Title: Noticing the Unnoticeable Pt 2
Summary: Fading, all these lights just turn to gray. Changing, better to turn and walk away. But the strange thing is that I don't feel a thing.
Characters: Nico, Percy/Annabeth
The aftermath of Percy "disappearing" isn't pleasant. Not in the slightest. Everyone (except Nico himself, of course) becomes a mini tornado with varying degrees of frenzy. Jackson's girlfriend, without a doubt, is the one who tops the charts.
Nico hands her the gift Percy instructed to be given to her, as soon as she's done tearing down the arts and crafts building with her bare hands. Gingerly, she accepts it. The present isn't much, just a card carefully constructed to pop up with a collage of her and Percy. It takes a while for it all to sink in, but when it does, she's on the edge of hysteria once more. Nico restrains her from going to destroy the next building.
"Why'd he have to go, Nico?" She whispers in a controlled voice much later, after she's resigned to the fact that she can't do a thing. Nico still feels like that, even though he's known for a while that this would be happening. The rings on his fingers feel heavier than they should.
"I don't know, Annabeth, I just don't know."
The camp is in chaos without the prestigious Percy Jackson around to be the role model of what a demigod champion should be. The small part of Nico that hasn't yet managed to forgive Percy for what happened to his sister kind of enjoys this. But no, these people are family, and he wants them to survive and be happy.
Chiron has trouble controlling the petty fights that turn into full out sibling wars. Nico wants to stay and help him though, to try and fill in Percy's shoes will he's with Lupa. Only Rachael and Annabeth accept him for who he is, and he knows it.
He leaves without saying goodbye.
He doesn't leave the camp grounds though. Nico wants to be able to protect them at a moment's notice, and he's trying to look after Percy's family (as well as his own). It's so lonely though; to be so close but so far away at the same time. They're still hurting, the feelings just radiate from them, even from such a distance away. Not that he really blames them.
Percy had managed to integrate his way firmly into their family within five years, something that Nico couldn't understand. Coming and going for two years, never staying around long enough to clear the air of his godly parent, probably was what hindered him from developing a familial connection with the fellow demigods.
He decides that it's time to move on from Camp Half-Blood; find somewhere else he can be useful. Look for a hint of when Percy will be back from his brief hiatus. Protect his family from afar, and create a safe(ish) world for them to live in.
Nico di Angelo will be back though, he always returns to the first place he felt at home. He turns his back to the camp and starts the long hike to the future that awaits them all.
A/N: Super short, I know. Hope you all enjoyed it anyways! :)