So this fic was inspired by an rp done by myself and Yesthisistori (-her tumblr) , whom has also helped with Beta reading the chapters / collabing on a great number of the ideas in this fic. Please enjoy.
I don't own't PJO/HoO.
Nico always knew when they'd passed the barrier into Camp Half Blood. It washed over him like a calming wave and promised safety. He looked out the back window of the Blue Prius, watching for any other monsters, but thankfully himself, Percy, and Jason were in the clear. Turning back around, he met Jason's eyes and looked down.
"I'm sorry again," Nico pointed. "About your arm."
"It's," he sighed. "You don't need to apologize, Nico." Jason shrugged, then winced. "We'll just visit the Apollo kids and it'll get squared away." Jupiter's son reached out, ruffling Nico's hair with his good arm.
"Okay, you guys made up and all, but we still need to wrap our heads around what just happened." Percy put his step-father's borrowed vehicle into park next to the big house. "We just got attacked in public." He looked between his two friends. "And mortals saw the empousa to." Percy's voice was far darker than normal, his usual childish tone replaced by worry.
Nico leaned forward, resting his head against his hands and rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. Neither he nor Jason knew what to say, however Jason was first to speak up. "We'll bring it up with Chiron later. He'll know what to do. First though." He glanced down to his arm, which was in a sad excuse for a sling. "I'd like to get this taken care of before the shock wears off."
"Yeah, bro, that's pretty gnarly looking… We should take a picture." Percy suddenly sounded like himself again.
The trio hopped out of the car, Jason telling Percy there was no way in hell he was waiting for him to find a camera before getting help. Nico walked behind them. A harsh wind blew past him and sent a chill down his spine, making him tug at the black hooded sweater he wore, hiking it up higher around his neck. Nico turned to the wind's direction. Something about that breeze reminded him of Split, more so of the winged god and his lackey that cornered him there. This wasn't the first time those memories had came up in the past day or week; as of late, they seemed to be torturing him all over again, sending little reminders of themselves to keep Nico on his toes.
"Holy Hecate! What did you do!?" Turning to the sound of Will Solace's voice, Nico realized he was referring to Jason's mangled arm.
"We got into a scrape with an empousa," Jason explained. "Nico and I had a run in and well he tried his best to get it temporary attention until we got back, but..."
"Say no more. Get to the infirmary," Will instructed and lead him by the good arm into the big house.
"We should wait for him before telling Chiron about the fight," Percy gave, stopping Nico by the shoulder. "It'll be easier to explain with the three of us there."
"Yeah." Nico nodded, shrugging off Percy's hand.
"Hey. You know that wasn't your fault. That kid, we didn't see him either and we really didn't have a chance to clear the area. Nico, you did the right thing."
"It's not that," Nico hissed. "I know. You guys keep saying that. It wasn't my fault. I. Get. It."
"Then what is eating you?" Nico rolled his eyes, not in the mood to deal with the situation any more. A nap, was that too much to ask? He just wanted to curl up for maybe a good few hours, skip dinner, shower, and then go to bed and ignore the world. "Nico?"
However Poseidon's very persistent son was making that difficult. "You wouldn't understand," he began, stopping Percy before he could interrupt him. "It was just something that happened when you and Annabeth were in Tartarus. Something about today, yesterday, and a number of other things just reminds me of it, can we just leave it at that?"
Amazed that Nico had even given up that much without more fighting, Percy nodded. "Yeah. Just, you can talk to me. I want us to be friends too Nico."
"I know." Nico nodded, his eyes catching someone standing and watching them. He looked up and it was Annabeth. She gave him a small wave and he flicked his hand acknowledging her, and she started walking closer. Percy turned to see who Nico waved to, but when he glanced back all that remained of Nico was a few wisps of shadows.
Percy sighed. "I really need to start carrying a flashlight. That party trick of his is really annoying." Annabeth took his hand, noticing the few fresh scrapes on Percy. She dusted his shirt off a bit too. "Hey."
"Seaweed Brain, what did you get yourself into?" She asked. "Also it's Nico, you gotta remember to give him some time. He's not as, well, together, as he was when we met him. He's trying, really trying, Percy. That 'party trick' of his is probably a coping skill for him," Athena's daughter explained.
