Alabaster dived at Nico's feet and knocked him to the ground. But Nico had one thing Alabaster didn't: a weapon. He swung at his friend, forcing the son of Hecate to roll away.
"Help me!" Alabaster cried. "He'll die if you don't!"
Alabaster pushed himself off the ground and shouted an incantation. Blinding, multi-colored light hit Alastor right in the chest, and he staggered backward. Ianthe and Roszí fired arrow after arrow at the god, which forced him to focus on her sisters instead of Nico.
Nico's sword was out again. Thalia watched in horror as he slashed one of his wrists; his body relaxed, his eyes closed, he sighed. He pulled back the other sleeve of his aviator's jacket, too distracted by the cut in his wrist to notice anything else.
Thalia wrestled him to the ground. The tip of the sword poked her leg, making a tiny incision. She cried out-it hurt worse than a cut that tiny had the right to be-but it couldn't stop her. She kicked the sword out of reach and pinned Nico down. He fought for his freedom with all his might, but it did no good.
Thalia glanced behind her. As she'd hoped, Alabaster grabbed the sword, and it disappeared.
"Arrgh!" Alastor grunted. He fell to the ground, clutching his side. Golden ichor, the blood of the gods, dripped from his wound. "I curse you, Hunter of Artemis! The war will come and wherever you step, let the bloodiest sins of the past follow! And you!" Thalia saw one last satanic smile as his eyes grazed her, then landed on Nico. "You who defied death, you will not live to see its conclusion!"
He dissolved, leaving only the puddles of golden ichor behind. Nico stopped resisting Thalia's grip. "Ianthe!" she called. Ianthe knelt beside him and the cut on Nico's wrist disappeared. "Nico? Nico!" Thalia shouted, shaking the stupid, skinny boy below her. "Gods, please wake up! Nico!" It was no use. Thalia could see his chest rise and fall, but it was erratic and shallow. He kept mumbling nonsense, rapidly switching between Ancient Greek, Latin, Italian, and English. Even though their springs wasn't above sixty degrees, his face was flushed and beaded with sweat. Thalia touched his forehead. Hot.
"It's Alastor's knife," Thalia realized. On cue, Nico's sword reappeared. "The sins of the father, father to son. That pomegranate juice was poison. That's why it hurt so much when I got cut. But that's a paper cut compared to a slit wrist."
Roszí examined Nico's sword. "She is right," she said. "There is something other than blood on this blade. Alastor was an assassin from Hecate."
"I can't heal him, Thalia," Ianthe told her. "If I don't know the poison, I don't know the antidote."
They turned to Alabaster. He shook his head. "I have no idea." He closed his eyes, trying not to let his grief show through. "This has to be a mistake. She'd never do this, she didn't like him, but she respected him. She's more honorable than-" His own ragged breath cut his sentence short. "There's no point to this quest anymore. Proserpine sent him, and now he's..." Alabaster was so distraught that he forgot to switch to her Greek name. He was usually good about remembering which form did what, but now...
"No," Roszí said. "Remember thy sister's words. You shall convince Ceres, not he. If thy mother has honor, she shall see thy suffering and heal him. We shall get thee to New Arcadia and find a way to heal thy friend."
Under normal circumstances, Thalia would've been over the moon to see Roszí act so respectfully to a man. But she swore to Percy to protect the boy now dying in her arms. They didn't have time to find the antidote with such a tight deadline. The only way Nico would heal is if Hecate sent a miracle, and Thalia suspected that wasn't going to happen. They had a choice: treat Nico, or complete Persephone's quest. And now she knew how Bianca felt at the end of her life. What was one life if it meant destroying the world?
"C'mon Newt, help me with your master." Newt lowered his head, and Thalia positioned Nico onto Newt's neck. They would have to fly high to reach the deadline, but, for the first time in her life, Thalia had no space to feel fear.
"I'm a monster..." Nico mumbled in a poisoned haze, body twitching from a torturous dream spawned by Alaster's poison.
I'm so, so sorry, Percy.
_NICO_
Bianca di Angelo lied on her bed, reading a textbook with a notebook at her side. A ten-year-old Nico stood in the doorway. "Can I come in?"
Bianca smiled and closed her book. "What's up?" She saw how red and puffy his eyes were, with dark circles underneath. She went wide-eyed and ran over to her brother, leading him into the room and shutting the door. "What's wrong, Nico?"
Nico looked around, making sure Bianca's roommate wasn't in the room. "I have something I need to tell you, Bianca."
She guided her brother to her bed, and the two sat down, side by side. "Did something happen?"
"Sort of..." Nico's voice trailed off. He looked down at his feet. "I was playing Mythomagic with Matt... we were having one of our tournaments when I realized..." Nico looked up at Bianca with fear in his eyes. "Bianca, I like him the way I'm supposed to like girls." Nico studied Bianca's expression, shifting so quickly he could barely comprehend what was going on. "Bianca?"
Bianca stared at her brother with bewilderment in her eyes. "You- you're too young to know what you want yet. It's a strong friendship you're feeling, Nico. Nothing more." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself along with Nico.
