Life goes on, days blur together. I thought it was yesterday, turns out a decade has gone by. I can't trust my mind to remember you, but I know my soul will. Our souls are intertwined, you see. Even now, writing on paper, I know you hear me. So let me tell you once more how deeply I love you. I'll be missing you forever, even when my body fails me. People tell me I should move on, but you'll always be my soft spot. My little brother, my beloved.
There was a reason Nico chose to take part in the top-secret mission to save Will Solace from the Queen of Evil, and it wasn’t the one that might be expected. Nico was the son of Hades, one of the major villains of all times, and when Nico had been taken from the Villain’s Island to study in Happily Ever After, Hades had given him an order: take the Wand. And Nico wouldn’t disappoint his father.
His key to the Wand was getting people to trust him. First he had to make Will Solace — heir to the King — fall in love with him, and that was done with an easy spell. Of course it angered Will’s longtime girlfriend, Lacy, she couldn’t stand seeing Will head over heels with a boy he’d just met, to the point that she became actually evil and kidnapped Will.
“We need to send out a search party,” the King, Zeus, said.
Nico was the first to stand. “I’d like to be a part of the search party,” he said. “I know more spells than any of my peers. I could easily track Will.”
Zeus nodded. He was so oblivious, thinking everybody would bend backwards to serve him. He deserved it.
If Nico was honest, the only person who might not deserve his betrayal was Will. Will had fought to get the villain’s kids to Happily Ever After. And Nico was using him for his own personal gain.
Nico shook his head. He didn’t have time to think about that. He was on the outskirts of Once Upon a Time, one of the villages of Happily Ever After. More specifically, he was with Jason Grace, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean and his fellow V-kids Drew Tanaka, Reyna Arellano and Leo Valdez. There was a weird tension in the air, probably brought by the fact that there was one too many person in the group who fancied Jason Grace, and also by the fact that they hated each other.
Drew quickened her steps and caught up with Nico, in the front of the group. He clutched his spell-book tightly.
“What are we walking into?”
Nico looked at the villa standing before them. It had been long since abandoned, and not a sound came from within.
“Something bad,” he replied simply.
When they got inside, the door slammed shut behind them. Jason tried opening it, but with no results. Drew took a mirror out of her satchel.
“At least I’ll die cute,” she said, fixing a smudge of lipstick.
“Not the time,” Nico said, voice tight as the armours placed around the room seemed to become alive.
The empty armours took a step forward. Nico took a quick look around, and it confirmed his suspicious. They were outnumbered. He unleashed his sword, his companions imitating him. They got in a circle.
Reyna cracked her knuckles. “Bring it on,” she said.
Nico almost shivered. Reyna was one of his dearest friends, but sometimes her love for battle scared him. She resembled her mother a lot.
“You walked us into a trap,” Annabeth hissed, directing her words at Nico.
Nico swallowed, as the first armour attacked him. He easily dodged the attack.
“Nico didn’t walk us into anything,” Percy said. “We all came willingly.”
The battle began. The sound of swords clashing filled the otherwise silent room. Somebody grunted, and when Nico checked, he discovered that Jason had been hit.
“They are too heavy to react,” Reyna said. “Be fast!”
Nico did as she said. She was the most experienced fighter out of them.
“I’ll cover you!” Leo told Nico, going to stand before him. “You search in your spell-book for — I don’t know, anything.”
Nico nodded, but he kept his sword in hand as he searched through the spell-book. There were lots of spells about love, then some to change his appearance. Nico looked through the spell-book for a good few minutes, until he saw Annabeth barely dodging an attack as she fought against two armours at the same time.
Nico put his spell-book away. He needed to improvise. He took a deep breath, then raised both hands. He concentrated, and soon sparkles flew from his fingertips.
“Suit of armour strong and true,” he said, voice loud enough that he could be heard over the sounds of the battle. “Make this metal bust a move!”
Shadows fell from the ceiling and covered the armours, then filled them as a knight would have. After that, the armours copied Nico’s every move.
“That was a good trick,” Jason would later tell Nico, as they left the room.
Nico gave him a small smile. “I hope it was enough.”
And it seemed that it was. The Queen of Evil had prepared a few more obstacles, but the main one were the armours, which had left them mostly unscathed. Annabeth and Percy remained behind, as Annabeth was too hurt to continue, and Percy didn’t think leaving her to fend for herself in an enchanted room was too dangerous.
