AN: introduced a little Percy POV for the first time... I don't feel as confident writing from his side but lemme know what you think
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
Nico got ready for battle despite his head still feeling wrong and his heart not in the right place. He couldn't focus on strategy, or when he and his father should jump in the fight, or if Kronos was planning another special surprise for him. All he could think about was him.
The boy that didn't have a name. The boy that was who he once was. The boy that was so terrified of being forgotten.
Nico tried to remember, he really did. No name came up. The only word he could associate him with was 'bird'. Whatever the hell that meant. He didn't help, but he was technically him, so of course he wouldn't be able to say it until he remembered.
Bird...bird...what bird was so important to this kid that it was the only thing Nico could remember?
Fuck, he was going to war. He needed to push Bird-Kid aside.
"Nico, you are sure you are okay?" Hades asked. "You haven't put on your armor."
Nico looked up from his seat on his bed and stared at his father. "What is Kronos going to do differently this time?"
"I cannot say," Hades said. "But we need to be prepared for anything."
"I can't focus," Nico admitted. "I know you told me to not try to remember, that it will come back when the time is right, but he's scared. He doesn't want to be forgotten. I hear him in my dreams."
Hades handed him the armor that laid beside him. "Get ready. He can wait."
"Did you know him?"
"Not personally, I am a god and he was a mortal. There was no reason our paths would cross." Hades watched him put the armor on. "But he prayed to me, sometimes, the only mortal to do so in ages. He began to remember his- your first life."
Nico looked down at his now armored chest and the weapons across his body, in their holders, ready to kill. He could feel him, somewhere deep in his mind, someone so old, someone a little closer than someone else, someone even older, even more forgotten.
"How hadn't I noticed them before?" Nico asked. "I feel them now, like a limb, or the souls I protect. It's impossible to ignore. How could I not see it?"
Hades sat beside him. "Being reborn is a tricky business. Some souls are destined to be reborn together, others are to forever stay apart. Your soul- it was made ages ago, from stardust and whatever else goes into a mortal being. Being reborn is washing your soul off, drenching it, squishing it down again and again to fit your new body. There's pain in that, an undoing. Without the blessing from the Fates, it would cause you to forever forget. Confining your soul like that, it is bound to hurt. But the Fates protected your memories for a reason. They've been with you since you were born the first time. And they will be with you until you die for the last time. Your past lives are important, I know. But they have waited centuries. They can wait until after this war."
Nico felt him stirring. But so was the war.
.
.
.
(After the fight, I'll try even harder. I'll remember you. Even if I have to fight the Fates themselves.)
YOU ARE READING
Death's Reason
FanfictionHades had warned him that some deaths shouldn't be stopped but he hadn't listened. At the time, Nico had had too much hope, too much confidence, too many heroic thoughts. When he chose to save Leo Valdez's life, the end of the world began. Through t...
