AMANTI, nico di angelo

X. maybe it is not a dichotomy, it is a dilemma

0010. | MAYBE IT IS NOT A
DICHOTOMY, IT IS A DILEMMA

When Vela awoke the next morning, he was possessed by a divine determination.

He had clutched his pillow in his sleep like it was truly Nico sleeping beside him but when he awoke, he tidied it away as if he had never slept in the bed at all. He showered as if he had never bathed before, scrubbing himself clean as if he would never have need again for soap. He dressed in his usual clothes, a plain white t-shirt, cargo trousers—what he usually wore because it was always the best for fighting in, more movement, more agility. He went to breakfast, only he and Frank awake. They ate eggs on toast and a bowl of fruit each, both the same. They didn't talk other than Frank mentioning the weather—grey clouds with a hot sun hidden behind that made it no weather for hoodies or jumpers. Frank asked how his leg was after the surgery he had performed the night before, and with the slight limp in his step, Vela remarked that he was feeling much better, but not willing to take the stitches out until he was certain it was time.

They didn't get to say much else before Jason and Leo made their appearance for breakfast. Without a word, Vela left the very second their heartbeats resounded in the hallway. He might have had a revitalised perspective on the quest to Rome after his dream, but he most certainly did not possess any satiation of his wrath towards the two best friends—for all he cared at the moment, they could both drop dead (though he had that opinion about a lot of people at the moment).

He had made that hugely evident after the scene he made in the Olympian Throne Room, which he wasn't too proud to admit was indeed a scene, but a well reasoned scene. There was no doubt in his mind that Zeus was well deserving of what Vela threatened him with, but he couldn't kick the lingering idea in the back of his mind that the other Olympians recognised what Vela did as a mistake.

He supposed Dionysus had laced that idea in his mind after what he had said in Kansas, but he was also conflicted with his own pride that told Vela that he had done and could do no wrong in Nico's name, even if it meant threatening the King of the Gods with a painful, vengeful death.

Truthfully, Vela wasn't sure how his mom would react to seeing him and it made him a little nervous. If there was anyone who could make Saturn's Slayer pale with nerves, it was his mother.

He didn't know if she would still be as concerned as she first was when he appeared in that Throne Room, like a many of his mutual Olympians were—Apollo with his mournful prophecy, Ares with his fatherly kindness, Hera's defence of him... He hoped she would still be like that, and hopefully that motherly sympathy would be bolstered by his shoddy appearance. His scarring neck thanks to Percy's wound, his limp from Nico's broken femur, his lightning filled back, and the multiple stomach wounds he had endured should surely earn him at least initial concern from his mom, but he was worried for when his sheer stupidity would be reminded to her when he had given the title of his greatest enemy to King Zeus.