#ASSUMING ITS PERCY WHO THIS IS FOR AND NOT MR NICO

[lanternlightss]

I see that you have read "I get a sneak peek at my death"

How's the great prophecy treating ya 👀

i’m going to

[curseofdelos]

mentally I'm still here:

Nico insisting that neither of them are going to be sacrificed/left behind to satisfy the prophecy is a perfect encapsulation of his growth over the series and it makes me SO soft to think about

Nico as a character - particularly in BoO - doesn't have a lot of self-preservation. He doesn't really care what happens to him as long as the mission gets done. We see this most explicitly after he almost fades into nothingness after the Bryce Lawrence incident:

And again when he considers shadow travelling into Octavian's tent to assassinate him:

(Nico himself notes here that it was unlikely he would survive another jump. If Will hadn't stopped him, he probably would have died.)

In both cases, Nico was willing to risk death for the sake of ending the war. He puts very little value on his own life, and repeatedly argues to Reyna, Hedge, and Will that the possibility of saving camp (a place he never felt welcome at, might I add) is worth the risk of losing his life.

Even before Nico went on the quest with Reyna and Hedge, the others were concerned about his safety. Percy tried to remind him how unpredictable his shadow travelling could be, and Hazel notes that he has been acting strangely lately:

It's not quite clear what Hazel is worried about here, but my interpretation of this scene is that she's concerned that Nico isn't thinking - or perhaps, isn't caring - about what effect the constant shadow travelling will have on his wellbeing. Between Tartarus, the jar, and the Cupid incident, Nico's mental state is at its worst at this point in the series, and I think Hazel is worried he'll do something reckless - something he can't come back from.

And so in TSATS, when Nico is told that he's going to have to leave something of equal value behind in order to save Bob, the old him would have had zero issue sacrificing himself if that's what it took to ensure Will and Bob's survival. This version of Nico, who's been going to therapy w/ Mr D and opening up more and built a little support system for himself, can't fathom it.

Nico in BoO did not have a future. He had fully convinced himself that nobody cared about him or would miss him if he was gone - not Percy who fought for him at every turn in PJO, not his sister Hazel, not his new friends Jason and Reyna. He was ready to leave both camps behind because he couldn't see himself ever being happy there. He couldn't see himself being happy at all.

But now, in TSATS, he has a boyfriend that he loves, he has friends that he loves, and he has a community in Camp Half-Blood. He has experienced so much loss that losing someone else is his worst fear. The old Nico would have considered sacrificing himself to protect Will and Bob. At the very least, he would have kept that option in his back pocket as a 'just in case'; he wouldn't have sworn on the Styx that he wouldn't stay behind.

This Nico, however, is doing much better - not perfect, but better. He loves Will, and he wants a life with him, and he's not willing to give that up for anything. Nico has hope for the future, and he's clinging to that hope with everything he has. He sees a light at the end of the tunnel, and he wants to reach it. He's not willing to sacrifice himself because it means losing that future.

Gone is the cynical pessimistic Nico who assumes the worst because the worst is all he thinks he can have. Here is the Nico who has had a taste of happiness and is willing to fight to keep it. He's not going to sacrifice himself because he wants to live. He's not just fighting for Will here; he's fighting for himself too.

And seeing him go from "if it kills me, it kills me" to "it's not going to be me" makes me so ASDFGHJKL

[audreyscribes]

Hii i saw your writing earlier about what if a child of zeus came to camp and their life. Can you write a similar one but child of hades? It got me interested lol. Totally cool if not

Oh boi, this is going to be a long one. Buckle down everyone 🤠 Also since this is definitely going to be a long one, I really wanted to call the Child of Hades as “Blake” (fair-haired;dark) because I realized that as I was typing, repeatedly typing  “Child of Hades”, “Demigod of Hades”, “Hades demigod”, and etc, is going to make this word count very long and confusing. So using ‘Blake’ as a word placer would be less confusing, and it’s a unisex sounding name so this’ll still be gender neutral for everyone to enjoy.  However, the fact I used a name would probably detract the immersion so I didn’t do it this time. But its something to think about in the future.

First of all, I’m going to assume you’re asking this with the same parameters as the Daughter of Zeus ask that I got a little while back; basically if another child of the Big Three came in at the same time as Percy or within the first books of the Percy Jackson series.

Secondly, we’ve already got a glimpse of what that’s like with Nico, however small it was, it does give an idea. 

And thirdly, it’ll largely depend whether this child of Hades is born before the Oath was made or after it. Whichever is the case though, how they came to be will factor in some point in the middle. 

If they were there at the beginning of the books, I can see the child of Hades enroll into Yancy Academy, maybe at a young age with their dorm system and what not; being paid to be educated and cared for a distant, overseas working rich father that couldn’t take care of his own kid (Which isn’t really a lie). The reasons for Mrs. Dodds a.k.a. Alecto, being at Yancy Academy would be slightly different but largely the same; she’s still there to confirm Percy’s origins and finding out if he knows where the Helm of Darkness is located (though at this point of the book, everyone assumed it was Zeus’ Lightning Bolts and not also the Helm), but at the same time, Mrs. Dodds is there to protect or watch over the child of Hades. 

With that in mind, it makes sense that Alecto being there because she’s there to make sure that the child of Hades is safe from not only Percy, and by extension Poseidon, but also Zeus; since he hasn’t been very open to Percy’s existence (even though he striked first and twice). Then there’s also the child of Hades being sent there to tail or get close to Percy to retrieve their father’s Helm. Whether the child of Hades knows or not who their godly parent is more or less factors in but also not? If the Child of Hades appears at Camp Halfblood with knowledge of their parentage, the claim wouldn’t appear, keeping them safe in the Hermes cabin and undetected. If they don’t know their parentage, Hades wouldn’t be able to claim them anyways since there isn’t a Cabin yet. So the identity as the child of Hades remains unknown. I think the Furies would appear in front of the child of Hades throughout their life, but not all of them at once. Like in the beginning it was maybe either Megaera (jealous rage) or Tisiphone (Vengeful destruction) then the other at another point, before finally being Alecto when the story takes place. 

Bookwise, every goes as usual with the caveat that the child of Hades probably is close with Percy, with either of the which being the new kids at Camp or being children of the Big Three. Then there is the separation when Percy gets claimed as the children of Poseidon and everything kicks in him being a forbidden child. The child of Hades remains at the cabin of Hermes, unclaimed, and can’t get close to Percy like they used to; with the knowledge he’s been claimed and they did not, or with the knowledge that they have to view Percy as the enemy because of said Hade’s helm and that if they draw any attention to themselves, they risk getting smited by Zeus (for the whole Hades sending hellhounds and such after Thalia, leading to demise) and risk isolation cause of said incident from the other campers. While the child of Hades remains at Camp, cause they can’t really leave in broad daylight, Luke has more likely opportunities in approaching the child of Hades, being in the same Cabin and also being tipped off by Kronos. Which may lead to the truth of Luke’s betrayal being discovered sooner than later when the child of Hades figures it out (somehow. Maybe residue ot the Helmet of Darkness on Luke or something). Which probably leads to the child of Hades appearing before Alecto and the others before they get to Percy, Grover, and Annabeth as they say that Percy didn’t steal the Helmet because he doesn’t have the linger aura on him, and the perpetrator is someone else; which is Luke.

This probably leads to the child of Hades revealing themselves to our trio of Heroes who they are and Luke’s identity as a spy for Kronos earlier than expected. Things play out as usual but just a bit sooner than expected. How it plays out whether the child of Hades decides to leave Camp because no one is very welcoming to Hades and his children, and with the identity of a child of Hades and Poseidon appearing, it’s only a matter of time before things hit the fan. If the child of Hades decides to stay, they probably have to reveal themselves to Travis and Connor Stoll, being the next defacto cabin leader of the Hermes cabin, of whether they are allowed to stay in the cabin being the one who ousted Luke and being a child of Hades, but they don’t have a cabin to go to. If they can’t or don’t want them to stay, the child of Hades will probably have to stay at the Big House. 

Let’s just say for the sake of the story, the child of Hades is either a few days, weeks, months younger than Percy or at least a year younger. Its a close call to which of them brings salvation or doom to the gods, but I’d imagine because both Percy and the child of Hades are close or are in similar situations, they support each other. Now when Nico and Bianca arrive at Camp, that’s a whole thing. The child of Hades can tell that Nico and Bianca have the aura of death or the underworld like they do, but can’t reveal it due to factors above and beyond their control; but the utter heartbreak of finding out they were born before them and all this time were protected in the Lotus Casino; but then there’s also the death of Bianca. We know Nico can feel her passing, so would the child of Hades, which would make Nico find out that the mysterious demigod is actual his other half-sibling, making them want to cling to them out of desperation and grief. 

I think when Nico leaves camp, the child of Hades would follow him, and their story is close with Nico except that the child of Hades regularly gives signs they are alright; by letters that mysteriously appear or very brief Iris messages. The child of Hades probably has to be the older sibling, even though they are technically the younger half-sibling out of the two. 

If the child of Hades is a girl, there may be a thought to join the Hunter of Artemis, mainly to only circumvent the prophecy. However, they probably don’t bring it up because that’s how Bianca died so they have reservations about it. They probably pop up every so often to at least fight in the major battles to support Percy cause they’re friends and its just really bad circumstances that’s making it things hard.

They probably join the Battle of Manhattan earlier because screw Hades for not fighting and doing what is needed, or probably go to fight to help Nico to help Percy to get the Curse of Achilles and buy time to convince their father to join the battle.  In the end, for lack of a better term, barely escape their demise by just a nail. They eventually find their place in the world like Nico does, but its not an easy path. 

In other news, the TV show works a whole lot better in this case with how prominent the furies appear more frequently.

Aesthetic divider from @plum98 https://www.tumblr.com/plum98/737055684109254656?source=share

[buoyantsaturn]

@ that anon who wanted nico hcs i got this done like a week early hello

not cis but not really sure what he is either, would probably identify as agender (he/they)

youngest sibling rights all the time, he gets annoyed whenever anybody assumes hazel is his younger sister

has never actually eaten at a mcdonalds and every time percy offers to bring him a happy meal nico punches him

vegetarian! I like the old headcanon that he can taste the death in meat so he avoids it whenever possible. he and piper bond over this (as well as jasons death. but im not getting into that)

speaking of bonding nico and leo bond over feeling like they’re always the odd man out. also i think nico speaks multiple languages so he and leo trash talk people in spanish sometimes (nico and piper do this as well but since the whole aphrodite cabin can speak french they have to be careful)

also i think at some point leo starts making fun of will to nico just to see how he reacts, and doesnt know that will can understand spanish so will hears all of it (but it’s chill its all friendly)

the biggest clothes thief. used to be mostly pajama pants and sweatshirts but then he branches out into t-shirt and will’s flannels and the reason he starts wearing skirts is bc he accidentally takes one of hazel’s once when he thought it was something else

It takes him like. a LONG time to be comfortable wearing a skirt in front of other people bc of just how he was raised u know, but sometimes he’ll wear a skirt just in his cabin when he’s hanging around with friends

also he never wears skirts with bare legs. or shorts. just hates having his legs bare, and its not like a scrawny image thing bc he’ll wear leggings. he just hates having his legs bare (unless hes sleeping then its fine)

he has insomnia and chronic fatigue so its kinda like hes always tired and theres nothing he can do about it

can’t read. never learned.

his hair is just so unruly that he used to cut it short just so he wouldnt have to do anything with it and it could look somewhat presentable but then uhh you know bianca died and he basically hasnt cut his hair since so it’s absolutely massive, and once nico finally gets the strength and patience to wash it, it’s the softest thing on the planet

sleeps with a weighted blanket, and if he doesnt have one then he will cuddle up to whoever’s closest in the hopes that they’ll throw an arm over him or something

When he is able to sleep he will pass out anywhere. has been found underneath cots in the infirmary, curled up in a chair in the rec room (fell asleep during a counselor meeting and nobody had the courage to wake him up), and using mrs. o’leary as a pillow in the arena

bonds with rachel over their past mistakes crushes on percy, and nico introduces rachel to hazel and it becomes a wonderful art friendship between them. will hangs out when they’re all in an artsy mood but as no artistic talent so he’s just chilling

nico does that thing sometimes where he makes will lay down on his stomach on the floor and paints a landscape on will’s back. it helps them both relax when theyre stressed and it helps them feel closer without needing words

[angloie]

Charms.

(1/?)