Nico took a deep breath as he opened the last room, and so they found Will. He was alone, the Queen of Evil long gone through the window. There was just one final problem: Will had been turned to stone. Nico’s heart plummeted to the ground. It was as good as it was going to get, he needed to act.
So Nico stepped closer to Will, put his hand in the crook of Will’s elbow, and said, “I’m sorry.” Then he shadow-traveled himself and Will away.
He barely heard Piper saying, “He betrayed us!” But even when he did, with all the regret bubbling in his chest, he couldn’t go back. He had to get the wand, for Hazel.
Nico had just turned fifteen when his father married him off to Minos, a man from the northern regions of the empire, who owned cold but rich lands and a third of the roman army. Nico wasn’t particularly surprised, seeing as he was his father’s third-born child. It was his destiny, after all. Bianca’s death hadn’t changed much, it simply made Nico the second-born, behind Hazel. Their mothers had given them birth with only a month of difference, which had dictated the course of their lives.
It also wasn’t a surprise to Nico when he was called to Rome six months after his husband’s death. He reached the city in the middle of summer, sweating even as he stayed in the carriage with his servant.
“Do you know who it’ll be this time?” Drew asked him.
She had been Minos’ wedding gift to Nico. One of the many, surely Nico’s most treasured one. Even after he’d set her free, she’d chosen to remain with him as an employee. He considered her a member of his family.
“No,” Nico said. The walls of the city were getting closer, a sense of anxiety closed his throat.
“I hope it’ll be a good man,” she replied quietly.
Each night Nico prayed to the gods the very same thing.
When they reached his father’s villa just outside the city, one of the servants opened the door. Drew went first, then offered her hand up to Nico. His heart very nearly stopped.
His father looked older than he was, as if the six years they hadn’t seen each other had been many more. The hair on his temples was completely grey, almost white, a stark contrast to the black top. As usual, his face showed no emotion, perfectly stoic, as he stood with his hands behind his back. He looked Nico up and down, assessing him. Nico stood a bit straighter, berating himself as he did so.
Hazel had apparently just gotten out of practice. Her forehead shone with sweat, she was dressed for battle. She enveloped Nico in a hug. Six years. The last time they held each other was when Nico was leaving. They’d both grown since then, but in his sister’s arms, Nico still felt fifteen.
When they broke apart, the dark skinned woman who’d been at his father’s side stepped up.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you Niccolò,” she said. Her voice was warm, and sensing who she was, Nico felt sorry for her. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Persephone, your father’s wife.”
Nico doubted she’d heard anything about him at all. Even before his marriage, he’d been at odds with his father, he doubted Hades spoke a great deal about him. “I prefer Nico.”
She smiled. She took one of Nico’s arms, Hazel on the other, and they escorted him inside. They told him about Melikoe, who apparently was his new sister. She was just three months old.
The next day, Nico met his future husband. Before that he was bathed and pampered in all ways, servants at his back and call with every comfort. When he looked at himself in the mirror, hair neatly done and every remnant of the journey scrubbed off his skin, Nico barely recognised himself.
Persephone gave him a heavy necklace, much too similar to those Nico’s own mother used to wear for his liking. They reached his new husband’s house with a carriage. Nico remembered the place, he thought he might have been there to visit before. His father used to take him and Hazel along, even when he only needed Bianca. It was hard to think of that side of his father now.
“Behave,” Hades said lowly as he helped Nico down the carriage.
“You are the picture of your mother,” somebody said.
When Nico looked up, he was met with Naomi Solace’s kind eyes. She reached him and took his hands in hers. Was his father marrying him off to a woman? Had he gone completely mad?
“I’m so happy to have you back in the city, dear,” she said. “I hated the thought of you married off to that old creature in the north.”
“Let me see the boy, Naomi. I’ll evaluate him.”
Naomi gave Nico one last smile, before stepping to the side. A few steps back, slowly limping forth, was an old man. He had white hair and even more wrinkles than Minos had. Nico sent a look to his father, but Hades was looking smugly at the boy behind the old man, whose blond curls shone like melted gold under the sun rays.
The man quickly arrived in front of Nico. Well, not quickly for any other person present, but quickly if considered that he looked like the wind might sweep him away. Hazel herself looked worried. Just the prior night, she’d told Nico that their father had kept Nico’s new husband’s identity secret.
