Chapter Text
I died.
It wasn't glorious, it wasn't quick, and it definitely wasn't painless.
I had just had my sixteenth birthday, and during my first drive with my brand-new license, I flipped my car. I died in excruciating pain, exsanguinating upside-down. So ended the not-so-epic ballad of Max Norris, idiot extraordinaire.
In one moment, I closed my eyes, and in another, I opened them.
When I opened my eyes, I wasn't upside down in the driver's seat of a beat-up Toyota corolla. I was in what seemed to be an especially gloomy castle. The second thing I noticed was that my skin was tan, and my limbs were really short, which definitely wasn't right, seeing as I was black and tall for my age.
I was suddenly hit with a rush of vertigo, and sat down. Was heaven a gloomy whitewashed castle filled with de-aged adults? Was this hell? I really hoped it wasn't.
As I was sitting dazed on the floor, someone knocked on the door.
A female voice rang out, "Nico? Are you ready for the dance? You better not be playing your stupid card game instead of getting dressed."
Nico? Was she talking to me?
A quick glance at my bed revealed a collection of cards and figures spread out over the sheets. I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.
I paused for a moment and responded, "I'm almost ready! Give me five minutes." My voice sounded very young.
I rushed over to my bed, feeling like I was about to throw up. I zeroed in on the cards, and flipped them over, looking for a logo. I prayed it wouldn't confirm what I was fearing. Sadly, in big blocking letters, the words "Mythomagic" stared back at me.
I dropped the cards, and rushed over the wooden door, throwing it open. A olive-skinned girl, wearing a green beret stared back at me, her eyes narrowed.
Oh no. Oh no no no.
"Are you really going to the dance wearing your uniform? It's one of the few days we don't have to be wearing them."
I glanced down, and noted that I was dressed in a gray military-style uniform with red trim. I forced a smile onto my face before responding, "It's comfortable?"
The girl snorted, before grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the exit of the hallway.
I followed along numbly. I compartmentalized the emotions that were threatening to overwhelm me, and listed out the facts.
1) I was pretty sure I was in the Percy Jackson Universe.
I loved the series as a kid, and the sequel series even more. But it was one thing to enjoy it from a literary perspective, and another to live in it. Titans, Giants, Monsters, and primordial beings. All of which wanted me dead. It wasn't a cut-and-dry death world, like Eath Bet, in Worm, but it was definitely dangerous.
2) I was Nico Di Angelo.
I was the son of Hades, one of the big three. That meant that I was an extra tasty snack for monsters, but more importantly it meant that I could theoretically call on a large amount of power. The only problem was that I had no idea how to use said power.
I was pulled from my musings as Bianca and I entered the gymnasium. It was decorated for a school dance, with tables of snack foods and punch lining one side of the gym, and a dance floor in the center. Boys stuck to one side, and girls to the other. It was almost more of a nightmare to be at a middle school dance again than it was to be a demigod. Almost.
Bianca and I headed over to the table with the snacks. She let go of my hand, and grabbed two plates, starting to serve both me and herself, without speaking a word. Bianca's big sister syndrome had driven a rift between the siblings in the books. I decided to nip the issue in the bud. I might be ten years old again, but I certainly didn't want to be babied.
"Bianca! I'm old enough to serve myself!" I exclaimed, taking my plate from her. She looked surprised for a second, before shifting to an annoyed expression.
"Fine," she said snippily, "Just don't come crying to me when you drop your plate."
I continued to serve myself, whilst also surveying the students around me. I was looking for a blond girl and a black-haired boy dancing. Once Percy, Annabeth, and Thalia showed up, things would deteriorate very, very quickly.
Bianca and I moved towards the bleachers with our plates, and sat down before eating.
As I shoved the chips into my mouth, I decided on my course of action. I knew what would happen according to canon, and I didn't have enough information to know if it was an alternate universe or not. I would have to operate as if we were in the canon universe, at least for now.
