Son, a lot of heroes have trouble adapting to death. To help with that, I've temporarily removed some of your memories- they will come back in time.
The last words he heard spun in his head, over and over, over and over, in a cascade of nothings muttered over and over…
So Bright. Above him, harsh sunlight poured in from somewhere up above. Somewhere nearby, the sounds of laughing and waves crashing sounded, and yet, when he opened his eyes, all he saw were a row of cartoon crabs.
"Hey man, get up. Welcome to Elysium!"
Nico turned around. Of course his first day here, he would start face-down on a beach towel. He flushed lightly at the sight in front of him. "Hi, uh, sorry is that your beach towel?"
The guy in front of him was vaguely familiar, with sandy hair that was cut short. His eyes were light blue, although if Nico squinted, he could see little specks of gold floating around. On the side of his cheek, there was a soft white line running down from his eyes, tracing down to a very attractive torso.
"Hey, you awake? If you're done staring, I can go show you around. Nico, isn't it?" The dude snapped, although his voice sounded a mix between a flirt and sneer.
Nico looked down at his chest, clad with a simple white tee. On top, a nametag hung on a chain of plastic beads- Hi My Name is: Nico :)
"Yeah I guess," he said.
The blond grinned. "It's okay, man. A lot of us are really confused when we first get here; you just died!" He raised his eyebrow hoping for a reaction, but when none came, the guy continued. "Oh, a child of Death. Hazel's gonna love you. Anyways, Elysium restores our bodies to when we were the happiest, and essentially serves as a reward for living a good life. My name's Luke, by the way. Son of Hermes."
Nico frowned as he heard the name. He had heard it somewhere, but the memory just wasn't there, no matter how deeply he reached.
The two passed a wooden gate, decorated with coconuts on top, that said "Welcome to Elysium" in bold, shining letters on top. In front of them, the road emptied into a massive pavilion where almost a whole city of buildings stood, although there seemed to be only a few people around.
Luke stopped there, and Nico bumped into his tanned back, only to leap back with a squeak and a reddening face.
He grinned down at the shorter boy. "Now, you can make yourself at home here. We don't really have many rules here; those are all left for the living. I think we earned it, don't you think? Anyways, I'll catch you later at dinner, and I can introduce you to some of my friends."
Luke sure talked fast and walked faster, Nico thought, as the blond jogged away across the sand. But damn, was he hot.
Speaking of hot people, Nico finally caught a glimpse of himself in the pool, and almost fell backwards. Gone was that old man with hallowed eyes; instead, staring back at him was how he must've been decades ago, but only prettier.
He had black hair that seemed like liquid midnight, pouring this way and that from the top of his head, with the longest strands curling right around his eyes. A pair of delicate eyes, full of naivety and wonder that he thought he had lost ages ago, rested atop his almost perfectly angular face. Even the tiny scar on his chin, from the quest with Hera's cows (long story), had completely vanished.
In other words, Nico looked absolutely delicious, even to himself. Which was a really weird, and sort of creepy way, of looking at it.
He walked a bit on the road. It was strange how, even underneath the blazingly bright sun, he felt none of the sweat he'd expect dripping down his back. Must be a perk of paradise, he thought. Even the ground was perfectly paved with obsidian that felt cool against his bare soles, and each one had a shimmering image projected on it. Two girls smiling, a curious squirrel looking up from its acorn, a businessman relaxing at a foot spa…
He bumped into something heavy, almost clad in iron.
He slowly moved his head up. Light grey fabric that clung tightly, a seam, three white buttons, a bronzed chin, a frowning mouth, and two very sharp eyes. As in, they looked as if they had been carved with a sculptor's precision, and placed there to glare at Nico.
"I don't believe we have had the pleasure of meeting yet, Nico." The man's voice sounded deep and slightly off, as if English wasn't a language he had spoken a lot of.