Greasy, old fingers touched Nico’s chin, holding him still as washed-out brown eyes searched his face. Nico’s lips curled, but he didn’t move. He didn’t let himself look away. He forced every muscle of his body to stay relaxed, his lungs to not move too quickly.
“You didn’t lie about his beauty, Hades,” the old man said.
Naomi’s smile brightened. Hades slightly bowed his head, accepting the praise. Nico’s patience ran out.
“He hasn’t seen me in six years,” he said. As all eyes snapped to him, Nico put on his most saccharine smile. “Since he married me off to an old guy. So forgive me sir, but I’m really not in the mood to repeat the experience.” Nico took a step back, turning to his father, whose eyes were bulging out of their sockets. “Whatever your pact is, I’m now old enough to oppose.”
Silence fell on them. Even the birds stopped singing. Maybe the gods themselves were looking down on them.
The old man turned to the blond man behind him, who was watching the scene unfold with something akin to amusement - or awe - in his eyes.
“Well, the boy was clear,” the old man said.
Hades snapped out of his trance, and fell to his knee, head bowed. “Please, forgive him, my lord. Venus gave him beauty, just as Mars gave him spirit. Even too much of it, at times. He means well.”
“I don’t mean well,” Nico blurted out, crossing his arms on his chest. When he shook his head, the gold rings braided in his hair twinkled. “I mean to not get married to somebody who was here to see Rome being built.”
Much to Nico’s surprise, the old man laughed loudly.
Hades didn’t. He put his hands on his face, still bowing on the floor. “For the love of the gods, Nico, you’re speaking to our emperor!”
The old man laughed harder, until it sent him into a coughing fit. When he saw Nico’s open mouth, he laughed even louder. Naomi put her hands on her mouth, worried glances sent back and forth between the emperor and the blond man.
“Hades, old friend, stand. No need for that. Now that you know who I am, are you any more inclined to marry me?” Asked the emperor, once he regained his composure.
“Not really, no.”
The emperor’s lips twitched in a smile. “That’s good, because you’re not here to marry me. You’re marrying my heir.”
Again, Nico’s mouth popped open. The blond man behind the emperor stepped up, a smile lightening his freckled features.
“You are exactly as you were when we were kids,” he simply said.
Nico tilted his head to the side, finally connecting the dots. “Will.”
“I told you I’d marry you one day.” He’d kept a hand behind himself the whole time, and finally he showed it. He was holding a flower. “This is for you. I hope it’s still your favourite.”
When Nico took the poppy, his hands shook. He couldn’t quite believe what was happening. He didn’t remember much about Will Solace, but he was a kind, young boy, who saw the best in everybody. And now he was the emperor’s heir, and that in itself was quite unbelievable. Nico didn’t think he deserved somebody like Will Solace, but life wasn’t about what one deserved. So he went on with the wedding, and a week later he married William Solace.
Everybody knows Maria di Angelo. Everybody loves Maria di Angelo. And Nico, the only heir to all her messes, is sure he will forever live in her shadow.
When people look at Nico, they see Maria di Angelo’s son. And truly, there’s not much else to see. He sings beautiful songs, but hers were better-written. He does ballet, but her on-stage persona is impossible to replicate. He leads a lonely life, and people don’t know hers wasn’t much different.
Nico isn’t surprised when he’s called for Prince Will’s Selection. He half-expected it. So he goes to the Golden Palace where the Solaces live, and enters with his head held high. People don’t know who he is yet, all the feedback he’s received comes from the Academy of Arts, where he’s spent the last ten years of his life. He’s twenty now, and he will graduate in June. When he’s honest to himself, he admits to feeling scared of the future.
He isn’t the only student of the Academy who’s taking part in the Selection. There’s also Drew Tanaka, who used to be Nico’s best friend, in a time that feels very far away. They — Nico and Drew — aren’t the only students who had submitted to the process of the Selection, but they’re the only ones who have been chosen. It’s the Small Council who chooses the participant of the Selection, taking people from all across North America, which is partly ex-Canada and ex-US.
Nico sighs as he’s lead to his room. He feels weighted down, like someone’s placed an enormous rock over his shoulders. He should have known better than to let the Academy Headmistress, Alecto, submit him. His whole past will be brought up, he will be scrutinised in the worst of ways in front of the whole country.
Before he left the Academy — where he won’t return until Prince Will sends him home, or until the Selection finishes — Alecto gave him a letter from his father. Sitting on his bed, he turns it in his hands, without opening it. He hasn’t talked to Hades in almost a year, since his father went and moved to the Republic of Athens, on the other side of the world.
