People describe Nico Di Angelo as many, many things; but talented? Not one of them. Creepy, scrawny, emo- sure, but never has he heard talented.

But Will Freaking Solace. He heard Nico sing and all of the sudden the entire camp knows. Nico knew he could sing. Bianca could sing. His mother could sing. It seemed to run in the family.

"You're so talented Nico!"

That's what Will had said. He had been smiling that stupid smile that made Nico's heart beat a bit faster, and Nico hated it. Because now he was in this situation.

"You can't make me."

It was a unanimous vote. Will had made sure of that before he brought up the subject. Now Nico was stuck.

He really couldn't refuse, and he couldn't run either. That would be cowardly.

And besides, Will had his fingers tightly wrapped around his wrist, so even if he did shadow travel, Will would come with.

"You cannot make me sing." Nico reapeated in a flat voice.

"Nico, pleassee." And Will was begging.

"Your voice is so beautiful! I get it. You're shy, but you really can't get out of this."

Nico sighed dejectedly' "Whatever." he muttered.

Will smiled brightly and dragged Nico away from the treeline of the woods he had tried to run into.

They made it to the campfire right on time apparently, because the singing was just about to begin.

Will stood up on a log a bit behind everyone and cleared his throat loudly, "Nico has agreed to sing for us!"

All at once sound stopped. Excited faces peered up at him, along with incredulous and snearing looks mixed in there with them. Suddenly Nico knew exactly what he was going to sing.

He walked up next to Will. "When my sister died I started writing this song, and made adjustments as time went on. Hold on."

He shadow traveled to his cabin, and grabbed his guitar and traveled back.

He bent down and opened up his sleek black case bringing out a beautiful black guitar with a skull tipped neck.

He sat himself down on a log right in front of the fire and let the words etched in his brain come out, in a dark, airy, voice.

"The mist hides what we know is true,

But only what it chooses to..

It says my hands are smeared with blood, child of death must be the one..

To cloud the world with his despair,

To suck the spirit from the air.."

Children all around him sucked in deep breaths of air, the song was so... sad isn't a good word to describe it.

"Child of death, I walk alone.

I've lost all that I once called home."

In the crowd, Percy, who was cuddled up to Annabeth, inhaled deeply as Bianca's freckled face flashed through his mind.

"Screaming,

but the world is deaf.

Pleading,

I have nothjng left."

Will sucked in a sharp breath. His boyfriend doesn't feel that way now, did he?

"Crying for whose in their sight,

Dying because they are right."

Nico's eyes were closed, but you could see the strong emotion playing across his face.

His words held such a heart wrenching tone, that the some of the younger children had tears in their eyes.

"I feel alone and so afraid..

I hear demons...calling my name."

Percy and Annabeth shared a look. That must have been a recently edited part, after Nico walked alone through Tartarus.

"-There's something wrong with you!-they scream..

They aren't so far off, it seems."

By now Will was openly crying, and he wasn't the only one.

Many people had tears in their eyes. The raw emotion Nico sang with, well, it pierced their hearts.

"My heart is twisted heavy wrong,

it's like it knows..I don't belong.

The world is big, lovely to be.

And yet, there is no place for me."

Nico opened his eyes and turned his face towards the sky.

"Falling..

into what they think.

Calling..

Death to watch me sink.

Tell me...

How to numb my heart.

Take me..

I'm falling apart!"

A tear slid down Nico's face, as he thought of his mother, her beautiful voice singing lullabys; of Bianca, the pieces of hair that fell out of ponytail face when she got into a game at the hotel, and he thought about Tartarus.

"Now the world is dark and cruel.."

Nico thought of all the demigods at camp who looked at him with disgust or fear bright in their eyes.

"It's not the game I thought it was..

You can't start over when you lose...

You pay the price, everyone does..

How did everything go wrong?

Why do I no longer belong?

Tell me how to numb my heart,

If not I'll surely fall apart.."

Nico took a deep breath and glanced at his audience; tears streamed heavily down some faces, shock on others. He smiled a bit at Will and continued.

"Child of death...

Count his last breath..

Child of death: I walk alone..."

It seemed as if the world had stopped to hear Nico sing, as if nature could hear his pain-filled melody and were compelled to listen.

"Screaming,

but the world is deaf...

Pleading,

I have nothing left...

Crying for whose in their sight,

Dying because they are right.

Tell me how to numb my heart...

Take me, I'm falling apart!

Child of death: I walk alone.."

Nico stood slowly and layed his guitar in its case.

Speechless faces stared at him from the opposite side of the fire. He smiled gently and walked over to Will.

Will looked down as Nico wrapped his arms around his waist and smiled up at him.

A small clap rang around the clearing, and many others soon followed it. Will wiped the tear streaks from Nico's face. He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to Nico's.

He pulled back with his eyes closed and his forehead pressed to his boyfriends.

"I love you." He whispered, his voice almost lost to the applause.

Nico opened his obsidian eyes and examined his lovers face. "And I you, mi amore."

Authors Note:

The song is Child of Death by Gio Navas, check her out on youtube, and since I said it's by her, that obviously means that I don't have any claim over it, nor do I have any claim over the Percy Jackson universe. I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot, please feel free to leave a review and tell me what you thought!