Nico helped Elsa back to her bedroom. He got her to sit on the closed lid of the toilet seat while he took her makeup off of her, took her diadem off, took her hair out of its braid, and got her shoes off of her. He found her a pair of light blue pajama bottoms, and a white with black polka dotted button up pajama top. He also found her slipper boots. Once Elsa was dressed for it, she crawled under her covers to cry more. Nico slipped a box of tissues under the duvet, and a wastebasket right next to her bed.
He then left in order to give her a few minutes to herself in the comfort of her own bedroom and bed while he disbanded those he'd gathered to celebrate her birthday with her.
"Where's Elsa?" Piper asked, looking away from the large plastic tub of melting vanilla ice cream. Percy and Annabeth looked up too, from the plastic forks, knives, spoons, and the paper plates and napkins they were trying to keep from blowing away. Everything was a pale blue; Elsa's favorite color.
There was large jug of lemonade. It had taken him a long time to procure the perfect recipe for the lemonade. It had to be just right for it to be Elsa's favorite.
There was a platter of cookies; iced sugar cookies, chocolate chip, white chocolate chip, snickerdoodles, gingersnaps… All of which Elsa loved.
And the cake… Nico had gotten a specialty birthday cake for Elsa. Outside, it was light blue and white, with large fondant snowflakes. At the top was a clear plastic snowflake for decoration. Inside, the cake was chocolate and vanilla marble with custard filling.
He'd wanted everything to be absolutely perfect for her sixteenth birthday. He was trying to make it the best birthday that she'd ever had.
"Where is she?" Piper prompted. He shook his head.
"She's… She's not coming." Nico sighed. "Calypso… Rejected her, I guess. She's in her room, in bed, under the covers, crying in her pajamas."
"Oh gods…" Piper sighed. "Elsa was crazy about her." She shook her head. "Should I go talk to her?"
"Calypso or Elsa?" Nico asked. "Because I think Elsa needs to be alone for right now." He said awkwardly. "But if you're talking about Calypso… Be my guest. Maybe we can figure out how to patch things up." Piper nodded.
"Yeah, I was talking about Calypso." She explained. "I'll go talk to her right now." The daughter of Aphrodite left the pavilion.
"Thanks!" Nico called after her. She gave him a thumbs up without even turning to look back at him. He smiled faintly before turning back to Percy and Annabeth, his smile fading.
"I'll help you guys put this stuff away." He said with a sigh. "I might bring her a piece of cake though. Or a glass of lemonade… I don't know. The poor girl got her heart broken. She might not be hungry at all, for all I know." Nico ran his hands through his hair. "I'm sorry that I invited you guys to this, and had you guys help out just so that we had to deal with this."
"It's not your fault." Percy shrugged. "We understand. You didn't plan this. We'd clean up and deal with everything. Go be with Elsa. She might need you." He smiled gently at Nico, who let out another sigh, and nodded, going back to Elsa's bedroom.
She was still in bed and in her pajamas, though she was curled up on her side, reading a book of poems. The covers were only pulled up to her waist. Nico mentally sighed with relief. (He was doing a lot of sighing recently.) At least she wasn't crying.
"Why me?" Elsa whispered, her voice wavering, as if she were on the verge of tears, which she probably was. "Why couldn't I just have an easy life? Why does everything have to be so difficult for me? Aphrodite showed me Calypso, and she made me fall in love. Calypso was and is perfect... Except for the fact that she doesn't want a relationship." A tear slipped out of Elsa's eye, and trickled down her cheek. "I hate my life." She shook her head. "I just want to be free, Nico. I'm not free. I'm still a slave. A slave to love. I never asked for any of this. I never wanted it. I just want a happy, stable, and normal life, Nico. That's all I want." Elsa's tear shedding increased until she was crying again. Nico eased the poetry book out from under her and put it back on the shelf. A quick glance at the page told him that it was a romance poem. Not good. Not good at all.
Nico honestly didn't know what to say. Elsa's destiny had been laid out for her since she had been conceived. Her fate was cruel to her, even when everything was supposed to be better. What happened when she became a goddess? Would she still be waiting to be free and to be happy? He honestly wished that he didn't have to have this train of thought.
"Are you hungry?" He asked after a while. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. She looked up at him with her eyes red from crying, and her crestfallen facial expression. Her lips were trembling.
"How can you ask me something like that at a time like this?!" Elsa shrieked, kicking the covers off of herself. "I just got my heart broken by my soulmate, and all you can ask me is if I'm hungry?! What the fuck Nico?!" Her voice was shrill, and she stood, her hands balled into tight fists. Her face was red, and more tears leaked out of her eyes.
"Elsa…" Nico pleaded, putting his hands up in surrender.
"You don't understand, Nico!" She continued, yelling at him. "I'm not free! I never was! I don't even know if I ever will be!" Elsa collapsed to the floor in a heap, sobbing into her pajama bottoms. "And I can't even stay mad at you because of this fucking frozen heart!" She roared. "Jeg skulle ønske jeg var død." She whispered. Nico gazed at her sadly. He didn't know what to do. She was upset with him, but she couldn't even have that. She truly was a slave to her heart. What else could she do?
"Do you want me to leave?" Nico asked softly. "I'm sorry Elsa. I just… I don't know what to say… I don't know what to do…"
"No!" She cried out. "Don't leave me alone, Nico! I-I couldn't handle it if you did. I'm sorry. I just…" Elsa shook her head. Nico couldn't bring himself to have any hard feelings from what she'd said because of his frozen heart. Elsa was having more trouble with this than he was.
"I'm here, Elsa. I'm not going anywhere." He promised. Nico knelt down next to her, and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry." He whispered.
"No, I'm sorry." Elsa muttered. "I hate my life. I wish I could have been born normal. I wish that I could have been the child of a nice modern Norwegian couple. Not the daughter of the king and queen of a kingdom in a society that's stuck over one hundred and seventy years in the past. I just wish that I could have met a nice girl at school, and asked her out to a café. Not to fall in love at first sight with my soulmate when I'm only fifteen years old, with an impending date where I have to have gotten her to love me back. If that isn't bad enough, I only have exactly two years left, and she doesn't want a relationship, and broke my heart. I don't want to be in these worlds." Nico rocked her back and forth, letting her get his shirt's shoulder wet with her tears. "I just want to be normal." She sobbed.
"Yeah, but you're not." Nico reminded her. "I've seen your powers, Elsa. They're beautiful. They make you special. Your birthright makes you special too. You're amazing on your own. You're different from any other teenager I've met. You've lost so much, and then gained even more. You're a queen, Elsa. You're going to be a goddess, no matter how your love life goes. You've got that going for you." Elsa shook her head, but Nico wasn't finished. "Elsa… Most people would kill to do an achieve all that you have." He paused for a moment. "And you know… If you think about it… Normal's boring."
"If my life is so wonderful and amazing, then why do I hate it so much?" Elsa whispered.
"Life is full of ups and downs, Elsa. You're still human. You may immortal, but you're still pretty much human." Nico reminded her. "You're earning eternal happiness for when you become a goddess. Karma, you know?" He nudged her. "You're one of the strongest people I know and ever will have the honor of knowing. You're incredibly brave. Elsa, don't give up, okay? The light at the end of this tunnel is worth it, but you just have to get to it."
With that, the two friends turned on Elsa's radio. Nico got them some cake, cookies, ice cream, and lemonade from the leftovers. The two camped out on Elsa's bed, listening to music together and having their own little party together.
But before Elsa dug into her cake, she closed her eyes. Smiling, she made a wish.
A/N: The link to the pic of the cake is on my profile.