How Icarus Fell From the Sun (a Solangelo fanfic)

i love them so much but this is just angst bc i cant help it

And remember he did.

"I thought I was too young. I didn't remember anything from a few years before the casino. But last year... I- I tried to summon her. My mother." Nico hesitated, and opened his eyes. "Solace, this is so stupid. Do I really have to-"

"Don't think of it as informing a doctor or adult. Think of it like you're telling a curious friend a story. Because really, that's exactly what you're doing." Will smiled, and to Nico it seemed to brighten the dimly lit room. He walked over to Nico on his cot and pulled one of the chairs in the room as close as possible to Nico, grabbing his hand. "And if anything is too much to talk about, imagine you're just telling yourself. Because, if anyone, you need to know."

Nico rolled his eyes, but continued. "Instead of my mother, I summoned my sister. That was one of the last times I ever spoke to her." He shook his head as his voice broke slightly, deterring from the monotone way he had been speaking.

"She tried to hide what had happened, what I couldn't remember. But I was stubborn, and I figured out anyway. I lived in Italy until I was 7, until we moved to America. We lived there for a few months before Zeus killed her. My mother. Hades knew it was coming, and he tried to convince her to stay safe with him in the Underworld, but she refused and Zeus hit her with lightning. He was aiming for us, Bianca and I, but he- Hades shielded us," Nico coughed out.

"He couldn't save her, though. One of the Furies, Alecto, I believe, put us in the Lethe so we wouldn't have to grow up remembering- well, everything. We spoke a little bit of English afterwords, but it was really only a few years worth. Then we went to this- this boarding school, I think. Scuola militare. They told us our parents had died, and we had been left a trust fund. After a few years, Alecto took us to the Casino." Nico spoke this all very quickly, and nonchalantly. Almost as if he were describing something annoying that had happened on a bus ride, or an insect that had flown into his face.

"It only seemed like a few weeks. But we came out and everything was different. There were new bus stations, and fancy advanced cars, and technology. We were sent to a military school, and that's where I met Percy." Nico had ended his sentence without thinking, and looked to see if Will had noticed that he didn't mention Thalia, or Grover, or even Annabeth, but he didn't show any signs that he did. Instead, he sat quietly, still holding Nico's hand, his eyes full of pity. Nico wanted to hit he. He has no idea what's coming next, Nico thought. The thought was almost enough to make him laugh.

Either way, Nico knew he would understand soon enough. Once he had started talking, he couldn't stop, all of the repressed and ignored memories threatening to spill out at the smallest chance. Some of those memories just so happened to be things like his time with Percy in the Styx, or his run-in with Cupid. Things he did not need Will Solace to know.

"Bianca joined the hunters that same day." Nico turned his head away from Will, and stared off into space. "I know if she were still here, she'd deny it, but I think part of her wanted a break. From me. She had been raising me for 3 years at that point, and she was barely 12. I think she wanted a chance to have her own life, and not have to worry about me. And then she went on that quest and... never came back." He left out the part about Percy, and the fact that as much as he had wanted to, he couldn't hurt him.

"Gods, Nico. That's when you created that fissure, in the dining pavilion? Right?" Will chimed in. So much for not bringing up Percy.

"Yeah. When Percy told me, I wanted him to suffer. I wanted the whole camp to. But I- I just couldn't hurt him." Nico took a chance and looked back over to Will, who looked like he was about to burst. "What?" He questioned the blond.

"Nico, I'm just- I'm so, so sorry. No one should have to- gods that's just awful."

Nico shifted uncomfortably. "Thanks, Solace."

"Tell me if I'm going to far, or, like, if you just don't want to talk about it. But I heard a rumor, a little while ago, that you like Annabeth? Is that why you were mad at Percy? Because he liked her? I'm not asking to be insensitive, or for gossip, I'm just trying to... put the pieces together."

Nico laughed. "What?"

Will shrugged. "That's what I've heard people say."

"Okay. Well, no, I didn't like Annabeth. I hadn't even met her yet, actually. I was mad because I was 10. Percy made a promise, an impossible one, and for some reason I expected it be be kept."

"A promise?"

"Yeah. He told me he'd protect her. Or bring her back. Something like that. I try not to remember. I should've known it wasn't something he could control. But when they were gone it was like- like I could feel her being taken from me. Benefits of being child of the lord of the Underworld I suppose."

"Gods, Nico. I'm sorry. Percy should've known not to make a promise like that. Why didn't you let the skeletons go after him, though? You must've been really fucking angry to make a fissure that big. The Hephaestus kids tried for weeks to close it."

Nico wasn't ready for this part of the story yet. He was supposed to get through Minos, and Hades, and the Fields of Punishment, and Tartarus, and the bronze jar before he got here. He needed to stall. He needed to hide. He needed to- he needed to breathe. Breathe. Unfortunately, even his own reminder wasn't enough to do that.

Luckily for him- but not really- an opportunity to stall presented itself. Or, more truthfully, and opportunity stood up and kicked down any possible excuses, words, even noises that Nico could make. Because as soon as he thought about it, really truly let it linger in his mind for more than 10 seconds, he was right back there, in Croatia, looking for Diocletian's Scepter. He could tell from the sinking feeling in his stomach that he has just been dropped off by the wind. Or maybe it was just nerves. Either way, this was where it started.

All he could breathe was dust and rubble, and his knees were weak, and ground was practically crumbling under his own measly weight. He turned and- low and behold- Jason was staring right back at him. Except this time, it wasn't actually Jason. It was Will. Or, no. It was Jason, but with Will's face?

"What kind of bullshi-"

"Nico?" Jason/Will called out. "Where are we?"

"Will?" Nico asked, cursing.

"Nico, what is this?"

"It's- it's my memory, I guess? But how...?"

"How am I here?" Will cried, looking at his- or, Jason's, hands in awe.

Nico took a second to think. How was he here? He though back to the conversation with Mia.

"Clovis!" He yelled. "God fucking damnit." The second they woke up Nico planned to march all the way to the snoring demigods room and give him a reason to be sent back down to the first floor.

"Clovis?" Will asked, confused.

"Mia said that Clovis is up on this floor, sleeping it off. I guess I- I fainted, and he l pulled you into my dream."

"I thought you said it was your memory?"

"It's both, I guess. A nightmare of a particular memory." Nico shrugged, trying to look a lot less panicked then he was.

Will cursed in Ancient Greek. "I shouldn't be here, Nico. It's all kinds of wrong. How do I wake up?"

"I don't think you can." Nico cursed. "If you're in my nightmare or whatever, I think I have to be the one to wake up. And assuming the point of this is to1 to show you what I can't tell you or some messed up fairytale shit, I'm pretty sure we have to go through the whole thing before I can do that."

Will looked forward, and sighed. "Okay." He said, defeatedly. "Let's get this over with." He picked up Jason's foot, and walked further into the Palace.