The Angel of Death

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Jason was very confused. Actually, confused was an understatement. He was fully absolutely, definitely, more-than-he-had-ever-been-in-his-life perplexed. First there was all the weird shit Nico had been doing at home, then there was the full-on summoning a dead man and then the wings ripping out of his shoulders and Jason was just...well, he was really confused.

What was Nico? Some sort of necromancer, maybe? That explained the dead guy, but did necromancers typically have wings? Was Nico also some sort of shapeshifter? Was Jason just overthinking things? There had to be a perfectly sensible explanation for this.

Nico woke up six hours later. The sun had risen and Jason was eating breakfast in the little kitchen when he heard a 'thud', followed by more profanities than a sixteen-year-old should know. (He was pretty sure he heard some in foreign languages, even.)

Jason poked his head into the room to see that Nico was sprawled on the floor, the blankets wrapped around his legs. He looked very angry at them, and at his inability to free himself. Jason sighed and gripped Nico's arm, hauling the boy up and depositing him on the bed again, blankets and all.

Nico huffed. "I'm fine. And I have to use the bathroom."

Jason rubbed his forehead, an action he realised was very reminiscent of Bruce. "Fine, but then you're going to sit here and you're going to explain to me what the fuck is happening."

-

They ended up sitting at Jason's table, with Nico cradling a cup of whatever had been in that thermos Will had left for him. It smelled like Alfred's cookies. Nico had more colour in his face now, and he appeared to be in less pain. Jason was glad that he seemed to be healing.

"What do you know about Greek mythology?" Nico asked. Jason didn't really see what that had to do with anything, but he decided to play along. "Well, I've watched Hercules?" He answered. Nico gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Okay, so, how do I explain this...basically, it revolves around this pantheon of Gods, the twelve Olympians. Zeus is the king, and he and his two brothers, Poseidon and Hades, are considered the 'Big Three'. Some of the other gods and goddesses you might know are Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Apollo, Artemis and Athena. There are dozens of minor deities too, but I doubt you'd know them."

"Yeah, I remember learning a little about this stuff. What does this have to do with you?"

"I'm getting there. Do you know what demigods are?"

Jason furrowed his brow, starting to connect the dots. "They're children of gods and humans, aren't they?" Nico nodded, smiling a little guiltily. "Bingo," he muttered. Jason blinked.

"Holy shit. Holy fuck. You- you're a demigod?!  Holy shit."

"Stop freaking out Jason!" Nico snapped. "You've seen crazier shit!"

"Okay, yeah, you're right, I have, I just didn't expect you to be...anyways, which godspawn are you?"

Nico glared at the term 'godspawn' but sighed. "Hades is my father. He's the god of the Underworld and one of the most powerful Gods in Greek mythology. That's how I was able to call on the skeleton earlier to come help us. He's from the Underworld."

"Okay...holy shit. So you can raise the dead?"

"Yes and no. I can call upon the dead to come to the world of the living and use them as an army essentially, but they're still only bodies. I can call spirits, but that takes more effort and time, so I don't usually do it."

"Okay, and what about the wings?"

Nico smiled, somewhat nostalgically. "A gift from my father. They come in handy."