"You have to be super careful," Will insisted, watching me worriedly as I strapped on my battle armor.
"It's just capture the flag! I'll be fine. Gods, Solace, you're not my mother." I snorted, swinging my sword around experimentally. Even after the three days in the infirmary, Will was obscenely overprotective. And there was only one reason why I put up with it.
"If you get hurt, come to me immediately," He ordered.
"I know! I will, okay?" I was starting to get slightly annoyed.
"Okay, Big Three kids versus the Athena Cabin. Power versus intelligence and numbers." Percy said in his announcer's voice.
"We're screwed. Why are we even doing this?" Jason complained. He probably just wanted to hang out with Piper and Leo instead.
"We are not screwed. We have me." I let my aura of darkness flicker into the visible spectrum for added effect.
"Well, someone's confident. I like Nico's team spirit, Jason." Percy smirked at the son of Jupiter. Jason rolled his eyes.
"I'm tired of being coddled. It's ruining my rep as a BAMF." At this, my cousins blinked dumbly at me.
"Was that a joke from Nico di Angelo, son of Hades?" Percy gaped at me in disbelief.
"Don't be so shocked. Let's just get this over with." A horn sounded to start the game. The other campers would be watching from Leo's experimental cameras that broadcasted to the TV in the Big House. He and Annabeth were working on the demigod/technology issue, and it seemed like they were actually getting somewhere.
"I'll guard. I've got this new trick I want to try." Percy's eyes narrowed in concentration, and a stream of water from the lake created what looked like a giant dewdrop over the flag. Percy's chest heaved as he struggled to keep the bubble in place. It still somewhat fascinated me to see him breathe in the liquid like it was air. He then said something, which sounded like a gurgling sound from behind the force field of water. It was obvious that he was basically trying to say something about seeing the Athena kids try to get past that.
"I'll take to the air, try to darken the sky with some clouds. More shadows are useful, right?" Jason said to me, as if Percy wasn't pulling faces at us from his little water-dome.
"Yeah. Just try not to get taken out." I quickly scaled one of the trees and easily walked along the thinner branches, twenty feet above the ground. One of the perks of weighing only ninety five pounds. Although if the cameras were working, Will Solace was doubtless flipping out. His siblings might have to drug him to keep him from marching into the woods to wring my neck, or possibly prepare me to be guillotined.
Malcolm and two of his other siblings passed below me. A small group that I could easily take out. I opened up a little shadow-pool below them, and they were swallowed by it, to reemerge back at their base. I felt my strength waver. Thanks to "Doctor Solace", I was out of practice. I soon made it to the other team's flag. Five people were guarding it, Annabeth included. Jason landed on a branch beside me.
"Can you distract them while I swoop in to grab it, since I don't think they have long range weapons? As long as I stay out of an arm's reach, we're good. We can only hope that Percy's holding up."
"I can check." I whispered back. I glanced down at my shadow and pointed back to where I had come. It nodded, no longer my mirror image, and strode off, a Nico-shaped patch of darkness on the ground. A moment later, it reappeared, giving me a thumbs-up before conforming back to my position.
"Oh my Gods, Nico, that was some freaky stuff you pulled right there. Your pupils expanded to fill, like, your entire eyes. Whites included."
"I'm aware of that. I'll only be able to hold this for a moment, so memorize the flag's position and be quick. Go, now."
Jason didn't even hesitate. He launched off the branch just as I pulled every shadow in a quarter-mile radius away from its creator and enveloped the flag and the surrounding ten feet in every direction in a thick, black, 3D shadow. Virtually a black hole. I heard a few yelps from the Athena campers before I fell from the branch, head buzzing. The shadows snapped back into place like a stretched rubber band.
Everything became shiny and assumed a dreamlike quality as Jason held the flag aloft, triumphant, and the other campers rushed to the scene. A pair of hands pulled me to my feet and I was shaken out of my stupor.
"Nico di freaking Angelo, you are in so much trouble," Will hissed, shifting me gently so that I could lean against him. The action was a contradiction to his murderous expression. If looks could kill… and I thought that my Death Glare was terrifying. "You have been awarded five days in the infirmary, mister." The look on his face and the threat that came out of his mouth was too much. I nearly tipped over and face-planted while laughing my ass off at him.
"I'm… not… even …hurt." I choked, stepping away from him and straightening up to prove it before doubling over in laughter again. Everyone was staring at me, but I couldn't care less. It was impossible to stop now.
"You sound like a dying dolphin," Percy informed me, smiling a bit as he watched me. Annabeth came over and punched his shoulder with calculated force, just enough that it didn't really hurt him.
"Congratulations." She raised an eyebrow as she saw me, cackling and pointing at Will's face, and Will himself, who was trying to maintain his stern expression before matching my laughter wheeze-for-wheeze. "You didn't give them Nitrous oxide, did you?"
"What?" Percy looked confused.
"Laughing gas," Will translated as we both managed to poker face. Jason wandered over, still holding the flag.
"That was pretty awesome, Nico." He grinned, fist bumping me. I rolled my eyes, pasting my nonchalant, bored expression back on.
"Try being faster next time, Sparky. Will might bash my head in if I ever hold on for longer." Apollo boy in question was helping Annabeth explain to Percy how laughing gas worked.
"He likes you, and you like him, I can tell. You should totally date." Jason looked exceedingly proud of himself.
"Well, well, Mr. Aphrodite. Good advice. That never even occurred to me." I said sarcastically, smirking.
"Just give it a shot. I'm just looking out for my little bro." He marched off to look for Piper, and once the attention was off us, Will and I slipped into the infirmary.
"Jason is now shipping us, I believe. Just a warning." I snickered.
"You are not allowed to use that much power during a game anymore." Will returned my mocking smile. "I wonder how long it will take him to figure out that we're already together."
"Knowing Jason, a few years."
"That's enough time for some fun." And we connected our lips.
A/N: I was bored and tired of typing this depressing chapter I was working on, so I just opened up a new document and typed this up really fast. I'm planning on updating The Chronicles of Nico and Will by Wednesday, possibly, but no promises. Thanks for reading, and stay awesome, people ;)