Stygian (Percico)

Chapter 1

The bright sunlight shone through the window, discoloring the walls making them more of a tan color than white. The warm, soft bed made it harder for Nico to get up. He felt Percy's light breathing on the back of his neck and his arm weighing down his hips. Another reason Nico didn't want to get out of bed.

However, they did have plans to meet Jason, Piper, and Hazel at the park. To him, it wasn't that good of a reason to get up, but he did have to pee.

He slid out of bed to go relieve himself, then crawled back in to wake Percy up. "Percy," he said, shaking his boyfriend's shoulder. Percy groaned and rolled over, his bare back pointing to Nico. Percy didn't like sleeping in a lot of clothes. Most of the time he would just sleep in his boxers.

Nico sighed and left the bedroom for the kitchen. He already knew what to cook for breakfast, pancakes, eggs, and bacon. The bacon sizzled and the pancake batter bubbled around the sides on the pan.

He heard Percy walk in the kitchen, the sound of Percy's yawn made Nico yawn as well. "Can you flip that please?" Nico asked, he was too busy with the eggs to flip the pancake himself. Percy grabbed the spatula, "how did you sleep?"

Nico shrugged, "fine. You?" He already knew Percy didn't have any nightmares. Nico controlled the dreams he and Percy had to stop them from reliving the terrors of their past. "Good. For some reason, I dreamed of a pink whale hitting on me." Nico smiled slightly, looking down at the skillet so Percy wouldn't see.

They ate breakfast how they always did, sitting in front of the TV on the couch. Neither one of them were big on coffee, Percy had orange juice and Nico had milk. After breakfast, they took their dishes to the sink. "Your turn to clean them," Nico said. Percy sighed and started on his plate.

"Have you taken your pill yet?" Nico slumped his shoulders. Taking his iron pill wasn't that big of a deal, he just didn't think it was necessary. He took his pill and went to brush the syrup off his teeth.

...

"Ready?" Percy asked, his arms coming around to rest on Nico's waist from behind. "Yeah, we need to go or they'll worry." Nico put his black stygian iron sword in his sheath, he had to use the mist to hide it properly. One time, he was in a too big of a hurry and got stopped by a cop who wanted to know why he had a gun strapped to his waist.

They walked out of the apartment and caught a cab down to the park. Their friends were already there, setting up a small picnic. "Hey, guys!" Jason greeted, Hazel gave Nico a hug. "I missed you. What have you guys been up to?"

"Not much, but we did finally finish the extra bedroom," Percy said. Their apartment came with two bedrooms, so they were going to fix the extra up as a guest room for whenever someone needed to stay over. "How's Frank?" Nico asked. Frank wasn't able to come since he and Reyna were busy with a special camp event coming up.

"He's great. He's going really good as praetor. I'm really proud of him," Hazel said with a wide smile. Nico looked over at the small blanket with a basket. "What did you bring?"

"Some snacks," Piper said. "I thought we might want something to eat while we're here." She pulled out a pack of Oreo cookies and a bag of grapes from camp. "It's good to have a healthy choice too" Piper explained. Of course, they went with the cookies.

Nico thought it was a nice day at the park. The sky only had a few clouds and the sun wasn't baring down on them. It was also nice to see his sister again. They talked a lot through Iris Message, but it wasn't the same as seeing her in person.

Percy and Jason talked like they were brothers. Nico thought it was interesting how they connect with each other. He himself had finally accepted Jason's friendship months after he offered it. When it became clear Percy returned his feelings, he, after composing himself, went to Jason to vent. That was over 3 years ago.

Nico looked at Percy, watching how his lips moved when he talked. His hair was still messy, and his green eyes looked brighter in the sunlight.

But even though the day seemed perfect, Nico didn't feel perfect. Something was bugging him, turning his insides into a whirlpool but never revealing the source of the problem.

He looked all around the park, in the sky and on the ground, at every pedestrian in sight. Nico just didn't feel right. He knew it was stupid to ignore a gut feeling, but he also knew he was often more paranoid than he needed to be. So he tried focusing on something else, which made him feel worse.

"Are you okay?" Percy asked, finally noticing the look on Nico's face. His anxiety had curled so badly in his stomach so fast, he knew they should leave. "No, let's go-"

A loud roar interrupted Nico and made them all cover their ears. A 30ft long Drakon landed in the center of the park, flapping its large wings.

Nico grabbed his sword, he heard Riptide being uncapped behind him. All five of them jumped into action. Killing a 30ft Drakon would be a challenge, but they've faced worse. Jason rose into the air, staying behind the Drakon's head at all times.

Nico tried his best to avoid the large wing as he stabbed the monster's front leg. It wailed out and stomped its foot. Its tail swung around behind him, missing Hazel by an inch.

Piper and Hazel worked together to bring down the back leg, the drakon bellowed and tried to kick them away.

Nico quickly glanced at Percy, who made a jab at the left wing. Drakons were hard to kill, maybe that's why Nico's instinct was still screaming at him.

He stabbed the leg again and swiftly moved out of the way. The drakon was getting weak, it wouldn't take much to kill it with five demi-gods.

Jason dug his sword into the back of the monster, which made its tail flail around and another loud roar escape its mouth.

With another whip of its tail, the sound of a tree trunk cracking echoed through Nico's head. Instantly, a part of him died. Only one thing went through his mind, Percy Percy Percy.

His blood pounded in his ears, making it harder to hear the frantic voices of the other demi-gods. Percy's soulless body laid in the grass a few yards away, right by the tree he was knocked into. Nico screamed and ran to his side.

The Drakon shrieked before Jason jabbed his sword through its neck. It turned into dust as it fell to the ground. By then, they all knew what had happened.

Nico was full on crying now. He hadn't cried in years, but the feeling of Percy's soul passing over was one he wished he'd never had to feel.

He quickly wiped his eyes, his body shook with grief and pain. The others slowly walked around them, trying their best not to cry as well.

Nico put his hands under Percy's head, feeling his soft hair and letting the weight lean in his hands. A tear fell on Percy's forehead, he didn't wipe it off.

Hazel bent down beside Nico. She didn't say anything, neither of them did. They watched as Nico bent over and cried in Percy's hair.

"Nico?" Hazel said finally, speaking through the heavy lump in her throat that made her voice break.

Nico didn't respond. He kept his eyes shut to avoid looking at Percy's face again. He didn't want the image of Percy's dead body on his mind. Dead. Percy was dead...

Nico jolted up, "I have to go get him," he said and sprinted towards the nearest shadow. Hazel pulled on his shirt, "Nico No! You can't!"

"Why not! I can't let him die!" tears were still streaming down his cheeks. Jason grabbed his arm, "Nico, it doesn't work that way. You can't just bring people back to life."

"I did it before!" Nico cried, he fell to his knees, "I want him back." Piper rubbed his back gently, "I'm sorry Nico." They were all crying, but still trying to comfort Nico.

"We need to go to camp," Jason said, clearing his throat the best he could. "I'll take Nico with me," Hazel said, slowly helping Nico stand up. "No! I don't want to go!" he screamed. Hazel pulled him anyways, towards a shadow so they could go to Camp Jupiter.

Nico looked back over at Percy before leaving. He saw Percy's body laying motionless on the ground, then it dissolved into gold dust.

Thanks for reading!