There was nothing exciting about it but Nico looked forward to going to the strawberry fields every warmth of the sun, the breeze coming off the nearby Sound, the smell of fresh berries and freshly tilled soil; Nico couldn't describe exactly what he was feeling but he didn't want it to go away.
Nero had tattooed his name along the inside of several demigods arms. Nico felt disgusted. He might not have lived in the tower but he knew what it meant. It was stylized, intricate, and sickening; exactly the sort of thing Nero was rumored to have done. So he pushed back.
"There will always be demigods like us," he tried explaining to them and himself. "Always. The only thing we can do is find each other. You're more than what they say you are."
He left the fields feeling completely tapped out and nearly collapsed into his bunk in the Apollo cabin. "Dude, what are you doing," Jerry said, staring at Nico, dumbfounded. He was standing by his bunk, unpacking a suitcase.
Nico had gotten so comfortable sleeping in the Apollo cabin that he forgot that the older campers might not feel the same. Jerry had been a child of Apollo all his life and wouldn't understand how it felt to become one. "Chiron says it's a trust building exercise," Nico said. Jerry clearly wanted more information but Nico didn't care.
And why shouldn't you? You're a healer too, Kronos whispered. It wouldn't serve any purpose going back to the Hades cabin now. It always felt hollow regardless of the decor.
What if he was the son of Hades and Apollo both? He didn't feel like it could be; it just was. It was deeper than his relationship with Will, stretching all the way back to the first Great Prophecy and the destruction that followed.
So he wasn't surprised when it happened a few seconds later. The glow didn't come from within, like it was for Will, everything around Nico lit up with a soft golden light. It rippled like water off his environment.
"I guess I can't argue with that," Jerry said. Nico couldn't read the look he was getting; it just wasn't suspicion.
Everything changed at dinner. Jerry told everyone that Apollo claimed him now. But he wasn't angry with Jerry. It felt weird. It felt like home. They're all talking about him and it didn't feel like he had done something wrong for a change.
He felt closer to Will than ever but now he had siblings again. I didn't understand it but the idea of Kronos as a friend to demigods was taking hold.
He met Will on the beach that night. "I met your dad just now. He said he approved."
Nico felt the sudden shift in their relationship but he couldn't forget the dark. "Nero branded some of the kids working with. I've seen some things Will but that is just-" He felt so angry all of a sudden. "He took his time doing it too. He wanted her to always know them to know who they belonged to."
"They have you," he promised.