He nodded, agreeing with her and dropping the matter entirely, explaining a bit of what happened to himself earlier that morning, leaning in to kiss his girlfriend's temple lightly. He felt a bit better getting to see her once again, he always did after fighting monsters.
Back at his cabin, Nico flopped onto his bed, which felt like heaven, even if the night before had been total hell for him. He'd been struck with insomnia for the past few nights. The night before, however, he'd slept, but was plagued with nightmares, which for a demigod typically meant something was going to go down. It didn't help that his connection to the dream world was nearly as strong as the kids in the Hypnos Cabin.
Nico knew that there was something foul in that wind. It had something to do with his least favorite minor god, Cupid, and his nightmares.
He tried to relive the visions. There was a swamp, chanting, and then being underwater. Nico rolled to his side, wincing a bit at the bruises that he could feel forming. Lifting his head, the son of Hades tugged his pillow under and closed his eyes.
"Nico. Hey, c'mon, Death Boy. Time to rejoin the living." Nico groaned at the sound of Jason's voice, then he realized that meant the other male was in his cabin. He flinched and jumped up right. "Sorry, I tried knocking a few times, but you were, well, out."
"Couldn't you have just let me sleep?" Nico rubbed his eyes again, probably making the heavy circles under them more visible. The quick movement had disturbed the very tender area around his back and ribs on the left side.
"Nope. We need to talk to Chiron after dinner," he gave, clapping a hand on to Nico's shoulder. "Besides there's someone that kind of demanded I bring you to dinner. Doctor's orders."
Nico glared at Jason and rolled his eyes. "Styx. Solace." Since his stay in the infirmary after the battle with Gaea, which had been nearly a year ago, for some strange reason the Apollo head counselor seemed to think that he was allowed to butt in and make sure Nico wasn't doing 'anything stupid' and 'taking proper care of himself'.
"Hey, Will's a really good guy, Nico," Jason defended. "You know that, I know that. Maybe you should stop trying to brush him off?"
"I'm not brushing him off."
Jason raised an eyebrow at his friend. "Whatever you say, Nico. I just think, maybe you shouldn't try to pass him up."
"Are you trying to suggest I attempt asking Solace out?" the son of Hades whispered harshly, standing from his bed. "Cause that's not happening." Only Jason could advise such a thing to Nico and get away with it. He'd been there when Cupid attacked in Croatia, forcing the son of Hades to admit his 'true' feelings of love towards Percy, which thankfully those feelings had subsided.
Nico kept his face down and away from the son of Jupiter, praying that he couldn't tell he already did have feelings for the camp's best healer. He'd been harboring them for a while now, but he was too afraid to let them be known, by anyone. Friend or not.
"Well," Jason shrugged, "you guys did fall asleep together at the last counselor movie night."
"No, we fell asleep next to each other. Besides I was on the floor, he was on the couch. Jason, just stop." Nico huffed, passing the son of Jupiter. There was no way anything could possibly happen with the healer. "Though, I should ask." Nico paused, glancing at Jason. His arm was no longer in a sling, but it was splinted with what looked like heavy cardboard and a few pieces of thin wood and an ace bandage. "How's the arm?"
"Thank the gods for ambrosia and Will's prayer to his dad or I would be screwed." Jason laughed, walking with his arm out for inspection. "You wanna sign the bandage?" Nico rolled his eyes again as they found themselves behind the other cabins on their way to dinner. "He also said nice work on the sling Nico." The son of Hades hid his reddening face.
Percy waved them over to their usual table and Nico headed off alone while Jason went off to give Piper a quick hug and let her know he was fine. She didn't look amused by the cast, but ultimately nodded and returned the gesture. Nico had begun gathering a small meal for himself and Percy had already dug in. Jason returned wordlessly from the Aphrodite table.
Overall the meal was mostly silent, up until there was a gasp from the Hephaestus cabin. They began murmuring among themselves and Nico realized they were staring at the three of them. "Chiron!" One of the boys jumped up, a thin rectangle in their hands. He rushed to the head table and held the device out for the elder to see. Chiron's face darkened and he was suddenly eyeing Percy, Jason, and Nico.
