Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a day after Bianca, Percy, Thalia, Grover and Zoë left that Nico was claimed. A symbol of a love-heart with a dove mid-flight in the middle appeared above his head.

“What is that?” Nico asked, pointed to the symbol above his head.

“A claiming symbol,” Silena explained, appearing from behind him, startling him a little. “Your mother is the same as mine. Aphrodite.”

“Aphrodite? Really?” Nico frowned. Being the son of a Goddess of love sounded lame. Why not one of the cooler Gods, like Athena, Zeus, Dionysus or, especially, Ares (what, the God of war was cool, okay).

“Sounds worse than it actually does,” Silena informed him. “Looks like we’re siblings.”

“…Oh yeah,” Nico realised that he was actually going to have proper siblings again. His mind once again wondered back to Bianca. The thought of her hurt more than anything else. Hopefully, these siblings wouldn’t abandon him. Silena continued, “Shall I show you around our cabin?”

“Okay,” Nico said with as much excitement as he could put into his voice. At least he was finally being claimed and not stuck in the Hermes cabin constantly. As he followed Silena, he noticed the Hunters glaring at him with animosity. He knew that they were cautious around men but he had never seen them look with such burning hatred. He also noticed some campers complain about another drama queen being in camp.

“Ignore them,” Silena said. “They don’t know what they are talking about.”

“Okay… sister,” Nico said nervously, wondering if she was comfortable being called that. Silena giggled, “Sister? That makes you sound older than you actually are. You can just call me by my real name or sis.”

“Alright, Silena,” Nico responded. After a short walk, they finally arrived at the Aphrodite cabin. As he entered, he realised that the inside was much larger than the outside. There were sixteen king sized beds, each with their own bed-side lockers and half of them were varying colours. The walls were emerald green and had love hearts and doves as patterns. He also noticed that there were eight private bathrooms. There even appeared to be an upstairs section.

“Cool!” Nico almost shouted in amazement. “You guys are living it up.”

“That’s Aphrodite for you,” Silena said. “She won’t let her children live in squalor. …If only she would visit more often-”

“Mom does, Silena,” a voice drawled. A beautiful Japanese girl walked over to them. She was thirteen with dark hair in ringlets, kaleidoscopic eyes like Silena and all the other Aphrodite children, gold jewellery and a little makeup. “She visits us at least once every fortnight, if not every week, and does her best with all the constraints placed on the Gods by lightning butt.”

Silena visibly froze as if worrying for the girl’s life. Drew laughed, “Come on. He’s probably too busy to deal with us demigods.”

“Who are you?” Nico inquired.

“Nico, this is your new sister, Drew Tanaka,” Silena introduced him. “Drew, this is Nico di Angelo.”

“Di Angelo? Didn’t your sister join those damn Hunters?” Drew asked.

“Yeah, she did,” Nico said resentfully. The memory of her telling him resounded in his mind. He hated her for it. He really did hate her for breaking his heart like that. Nico put on his best smile and said, “Well, at least I’ve got a new family. Hope none of you will join those men haters.”

“Nah, don’t worry about that, Nico,” Drew grinned. “There has never been a child of Aphrodite in all of history that became Hunter of Artemis. We just love love too much.”

Nico grinned. “I wonder what being a child of Aphrodite will be like. What kind of powers do we have?”

“Emotion manipulation,” Silena explained. “That is one of our primary powers. The ability to manipulate emotions to our wills. It’s also why we don’t exactly have the best rep with the camp.”

Nico frowned. He didn’t want to be on anyone’s bad lists yet. Silena continued, “But don’t worry about them. They just get the wrong idea about us. Now, go get your things from the Hermes cabin and then get some sleep. Tomorrow, you’ll be following our schedule.”

Nico did as she asked and put on the grey pyjamas that were one of his few possessions. He instantly received disapproving expressions from Drew and half the other Aphrodite cabinmates.

“Oh, no, those won’t do,” Drew declared as he took his hand and dragged him to a clothes cupboard. She revealed a plethora of clothes that seemed nigh infinite. She looked at him and then pulled out a pair of new pyjamas, ones that looked far better than his. “Go to the bathroom and put these on.”

Nico obeyed and entered the bathroom to get dressed. He knew that the clothes were instantly better. They felt so much more comfortable and, when looking into the bathroom mirror, thought that at least the shirt suited him more. It was dark green but it felt right. Nico looked down to see that the bottoms were black. When he exited, he received approving comments from his half-siblings.

“Much better,” Drew smiled as she headed into a bathroom to get changed too. Nico went over to his bed and flopped onto it. After tucking himself in, he fell asleep, wondering what the next day would bring.

…………

He should have known that the Aphrodite cabin were neat freaks. They loved their items being arranged in an orderly fashion and wouldn’t allow for one of their sibling’s clothes to mix with their own. Nico didn’t have many possessions so maintaining them was easy. The Aphrodite cabin however, would not allow him to have so few possessions.

“What is this?” Nico inquired, staring at the strange device Drew was typing on. Silena was observing, ensuring that Drew didn’t mess with him.

“It’s a laptop,” Silena informed him.

“Never heard of one?” Drew asked teasingly.

“…No,” Nico admitted. Silena and Drew looked ready to laugh before realising how he was being serious.

“Have you heard of the internet?” Silena asked.

