𝘏 𝘌 𝘓 𝘓 ' 𝘚 𝘎 𝘈 𝘛 𝘌 «𝔡𝔲𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔬𝔫𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔡𝔯𝔞𝔤𝔬𝔫𝔰»

●︎ 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙚

Collapse felt imminent; looming and destructive like a raging inferno consuming a dying forest from the roots to the withering branches extended to the skies in a cry for help. She had wanted to scream in frustration, to lash out with teeth and claws and tear into something—anything—just to force the pain out of her. She wanted to feel blood, preferably her own, to feel the heat of the metallic liquid down her skin. Anything to remind her that she was alive; something to tell her that she was miraculously still standing and breathing because she felt like a walking corpse stealing air that wasn't meant to be hers. She was on the verge of exploding, letting her anger consume her in an instant in order to simply dry up and disappear.

And yet he stood before her with his arms extended, brown eyes wide, dark brows furrowed as if he were trying to calm a feral animal moments away from tearing his throat out. The mountain of his body had trapped her in place, yet she knew he had not done so to corner her. He had placed himself before her in some feeble attempt to offer her a place for grounding.

Face buried in her hands now, she gritted her teeth and felt something grow lowly from deep within her soul, and she wanted to scream at him—to tell him to get away from her. There had to be something poisonous enough to spit at him that would make him turn and run. There always was something vile enough that she could dig up from the back of her mouth. She always could say the best worst thing. And yet she couldn't. Not to him.

"What is wrong with you?" she said and her voice began to climb to something akin to a roar. "Why do you do this? Why do you keep...? Aren't you tired of this?" She threw down every weapon hidden on her body just to hear something crash against the floor, and she grabbed the horns atop her head and pulled—she pulled the mark of the devil enough to hurt. "Why do you still care for me? Haven't I hurt you enough? Why the hell do you still care?!"

"Let me!"

Calypso froze.

Nico had never shouted before.

Not like this.

It took her several moments to realize that he had dropped to his knees before her and wrapped his large arms around her torso, her arms taken from her head and held firmly by her sides. His forehead was pressed into her, and she felt him tremble. "Goddammit, Calypso, just let me. Please, let me just do that. I still care because I want to and I'm not just going to decide that I don't anymore. And, yeah, Cal, you do hurt me. You've hurt me a lot, alright? But it ain't anything I haven't dealt with before, and I am not just going to give up on you."

Against her better judgement, Calypso felt her lip tremble.

"I don't want to let you go, Cal. You're the only one who doesn't think I'm a total fucking idiot. I know I don't know much, dammit, I know that. But you said you didn't care." His voice cracked. "You're the only one who I don't feel ashamed to be myself around. Call it selfish, but I like not being a monster, and you and the others made me realize that." He was looking up at her now, brown eyes welling with tears. He was so close that she could see the patches of discoloration in his green skin, the places where scars had hardened his complexion. But he was still Nico.

"You don't gotta love me," Nico whispered. It was so quiet that someone not as perceptive as Calypso would not be able to hear. "Just let me stay with you. I want to just be here for you. I want to be here. I want to do something to make you want to stay here with us, too." Calypso felt his arms drop and his large warm hands had slowly taken her own in his. He had his eyes closed, face pointed down. "I don't know why you feel like you gotta push me away—push us all away. Just know that I'm stubborn. I'm going to stay by your side."

He was crying now, brown eyes trained on the cracks in the floor, tears pattering pathetically on the stone beneath them. In vain he sniffed and wiped at his eyes with his shoulder. "Nico..." she trailed off, and he shook his head through a smile.

"Sorry," he said, finally managing to look her in the eyes. "My heart got caught in my throat. Or, you know, whatever the shit Lorelei says." Silence enveloped them again, but this time it was breathable. It was okay. Calypso felt calmer.

He rested his head on her stomach again as he hugged her for a second time. He breathed in deeply. "Can we just stay here?" he mumbled. "Just for a little while?" Calypso ignored the whirring alarms—the bells signaling her to close herself off again—in her mind and she ran a hand through his dark hair. She felt him physically melt under her touch. Another moment passed before she joined him on her knees and she wrapped the large half-orc into a hug.

Just for now.

Now was enough.