(Nico di) Angelo angst-(one)shots

Skeleton Se(d)ances

The first time it'd happened had been an accident -like it often was, I mean, when wasn't it?- and he definitely hasn't meant to do it. You see, as a cold of hades he was often... outcasted by the other campers because he was "cursed".

Of course this was a lie (at least that's what he said as he held himself, rocking quietly in a silent cabin because somehow the silence was louder then the ares cabin) and he knew it but his patience only got so far.

Sometimes when he was bored -not that he'd ever admit it- he'd summon a skeleton, trying to make as little property damage as possible, and set it across from him at the table he'd decorated the dark shack with (a desperate attempt to fill the empty void of loneliness that followed him and made itself at home in his "home") to play with him.

He'd practice manipulating each bone to do something, for example, bending a pinkie finger or straightening its spine to sit upright -after all, proper manners were important to have-. And once he'd mastered it he put it together, making it wave high or sit down as smoothly as possible. He strived for perfection and it was no different with this, he wanted to be powerful, he wanted to be able to mimic a human .

Many days and nights had passed, Nico staying secluded to his room as he worked, prideful with how much control he managed to achieve over a heap of bones (not that he'd ever call them that top their "faces", he still has respect after all).

By the eighth day he'd pushed the table to the side, making room to watch the skeleton and his powers perform. The first time he'd tried it it had been rough, quite a few jagged movements and he wasn't able to get one of the hands from bending in a strange way that he was sure if it could still feel pain would probably be screaming.

During those couple weeks he barely slept -and that's by his own standards so you can imagine how little it really was!- and ate even less, on more than one occasion he'd been forced to shadow travel out and into the canteen to steal some food because his stomach grumbled so loud he couldn't hear the music.

By the thirteenth day he'd managed to make the bones do an entire routine -albeit small it was still a dance- without having any complications. Once he finally decided he was good and proud of the result he began the second part and frankly -the easier part.

He already knew how to move one skeleton with deadly accuracy (ha ha) so it was onto moving more than one. The shadows kept him company as he worked, keeping the bones from falling apart as he tried to get the hang of it. He'd never admit it but on more then one occasion he'd almost made a rib cage break (explode) because he turned it the wrong way.

The pride that had settled in his mind quickly began to wash away as he failed to control the two heaps of bones at the same time, frustration bubbling up in a horrible way inside him as he slammed his hands down onto the floor, a sickly crack opening up in the obsidian.

"Why won't it just- agh ! Just fucking work !" His teeth grit and nails clawed at his head, it was infuriating when he failed to do the simplest of things! He was the ghost king and son of hades for Tartarus' sake, why couldn't he do something as simple as this?!

With an annoyed sigh he pushed himself up, walking over to where the skeletons were laying and summoned the original to its feet, grabbing hold of its bony hand and placing his own on its 'back'.

As he heard one of the ghosts change the song he took a step backwards, grateful it was a slower song, and pulled the bare bones with his magic, careful to keep a light touch so as to not crush it on accident (not that he was really anywhere near physically strong enough to, frankly, he was almost as weak as the dead before him. Really, it was more of an act of respect than anything, he used their bodies as he pleased -for battle, etc- but he respected them in return) as he began to glide around the room.

The skeleton moved with him, following each step with only minimal mistakes (he had to remember both dance parts so you couldn't blame him) and he felt a strange sense of joy as they flooded around the soulless -and far too big in his opinion- room with an eerie grace.

(In reality he knew it was just a means to replacement, a wish to relive one of his happiest memories with his sister. I mean, being stuck in a casino for a month -even though in reality it was seventy years- you ran out of things to do fairly quickly. One of the things they'd picked up was dancing in the ballroom and learning as many dances as they could.)

"Hey Nico? You haven't been around and we were wonderi- Holy shit." Annabeth stared with big eyes at the sight before her, Nico had always been one to refuse dancing no matter what they did to convince him, coming up with multiple excuses in a means to escape having to do it, so you couldn't blame her for being surprised.

As quickly and quietly as she could she took out her phone and his record, watching with glee at the mesmerizing sight. When the son of hades danced it looked like he was a ghost himself, gliding across the floor smoothly and almost as pale as one as one to. It was beautiful and in the back of her mind she wondered why he'd never joined them before.

As the song ended she pressed stop and scurried away, not wanting to get caught, and practically ran back to the pavilion in excitement, she couldn't wait to show everyone!

Nico was not ignorant, nor was he innocent. The shadows told him everything he ever needed to know, residing in crooks and crannies to hear things that were never meant to be heard.

So if someone wondered, yes, he had heard her, even without his darkness the door to his cabin was creaky (on purpose) and she hasn't exactly been the quietest. So why hadn't he stopped her? Well the answer was...he had no clue. Here he sat at the edge of his bed, listening through shadows as they commented on his abilities, and completely stumped at his own actions.

Perhaps it was because he did not care, or maybe because he enjoyed the dance so much he got lost in it, never wanting it to end. He didn't know (he did), but what he knew was that he needed to go out for food soon and he was not looking forward to talking to anyone any time soon.

With a sigh of resignation he got up and shadow warped to the cafeteria, landing in his seat at the hades table. Maybe he could just envelope himself in his darkened and fade into the background like he usually did and simply eat in peace.

Of course he could never have that much luck, the second he began to get comfortable he almost jumped right back out of his seat in surprise. "NICO!" He almost dragged a hand down his face at the sound, fuck him.

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This wasn't really the next chapter I was planning on but oh well, enjoy ~

(Btw this one actually has two parts)