Nico

(Trigger warning: it's a trial, topics of abuse, guns, shooting, transphobia, and homophobia, trans slurs)

"So Nico di Angelo, you say that Persephone here abused you." My lawyer asks me

"Objection, how is this related to the case about the shooting?" Persephone lawyer Miss Hecate asks and the Judge looks toward my lawyer

"Is there a relation to the case Mr.Thanatos?" The Judge asks my Lawyer and he nods

"Overruled, proceed." The Judge says and I sigh in relief and Thanatos looks to me

"Yes that is correct." I answer and he nods

"How did she abuse you?" He asks and I glance to my Dad and nodded at me encouragingly and Will who sat next to him gave me a soft smile

I look back towards my lawyer and take a shaky breath

"She...she would smack me around, days I made her really mad...she would grab a belt and hit my back over and over." I say and my lawyer looks at me sympathetically

"Did she hurt your sisters?" He asks and I shake my head

"Just me." I state

"Why is that Nico?" He asks

"Because I'm transgender, female to male." I state and whispers break around the room and he nods

"So because you are a trans male she targeted you?" He asks me and I nodded

"Yes sir." I say respectfully and he nods and turns to the jury

"So as you guys can see my client was the subject of directed abuse. She targeted this young man because the gender he is didn't match the gender he was born with. Which left her with wanting to constantly be in control of him which lead to her going to the beach house with gun to shoot him." He said and Persephone lawyer to stand up

"Objection! Mr.di Angelo here was not even shot." She protested and I clench my fists

Remember what Will said, don't have an outburst

"Overruled." The Judge said and Mr.Thanatos smirks

"I would like to call Bianca di Angelo to the stand." He says and I get up and get down and Bianca gets up slowly and makes her way up

I give her a thumbs up and she smiles and gets to the stand

"Bianca, like Miss.Hecate said you were the one shot correct?" He asks

"That is correct" She said calmly

"But Persephone meant to shoot Nico correct?" He asks

"Yes that is also correct." She stated and Thanatos nodded

"Then how were you the one ended up shot?" He asked and Bianca sighs

"I jumped in front of the bullet sir, before it could hit him." She said and I look down

"Witnesses say someone else tried to intercept the bullet also?" He asks and I glance at Will who grabs my hand squeezing it

"Yes that would be William Solace sir, I jumped in front of both of them." She said and I squeeze Wills hand

"Who is William Solace? What his connection to Nico di Angelo?" He asks and Bianca smiled looking at us

"He is Nico's boyfriend sir." She said and Thanatos smiles and looks at the jury

"Innocents who were involved, Mr.William Solace had no connections to Persephone and yet he was almost shot protecting the person he loves. A older sister who was never involved with the abuse Persephone cause Nico. Risks her life and saved 2 lives that she deeply cared about. Is this okay?" He asks and Persephone Lawyer stood up but Thanatos raised his hand

"No further questions." He said and goes back to his seat

Hecate walks up and looks at my sister and I glare at her as she faces my sister

"What you must faced must have been hard. I'm sorry." She says and Bianca raises an eyebrow

"Thank you." She says but gave her a stern look

"Bianca di Angelo. If your brother was being abused how come you his older sister, not know about it?" Hecate questions

"I was a full time college student far away. I recently moved back to go to Olympus University so I could be closer to home." She said factually and the Lawyer nods

"So you weren't around his abuse what so ever?" She asks and Bia shakes her head

"No I wasn't I only found out the night I got shot." She stated

"Then how do you know it ever happened in the first place?" She asks and Thanatos goes to speak but Bia holds her hand at him and he sits back down

"The scars on his back say otherwise." She says and she smirks and I frown at that

What is she up to?

"Ms.di Angelo, is your brother a violent person?" She asks and Bia frowns confused

"Where is she going with this?" Dad asks me and I shrug

"I wouldn't say so, my brother has a big heart, he puts others before his own needs and is protective" She said very confused why they asked that and the Persephone Lawyer clears her throat

"My client here says the only reason she ever laid hands on Nico was because of self defense, she has wrote here in my notes stating. 'My stepson Nico di Angelo suffered from anger issues and would often get violent with me which led to me hitting him to protect myself.'" The lawyer read out and my lawyer stood up

"Objection your honor! There is no solid evidence to this claim at all." Thanatos said and the Judge looks at Hecate

"Is their any evidence to what you are saying?" She asks and Hecate walks up to the TV and put something on

