"The moment I met you,
I held my breath.
And you've been taking
it away ever since,
Nico di Angelo."
[ NICO DI ANGELO x MALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0003. | THE TURNING OF TIDES AND TURNING OF LUCK
Despite Vela's jokes about his possession of an Underworldian compass, Nico actually had an incredible sense of direction in Tartarus. Now he had his bearings, he was beginning to notice familiarity in the hellish place.
It was a horridly sad thing to admit that now Tartarus was familiar to him. He could thank Otis and Ephialtes for that.
The sick, vengeful, Hades' son part of him wished he had been conscious when Vela had hurt them. He wanted to hear them pay, he wanted to see them beg for forgiveness for what they'd done to him. Missing that opportunity would always be one of Nico's life's regrets.
Because of those Giants, Nico could remember Tartarus better than even his family home. Though, in his defence, that building had been destroyed by Zeus' Master Bolt and his memories of anything prior had been swept away by the river Lethe. What he could recall of his childhood, after the Lethe, was now darkened by the Titan War, Tartarus, and the loss of Bianca.
When he thought of it like that, Nico was reminded of why he didn't like talking about his past. To surmise, it was an awful childhood. The worst part? It was still ongoing.
Nico's experience of life was not a soft, cushioned one. What memories of a loving mother he had, he had lost to the Lethe and to the sharp side of Zeus' bolt. Memories of his sister had been poisoned by his loss of her, and he hardly had any friends. His friends were Vela's friends, which felt didn't really count. It felt like copying off of someone's homework the night before it was due. I haven't got any friends so can I borrow yours?
Suffice to say, Vela was the only brightness for him in his dim, limited life. He really was his Golden God, as Nyx had named him. But even Vela's presence summoned another shadow to Nico's life. It was a piercing fear when he recalled the prophecy that called curse against Vela's name. Knowing Vela as he did, caring for him and loving him had only made that shadow in his mind grow darker and greater. The more the loved Vela, the more afraid he became that he would lose him.
The Lonely God will walk alone, Until the Deep Night's curse is known.
Vela had already walked alone. He had already become the Lonely God. Nico had left him alone when he had been stolen away into Tartarus. By leaving his side, even unintentionally, Nico had left Vela vulnerable to the prophecy that threatened his life. Nyx wanted him. They were a being even Zeus feared. They were darkness, shadow, everything dim and damaged and darkened in life, and they wanted his god to be theirs.
Nico refused for it to be done, but prophecies always had a way of coming true, no matter how hard one fought against them. Nico had learnt that the hard way when he lost Bianca. He would be damned if he lost Vela the same way he lost her. It was an ineffective venture to battle a prophecy, but Nico was adamant that he would, no matter how useless he was at it.
