That evening, after dinner, the Hades, Hephaestus, Athena, Hebe, Apollo, Tyche, Hermes, and Nemesis cabins rounded up outside of the woods and we tried to make a strategy.
Key word: tried.
Connor Stoll and Malcom from the Athena cabin were arguing.
"You can't just say: 'I'll hit them upside the head.' Connor, we need a plan!" Malcolm exclaimed, throwing his hands up as Chiara, Will, Nyssa, and I stood off to the side, trying to avoid their pointless argument. "Well it's worked before!" Connor yelled back, before grabbing a shield as he tried to hit Malcolm.
Their arguing was giving me a headache.
"Cut it out!" I yelled, stepping in between the two before I yanked the shield out of Connor's hands and hit him in the stomach with it. "You're being childish!" I hit Malcolm in his shoulder as well, "And you should keep a level head!"
I dropped the shield and folded my arms across my chest as I walked back to the other three with a disgruntled sigh. The daughter of Tyche eyes me warily, "Remind me not to get on your bad side." Chiara told me, giving me a cautious sideways glance as she leaned on one of the trees.
Even though I was generally accepted, there was no getting out of getting apprehensiveness and wariness from the campers. Not that I cared, it was just isolating.
After around fifteen minutes we had split up everybody into general positions. Nyssa, Chiara, Will, and I were on offensive decoy position. Paolo Montes, a Brazilian demigod who was the son of Hebe (goddess of youth) was on defense with Malcolm, Connor, and Damien (son of Nemesis who showed up a few days ago.)
Paolo looked around at us and I explained to him where he would be. He nodded, but let out a sigh and crossed his arms. "Eu queria dar um soco alguém."
Being as though I could speak fluently in Italian, and bits and pieces of Spanish I figured it was along the lines of him wanting to punch somebody. "You'll get your chance one day, Paolo." "Obrigado." He smiled, then put a hand on my shoulder, and I supposed he was thanking me.
There was the sound of a horn blowing and I looked up at Zeus's Fist, where our flag was planted.
"Go." Malcolm said, pointing in front of him, and I waved a hand dismissively, "Alright."
We headed off and were about four minutes into the woods when Chiara clapped her hands together, "I'm excited!"
"Is the term: 'stealth' a foreign concept to you?" I whispered with a raised eyebrow, and she shrugged, "I don't need-"
I glared at her, "If you say you don't need that because you have luck I'll push you into the creek myself." I told her, with a deep frown as I pulled out my Stygian Iron sword.
Like usual, it made the air around it colder, but I didn't mind, it often focused me. Will was silent as a cat, with a quiet tread over the forest floor. Nyssa, was slightly less quiet, but her eyes were wide and alert and at least she was trying to make an effort to be silent.
Chiara suddenly stopped and held out a hand. "I have a bad feeling."
Less than a minute later we heard the voice of Lou Ellen, from the Hecate cabin, Holly, and Laurel Victor from around fifty yards away. Either they didn't care if they were heard or they were even worse with hiding where they were than Chiara was.
Will grinned, and tapped Nyssa's arm, "You have your net, right?" "You're thinking what I'm thinking?" she asked him, with a fire glowing behind her eyes, it seemed like something that seemed to run with being a child of the blacksmith god.
The Son of Apollo looked at me for a moment and walked over, crouching down beside me before whispering into my ear, "I'll lead them on a chase and once we get to a clearing Nyssa will trap all three of them with her net. Be careful, since I won't be around to make sure you don't hurt yourself."
There was a teasing grin on his face and I rolled my eyes, shoving his shoulder lightly. "I'll be fine, Solace, get a move on. You be careful too." I added, just as a side note.
That idiot's smile could light up a stormy afternoon.
Stop it Nico. You're playing Capture the Flag. Think shadows, the night, darkness, not Wil- goddamn-Solace. I thought, shaking my head as the two sprinted off through the woods. The trees seemed to reach out and swallow them in the dim light. Maybe that's what my shadow travel resembled to people.
The two of us, Chiara and I, soon set off through the woods before getting to the river where Jason and Piper were standing.
"I figured you would be on offense." Jason said, with a slightly triumphant smile like he had won the lottery or something as we stepped into the clearing. Piper looked at Chiara, trying to figure out if she could work her charmspeak on her.
Suddenly, a look of horror passed over Chiara's face as she looked up at the sky, she pointed up and gasped. "Holy Hephaestus, what is that?!" She exclaimed, and I admit, even I fell for her act.
In a blur, she had darted across the river and pulled out her sword before knocking her in the head with it. "Yes!" She exclaimed, fist-bumping the air.
She would have made a damn good daughter of Hermes.
Then Jason flipped his coin in the air and it extended into a javelin, he grabbed it as it fell and swung it at her.