"This happened hours before the shooting." She stated and the video pops up and my heart sunk

My fight with Carter

It plays and it shows me holding Carter by his throat and punching him

"Objection! This doesn't have nothing to do with the case!" Thanatos states and suddenly Will leans and whispers in his ear

Thanatos smirks and looks at Hecate as he opens his computer and types and looks at the Judge

"I request the sound be turned on for this video." He says and The Judge hums

"I'll allow it, turn on the sound." She says and Hecate frown and turns it up

My voice rings through the room about how he hit my sister and kept harassing girls at school

Hecate sends a look to Persephone which looked annoyed and I'm not gonna lie if made me want to laugh

"Your honor, these are the reports sent in which match what young Nico said in the video including Miss Bianca reports." Thanatos said bring the computer up to the judge who looked it over

"Ms.Hecate this is not involved with the case so it will not count as valuable evidence." The Judge says and Hecate sighs

"Yes your honor. No further questions." She says and the Judge hits the gabble on her podium

"We will take a small recess, meet back in 1 hour, this court is dismissed." She says and we all get up and I run up to Bia helping her

"You alright?" I asks and she nods

"I didn't expect that to come up." She said and Thanatos walks up to us

"She was trying to make Nico here turn up as some high tempered kid. Anyways, I need to discuss this with the judge and Hecate right now. I'll meet with you 10 minutes before we start up again." He said and we nodded at him and he walks up to the judge

"You did great up their kids." Dad says giving us a hug

"Let's get something to drink." Will suggests and his mom comes up and hugs Bianca and I

"You 2 did great " She said and we smile at her

She has been taking care of Bianca with her injury. She is fantastic.

I lean on Will and he kisses my head and we all get out of the room and as we turn the corner we see Persephone getting a serious talk with her lawyer

Hah! Even she is had enough of Persephone bullshit.

We continue walking past them and I feel Persephone harsh eyes land on me and I lean into Will which he wraps his arm around me

We head outside and I take a breath enjoying the fresh air

"So I need to go do something real quick. I'll meet you guys at the Cafe" Dad said giving me and Bia quick hugs then hugs Hazel tightly

He ruffles Wills hair and then walks off and Percy sighs as we continue walking

"Dam, I still can't believe she tried to use that against you" He said and I shrug

"Yeah, but it got turned down, she's trying to turn the tables making it seem like I'm the reason all this happened." He said and Annabeth sighs

"Yeah, but the judge was right after you turn up the sound and hear what was going on it makes much more sense why you did that." She said I remembered something

"Actually Will was the reason for that. You telling Mr. Thanatos saved us right there." I say and he shrugs

"No honey their right, that was quick thinking." His Mom said and he smiles a bit

"Thanks. I just, I notice at first their is no sound and realize they can't hear you speak." He said and I nodded a bit as we walk in the cafe and get a table

We start sitting and talking amongst ourselves and I notice Leo laying his head on Jerome drifting off

"Hey kids." I hear my Dad say and sits next Percy. And he sighs

"Hey Dad everything alright?" Hazel asks and he smiles a bit at her and looks to me

"So...it was suppose to be only Nico, Bianca this morning and Persephone  brought to the stand in the afternoon but they wish to add someone else. And change something." Hades said and I frown

"Who are they adding?" I ask and he sighs

"They want to question Will." Dad said and I stand up.

"Why the hell do they need him! He has nothing to do with this." I say and Will gently pulls me back down

"Hey its okay." He says and I groan and put my head in his shoulder

"Its because he is close to the situation. And he tried to jump in front of the bullet. But that isn't the only thing," he says and I look at him

"They are bring you back up to the stand but this time her lawyer will ask you questions. I know we attempted to avoid this because if she asks something you don't like you might snap. But they changed it on us. So Nico, please be calm." Dad asks me and I sigh and run my hands over my face

"Let me guess, Persephone will be after me." I ask and Dad nods

"Then we'll show the videos of you getting hurt and then of the shooting. After that the jury will discuss everything and come to a decision." He said and I nod

Almost over.

"Here drink this, you need to stay hydrated" Will says and I take a deep breath and grab the waterbottle

"Thanks, and thank you for staying NY my side through all this." I say and he smiles kissing my head

"Always." He says and I smile and I hear his mom squeal and take a picture

"So cute." She said and I laugh a bit and Will chuckles

"I think it's time to head back. We can hop in my car." Dad said and we get up and I take a shaky breath

"I got this." I say and Will grabs my hand interlocking it

"We got this, your not alone." He says and I sigh and smile

"Right."

