He was half surprised at how willing Jason seemed to be to go alone with him to look for a ghost. That wasn't to say that Jason had jumped at the thought, but more that Nico was surprised he was willing to go at all. Nico had felt better the moment his feet had hit solid ground. He knew that the earth was Gaia's territory, but it was also his fathers, and so by extension his.
The air there smelled nice too, and the sun was beautiful. While Jason wasn't looking, Nico lifted his face to the light for a minute and basked in the warm glow. For a moment he almost could have been back along the lake shore by the creepypasta mansion that had become his home as well. Then Jason nudged him, drawing him out of his happy place.
"Are you seeing this?" Jason asked softly pointing at the ice cream cart. Nico did see it, a winged man standing by the cart casually unnoticed by the mortals.
"Yeah," Nico confirmed. "Maybe we should buy some ice cream." It was half a joke. As if his stomach would be able to handle ice cream right now, he was still on small quantities of fruit, trying to build his system back up after so long without eating properly. "He's not a returned spirit, or a creature of the underworld." Nico commented once they got closer. Or a creep he added to himself silently.
"No, I doubt they would eat chocolate-covered ice cream bars." Jason agreed. Nico wasn't sure weather to scowl or laugh. He knew plenty of creatures of the underworld who were partial to chocolate ice cream. Hell hounds couldn't have it of course because they were dogs, but at least one of the furies was partial to it. Nico couldn't remember which one off the top of his head though. They were always pretending to be one of their sisters to get each other in trouble. He didn't bother correcting Jason though.
"So what is he?" Nico asked instead. Well whatever he was he seemed to be willing to help him as he showed them, or more so Jason, who could track the winds, where Diocletian's palace was.
Nico stifled a yelp when Jason grabbed him. He probably would have protested farther but then Jason took off and Nico almost stopped breathing. He resisted the urge to grab Jason's arm to stop him from letting go. He did not trust Jason enough for this. As soon as they were on the ground again, Nico pushed away from Jason stepping out of arms reach scowling fiercely as he looked around them.
"The peristyle, this is the entrance to Diocletian's private residence." Nico decided then turned his attention back to Jason. "And please, I don't like being touched. Don't ever grab me again." He knew that there was a threat in his voice and he could tell by the way Jason tensed that he heard it.
"Uh okay. Sorry. How do you know what this place is called?" Jason asked.
"I've been here before." Nico explained without looking at Jason. "With my mother and Bianca. A weekend trip from Venice. I was maybe… six."
"That was when… the 1930's."
"Thirty-eight or so." Nico said distractedly, busy chasing the memories of his past with half his mind and looking for the winged man with the other. Why do you care? Do you see that winged guy anywhere?"
"No…I just… I can't imagine how weird that must be, coming from another time." Jason said. Nico was jolted back to the present by the realization that Jason was trying to understand him. Dissect him and try to understand how he felt but he couldn't, there was no way he could.
"No, you can't." Nico snapped scowling at the ground. He hoped his short answer would end this train of conversation, but it seemed that Jason could be about as thick as a brick wall. He saw Jason open his mouth to respond and he cut him off. "Look… I don't like talking about it. Honestly, I think Hazel has it worse. She remembers more about when she was young. She had to come back from the dead and adjust to the modern world." Yes that was good redirecting the conversation away from himself. "Me…me and Bianca, we were stuck in the Lotus Hotel. Time passed so quickly. In a weird way that made it easier." Oh that was bad, that opens him up to pity.
"Percy told me about that place. Seventy years, but it only felt like a few months." Nico wanted to punch a wall. This was not what they were supposed to be doing. They were supposed to be finding the scepter, but no, Grace wanted to play therapist.
"Ya. I'm sure Percy told you all about me." Nico scoffed bitterly, he knew Percy didn't like him. Had never liked him for that matter. Percy might say it was because of the time that Nico accidently lead Percy into a trap, but if it had been anyone else Percy would have forgiven them by now. Now Percy only used that experience to justify the same irrational distrust most animals had of Nico because he felt like death.
Nico let Jason try to puzzle that response out in silence, instead choosing to scan their surrounding area for threats. He didn't see and monsters but expectedly there were plenty of ghosts, Roman ghosts of course. It took Nico a moment to realize they were angry. The majority of ghosts accepted him even if they were of different religions because death gave a certain… perspective. These seemed very angry and Nico couldn't guess why, but he thought he should mention it.
"Roman dead are everywhere here… Lares. Lemures. They're watching. They're angry." Now that they knew he could see them they rushed in telling him about everything that had gone wrong for everything. Everything that wasn't the way it was supposed to be. He wished he could help them, but he was thousands of years too late to do anything.
"At us?" Jason asked.
