A Tale of Gods and Magic

Nico: No One Mourns the Wicked

A/N Honestly, the title isn't very fitting for this chapter, but it has the customary green and someone wicked, so... Anyway, I wrote this chapter in advance but couldn't wait to publish it because di Angelo brings out my impatience. This is TOTALLY unedited so good luck finding all the grammar and spelling errors! :) Happy Wednesday.

Nico blinked open his eyes and felt a wave of panic wash over him. He was sitting in a small, enclosed space, evocative to the bronze jar he'd been trapped in for so long. The only thing that had given him a will to live during his death trance had been thoughts of Percy. He had spent the hours imagining Percy saving him in various scenarios. Percy swooping in on Blackjack, Percy battling through hundreds of giants to get to him, Percy sacrificing Annabeth to save Nico. Two things were the same in all these visions. One, Percy was alone. Two, they all ended with Percy declaring his undying love for the son of the death god. But as the days dragged on and Nico grew closer and closer to death, he realized that Percy wasn't coming. That he really was going to die.

Then Percy had come, and Nico had felt elation above everything else. But then a stab of pain when he saw Annabeth with him.

Now, Nico scorned his unrealistic fantasies. He should've known Percy would never give up the best thing that had ever happened to him, Annabeth, for a measly fellow camper. His face burned when he thought of what he had told Percy earlier that summer, his confession. He wondered if that had really been the right thing to do. That divulgence had jeopardized any chance of friendship they had. And Nico didn't want to forever stand an awkward distance from the son of Poseidon. Not when fate kept thrusting them forever.

"I'm sorry to interrupt your thoughts, dear boy, but I must talk to you. Time is running out." Nico snapped to attention. He craned his neck through the darkness, for once wishing he could create light instead of darkness. But his captor, seeming to read his thoughts, let a green light glow through the room.

Nico didn't bother to take a long gander at his surroundings. He grabbed his Stygian iron sword from his belt and charged at where the voice had been coming from.

"Death!" he yelled, with no time to come up with a better battle cry.

But before his blade could strike the invisible woman, he tripped over something and went crashing to the ground. His head collided with marble and his sword went skittering away from him. He cursed in Italian under his breath.

"We are on the same side, trust me," said the unquestionably female voice. Nico looked down and saw a large snake slithering around his feet. He stiffened, but didn't recoil. It was probably better to let the woman think he was on her side.

"This is Lilith, aptly named after the demon. She killed me, but we've... joined forces. I hope you will, too, my little angel." The woman put a finger under Nico's chin and tilted it upwards. Darkness still obscured her face.

"Please call me Nico," said Nico through gritted teeth.

"Yes, dearest. You know, I met your sister in the Underworld. She seemed quite... devoted to you."

"Bianca?" Nico asked in a strangled voice. A tiny flicker of hope flared in his chest. Maybe Bianca was still in the fields of Asphodel, or better, Elysium. Maybe she hadn't been reborn. Nico could easily find his way down and... he couldn't get his hopes up, not now. "when was this?" he asked.

"Ah... about a year ago, maybe less." Nico's heart plummeted. Bianca would want him to fight, he thought. She'd want him to keep living his life, not to waste away on dreams.

"Why am I here?" Nico asked. "who are you?"

"You're here, because I believe that you are different from your other so-called friends. But not just different. Smart. Smart enough to join the winning side."

"And what side would that be?" Nico asked. Annabeth would take pride in him using her "keep 'em talking" strategy.

"My side."

"Yes, but what side would that be?"

Suddenly, another green light burst into existence. Nico blinked in the light, then looked up at the face of the woman in front of him. Her eyes were closed.

An aura of death and misery and pain and betrayal seeped into his senses. He shivered.

"Who... who are you?" She laughed.

"Me? I am Eurydice." She opened her eyes. They were green and glassy, with no whites. Nico focused in on her soul.

Dead. She was dead. Had Hades been napping on the job again?

"And you will be helping me in my quest for vengeance against heroes."