I awoke to faint sobs and a body curled into me. It didn't take long for me to know it was Nico Di Angelo. He always did shadow travel in his sleep when he had a nightmare.
Moving, I hoisted him on to my lap and stroked his hair, whispering faint shushes to soothe him. The tears started to stop, and his eyes opened to peer at me through the darkness.
"I saw you in my dreams," he whispered, "who are you?"
"What do you mean? Nico, it's me. Leo. You talked to me yesterday," I said.
"N-no I didn't," he stuttered, wiping a tear from his cheek. "Why are cuddling anyways?"
I was thankful for the darkness because I prayed he couldn't see my red cheeks. I was saved from giving him an answer by will solace bursting through the door.
"Will? Why are you here?" I asked.
He moved nico to his lap, ignoring his questions and answering mine. "Nico shadow traveled to me with tears streaming down his face. He mentioned your name and shadow traveled away,"
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Nico asked. I suppressed a smirk but Will didn't seem fazed.
"I'm will solace, your soulmate," He said, "Don't worry, we'll get you back to normal,"
Nico gave a faint smile and cuddled into Will, wiping a tear from his eyes. I held back a growl as they kissed.
"What was the nightmare about?" Will asked softly.
Nico began to tell, but tears streamed down his face. He was shivering again, and he moved off of Will to cry alone.
Will hurriedly tried to shush him, but he didn't know nico like I did.
I grabbed nicos cold hand and rubbed small circles (I'm so tired that I tried to write smircles) into it. Gradually moving towards him, I placed an arm around the son of hades and pulled him into me.
"It's okay, it's okay," I whispered. "They're just nightmares, just dreams. They can't hurt you,"
"It's okay. You'll be fine," I repeated and he snuggled into me. Sometimes I forgot he was just a kid. A kid who had been through hell.
Nico stopped crying after a while, even falling asleep on my chest like he had done many times before. Like he had always done, he began to sleep talk.
"Will," he said, and I looked away, thankful yet again for the darkness. Nico shifted his wait and moved towards Will.
Why did I even think this would be different? Nico doesn't love me. I should remember that. I should fucking remember that.
Nico woke up an hour later, well, both him and will. I had gone over to my desk to tinker with some scraps, and the two of them fell asleep with their limbs intertwined.
It would've been adorable if I didn't hate the idea of it.
They made an excuse to leave, probably something about going to remember.
This wasn't fair. When Nico forgot me he didn't come back to me, he came back and spat at me. Yet when Nico forgets and he's with Will, he goes back with Will.
A tear slid down my cheek, landing almost perfectly in my machinery. It dripped through a whole and found its way to the sword I had, somehow turning it a gold.
A flash of pink interrupted my work and I turned around to see pipers mom—Aphrodite.
"What do you want?" I spat.
"That sword," she pointed to my golden tear stained sword, "it has magic. Something I haven't seen before,"
"Oh yeah, nothing like heartbreak to power a sword that won't get sharp enough anyways," I muttered.
"No, it's more. It's magic, maybe even true love,"
I turned to look at her, my face probably reading an expression like are you crazy? "Are you from a Disney movie or something? True love only works in fairy tales,"
"No, Valdez, it doesn't. That sword might not be as special as you want them to be, but you and Di Angelo have found each other across thousands of realities and lifetimes. That has to mean something,"
"It obviously doesn't mean enough. Maybe if it did we could still be together. Just tell me what you came here for,"
Aphrodite just smiled, "I cannot interfere against chaos, he is too powerful. But just know, I'm rooting for Valdangelo,"
Then she disappeared in a puff of pink. Deciding to ignore her visit, I turned back to my work, forgetting my sword.
In the dull lighting, the scar on my arms almost seemed to flow, like the fates were laughing at my hopes and dreams.
I was started to wonder if he really meant his promise. If I was worth it.
No. I had to believe in him. He had promised. And now I had to too. I would restore his memories, I swear on the river Styx.
