The Coming of Nico di Angelo

A Fucked Up Game of Dayenu

CHAPTER SUMMARY

Myrtle recovers the final Artifacts of Thanatos with an unlikely source of help.

BEGINNING NOTES

Chapter Rating: Teen and Up
Content Warning: Cursing, Torture (mentioned only), Self-Harm (mentioned only)
Word Count: 2165

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

Credits at the end.

____________________NICO____________________

Nico woke in a cold sweat. Per usual with such traumatic nightmares, he woke up with the stupidest, most irrelevant thought in his head:

Huh. So that's what Death Eaters are.

"Nico?" Alabaster asked, walking towards him. "Everything all right? Myrtle's not back yet--it's only been, like, a half-hour."

Nico wanted to speak, but he was afraid of what would come out if he opened his mouth. His entire world was collapsing. Everything, everything he'd tried to prevent by breaking up with Will had come to pass in that nightmare. This time worse. Everything he'd ever thought might happen did happen, but, in the real world, they all came with disastrous conditions.

Not only was Will in danger, but he was being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange.Not only was he being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, but she threatened to turn him insane.Not only did she threaten to turn him insane, but without the release of death.Not only did she plan to keep him on the brink of life, but she planned to use Nico himself as the bait--the thing Will would come to hate and associate with his torment.Not only did she plan to forge that association, but she'd kill him the moment Nico tried to do anything.Not only would she kill Will before he could get to him, but Tom Riddle informed him that Will would be spared if he became a Death Eater.Not only had Tom Riddle given Nico hope, but he would betray him the second he did what Riddle wanted.Even knowing all that, Nico loved Will too damn much to not fall into the trap and agree anyway.

"Dayenu," Nico whispered through gritted teeth.

"What?" Alabaster asked.

Nico turned. He hadn't realized he'd said anything out loud. "Dayenu--it's a Jewish thing. Will's mom is Jewish... he took me to his house this past spring to show me 'the other side of his culture' or whatever. It's this thing they said when they ate--it was this fancy dinner thing with rules and shit--and they kept saying stuff that 'would've been enough' and then 'dayenu' which I think is Hebrew for 'it would've been enough' or something... I don't know..."

He knew he was rambling, but his mind was still running on a hamster wheel. With the images of his dream circling in his mind over and over, it was a miracle he hadn't broken down yet.

"Just ran over my options in my head," he continued to Alabaster's graven face, "Feels like some fucked-up game of dayenu. Not only this but also this. Would've been enough."

"Nico..." Alabaster walked towards him, sat down on the Basilisk rib, and put a soft hand on his knee. "What's up?"

Nico took a deep breath.

Exhaled.

Another deep breath.

Exhaled.

Deep breath.

Exhaled.

Deep breath.

Collapsed into hysterical tears.