> Percy likes to deceive. Lie, manipulate, more lies; it was a part of his job, after all. Annabeth has been deceived. Lied to. Manipulated. She's an woman of many secrets- secrets she'd rather not let anyone know.

> Assassin! Percy x CEO! Annabeth.

> Warnings: Mostly angst + fluff, character death and some violence. Nothing too explicit. Mentions of blood/mild injuries as well as alcohol. (characters are aged up!)

pt. 2 || pt. 3 || pt. 4 || pt. 5

Percy's thumb rule was never do anything he didn't want.

To live a happy and healthy life, that was completely normal; especially for such a laid back guy like him.

Choosing this... rather wild career was something he wanted to do, willingly. Life was short, so why not make the most of it? It was getting awfully bleak with the normal civilian life. After all, no one would believe the nice young man who helped the old man carry the groceries to his car would be someone who killed for a living. A smile so bright that it could give the sun a run for its money and warm sea green eyes could hide so much more than just innocence.

The ceiling to floor windows of his penthouse showed a breathtaking view of the New York skyline, sun moving behind the tall buildings and moon replacing the orange hue. Being an assassin had its perks- despite endangering his life on multiple occasions. The pay was just out of this world. All that cash just to kill off some sleazy politician, or that one corrupt buisness man? Sign him up. Zero hesitation.

Percy frowned at the dried blood on his once pure white gloves. He was quick to peel them off. He shuddered at the unsightly view of a small stain of blood on his onyx-colored suit.

He would just buy a new one later. Small things like that didn't matter. Sure, that might've been a gift from one of his clients, but it wasn't anything he couldn't replace.

Hanging his coat on the rack beside the wide entrance, he sighed with clear tiredness. One night of forced politeness and smiles took a toll on him- Also due to the fact that he had just done his job as an assassin. It wasn't what you could call easy.

His muscles were aching and sore in all the worst places, every move throbbing with full pain. The shallow slash on his lower abdomen had soaked his shirt in a dark crimson red, most likely going to leave a bad stain. He would have to clean that later.

The penthouse was big and rather spacious. White Walls and abstract paintings lined them, reflecting off the almost pristine marble floors. It took a while for Percy to get settled in, it being a huge place and all that. But he soon made it feel like home with the help of old picture frames that held memories and the Nemo stuffed animals resting on the leather couch.

“WOOF!”

And Mrs. O'leary.

Mrs.O’leary- a huge, slobbering dog with thick black fur- bounded towards him in a frenzied greeting. She hopped up on her hind legs to lick his face, tail wagging at a unmatched speed. She barked again, this time more quieter.

“Yeah, yeah. It's nice to see you too.” Percy laughed as he tried to pull away. Once he went to the kitchen to grab a bone-shaped treat. “Who’s a good girl?” He cooed, tossing the snack in the air. Mrs.O’leary jumped up to snatch it before barking and padding away. Her tail still wagged with elation.

When Percy first moved here, it was quite nerve-racking. He'd heard that this place was an especially good spot for people like him- meaning people who did some illegal activity. Well, that was what he assumed. Percy was 99% sure that his neighbor just in the penthouse below him, (Leo was it?) had to be involved in some sketchy stuff. That creepy smile of his with a mysterious staining his shirt never meant any good. Or maybe when his other neighbor, had a odd looking duffel bag slung across his shoulder. Oddly human shaped, maybe. With a horrible smell of something rotting. Percy recalled introducing himself a Nico DiAngelo. A pretty reserved and quiet guy, usually having a frown of his face. Well, other than that time when he had his boyfriend over, a sunshiney guy with sun-kissed hair. He never got the chance to catch his name.

Wrapping a white cloth around his wound, Percy's met with a sense of familiarity. Fixing his own injuries by himself. It would bee nice to have some help once in a while, but that would mean exposing him. He's definitely not ready to risk that.

Other than his boss and a couple of really close friends, no one knows about this. Percy nearly slipped up once- when a old companion from high school came over to visit, and his small arsenal of weapons were revealed. The little compartment hidden behind a painting. Not another word wasmsaid about it. Percy made up some half-assed excuse about auditioning for a movie so they were fakes.

It didn't take much of a expert, but the were far from fakes.

His phone rang from beside Percy, making him jolt in surprise. The contact name made him smile just the tiniest bit.

"Hey, mom," Percy began. "Why'd you call?"

"Can't your mom check up on you once in a while? How are you?" Sally beamed, cheerful voice on speaker mode.

He walked over to the bathroom where he stood in the full length mirror. A hint of blood seeped through the white bandage; now full wrapped. "Good. How's Paul and Estelle doing?" He asked.

"They're doing great! Me and your step dad went out with Estelle yesterday to see the movies." Sally smiled. "Estelle is growing into such a energetic ball of energy." She joked. "Just like you."

"Is that so?" Percy laughed, splashing his face with water. It felt cool on his skin, causing tiny pricks of coldness to pop up all over.

For a while, him and Sally conversed. She told him about her day (mostly gushing about Paul and Estelle) while Percy smiled and listened. He did his best to hide the fact that he'd been fixing up his wounds in silence. He cursed silently in pain when he touched an sensitive spot on the slash.

"Percy? Are you alright?" Sally asked in concern.

"Yeah! I just... hit my elbow. Its nothing. " He hastily replied.

"Okay," Sally exclaimed in relief. "By the way, when are you going to visit your old woman? Estelle misses you, you know."

"Yeah, well tell her I miss her too." A sense of gloom over took the conversation. "Look, I'm busy now but..." Percy looked over to the mirror again. "I'll call you later. Maybe I can visit you guys over there soon." He exhaled.

"We're looking forward to it! Isn't that right,             Estelle?" Sally gave the phone to the little girl who was jumping with excitement.

"Come over soon Perce!" She garbled. It sounded like she was eating something halfway.

"I will. Talk to you later, 'Kay?"

"'Kay!"

A wave of guilt overwashed Percy as soon as he ended the call. It was killing him inside, to not be honest with them about his real job. They just thought he was a simple marine biologist who got one hell of a promotion. Yeah, he wished. That seemed easier than killing for a living. He was going to tell them sooner or later. He just had to. Not today- not anytime soon, that is.

Jolting himself out of his thoughts, Percy's phone rang. He was quick to answer it. Was it Sally calling again? Percy put down the metal spoon he was holding, letting it rest in the pot of soup bubbling on the flat stove. 

“Hey, Percy!” The horribly familiar voice rang from the other side of the line. Percy grimaced.

“What is it?” He groaned.

“Is that any way to talk to your boss?” He tsked. “But I have news for you!”

“Do tell,” Percy muttered and went back to his soup. 

“I have a mission.” Apollo grinned widely. “You up for it?”

“Again? Didn't I just do one yesterday?” Percy rolled his eyes. He was tired; completely tired. Usually the missions weren't this close together- sometimes they could be even months apart.

“Yeah, but this one won't happen for a week or so. And it ain't just the typical mission.”

“Yeah? And what's that?”

“Its a info operation. Meaning-”

“I know what that means!” Percy interjected. “Just tell me the details already. I’m hungry.”

“Jeez, okay mr. grump. Annabeth Chase. You know her?” Apollo said, scoffing at Percy's tone.

“You mean the owner of that one architecture company? What about her?” He asked.

“She’s connected with Thalia Grace and Luke Castellan.” Appolo explained. “Apparently people have been talking about their new heist that they're planning. By what I've heard, it's going to be huge.” 

Those three names- Thalia Grace, Luke Castellan, Annabeth Chase. Annabeth especially, was the most well known in the regular world. Her being the stoic founder of Athchase as well as being a crazy rich and famous person, that's a no brainer. Luke and Thalia, on the other hand, their heists were well known anywhere. Annabeth didn't have a criminal record of any sorts. That's a big reason she can keep up her reputation. It's not like the woman did anything wrong, its just that... the fact that she is connected with the two is enough to ensure suspicion. Growing rumors of her planning some of their crimes were spreading fast. Percy's heard of things like that, her being the mastermind of killing and stealing.

“Alright," He nodded. "Im interested. Go on."

“New York. That's where the three plan to meet up. Get information, maybe use your charms into getting her to trust you."

"N-new york..!?" Percy was left shocked at that.

"I've booked a flight there. 5 in the morning sharp tomorrow. I reccomend you arrive on time." Apollo chuckled.

"Yeah, whatever."

"And Percy?" He called out.

"Hm?"

"You have my full permission to kill Annabeth when you're done." Apollo darkly said, hanging up without another word. Percy rolled his eyes for the tenth time on the call.

Well, all right.

Next destination: New York.

"So, New York, huh." Annabeth swirled some of her cocktail in the glass, circling her wrist in a rotation. The blue liquid swirled together in a repetitive motion. Sapphire Martini tasted rather bitter on her tounge, but decent nonetheless. She enjoyed the slight orange twist.

"Why here of all places?" She asked.

"Its a golden opportunity, dear Annie. The Olympians only gather once in a blue moon, so we're going to make the most out of this!" Thalia sipped from her own glass, some regular red wine. She'd never had such a taste for 'Those fancy rich drinks'. Whatever that meant.

The Olympians, as Thalia said before, were a group of 12 of some of the wealthiest and prestigious people from across the world. Only a few select people could be a part- it was exclusive as to anybody who was just normal as a couple million rich. New York would be holding a auction quite soon on a famous opera house; and surprise, they would be there.

"Don't call me that." Annabeth winced at the name. "And who exactly is we?"

"Don't go all acting like you didn't agree, alright? Plus, you can gain a thing or two from all this." She grinned.

"I have a company to run, Thals, You know very well that I dropped that type of business years ago." Annabeth shook her head. "This is seriously risky."

"But you love that. Don't you?" Thalia pressed, standing up.

She truly did. The thrill, the rush of energy you couldn't get anywhere else. Thats what had driven her to join Thalia and Luke in the first place. That feeling alone made her eyes sparkle with desire.

"Yeah." Annabeth places her drinkdown back on the glass table. "I do."

Okay I'm back with some more hot garbage!!! here's my latest thing-- a assassin au. I need to do a ship other than percabeth tho 😔😔

[chameleonwritess]

Feels Like Home (Ch 1)

Myriad of Stars

Not-So-Secretly in Love

Feels Like Home (Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3)

Forever Starts Today (Epilogue)

Extras:

Infirmary Duties

Fandom: Percy Jackson

Pairing: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace

Nico's summer has been amazing thanks to Will but he isn't ready to face the following year when it ends. He knows there are going to be a lot of changes this year and that frightens Nico. Luckily, Will is there for him through everything.

Word Count: 7446

Read the whole Myriad of Stars series on AO3

Chapter 1- Demigods and Parents

Nico di Angelo was pretty sure that he’d had the best summer of his entire life.

Minus almost being destroyed by Gaia, of course, but he was grouping that with the rest of the year which had, quite frankly, been dreadful.

Still, as soon as the impending threat had vanished, Will Solace had stepped into Nico’s life and suddenly everything seemed to make sense. Nico had found not only a place where he belonged and could be himself but a person with whom he belonged and could be himself with. As the son of Hades, that in itself was a miracle Nico had never seen coming.

The fact that Will was attractive, funny, caring, utterly charming and the most infuriating demigod Nico had ever met just made everything so much better.

Of course, summer didn’t last forever, though. Nico knew it didn’t and yet he’d somehow hoped it would, causing reality to crash down around him during the last week of the holidays.

“My mom’s picking me up from Camp next week,” Will announced very suddenly one afternoon whilst the two were sitting inside Nico’s cabin, playing with some of Nico’s old mythomagic cards for the sake of nostalgia and because the two of them were huge nerds.

Nico’s eyes snapped up immediately.

“You’re going home?” he asked in a slightly strangled voice. So much for concealing his emotions.

“Not exactly,” Will said. Nico raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what that was supposed to mean.

“Meaning?”

“Well, I go to school but not properly,” Will started to explain, “We need a healer at Camp all the time and now that Lee’s dead, I’m the best healer we’ve got.”

“How does that work, then? I thought school was a full time thing?” Nico asked. He knew he’d been to school in Italy but the memories were very faint. He hadn’t even thought about going to school since; he’d always been too tied up in monsters, Titans, giants or whatever else was deciding to destroy the world.

“It usually is. My mum has a special agreement with the headteacher, though. I go to school for a few weeks each term so that I can collect all the work and then I return to Camp so that no one dies from falling off the lava wall or getting a leg sliced off in Capture the Flag,” Will explained.

“So you won’t be gone for long?” Nico checked. Will chuckled.

“Why, you gonna miss me?” he teased, nudging Nico’s leg with his own. Nico rolled his eyes.

