Chapter Text
Dec 12. 1989
Gilbert sat in the ruins of an old chapel, one he had known from his youth. ‘ So this is where it ends. After all this time I got one last month with my brother... ' he thought to himself. The albino man felt his eyes growing heavier as he sat there his back against the cold stone. He’d had a good run, no one could deny that. Not Specs, Lizzie, Francois, not even Ivan. He had spent his whole life fighting for his right to live. They could burn him, starve him, and beat him. But he had always persevered. He opened his eyes again looking up at the night sky, it was a beautiful clear night. The moon was full, shining its cool, comforting rays down upon him. He always preferred the moon to the sun. It never burned him, never turned his skin black with sores. His eyes didn't ache from its light. And the best part, for most of history no one but him was awake at the time. No stares, or whispers. Just him, the moon and the stars. “...I’m going to miss you old friend… guess you wanted to say goodbye too…” He let out a sigh, his breath swirling in the air. “... Watch over my brother? Like you always watched over me...” He reached up despite the heaviness of his arms and removed his iron cross. “...It’s all I have left, I hope you’ll like it.” He laid it out gently on a fallen stone to his side before closing his eyes once more. As he started to fade, Prussia didn’t hear the soft footsteps approaching.
Years later, New York, USA
The sounds of swords clashing rang out through the forest surrounding camp half blood. Since the end of the war with Gaea the camp games had become rather interesting. Tonight it was Romans vs. Greeks vs. the Hunters of Artemis. Up in a tree out of sight sat the slim figure of a young man. He had his bow drawn and a blunt tipped arrow ready to fire, crimson eyes locked on their target and he let the arrow loose only for the dark Italian he was targeting to catch it.
"Nice try there sailor moon." Nico Di Angelo, the son of Hades mused as he looked up at the branches.
The boy scoffed as he jumped down, running a hand through his white hair.. "That was a lucky catch black butler." He scoffed at his friend while maintaining a crooked grin.
"Gawain, I thought you would be with your mom." Nico said handing the arrow back to his albino friend.
"I may have snuck off to do my own thing." Gawain said with a shrug, He was almost 16 now, he didn’t need to hold his mothers hand.
Nico frowned at him shaking his head. "she isn't going to like that. Let’s try to keep the moon goddess happy?"
"My mom isn’t that bad, Nico." Gawain replied as he gabe the italian a playful push. Admittedly he had a point, his mother absolutely could be scary when angered but what God wasn’t?
“Your sisters then. You know they all worry about you.” Nico’s face softened slightly and Gawain felt a pang of guilt. Nico had lost his family, he’d lost his sister twice within weeks.
“I know.. But I'm not made of Glass, even if I look like it. And I have to do things for myself eventually… I mean, I’m not.. I’m just a demi-god.” He sighed and kicked at a patch of grass beneath his boots.
“You aren’t just a demi-god. You are Artemis’ only son. That means something even if you don’t know what that is yet.” Nico gave him a nudge back. “Now come on.. You want to go get a bite to eat?” He grinned.
“Let me guess? Happy meals? Do I need to pay?” Gawain laughed, shaking his head. For always being so gloomy Nico always did know how to lighten the mood. “Alright then death breath, let's go then.”
It didn't take long to get to New York city, courtesy of Nico’s shadow travel, Gawain was glad that Will had managed to stabilize Nico so he was no longer at risk of fading away into them. Honestly the thought of losing one of the few people that seemed to understand him had been hard on Gawain. He hadn’t really talked about it with anyone. He always worried that if he showed anything that might make him look more vulnerable his mother would become even more overbearing. He loved her truly. She had always protected him, made sure he knew he was safe and loved. But it was suffocating at times. He yearned to have some space, to go on a quest of his own. Maybe a chance to discover who he was as his own person. They ordered and Gawain made sure to get Nico an extra toy. As they sat down his gaze was drawn over to a blonde man sitting with a group of kids. If he had to guess their ages ranged from 6 to 16 years old. They had a ton of food but something else felt… off about them. "hey Nico, check out that guy over there..." Gawain said indicating the group. As he watched he noticed that quite a few of the burgers seemed to be the mans.
“...Huh… weird.” Nico frowned slightly. “... Maybe they are just a big family?” he offered not sure what to make of it himself. The amount of food was almost shocking but he couldn't confirm them as mortal, it was as if his internal sensor couldn’t make up its mind. “Do you… think we should go?”
“No.. I think it’s fine.” he frowned as he looked over the group. They felt strangely familiar. And at the back of his mind there was a nagging warning of danger. As though he should be watching his back around them. He pushed the feelings aside, they weren’t hurting anyone and didn’t seem like monsters. With that addressed and out of the way the demigods started discussing different things that had happened around camp. Amd Gawain was amused to find Nico all too willing to talk about a certain cousin of his.
"and why the Hades does he have to be so gorgeous!" Nico exclaimed after an almost five minute tirade about Will’s most attractive features.
Alfred wasn’t trying to eavesdrop on the conversation of some random teens, he really had better things to do. Like focusing on his kids and enjoying this rare opportunity to have lunch with them. But he couldn’t help but snort into his soda listening to the italian rant. It reminded him of another grumpy italian. He coughed slightly when he noticed a few of his older children being less subtle about paying attention. The states gave him sheepish grins and went back to finishing their food. Alfred stole another glance at the teens as he got up to refill his drink and almost froze in his tracks as he relized the other teen was an albino. His heart seemed to jump to his throat for a moment. It had been a long time since he had seen an albino and every one of them seemed to remind him of Gilbert. He scolded himself mentaly and continued his walk to the soda fountain, it had been decades now since Gilbert had faded away. And the general would not have wanted him to get hung up on this. While he was up he took a look at his phone and sighed at the several missed calls from various nations and his boss. It seemed that break time was over, the kids were already done with their food and he could grab some bags and take the rest of his food with him.
Gawain looked up just as the strange man and the kids were leaving. "hey Nico, they are leaving." the albino said craning his neck to watch them leave. He was surprised to see them getting into several nice cars with tinted windows.
"Yeah and? They didn't try to kill us, let's not push our luck." Nico wasn’t looking and had not noticed the cars it seemed. Too preoccupied examining the toys he had gotten with his happy meal.
"Alright then… I guess we should go back to camp before we get in trouble. and by we I mean you. because I’m spoiled." Gawain joked as he got up.
"Wow? Just like that? I half expected you to want to follow them." Nico took only a second to realize what he said but Gawain was already out the door. The idea had sounded good to him. He wasn’t sure why, it was as though Nicos words had confirmed the subtle feeling Gawain had been having to follow the group. “Gawain!” Nico Grabbed his arm before he made it to far. “What are you doing?!” He demanded startled by the dazed look in his friends eyes.
“I…” Gawain watched the cars drive away and struggled to find his voice. “It’s nothing… Lets go back to camp, I don’t feel good.” Gawain suddenly felt drained, and somehow looked even more pale than usual.
“Yeah.. Let’s go.” Nico agreed.