"He knows," Nico sighed. Percy and Jason looked confused and then turned to look back. Chiron was waving off the camper with the tablet, while other kids asked to see what he'd just shown their mentor.
"Please, campers. It's nothing to worry about. It was just some cat video or another." Everyone laughed loudly. Cabin Nine all eyeing the Big Three narrowly. "Head counselors, after supper I would like for us all to meet in the Big House."
More whispers erupted and suddenly Nico didn't want the rest of his meal.
"Stunning footage out of New York today." The heads of each cabin sat around the rec room's television. "A trio of young men seen battling a mysterious creature using some very stunning displays of power? Magic? Let's watch the footage." The poor news anchor seemed horribly confused by the script.
The screen flashed over and Percy could be seen being knocked into the fountain, screaming out as he was thrown. Jason and Nico ran up as quickly as possible while their friend launched himself up and out of the water, not only visibly dry, but standing on the surface. Nico and Jason both reached into back packs, pulling out their respective blades as Percy uncapped his pen, which transformed into his own sword Riptide. The empousa limped into view, her hair a raging fire.
Nico glanced back to Percy and shouted to Poseidon's son who'd nearly been enchanted by the beast. Percy flung his arm taking control of the fountain's water. By this point, nearby spectators had taken notice of the trio and the strange beast. There was curiosity at first, many of them thinking that it was a prank, but the shock wave of water hitting the beast and sending her into the nearest building, that was what caused panic.
Jason took to the skies to stay out of the way and Nico was acting as backup for Percy.
Now thoroughly drenched, the empousa screamed at the boys. The only one that seemed the least affected by it was Nico, who took the chance to run and dive at the beast, his blade drawn, however the monster was quicker and took him by the arm, tossing him into Jason like a rag doll.
That was when both Nico and Jason fell out of the sky, towards the person behind the camera. Jason landed first and when he stood, it was visible that his arm was broken. Rather than dwell on it, he could be heard shouting to Percy for water while he stood strong, summoning lighting. Nico hit the ground beside him and bounced, he curled up for a moment and stabbed his pitch black, Stygian iron blade into the ground using it to pull himself up to his feet again.
Water enveloped the empousa and trapped her. "Hey!" Nico's voice hissed. The camera turned to him and there was just a wisp of smoke where he'd been. Then the same shadowy tendrils could be seen just beside the camera person. A struggle, and the camera fell. When it came back up, Nico was grabbed by Jason who pulled him back to meet up with Percy before the three of them ran for it, police sirens screaming behind them.
Click.
Chiron turned off the T.V. when it showed the news anchor once more, his eyes drifting between the three boys that had been captured using their powers. Percy scratched his head, Jason cleaned his glasses on his shirt, and Nico stared back up at Chiron. "Do any of you have anything you would like to add?"
Percy spoke up first. "She went after us first?" Nico rolled his eyes and let his head fall with a dull thud to the coffee table. "What? It's true."
Will Solace, head of the Apollo Cabin, looked on with a blank expression, probably waiting for the others before reacting. He anxiously undid the ace bandage on his wrist. "You got your Aegis handed to you, Death Boy," Clarisse spoke up and then laughed at Nico, as did a few counselors. Nico's shoulders tensed up at the sound.
Jason turned. "I think you guys are missing the point. That video, it captured the empousa's actual image and the Mist didn't distort anything." The laughing stopped and a few gasped, the realization hitting them.
Chiron studied the three of them wordlessly. Lou Ellen cleared her throat standing. "He's right. We didn't say anything yet, but Hecate has… She's gone silent." Her eyes drifted around the room. "Our abilities to control Mist are fading."
"Why wait to tell us that?" Clarisse hissed. "We sorta rely on the Mist to, you know, keep the camp from being discovered by Mortals. Or are you guys turning more Titan than demigod?"
"We couldn't be sure!" Lou Ellen retorted. "You better watch yourself, Boar Breath. Just because I can't control Mist doesn't mean I can't still curse you." She threatened and Will stood, walking over and gripping her shoulders tightly.
