A Name for the Devil
Wolf got the rest of K-Unit in on it, minus Cub, and told them what he saw. Snake was the only one who confirmed it, and that made sense seeing as Eagle and Jaguar had been convulsing with electricity during Devil's interrogation, so missed the shadow part. Together that evening after training they followed the two boys back to the hut. Cub cracked a stupid joke and Devil rolled his eyes in exasperation, though laughed as his friend gave him the kicked-puppy look. Wolf wanted to believe that the kid was normal – well, as normal as a kid who can ace the SAS training in a month – but he couldn't let go the fact that he had seen something weird, and now that he thought about it, there were all kinds of things Devil did that made no sense. The thing where he seemed to melt into the shadows, and his capability with a sword. Even his fighting was strange, as though he'd usually battle things bigger and badder than SAS men.
Devil and Cub entered the cabin, while Wolf, Snake, Eagle and Jaguar waited for a moment before following. Wolf felt his stomach coil in apprehension, but he felt it was his duty to know.
"Devil," he said, softly but determinedly. Devil looked up from where he was sprawled on the floor, Cub leaning against a bed post nearby. They'd obviously been talking.
"Yeah, Wolf?" Devil replied, sitting up as he saw the expressions on the Unit leaders face. Wolf sighed and sat down on the nearest bed. Snake and Jaguar took up a place beside the door, sitting down on the floor and leaning against the wall, while Eagle lay on his stomach on Snake's bed, which was next to the one Wolf was on. Cub straightened, sensing the solemn mood hanging around. Devil slowly looked around and Wolf started speaking.
"Devil, mate, I don't really know how to say this but…"
Nico knew it would come eventually. He'd been careless with the electric chair, letting his anger rule him. And he knew Wolf had keen eyes, not unlike his namesake.
But Nico felt relaxed with these people; they liked him, and he liked them. He knew that if his secret came out, he wanted it to be broken to his in-every-way-but-blood family properly, to not freak them out.
But that didn't mean he wanted to tell.
Nico felt his heart pound in panic. What if they called him a freak? What if they were horrified by him? What if they told him to leave? He couldn't live with that again – he'd been rejected too much. Brecon was more of a home than Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter had ever been. He even preferred this place to the Underworld.
Nico saw Wolf watching him as his breathing quickened in what Wolf recognised as fright. The SAS man bit his lip – Snake had been right when he'd said Devil had him wrapped around his finger. He respected the kid, he liked having him in the Unit. Devil had integrated so perfectly into the dysfunctional army family it was like he'd always meant to be.
Wolf stood up slowly from the bed and walked towards Nico. The black haired boy watched him as he sat down in front of him. Wolf saw guards in Nico's eyes, and felt a pang of remorse.
Then he shook his head. Devil needed to tell someone. Wolf knew he wasn't normal, and Devil knew Wolf knew.
Nico waited. Wolf found his voice.
"What you did with the chair, kid," he began again. "In RTI. I saw you when you leapt into it. You moved the shadows, Devil. They smashed the chair for you."
Nico watched his father-figure struggle with the words.
"And all the time, it's like you disappear into nothing, Devil. You left the army campsite, got food, and came back in under half an hour! You fight with a sword, and your hand-to-hand is different."
Wolf hesitantly put a hand on Nico's knee and looked the boy in the eye.
"You're not human," the leader said, not beating around the bush. "What are you?"
Alex watched from where he sat as Wolf voiced all the things he himself had noticed about his strange friend. Alex had wanted to confront Devil himself, make it private for the raven haired boy, with less pressure. But all of K-Unit was watching now, and Alex couldn't admit he wasn't curious.
Devil looked at the ground as everyone waited for a reply to Wolf's blunt question.
Nico debated with himself. He wanted to tell them, but would they accept him? Should he just leave?
Always running, aren't you? Running away from your friends and your problems, you never face them.
The words of Cupid bounced in Nico's mind, and he hardened his resolve. This time, he wouldn't run away. He'd face K-Unit, and he'd tell them.
