Beta'd by the lovely Mewsugarpudd. I apologise for the delay, so to compensate I wrote a bit more than I usually would.


The first thing he felt was the dull, throbbing pain absolutely everywhere, but strongest at his head. That was the first indication he was alive. The second was the bright light that burned when he opened his eyes, shutting them quickly and cursing at the pain. It gave Will some comfort to know that he was still alive and could feel, but he was pretty damn sure not even death was that painful; he felt like at any moment his head was going to be cleaved in half by the pain. He cautiously opened his eyes and attempted to sit up slowly, groaning and stopping when the pain spiked. His sight was blurred and slow to correct itself and when the blurry shapes finally became recognisable, he saw he was wrapped cosily in a white blanket in the inside of what he thought was a house until he noticed the walls were moving.

He sat up slowly again, ignoring the pain and protests from his back and joints, rubbing his eyes weakly before nursing his temples to ward off the agonising pain in his head. He weakly looked around the room which spun mockingly at his attempt and lowered his head, fighting back nausea.

"Push yourself any further and you'll rip something. Stay down, doctor's orders."

Will looked up then and focused on the source of the voice. He couldn't help the wide, albeit painful, smile that spread across his face then, replacing the grimace of pain that had been there moments before. Standing at the entrance of the tent, leaning on a support pole, looking slightly worse for the wear with bruises and cuts across his face and sporting a relieved smile, was Nico. Will was even more surprised when the smaller boy strode over to him and enveloped him in a crushing hug. Nico pulled away awkwardly after a few seconds and sat on the chair next to him.

"And when did you become a doctor, Di Angelo?" Will asked, grinning.

"I became a doctor when I half dragged, half carried my half dead friend to safety from an overgrown lizard with too many heads." Nico replied, a victorious and even bragging smile on his face. Will gasped as a particularly large surge of pain hit him and he reached up, clutching his head. The smile fell from Nico's face and the boy darted forward out of his chair in shock. "Are you okay?"

Will batted him away with one hand, managing a weak smile. "Fine, fine." He said, unconvincingly. "Who saved us, anyway? From what I can remember, we were being overwhelmed by the hydra." A dark expression crossed Nico's features and the boy didn't answer. Will took the hint and hastily moved on. "Where's Clarisse? Is she okay?"

The dark expression on Nico's face softened and Will heaved a mental sigh of relief. "She's fine," Nico replied. "A bit shaken after her fight, but fine." Will nodded and examined himself in the brief silence that followed. The first thing he noticed was that most of his lower chest was bandaged. He experimentally touched an area of bandaged skin and winced in pain, no doubt from the bruising. He was relieved to find that when he performed a cursory examination he found no broken bones. Nico watched as Will ran a hand up his side, muttering a prayer to his father as he had done so many times before. When he finished, Will looked up at Nico.

"Whoever healed me did a great job of it, no broken bones or any fractures. Where are we, anyway, Di Angelo?" He asked, failing to notice the blush on the boy's face at being caught staring. Nico quickly composed himself and answered.

"We moved while you were unconscious. You got carried," Nico added when Will raised an eyebrow as if to imply Nico was incapable of carrying him. "We're about two days travel from Athens and not that far from Delphi. Once you've recovered, we'll be flying with Blackjack."

Will looked curiously at Nico. "And how will we manage that? I remember our chariot being smashed to pieces against a tree. Mason's going to kill me… he'd only just had it fixed, too."

"Well, that's—"

"—Where we come in." Will noticed two things. One was the dark expression that returned to Nico's face when the girl stepped inside the tent. The second was that the girl had a hardy expression and a commanding aura. She seemed almost familiar to him, but he reasoned that that was because he had grown up surrounded by people like her. It took him a few moments before he realised who the girl was.

"Thalia Grace?" He ventured, raising an eyebrow. The girl nodded and crossed her arms while Nico seemed to take great lengths to look anywhere but at her. "Well, I guess I've got you and the Hunters of Artemis to thank for saving us."

"Thank us when you kill Python. We arrived ju—"

"—They got there just after you lost consciousness," Nico interrupted in an almost accusatory tone, throwing a dark glance in Thalia's direction that the girl ignored. "They managed to kill the hydra before it could finish the job." Nico's tone was bitter and he seemed to Will almost reluctant to admit that the Hunters had saved their lives. Thalia exchanged a tense look with Nico.

