Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan. I own nothing, but the plot.
Themes of self-harm, anxiety, and depression are depicted within this story. TRIGGER WARNING! Please do not read if these themes upset you. TRIGGER WARNING!
Criticism is appreciated, but please no hate. Please review and leave suggestions! Enjoy!
Nico's POV:
The search party is what woke Nico. He jumped awake as he heard "thank the gods". He looked around quickly, forgetting where he was. He was on the beach. Will was next to him, blinking sleep from his eyes, but he looked alert, ready to defend if needed. They had fallen asleep together on the blanket. Both boys stood, searching the immediate area. A group of demigods was smirking at them, but Nico could sense their fear under the amusement.
"Oh, you guys are going to be in so much trouble." Lou Ellen said.
"What's going on? Why are you all here?" Will asked. Lou Ellen, Kayla, Connor, and Nyssa were all in the group. A little ways away, Chiron had started galloping over.
"Mr. Solace, Mr. di Angelo, thank the gods." Relief flowed through Chiron's words. What had happened? "What were you two doing? Why weren't you in your cabins?"
"What's going on?" Nico asked, ignoring the barrage of questions.
The demigods all looked at each other. Worry lined the face of their teacher. "Why don't you explain Connor?"
Connor started explaining solemnly. He seemed so lifeless without his brother who had gone off to college. "I woke up in the middle of the night to use the restroom and I noticed that Cecil wasn't in his bed. I didn't really think about; just thought he was walking around or something like that."
"Are you aware of the fact that we have a curfew Mr. Stoll?" Chiron interrupted. Connor smiled meekly at him.
"Sure, but it's more of a suggestion right?" Chiron didn't say anything. Connor continued. "I went back to bed. I woke up again this morning, and he was still missing. No note, no anything. All of his stuff was in the cabin. I started searching around the camp, but I couldn't find him."
He paused for a moment. Nyssa took up where he left off. "Then, he ran into me. I was looking for Leo, because he had disappeared as well. We went to Calypso's cabin and realized she was missing too. As we were coming back, we ran into Kayla."
Kayla started her portion of the story. "You weren't in your bed or the infirmary, Will. I got nervous. We went to the Hades cabin, and when Nico was gone, we realized we needed help. We went to Chiron to organize a search party. And we stumbled upon you guys."
"What were you guys doing?" Connor wiggled his eyebrows suggestively as he asked the question. So his humor hadn't completely gone away with his brother.
"We had dinner on the beach last night, and we fell asleep." Will explained.
"Even you fail to comply with the curfew, Mr. Solace?" Chiron asked. "Don't think just because we are relieved that we found you means that you will escape without consequence. You've broken multiple rules!"
"What were you guys doing out here?" Connor repeated his question.
"We fell asleep-" Will started.
"Nothing else?" Connor teased. "No kissing or-?"
"I believe that the missing demigods should be what we are worrying about right now." Nico snapped. Connor stopped his joking. "I was talking to Leo and Calypso yesterday and they were talking about leaving anyway. Has anyone tried contacting them?"
"Not yet." Nyssa said.
"Was their stuff in their cabins?" Nico asked.
"No, it was like they left without a trace."
"We can check their cabins again, see if they left anything behind." Nico ordered. Nyssa blinked, but followed his command without question. She brought Lou Ellen with her to see if the girl could find any hidden magic or traps that Leo may have set.
"Cecil is still missing." Will spoke up. Nico looked at his boyfriend. Once again, Nico had failed to notice Will's true feelings. He was worried. Nico sometimes forgot that Cecil was Will's best friend. They were the type of friends who could rarely talk and still remain quite close.
"We will keep looking for him okay?" Nico reassured, putting his hand on Will's shoulder. Will nodded. Nico had a sinking suspicion that he wasn't going to leave camp for a while.
"Okay." Will affirmed. He calmed himself, and took over control. He looked to Kayla. "Where have you looked?"
"All the usual places. Hermes cabin, the arena, the wall, and now the beach." Kayla listed.
Will's eyebrows knit as he thought. He was quiet for moment. Nico could practically see the thoughts running through his mind. Will sighed in frustration as he spoke. "Would anyone else know where he is?"
Kayla shook her head. "You're his best friend."
"What about his mother?" Will asked. "A lot of people have returned home for school or to see family. Could he have left to go home?"
"We hadn't considered that yet." Kayla admitted.
"Campers are supposed to inform me before they leave camp." Chiron sounded incredulous at the fact that campers kept breaking rules.
"Well, maybe it was a family emergency. We can start there." Will instructed. "I'm sure he has his mother's number written down somewhere in his cabin, or on his phone if he left that."
