Nico di Angelo was woken up in the middle if the night by a phone call.

Not many people had his number, actually approximately two people. One was I man named Minos that had been helping him control his powers, helping him reach Bianca and bring her back to life. The other was...well he hoped he wouldn't be the one calling. He wasn't prepared enough to talk to him yet. Even though the last time he saw him was two months ago. They didn't leave off on very good terms, and left that screaming match feeling like he had been shot in the chest.

He dragged himself out of the, for once, warm bed and stumbled to the where his phone was plugged into the wall. He was kind of relieved that Minos was actually calling this time, other than randomly shadow traveling into his room unannounced. Not that it was an excuse to call him at 5 am in the morning.

The he looked at the caller ID, throat closing up.

Percy.

He was not mentally prepared enough for this. Oh god, what the hell was he doing. He would have to talk to him and then they would get into the same damn argument they had before. They would scream at each other and then they wouldn't talk to each other for a few more months. He couldn't do this.

Panicking, he let the call go to voice mail, if it was really important, he would call again, if not then he was just calling out of spite, or maybe anger.

He didn't call again, but he had gotten a notification for a voicemail. Swallowing his fear, he pressed it.

"Hey, Nico." His voice was hoarse, upset? "I know your not going to get this immediately, and that you'll hate me for this, but I need to ask you for a favor."

A favor? Why would he be calling for a favor, he always preferred to be self sufficient. He never wanted anyone's help. Why was he all of the sudden finding it in himself to actually let people help him? And now? At five am? Seriously?

"You see, somethings about to happen, something not good, and I think it's the time we talked about before. The one from the dreams." At that, he chocked. He remembered the dreams, the prophecy. The dying.

"I have something that I would like to get back to my family, and they disserve better then being left in the dark. I'm going to leave my fathers ring on the roof of the warehouse, the one where you stayed for a while. I need you to take it to them, tell Leo to transfer all data to the Bat-computer and then tell Leo to open the voice message 'Sparks'." No no no no no no no no. He was not doing this, he couldn't. Why didn't he call him sooner? Why didn't he pick up?

"I...I'm really going to miss you, I hope you can forgive me. I let you down, and I guess I'll never be able to make up for it. I should have helped, or at least not let you shoulder it alone. I know you might hate me," He could never. "and that's my fault I guess, but they say things are worth more when the creator is gone, and that it isn't until your dead that people will start listening to what you said. You're my best friend, and maybe it was a short time that we knew each other, and maybe we fell apart, but I wouldn't change who you are for the world. I hope you find what you're looking for, Death Boy. You deserve it. I'll see you on the flip slide."

He choked through his tears and frantically attempted to call him back. All it did was go to voice mail. He couldn't, why did he do this? He couldn't die, he was allowed to. He wouldn't let him die.

He began frantically putting on his boots when his phone rang again, making him gasp through tears and fumble to pick it up. It wasn't Percy, but a restricted number. An unknown caller. He answered it anyway.

"Um hello?" His voice was scratchy and thick from crying, but he didn't care.

"Hello sir." Came the startling reply of a youthful voice, a familiar youthful voice. "This is Leo, Mr. Jacksons personal AI."

"Um yes..?" Maybe he had news, good news.

"It's in my programing to inform you that the message which you were sent was pre recorded hours before the occurrence. I regret to inform you that Mr. Jackson has yet to send notice or retrieve me and past this point I was ordered to deliver this message and inform you of his passage. I am here to be aware of your decision on retrieving me and delivering me to his family to here their message, your message."

He felt to numb to reply, nearly forgetting to breathe. He was already gone. He...he didn't call. He would have helped him in a heartbeat. He didn't have to do this by himself.

"Mr. Di Angelo." All that came from him was a gasping sound of recognition. "I am aware of your connection to Mr. Jackson, and you are distraught. If it helps, he didn't do it alone. Miss Thalia Grace was his aid, though did not come with him to the ending conflict on order of Mr. Jackson."

He always did things by himself, never letting anyone take the fall. That stupid ass-.

He didn't deserve it, Percy didn't. All he did was try to help, no matter the misguided attempts at trying to be as heroic as Batman. He deserved and ending other than death, he was too good for this. Now he had to go and deliver his suicide note.

"I'll do it, Leo." He choked out after a few moments, and he would, there is no universe where he wouldn't. Honestly, he would do anything for him.

"Best wishes, Mr. Di Angelo."

Nico hadn't cried in a while, two months to be exact, but didn't hadn't cried that hard since Bianca.

The ring sat on the ledge over looking the street. It was golden and green. It looked like a normal ring.

Nico knew better.

He handled the ring like glass, without really needing to. He slid it onto his finger shakily, on his middle finger because all of the other ones skinny. Percy had had much bigger hands than him, like his fathers. It felt wrong to wear it, like a nausea that settled in his stomach like restless leach. He shook even more as he slid it off his and slipped it into his pocket.

He had a feeling no one was going to wear the ring for a while, or maybe forever.

Once again he slipped into the shadows.

He felt numb to it.

