Chapter 2

I've been thinking... since I already did a disclaimer in the first chapter, I wouldn't need to do one for every other chapter.

...

Right?

"Hey, Nico!"

Nico Di Angelo looked up to the source of the voice, seeing Annabeth and Percy walking towards him. They were holding hands.

He raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey," He smiled wryly.

"Do you have anything planned? Seaweed and I are planning on having a picnic near the lake later, it would be nice to have you there with us for once," Annabeth smiled,"we thought that you could take a break from your cabin, you have been working on it for days straight."

" Hmm? Oh, um... well, I do want it done as fast as possible, and I'm not really tired ,since I'm not the one doing the work, after all." He gestured to the skeletons he had set on to build his cabin. ''See?"

Percy frowned," Come on, Neeks, loosen up for a while! We haven't had a proper time together after the war... lets just go and have fun for a while alright?"

He set a hand on Nico's shoulder," It's about time the three of us had fun together. This is a happy time! The war is over, the phrophecy is finished, and it seems that your relationship with your dad had gotten better. Why don't you just leave your skeletions at work and come down to the lake with us?"

Nico looks up at his clear sea green eyes, which seems to have an ability to sparkle all the time. They were trained intensely onto his, Nico looked away.

'The three of us'

Nico shrugged his hand off, he could see the slight flinch and the evident hurt portrayed in his eyes.

" Sorry, Percy, Annabeth, maybe another time. I have to supervise the skeletons, otherwise, they would just sink back into the earth,''

He looks down at the blueprints of his new cabin ," you two go on ahead, have fun, and there's no need to worry about me, I'm fine."

Percy pouted, and started to protest some more, when Annabeth intervened.

" Alright then Nico, we'll respect your wishes this time, but you better come with us next time! We won't forgive you if you don't, right, Percy?"

Percy was clearly unhappy with this, but he decided to let it go.

For now.

Ever since the war ended, he had assumed that Nico might finally be able to become open to him, but instead, Nico seems to be avoiding him, for some reason. He wouldn't even look Percy in the eye properly.

He just didn't understand, had he done something wrong? Was there something troubling Nico? Was he still blaming Percy for the death of his elder sister?

Percy wanted to help Nico, he wanted to be someone who Nico could believe in and trust, as he had when they first met. He wanted to find out and solve all of Nico's problems, he wanted to comfort the boy.

Nico was only around eleven, he was too young to have become like this, to be exposed to dangerous world demigods reside in.

Percy could see the pain in his eyes, he wanted to find out what was hurting him.

"Percy, could you run down to the mess hall and start gathering the things for our picnic? I'll be joining you soon." Annabeth gave him a gentle push in the general direction of the mess hall.

Percy obliged, running down the hill, casting a worried look back at Nico.

"Nico," Annabeth lowered herself to his level and reached his eyes." I want you to know, no matter what, we are your friends. If you have any problems-any at all-, just come to find us, alright? We do care for you." She gave a gentle smile.

Nico tried for a grin," Yeah, sure, Annabeth. I know, and for the last time, I'm perfectly fine.''

They both knew he wasn't.

"You should go get Percy before he messes something up, as he always does." Nico smirked.

"Right, of course, he is a Seaweed brain after all." Annabeth laughed fondly, and set off after Percy.

"See you, Nico!"

I'm perfectly fine.

Nico hugged his clipboard to himself as he watched Annabeth tackle Percy from behind, laughing.

I'm perfectly fine.

He forced himself to look away as their hands intertwined so naturally, as if they were one being instead of two.

He felt sick.

Cue flashback

"U-um, you see, I wasn't trying to spy on you, I swear! I just woke up, see? And, w-well, I saw you and I was about to leave! Oh! And I was just waking up here, since I saw this horse, well, i-it wasn't really a horse, because it's glowing and and shimmers and- um, I m-mean, I-"

He started rambling in a mix of Italian and English, while making a lot of wild hand signs, which Tom wasn't able to follow at all, and it was getting rather annoying, so he clamped a hand over the boy's mouth, effectively shutting him up for good.

Tom relished in the sudden silence for a while, and exhaled.

"Look, I don't care who you are, or why you're here, just tell me a reason why I shouldn't kill you for spying on me."

He removed his hand from the boy's mouth.

The boy looked up at him with his big eyes, and said,"Because Papa will get mad."

As if it were the simplest question.

Tom smirked, so he was just another spoilt child of another sheltered home, with a loving mother and an overprotective father, just like all the other children he met.

He hated those people, they were always so full of themselves, thinking they would be safe no matter what.

Tom threw the boy to the ground, and fell upon him, ready to unleash the rage of being intruded upon in his private moment.

But just before his first fist connected with the boy's calm face, he was immediately thrown backwards into the air by an unknown force.

He could almost swear it was a shadow, of all things.

He hit the ground on the other side of the clearing and lied there, stunned. Then he began to laugh maniacally.

Then the boy did something very unexpected.

When Tom felt the hand collide with his face, he was too stunned to move, he stared at the boy with wide eyes, frozen in place.

Then he got angry,"What the heck was that for?!"

The boy shrunk back a little, stuttering," W-well I thought you were turning hysterical..."

"Why would you even think that ?!"

'' Well, you started laughing so hard for no reason..."

Tom wanted to bang his head against the ground. This boy was unexpectedly dense.

He felt the side of his cheek, he could feel it reddening. The boy could throw a mean punch.

Tom so very wanted to inflict the same punishment on the boy, but he knew from recent experience he couldn't.

Speaking of that, what even had happened?

Tom knew that it was something supernatural, like those accidents he have.

He was right, after all. The boy was different from the rest, just like him.

Tom studied the dark haired boy who was fumbling through an apology and fidgeting on the ground.

Maybe this boy could be the gateway to learning the extent of the abilities he have, since he couldn'y understand much about them himself, as he normally only does those things by accident.

Tom felt slightly excited at the prospect of learning his powers, and discovering what they really are, this was the closest he had ever gotten to a lead.

" Hey, stop that, it's getting really annoying." Tom referred to the boy's fidgeting.

" S-sorry..." The boy went quiet.

"What's your name?"

The boy paused for a moment then said," Isn't it rather rude to ask of my name when you haven't given yours?"

Tom blanched slightly at his boldness, but he had to learn more about the boy, so he got his temper under control.

For now.

" Alright then, let's try this again: my name is Tom, Tom Riddle, what's yours?''

Seems like this chapter is short as hell, I'm sorry about that, really, next chapter is when the action should start, so it will be longer. I promise.

Bye for now, then.