Nico and Alabaster continue their search for the remaining two Artifacts of Thanatos.

Chapter Rating: Teen and Up

Content Warning: Cursing, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Torture, Self-Harm

Word Count: 2386

And all the characters are owned by JK Rowling, or Rick Riordan.

Credits at the end.

____________________NICO____________________

"In here!" Nico called in a shrill whisper. He ushered Alabaster in a bathroom, then shut the door behind them. "You weren't seen, were you?"

"No," Alabaster reassured him. "But the Room of Requirement is a godsdamn war zone. I couldn't get close to the door without anyone seeing me."

"Di immortalis!" Nico cursed. "No ring, then?"

"Nope. Sorry--we'll have to try again tonight."

"We don't have 'til tonight, Al!" Nico cried. "Two days--we've been at this two days! We have no idea where the Cloak is, I can barely control the Staff, the day's almost over, and it's already December twenty-eighth! Seventy-nine hours from now, Hades starts killing, and the world goes to war. We need the Stone, and we need the Cloak, and we need them right now."

"I know, I know," Alabaster moaned, pacing the bathroom. "But I don't see any other--" He stopped for a second, scanned the room, and turned to Nico with a bewildered expression. "Hey, are we in a girl's bathroom?"

"Are you serious?!" Nico collapsed to the floor, head in hands. "Gods I want to cut..." Nico didn't even realize he'd said the latter out loud until Alabaster slid something into his hand. Nico glanced at it--a Sharpie marker. "Al, what in Hades is this?"

"A marker."

"I can see that."

"Draw on your arms--it's supposed to help. You're doing so well; the longer you go, the less you'll be in danger of relapsing. You got this."

"This is ridiculous..." Nico muttered to himself, but he uncapped the marker anyway and started to draw some swirls along his arm. It was more hypnotic than therapeutic, but Teddy was right. It did help. A little.

"What are boys doing in my bathroom?"

That voice knocked Nico from his trance; Teddy, standing above him and watching him draw, also jumped. They both glanced towards the door but didn't see any girl in the doorway.

"I'm behind you! Boys are so insensitive..."

Nico and Alabaster swiveled themselves around to see the ghost of a young girl in a Hogwarts uniform and thick glasses. Her dark, translucent hair was up in pigtails, with fringed bangs and pimples.

"You don't know who I am?" Nico asked. Most of the ghosts knew his lineage and generally walked on eggshells around him. A ghost insulting him, not even bothering to use his name... that was new. Not bad, but new.

"You're Nico di Angelo. The King's son. Or ex-son, I suppose."

Alabaster stepped forward. "Lord Hades knows, then?"

"Oh yes, he knows," the ghost-girl chortled. "Said such horrible things about Lady Hecate, doubled his armies... Queen Persephone's death unhinged him quite a bit! He's convinced Hecate brainwashed you, convinced defeating her will bring you back..." She paused and gave a cock-eyed glance at Nico. "But, you don't seem brainwashed to me..."

"I'm not," Nico grumbled, standing. "Nico di Angelo, servant of Hecate. And you are?"

"Myrtle Warren."

"Okay then," Nico muttered to himself, not sure what else to say. That is, until he got his first decent idea in days. "Myrtle, go into the demigod headquarters and grab a ring for me--it's Marvolo's ring, big and black. I just need the stone, doesn't matter if it's damaged. Got it?"

Myrtle only laughed. "I'm happy where I am, thank you, Nico."

Those words made his blood boil. He had three days to clean up a mess his former father made out of hot-headed anger, or people would die. A quest--a supposed gift from his own dad for his sixteenth birthday--had turned into a disaster. Will hated his guts, he couldn't talk to Percy, the rest of his friends thought he was brainwashed, he couldn't return to either camp or the Underworld, and he'd had Harry Potter bullying him for weeks without end. He'd been blackmailed, stressed to the point of suicide, beaten, knocked unconscious, tortured with nightmares, forced into a long-distance relationship, and heard Bianca tell him her death was his fault. He had no father, no brother or sister, no boyfriend, no friend, just a friendly face that was nice to him out of convenience. He had been pushed to the brink and absorbed dark magic for too long... and now he had three days left to die.

Suddenly, Tom Marvolo Riddle didn't seem so arrogant and crazy.

With a flick of the Staff, Myrtle Warren was frozen in Nico's own personal body-bind curse. He let out a dark and somewhat unhinged laugh, eyeing Myrtle with vindication.

