Prologue:

The soft patter of rain, the little droplets of water.

Drip, drop, drip.

It was all Nico could focus on for some time. But then he started to think, started to think about how there was no rain in Anubis' land. So where had he been lying for so long?

Drip, drop, drip. The rain never seemed to end. His face started to fill with the meaningless drops of water.

He tried to move but couldn't, and on most days he gave up on breathing entirely. But he could hear his heart, thumping with each drop of rain.

Pitter, patter, plunk.

If he was dead, why was his heart still beating? What blood could it possibly be pumping?

He wanted to open his eyes to see the rain, to see the thunder clouds it would have brought. But he couldn't even feel his eyes.

Drip...drip...drip... The rain slowed down, but it had already drowned him.

When the last drop fell and the silence hit, Nico finally opened his eyes to see the earth's sun shining above him. The sun that would never be visible in any of the afterlives.