I love Heathens by TOP, I am warning that this story has mention of murder, rape, and suicide, don't read if you can't handle. Nothing is 'shown' but they talk about it pretty openly.
   And I don't have a ship name in the title because it's not really a romantic story...

Nico walked down the white corridor, the pant legs of his blue pajama pants dragged on the floor making him look like a ten-year-old. His white shirt hung loose, which didn't make anything better.

Nico scratched his head, his black hair was still styled by his pillow, he hadn't had the energy to fix it, who would even care at a place like this?

The door ended with a big white door with small windows that had bars over them. As if one could squeeze through them. Nico was small for boys his age, he was scrawny, short, and he couldn't imagine even fitting inside the frame of the glass.

He stopped short in front of the door looking up at the black camera that hung in the ceiling, the red lights flashed every now and then, telling him that it was on and that they were watching him. They were always watching you in this place. Nico had even found a camera in his shower when he came here the first day.

A buzzer sounded and the doors opened. As he stepped through he shivered. It was always so cold in this god forsaken place, his bare feet ached from the cold floor. If it was just a degree colder he would be able to see his own breath.

"Glad you could join us Mr. di Angelo." A man huffed as Nico sat down in the circle of chairs.

Nico didn't answer. He rarely talked at all. What was the point, it wasn't like they would ever let him out again. None of the people in the circle would ever be able to step a foot outside unless they had a police escorting them.

Murderers, thieves, all criminals like him. He knew their stories like the back of his hand, the huffing man that controlled these meetings had a strong belief in repeating yourself until you go crazy from your own voice. The huffing man had a name, Ares, but Nico knew it was a nickname. It would have been cool though if it was his real name, who wouldn't want to be named after a Greek god of war?

"So McLean your up," Ares said taking up his pen so that he could gather the same notes that he had jotted down the last ten sessions.

"Call med Piper, how many times should I tell you that. You have been here for three years; it's not like you don't know me." Piper's voice wasn't anything special, unless she wanted something, then it turned into this... thing. Sweet as sugar, salty, tasty, pleasing, it was like eating your favorite food and listening to your favorite song at the same time. You always made sure to follow Piper if she had her voice.

"Piper then." Ares huffed again, huffing didn't suit him.

"I stole cars, lots of 'em. I even stole from stores. What do you want me to say? You already know this." Her hair was braided with a feather today, yesterday it had been pearls, the day before it had been some weird fabric.

Nico wondered where she got them from, he hadn't been granted to get any personal belongings yet, the staff said he was still too suicidal. How could he kill himself with a book? Well give him a couple of minutes and a good pen and maybe he could jot down a plan.

"Yeah just like everyone know I killed my mom and all her coworkers, and a couple of civilians in a fire." Leo laughed, he was just as short and scrawny as Nico was, but Leo had brown curly hair, and pointy ears. Nico thought Leo was handsome.

"Now Leo wait to your turn." Ares sighed, he actually sighed this time, damn Nico would have to leave five in his sigh jar, if he had five dollars, and if he had a sigh jar.

"Why? You're going to ask what Jason did and he will tell you that he let loose wolves in the mall and then did some acrobatic shit that sent several people of the roof. Then you're going to ask Percy, he just drowned a whole beach nothing fancy, then Annabeth who will only stare at you..." Leo turned silent by a stare from Annabeth.

Annabeth was the smartest person in the room, she had long blond hair that was in a ponytail, her grey eyes followed you anywhere and her death stare paralyzed you. It had been rumored that she killed her own family with a single dagger. That chick was crazy.

"Then you're going to ask Hazel who just stole a horse, and accidentally killed some hot girls with a fencing sword, on to Frank who had a mishap with his arrows. Then to Nico, who never talks." Leo continued with a gulp.

"Yeah why do you force us to come here, this isn't really serve a purpose." Hazel joined in the conversation.

"Plus we only say the same things." Jason chimed in.

"Why don't you talk?" Percy asked poking Nico's arm.

Nico remained silent. He had only been here for three weeks, he hadn't broken his silence once, he had come here, the staff had showed him around and presented him to the others before locking him up in his room. He saw the same people during breakfast, lunch, dinner, and therapy session. He knew everything about them. They knew nothing about him.

"Percy don't poke the freak." Annabeth said angrily.

"Miss Chase, language!" Ares rumbled.

"Why? He is a freak, he never talks, always broods, and on good days he is wearing a white shirt which is a step down from his black one." Annabeth argued.

"di Angelo why don't you try to tell your story today?" Ares ignored the blond and turned to Nico instead.

He had heard some of these people scream in their sleep from nightmares. He had heard how they yelled and fought when the staff came to sedate them. Bruises covered their arms, they had shock therapy, water therapy, private sessions when they talked to Ares. They weren't allowed shoelaces; they didn't have real cutlery during meals.

"Nico?" Leo sat on the edge of his seat, literally, a little further and he would fall off and land on the floor.

Why should he talk? As soon as they had heard what he had done they would shy away from him. He was a freak so why fight when he agreed with them. And it's not as he could get punished any more for not speaking. He only had things to lose if he spoke now.

"Let the freak be, outsiders are filthy." Annabeth spat on the floor in front of Nico, he didn't flinch.

"No spitting." Ares said calmly, calmly didn't suit him either.

Nico sometimes wondered what Ares did when he wasn't at the mental hospital. Did he have a wife? Kids? Did he go home after a long day and sit down with them for dinner? Would he smile and joke and be caring... was he someone else outside of these walls?

Nico was someone else outside of these walls. Nico was pretty sure that all of them were somebody else outside of this place. This place was like toxic, it transformed you into an angry ball of despair. No hope in site. They would all live here until they turned eighteen and then they would be moved to a facility for older people. For adults.