"I may not be Hades' son anymore," Nico whispered through gritted teeth, "but I will always be a child of the Underworld. I can snap my fingers and smite you in a thousand painful ways--that's right, I can cause you pain. I can torture you within an inch of your life if I want to... don't make me want to. Now--get the ring, and bring it back here." He snapped his finger, visualizing Myrtle picking up the ring. "You can touch the ring now. Go."

With a wave of his hand, Myrtle was free. She didn't look at Nico with fear like he expected, but profound respect. That felt like more of an achievement than terror.

"If one of you's a Parseltongue, that sink over there has a good cavern to hide out in," she said. "No one knows about it, but Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter--but Potter never goes in, hasn't in years, and Voldemort isn't here, is he?"

"I can open it," Alabaster assured Nico.

"Got it--thanks, Myrtle. We're going in; make sure to grab us the ring and give it there. If you find a Cloak of Invisibility, a powerful one, we need that too."

Myrtle said nothing; she floated from the room, humming a solemn tune like it was "Yankee Doodle." Nico and Alabaster ran to the sinks Myrtle pointed out; Alabaster did some weird hissing at the faucets, and, just like Myrtle said, it burst open and revealed a stone corridor.

"Come on," Alabaster said. "Lumos!"

"I'm going, Dora," Nico joked, but followed Alabaster into the cavern all the same.

After the climb up the secret passageway less than a week before, the descent into the stone cavern was nothing. Beyond tripping over jagged rocks and avoiding weakened rock fixtures, the walk was straightforward and uneventful. That's what made the chamber itself all the more spectacular.

Nico stared into a room so big and so tall that he couldn't see the ceiling nor the far wall; stone pillars made of intertwined serpents stood to support such a roof. A dead Basilisk--a neat project shared between Hecate and Poseidon--was already decaying in the center. Nico sat on one of the Basilisk's exposed, enormous ribs.

Actually makes a decent seat. Huh.

"I'll take first watch for Myrtle," Alabaster offered. "You need rest, so you can practice with the Staff and Orb when you get it."

"Make sure to wake me when Myrtle arrives."

"Swear on the Styx."

And so Nico laid down to sleep. At first, it was only black--Nico wasn't even sure if he was asleep yet, or just resting his eyes. But then, a slithering whisper began in the darkness.

"The Ghost King. Nico di Angelo. I never thought I could find an adversary worthy of my attention... but here you are. Here you are."

Nico tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't.

"Don't be foolish, boy; I won't hurt you. The son of death and the man who defies it? What better partnership is there?"

Nico tried to speak, but no voice came.

"You already hate my greatest enemy. You remind me of myself, in my youth. What's to stop us from revenge on our enemies? Hecate betrayed me; she will betray you too. You know this already--you disowned your father and his name. As did I. His lack of commitment killed your mother. As did mine. We are the same, Nico di Angelo, as you've said already."

Nico tried to shake his head, but nothing happened.

"Ah. But you have morality yet. Foolish... we could've been the most powerful in the Wizarding World. You won't join me of your own free will? Perhaps you need a little... incentive..."

The black finally faded to a forest--the depths of the Forbidden Forest. Will and Lou huddled behind a tree; Lou tried to shoot spells but had terrible aim. Of course she did. A dozen spells of green and red flew past her face every millisecond.

"My Death Eaters are already nearing the castle; we've come to reclaim the last of my horcruxes--and you, if you're so willing."

"Lou, can't you, I dunno, freeze time or something?!" Will yelled in frustration. Even such a harsh sound made Nico's heart pound. Will. His Will. He was alive. He was okay.

"Do you think if I could I would've by now?!" Lou shot back.

A spell hit a tree just to their left and started to teeter in their direction. "Lou, get back!" Will screamed, and tackled Lou away just in time. They both laid in the dirt for a moment, panting, Will on top of Lou. "That bought us a bit of running time," Will continued.

"Thanks, Solace, but I can't run with you on top of me."

"Right--sorry, mind's a little frazzled--"

"It's cool. C'mon, we gotta go."

Lou grabbed Will's hand, and they both bolted through the trees. A herd of footsteps behind them announced they hadn't evaded the Death Eaters for long.

"They have the snake, right?" Will asked, his words interspersed with ragged breaths.

"Nagini? Yeah, I saw her--more than once."

"How do I kill her?"

"You're going to go in there?! Will, are you insane?!"

"I got a plan, Lou, now tell me how to off the horcrux!"