“I was just thinking about how peaceful Camp would be without you. No Jackson bugging me, no Grace bugging me, no you bugging me,” he said wistfully.

“Hey!” Will complained, “we only bug you because we love you. Besides you were totally upset when I said I was going home after summer.”

“Was not,” Nico spluttered.

“Was too,” Will retorted.

“Not.”

“Too.”

“Alright, shut up, of course I was going to miss you,” Nico finally relented, shoving Will, who had decided to lean his body right over Nico’s, in the chest. It was suddenly dawning on Nico just how much he would miss Will, though.

Even before they’d started dating, Nico had still spent the majority of his time with Will and over the last month or so the two had practically been inseparable. Now he was going to have to go for weeks without seeing him. Nico already felt suffocated. Never had he expected to become so reliant on one person.

“Ha, that’s pretty gay,” Will smirked in retaliation to Nico pushing him. Nico inhaled deeply.

“I changed my mind, can you leave today?” he deadpanned. Will laughed and flopped down on his back besides Nico on the bed.

“I’m bored of mythomagic,” he stated.

“You get bored easily,” Nico shrugged.

“True, but I wanted to ask you something,” Will replied, looking up at Nico from the bed from what Nico assumed was not a very flattering angle on his behalf.

“Go on, then,” Nico encouraged with an unenthusiastic eye roll to accompany it.

“It’s going to be weird spending time apart after we’ve spent all summer together so I was wondering if you wanted to come over and stay at mine during the first weekend? My mom will love you, I can sense it, and she’s always happy to let my friends stay over,” Will offered.

Nico swallowed a lump in his throat. Meeting Will’s mom had not been something he’d ever even considered and being new to the twenty-first century, never mind just dating, made Nico panic a little that he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to act around a mother.

The only parental figure in his life was Hades and Nico doubted he could just nip down to the Underworld to pay his dad a visit and ask a few questions about his love life. It wasn’t really the father-son relationship they had.

“Don’t worry,” Will jumped in, noticing Nico’s hesitance, “it’s just an offer and I don’t want you to feel like you have to. I know you’ve probably not done anything like that before but just so you know, my mom is lovely. She’s the kindest woman I’ve met. She already knows I’m gay and will be so thrilled to meet you. I can already tell she’s going to love you.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. People didn’t exactly have a habit of ‘loving’ him upon first encounters.

“Really?” Nico asked, surprising even himself at how weak his voice sounded. Will sat up on the bed and placed his hands on Nico’s shoulders, forcing him to look into his dazzling blue eyes.

“I mean it. I’ve never disliked you and people say the two of us are pretty similar. She’s also one of the most stubborn people I know. When I was younger she��d keep me quarantined if I got a slight tickle in my throat so if you think I’m bad, wait till you meet her,” Will reassured Nico. He smiled slightly at Will’s anecdote.

“It’s hard to imagine anyone more stubborn than you,” Nico smirked.

“I’m not just Apollo’s good looks and charms, y’know,” Will teased, sending Nico a wink. Nico laughed at the action and allowed his head to fall against Will’s chest.

“I’ll think about it,” Nico agreed. Will wrapped his arms around Nico’s chest and kissed the top of his head.

“Thank you,” he said, “it means a lot to me.”

Nico still felt anxiety bubble up inside of him at the thought of spending a weekend with Will’s mother but after everything Will had done for him, this was the least he could do in return, especially if it meant a lot to Will.

He just wished it didn’t feel like such a big deal to him.

Will had to return to his own cabin before long (ever since it was confirmed that the two were together, the Apollo cabin had taken to threatening Will in order to ensure he returned back each night) and Nico was left to his own thoughts.

He knew how much Will’s mother meant to him. It wasn’t really school that Will was going home to- it was Naomi Solace. He always spoke so highly of her which just made Nico even more anxious. Normally, he didn’t care what people thought of him. The first time he’d realised he cared about what Will thought of him was when he’d begun to realise that he viewed Will as a little more than just ‘that annoying healer’.

Still, he hadn’t exactly gone out of his way to ensure Will actually liked him. Never before had he felt the need to make a dedicated effort to ensure someone didn‘t dislike him..

It was terrifying.

Nico also had literally no clue how he was supposed to interact with his boyfriend’s mother. The only adults he ever even spoke to were Chiron, Mr D, Hades and occasionally Persephone if he was in the mood for an argument. All of whom were immortal beings- definitely not mortal mothers.

Feeling Cabin 13 growing gradually stuffier as his panic increased, Nico stood up abruptly and decided he needed to take a walk outside to calm his nerves and get some fresh air. It was still half an hour until curfew so luckily, the cleaning Harpies wouldn’t be around to tear his flesh apart just yet.

Instead of wandering to Nico and Will’s usual spot, Nico continued further down until he was sat by the far edge of the canoe lake where few campers ever seemed to go. Nico himself rarely sat by this side of the lake, despite its proximity to the Hades cabin.

If Nico had been hoping for some brooding time to himself, though, he was severely disappointed as a tall, dark figure appeared from the darkness of the trees and made his way to Nico’s side. Nico had recognised him immediately.

“Father,” he greeted, sounding distinctly unimpressed with Hades’s sudden appearance.

“Hello, son. It’s been a while,” Hades commented. Nico looked at him sternly.

“You closed off the Underworld so I couldn’t enter,” he pointed out. Hades chuckled nervously, a sound that seemed utterly strange coming from the Lord of the Underworld.

“That I did. I apologise. It wasn’t to prevent you or Hazel from entering, I assure,” Hades said awkwardly. Nico let out a sigh.

“What is it that you want?” he asked. Whilst Nico knew he saw his Dad far more than other demigods saw their Olympian parents, Hades still only tended to appear when he wanted something from him. Either that or he was going to gift him a skeleton chef to go with his skeleton Chauffeur, Jules-Albert.

“I just wanted to catch up with you, Nico,” Hades said simply. Nico raised an eyebrow.

“That’s unnerving,” he commented. Hades sighed.

“I still can never tell if you’re being sarcastic or not,” he complained. Nico shrugged. He wasn’t entirely sure whether he was or not, himself.

“Anyway,” Hades continued, “the Apollo sprout.”

Nico’s cheeks flushed, “Wait, this is about Will?”

“Oh, that’s his name. I couldn’t remember if it was Bill or Will. Yes. You seem… infatuated with him, correct?” Hades asked. Nico groaned and placed his head in his hands. The last conversation he’d ever wanted to have with his father was about his love life.

“Do you have to talk to me about this?” he asked.

“I’m not allowed to get involved with my son’s personal life?” Hades questioned. Nico nearly willed the ground to open up and swallow him. He was tempted to do it had he not known that Hades would just follow him anyway.

“Fine, yes, I’m happy with him. If you have a problem with it I don’t care,” he snapped. Hades looked almost taken aback.

“I have no problem. In fact, I’m quite relieved. He isn’t Jackson or Grace and he has a good sense of humour,” Hades said in an almost approving tone. Nico’s father’s words suddenly sunk in. How did Hades know that Will had a sense of humour?

“Have you been watching me?” Nico spluttered. If Hades skin hadn’t still been so deathly pale, Nico would have thought he was going red.

“Not exactly. I just like to check up on you sometimes. I noticed an abnormal amount of laughing so wanted to assure you were okay,” Hades explained. Now it was Nico’s turn to go red.

“Yeah, well, he does have a good sense of humour,” he mumbled. Hades nodded thoughtfully.

“Invite him down for dinner,” Hades suggested, “I’d like to meet him personally.”

“Please don’t threaten my boyfriend,” Nico begged, thinking how strange it was to refer to Will as his boyfriend in front of someone else for once.

“I would never. I simply want to get to know him better. If the Apollo sprout is important to you, he should be important to me, too,” Hades stated.

“He can’t eat food from the Underworld, y’know,” Nico added.

Hades glared at him, “Do you take me for a fool, Nico? I am well aware of that.”

“Of course, sorry,” Nico apologised, rolling his eyes, “I’ll have to discuss it with him. He- er- might be a little apprehensive about nipping down to the Underworld just for dinner.”

Hades nodded in understanding and if Nico didn’t know better, he would have said Hades almost looked hurt by his comment.

“I hear you’re going to visit his mortal mother,” he finally added after a moment of silence. Nico groaned again.

“Do you listen in to all of our conversations?” he asked, wondering exactly what his father had overheard.

“No. Just that one. I was planning to pay you a visit but noticed you were preoccupied,” he said. Nico flushed and tried not to think about what Hades had overheard or accidentally observed.

“I don’t know if I’m going to visit her or not, though,” Nico explained, “I’m… nervous.”

“Naturally,” Hades nodded, “my own relationship with Demeter has not been ideal over the years since I married Persephone.”

Nico didn’t point out that there may well be a reason for that. He also didn’t point out that Hades was definitely not helping his nerves calm down.

“Right,” Nico stated, “any helpful advice or were you just here to interrogate me?”

“I just wanted to see that you were happy,” Hades said, “I know it isn’t easy being my son. You deserve a good life.”

Nico had had this sort of conversation with his father before. Last time, he’d thought to himself that there was no way he’d ever be truly happy. Now he felt as though his old self really had been wrong. Life felt pretty great for Nico right now.

“Thanks,” Nico said, allowing a genuine smile to cross his face, “you don’t need to worry. Will does make me pretty happy.”

It felt weird to say so to his dad but it was the truth.

“I can tell,” Hades smiled in response, “I think the Harpies are coming. I should probably let you get back to your cabin.”

Nico nodded and got to his feet again. Hades had already turned around and was walking away back into the darkness.

“Dad,” Nico blurted out on impulse, before his father walked away. Hades turned around in shock. It was the first time Nico had referred to him as anything other than ‘father’ or ‘Hades’. “Thank you for checking up on me,” Nico finished.

Hades looked at him and gave a warm smile, something that looked so foreign on his usually cold and stern face.

With that, Hades vanished into the darkness and Nico was left alone again to clamber back up to his cabin before the cleaning Harpies swooped in to eat him for their dinner.

He’d made his mind up about what he was going to do- he was going to visit Will’s mom. Family was important, after all.

It was the last day of summer before Nico knew it and there was a very melancholic feel around Camp. Whilst some campers never went to school, instead staying on at Camp year-round like Nico planned on doing, there were an awful lot of people leaving for the year, some of them for good.

Percy and Annabeth were the first to say goodbye to Nico.

“We’re going to go to college in New Rome,” Annabeth explained to Nico when they caught him wandering past the big house, “but Percy needs to pass his SATs first.”

“It’s going to be a painful year of studying,” Percy added with a grin. Nico huffed a laugh. He couldn’t remember what going to school was like but from what he’d heard, studying was not a fun activity.

“Yeah, I don’t envy you,” Nico said. Percy shrugged.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back to visit soon. Probably sooner than I want knowing how things tend to go at this place. I don’t doubt that gods will have some new problem that needs fixing soon,” he added.

“Don’t you miss the days when you were told not to go on a quest and snuck your way onto it anyway?” Annabeth asked with a nostalgic sigh.

“I would gladly go back and smack my younger self. What was I thinking?” Percy laughed. Nico could sympathise with that.

“At least you didn’t go crazy and start raising dead spirits,” Nico pointed out. Percy laughed harder.

“True, true,” he said and before the three of them knew it, they were laughing about all the ridiculous trouble and near death experiences they’d had over the years.

Nico had never considered using humour as a coping mechanism considering laughing was something he rarely found himself doing, but as he found himself recounting tales with Percy and Annabeth, he realised the memories didn’t hold quite as much sting as they usually did. Nico absent-mindedly wondered if that had been partly Will’s influence on him.

“Remember the time I gatecrashed my own funeral?” Percy asked Annabeth. She burst into laughter again.

“I was about to go saying all this nice stuff about him and then he just wanders over like it was no big deal,” Annabeth said.

“Oh, Nico, what about that time you came over to my house on my birthday to tell me to take a swim in the Styx but got distracted by cake,” Percy reminded him.

“What was I thinking?” Nico asked with a laugh, “at least the cake was good.”

“Sally’s blue food is the best,” Annabeth agreed as Percy wrapped an arm around both her and Nico, squeezing them into a group hug. Nico reluctantly complied. He didn’t mind it anywhere near as much as he pretended to.

“I’m gonna miss you a lot, Nico. You’d better visit us in New Rome, too,” Percy said, “don’t pretend you don’t know me this time!”

Nico smiled sheepishly, “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Hopefully this time you won’t be losing your memory,” Annabeth scolded as she gently smacked him on the arm.

