Author's Note: Sorry this chapter has taken me awhile (:p), I've been really busy so here it is. I hope you enjoy it! Oh and reviews are really appreciated, you guys probably hear this all the time but they really are. Well you guys are probably getting really bored reading this note so here the story is!

Nico's POV

I sat on the couch still out of breath, Reyna sat across from me. I noticed her armor was red in a spot, though I didn't want to point it out.

Nike smiled at us, and I had absolutely no clue what to say, but I had to ask, "Are you a friendly goddess?" Nike shrugged, "It depends on what side you're on and how you find me." Nike looked at Reyna, "Of course you know all about victory, you must also know about its sacrifices." She was talking about Coach Hedge, oh gods. I thought, what was I going to tell the others?

Nike continued, "Of course victory can come in many forms, and not always on a battle field." She looked at me, "You must let go to win the battle in yourself." Yeah sure, that's easy coming from the immortal goddess of victory! Then I thought, why do I even try anymore? I never will be able to get Percy… and just like that I was ready to let go of him, my feelings for him, and anything else along with that. Nike smiled at me, "Good job Nico di Angelo."

I couldn't help but feel proud of myself, and my stomach made a dying whale sound. "Say Nike, you wouldn't have any food here would you?" Nike laughed and crossed her arms, "I have a McDonalds in here." At that moment a girl walked over and I said, "I'd like a Happy Meal." She nodded and walked away.

Reyna was trying not to laugh; I pointed at her and said frowning, "You are never too old for a Happy Meal." The girl returned with my Happy Meal, I looked through it and I muttered, "She forgot the toy." A toy came flying at me; I caught it and looked at it. Then I scowled, "DO I LOOK LIKE A GIRL?!" the toy was a "My Little Pony". This time Reyna laughed and I realized how much I'd come to love that laugh. Even Nike smiled, "Well it seems everything is almost wrapped up…" she got up and stopped, "Oh Reyna, Nico, I got you boat tickets on a cargo boat heading to New York City."

She handed each of us a ticket and strode out I had a thought occur to me, "Nike? Why aren't you affected by this Greek and Roman fight?" Nike shrugged, "I guess victory is universal, I don't really change much." Now she walked out, and I looked at my ticket. Then at Reyna, "Well it looks like we have this place to ourselves…until nine o'clock tomorrow." She shrugged, "I'm going to find a room for myself." She walked up the stairs and after a while I followed her and found myself a black room.

The room had everything dark/a different color that was also dark, to a very comfortable bed. I laid my sword and jacket on the night table, than I explored the apartment a little. There was what looked like a balcony on the roof and that seemed interesting enough so I headed up there.

I peered through the door that was open and saw Reyna, and walked up onto the roof. "Hey praetor." Reyna turned around and took a deep breathe when she saw me, "You really know how to sneak up on somebody, don't you?" "It's a blessing and a curse." I slowly walked by her.

Reyna wasn't wearing a braid, her hair was flowing in the wind and she was wearing a purple t-shirt. The setting sun wrapped her in a warm glow and I had to force myself not to stare, she smiled then winced like it hurt. "Are you okay?" Reyna put on a fake smile that I could always spot when people put it on. "I'm fine Nico, really." I gently put my hand on the spot where she was hurt and now she really winced. I looked her straight in the eyes, "No Reyna, you aren't." my hand found hers, "Come on, let's go clean that wound up."

I took her to my room and looked around for a First-Aid kit, after a couple minutes of searching I found it. "I didn't know you were able to play doctor." Reyna said to me on the bed, I opened up the kit and replied, "Well living on your own in the Underworld and in the world I kind of have to." She shrugged as is saying, "Fair enough."

Okay first off I had to clean the wound to see if there was anything still stuck in it from when that monster jabbed her with that spear. To do that I would need to see her wound…this was under her shirt. Awkward. "Um…Reyna, I really hate to ask you, but can you take your shirt off?" Reyna nodded, "Don't worry I'm wearing a sports bra."

Not sure which was weirder:

The fact she was going to take her shirt off

The fact she was so cool about taking her shirt off

She took it off and for the first time I got a look at the wound. There was quite a bit of dried blood, but I remembered something I learned. Wound always look worse than they are. I looked at Reyna and looked at her apologetically, "I need to clean you wound, and it's going to hurt," I offered her my hand, "so just squeeze my hand if you need something to do." She took my hand, and I started working.

