Nico's P.O.V
Nico could deal with hormonal girls, egotistical guys and couples showing PDA every five freaking minutes.
What he couldn't deal with was happy, morning people, e.g. Mr. Will Solace himself.
'I swear, that ray of freaking sunshine and glitter doesn't have an off switch.' Nico thought grumpily to himself. He sighed as Will came in with breakfast, blasting out more music from his iPod and singing like a symphony of squealing, fourteen year old girls.
"I just wanna run, hide it away
Run because they're chasing me down
I just wanna run, throw it away
Run before they're finding me out
I just wanna run!"
Nico watched, suppressing a small smile as Will kicked a chair away and gave him his breakfast; toast and milk. He was dancing like a waddling duck trying to fly terribly.
Nico chuckled, downing his milk as Will over exaggeratedly turned his iPod off and grinned widely at him.
"Why hello again Di Angelo, nice morning isn't it?" Will asked, pulling the curtains open; letting light shine in at full brightness.
"You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Nico muttered, tearing a chunk out of his toast.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Will mused, shuffling through the blue cupboard and chuckling things onto Nico's bed.
"Solace, I swear I will stick your goddamn archery bow so far up your ass you'll be seeing freaking stars," Nico ranted.
"Kinky," Will chuckled, comparing his findings to those of which were on his clipboard.
"Solace I swear to Zeus, I will drown you in shadows!" Nico shouted exasperatedly.
Watching disinterestedly as Will then proceeded to stuff everything back in the cupboard.
"I didn't know you swung that way," Will cackled shutting the cupboard door. He turned round, dodged the book aimed at his head and sprinted out of the ward.
"SOLACE I WILL WREAK MY REVENGE ON YOU PAINFULLY!"
Will's P.O.V
Will sprinted out of the ward where Nico was staying and chuckled loudly, earning a few concerned stares from his siblings.
He brushed them off with a smile and headed towards his cabin, he needed a shower badly.
'Nico was so easy to wind up…' Will mused thoughtfully.
He walked into his bright, sunny cabin and smiled as Wyatt and Sterling grunted sleepily at him from their beds. Meet the two most, grumpy morning people at camp, they were worse then the son of death himself. The twins from Bay City, Michigan were truly strange sons of Apollo, but they were the only children of Apollo who could actually deal with poetry. Will's haikus sounded like some kind of cheesy line of poetry.
Will grabbed a new Camp Half~blood shirt, some grey shorts and his other things.
He checked his watch and grumbled, he had ten minutes to get ready and run down to the dining hall if he wanted breakfast. Will sighed kicking his half brothers to get them up and then preceded to take the quickest shower possible. He sprinted around the toothpaste covered bathroom, pulling on his shorts and shirt in record time. He grabbed a pair of navy toms that probably weren't his and dashed out of the door, pushing over the twins' stumbling figures.
Will whistled an unrecognisable tune under his breath as he headed towards the hall, he nodded his head at Jason in greeting. But Jason being the sociable and strangely friendly person he was, came up to him and started dragging him towards Percy, Annabeth and Piper.
"Hey Will," Piper and Annabeth greeted in unison.
Percy nodded at him, before turning towards Jason and glaring.
"You, me and Nico, down in the arena tomorrow," Percy said, "then we'll see who's the strongest."
"I would seriously, but I don't think Will over there will be so lenient with Nico." Jason said smirking slightly, jabbing his thumb in Will's direction.
"Damn right, I'll tie Nico to that bed before I see him spar with you two morons," Will drawled, glaring pointedly at the two.
They both grinned at him sheepishly.
"Come on, I smell breakfast," Percy said staring at the hall longingly and nudging them towards the smell of food.
"Seriously, seaweed brain? Is food really that important to you?" Annabeth said exasperated.
"Its not as important to me as you," Percy said cheesily.
Annabeth's cheeks glowed pink, she grunted and pulled a grinning Percy behind her.
"See you guys later!" Percy called, yelping when Annabeth yanked harder on his arm.
Will shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, before following after Jason and Piper who were holding hands adorably.
Third-wheeling was awkward.
Will whistled softly under his breath, as he lined up in his cabin group, behind Kayla and Austin.
Something wasn't right today. Will didn't know why he felt like that; something was just wrong.
It was as if the sky was too clear, the birds were too peaceful; it was as if the world was perfecting itself, just to be destroyed.
Will sighed inwardly, and shook himself of the pessimistic thoughts clouding his brain.
He couldn't afford to think like that, not just after a war.
Pessimism would just kick them all to the curb, again.
Nico's P.O.V
Nico grinned evilly to himself as he noticed Will's iPod left unattended in the corner.
'Let's see what sunshine and rainbows listens to,' Nico thought mischievously.
He struggled out of the bed he was laying on and wobbled towards Will's iPod, lugging the IV stick behind him grouchily. He yanked the iPod from its spot and swiftly made his way back to his bed. Nico wiggled back until he was comfy and then grinned evilly down at the iPod in his possession. He turned it on and proceeded to go through Will's songs. He pouted to himself when the songs that popped up were that of a normal teenagers; not something he could use against Will. He grumbled annoyed and moved to turn the device off, when a song title caught his eye.
Why would Will have that song on his iPod? That song of all possible songs.
Nico stared down, horrified as memories he had hoped to leave in the past resurfaced.
Nico would never forget her, not ever.
Kian wouldn't let him.
Flashback:
Gisela, Arizona.
11 days.
They'd been on the run for 11 days.
Nico chuckled wearily, as he stared at the pair who had jumped into his life quite literally.
Nico had been on underworld business, by order of his father. He had been tracking a monster trail, stretching from Pierre, North Dakota to here in Gisela, Arizona.
