Hey, it's actually been about ten years since I've posted anything so go easy on me guys. Anyway this is a collection of unrelated one shots that I've had floating around my head that I figured I'd post for fun :) Enjoy.
Disclaimer: The Heroe's of Olympus universe and all it's designs and characters belong to Rick Riordan.
Coming home/ mean mean MEAN!
I was another typical sunny afternoon at Camp Half-Blood when Nico was sitting on the steps of the Hades cabin sharpening his sword. The blade didn't need sharpening of course, but every couple minutes Nico would glance across the green at the Apollo cabin hoping that it's head counselor would emerge so he could 'accidentally' bump into him on his way to dinner.
Nico rolled his eyes at himself. He really was hopeless.
At that moment a strange tingling entered his senses, the one that hummed when the presence of another human was near by. The green had several people milling around but this one seemed ... different. He looked up towards the sky over the trees of the forest in the distance and, sure enough, something small glistened there.
Nico stared for another moment before breaking out into a grin (a new habit of his) and quickly started off towards the training arena, the best landing spot for giant bronze dragons.
Nico arrived just as the familiar metal beast landed on the ground trailed by a few campers who had also seen it arrive. Sure enough, Leo Valdez and a very pretty girl slid off Festus' back, both grinning fit to burst.
Nico approached Leo, "I thought it might be you." he called up to the couple.
"Hey man." Leo grinned back uncertainly, still not sure about the son of Hades. Nico couldn't blame him. He hadn't exactly been a ray of sunshine when they'd met on the Argo II. "Where is everyone? I guess we won the battle, hu? Is everyone alright?"
Nico's smile froze as his mind raced. Valdez had no idea what had happened, he realized. He got blown up at the climax of the battle and died ... ish. An evil, malicious, fiendish plot burst fully formed into Nico's mind. Hazel and the others had mourned their friend's 'death' all summer while Iron Man over here had been gallivanting off with a goddess.
Nico let his smile falter and adopted a sympathetic tone. "Oh, that's right. You ... you don't know." He let his eyes fill with tragedy and looked away from Leo. "Maybe ... maybe someone else should tell you about this."
He watched with twisted pleasure as the blood drained from Leo's face. "Why? What happened?!" He nearly shouted, taking several steps forward. "Did someone get hurt?"
Nico felt a moment of guilt. The poor kid looked close to tears with panic. Then he remembered the night over a month ago that Hazel spent crying her eyes out for hours over her lost friend. But was he really this mean?
Yes. Yes he was.
Nico filled his voice with sorrow and sympathy and looked Leo straight in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Leo. I really am. But all of the seven were killed in the battle with Gaea. You're ... you're the only one left."
"No ..." Leo gasped and Nico thought he saw his knees shake. "You're joking. You have to be messing with me."
Nico shook his head solemnly. "Would I do that?" He asked seriously, fighting with every fiber of his being to not cackle and give himself away.
"No ..." The teen gasped again and actually sank to his knees as more campers came gathering into the arena to greet him, none of them hearing the encounter.
The girl, Nico assumed this was Calypso, came and knelt next to Leo in concern, taking his hand.
Several moments passed and Nico was contemplating taking mercy on his sort-of-friend when a high pitched scream broke the silence.
Leo's eyes nearly bugged out of his head as Piper burst from the crowd and all but tackled him in a hug. She was laughing through her tears.
"Wait, wha-" he spluttered as he finally wrapped his arms around his friend and returned her hug. "But di Angelo said ..."
Nico couldn't hold it in any more. His lips twitched out of his control and he let out a snort of mirth which quickly turned into uncontrollable laughter.
"I'm sorry," he gasped out. "Your really deserved that ... and you should have seen your face!" And he was off again.
The rest of the seven chose that moment to appear and quickly engulfed their friend in hugs. Several of them were even crying, not all of them girls. Leo was speechless, which was a first as far as Nico was aware. He had recovered by now but still couldn't quite keep the smile off his face.
"What's going on?" Will had arrived with everyone else and had come up beside Nico. The son of Hades was abruptly hyper aware of his body and it suddenly became difficult to act natural.
"Uh ... Valdez is back from the dead apparently."
Will threw him a suspicious sideways look. "Which you had no idea about, of course."
"Who, me?" Nico asked but his smile grew.
Will chuckled beside him. "You're the worst."