Demigod in Gotham

27) Zombie(s)

A/N: This one is a little short btw

When Nico returned to the manor, the first thing he did was go to the gym. He was glad that the others were finding out, but he knew what came after that. He knew that they were going to look at him like a wounded puppy or a freak, it was always one or the other.

It could have been 1 hour or 5 before he felt someone walk in. Time had stopped processing in his mind and all he knew was that he didn't want to deal with people. "I'm fine Bruce. We don't need to talk about it."

The man lightly chuckled before bracing the punching bag that Nico was currently using. "Then we don't have to talk."

Nico continued his hits but with each one he was just getting more annoyed by the silence. Finally he had enough and burst. "Okay can you just say it already! I know you want to say something so just spit it out."

"I'm not-"

Nico walked away from the punching bag as he unwrapped his hands. "Bruce I've been through this before, people always have something to say. It's either I'm so sorry, which is useless, or it's how could you, which is just ignorant. It's always something." Nico sat on one of the benches with a huff. "I know you have the no kill rule so you probably aren't super happy with me right now for not telling you earlier-"

"Nico, I'm not going to shame you for something you did in the past. Not only would it be pointless because you can't change any of it, but it's also not my place." Bruce sat next to him and handed him a water bottle. "I can never understand what it's like to be in your shoes, not fully. I can understand aspects, but you've had and will have experiences that I can't compare with my own. I might not love some of the things you did, but I trust that you did them for a reason. In those moments, you made a call. What kind of a father would I be to shame you for something that I can't understand."

Nico stared at Bruce for a long moment before looking away and quietly muttering "green" under his breath. Bruce smiled and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into his side. The boy didn't hug back, only leaning into him slightly, but Bruce was beaming. "Thank you for not pitying me or being an ass."

Bruce let out a small chuckle. "I try my hardest not to do either. That being said, I would like to offer to postpone the gala if you would like. I didn't know it was so close to the one year anniversary and if you want to wait, it can wait."

Nico thought about it for a minute. He really didn't want to go to the gala the next day, but it wasn't because of the anniversary. He just didn't like meeting people. Though pushing it back seemed tempting, he knew it wouldn't help anything; especially because the two year anniversary for the Second Titan war was the 18th so it would probably just be moved to the week in between them and that would be a lot. "No, it'll be good to have a distraction for the day before. That night I might go back to camp though, I did all the burial rights for the fallen so people might want to talk."

Bruce told him that he could do whatever he needed, squeezing his shoulder a little in support. They sat like that for a moment longer before Bruce mumbled an "oh yeah," and pulled something out of his pocket. "Alfred found your phone in the cave after you all left this morning, which reminds me, how did you get home?"

Nico stood up and stepped into the shadow of the bench before stepping out from the punching bag's shadow. Bruce's eyes widened and he immediately began asking how it worked. After a little bit, the others arrived home and joined them in the gym where Nico was currently pulling objects out of what he called his 'shadow pockets.' He had completely forgotten that he had brushed over his powers entirely in his initial explanation.

"Want to see my sword," Nico asked Damian, to which the kid immediately began nodding excitedly. He reached into the shadow and pulled it out. "It's made of Stygian Iron, a metal that only my father and his descendants can wield. The blade has an ability to disconnect the soul from the body if I channel my power through it."

The boys stared at it in awe. "So you can instantly kill someone?" Jason immediately got smacked in the head by Tim and Dick but Damian seemed intrested in the answer.

"I don't know, I've only done it to monsters. I used by sword with Daedalus, but that was ordering him to die, not severing his soul."

"You can order people to die?" This time Jason did not get hit, but only because they all seemed interested.

Nico shrugged, putting his sword back in the shadow. "It's a bit complicated, but I would have to deem the person unworthy to live and it only works if Hades agrees. It's usually a power reserved for escaped souls."

Everyone glanced at Jason, suddenly looking a bit nervous. "You don't mean..."

Nico laughed. "You're fine. The Lazarus pits, though very annoying for paperwork purposes, are technically a legal way to revive someone."

"How did you-"

"I knew the second I met you that you'd been in the Lazarus pit. Hades children can feel death in everything, which means we can also technically feel life. The pit feels like neither and both at the same time, people who have had contact with it have some of that aura."

Damian stepped forward a little. "Do I have the aura?"

Nico stepped forward, placing a hand on his shoulder and closing his eyes. "Yes, it's strong on you. My guess is you took multiple trips into the pit."

"What?" Jason's eyes snapped to Damian at the revelation. "Why didn't you ever mention you'd been in the pit?"

"You never asked. The first time was when I was two after an assassination attempt. It was also common to fight to the death in training. I lost many times when I was young." Damian's voice was monotoned, but he stared at his hands in contemplation. "What does the aura feel like?"

Nico thought for a moment. "It reminds me of the underworld, my step-mom's garden at the palace to be more specific. It's the living among the dead, but it's comforting in it's own right."

It was quiet for a while before Dick said, "oh we invited Percy to the gala. We also told him he could bring his girlfriend or someone else if she wasn't in town. He said he had to deal with some stuff in long island tonight but he would be back tomorrow."

Nico nodded, knowing that that meant trouble.

A/N: next chapter is the gala! I got nothing else to say.

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