The Sun Without Stars Solangelo

The Comrade

Nico's POV

If he was going to be honest, nothing surprised him anymore. Anything to do with Nyx would bring him further down a rabbit hole of mystery and he was going to accept that.

"You're telling me that I'm like an electronic? I can be charged?"

I guess, if that's how you want to put it. The point is that you are now able to access this source because Nyx has made your body compatible with it.

"So... like a USB?" To that, Nico got no response. All the better, if you asked him.

Up until a couple months ago, he hadn't known that these types of devices existed, so Will had taken him on a "field trip" to a couple of stores downtown to show off the modern world for the sake of being "cultured" (at least, that's what Will told him).

Again, all roads lead back to Will.

During his conversation, Nico hadn't even noticed that they'd arrived in the fields of Asphodel.

The shrieks and screams? He was used to that by now.

Nico raised the beads to his mouth again and asked, "Now what?"

The beads did not respond and Nico thought of how stupid he would look should anyone see him. Of course the little shit squad decided to mute themselves right when he needed them, yet they had no issue ruining his life with their constant blabbering whenever he wanted them to shut their traps.

The philosopher Camus once said that "one must imagine Sisyphus happy." Nico was there to make it clear that the man was far from it. 

He had a long, twisting beard and eyes with madness at their core. Deep frown lines branched out from his lips, but you could tell from his sharp features and broad stature that he had once been a stunning man.

The man was currently pushing a boulder up a hill near the field of asphodel, a newer addition to Hades' domain. Hades had deemed that Sisyphus had suffered enough in Tartarus, so he had allowed the man to come up to his realm like a cruel centerpiece display. 

Sisyphus wasn't too mad about it though, considering ANYWHERE was better than Tartarus.

Of all the vengeful spirits, ghouls, skeletons, monsters, and other creatures, though, he had to have the most burning passion for loathing Nico's father. The upgrade had barely diluted his spite.

"Awwww. Glad someone came back to see me," Sisyphus drawled. "Then again, Nico, you always do. It seems that out of every mortal, you have been the only one in a very long time who is free but still empathizes so much with those who are shackled. You just can't avoid us. Or maybe you just can't avoid my charm."

Sisyphus used his back to hold the massive stone he was supposed to be pushing up the hill in place, resting his head on top of it. The man beckoned Nico over.

"Very funny, Sisyphus. I'll help you out for a little while if you're willing to help me out...?" Nico offered a bony hand.

"No snacks this time?"

Nico shrugged, pulling at his tattered pockets. "Fresh out of them it seems."

"I was only joking. You're the only one who cares about what's left here in the hellhole. I heard of what you did for the Troglodytes. The only thing I think I have ever agreed with your father–whom I hate sooooo much, by the way–is the hope that you might be his first happy son." Nico wanted to ask how Sisyphus knew of that conversation, but he guessed that he had heard it from wandering spirits.