a little angsty drabble. thank you, kat, for inspiring this little story. :D

the demons that play beneath our feet

word count: 826

rachel is everything he isn't.

a splash of colour in a grey world, with her brilliant eyes and pretty smile. she's fire, burning bright and strong, and she's unstoppable.

and he? he's just a black hole of sorrow and pain - destruction surrounds him, consumes him. he's the darkness, cold and uninviting, destroying everything in his path.

when he sees her, he sees the light he's so desperately trying to reach. she's kind to him - kinder than anyone has been, and nico is drawn to her like a moth to a flame.

she's pure gold and he's the darkness in which she shines.

nico falls for her so slowly that he doesn't notice until he's in too deep. it's the summer after the giants' war that he realises it - when she has flowers in her hair and joy in her smile. she drags him to the summer fest she's organized, ignoring his protests and curses.

when he says that she's better off without him, she just looks at him, dead in the eye and says, 'no one should be alone.'

and as she drags him to the colourful splendor in the dining hall, the scent of her brilliant hair surrounding his senses, nico believes her.

she will heal his past and he will be her future.

some campers are scared of her, of the mysterious aura that seems to surround her; of the wisps of green that escape her being, as beautiful as her wide emerald eyes.

but nico? nico feels safe with her.

she's the warmth that reverses the unforgiving cold that permeates his soul, the kindness that heals his heart and makes him hopeful again.

when she kisses him, under a blanket of gold and silver stars that make her hair look like spangles of heavenly fire, he tastes summer and flowers and everything good. nico feels alive again.

and he won't have it any other way.

they are perfect - light and dark, heaven and sin, what could go wrong?

they all fall, one by one.

nico watches as his friends and family die, the light of their life leaving their broken bodies. he can see defeat written in their faces each time one of them falls. it is like they've given up - they cannot fight anymore.

they are all dead and gone, killed by their own courage and sins. nico wants to scream and shout and bring each one of them back from elysium but he can't and he won't. because he knows that there is a balance to be maintained and only the fates can bring back the dead.

rachel sits with him as hazel's shroud burns, the purple fire regal and mysterious in the pitch-black night. she looks years older - the full moon has bleached her hair of its fiery colour and the lines and shadows of her face emphasised by the night.

"you won't leave me, will you?" she asks him, pursing her lips. she looks vulnerable and nico is worried, because rachel dare is never vulnerable.

"never," he swears, and he means it. he will fight and he will fight hard. nico knows that oblivion is inevitable and that everything good will come to an end, but not yet. not yet.

life is momentary, time is fleeting, so tell me, darling, what chance of survival do you have?

but what he realises is that she never promised that she wouldn't leave him.

too late. too late.

he hears he scream first, a haunting echo that chills him. after a long time, nico feels dreadfully cold, and all he wants is her arms around him, but no, she's gone, she's gone, but she can't be, she won't be…

she looks regal, even in death, her arms spread out gracefully and a small smile on her face. nico kills the last monster furiously, with one deadly swipe of his sword. for a fleeting moment, nico feels victorious, but then, he remembers what happened.

he's running before his mind commands him to, and he drops next to her. her fire has finally burnt out, and nico feels the world crumbling, the colour fading. the world looks bleak and dark again, in grey and white.

he shakes her, screams for her, but she isn't there. he wants to lead her back to earth from elysium but no… that was wrong.

only the fates could change time.

nico cries into her hair, wondering how the world is so cold all of a sudden. he shivers.

this is wrong.

nico feels wrong, without her small hand in his, her dainty smile on her lips. but she's gone and there's nothing left of him now.

reyna shakes his shoulder: there's another wave of monsters breaking through the barriers. he kisses her porcelain skin one last time, and stands up to face the evil before him.

he might die, but he'll sure as hell die a hero.

he's got nothing left to lose anyway.

so i was rewriting another pjo story (solangelo - something went really wrong with the plot, and i've still not fixed it.) and i was talking with kat. she told me that she loved this pairing and that got me thinking… so here it is. :)