Three Days Go By Quickly

Nico couldn't believe he was going back. Not after what had happened last time. The only thing keeping him from chickening out was Will's steady hand in his. Before the school year, Nico would have been embarrassed by this, but he was grateful for the gesture. The Seven demigods were there with them to hopefully see their parents. A lot of people from both camps had come to Olympus for a field trip, but the Seven and Reyna were here "to support Nico," as they had said. He had survived the quest, but it was up to the gods as to whether he had completed it successfully or not. He had come straight from his school, and he and Will were still in their uniforms. Nico had his backpack and sports bag slung over his shoulder, tokens from his year-long quest. This might have been a moment of triumph for him had there not been agonizing elevator music in the background. When the doors opened, he practically ran out. Nico just wanted to get this over with. Will kept ahold of his hand, forcing him to walk calmly. His voice whispered in Nico's ear, "Keep your head up. You can not lose your dignity now, not after everything you went through to keep it." Will's eyes locked on to his for a split second, and Nico's mind became clearer. He knew Will was right. As annoying as Will could be sometimes, Nico wouldn't have been able to get through the year alone. Nico started the march to his unknown fate. As they walked, he realized just how stupid this was. The last time he'd seen the gods, they'd shot him four times. Now, he was risking the gods inflicting equal or worse pain than before. Oh well. Whatever horrible punishments the gods had, he could take them.
In the throne room, only Zeus, Hades and Apollo sat on their thrones. The demigods lined up, respectfully keeping a distance from the center of the throne room. Zeus called Nico and Will forward. Nico found himself retracing the steps he'd taken a year ago, hoping the rest of the day didn't replicate itself. They knelt before the three gods. Nico looked to each god in turn, glaring at Zeus, looking uncertainly at Apollo, and trying(unsuccessfully) to discern what Hades was thinking. Zeus seemed annoyed, as always. Apollo told Will to rise. When Will stood up, Apollo flashed a blinding smile. "Hey, Will! May I say, I'm glad your hair grew back. A buzz cut doesn't suit you. And good job on your grades!" Apollo waved his hand, and a pair of report cards appeared. "Although," he continued, "you might have tried harder in Music class. I mean, is it really that hard?" Will grumbled. "Maybe not to you, but some people aren't musically talented." Apollo gave him a skeptical look, but moved on to the next report card- Nico's. His eyes widened, and he just said, "Whoa." He looked at Nico, who gave him a purposely blank stare, then back at the report card. He sat back, staring into space, and handed the paper to Hades. Hades took the grades and glanced at them. What happened next put Nico into shock. It had never happened. Nico was sure it would never happen again. Hades started laughing. He actually laughed. The God of the Underworld laughed. "That's my son." Hades smirked. He gave the paper to Zeus. The king of the gods grew more aggravated by the report card, and crumpled it, throwing it away. Nico was vaguely aware of Annabeth catching it and smoothing it out. She gasped a little, and the rest of the Seven passed it around out of curiosity. Nico ignored them and kept a blank face as Zeus exploded. "So what? He probably cheated! This wasn't about the grades anyway. What about the sports?" Apollo pulled another small stack of papers from midair. "It says here," Apollo announced with some satisfaction, reading as if he was Zeus' secretary, "that Nico scored twelve goals in soccer, over a hundred points in basketball, including twenty-four three pointers and that awesome half-court shot," Apollo winked at Nico before he continued, "and won first place in the 5,000-meter sprint." Nico felt a twinge of pride hearing all of his accomplishments of the year set out together and proving to Zeus that he was not worthless. He loved playing sports, even if his team made his life difficult. It was amazing how much satisfaction someone could get by running fast, or kicking or shooting a ball into a net. Zeus rolled his eyes, fed up with being proved wrong with every point he made. He grudgingly said, "Fine. What about the mortal bullies?" Apollo smiled at Nico, who averted his gaze to look at the floor. The sun god cheerfully appealed to Zeus. "That's the best part! He scared them. After the first few months, no one kid picked on him alone. All of the bullies had to group up to pull anything. They figured there was strength in numbers." Zeus looked triumphant, exclaiming, "There! That means he went through the entire school year with minimum bullying." Will shouted out. "Minimum bullying? Is that what you call it? They hit him countless times, day after day, relentlessly! They put him through every hell, and it's only through his own endurance that Nico kept his sanity!" Apollo held out a hand, silencing Will and saving him from Zeus' punishment. "I was getting to that part," he assured his son. Nico was still kneeling, and he hadn't been told to stand. He guessed that had something to do with Zeus' stubborn idea that Nico was "demon spawn," and therefore inferior to any other demigods or even mortals. Apollo continued, "The bullying didn't stop after