"The moment I met you,
I held my breath.
And you've been taking
it away ever since,
Nico di Angelo."
[ NICO DI ANGELO x MALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0016. | EVERYTHING HE EVER WANTED OR NEEDED
New York was a strange city to Nico. He didn't know it well. Take him to Washington, or Venice, and he could find his way around with his eyes shut - but New York? No way.
But judging by the trees, it might've been Central Park where he and Percy emerged with Mrs. O'Leary. The hellhound was very tired, Nico could tell, and it was only reinforced as she smelled the Underworld so close to them. Nico, too, could feel that home was near but he didn't let himself get too overjoyed. The Underworld wasn't exactly a five star apartment complex and Nico was reluctant to call it home.
His real home was gone, be that Venice, or Washington, or Vela. They were all gone. Nico could now only content himself with the warmth of Vela's hoodie that hugged him almost as tightly as Vela's arms would at night when they shared a bed.
Percy watched Mrs. O'Leary worriedly. She sniffed at the pile of rocks that Nico had shadow-travelled them to. The Door of Orpheus that he had used to take Vela to the Underworld one time when they were visiting. It was how he learned of Vela's talent to sing.
"It's okay." Nico said. "She just smells the way home." He told him.
Percy frowned as they watched the hellhound sniff the pile of rocks that guarded the door. "Through the pile of rocks?" He asked speculatively.
"The Underworld has two major entrances." Nico explained. "You know the one in LA."
"Charon's ferry."
Nico nodded. "Most souls go that way," he elaborated. He had done it before, explained the details of the afterlife to Vela. He knew Vela knew but he also knew that Vela liked to listen to him talk about those things. Just like in the cemetery in Argentina... Nico's heart clenched. He tried his best not to remember the day that Vela left him - the last day he saw him. "but there's a smaller path," he continued. Nico had practiced ignoring his pain, he had got quite good at it. "harder to find. The Door of Orpheus."
"The dude with the harp." Percy nodded making Nico roll his eyes.
"The dude with the lyre." He corrected. Vela had found a lyre once. He played it awfully but it was still funny. "But yeah, him." He cleared his throat. "He used his music to charm the earth and open a new path into the Underworld. He sang his way right into Hades' palace and almost got away with his wife's soul."
Nico chewed his lip at the mention of his father's home. He hoped Percy didn't notice his hesitation. He was so close now, so close to closing the deal he made with his father... the deal he couldn't bring himself to even think about.
"So this is the Door of Orpheus." Percy mused, not noticing Nico's hesitation (thank the gods). Percy tried to sound impressed but Nico knew it was hard to pretend that a pile of rocks was awesome. "How does it open?"