Nico took a small step back. The guy didn't sound dangerous, but Nico knew better than to stand too close to the mountain of muscle. "Hi, yeah I'm new here. I don't want any trouble, really, but yeah I'm Nico. And you?"
The man stared at him a second, and Nico gulped nervously at the sword hanging by the man's side. Could he even die in hell? But before he could wonder any longer, the guy laughed hoarsely and brought his hand down, clapping Nico on the back so hard he fell down to his knees.
"Oh, sorry, my bad." The man reached down to help Nico up, but he didn't seem the least bit sorry. "I'm Achilles, slayer of Hector. Nice to have you here."
Achilles's perfectly sculpted eyes glittered dangerously at him, and Nico scurried to one side and continued walking. Strange, he thought, weren't these supposed to be heroes, kind and brave?
The building ahead of them, a tall white temple with decorated marble columns lining the ceiling, almost seemed to pulse with the deafening music. Nico smiled nervously as they walked towards the party.
Luke had already introduced him to the other people, and as with Luke, Nico felt a small tug in his memory as he met each of them. There was Annabeth, a pretty blond with a sharp wit, who seemed to genuinely like Nico. She was also Luke's girlfriend, which sounded wrong for some reason in Nico's mind.
Beside her, a dark-haired guy, that smiled flirtatiously at Nico the instant they met. Glad to know that despite the preachers that ranted outside in Manhattan every day, paradise didn't discriminate.
The guy introduced himself as Perseus. This definitely made Nico feel wrong, a lot more than the others, but by now he had learned to ignore it. He was seriously hot, with a classic Renaissance man feel about him. Yet, as Nico watched closer, there was a slight shimmering effect on the guy. Sometimes he had sideburns, sometimes they faded into his skin, and Perseus seemed to shift in the light between three almost-identical, equally sexy, guys.
Annabeth caught him staring, and laughed. "Oh yeah, Perce does that sometimes. He was reborn twice already to try for the Isles, and just missed it last time."
Whatever that meant, Nico just shrugged and returned to the party. Hosted inside the Temple of Grace, Nico caught partygoers moving around and dancing to the music, which seemed to shift to whatever he wanted to hear at the time.
As he felt himself get swept into the middle of the crowd, he felt his heartbeat quicken as his body began pulsing to the addicting beat. Paradise was alright.
As the night drew on, he found himself alternating between dancing on the floor with his new-found friends, and sitting in the corner sipping Sprite. Although Luke kept assuring him that his health would remain in perfect condition no matter what he did, he still shied away from the liquor and drugs; Nico had never been a fan of drinking, as he found it dulled his senses, and he stuck to the Sprite.
And that's where he met Hazel, a curly-haired black girl who seemed all-too excited by the fact Hades had banged both their mothers.
"So like, has Hazel shown you your powers yet?" Nico flinched slightly as Perseus leaned onto his shoulder, whispering into his ears. "If not, I can show you myself. Tonight, my place?"
Nico felt his cheeks blush, an imperfection the Styx apparently didn't clean. Hazel just grinned and stuck her tongue out, giggling a bit.
He shifted a bit forward in his seat, so Perseus wouldn't notice his growing problem. "Um Perseus, maybe not yet. I'm still getting a bit used to Elysium, and I'm actually sorta interested in what Hazel was gonna show me." On that last phrase, he let a bit of sarcasm sneak into his voice.
Perseus leaned back, with his hands raised defensively. "Okay, okay, I get it. You can stay here and let Hazel teach you a few lessons." He walked away, but not before turning and giving Nico a wink. "Also, babe, you can call me Percy."
Nico grumbled as he slid back into his seat. He didn't know why, but being called 'babe' bothered him a lot.
Hazel laughed at his expression, which he guessed must've been a mix of scandal and blush. "Lighten up, bro. Percy flirts with everyone. Anyways, about your powers. You know as children of Death, we have tons of powers down here right?"
Hazel snapped her fingers, and a twirl of black mist shot from her hand towards the ceiling, forming the shape of a dragon which circled the room and landed back, curling back into her palm. A few onlookers whistled at her, and she faked a bow.