The girl was so busy fist bumping the air she hadn't seen the shaft of the javelin coming in her direction as it slammed into her chest and knocked her into a tree. "Will can patch her up after this." I said with a nonchalant shrug, there was a knot forming on her head, but other than that she seemed (hopefully) fine. I pity the headache she was most likely having at that moment. She and Piper weren't going anywhere, and it seemed they had a concussion at the worst.
"But for now, you have me to worry about." I told Jason, pointing my sword at him. Jason sighed, "I don't want to fight you, even if it is for a game," The end of the javelin dipped towards the ground and it was just out of reach so that I couldn't knock it out of his hands with the end of my sword. Damn. "You didn't seem to have a problem knocking her into a tree." I noted, and rolled my eyes, "Don't treat me any different because of what's in the past. We live now. You can't dwell on memories or else they'll consume you, and you won't be able to see what's coming next." I told him.
Lucky for me, he was under a grove of trees with darkness surrounding him, and I willed the shadows to envelop me behind him.
It happened in the blink of an eye and he was too stunned to move before he realized that my sword was against his throat. "Like that for example, now come on, you're a prisoner in the game." I said, with a smirk.
For once, I felt like I had control over something, which was a rare occurrence so I was feeling elated. Jason Grace, former praetor Camp Jupiter, Hero of Olympus, of son of Jupiter, and I had him under my palm.
As I was walking back, I ran into Will (naturally), and he gawked. "Almighty Apollo, how did you-" "He caught me off guard. Stupid shadow travel." Jason muttered, pushing his glasses farther up his nose as he shook his pale blond hair in shame and I held back a laugh.
When we got back to camp Nyssa was waiting and I handed off Jason before Will grinned at me, "Want to try and grab the flag?" He asked, using his arm to lean on me like I was an armrest. I threw off his arm with a pointed gaze. I'm the Son of Hades, the Ghost King, people don't use me as an armrest! Even so...I nodded, "Fine, you aren't scared of the dark are you?" I asked him and he raised a dirty brown eyebrow at me, seemingly confused.
It looked like the gears in his brain stopped, "Um...no...?" I grabbed his arm (trying to be be forceful seeing as though he was a 'delicate flower') and closed my eyes, going to shadow travel again.
Being as though it wasn't far to the creek, it didn't drain me to do it twice in a day. A hand grabbed onto me and it was obvious that it was Will, when we finally came back into the light I found his eyes were shut. After I poked his cheek with an eye roll he opened an eye before shaking his hands as he looked around. "Okay, now I know why you asked...geez, I couldn't handle doing that day in and day out." He muttered, with a slight shiver whereas I simply shrugged.
Darkness, and shadows had become a second home for me, however isolating and bone chilling they were...They were my birthright.
"And isn't it cheating to shadow travel?" He asked me, regaining his usual annoying stubbornness, and I sighed. "Technically no, and to even out the playing grounds even more so I didn't travel past the creek, which was where I last was, Will."
Then, I heard a voice. "You two bicker so loudly I can't believe you hadn't noticed us sooner." Holly Victor said, and I felt like hitting my head on a nearby tree. How stupid could I have been?!
"Thanks Nico." Will said, suppressing a grin, and my scowl grew as I poked him in the side with the tip of my sword, making him jump back. He rubbed his side, with a dramatic gasp and I frowned. "Will, I will push you into this creek if you don't shut up."
Holly laughed and cracked her knuckles, "Ah you two, I'd love to stay and chat but a flag and victory is calling me name!" Laurel, her sister, ran past her but stopped, not able to quit her bragging, "I'll beat you there!"
This thankfully, gave me time to run up between them and flip Laurel. Holly stared at me, surprised for a moment before she pulled out her knife, "Only I can beat my sister!" I paused for a moment, and poked Laurel's side with my black Converse, she groaned in reply. Ha.
"Hm, I dunno, I think I just did." I muttered, looking at the other sister with a small shrug, not able to stop from smirking.
Holly yelled in outrage and slashed at me with her knife. I hadn't seen the knife, and we were at such close quarters that she got a hit on my left arm. By hit, I mean a gash that felt warm with blood. It stung, and I grabbed my arm, when I pulled my hand back it was stained with red.
"Nico!" Will yelled, and he made a signal to cover my ears. He prepared to use his supersonic whistle (or whatever it's called.)
Luckily I was able to cover my ears before his mind splitting whistle echoed around us, crippling her. "Agh!"
She yelled, stumbling into the river where she slipped and fell. "I think I'll just lay here for a while." She muttered, dragging herself out of the creek and onto dry land waving a hand at me as she blacked out.
Will ran over and hastily looked at my arm, tapping it with his index finger. I winced as he knit his eyebrows together, "I told you to be careful." He muttered, frowning at me and I rolled my eyes, he was worried. That was obvious.
