Unwanted Memories and Quests
“We have a new quest,” was how Nico greeted Will the next time they met.
Will paused just as he was about to take a sip of his juice. He arched an eyebrow, placing the glass down.
“…Good morning to you too, di Angelo.”
“Apparently, some magic mortal resurrected himself and now I have to go hunt him down,” Nico continued, acting like he didn’t care. “However, I have convinced my father to let you come along.”
At this, unfortunately, he couldn’t stop his obsidian eyes from nervously flicking to Will’s, watching his reaction closely.
His heart thundered erratically in his chest as he awaited a response, twisting his fingers behind his back.
(What if Will didn’t want to come?)
(What if he didn’t like Nico at all?)
(What if he was just pretending to care?)
(What if what if WHAT IF- )
Will frowned. “Uh, yeah, sure,” he said, a tad uncertainly.
Nico felt a little part of him shrivel up and die inside in embarrassment as his bright blue eyes flicked up to his, curious. Why was he so worried about what Will thought?
“Where…Where are we going?”
“Scotland, I think,” Nico muttered, turning in his head away in mortification.
He slid in next to the son of Apollo, trying to act naturally – by which he promptly stabbed a pancake quite brutally, spearing a piece on his fork. “Some magic school called Hogwarts.”
“H-Hogwarts?”
Lou Ellen, the daughter of Hecate, asked, double-taking as she passed their table. Her eyes were wide as she abruptly choked on a bit of apple, coughing. She looked up at Nico in panic. “Uh, w-where did you hear that name?”
Ah. Right. The magic mortals were supposed to be kept secret.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone,” Nico said flippantly, not even turning around.
(From behind him, Will rolled his eyes).
The son of Hades lowered his voice. “You should know my father learns about all these things when those mortals die and confess everything to him. Although,” he paused chewing on his pancake, glaring at her through dark eyes, “we’d all like them to quit becoming ghosts. It’s far too much paperwork.”
Lou Ellen sighed in relief. “Sorry, can’t really do anything about that,” she said apologetically, and although Nico hadn’t really expected her to say anything else, he was still disappointed. “It’s their own choice, you see. You might have better luck taking it up with my mother.”
“Oi, Ellen!” Someone called from the Hecate table, irritated. “Lydia’s been vanishing my stuff again!”
Lou sighed at the words. “Lydia, cut it out!” She shouted back, before turning to them with a tired smile. “Yeah, sorry, got to go. My siblings act like toddlers and someone’s gotta go straighten them out. And since I’m the head counsellor…” She sighed again, wearily.
Something darker flickered behind her tired eyes, but almost everyone had that look nowadays. Fighting two wars with very little odds for success did that to you.
“Yeah, I need to go now. Bye.”
She trudged off to her table, and Nico shook his head sympathetically. He knew how irritating the Hecate kids could be.
“So,” Will started, placing his spoon down and turning to look at Nico, side-eyeing him knowingly. “Your father just randomly, ah, allowed you to take me, a child of Apollo, on one of your super-duper-important quests, huh?”
Nico refused to blush. “Yes.”
He stood and avoided Will’s eyes in fear of the lie being detected in his gaze.
Yeah, I'm leaving before I dig my own grave, he thought, a little annoyed. Sometimes, Will was a little too good at working out what Nico’s motivations were.
The dark-haired boy cleared his throat. “And we’re leaving in three months, so I suggest you go and inform everyone first.”
Will frowned. “Yeah, actually, I was going to ask about that,” he said, seemingly dropping the former topic. Nico breathed a small sigh of relief. “You have to keep up with your medications. Three months isn’t a lot of time, so a few setbacks are guaranteed on your recovery.”
His blue eyes swept up and down Nico’s body, like some strange X-ray.
“Unicorn draught,” he proclaimed after a minute. “Twice a day. Should help everything along a bit.” His gaze suddenly narrowed.
“And you better take it, or else.”
Nico very much doubted Will could hurt him, so the threat wasn’t very solid, but he nodded anyway.
“Doctor’s orders, am I right?” He questioned, arching an eyebrow. “Don’t worry, Solace, I know how to take care of myself.”
Will scoffed. “Yeah, says the boy who nearly kills himself dragging a giant golden statue halfway across the world,” he muttered under his breath.
“That’s rich coming from you, the boy who tried to sneak into a Roman camp while dressed in black yet leaving out a large head of very shiny hair,” Nico retorted. “You looked ridiculous.”
Will conceded the point. “Lou did cover us in the Mist, but I guess the disguise wasn’t very well thought out,” he shrugged. “What can I say? Fashion was the last thing on my mind when getting attacked by flaming onagers.”
“They weren’t firing at you yet, you dolt.”
“I’ll have you know –”
“Heeey, Neeks!” A familiar voice called, jogging up to him to ruffle the son of Hades' hair fondly. Nico only scowled, knowing it was pointless to tell the idiot to stop.
Percy Jackson, the infamous son of Poseidon, grinned down at the two boys, waggling his eyebrows.
“Couples spat going on, eh?” He shot them a knowing look, laughing aloud when both boys went scarlet.
“NO!” Nico spluttered, backing away instantly. Gods knew what Percy would do if he even thought –
No. No. No.
“We’re not a couple!”
“So not a couple,” Will nodded fervently. Thankthe gods. “Nope, nope, nope.”
“Percy, leave them alone,” Annabeth strode up from behind, shaking her head exasperatedly. Her blonde hair was tied up in a messy ponytail, as usual.
Her appearance alone was enough to pull Percy from his teasing and bring his attention to her instead, hugging her tightly as she neared and swinging her around in circles, ignoring her shrieks to let her down.
“Percy Jackson! If you don’t put me on the ground thisinstant –”
Percy lost his balance as Annabeth tackled his neck. They both fell over, glaring at each other, before abruptly dissolving into laughter.
But despite their facades of joy, Nico could see dark shadows underneath their eyes. He saw the tense way that they looked around even while in camp, searching for enemies that weren’t there. He heard the soft footsteps that passed his cabin nearly every night as one wandered through the camp, looking desperately for the comfort of the other.
He looked down at his clenched fist and squeezed his eyes shut as unwanted memories flashed past his eyelids.
(“You’re mine, son of Hades,” a dark voice slithered across the abyss. It had haunted him for weeks. Nico trudged on and tried his best to ignore it, agony striking his body with every step he took).
(Stop it. It’s not real).
(“Look what I found!” A familiar, unwelcome voice screeched. He felt like he was being stabbed with needles all over his scratched skin. His vision was fading slowly, pain throbbing through his entire body. Unseen, he let out a small sob before finally succumbing to the darkness of unending sleep -).
( - He woke up inside a bronze jar).
(Snap out of it, idiot!)
(The weight of suffocation slowly choked him, his stomach burning in agony as his lungs screamed for oxygen –)
No. No. NO!
“ – Nico,” Percy said, and the boy blinked back into reality, jerking away instinctively, eyes wide. His chest stuttered, his mind still reeling from the lack of air from before.
The son of Poseidon's sea-green eyes were worried.
“Are you OK?”
No, of course not, Nico wanted to snap.
(But since when did anyone care?)
His fists clenched, he stood up, dark hair hanging over his shadowed eyes.
“Three months,” he snapped at Will. The other jerked back at his hostile tone, eyebrows drawing together in worry. “Nico –” he started, but the son of Hades had already stalked off into the camp, the shadows unconsciously drawing closer to him like they sensed the boy’s turbulent emotions.