Time Skip

"Mr.Solace, you were there the night of the shooting correct?" Hecate asks and Will nods

"Yes, that would be correct." He says and she nods

"So you saw what happened?" She asks and he nods again

"Yes I did." Will says seeming sad thinking about it

"And what happened?" She asks and Will takes a deep breath

"I ordered a pizza for Nico and I and when I got off the phone there was banging at the door. We headed downstairs to see Thalia locking the door and yelling at someone behind it, then we check see Persephone screaming at us and she had a gun in her hand. As we go locking all the doors and windows we see her yelling at someone outside and we see the Pizza Girl and Nico ran outside and stood between them trying to protect her" he said and I smile at him a bit

"So he ran out of the house?" She asks curiously and Will nods

"Yes?" He said wondering where this was headed

"So knowingly she was not in a stable mind he went outside endangering himself? Doesn't that sound like he is instigating it a little?" She asks and Will frowns

"How can you call running in front of an innocent person to protect them instigating?" Will questions frowning

"Well Persephone was only after Nico supposedly? Why would she harm the pizza girl? Sounds like to me he wanted to instigate it all." She said and I notice Will clench his fists

Will...

"She was drunk, she was the one instigating things, she raised her gun at the Pizza Driver. Nico noticed and ran outside. He saved her." Will says a little irritated

"So she was intoxicated? Meaning she wasn't in a clear state of mind at the time and couldn't function." She said and I notice Will grit his teeth

"She knew what she was doing the minute she grabbed that gun. She was clear headed enough to drive all the way out to the beach house, speak clearly to Nico about how much she hated him. And aimed that right at him. She might have had a buzz but she knew what she was doing." He said and he was glaring at her

"Sounds to me, you might just be covering for him, seeing your romanticallyinvolved." She said and Will stood up

"Sounds to me you haven't got enough evidence so your trying to scrounge up every excuse in the book, you know nothing about what happened that night you don't know dam thing about Nico!" Will snap

"Will!" I say and he looks at me and the Judge hit her gabble on the podium

"Mr.Solace! I demand order in my court room!" The Judge scolds and and Will takes a deep breath and looks upset.

"My apologies your honor." He whispered and I look at him worried

"No further questions your honor. I would like to call Nico di Angelo to the stand." Hecate says and I get up and Will   walks back and as we walk past each other I grab his hand giving it a small squeeze before walking up to the podium

I take a deep breath and look at Hecate and she smiles a bit and I avoided the urge to roll my eyes

"Mr.di Angelo, now from what has been said you have been abused my by client is that correct?" She asks and I nodded

"That would be correct." I state sternly and she nods

"For what reason?" She asks and I bite my tongue for a sparky comment

I was already asked this.

"Because I am transgender. The moment she found out she hated me." I state and she tilts her head

"How do you know it was because of that?" She asks and I sigh

"It started out with certain comments. She would call me step daughter. Refer to me as my dead name, call me she or her. Then she would bump into me aggressively or shove me to the side. Then she smacked me once or twice. Then came the beatings." I said and Hecate glanced at Persephone and back at me regaining her composure

"Why did you never tell your father? Certainly if it was that bad he would have left her." She asked and I sit up

"After the death of my mother my Dad tried his best and did everything for us. She may have hated me but she made my Dad happy. I would do anything to keep him that way, I knew he would leave her if I told him and I also was scared of what she would do. And cleary I had a reason to be." I say and shoot Persephone a glare and she rolled her eyes

"I'm sorry about the death of your mother, that must have been hard on you and your sisters." She says and I nod

"It was, I was young when it happened." I said and she nods a bit

"Did you ever hold anything against Persephone, like feel like she was replacing your mother?" Hecate asks and I frown at her

Oh no she is not going this way

"Never. In fact I liked her a lot in the beginning, she did activities with us when she first was with my Dad and they were dating." I say honestly and Hecate raises an eyebrow

"So she treating you guys alright? So what changed?" She asks and I grit my teeth annoyed but take a deep breath in and out

"As I said, I came out to her. That's when she completely changed her attitude towards me." I state slowly