"We were ordered to track down the monsters that were following you and destroy them." Thalia answered calmly. "We would have arrived far sooner if we hadn't been delayed by stormy waters."

"If you had arrived any later then he," Nico gestured brazenly and accusatorily to Will, who shifted uncomfortably. "Would be dead." Thalia narrowed her eyes.

"Then you should be thankful we arrived when we did, Nico di Angelo." She said in a cold tone, then she turned from Nico to look at Will, who shifted uneasily under her gaze. "We're giving you our chariot to use, seeing as yours was destroyed." She continued as if Nico hadn't interrupted her earlier. "That should get you to Athens but as you know, Blackjack can't go any further than that without putting himself at risk." Will nodded. With a final glare shared between the two, Thalia pulled back the entrance flap to the tent and strode out.

Nico sat back in his chair and heaved a sigh of anger, running his hands through his hair before resting his head in his palms. Will waited a few minutes before he spoke up.

"So are you going to tell me what that was all about or am I going to go grey with age waiting?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow. Nico looked up and stared at him for a while before he answered.

"I've never really liked the Hunters," Nico admitted, shrugging dismissively and lowering his eyes to the floor as if fearing Will's judgement or reprimand. "Not since Bianca joined them and died just a few weeks later." Nico's voice faltered and Will could almost feel the loneliness radiating from the smaller boy. Will blinked in surprise – this was quite a change: from cold, hostile and confident in his behaviour to sad, introverted and unsure. He leaned forward and enveloped Nico in a hug, hiding a painful wince when his sides protested in pain, surprising the smaller boy. He couldn't fully blame Nico for hating the Hunters of Artemis – if Artemis hadn't fallen into that trap and needed rescuing, then Bianca would never have died. He was content to sit there for a few minutes in silence, listening to Nico breathing while he comforted him with the hug.

"I understand," He soothed into Nico's ear. "But they did save our lives, and it's not Thalia's fault your sister died, you know." He combed a hand through Nico's hair and felt as the boy sagged against him.

"You're right." Nico admitted after a while. "I'll apologise to Thalia later…"

Will smiled and patted him on the back. "That's the spirit." They sat in silence for a few minutes more until they both seemed to realise the situation they were in and awkwardly separated, looking in opposite directions with a red dusting on their cheeks. The silence was broken when Nico glanced over at Will's chest, looking at the bandages, and spoke up.

"It's time to change your bandages, I think." He said, moving over to a small box and pulling it towards him. Will shifted on the bed and shrugged the blanket off of him, laying down. Nico came over with a small wet cloth in one hand and scissors and fresh bandages in his other hand. He carefully cut the top bandage on Will's chest, frowning in concentration, and peeled the rest away. Will winced when he looked down and so did Nico. His skin was raw and bruised and split in places. They both grimaced – Nico in revulsion and Will in pain – when Nico dabbed at the dried blood on Will's stomach with the wet cloth, wiping it away. His actions were careful and slow, and Will couldn't help but feel some gratitude for the slowness. Nico exchanged the damp cloth for a dry one and began drying Will's chest.

"Did you watch us in the Apollo infirmary or something, Di Angelo?" Will asked. "You seem to know something about wound hygiene." Nico spared a glance upwards and grinned.

"I learned from the best." He answered. His hands lingered around a patch of healed skin and Will raised a playful eyebrow.

"If you wanted to check me out, Di Angelo, you should've just asked instead of changing my bandages." He winked and laughed when Nico looked horrified and blushed a startling shade of crimson, a major contrast to his usual pale pallor. He bustled around quickly, securely wrapping the fresh bandage swiftly, but gently, around Will's bruised abdomen and securing it with medical tape. He stood up to leave then and cast a final glance in Will's direction.

"It's my turn to keep watch now, get some sleep or I'll have you sedated, Solace." The two of them shared a grin. As Nico turned to leave, Will shot out and grabbed his arm, pulling him down and planting a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks, Dr. Di Angelo." He grinned playfully. "I think I've been a bad influence on you."

