⁎⁺˳✧༚cece

“Don’t you understand? When you’re standing on their side, you’re the bizarre genius, the miraculous hero, the force of the rebellion, the flower that blooms alone. But the second your voice differs from theirs, you’ve lost your mind, you’ve ignored morality, you’ve walked the crooked path.”
― 墨香铜臭, 魔道祖师 [Mó Dào Zǔ Shī]

“I think the heart is kind of like a string.

It's difficult and hard, and there are times it can't be helped. And that's because it hurts as if a string, stretched across the chest, is being torn apart. Like strumming a guitar string tightened to its limit.

Sometimes it snaps, and you think it can't be fixed anymore.

But, if you put a new string like this, and have someone fix it for you, won't the wound heal, even just a little bit?”
― Natsuki Kizu

“I am Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades. I control the shadows. They do not control me.”
― Rick Riordan, The Blood of Olympus

“I don't feel that way anymore," Nico muttered. "I mean... I gave up on Percy. I was young and impressionable, and I- I don't..."

His voice cracked, and Jason could tell the guy was about to get teary-eyed. Whether Nico had really given up on Percy or not, Jason couldn't imagine what it had been like for Nico all those years, keeping a secret that would've been unthinkable to share in the 1940s, denying who he was, feeling completely alone- even more isolated than other demigods.

"Nico," he said gently, "I've seen a lot of brave things. But what you did? That was maybe the bravest.”
― Rick Riordan, The House of Hades