“No,” Nico answered, feeling a little embarrassed. Was this something he was meant to know?

“How do you not know about the internet?” Drew demanded.

“I don’t know. I just never heard of it. Heck, I didn’t even know Hitler was defeated until now,” Nico explained. The two girls stared in utter shock. Silena then said, “Let’s focus on that for another day. Too soon to be worried about that right now. Alright, Drew, show him what clothes are available.”

Drew then showed him pictures of clothes that she thought would suit him. She ultimately let him pick what clothes he wanted though, just with some guidance. Some much needed guidance. He had no idea what he was meant to be doing so Drew and Silena’s help was greatly appreciated. They even showed him an option where you could produce custom t-shirts.

“Nice, Nico,” Silena complimented him on one of the custom shirts he wanted. It was dark grey with an emblem of a golden skull with a pink love heart around it. It looked cooler than it sounded. He also bought a few trousers and jeans for himself and even some sports clothes. After that, Silena helped him place the order since he had no legal ID.

“You’re a strange brother, Nico,” Drew remarked. Nico shrugged, remembering how Silena said that was a conversation for another day. Then they waited before a portal appeared and two packages were thrown into the cabin. It closed afterwards.

“Godly mail is so useful,” Drew remarked as she collected the packages of clothes. After opening, she poured the contents onto Nico’s bed. The son of Aphrodite went into the bathroom and got changed, exiting afterwards.

“Damn, Neeks, you’ve got style,” Drew remarked. Nico stared at himself in the mirror and acknowledged her statement as truth. He looked smart yet stylish with his custom t-shirt, black jeans and hair combed in a fringe.

“Thanks, you look cool too,” Nico stated. Drew smiled at the complement. “Mmm, always am.”

Chapter Text

Nico joined Silena and his other new siblings towards the dining pavilion. There was a full buffet selection at the front of it for demigods to choose from. Nico was left baffled. 

"This is all... so much..." Nico murmured. 

"Yeah, well for a camp of hundreds of demigods a lot of food options are needed. Otherwise, there would not be enough food to go around," Silena explained to him. 

"Ah... what should I eat?" Nico asked. 

"Well, you have this large buffet here, why not choose stuff yourself, di Angelo," Drew suggested with a smirk. Nico thought for a moment. He never had done something like that before. Usually Bianca was always there, telling him what and what not to eat, always making sure he had his greens. It was a little annoying, having your older sister act like your mother. 

'Well, she had no choice but to be one!' a voice in his head berated him. Nico winced, reminded of what Bianca had told him before leaving for the Hunters. 

"Okay," Nico said with his usual smile. He let his other siblings go ahead so that he would be last. He started out by putting a few sausages on his plate, then some bacon, then toast, hash browns, eggs, beans and several other food items. 

He arrived at the Aphrodite table with a mountain of food on his plate and two glasses of milk. Silena gasped while Drew just giggled at the ridiculous sight. 

"Uh, Nico... have you ever been taught about portions?" Silena inquired. 

"...Not really. Bianca always chose what I ate. I don't think she knew what she was doing either. It either always felt like too little or too much food at meals," Nico informed them. 

"Well, there's no way you can eat all that, unless you want to become fat," Drew teased. 

"No! Of course not!" Nico protested. He knew about the health issues that came with it. Also, he felt like someone had always warned him against overeating. ...His mother (his mortal one at least)? He could not even remember her. Then again, maybe he was getting a memory of his mortal mother mixed up with his Godly mother, Aphrodite. 

"Then, you need to learn how to portion properly. I'll teach you today but tomorrow, I want you to try it out yourself okay?" Silena said firmly but with a kind edge to it. 

"...Okay," Nico replied. Silena then proceeded to take half of Nico's food, and plop it on her plate, digging in afterwards. Drew stared at her incredulously. "You aren't sharing any of it with the rest of us?"

"No, I'm hungry," Silena explained as she shoved a piece of pancake into her mouth. Nico proceeded to eat the food on his plate. His siblings were surprised by his table etiquette, seeing as how it was better than most of theirs. 

"I just know it, I guess," Nico said plainly.

"Probably a trait from your mortal mother," Mitchell, another child of Aphrodite, reasoned. Nico nodded in agreement and returned to his food. Silena had been right. After Nico ate he was stuffed. If he had eaten the other half of his food, he probably would have vomited it all.

“I don’t want to be your mother anymore!”

Nico closed his eyes involuntarily again. There it was. That one line Bianca had yelled at him once she had left him for the Hunters. At the time, Nico had protested it. She didn’t have to mother him, he was fine! She didn’t always have to be his guide on what to eat and when to sleep and who to talk to, he would have been fine! At least that was what he had thought at the time. Now, though, with the number of mistakes he was making, Nico was unsure of what he had argued before.

Nico shook his head. He could not allow this to go on! He had to be independent. He had to know what was right and wrong and what to do and what not to do. Because if he didn’t… what if his new family got tired of him too?

“Di Angelo, you okay?” Drew inquired. “Why’d you shake your head like that? You tired?”

“Uh… yeah, yeah that’s it,” Nico replied. Silena narrowed her eyes, probably not believing him in the slightest. Fortunately, she chose not to pursue the topic for now. Nico continued hesitantly, “…Thanks for helping me out with the food. You were right, I took way too much.”

