I Would Do Anything- One-shots

For Hazel

Nico gazed over the water crashing into the jagged rocks below him. His toes were not even an inch from the edge of the cliff. The pouring rain battered down at him, stinging his eyes and dripping into his mouth. The wind coming in from the ocean tore at his battered Aviators jacket and tugged at his long black hair. Reyna and Hedge were a hundred of so feet behind him, attempting to light a fire under a makeshift lean-to against the Athena Parthenos. So close to death, he felt as though he were on the verge of freedom, so close to being rid of his cares and worries. All of which were lodged in his chest, feeding off of his happiness, and joy, and life, at though they were some kind horrid leech, created only to pave the road for doubt and melancholy. He knew it would be so simple to take that single step forward and fall. Death would be instantaneous, the drop quick, lasting a matter of seconds. Just a rush of wind, followed by nothing.

If only.

But Nico knew that it wouldn't be followed by nothing, at least not for his consciousness. No, there would be DOA recording studios, followed by a trip in Charons ferry along the River Styx. Then judgement. At least the wait wouldn't be as long as it could've before those new lines Daedalus built came into use.

He would choose to be evaluated rather than spend eternity contemplating his pitiful life in the Fields of Asphodel. Though, he would likely be sent there anyway, doomed to live out forever as Hazel did, surrounded by the shadowy souls that did neither good nor bad, and forever remembering who he was as a person and the loss he had to deal with since before he could remember.

But there was nothing to gain from living. He had already lost his mother, his father hated him, and since... Bianca... his life had been getting worse and worse.

He had been through so much but he had little to no recognition for it. He had survived for days in a bronze jar, that even Ares couldn't escape from. He had travelled through Daedalus's Labyrinth, and raised the dead with happy meals and coke, when he was eleven. He had survived freaking Tartarus for Hades sake! An no-one would ever know.

And then, the icing on the sadistic assholes cake: Eros. He had practically ensured that he, along with the rest of the world, find out by forcing him to tell Jason. Him. Perseus Jackson, the perfect son of Poseidon. Gods, Nico hated him, or at least he wished he could.

It would be so easy for him to just step off the craggy cliff face, down into the raging currents below. A fitting death given that the son of Poseidon was a huge factor in this decision. He stared longingly towards the icy water that, if he chose so, could be his escape from pretending. Pretending to care. Pretending to not care. Pretending that his heart didn't shatter into a million tiny pieces every time he saw Percy and Annabeth together, knowing she made him happier than Nico ever could.

So here Nico was, on a solitary cliff somewhere in Western Europe, taking a short break from shadow travel, contemplating his life and death. He knew that one step forward, despite being such a tiny, insignificant speck on the tapestry of consciousness, would change everything. For starters, Hazel. He could recall the short time before Bianca's death, when he was just as happy, and normal, and alive as she was now. Then, how he changed to become the dark and mildly (okay, maybe not) depressed fourteen year old he was now. He couldn't do that to her, not when she was already taboo from the rest of Camp Jupiter for being a daughter of Pluto despite how normal she was, and how little she deserved it.

This thought was the one that made his decision for him. He couldn't do it. At least not yet. He would take the Athena Parthenos to Half Blood Hill and stop the warring demigods. He would then leave, but he owed her that much. But he wouldn't do it, he wouldn't take that final step that would mean his string would be cut by the fates, never to be stuck back together and leaving him full of regret, and knowing of the lives he could have saved.

He wouldn't do it.

He couldn't do it.

For Hazel.