Soldatino ** A Nico di Angelo Fanfic**

Of Ruling Those 'Neath Your Feet

**Nico POV**

Hazel hugged me for an uncomfortably long time after I told her. I buried my face in her frizzy brown hair and slowly let the tears drip roll down to my chin.

"There's something wrong with me," I whispered my voice cracking.

"Oh Nico," she whispered, "there's nothing wrong with you." She pulled back and wiped the tears from my eyes. She gave me a soft caring smile and kissed my forehead. "You can't think that that matters to anyone on this ship. Everyone loves you."

I gave her a sad weak laugh. "Liar."

"Okay," she said, "maybe not everyone. But I love you and everyone on the Argo II takes care of each other. No matter your sexual orientation."

No matter if I'm gay, you mean, I thought bitterly.

She looked at me, her eyes glistening with tears.

"I'm sorry," I murmured.

"What are you sorry for?"

I kicked the ground. "For...I mean we both come from time when this kind of thing was meant to be buried under earth where no one could ever see it..."

"That was then, this is now." She said. "Don't be sorry for being you."

I glanced up at her, shocked at her. Bianca had said those very words to me when Cupid had forced to to admit my feelings. Was that just a coincidence? Of course it was.

But my mind was now turned over to Bianca. Was it possible she was still with me in the ship? Hadn't she decided to be reborn? Usually spirit only remain in the mortal world of their pissed off or they had in finished business. Was Bianca trying to tell me something? Or was she mad at me for some reason?

"Hazel?" I whispered after a long silence.

"Yeah Nico?"

I exhaled. "What's it like? Dying?"

Her brown eyes met my own and she shyly looked down. "I don't really remember to be honest. It's all sort of a big blur, you know? All those years in the underworld melt together somehow and it can feel like you've been dead for years when really you've been gone a day." Her voice was somehow steady as she recalled her death. "My turn to ask you a question. Did you really trip and fall over board? Or did you jump?"

My shoulders slumped as I opened my mouth, ready to lie but I stopped. I couldn't lie to her after she'd been so understanding. "I jumped." I said hoarsely.

She nodded. "Why?"

I exhaled sharply. "I though maybe if I jumped...well for one I though maybe you'd be better off without a creepy brother," her breath was shaking as I said that, "and, well, the idea of being with my mom and Bianca again...it was so tempting. I mean, to be with my actual family and all, not that I don't love you but Bianca..."

"I know." She said. "She raised you for the most part."

I shivered. "She raised me then abandoned me to be a Hunter."

We were a silent before I added. "I would've been fine if she...had she come back maybe I'd've been normal."

She snorted. "The children of death normal?"

I smiled weakly. "I guess your right. But...I thought maybe, it's too late for me, but you? Everybody loves you Hazel. You're the nicest person on earth."

She on my patted my back.

"Hey Hazel?" I asked.

"Hm?"

I gulped. "If I left, for a very long time,what would you do?"

She didn't look at me, but I could see her eyes were glossy. "I would be sad Nico, very sad."

"Would you ever move on?"

She crossed her arms and stood. "How could I move on never knowing if you were alive or dead?"

My heart sank even more. "I thought, maybe you'd just forget like everyone else."

"I'm not everyone else Nico." She said, "not everyone are jerks. For example, everyone on this ship, Frank, Piper, Jason, and even those not here Annabeth, Leo, and Percy..."

I flinched at his name. That had been the one thing I left out.

"...everyone cares for you. We're all here for you, whether you tell them or not."

I looked up into her glittering eyes. "How do you know that? I give everyone on this ship bad vibes."

"That doesn't mean they won't protect you or try to get you. We all have to stick together, right? It's us against the world?" She leaned her head on my shoulder, her voice shook and it was obvious she was on the verge of tears.

"Yeah," I whispered, "us against the world."

But truly it was only me.