A/N I've been watching Black Butler. It's really good...

And... that was a totally pointless tthing to say. XD

"Get up!"

"Go 'way. I'm sleeping."

There was a creak, and Nico was dumped unceremoniously onto the floor. He shook his head and looked up to see a dryad glaring at him. She had green hair that hung to her jaw line, and her dress had long lines drooping from shoulder to hem. The roots of her hair had gone slightly yellow and she looked slightly sickly.

"You're killing my tree! Go away!"

A quick glance at his surroundings told him that yes, a dead circle of vegetation surrounded him, a willow tree just inside its boundary, but also that the moon was up. Midnight.

"Sorry, ma'am." Head drooping, he ducked into the shadows and came out in his cabin.

His eyes were red and raw from crying, and his throat hurt. His head felt full of stuffing.

When morning finally came, it brought with it a knock on the door.

He half hoped that it was Will, memory returned, coming to apologise for the previous night. Then he hoped it wasn't Will: he did not feel up to facing his brainwashed now-ex boyfriend. Then he hoped it was Will again, so he could hit him.

It wasn't Will.

Kayla swept into the cabin despite his feeble protests, and made herself at home on the couch he and Will had sat on way back before this, before they were even dating, when Will told him that he was important. He didn't mind her sitting there - or rather, he minded, but it meant that he did not have to sit there. He took the other chair.

Kayla started talking at once. "Listen, Nico, I'm really sorry about last night, I really am, it's -"

"It's fine," Nico cut her off in a monotone. "He said it himself. Why would anyone go out with someone like me?"

"Nico-di-Angelo, don't give me that rubbish. You know he lost his memories, and that he's having a hard time over it. He hasn't even met you properly yet! He only got the vibe you -" she stopped abruptly and back peddled. "Uh, he's just conf-"

"What did you mean? What vibe? What?"

Kayla looked as though she wanted to sink through the floor. "Uh, nothing, I-"

"Kayla."

"It's just... you always seem to exude this... Leave-me-alone vibe. And you normally seem really grumpy or angry. And your outfit doesn't help much..." she trailed away as Nico got to his feet and started striding up and down the cabin.

"So Will hates me because I look scary. Great. I knew that was how people saw me."

"No, Nico, he doesn't hate you!" Kayla cried.

"DON'T LIE! I saw the way he looked at me!" Nico's voice cracked, and Kayla reached out to lay a hand on his arm.

"Nico..."

"Don't touch me." He batted her hand away. "Get out, please."

"No, Nico, I think I should -"

"GET OUT!"

"Nico!"

He wished she would stop saying his name like that. He covered his ears with his hands, chanting, "Go away. Go away. Go away."

There was a slam as the door closed, then a click and a clatter as the skeletons that had the thrown Will's sister out locked the door and collapsed. He could hear her shouting something outside, but ignored it.

Everyone hated him. No-one accepted him really...

He ripped down the picture of him and Will that hung over his bed, and threw it into a corner. He swept the ornaments out of the cabinet and let them smash on to the floor; he threw the pillow on the moon stone bed across the room. That was the bed Will used when he slept over. He ripped the sheets too.

He was just about to start on the amethyst bed when the door swung open. He frowned. He was sure he had locked it...

But it wasn't Kayla this time. It was Snake. On her own, looking again as though she could see perfectly. He sat down abruptly and said, "Come in, Snake."

She stepped over the threshold and immediately tripped over the smashed ornaments.

"Ow..."

Nico got to his feet bad guided the small girl towards a chair. "What are you doing here?"

She furrowed her brow. "Badger said that you were really angry about something... I came to find you."

"Yes, but-"

"It turns out that the more chaotic a place is, the better I can 'see' it... it's easy to find my way here because no-one really seems to know what they're doing..."

"Thanks, Snake." Nico told her what was wrong. Or the more important parts, anyway. (She didn't need to know that he'd left a path of dead grass and plants through the forest, or that he'd just forcibly ejected Kayla from his cabin.) When he was finished, she frowned again, and then reached out-

And hugged him.

"You'll find a way to fix it. I'll help if you need me too."

Nico was stunned. Will (and Jason, that one (two) time(s)) was the only person that ever hugged him. And now Snake was hugging him, having only known him for two days.

Isn't she afraid of me?

He choked back a sob and patted her hair awkwardly. "Thanks."

"Snake?" Badger poked his head around the still open door. "There you are! Come on, we've got a sword fighting class!"

He grabbed her hand, waved at Nico, and jogged off.

XxX

The havoc Nico had wrecked on his cabin, despite having taken only twenty minutes to create, took the rest of the day to clean up. He skipped lunch and later dinner, opting to be alone.

I'm not hungry any way, he told himself.

His stomach growled in disagreement, but he ignored it.

He had just swept up the last of the smashed glass, when he had a third - fourth? - unexpected visitor.

Avoiding people as he had been, he hadn't noticed the hunters arrive, but arrive they must have done, for standing in the doorway were-

"Thalia! And, uh, my Lady," he bowed to Artemis.

Thalia hugged him, but let go almost at once. "Hey, Neeks."

He hated her pet name for him; he prayed Will never found out about it. Then he remembered Will hated him.

Artemis looked closely at him. "Thalia, prepare the hunters for capture the flag."

Thalia nodded respectfully and left.

And Nico found himself telling the goddess everything. (Again.)

When he had finished (again), she did not hum and say nothing was to be done. Nor did she hug him (but he hadn't been expecting a hug, and would have found it awkward if she had).

Instead, she looked at him steadily, and said the one thing he never thought he'd hear.

"There may be a way to fix this."

A/N ... So yeah...

(Here is Artemis as promised, Huntress. I finally got her in :-) )

Please review me!

And if there is anything you particularly wavy to see in this scenario, drop me a note and I'll try to smuggle it in...

~Fi