Percy's POV:
The war with Gaia was finally over. The romans and greeks ended up banding up together to defeat Gaia, as a result there were very few casualties. Leo died, that is, everyone thought so until he came back weeks earlier with calypso in tow. After his stunt show earlier, Hazel and Frank refused to let their little firebug out of their sight. Jason chose to stay in camp half-blood with piper. And me? Annabeth ended up dumping me after the whole Taurtaus fiasco for Reyna. So now we're here, two months later playing capture the flag, taking a break from camp war-wreckage-clean-up.
I'm on a team with Jason and Nico, and we're against the entire camp. I know crazy, huh? Our battle strategy was to leave Jason to protect the flag, while nico and I went after the flag from different sides. It was a bet, mostly to see how much more powerful the sons of the big three have gotten. Though it did start when people began to question Nico's power since he refused to use it after almost losing them after the war. It wasn't that he stopped using them entirely it's that he stopped using it in front of others. He almost lost them before, and didn't want to risk it again, but that wasn't how others saw it. This thought started a huge argument between Clarisse, Jason, and I. Long story short was that they had to all prove their worth to the camp during capture the flag, the only condition: No dirty tricks. Simple enough? No. That meant no flying or shadow traveling straight to the flag, they had to trek the woods to make it even. Don't get me wrong, I love capture the flag, but I've learned to enjoy water a lot more after the war with Gaia.Though I've wanted to have this battle for months now, this was not how I wanted it to be. I didn't want to fight to prove our worth but to have fun. It's too late now though, and after all those insults I'm out for blood. Clarisse's blood, to be specific.
I finally broke through into the clearing, only to find the stolls twins surround….. Nico? All I see is black poking through a white cloud, and I mean Jason doesn't wear black. Oh, wait, it's settling. I see Nico bring his hands to his ears and close his eyes, shaking his head so hard that he stumbles. "Nico?" I asked, all the while quickly getting closer and taking out my sword. He stumbled back into Travis, who only smirked down at him and asking "How does it feel, son of hades, to experience your worst fear come true?" My eyes widened as I slowed down to stop beside the twins who stopped circling Nico like a pair of crows. So that was what the white cloud was! Nico looked up at all three of us, No, right above us and gave it a humorless smirk. "I never left did I?" Nico asked it. Left what? I mentally asked Nico while I saw all emotion leave his eyes. Nico unsheathed his sword that immediately wiped the smirks of the twins and making them back up. He swung at the center of whatever he was seeing, which just so happened to be Conner who was in the middle of the three of us. I quickly interceded it, bringing my sword up above my head to protect myself and Conner who promptly fell on his butt in shock. "Nico, snap out of it!" I yelled at Nico, giving Travis enough time to help Conner up and flee the scene. Nico kept attacking me, or it I guess, as though he didn't hear me. Nico looked around himself, smiling only growing wider, "If I'm dying, then I'm taking all of you down with me." Speaking in an eerily calm voice he stepped closer before raising his non-sword holding hand above the ground. Eyes never leaving the thing above me, his head tilted and the ground shook. Creating large gauges in the earth that skeletons crawled out of and started attacking the closest people who were just coming into the clearing. My eyes went wide at how strong his power was, since he hasn't used it for months now. Annabeth saw me against nico and tried to approach us as best she could with the shaking ground, cracks, and skeletons. She ended up falling backwards when the ground shook even harder as Nico created a gorge that surrounded and separated us from the other campers and the skeletons attacking them. Everyone ended up falling on there buts, even some skeletons, leaving Nico the only one standing but he didn't wait for me to get back up as he attacked it. I barely raised my sword in time to block his swing. Without letting up Nico kept swinging at it, making it really hard for me to get up. When I got up I started calling to him, "Nico, NICO, it's me, Percy! Come on nico snap out of it, you're still in camp half blood! It's me, Nico, it's Percy!" Emotion flickered behind those dead eyes, his smile slowly fading, life slowly creeping back. He heard me!
"Percy?" He asked quietly. "Ya, it's me Neeks, I'm here." I replied, thinking I finally got through to him. Nico's eyes flickered in silent understanding, before settling on a strong hatred. "You sick bastard." Nico practically growled as he swung his sword once more with force, barely missing its midsection. I started backing up in confusion. "Don't you dare use my memories against me!" He kept attacking, swinging wildly as he used no technique, intend only on killing it, killing me. "Don't you dare speak in his voice!" Nico yelled this as he kept slashing his sword and barely missing me each time. I was so lost on what happen, I didn't even try to defend with my sword, only moving away at the last second each time so I didn't get cut. He paused for a moment, staring at me like I was the weird one. I stared back not moving and holding my breath, not knowing what to say. It was obvious he couldn't see me, but he could hear me. If he can hear me then he can hear other things. An idea popped into my mind. I looked around carefully, searching for something, when I found it I turned back to Nico and carefully addressed him. "It's me, Percy. This is an illusion, a dream, a prank made up by the Stolls. Listen to me, Neeks, I know you can't see me but you can hear me, right? I can prove it! Look around you do you see a river?" Nico burrowed his eyebrows slightly before hesitantly looking around. He looked back to me and slightly shook his head to the side and slowly started lowering his sword. I smiled softly in victory, knowing my plan would work.
I spoke to him again "You may not be able to see the river, but you can hear it, can't you?" Nico looked at me weirdly before closing his eyes and obviously listening for the large river not that far away from where we were. When Nico opened his eyes once more he looked around himself searching for the source.
Nico looked back at me, not above me or through me, but directly at me and into my eyes. "Percy?" He asked quietly, his eyes searching mine for something. "Yea" I replied almost breathlessly in relief, knowing Nico finally began to understand. Nico let his sword tip touch the ground and drag behind him as he slowly walked up to me. I stood unmoving, fearful of startling him after the progress we made. When he was close enough, he stopped walking and reached out his hand placing it on the my chest. I watched as his face changed from hesitation and slight fear to confusion. He looked so lost. My hand moved before my mind could catch up and placed it on his head. He slightly jumped under my touch, looking critically at my hand before leaning his head back into my hand and letting me run my fingers through hair. It's soft! Distracted by that thought I didn't notice when Nico dropped his sword to reach for his face until he felt a hand on his cheek. I shifted my eyes from the hair between my fingers to his searching eyes.
"Is it really you, Percy?" Nico asked me as though he couldn't fully comprehend him being there. I was about to reply until I saw him breaking before me. His walls stripped away, I saw the little Nico he kept hidden away all this time, but this wasn't the happy little child I remembered. This innocent Nico was in so much pain from all the torment he's felt through the years, I felt my own heart break for him. Nico closed his tormented eyes and laid his head on my chest, defeated. He clenched his fists in my shirt and quietly whispered "make it stop, please! I don't want to see that place again. Please, just make it stop." Over and over to me. I felt his hands begin to shake and I started to run my hands through Nico's hair again in an effort to comfort him. I felt him grip me even tighter, if that was possible, so I started to gently rub his back. When did my hand get there. I held him closer to my body and caught him just as his knees gave out. He refused to let go, so I lowered the both of us down and placed him on my lap. If it weren't for his shaking hands, I would've sworn that he fell asleep on me. I heard nothing, but after a while I started to feel a wetness on my shoulder and held him tighter swearing to myself that I would protect him from the world.
Sorry for the long update guys. Please R&R, I'd love to hear what you guys think of this story so far! Oh, and if you have any suggestions for the story I would love to hear them!