Nico opened his mouth and looked right at Wolf's face.
The cabin door suddenly exploded inwards, sending Snake and Jaguar flying. Eagle leapt off the bed and Wolf whipped around while Alex shot to his feet and Nico got up too
A figure blocked the entrance, and Wolf scowled, no longer wearing what K-Unit referred to as his 'Devil can do no wrong' face, which had gotten them all three more laps of the swimming lake and another obstacle run.
"Did you think coming to England would stop me finding you, little one?" A voice asked, and Nico froze. Wolf gave him a questioning look before looking back at the figure in the doorway.
"Who the hell are you and how the fuck did you get here?" he roared at the person. They merely chuckled.
"Ooh, the little godling has a guard dog? I'd say his bark is worse than his bite, isn't that right, Nico?"
The name was said with a French accent, and Nico finally unfroze.
"Dr Thorn," he sighed. "You're timing is so awful it's almost laughable. What do you want?"
Dr Thorn cackled and swept into the room. K-Unit stared at him as he bent over Nico, the raven haired boy staring back up at the man.
"You slipped from me before, little one, and I have been suffering since. But now I have come back, and tracked you down. Coming to England wouldn't deter me from you, Nico. I've come to send you to your father, the hard way!"
Dr Thorn swung at Nico, who ducked so fast he became a blur. The boy's legs flashed out and kicked Thorn so hard his feet swept out from under him. He crashed to the floor, grunting, and Nico's hands flew to his belt where his disguised sword hung. He pulled it out swiftly and it made a sliding noise as it exited its sheath. Wolf jumped back as the blade appeared from nowhere.
Nico swung the sword downward, and Thorn rolled out of the way. He hissed.
"Devil!" Wolf yelled. "What're you doing?"
"Saving your lives!" Nico replied, cutting towards the strange man again. "Okay with that, Wolf?"
Wolf was left speechless as the black sword feinted to the right, then crashed to the left, straight into Dr Thorn's leg. The man screamed as the Stygian Iron sucked away his life force. He started crumbling into sand, his essence returning the Tartarus, while Nico stole his soul into his sword.
"You should have realised I'd be better," Nico told him coldly as the monster died. "I'm not a weak ten year old anymore, you should have treated me like a real enemy, someone to be reckoned with." He knelt beside the dying manticore. "Remember that, kay?"
A wail keened through the hut as Dr Thorn returned to Tartarus, leaving behind a pile of monster dust and five very confused and freaked out men.
"Devil…" Wolf breathed. "What…?"
Nico sat down again and put away his sword. He sighed as Snake and Jaguar scrambled over to him with Eagle. Alex stayed frozen while Wolf couldn't decide on what kind of face to make. Nico looked at them in turn.
"I was planning on a less blunt introduction," he finally said tiredly. "But I guess an attack would throw that out the window immediately. Very well. Wolf, sit down and stop making faces."
Wolf sat down. The others gathered around Nico, who looked at them individually.
"My name is Nico di Angelo," he began. "There's no point hiding it anymore, Dr Thorn had no qualms about shouting my name for the world to hear. Now, the first question is, do you all know Greek Mythology?"
Wolf shared flabbergasted looks with his team, except Alex, who sat thoughtfully.
"Yes," Snake answered for them all. Nico nodded.
"Good. Well, to put it simply, it's all real. The gods exist, the monsters exist, and Olympus exists. They're all real, and they're still alive today. Dr Thorn just now was the Manticore, disguised as a badly accented French military school teacher."
No one interrupted, and Nico checked their reactions.
"It's a lot to take in, I know," he told them, and Jaguar shook his head in wonderment.
"Why was he after you?" Eagle asked, apparently taking it all in stride. Nico watched the man's expression as he answered.
"I'm a demigod, half god, half human, the child of one of the Gods of Olympus. Monsters seek us out to kill us, because they oppose the gods. I've met Dr Thorn before."