My short-term priorities would be keeping myself and Bianca alive. She might be annoying and a little overbearing, but she was family now. Moreover, I owned it to the Nico who I had bodyjacked to save her life. I had to either keep her from going on the quest, or forewarn her of the danger. I would have time to cook up a plan on the trip to camp half-blood. For now, I had to focus on the imminent manticore attack. All I had to do was keep us out of line of fire while Percy fought the manticore. Our win condition would be the hunters swooping in to save the day. Then the plot would start in earnest. I was already looking forward to strong-arming Apollo into letting me drive the sun bus. Ignoring the one unfortunate crash, I was a great driver.
"Are you done being a brat?" asked Bianca, turning towards me as we both emptied our plates.
"I wasn't being a brat, I was just trying to make your life easier." I responded, half paying attention to the conversation, and half paying attention to the three demigods, and one satyr, who had just stepped into the gym.
Bianca frowned before responding, "You're ten years old, you don't have to act like an adult. I know I get annoyed, but it's my job to look after you."
I hummed in response, as I watched Dr. Thorn slowly made his way across the gymnasium towards us, while Percy and Anabeth were dancing together in the center of the gym.
"Nico? Are you even listening to me?", Bianca asked, shaking my shoulder.
My response was interrupted as Dr. Thorn walked up to us and placed his hands on the back of our necks, before saying, "Nico, Bianca, I need you to come with me."
Despite knowing this would happen, a shiver went down my spine. Dr. Thorn had an aura of wrongness that surrounded him.
Bianca's protest was cut off as he forcibly steered us out of the door by the bleachers, and into the main entry hall. He then paused, and tilted his head, almost as if he was listening to something, before pushing us forward and moving to the right of the door we had just walked through.
I glanced over at Bianca, and saw that she was frozen with fear. I wasn't feeling much better.
A moment later, Percy burst through the door, brandishing a bronze sword and Doctor Thorn slipped behind him.
Seeing us, Percy lowered his sword slightly, and walked towards us, "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you. My name's Percy, I'm going to take you somewhere safe."
Realizing what was about to happen, I screamed, "Behind you!"
Percy dodged to the right, causing the first projectile to miss. However, he wasn't able to dodge the second one, which pinned him to the wall, piercing through his shoulder.
Doctor Thorn let out a bone-chilling chuckle, as Percy groaned.
"Yes, Perseus Jackson," Dr. Thorn said. "I know who you are."
Then he moved. Before I could even process what had happened, he was behind me. I felt another spike press into the small of my back. Percy immediately froze, dropping the spike that he had pulled from his shoulder.
"Pull another stunt like that, and the child will die." He intoned coldly. ""All three of you will come with me"
He grabbed me by the back of my neck again, and motioned for Percy and Bianca to step in front of me. He then led us out of the hall.
"There is a clearing ahead," Thorn said. "We will summon your ride."
"What ride?" Bianca demanded. "Where are you taking us?"
"Silence, you insufferable girl!" Doctor Thorn growled, twitching the spike that pressed against my back.
I chose to stay silent — antagonizing a monster that was poised to kill me with a twitch did not strike me as the wisest course of action.
As Doctor Thorn continued leading us towards the extraction point, I forced myself to calm down. Panicking would just get me killed quicker. We were mostly following canon, but I was sure that canon Nico was not seconds from impalement. What did I do wrong? I cut off the train of thought before I could spiral. I needed to focus on the present.
What options did I have? I had no weapons, and even though I knew how to box, I was in the body of a kid who was ten. Fighting was decidedly not an option, which left running. The problem was, even if I somehow got distance from Dr. Thorn, I couldn't outrun him or his spikes, and neither could Bianca. I could theoretically shadow travel, but I didn't know how. As we neared the edge of the woods, and walked closer to a cliff, I focused as hard as I could on my own shadow. I could feel it, and the shadows around me. Pushing on it caused no change, but when I tried pulling on it, I felt it pulling back.