"Calm down," he was whispering to Lou Ellen, who apologized. Clarisse did soon after as well and he nodded. "That doesn't change the fact that none of you took steps to ensure that no Mortals were around or in harm's way."
Annoyed, Nico glanced at Will. "As Percy said, she attacked us first and didn't give us any room to do so, so we did what we're trained to do. Kept them safe," Hades's son answered dryly.
Will ran a hand through his hair, trying to keep himself from getting frustrated. "Yes and no." He sighed. "Look either way it's done with, Nico, but the worst thing you could have done and did was use your powers directly in front of the mortals regardless."
"You guys, we could spend all night arguing right or wrong," Annabeth interjected, standing and stepping between their lines of sight. "This will prove literally nothing. What we need to focus on is why Hecate has gone silent." She moved to stand closer to Chiron and address everyone. "Not to mention what we can do about the Mist."
Jake Mason nodded. Usually he would avoid the head counselor get togethers, still unwilling to let the memory of Leo fade, but it was his own Cabin that had discovered the video. He needed to be there. The Stoll brothers sat passing one another different types of candies.
"That's not all," Piper gave, speaking from behind Jason, who leaned back into her legs, looking up at her. "This isn't just about Camp Half-Blood now. If we're losing our veil of protection, that means Camp Jupiter is also facing the same risk."
Nico's eyes widened. "Hazel." Piper nodded and he turned to Chiron, who was now nodding knowingly.
"Then we need a quest." Their mentor nodded. "To go forth and warn Camp Jupiter as well as to find out the reason behind Hecate's silence."
Whispers filled the room. Not surprisingly, Jason's and Percy's hands went up first. When Nico's didn't, Percy leaned over and took his hand and lifted it for him. Hades's son winced at the tugging on his rib, but kept a straight face.
"No, absolutely not," Annabeth barked. Percy dropped Nico's hand, as if testing to see if that would improve his chances. "Neither of you three are going."
"Why not?" Percy whined, his and Jason's hands dropping.
"You three are the reason we're in this mess, the media is going to be looking for you, and need I remind you who your fathers are? You will be walking monster magnets." Jason nodded at Annabeth's point, Percy's shoulders slumped, and Nico seemed rather indifferent. On the inside, though, Nico's mind was in a state of panic. He didn't want his only remaining family member to be at risk across the country.
Chiron studied the room. He had twenty-one very capable young demigods before him, three of which he couldn't send. "I'll go." Will's voice broke out over the whispers and everyone turned to face him. "I mean, I know I haven't ever been on a quest before, but I can lay low. I'm not over powered or anything." He said this as he re-wrapped his ace bandage around his wrist again.
"Will, you can't go," Miranda Gardiner said. "You're," she paused biting her lip, "our best healer?" The words came out soft and unsure, implying something she'd rather not say. "I mean, if there's a monster attack."
"We have a cabin full of other young healers that need to learn how to use their abilities," Chiron cut in. "Will, I know that typically we send out a group of three for quests, but I fear that we would risk you being tracked with that many."
"Then I go alone." He shrugged, putting the latches back into place for the bandage, keeping it secured. Will mouthed a thanks to Chiron for stepping in and standing up for him.
Chiron nodded. "As for Camp Jupiter. Jason, you should contact them and let them know your travels between the camps will be halted until further notice. I also suggest that you go out to Camp Jupiter, Will, to see how the fading of the Mist is affecting them in person."
"He could also meet with Hazel," Piper spoke up. Nico gave her one of his typical death glares. Jason elbowed him. "She was sought out by Hecate and learned to control the Mist. I think seeing her would help him as well."
"I agree." Annabeth nodded. "Lou Ellen. You and your cabin. I'm sure you have theories about where your mother would go. I'll go with you and we'll try to narrow it down, pin-point her location and give Will a map."
Will smiled. "Thank you guys. Chiron, I'll leave in the morning." The other head counselors began standing to leave. Jason rushed off with Percy and Piper in toe. Annabeth headed off with Lou Ellen. The Stoll brothers began trying to wake Clovis, but ultimately Butch from the Iris cabin ended up hauling him up and over his shoulder, opting to carry the sleeping male back to his cabin.
"What about me?" Nico asked aggravated. "What am I supposed to do?" Will turned to face him and Chiron sighed.
