PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || Marked by the Fates || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO

Title: Marked by the Fates – The Pegasus and the Hellhound

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: m/m, soulmate marks, fluff, pining, f/f

Main Pairing: Nico/Percy

Side Pairing: Bianca/Annabeth

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Bianca di Angelo, Annabeth Chase, Thalia Grace, Grover Underwood, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Hazel Levesque

Summary: A soulmark only appears when soulmates meet for the very first time. It was supposedly a magical moment filled with warmth. One day, two boys ran into each other for the first time in the Lotus Hotel, but both came out of it only remembering bits and pieces, not including their soulmate who had sparked the mark...

Marked by the Fates

The Pegasus and the Hellhound

Percy Jackson grew up wondering about his soulmate, like most children did.

He would look wondrously at the soulmarks of adults, asking for their meaning and how they had first appeared. And every adult always had a story to tell, with sparkling eyes filled with love. How it had felt, to meet their soulmate for the very first time. Warmth had bloomed in their chests, spreading out and filling their entire being until the warmth would manifest at one random part of their body. A symbol, a unique mark that would represent the two soulmates.

Percy wished he would have gotten to experience that. Or, well, to remember it. He turned to look at his two best friends. Grover had a soulmark. A juniper tree with notes dancing around it. He had received it when walking through the forest around camp and running into one particular nymph for the very first time. Annabeth didn't have one, so she still could look forward to it.

Percy? He had a mark. A very epic-looking mark, if he may say so himself. A skeleton with a crown on its head, riding on a black pegasus. The problem was? Percy didn't know the person who belonged to the soulmark. He didn't remember. And he also didn't remember the sensation of receiving his soulmark. It had just... been there, a year ago. Will Solace had been the one to notice it first, actually. Back when Percy was in the infirmary after Luke had tried to poison him. Percy had thought hard and long and, with the help of Annabeth, figured that he must have received his soulmark in the Lotus Hotel & Casino, because the place was a haze and the memories of their stay there were fuzzy at best. So he might have met his soulmate there and not even remember it.

Percy had argued that he wanted to return, to look for his soulmate. Both Grover and Annabeth tried to reason with him to make him stay. There was no way of knowing if Percy's soulmate would still be there and even so, he had no way of finding his soulmate short of just walking around, screaming for them. Silena had rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder and told him that, since they were soulmates, they were meant to meet again. Percy would meet his soulmate again.

Percy doubted it, because it had been a year now and Percy had been to the Sea of Monsters already and they had returned Thalia Grace to being human and Percy was yet on another quest, but finding his soulmate, that was somehow the one thing he couldn't seem to manage. He didn't remember how it had felt to meet them for the first time. He didn't even know his soulmate's name.

"That's Nico di Angelo. And his sister, Bianca di Angelo."

Percy snapped out of his thoughts back to the here and now. The 'here and now' being some boarding school where Grover had located two demigods. Apparently, a bigger deal than the average demigod, because Percy, Annabeth and Thalia had been sent to collect them. It didn't take a child of Athena to figure out that their godly parent must be a big deal.

"Let's go talk to them", grunted Thalia, nudging Percy and Annabeth.

"This should be easy. Let's abduct two kids", muttered Percy. "I can already feel this ending up on my permanent record somehow. Like, 'Percy Jackson, child-abducting gang-leader'."

"Jackson. If we were a child-abducting gang, I'd be the leader", countered Thalia.

Percy glared up at his (older and taller) cousin. Honestly, the two did not see eye to eye on many things, but overall Percy kind of liked Thalia. Maybe by omission, because Grover and Annabeth liked her and since Grover and Annabeth were Percy's best friends, he kind of had to too.

"Okay. Let's go talk to them and convince them to come with us without it looking like an abduction", suggested Annabeth pointedly, glaring from Thalia to Percy and back.

Grover chuckled as he urged his friends along to go and talk to the di Angelos. Once they approached the siblings, Annabeth – being the most level-headed among them – reached out. She smiled kindly as she rested her hand on the girl's shoulder. Suddenly, a gasp. There was a glow where their skin touched, a silver shine. Annabeth's eyes widened as black tendrils sprouted from where they touched, engulfing her hand in fascinating patterns like a fingerless net-glove. At the center on top of her hand sat an owl with bones and gems framing the owl. Beneath the strap of her dress, the same symbol appeared on Bianca's shoulder. For a long moment, the two girls stood frozen, both staring at the point of connection where they were touching.