“It’s alright. You’re still only ten years old. You’ve still got a lot to learn. Trust me on that,” Silena said with a warm smile.

"Wait a minute, I feel like I had a mortal mother yet Aphrodite is a Goddess. How can a woman have a child with a woman?" Nico asked curiously. 

"Oh, Gods, I hate this question..." Drew muttered. 

"Yeah, well at least you don't have to answer it," Silena growled. She had been designated by her whole cabin as the one to explain how Aphrodite's kids are born, something that was always awful. There were two siblings that were older than her yet they still let Silena handle it, something that caused her to feel betrayed, jokingly of course. "Okay, uh Neeks, can I call you that?"

"Sure."

"Gods I wish you were in a rambling mood,” Silena muttered sombrely. “…Okay, uh, you know where babies come from, right?”

“Yeah, learned it from biology at Westover… and seeing many, many people at the hotel Bianca and I were in making out. It was an… interesting time,” Nico replied, causing everyone at the table to stare at him with concern in their eyes. 

“…That’s something to unpack later,” Silena continued. “Anyways, so you know that a man and a woman need to… procreate to have a baby, right.”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well, think that but with a woman and a woman,” Silena summarise plainly. Nico stared in surprise. That… sounded confusing.

“How does that even work? Doesn’t it require a man’s and woman’s… cells to make it work?”

“Uh… how do I put this… you know how Aphrodite was born, right?”

“Yeah, from the non-consensual union of Ouranos and Thalassa. Ouranos’ balls fell into the ocean and his sperm mated with the sea to produce Aphrodite. Why?”

“Well… since Aphrodite was primarily conceived from Ouranos’… DNA… she can also produce sperm.”

Nico just stared in disbelief. “Heh?”

“Yeah, it’s weird but basically our Mom can have sex with someone and it can go two ways. Either she produces the sperm or she produces the egg cells. That means that when she mates with a woman, she can impregnate that woman, so to speak.”

“…Why?”

“Well, when Ares found out about her sleeping with other men, he got pissed. This caused him to sleep with and have relationships with other women, hence why the Amazons exist and why Ares has so many daughters in mythology. Surprisingly, Ares is a good partner and a good parent, despite him being the god of bloody war and bloodlust.”

“Hey, he’s also the protector of women!” Nico pointed out.

“Gods you are such a mythology nerd. You should hook up with the Athena cabin sometime,” Drew joked, causing Nico to go a little red in the ears.

“Moving on, so after all this, they had a massive bout with one another-”

“Good. Cheaters get what’s coming to them,” Nico said with confidence. That was one of the biggest lessons he had been taught, never cheat on your partner. Aphrodite had done so with Hephaestus by choosing Ares and, apparently, had done more of it.

“Oh, they’re divorced,” Drew told him plainly. “Like, ages ago. Their marriage was kind of shit anyways. Hephaestus just claimed her as his wife and Zeus went along with it so no one else would vie for her. It’s not her fault she’s the most beautiful Goddess in the world.”

“Oh, never-mind then. Continue.”

“So, after their massive bout,” Silena kept explaining, “they both had an ultimatum where they had to choose each other or get divorced. They chose each other and decided on a system. They would essentially be allowed to sleep with whoever they wanted so long as they were the same gender as each other. For example, Ares would have to sleep with another man and Aphrodite would have to sleep with another woman. Since both were bisexual, they liked this condition. Ares has his children through the same method as Athena, through combining his and his mate’s thoughts and producing a child from them, while Aphrodite would use the process I just explained to you. So, that is the story of why Aphrodite sleeps with women, why you most likely had a mortal mother, and why Clarisse has two Dads. Any questions?”

“…No,” Nico replied, feeling offput by the conversation he had just been victim too, his mind trying to process how what they said would biologically work. In the end, he just settled it in his mind as ‘Godly magic’ and left it be.

After they finished eating, they headed over to the training arena for sparring practice. They spent hours trying to find a sword or any weapon that Nico felt comfortable with but failed. They literally tried every sword, dagger, crossbow and bow and other types of weapons but none worked. Then, Drew advised Nico to pray to his mother. Believing in Drew’s judgement, he did.

“Oh, Aphrodite, I know I have just learned that you are my mother and I swear that I will make an offering to you after this, but please grant me a sword that will best suit me,” Nico prayed. Silena stared at him and Drew as if they had gone mad.

“Are you both insane!?” Silena demanded. “You can’t just demand stuff like that from the Gods-”

She was cut off as a dove flew from the sky. It was majestic, its feathers mostly white but with pink tips. It dropped off two items before flying off.

Nico picked them up. One was a celestial bronze sword with an engravement of a heart in it. There was also a sheathe for it that Nico quickly put the blade into. He noticed a button on the side of the sheathe and, upon pressing it, the blade shot out of its sheathe, luckily hurting no one.  

“Ah, a quickdraw mechanic,” Silena noted amusedly, showing him her own sword. “Mine has that too. And I have a dagger too.”

Silena showed him the dagger on the right of her belt.

“Cool, do your blades do anything else!?” Nico asked enthusiastically.

“Nah, hers can’t but mine can,” Drew told him as she pulled out her crossbow. It looked like it was made out of a bone of some kind and it appeared to not have any way to load arrows into it.

