It was a cold winter evening in Buckleton's Home for orphans and troubled kids.

Outside snow was covering the streets and it was getting dark earls, so that the slightly orange streetlights were reflected by the glistening ground under them.

Nico di Angelo loved to look out the window when it was snowing. He thought it was the most beautiful thing, he could think of.

But to be sure of that, he planned on traveling around the world with his sister Bianca and their friends Jason and Percy.

As soon as they were old enough, they would just visit whatever place their finger would point to, when the globe stopped to rotate.

Nico couldn't even imagine the places they would go to and the things they would experience.

He and Bianca agreed, that first of all they would visit the country their mother came from. It felt strange, that even if he spoke the language fluent, Nico had no memories of the place, his sister so often called home.

Nico thought about how they would live in a house, together with Jason and Percy. With a big garden, so Bianca and Jason would be able to play as much soccer, as they wanted to. And with a pool, so Percy could go swim, even if it was raining outside. And of course on a mountain, so in the evening, after playing soccer and swimming all day, they could sit on the roof, with each of them drinking hot chocolate, and looking down at all the lights of the city beneath them, lighting up the world.

That was the future, ten year old Nico was planning to have with the three most important people in his life.

He was so busy, thinking about how many rooms they would need (Jason's and Percy's girlfriends, Piper and Annabeth would also need one), that he didn't instantly feel the unusual warmth, radiating from the floor. That was until the door opened and Jason appeared in Nico's bedroom.

He turned away from the window he was looking outside from, and together with the pure look of horror, in Jason's sky blue eyes, saw the smoke erupting along the ceiling and nearly filling the room before Jason even had the chance to say anything.

"Nico, there's a huge fire. We need to get out of here!."

Nico hesitated for a moment.

"Where's Bianca?", he asked. There was no way he was going to leave the building without her.

"Percy went for her. Now, let's get out f here. I don't know how long we will be able to breath in here."

Nico quickly grabbed his sister's aviator jacket and quickly ran out of the building.

He wasn't nearly as fast as Jason, so he was falling behind more and more by the second.

So once the flames were getting higher, Jason immediately reached for Nico's hand and held it tight, like he was afraid to lose Nico in the building, if his grip wasn't strong enough.

Eventually they made it out of the building. They were standing on the snow covered street, as Nico looked around to find his sister. Jason would've lost the grip of Nico's hand long ago, if it wasn't for Nico to hold on to him, as if his life depended on it.

There were firemen all over the place, while the children were gathered around Miss Dorothea, the director of the institution.

Nico looked at every single one, of the 17 children standing outside the burning building. But he couldn't seem to find either Percy or Bianca. He wanted to ask Miss Dorothea, when he hurt something crackle behind him.

The building was starting to fall apart. There were flames coming out of the windows, melting the falling snow and turning the dark sky, into an violent orange.

Nico's heart was beating slowly. His breathing was steady and his hands weren't shaking. Everything was alright, because even if his home was currently burning down, Percy would bring him his sister any moment, and she would tell him just that; That everything was going to be alright.

That was when something shot it's claw through Nico's chest and just ripped his heart out of him.

That was when he saw a fireman carrying an unconscious Percy Jackson out on the street, and there was no other one, carrying Bianca.

In that moment, every sound around Nico disappeared into the background and the whole world seemed to collapse.

He didn't know exactly what happened from there on. Strong arms wrapped around his torso, as he felt himself scream. He didn't hear a thing, but it felt like he was screaming out his soul.

Hot liquid was burning down his cheeks, but he wasn't sure if that were his tears or the snow, melted by the fire. He wanted to get out of Jason's grip and run into the building to go and find Bianca. But the grip around his thin body only tightened, as someone grabbed Nico's wrists to stop him from beating around.

He felt something pierce into his arm, as everything slowly started to become darker and darker, until Nico completely drowned in the shadows around him.

It was five moths after the fire in Buckleton's Home, that Nico found himself at a table, facing a couple in their early twenties.

The woman, Callie, had curly blond hair, that wasn't entirely covering her ears, and was held back with a red bandanna. Her eyes were hazel and friendly and seemed to always be smiling.

Her husband, Kevin Nico thought, had messy light brown hair, that seemed to do whatever it wanted, no matter what Kevin did to keep it in place. His eyes were sky blue. They reminded Nico of Jason's. Just that unless Jason's, Kevin's eyes had a certain calm, that seemed to go deep, into his very being, no matter how nervous he obviously was about this meeting.

Apart from his hair and eyes, he looked like a smart person. Someone who would solve a crossword puzzle with a pen and accidentally bite into his fork because he was too focused on his book, to realize that there was no food on it.

"So...", Callie started. "We signed the papers today, are you ready to come with us, Nico?", she asked.

Nico didn't react. Was he? Was he really ready to try and be a part of a family, full of strangers, when he had just lost his own. He wanted to shake his head, but he did not want to see or make these people disappointed in him. He didn't want to cause them trouble, as he had done to doctors and social workers, the past five months. So he just stared at Callie. Her gaze was filled with understanding, Nico thought. Sure she was hoping for a reaction, but she didn't pressure Nico into anything. Not that he could turn back from that now. As she had said, the papers were signed.

So he nodded and looked at the ground.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Callie smile. It was a sad smile, like she was hoping for something better. Like Bianca had done.

"Great Buddy.", Kevin said and got up. "Let's get your things together. There is someone at home, waiting for you."