Black Glitter

1

Nico di Angelo was six when he first found out about soulmates. He was sitting in the living room coloring with Bianca while his mom read on the recliner. Nico caught himself staring at the red ring permanently inked on his mother's wrist.
"Mamma? What's the red?" he asked, pointing at her left arm. She paused looking at her son. Bianca looked between the two of them, nervously fiddling with the sleeves of her dress. Maria sighed, marking her spot in the book, putting it on the coffee table, then patting her lap.
"Come here, Nico," she told him softly. Nico scrambled up and climbed in his mother's lap.
"Do you know about soulmates?" she asked him. He shook his head, Bianca coming over to sit on the couch next to Maria's chair, ready to hear more about the stories her school friends told her.
"Well, it's someone who you're supposed to be with. Fall in love with them, they make you happy, you grow old together." Nico stared wide eyed, an exciting smile gracing his lips.
"How do I tell who my soulmate is, Mamma?" he asked, hands clasped, shaking.
"You can write to each other, using your skin as paper. It will show up on your soulmate's skin also," she told her children. "But," she paused, looking down at her wrist. "When your soulmate dies, a red band appears." Nico paused, but then wrapped his arms around her neck.
"It's okay, Mamma," he told her. "You got me and Bi." Maria smiled and hugged her son back.
"Mamma?" Bianca asked. The two hugging Di Angelos broke apart to look at her.
"Yes, Bianca?"
"What about black bands? I have one of those," she trailed off, seeing her mother's face fall.
"Oh, sweetie, come here," Maria told her. Bianca came to her, sitting on her other leg.
"Y-you're band means you don't have a soulmate," she told her eldest child. Bianca's face fell and tears welled up in her eyes.
"Bi, it's okay!" Nico quickly squeaked, diving to hug his sister. The small family sat there, holding each other.
But that was six years ago and his mother is gone, he doesn't know where his father is, and all he has left is Bianca , but they're in a weird place with strange contraptions that were called arcade games. Someone who called themselves a lawyer dropped them off and left them there all alone.

He was playing a game called pacman, the most fun game in his opinion. He felt a tap on his shoulder, but he didn't look up, focusing on his game. He felt another tap, swatting at the hand.
"One second", he told the person. Once he finished he turned to the boy that stood next to him. He was no older than himself but he wore a bright orange shirt, a blue hoodie, and jean shorts. His black hair was a mess like he just got out of bed, but his eyes are what made Nico pause. They were a pretty green, like the sea. The boy gave him a small, nervous smile.
    "Do you know what year it is?" he asked, fiddling with a gold ball point in hands.
"It's 1942, silly," Nico told him, giggling when the boys face turned to confusion. The boy quickly smiled, the confusion vanishing.
"Thank you, that's all. Have a nice day!" he said while turning around and running off. Nico shrugged it off, turning back to pacman to try to beat his own record.

It was a week or so after they were dropped off at the hotel, that little messy drawings appeared on his arms. Soon a name appeared next to them, almost not readable. 'Jason' was scribbled on his left arm in blue marker. Nico squealed, leaving the game he was playing to run around, calling out to his older sister.
"Bianca! Bianca! Where are you?" he yelled out, pushing past people to try to find his sister. He eventually found her talking to another girl, she wore crazy clothes like everyone else. Her hair bright pink was tied up with a fluffy yellow band and a flower print dress that hid under a leather jacket.
"Bianca!" he yelled. Said person looked up, giving him a slight glare.
"What?" she asked, annoyed.
"Look!" he yelped, pushing his arm in her face. Her face fell a little as she saw what her brother's excitement was about. But she smiled, taking his arm to get a better look.
"Are you going to write back?" she asked him, giggling as Nico's soulmate drew she assumed themselves, but surrounded by lightning. The person's name now covered in more drawings.
"I don't have anything to write with," he pouted. The girl, he learned to be named Cherry, digged into one her pockets of the leather jacket. She brought out of a black glitter pen, handing it to the excited boy.
"Here ya go, little dude," she told him, a thick southern accent coming out. He nodded his thanks and pulled off the cap, quickly writing 'hi' on the untouched arm. His soulmates doodles paused for a second. Then in bigger letters appeared in the same blue. 'HI. I Jason. Wat iz yr nam?' He needed Bianca and Cherry to help him decipher what they were saying.
"They're probably young by the looks of it," Cherry said. Nico smiled writing down 'My name is Nico' he wrote back. For hours Nico sat next to the chatting girls, making conversation with his young soulmate. He couldn't wait to meet them.

