Last Time:
"You surpass all expectation, you follow orders… minimally but your social skills are… lacking" he blew a mouthful of air out and rested his elbows on the table. "Work on it okay Devil?"
Nico nodded and got up to leave but as he was almost out the door, Dragon called out. "Oh and go call your family, they should be proud to have you"
Nico's back straightened and his face went blank again. He gave a terse nod and stalked out. The shadows flickering slightly as he walked through the camp. The other soldiers got out of his way quickly as they saw the storm building. He needed to blow off steam. He headed towards the unit's barracks and pretended to grab his sword while he was by his bed. He took a look at the knife that lied under his pillow but didn't pick it up.
'Fight the temptation, Nico' he thought. He walked out towards the weapons arena and hung in the shadows at two different units tried to disarm each other with knives. When one of them was pinned against the hard packed dirt, Nico walked forward and stepped out of the shadows. The instructor looked up from wrapping someone else's cut arm to see the boy leaning on his sword and smiling nicely.
"Can I have a try?"
He got a dubious look. "With a sword?"
Nico nodded and straighten up, yanking the tip of his blade out of the ground. The instructor picked up a long-dagger and tossed it to the unit leader of D-Unit.
"You'll be up against Spider"
"Just because you're a greenie, I won't go easy on you" Spider said sympathetically, already feeling a bit guilty about hurting the clearly not-of-age boy.
"I hope you won't" Nico amp'ed up the innocent little boy act making the other person squirm in displeasure, totally forgetting that Nico was the one who started the fight.
Nico watched as Spider walked carefully, his long legs testing the waters as he came closer only to slide back. Nico saw he favored his left leg so he purposely changed the direction of the pacing by feinting a strike to left shoulder and quickly took a step to the right. Spider was caught off balanced at the ease the boy handle the fight.
"Devil, huh?" Spider started. Nico knew this tactic, he used it so many times on monsters and even Percy. "Where are you fr-"
He shot forward, hoping to catch the young teen unaware but Nico was ready for him, sidestepping the blade, he brought his own blade up to clash noisily with inferior steel. Nico grinned inside, the familiar lull of the ringing brought him a peace of mind. It was relaxing. The singing of metal, the slither of light dancing on the floor, the faint smell of sodium in diaphoresis. Too relaxing.
He didn't feel how his before fake jerky movements turned to a dance. Step here, duck there, one move flowed into the next. His breathing matched the ringing of the black blade hitting the two silver daggers. He did notice how Spider's breath became labor under the fury of sharp taps to the shoulder, knees and wrists. Nico pulled back, his body fought against the logic, it wanted to crush him. He forced himself to act like he was finally running out of steam.
Spider saw his opportunity and struck, Nico allowed the blow to glance off his hip before countering with his own. "clumsy" stab. He decided it was finally time to take mercy on the other person. He waited carefully for an opening and threw himself at Spider's feet causing mass confusion and stumbling. Then he shot upwards and tackled the leader to the ground.
"Dead" Nico crowded happily, fake panting and trembling. Spider smiled underneath him and rolled out from under him.
"Wow, that was amazing Devil! You had me very surprised there. Throwing yourself at the person's feet? Gotta remember that when I go up against Bear tonight." Spider held out a muddy hand to Nico in a show of goodwill.
Nico raised an eyebrow and shook his sleeve instead, mindful not to touch the sticky mud. He bid his goodbyes and went off to search for his unit. He found them in a lecture about different groups of terrorists. He snuck his way in and sat down next to Snake who didn't notice the lithe teen pulling a chair out beside him as he was too occupied with talking to Alex and Fox.
Nico took Snake's pen and started twirling it around his slender fingers, the white letters melding into the black as he spun it faster and faster. He blamed Percy for this new habit. They finally noticed him when his fingers slipped and the pen clattered on the desk. Mouths fell open as the unit finally saw him. He pretended not to notice and fixed his attention on the instructor who was finishing up with SCORPIA and going on to a different group.
Chaos
Nico froze when the name flashed on the screen. His grip tightening on the pen before he forced himself to relax. He put on an indifferent mask but inside he was in turmoil.
'How can the mortals know about this? What happen to the mist?'