He arched an eyebrow at her. "How did you do that?"
"Just concentrate and breathe in. Can't you feel the power of the dead all around you? We're in the Underworld, and you yourself are dead, so it should be pretty easy."
Nico concentrated and closed his eyes, and as Hazel predicted, he could literally hear the souls of the damned crying from all around him. He felt a ghost prodding nearby, and plucked it out of the abyss with a tug.
He heard a shriek, and opened his eyes. In front of him, a wide radius of partygoers had jumped to the side, and Hazel stood behind him. In her eyes, he read panic and horror, and he turned around to see.
A man, decked in a full Confederate uniform, stood before him. On his chest, though, Nico could make out a gaping hole that passed cleanly through.
"A cannon shot. Remarkable, eh lad?" The soldier spoke straight at him, as if there were nobody else around.
Nico gaped his mouth at the soldier, who lurched forward at him, a musket suddenly appearing in his hand. Before he could blink, Hazel raised her hand, and the soldier lurched and melted into the ground.
He looked backwards, and Hazel stared back at him with wide eyes. "Nico, you shouldn't be able to summon the dead here. Elysium's got magic to stop any unworthy from entering."
After his stunt, the party notably toned down a bit. Hazel kept on staring at his hands as if they were somehow cursed with power, and then at Nico's face, as if he knew what he had done. And that's how Nico found himself, sneaking out from the party from underneath a cloak of shadows.
He wandered the streets, looking at the decorated buildings that lined the boardwalk. Many were shuttered, closed for the night, although he found quite a few clubs still open. Choosing one named 'The Sun Palace", he stepped in.
A few people sat at a bar, while the rest were busy dancing and grinding on the floor. Ordering another Sprite, which came with a magical dancing umbrella, he watched the dancers.
Here in Elysium, it seemed that everyone looked near-perfect. Out of the dancers he saw on the floor, he counted- a pair of twins flirting mischievously with a punk-looking girl with spiked black hair; a couple, a beefy African-American guy and a Latina, swaying to some sappy love song that definitely wasn't what Nico was hearing; a group of surfer dudes playing cards in the corner; an Asian girl caked in makeup, who even by Elysium standards was a supermodel, and had a crowd of people staring longingly at her as she danced. He even caught a few really hairy guys, with what seemed to be hooves attached to their feet.
He turned back to the bartenders, a pair of brothers who he suspected had spiked up his Sprite, not that he really minded.
One of them, the guy named Pollux, leaned over the counter. "Hey bro, everything alright? Haven't seen you here before."
Nico nodded, barely paying attention. His eyes caught one of the poker players, who seemed to have been staring at him. Shit, he was coming over.
He turned back to Pollux, who now seemed to be genuinely concerned. "Yeah, just a little tired. First day here," he lied. He heard the stool beside him shift on the ground, and it took all his resolve not to turn.
"Hey Will, how are you bro?" He heard the other bartender, Castor, say in a slightly lower voice than his brother.
Will, who Nico assumed to be the surfer, ignored him and grabbed Nico by the shoulders, causing him to almost fall off the bench. He lurched, and felt a hand steady him around the waist.
Turning around, he dropped his Sprite to the ground, causing the umbrella to swear angrily at him and stride off. He felt the same feeling as with many of the others, but this time, it cut at his heartstrings. The blond stared fiercely at him, and Nico noticed something- a small sun-shaped necklace hanging around his neck, the first piece of jewelry he had seen in Elysium. Nico's fingers slipped softly beneath the hem of his shirt.
Will looked at him, eyes open with concern. "We need to talk."
AN: Here's chapter one. Although I've been a huge fan of the series for years, this is my first time actually writing anything about it, and so I hope that this story is pretty cool so far :) Also, although I have a few major plot points decided on already, I would love to hear any suggestions, feedback, criticisms, etc.