I would love more of ur "If Nico dies" headcanon plz :3
You have come to the right place. Buckle up, buddy, โcause weโre going for a longggggg ride.
I have like, a bunch, a dozen, a lot of ideas about Nico passing away, and I might not have a coherent way to organize them all, so you might have to bear with my millacenous thoughts, then, just a head-up!
Why I loveย โIf Nico diesโ that much
Hades breaking rules of death for Nicoย because Iโm nothing if a sucker for parental love, really.
A list of post about psychopomp Nico. Basically Nico nearly died only for Hades to make him an immortal psychopomp. Now he collects souls, travels the world and haunts people.
My most obsessing fantasy is the shadows blossoms and reaches out to Nico. Just. A blob of darkness suddenly covers the sky and he dazedly looks at it. Somethingโs calling for him from the dark. Nico extends a hand. The first fingertip touches the lingering darkness and heโs. just. gone. The shadows hug him tight, embracing him in an eternal slumber. Cold. Numb. No feeling, no pain, no suffering.
If Nico manages to die of old age like a normal person, Thanatos will greet Nico with a smile, โYour father is waiting, young Lordโ and Nico would walk through the door of the palace with a glowing laurel wreath like a prince he is.
Hades sets up a whole coronation ceremony LMAO. Jk, he probably did it when Nico became the official Ambassador of Hades.
Makaria cheering โBaby brother!!!โ while peppering kisses all over Nicoโs face. She kinda takes permanent residence of Nicoโs house in the Elysium and complains in their weekly afternoon tea parties that Nico spends too much time in their fatherโs palace.
Melinoe can legitimately bullies Nico now. So he makes a point of avoiding her and sticking close to Makaria everytime they have family dinner.
Nicoโs near death trying to save Bob, and Zagreus tears down the Tartarus coming to his brotherโs aid.
Bobโs happy because Nico stays in the Underworld much more frequent now. And they play Mythomagic together, yay!!!
When Nico dies, his power goes haywire. The shadows want to pull everything into demise to accompany their master. I have talked about this once but I lost that post so... ehehe ig??...
That post about Tartarus corrupting Nico and he begs Jason to kill him.
The most possible way, tho, would be him fading into the shadows due to over-exertion after transporting the Athena Pathenos. I had another post about this specific outcome. And ohhhh this is a painful ride.
Well technically Nico has and is still suffering from a lot of physical burdens, I honestly canโt fathom how tf he manages to stay alive but i glad he did. So now Iโm fantasying he doesnโt.
This death of Nico would be tragic and glorious, yall, because itโs a sacrifice. Even though itโs not in the prophecy, huh.
It would be after the battle has died down, and Nico looks up at the clear sky sparkled with Imperial Gold, the ringing of Octavianโs death resounding sound and clear through his bones, drowning every other sound. He feels lightheaded. Someone is screaming. He canโt quite hear it. The sky turns grey. His vision turns monochromic. He feels sleepy.
He doesnโt feel anything when he falls to the ground. All of his senses are plunged into slumber.
And his body and soul dissolve into nothingness.
Hades would be the first one to come to his side - because he is the one who can feel Nicoโs life force fade away the clearest. But thereโs nothing stopping death, as the god can only manage to grab his sonโs hand before the boyโs eyes close and the grass under them withers away just as fast as his bodyโs disappearing.
The next one is Hazel - sprinting and dropping down her knees on the ground at the other side, blood and tears on her face, a broken voice calling her brotherโs name. She pays no mind to her father, instead grabbing Nicoโs hands. But her hands go right through him. As if waving through a fog. Hazel watches it ripple and turn transparent. She canโt touch him. She cries harder. Black diamonds and onyx stones pop up around them, building up until it suddenly looks like a gemmed tomb.
Reyna appears next to Hazel. She understands right away whatโs happening, but she canโt help panicking at the realization that Nico is truly disappearing for good. Her hands instinctively go to touch him, but they, too, can only feel thin air. Only Hades can touch Nico now.
Hazel is screaming at Hades, now. Rules be damned. She begs him to do something. Because Nico is dying. Because Nico shouldnโt be dying, that after all of this he just canโt be dying like this i canโt lose him too youโre the god of dead please pleaseโโ
But all of those fall in deaf ears as Hades just blankly gazes at his sonโs lifeless face, the lips now nearly grey, the dark circles under Nicoโs shut eyes, the black hair slowly dissolving into nothingness. His two big hands clutch the smaller hand, wrapping them whole as if the god is, too, begging for Nico to wake up.
He can feel his sonโs soul crumbling. He canโt feel Thanatos coming to reap it. And Hades, for once in his life, fears that he wouldnโt be able to see his son after all those years of having him running around in his kingdom.
The circle of dead grass keeps widening as shadows stretch out - from Nico or Hades, no one can tell - but Jason and Percy can feel the weight, sorrows and sadness, pure grief and pain, suffocating them the moment they step in the clearing. And they fail to take another step when their eyes catch the image of one unmoving body in Hadesโ arms. Percy falls to his knees, digging his nails in the dirt as a silent scream tears his lungs apart. Jason watches the scene, hands balled into fists at his sides. And he wonders, what kind of evil game are the Fates playing on Nico di Angelo to give him such devastating ending?
Gosh this is so hard to write because i keep crying arghhhh.
Anyway, on to the aftermath.
- Nicoโs body was gone. They have nothing to burn. Until Persephone and Hades appears with a black shroud and Nicoโs stygian sword. Hestia lights the flame. The gods stay to watch, and Percy stands next to them until it burns out completely.
- Hestia comes to Underworld on Nicoโs death day to share Hadesโ grief.
