The Next Generation: The Beginning

Nico's POV

I sat curled in a ball on the couch, cowering from the storm. Why did we have to grow strawberries? Why did there have to be a drought this year? And why did Zeus have to kill my mother, specifically, with a lightning strike? I've been asking myself the last question for my whole life, to no avail. Another flash followed by a boom made me dive under the blanket again. This is so stupid, I thought. I'm the frickin Prince of Darkness for Hades' sake! I shouldn't be scared of a little rain! BOOM! Nevermind! I heard a different loud noise, different from thunder, but it still made me jump. I only relaxed when I heard a familiar voice.

"Nico? Are you in here?"

"Yeah... I'm on the couch." I heard Will's footsteps as he came into the room.

"Where? I don't see you." Oh, Right. I'm still under the blanket. I popped my head out.

"Here I am!" Will jumped back, panting.

"Gods, Nico! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" I laughed, then as the thunder and lightning returned, it was cut short with an extremely not Nico-y noise and the blanket covering me again.

"Neeks, is something wrong?" He sat down on the other side of the couch and put his hand on my calf. I got out from under the blanket.

"No... I'm fine." I lied. Another strike caused me to fling myself onto Will's lap, whimpering, burying my head into his shoulder, clinging to his shirt for dear life, shaking like a leaf. His initial shock was replaced by his arms wrapping around me protectively. One of my favorite things about Will (and there's a lot) is his ability to make me feel safe no matter what. We could be at a party, the room packed wall to wall with music blasting, causing me to lose Will and have a panic attack and as soon as he walks over to me, or grabs my hand or hell even makes eye contact, all of my panic goes away.

"Sunshine, you're not fine... what's the matter? You're scaring me!" I took a shaky breath. I've never told Will this- I've never needed to.

"I'm scared of lightning. I don't remember it, but when I was a little kid, right after we came to the US, Zeus struck our hotel room while my mother was inside, purposely killing her because she refused to send us- Bianca and me- to Camp Half-Blood. She kept insisting that my dad could protect us in the underworld. After that he sent us to the Lotus Casino for 80ish years, then picked us up, wanting one of us to potentially fulfill Percy's prophecy. We were sent to a school, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover picked us up... and you know the rest." Silent tears started streaming down my cheeks halfway through the story, soaking Will's shirt, though if he noticed or cared, he didn't say anything. He just rubbed my back in soothing motions and started to sing an Italian lullaby that I used to sing to the kids when they were little. How he knew it, I don't know- I guess after hearing me singing it for five kids, he had picked it up. I instantly relaxed and started mouthing the words. It was moments like these that make me realize how lucky and fortunate I am to have Will. The lullaby ended, and we fell into a comfortable silence.

"I love you, Tesoro," I said after a moment. By now, the tears had subsided.

"I love you too, Sunshine." I was about to fall asleep when a loud CRASH! in the kitchen followed by a moan made us look up to see a silhouette standing in the doorway, leaning heavily on the frame.

Mia's POV

Shadow traveling when you are inexperienced was risky, but doing twice, back to back, was just stupid, but I had no choice unless I wanted to get soaked. I got to my parent's cabin and knocked into a chair, making it fall over. Well, that's one way to make an entrance! I stumbled to the couch where I saw my parents sitting. Moaning, I supported myself on the door frame and saw them look at me.

"Papà, I need your help. Joey made a personal training course for me and we've been training all day and we got stuck in the rain that shouldn't be happening and I had to shadow travel us to my cabin but he doesn't have any clean clothes." I said that all in one breath. "And now, I think I need to sit down..." and with that, I collapsed.

Will's POV

After Mia had made herself known, I got up and had started to make my way to her, so I was able to catch her before she hit the ground. Nico scrambled off the couch to get to her side. He put his hand on her forehead and I gathered her in my arms. Nico sighed.

"She's exhausted from shadow traveling- she's inexperienced and she did it twice- what was she thinking?!" He put his arm around both of us and shadow traveled us to her cabin. When we got there, a very startled Joey greeted us. The confusion written on his face quickly changed to concern.

"What happened to Mia?" Nico looked at me.

"So... this is Joey..." he said, purposely trying to scare him, even though he knew who he was. I rolled my eyes.

"Shadow traveling drains the energy out of you when you're inexperienced- believe me, when Nico first started, he was passing out right and left!" Nico shot me a glare. "But she'll be fine, she just needs to rest. Nico, take Joey back to his cabin- I'll stay here with Mia." Nico nodded and turned to the boy.

"Take my hand." Joey cautiously reached out and after a moment they were gone. Mia stirred and I slipped into bed with her. She melted into the heat radiating from me and I just held her. She sighed contently and snuggled into my chest.

"I love you, Mia. I love you so much." I placed a kiss on top of her head and just relished the moment.

Nico's POV

We got to the Poseidon Cabin. Joey stumbled out of the shadows while I just stood there. He rubbed his head and looked at me.

"How... how did you know where to go?"

I rolled my eyes.

"You look like your father- literally. I knew him at your age and you look identical. Also, you can't get wet- one of the perks of being related to Poseidon." He nodded.

"Yeah, I know; you might want to tell Mia though." Silence. "Why was it raining anyway?"

"The strawberry fields needed more water."

"Oh." I turned to leave. "Wait!" He grabbed my arm but I tensed so he let go.

"My parents were talking about Mia once and they said they were sorry for her, something about her future and fate... and I just feel like I need to protect her. Is she in danger?" My heart stopped. I thought carefully about my words.

"Let's just say that she has some things she needs to fulfill in her life, and they're not easy." He kept silent but nodded. "Just don't- be careful in your training with her; don't let her use her powers too much. And not a word of this to her. Trust me, Jackson, it's for the best." With that, I left.

Back at the Hades Cabin, Mia and Will were asleep. It warmed my heart. I shook Will gently.

"Tesoro? Come on, let's go home." He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, stood up, and I took us home. I tucked us into bed but I couldn't sleep. I can't let anything happen to Mia.