Work Text:
Nico has always been curious about his powers.
Ever since he was a baby the son of Hades was soothed by the presence of the shadows around him. In the quiet of the night the veil of darkness had always given him security. A lot of children were scared of the dark,but Nico? Nico thrived in it even as a child.
Sometimes he had flashes of memory, glimpses of scenarios that danced in his past. Most of them were always accompanied by a fond darkness. His sister didn't like it,Bianca preferred to have little fairy lights in her room before going to sleep. The shadows tried multiple times to snuggle her up in a protective cocoon they did to him,she always screamed at that.
Their mother told him to not worry about it in the nights when her screams became louder. "Children are different,not everyone can like the same thing. Your sister just.....doesn't like the shadows as you do" she told him one night in her sweet tone.
Nico never understood why Bianca was so scared of the dark as a child. They were fun to play with!
(Years later he will share the same thought,knowing better now. Sometimes the darkness doesn't have his best interest.)
So of course,when he found out that some part of his powers concerned the shadows and the darkness,he was thrilled.....as much as he could have been in his situation. Finding out you have powers after running away and feeling the mess of the afterwards of his sister's death wasn't a very good experience.
0 out of 10,Nico would never recommended it.
Another major part of his powers as a child of Hades was the control over the dead. While Umbrakinesis came to him like a second skin,the manipulation of the dead was extremely more taxing. Nico had to put a lot of effort to make sure he didn't kill someone or resuscitated someone.
Thanatos's lessons and his father's teaching were helpful once he manifested it. They helped him to understand better his limits and what he could and couldn't do. It took time but in the end the son of Hades was able to master it,like he did with all the other abilities his half-divine heritage gave him at birth.
Unfortunately that didn't exempt him from continuing to find you things about this powers of his,but Nico was confided enough in his acknowledged. He experimented a lot and took notes of everything he could and couldn't do. He was pretty sure he had covered all the bases.
Apparently he was wrong,because nothing,not even his studies or experiments,could have prepared him for this.
"Say that again?" The son of Hades blinked for the third time at the soul in front of him.
He had been summoning specific souls during the morning on request of his father. Hades gave his son a 5 pages list with ancient names on it and told him to call his name only if something was wrong. Persephone wasn't thrilled on missing their mother-son bonding time,so they had to compromise. Nico didn't know why his dad wanted him to check on so many of them but decided to help regardless.
The problem with doing souls-summonings all morning? The intensive exploitation of his powers usually led to fatigue,and sometimes cause him to slip a bit. Ergo the situation he was in now,in front of a soul that clearly wasn't on the list.
In any normal scenario something like this won't be a problem. Nico would snap his fingers in a gesture of concession and the soul would go away without a problem. In a normal situation. Unfortunately for him this wasn't a normal situation.
"I'm sorry,little one,but I don't think I understood what you are asking of me. Could you please be more specific?" The soul replied,like it was a normal conversation,like its existence didn't made Nico spiral for 5 minutes straight.
The son of Hades was going to kill his dad and then himself after this.
"Could you please repeat your name?" He asked,the knuckles that gripped the list had turned white at this attempt to hide his dread.
The soul looked at him a couple of seconds,clearly feeling that something was wrong with him (Nico prided himself to be extremely difficult to read to others,but in this situation even a blind person could notice that something was wrong). Then,after a time which seemed endless (in reality it was only 15 seconds),the soul spoke the words that made his reality crumble.
"I'm Yehoshua,young one. Just the soul of a humble jewish man."
Yehoshua,the ancient hebrew tongue. The name wouldn't seems recognizable to many,but that's only because the soul in his presence was known with a different transition for the name.
In Greek the name was Ἰησοῦς,in Latin it evolved in Iesus–which is the direct language ancestor of the today modern name the soul was wastly know for. The name of–
"Jesus?" Nico whispered,noticing how the soul in front of him slowly nodded at the name. At the confirmation of what he suspected the son of Hades felt like throwing up.
How in the Hades had he managed to summon Jesus of all the people? How was it even possible in the first place? The guy shouldn't be down there. What the hell was happening? Did his dad know? And Thanatos? Was his family aware of his presence?.....Did this technically counted as breaking the rules that went against communicating with other Pantheons?....Could Jesus even count as a Pantheons since Christianity was a monotheistic religion?
There were too many questions and variabilities to take in consideration,his head was starting to get a bit fuzzy.....but maybe it was also because of of the overusage of his powers.
Oh,Nico was so going to murder his dad (and maybe Thanatos as well) after this. There's no way he was letting this slide,no way.
He looked at the soul in front of him,wishing he could dismiss it (how the hell could he dismiss Jesus? Was that even allowed to? If the priest of that church he went as a child saw them right now he would probably have an heart attack),but given the situation he couldn't.
"Thank you for your answer." He thanked the soul instead,watching the faint pearly vision of a man who was known as the Messiah.
He could feel his stomach twisting the more he looked at the memory of the man in front of him. Jews don't have a biblically concept for the afterlife,and the guy lived in a time where the Middle East was under the romanization of the Empire,so it would make sense for him to be there. After all the Roman Pantheons had a lot of influence and fame because of it and it shaped the idea of an afterlife in those years. And the Greek and Roman Pantheons were intertwined with each other so.....
The more Nico thought about it,the more he wanted to shout his brain down. Sometimes being smart was a pain.
"Am I free to go,young one?" The son of Hades cringed at the wording,an uncomfortable feeling spreading in his stomach.
(It shouldn't be like this. He shouldn't have a power grip on him,that was equivalent to commiting a sin,Nico di Angelo was no sinner. He was....he was.....
