Fatal Flaw: Empathy (Nico di Angelo)

Chapter Twenty Six

The waters seemed to be calm when we left eve. Just out from shore to the highest point in the seas, it was all smooth sailing. Out of the thousands of miles we had to travel, I'd assumed that the very first few would be the hardest, and I'm glad I was wrong because ya boi can't handle the creaking of this 1940's boat. Like, for crying out loud, I'm the son of Poseidon and this boat still scares me. Nico is insistent on not letting me get a Pegasus something about his emo hours "it's about the journey not the destination," old man nonsense. "Don't question me Percy. Respect your elders."

That was annoying. I know where we're headed. Well, who Nico is going for not where she is. Aletha has been stranded somewhere for a while, and it was partly my fault that she and Nico got caught, so of course I came on this mission. I owe it to my sister (and to some extent her boyfriend) to come so I can apologize.

After the first few thousand miles, our first two weeks at sea, I began to notice something wrong. Call it gut-feelingly religiousness, but I knew something wasn't right here. We needed to sacrifice something, and we needed to sacrifice it now. We were traveling and had no clue where we were, the ocean hadn't looked different since the small landform that was Camp Half-Blood disappeared. "Nico," I patted his shoulder urgently. "Nico hurry, we have to sacrifice something."

"What for?" Nico looked up at me with his deepest, almost raccoon-like eyes. He hadn't slept in weeks. I felt bad. My sister made him happier, and he made her happy. I went and ruined that for them by... I can't even remember what we argued about! Is this what it's like to fight with a sibling.

"It's a gut-feeling." Annabeth looks around us, ocean for days, weeks, months maybe. She's trying to figure out where we are. "Maybe... sacrifice to Hermès." Nico obliges, and I pull out a lighter to set the food on fire. We don't keep any for ourselves, and he shows up the second the last of the food burns down.

"I'm glad it wasn't leftovers this time, Percy." He scowls at me good naturedly. Hermès looks around and chuckles, "oh, I see what this is. You guys are doing pretty good!" Hermès sighs.

He pulls me to the side of the small... honestly, it's a piece of wood, and pats my shoulder. He's wearing his delivery man clothes and a gentle frown on his face. "Breaks my heart that that girl has to stay there," Hermès says. "I favor her for some reason. Maybe because of her stars or maybe because of her wits, but I have an investment in her." Hermès pauses. "That Nico, he's the right one for her. He's not even a millimeter off the route that your father took her."

"Seriously?" I groan. "Now I feel bad for ruining their peace."

"It's what brothers do, Percy." Hermès assures. "I pissed off Apollo so many times, especially that one time with the cows..." he chuckles in memory. "He forgave me though. And gods aren't the forgiving type. Your sister's fatal flaw is empathy, surely she will forgive you when you meet."

"What does it mean for that to be her fatal flaw, anyway?" I scowl. "It's usually hubris, or something, so what's with Empathy?"

"Aletha is really understanding, Percy." Hermès sighs. "She might take people's emotions a bit too seriously, and can be a bit naive. Her fatal flaw is that she knows everyone's emotions, and she tried to understand them. If she were in a fight with someone who switched sides," like Luke, he wants to say, but doesn't. "She could fall into a lot of traps, Percy. She's a little naive, a little childish. She wants to make everyone happy, and understanding them is her way of doing that. If she understands the opponents..."

"She could be in danger of them or becoming one of them..." I finish. "It sounds way too serious."

"It really is. Anyways, I'll leave you now. Nico do Angelo. You guys are doing just fine. I've made sure you don't come across any monsters until you reach the Strait of Messina in three weeks. This is a quest of heart not... not courage or those over done tropes."

"Thank you," I say to Hermès. "And I hope you're right. About forgiveness."

"If anything, you should hope I'm wrong." He intones ominously before he launches into the sky. "Good luck."