As soon as I did she squeezed my hand and let me say that girl has shark strength…not that I've ever fought a shark…

I shook my head and got back to the task at hand, I saw Reyna shed a tear and that was a first. When I finished up with that the wound didn't look much better but at least it was cleaned. Reyna was breathing heavily, "Well Dr. Nico, what do you have to do now?" I smiled and replied, "Well," (insert me make quotation mark gestures) "'Dr. Nico' requests you not to call him 'Dr. Nico'."

A ghost of a smile crossed her face, "Fine are we almost done then?" I sighed because I didn't want to put her through any more pain, "We're almost done, I just need to pull out the spear tip out of you." "Sounds painful." she muttered, and my reply was, "Probably will be."

When I finally pulled it out Reyna was in tears, it made me want to crawl into a hole and die. I gently put my hand on her shoulder, "It's over, you wound is all dressed." Reyna smiled faintly, and whispered, "Can you take me to my room?" I nodded as I picked her up, she was breathing slowly.

After a while I found Reyna's room as I set her on the bed, and I had an odd vision of Sleeping Beauty.

Then I headed back to my room and realized her shirt was on my bed, so after taking that back to her room I went to explore the apartment. Sleep would've never found me, there's only been one way I've ever slept well. I only sleep well when I'm physically exhausted, and after a couple of minutes I found a gym.

There was a punching bag, practice dummy, weight lifting bars, and a rock wall. (I hoped the last one didn't have lava that spouted from the top of it.) The rock wall seemed like a decent place to start out so in less than a minute I was to the top. Then for about an hour I practiced my sword fighting with the dummy, but there's only so much you can practice with on a dummy, after that I spent a while on the punching bag.

Even though I hate people fussing over it, my hair was getting on my nerves, so I tied part of it back and continued. My knuckled were wrapped up but they still hurt, somehow I liked the pain. I was drenched with sweat but I kept on working on it, and then I hit it with one huge punch and it flew off the hook and slammed against the wall.

Did I seriously just do that? I wondered as I looked at the sand pouring out of it on the floor. "Whoa Nico, I knew you were strong but seriously." Reyna was leaning in the doorway smiling, "Come on you need to get some sleep for tomorrow. You know in case we have to get out of some dicey situations…" On the way back to my room she rubbed her arm, "Thanks Nico for earlier, it was nice of you." I shrugged and nudged her, "What are friends for?"

Reyna looked at me confused; obviously she never thought she'd hear those words from me… "You look surprised." I stated and she laughed, "Well yeah, I think that might have been the first time you've said that to anyone in a long time especially to me, of all people." Now we were at her room, she walked in with a smile on her face.

I put my hands in my jeans and trudged down the hall to my room, then closed the door behind me. I was just about to fall asleep but I heard a voice, "Yo, Nico…Death Boy, anyone there?" there was only one person who'd call me "Death Boy", Leo's face looked out of the mist. The obsidian fountain in the back of the room shimmered.

"Why are you calling me?" I asked with my eyebrows raised. Leo shrugged, "Everyone was whooped, I was awake. That and I'm calling you because Reyna scares me, and she might not still like me for the whole," Leo made quotation marks in the hair with his hands, "Blowing up new Rome thing…" I rolled my eyes, "So why exactly are you calling me?" Leo was tapping his fingers, "So we're almost to Greece and our crew on the ship were wondering what your progress was." He looked around my room, "Say, where's my favorite goat?"

Why do I have to break it to him? I thought miserably. I had to tell Leo about our trip and about how he sacrificed his life to save ours. "He was a brave satyr; he's lived a good long life filled with beating up monsters and saving the world." I finished, Leo's face didn't have the usual excitement and energy it normally did. It looked like how he looked when he mysteriously came back. "SO he's really gone?" Leo asked, I nodded my head, Leo seemed in shock. "Wow that old goat was so tough I didn't think that could ever happen…" he didn't look up at me, "Well I gotta go break the news to the others, I'll hopefully see you around…you know if we're all still alive then."

When that the mist faded and Leo disappeared, and left me alone and feeling miserable in my dark room with the fountain casting ghostly reflections on the dark walls. Those reflections seemed to glare down at me and make me wonder what happened to me. Am I good enough to be even considered to be a hero? Would anyone care about me if I were to go away, sure they might be sad for a couple days but it's not like anyone would weep for me.

I cast those thoughts aside in a box to open up for later as I climbed into bed.