Fate Withstands

Chapter 10

AN: as I said in my crossover story, I somehow managed to break my laptop again so I'm writing everything on my phone. So forgive me if there's a couple mistakes.

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Percy's POV (to change it up a little)

Nico di Angelo. Percy still wasn't completely sure how he felt about him. He was dead, or he used to be, and that was enough to unnerve anybody. But that wasn't what bothered Percy.

No, what bothered Percy was how Nico acted sometimes. The unusual anger, the way he was hiding something, the undeterred need to constantly train. When they were in the demigod world, he wasn't the same person as he was back at the apartment.

When they were home, Percy sometimes caught himself feeling as if Nico was his brother. He was a talkative kid, his gray skin not defining him. He was polite to Sally and Paul, though his 40's manners didn't quite get why they were living together before marriage. And to be honest, he could be pretty funny. Percy enjoyed sharing a room with him.

But then he had started going off and training, had started coming back nearly dissolved. Percy wasn't the only one that noticed the difference.

"Percy, can I talk to you?" Sally kept her voice low, Paul having gone to bed the hour before and Nico having already disappeared with that ghost.

Percy nodded and followed his mom into the kitchen, where she made two mugs of hot chocolate. When she was done, they sat at the table in silence.

Eventually, Sally spoke again. "Percy, are you going to tell me what's going on with Nico?"

Percy froze. He had been trying to keep it from her, not wanting her to worry. But here they were.

"I just...feel as if he's changing," Sally continued. "He's always so exhausted. He fell asleep at breakfast this morning, Percy."

Percy scratched the back of his neck. "From what he's told me, he's been training at night. He's practicing with his powers."

"Is he taking care of himself?" Sally asked.

Percy didn't touch his hot chocolate. "That's the reason Will Solace has been stopping over sometimes. He helps Nico."

"What can I do?" she asked. "How can I help him? He's such a nice boy."

"I don't think we can," Percy admitted.

Maybe after the war, things would go back to how they were. Percy could only hope. Because even after what happened that day, he still thought of Nico as a brother.

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AN: at this point, Nico and Percy visit Luke's mom and Sally just as they did in the books. Nothing really changes so I'm not going to copy it down, so just insert it here.

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They shadow traveled to Central Park. Mrs. O'Leary went sniffing around a cluster of boulders.

"It's okay, she just smells home," Nico said.

Percy frowned. He could never be as comfortable with this as Nico was. "Through the rocks?"

"The Underworld has two major entrances," Nico started. Percy could tell he was about to rant. "The first is in LA. Most souls go that way. But there's a smaller path, harder to find. The Door of Orpheus. You know who he was, right? I read about him in my English lessons."

"The dude with the harp."

"The dude with the lyre," Nico corrected. "He used his music to charm the earth and open a new path into the Underworld. He sang his way right into dad's palace and almost got away with his wife's soul. But he didn't trust dad and the whole quest failed."