Tempting the Fates
Traitors and Frauds
"Nico. Nico…"
What?
"I have it."
Have what?
"I have what you want. Don't deny it. You know that I do."
Annabeth? W-what… what do you mean.
"Don't play dumb, you're not a child anymore. You're a demigod. A son of one of the Big Three. It's time to start acting like one."
I don't know what you're talking about. Annabeth…
"You know exactly what I'm talking about. I have it. Everything that you've ever wanted. I have it and you covet it. I could give it to you… for a time. But I won't."
Listen, whatever you think you know… you don't. I don't want anything.
"You want everything. You always have. You'd take it from me if you could."
I wouldn't take anything from anyone.
"I told you to stop playing dumb! It's not cute, Nico. You're not some adorable little boy now. Wide eyed, naive and unknowing. You're a son of Hades but for all your skulking about, I never pegged you for a coward. You know exactly what I mean! And that's why you're here, Nico. That's why you're not fighting. You know that you belong here."
Annabeth…
"In the currents of the river. Just like all the other misbegotten souls. You're an imposter. Pretending to be something that you're not. Hanging around, watching, waiting, always a voyeur. Pretending to be part of a life you'll never have, pretending to be someone you're not, pretending to feel things you don't, and pretending you don't feel this you'll never stop. So you'll freeze in this current and you won't try to stop yourself. Admit it, you want it. Everything that I have."
I don't want anything! H-how could I? I never get to keep anything anyway…
"That's right, you don't. Never had a father. Couldn't keep your mother. Practically killed your sister. Mrs. O'leary left you. And Hazel… she'll leave you eventually, too. But that doesn't mean that you don't want, Nico. You want more than anyone else. It's untoward how much you want… and what you want. Well that's another matter, Nico. What you want…"
Annabeth, you… you don't understand. I d-don't know what you're thinking but you're mistaken…
"What you want, Nico, is an abomination. It's profane, Nico, these thoughts that you have. Don't pretend… I told you not to pretend! These thoughts, what you think when no one's around. What you think when you can't help but thinking, what you want. It's loathsome and you know… you know that if you said it, you'd loose what little you have. Your supposed friends… they wouldn't want you either. Now your friends… you're cheating them all, Nico. How much could you really care about them playing with their heads like you do? Pretending to be something you're not? A fraud. The classic definition, Nico."
I'm not a fraud! I'm not… I haven't done anything. I've done nothing but try and help everyone. You don't understand, Annabeth… For months I've been trying to help.
"Help who? Help me?! Help Percy?! Or help yourself? Because that's all anyone thinks, Nico. That you've just been running around playing self important imagining you're part of something bigger than you are and tagging along for a prophecy you have nothing to do with. You've been messing with all of us, Nico, and we smile and we're nice to you but we don't buy it. No one trusts you, least of all him. Least of all me. We might tolerate you but we're too kind to turn you away and you know it. You've been allowed where you are because you're piteous. As soon as Hades learned who— what you were— he should have banished you. Sent you to the fields of punishment. So I guess this will have to do, you drowning in a river of ice. Dragged down by others just like you."
I'm sorry… Annabeth… I'm so, so sorry.
"You're a monster, you know that? A monster! You belong down there in Tartarus with the rest of them!"
I didn't mean to, Annabeth. Please, forgive me. I didn't mean to. You have to believe me, I never wanted to. I wouldn't… no one would choose this. I wish I could be something different.
"But you can't, Nico. You can't. You want everything I have. You took it from me. And that's why no one will cry when you're gone. You're a monster. I only wish it could have ended more horribly for you."
Please, Annabeth! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!