"Mia anima gemella!" [Italian trans: My soulmate!]

"Woah, that's awesome!", exclaimed the slightly younger boy next to her.

"Ye—eah", agreed Percy amazed.

As bitter as he felt about not remembering his own soulmate, he was happy that Annabeth had found hers. The girl smiled shyly and tucked her hair behind her ear as she looked at Annabeth.

"I'm... Bianca di Angelo."

"A... Annabeth. Annabeth Chase. I... uh... I wanted to talk to you but now I really want to talk to you...", whispered Annabeth, looking rather overwhelmed by this development.

"Let's get outta here and quick", suggested Grover seriously.

/break\

Of course was nothing ever easy for them. Percy should have anticipated that. A Manticore attacked, Artemis and her huntresses swooped in and... did not actually make anything better because Artemis managed to get herself abducted. So did Annabeth, which or course caused Bianca to throw quite the tantrum. Just found her soulmate and then she got abducted.

"I'm going with them!"

"You're not going anywhere", stated Thalia seriously, holding Bianca by her shoulders.

"She's my soulmate, I have to save her!", exclaimed Bianca angrily.

"She's like my little sister and I will safe her. I am trained for those things, you are not. You'll only get yourself hurt. You'll wait here, with your little brother, stay safe", ordered Thalia seriously.

Bianca looked defiant, making Percy smile a little bit. She was quite the match for Annabeth. Still. Percy could relate, because Percy was going to join this quest too. She was not going to leave this to Thalia, Zoe and Phoebe. Two total strangers, huntresses of Artemis. He watched Thalia sigh and hug Bianca, whispering what most likely were more reassuring words because Bianca seemed to relax. Time for Percy to sneak off so the others wouldn't notice him tagging along.

"Wait, Percy. Are you sneaking out?"

Percy frowned as he turned to face the little brother. Nico di Angelo. On their travels back to camp, he had been very loud and very enthusiastic, asking all kinds of questions about demigods. Apparently, he was a huge nerd. It was kinda cute, the enthusiasm for the myths.

"Annabeth's my best friend. She's like a sister to me, we've been through a lot together since we met", replied Percy. "I can't... I can't let anything happen to her."

Nico frowned and turned to look to where Bianca and Thalia were standing. "She's my sister's soulmate. That means she's my sister's chance at happiness. You... have to bring her back, okay? Bianca is an annoying big sister, but... I... I want her to be happy."

Percy smiled at that and nodded. "Ye—eah. I get that. Don't worry. Bianca and Annabeth will get to be super annoyingly lovey-dovey in no time."

At that, Nico nodded, seemingly appeased. "Percy. Be... Be safe on your quest."

Blinking slowly, Percy smiled a little brighter. "When I get back, you could teach me that game you were talking about earlier, alright?"

Now that really brightened Nico up and he nodded enthusiastically.

/break\

The two huntresses had died during the quest, apparently. But Percy returned, with Annabeth – and with matching gray streaks in their hair. Both had to spend some time in the infirmary and both had the di Angelos sitting at their bedsides through it. Bianca to get to know her soulmate, and Nico teach Percy Mythomagic. While Percy had only said it to appease the other, he had to admit that the game was kind of fun, especially when one wasn't allowed to leave the bed. Grover joined them for a couple of games, Nico talked about how much he loved camp and being trained by the Chiron and living with the trickster children of Hermes, but mostly Percy got to watch Bianca and Annabeth being lovey-dovey, has he had predicted. It was cute, su—uper awkward, but cute.

But the winter break ended and Percy was sent back home to his mom (he had school to attend, after all...). He IMed Annabeth a couple of times before the next summer, getting updated on how well the di Angelos were setting in and how Annabeth and Bianca's first few dates went.

