Chapter I: Nico
Nico was pretty sure dates weren't supposed to go like this, he wasn't an expert, not by a long shot. Nico and his boyfriend Will had been taking a nice stroll through the now hopefully safe woods outside Camp Half-Blood when they reached the edge of the wood and they both saw a giant, flying, flaming chicken chasing a motorbike, Nico just sighed. There had been enough crazy stuff happening the past week, Apollo being turned into a mortal and cast from Olympus, a magical grove of trees abducting campers and then the not-so-dead Emperor Nero sending a giant Colossus to destroy the camp. He had been looking forward to spending some nice quiet time with Will while he was still at camp during the summer. Nico glanced over at Will, "This is why I bring my sword on dates." Nico set off towards the fight, leaving Will behind shouting after him "Hey you're still not completely healed from the battle yet!", Will just sighed and set off after Nico muttering "This is why I bring a first aid kit on dates".
As Nico ran closer he could make out a boy on the bike, he looked a bit older than Nico, probably around 16, short dark brown hair, wearing a scruffy leather brown jacket. The bike swerved side to side, dodging the flaming birds as they tried to dive bomb him. Nico drew his Stygian Iron sword approaching the plain where the biker was being chased. Nico drew the shadows, using them to grab hold of one of the birds as it dived down towards the biker, "That's a phoenix!" Will shouted, running after Nico down to the plain, Nico instantly knew he was right, recognising the rare birds as soon as Will had said it. He quickly ran over to the downed phoenix and finished it with his sword. Then he realised his mistake, Nico hadn't really been to many monster hunting classes but too late he remembered phoenixes exploded when they died. He tried to pull more shadows to shield himself but a fiery wave of force burnt right through them, he was flung back a few feet, a burning sensation covering his right arm. He quickly pulled off his burning aviator jacket, stamping the fire out on it. "Damn" he said, Will had gotten that jacket after the Giant War when they first started dating.
He remembered there were more pressing matters than a jacket though, Will ran over to him screaming as another of the birds had turned their attention to him. Nico leapt at him, pushing Will and himself out of the path of the phoenix. He stood up and grabbed his sword back in time to see the biker circling back around, with a bow in one hand. The biker managed to fire an arrow at the phoenix that had just swooped down at him and Will, hitting it. The bird spiralled down to the ground before exploding some distance away in a ball of fire. Where's Leo when you need him? Nico thought to himself as the last bird turned back around to dive bomb the biker. This time the phoenix flew straight into the bike, a ball of fire consuming the bike and rider. The boy was catapulted 10 feet, skidding to a halt in a patch of grass, his bike tumbled away from him, metal shards flying off of it. Will yelled and ran over to the boy, taking a first aid kit out of his pocket, "Hey, can you hear me? Can you remember your name?" Will knelt over the boy, patting small fires out all over his body. The boy grunted in reply before passing out. "Thanks the gods he is alive!" Will said, "Nico can you shadow travel us back to camp?". Nico nodded, concentrating, gathering the shadows around him and the other two.
They emerged in the office of a very confused Chiron. "Sorry", Nico managed, his vision dimming and head starting to spin, he fell to the ground. He heard Will frantically explaining everything to Chiron and Annabeth, Wait, Annabeth is back? Nico thought in shock as he felt Will's strong arms pick him up. He vaguely heard Chiron say something about getting them to the infirmary quickly and saw Annabeth pick the other boy up and threw him over her shoulders. Knowing he was going to be alright he gave in to his exhaustion and everything went black.
AN: My first story, let me know what you think, I hope to upload a chapter every other day!