"Say something freak." Annabeth continued, Percy laid a hand on her thigh, the two of them were dating even though Nico couldn't figure out why.

Sure both of them were good looking, they could be very kind, and even though Percy could be a bit oblivious he was pretty smart. But Annabeth was really fierce, she was a mash up off Pitbulls and Rottweilers and she wasn't scared of ripping your throat out.

"Come on Neeks." Leo coaxed.

Nico struggled to breath, that nickname, his heart cramped, what should he do? with panic in his eyes he looked around, trying to escape from a room that was heavily secure. He couldn't sit any longer. He stood up so fast that his chair scraped against the floor. His hands went to his head. He shut his eyes hard and started humming.

He wouldn't think of her.

It was all his fault.

"di Angelo sit down." Ares said firmly.

He couldn't, he liked too, he hated attention, and here he was having a freaking panic attack in front of people who he hated. He couldn't trust them. His heart.... His heart... he was dying. He was 95% sure of it.

A hand was place on his arm, a whisper in his ear. And just like that it was all okay again. His heart went back too normal, he breathed deeply, his eyes opened.

Brown curly hair, and warm brown eyes.

"My sister." Nico spoke.

"He-" Annabeth was hushed by Percy's hand.

"My sister was raped and killed. I was with her that night, I was held back by the raper's friends. They laughed as they pressed me up against... she died. I could have fought back but I didn't and now she is dead. When my mom found out she screamed. I didn't have a choice. She needed to be with Bianca..."

"What did you do?" Leo asked with a hushed voice.

"The kitchen knife was so big. After my mother had been taken care of I took down my father... then our housekeeper, she really loved Bianca... then I tried to kill myself."

Leo stepped back and inspected Nico's arms that were indeed covered in scars.

"They say I burned down my house just before I-" Nico swallowed. "They say that I went after the ones who killed Bianca and killed them too. I can't really remember."

"Tough shit bro." Jason said.

"You belong with us." Piper said folding her arms over her chest.

"di Angelo, please sit down and talk again-"

"Fuck you Ares, we have lunch now." Annabeth cut him off.

The teens went to the door, waited for the buzzer and then walked together to the lunchroom.

"You aren't a bad person." Leo said. "and we aren't either."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't burn my own mother, there was a gas leak and she worked in a car shop. I went out for ice cream with my aunt and when we came back the place was burned to the ground and everyone pointed at me because I was the last to leave the building."

"I didn't drown a whole beach, that's mental. There was a big wave and I tried to save people. The police found me digging up a small girl and thought that I was burying her." Percy admitted.

"The horse was mine, and the girls ran into a hunting trap." Hazel shrugged. "I mean, I got revenge and all that but now my horse lives all alone with my mom. I miss him."

"It wasn't my arrow, this other kid shot down three people with the same arrow and blamed it on me when he realized that it had been murder." Frank mumbled.

"The wolves never entered the mall, they had escaped the zoo that was right next to the mall, it doesn't take a genius to understand that they would go to the mall." Jason sighed and furrowed his eyebrows. "All of us went up to the roof and then a kid tripped me sending me into a man, who tripped into another. It was like dominos up there."

"I only stole my dad's car, he didn't need it and I wanted to learn how to drive." Piper confessed, "I don't even know what else I stole, I bet that my dad's assistant, that is also his new lover, framed me so that I would go away forever."

"I just came home one day and found my family dead..." Annabeth said, she wasn't angry or fierce right now. "I picked up the dagger that laid next to my father, examining it, I was eleven I didn't know about evidence or that short of crap."

"I still killed my parents." Nico argued, why he didn't know, he wanted to be blamed.

"Did you?" Leo asked, "did you really or was it just trauma from your sister?"

"What do you mean?" Nico asked for the second time.

"After the gas leak everyone told me it was me. I was so destroyed by my mother's death that I believed them, so when my aunt disappeared and I was again called a murderer I came up with a whole plan. I imagined the whole thing, the murder, the weapon, the blood..."

"Same here, I thought I went in with that dagger and killed my baby brothers." Annabeth nodded, that took courage from her since she never agreed with Leo.

"So did you kill everyone?" Leo asked again.

"I don't know. It happened a month ago!" Nico left the room, he couldn't handle the conversation, his head was buzzing as loudly as the door.

There was a knock on the door. The only ones who visited Nico was the doctors, and they never knocked. He hadn't had visitors before.

"Who is it?" he asked.

"Leo."

Nico opened the door and let the other boy in, the door remained open, hospital rules. Even though they were heavily guarded and all that shit, they couldn't harm one another, or themselves, which meant the doors weren't that thick. Nico could probably kick the door down if he wanted to.

"I digged something up." Leo said handing Nico some papers.

"What is this?"

"Well Piper asked some guards about you, she did that voice thing and they handed her this. This is your file Nico." Leo smiled. "Read the part about your parents."

Nico read it and teared up. He read the whole file. Top to bottom. And then again. And then again. And then again. His vision was turning blurry but relief was on his heart.

"Thank you." Nico whispered.

"What did it say?" Leo asked.

"You haven't read it?"

Leo just shook his head, "isn't my business."

"My parents are alive, after my sister was killed I hurt the ones who did it to her. the police showed up and the guys told them that it was I who had done that horrible thing to Bianca." Nico breathed.

"So?"

"So my family is alive, and they think I raped and killed my sister, but they are alive." Nico said.

"Welcome to the messed up home for messed up kids." Leo smiled. "See you tomorrow at breakfast?"

Nico hugged him close. Leo was warm and firm against him. Nico's throat was a little sore from talking for the first time in a month. But he had to do something to show his gratitude to Leo. And a hug was better than nothing.

Leo stepped away with a big grin. "It'll be nice to get to know you."