Lou wrestled a spherical bomb-like contraption out of her rucksack, Celestial Bronze casing with an Imperial Gold button-trigger, webs of Imperial Gold spread from the center button. She whispered something into it, causing all the Imperial Gold to glow as bright as the Celestial Bronze.

"Leo made it for me before we left. Greek fire on the inside--you press the button and throw it, it'll explode, and the fire'll chase Nagini until it sets her aflame. She'll burn alive, and the horcrux with her."

"Okay," Will agreed, taking the bomb and hiding it in his jacket pocket. "Lou, swear on the Styx you'll get to Hogwarts no matter what happens. Don't try and save me."

"Will! What--"

"Swear, Lou!" Will screamed. "I'm not important now. The world is. Nico is." He stared at his feet, scrambling over the terrain with all the training of a half-blood. "Make sure you tell him I love him." Lou nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks. Will dug in his jacket for a small, pull-string bag and tossed it to her. "Rest of the ambrosia and nectar. Get that to Hogwarts; they'll need it for the final battle."

They both stopped running. Lou, in full tears now, wrapped him in a bear hug. "I swear," she whispered in his ear.

Will tossed her one last smile--that same boyish grin that he gave Nico all those months ago in the Hades cabin--and let a few tears of his own fall. "It's been an honor."

Lou sprinted off, leaving a cloud of dirt in her wake. Will stood, staring in the direction of the footsteps, holding the bomb in hand. A beam of sunlight, shed from a dying sun on the horizon, engulfed him. When the spells came, they hit the light and died before ever getting close enough to harm him.

"Enough!" Came a woman's voice. The spells ceased, and the crowd of cloaks parted to reveal Bellatrix Lestrange, in her knotted hair glory. She looked at Will through the sun shield with a kind of grudging respect, though much more prominent on her face was bloodlust.

"Swear on the River Styx you won't harm Lou Ellen."

"Why might I do that, son of Apollo?"

"You any good at legilimency?"

"Second only to the Dark Lord himself!"

"Then look into my mind--look for Nico di Angelo. Trust me; I'm a good person to have on your side for the final battle."

"You have a shield around you."

"Won't affect that kind of spell."

Bellatrix mumbled an incantation and stared into Will's eyes with such intensity she seemed to peer straight into his soul. They stood there for minutes on end; when she let herself blink, her face had contorted into a wicked sneer.

"I see," she mused.

"He's in love with me. And, more than that, I know a lot about him. I'm a pretty good Occlumens--when I choose to use it, anyway--so I think I'm the best bait you have."

"Cocky."

"I know. What Nico likes about me, among other things. Swear on my terms, and I swear in return to let you take me without attempting to resist you or your fellow--Death Eaters, was it?"

Bellatrix's sneer turned into an all-out evil smile. "I swear."

Will took a deep breath and pressed the button just before lowering the sun shield, throwing the bomb half a second before Bellatrix grabbed his arm. It exploded, but the fire hit no Death Eater--only Nagini. The snake burned alive under Will's pleased eye.

"Crucio!" Bellatrix screamed, beyond furious.

Will's scream pierced Nico's nightmare worse than any other scream ever had. It was worse than watching Riddle reborn--this time, he was forced, in a full and right mind, to watch the boy he loved suffer and shriek as his body bent at unnatural angles. When it was over, Nico felt like he'd been tortured too.

Will was on his hands and knees, head inches from Bellatrix's foot.

"Stupid little son of a bitch," she growled at him.

"Only I get to call Mom that," Will shot back, voice weakened from the torture. Bellatrix kicked him in the jaw so hard that it broke; that didn't keep Will from spitting a mixture of spit and blood on the tip of her boots.

"You better be nicer to me, boy," Bellatrix cooed, kneeling down to meet Will's eye. "I may have to keep you alive, but I don't have to keep you sane."

"Join me, Ghost King," Riddle's whisper came again, "Or unspeakable things will happen to the one you love."

Tell me, what horrible entity do you consider me? Satan? Kronos? Gaea? Voldemort?

This week's beta commentary:

STORY: Only I get to call Mom that

SARA: HOT D A M N

LISSY: Call the police and the fireman

GIULIA: well... fuck

LISSY: STAKES HAVE BEEN RAISED

Credits:

Melody Rose - Author ()

Sara - Beta Reader (http://icomparemyselftoyou.tumblr.com)

Giulia - Beta Reader (https://www.fanfiction.net/u/6748882/)

Please comment so I know what you think! See you next time!