"That's all you're going to say, B?"
Bianca shuddered slightly at the nickname. "I don't know what to say! You never think it's going to be your brother, you know?"
Nico's eyes widened. "You say that like I'm some kind of problem!"
"It's ok, Nico. Everything will be alright." Bianca sat there like she expected Nico to thank her and run into her arms. But he didn't.
"I want you to understand!"
"I do understand."
Nico stood up from the bed. He felt like he'd been punched in the gut. As he left, he turned back to his sister, who watched him with tearful eyes. "I'll be in my room if you need me." His voice was cold. He slammed the door shut as Bianca called his name. He ran all the way to his room on the floor above, slammed the door again, and collapsed on the bed. He cried until an Irish boy with auburn hair and brown eyes walked in.
"Hey, Nico, Easton and I are starting a tournament, so I figured I'd grab you." Then, he realized that Nico was lying in a ball on his bed. "Whoa! What's wrong?"
Nico's eyes were even puffier than before. "Nothing, Matt. I'm not in the mood to play right now."
"This the same Nico that ended up playing with me at 2 AM. because he couldn't sleep? Come on, it'll cheer you up. For me?"
Nico gave a weak laugh. "If it means that much to you, fine. But I get to borrow Hades."
"Deal."
Nico opened the cooler in the mess hall, trying not to feel Bianca's longing gaze on his back. He was so distracted that he grabbed an energy drink instead of a water bottle, which Matt took from him before he put it on his tray. "Talk to her," he said, exasperated. "It's been a week, Nico. Whatever happened, it's over."
"You don't understand!" Nico protested. "I can't. If she still feels the same..."
"You'll never know if you don't try." Matt gave one of his champion smiles; it was so contagious that Nico had to smile too. "You know why we're best friends?"
"Because you're my roommate and we see each other every day?"
"Because you're the awesomest. I don't want mopey-dopey Nico blasting alt. rock in our room because he wants to talk to his sister. Go. I dare you."
"This isn't truth or dare. You can't do that!"
"Triple dog dare you."
Nico looked at Bianca, watching him with a broken expression. "If this goes wrong, you're listening to alt. rock, and we're watching Hercules. And I get to make all the comments I want."
Matt pretended to consider it. "Done. Now go."
Nico took his tray and walked over to Bianca's table, crowded with five twelve-year-old girls. He put his food down next to Bianca and gave her a small smile. "Wanna walk, B?"
Bianca leaped at the chance. "Yes! I'll be right back, guys."
They walked in silence into the hallway and stood off to the side, where two water fountains jutted out from the wall. They weren't alone, but they didn't need to be to have a private conversation. Bianca burst into rapid Italian.
"Mi dispiace così tanto, Nico. non avrei dovuto dire nemmeno la metà delle cose che ho detto, è solo che mi hai preso di sorpresa... ma senti queste cose, e... ti prego, non sopporto di poterti parlare... ti prego, ti prego, perdonami." [I am so sorry, Nico. I shouldn't have said half the things I did, I was just so caught up in the moment... but you hear these things, and... please, I can't stand not talking to you... please, please forgive me.]
Nico dove to close the gap between them and hugged her as hard as he could, his head pressed against her shoulder.
"Avevo così paura che tu non volessi parlare più con me." [I was so scared you wouldn't want to talk to me anymore.]
Bianca wrapped her arms around her brother.
"Ti voglio bene, mio piccolo angelo. Incondizionatamente. Dammi solo un po' di tempo per abituarmici; sarà tutto come prima, lo prometto." [I love you, my little angel. Unconditionally. Just give me a little time to get used to it; everything will be like it used to be, I promise.]
Each snowflake stung Nico's skin. After everything that happened, after everything they'd been through, Bianca was... she couldn't be... "What do you mean you're leaving?" he asked desperately.
"I joined the Hunters. I'm sorry, Nico, but Artemis said I could still see you, so it'll be-"
"Like it used to be?" he snapped. "Stop lying, Bianca. This is about what I told you."
She crossed her arms and huffed. "So what if it is? Nico, I can't accept it, and it's killing me! I can't stop these things I'm thinking any more than you can! Maybe I thought if I take some time away, I can get used to it without hurting you?" Bianca's voice was full of a desperate kind of sadness. Nico turned from her so she wouldn't see him cry.
"I don't want you to go."
"I really want this. And I made my decision. Give me time. Everything will be like it used to be, I promise, my little angel." She giggled. "That nickname sounds funny in English." She raised her eyebrows at Nico, but he didn't feel like laughing. She sighed. "I love you, okay? I mean it." She kissed him goodbye on the cheek, then joined her Hunters on the other side of the campsite. No one heard Nico's last words to his sister:
"Then start acting like it."
Nico curled up to sleep on his new spot on the floor of the Hermes cabin, trying to ignore the buzzing in his ears. It had been going on since sundown. He told Connor and Travis Stoll, but they didn't know what to do and swore on the River Styx that they hadn't pranked him. When he fell into an uneasy sleep, he had his first ever demigod dream.