“Mine’s made of dragon bone, bone that was harvested by the dreaded Fire Fang,” Drew told him. “It’s basically like a pistol only once a bullet makes contact it sets the target on fire. Plus, I can extinguish the flames on command if I accidentally hit one of my friends.”

“Fire Fang? I’ve never heard of him from the myths,” Nico said in confusion.

“He’s one of the unrecorded creatures from our world,” Silena explained. “The mortals can’t cover everything from our mythology and stopped a long time ago. Time still carries on, though, and things, naturally, change. New monsters are born, demigods do unimaginable feats and only we get to learn about them.”

“Whoa, that’s so cool!” Nico exclaimed. It felt so exclusive, being a demigod. He got to have all this info that no one else would. It was amazing. “Also, our mom must care about us a lot to give us weapons like this.”

“Yeah, that’s why we’re the second least affected cabin by the monsters,” Silena explained. “The third least impacted is the Hecate cabin and the first is the Demeter cabin. The difference between us cabins is that we are gifted weapons, Hecate’s cabin has resources and the natural ability to manipulate the mist, while Demeter’s is focused on power.”

“Power? What do you mean?” Nico asked curiously.

“Let’s just say that Percy and his water manipulation powers have got nothing on Katie’s ability to summon giant venus fly traps,” Drew told him with a smirk.

“Whoa, so we really are lucky. What about Ares, though? I thought his cabin would be in the top three for least affected by monsters.”

“Well, Ares kids do get weapons directly from Ares’ armoury, like Clarisse and her electric spear,” Silena began, “but the issue is that Ares kids actively try and seek out monster who are harming innocents rather than being given quests to.”

“Really? Wow,” Nico said in amazement. Ares kids sounded awesome.

They soon entered the arena and started practicing with their weapons. Chiron, taught fighting manoeuvres and stances. They then practiced each stance and each move respectively.

Nico was tempted to ask his sisters for help. He was genuinely confused and had no idea what to do. He didn’t know why he was struggling so bad with some of the stances and moves. But then the breakfast incident came to mind and then he realised something.

‘I need to stop relying on them for everything,’ Nico thought. He knew they were supposed to be his sisters and help him out but he couldn’t pester them over every little thing. He had to know how to do some things without their guidance. So, Nico went to the centaur and asked for a little guidance. Once he got it, he tried again and was finally able to perform a sword trick he had been particularly struggling with. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Silena staring at him in approval, just for a moment. After that, though, the rest of the lesson went smoothly. But as he performed a particularly complicated sword technique, he thought to himself, ‘Was this how Bianca felt? Was I really this dependent on her? Why was I like that?’

‘I don’t want to be your mother anymore!’ The words once again echoed in Nico’s skull. Now, though, now he saw some truth to them.

The lesson finished after two hours and Nico was left a little sweaty from the last hour, which involved practicing his sword technique on a dummy. It was a test of seeing how much he had learned and his endurance.

“Nice work, Nico,” Silena told him, patting him on the back.

“Thanks, guys,” Nico replied.

“Ah, well this is surprise,” a female voice called out. Nico saw a group that instantly caused his blood to boil. They were in their late teens and wore silver jackets, had silver bows and quivers and they even glowed with a silvery aura like moonlight. It was the Hunters of Artemis. The new de-facto leader of them, Amelia, a nineteen year old with dark hair and brown eyes, continued, “Children of Aphrodite training. I thought you lot just hung out by the lake, talking with nymphs and filed your nails or something else that is unimportant.”

“Fuck off, Amelia,” Silena growled.

“Ooh annoyed, are we? Must be pissed that we beat you at capture the flag, huh? That’s what you get for putting your reliance on things such as love and men.”

“Well, what can I say, at least we have lives rather than just spending an eternity hunting monsters and frolicking in the woods probably banging each other,” Silena said with a smirk. Amelia and most of her group grew furious at that comment while a few looked… flustered and shy?

“You dare insult us!” Amelia growled, drawing her bow.

“Yeah, how could you!?” one of the previously flustered Hunters yelled, a blonde with her hair cut short and emerald green eyes.

“Interesting to hear that criticism coming from you, considering it was you and the girl beside you who I saw kissing,” Silena pointed out, gesturing to the blonde teen and the woman beside her a twenty year old who had long red hair, brown eyes and appeared to be rather muscular. “Also, why are you all looking like young adults or late teenagers now? When you girls came here you were all between ten to fourteen.”

“A safety precaution around untrustworthy men,” Amelia told her. “No normal person wants to have sex with a ten- or fourteen-year-old.”

Silena, Drew and Nico nodded in understanding. It gave an implication of the lives these girls led that Nico did not want to know about. It kind of made him feel bad for them. Amelia continued, “More importantly, Corinna, Claire, is what the daughter of Aphrodite said true!?”

Corinna, the muscular girl, demanded, “I- how did you know, Beauregard!?”

“I didn’t. I just tricked you into confessing,” Silena said with a smirk, causing Claire, the blonde, to blush while Corinna growled. “Why you-”

“Enough!” Amelia exclaimed, turning to her two Huntresses, her tone still harsh. “You two, why didn’t you tell us?”

The two Hunters shifted uncomfortably but Claire finally summoned the courage to say, “We… we didn’t want to leave the Hunters. We like it with you guys and we know you disapprove of relationships and-”

“Sheesh, relax guys, you realise that this group of Hunters just swears off men, right? We have nothing against women and women being together,” another Hunter, one who appeared to be a nymph with blue hair, said.