“I never forgot you, Wise Girl,” Percy said fondly and Nico averted his eyes, already knowing what was about to happen. He scanned the inside of the Big House as he looked away, peering into the infirmary to see if he could spot Will. Will hadn’t said goodbye yet so Nico hoped he didn’t plan on leaving without doing so.

Percy and Annabeth didn’t kiss for long due to Nico’s presence which he was grateful for. He was also glad to notice that he didn’t feel any twinge of jealousy towards Annabeth at all anymore. Percy was just a normal guy to him now. A friend, even.

“I really am sorry for all the trouble I’ve caused you over the years,” Nico apologised. Percy shrugged.

“Don’t sweat it. I’ve caused you trouble, too. Besides, it’s what friends are for,” he grinned, using his knuckle to mess up Nico’s hair as Nico attempted to bat his hand away. Annabeth laughed.

“Look after everyone at Camp for us, Nico,” Annabeth smiled, “I trust you to make sure everything stays orderly.”

“As orderly as Camp Halfblood can get,” Nico pointed out as an appropriately timed fight broke out behind them on the volleyball court between an Ares and an Aphrodite kid.

“Don’t go breaking Will’s heart,” Percy added with a wink. Nico rolled his eyes and flushed red.

“Shut up,” he complained, “I will miss you guys, though. Camp will feel strange without you here.”

Percy and Annabeth smiled so widely at Nico’s admission that he almost regretted it. He regretted it even more when the two engulfed him in another huge hug.

“Goodbye till whenever we next see you, then,” Percy said. Nico nodded.

“Enjoy college,” he greeted. Annabeth smiled.

“Oh, he’s going to love it,” she smirked a little evilly. Nico chuckled and gave them one last wave as the two made their way over to the top of Halfblood Hill where they would undoubtedly be swamped with even more Campers wanting to say goodbye.

Camp really was going to be weird without Percy and Annabeth there. Nico had never really stayed without them there since the time he sent Percy off on the quest his sister died on. All of that felt like aeons ago to him, now.

“It doesn’t seem real, does it?” a familiar voice came from behind Nico. Will had snuck up on him and wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist which he’d usually complain about in such open view of all the camp but it was Will’s last day before he went home for a while and his arms were warm. It wasn’t because Nico actually liked when Will held him like this or anything.

“Percy and Annabeth have just always… been around,” Nico agreed, “I guess I can visit them but it just feels like they’re going away.”

“Jason and Piper are going to New Rome for the year, too, aren’t they?” Will asked. Nico nodded, hoping Will could feel the movement of his head against his chest.

“And you’re gonna be gone. Camp’s going to feel pretty lonely,” Nico pointed out. Will released his arms around Nico and grabbed his shoulders instead, turning him around to face him. His face didn’t look mad but Nico could sense a certain anger behind his eyes.

“That doesn’t give you an excuse to shadow travel off anywhere you like,” Will said, “you’d better still be here when I return each holiday.”

Nico rolled his eyes, “I know, I’ll stay here, I promise. I might go and visit Hazel once or twice but other than that-“

“Good,” Will interrupted him with a sigh of relief, “I think you have some visitors that want to talk to you, though.”

Nico turned around to see where Will was looking. Piper and Jason were stood at the other side of the Big House, observing the scene at a distance. Nico could already tell the two had been spying on them and sent a premature glare in their direction.

“Go on, I’ll wait here,” Will promised with a smirk. Nico nodded at him and made his way over to them.

“So,” Jason started, “this is it for a year.”

“Don’t say that,” Piper accused, “you can still come and visit us. Reyna, Hazel and Frank would want you to visit too.”

“I know,” Nico agreed, “I will do. I hope you both have a good year.”

“I’ll miss you, Nico. Stay safe at camp. We’re only an Iris message away,” Jason reminded him. Nico nodded and felt the beginnings of tears prickling his eyes. He quickly blinked them away but Piper was doing nothing to hide her tears.

“Aww, Neeks,” she sobbed and then threw her arms around him. Nico almost fell back from the impact but slowly embraced Piper back if slightly awkwardly.

“Don’t call me that,” Nico complained but there was no annoyance in his tone. Jason sniffed loudly and Nico glanced over Piper’s shoulder to notice that Jason too was getting teary-eyed. Nico lifted one of his arms and Jason took the invitation, enveloping Nico in a hug too.

As both Piper and Jason were taller than him, he found it difficult to breathe pretty quickly and had to stretch his neck to free his mouth.

“Guys, you’re kind of crushing me,” he spluttered. Jason and Piper released him immediately with apologies rolling off their tongues.

“We will really miss you,” Piper said.

“Yeah,” Jason added, “you’ve changed a lot in just the short space of time we’ve known you. I’m really glad.”

“Well, I think you know who to blame for that,” Nico smirked, throwing a look over his shoulder at where Will, as promised, was still standing.

“Take good care of him,” Piper said with a wink, “have you made up your mind yet?”

Nico took a deep breath in and nodded.

“I know what I need to do,” he said, “and Jason, Will may have helped me but you were the catalyst that set the reaction off. You accepted me when I felt like no one could and I- just- thank you,” Nico managed to stammer out.

Jason looked like he was going to cry again and before Nico knew it, he had been enveloped in yet another hug. Feeling left out, Piper joined in again, squeezing the two boys tightly.

“You really need to stop trying to kill me,” Nico gasped for breath, “There’s still plenty of monsters left to do that.”

Piper and Jason laughed as they relented their tight grip.

“Don’t die whilst we’re gone,” Piper instructed. Nico gave her a wry smile.

“I’ll try not to. Make sure Jason doesn’t get himself killed, too,” Nico said.

“I can look after myself!” Jason complained. Piper laughed and Nico gave a snort.

“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about,” he said dryly. Jason rolled his eyes and pouted before taking Piper’s hand.

“We’d better go and say our goodbyes to Percy and Annabeth before we take off,” Jason said, “we’ll see you soon, Nico.”

Nico lifted a hand in a half-hearted wave.

“Yeah, I’ll see you.”

And with that, he departed and made his way back up the hill to Will. This was his next goodbye and he knew this one would be the hardest even if he’d only be spending a short time away. Luckily, he had until that evening. Whilst most campers left in the afternoon, Will’s mom worked a day shift at the hospital so could only pick him up later on in the day.

“You okay?” Will asked with a concerned look as Nico approached. Nico wiped away any stray tears that may have been remaining at the corner of his eyes.

“Yeah,” he lied, “just going to miss everyone.”

“Aw, you’re such a softy,” Will teased, hugging Nico from the side, “help me clear up in the infirmary before I leave? It needs to pass inspection.”

“You’re the one inspecting it, you nerd,” Nico complained with an eye roll. His complaints ended when Will pecked his cheek and grabbed his hand, pulling Nico inside the Big House.

As soon as they stepped inside, Will switched straight over into Doctor mode, something Nico was pretty used to by then.

“I need all the thermometers back in the tub on the second shelf up and bring me some latex gloves whilst you’re there- someone’s left medical waste on the table,” Will instructed. Nico nodded and turned around to go to the back before adding,

“Is that a shelf I can actually reach this time?” recalling an incident only a week or so ago.

Will raised his eyebrow in response as he turned around with stethoscopes in his hand.

“I doubt you’d complain much if it wasn’t,” he said pointedly. Nico blushed and muttered a quiet ‘Shut up’ before marching into the back.

Nico was pretty sure Will hadn’t been the last person in here because the boxes were a mess. Will was such a perfectionist when it came to organising the infirmary that Nico knew he’d probably need medical attention himself if he came in and saw the state it had been left in.

With a sigh, Nico shoved the thermometers in the box on the second shelf and started work sorting through the other boxes, attempting to return everything to their correct place.

Nico hadn’t remembered about bringing Will the gloves until a pair of hands tickled his waist and caused him to make an embarrassingly high pitched squeal, dropping the packs of gauze he was holding.

“Sorry,” Will chuckled quietly in Nico’s ear, sending a shiver down Nico’s spine, “what’s taking so long?”

Nico picked up the gauze and stood on his tiptoes to put it back in the box before turning around to face Will.

The son of Apollo was stood closer than Nico had realised and his hands were still hovering over Nico’s waist, ready to pull him even closer. Nico’s heart caught in his throat as he felt his breath catch. Will still had an uncanny knack of taking his breath away. It was very infuriating.

“It- mess- decided to sort it,” Nico said intelligently. If he’d been hoping to disguise from Will how much his sudden presence and closeness had affected him, he was doing a pretty lousy job.

“What?” Will asked, having not understood Nico, not surprisingly. Nico took a breath in and tried to remember how to compose comprehensible sentences as he looked up at Will’s blue eyes.

“Someone messed everything up. I was trying to sort it out again because I know you don’t like it disorganised,” Nico finally managed to say without sounding completely stupid.

Will looked down at Nico with a soft smile on his face. Nico was glad that it seemed he’d actually done the right thing.

“Thank you,” Will said quietly, leaning down so that his nose bumped Nico’s gently. Nico’s breath was taken away once again as Will’s hands tightened around his waist. He wondered if there was such thing as dying from spending too long too close to your boyfriend. Nico at least hoped his father would take pity and resurrect him if that did happen.

After what felt like way too long, Will finally tilted his head and captured Nico’s lips. Letting out a sigh, Nico reached up, wound a hand in Will’s hair and pulled the blond against him hungrily. Will was far too much of a tease and Nico wasn’t going to let him get away with it.

Will didn’t seem to be complaining as Nico kissed him back harder, though, instead letting his hands move from Nico’s waist to his back, one of them slipping underneath Nico’s black t-shirt and tracing the bare skin on his spine. Nico shivered at the touch, despite Will’s hands being as warm as always. Will was permanently warm. Nico suspected it was because he was Apollo’s son but he didn’t really care- he only cared about whether those hands were touching him.

Nico pulled back to take a breath for a second but Will had other ideas, chasing Nico’s mouth with his own and pressing their bodies together again. Nico felt his back touch the shelves behind him and he removed his hands from Will’s hair to place them on the shelves and push the two of them off. He hadn’t just spent all that time organising them for Will to ruin it, no matter what his tongue was doing as it slid into Nico’s mouth and elicited a gasp from him.

“Don’t ruin my tidying,” Nico murmured against Will’s lips.

“Nico, shut up and let me kiss you, I don’t care about the tidying,” Will muttered in response, not giving Nico a chance to respond further as he kissed Nico again, the hot press of his lips making Nico finally give in and decide that the shelves really didn’t matter all that much.

He allowed Will to push him back against them this time as the taller boy’s tongue returned to his mouth. Whilst Nico did like to be the one leading the kiss, drawing small noises out of Will and leaving him a blushing mess, he definitely was not about to complain if Will wanted to push him up against a wall and kiss him senseless.

“Nico,” Will moaned lightly, the sound of his name on Will’s lips causing blood to rush straight to Nico’s cheeks and possibly other places he was trying hard to ignore. Nico just pulled Will’s lips back to his.

The sudden sound of a horn caused Nico and Will to jump apart in shock, Nico’s head hitting against the shelf above him and Will’s nose bumping into his a little harder than anticipated.

“Ow,” Nico said, not entirely sure his mouth was capable of forming any more than a sound at that moment anyway.

“I guess it’s time for dinner,” Will said breathlessly, “I can’t believe I didn’t manage to clean the infirmary.”

Nico rolled his eyes at Will’s pout.

“Don’t blame me, I was trying to help. Besides, you’re the inspector so it doesn’t matter,” he shrugged. Will scoffed.

“It’s basic patient hygiene, di Angelo,” he said, sounding scandalised, “and don’t feign innocence, you were being too distracting.”

“I was literally just tidying a cupboard,” Nico pointed out.

“Exactly,” Will teased, draping an arm over Nico’s shoulder as they made their way out of the Big House and to the mess hall, “distracting.”

Nico blushed and rolled his eyes.

“Catch me after dinner- I don’t want to leave without saying goodbye,” Will ordered. Nico nodded in agreement.

“Me neither,” he said. Will gave his shoulder one last squeeze before releasing Nico and going over to the Apollo cabin, now consisting of only Kayla, Austin and Will.

Nico sat himself down at the Big Three table that was feeling even more vacant. Percy and Jason had both left, leaving Nico alone. He hated sitting alone to eat. He never would have admitted it to Percy and Jason but it did really help having them there when they’d first suggested the idea.

