The Angel of Death

Chapter Thirty

But there was also the possibility that this being wasn't lying, and that this might be the war that us demigods lost. But I didn't want to think about that. I couldn't.

"I'm not a traitor. Stop calling me that, I would rather die before I betray my family!" If there was more bite to my tone than I meant, I couldn't really bring myself to regret it. This being had dredged up some of the worst times in my life, and I wanted to sucker-punch them so bad. But I would probably die long before I made contact, so my rage had to go somewhere.

The being hummed. "You will have to, little Godling. More times than you may think." What the hell was that supposed to mean? As I tried to puzzle that cryptic-ass statement out, I realised that whatever had been dampening my powers- be it the discombobulation from waking up here, or something else- had almost completely faded away, and I would probably be able to shadow-travel back to Gotham. At least, I hoped so. I had never tried inter-dimensional (or wherever the Hades I was now) travel before. There were equal chances that I would be fine, that I would die, or that it wouldn't work. But anywhere was better than staying here with this freaky being.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, and I hope I never have to learn, but I've got places I have to be. And if you don't want your ass getting beat, you better stay out of our world." I slipped into one of the many shadows, focusing on Gotham. It felt really far away, and it was harder to pinpoint a location, so I searched around until I found a person instead- Jason. He was easy to find, both because I'd spent more time with him than anyone else in Gotham, and the uniqueness of his soul. It felt like a long time before I was finally able to push out of the shadow.

My knees instantly gave out and I hit the ground hard, which was not a good sign. My ears were ringing and my hands felt numb. I recognised these signs- the fading. Wherever I had been was so far away from Gotham that one shadow jump had taken enough energy out of me that I was starting to fade.

I blinked up at Bruce, who was crouched beside me, dressed in his suit. Jason was beside him, and Damian lingered behind the two before Bruce said something to him and he darted off. They had all looked like I had scared the shit out of them, and I couldn't blame them. Bruce and Damian didn't even know about my powers.

Bruce reached out to grab my arm, my ringing ears concealing what he was saying, and his hand passed right through me. Everyone stopped. The Waynes stared at me and I stared at my arm. This was very much not good. Nectar and ambrosia would only do so much- practically nothing if the fading was this far along- and the only two people who had ever managed to heal me when I was like this were back at camp.

I looked up at Jason, who was hovering his hands over my shoulders, his helmet discarded to the side to reveal his face- he looked terrified. We were still in the basement, and I could see my sword still stuck in the ground. Jason saw where I was looking, and reached for the weapon, but I grunted out a 'no' and he turned to look back at me. "But you said your sword had souls in it, right? And you can draw power from it?" He sounded desperate.

I shook my head. "Not like this." Gods, speaking was hard. "You have to call Will, he-" I had to pause to wheeze in a breath. "He knows you, you have to tell him what happened, right now!"

Jason nodded. "Okay, okay! Uh, do I do the rainbow thing?" I nodded, trying to focus on just breathing. The darkness in the corners of the room were stretching out to me, and for once that was not a good thing.

"What is happening?!" Bruce finally shouted, drawing my attention. He seemed just as distraught as Jason, but he still had his cowl on so it was hard to tell.

"Can't explain right now-" Breathe, Nico. "You need to get rid of the shadows."

"What?" Bruce was hopelessly confused. Thankfully, Jason had used a piece of glass to cast a rainbow and tossed a regular coin at it. I didn't think it would work, but even Iris must be worried, because she accepted the human currency without hesitation. "Uh, magic rainbow, accept my money and show me Nico's doctor friend Will!" Close enough, I supposed.

Will's face appeared a moment later, and he did a double-take, realising it wasn't a fellow demigod calling. "I know you," he said. "Jack, right?"

"It's Jason, but that's not important right now! It's Nico!" Immediately Will's demeanour changed from confused to concerned. "I don't know what happened, he was gone for a while and then he reappeared and now he's like, intangible or something?"

Will blanched. "Is he fading?" He demanded. Jason looked back at me, and I nodded. Bruce had been able to place his hand on my shoulder, and he was rubbing circles on my back as I focused on breathing and trying not to pass out, which grew harder to do every second that passed. Jason turned back to the message. "He says yes."

Will swore, a string of colourful words that clashed with his very sunny-looking person. "Okay, I'm on my way. I'll take Mrs. O'Leary and be there in two minutes. You need to make wherever you are as bright as you can, okay? And try to keep him awake." Will cut the connection before Jason could say anything else.

Everything was starting to fade. Noises were being lost in the ringing, and my sight was blurring out. I vaguely realised Damian had returned with Dick and Tim, and a second later they all had some sort of flashlights on, trying to make the basement brighter. This was the first time I had seen them all in their suits at the same time. I hoped it wouldn't be the last.

As I let my eyes drift closed ('let' was a strong word- it was mostly out of my control) the strange being's words came back to me- that I would have to die more times than I thought. I really hoped this wasn't one of those times. That would suck. 

....haha yeah.....that would suck...if it was one of those times...haha........ 

anyways. im not sure i like this chapter very much, it seems rushed and sort of forced, but oh well. 

put a finger down round three, here we go:

Put a finger down if when you were in school you knew where at least two of your teachers lived. 

also a really random weird fact is that kangaroo ladies have two uteruses, but three hoohas. and they can literally hold their baby in until they find the right place/time to give birth. that's fricking wild yall.