Burning Alone

How Do I Deserve This?

My knee bobbed up and down rapidly and no matter what I tried to do I couldn't stop it: I was so nervous, so excited, that my ADHD had now come out to play and wouldn't go away again. Nico sat to the left of me with his headphones in and eyes closed, relaxed and at ease; Jason was on my right and he was slightly less relaxed. He kept on picking up the Prophecy again and again, reading and re-reading it, mouthing the lines to himself. He looked vaguely insane.

Me on the other hand, I was sitting there and nervously playing with a couple of cogs and wires attempting to distract myself, which so didn't work

We'd decided to fly on a plane to Los Angeles where the entrance of the underworld was because the prophecy said 'in less then a week', and it had now been four days since we'd read it and it was only two days till the solstice where my sister was apparently going to be murdered. Well this was going to be a fun and enjoyable trip with my friends.

Percy and Annabeth sat behind me and I think its fair to say that it was seriously awkward. They hadn't been getting on recently, constantly arguing and ignoring each other, and we were all concerned about what was going on. I mean, Percabeth can't break up; they're the power couple of the camp. Percabeth was forever.

Hazel walked up the aisle towards us and leaned over Jason and I, pocking Nico on the arm not so gently. His head snapped up and he breathed a sigh before taking out his headphones and turning towards Hazel. "Hey," Hazel started, "where's the Prophecy?"

"I've got it," Jason said and held up the piece of paper he'd been constantly reading since we got on the plane three hours ago. "Why do you want it?" He asked questioningly.

"I was just thinking about one of the lines: 'Encased inside a bejeweled cage'," Nico watched her carefully, not knowing what she was getting at. "And I think it means his staff."

We all stared at her, like the uncomprehending idiots we are. "What?" Nico finally asked, his eyebrows pulling together. Hazel looked at the three of us individually then turned back to me, her eyes cautious.

"Percy told me that Tartarus had a staff: a staff with a jewel on top of it-"

"And you think Charlotte's inside of it." I finished, my voice monotone and low. Nico turned to me with his eyes sad and caring. Why did he care?

Hazel nodded her head then Percy popped up from behind us, black hair falling in to his eyes. He looked at Hazel, then grabbed the Prophecy from Jason, glanced up at me once and finally gave the piece of paper back to Jason. My knee was now bobbing uncontrollably and so hard that it actually began to hurt.

No one said anything and at that moment I couldn't help the thought that I'd been avoiding for the past couple of days from slipping in to my head: what if we couldn't save her? She'd been down there for 11 years, and finally when I came to save her, what if I couldn't? What if I was too weak? Maybe she wouldn't even recognize me... what if I didn't recognize her?

Frank came down the aisle then too carrying Hazel's jumper. My knee stopped bobbing, my hands stopped fiddling with the cogs and I straightened up my shoulders. "You can go now if you want, all of you. If you don't want to come with me then I'll understa-" Before I could finish the great speech that I'd started Nico hit me on the back of the head, hard.

I spluttered for a second then turned around, "What the hell, man?" I basically yelled at him, clutching the back of my head. Then I saw his expression: he was livid.

"Why would you think we wouldn't come with you?" He snapped, his eyebrows still knitted together and dark eyes staring in to mine. For a second I couldn't say anything and I just sat there with everyone looking at me. I tried to formulate a coherent answer but just came out with "Ugh..." instead. Seriously, Leo, that's really fucking attractive, oh gods.

"Leo, we'll help you no matter what it is you want us to do." Annabeth piped up, her head popping up beside Percy's. Now my friends, the friends who were coming with me to Tartarus to save my sister, were all here with me, spare Piper, telling me that they would do anything for me. How did this happen again?

"I..." I said and trailed off. Percy laughed and patted my head, his eyes concerned and tired. "Don't touch the curls, Jackson." I muttered lowly making Jason grin, then Percy and Annabeth sat back down, Frank and Hazel walked away hand-in-hand, and Jason excused himself saying he was going to go to Piper who got stuck by herself at the back of the plane. Now I was alone with Nico - well, as alone as you can be with someone whilst on a plane with more then 100 people on - and I couldn't think of a thing to say to him.

Yes, I was alone with my crush, and all I did was just sit there and stare straight in front of me. Then I felt a slight brush along my left hand and then a cool hand curled around my hot one. I snapped my eyes up to see that Nico was listening to his music again with his eyes closed, and his hand was resting on top of mine, intertwining our hands together. My breath caught in my throat, my heart raced, and I did something I never thought I'd have the courage to do: I slowly tilted my torso to the left until my shoulder was touching Nico's and I lowered my head down on to his shoulder. He seemed to tense up for a second and I tried to take my head back, feeling rejection wash through me, but then Nico took his hand from mine and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me back to him.

I sat there for a minute, not moving, not even breathing. Then decided that Nico got himself in to this situation so I might as well take advantage of it, plus I didn't even know if I would ever get an opportunity like this again. I slowly relaxed each of my muscles and eased in to the surprisingly warm Nico. His hands were always so cool, but his body radiated so much more heat when you were close to it. I wonder if he was warmer under his shirt-

I quickly stopped that thought and blushed deeply; I've got to try to get myself under control.

My eyes started to drift shut of their own accord and in no time at all I was asleep, leaning against Nico diAngelo, his arm wrapped around me as we travelled to our possible death. How romantic.