individuals were scared of Nico. They started pairing up to torture him, and there were sometimes large groups of students against him at any given time. None of the teachers cared about victims of bullying, and some of them even encouraged it. The sports teams excluded him from everything except practices and games, and he once took on the entire basketball team in a fight that they started, and he won. The bullying, as you well know, Zeus, never stopped throughout the entire year." Listening to this discussion was a truly unique experience for Nico. He'd always been given a hard time. Hades had told him once that it was because he was not supposed to have a life, so it was up to him to prove he deserved one. The bullies were only testing him, to see how he would react. Nico had taken the tests, and been determined to pass them, but now Apollo and Will were talking about it all to Zeus, making Nico seem like some kind of victim. So what if the sport teams had excluded him? He had never asked to be included anyway. All this time while Apollo had been listing Nico's accomplishments, Nico had been acutely aware of Hades looking directly at him. He stayed with his eyes on the floor, still kneeling. It was because of Hades that he was considered demonic. Or was it just his natural personality, and it was a coincidence? He stopped his train of thought, remembering how dangerous it was to try to assign blame for something that was nobody's fault. He was a demon, and that was that. There was nothing to be done about it. Nico risked raising his gaze a split second, and was shocked to lock onto Hades' eyes. Hades didn't look away, and his stare was unnerving. Every time Nico looked into his father's eyes, he saw the horrors of death, and the possibilities of the Underworld. It made him remember the cold feeling of sensing Bianca's death, and even deeper, a faint memory of a flash and his mother's scream, and looking out at a black force field in wonder. There was always the aura of death, but Nico remembered it protecting Bianca and him. He remembered that day, because it was the first and last time Hades had ever hugged them or been protective. It was also the first day of abuse. It had been the first backhanded slap. Not for Bianca, never her. Nico had been the punching bag. It had been the start of beatings, of welts and scars. Hades had told him it was for his own good. That Nico would thank him one day. Whenever Nico looked at Hades, he felt death and destruction, but an underlying sense of comfort too. Nico knew that comfort was completely irrational. Nothing was comforting about the Underworld or Hades. Nico wrenched his eyes away from Hades', setting them back to rest on the floor. Zeus was a very unhappy camper. No matter what he said against Nico, Apollo had a paper to prove him wrong. The God of the Sun just kept procuring new papers out of thin air and making them float over to Zeus until there was a miniature twister of pages spinning around him. Zeus finally erupted, scattering the papers around the room. Nico mentally sighed as the other demigods started to gather the reports together to read. Zeus yelled, "Fine! This demon can live! If it means that much to all of you, let the world be a darker place. I only wanted him dead as a convenience. But if he ever causes World War Three, that's all on you!" Zeus swept a finger around the room before vanishing with a huff. The throne room was silent. Nico was met with a wave of relief, and then guilt for causing two gods and nine demigods to fight for him like this. Well, it was much better than just letting Zeus kill him for fun. He remained where he was, not planning on breaking the silence. Finally, Hades spoke. "Well, Nico? Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Nico kept his head bowed. "No sir," he responded. Hades paused for a beat. "Absolutely nothing? A lot has happened to you since the last we spoke. You don't have anything to discuss?" Hades sounded a little confused by Nico's short answer. "You may stand now," he added. Nico stood straight with his hands at his sides, keeping a blank face. "I have nothing to discuss," he confirmed. Hades paused again. "You know you're done with school for now," he informed Nico. "The formalities are done." Apollo off-handedly ventured, "Maybe you overestimated his psychological stability. Maybe he finally cracked. You never know with the mortal mind." Nico sighed internally, and crossed his arms. If everyone always questioned his sanity, then why did they continue to test him so much? "I thought this is what you wanted," he told his father. "Complete obedience." Will gathered his courage and spoke up to the god of the Underworld, "Isn't that why you hit him?" Nico's eyes widened. Will did not just say that. He did not say that. Oh my gods, he just said that. Nico had never challenged Hades about the beatings. Hades' eyes darkened, glaring at Nico and Will, drowning out the slight sense of comfort with visions of pain and torture. "We agreed to let that go," Hades warned Nico. Nico didn't react, but Will kept going. "No, you wanted to let it go. You never even apologized to Nico. Do you admit that hitting a seven-year old is wrong? Did you enjoy giving him scars? Do you regret anything?" Nico was concerned that if Will kept running his mouth, he'd wind up in the Fields of Punishment. He stepped up to Will, pulling his arm and mouthing "shut up." Apollo even saw the danger of Hades lashing out on