He fell into a chair at the local cafe, grunting as the trail split yet again in twelve different directions. He debated on grabbing a coffee, ultimately deciding yes as there was no point in continuing if he couldn't even see straight.
Nico called over the middle aged, smiling waitress, politely.
He ordered the strongest coffee they had, earning a concerned stare from the stranger. He smiled at her awkwardly and watched impatiently as she went to get his coffee to go. Nico stared at the bustling streets, for such a small town. There sure were a lot of people. He looked up as the waitress appeared above him, smiling widely.
He accepted his coffee and thanked her, giving her the money. He stood up and stared at his watch, it was 5:30 going on 5:31. He blew on the top of his coffee and started to walk down the streets, looking for the cheapest motel. Nico stared at the various different hotel signs, finding none that suited his needs. He was about to turn into another street, when he was pushed up against a wall; a blade pushed against his throat.
"Name!" His attackers voice demanded, sounding male.
"Hello to you too." Nico grumbled sarcastically, seemingly unfazed by the situation.
"I said, your name?" The guy asked, stepping out of the shadows.
"Well you see if I told you, I'd have to kill you; quite frankly you already know too much," Nico muttered.
He ducked outside of the blades reach, leaving the guy flustered. He changed his positions and grabbed the blade from the man's hand, following through to push him against the wall, Nico's sword now pushed against his neck.
"Now I'll ask you, what's your name?" Nico hissed, his patience for the day vaporising.
"Stop, please don't hurt him!" A female voice, interrupted.
"Damnit Eva get out of here!" The guy hissed.
"No, Kian! I'm not about to let you be diced by some emo teenager," She hissed, appearing beside her brother.
Nico stared at the two, eyeing them both with growing weariness. He knew the haunted look in their eyes, he'd seen it in every demigod he'd met.
'And now he was dealing with demigods, just great,' Nico ranted thoughtfully.
They were clearly both siblings, you'd have to be blind not to notice. They looked around 15 or 16. They both had curly blonde hair, sparkling green eyes and pale olive skin tones. The girl, Eva, was short, roughly 5"2, with her hair styled short to her shoulders. She was wearing a pair of green khaki shorts, a plain white shirt and grey sneakers. The guy, Kian, was similar, with shaggy blonde hair. He was wearing a grey shirt, beige shorts and a pair of ratty, maroon lace ups. The guy was just a lot taller, at around 6"3; he effectively loomed over both Nico and the girl. Nico sighed before removing his sword and wearily giving back the guy's small knife.
"Emo, really?" Nico chuckled, smiling as they both turned into a defensive position. "Don't worry, I don't kill family."
"Family?" The guy spluttered, "I think we just picked up a nutter, sis."
Nico guffawed, earning him more confused looks from the pair.
"Oh joy, more to explain," Nico grumbled outwardly. "Come on you two, if you want to survive and not be monster food, follow me."
Nico waited patiently as they started talking quickly in another language, Nico quickly recognised it as Gaelic.
Huh, he hadn't picked up the Irish accent. Well they could be Scottish.
Nico groaned as the girl started waving her hands around dramatically, pointing at him like a leech.
"Guys seriously, I'm not insane." Nico said impatiently, "and don't give me that look you blonde Leprechaun!"
Nico blinked at the pair, they truly were interesting people.
Nico felt more at home with them, then he did at Camp Half-Blood.
Kian and Eva had both ran away, when they witnessed their mother being shot by a sniper gun while going grocery shopping.
A strange event for which to happen to a demigod, at least it limited their godly parent down by a few. Nico was debating between Apollo, Ares and Dionysus; Nico also had a sneaking suspicion they were Roman not Greek. Kian and Eva had moved to Arizona, from Dublin, Ireland four years ago.
Currently all three of them sat around a bright fire, leaning on trees camped out in a forest border-lining Nevada.
"What's the plan for tomorrow?" Kian asked, yawning widely.
"To find a place with a bed and indoor plumbing," Nico mumbled, staring up at the clear, starry night sky.
"That'd be nice, a shower would be real good," Kian muttered wistfully.
"That's if we don't encounter another dam empousa, I swear those things are just trying to piss me off." Nico snarled angrily.
"Don't remind me," Kian muttered, remembering the truly lovely incident.
Eva being the smart person she was decided to complete a swift topic change, a soft tune echoing from her lips.
'These fleeting charms of earth
Farewell, your springs of joy are dry
My soul now seeks another home
A brighter world on high
I'm a long time travelling here below
I'm a long time travelling away from home
I'm a long time travelling here below
To lay this body down'
Kian stared abashed at her, Nico assumed he'd never heard her sing before.
Nico didn't recognised the tune, but Kian clearly did as a small smile graced his lips and he started to join in with the singing. Leaving Nico to listen intently to what appeared to be a folk song.
'Farewell kind friends whose tender care
Has long engaged my love
Your fond embrace I now exchange
For better friends above'
"I remember when mum used to sing to us," Eva mumbled in a tone of sad finality.
Nico came back to reality with a swift kick. He stared at the iPod in regret, his heart beating painfully in his chest.
Nico couldn't save her. She had died in his arms, an accepting smile on her face.
Nico ran a tired hand over his face and leaned his head against the wall. He stared at his hands, imagining the blood that ran down his palms, her blood.
"Nico, are you alright?"
Nico looked towards the door, taking in Will's face that was lined with worry lines as usual.
No, I'm not. I'll never be alright, not after her.
"I'm a long time travelling here below
I'm a long time travelling away from home
I'm a long time travelling away from home
I'm a long time travelling here below
To lay this body down…"