"Okay, let's head over there then." Connor lead the way to the cabins. They arrived at the Hermes cabin. Will walked inside, Nico close behind him. Nico hadn't been inside the cabin since he had been placed there his first couple of months at Camp Half-Blood. It felt like a lifetime ago. It was crowded with rows of bunk beds, but most of them were empty as campers returned home. There were stolen possessions all around the cabin, but Chiron turned a blind eye to these as they all searched the cabin.
Will sat down on Cecil's bunk and started going through his things. His face grew more worried as he continued looking through the stuff. He removed clothes and books from a backpack. He shook his head. "This doesn't make any sense." He gained eye contact with Nico. "All of his stuff is here. If it was a family emergency, he didn't bring anything with him."
"What about his phone?" Nico asked, remaining calm and logical while Will processed what was happening. "Isn't there a way to track it or something?"
"Look at you, all caught up on modern technology." Will sounded impressed. "Not bad for an old man." He laughed nervously. He was in crisis mode, Nico knew, so he was trying to keep the situation light. Otherwise he would panic.
"Will-" Nico said. They were working with a time-sensitive matter.
Will held up a slim phone. "To answer your question, he left his phone here."
Nico sat next to Will as he tried to unlock the screen. He didn't have the password. After a minute of thinking, Will came up with a number. He punched it in. The phone opened. Will began scrolling through Cecil's texts messages. Nothing jumped out to Nico. Will clicked out of that and went to the emails. Nada. Then, he went to the call log.
"There are no text messages in the past week." Will informed. "The only emails were from colleges, and the last call was to his mother, three weeks ago."
"Probably a Christmas call." Connor said absently.
Will pressed the contact labeled Mom. He held it up to his ear. Techology and demigods didn't mix too well as they alerted monsters to their presence, but the Hermes cabin had found a way around it. Almost all the campers had purchased "software" (as they called it) from the Stoll brothers so their phones would not attract monsters. The brothers, however, charged an extraordinary fee.
The phone rang three times, before it disconnected. "What the-" Will started to say, but was interrupted by the phone starting to smoking. "Holy Hades!" He shouted as he dropped the phone. It sparked a couple of times before shorting out. Nico cautiously picked it up from the floor.
"Dead." He declared.
"What in Hades name was that?" Connor asked. He took the phone from Nico and started examining it.
"I have no idea. We can bring it to Nyssa and see if she can figure it out." Nico said.
"Yeah, I want to see what all this is about too." Connor said. He waved the phone in front of Chiron. "Do you have any idea?"
Chiron was looking intently at the phone. "I didn't want to alarm anyone, but the camp has had problems with communications recently. I thought it was just an inconvenience, but it may be worse than that. We can't make or receive phone calls. Iris messages are no good. We've been receiving no new campers or satyrs. We are completely on our own. We can't make contact with Camp Jupiter or Olympus."
"What about Mr. D?" Kayla put her hand on Will's shoulder, trying to comfort him. Will smiled gratefully.
"I've had no contact with him since the trial. He disappeared afterwards and has yet to return." Chiron cast a wary eye on Nico.
The trial was still a touchy subject for the son of Hades. He had been forced to recount his experiences, his weaknesses revealed in front of the entire camp. It felt like Cupid in Croatia all over again. Dionysus had disappeared right after the trial with Aaron. What had he done to Aaron? Did it have something to do with the fact that Dionysus was nowhere to be found?
"Don't think about him." Will whispered softly into his ear, lacing their hands.
"How did you-"
"You always get this faraway, terrified look when you think about him." Will explained. "He's gone. You don't need to worry."
"But what if he isn't gone?" Will looked puzzled at Nico's question.
"Why wouldn't he be? Dionysus exiled him from camp. Why would he still be here?"
Nico was about to open his mouth to answer when someone cleared their throat. He turned slightly and remembered that they had an audience.
"Right." Nico said instead.
"What about you, Nico?" Kayla asked. "Have you had any contact with your father in recent days?"
"Yes, I have, but my father doesn't typically comply with the rules of Olympus." Nico said, matter-of-factly. "If the gods weren't supposed contact their children, my father would most likely ignore it. What about anyone else? Any contact with your parents?"
"No, but he doesn't usually make house calls." Connor answered.
"And Apollo has been missing since the Battle with Gaea." Will pointed out.
"Yeah, we've known about that." Chiron was stroking his beard, thoughtfully.
"Rachel said that the prophecies had stopped coming to her as well. She has had no dreams to give any indication of what is happening." Nico mentioned.
"Something bad is coming; I've had bad omens for weeks." Chiron looked at Nico as he spoke. He shivered. Did Chiron think he was a bad omen?