"At everything." Nico responded That used to be a temple to Jupiter." Nico said pointing to the building in question. "The Christians changed it to a baptistery. The Roman ghosts don't like that." Of course they wouldn't, it was disrespectful to their memories and the past. Then again the past and the present had never been good at working together. The present always threw away the past. "And over there." Nico said pointing to another problem area identified by the dead. "That was the mausoleum of the emperor."
"But his tomb isn't there anymore?" Jason asked.
"Not for centuries." Nico said, shaking his head trying to separate the mangled voices of the dead and the past from the living and the present. "When the empire collapsed, the building was turned into a Christian cathedral." Gods, no matter where Nico went he was like a tour guide thanks to the dead who wanted to tell him about their lives in these places.
"So if Diocletian's ghost is still around here…" Jason trailed off and Nico was grudgingly impressed by how fast Jason's brain worked. Unlike Percy's.
"He's probably not happy." Nico confirmed then something distracted Jason.
"That way." Jason said pointing randomly. "The winged guy. Where do you think those stairs go?" It took Nico a moment to notice the stairs, they went down.
"Underground." Nico supplied grinning darkly. "My favourite place." As they went down Nico felt like the earth was swallowing. He could feel a difference in it, a colder feeling that must have been Gaia's influence. Finally they reached the bottom of the stairs. He saw Jason take a note out of his pocket and slide it under a bust of some old Roman dude but he ignored it.
"Hello!" Someone called and Nico resisted the urge to laugh at the way Jason jumped and sliced a bust in half. "That wasn't very nice." The stranger chided. Nico turned to see it was the guy with the russet wings again. "I mean what did Diocletion ever do to you?"
"Uh." Jason said very intelligently. "It was an accident. You startled me."
"Jason Grace." The god chuckled, he had to be a god. "The west wind has been called many things… warm, gentle, life-giving, and devilishly handsome." Well he demonstrated the same level of humility as most gods. "But I have never been called startling. I leave that crass behavior to my gusty brethren in the north." Nico had heard about the west wind, it had been one of the cards in that stupid card game he had loved as a kid.
"The west wind? You mean you're... " He inched back as Jason interrupted him.
"Favonius, God of the west wind." Jason continued.
"You can call me by my Roman name certainly, or Zephyros if you're Greek. I'm not hung up about it."
"Why aren't your Greek and roman sides conflicted, like the other gods?" Nico asked.
"Oh I have the occasional headache. Some mornings I wake up in a Greek chiton when I swear I went to bed in my SPQR pajamas. But most of the war doesn't bother me. I'm a minor god." Nico tuned out the rest of what Zephyros said. Did that mean that Hestia would be okay? She was a minor god now but she hadn't always been. Was she enough of a minor goddess now not to be affected by this and should he wish that for her? Being a minor god wasn't exactly a peachy fate either. Jason said something else and Nico tuned back in in time for Zephyros' answer.
"Several things!" The god said with an amount of enthusiasm Nico didn't think was warranted. "Hanging out with my basket of fruit. I always carry a basket of fruit. Would you like a pear?" Jason declined and Nico was sure he had started fading into the background again so he didn't bother. "Let's see… earlier I was eating ice cream. Right now I'm tossing this quoits ring." Nico couldn't help but think that this guy was quite strange as he spun the bronze ring.
"I mean why did you appear to us?" Jason asked, finally he was asking the right questions. "Why did you lead us to this cellar?"
"Oh! The sarcophagus of Diocletian. This was it's final resting place. The Christians moved it out of the mausoleum. Then some barbarians destroyed the coffin. I just wanted to show you that what you're looking for isn't here. My master has taken it." He seemed genuinely sorry and sad for them.
"Your master?" Jason asked. "Please tell me your master isn't Aeolus." Nico didn't know why Jason sounded so disgusted, but then again he didn't feel like sacrificing his place as part of the background to speak.
"That airhead?" Zephyros scoffed and Nico was impressed, even as a minor god it took gall to insult a more powerful god. "No, of course not." Nico supposed he would have to step in before Jason made an even bigger fool out of himself.
"He means Eros." Nico informed Jason overly patiently. "Cupid in Latin."
"Very good, Nico Di Angelo." Zephyros said smiling approvingly. "I'm glad to see you again by the way it's been a long time."
"I've never met you." Nico said, blunt in his confusion.
"You've never seen me." The god agreed. "But I've been watching you. When you came here as a small boy and several times since. I knew that eventually you would return to look upon my masters face." Nico balked. Oh no he did NOT want to meet Eros, that was the last god he had even hope to meet. He would rather the Keres ten times over than Eros. He had to resist the urge to shadow travel as far away as he could but he couldn't help looking for an escape route even though he knew he wouldn't take it.
"Nico?" Jason asked curiously. "What is he talking about?" Oh no no no NO.