“What about the vow of eternal maidenhood?” Corinna asked.

“That’s just for our tier of Hunters and that means no marriage, not no sex,” Amelia told them, gesturing to the nymph Hunter who just spoke. “Her and I have been together for centuries. And the one behind me,” she gestured to the Dryad with dark green skin, “were together before that.”

The two girls looked at each other and then at their fellow Hunters, ashamed and embarrassed. It was evident that they, in fact, did not know that.  

“Well… uh… I’ve only been on the Hunters of Artemis for eight years!” Corinna argued.

“Yeah, and it was only five for me,” Claire added. Amelia smacked her head, her palm resting on her forehead. “Young blood, always the dumbest of the bunch.”

“Hey!” both Hunters yelled in protest but the other disapproving glares they got told them one thing, they were idiots.

“Wait, you girls allow relationships?” Drew asked. “And you have other groups.”

“Yes, we do,” Amelia responded. “We even have groups which allow men to join us. We just happen to be the group of women only who don’t like men near us because of… personal reasons.”

Silena, Drew and Nico all winced at that. Nico knew of those personal circumstances. He had seen it at the hotel he had been placed in alongside Bianca. He had once seen a woman being sexually assaulted by someone and he had yelled for help. Luckily, they broke up the fight and dragged the man away. Nico didn’t know what happened to him after that. He had never told Bianca about that incident and he wasn’t planning on telling anyone anytime soon.

It was then that another thought popped into his head, something that should have instantly set off warning alarms.

“Wait, you guys are faggots?” Nico asked, something fearful building up in his mind. They were gay. They were gay like him and he knew what happened to gay people. He honestly felt relieved when everyone present stared at him in shock and anger. At least they would be accepting of these girls.

“NICO!” Silena exclaimed in shock. “That is not a word we use to describe peo-”

Corinna marched forward, fists clenched as Amelia tried dissuading her from meeting her target, arguing that Nico was still a naïve child who may have been raised wrong. Corinna barged past Silena and Drew and loomed over Nico.

“Listen kid,” Corinna growled, “I don’t know what kind of parents you had, or what kind of people you were around. I personally hope it is just some of those Hermes bastards putting words in your mouth. But if you say that word to my face one more time-”

“Listen, that’s not important right now!” Nico whispered, glancing around to see if anyone else would have heard this conversation, anyone who would have seen this act of lesbianism that was not as accepting as the women around him. Luckily, there wasn’t. “You need to get out of here now. I’m a faggot like you and I need you to understand that it is not safe for you here.”

“Eh?” Corinna asked, now genuinely confused. Nico felt a little insulted. Here he was, revealing a secret that could cause him to suffer a fate worse than death and all she could say was that!? It didn’t matter. Nico may not remember much of his past but he did remember a few things. Like how homosexuality was unacceptable by most of society. He continued, “If the wrong people here about you and your friend’s relationship, they’ll send you to the camps.”

“Camps?” Corinna inquired, even more confused. Nico stared at her in disbelief. Was this woman that detached from reality!?

“The concentration camps! You know, like Auschwitz! The ones where Jews, prisoners of war, gypsies and gay people like us are sent if we don’t hide!? You need to get to a safe place. Ask your friends to take you to the hotel I stayed at. I think it’s safe there for those like us because I saw men make out with men sometimes so-”

“Kid,” Corinna put a finger to his lips, silencing him. “I am only going to ask this once. What the fuck are you talking about!? What year do you think it fucking is!?”

“It’s… uh… ooh, 1941 or something!” Nico exclaimed while beaming. Corinna searched his face to see if he was joking, only to grow disturbed when she saw that he wasn’t. Silena and Drew looked concerned too.

“You’re from… 1941, Nico?” Silena asked.

“Uh, it’s the year we are in right now, duh,” Nico pointed out as if it were obvious.

“No, Nico we aren’t, we-” Drew began before Amelia butted in. “Child, you mentioned a hotel you were staying at. What hotel was this?”

“The… Lotus Hotel and Casino,” Nico recalled. Everyone’s faces grew pale as if they all realised something. Suddenly, all that Nico had just said made sense. Silena then spoke, “Nico… it’s not 1941. It’s 2022. You’ve been in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, a place that causes time to be distorted, for around eighty years."

Chapter Text

“…Huh?” Nico asked, his world practically crumbling around him. He had been in that casino… for eighty-one years. If what his sister was saying was true, then he should be ninety-one years old. There was no way that could be possible. Also, there was nothing mentioned about some hotel like that in the ancient myths.

Then, something jogged his memory. ‘Lotus’. Lotus…

“Is- is that hotel the Lair of the Lotus Eaters?” Nico asked, remembering it from the Odyssey. According to the text written by Homer, Odysseus and his crew wound up on the island and the lotus eaters offered them lotus flowers. The crew then ate said flowers and started to lose interest in returning home, wanting to stay on the island where the lotus flowers were forever. Odysseus and his crew did manage to escape, but it was still an experience that, in a way, would have cost him his life.

“Huh, smart kid,” Corinna commented.

“Duh, he’s our little brother,” Drew remarked. “Bet you girls had to figure it out the hard way.”

