Shadows Fall to Flames. {{valdangelo}}

Chapter 4

Nico sat on the roof of the Hades cabin, his knees drawn up to his chest.

The cool wind ruffled his dark hair and he shivered.

It was late, the night sky resembled a huge black blanket, blocking out the light, the Milky Way swirling within its folds.

Nico sighed, he was in his element; darkness.
He closed his eyes.

Bianca and 7 year old Nico sat atop their family home, gazing into the sky.

The small boy struggled to keep his eyes open, he was tired.

The siblings did this pretty much every night, just sat and looked at the stars.

It was their shared happy place.

Bianca wrapped her arm around Nico, pulling his body closer to her.
She hummed a gentle melody, Nico's head resting on her shoulder.

A small tear made its way down his pale face.
He missed her so much it was crippling.

Nico wiped his face angrily, painful nostalgia wouldn't get him anywhere.

Just as he was about to climb from his perch, movement caught Nicos eye.

A small figure emerged from cabin 9 and made a break for the forest.

The son of Hades watched as they disappeared into the cover of the trees.

Nico, eager for a reason not to go to bed decided to pursue.

The goth kid had a few guesses as to who the demigod delinquent might be; Leo.
Ok only one guess, but he was sure he was correct.

Nico wandered through the shadows of the forest, it wasn't hard to follow the child of Hephaestus, he was literally a glowing beacon.

Under normal circumstances, the last thing Nico would want to do is actively follow someone into the forest, because that was hella creepy.
But this time, this time it was different.
I mean, the son of Hades reasoned, who the hell runs into the woods alone in the middle of the night.

The ground began sloping upwards, bunker 9 was getting close.

Leo was about to open the huge stone door when Nico caught up with him.

'What are you doing' Nico asked quietly

Leo yelped and burst into flames. He spun around to face Nico, but as soon as he saw who it was, he visibly relaxed.

'Dude what the hell!' Leo cried, attempting to extinguish his smouldering clothes 'You almost gave me a heart attack!'

'Sorry' Nico smirked, he wasn't actually

'What are you doing here?' Leo asked 'Did you follow me?!'

Nico's face flushed, but Leo didn't seem to notice.

'I asked you first' Nico said 'it's the middle of the night what are you doing up?'

'I could ask you the same thing' Leo retorted

The son of Hades groaned in annoyance 'is that what we're doing now? Just going back and forth with the same dumb questions?'

Leo laughed, well it was almost a giggle but Nico cut him some slack.

'So, I'd ask what you're doing but that's proven to be pointless' Nico muttered

'Oh, well I just had an idea for this thing I'm working on, but I didn't wanna forget so I was like "gotta do this now" because I was totally gonna forget. It's this idea for the wiring system, because what you'd call regular wiring tends to get in the way of any sort of surprises, so to speak, that the machine can activate....' Leo trailed off, raising an eyebrow 'what?'

It was only then did Nico realise he'd been staring, even worse, he'd been smiling.

Nico didn't do that very often.

'N..nothing' he stammered, keen to change the subject 'so, uhh wiring was it?'

Leo just grinned, 'I'll show you'

Sure Nico had been in bunker 9 before, but he'd never been when it was quiet and empty, which for some reason made it seem more intimidating.

Nico scanned the walls and nearby contraptions warily.

'Oh come on Neeks!' Nico flushed at the nickname Leo gave him 'don't he so uptight all the time'

'Well excuse me if I'm a bit wary of...' Nico was cut of by Leo's carefree laugh, it was so contagious it almost made Nico laugh too.

Almost.

'C'mon' Leo grabbed Nico's hand and dragged him across the room, swerving last minute to avoid crashing into the other campers creations.
Nico wasn't so luckily.

After knocking over a walking cup holder and plowing through a pile of windup mechanical bulls, the son of Hades was ready to leave.
Unfortunately Leo had other ideas

'This is what I've been working on' he announced, standing in front of a small workbench, huddled in the corner of the room, littered with pieces of machinery.

'Scrap metal?' Nico asked skeptically, pulling his hand quickly out of Leo's grasp.

'Wha? No! I just haven't put it together yet, I just came to work on the...'

'Wiring' Nico finished for him 'I know'

'Heh, yeah' Leo rubbed the back of his neck anxiously 'well I better do that then'

'I guess you better' the Italian teased, jumping up into the work bench like it was any other seat, leaning his back against the wall.

Normally Nico would barely get any sleep, he'd be tossing and turning, fretting about life threatening issues or partaking in...other task.  But on the off chance that he did doze off, he'd be tormented by nightmares, which weren't lessening in the slightest.

But sitting on the bench, listening to Leo's subconscious humming, Nico was out like a light in less than 20 minutes.