Fate Withstands

Chapter 4

AN: Just a note about Nico's personality in this one because it's different. To him, Bianca and his mom never really died because he died first. But he had to witness his own death and went all those years without anyone to talk to. So he has some aspect of how he was at the beginning of the Titan's Curse but has also been through more. And as he did in the Titan's Curse, he realizes he's gay because he has a crush on Percy. But as said before, all pairings will be canon and he'll end up with Will.

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Nico sat on the cold fire escape, the sound of the city cutting through the night. As he watched, clouds passed over the moon.

"Come on..." he looked back down at his hand, frowning at how it kept melting in and out of the shadows. "Come on...come on..."

He tried to clench his fists at a sudden chill, able to feel his bones scraping together. He didn't know if he'd ever be warm again. It was too cold, even if he was alive again. Always. Not even the sun was warm.

And his body... It hadn't felt like this when alive. Nico could physically feel his bones, felt like a walking skeleton that cracked and groaned with each movement. He didn't feel alive, hadn't felt alive since he had died. Gaining what they called a body hadn't helped.

"Nico?" Percy's tired voice came from the window. "What are you doing out there?"

"Nothing." Nico quickly hid his hand. "Just...sitting."

Percy rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "You sure...?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah. The air is nice. And the moon is out."

"Okay..." Percy looked him over before heading back to bed, his exhaustion winning over his curiosity. As soon as he was gone, Nico looked back to his hand to find that it had solidified. Gray. His skin was still as gray as it was down in the Fields, just as gray as the other shades.

He didn't know much about those who came back to life, but he was pretty sure it wasn't supposed to be like this. Nothing in the tale of old Sisyphus resembled it. It scared him, to think that something was wrong. Scared him enough that he crawled back into the room and laid on his makeshift bed in the dark. He didn't want to die. Not again.

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The next night, Nico sat on the fire escape again. With more practice, he could move some of the shadows that rested at his feet. But it was never for long, and after he did he almost passed out in exhaustion. But every time he practiced, he could go longer and do more.

A week after he had first shown up at Percy's, he thought of the old tale he had once heard. He could remember how some of the ghosts he summed talked about it. Achilles. The River Styx. Invincibility.

It had been when he was learning English, many years after he had died. As one of the final lessons, the old ghost had him read some Greek myths from an English book. Nico still didn't know where he had gotten the book, and the reading itself was even harder because of his dyslexia, but he had managed to get through it. In the end, he remembered looking to the ghost as if his old obsessions with the myths had come back full force.

"Minos?" Nico asked. "Was it really true?"

"What, master?" He was smirking.

"Does the River Styx really do that to people?" Nico closed the book and set it aside before pulling his knees up to his chest. "Can it really make you invincible besides one part of you?"

"And why do you need to know?"

Nico faltered. "I...I just thought...if dad had done that to Bianca and I and our mom, none of that stuff would have happened. Momma wouldn't have died...neither would have Bianca. But I don't even know if they're dead because they're not down here."

"The Fields of Asphodel are larger than they appear, even to you, master," Minos answered. "There are many in the Fields that you haven't seen."

"I know, I know. You can't even tell the difference." Nico wrapped his arms around his legs. "They're shades. They don't really have a difference, anymore."

"But you aren't. Do you know why?"

"Because of my father," Nico answered glumly. He then frowned. "So if Bianca was in the Fields...she wouldn't be a shade. Then why can't I find her?"

"Some souls aren't yet destined to meet." Minos picked up the book. "Your lesson is finished for now."

"No, wait." Nico sat forward and scrambled to grab him. "Don't leave, yet. Please. We can talk some more. Yeah? I...I have questions about the lesson!"

"I've been told to instruct you and only that-"

"And it's about the lesson," Nico promised. "So, does the Styx really do that?"

"Yes, but there are many risks involved," Minos answered. "Yet without its powers, Achilles wouldn't have been the warrior he was. If his mother hadn't dipped him in it, he wouldn't have won the battles that he did."

"Wow..." Nico let Minos go but immediately regretted it, the old ghost vanishing into thin air.

"Percy!" Nico scrambled back into the room. "I have an idea on how you can beat Kronos!"

Percy startled awake before blinking away his sleep. "What...?"

"I have an idea!" Nico jumped on Percy's bed in excitement. "To beat Kronos."

"Don't say his name," Percy warned. "Names have power."

"Fine, whatever." Nico pulled his hoodie close as another chill shot through him. "But I have an idea. You're going to be the one in the prophecy, right?"

Percy turned the lamp beside his bed on. "Yeah, unless another child of the Big Three pops up."

"And you're the most powerful demigod we have on our side," Nico continued. "So we just need to make you invincible and we might win."

"Make me invincible...?"

"The River Styx!" Nico beamed. "I really remembered something important. Minos said that it was the only thing that made Achilles win his battles. But it's dangerous. We just need to take the chance, I think."

Percy blinked. "Nico...um..." He shifted uncomfortably. "You're saying you want me to bathe in the River Styx?"

Nico nodded. "Yeah."

"Um..." Percy looked around before scratching the back of his neck. "Why don't you get to sleep, Nico? We can talk more about this tomorrow."

Nico crawled off of Percy's bed and to his own pile of blankets. "Are you going to do it, though?"

"Nico...I..." Percy swallowed thickly. "I don't know, okay? Just let me think on it."

Nico frowned but nodded. "Yeah, alright. And I can tell you more about it if you want."

"In the morning." Percy turned the light off and laid back down. Just before he fell back asleep, Nico tugged at his arm.

"Percy?" he whispered. "Are you still awake?"

"Unfortunately." Percy turned to face him. "What, Nico?"

"Um..." Nico shrugged. "Nothing." He crawled again to his blankets. "We will talk about it tomorrow?"

"Yes, Nico. Now get some sleep."

Nico bit his lip to stop himself from saying anything else. He was tired, sure, but not physically. And the cold had gotten too harsh to stop shivering. So he buried himself under the blankets, made the shadows move about him. They listened, they always listened. And they comforted him.