"I've sensed it as well." Nico admitted. Silence fell over the cabin. Maybe because his father was the god of the Underworld, Nico had more of a propensity to sense destruction coming. That's why Chiron had looked at him, he reassured himself. Unless, he thought he was a bad omen.
Will squeezed his hand again. "Stop that. I can see the bad thoughts running around in your head." He whispered.
Nico opened his mouth and for the second time, was interrupted by Nyssa and Lou Ellen, arriving breathlessly.
"What did you find?" Chiron demanded. Nyssa held up a thick parchment scroll and handed it to Chiron. He unraveled it. A flickering hologram appeared above the surface. It was Leo, complete with his oil-stained shirt and tool belt.
"Hey guys!" Mini-Leo spread his arms out. "Sorry to leave you like that. Calypso and I are both fine. We're taking Festus to-" the image sparked exactly like the phone, but Chiron didn't drop it. "Back as soon as-" another spark. "Cook tacos when-" static. "¡Vaya con queso! Love ya!" The scroll sparked and the image went out.
"That little-" Nico trailed off. "At least we know that he and Calypso are okay."
"But this proves the fact that communications are on the fritz." Chiron added.
"I can go down to the Underworld and see what my father knows?" Nico suggested. He felt Will look at him in alarm, but he didn't look back. Will thought he was leaving. But, Nico couldn't leave when there was a missing demigod. Once he would found, he might head out, but he would not abandon Will to deal with his missing best friend alone.
Chiron considered it. He also took note of Will's reaction to it. "Only if you are willing. We would never force you to."
"It's my home." He realized too late the harsh impact of his words, but he couldn't take it back. "I'm sure my father would assure that no harm came to me. After all, he showed up at Camp Half-Blood to make sure I was okay."
"You will be able to make arrangements for that?" Nico nodded. Chiron turned to the assembled demigods. "In the meantime, we will organize a search party to scour the forest. Use the buddy system. We don't need anyone to play hero, especially if there is an outside force involved."
"Yes sir. I will organize the party." Connor took on the task. He turned to assign the present demigods orders. He gave the phone to Nyssa, who started turning it over in her hands, nodding at Connor's words. She already had the back off the phone by the time everyone had gone off to do their assignments.
Will, Nico, and Chiron were left in the cabin. "When do you plan to depart, Mr. di Angelo?"
"Immediately." Nico answered, standing.
"I would advise that you use the buddy system as well, Mr. di Angelo." Chiron's eyes flickered to Will before he looked back at Nico. "But, I will not tell you how to deal with your father." With that statement, he walked out of the cabin.
The two boys were left in silence. They turned towards each other.
"Nico-" in that one word, Will said so much. 'Don't go', 'Take me with you', 'I can't lose you'.
"We are leaving in five minutes." Nico interrupted. "Meet me by the Big House and we will head down to the Underworld. Unless you want to lead the search for Cecil here."
Will was torn, Nico could see that much. To go to look for his best friend or go with his boyfriend.
"I'd understand if you wanted to stay here." I'd prefer that Nico thought. It wasn't that he didn't want Will with him. It would just be easier to go to see his father by himself. But, he knew that Will would be more reassured if he went with him.
Will was thinking. "I'll come with you. Cecil has enough people looking for him. No one is looking out for you."
"Okay, five minutes then." Nico affirmed.
"Meet you over there." Will replied. Nico walked over out the cabin to pick up some supplies from his own cabin.
When he arrived, he grabbed his sword and his travel backpack which contained a change of clothes, some energy bars, a water bottle, ambrosia, and bandages. He swung this over his shoulder and walked out of his cabin. He closed the door and headed towards the Big House.
Will was waiting for him. He also had a backpack on his shoulder. He had donned a hoodie and a knife sheathed on his waist. He wasn't as skilled with a bow as his siblings were so he tended to stay away from the weapon. Nico was more of the fighter as it was. He smiled lightly as Nico approached. Under the smile, his face was tight with worry.
"Are you ready?" Nico asked.
"Yes," he said, "but, before we jump, when's the last time you've eaten? Did you eat anything this morning? Are you sure you-"
Nico held up a hand to stop his words. "I will leave you here if you keep mothering me."
"But that's my job."
Nico rolled his eyes. "I ate enough last night. I should be fine to shadow travel. I haven't done it in a while."
"You did it like two days ago!" Will protested.
"Do you not think I'm strong enough to do it?"
"No! I'm just telling you to be careful." Will said. Nico was sure he could jump by himself. He hadn't transported another person in a long time, so this would be an interesting trip.
Nico reassured Will as much as he was reassuring himself. "I will be. And I have you there in case something goes wrong. Now, c'mon. We've got things to do."
The two boys grabbed hands. Nico closed his eyes and reached for the shadow casted by the Big House. He pictured his father's palace as they disappeared into the darkness.
