The ground rumbled and deep laughter echoed around him. A boy was incased in darkness, turning in frantic circles, brandishing his sword as he paced. The laughter sent chills down his spine, and the ground shook, splitting into a gigantic void. The boy fell, screaming into the bottomless pit.
"PERCY!" Nico bolted upright, drenched. Lysander stood above him, holding the zip lock. "You've been yelling in your sleep for ages, I couldn't wake you. When you started to flail I decided to dump the bag of water onto you." Lysander grimaced. "Are you okay?" Nico wiped the water off his face and panted. "Yeah, just a dream." Nico shook, Tartarus often haunted him in his sleep, but never before had it included Percy. The dream had felt so realistic… "Well, I found food anyway," Lysander dumped a pile of assorted nuts and berries into Nico's lap, which Nico gratefully scooped up in order to prolong the time in which he would have to talk again. "Who's Percy?" Lysander was fumbling with the zipper on his hoodie. Nico didn't want to talk about Percy, so he didn't respond. "Look," Lysander sighed, " I gave you my story. It's time you give me your's. We are stuck in the wild alone, don't you think we should know more about one another?" Nico raised his gaze to meet Lysander's. For the first time he noticed how brilliantly blue they were. Nico dropped his gaze once more. "I was born 70 years ago. My dad arranged for my sister and I to be brought to this hotel, where years pass in days. My sister- Bianca and I had our memories wiped and we were dropped off at this boarding school. That's when demigods found us, they wanted to bring us to the Camp, but we were attacked. Last minute we were saved by the huntresses of Artemis. And my sister joined them, she abandoned me, left me alone at Camp Half Blood." Lysander remained quiet, queuing Nico to continue. "She went off on a quest with Percy Jackson and some others, and he didn't save her. She died." Nico's voice was deadly silent now, but despite the anguish in his voice, he went on, "I ran away, I did some awful things trying to find out about my past. My mom was dead and my dad hates me. He wishes I was dead instead of Bianca. So I kinda roamed around, I don't belong anywhere, everyone thinks I'm a freak. Creepy son of Hades, who prefers the dead to the alive. Percy always tried to be nice, but I can tell, I scare him too. I scare everyone. I don't belong anywhere." Nico's voice cracked and he said no more, he just stared at the ground. Lysander always considered his own life as messed up, but this, this was a whole new level of messed up.
In retrospect Nico and him had very similar stories, despite his being ordinary and 'mortal' , whereas Nico's was filled with insane turns, you could only find in greek mythology. They both had shitty dads, who didn't care about them, considered them abominations and wished they didn't exist, their mothers were dead and they had no one left and nowhere to go. Lysander sighed. "For the record I don't think you're scary.
The next couple days merged together, spent mainly rebuilding Nico's strength and trying to find out more about where they were. They recollected they were somewhere in the suburbs of Maine. On the third day or so, Nico and Lysander were on the outskirts of a small village, their feet sore from walking. They were reasonably nourished as they had stolen some food from an abandoned convenience store. Nico was low spirited. " I DON'T GET WHY!" He aimed a kick at some pebbles. "I mean I am back to health, so why can't I shadow travel?" Lysander didn't think Nico was back to his strength, quite the contrary. Nico might be walking and talking, but he looked awful, with bags under his eyes darker and skin paler than ever before. But he chose not to tell his friend this. Nico felt awful, he couldn't really put his finger on it, but he did. It was like his heart had gone out and only bitterness was left. His emotions were like sucked away by some invisible force. The only good thing about it, was he was thinking less and less about Percy. "Good." He thought, "maybe I'm getting over him." Somehow Lysander's presence made it easier to shut out his thoughts. "A penny for your thoughts?" Lysander's voice sliced through Nico's thoughts. "Nothing really. I just wish I could shadow travel us back. Usually I can shadow travel even when I am weakened. And as I'm fine now, I don't understand what the matter is!" "I wish I knew, " Lysander patted Nico on the small of his back. Nico's face flushed, he could still feel exactly where Lysander's hand had grazed. "Our next best