To his utter shock, Nico did fall asleep in the afternoon, exhaustion having overtook him for once. He woke up as usual, covered in sweat and screaming into his sheets to try and not disturb anyone else. The dark haired boy took several shaky breaths before standing up on unsteady legs and heading towards the window. Outside, it was dark. After consulting his watch, the demigod realised he'd slept until six, which was good because he wouldn't have to sleep tonight- three hours sleep was a total score for him.
He ran a hand through his messy locks, then went to the door. Right, he was on guard duty. With Leo Valdez. Nico gave a little sigh. He didn't really have anything against Leo, but the boy simply rubbed him the wrong way. Always making jokes, most of which a little too mean for Nico to endure, and just generally not his type of person. Yeah, it was fine if the other person joked back (Piper and Jason, for example), but Nico tended to clam up or to answer seriously, which had made their relationship turn antagonistic very quickly.
On the other hand, he supposed they worked well together; during the fight Leo had been the only one to immediately understand Nico's train of thought, and on professional grounds they were a good team. In everyday life, however, Leo was a bit of a jerk and Nico had too many walls up.
If he had to be honest with himself, he'd admit he partly didn't like the guy because he was a lot like Nico had been. Both orphans, both eternal optimists, and possessing way too much energy. But Nico had endured Bianca's death; and that Nico was gone. Hazel helped, because she understood, but really the fourteen year old had already seen too much to ever recover.
Well, no use sitting around thinking about death and sorrow, because he did that a lot. Might as well go and join Leo "energy-ball' Valdez on the deck. The Italian opened his door and walked out. Bad decision. He was immediately knocked over by the howling tempest that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Cursing, he pushed himself up and trudged forwards and out to the engine room.
The wind was still pushing back, and he felt tears stream down his cheeks from the cold. Shit, Hazel had said a storm was coming...He didn't count on it happening so soon; though it admittedly explained the wonky feeling of his room. Nico pulled out his sword, using it as a sort of ski pole as he battled the wind. He finally arrived next to the engine room, where Leo, mask covering his face, was cheerfully making the most noise humanly possible.
Nico wasn't sure what the stuff in his hands was, but they sounded like a dying cat mixed with bongo drums. "Valdez." he hissed in annoyance, tapping the Latino on the shoulder. He whipped around, hands flying to his belt; before relaxing. "HEY, DI ANGELO! READY FOR WATCH?" he yelled over the din, effectively destroying what was left of Nico's eardrums.
In response, the son of Hades slammed his fist down on Leo's arm, making him yelp and drop the infernal tools. He felt like sobbing happily as the noise ceased. "Hey! What was that for?!" Leo asked, annoyed. "Well, firstly I kind of needed you to stop destroying my ears, and secondly you might want to take of your mask." the Italian drawled sarcastically. The son of Hephaestus glared, before observing, surprised: "Have you been crying?" Nico scowled, yanking his mask off and exposing him to the wind. "Holy mother of Persephone!" Leo yelped, covering his face with one hand, while grabbing at his tools with the other. "Get inside!"
Nico stumbled after him as he grabbed his things and leaped inside the room with an melodramatic cry. "What are you even working on?.." the so-called Ghost Prince muttered, blinking to clear his blurry eyes. "Oh, just these little figurines." Leo shrugged. "I was bored so I started a little collection." "They look like Mythomagic ones." Nico said softly, looking at the little action figurines dressed in various types of clothes. The other teen chuckled a bit guiltily. "Yeah, I may or may not have based the idea off those." "No, no, I like them. They're cool." the Italian stated absent-mindedly, eyes catching onto a pretty girl with long black tresses and a bow. "Who's that?" Leo turned, then answered: "Oh, that. Not sure. I was going for an Artemis-y feeling then it kinda changed. You like her?" Nico eyed the girl.
"Yeah." His voice was quiet, but Leo heard it anyway. "Dude, you can have her if you like. I'm totally gonna make a hundred before I get bored. We can call her, like, Beatrice, and she can be some badass Hunter or some-" He broke off as Nico's eyes glistened, while the Italian suddenly wished they were outside again- at least then he'd have an excuse to look teary-eyed. And then it clicked.
"Oh, shit, man! Wasn't your sister- Oh, Aphrodite- I really didn't- I mean-" Leo stuttered, looking horrified. Shit shit shit shit! Hazel had told him about her, about Bianca, the Hunter, and this looked like-!
"Shut up, Valdez." Nico said gruffly, ostentatiously turning his back towards the figurines. "We're supposed to be on watch, remember?" Shifting his sword, he headed to the door. "Come on. The wind isn't going to disappear." "Right." Leo said, following him with a mental thanks. He didn't work well with lifeforms in general, and emotional lifeforms were the worst.
Far away, in the pearly white palaces of Olympus, a beautiful young woman with ever-changing features opened one lazy eye and smirked. "Oh, Leo. It's never a good idea to summon a goddess in vain."
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Short chapter, sorry, I'll update ASAP, I'm just really really busy at school
x
Fred
(Reviews make me write, btw)