Trying my hand at switching POV's. Slight leaning is DeLaynie's, and underlined is Nico's. Realized a rewrite to put in details may be a good idea.

DeLaynie's POV

I was swimming at the beach that hot first day of August. My name is DeLaynie Marcy Kane, daughter of Njord biologically, and adopted daughter of Amos Kane, former Chief Lector of the House Of Life. Me and my adoptive dad were at the beach by our neighborhood to have some fun, as next month I was going to start homeschooling. Dad wasn't going to put me through the pain of going back to the place I gained terrible physical and mental health problems from, so he had decided on that.

I had dived down deep for some junk when I saw a boy. He had pale skin, black hair, and was wearing a black shirt that said Camp Half-blood, with a skeletal Pegasus on it. His eyes were closed as he sank. I knew something was wrong. There was so much blood around him. I grabbed him, pulling him out of the water, and used my wind powers to blast us to the beach. I yanked him to shore. I began willing the water in his lungs to escape his body.

I shouted for help. Dad used his beach wheelchair to scoot himself closer.

"What happened?" He asked gently. He knew better than to yell near me due to my autism.

"Found him, out by the reef. Call 119 now!" I explained.

119 is the demigod version of 911. Dad made a mad dash for his bag. I made sure to keep using my powers. A crowd began to form around us.

I checked the guy's wrists once I noticed where the blood was coming from. They had slashes on them, almost as if he cut himself. His skinny figure did not help how panicked I was getting. I yanked out all the water I could, and froze his blood. The boy sat up fast, his brown eyes opening like he just drank eighty red bulls. I told Dad to still make them come, because I wasn't sure if he was thinking of suicide, or it was just a case of slipperiness getting the better of him. I made him stay down, gently explaining what had happened.


Paramedics arrived soon after that. They loaded him up, and we learned his name was Nico. Nico Di Angelo. He was a son of Hades. He had purposely shadow traveled under the water, as after he and his boyfriend went to Tartarus for a second time, his PTSD had worsened drastically. He had hurt his boyfriend during one of those attacks. Badly. He couldn't live with his regret, so he decided to drown himself.

Lucky for him, my Dad's cousin was in town to set up a new location for Gracewood Children's Hospital. It was the closest one, according to paramedics. Aunt Amanda, as dad had me call her, specialized in mental health, so she was more than likely the one handling the case. She was also living with us, so we would know how he was doing.

Once we got home, I went to my room. I was so tired. As I slept, I projected my dream self out of my body, to the hospital. Nico Di Angelo was placed on a bed. His wrists were healed with fire by my Aunt Amanda. She also had given him a sedative so she could go into his mind and figure out what the cause of the drastic worsening was, without him protesting. I watched her dream self sink into his mind.

Aunt Amanda left his mind later, and went to the side of his head, and removed something. It looked like a shard of jade glass. She announced it was a bit from the goddess of misery, who had hoped he would become sadder. She disposed of it, and announced a transfer to the mental health ward. They got him there within ten minutes.

An half hour after she had removed the invisible misery device, Hades himself came into the room. He had on a black toga, and looked scared. At least I think he did. I can't read emotions easily. I watched him sit down, almost shaking in fear.

As Hades watched his son sleep, Aunt Amanda came into the room. She had long blonde hair, white skin, dark eyes, and Arctic camo on. She always looked ready to fight. I watched them. Aunt Amanda gave Hades a small hug.

"Amanda?" Hades asked.

"Yes, rich one?" Aunt Amanda replied.

"Will Nico be okay?" His voice was trembling as he asked.

Aunt Amanda frowned.

"He will recover physically, yes. But his mental state is pretty bad. I don't think it would be a good idea to have him go back to Camp Half-blood after his physical recovery. Hades, I'm sorry but, he needs a foster family."

Hades stood up faster than anything else.

"What!?"

"Hades, Nico is mentally very sick, and needs a place local to a demigod built mental health clinic, so he can find a therapist who may relate, or at least not consider him crazy. I'm going to give you until Nico is checked out to pick a foster family. If not, I will personally make the decision."

She left the room after saying that, leaving Hades to have a mini panic attack.


A few days after that incident, Aunt Amanda and Dad sat me down. I thought it was because of my meltdown after I dropped Dad's saxophone by accident, but it was about something different. Dad was worried about the boy we rescued, considering what had happened. Aunt Amanda had mentioned that he needed a foster home. So, Dad was hoping to recommend himself. But only if I was okay with it.

"Sure. I had a good relationship with my ex brother before my ex mom and her husband abandoned me, so I'm okay with that." I said.

I knew how cruel foster care could be, so us taking him would be better than some foster parent who would enslave him and never take care of him. Dad hugged me, and promised me we'd still do pizza night and Tintin cartoons. I hugged him back. Dad was an awesome parent. Nico was going to be the luckiest teenager in the nine worlds.


The next few weeks, we prepared Nico's room, and got everything set up. Nico was down the hall from me, and diagonally across from Dad, so if he needed anything, he could just come get us. Aunt Amanda helped Dad with the foster care paperwork. We also put locks on the kitchen drawer where we kept the sharp stuff, as well as hid the medicine cabinet. Nico was not going to be able to try and kill or even hurt himself as far as we were concerned.

