Favorite Clips From SON Graphic Novel:

Favorite clips from SON graphic novel:

if the spoilers for nico didn’t make you appreciate his character a million times more, don’t talk to me 

[a pretty good song for nico]

Sorting my saved bird memes into Percy Jackson characters

Percy

Nico

Reyna

Piper

Will

Leo

Hazel

Jason

Annabeth

Thalia

Frank

Come on, I’ll teach you

Keep reading

Percy walks through the forest at camp after the whole Labyrinth battle. Someone said Nico had disappeared into the trees a while ago. He hasn't emerged since. Percy is worried, of course he is. The kid has a habit of vanishing on him, and he just wants...

He wants Nico to be okay. To have a plan. A place to go. He doesn't have to stay if he doesn't want to, although Percy would much prefer his little cousin stay where he's easily accessible and Annabeth and Grover's eyes can watch him while Percy lives life in the city. But if he doesn't want to stay at camp, Percy wants him to know that he can always come to Percy if he needs help. Or really for anything.

As he walks through the trees, over torn grass and shattered rubble, it reminds him of nearly six months ago. The first time he looked for him. The realization of who he was. What he was.

The words Percy spoke that night. The promise he made.

He stills in the silence of the stars and bristling trees. The ground is solid, the air is chill, but something... Something is wrong. He can feel it like the pull of a tide. He pulls Riptide of his pocket, uncaps the pen, and steadies the sword in his hand. Another monster, still lurking?

The ground bursts beneath him. He jolted back as muddy hands claw their way out from the earth. Seconds later, Nico's head emerges with a quiet gasp. Percy's heart freezes in his chest.

Nico's face is smeared with dirt. It sits in clumps across his hair. There's a jagged cut, small and healing, just about his left brow. And there are tear-stained tracks across his cheeks that glisten in the moonlight.

He digs himself out a little further, then quietly grunts as he struggles to push himself out of the hole. Percy's heart beats again. Riptide slid into his pocket as he walks the two, three long strides back to Nico, and pulls him out with both hands.

He hiccups a little cry, but nothing else comes from his mouth. Percy lifts the edges of his shirt and cleans Nico's face off. He doesn't complain. But he does flinch at the start and Percy's heart crumbles rapidly.

"What happened?" he whispers when Nico's face is finally clean. His cut has fully healed by now, but Percy can't stop staring at the space where it once sat. It was too small, too delicate, for a monster's touch.

Nico sniffs. He won't look at Percy. "I'm the son of Hades." His voice is a cracking whisper. Like crumbling sand. "I belong underground."

They're words Percy knows Nico believes. He is made of darkness and death and dirt the same way Percy is made of salt water and floods and a chilling cold as you sink, sink, sink. But his tone is too flat. His voice is montone. He is reciting words spoken to him. Not words he thinks.

"Nico."

He flinches, curls his arms around himself. His jacket is a little torn. He fiddles with the ring on his finger. Then, with a shaky breath, "This isn't the first time campers have tried to bury my father's children, Percy."

He states it like a fact, something meaningless to him, but his voice hitches on "bury", and blinding rage as strong as the crash of waves against rocks courses through Percy's veins without hesitation.

"Someone tried to kill you."

Nico tugs at his ring. "I-"

"Someone," Percy repeats, "tried to kill you. Yes or no, Nico." Weakly, Nico nods. Percy bites back to the urge to punch the nearest object. "Look at me." Nico hesitates, then slowly brown eyes meet green. His eyes are wet and wide, desperate and miserable and resigned to fate. "Do you know who?"

He shakes his head. "I don't- I don't know their names."

Names. That cuts through Percy like a knife. He grits his teeth. "Would you recognize them?"

"I-" Nico swallows. Looks away. "Yes. But. Only one by face." He twitches nervously. "I would. I would know the others by their souls."

"That's a really cool power." Percy smiles, but he knows it doesn't quite reach his eyes. The rage is boiling, threatening to spill over the top of the pot. But Nico is shaking, and Percy needs him to know that there's nothing wrong with who he is. "What does my soul look like?"

Nico falters. Surprise sits in his eyes as he turns back to Percy. He watches Percy's face for a second or two. Then, "Green usually. Like a soft green. Feels like..." He closes his eyes. "A sea breeze on a warm day. The sand on your feet. Comfortable. But when you're fighting, it's like a storm. Harsh. Tastes bitter. Angry. Turns dark blue. Sort of gray." His eyes open and he whispers hoarsely, "Feels like a tsunami right now."

Percy gets it. He does feel like a tsunami. He's hit his crest and he's just waiting to fall, to inflict damage, to break, to shatter, to drown.

He doesn't fall though. Not yet.

"Can you take me to them?" he asks slowly.

Nico tugs at his fingers so hard Percy's surprised they don't dislocate. He wraps his hands around Nico's. Nico jerks and shakes. He opens his mouth but there's no sound. Percy squeezes his hands.

"I promised Bianca that I would make sure you were safe. And I told the fucking Fates that I would be the prophecy child so I could uphold that promise," he says and Nico's eyes go wider. He tries to speak but Percy cuts him off. "So tell me who tried to kill you, so I can make sure they never do that again. To you, or anyone else they deem unworthy of being here."

The ocean is not fair. That sits in Percy's gut like a curse. The ocean will swallow anyone whole. There is no worthiness. There is no separation. Everyone is the same.

Everyone can drown.

Nico stares for a while. Then slowly nods, and let's Percy pull him to his feet. They walk hand-in-hand out of the forest, Nico's steps timid and slow the closer they get to the light.

Percy gets it in a way. There were moments he would sink as far as he could go, and look up only to see darkness. And he would be comforted by it. The swimming towards the light, the sky, was always a little sad. It meant breaking out of his element. Meant leaving the ocean behind to stand on land and breathe in air.

Sometimes he wishes he could just drag the people he loves to the bottom of the ocean and never deal with anyone else again. He wonders if Nico wishes the same. He didn't die being buried alive. He is made of the underground. It doesn't kill him.

That's where those idiots went wrong.

Nico points them out with subtle fingers. They're separated from the other campers, milling about before the bonfire, before the sing-along. They're laughing and smiling. They are not ashamed of what they've done.

Percy grits his teeth and thinks bitterly, They will be.

one last time