The Rebirth

Months later…
“Well,” said Charlie, after a beat. He smoothed the awkwardness over with a big, happy, goofy grin. “What exactly do you want to know?”
Beckendorf. When he was alive, he was the rock of Camp Half-Blood- brains, muscles, heart; the guy had it all. He was this strong, ripped African American guy that could fix anything and everything in the camp.
He was in love with Silena Beauregard, and she loved him back.
He died in an attempt to bring Kronos down.
Story of a life.
Beckendorf had gotten into Elysium, of course. Silena, the love of his life, joined him a week later.
Happily ever after.
So what was Nico doing, disturbing the happy Elysiumic couple, when all was good and well for them? What could Beckendorf possibly help him with?
Well…
Nico had talked to the dude after he went off into the Land of the Dead. Nico’d wanted to check up on him, see if he was doing okay, have a conversation… Maybe see if he knew any extra information about the Titan’s army. Not only that, but he needed to tell Beckendorf about what was happening on the upper world, about the war, about Silena, about how everyone was missing him terribly. Beckendorf was a good guy. He really cared about everybody else. Nico felt like he had an obligation to tell him, face-to-face, that everyone still really cared about him.
But that wasn’t the weird part.
The weird part was that, when asked about whether he would choose to be Reborn from Elysium, Beckendorf had shook his head and laughed.
“I’m waiting for someone” is what he said.
Like he knew.
And he did.
A week later, Silena Beauregard was guided to the Underworld, and after a very, very, very shaky judgment, was put into Elysium.
“So how?” Nico asked the present Beckendorf, the ghostly one, with liquid periwinkle soul swirling around himself and his muscular body. “How did you know?”
Beckendorf thought about this. His forehead wrinkled, and he momentarily floated dead-still. If he had breath, he would’ve held it.
He released his imaginary breath. “I don’t know how I can really explain this,” Beckendorf leaned himself back. “It’s different when you’re dead. Dead and in the Land of the Dead, not summoned above the surface like I am now. When you’re dead, and in the right place where you belong, you’re connected and grounded to knowledge and subconscious feelings you never really knew before. You can see glimpses of everything going on. And in Elysium, you don’t only get a good afterlife. You get jobs. Privileges. You’re handed a couple of strings of the universe. That’s what it feels like for me.”
“So…” Nico processed this. He leaned forward, crinkling his eyes. “You pulled the strings of the universe to ask if Silena would get into Elysium?”
“No,” Beckendorf shook his head. “It just came to me. I was supposed to know. I knew I was supposed to know. And I knew I couldn’t tell or do anything about it until it happened. So I waited. And she came.”
Nico was quiet. “I don’t suppose you could pull the strings of the universe to see if a certain person is coming back to Elysium, huh?”
“Yeah, no. I mean, I guess I could, but it wouldn’t feel right. It wouldn’t be right. All information that’s supposed to be given to you will be given to you. Destiny has got itself pretty worked out. They lay out the choices- you just have to make the right decision.”
“But I make decisions all the time.”
“And they lay those decisions out for you. Look, it gets really complicated, but for me, back in the Underworld, it all makes sense. Everything falls into place. There’s so many terrible things in the world, but there will always be some sort of peace to that Chaos. There’s always a balance- remember that. Even if the world ends. Because in Elysium… We know. There’s something More. People who live in the Isles of Blest? They especially know what’s up. They could probably give you even more answers than I can.”
Beckendorf twitched, shifting feet. He’s been tapping his foot for a while now- it was the only part of him that was really, solidly in focus- everything else was a bit blurry. “I’m not really supposed to be here. I know I was summoned, so I’ve been given a pass, but I feel twitchy and off and disconnected. Sorry, man, but I really do have to go-“
“Wait,” Nico stopped him calmly, his brain ramming and twisting and whirling information around. “Something More? What is this something More? Could it help me find…?”
He hesitated. He wasn’t sure he wanted to inform Beckendorf of his plans. Technically he wasn’t breaking his father’s law by meeting a ghost on Earth, but if word got around in the Underworld that Nico was still looking for HER, Hades would probably start the New and Improved Great Shake of California.
Beckendorf flickered. He really was breaking up. He really did have to go. “I can’t explain it. It’s just- More. Everything is as it should be, plus More. There’s others. Other beings, other people, other dead. Elysium is not a city where everyone goes through their daily routine and goes to bed at night and wakes up in the day, no- Elysium is a never-ending stretch-“ he flickered again, a hiccup of wind broke through before he came back. “A place of no time or space-“ he flickered once again. “Nobody’s tired. Nobody runs out of energy. It’s so calm. There’s so much to do and we have the capability of doing it. Right now, I’m tired just thinking about everything I’m going to have to get to when I get back but-“ another flicker, mumbling.