"I don't know." Nico replied sharply. "Nothing." He knew he was being too defensive to be believable but he couldn't, just couldn't.
"Nothing? The one you care for most… plunged into tartarus, and still you will not allow the truth." And suddenly Nico decided he really, really hated Eros and by extension Zephyros. He must know that Nico wasn't in love with Percy anymore and yet he had manipulated the sentence to make it sound as if…
"We've only come for Diocletian's scepter." Nico snapped scowling. "Where is it?"
"Ah.., you thought it would be as easy as facing Diocletian's ghost? I'm afraid not, Nico. Your trial must be more difficult." Nico was really missing his place as part of the background now. He hated being the center of attention and the way the two of them were staring at him made him fidget. "You know, long before this was Diocletian's palace it was the gateway to my masters court. I've dwelt here for eons bringing those who sought love into the presence of Cupid."
"Like Psyche, Cupids wife. You carried her to this palace." Jason said. Nico was glad to have attention drawn away from him for a moment.
"Very good, Jason Grace. From this exact spot I carried Psyche on the winds and brought her to the chambers of my master. In fact, that is why Diocletian built his palace here. This place has always been graced by the gentle west wind. It is a spot of tranquility and love in this turbulent world. When Diocletian's palace was ransacked"
"You took the scepter." Jason filled in.
"For safekeeping." Zephyros clarified. "It is one of Cupid's many treasures, a reminder of better times. It you want it.." and suddenly the attention was all on Nico again, Nico swore internally. "You must face the god of love."
"Nico you can do this." Jason assured Nico and Nico glared at him. There he went again, thinking he knew what he was talking about when he had no clue. "It might be embarrassing, but it's for the scepter." Nico felt like he might throw up or faint but he didn't want to make that obvious.
"You're right." He said instead "I-I'm not afraid of a love god."
"Excelent! Would you like a snack before you go?" He picked up a green apple from his basket of fruit. "Oh bluster. I keep forgetting my symbol is a basket of unripe fruit. Why doesn't the spring wind get more credit? Summer gets all the fun."
"That's okay." Nico said quickly, he just wanted to get this over with anyway. "Just take us to Cupid." And Zephyros did by turning them both into wind, which Nico didn't mind so much. It was much like being shadow only a bit lighter. He was not ready when they reassembled at the other end. He knew Jason and Zephyros were talking but he wasn't listening. Instead he leaned against a pillar, he was so scared and he wasn't even sure why.
"Hey man..?" Jason asked. Nico huffed and waved him away. No, he was the last thing Nico need right now.
"Ah…I don't blame you for being nervous Nico Di Angelo." Zephyros nodding sympathetically, Nico resisted swearing at him. "Do you know how I ended up serving Cupid?"
"I don't serve anyone." Nico growled back. He may do favors for his father and Slenderman from time to time, but he certainly didn't serve them. "Especially not Cupid.'
"I fell in love with a mortal named Hyacinthus. He was quite extraordinary." Zephyros continued as if Nico hadn't spoken. Nico felt like he had been punched in the stomach at how open he was. Nico had only managed to open up to the creeps because he knew they wouldn't judge him for going against society. After all they killed people, Nico didn't think he would ever be able to open up to anyone outside of that world.
"He?" Jason questioned feebly. "oh…"
"Yes, Jason Grace. I fell in love with a dude. Does that shock you?" Zephyros answered and Nico felt like he was going to be sick. Of course he was, it was wrong, he had been told his entire life it was wrong.
"I guess not." Jason said but Nico knew he was lying. "So… Cupid struck you with his arrow, and you fell in love."
"You make it sound so simple." The god scoffed "Alas love is never simple. You see, Apollo also liked Hyacinthus. He claimed they were just friends. I don't know. But one day I came across them together playing a game of quitos."
"Quitos?" Jason interrupted.
"A game with those hoops." Nico explained seizing on any distraction from the wall in his mind between him and his memories which seemed to be crumbling. "Like horseshoes."
"Sort of." Zephyros agreed. "At any rate I was jealous. Instead of confronting them and finding out the truth I shifted the wind and sent a heavy metal ring at Hyacinthus' head and… well." He paused and sighed heavily. "As Hyacinthus died, Apollo turned him into a flower, the hyacinth. I'm sure Apollo would have taken horrible vengeance on me, but Cupid offered me his protection. I'd done a terrible thing, but I'd been driven mad by love, so he spared me, on the condition that I work for him forever." The name Cupid echoed around the pillars. Oh gods, he was close.
"That would be my cue." Zephyros stood hurriedly. "Think long and hard about how you proceed, Nico Di Angelo. You cannot lie to Cupid. If you let your anger rule you… well your fate will be sadder than mine."