shot to getting back would be to iris message the others, but I don't have a drachma!" "That's all you need to iris message?" Lysander asked, "a drachma?" "Well a rainbow too, but as long as we have water and sunlight that's usually not an issue." Lysander looked thoughtful. "And how much talking time would that get us?" "A couple minutes, why? You don't have a drachma do you?" Lysander's eyes shifted to his wrist. "I do actually." He pushed back his sweater sleeve, lifting up the golden bangle around his wrist. Nico had never had a proper glance at the thing, but now he could make out a golden coin, with two holes punched into it to support a cord winding around his wrist. It was basic, but looked neat. "My mother gave it to me when she realized how much I love greek mythology." He slowly unwrapped the cord. "No. We'll find another way." " It's the best shot we have," Lysander argued. "But it's from your mom. You can't just use it for something like this." "She would want me too. And we need a way out of here. It's my choice anyway. Now let's make that rainbow." Nico felt bad. He knew that if he had had something left from his mother, he would be extremely reluctant to just give it away. And he could tell it meant a lot to Lysander. But he was right, momentarily it was their best shot at getting back. Using an empty window cleaner spray bottle from a trash bin and some of the ziplock water they created a small rainbow. Lysander hesitated but managed to release his bracelet into the rainbow, where it dissolved into thin air. "Thanks mom" he thought sadly. "Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Hazel Levesque aboard the Argo II." Nico chanted. Lysander gave Nico a questioning look. "She's my half sister. Daughter of Pluto instead of Hades." Just then the face of a smiley chocolate skinned girl appeared. "NICO! What's wrong why aren't you at Camp Half Blood? Whose-?" "We don't have a lot of time, but we got separated from the others at the camp. The Parthenos got there alright but now we are gods know where and I can't shadow travel." " Oh gods Nico. What's wrong with your powers? Are you alright?" She was extremely concerned. " I'm fine and I don't know what's wrong." "Don't you know anything about where you are?" "YEAH, that we are somewhere in Maine." "We are too far to swing by, but maybe..." "What?" "Well I know you won't like it-" "spit it out!" "Well I could ask Piper to send her horse." Nico snarled, "anything to get out of here. Now tell me what's going on." As Nico and Hazel filled each other in, Lysander observed the bond between the two, Hazel acted motherly towards Nico and Nico let himself be coddled by her, which was something Lysander had not thought was possible for someone like Nico. After they filled each other in about the goings on of the war against Gaia, Nico turned to Lysander, "could you give us a minute? " "Umm yeah, no problem. I'll be over there. Nice to meet you", he nodded kindly at Hazel as he walked away. Nico glanced at his retreating figure before turning to face Hazel. She had an eyebrow raised. "And who's that?" "Reyna, Coach and I met him on the way, we thought he was a demigod, since he can see through the mist. But we were attacked while entering the Camp and the barrier wouldn't let him in. And I shadow traveled us to safety and haven't been able to do so since. I was out for a couple days solid, Lysander kept us alive." Hazel noticed his voice soften at the mention of Lysander. "Hey Nico, are you alright? I want the truth" " I feel better now that I-" " you know what I mean." Her voice got quieter. "I'm fine. How's-how's Percy?" Nico's eyes were studying the ground. "Alright as far as I can tell, we are all kind of exhausted. He's worried about you. I think he took your pushing him away the day you left personally." "Yeah, well I-" Nico's voice rose defiantly. "I'm just saying, you shouldn't push him away. He just wants to help-" "Yeah well he hasn't helped with anything!" Nico was scornful. "IT'S NOT BAD ENOUGH NORMALLY, BUT NOW I WAKE UP WITH DREAMS OF HIM DYING! He can feel as offended as he likes! He can try a taste of his own medicine!" All of Nico's angst and emotion came soaring into him. He had been doing so well he had thought. Maybe even getting over Percy. "Actually I think this week is the best I have felt in a bit. Being away from - him." "Hazel nodded and a pregnant pause ensued. "I'll tell the crew you say hi and just hang tight until Piper's horse comes. Stay safe alright?" Worry shimmered in her eyes. "Yes I promise. You too." And with that her image disappeared.