Maybe it was a couple days later, he didn't know how long had passed, when the lawyer came to fetch Bianca and him again. The outside world changed so much, the buildings were huge and the cars were different, but comfy nothingless. He dropped them off at a school and left, a repeat of the hotel all over again.
They met a kid named Grover Underwood. He had problems with his legs, Bianca told him, that's why he needed the crutches. Sometime in the hotel Nico picked up a card game called MythoMagic. He had a lot of cards and most of the figures, all he needed was Hades, the coolest god if he said so himself. He tried to teach Grover but he didn't understand it at all, so Nio stopped trying.
He sat next to Grover and Bianca at lunch while they chatted about the upcoming dance. Nico tuned them out, focusing on writing to Jason. He learned that he lived in California, his favorite color was blue, and he knew a lot about mythology. Nico noticed his spelling and grammar got better, but never mentioned it to the boy.

He couldn't believe his eyes and ears as he was shown around this camp. The Greek gods were real and one runned the camp and a centar! Nico was thrilled, eyes moving to one thing to another so quickly it hurt. He was being shown by twin, he didn't know if they were, sons of Hermes. He did the talking though, chatting their ears off, but they didn't mind.
Bianca had become a hunter and left with the mean, grumpy leader hunter. Percy had gone to follow them, wanting to save his girlfriend, Annabelle he thinks her name was. But he knew Bianca was happy with girls like her, girls with no soulmates. He was glad she was happy, but he missed her. But Percy will protect her, he promised after all.
He so badly wanted to tell Jason about the gods, how they were real, and Nico's dad was one of them. But he had to wait until they met, until he trusted him.
As he tried to sleep all he could think about was who was his dad and trying to picture what Jason looks like.

Nico heaved as he ran through the woods, trying to get away from everything. He fell, tripping over a root. He landed on his hands and knees, but made no move to get up. He sobbed, grabbing at the ground in a death grip. Tears clogged his vision, snot running down his face as his sounds of despair filled the woods.
This couldn't be happening. Bianca could not be dead. Percy promised he would protect her! Nico screamed, not caring who or what heard. He just wanted to disappear from the world. But his scream cut off as a growl filled the air and he went ridgid. He looked up to see a giant dog in front of him. He couldn't do anything before the dog, no beast, bit his collar and he was dragged into empty, swirling darkness.

Nico didn't know when he stopped writing to Jason, but he did. He couldn't write without thinking about all the stuff he wanted to angrily admit. But most of all guilt filled him when he thought about Jason. Here he was, having the most amazing, nice, loyal soulmate but all he could think about was Percy. His charming smile, his tan skin, his disheveled hair, and those god damn sea green eyes. How could he think about someone else when he was supposed to only think about Jason?
Jason wrote to him, trying to get him to talk. He tried for two years before giving up, Nico guessed. He just stopped writing all together. It hurt but he knew it was the right thing to do. Jason deserved better than him after all. He didn't need a broken son of Hades in his life.

He was glad for Hazel Levesque. She wasn't Bianca but she was Hazel. His other sister, a daughter of Pluto. He was a little disappointed that he didn't find Bianca but Hazel was different and he liked that. But he promised himself that he would protect her, not let what happened to Bianca happen to Hazel. He would do anything in his power to keep her safe. Even if it meant dying in the process.

This couldn't be real. It wasn't him, it couldn't be. Nico stared wide eyed at the demigod in front of him. The tall blonde boy stood anxiously, giving a confused look when Nico didn't shake his hand back.
"I-i," Nico stuttered, casting Annabeth a look. He took a step back towards a shadow casted by her. Blondy gave Nico a hurt look, his blue eyes casting down towards where he was stepping.
"I need to leave. T-to look for Percy and everything," he told the group, but mostly directed at Annabeth.
She reached out to him, "Nico, wait," but he was gone. All was left were the shadows melting back into their rightful place.
Nico appeared in the only place that felt like home, right to Hazel. He couldn't believe it. He found him. He found his soulmate. He found Jason and he wanted to scream.