The Angel of Death

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

I couldn't tell where the screaming was coming from, there was nothing around me as far as I could see and the sound echoed endlessly. It really sounded like Hades, and the more I listened, the more I was sure. I had been the object of his screaming rages before, heard- the night my mother died- his screams of grief.

But pain was a whole new thing. Who could hurt a god this much? Was this real, or one of those stupid future-that-might-happen things? Gods, I hated being a demigod.

The screams abruptly cut off and a new voice echoed. This one was neither male nor female, and I didn't recognise it. It was ageless and carried a tone of void uncaring that sent shivers down my spine.

"Do you yield?" They asked. It was my father who answered, between halted breaths and hisses of pain.

"No. You will be stopped. You are foolish to think you can carry out your plan. The universe is infinite and branching, if you attempt to fuse it, everything will die!"

"I do not care. It is dying already, you and your tiny humans are only prolonging the suffering. I will rebirth the universe, as it was in the beginning."

"You will kill your own children? Your family, your creation?" Hades sounded desperate, and I got the impression he was grasping at straws.

"My children will understand. And your pantheon has not been my family for many years." I heard the slight infliction in their voice now, the way it dropped into something colder. Then Hades began screaming again.

I tried to call out, but my voice was stuck in my throat. Or maybe the abyss I was stuck in was simply swallowing the sound. The screams blended into a rushing sound that grew louder and louder, and all around me, cracks began appearing, seeping gold light. They grew larger and brighter, until all I could see was the blinding light and all I could hear was the screaming, rushing sound.

"Nico!"

I jolted upright, gasping and choking on my own scream that had lodged itself in my throat. There were blankets wrapped around my legs and hands around my shoulders. I twisted to escape the constricting feeling and fell with a heavy 'thump' onto the floor.

I blinked, swallowing back the scream and looked around. I was still in the drawing room. I vaguely remembered falling asleep watching a movie with Damian, but it had been hardly even four am then, and now light was streaming in from the windows. Jason was standing on the other side of the couch and Dick had been the one who was holding me down, if this dream was anything like my previous experiences. They both looked incredibly worried.

"S-santa merda," I stuttered through shaking breaths. "Fuck...fuck!" I scrambled off the ground, head spinning, still reeling from the nightmare. This was big. This was bigger than anything I had speculated it to be, I needed to call Chiron, now! Fusing the universe? What the fuck-

"Nico, wait!" Dick yelped, reaching out for me, but the panic from the nightmare had wrapped its fingers around me and hadn't really let go yet. I jolted back from his hand and he flinched away, concern and hurt and fear bleeding from his facial expression. "What the hell is going on?" He asked, softer. "You were- you were sleeping one minute, and the next, you started thrashing around like you were on fire- you wouldn't even wake up, Nico what the hell is going on with you?" Dick sounded like he was on the verge of tears, either frustration or genuine worry, I couldn't tell.

I shot my eyes briefly to Jason, who remained stoic in his silence. "I don't know what you mean. I'm fine, nothing's been 'going on' –"

"Don't!" Dick practically shouted, angry now. "Don't give me that. You've been acting weird since you got here, Nico. This isn't normal, don't think I haven't realised that yet! You- you're always so closed off, and I get that, I really do, but between you collapsing, and this, and whatever happened between you and Jason and the Joker, I'm a detective, Nico! I know when something's not right, and something isn't right! You act like you're fine all the time, like you're so unaffected by what's happened to you, and I know that's not true! So either you're one hell of a good liar and have some freakishly magical coping mechanisms, or you're not telling us everything, because the only way you can go through what you already have here and be fine, is if you've been through worse." Dick broke off, eyes shiny.