𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐢━━Nico di Angelo

45

Where the fuck did my ice cream go?

It was easier to focus on smaller things like Ice cream rather than trying to process everything that was happening. Okay so far- Nico liked either Annabeth or Piper, a toss of a coin really. Nico didn't tell any of this to Ajax. He felt hurt and betrayed. He'd told the son of Hades everything from his side. But it seemed like Nico didn't view him as a close friend.

There was also the matter of turmoil going through Ajax's mind about why exactly he was so bothered about Nico liking some random girl.

Being the wind was fucking terrifying. He felt out of control, his thoughts scattered, no boundaries between his body and the rest of the world. He wondered if this was how monsters felt when they were defeated—bursting into dust, helpless and formless.

Ajax could sense Nico's presence nearby. Jason too, but Ajax didn't care that much about the son of Jupiter. The West Wind carried them into the sky above Split. Together they raced over the hills, past Roman aqueducts, highways, and vineyards. As they approached the mountains, Ajax saw the ruins of a Roman town spread out in a valley below—crumbling walls, square foundations, and cracked roads, all overgrown with grass—so it looked like a giant, mossy game board.

Zephyros set them down in the middle of the ruins, next to a broken column the size of a redwood.

Ajax's body re-formed. For a moment it felt even worse than being the wind, like he'd suddenly been wrapped in a lead overcoat.

"Yes, mortal bodies are terribly bulky," Zephyros said, as if reading his thoughts. The wind god settled on a nearby wall with his basket of fruit and spread his russet wings in the sun. "Honestly, I don't know how you stand it, day in and day out."

Ajax scanned their surroundings. The town must have been huge once. He could make out the shells of temples and bathhouses, a half-buried amphitheater, and empty pedestals that must have once held statues. Rows of columns marched off to nowhere. The old city walls wove in and out of the hillside like stone thread through a green cloth.

Some areas looked like they'd been excavated, but most of the city just seemed abandoned, as if it had been left to the elements for the last two thousand years.

It was beautiful.

"Welcome to Salona," Zephyros said. "Capital of Dalmatia! Birthplace of Diocletian! But before that, long before that, it was the home of Cupid."

The name echoed, as if voices were whispering it through the ruins.

Something about this place seemed even creepier than the palace basement in Split. Ajax had never thought much about Cupid. He'd certainly never thought of Cupid as scary. But he had seen how dangerous Piper's powers could be. Love, attraction and infatuation were powerful feelings. He wouldn't underestimate Cupid.

"Oh, he's not like that," said Zephyros, looking at Jason. Ajax knew that he must have thought of Cupid as a cherub baby with angel wings and a cute bow and arrow.

Jason flinched. "You can read my mind?"

"I don't need to." Zephyros tossed his bronze hoop in the air. "Everyone has the wrong impression of Cupid...until they meet him."

Nico braced himself against a column, his legs trembling visibly.

"Nico?" Ajax stepped toward him, but Nico waved him off.

At Nico's feet, the grass turned brown and wilted. The dead patch spread outward, as if poison were seeping from the soles of his shoes.

Ajax dared to take a step forward. Nico took a step back, his back pressed against the column. He shook his head. Don't.

Okay. Fine, if Nico wanted to be fucking difficult.

Ajax hated when Nico slipped into one of his moods like that. One moment they would be fine and then Nico would have a mood change, becoming horribly snappy and angry.

Fuck, he never should have come with them.

"Ah..." Zephyros nodded sympathetically. "I don't blame you for being nervous, Nico di Angelo. Do you know how I ended up serving Cupid?"

"I don't serve anyone," Nico muttered. "Especially not Cupid."

Zephyros continued as if he hadn't heard. "I fell in love with a mortal named Hyacinthus. He was quite extraordinary."

"He...?" Jason looked like he still hadn't adjusted to being in a body again after being the wind, "Oh..."

"Yes, Jason Grace." Zephyros arched an eyebrow. "I fell in love with a dude. Does that shock you?"

Ajax watched, bracing for impact. His heart rate increased. Despite being proud about the fact that he was bisexual, there was always the chance that someone he knew would be homophobic.

He remembered one of his first best friends and how she had looked at him in confusion and disgust when he told her.

Jason, thankfully was nothing like that.

"I guess not. So...Cupid struck you with his arrow, and you fell in love."

Ajax released a relieved breath.

Zephyros snorted. "You make it sound so simple. Alas, love is never simple. You see, the god Apollo also liked Hyacinthus. He claimed they were just friends. I don't know. But one day I came across them together, playing a game of quoits—"

There was that weird word again. "Quoits?"

"A game with those hoops," Nico explained, though his voice was brittle. "Like horseshoes."

"Sort of," Zephyros said. "At any rate, I was jealous. Instead of confronting them and finding out the truth, I shifted the wind and sent a heavy metal ring right at Hyacinthus's head and...well." The wind god sighed. "As Hyacinthus died, Apollo turned him into a flower, the hyacinth. I'm sure Apollo would've taken horrible vengeance on me, but Cupid offered me his protection. I'd done a terrible thing, but I'd been driven mad by love, so he spared me, on the condition that I work for him forever."

It was comforting to be Greek. Ajax thought. To have so many people before you who were like you. Sure, romanticization of the past is never a good thing. Queer people weren't completely accepted, he was sure, and then again there was the whole thing about the gods being fucked up, so he wouldn't exactly say Ancient Greece was better than modern day.

Even if they claimed to be modern, mortals were still very bigoted. So Ajax had to be careful whom he told. It was a little sad.

Though he wondered, if Cupid made everyone fall in love, couldn't he make them love each other as people? Make people accept queer people? Surely the gods could do that.

CUPID.

The name echoed through the ruins again.

"That would be my cue." Zephyros stood. "Think long and hard about how you proceed, Nico di Angelo. You cannot lie to Cupid. If you let your anger rule you...well, your fate will be even sadder than mine."