"The moment I met you,
I held my breath.
And you've been taking
it away ever since,
Nico di Angelo."
[ NICO DI ANGELO x MALE OC ]
[ PERCY JACKSON SERIES ]
[ HEROES OF OLYMPUS SERIES ]
cover by @humaneity !
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0002. | HE WOULD BUILD AN EMPIRE FOR THE AGES
The tunnel splintered and Nico dropped through the gaps. Vela tried to grab him, but missed, his t-shirt sleeve caught on a jagged scab off the wall. His momentum carried his forward, sleeve torn, and right after Nico he surged.
Vela hadn't expected such a sudden drop. It was as if they had been walking down a network of tunnels, and they had fallen into another directly beneath them. Vela panicked. At the angle they were at, Vela's feet were directly above Nico's head. With his greater build, if Vela didn't slow himself down, he'd crash into Nico and break his neck.
He slammed his hands and forearms against the walls and yelled out with the sudden agony that scraped through him. The walls had changed from scabbing rocks to leathery thorns, hooked and jagged, sinking and snatching into his skin, tearing at him. He cried out but managed to slow his descent.
He craned his neck to look down just as a swamp of red gloomed his vision as the chute gave way and they were both left free falling. Crimson and dark, the light silhouetted them in shadow until he could sparsely see Nico.
Vela streamlined himself, preparing to grab Nico and stop his momentum, but he was too slow. He was beaten to saviour.
Nico slammed his hands together, his palms creating a sickening shockwave that made the red gloom shudder and the walls creak and shake. Suddenly, a great big column cracked through the ground of the cavern they were hurtling towards. Concave and rigged, the column rose in the air, growing like a pedestal to a nest. Nico smashed into the nest, Vela soon behind him.
He landed on his side with a thud. A great shudder shot through him. Vela recognised that feeling. Broken ribs. He groaned and turned over. He was on his knees but he couldn't put pressure on his hands to help himself up. His hands had been massacred by the thorns. Torn up and sliced to a bloody pulp. He couldn't move his fingers or thumbs without agony. The waves of the constant blood flooded and shone with bone. Pieces of thorn and rock were stuck in the mess of his hands, and only his rings remained intact, Celestial Bronze and obsidian.
"Neeks?" He croaked, his voice rasped. "You all right?"
He could practically hear Nico's eye roll. "If you're going to ask that every time we take a tumble, you're going to get sick of your own voice."
"First of all, I don't think you know what taking a 'tumble' means," he retorted. "Secondly, it's rather foolish of you to think I might ever become sick of my own voice. I have a lovely voice."
Nico's heart hammered, adrenaline or flustered, Vela could not tell. "I was born in the thirties, I know what taking a tumble means." He grumbled. "And yes, you have a lovely voice. Happy?"