Lysander watched Nico recollect himself before heading back to Lysander. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but that's what the result had been. He felt slightly ashamed.
Nico and Lysander sat around the campfire that night (rummaging through trash bins they found an almost empty lighter, enabling them to start a little fire.) Nico recounted Hazel's plan, while Lysander prodded the fire with a long stick, causing sparks to fly up around him. He had been very quiet, uttering only one syllable responses. Nico reflected that he was deep in thought. So they sat in awkward silence. Through a frustrating churning in the pit of his stomach, Nico came to realize that it bothered him that his friend wasn't talking to him. He and Lysander had gone through a lot together, fought monsters, scavenged for food and shared stories. The fact that he could share something as personal as his family issues and his past with Lysander said a lot about their relationship. "Relationship? Did I just think relationship?" Nico thought, "We're not in a relationship. We are just good friends." But with that in mind he remembered that there was still one thing he hadn't told Lysander, something he hoped he would never have to. He turned his gaze to the figure hunched over, still busy making ambers float around him. He was still brooding. "Um." Nico cleared his throat, "I wanna clear the air and know what's going on, what's on your mind?" Lysander continued to prod the flames. Should he say something? He may ruin everything. But he guessed in the long shot there was probably more to gain. If his hunch was accurate. He took a deep breath to calm himself. "You have to let me finish though, alright?" Nico looked confused but nodded none the less. "Alright, well I um..." he made a strange sound in his throat, "heard you talking with your sister," he rushed, "and I want to know if there is something... I don't know...more, between you and Percy?" Nico's heart sank, they had arrived there.
Anger grew within him. What business was it of his? He had no right to eavesdrop on him and Hazel. "Well woke up in sweat screaming his name. And the the voice you used on him with your sister and she on you. Treading around each other like the subject was a grenade." All of this just spilled out of Lysander, a confused accumulation of his thoughts since the Iris message. It was Nico's time to brood. His jaw was clenched and his hands were fists at his side. Lysander figured this response was just as good as a confession and he was inwardly happy Nico couldn't shadow travel himself out of this one, because at the moment that's exactly what it looked like Nico wanted to do. "Listen it doesn't make a difference to me if you and Percy are more than just friends. I - I just wanted to know the truth." and with that he hung his head and stayed silent. "Percy and I aren't anything." Nico spat. "But you wish you were." Lysander whispered. "You are wrong!" Nico rose to his feet, "There might have been a time, but I'm over him! Why would it be any business of yours anyway? What makes you think you can just go eavesdropping and sticking your nose in my business anyway?!" Nico's voice had risen to a shout. Lysander's face was impassive. Barely loud enough he said, "because I know how you feel." "AHH!" Nico screamed in exasperation, throwing his hands up in the air. " NO ONE CAN KNOW! WHY DOES EVERYONE ALWAYS SAY THAT? HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOVE SOMEONE WITH NO HOPE OF THEM EVER RETURNING FEELINGS FOR YOU, KNOWING THEY HAD A GIRLFRIEND AND NEVER THOUGHT ABOUT THE FEELINGS OF THE QUIET CREEPY BOY? HOW COULD YOU KNOW ANYTHING?" Nico had advanced on Lysander and now stood looming directly over where he sat. Lysander raised his gaze to meet Nico's "because." and with that Lysander leaned into Nico. His mind went numb as their faces came closer together. Remembering what Nico had said about being over Percy, hope ignighted inside him and it gave him the courage to close the gap dividing the two. Their lips met and Lysander brought his hand to the side of Nico's neck under the ear. To Lysander's astonishment, Nico was returning the kiss and everything felt right, as it hadn't since the day his father had thrown the bottle at him.