"Oh really? Look I've worked on similar cases and a lot of them end up being the child didn't like the idea of someone replacing their mother or father. So they do things to run the parent off. It seems to me you didn't like the idea of someone replacing your mother so you did things to scare her and caused her to start drinking making her mentally unstable. It's called logic hun" She says and I scoff

"Oh really? And it seems like to me she is a transphobic woman who didn't like the idea of of someone like me living under the same room as her and got pissy when my Dad finally left her because she was beating his kid she got mad a tried to deal with the problem herself. Which was me. And my sister who is 10 times the woman Persephone would ever be took a bullet for the people she loved the most. Something that bitch would never do." I state so calmly that it caught her off guard she was speechless I smirk

"Its called logic hun." I copy what she said with a smile and she blinked at me and I hear Leo snort and Percy laugh quietly

"Nico di Angelo there will be none of that." The Judge stated and I shrugged

"No more further quiestions." Hecate said and goes back to her seat and my Lawyer gets up and send me a smirk shaking his head

"Persephone to the stand." He says and I get up and so does she

We walk past each other and I look at her and she looks back me and I hold back the urge to deck her snobbish face

I sit next to Will and he smiles at me

"You alright?" He asks and I nod and look at him worriedly

"Are you alright? I've never seen you snap like that." I whisper to him and he sighs

"Sorry, I...I didn't like what she was insinuating about you." He said and I kiss his cheek

"I love you."  I whisper and he kisses my head

"I love you too, we are almost done." He says and we turn our head to Persephone and my lawyer

"I don't have many questions ma'am. Just a few." He says and Persephone nods

"Ma'am you know abusing a child is a crime correct?" He asks and Persephone nods

"Yes, and I have never laid a hand on Nico except once when he hit me and I smacked him back." She stated and I roll my eyes

Liar.

"So you never had an issue with him being transgender?" My lawyer questioned

"Why of course not. I saw him like my own son." She said trying to sound so innocent making me scoff quietly

"So you've never beat him with a belt?" He said and she pretending to look horrified

"Of course not, that is something so horrible to so to a child." She said and my lawyer nods and walks up to the TV

"Then Persephone, explain this." He said turning it up and on and suddenly and me in just a binder and jeans appears and I had blood coming from my head and I'm looking at the camera terrified

"Here. She shouldn't see it here." You hear my shaky voice say setting up the camera

I see everyone looked upset and darkness settles over their face

When I showed them the video the first time they all cried and Will held me so close that night repeating how much he loves me

Persephone looked mortified seeing this video

They show the video and in the video she comes in and starts screaming at me calling me a faggot no good little girl and starts beating me with a belt as I cry put for mercy

I personally had to look away unable to watch no more and when it ended and look up you see me crawling to the phone and ending the video

There was silence in the court room and my lawyer clears his throat

"Never right?" He asks and Persephone gulps a bit

"Oh and this video has the dash footage from the pizza delivery driver." My lawyer says pushing play and you see the entire situation from when Persephone was talking to me with a gun. To when Will jumped in front of me with Bianca coming soon after. To the me crying hysterically in Wills arms crying for Bianca

He ends it and turns to the jury, and they all looked stunned

"No more further questions." He says and the Judge clears her throat

"Well, the jury will be given 30 minutes to decide. Everyone remain in your seats until then" She said and hits the gabble on the podium and her and the jury leave the room

I take a big sigh of relief and my lawyer runs a hand through his hair

"This. Was crazy." He says and we all laugh a bit

"I can't believe this all happened." Frank said and we agree with him

"No matter the verdict. I am so proud of you kids." Dad says and we all group hug

"I think Persephone is getting chewed out." Percy laughs and we turn to see Hecate and Persephone arguing

"I don't think they have much hope." Annabeth states and I sigh

"We'll see."

30 minutes later

"So has the jury reached a verdict?" The Judge asks and person stands up

"We have your honor, in the case against Persephone di Angelo VS Bianca and Nico di Angelo we have come to the decision that the defendant Persephone is found to be..."

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WOW WHAT A CRAZY CHAPTER!

Guess you all will have to wait to find out the verdict.

In all seriousness this chapter was hard to write and even now I know it isn't perfect

This trial and how to set it up was hard to decide and the right wordings and how to make things some what accurate. Like I did not realize how hard it would actually be to write a full on trial

Anyways sorry for the cliff hanger. I know you love it so so so much I am just the best you know? Lol.

I'm done with the rant. Thank you so much for ready there are 2 more chapters left.

Love you all!

Peace!