“But?” Nico yelled at the dissolving figure. “Beckendorf!”
He came back, weakly, in a sheer mirage of a form. “But I’ll be fine when I finally get there. There’s a lot of good feeling in Elysium. And most of the feelings aren’t the feelings you experience as humans. Everything is as it should be.”
‘Everything is as it should be.’ Beckendorf sounded like a freaking Hallmark card.
Something sparked the back of Nico’s brain. “The Others? Who are these Others? Can they help me?”
Beckendorf was seriously faded. His voice was weakly heard. “The Others. There are so many of them. We don’t even compare. This whole civilization is just a small part of something Greater, something that we don’t even know, can’t even comprehend. We feel that we’re all here. We all connect. We all exist under the same existence. It’s all real. Everything is real.”
“Beckendorf!” Nico let his frustration smudge only the tiniest fraction of his voice. “You aren’t making any sense!”
“Sorry, Nico. Just know that it’ll be okay. Bianca will have her chance. If you’re meant to help her, you’ll help her. Just look for Fates’ hints, okay? Sorry I couldn’t-“
And then Nico couldn’t hear him anymore. It was just a thin sheet of periwinkle film still fluttering in the air.
Nico slashed the pool of Burger King, breaking the connection. How is it that whenever you find answers, more questions come up?
***
He couldn’t stand looking at him. Not when he knew him so well.
Nico couldn’t help but remember the first few times he was getting to know Daniel. Every time he looked at the guy it was chaos. Nico was always so confused: every day he would walk into a mess of his own emotions, get tangled up in his whirlwind of feelings, and would have to somehow analyze his way out.
He didn’t have to do any such thing now.
He knew what he felt when Daniel walked in the room.
Hurt.
Anger.
Jealousy.
And most of all, Nico was just really sad.
They never acknowledged each other. This was very, very good, actually- Nico wouldn’t be able to stand looking at Daniel’s face. (Thank god they were in different cohorts. Nico didn’t really feel like having his eyes spontaneously combust every morning.)
But it still hurt a lot. Because now the guy felt like just another ghost in Nico’s life.
And there’d been a lot of ghosts in Nico’s life.
He laughed. Nico’s stomach clenched something terrible, just like it did those first times he heard Daniel’s laugh.
He’d forgotten Hazel was there. She must’ve seen his face, because she reached over and clenched his hand so tight that his own stomach loosened to gasp for air for his fingers.
Nico smoothed his face out. He glanced over towards Octavian, Frank, Leah, and Percy. They were all looking at him funnily.
He scowled.
They nodded at him in complete seriousness, except for Leah, who was new and didn’t know any better. Which was the perfect reaction- He didn’t want pity. He didn’t want embarrassment. And he didn’t want anything fake, like “let’s play dumb and skirt around all subjects dealing with the D-word” or “You’re better than him, Nico, anyways!”
But he didn’t want to be ignored. He wanted acknowledgement, and then a quick moving on, like “This sucks. I’m sorry. Topic covered. Let’s get on to the rest of our day.”
His scowl relaxed, and he leaned back and sighed. His friends had gotten perfect at recognizing and dealing with his emotions over the years- it was almost uncanny how they knew exactly what he needed. Nico did have to admit- it gave him a warm feeling in his heart. Sometimes his friends knew him better than he knew himself.
Bianca had been one of those people.
Daniel had also been one of those people.
“So you met up with these Egyptians, what, seven years ago?” Frank grimly turned towards Percy Jackson and gave him a pointed look. “And you just forgot to mention it?”
Frank was very stressed these days, and this was actually pretty sad. Frank’s grown to be one of the best friends Nico ever had, ever- the closest thing to a brother, actually- and lately he was losing his upbeat side panda side that made him so… Frankish.
A 9-year Praetorship really does stuff to you. Nico remembered how Reyna retired a couple of years ago; she carried an air of a thousand-year-old goddess.
Frank was finally getting to that point thousand-year-old point. He should have retired five years ago, when he was ready to go to college, but there was already a college, here, in New Rome, waiting for him whenever he finally does retire, scholarship and everything. It was one of the best gifts the gods could give the demigods after the war.
Also, Frank wasn't done with his ten years service in the legion.
“Hey,” Percy leaned back, his hands up, grinning in the same way he’s always been grinning for the time Nico’s known him. Nico’s heart ached, filled with nostalgia and memories and old loves and happiness. Even though Frank was getting to be a little less childlike every day, Percy always seemed to stay the same.
