i just want to say... thank you. to everyone who's ever left kudos and comments on this fic. i came up with this idea literally in the center of another country, and when i published the first chapter i thought nothing of it. just an idea i wanted to jot down. the amount of love that hellbent has received was... astounding. god, i've cried over this fic because of you all. i have never been filled with so much happiness and joy over a finished project, and one that had so many fans. you all have made me so happy, and i'll write more fics in the future once i take a break. i love you all. thank you for being with me on this hellbent ride.
notes:
- because of the treacherous waters, it takes about a month or two for percy and annabeth to make it to the ship. if you want to know more about the timeline, just ask me. i will answer to the best of my ability.
- there's a reason why nyx gave them the star cloth.
- nico can climb.
- it will take a while for them to heal. but they have friends and each other. they'll be alright.
beta-read by poisontown. i love you so much.
it took three days for nico to wake up.
before the son of hades had even opened his eyes, leo had been lying on his back and staring at the ceiling, the cold december breeze filtering through the inched open window from across the room. midnight had set upon the world outside, the stars barely visible and the moon already at its peak, out of his vision by yards. the white linen of the drapes flowed with the currents of wind, obscuring a pure view outside the hulking warship. it was surreal. for it to be winter when his last memories of the surface was the heat that caused beads of sweat to roll down temples and ice cold beverages to be placed atop foreheads. long before, the cold of winter would have been but a thought in the back of leo's head — in the present, he shivered almost violently beneath the bedsheets, bunched around his body as he curled up on himself, fragile and narrow arms wrapping around his own torso to find any semblance of warmth.
insomnia. the attacks would hit frequently, either out of purpose when he stayed up into the meek hours of night to finish projects with no deadline or of sudden circumstances, waiting for sleep to claim him in this restless state. it would always feel horrible, to beg for peace when hypnos would not bat an eye. yet now, as he stares at the floorboards over his head and memorizes each cabinet by name — bandages, ambrosia, nectar, herbs — the insomnia was much, much worse. his limbs were heavy weights, sinking him deeper into the abyss of the bed, confined with a parched throat and throbbing body. he was sick, ill with an ailment none could name but one that hurt like hell, an ache he could not place but one he knew he would never escape from. even a single gesture or movement would cause a cataract of agony, sore down to the brittle bones nested beneath fragile muscles. he wanted nothing more than to run away, to break free from the shackles holding him in place in the earth and causing nothing but a seething pain. yet he couldn't. all he could do was stare at the ceiling, motionless, wondering when this would finally be over. he almost yearned to let the earth reclaim him, to fall asleep and never awake to the dread. yet he didn't.
hours before he had been struck with this sleepless tragedy, his friends had visited him to wish him goodnight. it could become a custom, leo thinks, as they visit him for another night before heading back up to their cabins. they had been by his side the entire endeavor since he had awoken from his coma, offering him solace while his body trembled from the avalanche of change that had set upon him, regarding him of their adventures while he listened intently, focusing on them and not on the ache. coach hedge had been convinced to take a break for the night, exhausted from nursing nico and leo back to health since they came back from the doors.
first to leave was reyna, parting the overgrown curls hanging around his face and pecking his forehead softly, smiling a melancholy upturn of lips. reyna allowed smiles rarely, a stoic disposition she held with an iron fist and a will of gold. her smile was so foreign to his eyes, her face barely recognizable in his fractured memory, yet they held such a familiar aura that he would have cried if the voidness of his tear ducts was not present. next was frank, shifting from the form of a bulldog that leo had been petting and giving him a final hug. in spite of the way he held himself, not anymore the awkward and shy boy before but a natural leader with scars of crimson, the hug revealed everything, fluffy arms gentle with his unsteady physique. "don't run off anywhere," frank had joked off-handedly. he left to his room, a cloth of stars hanging from his belt and holding nothing but his own fate in its wooden structure. then there was jason. his lip scar, previously so tiny, had grown into lightning streaks across his cheek, something so him yet not. he had given leo a lasting hug as well, one of many they shared with each other, but this one the sweetest. leo was unable to reciprocate and jason did not care, allowing him a small smile before leaving to rest for the night. second to last was piper, his best friend since the wilderness school, a sister he could trust. she nuzzled her nose into his cheek, whispering her goodnights. all of them had been so hesitant to leave, but piper was the one who near outright refused to leave. her fingers remained in touch with leo's, dragging out the contact until she was at the exit, her remaining eye offering him but a honey gaze. the other one, her right, was covered with a strapless patch, pale frost gathering at the edges.
