Trembling from the sudden contact, Nico stood up quickly, almost head-butting Hestia.

"S-s-sorry," he stuttered, and held his hand out for a handshake.

"Are you alright?" Hestia asked him, worriedly. He didn't seem his usual, confident self. Sure, she was feeling timid, but not to the same extent!

Nico seemed very interested in events at the bottom left corner of his vision. Blushing feverishly, he tried to take a deep breath to calm his thoughts.

"You look lovely, Hestia," he smiled, the worst of his nerves gone. Still, some tension remained in his knees, so he sat quickly, hoping to hide how nervous he was. Hestia smiled knowingly, and sat too, on the same log. Luckily for them, crackling from the large bonfire eliminated their awkward silence.

'Right, so Grover said that I have to make the first move,' he thought, hoping like mad that goddesses couldn't read minds. Nervously, almost timidly, he snuck his arm around the petit goddesses' shoulders. He was dazed when Hestia took advantage of his burst of confidence, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I've missed you, Nico," she murmured next to his heart. "I'm sorry for not foreseeing the danger last time, and not being able to protect you." Tears welled up in her warm, guilt-ridden eyes.

"Hey, don't worry! I'm still alive, right?" Nico had to lighten the mood, and fast! He couldn't have a lady like her crying. "And anyway, isn't the man supposed to protect the woman?"

"Not when the female is immortal, and the male is not." Hestia wiped her budding tears away. "I'm sorry, this is supposed to be fun, and I've brought sadness."

"No, you haven't! You're the goddess of the hearth, you bring warmth and kindness wherever you go! It's sure to say that you light up my life!" Nico regretted saying that the second he said it. 'Damn, that was way too cheesy, she'll be put off me now.'

She laughed once, then the sadness filled her eyes again. Thousands of years of sorrow came to haunt her.

"We…cannot be together. As much as I care for you, we would never last more than one lifetime. And also, I cannot break my vow to my brothers." Hestia detached herself from Nico's arm, and stood by the fire. "I apologise for not telling you before, but I swore to Zeus that I would not become involved with any male, be they mortal or immortal. I….forgot myself when I was with you."

"Oh." Nico was crestfallen. This amazing woman that stood before him had led him on, and brought him hope of being happy, and yet she had torn it away in the same moment. He saw her no different for it, so he reached for her hand. "I don't care what Zeus thinks, I need you in my life, Hestia!" Nico exclaimed. Thunder crackled over their bonfire.

"I'm sorry, I don't want to put you in any more danger! Goodbye, Nico, son of Hades." She stepped into the fire, disappearing from his sight. He had no idea that he would not see her for a long time.

Clouds parted, and there was no more thunder above. "Curse you, Zeus! She should be free to make her own decisions!" He cried at the empty sky.

"Hey, man, are you ok?" Grover materialised from the bushes. "I heard yelling, was it really that bad?"

"Worse. Now, please leave me be, or I'll open an abyss to the Underworld right here and now."

"Whoah, ok man, just please come back, and let me, no, let us help you!" Grover called out before hightailing it away from me.

'Argh, why did I let myself get attached? No one would ever get close to me, the son of Hades.'

Nico reviewed his options, 1. Go back to his cabin and mope. 2. Try and fix this somehow.

Option 1 was sounding very tempting right now, but he couldn't be self-indulgent right now. 'I need to become immortal, then maybe Hestia would consider me.'

He needed a quest. A huge, gigantic, monstrosity of a quest. This way, he could earn the gods' favour, and become immortal, and at the same time avoid drowning in his sorrows.

Hestia's tears ran freely, the second she got back to her home. Why couldn't she just tell him how she felt, rather than tell him why they can't be together? She had to make sure that Nico would be ok, but she knew that he would never want to see her again, not after what she had told him. Looking into her hearth, she saw Nico's hardened face. He seemed to have lost all sense of emotions. She had caused this. But how could she fix it? From the look of his face, he never wanted to feel emotion again. He had been through too much emotional hardship, and had totally given up on feelings. Hestia reached towards the image, wishing she had never said anything, or hadn't even met him, so that she would never have caused him to be this melancholic.

A warm current from the bonfire caressed Nico's cheek. Was it her, or was he just imagining things? He sat down, putting his head in his hands. 'How to become immortal… It's not like there's any classes for this.'

He had to get back to Hestia, she was the one thing that could save him from any madness or grief.

Author's Note:

Sorry it's taken so long (a whole year... as you can tell, I'm really bad with procrastination) to update! Hopefully I'll be updating more, since my exams/high school life are almost over :D