At the end, he doesn’t find the courage to open the letter. He places it in the nightstand and decides to undo his luggage. He’s doing great, until there’s a knock to the door. When it opens, a guy about as tall as Nico and with curly, brown hair stares back at him. He has brown skin, and a loopsided smile.
“Hi,” the boy says. “I’m Leo Valdez. It seems we’re suite-mates. I checked the other rooms, we’re the first to arrive.”
Nico gives the other a small smile. “I’m Nico.”
Leo raises an eyebrow, entering the room and closing the door behind himself. “Just Nico? I thought you’d have a surname. Are you a lord or something? You look kind of regal.”
Nico laughs. “I’m not. Di Angelo, by the way. That’s my surname.”
It’s the first time Nico has to introduce himself. Everybody knew who he was at the Academy, the same way as he knew everybody else.
Now, Leo raises both eyebrows. He has an expressive face. “As in Nico di Angelo the son of Maria di Angelo?” He lets out a low whistle. “That’s impressive.”
Nico shrugs, putting away one of his shirts. He had to buy clothes before coming, at the Academy he only ever wore his uniform and his dance-clothes.
“We’ll be meeting more impressive people,” he says.
Leo concedes. “True. What do you think he’ll be like? The prince, I mean. He always seems kind on the tv.”
Maria also seemed kind on the tv, and maybe she was, but Nico would always remember her screaming when Hades had to return to Persephone, his actual wife. Nico looks away. He can’t bear Leo’s hopeful eyes.
“I hope he will be,” Nico says.
On Sunday, all the contestants have arrived. Boys and girls alike, as per the prince’s preference. They are placed in the Tower of Dawn, in the east wing of the palace. At the ground-floor, there are the breakfast room, the music room and the relax hall, where they can simply spend their time doing whatever they prefer. There’s also a piano, which Nico approaches. He doesn’t have the time to brush his fingers on the keys, before Drew sweeps behind him.
“Di Angelo, spare me!” She says. “Not one of your depressed ballads again.”
A few people — who seem to have befriended Drew — snicker. A few others stare shocked after the revelation of his surname.
It’s not that Nico is ashamed of being a di Angelo. He just doesn’t go around telling everybody he is. But tonight, when they are presented at North America’s News with Piper McLean, the whole nation will know.
“You’re right, your sex-anthems are much better,” he replies.
Drew rolls her eyes. Truth is, Nico doesn’t mind Drew’s songs. He likes a few of them. Granted, none have been officially released, but the Academy is a small school, and everybody knows everybody’s work. Alecto even wants them to collaborate on something before they graduate.
“Don’t be a bigot,” Drew says, bringing Nico back to reality.
“So, you two know each other,” a girl named Annabeth will later tell Nico, once they’re having supper.
Nico almost scoffs. Know is too little a word to describe their relationship. Nico feels Drew like he feels his limbs, she’s been apart of him for the last ten years of his life. And Nico managed to throw it all away with a harsh decision.
“We go to the same school,” he replies instead.
Leo whistles, something he seems keen on doing, though it goes against palace etiquette. He probably doesn’t know, as Nico reasons.
“I bet her teenage years were a handful,” Leo says.
Nico grimaces. “So were mine. But it was fun.”
Partly fun, as he reminds himself. His teenage years are the ones in which he’s lost the most. He lost his Bianca. But they were also the years in which he ran up and down the halls of the Academy with Drew on one side and Rachel on the other, gossiping and sharing their deepest secrets and fears. Rachel is still friends with Drew, they’re still close. Nico wonders what they say about him.
A clap of hands, clearly to attract everybody’s attention. It works. Nico turns to the head of the table, to see a man on a wheelchair staring back at him, if only for a split second. Nico has a feeling he knows the man, thought he can’t place him.
“Good evening everybody,” the man says. “I am Chiron, and I will be your supervisor during your stay. Should you need anything, you come to me. I’m sure you’ve heard the rules already, but I will repeat the most important ones. If you abstain, you will be sent home. Number one: no getting physical with other contestants. By that I mean both fighting and having sexual intercourses.”
Nico blushes at Chiron’s words, looking away. He catches Drew’s eyes, who mouth at him, ‘Prude’. He clenches his fists, and brings his eyes back to Chiron.