Wolf thought privately that he was right, Devil wasn't human. Well, not entirely.
"But…" Snake started, then shook his head. "This is ridiculous."
Nico looked at him, his face blank. Snake stood up, and Jaguar followed.
"Is this a kind of code, Devil?" The SAS medic demanded. Nico shook his head.
"You don't believe me," he said. "Fine. I'll show you."
He got to his feet and the three remaining SAS men and boy scooted a fair distance away. Nico breathed in and held out his arms. He felt the death under the very floorboards of the cabin.
"Please, don't scream," he warned them, before raising his arms and chanting softly. Two skeletons, the ones who'd helped him cook before, rose from the ground and bowed to him. Thick silence coated the hut before Jaguar 'eeped' and Snake fell over with a crash. Alex stared unblinkingly at Nico. Wolf and Eagle were inspecting the skeletons, pushing down their panic.
"I'm a son of Hades, Lord of the Dead and Riches," Nico informed them. "I'm known as the Ghost King and the Prince of Shadows, and I serve in the Court of Hades as his Ambassador. I also represent Pluto's children in the Roman Legions."
Nico sent the skeletons back into the ground and sat down, producing a handful of Hellfire. Eyes zoomed in on the little dark flame before Eagle gazed at Nico and broke the silence.
"Awesome," he said. Snake was too shocked for words and Jaguar just sat there numbly. Wolf eyed Nico again, seeing him in a new light. He was still Devil, but the name had a whole new level of irony to it.
Nico looked at Alex, mentally pleading the other boy to do something besides stare. Alex seemed to sense Nico's thought and focused his eyes on the younger boy.
"You're still Devil," the spy said to the room. "You're still my friend." He grinned. "I'm just that much more sure I don't want to get on your bad side."
Nico smiled, relief making his legs wobbly. He rarely felt like this, and even rarer was the time he let it happen, but the son of Hades just wanted to be hugged for a moment. He bathed in the stint of weakness for a few seconds, before a hand came down on his shoulder and he turned to see Wolf. The SAS soldier had a crooked smile on his face and he noogied Nico's shaggy hair like he always did after training.
"So, Devil," Eagle said after a minute or two. "Demigod life?"
So K-Unit spent their free afternoon listening to Nico gratefully recount tales of his fellow half-bloods and himself. He didn't mention Bianca, as it hurt too much, or the deaths suffered from the second Giant War, because they were all too fresh to bear for the moment. But K-Unit listened eagerly and it was well into the early morning hours before anyone went to bed.
When they did, Nico couldn't even sleep for the buzz in his head. He was accepted here entirely. They knew what he was and they still welcomed him.
A tap on his shoulder caught his attention and Nico rolled over to see Alex, a halo of moonlight lighting up his hair.
"Cub?" Nico asked quietly, and Alex nodded.
"Yeah. Hey um, Devil… I was wondering… have you ever summoned a specific ghost before?"
He fidgeted, and Nico smirked.
"Alex Rider, are you doubting my skill?"
Alex chuckled quietly before shaking his head.
"No, but I was just thinking. I… my parents died when I was very small, and I never met them. I suppose I was wondering if…"
He trailed off, uncertain. Nico propped himself up on his elbow.
"It doesn't always work, Alex," he said softly. "I tried dozens of times to find someone I lost, and she only came for one of the other demigods." Alex looked down, and Nico continued.
"But I could still try."
The blond looked at the raven in surprise, before grinning.
"Thanks, Nico," he breathed.
"We could sneak out tomorrow and get some Happy Meals."
"…what?"
"Never mind," Nico replied, flopping back down, a lazy smile on his face. He idly realised he'd never smiled this much before.
"You'll see them, Cub," he told his friend. "We'll find your parents."
I don't know if this chapter seems too sunshine-and-rainbows, but I figured something like that needed to happen before Three comes in. Plus, I'd planned on revealing Nico sooner or later, and since it's a family and friendship fic, he gets the family and friendship he deserves.
Until next time!
Jasmine Out!