When Nico sat alone to eat, it brought back memories. Memories of buying Happy Meals in desperate attempts to speak to his sister. Memories of sitting trapped in a jar, surviving only off pomegranate seeds and thinking that no one was coming to save him- he would die alone.

They weren’t exactly memories Nico wanted to dwell on, especially now that his life was looking up for once, but the scars ran deep and no amount of happiness would ever truly dispel the nightmares and feelings of hopelessness that occasionally threatened to overcome Nico.

Absent-mindedly, Nico wondered if it would be at all possible for him to convince Chiron that he needed to sit with other people to stop his powers from playing up. Maybe Chiron would let him sit with Will if the son of Apollo played his ‘I’m a doctor’ card.

For a second, Nico was tempted to raise skeletons right there and then but thought better of it. Will would be leaving Camp in about an hour, anyway.

Distracted from his own memory with thoughts of Will, Nico happily bit into his pepperoni pizza.

Despite Will’s promise that he would say goodbye to Nico before he left, Nico spotted the son of Apollo leaving his cabin with a packed bag and heading in the direction of Halfblood Hill- not in the direction of the Hades cabin.

Luckily, Nico had been paying attention so muttering to himself in aggravation, Nico shrugged on his aviator jacket to guard against the cool evening breeze and stormed out of his cabin, not caring that the door slammed shut behind him.

Due to Will’s naturally larger strides (curse his long legs), Nico had to jog to catch up and finally reached him just as he arrived at the top of the hill.

“Going somewhere?” Nico asked pointedly. Will jumped at the sound of his voice.

“Ah, Nico!” he gasped, “uh, sorry, I was going to come and say goodbye but, well-“ Will broke off with a shrug and Nico raised an eyebrow at him. With a glance down the hill, he spotted a woman with curly brown hair, blue eyes as clear as Will’s. Her face was smattered with freckles and she wore a smile Nico would recognise anywhere. She was Naomi Solace- unmistakably Will’s mother.

“Oh,” Nico muttered, drawing his attention back to Will. He’d felt a hint of panic rise up inside him at the sight of Naomi accompanied with the disappointment that Will hadn’t intended to say goodbye to him. Nico was going to be spending a weekend with just her and Will way sooner than he was prepared for.

A thought suddenly hit Nico as to why Will hadn’t been going to say goodbye and it was completely and utterly Nico’s fault.

“Oh!” Nico repeated in realisation as he grabbed Will’s arms, “Will, I forgot to tell you- I made up my mind. I want to visit you at the weekend. I mean, if the offer still stands.”

Will’s eyes lit up immediately.

“Why didn’t you just say so, you idiot?” he asked and before Nico could even respond, Will dropped his bags and picked Nico up, spinning him round. Nico had to try hard not to shriek in shock as he grabbed Will’s shoulders to steady himself.

Still laughing, Will placed him back on the ground and hugged him.

“Of course the offer still stands,” Will promised, “do you want to meet my mom now? She’s heard a lot about you through Iris messages.”

Nico didn’t even think before he answered.

“Yeah, sure!” completely forgetting to panic. Will grinned and grabbed Nico’s hand, picking up his bags again and pulling Nico down the hill with him. They were through the magical Mist barrier before Nico knew it and he was faced with the most daunting task of his entire life. Talking to Will’s mother.

“Will!” Naomi Solace squealed as soon as the two demigods stumbled past the magical barrier. Nico didn’t even complain when Will released his hand so he could engulf his mother in a huge hug.

He was easily taller than her, resting his head on top of her’s as he hugged her. Nico guessed she was about the same height as he was.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she said, “you haven’t been overworking yourself, I hope. If you have a single blister on your hand from over-healing then I swear-“

Whatever Naomi Solace had intended to say next was forgotten as she pulled her son in for another hug. Nico couldn’t help but smile slightly as he observed the scene, despite the panic still rising inside him. At least Will would be in good hands away from camp; Nico doubted he needed to worry too much about Will overexerting himself.

Still, if there was a monster-

Nico shook the thought out of his head quickly. Will had always been fine in previous years. He was going to be fine now. His scent wasn’t as strong as Nico, Percy or Jason’s anyway- he wasn’t a son of the Big Three.

“Mom,” Will whined in complaint, pushing her away, “I’m fine, honestly.”

Despite his complaints, Nico knew how much Will had actually missed his mother. He never shut up about it.

Just then, Naomi happened to look up over Will’s shoulder and her eyes connected with Nico’s. He felt his heart rate immediately pick up in fear. She was going to hate him already.

“Will, I think there’s someone you might be forgetting to introduce me to,” Naomi said, raising an eyebrow at her son expectantly in a way Will so often did to Nico whenever he forgot to look after a wound or help out in the hospital. Nico was already starting to realise exactly why Apollo had been so taken with her. She had a lot of similarities to her son.

“Oh!” Will seemed to realise as his eyes shone. He grinned and walked over to Nico again, grabbing his hand and pulling him towards his mother. Nico allowed himself to be pulled and stood there in shock. “Mom, this is Nico.”

“So you’re the guy Will won’t shut up about when he Iris messages me,” Naomi Solace said with a sly smile. Nico felt his cheeks heat up. He was supposed to say something now.

“Um,” Nico started, “it’s nice to meet you. Will talks about you a lot, too.”

“Oh, does he?” Naomi Solace asked, turning to Will.

“Pfft, as if,” Will pretended but his mom just tackled him in another hug.

“You big softie,” she teased, “you do love your old mom after all.”

“Mom, stop, you’re embarrassing me in front of Nico,” Will complained, attempting to flatten his hair again when his mom released him. Nico fought the urge to run his fingers through it. Will’s mother was right there.

“It really is lovely to meet you, though, Nico. I’m really glad Will’s found someone as good to him as you,” Naomi turned to Nico again, still smiling.

“Good to me?” Will huffed. Nico elbowed him.

“Thank you, Miss Solace,” he said, “I do my best to keep him in check.”

“Please, just call me Naomi. Or mom if you want- anything’s fine by me!” Naomi said. Nico thought he would have felt a little bit awkward calling her ‘mom’ but it didn’t seem like she completely hated him so that was a good thing at least. “I don’t know how you manage- he really is a nightmare.”

“Trust me, I know,” Nico smirked, surprised at how easily he was managing to have a conversation. He hadn’t messed up. He could do this.

Will was apparently not as pleased with his achievement.

“Nico! Mom! I didn’t introduce you to each other so you could gang up against me,” he complained.

“You should have expected this, really,” Nico pointed out.

“Honestly, it’s like he doesn’t even know us,” Naomi shook her head in offense.

“Mom!” Will whined.

“Sorry, did you hear something, Nico?” she asked in a sly tone.

“Nothing at all,” Nico agreed with a shake of his head.

“I changed my mind, you’re uninvited this weekend,” Will huffed.

“You agreed to come?” Naomi asked suddenly, turning to Nico excitedly. Nico had never seen anyone look so glad at the news that he was going to be somewhere.

“Oh, um, I-I’d like to if you don’t mind,” Nico stuttered. Naomi grinned.

“Of course I don’t mind! The more the merrier. I’m sure you’ll help me wind up Will, too,” she said.

“I wouldn’t ever pass up the opportunity,” Nico promised. The tenseness of first meeting Naomi Solace was slowly easing away and he felt his shoulders relaxing. He wondered what he’d ever been so worried about. Naomi was lovely and she shone just as brightly as her son. Maybe Will hadn’t received his sunny disposition from his father, after all.

“Right, I’m leaving,” Will huffed, folding his arms stubbornly. Nico nudged him with his hip.

“So I really don’t get a goodbye?” he asked.

“Will, were you really about to leave without even saying goodbye to Nico?” Naomi asked in shock.

“I wasn- no- I just-“ Will stammered.

“Yes,” Nico interjected. Naomi looked at him sternly.

“It’s a good job your boyfriend actually cares about saying goodbye to you, then, isn’t it?” she pointed out. Nico’s cheeks flushed at the words. It felt weird for Will’s own mother to say that. Weird in a not entirely unpleasant way. “Go on, I’ll wait in the car and I promise I won’t look.”

“Mom!” Will protested, “that means you totally will.”

Naomi shrugged her shoulders and took Will’s bag, taking them back to her blue Honda.

“So I’ll see you this weekend,” Nico said after a moment’s silence. Will smiled at him.

“Thank you. I know this isn’t easy for you but you’ve already done such a good job just talking to her. She really likes you,” Will said.

“All I’ve done is insult you,” Nico muttered. Will laughed and put his hand on Nico’s upper arm.

“I know, but you’ve made an effort to find something in common with her and talk about it. You think you’re bad at talking to people but you just did a really good job of it,” he explained. Nico chewed his lower lip as he considered Will’s words. He hadn’t even been thinking about it like that.

“I suppose you’re right,” he conceded, “but I couldn’t have done it if you hadn’t been there.”

“I’ll always be here if you need me,” Will promised in a soft voice, pulling Nico even closer to him.

“Your mom is watching,” Nico reminded Will although he wasn’t really sure he minded, Will’s closeness sending a frenzy of incoherent thoughts scattering around his brain.

“I don’t care,” Will said, his breath dusting over Nico’s lips. Nico didn’t care either as he closed the distance between them, raising himself onto his tiptoes to plant a gentle kiss on Will’s lips.

Will pulled away way sooner than Nico would have liked but it was still enough to leave his head feeling fuzzy and his lips tingling with warmth.

“Goodbye,” Will said.

“Goodbye,” Nico repeated, releasing Will’s top from where he’d grabbed hold of it to kiss him. Will smiled softly as he trailed his hand along Nico’s arm, releasing it, before walking away towards where Naomi Solace was waiting for him in the car. Nico smiled and waved as he watched Will go before turning around and heading back through the magical border and up Halfblood Hill.

He only had to wait until weekend.

[garecc]

The Hidden Oracle+1

Chapter 11

Chiron the centaur / Meg eats final oreo / I wanted it though

Meg’s eyes just about bugged out of her head when she saw Chiron. “He- He really is a centaur!”

“How observant of you Meg. Do we assume him having the lower body of a horse is what gave you that startling realization?” I joked. Meg glared at me.  

“Shut up!” Meg snapped.

My mouth snapped shut against my will, I found myself unable to speak. How to describe it.. I felt like my voice just stopped, and my jaw locked into place.. I can't describe it. I glanced at Apollo helplessly, he took a deep breath before turning to Meg.

“Meg,” He sounded annoyed. “Shut up, is, in fact, a direct order. So unless you want my sister to be mute for the foreseeable future, I’d advise you to allow her to speak.” Apollo’s voice was clipped and furious.

Meg nodded, a surprised look in her eyes.

“Um- You can speak, Artemis” I took a deep breath, Apollo looked something between furious and pained..

“Thank you. Never do that again.” I massaged my jaw, wincing. I turned to Chiron. “ Anyway. Chiron, This is me and Apollo’s new.. master. Meg. Meg McCaffrey.”

He looked amused. Does he find this funny?!

“You were saying something about disappearances? Apologies for taking forever to get here.. We had a slight issue with the fact that I’m hurt.” Apollo muttered sheepishly.

Chiron’s tail flicked as he glanced between us, last I had seen Chiron he had looked much younger, his hair looked greyer and he definitely didn't have so many wrinkles. Whatever is happening must be taking its toll on him.

“Welcome, Meg.” He attempted to sound friendly, and surprisingly, he managed. A feat considering the havoc she has been causing all day.

“I understand you showed great bravery in the woods. You and Artemis got Apollo here in one piece, despite the many dangers you made it. I’m glad to have you at Camp Half-Blood.”

“I helped” I muttered.

Meg snorted. “No, you were crying and panicking and generally freaking out. I got you two here, you just helped carry him.”

Apollo looked concerned, I forced a smile.

“And thanks,” Meg said. “Also! You’re really tall. Don’t you hit your head on light fixtures?”

Why? How was that relevant? At All?

Chiron chuckled. “Sometimes.” Wow. Just… just wow . “If I want to be closer to human size, I have a magical wheelchair that allows me to compact my lower half into…Actually, that’s not important now.”

“Disappearances,” Apollo repeated. “Please continue.”

“What has disappeared?” I added.

“Not what, but who,” Chiron said. Oh shit. “Let’s talk inside. Will, Nico, could you please tell the other campers we’ll gather for dinner in one hour? I’ll give everyone an update then. In the meantime, no one should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system.”

“Understood.” Will looked at Nico. “Will you be my buddy?”

“You are a dork,” Nico announced.

The two of them strolled off bickering.