I sighed and shrugged his arm back, the cut had focused me oddly enough. It stung like fire when he had touched it. "I'm fine, let's get the flag so that you can get me proper medical treatment."
Now, I was rambling, but I didn't like to see that look of worry in his pale blue eyes. It made my heart sink.
It stung like fire still, but it was bearable. Plus, I used my right arm when fighting with my sword so it wasn't that big of a loss in that sense.
"Handy trick by the way, that whistle." I whispered as we started to snake through the woods once more and he shrugged in reply, running a hand through his sandy hair. "I don't like using it."
We crouched behind some bushes, hearing voices very close by, the foliage had hidden us.
Then there was the flag, just sitting there!
The Demeter and Ares cabin were arguing and I started forward when Will shook his head and nodded back in the direction of our flag. "I'll meet you at the creek, besides I run faster that you anyway." He murmured, and I let out a soft breath. "Okay, see you there." If he wanted to get the flag, then so be it.
As I ran to the creek I felt something in the pit of my stomach, what was it? Was I sick? I felt like hitting a tree or running back to see Will. That was when I realized it.
Wait, no. I can't fall for him. I don't want to be hurt again, and I don't want to lose him anyhow. We just started to talk, you can't mess this up. I thought, shaking my head.
They say you can't chose who you fall in love with but I prayed to Aphrodite that I wouldn't fall in love with him, it would spare everybody.
The creek was silent, Holly and Laurel were nowhere to be seen, the same could be said for Chiara and Piper. Perhaps Chiron had took them so that they could get medical attention, or wouldn't get hurt more. I'd have to apologize to them later, I guess I could have lightened up on them...
"Nico!" Will yelled, his eyes practically glowing with excitement as he sprinted past me with the flag in his hands, it flapping behind him, before he leaped over the creek and landed in a cat-like way, landing a with a crouch. He planted the flag in the ground looking like he was on top of the world. "We did it!" He exclaimed, then glanced down at me arm."I almost forgot!" He exclaimed, jogging through the creek to get back to me, a look of guilt on his face from the fact that he had forgotten.
The two teams were now in the starting to arrive in the clearing and Will was awfully close to me now, with his hand reaching out for my arm. I held up a hand, taking a step back as I avoided looking at him. "I'll be fine for now, okay? Let's just make sure everybody's accounted for."
It seemed everybody was, and Jason promptly ran off to see how Piper was doing.
People often say that their relationship was built on a lie (his amnesia), but Jason decided who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Piper did the same. If you could see the way that they looked at each other you would know that they're one of the strongest couples. Percy and Annabeth have the closest bond I have ever seen though. Frank and Hazel are so sweet, Frank will treat her well. That I know. (If he didn't I would have... "words" with the Son of Mars.) They've all done so much for each other...I doubt anybody would fall to Tartarus for me.
Nyssa clapped Will and I on the shoulder, making me wince. "Good job guys-holy schist, you need to get that checked out!" She told me looking at my arm and Will folded his arms at me. "Mhm. What did I tell you?"
"Technically you didn't tell me anything, I just told you to hold off for a minute." I replied with a slight frown, making him roll his eyes as he put his hand on my good shoulder, leading me out of the woods. I could swear there were a few sets of eyes watching us as we left...
At the infirmary, I was sat down on one of the cots near the entrance with a few torches blazing around us and crackling ever so softly. The sun had set already and constellations were glimmering in the skies. The one of Zoe caught my eyes as I looked out of the window in the infirmary. It felt like somebody had rubbed sandpaper over my gash suddenly. "Ugh, watch it would you, Will!" I exclaimed, my arm jerking reflexively. It seemed like we were the only people here in the infirmary.
Will rolled his eyes as he held a bottle of disinfectant. "Don't be a baby, okay? I have to do this or else you'll get an infection. Obviously you don't want to be in infirmary with me for too long so I'll do it quickly." He added, his last sentence quieter and had a bit more frost to it than the first as he pulled out some stitches. "This'll hurt, so I'll give you some ambrosia beforehand. Just talk to me to keep your mind off of it." He said, avoiding my gaze and I quickly downed an ambrosia square.
He picked up a needle and silently pocked the thread through the hole like he had done it hundreds of time before. He didn't look me in the face, only looking at my arm, apparently the cut was deeper than I had previously thought. "What did you mean, I don't want to be in the infirmary with you for too long?" I asked him, quoting his sentence from earlier and he sighed before pulling the first stitch through.
I gripped the edge of the cot. Damn it, why is it so painful?
"Well, I was walking towards you when everybody else came into the creek. You seized up and took a step away from me like you didn't want to be seen with me. I mean I get it if you don't, a Son of Hades seen with the Son of Apollo..."
My breaths were short as he continued to work and I spoke through gritted teeth, staring at one of the torches surrounding us. "It's complicated Will." "How so? We have time, I'm not even halfway done with your stitches and I have to bandage your arm too."
