Shadows Fall to Flames. {{valdangelo}}

Chapter 1

Nico woke in cold sweat.

He'd just had a nightmare. Though not unusual for demigods, the experience was never welcome.

Nico pressed his shaking hands to his face.

His dreams had been getting a lot worse lately,  for no apparent reason.

Swinging his legs off the side of his bed, he dropped to the floor.

It was 5am, no way Nico was going to be able to fall back asleep. Pulling on his aviators jacket, he left his cabin.

The morning air was chilly, causing Nico's breath to rise in plumes of steam.

Nico wasn't exactly sure where he was going, but he kept walking, unwillingly replaying his dream.

Nico stood in front of the gates to the Underworld. Indistinct whispers swirled around him. Normally he wasn't afraid of the dead, but this time his hands were shaking with fear.

He stepped over the threshold and was immediately hit with wave after wave of agony. Nicos body felt like it was on fire yet freezing at the same time.

Gasping pitifully, spirits started to congregate around his shaking form.

'Help' he croaked

Suddenly he was standing in the strawberry fields of Camp half blood, any signs of his recent torture were wiped from existence.

The camp looked as normal as ever, lush and buzzing with life.

But as the son of Hades watched, the plants began to wither and die. Campers, Satires and the like disintegrated before his very eyes.

'No!' He yelled

'Yes' A deep voice chuckled

'Who's there'  Nico yelped

'You worst nightmare' the voice teased

'Fat chance'

'Oh really little one' the mysterious speaker said, amused 'I'd say not knowing who you really are is rather scary, wouldn't you?'

'What are you talking about' the frightened 14 year old yelled at the crumbling landscape,

'Oh I think you know more than you're letting on' the voice chuckled

Spinning around desperately, Nico spotted a winged shadow, he thought he could make out a quiver of arrows...

Nico shook his head in frustration, as much as he hated to admit it, he thought he might have an idea what the voice was talking about. And on an even more frightening note, who the speaker was.

He walked on, coming to a halt outside the forge, always occupied by the kids from Cabin 9 during the day.

The door was open slightly and a faint orange glow emanated from inside.
Curiously, Nico pushed the door wide.

He was shocked to find a familiar somebody just lying on the floor like a starfish, a very much on fire starfish.

Leo.

Bits and pieces of scrap metal lay around him, half finished projects abandoned, carelessly tossed aside.

On hearing Nico enter, Leo sat up in shock, clearly not expecting any interruptions.

'Wha..? H..hey Nico' Leo said nervously, getting to his feet and patting out his self made flames 'wasn't expecting company'

Nico shifted uncomfortably, he'd never been super close with Leo, sure they knew each other...kinda, but the son of Hades disliked talking to people he was close to, let alone, well, Leo.

But the thing was, just being around Leo made the Italian nervous. And he had no idea why, he knew if it came to it he could probably beat Leo in a fight. So why...

'Uhh you good?' Leo chuckled awkwardly, making Nico conscious of the fact he'd zoned out.

'Oh, yeah I'm good' Nico said quietly.

They stood in silence for a bit.

'Sooooo' Leo said, breaking the awkward silence.

'Oh I'll just go...' Nico began turning to leave

'Ok' Leo said 'I mean, you can stay if you want'

Nico looked at the floor, unable to keep eye contact 'Umm I've actually got something to...' he trailed off, in actual fact Nico had nothing better to do, all he really wanted was to get away from Leo.
Nothing personal, that's just how things were.

Nico could have sworn Leo looked disappointed, but quickly passed it off as a trick of the light.

The day wore on, yet Nico's mind kept wandering to the less than happy expression on Leo's face, which he was now 100% had been genuine.

Shut up Nico, you're being ridiculous, his ever present voice of 'reason' protested, like anyone would wanna spend time with you anyway, your just some creepy emo kid.

Sighing angrily Nico readjusted the stack of weapons he was carrying and resumed his fast pace shuffle, head down. That was until he walked smack bang into something fairly solid.

'What the Hades?! Watch we're your going!' He said even though he knew he also was to blame

'Oh I'm so sorry Nico!' A familiar voice said

The pale boy looked up in shock to find himself inches away from Leo Valdez, Nico to a hasty step back, swords and spears clattering to the ground.

'Here lemme help' Leo said bending down to help Nico, who just groaned in frustration.

Leo loaded the weapons into Nico's arms.
The Latino was too close for comfort, yet neither he nor Nico made any move to seperate.

'Uhhh...' Nico finally said

'Oh, sorry!' Leo leapt back, a light blush spreading across his face.

It was adorable.

'W..whatever Valdez' he said 'I've got things to do' and with that he walked away as fast as he could.

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Ok ok lemme just apologise for the extremely lame ending, but hey I'll do better next time...probably
(Votes are appreciated!)