If you’re wondering how I saw them as a couple? I couldn't care less. No matter their gender, I’ve sworn off romance of all forms, I know what your thinking, No . Orion does not count. That was one time and resulted in one of the worst mistakes of my life. No , I'm not elaborating.

Chiron led us to the living room, There were two couches arranged in a V facing towards a stone fireplace. Above the mantel, a stuffed leopard head was snoring. Probably Dio’s work.

I steered Apollo to the couches, the trek to the big house had clearly taken it out of him.  

He didn't even try to protest when I practically pushed him onto one.

“Lie down ‘Pollo, you look like you're about to fall over.” I plopped down on the couch next to him. He tried to look annoyed but he was smiling.

“Move over, your big ass is taking up the entire couch!” He shoved me over. I fell sideways, I hadn't been expecting him to push me.

“Apollo!” I was laughing too hard to even pretend to be offended. My eyes were watering and I was smiling so wide my cheeks were beginning to hurt, Apollo maneuvered into a more comfortable position as I got ahold of myself, I could hardly remember the last time I laughed like that. Apollo had his head rested on my lap, I felt a smile tugging at my lips.

Meg was throwing things at Seymour the leopard head, trying to wake him up, while Chiron got into his wheelchair. I couldn't care less about what they were doing.

At least, I didn't care, not until I glanced at Chiron. His legs were… very feminine. (Fishnet stockings? Really?) “Chiron- Your er.. Legs” I stared at them. They did not mesh with his professor aesthetic.  

Chiron glanced down and sighed.

“Let me guess… The Stoll brothers? Connor and Travis?” Apollo guessed. “I've heard about them from Hermes.”

“No, I doubt it.” Chiron reached for a blanket from a nearby basket and covered his “Legs”. “Connor has mellowed ever since Travis left for college last autumn.”

“I poked that Connor guy in the eye.”

Chiron winced. “That’s nice, dear….At any rate, we have Julia Feingold and Alice Miyazawa now. They have taken up pranking duty. You’ll meet them soon enough.” Those girls in the Hermes cabin doorway came to mind. The ones who were giggling at us.

Meg looked over from playing on the Pac-man machine. When had she even gone over there?

Meg stepped away from the Pac-man game, it entertained her for a full twenty seconds. Apollo spoke up when she began to climb on the walls. Literally. She was scaling it by the grapevines. “Meg, Why don't you go watch the orientation video while we talk?” Apollo asked, pleaded, something along those lines.

I actually wouldn't mind watching it myself, if only to see Apollo’s normal form. It took him ages to make that film. Guess who had to man the camera? Me.

“I know plenty,” she said. Welp, we’re stuck with her. “I talked to the campers while you were passed out. ‘Safe place for modern demigods.’ Blah, blah, blah.”

“Oh, but the film is very good,” He pleaded. “I shot it on a tight budget in the 1950s-”

I cleared my throat. “You shot it?” I asked rhetorically. “Because I remember it differently. Didn’t you come barging into my camp because you broke-”

“Shhh” He reached up and covered my mouth. “As I was saying-” I bit his hand. “ARTEMIS!”

“Don't cover my mouth. How many times have we gone over this.”

He squinted at me. “ As I was saying, some of the camera work was revolutionary. You should really—”

The grapevine gave out from her weight, and Meg crashed to the floor she shot up directly after, her eyes honing in on a platter of cookies. “Are those free?”

Meg. Meg, it's a plate of cookies. Why wouldn't they be free? “Yes, child,” Chiron said. “Bring the tea as well, would you?”

Meg laid down on the couch beside ours, her legs hanging over the armrest. She was holding something like 8 cookies in one hand and was eating them religiously. Throwing crumbs and Seymour when Chiron wasn't looking.

I helped Apollo into a sitting position as Chiron poured us cups of tea. “I’m sorry Mr. D is not here to welcome you.”

“Mr. Dee?” Meg asked.

“Dionysus,” Apollo explained. “The god of wine. Also the director of this camp.”

Chiron handed Apollo his tea. “After the battle with Gaea, I thought Mr. D might return to camp, but he never did. I hope he’s alright.” He passed me my tea.

The centaur looked at us expectantly, Apollo shrugged and I tried to think of where Dio was. “Apollo here can't remember anything from the last six months.. As for me, I was to busy trying to appeal his- our punishment. I guess I was hoping for you to fill us in.” And my memories are startling blurry. Why couldn't I recall where Dio is?

Chiron did a poor job hiding his disappointment. “I see….”

I quickly realized he was hoping that we could assist him, he was looking for advice. I mean, he shouldn't have expected much, especially considering that we arrived beat up, soaking wet and half dead. I mean, just look at us. Bruised, beaten, cold, mortal. Hell, Apollo still looks like a gust of wind could knock him over. I might look the same, forgive me but I haven't looked in a mirror recently.

In a strange way, Chiron looking at us for advice was a little overwhelming. As a goddess, lesser beings relied on me, but now? The idea of people begging and praying for me to assist them felt a tad terrifying.

“So Chiron, what's going on? You look distressed.”

“Like Cassandra when Troy was falling,” Apollo grumbled. I would have elbowed him if not for the fact I feared hurting him.

Chiron didn't comment on his comparison, he cupped his hands around his tea.

“You know that during the war with Gaea, the Oracle of Delphi stopped receiving prophecies. In fact, all known methods of divining the future suddenly failed.” “Because the original cave of Delphi was retaken,” Apollo said with a sigh.

“Not his fault,” I said immediately. Apollo glanced at me warningly, like Do not have a repeat of earlier.

Chiron raised an eyebrow.

Meg threw a chocolate chip at Seymour the leopard’s nose. It bounced off. “Oracle of Delphi. Percy mentioned that.”

“Percy Jackson?” Chiron sat up. “Percy was with you?”

“For a time,” Apollo replied.

“There were some monsters-” Chiron looked concerned. “No, he did not die, don't think like that, he just got a head cold. Nosoi are nasty things.”

“Basically, to sum it up quickly, Artemis saved my life,” Apollo glanced at me pointedly. “Meg used fruit as missiles, Yes Meg, that was you, and Percy also saved our lives with his water bending abilities, and-”

“A demon fruit toddler devoured the Nosoi in the end” I Interrupted.

“A…. Demon fruit toddler..?” Chiron inquired

“His name is peaches.” Meg cut in. “I think Percy called him a carp-oy.”

“Karpoi” I corrected.

“Whatever.”

“Anyway, Percy said he would drive up here over the weekend if he could.”

Chiron looked disappointed. Was Percy that much more pleasant than us?

“At any rate,” he continued, “we hoped that once the war was over, the Oracle might start working again. When it did not…Rachel became concerned.”

“Who’s Rachel?” Meg asked.

“Rachel Dare,” Apollo said. “The Oracle.”

“Thought the Oracle was a place.”

“It is.”

“Then Rachel is a place, and she stopped working?”

Apollo groaned, then sipped his tea.

“The original Delphi was a place in Greece,” Apollo told her. “A cavern filled with volcanic fumes, where people would come to receive guidance from my priestess, the Pythia.”

“Pythia.” Meg giggled. “That’s a funny word.”

“Yes. Ha-ha. So the Oracle is both a place and a person. When the Greek gods relocated to America back in…what was it, Chiron, 1860?”

Chiron seesawed his hand. “More or less.”

“18...1856 I think it was” I answered quietly

“I brought the Oracle here to continue speaking prophecies on my behalf. The power has passed down from priestess to priestess over the years. Rachel Dare is the present Oracle.”

Meg grabbed the only Oreo, the cookie I wanted.

“Mm-kay. Is it too late to watch that movie?”

“Yes,” He snapped. “Now, the way I gained possession of the Oracle of Delphi in the first place was by killing this monster called Python who lived in the depths of the cavern.”

Oh.

I have to feign indifference. How does one pretend not to know that their brother’s mortal enemy nearly defeated him and that he’s terrified of the snake, I have no idea. I made my best slightly worried face.

“A python like the snake?” Meg asked.

“Yes and no. The snake species is named after Python the monster, who is also rather snaky, but who is much bigger and scarier and devours small girls who talk too much"

"That's cold,” I muttered, sipping my tea.

“At any rate, last August, while I was…indisposed-”

I coughed.

Apollo sighed. “While I was stuck on Delphi, my ancient foe Python was released from Tartarus. He reclaimed the cave of Delphi. That’s why the Oracle stopped working.”

“But if the Oracle is in America now, why does it matter if some snake monster takes over its old cave?”

“It’s too much to explain,” Apollo said. “You’ll just have to—”

“Meg, The original site of the Oracle is like the deepest taproot of a tree. The branches and leaves of prophecy may extend across the world, and Rachel Dare may be our loftiest branch, but if the taproot is strangled, the whole tree is endangered. With Python back in residence at his old lair, the spirit of the Oracle has been completely blocked.”

“Oh.” Meg made a face at Apollo. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

Apollo looked livid, I set my hand over his. Chiron refilled his teacup.

“The larger problem,” Chiron said, “is that we have no other source of prophecies.”

“Who cares?” Meg asked. “So you don’t know the future. Nobody knows the future.”

She.. really shouldn't have said that.

“Who cares?!” Apollo shouted. “Meg McCaffrey, prophecies are the catalysts for every important event—every quest or battle, disaster or miracle, birth or death. Prophecies don’t simply foretell the future. They shape it! They allow the future to happen.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Apollo. She’s 12.”

He grunted in response.

Chiron cleared his throat. “Imagine prophecies are flower seeds. With the right seeds, you can grow any garden you desire. Without seeds, no growth is possible.”

“Oh.” Meg nodded. “That would suck.”

“So where is Rachel Dare?” Apollo asked, forcing himself to sound calm “Perhaps if I spoke with her…?”

Chiron set down his tea. “Rachel planned to visit us during her winter vacation, but she never did. It might not mean anything….”

Apollo leaned forward. From the little I've heard of Rachel, it wasn’t like her not to show up at all.

“Or?” Apollo asked.

“Or it might be part of the larger problem,” Chiron said. “Prophecies are not the only things that have failed. Travel and communication have become difficult in the last few months. We haven’t heard from our friends at Camp Jupiter in weeks. No new demigods have arrived. Satyrs aren’t reporting from the field. Iris messages no longer work.”

“Iris what?” Meg asked.

“Two-way visions,” I explained. “Demigods throw a drachma into a rainbow as an offering the rainbow goddess, Iris.”  

“Iris has always been flighty….” Apollo murmured.

“Except that normal human communications are also on the fritz,” Chiron said. “Of course, phones have always been dangerous for demigods—”

“Yeah, they attract monsters,” Meg agreed. “I haven’t used a phone in forever.”

“A wise move,” Chiron said. “But recently our phones have stopped working altogether. Mobile, landline, Internet…it doesn’t seem to matter. Even the archaic form of communication known as e-mail is strangely unreliable. The messages simply don’t arrive.”

“Did you look in the junk folder?” Apollo offered.  

“I fear the problem is more complicated,” Chiron said. “We have no communication with the outside world. We are alone and understaffed. You are the first newcomers in almost two months.”

“Huh. I mean.. I’d assume my relatives have more children out there. But who knows, the titan war sent the population of demigods lower than it's been in generations."

Apollo frowned. “Percy Jackson mentioned nothing of this.”

“I doubt Percy is even aware,” Chiron said. “He’s been busy with school. Winter is normally our quietest time. For a while, I was able to convince myself that the communication failures were nothing but an inconvenient happenstance. Then the disappearances started.”

In the fireplace, a log slipped from the andiron and into the fire. Beside me Apollo practically jumped out of his seat, tea spilled from his cup into his lap. He visibly deflated as he weakly attempted to brush the drops off. A pointless endeavor.

“Oh dear...” I murmured, standing up to fetch Apollo a napkin, then I realized I didn't know where any were. “Do you have any napkins? Paper towel?”

“Yes, paper towel. Around the corner on the counter.”

I had.. A difficult time finding the paper towel, but I managed. I may or may not have required more information from Chiron. But I managed, bringing a few back to Apollo, who was trying to ignore Megs snickering. “Here”

“Thank you.” He murmured, fervently attempted to dry his pants.

“Don't mind me” He grit out. “Please continue”

“Alright.. Three demigods have gone missing in the last month Chiron said. “First it was Cecil Markowitz from the Hermes cabin, One morning his bunk was simply empty. He didn’t say anything about wanting to leave. No one saw him go. And in the past few weeks, no one has seen or heard from him.

“Children of Hermes do tend to sneak around,” Apollo interjected.