Thoughts flew around but was tamed when the instructor couldn't give them much information about this destructive group because they did not have that much in the first place.
"Chaos is a group in the Americas that soon travelled to Rome and Greece. They believed themselves as children of the Greek and roman gods and wanted to rid the world of the 'mortals'." On screen was a group of hellhounds and demigods that Nico recognized from the lines to the fields of punishment fighting what Nico could see as the backs of Jason and Piper. "They were taken down by a resistance group but no one really knows who they are or how they looked like except for this blurry picture."
Nico almost flipped the table when he saw it. It was a very blurry picture like someone was taking it right as they were racing past with a car. It was them next to Thalia's tree joking around after the war. He remembered because Leo had just came back with Calypso and Will finally let him out of the infirmary. He could see the orange and purple of their clothes, then the black of his a bit away from the group in the shadows.
"You bastard!' Percy yelled before tackling Jason. They grappled on the ground as Percy tried to take back his blue cookie from Jason's grasp. The others were laughing at them, Annabeth rolling her eyes with Piper at their boyfriends' antics. Reyna was scooting closer to where Nico was sitting, resting his head on his lap as a pillow.
"Hey" she said softly, her smile was content. Nico looked down at her.
"Hey"
"You okay?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
Silence
"So who's that guy you keep hanging out with in the infirmary?" She reached up and poked his forehead. Nico started sputtering and turned red. "Ooo! Did little Di Angelo find a boy?"
Nico pouted and leaned against the tree. Reyna narrowed her eyes and got up. "Time to go threaten someone!"
"Reyna" Nico said exasperated.
"I'm not letting some low life hurt my little bro"
A warm feeling bloomed in Nico's chest. "We aren't even dating!"
"Who?" Hazel arrived with Frank and sat down.
"No one!"
Hazel raised an eyebrow but was distracted with the rest of the group greeting her. Nico scooted away and watched with a small smile as everyone joked around. Leo wrapping an arm around Calypso, Hazel braiding Annabeth's hair while Piper punched Leo for making a dirty joke. Nico felt... happy. He felt at home at last.
He didn't notice the rest of the unit, he kept looking at the picture as the photo kept sharpening until he could see even his face in the shadows. The mist. That's why. He liked that photo but he didn't like the fact it might reveal the existence of the camps.
"Hey that one person looks kinda-" Alex trailed off as he squinted at the picture but somehow it never focused. It looked like it was shifting slightly making it hard to look at it for long.
"We predict that this group was responsible for the destruction of the Titans a couple years before Chaos, but we cannot be sure. However we do have one witness that saw how they fought like and here he comes"
Nico looked over and hid his surprise as a very familiar face appeared in the doorway. Will Treaty.
Nico hadn't seen him since picking up Alyss' soul at her own funeral. He grimace at the young man, Nico knew that Will could see through the mist at an extent. He had spotted the tail of Nico's jacket as he had shadow travelled away after bringing Alyss to Elysium.
Nico sunk in his seat as Treaty started talking. He tuned out as Will went on and on about how they didn't use guns but melee weapons and their wits. Nico wasn't too glad until he announced that they were all to take sword and dagger lessons.
Nico was slightly pleased as they tromped out to the arena where the rest of the units were. He spotted D-Unit, F-Unit, J-unit, and S-Unit standing in an awkward circle with the weapons to the side. He saw an assortment of daggers, dirks, short sword, long swords, double edge, single edge, two-handed, hand and a half, all sorts of blades were there but what wasn't was the archery portion. Nico thought logically, a gun was better than a bow for mortals. It was faster, smaller and easier to hide. (Unless it was a special one for demigods that can turn into something else.
Nico spotted his own sword next to the pile and immediately checked his chain belt, the black sword missing from its usual place. He looked up to see Will winking at him. Nico was completely blown away, was he really that out of it that even Will Treaty could pick pocket him? Even the Stoll brothers couldn't when he was half dead and delirious. He could see the dark gray handle glinting at him, the worn black leather looking a bit frayed.
'I need to replace that' He thought offhandedly as he concentrated to wrap the trusty stygian iron in mist. He didn't want it to accidently absorb some poor soldier's soul, not that it had happen before. He prided himself on training his abilities to avoid these mishaps.
