PJO/HoO- Flashback

Summary: Will and Nico adopt a child. Nico is treated to a surprise. (Contains minor Blood of Olympus spoilers) One-shot.

Nico's fingers drummed rapidly on the edge of his seat. Occasionally, he would feel a surge of adrenaline and excitement, but that did nothing to combat his nervousness.

Fingers, calloused from all that archery training, wrapped themselves gently around his own. Nico glanced down into the bright, sunny face of Will Solace, the love of his life, and some of the anxiety seemed to flee. Noticing the look on Nico's face, Will laughed. "Relax." He rubbed Nico's back. "After all, Elva's stayed with us before."

That was true, when they had acted as foster parents. Nico hadn't thought much about it then. But now, they were adopting. It was as though someone had dropped a sack of potatoes onto Nico's back. The child was going to be theirs. Theirs to raise, to love. Nico was going to be her father. Was he ready for this? What if he failed? It had been quite different being a foster parent.

Elva. She was ten, almost eleven. Out of curiosity, Will had looked up the meaning of her name. Apparently, it meant 'white'. That got Nico thinking about his sister, Bianca, whose name had a similar meaning. He tried to push her image out of his mind. It had been more than ten years, and the memory of Percy indirectly announcing his sister's demise was still fresh...

There was a knock at the door.

#

Will was a great dad. Greater than he will ever be, the son of Hades thought, as he watched the dark-haired girl raced about on the small basketball court at the back of their house. She tossed the bright orange basketball at Will, who deftly caught it and sent it sailing in a smooth arc and right through the hoop, like the son of Apollo he was.

"Score one for daddy!" Elva cheered, her blue eyes sparkling.

"And for you, too! We make a great team, don't we?" Will high-fived his new daughter, before glancing over at Nico, who brooded in the shade. "How about we get Daddy Nico to play, too?"

"Er... no," Nico said. "And it's just 'Dad' or 'Nico'." He didn't have much of an aversion to sunlight anymore (after all those years of dating Will), but he had never actively participated in basketball games. He rose. "How about we head over to McDonald's?"

"That'd be awesome! I'm famished!" Elva said. "Plus, I really want to get out of New Rome."

"McDonald's isn't good for your health," Will stated. He had always been against junk food, being a healer and all, but at that moment, he spoke rather half-heartedly. "But I guess one time wouldn't hurt," he added, smiling at Nico.

#

It was risky, stepping out of New Rome. Though the big threat- Gaea, had been vanquished, monsters still roamed about, hunting down demigods, thanks to Lamia's curse. All the way, Nico and Will kept an eye out. Elva was only joining the Twelfth Legion when she turned 13. Being a legacy, she didn't face much threat, but her fathers were both children of two of the most important gods.

"Oh look, they have new toys," the ten-year old said, as soon as they entered the restaurant. She went up to the display case and pressed her nose against it, staring at the new action figures. "Oh wow, Olympian gods!"

"Well, that's a sweet coincidence," Will said.

Nico felt as though he had been punched in the gut. The action figures looked a little too much like the Mythomagic figurines he once played with. He still had them, though he hardly ever brought them out anymore.

"This has to be an inside job," Nico said, as he joined Will and Elva at the counter. "I'm betting a child of Hermes. Convincing the McDonald's team to release these figurines."

Will laughed. The waitress laid out a few versions in their plastic bags on the counter. "Choose," she said, while she tapped at the register.

Elva picked up the bags and glanced at the sketches and name on the front. They had three available that week- Hades, Apollo and Zeus. Elva dropped the Zeus one first and considered Hades and Apollo.

"Hey, pick Apollo," Will joked.

Before Nico could say anything, Elva held up the Hades figurine. "I like Hades," she said, smiling. "Sorry, daddy."

#

On his way back from the bathroom that night, Nico heard Elva's sobs through the bathroom. He inched towards the door, pressing his ear against the smooth oak. "Help! Help me!" she seemed to be saying.

Nico knocked once and pushed open the door. Elva's face was streaked with tears. Lying on the floor by her bed was the McDonald's Hades figurine. Her eyes were wide with fear.

"What's wrong?" Nico asked, gently, hurrying over to her side. He climbed onto the bed and wrapped his arms around the shivering ten-year old. "Don't worry, just tell me. You can tell me anything."

Elva's bottom lip trembled. "I had a bad dream," she said. "I have them a lot, when I was small. I still remember, because they are horrible. The nurse at the home told me they could be flashbacks from a previous lifetime."

"Tell me about them," Nico said. This was Underworld related. Maybe he could help. "Sometimes it's best to talk about your fears, you know, rather than keep them in." At that moment, he wished he had Reyna's powers. He wished he could just hold on to his daughter and supply her the strength she needed.

Elva reached under her pillow and drew out a crumpled ball of paper. She smoothed it out. Nico flicked on the lamp on her bedside table.

Elva had done a drawing of a robot. At the robot's feet was a few tiny dots that Nico assumed were people. "I went into the robot," she said. "It's a machine, so I thought I could stop it from the inside. There were so many buttons and gears and then..." She stifled a sob.

"Go on."

"I was in pain, then everything went black."

Nico's blood ran cold. "Do you know those friends?"

Elva shook her head. "I don't remember much about them. I don't know their names." She looked up into Nico's eyes. "But I remember I was a different person. I had a different name, different looks."

"What was your name?"

"Bianca di Angelo. Isn't that your surname, dad?"