Prompt: Nico dies and becomes and enherjei and Anubis is climbing in all Yggdrasil to find him (and Magnus be like: have I missed something?)

A/N: So, Nico is NOT a Greek demigod in this chapter.


"Hey, dude."

Nico turned in his sleep, frowning at the irritating noise.

"Just kick him," another voice sounded.

"Alex, no!"

There was the sound of shuffling, a thump, and some muttered curses.

Nico was then flipped out of bed, landing on the floor in a heap. He let out a yelp, trying to untangle from the bedsheets. What the hell were they thinking, flipping him onto the floor?

He ripped the blanket from his face, glaring at his assailants.

He froze.

Right.

He wasn't in college anymore.

He was in Valhalla. He was an Einherji. He was the son of Hel… the only known son of Hel.

Jesus Christ (oh, maybe that was inappropriate to think), he needed a nap.

"Hey, death-breath," Alex said, waving his hand in front of Nico's face. "Still with us?"

Nico scowled and swatted the other's hand away. Alex Fiero, son, daughter, whatever, of Loki, was by far the most infuriating person he had ever met. For one, he was always up to something, and he would wear some seriously questionable colour choices, and still manage to make it look good.

"Fuck off, asshole," Nico said, getting up from the floor.

"Oh, you hurt my feelings, nephew," Alex grinned at the glare he received.

Nico couldn't stand being even remotely related to him. Curse their similar Italian heritage too.

He grabbed the sheets and flung them on his bed, stretching as he looked over at Magnus, having been pushed to the floor, by Alex presumably. He was glad to have someone in the hotel who he'd actually heard about before, from Annabeth of course. That too also being the reason he wasn't shell-shocked at his current predicament. Annabeth had told them all about the fact that there was a collection of Norse gods living in Asgard, and that her cousin was an Einherji. Nico couldn't say that any of them were that surprised to find another mythology to be true, knowing the Egyptian gods personally. Some of them a bit more intimate than others.

Thinking of the Egyptian gods made his heart drop. He hadn't heard from Anubis in three weeks. He'd freaked out when he was removed from his body. It was bad enough to see his limp body lying on the ground where he'd been standing a moment before, his heart having stopped as he was hit by a lightning strike.

When the valkyrie had flown down to bring his Einherji form to Valhalla, he'd been patiently waiting, poking his cooling body as he waited. The valkyrie had stared at him, surprised by his calm demeanor.

"Hey," Nico had said. "Can I leave a note for the person I was supposed to meet?"

The valkyrie had agreed, albeit very reluctantly.

Nico had written a short note to Anubis, telling him he was an Einherji and that he would go to Valhalla.

He was supposed to have met his boyfriend that day, but hadn't heard from him since their last meeting. It pained him to think about how the god must have reacted, finding his body lying there like that.

He shuffled off with the two others as they headed for breakfast.

Even though he'd been there for three weeks, the other residents still avoided him like the plague. Magnus and Alex were the only two sitting down with him (Magnus' other friends were supposedly not there right now, "But they would totally like you!").

After they'd thoroughly stuffed their faces, Nico feeling the glare of a son of Tyr that morning, they headed off to strap on their gear.

Nico still wasn't used to the fact that he could die on the battlefield, and just be revived till dinner time the same day.

He cracked his neck, shaking out his arms and legs as he stepped out onto the battlefield. He preferred to fight with a sword, and had found that dual wielding two shorter blades was his preferred style. He was nimble and quicker than most, which allowed him to get close enough to use the shorter dagger-like blades.

He twirled the blades as he walked, flipping the hilt to point the blade downwards. He really liked the ability to use the blades as an extension of his fist, swiping with them as well as stabbing.

He could see the son of Tyr standing some yards away, looking straight at him. He had a huge shield and a mace.

Nico rolled his eyes at the guy's stance. Okay, you want to fight, I get it.

Nico stalked towards the other, keeping his body low to give fewer openings. The son of Tyr gripped his mace as he charged at him, his shield thrusting towards him. Nico ducked to the side, swiping at the guy's hand with a blade. He made a nick in the back of the hand, hearing the hiss of pain.

The son of Tyr pulled back. They circled each other.

Nico left his left side open to draw the other in. He smirked as the guy lunged at his side. So predictable. He dropped down, jabbing one blade through the other's foot, sticking it to the ground. The guy yelled in pain, dropping his shield to try and grab Nico's head.

The son of Hel easily avoided his swipe, kicking the knee on the other leg. Hard.

The bone crunched beneath his boot. The son of Tyr dropped to the ground, screaming as he cradled his broken leg.

Nico kicked the boy in the chest, making his back hit the grass. He stepped onto the other's arm, hindering him in using his mace.

He leaned close to the guy's face, seeing the pain reflected in his eyes.

"I left my side open on purpose, idiot," he sneered. "See you at dinner, dickhead." Without further ado, he slit the moron's throat. He gurgled a second before his eyes glazed over.

Nico stepped away. He really was desensitized to the killing already.


