By Amanda Pizzolatto (alias Aurora Mandeville)

Word Count: 31845

Rating: PG for scary situations

Summary: Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades, is used to being alone, until one day a girl with auburn hair waltzes into his life…

Nico’s eyes fluttered open and let out a soft moan. He certainly wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t sure if he liked the place where he was lying any more than his father’s realm. It smelled of mold and rust, and he could see the wallpaper falling off of the walls around him.

Nico turned over very slowly so as not to aggravate his wounds, but to his surprise, he felt fine. His hand flew to his head; there was no blood, there wasn’t even a scar. How long had he been out? Cautiously, he ventured out of the dark room he had been lying in, and gasped as he looked over a balcony. The room was actually one of the boxes in a movie theater, and below him in the seats were three figures covered with blankets.

“So, the young warrior is feeling well, I take it?”

Nico jumped at the voice, instinctively reaching for his sword, but grunted when he found his scabbard empty.

“Sorry, we don’t know where your sword went, and I don’t think that’s the proper behavior towards the people who saved your life,” continued the bird-masked boy.

“Who are you, and where am I?”

“You’re in my home; I’m the one who’s going to be asking questions. There are a few things about you, Nico, that I want to know, things your girlfriend couldn’t tell me.”

“Lucy is not my girlfriend, and I don’t have to answer your questions. Not until you’ve answered mine,” Nico growled.

“You have to, or I’ll turn you both out and leave you to those monsters to find you before your friends do.”

Nico blinked. “Is Lucy here?”

“Yes she is. There, I answered a question, now will you answer mine?”

Nico glared at him, “What exactly do you want to know? Though I should warn you, there are a few things I cannot tell you.”

“Oh, why not?” asked the boy as he tilted his head.

“Because it would put you and everyone you love in danger,” replied Nico.

The boy nodded. “Lucy said the exact same thing when I spoke to her, but that’s not what I wanted to know. What I want to know is, where are your mommy and daddy?”

Nico gave him a cold, hard stare, but the boy didn’t back down. “My mom is dead, and my dad, well, he’s . . .”

“Too busy to notice you?”

Nico blinked. “Well, not exactly; I mean, he is a busy man, but he does know about me. He’s just . . . hard to live with.”

The boy nodded. “Understandable, so you live with friends, any other family, or do you roam?”

Nico growled. “I roam; what is it to you?”

“Just trying to get a better understanding of your situation is all, and to see if you are trustworthy. By the way, I’m Scipio, the Thief Lord. Welcome to my Stellar,” said the boy, removing his mask to reveal dark hair and eyes.

“Did you really have to go through all that, Thief Lord? And your Stellar?”

Scipio shrugged, “Hey, I had to enforce that I’m the one in charge here, Mr. Warrior, in this old rundown movie theater otherwise known as the Stellar.” Nico rolled his eyes at the lengthy explanation before walking into his room, but Scipio didn’t let that phase him as he followed and continued. “Listen, after everything you’ve been through, I felt it was best we do this man to man, and without any interruptions. Just glad we got to know each other better.”

Nico scoffed, “Yeah, by a little. Not very stellar for two people getting to know each other, if you ask me.”

Scipio cocked his head and chuckled before replying with, “Well now, what kind of a thief lord would I be if I told you everything? Besides, from what I’ve gathered, it doesn’t sound like you or Lucy are going to open up too much to me either. I mean, you’d think after I found her by your body and helped her get you here she would say something, but, she hasn’t. And now, neither have you. So, answer me this, why should I give you more information if you won’t give me more?”

“Hey, you were the one who was clearly in the area and decided to help a damsel in distress,” muttered Nico.

“It was more like you were the one in distress. Man, you looked really bad.” stated Scipio with a shake of his head. Nico grimaced, recalling all too well the pain. “But Lucy fixed you right up. She’s really good, which is why I wanted to let her stay. She’s worried about finding her family, of course, and I offered to help look for her. So, well, I guess she did give me more information since we’re going to help her look for her family.”

“Yeah,” muttered Nico. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to give you more.”

“But it sounds like I’m in for a heap of trouble, based on what you and Lucy both warned me about.”

“And that’s exactly why we won’t say another word,” muttered Nico. “Even though you’re a thief lord, we obviously care enough about people to not drag anyone into this mess.”

“Oh, so now it’s a mess, gotcha.”

Nico let out a sigh. “Listen, I appreciate everything you’ve done for us, helping Lucy take care of me, looking for our friends and family . . .”

“Wait, do you have family you’re looking for?” asked Scipio.

Nico blinked. “I didn’t say that.”

“So, you’re referring to Lucy’s family, then, huh?”

“Y-yeah, pretty much,” stuttered Nico, not wanting to take the chance of accidentally spilling something with explaining about Hazel. Though, in this day and age, it wasn’t entirely rare for people to find out that some men had more than one family.

“Uh-huh,” replied Scipio. He apparently wasn’t buying it.

Nico let out a groan. “Fine, yes, I have a half-sister. Happy?”

“I guess,” stated Scipio as he shrugged.

“I just, I just don’t like giving out information to strangers,” replied Nico.

Scipio nodded. “Understandable, but you must also understand that as the Thief Lord, I have to keep an eye out for my gang. Can’t let anyone rat us out. Anyway, as you were saying . . . you appreciate my help, but?”

“But this goes way over  your head and will put you in way too much danger. The fewer people we have to worry about, the better,” remarked Nico with a wave of his hand. Though, he was reminded that they had a fairly large group to begin with.

“I see, so it is really bad, isn’t it?”

“Very much so.”

“And though you are grateful for what I’ve done, you can’t say more because you think by not saying anymore, you show your gratitude by keeping us out of harm’s way, right?”

“Now that you put it that way, yes.”

Scipio merely smiled. “Very well. It might not sit well with Riccio, but I think it’s safe to leave you in charge while I’m gone.”

“Why would you do that? Lucy and I are not going to be here for long.”

“I know, but until then, you can call the Stellar your home along with the best guides this side of the canal. You need to get somewhere, find something, my gang can help you do that. In the meantime, you need your rest, we have a big job ahead of us.”

“We’re not thieves.”

Scipio smirked. “You sound just like Prop, I have a feeling the two of you will get along just swimmingly. Bo is Prop’s younger brother, and he just adores Lucy; Hornet does, too.  You know, getting away from the Stellar might be harder than you think.”

Scipio then put his mask back on his face and left the room. Nico moved quickly to the curtain, but when he stepped onto the balcony, Scipio was already gone.

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