Chapter Text
Everything seemed right in a nightmare. That was the worst thing. Once again, Nico sat on a throne made of flesh and cartilage and thought nothing of it. His friends didn’t matter. Not Reyna, who had travelled across continents with him. Not Percy, with all his heroism and pure goodness. He was judgement incarnate, sitting by his father, the Lord of the Underworld.
Hades sat in a larger throne made of writhing souls beside him, accompanied by Alecto, one of the winged furies. The three of them overlooked a courtroom with a figure in chains in the center, trembling naked in front of them. Hades read from a file Alecto handed him. “A schoolteacher from San Diego. He inspired dozens of students, loved by his community.”
Nico snatched the file from Hades and sneered. “Racist and biased. He only cared about students who looked like him.” He stretched his hand towards the naked teacher, who cowered. It did the teacher no good. Nico grinned as the man screamed and faded into nothing. “Next.”
Alecto dragged another spirit in. This one was a woman. Her pale face was smeared with dirt, and her matted hair hid half her face. Hades glanced through another file and said, “Homeless for five years before she died of an overdose in Idaho. Took care of stray dogs in the area, worked in the local Walmart.”
“She gave money to drug dealers, which helped them exploit others.” Nico rolled his eyes. “She stole and lied her entire life.” He clenched his fist and the homeless woman screeched as she faded to nothing. “Next.”
The third spirit was another man. He pleaded with his deep brown eyes. Hades passed Nico the case file. “Runs a convenience store in Charleston, takes care of his immigrant parents, makes sure his kids do well in school.”
“Mentally and physically abuses his children in the name of discipline.” Nico snapped his fingers. The man’s screams soothed him, and he was eager for the next defendant.
“Firefighter from Kansas City, father of two loving children.” Hades looked at the next case.
“Harassed waiters at the local fast food shops.” Nico snapped his fingers. Another death, another thrill through his body. “Next.”
“A chef in Springfield, she took good care of her staff, made sure they got benefits.”
“Smuggled contraband.” Another spirit gone. “Next.”
“Architect from Omaha, paid her own way through school, helped construct environmentally friendly buildings.”
“Only did it for the money, next.”
“Retired sergeant in Atlanta—”
“He killed people, next.”
“Librarian—”
“Selfish, next.”
“Waiter—”
“Too stubborn, next.” Another handwave, another spirit gone. But the spirits kept on coming, and Nico kept on dissolving them, damning them. All kinds of people, all of them scared, and Nico didn’t care. He was the son of Hades, and he held the power of life and death over all mortals. The faces and spirits blurred as they rushed before him.
Percy was thrust in front of him and pleaded with Nico, his sea-green eyes wide that Nico had once fallen in love with overflowing with tears. Nico flicked his fingers and Pecy disappeared. He killed Reyna too. Her tarnished armor was useless against a son of Hades. The ghosts of everyone he had condemned rose through the ceiling like a discordant breeze. Their barely audible moans were a never ending death rattle that surrounded him. The air grew chill with their fury and fear, and Nico thrived on it.
And then he awoke as he phased through his bed, and almost through the floor. "Shit, shit, shit." It took several frantic attempts to crawl out from under the bed, as Nico’s arms kept passing through the floorboards.
Solidifying himself felt like clenching a muscle that wasn’t there. It took an entire minute of hyperventilating beneath the bed before his limbs regained substance. Nico thanked the gods as he finally crawled out and clung to his bedpost. He looked around his cabin to ground himself: Twelve beds, twelve empty torches, four walls, four solid limbs. He was in the Hades cabin, in Camp Half-Blood, in the mortal world. He repeated his location like a mantra while he clutched at the hardwood bedpost. He was mortal. He was mortal.
His heart still pounded, and his brain screamed that there was something lurking behind him, something about to burst through that door and he should shadow travel out of here. He wanted to yell and smash something, but settled with punching the black marble walls. His knuckles would bruise and Will Solace would look disappointed if he saw, but Nico could live with that.
Nico was about to put a shirt on when the grass outside crunched. Someone was outside, and heading towards the front door. Nico’s heartbeat, which had been approaching normal speeds, skyrocketed. Nico took a deep breath and turned into a shadow.
It wasn’t technically true, but it had a nice ring to it. The black room blurred and seemed far away, and Nico’s limbs didn’t feel like they belonged to him. It was a trick he had learnt in Tartarus to stay undetected, and it still came in handy. Feeling more and more like a ghost, Nico slid through the walls and emerged outside the cabin.
As usual, Nico’s limbs didn’t respond as easily, as if Nico was walking through water. Despite feeling his body heat seep away into the air, Nico remained a shadow until he was sure no one had seen him. Muffled voices from the distant campfires wafted over, and the cabins in front of Nico were deserted. He clenched his arms and solidified again, shivering as sudden warmth rushed through his body.
