From Camp Half-Blood to Gotham (Nico x Batfam)

Hazey Pacts (26)

Nico sat quietly at the kitchen counter, just staring at the bowl of fruit Alfred had given to him.

He wasn't hungry.

Nico wasn't even sure he was ever going to be hungry again.

A few minutes ago, Bruce had walked into the room and told Nico Hazel had somehow been contacted via an Iris Message, something Nico had no idea mortals could use.

Now Nico was waiting in a tense silence, wondering whether Hazel was going to come sooner or later. How was Hazel even going to get to Wayne Manor? Nico wondered what she was doing at the moment. Was she in training? Or was she doing something else, like eating in the mess hall?

Nico's questions were answered a few minutes later when the sliding glass door leading to the courtyard banged open, the wheels screeching slightly as they were forced off of their tracks.

"Nico!" Hazel squawked, slipping slightly on the wooden floor, her boots leaving muddy footprints as she sprinted in Nico's direction. "Nico! What's wrong?!"

"Hazel," Nico mumbled weakly, sitting up a little straighter.

"Oh, my gods." Hazel gasped, flinging her arms around Nico's neck, and pulling him into a bone-crushing hug. "I got the Iris Message from your mortal family. What happened, is everyone okay? Are you okay?"

"I-" Nico was cut off by a sudden bout of coughing, pulling away from Hazel so he wouldn't vomit shadow on her if there was still some darkness in his body.

"Water," Dick said hastily, appearing out of nowhere with a glass of water.

Nico was coughing so hard he couldn't even hold the glass, let alone drink it.

"Are you sick?" Hazel asked, her hands sliding down to rest on Nico's upper arms. She froze and Nico knew she could sense it. "What is that?" Her voice was a low whisper.

"Shadows." Nico wheezed, coughing a little more before finally getting his lungs to calm down. Dick handed him the water and Nico took a few sips.

"Where? Why? Did you overexert yourself again? Did you become un-sold again?" Hazel asked, grabbing his face, and staring into his eyes worriedly.

Nico replied by lifting his shirt and showing the shadows that were twisting and curling over his stomach and chest.

Hazel clamped a hand over her mouth, her wide golden eyes full of shock and terror.

"Oh, my gods. What happened?!" Hazel shrieked, waving her hands over Nico's abdomen like she was trying to draw the shadows out.

"What?" Dick asked slowly, beckoning at the door. Bruce and the rest of the Waynes joined them.

Both Nico and Hazel just stared at Dick.

"You can't see this?" Hazel asked quietly, pointing at Nico's stomach.

"It doesn't look like anything is there," Jason said gruffly.

"Mist," Hazel mumbled. "I can sense it now, there is a lot of mist. Someone is really trying to hide these."

"That would explain it," Nico said through grit teeth. "They're mortals, they can't see through the mist."

"Hey, tell us what's going on," Damian demanded. Hazel let out a strained breath.

"What is going on Nico?" Hazel asked, crossing her arms over her bright purple 'Camp Jupiter' t-shirt.

Nico just winced, a sudden searing pain stabbing through his gut. Hazel immediately went back into her panicked state.