It was the 26th of August when Nico Di Angelo finally came home to us. He looked better. His hair had been cut short, and the bags of sleeplessness under his eyes were not as dark. He was wearing a black leather jacket, a black tee shirt that I couldn't read, and finally a pair of black shorts and sneakers. He looked like he went to a sports biker's funeral. Hades was with him. I guess to make sure the foster parent was a good one.

Dad pulled his cornrows back before getting closer. Dad was African American, and always wore a suit. His glasses were shaded so he could see better in the sun. I watched Dad move closer to Nico. Nico seemed to tense up a bit.

"Hi there." Dad said gently. He knew how to handle a kid who was traumatized.

Nico just watched his shoes. "Hi." Nico said. Nico seemed kinda on edge.

"Why don't you come on in? I can make you some tea."

That seemed to help him out. "Okay."

Dad lead the way inside. I followed after Hades came on in. Dad offered to let us sit outside, which seemed to help Nico feel just a tiny bit calmer. I showed them the way to the pool area. Nico sat down on one of the chairs. Hades just pushed his son's hair back and sat down on the couch. The pools area was surrounded by glass, so it was semi outside. Perfect for making sure foster kids are outside, without the ability to run away. Philip, Dad's shabti crocodile, swam over to examine the new guy. Nico looked pretty surprised.

"That's Dad's pet crocodile Philip of Macedonia. He's albino." I explained. "And if my Dad's cousin, Amanda, prescribed any medications, you may want to hand them over to Dad. He doesn't want to risk Nico over here trying suicide again."

Hades looked up when I said that. He pulled a small bottle out of his pocket.

"Amanda did prescribe a really strong medicine to keep Nico from having nightmares. I was told to hand it over to the foster parent, but I wasn't sure if he was going to give it to Nico or not."

"Dad takes medication too. His magic his fading, so he takes a medicine to allow his body time to adjust to losing it." I explained, figuring he'd trust Dad that way.

Dad came just then. His dark eyes were filled with a gentle loving that always made me feel better. Dad set down the tea stuff, with chocolate milk for me, as tea was kinda strange to my senses. Hades handed Dad the medicine bottle. Dad placed it in his pocket. We all just sat in silence as we drank the tea and chocolate milk.

Nico looked up at me. He seemed to calm down a bit. At least I think. I moved to sit on the chair next to him. Dad said I was a walking reassurance card. I dunno what he means by that, but I just hung out with Nico. He looked like he wanted to back up, but was nervous to. Hades and Dad talked for a bit.

I took the meds bottle from Dad's pocket and went into the main hall. I pushed down on the frame of a portrait of me and dad. It opened. I looked around before finally putting the bottle inside. I did not want Nico finding it. I heard Nico coming inside. I backed away from it, and closed it quickly.


Nico's POV

I was just resting in my cabin before it happened. My name is Nico Di Angelo. I'm a son of Hades, and am now living with Amos Kane. For the reasons your about to see.

I was laying in my cabin, on my bed, when I felt my memories messing with me. I realized I was going to have a flashback. I then saw my sister, Bianca, on the night she died. I screamed. That was when things took a turn for the worst. Will came in, and tried to hug me, just as I saw the monster get really close to my sister.

I swung my sword in that moment of panic. That was when I heard Will yell in pain as I snapped out of it. I looked, and blood was pooling next to my boyfriend's body. I put a spare shirt on his chest.

I shouted for help. Will's sibling came, and we got him to the infirmary. Chiron asked what happened. I told him, and her ordered me to stay in another room.


Will was in a coma. I had hurt him pretty badly. Apollo came the minute he found out. He looked scared for his son's sake. I wished he'd yell at me, and ban me from seeing his son again so I'd never do this again. But instead, he informed me he knew it was an accident. As he went to see his son, I ran out to my cabin. I felt horrible, and I regretted what I did on a supreme level.

So I let it out on my wrists. I bled some, and then I shadow traveled to the sea near Fame City, where I figured I could drown myself in peace. I was under within seconds. I didn't hold my breath. Instead, I just sank down. I passed out as I did, thinking I was dying. And finally no more pain to others. Or myself.

Until I woke up on the beach with the blood on my wrists frozen in place. And a brown haired girl sat over me. The ends of her hair were a variety of colors. I didn't know who she was.

"Stay down. You still almost drowned. Dad, have them still come." The girl said, hand on my chest.

I was confused, until she explained I almost drowned and that she dragged me out of the water.

I saw an ambulance shortly after that. The paramedics took a good long look at me, and began tending to me. One of them interrogated the girl and the man I assumed was her father. I figured he was since she looked in his direction when she told him to keep the paramedics coming.

"Kid, we need your name." The paramedic said.

"Nico Di Angelo. Son of Hades." I said.

Everybody freaked. They simply could not believe I was THE Nico Di Angelo I guess. They all asked me what happened. I explained everything.

I was loaded into the ambulance after that. I got scared. I was going to a hospital. And my dad would be called, and man he was going to kill me.

