Percy Jackson's Death Bed

Something Wrong

Leo watched closely as the son of Hades put different types of food into his little hole in the ground. Leo admits that he knows almost nothing about the underworld and it's mysterious ways, but he had a good hunch on what Nico was trying to do. It was the same thing he did when he was trying to talk to his sister, Bianca di Angelo, who is (just in case you didn't know) dead.

They were behind the Hades cabin. Nico's back was facing Leo so he couldn't see Nico's face. But who wouldn't recognize the dark aura that guy gave out. Leo saw the eery images of the dead trying to get out of their misery; trying to escape death. Di Angelo had been doing this all night. He had been trying to contact Percy in the Underworld if there was ever a chance that he hadn't already gone to Elysium.

Some demigods have been trying to talk to their godly parents through Iris messages, but the gods seemed to have disappeared all of the sudden. Nico had also tried contacting his father. No luck. He knew that they wouldn't get anywhere with the Olympians. But, it seems though that he also wasn't getting anywhere by speaking to the dead.

The ghost of a Roman soldier arose to greet Nico. He had arrows stuck to his side and his legs, but the ghost didn't mind it. "What can I do to serve you?" The soldier respectfully asked as he kneeled down.

"Where is Perseus Jackson?!" Nico barked. Leo almost felt sorry for the ghost guy. It wasn't the soldier's fault that Percy was gone. The Roman soldier opened his mouth to answer, but then his image flickered. In just a blink of an eye, the ghost disappeared. This was what had been happening all night. All of Nico's attempts to communicate with the world below had failed.

It was like one of those annoying calls normal mortals make. Whenever they make a call, they know the signal is strong. They get a connection and are able to start the call. But, in the middle of the call, the words you hear turn choppy. You don't even know the reason why.

Then, the line is just cut.

It was as if some mysterious force was intercepting the messages. Like... like a god. Or maybe more than that. And it was driving Nico crazy.

The son of Hades just lost it. He screamed out of frustration. He angrily kicked the ground with a grunt. Valdez sighed as he watched Nico once again throw a tantrum- the second one since the day Jackson had "passed away". Leo slowly walked towards Nico with a sad look on his face.

"Hey." Leo said. Nico's head whipped around to face Leo. That was when Leo saw Nico's face. It was horrible. It was the very description of "grief". "Oh Nico... man," Leo said, almost in a whisper, as he shook his head and looked at all the suffering Nico was going through. He didn't even think of saying a joke. He too had been greatly influenced by all this drama. Leo didn't like it, but he was in on the drama.

"There's just nothing we can do." Leo said, looking at the ground. He didn't want to see Nico's state again. It was just too sad to bear. Leo was half expecting a stygian iron blade shoved up his throat when he looked up.

"No!" Nico yelled at Leo. The edge in his voice sent shivers up and down Leo's spine. "H-he isn't here on this world. He isn't in the Underworld. For sure, he couldn't be on Mount Olympus. W-where could he be? Where? Where is Percy?!" Nico frantically asked. He was losing it.

Nico kept asking different questions that he seemed to be asking himself. Questions whose answers weren't near any of our reaches. "Nico, Nico, Nico..." Leo was saying softly as he tried to catch di Angelo's attention. "Nico... NICO!"

Finally, Nico turned quiet. They both stared at each other for what seemed like forever. This was unorthodox for the son of Hephaestus. He had always been a happy-go-lucky type of person. But, for the first time in forever, he was silent.