“Drew!” Silena exclaimed, butting in before the Hunters of Artemis could start arguing back. “Now is not the time. Let’s focus on Nico right now, okay?”

“Fine. Yes, Nico, you were trapped in the Lair of the Lotus Eaters,” Drew explained.

“But- but the myths didn’t say anything about them distorting time. At least, from what I read. I should be old and wrinkly right now. Not that I’m complaining about looking young, but how is the casino doing that?”

“Times change, Nico,” Silena informed him bitterly. “Gods change for the better or worse, evolving at their own rates. Monsters and certain magical items do as well, especially the lotus flowers owned by the lotus demons.”

“Lotus demons. Is that the term for Lotus Eaters?” Nico asked.

“Yes, mostly to give a distinction between victims and the perpetrators of the lotus flower addiction,” Amelia chimed in. “The Lotus demons and their magic evolved. They warp people’s perspective of time but also warp time itself so as to rapidly decrease the aging of those who wind up in their layer. You could only age a month after over a century and you would think only a year has passed as well. We never cross that place, for doing so would mean being locked away in that place forever, being used as food.”

“Wait, what!?” Nico expclaimed, surprised since he did not remember anything in the Odyssey describing the lotus demons as maneaters.

“Yeah, they feed on the life force of its prisoners, draining them so they can increase their power and nourish themselves yet not so much that they cause a person to die or would take ages to recover and take away a food source for them. They are gluttonous things,” Silena informed him.

“A sinful act,” Nico agreed. Gluttony was one of the seven deadly sins for a reason. It was also a sin that Nico should have known about when choosing his breakfast… damn he really was dependent on other people, wasn’t he? Then he realised something, “So… the reason I’m not ninety years old and wrinkly is because-”

“The Lotus Hotel and Casino kept you alive and prevented you from aging. All the while, demons were feeding off of your life force,” Claire told him. “Don’t worry, though, your soul is fine. They won’t drain enough to permanently damage it. That would mean you produce less substance for them to devour.”

Nico hugged himself as a form of comfort. Ninety years it had been since he had entered the casino. The world which he came from no longer existed, or rather, had evolved far beyond anything he could have imagined. That was why people looked at him like he was crazy when he asked about what an iPhone was. That was why the vehicle that drove him and Bianca to Westover looked so… strange to him. That was why there was just so much that he did not know. He came from another time, one which would now be heavily outdated.

“So… is Hitler dead?” Nico asked.

“Yeah, he died in 1945. Allegedly by suicide. In reality, Hades came and personally set hellhounds on him. His death was actually recorded on Godly video so you can watch it if you want a few laughs,” Drew told him.

“Gods knows I have,” Corinna added.

“Is… is homosexuality illegal, still?” Nico asked, hoping that question would not give him the answer he was expecting. He had practically outed himself as being gay to someone. If they accidentally told someone he would be-”

“It’s legal,” Claire reassured him. “So legal that the word ‘faggot’ is seriously offensive.”

“Wait, really?” Nico beamed, before something jogged his memory. “Does… God hate homosexuality?”

“Nah, God’s love reaches all,” Corinna explained. “And besides, he’s not our God. Our Gods are people like Athena, Zeus and Apollo, all of whom are at least bisexual.”

“Eh?” Nico asked, confused.

“Oh, right you wouldn’t know,” Silena chimed in. “Bisexuality is where someone loves both men and women.”

“That can happen?” Nico asked.

“Oh, boy, we’ve got a lot to tell you about,” Drew noted.

“You know, you are taking this news a lot better than I thought you would, Nico,” Silena noted.

“You can call me Neeks. But it’s fine. I don’t have memories of my life during that time and this time doesn’t seem as bad. Hitler is dead and homosexuality is legal. What could be better.”

“That’s the spirit Neeks!” Drew complimented him with a smirk, giving him a high five.

“Are you gay yourself, Nico di Angelo?” Corinna asked curiously. Nico froze. It felt wrong to confess how he felt about boys, as if it were sinful. But, then again, this was a world in which homosexuality was legal and people like Hitler, who would gladly send him to a concentration camp, was dead. And besides, Corinna was right. His Gods were different to the one he knew of.

“…Yes, I am,” Nico said hesitantly, immediately ducking his face out of shame and fear. He waited for everyone to gang up on him, to call him slurs and to hate him for the rest of their lives… only for two comforting hands to be placed on his shoulders by his sisters.

“Thank you for trusting us with that information,” Silena told him.

“Yeah, it takes strength, even in these days,” Drew complimented him.

“…Thank you,” Nico said in relief, glad that he still had sisters. “Thank you for accep-”

“Hallelujah!” Corinna exclaimed. Claire was also celebrating by high fiving her girlfriend, earning confused stares from the other Hunters and children of Aphrodite. “Another one!”

“Uh, what?” Nico asked, befuddled.

“Don’t you see, you are the perfect male. Gay men are never interested in women!” Claire exclaimed joyfully. Nico recoiled, hoping they could keep their mouths shut.

“Uh, ladies, maybe we-” Nico began before Corinna exclaimed, “YES! Another gay boy in our wake! Another boy who won’t be interested in women like us!”

