When Worlds Collide

57) My Little Pony

Nico was finishing up teaching the combat class when his phone dinged.

"Alright everyone, that's enough for the day!" He called to the fighting children, all of them stopping what they were doing immediately. "Juliet, make sure everyone puts their swords away."

Juliet began collecting the swords that they were using as she rolled her eyes. "You know, Clarisse usually does this herself."

"Well I, unlike Clarisse, am not supposed to be teaching this class and have a meeting."

"Wow, you get adopted by one billionaire and suddenly think you're too good for us little guys," she said with a smirk.

Nico rolled his eyes, but couldn't suppress a smile at her antics. "Shut it LeBeau. Also, you didn't even know me until after I was adopted," he said as he jogged out of the arena.

He picked up the FaceTime call as he made his way to Cabin 13. "Hey guys, just give me a second. I was covering a class for my friend and am almost to my cabin."

"Where are you?" Perdita asked as she seemed to study his background through the phone. "Is that a horse with wings?"

Nico glanced behind him and saw a child of Iris walking a pegasus towards the stables. "Yes, yes it is."

"Totally crash," Garf said with a smile as he sat down next to Perdita, slinging an arm over her shoulder.

Piper raised an eyebrow, her background looking like she was in her room at her father's house. "Should you really be showing them this stuff?"

Nico shrugged. "Pegasi aren't too crazy, plus Perdita and Garf have a million NDAs from working with the League."

"Our lips are sealed," Garf said with a smile, making a show of locking his lips.

Rachel laughed from what looked to be the rooftop of a building. "This is why I love you two."

"We love you too," Perdita and Garf said with a laugh.

Nico got to his room, closing the door behind him, as he let out a sigh and sat on his bed. "Okay, we're all good."

The playful feeling of the phone call vanished as they all seemed to sober up.

Piper ran a hand through her hair as she let out a sigh. "Okay, looks like I'll start us out. First of all, are you okay Nico?"

Nico let out a breath setting his phone against his pillow as he leaned back against the wall. "I'm fully healed, Will said so himself."

"That's great, but are you okay?" Rachel asked, fully seeing through his attempt to skirt the question.

Nico hesitated, not wanting to lie to them. "What do you guys know about what happened?"

Everyone seemed to not want to answer until Garf cleared his throat, looking away from the camera as he spoke. "Your dad told us about what Black Mask did, at least in vague terms, and we saw you in the hospital once when you were asleep. Obviously we had the short conversation with you after you got out of the hospital, but after that, we didn't know much. Dick reached out and told us that you were slowly healing but weren't  doing well mentally, but he never really went into it."

Piper nodded. "Will told us what the Waynes had told him, but it was mostly updates about how you were physically doing. He didn't share many details."

Nico let out a long breath, knowing it would be a long conversation. "After what... he did... I wasn't doing well. I was in pain, yes, but it was more than that. I've been through a lot, some of you know more about that than others, but this was different. I don't really know how to explain it, and even if I did, I don't know if I would want to. I woke up in the hospital and I felt shattered... so I asked for meds."