The Coming of Nico di Angelo

Percy Goes All Big-Brother on Malfoy's Ass

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Nico's dreams begin to affect his reality, and the reality of his friends.

BEGINNING NOTES

Chapter Rating: Mature
Content Warning: Cursing, Violence (mild), Self-Harm
Word Count: 4941

Can I just mention how much I love that title?

And all the characters are owned by J.K. Rowling, or Rick Riordan.

____________________NICO____________________

"One last time," Teddy commanded. For the millionth time that night, Nico stepped forward. His eyes burned, his muscles screamed, his body dripped with sweat... Beyond exhausted, he rubbed his eyes and took a deep breath, forcing the tremor in his hand to lessen. The best way to get some rest would be to do what Teddy asked, instead of arguing with him. Nico knew that from experience. "Go on, Nico. Then you can go to bed."

"Sleep..." Nico sighed.

Teddy laughed at Nico's wishful tone of voice. "You sound like I'm torturing you."

"You are torturing me."

They stood on the grounds of Westover Hall, where there was more space. The late afternoon sun allowed for perfect vision, with a dull, cloudy sky to keep its heat away. Every night's visit to Westover had had that weather; maybe Teddy could control it somehow? The school looked abandoned too; no students ran around the grounds like in Nico's memory, no belongings littered the grass. Nico could only see the expanse of green lawn, with the dorms on one side and cliffs on the other.

Teddy decided to train Nico outside on the first day of practice, to allow for more space. Since Nico was pretty handy with a sword, they'd focused on defensive moves, like this one. That meant they hadn't needed any monsters to practice on. But, Nico wondered about the day they might want to test Nico's skills. Was Dr. Thorn somewhere in the school? If he was, he would likely be his opponent. The son of Hades didn't know how to feel about that.

"Go on, Nico. One last time."

As he took a deep breath through his nose, Nico raised his arms to waist level. He drew his hands back, feeling a familiar sensation of raw energy building in his forearms. When the air in front of him grew electric, Nico thrust his arms out, palms parallel to his face, shouting "Protect me!" in Ancient Greek. From the middle of his palm, a seemingly endless, thick darkness poured out. It quickly surrounded Nico's entire body, the barrier solidifying inches from his face. "Expand!" Nico commanded, and the shadow shield responded immediately. It moved farther in all directions, only stopping only when it reached Teddy, ten feet away.

"Hold it!" Teddy instructed. Nico did, each second draining more and more energy from his body. Teddy pulled out his wand and shot a few spells, ending with the green Avada Kedavra. The shield held, despite Nico's level of exhaustion."And... release!" Nico's knees buckled the moment he lowered his arms. Smiling from ear to ear, Teddy walked over to Nico, who was collapsed on the grass. "That was incredible! Nice work!"

"Mmmmm," Nico groaned, and curled up in a ball on the grass. "Sleep now. Talk later."

"Have it your way. See you tomorrow night."

The night was wet and windy. Two children, dressed up as pumpkins, strolled across the sidewalk. Even the shop window looked decorated, with the glass covered in paper spiders. Nico laughed at the irony. Why should people who didn't believe in magic honor its holiday? But his laugh was not his laugh, rather, it came out cold and cruel like Kronos's. With his feet gliding along the dark sidewalk, he felt an air of purpose about him, a sense of power, of righteousness. He was looking forward to the evening's events; he'd been waiting for this moment a long time...