“At first, that’s what we thought,” said Chiron. “But a week later, Ellis Wakefield disappeared from the Ares cabin. Same story: empty bunk, no signs that he had either left on his own or was…ah, taken. Ellis was an impetuous young man. It was conceivable he might have charged off on some ill-advised adventure, but it made me uneasy. Then this morning we realized a third camper had vanished: Miranda Gardiner, head of the Demeter cabin. That was the worst news of all.”

Meg swung her feet off the armrest. “Why is that the worst?”

“Miranda is one of our senior counselors,” Chiron explained. “She would never leave on her own without notice. She is too smart to be tricked away from camp and too powerful to be forced. Yet something happened to her…something I can’t explain.”

The old centaur turned to face us, a haunted look in his eyes. “Something is very wrong Letoides, These problems may not be as alarming as the rise of Kronos or the awakening of Gaea, but in a way, I find them even more unsettling, because I have never seen anything like this before.”

Apollo seemed to be lost in thought. “These demigods…” He said. “Before they disappeared, did they act unusual in any way? Did they report…hearing things?”

Chiron raised an eyebrow.  “Not that I am aware of. Why?”

I turned to face him, he never did say what happened in the woods.

He seemed reluctant to say more, I understood where he was coming from. Causing a panic was a bad idea. Chiron studied us.

“Nevermind. Our first priority should be helping us regain our divinity. Then we can assist with other problems.”

I couldn't say I didn't agree, but we would be a mortal at least a year. “Apollo. You know these punishments last a year. There isn't much point in trying to sway Father.”

Chiron stroked his beard. “Artemis is correct, but on the other hand,  what if the problems are connected, my friends? What if the only way to restore you both to Olympus is by reclaiming the Oracle of Delphi, thus freeing the power of prophecy? What if Delphi is the key to it all?”

That… made sense. Python controlled Delphi. Meaning we had to kill the serpent. Meaning many things that I will think about later.

“In our present state, that’s impossible.” I pointed at Meg. “Right now, our job is to serve this demigod, probably for a year, as Artie pointed out. After I’ve done whatever tasks he assigns me, Zeus will judge if our sentence has been served, and we can once again reign immortal.”

Meg pulled apart a Fig Newton. Why? I couldn't tell you.Those are the best cookies.. Eat them normally child. “I could order you to go to this Delphi place.”

“No!” Apollo’s voice cracked mid-shriek. “You should assign us easy tasks—like starting a rock band, or just hanging out. Yes, hanging out is good.”

I glared at Meg, Strike one. I reached over and put a hand on his shoulder. “Meg. We are currently in no shape to fight anything. Much less get to Delphi"

Meg looked unconvinced. “You could take a plane”

Apollo stiffened and I laughed humorlessly. “You mean get thrown from the sky by our father so we die in the flaming wreckage of a plane. No.” Chiron glanced at me curiously. I ignored him.

“...well, Hanging out isn't a task.” Meg resorted.

“It is if you do it right. Camp Half-Blood can protect us while we hang out. After our year of servitude is up, we’ll become immortal again. Then we can talk about how to restore Delphi.” Apollo argued.

But I knew immediately after he’d order some demigods to do it for him, and Zeus wouldn’t like that.

“Apollo,” I sighed. “We may not have a year.”

“What do you mean?” He questioned.

“If demigods keep disappearing, the strength of camp weakens, and then they can't protect us. Besides, you are far from helpless.”

“I’m mortal ” He responded.

“I’m mortal.” I repeated, gesturing to myself. “‘Pollo, we are both mortal, we’re in this mess together,”

Apollo gestured angrily. “Artie we can die-”

“and! Apollo, Delphi IS your responsibility.” I added.

Chiron nodded thoughtfully.

Apollo groaned and put his head in his hands. Even he can't argue with logic. “Why us?” He asked rhetorically. “ I didn't open the doors of breath and let Python out! Zeus’s bad judgment got us in this mess in the first place!”

“Apollo..”

“When the giants started to wake, I drew up a very clear Twenty-Point Plan of Action to Protect Apollo and Also You Other Gods, but he didn’t even read it!”

“Yes. I do remember. ‘Pollo. You refused to let me edit.. But, to be honest, your plan was better than Zeus’s ‘wait till the last minute plan’.”

“Thank you.”

Meg tossed half of her cookie at Seymour’s head. “I still think it’s your fault. Hey, look! He’s awake!” Meg spoke in a way that made it sound like the Leopard had woken up in his own, was like he wasn't nailed in the eye with a Fig Newton.

His fault? I bristled at her statement because this so wasn’t his fault. Before I could argue Apollo just looked at me and shook his head. His message was clear. It's not worth it.

“RARR,” Seymour complained.

I felt the same.

Chiron wheeled his chair back from the table. “My dear, in that jar on the mantel, you’ll find some Snausages. Why don’t you feed him dinner? The twins and I will wait on the porch.”

~0~

I helped Apollo to his feet, a task in it'self. He didn't fall like earlier, thank the gods, but he swayed for a moment, almost falling, he steadied himself on the back of the couch.

Chiron looked wary.

“Do you think you can walk?” I asked quietly, he nodded quickly, staggering into a standing position. Once we reached the porch, Apollo started leaned on the railing heavily.

Chiron turned his wheelchair to face us. “She’s an interesting demigod.”

“Interesting is such a nonjudgmental term,” Apollo stated.

I smiled weakly.

“She really summoned a karpos?” Chiron

“Well…the spirit appeared when she was in trouble. Whether she consciously summoned it, I don’t know” Apollo replied.

Chiron scratched his beard. “I have not seen a demigod with the power to summon grain spirits in a very long time. You know what it means?”

Apollo’s legs began to tremble. I immediately took a step closer to him. “I have my suspicions. I’m trying to stay positive.” He muttered.

“She guided you two of the woods,” Chiron noted. “Without her—”

“Artemis would have gotten me out.” He interrupted, looking at Chiron.

“Apollo-” I attempted to speak.

“You would have gotten us out, Artie. I trust you.”  He replied I felt my lip twitch upward.

Chiron chuckled. I turned to him. He had this.. Look in his eyes. A look I've seen mirrored in my previous lieutenant’s eyes as she looked over recruit's. The look of someone scanning for new talent, I’d never imagined someone would look at me like that. It felt.. Objectifying.

“Tell me,” Chiron looked at Apollo, “what did you hear in the woods?”

Apollo froze, he laughed dryly. “I- well.. When I was in the woods.. There was a distinctly feminine voice.. And she was.. Screaming. Screaming from inside my head, I think. You couldn't hear it… Screaming stuff about fires and finding her and-” his voice was trembling. “She said- I'm quoting here- “The sun's fall, the final verse” and-” His voice broke, I reached over and grabbed his hand.

“I won't let you die,” I said quietly. “I’ll continue with the dream, okay?”

“That.. That would be nice” He looked out of it, his eyes on the ground. I squeezed his hand, hoping I was reassuring. I'm not going to let him die.

“When.. When I took a nap in the cabin while Apollo was unconscious, we shared a dream. In the dream we were in the sun chariot, a lady was there. She.. Looked like a queen. Not Hera. Hera doesn't smile. She was talking about following the voices and finding some gates.” I said. “Apollo you said something about a prophecy didn't you?”

“Uh- Yeah. I just- I don't know what I meant by that…”

“That's fine ‘Pollo.  After that, she disappeared and the Chariot went into bus form. There was this… man in the back. I don't know why but.. He’s bad news. I know he is. The chariot was in a death spiral and he said something about burning down an Oracle. He was laughing.” Apollo’s grip on my hand tightened as I spoke.

Chiron’s hands curled into his lap blanket. He looked about as worried as it is possible for a man to look while wearing fishnet stockings.

“We will have to warn the campers to stay away from the forest,” he decided. “I do not understand what is happening, but I still maintain it must be connected to Delphi, and your present…ah, situation. The Oracle must be liberated from the monster Python. We must find a way.”

I translated that easily enough: Apollo and I must find a way.

Chiron smiled weakly at us.

“Come, come, Apollo,” he said. “You have done it before. Perhaps you are not a god now, but the first time you killed Python it was no challenge at all! Hundreds of storybooks have praised the way you easily slew your enemy.”

I winced. The biggest lie my brother has ever told. Apollo glanced at me curiously.

“Yes,” He muttered. “Hundreds of storybooks.”

As I've said before, Python was not an easy fight for my brother. I saw the aftermath. He doesn't know I know how badly he was injured, but he’s had nightmares about the Serpent forever. My brother told everyone he killed it quickly, called out the serpent, and BAM! A dead snake, Apollo became lord of Delphi, and everyone was happy. From the bit's I've heard, and what I've seen, Python was no pushover. I doubted we could even pose a threat without our divine powers, the ability to teleport and our bows. We would die in mere minutes.

What kind of chance would we have as a sixteen-year-old mortals? We are not going to charge off to Greece and get ourselves killed.

Apollo looked frustrated, anxious, and angry. He looked like he was going to speak but before he could speak a conch horn in the distance.

“That means dinner.” The centaur forced a smile. “We will talk more later, eh? For now, let’s celebrate your arrival.”

[FIRST]

[PREVIOUS]

[NEXT]

[con-error-fusion]

Concept

After returning from tartarus and the whole war and shiz, on realizing percy has acute ptsd (idk if that’s a thing for humans, but assuming the effects of nectar and ambrosia and demigods’ natural affinity to quick healing… also Hestia helps coz she’s really into mental health these days ok let’s use our imagination shhh). Everybody is pretty concerned, but Annabeth is worried sick coz she can see he’s not sleeping well and she can’t spend enough time with him what with college and moving and Magnus. So one day she decides to clear her whole schedule to do something with him (nothing like that you dirty minded freakos) but she can’t really think of something special enough. Nico notices and (because of the nagging voice of will in his head telling him to “SHOW [his] niceness coz nobody’s falling for the stone heart emo persona anymore, hun”) asks her what’s wrong and she tells him and he says yeah he’s worried too and stuff. 

Then he goes “Hey, so like… yeah, um… remember when I had a crush on Percy?” Annabeth sees his face and just bursts out laughing *oh he’s so smol and awkward*

“Yeah, go on.”

“Well, most people don’t know this… But I’m actually a lot into music and-”

“Everybody knows, Nico. What with your exquisite collection of band shirts. I’m quite jealous actually, how do you know so much music? Because there’s hardly any music ‘shops’ and stuff that’s not littered with unsafe amounts of radio and other waves.”

“Ah, well… Since I spent most of my time alone, I spent much of it collecting vinyls and cassettes. Visiting thrift shops and the sort. And I have some contacts.”

“Yeah, Mrs. O’Leary, lonely ghosts, and old women that run thrift shops.”, Will speaks up, leaning on a tree trunk nearby, with a smug smile.

“Hahaha! Hello, Will.”

“Will! Since when have you been standing there?!”

Will gives her a toothed smile, ignoring Nico, “So let’s go check out the hardcore Mr. Ghost King’s vinyl collection, then.” And before Nico can finish rolling his eyes, Will is leading the way with long excited strides, chattering away with a glint of pride that Nico knows is for his geek ass. He smiles to himself and follows them to his cabin. 

The dark room is not much different from what Annabeth was expecting, but it still surprises her. It’s different yet expectable. The cabin is big and cool, and just bright enough to see the colours of the numerous things in the room. There’s really no one way of describing the furniture, forget the room. There was a small, slightly worn out, black leather couch in a corner near the window covered with blinds that were covered in graffiti, half open to let some light in. The two walls next to the couch served as support for stacks of precariously placed books and papers. There were three low shelves/coffee tables overflowing with mythomagic and other cards and board games. A bigger shelf placed against the opposite corner held a grand gramophone with neatly organized vinyles in rows in glass cabinets above and below it. The floor was littered with McDonalds wrappers and Coke- zero bottles (yeah, Hermes sells his fake Coke as real Coke now to mortals. That guy… SMH). Placed on the ground near the glass cabinet is a Casio cassette player and many old-school rectangular lunch boxes full of hand labelled cassettes. The doormat in the room (yes, a doormat at the entrance of the cabin. Inside it.) is a cut out from a lush carpet. Cozy blankets and thin quilts are also strewn on the floor near the walls, a thick, single queen sized mattress on the left wall, just before the window. It takes Annabeth a while to take in all of this.

“Yeah this is why I didn’t want to show you my room. Please, don’t say anything.”

“BUT NIC- ”

“No. Let’s get back to Percy, shall we?”, Nico interrupts, successfully shutting her up, a feat in itself.