Nico froze in terror, instantly wrapping his arms around himself. Did Corinna really just yell that!? Did Corinna really just tell everyone in the damn amphitheatre that he was gay!? Nico looked around and saw that there were Hermes, Aeolus and Nemesis campers too, all staring in shock. Did they think he was a freak?

Meanwhile, Corinna and Claire had finished celebrating… and had just realised the gravity of their actions.

Hunters of Artemis, their sisters, were staring at them in disbelief and crossness. Some had their fists clenched in anger. Corinna could not fault them in the slightest.

“Like I said before!” Amelia yelled loud enough for the whole amphitheatre to hear. “Young blood are always the dumbest of the bunch!”

Her eyes were like daggers as they bore into them. Claire shrunk back in fright while Corinna just accepted that she had majorly messed up. How could she be so idiotic as to out someone, something that could be so traumatising and dangerous at the same time? She had taken away his control over how he told others, over how long it would take for him to be ready to confess to others one day that he was gay. She knew that fear all too well, and was gobsmacked at her stupidity for putting someone through that same pain.

“…Nico, if you want to punch me, do it now,” Corinna told him.

Nico, however, was just taking deep breaths, calming himself down. Silena and Drew were giving him reassurances that no one cared about him being gay. Upon inspecting the crowd, he realised that his sisters were correct. All eyes were on Corinna and Claire, angry eyes filled with rage on his behalf. It felt… empowering to know that so many were on his side.

“No, I won’t,” Nico told them, surprising everyone in the crowd. Silena and Drew glared at him in surprise… and also sadness. Nico elaborated, “I won’t do it because your sisters look like they want to spend some quality time with you.”

Corinna and Claire both gulped as they realised that their sisters were converging on them.

“Uh, wait, we can talk about this,” Claire tried pleading her case.

“Uh, yeah, we can,” Corinna added. Sure, she knew she deserved it but her sisters hit hard when motivated. Also, the beating they would give them would not count as a battle so the Hunters could beat them up all they liked. Corinna and Claire tried retreating but were met with two fists. One collided into Corinna’s face and one into Claire’s stomach, knocking both women down. The perpetrators, Silena and Drew, both with wide smiles on their faces.

“Oh, that felt good,” Drew said.

“Yeah… I can’t believe Nico nearly cost us this opportunity,” Silena remarked.

'Ah, so that explains why they were sad,' Nico thought. 

The two girlfriends rolled on the ground in pain before their Hunter sisters picked them up. Immediately the girls tried pleading for mercy, but it didn't work. They were dragged away, literally kicking and screaming with some Hunters wearing smirks of satisfaction. 

“Don’t worry, we will handle our sisters appropriately,” Amelia assured them whilst cracking her knuckles. She soon joined her sisters, looking ready to deliver the beatdown of the century.

“…That is the most I have ever respected Artemis’ Hunters in my life,” Drew noted.

“Yeah, same here,” Silena said, before refocusing her attention on Nico. “Are you okay, Neeks?”

Nico thought for a moment. Yes, he had been outed but he hadn’t gotten the reactions he had been expecting. No one from the crowd had come to pick on him for being gay, nor come to pity him for being outed. They just went back to what they were doing. It was as if nothing had happened in the first place.

“…Yeah, I think I am,” Nico said, confidently.

…………

The day had soon come to an end. Nico had had an amazing time. Despite the outing incident, he found himself settling back into the rhythm of the Aphrodite cabin. They had this easy-going energy that made him forget about all the bad things that had happened in the day.

Arts and crafts had been amazing, kayaking had been amazing despite the children of minor ocean deities obviously having a homefield advantage, and learning the new myths had been amazing. There were so many tales of heroes from the past that were not known to the rest of the world as a result of the mist, ones that came after the falls of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.

They were contained in this large library the size of a shopping centre, like the Trafford Centre in Manchester. Nico enjoyed reading through each and every one of them, memorising each one as best as he could. He must have some kind of photographic memory to recall all of what he read.

‘All those heroes, all those monsters… the world really has changed in more ways than one,’ Nico thought to himself. He hoped Bianca was okay. He hoped she would come back home so he could prove that he could change, that he could be less dependent on her.

It was something he discovered about himself. Whenever he struggled with something, he would turn to his sisters. But after his last conversation with Bianca, he noticed that they were struggling with their own work too. So, instead of pestering them, he did what he should have done and asked the teacher for help. In the case of arts and crafts, it was an adult son of Apollo, fifty years old.

However, then then realised that he began asking the teacher too many questions so, he decided to rely on his own judgement. To his surprise, those occasions had been successes. When he struggled with rowing, he saw what other people were doing and imitated them. When he saw what other kids were doing with their pot-making, he applied that same technique while using his own judgement, allowing him to find success. He even won a mini pot making competition that won him one hundred drachmas. All because he used his own instinct.

‘I really depended on Bianca too much,’ Nico noted to himself as memories flashed in his mind, memories that now held Bianca struggling just as much as he was and having to be an anchor to him, like with the curriculum at Westover. Nico refused to let that happen again.

Now it was dinner. Nico had taken a more sensible portion of food this time. He walked past the Artemis cabin and noticed two were absent, Claire and Corinna.

‘They aren’t dead, are they?’ Nico thought to himself as he headed over to the Aphrodite table.

“Hey, Neeks, not going to stuff yourself like a turkey anymore?” Drew teased.

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Nico said before sticking out his tongue at her.