And then the next summer came – and the adventure in the Labyrinth of Daedalus. Nico ended up becoming the Ghost King, saving Percy and everyone's butts and adopting a now orphaned hell-hound named Mrs. O'Leary, who seemed to absolutely love the son of Hades – as the di Angelos were revealed to be. Children of Hades. Children of one of the Big Three. So even though Thalia had ended up joining the Huntresses after the rescue of Artemis, suddenly Percy was not the only child of one of the Big Three anymore. Which was both confusing and comforting at once.

/break\

Nico sighed as he stared up at the ceiling from his spot on the couch. His best friend raised both eyebrows at him but didn't comment. She knew exactly what it meant when he came to visit.

The Ambassador of Hades. Somehow, Nico had gone from a kid without memories to the Ghost King and now the Ambassador of Pluto. He had done so much since finding out who his godly father was. He saved Percy and the others in the labyrinth, he adopted the cutest, sweetest puppy-dog ever, he trained hard. He trained not just to fight with a sword but also with his powers.

But that was not the only thing he used his powers for. He wandered the underworld, searching for his mother. She had died, at the hands of Zeus. And he was the Ghost King. He was determined to bring her back. Only... Only that he didn't find her, because she had moved on.

Instead he found, for one, a curse to help Percy because Percy was the child of the prophecy and Nico needed to protect Percy. The Curse of Achilles, to protect Percy during the war. And protecting it did, because Percy survived the Battle of Manhattan. Thanks to the curse and the backup. So Hades had kind of thrown Percy into the dungeon after Nico had let him bathe in the River Styx. But Nico had gotten Percy out of there and managed to convince Hades to join the battle.

Protection for Percy however was not the only thing Nico had found in the underworld. The other was the soul of his half-sister Hazel Levesque. If he couldn't find and save his mother, then he would at least save his half-sister and give her a second chance at life.

Only that Hazel wasn't... Greek. She was Roman.

Needless to say, Nico got a huge preaching from Bianca for bringing someone back from the dead. But Bianca was a good big sister and seeing Hazel, she couldn't just send the younger girl back to the underworld. So Bianca helped Nico. Together, they found it – New Rome.

Now, Nico couldn't just abandon Hazel there either, so he kept visiting. He became the Ambassador of Pluto, to avoid further questioning – why didn't he stay at the camp permanently, where did he go, those kind of things. And, over the past months of coming here to visit Hazel, Nico had actually made friends. One best friend in particular. The praetor of New Rome – Reyna.

Sure, he had a lot of friends at Camp Half-Blood too, like all of Hermes Cabin to begin with and Percy, but the problem was that all of them knew, or were, Percy Jackson. So talking about Percy was kind of hard with them all. Reyna however, she didn't know Percy, would never meet him.

"You still searching for your lost Prince Charming?", asked Reyna, half worried.

"He's somewhere out there, lost, and I will find him", grunted Nico.

Nico glared up at her, his hand resting on his heart, where hidden by his toga, his soulmark laid. A beautiful black pegasus, its rider a skeleton with a crown. Nico had had it for, well, as long as he remembered. When him and Bianca had been released from the Lotus Hotel, they had no memories. And while some of them had come back to the two, not all had. One that was missing was how exactly Nico had met his soulmate. Was it back in Venice in the 30s? Was his soulmate really old in some home by now, thinking Nico had abandoned him? Or was his soulmate long dead?

Which was the main reason Nico couldn't talk to people about this. There was only one happiness for everyone, one soulmate. There was no happily ever after once you lost your soulmate. Falling in love with someone else meant nothing. But oh, had Nico fallen in love. Percy Jackson. The shining, amazing hero who had introduced Nico to this crazy demigod world. Percy was so bright and optimistic but also sassy and snarky and adorkable and after Nico got him into Mythomagic, Percy really got into it. Percy's mom Sally had invited the di Angelos and Annabeth over a lot too.

Nico was head over heels in love with Percy Jackson and it was doomed. Because there was no way Percy wasn't going to find his perfect match. He had a soulmate out there, someone as perfect as he was, and they were going to meet and touch for the first time and literal sparks were going to fly and Percy was going to live happily ever after. Without Nico.