Needless to say, the son of Tyr had refrained from staring any more after that.

Nico was able to eat his dinner in peace (as peaceful as a dinner with Alex and Magnus could get).

They fell in step as they made their way back to their hallway. The daughter of Loki punched his arm before they separated.

"Cheer up, dude," she said. "You'll get used to it."

Nico flipped her off as he shut his door in Alex's face.

He flopped onto his bed, staring up into the blank ceiling.

Fuck.

He missed Anubis badly.

He was sure the god had informed his friends of what had happened to him, but he still missed him.

A ruckus outside his window made him bolt upright.

What the hell was that chattering sound?

He quickly got up, gripping the knife he hid under his pillow. He kept close to the floor as he stalked over to the window. He glanced into the thick branches of the world-tree, trying to discern whether or not there was someone there.

He could hear some really weird chattering noises from the branches above him. What the hell was that language? It sounded like a mix of breaking twigs and some glottal, throaty sounds.

Wait. There were two distinct voices (if you could call it that).

Nico jumped up into the overhanging branches. He started climbing slowly, still wary of lurking danger.

The voices grew louder as he climbed. He peeked through some thick foliage, catching sight of a huge… squirrel?

The animal seemed to be furiously chattering at someone.

Nico raised his body up onto the branch. He lifted his head to see who it was talking to, and he froze.

Anubis was standing there, nonchalantly leaning against a crooked branch. He looked up when Nico stood up, his expression morphing into a broken one. He looked all but nonchalant as he stumbled over his feet to reach the Einherji (not that Nico wasn't falling over himself as he all but sprinted towards his boyfriend).

The god crashed into him, gripping his shirt as he hugged him. Nico could feel his whole body shaking against his own, a burning behind his eyes.

"You have-" Anubis started. He gulped audibly. "You have no idea how it feels to find the cold body of the one person you love more than anything."

Nico hiccuped and chuckled at the same time. "I left you a note, didn't I?"

Anubis gave a chuckle at that.

Nico pulled back to look him in the eye. Shit, he was so hot, even when he was distressed.

He leaned forward to slot their lips together, his hands slipping into the god's hair. He still tasted the same. He smelled different though, the smell of earth and embalming gone.

"What took you so long?" Nico asked, running a hand down the god's arm to hold his hand.

Anubis snorted. "It's actually kinda hard to find Valhalla when you can't travel through the Duat, and there's no map." He traced the side of Nico's face, the demigod leaning into his touch. "I had some help at the end."

"From who?"

"Him," Anubis said, pointing to the giant squirrel.

Nico turned to study the creature. It didn't really seem friendly. "Seriously?"

The squirrel glared at him and made a chattering sound, which somehow translated inside his head to: "Shut your trap, you fucking bitch."

"Whoa! Someone needs to wash their mouth!"

Anubis laughed beside him. "Yeah, this is Ratataskr. He's kinda the protector of the World Tree. He insults people."

Nico paused for a moment before doubling over in laughter. "Oh, my god! This whole place is such a huge joke."

"Watch your studip mouth, you useless excuse for a person!" Ratataskr sneered.

Nico had to lean on his boyfriend to not fall over in laughter.

"He was actually a huge help, even though he has a potty mouth." Anubis chuckled.

The squirrel huffed at them, cursing their unborn children, before disappearing into the branches.

Nico couldn't stop the snicker from escaping his lips as he buried his face in the other's shoulder. He pulled on his hand. "Hey, let's head inside."

They descended to Nico's room.

Shit, he lost his knife in the tree. He couldn't bring himself to care.

They sat down on his bed, Anubis catching him up on how the others had taken his passing.

"Annabeth just looked at me, rolled her eyes and said "Of course he gets to be special"."

Nico had to laugh at that, because of course she would take it well.

He sighed wistfully as he leaned on the god's shoulder. A thought struck him suddenly.

"Y'know, I'm technically immortal now." He felt just as much as heard the sharp intake of breath at his comment. He certainly felt the crushing hug he received.

The god muttered something in ancient Egyptian as he turned his head towards him.

Nico squeaked at the bruising kiss he got, not that he was complaining. He tilted his head to the right to get a better angle, shivering at the tongue that brushed along his lower lip. He eagerly opened his mouth, savouring the slide of the god's tongue against his own.

He never got over how right it felt to be pressed against Anubis, how safe it felt.

He let out a breathy moan as he tried to climb into the other's lap, only to be interrupted by a startled voice.

"Woah! Sorry!"

Both their heads turned towards the source of the noise, finding one very uncomfortable Magnus in the doorway, a grinning Alex beside him.

Nico got up. "Uh, sorry, guys. I kinda forgot to tell you about my boyfriend." He gestured vaguely to Anubis. "He's, uh, an Egyptian god."

Anubis raised a hand, a sheepish smile on his face. "Nice to meet you."

Magnus looked like he was about to reply with something similar, but was interrupted by a punch in the arm by Alex.

"See! I fucking told you he was gay!"