Will, and he nonchalantly led his son away to stand with the other demigods, out of harm's way. Hades ignored the accusations. "It was for his own good," he justified. Nico had heard those words too many times. "How so?" he challenged. "In what way did your abuse ever help me?" "That, Nico," Hades announced dramatically, "is why we are here." Before Nico could form another question, Hades silenced everyone. "You are here to fulfill our original agreement. You once begged me to disown you, because nothing could be worse than being forced into the role of my son. Do you remember what I said?" Nico searched his defective memory. Hesitantly, he answered, "You said I would get what I deserved, nothing more, nothing less." "Good," Hades seemed to have calmed down a bit. "Your memory has improved. I meant what I said. It has taken five years, but you have finally proved to me that you deserve more than to be my son. I'm taking your demon away and releasing you from my service." Nico opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. What demon? He was a demon. Did that mean Hades was going to somehow erase his identity? Maybe it was a metaphor for killing him and putting his out of his misery. Hades started chanting in some ancient language, sending wisps of black shadows around the room. Nico eyes them warily, and glanced over his shoulder to the demigods. Apollo was talking to Will, not paying attention to Hades' weird magic. Hazel watched the shadows swirl around her in wonder. Most of the other demigods had stepped back, but Percy gave Nico an uncertain smile. The shadows circled around Nico, gaining speed until they were a blur, moving at a reckless rate. He felt a major drop in air pressure, as if he was surrounded by a vacuum. The shadow sucked the air out of Nico's lungs, suffocating him and threatening to tear him apart. It started to hurt, and he tried to escape, but found he was immobile. He closed his watering eyes, since he couldn't see anything through the now solid wall of spinning shadow. Hades' chanting grew louder. Suddenly, all of the shadows gathered to form a miniature black hole right in front of Nico. He felt like it was trying to pull his spine out. Suddenly he felt a cold, dark substance leaving his skin, his heart, his soul. It was as if a giant weight was being extracted from him against its will, and it was trying to claw its way back. His demon. Hades had been literal? How did a demon ever get inside of Nico's soul? Unless this material seeping out of his skin was his soul. In that case, Nico was about to be exiled to some dark void of hell where he would be judged for his life. Oh well. He figured there was a fifty-fifty chance. Either the demon would go away, or his soul would be damned, depending on what Hades wanted. It seemed like what his mother had taught him about heaven or hell, in the Christian teachings. More of the darkness left his body, and Nico was alarmed to see it take shape, forming into a vague body. An arm left his chest, reaching out to him with long yellow claws, but being pulled away by the black hole. Finally, the entire presence left Nico's body with a jerk, and Nico caught a glimpse of it. There was no doubt now, that it was a demon. It had long fangs and claws, and glowing red eyes. The demon had a striking similarity to a hellhound, although it's eyes glittered with a humanoid, demonic intelligence. A shrill scream erupted from beyond its incisors, before being cut off when it disappeared into the black hole.
Silence. No, not silence. A constant ringing in his ears. Light-headedness. Spots danced across his vision. Nico felt the floor under his hands and knees. He blinked several times to regain his vision, and everything was bright. Not a harsh bright, but a nice one. Light, pure. Something he hadn't felt since early in his life, when he hadn't known the difference, hadn't comprehended it, had taken it for granted. It was wonderfully light, not only in his vision but in his soul. An enormous weight had been lifted off Nico's shoulders that he had never known was there. He swallowed and his ears popped, restoring his hearing. He sat back on his knees to see nine overprotective demigods staring at him with concern. Leo, of course, broke the silence. "That...was awesome!" He looked like he was shocked, especially because his nose looked like a candle, and flames flickered through his hair. Will was checking Nico's pulse. It might have been Nico's imagination, but he thought the feel of Will's skin on his was sharper. Percy and Jason asked simultaneously, "Dude, are you okay?" and then looked at each other, annoyed with being so similar. Nico took a breath. "Yeah," he smiled. "I'm great." Hazel caught his attention. "Um, Nico?" When Nico looked at her, his smile faded a tiny bit; she wore a worried expression. "Yeah, Hazel?" he answered her curiously. She was looking behind him. He thought he felt a growing pressure on his back, but he was probably just disoriented. The other demigods looked where she was looking, and their eyes widened. Leo and Annabeth seemed fascinated while the rest of Nico's friends looked surprised. Looking at Hazel's face, Nico thought he found a bit of wonder written on her features. Frank's brow was furrowed, but Nico still didn't know why. He resisted the temptation to look behind him, trusting that Hazel was going tell him about it. When Hazel did speak, it just gave Nico more questions. She asked him, "Are angels real?"