The tides of the Cocytus dragged Nico down, folding his body in on itself as somewhere in an unconscious part of his mind, he tried to preserve some semblance of warmth. It was pointless. Hopeless. Nothing mattered except… except maybe that he'd done at least one good thing. That's right, he'd led Arachne away and… yes, he could hear her. Hear her screaming and shouting and fighting but those sounds soon turned to wailing as the arctic pull of every miserable thing inside of her became the most real thing she'd ever experienced. Because misery… that's all that was real. Nico might have cried himself but he had cried enough over Bianca. So now it was over. He'd done his one good thing amongst so many terrible things and he would go. There was no point. At least Percy was safe… but he couldn't even do that right. Just a few hours into Tartarus and already he'd succumbed just like he had the first time. He'd succumb but now Percy was on his own and he would never find the Doors of Death. Tartarus would eat him alive and the world would fall and Nico… stupid Nico had made it all possible. He shouldn't have pretended to be something he wasn't, be stronger than he was. After all, he was just a shadow, not really a person, not really living or dead, and the thoughts in his mind were darker than most. He should have stayed lost in the first place. No one wanted him found.
The ice filled his lungs and carried him away.
"…di Angelo… Nico. Earth to Nico. C'mon, Nico. Breathe… c'mon breathe! Dammit, Nico! Just wake up!"
A punch to his chest had icy water ejecting from his lungs. Nico rolled onto his side, curled into a ball as he hacked and hacked and hacked. The water emptied but as it leaked from his mouth and his nose, it burned. Eyes closed, he let out a groan. The ground was trembling and it made his already sensitive stomach even more sick. Not for the first time since falling into the pit, he was sick. Bile and blood emptied onto the ground next to him.
When Nico opened his eyes he realised that the ground wasn't shaking but that he was trembling. His heart was a block of ice inside of his chest and it pumped frost to every inch of his body.
"Thank the gods! You're awake. I thought I almost lost you there for a second. Dude, what were you thinking? I mean, majorly amazing getting Arachne away from us like that but… what the hell? …Oh, sorry. I mean, what the heck?" Percy babbled a million miles a minute. It gave him verbal whiplash as he tried to wrap his foggy mind around even a single syllable that was leaving the other's mouth.
Blinking slowly, he pulled himself into an upright position and wrapped his arms around his legs, legs then pulled to his chest. The shivering just wouldn't subside. The Italian's normally semi-tanned skin was pale. Each vein stood out, blue bruises of traffic travelling across his skin.
"She wasn't dying. You stabbed her… but she wasn't… dying." Speaking was an effort and not just from the fluid in his lungs.
Tartarus was kiling him, maybe faster than Percy. Maybe not. Maybe the son of Poseidon found even the poisonous estuaries to be some relief from the noxious atmosphere of Tartarus but it was consuming the son of Hades.
"Cocytus… river of woe. Home of… traitors. Frauds… she'll fit in… nicely there. I mean… I'm sure she plagiarised… some of her designs." Wheezing the words, Nico coughed again and blood spattered the back of his hand.
Despite their situation, Percy chuckled quietly to himself. Nico doubted if the other demigod could distinguish whether or not he was trying to be funny but it was still encouraging that the other laughed.
"We're not going to make it, are we?" Percy turned deadly serious. It was only then that Nico realised the son of Poseidon's lips were blue and the burns on his face were starting to weep. He was trembling, much like Nico. The effects of the river were seeping to his core, though slower than Nico's. Maybe it took longer on the courageous than it did on the cowardly— chalk that up to a supposition Nico hadn't made. He was just learning a whole lot down in the pit.
"Percy, we have to get up," Nico wheezed. Despite the weight of his limbs and the swimming of his head, he pulled himself to his feet. Reaching out for Percy's hand, he pulled the older boy to his feet.
"Why? Why do we have to go anywhere? I mean…we're not going to make it Nico. Honestly. This whole thing… it was just a show for them, wasn't it? To make the other's feel better. So they could go on and fight Gaea?"
Shaking his head, wet strands of black hair clung to his face. Shoving them aside took more effort than it should have but both demigods were soon on their feet. Talking hurt. His throat was raw and the most he inhaled the worse it god. There was a metallic taste in the back of his throat.
"…have to… keep moving. Phlegethon… fire… it'll warm us. Woe… it's getting us. Please… just please, Percy…"
Every step the weight grew heavier. Percy's arm was around his shoulder but it wasn't clear who was holding the other up as they trudged along. The distance, great before, was now impossible. Across the landscape the trudged, tripping over veins and pockmarks. Stumbling a few times, Nico had to shout to get Percy up.