The butler, Alfred if he remembered correctly, ushering him inside after only uttering Percy's name. He knew that he had felt thankful for no further explanation needed. He knew that his face must have been enough to tell the entire story.

Than he came face to a panic-stricken Bruce, he was different from the Batman that he had watched take Percy from the Alley. He looked more human without the mask. People always did.

He held out the ring for him, Bruce focused on it for a moment, then back on his face. Nico watched as his expression cracked further, he could feel his lips trembling.

"P-Percy, Percy." He cleared his throat of the phlegm that had built up from crying. "Percy left me a message to retrieve this for you. He-he said to transfer Leo's files into the Bat-computer and then open, open voice file 'Sparks'."

A boy, he noticed, was peering through the railing of the staircase, his eyes wide. He stood up shakily and stepped behind Bruce.

"Is." The boy, Dick, he remembered now." Is he, you know..." He choked on his words.

He nodded, not trusting his voice any further. Looking away as tears leaked out of the side of his eyes.

Dick struggled with that for a moment, taking shallow labored breaths. He then gripped Bruce's arm and Bruce, remaining in a place between stoic and hysteria, just pulled him in against his chest.

"He's gone."

Bruce's hand plucked the ring out of his hand held it to his chest, as if it was actually him and not a piece of metal. He remained standing as they both fell to their knees. Alfred had his chin to his chest, frown etched in a layer of shadows.

He didn't have the energy in him anymore to cry, not anymore.

It was and hour later when Bruce finally transferred the files to the computer, everything else was quiet other than the occasional squeak of bats in the cave. Nico was the one to speak when the files finished transferring.

"Open voice message 'Sparks', Leo." He spoke with a flat voice. Leo didn't verbally respond, but a hologram appeared.

Bruce hugged Dick close to his chest.

Percy's face lit of the cave walls, a semi-smiling face. It didn't help as much as he wished it did.

"Hey guys." The hologram breathed deeply and calmingly, that didn't help either. "I'm sorry for putting you all through this."

Percy looked at his hands. It was almost like he could reach out and touch them.

"After you told me his name, Kronos, a lot of this changed. A friend died, Annabeth. It turned out that the Annabeth that I had met inside my mind wasn't the real one, just a poor imitation. Like a catfish online."

Percy chuckled to himself like the joke was funny.

"Luke, the boy who told me that she had been captured was really the son of Kronos. He was attempting to lure me to my death, and he was almost successful. Then I had gotten this reoccurring dream, a vision. I saw myself killing Kronos and then dying myself. I thought it was a nightmare at first, but then t happened again and again and it didn't stop. It was like a warning that wouldn't go away."

The hologram stopped for a moment, regaining composer.

"I've learned a lot in the past day. I went to help out a friend, Thalia. She wanted to meet, she said it was an emergency. She was a decedent like me, she has powers over lightning. She was injured, her bother had tried to kill her and she had come to deliver to me, a piece of information of the location of Kronos. I didn't know why Kronos was after me, she did."

Percy cleared his throat.

"You see, she explained that we came from an ancient alien race named the Progens. They came to humans back in ancient Egypt, mating with us and our blood unlocked a hidden trait, or traits, locked in their DNA. The offspring were able to posses powers of the supernatural, regardless of how diluted the bloodline. That's where we come from Nico, your father was a Descendant and he was part of the resistance to take down the Titan gang."

It was like Percy was looking at him.

"The Titan gang was a sour of society, but kept hidden. They were made up of decedents, Kronos was their leader, the thousand year old last lord of time. Then Thalia's father, Zeus. Then Zeus's son, Apollo, a seer and REM user. saw the same vision I kept seeing, Kronos dying. The gang broke out into a war, knowing that their leader was going to die and not wanting to be controlled by it any longer. They didn't agree with Kronos, he was cruel and only fought for himself. My father fought against the gang and Kronos killed him for it, but he didn't know that the child in the dream was me, and he didn't know I existed. When he did find out, he paid off my step father to kill off me, instead he killed my mother."

"I didn't want to go, but I guess I really can't escape my fate." Percy looked like he was close to tears. He knew the feeling well.

"I, I just didn't want to leave you without any explanation. I wanted to say I'm sorry for not telling, but I honestly don't regret the decision. This was something that I had to do by myself, and there didn't need to be any more collateral damage." Percy paused again.

"And, I wanted to say that I love you, most of all. Bruce, your like the father I never really got to have, and Dick you were the best brother in the world, Alfred, the worlds best grandfather. Nico, I think you have to ability to control the physical darkness. The days I spent with you were the best days in my life. I'm sorry that I wasn't more open to you, maybe it would have changed things, maybe not. I love you, and I'm sorry." He turned around when someone made a noise on the background.

"I'm sorry we didn't have more time. Don't blame yourselves for me, because there was nothing you could have done for me, this is my fate. I used to not believe in fate, but I couldn't run from it fast enough." He moved like he was going to shut the screen off before stopping.

"Oh, and Nico. Inside the files are the passwords to your fathers bank account. Turns out he was a very rich man."

The video went black.

Bruce turned to him, questioning.

He swallowed.

Percy Jackson was an asshole.

fin.