He stood in a throne room made of black obsidian, housing two jewel-encrusted thrones. Nico looked around in awe until his eyes fell on a man right behind him. It was almost like looking in the mirror, the man had the same pale hue Nico had, the same raven-colored hair, the same deep, dark eyes. He hardly dared to hope, but maybe, just maybe...
"Father?"
The man studied every feature on Nico's face. "I had hoped that things would turn out differently. But, as always, the Fates are cruel. Hello, Nico. I am Hades."
"Hades?! Oh man, you're the coolest! You've got three-thousand attack power when your enemies strike first; it's like, a foolproof way to win the game! You're the only figurine I don't have; sometimes Matt let me borrow his when we played." Nico gave a snarky smile. "I always won when he did that."
Hades nodded solemnly. "Mythomagic?"
"Yeah! It's awesome! Even Bianca-" Nico stopped short. Talking about his sister was still painful.
"How do you like camp?" Hades asked.
"It's great," Nico replied, though his voice had lost some of its excitement. "Connor and Travis are really nice, and Percy was cool before he went off on the quest. I haven't even been made fun of, not even by the Ares kids! Connor said it's because they're afraid of him and Travis, but I'm not sure. I don't think Ares is afraid of anyone."
"Mainly because he is too stupid to fear the more powerful gods," Hades remarked.
"Am I claimed now?" Nico asked earnestly. "Can I tell Chiron-"
"No!" Nico took a step back from his father, terrified. "No one can know we've spoken or who you are. I wouldn't be here were it not for the... circumstances."
"What are you talking about?" Nico asked, annoyance creeping into his voice. He knew he should be grateful that he had a father, but why wouldn't that father want to acknowledge him? And where had he been all this time? Would it have been too much to ask for some help every once in a while? He and Bianca had been in tough spots so many times as orphans; couldn't a god help? Nico suddenly got very, very angry. Hades was nothing more than a deadbeat dad, showing up now because of 'circumstances.' Circumstances he wasn't even willing to share. "You know what? Nevermind. I'm fine where I am. Go back to the Underworld and leave me alone. You're good at that, aren't you?"
He knew he'd done it when Hades got a murderous look in his eyes. Purple fire crackled in his pupils. Could demigods die in dreams? Would his own father kill him? "Do you think I would let you and Bianca suffer if I could help it?!" Hades snarled.
"You're a god! You could help it just fine!"
If I'm going to die, I might as well get my anger out.
"If Zeus got wind of you, the two of you would be dead! I kept my distance to keep you alive, and it still failed!"
Nico knit his eyebrows together. "What do you mean it failed? Am I... dead?"
The anger in Hades' face lessened somewhat, in its place was something else: grief. "Not you." Hades voice was so quiet and controlled it scared Nico more than the anger. What did he mean not-
"No," Nico whispered. "You're lying."
"That buzzing in your ears, Nico. You can sense the death of people close to you. In time, you will learn how to strengthen your power. You can sense it now, you know she is gone."
"No!" Nico shouted at the top of his lungs. "She's alive! Percy promised! He wouldn't... he couldn't..." Nico fell to his knees; hot tears poured from his eyes, and his whole body shook. "Go away! I hate you!" he screamed, so overcome with grief and anger that he couldn't think. Percy wouldn't have failed, he promised. He was a hero.
Nico opened his eyes, his real eyes, and he was back in the Hermes cabin. He grabbed the picture of him and Bianca from under his pillow and stared at it, cheeks wet with tears. Bianca had died because she joined the Hunters. She joined the Hunters because Nico told her his secret.
"I'll fix myself," Nico vowed. "I'll never let myself be-this-again. I'm a monster. I'm a killer. I'm unnatural. I won't rest until I save you, until I fix what I did. I swear on your soul Bianca, everything will be like it used to be. I'm sorry, Bianca, I'm sorry I killed you."
END NOTES
SOURCES:
Theoi /Daimon/Alastor
Paranormal Encyclopedia /a/alastor/
This week's beta commentary:
STORY: I'm sorry, Bianca, I'm sorry I killed you."
OLI: good god the poor bby; nico's got some angst he has to work thru
LISSY: The Coming of Nico di Angelo: a summary
Credits:
Melody Rose - Author (Tumblr melody0rose)
Oli - Beta Reader (Tumblr paradoxicalpsychic)
Suhalia - Beta Reader (Archive Of Our Own users/milkandtahoney/)
COMMENTS
The Goode Ravenclaw
I love the Thalia and Nico attitude-y/bonding thingymajic you sorta have there.
I really love Hermiones POV in this! it's sorta sad that one of the first things that she thought when she met a god was 'are you going to *** me?'
Anyway, I really loved how Hermione... well I just love Hermione in general. oh, but the end made me tear up a little bit with the "for Harry" part. I really love this chapter!
Thank you! I honestly think that Thalia and Nico would be friends, give it time. They're so similar.
I know it sucks, but look at Greek mythology and 75% of the time when a male god appears before a female mortal... that's what happens. Sometimes it's consentual, but many times it's not. And you know Hermione's been reading all the myths since she discovered the Greek gods were real.