Through the Burning Fires of Hell // A Nico Di Angelo Fanfiction (On Hold)

Chapter 12

A/N: So, um, it's been a while :')). I don't want to come up with a half-assed excuse of why I have been updating and just be honest: school. I know it's not a good excuse for why I haven't updated in 6 months but, well, I tried to write consistently. It didn't work. I have managed to finish this chapter and the next, which I will probably update in a month or so.

I'm very very sorry everyone, and super grateful for all your patience and understanding 😭. All the messages I got were extremely helpful in pulling me out of burnout and school induced depression, so I will do my best to update as often as I can. Thank you so much to all your patience, I love you guys so much. Enjoy this chapter 😭.

Nico

"H-human blood?" Nico stammered, his gaze dropping from Erebus to Raven, whose already pale skin had turned chalk-white.

"Yes, and you might want to hurry," was the reply. Erebus silently handed Nico a stygian iron knife.

Without even stopping to think, Nico grabbed the hilt and pressed it to his skin, but before he could draw blood, he nearly dropped the blade as icy cold stabbed into him, burning through his veins. "What the-"

"Son of Hades, hurry," Erebus repeated, his robes rustling faintly as he crouched next to Raven and propped her head up. His voice filled with urgency as he gently gripped her chin and opened her mouth. "Quickly. We're running out of time."

Nico gritted his teeth and quickly sliced a cut on his wrist, biting down his yelp as pain lanced through his body like fire. What the burning Hades was this blade? He thought as he brought his wrist to Raven's mouth, letting the blood trickle into her mouth. It's clearly stygian iron, but it burns the way no blade should ever burn.

"More," Erebus said, softly wiping away the dribble of blood that ran down the side of her lips. "She needs more."

The initial panic that had flooded Nico as Raven had fallen faded, replaced with resolve, and he clenched his teeth as he dragged the blade over his wrist, deepening the cut. He ignored the pain that blossomed. None of it mattered if it meant saving her life. Red blood flowed out, and Nico pressed his wrist directly to Raven's mouth to try and save as much of the precious liquid as he could. For a few seconds, Erebus gently stroked her throat to assist her in swallowing. Then, her throat bobbed, and Nico glimpsed a flash of white as her fangs shot out and latched themselves to his wrist.

He winced as they pricked his skin, Raven's survival instinct taking over. He'd be lying if he said she was being gentle; she sucked hungrily at his wrist, yet Nico didn't pull away. He didn't know why, but it felt right. At that moment, all the pain and bottled-up emotions he'd carried since Bianca's death quieted, replaced by a sense of calm he never knew existed. As if by drinking his blood, Raven was sucking it all away. And then he gasped as Raven's emotions flooded him, nearly knocking him flat. He felt the pure, innocent joy of her past that she kept locked behind a wall of ice, the raw, undiluted agony of when Elian had been brutally killed, the hatred she harboured towards Eris, and the promise of painful vengeance. He felt her anger towards Nyx for giving her life, her helplessness at being trapped in Tartarus, her desperation to escape, and the overwhelming self-loathing and shame that haunted her footsteps. And . . . he felt her fear of her own emotions towards him, the growing bond between him and her, her fear of losing him to the goddess that haunted her footsteps from the shadows, and the determination and resolve she carried to send him back to his world without a shred of a sense of safety for herself.

Nico blinked and he felt tears spill from his eyes down his cheeks. This world didn't deserve Raven. It didn't deserve her rawness and honesty and the genuine truth she held to herself even after it yanked her into its jaws of pain and death, chewed her up, and spat her out. It didn't deserve her fierce and fiery soul, even if it was stained with darkness in different places. He didn't deserve her.