𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐢━━Nico di Angelo

47

Ajax stumbled back until the world was spinning and his butt landed on the ground. Even then he didn't stop moving back. Away from the undead, no matter what.

This was the first time since becoming friends with Nico that Ajax was truly afraid of him. He saw his murderer's skull face in every skeleton Nico commanded. Because that's who he was- the son of Hades.

The son of the god of death.

Ajax felt the panic creeping up on him again. This time, Nico was too busy with Cupid to notice him.

This is how I die

He thought. Again.

Fucking skeletons.

Fuck.

His vision tunneled until all he could see was Nico's blurry form with the dead acting as his body guards.

Will you hide among the dead, as you always do? Cupid taunted.

All he heard other than the clear voice of Cupid was Jason calling his name, but that too was muffled.

Ajax tried to breathe. Breathe, Nico had told him.

Breathe.

It didn't work.

It was almost as if the dead had their hands around his neck.

They were choking him.

He was dying.

Ajax was dying. He was dying. There was no other explanation.

Waves of darkness rolled off the son of Hades. When they hit Ajax, he almost lost consciousness—overwhelmed by hatred and fear and shame...

As if Ajax needed that right now.

"Ajax!"

Jason called out. Suddenly, he was next to him. Ajax usually didn't like it when people touched him, but he held on to Jason's arm, trying to substitute it as his anchor.

It didn't work.

Who would be the anchor between them if they were both ships right now?

Images flashed through his mind. He saw Nico and his sister on a snowy cliff in Maine, Percy Jackson protecting them from a manticore. Percy's sword gleamed in the dark. He'd been the first demigod Nico had ever seen in action.

"Help him" Ajax choked out, the vision had been so realistic. "Help him- Go. I'm fine. I'll be fine"

His panic had subsided a little. As long as he was far far away from the dead.

Later, at Camp Half-Blood, Percy took Nico by the arm, promising to keep his sister Bianca safe. Nico believed him. Nico looked into his sea-green eyes and thought, How can he possibly fail? This is a real hero. He was Nico's favorite game, Mythomagic, brought to life.

Jason couldn't move, neither could Ajax.

He saw the moment when Percy returned and told Nico that Bianca was dead. Nico had screamed and called him a liar. He'd felt betrayed, but still...when the skeleton warriors attacked, he couldn't let them harm Percy. Nico had called on the earth to swallow them up, and then he'd run away—terrified of his own powers, and his own emotions.

Ajax saw a dozen more scenes like this from Nico's point of view.... And they left him stunned, unable to move or speak.

Jason wrapped an arm around Ajax's shoulder, trying to hold him up. They were leaning on each other.

Ajax looked up. Nico's Roman skeletons surged forward and grappled with something invisible. The god struggled, flinging the dead aside, breaking off ribs and skulls, but the skeletons kept coming, pinning the god's arms.

It made Ajax sick to the stomach. The dead, all around Cupid. But it also meant that Nico was alright. Nico was okay. Nico was commanding them. And the Nico Ajax knew now would never hurt him.

Right?

As if reading his thoughts, Nico's eyes caught his own. Ajax felt guilty for some reason, like he was supposed to be better- get them out of here. But he was pathetically leaning on Jason.

Nico's eyes widened. He looked at the skeletons and at Ajax, half hyperventilating, half crying.

He breathed in deep. Ajax mimicked from ten feet away.

Ajax breathed out and so did Nico.

In and out.

In and out.

Anchor.

Interesting! Cupid said. Do you have the strength, after all?

They weren't going to be able to leave if Nico didn't answer Cupid.

"I left Camp Half-Blood because of love," Nico said. "Annabeth...she—"

Still hiding, Cupid said, smashing another skeleton to pieces. You do not have the strength.

"Nico," Jason managed to say, "it's okay. I get it."

Nico glanced over, pain and misery washing across his face.

"No, you don't," Ajax choked out. Realization made everything come back into focus.

Breathe in and out. He forced himself.

Oh.

Oh. He looked at Nico. Oh.

Gods.

"There's no way you can understand." Nico's eyes were red, his lips trembling.

I do Ajax wanted to say. I understand.

Nico didn't seem to know what was worse- facing Cupid or facing Ajax.

And so you run away again, Cupid chided. From your friends, from yourself.

"I don't have friends!" Nico yelled. "I left Camp Half-Blood because I don't belong! I'll never belong!"

The skeletons had Cupid pinned now, but the invisible god laughed cruelly.

"Leave him alone, Cupid," Jason croaked. "This isn't..."

His voice failed. Ajax understood what he wanted to say- it wasn't Cupid's business, but he realized this was exactly Cupid's business. Zephyros said kept buzzing in his ears: Are you shocked?

The story of Psyche finally made sense to him—why a mortal girl would be so afraid. Why she would risk breaking the rules to look the god of love in the face, because she feared he might be a monster.

Psyche had been right. Cupid was a monster. Love was the most savage monster of all.

"But that's not what love is" Ajax forced himself to stand up properly, without Jason's help, "You're not a monster. Believe me, I know monsters"

You think you do. Cupid laughed. But love is the most monstrous of all, and you like monsters, don't you Ajax Avery?

The thought confused Ajax. What did Cupid mean by that? Ajax had always thought of himself as someone who knew what he wanted. He was bisexual, he figured that out. He was a boy, he figured that out. He would find out what Cupid meant about him later.

"They're his feelings" Ajax wanted to scream, though he doubted he had the strength. He was overcome with pure rage. How dare he? How fucking dare he? "You can't make him tell people"