Nico di Angelo; Angel of Chaos

Alive

I stepped out of the portal and screamed.

I was twenty feet above the River Styx. And rapidly falling towards it.

On instincts I didn't know I had, my wings spread and flapped, righting me in the air with the almost silent whoosh... whoosh... whoosh...

I felt like my heart was going to pound right out of my chest. Whether it was from almost taking an unexpected swim in the Styx, portaling, or finding out I could fly, I wasn't sure.

The last one was pretty damn cool, though.

I flew down to a safe distance from the bank and set down carefully, staying as silent as possible. Then I did my child-of-Hades thing and sent out my senses. The Underworld was my home turf. This was going to be easy.

Well, finding Reyna was going to be easy. Getting her out... not so much.

I found her waiting in line to be judged, looking pretty pissed about something. Probably the fact that she was dead. I don't know. Beside her, the E-Z Death line trickled past into the Fields of Apostolate.

I started towards her, flitting in between the shadows and staying hidden easily.

I reached her within minutes.

I was about to reach out and touch her shoulder when her hand shot out and grabbed my wrist.

Well, she tried to. She was still newly dead, so she had some substance, but her hand passed right through me.

Her eyes blazed, and I realized she couldn't see my face. She didn't know it was me.

"Oh no you don't. I've been in line. You can go to the back and wait, mister black cloak." Reyna said, and I flinched.

She was damn scary when she was mad.

"What the hell are you anyways? Some kind of winged demon?" Reyna asked and muttered more quietly, "Sic fortuna tua ego sum mortuus, et ponam oculos meos tenere imperium armis aureis hastam.

Translate: You're so luck I'm dead, so I can't wield my Imperial Gold weapons.

It took me a minute to translate what she said.

When I did, I held up my hands in a Whoa there type of gesture.

I slowly reached up and pulled my hood off.

Reyna's eyes widened.

Then instead of being happy to see me like I thought she'd be, she scowled.

"You're a fucking idiot." She said in a low hiss.

I blinked.

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"I said, You're a fucking idiot! Why would you risk coming down here just to see me?" Reyna exclaimed.

My wings fluttered nervously.

I mentally cursed. Stupid, stupid expressive wings!

Reyna's eyes widened further.

"Are those mother freaking wings?" Reyna asked.

I gave her a weak smile, my wings fluttering for emphasis.

"Yeah. They're real. Please, just let me explain." I said.