Focusing was impossible. The longer they walked the harder it was to breath and to think. It was distracting… the noise in the background… the thumping. The steady constant thrumming of something… it was a familiar sound. Nico just couldn't place it. Fighting every frigid thought he had, the Ghost King attempted to focus.
It was just a dream. It was a hallucination brought on by the Cocytus punishing him for a million and one things but it was his drive— his motivator. Annabeth— he would be worthy of forgiveness and he would get Percy to the Phlegethon. They would warm themselves and drink from the river of fire and if it didn't work… well, they'd both be dead and Nico wouldn't have to fight the demons any longer.
Percy stumbled again and wouldn't budge. "Per…" but his throat clogged and Nico coughed once more, blood burning his throat and exploding from his mouth. Something lodged in the back of his throat and coughing, he spit it up into his hand. It was… a chunk of something. A lung.
Holy shit.
The gravity of the situation hit Nico like a ton of bricks to the stomach. Reaching down, he grabbed at the other demigod but he just wouldn't move. The welts on his face were bleeding down. There were more on Percy's arms, his fingers, his legs and they were spreading. The skin was blistering and bubbling and melting away— in fact his own skin felt like it was wax, warm and sliding out of place.
Not daring to talk lest he cough up more of his insides, he gave the other a kick. But it did nothing. Percy moaned and lay where he was.
Come on… come on…
Every ounce of strength he had was used to hoist the other up onto his broadening shoulders and half carry half drag the other boy with him. It was only feet away. It was in sight. So near. He could hear it and feel the explosive warmth so different to the permafrost spreading throughout his body. At the edge of the water he dropped Percy and kneeling down himself took a handful of water and splashed it in Percy's face. Sputtering about, the other attempted to get away but he was also a mess. Nico managed another few handfuls dumping them over Percy.
Shoving his hand into the liquid fire once more he brought up a handful to his own lips and drank. It was disgusting as it lit down his throat and into his stomach. Molten hot and thick like blood, metallic and burning. Falling to his side, the trembling started again and all he could think was, I guess I was wrong. Such a simple last thought.
But the trembling subsided and Percy also stopped convulsing. Exhausted, they both lay their silently next to the Phlegethon trembling but staring at the other. He could feel his insides mending— it wasn't a pleasant sensation but it was necessary. Nico wouldn't refuse a gift, especially not one he didn't deserve.
"Nico…"
"Yeah?"
"That was absolutely foul."
"I know."
"You said her name. Annabeth's… while you were passed out."
"Oh." Nico stayed still feeling his face warm but this time from the flow of blood inside his veins coming to the surface on his cheeks— not from any effect of Tartarus, though he would deny it.
"Did you see something?"
Choosing that moment, he hoisted himself up on shaky elbows and broke the gaze. Dark irises fell away onto the glowing ember of a river flowing next to them.
"Every awful thing about me."
"Oh." It was Percy's turn to be slumped. Following the younger boy's lead, he pushed himself up onto his hands and knees before rising on unsteady feet. "We should make a plan. She would have a plan by now. A direction to take or a way to find it… she would know." The longing in his voice was painful.
Turning away, Nico with renewed purpose took in the bleak landscape. A plan. A direction. Something for them to journey towards to get them to where they were needed most. Something in the thick atmosphere of Tartarus stirred and Nico found himself enchanted by the pulsing once more. That sound… he could feel the gravity tugging towards the sound. Crouching down, the Ghost King's fingers gingerly set to the ground and a frown weighed down his lips. As his hair began to dry it fell across his eyes curtaining him from Percy's expectant gaze. There was something more… something they were missing here in Tartarus. Nico couldn't put his finger quite on it but he could feel the pull in his gut urging him…
"This way. The Doors of Death. I don't know how far but we have to go this way."
Skepticism clouded the son of Poseidon's green eyes but the distrust in his look was shrugged off.
Having nothing better in mind, he nodded and fell ins to step next to Nico.
"Thanks, again. For saving my life."
Nico kept his gaze forward not daring to chance a look to the boy who travelled next to him.
The silence that feel between them was nearly as thick as the corrosive air.
Pretty please with blue cherries on top?
3/10/15