What was he? Did he really deserved to be called pure? He wasn't,wasn't it? The priest at his church made it clear years ago. This powerplay was just another sin to add to that list. He could still feel the icy tone and the freezing hands of the man that baptized him. Not good,not good–)
"Little one?"
Nico snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Jes– at the soul in front of him. It was watching,waiting for him to unswer,to do something.
He could feel the bile climb up,with a shaky voice he replied to the soul "Sorry,sorry. I'll....you are free to go now" with a quick snap of his fingers the soul disappeared,leaving behind an almost transparent white smoke curtain.
The son of Hades was alone now in the middle of the empty rock field and sulfuric air.
Answers be damned,he didn't want to know anymore (not until he astonished for his sins. He was dirty,so so dirty,he didn't deserve to–).
His head was fuzzy and his eyes were a bit blurry. He put a hand to his stomach before feeling that disgusting sensation of regurgitation. Nico threw up.
He didn't know how much he stayed there,calming himself down and trying to reacquire a modicum of firmness and grace. Maybe a couple of minutes,maybe hours,maybe more. Time was tricky in the Underworld,even he seldom had difficulty to calculate it,but it was probably enough to allert someone of his absence because he could feel a similar presence coming closer to him.
Who was it?
His dad? Mom? Thantos? Hopefully not Jesus again,his trauma response couldn't take that. Maybe another one of the cthonic Gods that lived near the palace and felt his distress...? The Underworld was shaking a bit after all and the atmophere dropped a little,changing from its normal stillness and calm to accomodate his horrible mood.
He didn't need to take long before he felt a gentle voice and soothing hands held him. The grip was firm but gentle,extremely so,like he was made of glass. The scent of wild flowers and fresh fruits told him everything he needed to know about the identity of his companion.
"Nico?" Persephone's voice was warm,concering spiking out from her usual calm tone. The goddess probably decided to check on him after he didn't return for their mother-son bonding time at the hour they agreed on.
Nico squinted his eyes,focusing on the person in front of him. "Mom?" His vision was getting better at least,he could clearly see the Queen of the Underworld kneeling in front of him.
"Oh my baby...." Persephone brought her hand on his forehead and a a small green light branched out from her palm,spreading on his skin and disappearing soon after. In just a couple of seconds Nico went from feeling horrible to feeling better.
"What happened? Do you want to talk about it?" He shook his head a little,her plam still resting on his pale skin. "....maybe not now...." He was able to say,his voice a bit shaky. His mom looked at him like she was trying to figure out a mistery.
"Alright my child. I do hope you know you are loved here,and that your home and its people care about you. Whanever you are ready,me and your father will be there." Persephone spoke,her tone a lot more gentler than before.
I know.
The two stayed there on the floor a while. Persephone had his head on her lap,stroking his black hair and soothing most of his distress. Nico found himself almost half asleep by the time he felt better.
"Well...I guess you got your bonding moments in the end." His mom laughed at the comment. Nico felt himself relax a bit at the lovely sound. "That is true. Do you want to go back now? I can see that you need sleep."
The idea wasn't bad,and Nico did need sleep. His Jesus-related-breakdown aside,the son of Hades overexhausted himself a lot by helping his dad in the task he gave him this morning (Note to self: Never accept another assignment from him after today's episode,never again),so he kinda needed sleep....kinda.
Nico doubted that sleeping would help his internal religious crisis (...if he could call it that),but his body needed it–he was almost in Hypnos's domain after all. And he suspected that Persephone wouldn't have it another way.
Between the two of them,Nico never understood who was more overprotective. His dad often try to trap him in the palace,so he usually takes the cake,but Persephone had her own moments too. Nico know he couldn't bribe himself out of this.
(But...it was nice knowing they cared now. Their family dynamic didn't start as an healthy one and they didn't become this close until recently. It was good to know there were people that cared enough about him.
Sometimes Nico felt like it was just a delusional dream that helped him cope the harsh reality he lived. He needed to remind himself multiple times a day now that there were people genuinely loving him for being himself.)
He nodded at the goddess,giving her permission to help him stand up. He looked aroung,the soil wasn't shaking anymore and the atmosphere didn't felt as heavy as before.
An improvement in the environment at least.
His steps were slow and a bit shaky,thankfully his mom had one hand wrapped in his arm,firm but gentle,to help him stady himself and walk.
He was still felling horrible,his stomach was still twisted and the back of his mind was killing him,but he was still there. Standing. Going forward. Surviving.
("What's the meaning of this,Maria?! You know that our family has always been faithful to the Catholic Church for decades! And what do you do? You try to teach your children some sorta of...of cultism?
"Mother,I was just trying to help the children understand their father's religion better. They have a right to know!"
"Religion? That's not a religion young lady and you know what very well. We are born and raised christians and we will die as such! This is a catholic houseland,take these things away immediately!"
Why were Grandmother and mother yelleing? They never yell at each other. And why were Grandfather and grandmother looking at him funny now? Nico didn't like funny looks."Stop letting him play that stupid game! It's poisoning your minds!"
"You are such a disgrace for our community. Never,in my life,I would have thought that one of the children of the Di Angelo houseland could turn like....this. You are bringing shame to your family,child,why can't you understand that?!" Cold hands shook him so hard that Nico was sure he was going to have the handprints for days.
He started to cry hard at the pain. "Silent!" One of the hands slapped him,making him stop. "Jesus didn't die so you could go and tarnish his and the Lord's name,you understand that Nico? Do you?! You need to stop sinning,you bad child. The Lord won't save you otherwise.")
Nico went home without looking back.
The next day his father will provide an explanation for the mess that happened today,and him and his parents will have an exhausting heart-to-heart conversation about his not religious trauma (he doesn't have that,thank you very much),but that's a story for another day.
Tomorrow he will worry,today he will rest and hope that his tainted heart will stay silent of his sins.