- Thereโs a pomegranate tree next to the Hades cabin the following day after Nicoโs funeral. Huge and lively, green leaves glinting in the morning dew and big red fruits forever fresh hiding in the foliage. It surrounds the wooden cabin, hugging it, magically alive as if a late wish to the lost boy. Forever waiting.
- Hadesโ grief shakes the earth. His darkness cloaks New York City in nightfall for three weeks. Mortals wonder if the apocalypseโs coming. Apolloโs sun chariot barely makes a small night lamp. The gods want to tell Hades off, but the Underworld has been shut down from all entrance and Persephone knows that even Hades isnโt in a clear enough mind to control his powers.
I have so much for a grieving Hades but itโs kinda messy so weโll just have to settle for this ^^^^ and the previous post I mentioned.
- Hazel. Gods, Hazel. She loses her only maternal relative. The one who pulled her away from the timelessness of Asphodel. The one who, technically, gave her a new life. Who loves her unconditionally and always places her on top of everything else. Sheโs alone. In a new world. Her father cannot acknowledge her existence lest she dies again.
If anyone, who grieves the most would definitely be Hazel. A pure family love.
She draws him every time she misses him, and all the walls in her room are stuffed with drawings of Nico. She puts some in the Pluto shrine, too, only for them to disappear the next day, taken by Hades, sometimes replaced by little gifts.
Hazel imagines they grow up together, a normal pair of brother and sister in the 21st century. She talks to those drawings. She tells Nico on the canvas about how sheโs doing, what she learns about the new life, how Frank is treating her and Nico doesnโt have to worry. She asks herself โWhat would Nico do?โ every time she feels troubled.
She wears his ring (Hades took it before it was gone with the body) on a necklace - because she canโt stand to retelling his story every time someone ask about such mismatching ring when she wears it next to her wedding band. She tells her children about their uncle, tho, little by little. About how he brought her back to life and gave her a new future. About how brave he was to give this world a future, too, and by extension, her childrenโs lives.
She tells them that the ghosts arenโt necessarily hostile, and the darkness isnโt that scary - because they befriended their uncle Nico, who was so full of love it hurts.
- Jason would be devastated because he lost two of his friends at the same time: Leo and Nico. One is his best friend, the other is one he feels responsible for as he inadvertently knew of his deepest secrets. Jason was made a leader. His hero-complex would definitely makes all deaths heavy on himself and if he starts doubting the gods then itโs his problem.
And Leo returns 5 months later, whereas Nico never shows up again.
Jason finds out that some of the minor gods actually know Nico, so he makes a habit of asking them about the boy and manages to collect a bunch of stories to tell Hazel and her children every time he swings by. He helps Frank cheer up Hazel when Nicoโs death day comes every year.
He meets Hades during his journey through the Underworld, and he sees the same pain reflecting in the godโs eyes when he grits his teeth, ready to smite him with a spiteful โWhy did he have to die only for you children of my brothers to be praised as heroes?!!โ.
He was saved by Persephone who interjects with a firm โNico wouldnโt want thisโ. Jason stays for a while, though, to tell Hades about what he learnt of an amazing Nico di Angelo. The god listens silently. His faceโs tired and somber.
- Reyna praises Nico with all her heart. Heโs forever a soldier in her heart. She calls him her brother because thatโs who he is to her. She just gained a new family member and loses him in one journey oh gods. Does she blame herself? If only she could lend him more of her strength? But she knows Nico wouldnโt want that.
The Ambassador room that Nico used is kept in pristine condition because Reyna, even when itโs groundless and stupid, still holds a thin hope that Nico would one day appear in front of her, swaying sleepily and waving goodbye again. She builds a corner for him in the Pluto shrine: his Stygian sword displayed in the middle of all kinds of glowing jewelries, some of Hazelโs drawings tucked in between. Reyna goes there when she needs to think, sometimes sharing McDonaldโs with Hazel and/ or Jason.
She calls his name when she has a panic attack over her fatherโs ghosts. It works, as if Nicoโs still protecting him even from the nothingness.
Her Hunter of Artemis accessory has a small bone put into it. What kind? I have no idea but I like the concept so yall will have to get on with it.
- Percy. Hello guilts my old friend, i have come to talk with you again. Jeez I have no idea how Percyโs gonna cope with Nicoโs death. He would probably blame himself. A lot. Like really. Everyone has regrets when it comes to one Nico di Angelo. Thatโs how his tragedies affect and haunt people, Percy is, without a doubt, the most severe.
He helps rearrange the funeral for Nico. Itโs hard, because it was normally Nico who does this kind of thing. He only manages with the help of Annabeth. Percy has so much to say to Nico, yet he asks Hazel to do the speech because he doesnโt think heโs can utter anything about the child whose life has gone downhill partly of him.
He talks to Hestia more often.
He thinks he sees Nicoโs ghost sometimes. That canโt be right though, because Hades once cursed at him, pain in his voice that Nico was forever gone from every corner of this earth.
Percy visits Hazel a lot, maybe he thinks that he can at least take care of Nicoโs sister after disappointing his other sister and, unintentionally, contributing to his misery life. He finds Nicoโs mythomagic cards and gives them to Hazel. Percy tells her about the young Nico. About how Nico had gone through so much because of him. About how despite all of those Nico still saved him countless times.
And he sits there, in the small living room, repeating sorrys over and over again whenever Hazelโs grief causes her to bite out a hateful blame.
I think this is probably it? I would probably come up with something sooner or later, but oh well I think this is enough for one post.
Immensely, sincerely, genuinely THANK YOU FOR THIS ASK. Oh gods you have NO idea how thrilled I was when I saw this ask!!! ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฅน๐ฅน๐ฅน Lots and lots of love to you, dear!! Iโd definitely write at least one of these ^^^, and when I do Iโd hit you up!
