Seek {Superhero AU} - Ending 1

37: A Little Bit Of Time

WPOV

Track: Secret For The Mad, Dodie

In the days following his mother's death, Nico spends most of his time staring off into space, not responding when anyone says his name. I try to give him and Hazel the time and space they need to mourn and process their grief—although, admittedly, Hazel doesn't seem fazed by Ms. di Angelo's death. I guess she didn't know her mother well, so while it was unsettling, it wasn't life-shattering.

She hovers around Nico most of the time, and I think she wants to ask him questions, but she always holds back. She's trying to give him time, too.

I made the whole plan to save our identities by myself. Objectively, it was an awful plan, and if Nico had been his normal self, he would have told me that it was the stupidest plan he'd ever heard. He would have come up with a better one—but right then, Nico hadn't been in a state to do much of anything.

But I had figured—I mean, if the police are going to piece together our identities soon, probably within 24 hours, then why try to keep it a secret?

So I found Aphrodite Lookgoode, the reporter covering mine and Nico's cases for the last year or so, and I gave her the story of a lifetime.

I told her everything on live television. I may have embellished the sense of urgency—how much time we had to find Hazel, and the risk that someone might have killed Hazel if we didn't get to her in time. I told the story of Nico and I falling in love. I described being betrayed by my own mother, and I tell the world about the terrifying moment when the officer raised the gun to aim at Ms. di Angelo.

And then I took off my mask, and I revealed my identity.

The response from New York was overwhelming support. They had marches and demonstrations to protest my arrest, and when the police showed up at Nico's doorstep, there were hundreds of people with picket signs to try to prevent it. The people of New York took up a collection to pay our bail.

We were brought into the station to be questioned, but the chances of the charges turning to convictions are pretty low when public support for us is currently so high. The jury is made up of regular New Yorkers, after all. All I have to do is convince the people of New York that we were only trying to save a life—and from there, we're free.

For once in my life, my plan actually fucking worked.

It takes time before I return to school. When I do, it's strange; people walk up to me and talk like we've been friends for ages, even if I've never talked to them before. People ask me for pictures and autographs. One time, I opened my locker to find that someone had put fanart of myself inside my locker; that was unbelievably weird, yet kind of touching.

Then every day after school, I go check on Nico.

He's living with Hades. Hazel, too. I don't think they really like it there, but they're alive and they're figuring things out. Hades is kind of awkward at parenting. He sometimes talks to them like they're business partners instead of his own children. He's not as warm as Ms. di Angelo, but he's not awful, either. He doesn't have a huge mansion or anything anymore, not after all the ransom payments and court fees.

Today, I open the front door to Hades's apartment. He gave me a key the same day he gave Nico and Hazel keys. I guess that means he approves of me?

Hazel is sitting on the couch with her tutor, and she's frowning at an arithmetic worksheet. Hades is trying to give her an education, but it turns out that trying to start schooling now after so many years of nothing... Well, let's just say it's difficult.