Drabble for Challenge #2
Another drabble for Challenge #2 at demigod_elite
Title: Touched
Character/Pairing: Nico/Bianca, OC Son of Hecate and his familiar.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 830
Warning: Incest. There is absolutely nothing graphic, just lots of angst.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction that I do not own.
Author’s Notes: Um, I don’t exactly know how this happened. I think it has to do with the fact that I’ve been reading Nico/Bianca fics by antistar_e at veritasrecords . She writes such amazing stuff with this pairing, I couldn’t resist the tragedy of it. Hence behold my own scrawny fic.
Unbeta'd. Criticism welcome. (Although your time will be much better spent if you check out veritasrecords)
Nico meets Thanos somewhere so completely dissociated from either of them, no demigods could ever have a hope of finding them to interrupt what they were about to attempt. They planed to kill any monsters that got in their way, as usual.
‘You’re sure this will work?’ Nico asks Thanos for the thousandth time.
The son of Hecate resists the urge to roll his eyes. Grimalkin yawns on his shoulder, completely in agreement with his master.
‘Yes, Nico. You know, my mother is the goddess of magic, darkness and necromancy. I’ve been doing this sort of thing since I was like, twelve.’
‘Yeah, well, you haven’t done this particular spell before have you?’
‘Nico, I can’t summon the dead all the way from the Underworld on my own, but I can make ghosts corporal. The only difference here is that you’re summoning her for me, and I’m keeping her corporal for a little longer. Since you’re here, I doubt that takes much extra effort on my part anyway, so just… relax, okay? I won’t screw up. I doubt you will, being the son of Hades and all.’
Nico is silent after that, settling into the shadows of the black-candle lit room. He watches as Thanos draws a complicated pentagonal structure on the floor of the hotel room, mixes powders and herbs and arranges various items on a small alter.
Nico is nervous; his whole body taunt with anticipation. He hadn’t felt the touch of Bianca’s skin for six years. Her ghostly touch was so insubstantial it can hardly be counted as a touch. He can scarcely admit to himself how much he yearns for her embrace. He tries not dwell on that too much, and holds tightly to the bowl of chocolate dipped strawberry he’s going to offer her.
When Thanos is finally ready, Nico summons his sister. Nico hardly hears Thanos as he chants hauntingly in ancient Greek. All he can see is Bianca, glowing silver like he imagines guardian angels would glow. But of course, she is, and always will be, his guardian angel.
After the light fades, Nico thinks she is more beautiful than he had ever seen her in life. She should not have changed at all, but her cheekbones are slightly more angled, her skin slightly paler. Her eyes, once more obsidian like Nico’s own, stare at him in wonder and love. Nico sees himself reflected in them, and he knows this is real, this is not an illusion his fevered and desperate brain had concocted.
His sister is here. In the flesh.
‘You have till dawn.’ Vaguely Nico registers Thanos slipping out of the room.
Nico wants to approach her carefully, but she suddenly runs towards him, and he can do nothing but catch her at the waist, like his arms belonged there. And he is holding her. Really, truly holding her. The idea overwhelms his mind.
‘Nico…’ She says his name as they eventually pull apart, half-sighing, half-praying.
He holds her face with both hands, delicately, as if any extra force will turn her back to the flimsy, ephemeral entity that isn’t her.
He kisses her like he’s done this a thousand times, and she responds just as naturally, opening her lips and tangling her hands gently in his hair. For the first time in a long, long while, he tastes no death, no despair. Only her. They have loved each other their entire existences. They have been through too much for him to let a puny thing like death get in their way.
He always keeps his touch on her the rest of the night.
***
As the steps of Eos lightly tread the sky, Nico is stirred from sleep by a sinking feeling in his stomach. Bianca is still in his arms, gazing at him with that tender, sad look in her eyes.
Her rapidly decolorizing eyes.
‘No, no, no…NO!’ Nico’s murmurs condense into a shout, panic jolting him into wakefulness as he frantically tries to hold on to her.
Her lips, as she touches them to his brow feather light, are cold once again. With that, the last bit of euphoria within Nico freezes and shatters. He knows it’s a kiss of goodbye.
As Bianca slips away, Nico can see her lips trembling. He thinks he hears a faint and tremulous ‘I love you’ in the air, but he can’t be sure, because grief is once more pounding in his ear, stronger than his own heartbeat, stronger than anything but that knowledge that she is gone, gone, gone.
***
Later, much later, when Thanos turns up to check on Nico, he sees him still clutching the sheet where Bianca had lain. Silent tears leak from Nico’s eyes, squeezed shut; his whole body is shaking, as if threatening to break apart.
Thanos slips outside again as Grimalkin meows questioningly on his shoulder.
‘I don’t know, Grim. I really don’t. But I expect to pick up the pieces many times from now on.'
Fin.
Further Notes:
The name of Grimalkin was taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act I Scene I.
The name Thanos is the diminutive form of Athanasios, meaning 'immortal'.
No research was done on magic or necromancy. The fictional descriptions are very likely wildly inaccuate.
