Chapter 6

Nico crashed to the deck of the ship, pulling Jason down with him. He was an emotional and physical wreck, and his shaking legs hardly allowed him to stand. The shadow travel certainly didn't help, taking away what little energy he had left. He wanted to just curl up on the deck and fall asleep, but of course the Fates wouldn't allow that.

Jason stood up, pulling Nico unwillingly to his feet. Zoning out and trying to focus on staying standing, Nico hardly noticed when Jason led him over to a chair in the dining area and sat him down. He let his head fall onto the table, wanting to fall asleep more than anything. He didn't want to think about what he had just told Jason, and he certainly didn't want to entertain the thought of having anyone else find out.

That sudden thought was like a jolt of caffeine, and Nico jumped up with such urgency that he nearly fell over in the chair. As it was, the strength seemed to have sapped from his body, and he almost slumped back onto the table. Jason tried to help him gain control of his unstable movements, and Nico flinched away. What if Jason told the others? What if they found out about his awful secret? Sure, Jason was fine with it, but the others might not be.

"P-please don't tell the others," He managed to stutter out, choking on the bile that rose in his throat.

Jason's response was cut off by the arrival of Piper. "Tell us what?" She questioned, staring at Nico intently. It was then that he realized he must look a disheveled mess, but that thought did not quell his growing anxiety at the question.

"N-n-nothing," He whispered. Well, that wasn't suspicious at all.

She raised an eyebrow, and Nico tried to shrink in on himself. Maybe if he ignored her, she would stop asking questions.

Jason stared at him intently, and he swallowed, hard. "Really, there's nothing."

Piper didn't look convinced. "If you say so," She responded. Nico knew that the conversation wasn't over, and the thought filled him with fear.

By the time the group finally confronted him about the issue, he had nearly forgotten about his conversation with her. No one brought up the subject again until dinner several nights later, one of the few times he actually ended up eating a meal with the other demigods.

"So Nico, what were you so upset about the other day?" Asked Hazel; Nico froze at the question.

"I told Piper it was nothing. Just drop it!" He hissed, feeling as though he had been punched in the gut. Piper had told the others!

His response just increased the concern of the others. "Nico, that doesn't sound like nothing," Hazel responded worriedly.

"Well nothing happened." Nico's eyes flickered to Jason, but his plea for help went unnoticed by Jason. The others, however, noticed. Suddenly everyone was looking at Jason, and Nico knew his secret wouldn't last. Jason couldn't stand up to his girlfriend. He would cave like a poorly built house of cards.

"Jason, what happened with Nico?" Asked Piper, gazing at her boyfriend intently. Nico wanted to run, to hide, to disappear. There weren't enough shadows in the room for Nico to shadow travel, and he was terrified.

Jason locked eyes with Nico, and he knew his secret was only going to last a few more moments. Nico hung his head, not wanting to see their looks of disgust when they found out that his soulmate was another man.

"Well, uh, well, Nico are you sure you don't want to tell them yourself?" Jason said, scratching the back of his neck and looking slightly guilty.

Nico shook his head. He couldn't bear to tell the others. As it was, he could hardly bear to be in the room when his secret was revealed.

"Percy is dead, and if that wasn't bad enough, he was Nico's soulmate."

The silence after Jason's statement was deafening. Nico could feel the others turn their gaze back to him. A tear slid down his cheek, and in moments he was sobbing. Someone placed a hand on his shoulder, and Nico flinched violently. He lost his balance on the chair and fell to the floor, shaking. Nico pushed himself into the darkened corner, seeing naught but darkness from his tears.

"I-I'm s-sorry. I'm such a f-freak!" He whispered, unable to keep the terrified stutter out of his voice.

"Nico!" A voice cut through his sobs and whimpers, "You are not a freak, Nico. It is perfectly normal for people to have soulmates that are the same gender! It just means that my mom knows you are perfect together and should spend your lives together. Being gay isn't disgusting. A lot of people are gay, and most of society accepts it now."Nico opened his eyes to see Piper crouching next to him and smiling.

Nico stared at her in shock for a few moments before responding, "B-but what am I supposed to do now? I can't see anything anymore, but that doesn't matter because Percy is dead! I felt it!"

A somber silence fell over the group with the declaration of Percy's death. Every one of the remaining demigods knew that it meant that Annabeth was dead too. Two of the most important people to their group were dead. They were on their own and down two members. The quest was doomed to fail, and with that failure, destroy the world.

It was Leo who finally broke the silence.

"What do you mean that you can't see anymore? Are you blind or something?" His questions were met with strange looks from the others. "What?" Leo asked, a confused expression adorning his face.

"You don't know about soulmates?" Piper asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"Soulmates? Those are just a myth. And why would it have anything to do with his vision?"

"My mother provides people with a person that fits with them perfectly and that is meant to be their partner for life. She lets people know who this is by not allowing them to see color until they meet their soulmate or after their soulmate dies. It's beautiful and horrific, showing how love can benefit someone's life and then destroy it."

"Well that sounds like bullshit. I have always been able to see color." Responded Leo.

"Oh, you must be one of the aromantics. They are people without soulmates. They are complete without another. They can always see in color." Piper spoke. "What? I read a lot about my mother."

"Huh." Leo seemed lost in thought, an expression which looked quite strange on the normally joking demigod's face. He suddenly looked down at Nico's slumped form, "Nico, I'm really sorry about my comment the other day, I-I didn't know."

If anyone seemed perturbed by Leo's odd behavior, they didn't mention it. Nico looked up for a moment, before dropping his tear stained face again to look at the ground. He curled in on himself a little more, and the awkwardly melancholic silence returned.

The demigods began to filter out of the room, leaving to process their own grief, Nico was glad; he didn't want anyone around anyway.

Exhausted, Nico collapsed inward on himself, no longer bothering to attempt to fight gravity. He fell asleep, alone on the hard floor, tear tracks still lining his face.

A/N

That was supposed to be fluff, and I failed miserably. Oh well. Sorry it's been so long, but I kinda took like 2 months off of writing just because I kept forgetting to do it… Also I'm sorry if it's a bit incoherent, it's 2 am and normally i would have one to bed 3 hours ago. This chapter probably sucks, but it by some miracle my exhaustion fueled garbage isn't awful, that's great!