He explained, with a shrug, his grip shifting slightly on my arm. I took a deep shaky breath, speaking through my teeth, "I don't hate you, if that's what you're thinking. I just don't want to-..."
I cut myself off and wasn't able to finish the sentence. "Jason told me you liked Percy a while back. Are you scared that I would run off or be scared because of who you liked?" Will asked, and looked directly at me now, as he finished the stitches. "I don't know," I admitted, my voice shaking,"I don't want to hurt anybody, if it means hurting myself to keep it from happening, then so be it."
His eyes fell, then he took a deep breath, pulling out the bandages. "That isn't a healthy way to think."
"Since when have I had a healthy way of thinking?" I asked, shaking slightly, I didn't even try and force myself to laugh, "Will, if you don't stop making me talk about stuff like this I may hurt you unintentionally."
He glanced up at me as he pulled the thread through one of the stitches, "Better than hurting yourself. I'm a doctor, I'm supposed to help you, and if it means getting hurt in the process then so be it."
He didn't understand, nobody did.
I rubbed my temples, the emotions welling inside of me making my vision blurry with tears, the cut I could handle, stitches were no problem, but talking about myself was hell on Earth.
Fear, anger, sadness, nostalgia, regret, everything I try to suppress every day. "You're impossible. You don't get it at all, Will." He looked at me with a blank stare. "Explain it to me then." I covered my face with my hand, trying to keep from crying.
Now, I don't do that, crying, in front of people, and I didn't want to start now.
With difficulty I managed to say: "I'm tired, tired of being scared of how I feel and all I end up doing is bringing pain to others..." My voice was barely above a whisper, my throat closed up from trying to keep from crying and Will finished up bandaging me up.
Why am I being so emotional, confiding in a guy I've been friends with for less than a month? I wondered the realized maybe it was because I had been so alone that now that I had somebody I could confide in it was all coming out and it was a mess.
He was sitting in front of me in his chair now, looking down at me, and I knew he was waiting for me to remove my hand. But if I did that I would have a breakdown. I couldn't have that. Bad things happened when my emotions went out of check.
Silence...
"Nico, you can cry around me." He told me, moving from his chair in front of me to the empty spot on the cot to my right before he put his hands on my own and I shook my head. "No I-" "Nico...Let me help you." He said again, in a gentle voice as soft as a breeze in the fall. He pulled down my hand with his calloused one and I felt his arm around my shoulder in a comforting way.
I'm here, okay? I'm not leaving. His eyes seemed to say.
How could he be so gentle with somebody like me? Somebody who could bring death with a single touch. Him being so caring made me feel guilt, I was responsible for so much, and in my eyes it seemed more bad than good...made me lose it.
My shoulders shook with my sobs as I closed my eyes, and the ground began to shake as my pain rolled over me like the cold waves of an ocean in the winter. He looked at me with his eyebrows knit together in concern, and there seemed to be something behind his eyes. Was it anger? "I can't believe how much you've gone through...how the gods thought they could put that much responsibility on your shoulders..." "Will, how can you be there for me? Somebody you still barely know?" I asked, my hands shaking as I was unable to look anywhere else.
There was a pause and he seemed to be trying to think of a response. "All we are, all humans are...we're broken people, trying to put the pieces of other broken people back together." He mused, and I glanced up at him, he was looking at me quietly and let out a soft breath, dipping his head slightly. "You don't deserve to be broken, and if I can to anything to try and heal somebody else I will give it my all. I'm not going to let you scatter your broken pieces more, and if it comes to the worst I'll give you my pieces."
My mind went blank. I didn't think people as selfless as he was still existed, yet he didn't try to go on any big escapades. He didn't ask for glory, he was perfectly fine with staying on the sidelines.
"Why is it whenever we're alone it and in some emotional confession?" I said dumbly, trying for a laugh as I wiped the tears off of my cheeks with the back of my hand and Will took his arm back.
If I could mentally facepalm myself out of existence I sure would have in that moment. Was it just me or did his cheeks seem red despite the torches. "Haha, yeah." He said, and I stood up. "I'd better get back to my cabin, the harpies may try and give me some more injuries if I'm out late." I told him pulling myself together, trying for a way to get out of that awkward situation.
Will nodded, then stood up as well, rubbing his neck, seemingly feeling just as uncomfortable (good going Nico). "Uh, yeah...sure. See you later." He gave me a half-hearted smile and I felt my stomach sink.
Dammit, why can't you even make an exit without somebody feeling uncomfortable?! I yelled at myself, wanting to jump head first off of the top of the lava wall. I gave him my usual one handed wave before turning around as I walked to the Hades Cabin.
As soon as I couldn't see the light coming from the torches that shined behind the figure of Will Solace who was leaning on the doorway, I sprinted.