Weird Little Things

Searching

Nico sat in his room late at night in the underworld. As he cleansed his stygian iron dagger of golden dust, and sharpened it, he contemplated if anyone missed him at either camp - other than Hazel of course. Hazel only missed him, because they were the only children of Pluto, at least as far as she knew. Nico was actually a son of Hades, but Hazel could never know that.

As his dark thoughts wandered, he became more upset, but he refused to cry. Crying meant weakness, and weakness was not allowed. He stood up, and tested the dagger. It was perfect, and so was his aim. The dagger had hit an apple, and stuck it to the wall. Nico sighed, and pulled off the apple, He cleansed the dagger,once more, before placing it into the shadows.

"Was that really necessary?" A familiar voice asked from behind Nico.

"What do you need, Chase?" Nico asked without looking at the Iris Message.

"Percy's missing." Annabeth told him, "We need help searching. I know you and Percy haven't always seen eye to eye-"

Nico's breath hitched, "Where do you need me?"

"You're not going to argue?" Annabeth asked, surprised.

"If Jackson's missing, the gods might declare war on each other. To not help, would be like asking for the world to end." Nico explained, although this was not the reason he had immediately agreed, but she didn't need to know that, "Now where do you need me? He's not in the Underworld. I would know."

"I was just going to ask you to shadow travel everywhere you think he could be." Annabeth told him.

"Very well." Nico nodded, and swiped through the iris message. A worried look came across his face. He had heard Hera, and Thanos were missing, but he'd been forbidden to speak of it. Now demigods were vanishing as well? And it was Percy! Maybe if Nico saved him, Percy would - Nico stopped himself right there. No childish fantasies. A look of panic crossed Nico's face. The Roman demigods! What if Hazel was missing?!

Nico shadow traveled to the Roman camp. It was midnight. He came out of the shadows in the Senate house. He then quickly walked out, not having meant to do so.

"Ambassador Of Pluto." A voice said from behind him.

"Praetor." Nico said formally.

"Are you simply testing our security, or are you here on business terms?" Reyna hissed with distaste, after all children - especially sons - of the Underworld, both Greek and Roman, are considered bad omens, and are not known for their loyalty nor their sanity.

"The dead are whispering of demigods disappearing - " Nico said formally, but Reyna cut him off by pointing her sword at his neck.

"What do you know of the whereabouts of Jason Grace?" Reyna growled.

"I do not know of where the other Praetor resides, but by your wording, am I accurate that he is missing as well?" Nico asked, not in the slightest intimidated by the sword. Reyna released him.

"Yes. Who else is missing?" Reyna asked.

"Rogue demigods, like I was once myself. Ones who have done much, but never found the wolf house. They know of their heritage, and of each other, but not of Camp Jupiter, or New Rome. They have defeated foes as dangerous as ours, and fought in wars just as bad. They perish in battle regularly, but they are rarely remembered. Recently, some of the more powerful of these demigods have noticed the disappearance of one of the most powerful demigods I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I came to check on my half - sister, and to ensure everyone was here." Nico lied easily, but told the truth as much as he could.

"He's your friend isn't he?" Reyna asked.

"What do you mean?" Nico asked.

"The other missing demigod is your friend, right?" Reyna asked.

"I wouldn't use the term friend." Nico frowned, "More of an old acquaintance."

"Why is he not your friend?" Reyna asked, confused.

"Before I met Hazel, I had a full sister named Bianca. He said he'd protect her, but she wound up dying. I was ten, and I didn't understand. I screamed at him, and ran away after accidentally summoning skeletons, causing me to be claimed. I tried to kill him for awhile, before accepting it wasn't his fault. I chose to save his life, instead of joining Kronos. We don't hate each other, and do sort of care for each other, but we can never fully be friends." Nico sighed.

"The dead didn't tell you he was missing, did they?" Reyna asked grimly.

"No," Nico sighed, "His girlfriend contacted me. I'll need to search for both him, and Jason now. I need to go to my living quarters, and stock up for a possible search, and rescue."

"Where do you live?" The question was out of Reyna's mouth before she could stop it.

"I do not see how that is your concern, however, seeing as I clearly am not wanted elsewhere, my father allows me to live with him." Nico tried to reign his bitterness in, but he couldn't help it, "Now, I have two powerful demigods to search for, so I'll take my leave." With that Nico shadow traveled away, leaving a concerned Reyna.

Reyna had always considered herself a victim of life's cruelty, but now as she sat after The Ambassador- no Nico took his leave, she couldn't help but feel she was a reason for that slight bitterness in Nico's tone. She had been bullied before, and she had often despised people who did so. However, in that moment, Reyna realized she had made a grave mistake. She was the bully now, and she probably could do nothing to fix it. After that moment was over, Reyna straightened herself, and walked away, putting The Ambassador Of Pluto in the back of her mind. She needed to find Jason, now was no time to worry about petty things like someone not even a part of her legion. Thus, the incident was forgotten, and all went back to normal.

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Found this little one shot in my stuff. Figured I might as well post it.

~ Icey5105