Edited 22/05/10 Sat morning
Title: Touched
Character/Pairing: Nico/Bianca, OC Son of Hecate and his familiar.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 830
Warning: Incest. There is absolutely nothing graphic, just lots of angst.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction that I do not own.
Author’s Notes: Um, I don’t exactly know how this happened. I think it has to do with the fact that I’ve been reading Nico/Bianca fics by antistar_e at veritasrecords . She writes such amazing stuff with this pairing, I couldn’t resist the tragedy of it. Hence behold my own scrawny fic.
Unbeta'd. Criticism welcome. (Although your time will be much better spent if you check out veritasrecords)
Nico meets Thanos somewhere so completely dissociated from either of them, no demigods could ever have a hope of finding them to interrupt what they were about to attempt. They planed to kill any monsters that got in their way, as usual.
‘You’re sure this will work?’ Nico asks Thanos for the thousandth time.
The son of Hecate resists the urge to roll his eyes. Grimalkin yawns on his shoulder, completely in agreement with his master.
‘Yes, Nico. You know, my mother is the goddess of magic, darkness and necromancy. I’ve been doing this sort of thing since I was like, twelve.’
‘Yeah, well, you haven’t done this particular spell before have you?’
‘Nico, I can’t summon the dead all the way from the Underworld on my own, but I can make ghosts corporal. The only difference here is that you’re summoning her for me, and I’m keeping her corporal for a little longer. Since you’re here, I doubt that takes much extra effort on my part anyway, so just… relax, okay? I won’t screw up. I doubt you will, being the son of Hades and all.’
Nico is silent after that, settling into the shadows of the black-candle lit room. He watches as Thanos draws a complicated pentagonal structure on the floor of the hotel room, mixes powders and herbs and arranges various items on a small alter.
Nico is nervous; his whole body taunt with anticipation. He hadn’t felt the touch of Bianca’s skin for six years. Her ghostly touch was so insubstantial it can hardly be counted as a touch. He can scarcely admit to himself how much he yearns for her embrace. He tries not dwell on that too much, and holds tightly to the bowl of chocolate dipped strawberry he’s going to offer her.
When Thanos is finally ready, Nico summons his sister. Nico hardly hears Thanos as he chants hauntingly in ancient Greek. All he can see is Bianca, glowing silver like he imagines guardian angels would glow. But of course, she is, and always will be, his guardian angel.
After the light fades, Nico thinks she is more beautiful than he had ever seen her in life. She should not have changed at all, but her cheekbones are slightly more angled, her skin slightly paler. Her eyes, once more obsidian like Nico’s own, stare at him in wonder and love. Nico sees himself reflected in them, and he knows this is real, this is not an illusion his fevered and desperate brain had concocted.
His sister is here. In the flesh.
‘You have till dawn.’ Vaguely Nico registers Thanos slipping out of the room.
Nico wants to approach her carefully, but she suddenly runs towards him, and he can do nothing but catch her at the waist, like his arms belonged there. And he is holding her. Really, truly holding her. The idea overwhelms his mind.
‘Nico…’ She says his name as they eventually pull apart, half-sighing, half-praying.
He holds her face with both hands, delicately, as if any extra force will turn her back to the flimsy, ephemeral entity that isn’t her.
He kisses her like he’s done this a thousand times, and she responds just as naturally, opening her lips and tangling her hands gently in his hair. For the first time in a long, long while, he tastes no death, no despair. Only her. They have loved each other their entire existences. They have been through too much for him to let a puny thing like death get in their way.
He always keeps his touch on her the rest of the night.
***
As the steps of Eos lightly tread the sky, Nico is stirred from sleep by a sinking feeling in his stomach. Bianca is still in his arms, gazing at him with that tender, sad look in her eyes.
Her rapidly decolorizing eyes.
‘No, no, no…NO!’ Nico’s murmurs condense into a shout, panic jolting him into wakefulness as he frantically tries to hold on to her.
Her lips, as she touches them to his brow feather light, are cold once again. With that, the last bit of euphoria within Nico freezes and shatters. He knows it’s a kiss of goodbye.
As Bianca slips away, Nico can see her lips trembling. He thinks he hears a faint and tremulous ‘I love you’ in the air, but he can’t be sure, because grief is once more pounding in his ear, stronger than his own heartbeat, stronger than anything but that knowledge that she is gone, gone, gone.
***
Later, much later, when Thanos turns up to check on Nico, he sees him still clutching the sheet where Bianca had lain. Silent tears leak from Nico’s eyes, squeezed shut; his whole body is shaking, as if threatening to break apart.
Thanos slips outside again as Grimalkin meows questioningly on his shoulder.
‘I don’t know, Grim. I really don’t. But I expect to pick up the pieces many times from now on.'
Fin.
Further Notes:
The name of Grimalkin was taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act I Scene I.
The name Thanos is the diminutive form of Athanasios, meaning 'immortal'.
No research was done on magic or necromancy. The fictional descriptions are very likely wildly inaccuate.
Edited 22/05/10 Sat morning