Young and Old, Back and Bold

Chapter 18

AN: Dominic and Piper won't get together. He just has a crush on her like everyone else tbh. There's too much of an age gap and...if you've read the latest trials of apollo book...i don't think she's ready for that.

And PS Annabeth and Percy are older than any students there but they're fitting in as Seventh Years

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After Annabeth had finished explaining, Nico sat with his head buried in his hands. Dark shadows circled around him, ran over the floors and walls. If she didn't know any better, she'd look at him and say it was the same Nico she had always known.

But he wasn't. He wasn't Nico di Angelo anymore. He had memories of growing up in this wizarding world, had emotional ties to everyone there. Had that been the gods' plan? Had they wanted to get rid of one of the most powerful demigods?

Or was something brewing, did they need him here?

Whatever the case, she finally let herself be in mourning of one of her best friends.

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"There you are." Piper burst into the bathroom with Dominic close behind. "I had the kid that was hanging out with Nico lead me." She glanced around at the sullen faces. "What?"

"I think the gods sent him back in time...but also de-aged him," Annabeth mumbled. "I really don't think it's just memories. He...he actually grew up here. They wouldn't have taken him so long ago if they were just going to fill his brain with fake memories."

"Oh..." Piper cleared his throat. "Does he remember anything before that yet?"

Nico shook his head as he stood up. "So...so please leave me alone. Go back to wherever you came from."

Percy put his own head in his hands. His voice was merely a whisper. "Nico..."

"Nico, wait." Annabeth grabbed his arm before he could get to Dominic, who stood beside the door. "You can still move shadows...you transported yourself back to camp..."

Nico nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"We can help you learn to control it." Annabeth reminded him. "We're demigods, too. We can help you control it. And then...after you're good with that...if you still want us to leave, we will."

Nico stared into her gray eyes, his jaw clenched. After a minute of silence, he gave her a slight nod. "I'll talk to you about it tomorrow."

"Deal." she breathed out a sigh of relief. Even if it wasn't her Nico, even if he wasn't who he used to be, she'd still help him all he could. It was the least she could do for him.

After he left the room with Dominic, Annabeth turned to cast her eyes upon Piper and Percy. "We can train him... It'll buy us some time to come up with a game plan."

"You really think he'll get his memories back?" Percy asked. "You really think he'll want to after all of that?"

"We...we can't give up on him." Annabeth helped him to his feet. "Come on, we have classes... As soon as we're free, we're going to the library."

Percy groaned as Piper stifled a giggle. "Why?"

"We need to know everything we can about his new family," Annabeth explained. "It'll help us, trust me."

"Can't we just ask his brother?" Piper asked. "Like explain everything..."

"I refuse to talk to him." Percy inputted, his arms crossed.

Annabeth sighed. "You can't hate the kid. It's not his fault."

"He should have seen that something was wrong with Nico," Percy replied. "Having that many nightmares aren't normal. Hearing voices isn't normal."

Annabeth wrapped an arm around him. "We'll just stick to the library as I said. Come on, let's catch the end of lunch."

Percy rested his head on hers. "What are we going to tell Will?"

"What are you going to tell him." Piper corrected. "I'm not."

"Me, neither." Annabeth looked to Percy. "Tell him the truth."

Percy groaned. "Why me..."

"Because, we-" Annabeth cut herself off when she saw Nico's face reappear in the doorway. "Y...Yes?"

"You...have contact with Will?" Nico asked. He clung onto the door as if it would stop his shaking hands. "You really do?"

Percy nodded, his eyes lighting up. "Do you want to talk to him?"

Nico stared into those green eyes, tried to remember the times when he had stared into them as Nico di Angelo. "I...I want him here. Can you ask him to come?"

"Yeah, I will," Percy assured him. "I definitely will."

"Thank you." Nico stood there for a minute in silence, shuffling from one foot to the other. "Um...do you need a guide to lunch or are you good?"

Annabeth smiled at him. "That'd be nice. Thank you."

"Yeah, whatever." Nico shrugged. "You came here to help me so I thought I could pay you back."

She nodded at him. "Yeah, thank you. Let's get going before it's over."

"Follow me." Nico stepped out of the bathroom for the last time, meeting up with Dominic who waited not too far away. "They're coming."

"Good." Dominic kept his hands buried in his pockets as he watched the group exit the bathroom. "Are they getting Will for you?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah, they're asking him to come. I don't know if he will or not though..."

"Why wouldn't he?"

Nico cleared his throat. "Think of the age difference between us..." He looked to Annabeth and Percy. "He's much older than me, now, isn't he?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Seven, eight years."

"That's not that bad." Dominic tried, but Nico just started for the Great Hall with his head hanging low. Maybe Will would come, maybe he'd be nice. But could he ever fall in love with a Weasley when he was heartbroken over a di Angelo?