And in a way, it was really good that Percy never changed. Percy would always be strong, good, loyal. He’d make mistakes a lot. He’d never know what was going on. And Percy will never love Nico. And that was okay. Nico needed some stability in his life; he was glad he found some in Hazel and Percy.
He needed that sort of “okay the world isn’t changing before my eyes everything’s okay” solidity when Octavian made the switch four years ago. It was still weird even now- after making regular conversation with the guy and laughing normally, Nico would take a pause and look back in complete marvel. Like, this was the guy that wanted to kill us, once.
“Hey,” Percy had just said. “Considering how Romans felt about us Graecus scum, even after we won the war together, I figured adding Egyptians to the mix was a little bit of an overload.”
“Also,” he said as an afterthought, giving Octavian a sideways smile. “Even though it was tempting, I really didn’t feel like having Octavian implode himself from the horror of it all.”
Octavian winced while everyone else grinned. His straw-hair flopped in his face, and he blew it up again. He always was uncomfortable whenever they talked about his old murderous rages. For some reason.
“So, now there’s more evil we have to worry about? After the war? After defeating the Earth itself?” Frank groaned. A stack of brownies appeared at his table, and he fled to them for comfort.
Leah, the new girl, slumped, but it looked like she was expecting this stuff. Maybe she figured that her life was already so weird coming to New Rome that she could handle any extra weirdness that came along with it.
“No,” Octavian quickly jumped onto the change of topic. “I don’t think there’s any serious threat. Well, I mean, as serious as Saturn and Gaea, at least. They said the Egyptian gods moved farther away from the mortal world, correct?”
“Yeah,” Percy furrowed his brow, trying to remember. “Yeah. I think that’s what they said. Something about the Mats not aligning. Anyways, what I do know is that- for once- evil gods and goddesses are not the main issue here.”
Nico was just about to ask what the main issue happened to be when Octavian nodded.
“Opening the door,” Octavian relayed thoughtfully, “Between more civilizations… Do you think it’s more than we can handle? What if our weapons and beliefs don’t work on those other monsters? Not to mention that if we started helping the Egyptians in their world, we’d let in a tornado of other monsters into our world.”
Everyone was staring at their hands, debating this. “Are civilizations supposed to stay separate?” Octavian continued to press the hard questions. “Or should they intermix? Would the gods have to mix as well? Are we supposed to repeat history and stay out of everybody’s way or create our own history? Create a new, blended, ‘Modern civilization’ with all the other beliefs integrated into one? Or should we-“
“Enough,” Hazel put her head in her hands. “Let’s start with one question at a time, shall we?”
She took a deep breath, straightened up, and smoothed herself out.
Frank had already inhaled his brownies and began taking all of this into stride. He was talking animatedly to Percy and Leah, in all seriousness, already thinking ahead strategically. Hazel automatically glanced near Nico, giving an amused smile at this whole conversation, before she did a double take in surprise.
The chair next to her was empty.

***
Nico’s mind itched. He felt like he was supposed to be there, back in the hall supposed to be learning something, knowing something important, but he really couldn’t stand being in the same room as Daniel. It became too nagging. Months later, and it still hurt to see his face.
Nico was pathetic.
He tried to focus on other ideas. The Egyptian thing. Something about the Egyptians was ticking. His brain sounded like the little clicks scooters or bikes make when they roll over cracks in the sidewalk. Tchk.
Tchk.
Tchk.
Tchk.
He shook his head, frowning and trying to concentrate more. The Egyptian thing. What was it about that Egyptians? Something about… other civilizations…
Something important…
“Nico.”
Nico cursed inwardly and turned around in defeat. He’d have to ponder it later.
“Octavian. Hey?” He leaned back, starting off the conversation without hesitation before a burst of weirdness erupted as Nico once again remembered the way this nutty augur was before. In some ways, he still was nutty. He still continued to slice stuffed animals open, rolling his eyes whenever his friends protested about Stuffed Animal Rights.
Nico laughed.
“Why are you laughing?” Octavian asked curiously.
He stopped. “Sorry. Just a thought.”
“Don’t do that,” Octavian glanced at him in alarm. “Laughing in the middle of sentences and conversations. That freaks me out.”
Nico laughed again. He couldn’t help it . He tried to stifle it. “Sorry.”
He remembered four and a half years ago, when Octavian first tried to apologize to all the Greeks for wanting to, you know, murder them and all their families. Everyone was very hesitant.
With good reason.
Even when they skeptically accepted his apology as true, and deemed him genuinely trying to change, everybody’d expected him to turn against them at any moment’s notice.