"Don't worry, kid. We're taking you to Gracewood Children's Hospital." The paramedics said.

I knew in that moment I was not going to be able to refuse help. Amanda Gracewood was a stubborn woman, and I was not going to get away with hiding the truth from her. I knew her from my days on the run. She gave me food and money occasionally. And I also knew she was not going to refuse to call my dad.

I just rode in the ambulance, hoping dad wouldn't freak out.


As soon as we got there, I was taken away. The nurses placed some extra Hades blood they had on hand on the IV pole. I knew what was going to happen, and looked away. They stuck it on me, and took me to the treatment room Amanda had.

The fire healing room was ring of fire, with wood and metal keeping the rest of the hospital from burning down. Amanda sat down next to me, and fire healed my wrists. The wounds were cauterized and bandaged, then Amanda made me lie down still. She put me on oxygen, and then I felt the needle pricking a vein, and I went to sleep. Last thing I saw was her saying sweet dreams to me as I slowly relaxed and fell to dream land.

I saw the man who called emergency services in my dreams. He was African American, and had cornrows with a suit on. The man was in a wheelchair, and was cleaning a saxophone in a room of a mansion. He was missing a leg. After he finished cleaning it, I saw him go upstairs.

"DeLaynie, where are you?" The man asked.

Then he went into her room. She was fast asleep. He then pulled the blankets over her.

I smiled. She looked so sweet. Short brown hair all around her. And grayish blue eyes were closed. I then thought of my own sister. I knew I'd never see my sister, Hazel, again. And I was fine with that if it meant she was safe. Then all of a sudden, everything went white.


I woke up, in a soft bed. An IV was still running. Dad sat above me. He had his toga on, with his black hair pulled back a bit. Dad studied me, and once he realized I was awake, gave me a hug.

"Hey, son." He said.

"Hey Dad." I managed.

"How do you feel?"

"Tired. How long was I out?"

"Two hours. And Nico, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid your not going back to Camp Half-blood. I'm sorry but I'm going to have to find you a foster family."

I was stunned when I heard that. I had to go to foster care now!? Great. Just great. Dad told me it was for my mental health, and that it was doctor's orders. I was scared. Where was I going to go?

Dad explained he was going to be choosing the foster home, but I wanted I know. Who the Heck would even slightly want to take care of me?


A week passed, an I was staring at the ceiling and squeezing my stress ball. I had just finished a therapy session with Amanda. I was so ready to leave, but I had to stay. Otherwise, I was going to be grounded.

Dad came and sat down next to me.

"Hey Nico." Dad said.

"Hey." I said.

"I have some good news."

I looked up upon hearing Dad say that.

"What is it?"

"The man from the beach where you tried to commit suicide, he sent a request to foster you."

I was surprised, but Dad let me take a look at his background check. He was a decent man. He had a daughter of Njord with autism under his care, and he was a jazz musician. Dad and I talked, and we agreed he maybe the only one who might want me, so Dad decided to tell Amanda we wanted Amos Kane as my foster father.


A few weeks later, I was discharged. Dad took me to Mr Kane's house. As we drove, Dad told me what he knew about him from checking with two Egyptian gods, called Osiris and Set. Dad checked with them upon learning he was a descendant of some pharaoh called Narmer. He was a former magician, who had quit to raise his daughter. He had a jazz career now underway to a point where he was doing shows most nights.

As soon as we arrived, I saw Mr Kane and his daughter standing at the door, waiting for us. Mr Kane was wearing a suit, and his daughter was wearing a orange shirt with orange shorts. The daughter's hair was dyed hot pink, light purple, and dark blue. Mr Kane pulled his cornrows back, rolling his wheelchair in my direction. I went quiet, nervous to speak to him.

"Hi there." Mr Kane said, gently, like I was a puppy.

I watched my shoes and said hi. I was kinda nervous considering that I hardly knew him.

"Why don't you come on in? I can make you some tea."

That gave me a bit of reassurance.

"Okay." I said.

We went inside. His daughter, DeLaynie, showed us outside. Or rather, to the pool area, that had a crocodile in it. I sat down in a chair, with Dad on a couch.

"Philip of Macedonia is Dads crocodile. He's albino." DeLaynie explained. "If my Aunt Amanda prescribed any medications, you may wanna give them to Dad. He does not wanna risk a suicide attempt."

Dad pulled out the bottle, admitting that he wasn't sure he could trust Mr Kane with it. DeLaynie told us about how his magic was literally dying, and he took meds so his own body could adjust. I was surprised she'd openly spill it, but that was something good to know.

Mr Kane came in a few moments later. He had tea things, with some chocolate milk. DeLaynie grabbed it, while the rest of us had some tea. I sipped some, and didn't miss DeLaynie practically chugging her drink. Dad handed Mr Kane the medicine bottle.

I had calmed down, and DeLaynie moved closer to me. I was confused, but Amos just smiled at her. I wanted to back up, but I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

She left after a bit, and took the meds with her. I decided to go find my room. Mr Kane said it was on the second floor. I went on up. It was nice, with black curtains, and silk blankets. I put my stuff up, and played down on my bed. This was home now.