“Number two: no relationship is allowed with the staff. By that I mean you cannot have physical or emotional attachments to any of the palace staff, guards included. Number three: what the prince wants, the prince gets. If what he wants is to send you home, you will be sent home. If he wishes to keep you here, you will be kept here. If he wishes to have time alone with you, he will have it.”
Nico’s ears start ringing. He’s sure Chiron lists other rules and explains how they will have to behave at the interview, but he’s not listening anymore. He can only think of rule number three: what the prince wants, the prince gets. Nico has never been put in a place where he couldn’t deny himself, but now he feels he’s faced with the harsh reality of life. Sometimes, there is simply no way out.
Dinner resumes, and dessert is brought to the table. Nico exists the room, leaving his new acquittances very confused. He needs air. He can’t breathe, and this damn shirt he’s wearing is too tight on the neck.
Finally, he reaches the glass doors to the gardens, but before he can even phantom what’s happening, his path is blocked by guards.
“You can’t go out at this time of the night, sir,” one says. He’s an Asian man, and for a moment Nico thinks of his father’s bodyguard, Frank.
“I need air—” Nico tries to explain. His voice is raspy, his eyes glassy. He doesn’t know how much longer he can resist.
“What you need is none of our problem,” the other guard, a woman, says. “We need to protect you. And that is what we’re doing.”
Nico opens his mouth again, but only a pained sound comes out.
“Let him through,” a voice comes from behind. “I order it.”
In his daze, Nico turns and vaguely recognises the figure he sees as Prince Will. He doesn’t care much, however.
The doors are pulled open and Nico steps outside. His lungs fill with air, more than he thought they could contain.
“I hope you’re doing better,” Prince Will says, evidently having followed Nico outside.
Nico startles. “I am. Your Highness. Thank you.”
His words come out robotic, but he means them. Without the prince, he would have probably ended up in the infirmary.
“You are the first contestant I meet,” the prince says, stepping closer.
Nico takes a step back, but all too soon his back meets a column’s marble. He’s trapped, and what the prince wants, the prince gets.
“Am I?” Nico says, more to himself than to anybody.
“Yes, I was wondering whether the quarters were of your—”
That is when Prince Will commits a mistake. He gets too close, too friendly, and Nico isn’t used to it. Alecto always told him: people will want to be you, or they will want to bed you. And Nico doesn’t want that at the moment, and there’s no other way out really. So he does the only logical thing: he knees Prince Will right between his legs.
As he did every day, Nico spent his morning in the temple. He didn’t meet any Priest or Priestess there, and he was sorry for it. He wished to have one more moment with them, who were closer to being his family than anyone else in the world. Even than Hazel, who was meant to be.
Still, he wasn’t left alone long. He’d been there for less than an hour, when Annabeth Chase sat next to him. She was dressed in the blue of guards, despite being a lady. Nico was discovering that the Seven weren’t much for tradition. He could appreciate that about them, while still hating the lot of them.
“I’m praying,” Nico said, almost hissing. “I wish to be left alone.”
Annabeth joined her hands. “I’m afraid I’ll disturb you for a little while. It’s about Lord William.”
Nico’s head shot to her. What was happening? Was Will hurt? Who did it?
“Nothing tragic, Your Highness,” she continued. “I just wished to talk about him.”
Nico’s shoulders slumped in relief. And he berated himself for it. He was becoming weak.
“What for?” Nico asked.
Annabeth shrugged. “I’ve just seen that his mood depends a lot on yours.”
Nico raised both eyebrows. “Really, now?”
“Let me explain. I’ve seen that he’s happy when you are, and that is not very often. At the same time, he’s unhappy when you are. He’s been worried for you, as of lately. He wants you to be well.”
Nico crossed his arms on the chest. “And what about it?”
Annabeth shook her head. “You are as stubborn as Hazel. I want you to be aware of you affect him, because he’ll never show it to you. I want you two to work things out.”
Nico’s eyebrows, if possible, rose even farther. “Why would you want that?”
“Because I care about Will. Also, I don’t think you are as bad a person as you want us to believe. I think you two are good people, who deserve good things.”
Annabeth’s hand found its way to Nico’s shoulder, and squeezed. An uncomfortable feeling sat in Nico’s stomach. His eyes burnt. These days he was overly emotional.
“You might just find your happiness with him,” Annabeth continued. “He’s a wonderful man. I don’t need your gift, to know you should give him a chance.”
Click here to read the first chapter: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51967036/chapters/131412283
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