Will made them pair up, Nico being left out because of the odd number. Spider being reluctant to fight anyone at the moment as he was still nursing his own cuts and bruises from his spar with Nico. He watched the others with a critical eye as they awkwardly handle the unfamiliar weapon. They tried holding a sword like a dagger, picking the longest one out of the bunch even though it would be unbalanced. He almost scoffed when Bear, the leader of J-Unit that ticked Nico off, nearly dislocated his wrist because of a poorly held sword and an accidental hit. He stood next to Will stiffly, he didn't know what to do. Will blew on a whistle, splitting the air with its sharp tone.
"Re-pair up! This time I'll be going around correcting those who need it. Spider, you're with Bear. Hawk, Panther. Wolf, Fox… bla bla bla… Devil you're with Cub"
Nico started out of his day dream at the sound of his code name. Alex flashed him a grin before jogging over, a hand and a half sword in his hand, the blade barely 3 feet long.
'At least he's smart enough to pick one that is right for his body' Nico thought ruefully.
"Lo Devil!"
"Hey" Nico said sharply getting into the ready stance, his weight on the balls of his feet, his body leaning slightly forward as the older teen came closer.
"Ready?" Alex asked. Nico nodded. They waited.
The sounds of clashing metal rang around them but neither moved, waiting the other too. Nico was known for his patience. He took it, pretended to be okay while letting it stew, waiting for the moment it would be the best. He was a master at the hidden arts. Alex, however, was only so patient. He waited alright but most of the time his impulsive thinking got in the way. Over the years however, Alex got a bit more control over it. Only a bit though so it wasn't a surprise that he snapped first.
Alex came flying over the distance between the two. Nico watched carefully but he could tell that Alex was quite skilled handling the blade. He sidestepped the thrust and countered with a backhand slice but was surprised when a dagger stopped the wicked dark edge from tagging Alex's side.
"Nice one!" Nico said before moving on to a complicated twist of his wrist to disarm the second weapon. From an outsider's view, that move looked easy and noobish but in reality, it took a lot of practice to pull off.
"Thanks" Alex said distracted as he avoided another slice to his face. He pushed back a bit, pressing against Nico's guard. He flashed a smirk before dropping. Nico jumped just in time to avoid getting his legs chopped off. Nico flipped over Alex's back, his free hand grabbing the back of the collar and pulling. Alex fell backwards, sprawling over the hard ground, the sparse brown grass tangling with his fair hair, the golden strands slightly glowing in the light. Nico extended a hand over the fallen spy. Alex grinned and clasped his hand in the smaller teen's, the cold flesh soothing to the beating sun.
"You're good. Where did you learn that wrist flippy thingy?"
Nico raised an eyebrow at how he described it.
"L.A"
"Oh you're from America? You don't have an accent" Alex bent down to retie his cut shoelace, tying the two broken pieces together.
"I travel a lot, learned to mimic different accents." Nico looked up at the clouds as he waited. He liked to make sure it wasn't going to rain. The sudden downpour would be terrible in this vegetation lacking environment, turning the well-worn path into a sink pit.
"I have too. What is your favorite place?" Alex stood up, quite pleased with how he salvaged his shoelaces.
"Italy"
Alex froze.
"That's nice" It was strained and Nico picked up on it also.
"Not many good memories there?"
"You could say that"
"Me neither but that's where my mother lived and I was born. I don't remember it though." Nico grimaced at the thought of losing his memory. Alex looked over at the other teen, noticing not for the first time how young Devil was.
"Devil-"
"Lets go, the others are waiting" Nico cut in, he didn't understand why he felt the need to tell Alex that.
"Devi-"
"Lets go"
And so the two of them went off to find the unit in the barracks, getting ready to retire and nursing their wounds. Nico leaned against the frame of the door while Alex walked in, a blank look on his face as he observed the sight with humor. Snake was sitting on Eagle's bed trying to wrap an ace bandage on Eagle's head while Eagle's hand was handcuffed to bed post. Wolf was tightening a pinkish wrap that was already around his arm while Fox sat reading, his arm covered in bruises that could only be there from a single edge sword.
