One Too Many Heartbreaks

XI. Pomegranates Are Gross (Nico's POV)

When Nico came to, he was staring at a black ceiling. He looked to his left and right at black walls, and down to a black floor. He was on a bed with red sheets and torches with green fire hung in the walls.

Nico was disoriented. How was he back in Cabin 13? Leo had destroyed it with his hammer and his fire. Fire. Nico remembered being pinned against a wall, having his ribs smashed, and lots and lots of falling...

This wasn't Cabin 13. It was Nico's room in Hades' palace.

He tried to sit up, crying out when there was a stab in his chest. Shadows melted into existence from the room's corners and pushed Nico down. He resisted for a while (causing extreme pain) until he realized they were trying to help him.

Nico managed to relax after a bit. He allowed the shadow servants to tend to his wounds, and eventually fell asleep after being fed some nectar. He saw ice at the bottom of the empty cup before he passed out again, but he could've sworn that he had just drank liquid hot s'mores.

When he came to the second time, the first thing he noticed were flowers sprouting from cracks in the black marble of walls and floor. They glowed unnaturally. Persephone, Nico thought. Food, Nico's stomach thought.

Nico usually didn't have much of an appetite, but now he felt like there was a hole gnawing at his midsection. He tried to stand, and immediately fell to his knees. He felt himself being lifted, and caught glimpse of the shadow servants as they laid him back in bed before his stepmother walked in.

Too weak to even speak, Nico let out an awkward noise. Persephone shushed him gently, spooning a soft liquid into his mouth. Nico swallowed it, but grimaced at the taste. Pomegranates. He had had enough of those for a lifetime.

After he had downed the entire boil of disgusting soup, Nico felt the pull of sleep. Resisting, he looked up at Persephone. She answered his question before he could ask it.

"You've been here three and a half days, dear," she told him. "You fell a long way, and whatever happened to you before you did didn't help at all."

Nico then remembered everything, whereas it had all been foggy before. The sleepover, Leo, China, Calypso, Leo, fire, ribs, ouch, falling, ouch, ouch.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Persephone said more than asked.

Nico glanced at her cautiously. "There's a... Um... Lot to talk about." He was going to say a hell of a lot, but that seemed strange considering their location.

"Sweetheart, your father's got me trapped here for another while, I'm sure I've got time."

Nico took a deep breath, which was very painful, and Persephone spooned more soup into his mouth, even though he'd finished it already.

"Spill," she said. Nico got the feeling she didn't mean his food, so he spilled his guts instead.