That, precisely, was the problem. Falling in love after you lost your soulmate was only going to work with someone else who had lost theirs. There were dating sites and such for that. But falling for someone who hadn't found their soulmate yet? Heartbreak laid that way.

Nico wasn't willing to get his heart broken like that. He had asked Percy before, about his soulmate, but it wasn't a topic Percy liked to talk about and Nico respected that. Nico had hoped, at first, but they had touched. They had touched multiple times – hugging, bumping shoulders, they trained and sparred together and played Mythomagic together. Nico had seen Percy down to his swim-shorts and he kept imagining how good it would look, the pegasus with the skeleton, somewhere on Percy's upper arm or shoulder or chest or somewhere.

The thing was, Percy had gone missing. And Nico, he had wandered the Earth looking for him. All too often, his search brought him back to Camp Jupiter, like today. Because Jason Grace had turned up at Camp Half-Blood, so sooner or later, Percy had to come here. Not that he had told Reyna that exactly; he wasn't meant to reveal the truth about Greeks to the Romans. So to Reyna, the love of Nico's life was just some mortal who had gone missing. At least, for now. They were going to reveal the truth, once the Argo II was finished and they could come here to hopefully pick up Percy.

"As much as I love to watch you wallow in self-pity, I have things to do. A new camper arrived today and I should probably make sure that Octavian hasn't sacrificed him. He was with Hazel last."

Huffing, Nico got off the couch. "I'll come with you then."

It wasn't like he had anything else to do, after all. New camper would be a good enough distraction for now – he had spent the past week relentlessly searching for Percy all throughout Nevada. And if nothing else, he'd get to see Hazel at least. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and followed Reyna outside and through the streets of New Rome until the familiar form of Hazel appeared around the corner, laughing and talking to someone. Nico froze stunned at who was walking beside her.

"Nico! You're here too!", exclaimed Hazel enthusiastically and waved at them. "This is Percy Jackson, he just arrived at camp. Percy, my older brother Nico."

Percy looked good in the purple shirt, was the first thing Nico thought. His hair was longer, which figured because he must have spent the past months living on the street; not exactly conditions to get a regular haircut. There was a smile on Percy's lips, but... an odd feeling settled in Nico's stomach because Percy looked at him with zero recognition. He just smiled, that kind and polite smile aimed at strangers. It stung. For the past two and a half years, they had basically become best friends and Nico had fallen irreversibly in love with Percy. Yet here Percy was and for all he knew, this was the very first time he was meeting Nico. Forcing a smile, Nico reached a hand out.

"Hey, nice to meet y-", started Percy as he took Nico's hand.

Though he was interrupted by a shock going through his and Nico's bodies. It was ice-cold and curious, a flash of bright blue light that settled – on Percy's right thigh and on Nico's heart. Reyna and Hazel looked confused, but Nico and Percy looked even more confused.

Percy's eyes widened and his smile was absolutely blinding. "Hazel! Why didn't you tell me your brother is my soulmate? Oh! Is this like... a reset? Because I don't remember you, or anything for that matter? So this is like the first time I'm meeting you. Cool. How many soulmates get to meet for the first time twice. Okay. Okay, that's great though. Because this place is weird, but if you're here and you're my soulmate then... it can't be bad, right?"

Nico just listened to Percy ramble while his brain rebooted. How was this possible...? Reyna rested a hand on Nico's shoulder and cleared her throat, looking at Hazel.

"I'm... sure you're looking forward to your reunion, but if I'm not mistaken you're about to go on a quest, right, Hazel?", asked Reyna slowly. "Perhaps your memories will be returned when you come back. It's... not good to rush those things. Nico surely will still be here when you do."

Percy frowned, a bit confused, but then he shrugged, figuring she was probably right. He smiled at Nico and hugged him, which felt all kinds of right because that was what they did.

"Be... Be safe on your quest", offered Nico softly, staring at Percy in awe.

A part of Nico was relieved that Reyna put some distance between them, because there was a lot to digest here. And he didn't know how to make heads or tails of it; so how was he supposed to explain any of this to Percy...? That he had to pretend to not know Percy, that Percy was Greek, that they were... soulmates, however that worked. Honestly, what Percy had just said made as much sense as anything else. It was unheard of, but then again so was getting your memories wiped by a goddess.