"Wow, you guys look terrible." Alex teased. Wolf growled and snapped his teeth in Alex's direction.
"Shut up" Snake said as Eagle tried once again to escape only for the cuffs to jingle. "I don't see any on you. I'll look you over later. SIT STILL EAGLE!" The last part was directed to the other male that was squirming on the hard bed.
"No need, I didn't get hurt."
"How about you Devil?"
Nico gave a start, he wasn't ready to be added to the conversation.
"What do you think?"
Snake wiped his hand on a wet towel and motion him over, Nico headed over cautiously.
"I say yes so get your ass over here."
Alex shot Nico a pity glance and went to change out of his uniform.
"Shirt off."
Nico raised an eyebrow.
"How about no?"
"OOO! You're gonna get it Devil!" Eagle yelled while flopping back, his hand still above his head in the cold metal cuff.
"Now"
"No"
"Deeevil"
"Snaaake"
Nico ran towards the doorway, almost making it there, when Snake got off the bed only to find Fox blocking the door. He looked up to see the hole from RTI and gave them a salute.
"As much as I love to stay and have you poke at my body… see ya!' He jump, twisting around to allow his foot to catch the wall next to Fox's head and pushed off. He gained an extra half-length and grabbed onto the rim of the metal roof, the still warm tin was biting into his fingers. He pulled himself up and ran across the roof, his shoes barely making a sound on the dirty alloy.
He jumped off and took off to the Dragon's lair, aka the sergeant's office. He picked the lock slid in just as angry shouts of 'Devil' ran out over the camp. He leaned against the door and breathed a sigh of relief until a cough broke his musing.
'Oh crap' Nico thought as he straighten up and faced Dragon.
"Devil" Dragon stated. Nico looked with a carefully constructed mask.
"Sir"
"Why are you in my office?"
"I'm hiding from K-Unit, sir"
He looked at the young teen with a careful eye. He took in the mess of hair, the dirt and dust on the knees and hands, the blank look.
"Hide in there. They'll check here soon." He pointed to the adjoining room. Nico nodded his thanks and quietly slunked off, he door shutting without a sound. Dragon was surprise, usually that door creaked.
'More mysteries' Dragon rubbed his temple as he tried to focus back on the form in front of him. 'I'm getting too old for this."
He didn't get very far before there was a knock on the door. Eagle poked his head in.
"Sergeant?"
He sighed and threw down his pen. "What do you want?"
"Did Devil, by any chance, come in here?"
"Why the fuck would he be in here? Did you lose him?" Dragon growled, he was thirty seconds from either breaking down from laughter or breaking K Unit's bodies. It was a very thin line. Eagle gave a small meep and quickly retreated.
"You can come out now" He called while rubbing his temples once again. "Definitely too old" He mumbled.
Nico slowly exited his hiding place, his combat boots not making a sound on the scuffed wood, the surface worn from years of pacing.
"Thank you, sir"
"I told you to call me Dragon"
"Okay then, Dragon"
Dragon's eyes shot open as he heard the sarcasm. He hide a grin. "Just go, you have a language test tomorrow and should probably go to sleep. Have to fill your empty folder with something" He mumbled the last part as Nico was exiting the room. He limped off in search of a new hiding place. Preferably away from K-Unit but alas, luck was not on his side. Luck of the Devil. Yup he finally understood that saying.
When he got in the unit's barracks, the others were fuming and cursing him. He snuck around them, sticking to the shadows and made it to the very end of the place. He flopped down on his bed without a sound and went to bed, his breathing light and his mind ready to wake at any moment. He wanted to walk the dream scape to Butch so he could get a message to Will.
Subconsciously he could feel the others drifting off, their dreams standing out like beacons in the night sky. He turned away and let himself get pulled over the dark sea and to the city of New York.
"Hello"
Nico turned to see Butch sitting on a bed.
"Hello"
"You want to send a message to Will right?"
"Yeah"
"You got hurt?"
Nico grin sheepishly. "Yup"
"He's gonna have a fit."
"Counting on it"
"Good luck Nico" Butch said as he started to drift off, most likely waking up to tell Will before he forgot. "Take care of the leg"
"Will do"
Nico was yanked back over the sea and into someone else's dream.