"What?" Nico wasn't sure if he'd heard her right. "Are angels real?" she repeated. Nico was at a loss for words. Angels? He figured the only way to get an answer was to turn around, so he did. He stood up, looked behind him, and saw...nothing. There was nothing out of the ordinary behind where he'd been sitting, no angels, nothing. He looked at the demigods, not sure if they were trying to pull a prank on him or not. "What happened? What's wrong?" he asked them all, but nobody answered. They stared at him with haunting expressions, like people who had made their peace with death. Nico was uncomfortable, and blushed, but he grew tired that nobody was giving him any explanation of their creepy behavior. He tried again, saying very slowly, "What is wrong? Please just tell me why you are looking at me like that. What, is the demon back? Am I being possessed?" Again, there was silence. Nico started counting how long it took everyone to snap out of it. One Tartarus. Two Tartarus. Three Tartarus. Four Tartarus. Five Tartarus. Six Tartarus. Seven Tartarus. Apollo's voice interrupted Nico's counting. "Hail, Nico di Angelo," the sun god announced, "son of the angels." The demigods knelt before Nico, making him want to pull them back up. He was a demon. He didn't deserve this respect. What did Apollo mean, "son of the angels?" He was a son of Hades, destined to spread death and destruction! He became aware of a light somewhere, casting a ring of gold around him, but leaving no shadow. He started panicking under the attention, spinning around, determined to find out what this was all about, where the light was coming from, and what was supposedly behind him. Nico was then stopped in mid-spin, and turned to look into the face of the demigod gripping his shoulders. Will's eyes caused his heart to beat strongly, and his breath to even out. The son of Apollo could calm Nico down when everything else failed. Will spoke softly, as if he didn't want to scare Nico. What was that about? Will had always spouted either sarcastic or biting remarks without any worry that Nico would take them the wrong way. "There's no other way to say this, Nico. You are an angel." Nico rolled his eyes. "Are you insane? I'm the son of the devil! No offense," he added over Will's shoulder to Hades, who was merely watching the scene. Will calmly reached over Nico's shoulders, as if to hug him. Instead, Nico felt the most amazing flush of warmth spread down from some odd place through his shoulder blades, and through his back and chest. Will slowly spread his arms, and it felt like he was pulling on Nico's shoulder blades, only from a distance. What was Nico feeling, if Will's hands were both two feet out away from either side of his body? "No," Will said deliberately, "you are an angel. Look." Nico was too confused to argue. He looked behind him.
What he saw rendered him speechless. There was no explanation for it, not in a million years. Two beautifully designed wings grew out of his back. Will held them out to the sides, spreading them so that everyone could see. They were mostly a deep silver and white, but with a lining of sharp black feathers along the bottom. Nico was reminded of Daedalus' bronze wings, but these weren't metal. They were real muscle, bones and feathers, and they were growing out from his shoulder blades. When he stretched, they spread out on their own. He flapped them once. Nico wrenched his wide eyes from the wings, looking at Will with his shock. Will was as supportive as always, now taking ahold of Nico's hands. Will glanced up, so Nico followed his gaze. Right above Nico, bathing the throne room in a golden light, was a floating circlet of braided silver, Celestial bronze, and Imperial gold. A halo, Nico realized. Could this day get any weirder? Apparently, yes. Nico looked down at himself, only to see that he was wearing...a chiton? It was completely white, aside from a silver belt that held his sword. The white fabric made Nico's skin seem darker in comparison. He squinted, looking again. No, his skin was darker. It was the same olive tone it had been when he'd lived in Italy. Feeling vulnerable with the odd clothing, Nico drew his changed sword so he would have a weapon, but became fascinated by its design. At the hilt was a twist of silver, bronze and gold, just like the halo. The blade itself was bronze, with a silver arrow running the length of the middle, outlined in black. He looked from the sword, to the halo, to Will, to his wings, and then finally to Hades, asking, "Do you mind explaining all of this?" Nico knew he would never get answers without asking the god of the Underworld, who had changed Nico into this. Hades responded in an uncharacteristically surprised voice. His eyes were calm for once, and he actually had a small smile on his face. "I disowned you, Nico. All of my influence has been removed from your spirit. If you were anyone else, you would have been mortal now." Nico figured his father-no, not anymore,-Hades, was telling the truth, since he still felt the relief of having no demon anymore. Nico was still confused. "Why aren't I mortal, then? What am I?" Hades' smile grew, but there was an air of reminiscing about him. It was as if he was remembering an old happy memory, but was sad that it had passed. "You are not mortal," he said, "because your soul has been judged to be worthy of a