“Oh. Yeah. How did we even end up here? We were talking about Percy…”

“Yeah well, i told you about my music because, well…”, Nico eyes Will, gingerly framing his next words. “When I used to… like… Percy-” 

“Oh for the sake of gods, I don’t care just say it already!”, Will remarks, rolling his eyes. 

Nico quickly takes out a white square envelope from the the upper shelf and plays the song. “Yeah so I had a song… Which made me think of him. I think I want you to have it. It’s by this great band called Coldplay, relatively new. I think you should dedicate it to him.

“Okay I know, all this build up to tell you of a song…”

“I think it’s a great idea. Music speaks volumes in a way nothing else can…”, Will says, his head resting on Nico’s shoulder, eyes closed.

Annabeth agrees, “That sounds so good, Nico. It;s so Percy. But where, how and when do we do whatever it is we’re doing?”

“I know just the thing.”, Will speaks up, still in the same position, just with one eye open and a wide, toothy grin.

“Nico has a karaoke machine?”, Percy inquires on their way over to the Hades cabin that evening.

“Nah, they borrowed it from the apollo cabin for tonight.”

Percy wasn’t surprised at seeing the cabin, he was surprised my not much these days, and Will, Frank, Hazel and a grunting Nico did a pretty good job cleaning up the place too. 

The demigods shared laughs together after gods knew how long and drank kool-aid and coke zero, each from a different kind of cup, and fries and doritos they bought from the Hermes cabin while they sand their hearts out. As the night approached its end, Annabeth dedicates this song to Percy and he tears up a bit. 

the nights concludes with them and others slow dancing to this song and other songs, courtesy of DJ Di Angelo who himself ended up getting pulled under the table by a certain Will Solace.

Piper has several framed copies of the photoset of them being caught red handed (and red faced) snogging and flustered under the sound desk.

[weepingcoffeestudentfromhell]

Feel my wrath and extreme self doubt

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:

Feel my wrath and extreme self doubt

Catherine's Pov.

Another month passed with no news from Connor or Cedar. Even when Chiron went to check up on how they were doing, they never answered or responded to any attempt of interaction.

Truthfully that made me a little scared and less upset, but it had already been two months, so I decided to trust that Connor and Cedar could take care of themselves and I didn't need to worry over them as much as I had been.

Anna still stayed at the school over spring break and I felt a little jealous at the fact that she got to finish the year at our school and I had to stay here just because of my existence. Still, I understood where Chiron was coming from and how dangerous it still was for me out there, but I felt like I was ready to get back out there and try to live a half normal life again.

At least I loved it here and it was reasonably less lonely now that Percy was back here. He had showed up the next day after he messaged me and Tyson was a bit upset when he was called back to Poseidon's palace for more work and had to leave before Percy showed up.

Nico also visited more often now and whenever he came to camp we would always find a way to spar with each other. So far the score was Nico-4 and Catherine-6 and I admit I was a little proud every time he lost to me.

Yes, feel the pain of my wrath and extreme self-doubt. . .

He also sat with Percy and I at the Poseidon table so he wouldn't have to be alone, and he was noticeably happier. I still can't believe people were afraid of him or thought of him as creepy. Sure he was antisocial and had one hell of a glare, but other than that I saw a scarred kid who just needed to be accepted.

Hey look at that, I made a friend and I'm not lonely anymore, good job Catherine.

>>>>>

Later on Percy and I were hanging out before the campfire, playing around and sparing some out in the strawberry fields.

"Good." Percy said slightly out of breath when I warred off another attack from him and I was proud to see him at least a little exerted from keeping me away. "Now catch the water."

He sent a quick streak of water my way and I concentrated as hard as I could, lifting my hands and willing it to stop and shoot back at him. As it got closer and closer I became less and less confident and just when it looked like it stalled in its travel, it continued and piled onto my head.

"Ah Hades." I sputtered and threw my now wet hair up into a ponytail, wiping my face with my dark blue sweater sleeve. "I really thought I had that one."

"That's the thing." Percy said, a tad bit of disappointment in his voice but he still gave me a reassuring smile. "You're still thinking too much. Stop and just feel the water moving, feel its energy and try to match it with your own, only then will it listen to your thoughts."

"Gods Percy, you sound like every Chinese master cliche ever." I laughed and he rolled his eyes before lifting Riptide once more.

"Again." He said and I sighed, lifting Tiderasier to match his stance.

"Can't we take a small break." I complained and smiled at him angelically. "We can go get some leftover cookies that I hid under my bed."

He seemed at a struggle with his choices and just when he was about to answer, he was interrupted by the sound of three loud horns.

We both flinched and looked at each other, wondering the same thing.

What the Hades was happening.

We ran back to the center of camp and saw a bunch of kids heading down to the beach at top speed. Just when I was about to ask someone what was wrong, Lacey from the Aphrodite Cabin came running by and stopped when she saw Percy and I's confused faces.

"Connor and Cedar are back with the new demigod." She said quickly and I felt my heart rate pick up immediately. "But they were followed by some monsters and went around to the beach to get away from them, but they got in. Come on."

Without a second shot I started running towards the beach and when I got there I felt a little woozy.

Cedar was off to one side, passed out on the ground and barely breathing. Connor stood in front of a girl whom I assumed was the demigod. He had a deep gash in his side and blood was seeping through his shirt quickly as he fought off three hellhounds with just his small dagger.

He was weak and soon enough his arm dropped as he stumbled and the hellhounds started closing in on them again. Percy and I both sprung into action at that.

I went in front of Connor and the girl, lifting my sword threateningly as Percy went behind the monsters to keep them there. The one closest to me growled and snapped at me and I responded by slashing my sword across his nose, setting them all off at once.

Two came at Percy and he kept up with them while the other one I had slashed was quickly trying to take a bite out of my side, but I slashed and cut anytime he got close to me.

Just when I was about to finish mine off, there was a howl and another hellhound popped up next to this one. I then looked up and saw two other hellhounds in the crowd of kids, holding them back and keeping them busy.

I looked up to see Percy slightly strangling as one clawed at his arm and he was knocked over, thankfully not hurt because of his Achilles blessing. That seemed to be the last straw for him and he raised his hand, a tall stream of water beginning to form in the water, but before he could hit the beast, one of them came and wacked him over harshly, his body hitting a tree and him falling limp.

I was terrified.

Percy, Cedar, and Connor were all knocked out, There was no sign of Mr. D or Chiron, and everyone was slowly getting over powered by all the hellhounds attacking.

I guess seeing my camp being attacked and all my friends, family being hurt badly put something in me. Next thing I now there is a heavy, pulling feeling in my gut and I raised my hands, watching in almost shock as a giant tidal wave rose above all of us. I let out a loud scream as I threw my hands and the water crashed into all the hellhounds, surprisingly listening to me and weaving around the campers, only hitting the monsters and sending them all back to where they came from.

I stood there frozen as water trailed around my feet and slowly moved back into the sea. Everyone else was also frozen, staring at me with wide eyes and opened mouths. I almost wanted to laugh at their faces but I was still in shock.

The only thing that got me out of my trance was the tight gasp heard behind me.

I turned around to see the demigod lying on the ground, gasping and holding a deep cut across her collarbone and down her stomach. She seemed like she was going in and out of it so I ran over and kneeled next to her, calling out for an Apollo kid, but I didn't finish my sentence as I lost my ability to breathe and looked down at the demigod in complete confusion.

"Eliza?!?"

[buoyantsaturn]

all that I want (4/6)

summary: Nico woke up screaming.

word count: 1089 (4709 total)

WARNINGS: graphic depictions of violence, major character death

read on ao3 | start at the beginning

Nico woke up screaming. He ignored the distant bell tower, silenced his phone’s incessant ringing, and threw on his pants. He turned to leave, ignoring Will’s voice calling after him as he ran out of the dorm building and onto the quad. Just like every other day before, there were students milling around outside as they made their way to classes, and the sun was shining brightly overhead. Nobody had ever paid Nico any mind as he left Will’s dorm any other morning, but this time he would make sure that they did.

He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and screamed, “What the hell is happening to me?”

He snarled at anyone who gave him any weird looks, snapping at them for noticing him, but wasn’t that what he’d wanted in the first place? He turned in a circle, growling like some kind of feral dog - he’d show Jason that he wasn’t going insane - until he spun back toward the dorm building and came face-to-face with a very startled Will.

“You, uh, forgot your stuff,” Will said cautiously. “Are you okay?”

Nico didn’t have it in him to scream in Will’s face. Instead, he felt himself crumbling both inside and out, and collapsed forward until he was sobbing into Will’s chest.

They wound up in the university’s cafeteria, sitting across from each other as Nico sucked down a glass of apple juice through a straw while Will tried to understand Nico’s situation. 

“There’s gotta be some kind of significance to today that would get you stuck in a time loop,” Will thought aloud. 

“Time loop?” Nico repeated.

“Is there anything special about today?” Will asked. “Somebody’s birthday or something?”

Nico ducked his head and set his juice on the table. “No, uh, not a birthday. My… My sister died, a few years ago today.”

Will reached out and set his hand over Nico’s. “I’m so sorry. Can you think of any reason that someone might want you dead today, too?”

Nico slipped his hand out from underneath Will’s, and tipped his chair onto its two back legs. “I mean… I’m kind of an asshole.”

“You seem perfectly nice to me.”

Nico snorted. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you remembered the first three Fridays.”

“Okay, so who have you pissed off recently? Roommates? Classmates? Teachers? Random guys on the street?”

Nico sighed. “Probably all of those. I mean, Percy and Jason wouldn’t try to kill me, and if they did, it would’ve happened a long time ago. I have this one professor that I almost got fired last semester because I started a rumor that he was a raging alcoholic which is why his wife left him.”

“Holy shit.”

Nico ducked his head and scratched at the back of his neck. “There was this one guy in another one of my classes who was so irritating that I harassed him until he switched to another section.”

“Dude--”

“And apparently this one time, when I was blackout drunk, I got in a fight with some guy and sent him to the hospital. The problem with that one is that I have no idea who it was.”

“Oh my god,” Will said, and when it didn’t seem like Nico was going to keep going with his list, Will took a deep breath and continued, “So, to me, it kind of seems like you have unlimited lives to try to figure out who’s killing you, right? You have infinite attempts to solve your own murder before it happens.”

“Your big solution is just to keep dying?”

Will shrugged. “Yeah, until you figure out who wants you dead, and then you kill them first. Or, uh, probably call the police and don’t get arrested for murder. Even if it is self-defense, I don’t know how well a time loop will hold up in court.”

“Right.” Nico nodded, and took another sip of his apple juice. “I gotta say, I might not remember much from last night, but I’m glad we hooked up. I don’t think any of my usual type of hookup would’ve been so willing to talk this out with me.”

Will cocked his head to the side in confusion. “We didn’t hook up. What made you think that?”

“We didn’t?” Will shook his head. “Oh. I guess I just...assumed, since any other time I’ve woken up in some guy’s bed with such a horrible hangover, we’d usually done something. I’ve been told I’m sort of a handsy drunk.”

“Oh, you are,” Will agreed, “but no. I didn’t think you would appreciate somebody taking advantage of you when you were wasted, so I brought you back to my place since I didn’t know where you lived. I slept on the floor and everything, I promise.”

“Oh. Uh, thanks, I guess.”

Nico skipped his classes again. If Will’s theory was right, Nico would have plenty of opportunities to sit through those lectures again and again. He went back to his apartment and spent about an hour writing up a list of anyone he thought might want him dead. He even texted Jason and Percy to ask if they had any thoughts, but they didn’t take it as seriously as they should have. 

He came up with ten possibilities by the time Percy returned home from his classes, and lied to his roommate about what time he would be going to that night’s party - there was no way in hell he was going to that party again. 

Nico started at the top of his list with Mr. D, the professor he’d started the alcoholic rumor about, and set out to find where he lived. Luckily for him, the university’s online director gave away far too much information about their staff, and Nico was able to set up a plan of attack from his own bedroom.

He dressed in dark clothes - his usual - and called a Lyft to drive him across the city. After getting dropped off a block from Mr. D’s house, he snuck into the professor’s yard and staked out in the shrubbery, watching Mr. D move around inside with a pair of binoculars. 

It turned out that Nico wasn’t too far off with the whole “raging alcoholic” comment, but considering how Mr. D seemed to be settling in for the night, Nico figured the professor was in the clear. 

That was confirmed when a fist closed around a handful of Nico’s hair, yanking him up and out of his hiding place while a knife was thrust into his spine.

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