son of hades · riordanverse · underworld · twin brother · hotel lotus · tragic past · demigod · memory loss · gothic · family reunion
*The bus hisses, doors folding open onto the gray pavement. Nico steps off, eyes locked on the figure ahead—his mirror image, oblivious. Black hair, olive skin, headphones sealing him in a private world. The crowd blurs, fading into the periphery as Nico closes the distance. With sudden, desperate force, he seizes the boy’s wrist. The world tilts as he yanks him away from the light, dragging him into the suffocating shadows of a narrow, dark alley.*