One and a half years went by. Octavian remained skittish, timid, and scared of anything that could sabotage the new reluctant acceptance everyone has given him.
Until Octavian finally admitted to Hazel- the girl everyone goes to to talk- that he was bisexual.
Eyes immediately turned to Nico, who’d rolled his eyes and secretly held onto Daniel for dear life. Not that Octavian was a bad guy, but it was just that… Once upon a time, Octavian used to be a bad guy.
And also the whole “Just because I’m gay and he’s gay and we’re one of the only gays in camp does not mean we are gay for each other” thing was put into play.
Thankfully, Octavian voiced the same belief, in a sarcastic, annoyed, no bull type of tone, proclaiming before he could stop himself, “Oh, yeah. Me and him are active members of the Five Roman Gay/Bi Guys community. We all trade boyfriends every week.”
It was at that moment that Nico realized that the guy was all right.
“Anyways,” Octavian shifted uncomfortably. “About Daniel.”
The first thought Nico had burst into flame before his eyes- Date him and I’ll kill you. He coughed the smoke in his throat down and forced himself to painfully smile before dropping the happy act in disgust. “Yeah.”
“I normally wouldn’t do this, but-“ Octavian shifted again, even more uncomfortably this time. Nico had another panicky thought- He’s going to ask me out. And I’m going to have to say no. Or would I have to say yes? Should I say yes? Is it right to use a friend as a rebound to get over your ex? No. It isn’t. Okay. I’ll say-
“I wanted to at least let you know, if you wanted to… God, maybe this was a really bad idea.”
Nico felt some air push at his throat. He stood frozen. He never had to turn down a friend before. He immediately began analyzing Octavian. Could it work between the two of them? He’s not too bad-looking… But I never felt anything about him before…
“Okay, well, here: we’re thinking about making Daniel a centurion.”
Three seconds passed. Both relief and pain fizzed out of Nico’s chest.
“A centurion.”
“Yes.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah.”
“So…” Nico struggled with this. Jealous hurt furrowed a dent into his heart. “Why are you telling me this, again?”
Octavian shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. To let you know, before the decision goes through, so you could be ready? To ask you about your opinion on all of this? You knew him better than anybody. You can tell us if he’d be a bad centurion. I guess I’m… I’m really not allowed to do this- it’s not fair at all, but… I guess I’m giving you the option to keep him from being a centurion, Nico, if you can’t stand it. There are others just as qualified for the job. They’re all equally matched; it wouldn’t be a trouble at all to knock one out of the loop-“
Nico choked. Octavian panicked. “I don’t know! I know it’s terrible, but I just… had to let you know, at the very least, and it wouldn’t hurt to ask-“
“Octavian.” Nico felt the small gasp in his chest again as he thought of his golden boy becoming even more… golden. As a centurion. Wow. “It’s okay. I know. I know you were trying to help me out, but-“ His heart began to beg for relief. “It really isn’t fair.”
Octavian nodded calmly. “But,” he said after a while. “Would he be a good centurion?”
In many ways, no. Daniel didn’t keep most people in the know of what was going on inside of him, which made him connected but detached. Although he was still amazing at fighting, he wasn’t the absolutely best warrior in his cohort. And he wasn’t an obvious leader.
But sometimes the best leaders are the ones who don’t expect to lead- Nico thought of Percy Jackson. Sometimes leaders are the ones that just know what they gotta do and do it.
Daniel was smart. He was extremely smart, and extremely understanding with other people- he knew how to push your buttons, calm you down, or get you up. Everyone liked him. He relaxed people, loosened their muscles. He was definitely a kickbutt fighter. He had that light around him that got others to brighten up and keep going. Even if he was broken inside, his outside was determined to stay focused and happy for everyone else.
He lifted spirits.
Could he do that without being centurion? Well, yes.
But Daniel was extremely loyal to Frank, and- now that Octavian stepped down from praetorship to be an advisor- Hazel. Would it help Frank and Hazel to have that kind of guy on their team?
Definitely.
“There are both flaws and pros to Daniel,” Nico swallowed, closing his eyes for a while. The cool darkness in his brain felt nice. He just rested there, floating in blurs and reds and blacks, deep into his slow feelings and own thoughts, before he finally steadied himself to reality. His eyes opened to a very, very, very very worried Octavian. Nico couldn’t help but give another weak laugh.
“But if he was centurion, he wouldn’t do a half-bad job.”

Notes

Long chapter, a lot of information, sorry about that :)))

FIVE DAYS I CANT STAND IT