high honor. You take after your mother, Nico. You are indeed an angel." Nico's brain went haywire. Too many thoughts passed through his mind that he couldn't organize them, but he was aware that he spoke to Hades, "No, I'm not! What do you mean, I take after my mother?" Hades raised his eyebrows. "How else did you think you'd gotten your surname from? You were named since 'Nico' means death, and Michael was the archangel of death, and your last name is self explanatory. Your name means 'the angel of death.' Your mother was descended from angels. She wasn't one herself, but she did pass on some of their traits to you and Bianca." Nico didn't believe it. Angels were real? "My name could also mean 'the death of angels,'" Nico protested. "I don't deserve any 'high honor.' I can't do anything right. I'm the worst person I know, and I've met many interesting characters in Tartarus." Hades frowned now. Maybe he was upset, maybe he was annoyed, Nico couldn't tell. He started explaining everything. "Nico, before today, your soul was being fed upon by a demonic parasite. They take all of a soul's joy, all comfort and humanity, and leave a shell of a person who is now insane. You've read the Harry Potter series, I know. Think of it as a dementor living inside of you for fifteen years. The more darkness, death, and cruel experiences you experienced, the stronger the dementor or demon became. Most of my children have demons. The ones who fight them go insane, and the ones who accept them become monsters themselves. Adolf Hitler wasfriendswith his demon. It grew to practically possess him, and he let it do so since it was the only option he knew that would save his sanity. You have gone through many unspeakable things. You grew up during a war, your mother and sister died, you went through my training, you fought in two wars, and you survived going through Tartarus. How you managed to keep sane and survive this entire time while fighting the demon is a mystery. Any normal soul would have been obliterated by the time you turned eleven. Even Hitler's demon was weaker than yours, but your humanity survived. If you don't deserve to be an angel, I don't know who does."
Nico stared at Hades. Hades stared back. Absolutely nothing moved in the throne room. This was Hades. This was the God of the Underworld. This was the man who had only ever said three mildly-kind sentences to Nico. This was the man who had hit him, smacked him, beaten him. This was the man who had told him he was worthless. This was the man who had caused him to have a demon in the first place. This was the man who had introduced him to the pits of hell. This was now the god who was telling him he deserved to be an angel. His brain had finally shorted out. The light should have been overwhelming, but it felt wholesome and warm. He glanced up at his new halo, surprised that it was made of metal. He'd always thought of halos as just rings of light that you could probably pass your hand through. Instinctively, Nico actually reached up and grabbed the braided circlet of metal, and brought it down. The light dimmed a bit, but it was still brighter than anything else in the room. He ran his hand around the rim of the halo, and experimentally put his arm through it. To Nico's surprise, the ring started shrinking and moved itself to fit around his bicep. He looked at his wings and sighed. An angel was much better than a demon. He didn't know why he was so against being angelic. Maybe because it was the opposite way he'd always thought of himself. He bowed to Apollo and Hades. Nico looked his ex-father in the eyes, and thanked him. Walking out of Olympus, he wasn't sure whether to bow his head in embarrassment, or run around in glee. It was amazing. For the first time in fifteen years, he was finally free! Another hand slipped into Nico's. He looked next to him to gaze into Will's eyes. "How do you feel?" Will asked. Nico smiled brightly. "I feel really great," he answered sincerely. "You look great," Will informed him. "I mean, um, you know, healthy for once. Your pulse is stronger," he stuttered. Nico blushed at the reason Will felt he needed to explain himself. He'd known for quite a while that Will might like him, but he'd always shaken it off. If Will wanted to make a move, Nico would let him, but Nico sure wasn't going to ruin their friendship. So far, Nico hadn't raised an eyebrow whenever Will held his hand, and he sure hadn't minded the goodnight kisses. It had always been one kiss per night in their dorm room, when Will thought Nico was asleep. Nico had even initiated it the few times he'd thought Will had fallen asleep first. Even if Will had been feigning sleep like Nico usually did, Nico didn't really mind. Either Will had been sleeping, or he knew Nico liked him back. Nico wasn't sure which situation he wanted to be true. On one hand, maybe Will would make a move. On the other hand, what if Will made a move? A new step in their relationship was an exciting but scary prospect. Nico took in the enormous blue sky in front of the steps, with pink-tinged clouds and soaring birds. The air seemed so clean, the world so bright. Walking away from Olympus with no demon, no wounds, new wings, and Will's hand in his, Nico was happier than he could ever remember being.

Notes

Sorry I didn't go into too much detail about what happened during the school year.