Solangelo Oneshots

Souls Need Rest Too

Brief Introduction: This is based off of His Dark Materials with some changes. You'd don't need to have read the books or watched the show to understand.

Basically, souls take the forms of animals. When you're young, they change between animals and, when your personality settles and becomes more stable, they stay as the animal that represents your personality.

Nico hadn't known what to make of Will in the days that he'd been in the infirmary.

He and his soul, Mafalda, helped out whenever they could, usually able to see Will tending to his patients whilst his soul, a beautiful Maine Coon called Dahlia, comforted the other souls.

It wasn't uncommon for Dahlia to be playfully distracting another soul or to be wrapped around the younger ones - the ones that still flitted from animal to animal, unsure of who they were just yet.

Mafalda had been a raven ever since Bianca and her soul, Alessio, died. Nico vividly remembered the anguish that rolled through him and the desperate cawing of Mafalda as her talons dug into his skin when Percy told them that their sister was gone.

At first, Nico had resented her. Her eyes were beady and her feathers were matted. He didn't care for her so she didn't take care of herself. People who saw her instantly started looking at Nico differently. She was ominous. A warning of death and destruction. Appropriate for Hades' son.

They were doing better now. It was easy to be in denial but at the end of the day Mafalda was Nico and Nico was Mafalda. She was his soul. Caring for her was the first step towards caring for himself.

Besides, her winged form had proven useful. When Will was busy filing paperwork and Dahlia was stretched out lazily in the sun high up on a shelf, Mafalda could fly up and join her, puffing her feathers and settling against her warm fur.

More than once, Nico had stared at Dahlia's soft fluff and wondered if it felt as silky as it looked. But you didn't go around touching other people's souls. That was an instinct even the most oblivious people obeyed.

The only soul besides his own that Nico had ever touched was Bianca's. When he was upset, Alessio would rest his head on Nico's leg. A comforting weight. Alessio had never ended up as one form. Bianca never got old enough for her personality to stable. To find out who she was.

Nico had tried to imagine what Alessio would be but he always came up short. He loved his sister but she was so unpredictable and so different from what he had once thought of her that he wasn't sure he knew her well enough to guess.

"You're lost in thought," Will commented. Nico jumped.

From her perch on his shoulder, Mafalda startled too. She ruffled her feathers and took off, whacking Nico's head with her wing. Nico scowled at her as she found her place on the back of the chair Dahlia was sat on across the room.

The Maine Coon was sitting tall and proud. She looked regal. Her blue eyes were half closed either lazily or in anticipation. Nico could never tell the difference.

"Guess I was," Nico said, turning back to Will.

Will grinned. His pointed teeth reminded Nico of Dahlia's fangs.

"Have you seen Percy?" Nico asked, quickly changing the subject. Will's grin faded a little. Dahlia shifted her weight.

"Yeah. I think he and Brynne are making cookies."

"Blue ones?" Nico asked. He smiled to himself, imagining Percy's shocked face covered with blue food colouring as Brynne (his terrier soul) snapped at the air, trying to get the dye off her snout.