NFWMB ────Nico di Angelo

2: Nico di Angelo

─────Nico di Angelo.

Nico di Angelo.

Nico di Angelo.

Nico di Angelo.

Cassian had spent a whole day not thinking about the name, but as soon as night fell and he retreated to the barracks, body aching from clean up and training, the name repeated in his mind. His brain felt like a broken record, spinning and spinning, saying one same over and over again.

Call it what you want— Fate, The Fates, destiny... Cassian didn't care for any of that. He figured, in a world where they had prophecies and super powers, he shouldn't have to worry about the future. What had to happen would happen... eventually.

He had spent enough time running from his past, he didn't have the energy to go rushing into the future as well.

When his eyes closed that night, that name kept repeating in his mind and he knew it then. Whoever this Nico di Angelo was, he was important.

The usual nightmares plagued him— his father calling him useless, blaming Cas for his "death", then he was being chased by some monsters, somehow he found his way on a boat which ended up at an island, then he was turned into a guinea pig, then came the rescue, and at last, the pirate ship.

If he had to narrate his life story to anyone, Cas figured they would snort in disbelief and walk away. Some days it sounded made up to even him. Only Reyna, who had lived through it all with him and Jason, one of his best friends, would believe him no matter what.

He pushed past the nightmares. He didn't have time for that now.

Nico di Angelo.

Cassian didn't have much. Just a name. No physical description, and having never met the guy before, Cas wasn't very confident about the fact that he would find him.

Still, he tried.

Nico di Angelo.

A son of Hades, according to Michael Yew.

Now, Cassian would pay money to see that.

He waded through dreams like a shark through water. He passed by a few people he knew— his friends from his cohorts, Jason, Reyna, the centurion of the fifth cohort— a guy named Dakota who always had the same nightmare about the Kool-Aid man chasing him because Dakota drank all his contents (did that mean the Kool-Aid man was the jar??)

It was more than clear by now, the person Cassian was searching for wasn't anywhere in camp, so he expanded his search. He pushed as far as he could. He had never tried to use his abilities on such a broad extent, but he knew he could do it.

Further and further.

He saw mortals suffering from nightmares, it all felt like a movie theater and Cassian was searching for a specific movie. He passed by nightmares and they faded the further he walked away from them.

A mortal girl dreamt the guy she was crushing on rejected her, a person dreamt their parents disowned them, a guy dreamt he was naked on stage— Cassian scrunched his nose in disgust and fought off the disgust before he ran away from that scene.

They all looked like scenes in a fog as he ran past, the images blurring together.

Nico di Angelo. Cassian focused. Come on, Nico di Angelo, come out, come out, wherever you are.

He tried for what seemed like hours. He might as well have scoured the entire state, but he had a feeling he shouldn't stop there.

Bridge.