“Oh, so childish.”

“I am a child.”

“Still, so immature-”

“Guys, quit it,” Silena ordered, sending both of them warning glares. They immediately shut up. Silena could definitely be terrifying when she wanted to be. They talked while eating, a lot. They discussed the latest gossip, like how Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner should get together already. Nico doubted Travis stood a chance at getting together with her, but it was his funeral. Then Mitchell brought up how handsome Percy was and he suddenly became the centre of attention. Even Nico found himself chiming in. After all, he did have a crush on Percy.

“Ugh, so does everyone on this table. Get a room, Neeks,” Valentina remarked.

“Well, not everyone, Silena has a crush on a certain son of Hephaestus,” Drew reminded everyone, causing Silena to blush so much that she turned red like a tomato.

“Shut up, Drew,” was all she could mutter in response.

“Oh, come on, Silena, just ask him out already,” Nico said. “It’s painful to watch you both circle around each other. Just kiss already.”

“Not you too, Neeks. I thought you would keep out of this stuff,” Silena groaned. Everyone burst into laughter. Nico loved his new family. He loved his sisters and his brothers. They were all so… close.

Silena then noticed something, something which Nico had been struggling with. Cutting steak. He had never had steak before and, therefore, had no idea what the technique for it was.

“Hey, Neeks, you need a hand?” Silena asked.

“No thanks, I can do it,” Nico said, despite knowing it was a losing battle. Cutting through the meat was difficult and the fat didn’t make it any better.

“You sure, because your technique sucks,” Drew remarked.

“I can do it. I don’t need help,” Nico responded. Silena raised an eyebrow. “Something’s going on with you, spit it out.”

“What!?” Nico asked incredulously, secretly wishing that his sister wasn’t so emotionally perceptive. “I’m fine-”

“Neeks, talk,” Silena said more sternly. Nico sighed. “I just… don’t want to depend on you for everything.”

His entire table stared at him in confusion and he elaborated, “Look, I depended on Bianca for everything alright. So much so that I didn’t pay attention to how much she was struggling with stuff too. Now that she’s with the Hunters I realised I was being overly dependent on you guy like I was with her. My first instinct was to always go to you… but I also saw you struggling with the same things I was. Today is the first time I’ve realised this about myself and… I think it’s why Bianca left me too.”

His siblings’ eyes were filled with sympathy. Nico wished they didn’t. He shouldn’t be sympathised with for something as ridiculous as this. “I… I need to be able to do things on my own. I’ve been trying and I’ve actually been succeeding in most cases. Sure, I’ve asked some teachers questions but that’s about it. I’ve learned not to depend on others and use my own brains to do stuff-”

“Nico, do you blame yourself for your sister leaving?” Silena inquired earnestly.

“I mean how could I not? If I wasn’t so dependent on her then I-”

“Nico, you are a child,” Drew reminded him. “You said so yourself, remember.”

“Yeah but-”

“No buts,” Silena intervened sincerely. “You are a child. Even more than that, you are a child with no apparent memories of your past, knowing no one but us and Bianca, and from an entirely different time period. You were confused, lost, and so you clung to the one person who felt safe, Bianca. Sure, you may have overdone it but you were scared. Bianca was a source of stability for you, even if she herself was as lost as you. You should not blame yourself for being confused in a world that technically was not yours.”

“…You have a point,” Nico relented, feeling some guilt lift from his chest.

“She always does,” Mitchell commented.

“Got that right,” Silena continued. “I won’t deny that what you were doing was wrong either. You’ve been relying on yourself for things and tried looking for support from others, like the staff at this camp. You are on the right track to becoming independent in that case. However, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask us for help if there is no alternative. We are your siblings, and siblings take care of each other. Sure, we fight, we argue but above it all we care about one another. So, if you struggle with something and there is no one else to help you, or you can’t figure out how to do it on your own, don’t be afraid to come to us for help.”

Nico felt a few tears fall, a heavy weight lifted from his shoulders and his chest relaxing. Hearing from someone that it was not his fault for chasing his own sister away… felt so good. It felt so relieving to not feel this guilt anymore.

“Thanks you guys,” Nico said as he dried his eyes. 

“You’re welcome, dumbass,” Drew said while ruffling his hair. “Now don’t let yourself be caught up in those stupid thoughts of yours again, alright. If you do, I’ll beat them out of you in the training amphitheatre.”

“Yeah, good luck at that. You’re more of a long range combatant. Meaning that you suck when up close,” Nico retorted with a smirk. 

“Yeah, well, you’ve only been here for a few days, meaning that I can whoop your ass, di Angelo,” Drew responded. For a moment, there was silence. Then, the table burst into laughter again. Nico then made the decision to lob some food at her, a piece of steak landing in her hair. From there, chaos reigned. Drew immediately started lobbying mac’n cheese at her siblings. Mitchell then threw broccoli at Nico and Drew, yelling at them to ‘suffer at the hands of the demon vegetable’. …He really hated his vegetables. Silena had tried to keep them all under control but then Valentina had thrown a whole bowl of curry at her, covering her with it. From there, it was war.

‘Yeah,’ Nico thought, as the harpies tried to intervene but two of his siblings used their ability to manipulate emotions to make them attack each other, resulting in them joining their little brawl, intensifying it. ‘I’m glad I have this family.’