Leo led Nico up to a ledge he often sat on during the night when he lost inspiration for working, and the view over the mountains was beautiful—or would have been, if the mountain spirits weren't constantly trying to kill them. "Like it up here?"

"It's nice," Nico answered tersely, leaving nothing for Leo to work with.

"Okay, so…" Leo's eyes shifted around, looking for something to make conversation out of. "Uh, how're you feeling? Probably not too great, based on how you look. Whoops—too honest, huh?"

Nico scowled, but for a moment it looked like he'd almost laughed—which Leo took note of. Maybe this kid wasn't so hopeless after all. "I've been practically dead for a week. Let's just say the transition isn't very easy." He meant to sound cold and unamused, but the words came out more like he was talking to an old pal of his.

"Hmm…" Leo furrowed his brow in thought, and he looked up to see Nico's eyes already focused on him. It was late enough into the night that they should'nt have have been able to see each other, but for some reason—maybe in spite of their bleak situation—the moon was bright and full, reflecting white light off both boys' faces. "That was almost sarcasm. And sarcasm leads to great jokes. Maybe you and I could get along—you could be my apprentice in humor!"

"No." Nico inched away from him, scoffing as though he was thoroughly disgusted. "No. Never. There's no way you could ever get me to do that." As annoyed as he was, he felt his lips curling upwards in a half-smile.

'Stop that, you and Leo could never be friends. You're here for one purpose; to close the Doors of Death. Not to socialize,' he chided himself. But even so, he felt something within him—not a hunger that could be satisfied with ambrosia or any other food; no, something else entirely—a desperate need to be around someone else.

Loneliness. That's what it's called, isn't it?

Little did he know, Leo's heart suffered from the same kind of ache. And that was probably the only reason they were up at the top of the Argo II together, almost desperately trying to keep up a conversation about nothing.

"Aw, c'mon, you're no fun." Leo nudged his arm playfully, feeling himself relax with the guy he was frightened by just a day before. "Maybe 'apprentice' was the wrong term. Sidekick? Partner?"

"I said no." Nico sighed, rolling his eyes. "Why can't you take anything seriously?"

As soon as he asked that question, he knew it wasn't true. Leo was serious—even too serious at times. While Nico spent his hours resting and trying to regain his strength, Leo worked and worked without end. His expression was always one of urgency, as though anything that went wrong would automatically be his fault. Nico figured something had happened earlier, but he couldn't be sure, and he got the feeling that asking was not the best idea.

Despite all that, Nico still got the feeling Leo was going to find a way to crack some sort of joke in response—that was just his thing, wasn't it? Jokes and all.

Instead, Leo just got that melancholy, serious look in his eyes again. What was with this guy? Nico was sure he had him all figured out, but apparently not. He was even a bit worried at the way his expression could so quickly shift from an upbeat smirk to a confused and lonely frown.

"…Uh, what's wrong?" Nico finally said, breaking the awkward silence that had settled in the air. He swallowed uneasily, silently hoping Leo would laugh or say something funny, just because he had no idea what he would say if Leo were to start talking philosophy and life experiences.

"Huh?" Leo blinked as though he was coming out of a daze. "Oh, nothing," he answered quickly, but even that sounded forced and uneasy. 'Not good with organic life forms… thanks again, Dad. Why couldn't you be the god of not-awkward-three-in-the-morning-small-talk?' he thought, wondering if somewhere, his dad was really listening. Maybe he even laughed.

"I'm not much of a people person," Nico admitted, "but it's obvious enough that something's bothering you. There's no one awake on this ship besides us, and probably won't be for another few hours. You might as well tell me what it is."

"Not much of a people person, eh?" Leo smiled at that. "I guess I can relate to that—not my fault machines are way easier to deal with than five cranky demigods and a war-crazed satyr," he chuckled, shaking his head.

"Yeah, and it's not my fault that I get more respect from the dead than I do from a certain Admiral of the Argo II," Nico countered, maybe even smirking a bit. "Well, we can blame our dads for that, I suppose." In an attempt to make conversation, he asked, "What about your mortal parent?"

He realized his mistake as soon as Leo's face darkened. For a split second, an image of a young woman who looked an awful lot like Leo flashed through Nico's mind, and immediately he knew that she was dead.

"Oh gods… I uh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Nah man, it's okay," he answered, but he could barely keep his voice from quavering. "She's not… you know…" The mechanic trailed off, mumbling a few inaudible words before biting his lip and closing his eyes. With a shaky breath he looked back up at Nico, but his eyes shined in the moonlight, like he was on the verge of tears.

"She's not alive." Nico wasn't going to beat around the bush. Being a son of Hades, he knew that sayings such as 'passed on' or 'in a better place' were meaningless. They didn't change the fact that the person was gone. "Her name was Esperanza, wasn't it?"

"Y-Yeah. How'd you know?" Leo sniffed, wiping at his eyes with the back of his sleeve and hoping Nico didn't notice. It was just hard not to cry when he thought too hard about his mom, and after two days without sleep, his emotions weren't exactly the most stable.

"I'm Hades' kid. I know these things." Nico shrugged, but his cold stare had turned sympathetic. Was Leo crying? It was a bit too dark to tell—that is, until he had to reach up and wipe his eyes. Yep, he was crying. The sight of the happy-go-lucky Leo Valdez in tears almost made Nico want to give him a hug. Almost, but that was not happening.