::Everything burns::::Chapter eight::

Nikai Laskaris's POV.

I hadn't slept last night. For the last few weeks Nico's been acting really different. He won't talk to me and when I try to talk to him he turns me away with sarcastic comments and cold glares. What the hecks wrong with him!? It's not like I stranded him on a lava rock climbing wall! But it had hurt me, I was trying to help, yet he just pushed me away. Despite it all, it was like he hated me.

Did he no longer love me? Maybe over the years he'd found he didn't love me anymore…or maybe he never did…maybe all that before was just pity. That thought had haunted me all night, overshadowing everything I did. It was like a fate I couldn't escape. And it hurt me…I had friends now, but I needed him. I loved him, still…did he no longer care?

I swallowed down the tears that were threatening to pour down…was it possible? The next day at breakfast, he wasn't there. I heard from Chiron he'd left last night. Was this final?! Was that the final act…proof that he no longer needed me. No longer cared about me?!

"Annabeth told me the meaning of your name, Nikai, your fatal flaw is being alone, your afraid to be alone…so why try so hard to isolate yourself?! YOUR SO STUPID! I've been worrying about you non stop ever since-I mean…we've been worrying about you!" That's what he told me. He lied to me.

"Love is a cruel thing my dear." Aphrodite's words echoed in my head. "Love is the most powerful emotion and it can tear even you, the daughter of time, to shreds." Nico told me that my fatal flaw was being alone. But it wasn't, my fatal flaw, the flaw of Kronos, the flaw of mine. It was a being blinded. From the truth, from things important. Had I missed something? Kronos had missed much, it was why he'd lost. What had I missed?

I sat in my room that night, "She sits in her corner. Singing herself to sleep. Wrapped in all of the promises that no one seems to keep. She no longer, cries to herself. No tears left to wash away. Just diaries of empty pages, feelings gone astray, but she will sing…" Everything burns By, Anastacia.

"Till everything burns, while everyone screams burning in their lies. Burning in my dreams. All of this hate, and all of this pain. I'll burn it all down. As my anger reins. Till everything burns. Walking threw life unnoticed, knowing that no one cares. Too consumed in their masquerades. No one sees her there. And still she sings." I felt so cold tonight. It had finally hit me, Nico no longer cared…

Nico Di Angelo's POV.

I sat in history class, which Percy taught. It was easy but long and boring. I did everything to keep me from thinking about her, but it just came naturally. It lead from one thing to another. But either way it led to the fact I was still hopelessly in love and she no longer gave a shit. That reality hurt like a Manticore tail to the gut. I learned that people don't like it when you kill there dogs, it was a friggen hellhound! What the frick was I supposed to friggen do!? Just let it destroy the town!? Percy had tried to come over to my apartment asking why I was back and I continued to lie to him. I played the piano one day after school…a song, it reminded me of her, again.

Yeah, I know, what the heck!? A child of Hades crying!? Yeah, I was crying, if that's what you call these wet salty tasting things leaking from your eyes. I swallowed down the lump in my throat and forced myself to stop crying. I loved her so much and the fact that she didn't care anymore hurt like a burning inside my chest I couldn't explain, when everything feels as if it's crashing down. I'd felt this way before, when Bianca died, and when I thought I had lost Kai. This entire situation…it scared me and struck more fear than anything ever had. Would I lose her forever?

It was that single question, single thought, that scared me. I didn't want it to end like this. It couldn't…it didn't feel right. Had I really just gotten her back to lose her again?! As I blamed Trent and Zane, I knew, it was my fault. All along…it had been my fault. Now, I was just too much of a coward to fix it…

Nikai Laskaris's POV.

I laid in the dark staring at the ceiling. Tomorrow Trent and Zane were leaving. They didn't need anymore training and because it was still school season they had to go back. Now that I had my memory there really was no point. I couldn't stand to stay here. It just reminded me too much of him. If he came back now, I'd want to fix it, but what would I do?! Beg on the ground!? I would…I would do that for him. But I don't think I could handle it to be rejected just once again. Why had it happened? Was it because I'd changed? I was too different? I didn't know…

I was sitting next to where I'd destroyed Kronos three years ago. Though the grass around had grown, it had remained the same bare patch of dirt. A crunching of leaves caused me to jump as I turned to see.

"Z-Zane…" I said with a breath of relief.

"Hey…what's up?" He asked me, concern etched into his familiar features.

"Nothing." I lied turning away. For some reason, I was never able to lie to him.

"Cut the crap Kai. What's up? Honestly, your obviously bothered by something! What is it?" He demanded turning my head to meet his own vibrant glowing electric blue eyes. I knew I couldn't lie to him so I told him.

"Since we came to camp, Nico had been more distant and cold. I thought he was mad at me so I tried to talk to him, but he turned me away. The next morning I find out he'd left. I don't know what to do…why had he left? What did I do?!" I asked spilling it all out. I felt comfortable with Zane. I knew I could tell him, and he'd listen. Trent, I loved him, but I couldn't always be so honest, I knew he'd listen, but he sometimes was just a bit immature. Suddenly I felt Zane's strong arms around me.

"I-I'm sorry. I can't fix that, but knowing about being a boy and everything. Remember that girl, Alexia in eighth grade?" He asked I nodded. "I was jealous, of her friends, and her boyfriend. I hated him…I was jealous of them spending so much time together." I asked him where he was going with this as he sighed and said, "Even if you are only a year younger than Zeus himself. You're an idiot…Nico still loves you!"