I tuned out Dr. Thorn as he monologued at us. I already knew the gist of it — Luke was building an army, blah blah blah. When he finally made us line up on the cliff and face him, I grabbed Bianca's hand, and began lightly pulling on our shadows.
Alright, in theory, if I pulled hard enough, I'd start the process. Finding myself teleported to China, however, would not be ideal. What did they use to apparate in Harry Potter? The three D's — Something, Destination, Defibrillation? No, defibrillation was for a heart attack. Just "Destination" would have to do. I'd pull while focusing on my destination — the shadows of the nearby trees. A bad plan was better than no plan.
When an invisible Annabeth slammed into the three of us, I tightened my grip on Bianca's hand, and pulled as hard as I could on both of our shadows, while thinking of the shadows on the edge of the tree-line we passed through before we reached the cliff. My vision turned to black as the shadows swallowed us.
Shadow-Traveling felt like the dead drop that happens when you ride a rollercoaster, but dialed up to ten. Despite how disorientating it was, Bianca and I safely tumbled out of the shadows cast by the trees, about 100 feet from where we were. I struggled to my feet, ignoring how close I was to throwing up, and pushing the sudden exhaustion I felt aside. From where we stood, we were able to watch as Thalia blocked a swipe from Dr. Thorn's claws with her shield, before dodging backwards, catching his spikes on her shield.
Bianca tugged on my sleeve, having recovered from the vertigo caused by the shadow traveling. I turned my attention from the fight to her, "Are you alright?"
"I'm alright," she said, before our attention was pulled to the newly transformed Dr. Thorn. "What is that?! What is going on?" , she exclaimed.
"A manticore", I whispered back.
"A manti- Why are you so calm?", she demanded back in a furious whisper, matching my volume.
I paused for a second, considering. It was as good a time as any time to play this card.
"I dreamed it," I responded. "I saw this happen in my dreams."
Bianca glanced at me, worry evident on her face, before glancing at the helicopter that was raining down covering fire on the fight, "It feels like we're in a nightmare right now."
"I had another dream too," I responded, making my tone as serious as I could, despite my childish voice. "You were in a junkyard and you died because you stole a figure for me. Promise me that you won't do that. Promise me."
"Nico, what are you tal- ", her response was cut off by the piercing sound of a hunting horn blowing behind us.
Suddenly, we were surrounded by a dozen girls in silver parkas, all armed with bows. They rained down fire on the manticore, intercepting the spikes he launched towards the treeline with arrows.
As they moved past us, towards the fight, I grabbed Bianca's hand, and we slowly followed them, creeping towards the fight, while using them as a shield. I didn't want to risk getting flanked by a non-canon enemy, and in my mind, the safest place for us to be was with the hunters.
As we caught up to the group, I heard the manticore growl out, "If I cannot have these alive, I shall have them dead", before leaping towards Percy and Thalia.
Annabeth intercepted him with a cry, jumping onto his back, and repeatedly stabbing him, forcing the Manticore to abort his leap.
I felt like I was underwater as I heard one of the Hunters scream, "Fire".
The arrows hit the manticore in what seemed like slow motion, one in his neck, and one in his chest. I saw the fear in Annabeth's widening eyes, as the monster staggered towards the cliff edge. I saw as his leg muscles tensed up, preparing to leap backwards. In that moment I didn't think, I didn't weigh the odds, I just moved.
The moment before he jumped, I pulled on my shadow and focused on Annabeth's shadow. Less than a heartbeat later I was next to Annabeth. As Thorn's feet left the ground, I grabbed her leg, and pulled on her shadow, visualizing the shadow by the treeline again. I realized that only she would shadow travel the moment she was pulled into her own shadow, leaving me clinging to the Manticore's leg as we fell off the cliff. I tried to reach for my own shadow, but the sudden wave of exhaustion I felt caused me to black out, with the faces of Percy and my sister peering over the edge being the last thing I saw.