The intruder knocked on Nico’s door, which admittedly made the intruder a lot less suspicious. But he still summoned his sword of Stygian Iron and advanced on the suspicious party. “What are you doing?”
The figure yelped and dropped a plate of hot dogs on the ground. Flecks of mustard splattered Nico’s bare feet as Will Solace, one of Apollo’s most annoying children to ever live, stumbled back and almost fell on his ass. He scrambled to pick up the hot dogs. “I’m so sorry about that.”
“The harpies will take care of it.” Nico said. “But what are you doing?” Bringing hot dogs to the Hades cabin had to be the weirdest thing to happen this summer, including the Giant War. And Will had actually knocked on the door, which eliminated the possibility of Will being on his way to another location. Nor was there any mistaking the Hades cabin, with its smooth black walls, and torches that burned with a green flame.
Will stared at Nico, and his jaw moved up and down. Nico was made all too aware that all he was wearing were gym shorts, and restrained the urge to turn back into a shadow and sink into the ground. Will cleared his throat and stared at Nico’s sword. “I just wanted to make sure you were eating.”
“Are you serious?” Nico asked. This wasn’t the first time Will had called Nico out for skipping meals, but knocking on Nico’s door in the middle of the night was outrageous.
“Well, it was dinner time, and I didn’t see you there, but I knew you were back because Chiron mentioned it and said I should check in on you. So—”
“Wait, it’s dinner time?” Nico really needed to get his sleep schedule in check.
“This is why I don’t think you’re okay.” Will tried to put a hand on Nico’s shoulder, but he stepped back and fixed him with one of his best death glares.
“You’re not responsible for me, Solace. We’re the same goddamned age.” Will always had to treat him like a child in need, or some helpless civilian.
“I know, I just wanted to make sure,” Will trailed off. His blond hair framed his round face perfectly, scrunched up in its awkward glory.
Nico wanted to punch Will, but restrained himself. “Make sure of what?”
“I just wanted to be sure you were doing okay.” Will practically whined at him.
“I just killed a horde of Telekhines in Virginia. I think I’m good.” How could Nico shake him loose? They had fought together once during the Giant War, and suddenly Will felt like it was his god given duty to nanny him.
“Well, If you need anything,” Will said. “Just let me know.”
“If I ever need a band-aid, I’ll come running.” Nico didn’t even bother to flip him off. He slammed the door, guaranteeing him the satisfaction of getting the last word in.
He spent the next half hour imagining better comebacks to Will’s conversation and constructing the most biting one liners he could. It grew old quickly, and Nico flung himself on his bed. Thoughts of Will distracted him long enough to fall asleep again. This time, he didn’t have any dreams.
Unfortunately, Nico woke up feeling like shit, and his cheap watch told him it was almost noon. He replayed the scene from last night in his head, but the righteous anger had left him. All Will had done was bring him dinner, even if it was completely unnecessary. And Nico had pulled his sword on him. No wonder everyone else at camp avoided him. They’d be better off not meeting him.
Someone knocked on the door. Nico groaned. Probably Will with lunch. His moment of remorse completely forgotten, Nico got up and yanked the door open. “If you’re hear to give me another hot dog, you can shove it up—”
Instead of Will, Clovis, son of Hypnos, stood outside the door with his mouth hanging open in terror. “Gods, I’m so sorry.”
“Clovis?” Nico should have known it wasn’t Will. Now that Nico was awake and not recovering from a night terror, he could concentrate and feel Clovis’ soul. It felt like melted marshmallow pooling on a chocolate biscuit, and smelt like laundry detergent.
“Um, so here’s the thing.” Clovis had been fidgeting and babbling while Nico had zoned out. “I know you haven’t been to see us, and I’m sure you have very valid reasons for not doing so, but we at the Hypnos cabin feel that—”
“Will sent you.” Nico said with a flat stare.
“Absolutely.” Clovis nodded furiously. “And I know this might make you mad—”
“I’ll take care of this.” Nico rolled his eyes. “And next time Will asks you to waste your time, don't bother.”
“Will said that you were having night terrors.” Clovis practically winced. “And I’m really sorry that I’m bothering you.”
“Will was wrong.” Nico lied.
“Right, I’ll go tell him that.” Clovis nodded again. He was going to get a neck cramp if he continued nodding the way he was. Maybe the wise Will Solace would have a cure for that.
“You don’t need to.” Nico was about to close the door, but felt a twinge of sympathy for Clovis. It wasn’t his fault Will had sent him on a wild goose chase. “It’s fine, Clovis. Really.”
“Oh, are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m not mad.” Nico lied again. He tried to smile, but Clovis flinched and fled.
As he shut the door, Nico groaned. Why did he bother being polite? Maybe he just needed to practice smiling, he wondered, as he put on his leather jacket. He wanted to look as functional and put-together as he could before he confronted and yelled at Will. And Nico was going to make sure Will never tried to pull a stunt like this again.