"You have some explaining to do until your... soulmate returns from his quest", stated Reyna.

Nico made a face and really wished for Bianca to be here. She was way better at explaining than Nico was. Though if she were here, she'd probably lecture him about how risky this all had been from the get-go. So it was perhaps better if he had to deal with this himself.

"Percy is a demigod", whispered Nico lowly as they headed back toward the praetors' house. "He's... a Greek demigod. And so am I. This was Lady Juno's idea, to introduce Romans and Greeks to each other to make us work together. More Greeks will arrive soon. There's a lot I have to explain to you, but I need you to know that our friendship? That's real. I never meant to befriend you, but that happened. And Hazel, she is Roman."

Reyna nodded slowly, sitting down on her couch and waiting for Nico to continue.

/break\

Reyna had been right. Percy's memories did return during their quest to save Thanatos. Including all his memories of Nico. Of Nico teaching him Mythomagic during the week he had been in the infirmary after their first meeting, the summers spent swimming together and laughing together, training Mrs. O'Leary together, making fun of Annabeth and Bianca for being too cute together, Nico sneaking out to get them McDonald's occasionally. How Nico was always there for Percy, had found the Curse of Achilles, always having an open ear for Percy when he needed it.

By the time the trio returned victoriously from their quest and Percy got voted praetor, the first thing he did was track down Nico – and tackle him in a tight hug, effectively startling the son of Hades and everyone around them. Not that Percy cared; all he could think was that he needed to hug Nico right now, filled with all the happy and excited good feelings.

"It was in the Lotus Hotel", blurted Percy out. "I went there when I was twelve and when I got out, I had my soulmark but I didn't remember my soulmate. You... You were there. I know you and Bianca were in the Lotus Hotel, you told me before. I just never thought... We must have met there for the first time. You're my... You're my soulmate."

"I... I didn't know you went to the Lotus Hotel", whispered Nico, arms wrapped around Percy.

Which was true. Nico had sometimes asked about previous quests Percy had gone on, but Percy generally didn't really like talking about past quests, because they always held a certain pain. Now Nico wished he had pressed the matter, had gotten all of the details and put them together. But Percy having his soulmark on his thigh explained why Nico had never seen it before; he had seen Percy shirtless countless times, but even when swimming, he would be wearing his swim-shorts.

"Silena", started Percy, voice breaking a little. "She always told me that I'd meet my soulmate again, that that's what it means. That we're meant to meet. I just..."

"I love you", said Nico, without even thinking on it. "I love you."

"You're just saying that because you found out we're soulmates", huffed Percy a bit amused.

"No. I've fallen in love with you ages ago. With... with everything about you. But I always thought, you'd... one day find your perfect match, your soulmate, and that it'd be hopeless to love you", confessed Nico, one arm around Percy's waist and the other smoothing down Percy's hair. "But... I'm your soulmate. I..." He paused and laughed breathlessly. "I fell in love with my soulmate."

Percy carefully put a little distance between the two of them, enough to look into Nico's eyes. "That... That's good, because I've had a crush on you for a little while too."

He tilted his head and daringly pressed a soft kiss against Nico's lips. The two stared at each other in silence for a long moment, everything catching up to them. And then they went back to hugging, Percy pulling Nico as close as possible, burying his face in Nico's neck. The two just hugged and cried and laughed, all at once, just clinging onto each other. That the Fates would allow them this, to meet again for the first time, to experience this for the first time.

"I searched for you for months, Percy", whispered Nico. "I can't believe you found me, just like that. And that you'd... smile at me and then just... it felt so... intense. Nothing like how I'd imagine it but somehow also exactly how I imagined it."

Percy grinned at that in understanding. The Fates really had meant it well with them.

~*~ The End ~*~

Author's note: So, this was fun! I dunno, most soulmate AUs are just so on the nose with the "they meet, realize they are soulmates, live happily ever after", so I always enjoy the twist "but they don't KNOW they're soulmates!" and with this one in particular it basically presented itself! ^o^

Now, if a part of this seems familiar, that's because I posted a snippet of it on tumblr already (come visit me at takaraphoenix)!