Shadows (Solangelo)

Father

I open my eyes, as if I had just woken up from some dream. I look around and see nothing, but darkness. Everything is pitch black around me. Immediately, I get apprehensive for not knowing where I am and get up as fast as I can, for some reason my body feels normal and healthy. I take a moment to examine my arms, there are no longer my battle scars, not even the lion's bite. Somehow, my skin isn't as pale as it was, it is back to the original colour and I'm pretty sure I no longer have the dark bags under my arms. I brush a hand through my hair, it feels clean and smooth. I look down and notice that all my clothes were changed for a white shirt and shorts, I'm barefoot and just now I feel the coldness of what I assume to be the floor against my skin.

Where the Hades am I? What happened to me?

"Hello?" I ask hesitantly, walking around the place, even though I can't see anything except from myself. "Hey!" I say again, this time a bit louder. The place feels so peaceful, even with all the darkness. There's something about the shadows that has always been different to me, they make me feel better. Maybe it's because I can just hide in them and pass unnoticed, or maybe it's because I can see myself in them: something dark that people are afraid of.

After a while of walking around just thinking, I see a figure walking down in my direction. I stop dead in my tracks and wait for the person to approach me. From afar, all I know is that it has a human form, of a man. As he gets closer, I take a better look at the man and immediately recognise him. My father.

"Nico" Hades says sternly. "Father" I reply, looking down, not sure whether I should look at his face or not. "Let's go for a walk, shall we?" Not even waiting for an answer, Hades walks straight ahead and I obviously follow him.

I walk by my father's side for a while, just waiting for him to start explaining me what is happening. but it never came. I keep walking with him for some more time until I finally give up and decide to ask what is going on already, why isn't there no light here. "Where are we?" I ask, looking at him from the corner of my eye. "Where do you think we are?" He replies with a side grin on his face. I just shrug in response as we continue to walk from no place to nowhere, it doesn't matter how long I move here or in which direction, I will always end up at the same place.

"Son, do you know why are we here?" Hades suddenly stops walking and just stares into nothingness. "No, I don't." I answer, also stopping and looking at him, his eyes look tired, more tired than ever and they show a glimpse of sadness. I wonder why, not so many things could make a God sad, and I want to know what made Hades, one of the big three, feel that way.

"Nico" My father starts to say, he sighs and shakes his head before turning to face me. He puts a hand on my shoulder, grabbing it firmly. I realise what is happening just as I see the look on his face. "You're dying. You are disappearing, I've been trying to do everything I can to help you live, Nico, but I can't do it if you don't help me." I can clearly here the desperation in his voice, maybe he really did love me. At least someone did.

"I-i what?" I ask in disbelief. I am dying and he can help me if I want. But the question is:

Do I want to live?

It would be so much easier if I died. I wouldn't need to worry about anything else, I wouldn't be alone, I wouldn't suffer anymore.

Just peace.
Forever.

To me, that idea sounds very tempting.

However, I am still so young. I still have a whole life to go. I have my sister, I have Jason, Reyna and Percy, I have Will. Maybe I could actually have a normal life and be happy now that the war is over. Would it be extremely selfish of me if I decided to die? How would they feel without me? What would happen to me? Would I ever be able to achieve Elysium? Probably not, I'd surely go to hell. But what would happen to me then?

At this moment I realise that I'm afraid to die and I don't want to. I know that we only have one life. We are all going to die someday, everyone is going to leave this world and the most of them didn't want to. I can still live, I have the option that no one else has. I can start again, I can find happiness and I will. I was scared of being happy, opening up for others and even getting closer to Will, because I thought I wouldn't be able to get hurt again. Now I see that if I don't try, I will never learn, people learn by their mistakes and I've been doing wrong for a long time. Also so many people have been hurt, some have had it worse than me. I've seen so many people overcome their problems and I always admitted them, I knew how strong they were, I just needed to learn how to be strong myself.

I feel Hades squeezing my shoulder, taking me away from my thoughts. He looks at me and sends me a small, almost unnoticeable smile. "Goodbye, boy." He says before fading back into the shadows. Just as he disappears right in front of my eyes, I see a small dot of light that comes closer to me in an enormous speed. My eyes widen in fear as I am, for the first time, engulfed in the white bright light.

A.N.: Hey, guys! So today makes three months since I started writing this fanfic, YAY! And that is also one of the explanations as to why this chapter was so long.
Thank you for reading my story! It means a lot to me! And if you liked it please vote and comment what you think! Xx