Almost matter of fact like, Chiron answered with, "Go about your regular activities." Apollo's son caught the look on Nico's face. He seemed hurt and angered that he was being tossed to the side. Hades's son made a sound of frustration and began to walk away.
Will reached out and his hand gazed across Nico's rib, who flinched at the contact. "Nico." The smaller male was guarding the spot, his hand just hovering over the area. "You should let me look at your ribs. In the video, you hit the ground really hard."
"It's fine, I don't need your help." His dark eyes focused on the floor before he pointedly stepped away once more and left. Will was still reaching out for his friend, but found himself confused. His and Nico's relationship seemed to always be like a current, they would get closer and then something would divide them again. Will excused himself and followed Nico.
"Hey!" Apollo's son called out and the black haired boy stopped at the porch, dramatically aggravated by the brighter male still following him. Will was ready for the harsh glare Nico was going to give him and returned it with his own darkened glance. "Something is wrong with your ribs. Infirmary. Now." Nico looked hesitant, but Will didn't let up and he caved storming off to the medical room in the Big House. He claimed his bed that he'd lived in for those 'mandatory three days.'
"Shirt off please." Nico groaned at the medic's request. "Come on, the longer you fight me, the longer we're going to be here." Will tugged his scrub top over his camp shirt and grabbed rubber gloves as well.
Nico seemed to only be willing to partially agree to removing his shirt and tugged his arm in through the sleeve, then lifted the shirt half way until it rested on his shoulder. Will huffed, figuring it was the best he was going to get out of his stubborn friend. "Lay down on your stomach, Nico. Okay now turn towards me a bit." Doing as he was told, the son of Hades began to lift himself up and tried to turn towards Will. He flinched, quickly laying back down. "I need you to do that one more time," Will requested. "This time though, once you get to the point that hurts, hold it for me so I can figure out which rib it is."
His breath was shaking and Nico nodded, doing the painful motion once again. He gritted his teeth as Will tenderly reached out, his fingers tracing along several of his upper ribs until he stopped at the first floating rib under Nico's ribcage. "C-Can I?" The son of Hades nodded to the mattress, requesting to lay down again.
"Yeah." Will kept one hand in the region he suspected to be broken. "Okay, just breath in and out for me now," Apollo's son directed. He could feel the hesitation in Nico's breath. Just watching the smaller male's reaction to a simple task such as breathing, Will could see the pain he was trying fight back against showing.
Nico felt those stupid skeletal butterflies that he'd hoped would have subsided thanks to the horrid blistering pain he felt with the pressure the healer kept tentatively applying to what was probably a broken rib. However those damn insects were back and flip flopping through his body like crazy. No matter what, it always happened with Solace. Within those three days, they'd gone from barely ever having spoken to one another to, by the last day, Nico being able to wordlessly help keep track of the day to day things within the infirmary. It may have been mostly silent aside from Will's music or their few conversations, but for some reason it worked well for them.
"Just relax Nico, I'm going to heal it." Will cleared his throat and began with the first verse of the hymnal to his father Apollo. Nico listened to him as he spoke in Ancient Greek. Will sounded far more natural at the language than the son of Hades did and he let himself have a self indulgent thought of wanting to hear the blond male attempt speaking Italian. For a moment the prayer fluttered and Will sounded as if he'd read Nico's mind.
Then he remembered the son of Apollo distinctively telling him, "When I'm using his hymn to heal, I get glimpses of the person. Their emotions, old injuries, sometimes memories that are important to them. The hymn opens them up to me a bit so I know where I need to do what and if I need to do more than recite it."
Nico suddenly felt bare and turned around quickly, taking Will's hand in his own and stopping him. "Woah, Neeks. Chill out." Will tried to laugh, but Hades's son wasn't having it. "Let me fin-"
"No. Will, I'm fine. It was a small crack, you got it." He swung his legs over and stood adjusting his shirt. "Thanks." He left in a rush and Will didn't even have time to tell Nico that he was welcome. Nico rushed to his cabin, fighting down the horrid pain in his side. He wasn't going to risk Will seeing so much of him, especially if he saw Nico's feelings towards him.