Nico froze with a hand on his cheek, his eyes wide. He turned to leave again but stopped on the entrance, looking back with a smile on his face.

"More of an influence on me than you know." He said, and with that he left, leaving Will to lay back down and try to get some sleep.


Nico spent the next few hours next to a campfire, prodding the flames as he had so become accustomed to doing when pondering his thoughts. The flames flickered feebly in response to his prodding, sparking up occasionally. His thoughts varied and drifted from the quest to Hazel and to Reyna and he wondered how they were getting on, remembering his promise to send an Iris message to them at the first opportunity. He wondered about Will, then, and his thoughts grew hazy with confusion.

What were they, exactly? Friends? Judging by the comment Will made earlier and the apparent flirting he had been directing at Nico, they were clearly more than acquaintances. Was Will joking with him in some peculiar attempt at humour, or were his comments genuine and meaningful? Nico ran a hand through his hair and rested his head in his hands, leaving his discarded stick to burn in the flames of the fire while he thought, the cracking and splitting of the wood serving as a surprisingly soothing noise to him.

He didn't know how he felt with the whole thing, if he was being brutally honest with himself. Only a few months ago – weeks, really – he'd been exposed by a delinquent God of love and had been terrified of being who he was. Jason had changed some of that, he reasoned. Jason had taught him that it didn't matter what he was – the world he lived in now was different to the one he was born into, and no matter how out of place he felt, he'd have friends who would accept him for who he is. He was sure Will was one of those people like Reyna and Jason.

Clarisse sat down next to him abruptly which dragged him out of his thoughts. He turned his head to the side and nodded in acknowledgement to her before he returned his gaze to the fire.

"If you're thinking about whether Solace means what he says and does, he does." Clarisse said abruptly, kicking the burning stick in the fire with the tip of her boot, scattering ash and sparks in the air. Nico blinked in surprise and then disbelief, gazing at Clarisse as if she had sprouted a second head. How she had guessed, he didn't know. He settled for it being her natural intuition – it had been pretty on point for the majority of the journey. He took a moment to compose himself before he spoke in reply.

"How you can be so blasé about these things amazes me." He said, rubbing his temples to ward off a headache, a habit he had picked up from Will.

"Here I was thinking it'd be my telepathy that'd impress you, but sure, settle for my lack of subtlety." Clarisse replied and Nico smirked.

"How'd you guess?" He asked, then when Clarisse raised an eyebrow, he added, "About me, that is, not Solace."

Clarisse shrugged. "It was kind of obvious," A wicked grin spread across her face. "What with you sneaking glances at him every few seconds when you thought nobody was looking." She cackled when his eyes widened and he blushed in embarrassment. He didn't think it had been that obvious – he hadn't even realised he had been doing it until he quite literally caught himself staring. "Relax, Di Angelo. It's not that obvious. I just have a good eye for these things."

"And you're fine with it all?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. A look of faint surprise and even annoyance crossed Clarisse's face.

"Just because you were born in some backwater century doesn't mean things haven't changed, Di Angelo." She kicked a twig into the fire and watched it burn with a smile. "People are a lot more tolerant now. Nobody cares if you're gay, bi or whatever you are."

Nico blinked in surprise. "I wasn't aware there was more… things… you could be."

"There's more than you could possibly know, trust me." Clarisse stood up then and patted her clothes down. "I'm going to get some sleep. You should try to get some, too, Nico." She left him in peace then, to ponder their newfound friendship. Of all the people he had expected to become friends with during his life, Clarisse hadn't been very high on the list – they both seemed to be polar opposites at first glance, but he soon realised he'd gotten what he deserved for judging a book by its cover, or in this case a child of Ares by their tendency towards violence. Nico wasn't sitting alone for long, as Thalia dropped into the space Clarisse had vacated, as if she had been waiting for Clarisse to go. Her presence was different to Clarisse's – Clarisse had a surprisingly calming influence when she wasn't in a frenzy. Thalia, on the other hand, had a charged presence, causing the hairs on Nico's arms and the back of his neck to stick up as if expecting a lightning strike. It served as a warning, he reasoned, that the wrong words or the wrong actions could easily trigger Thalia's anger.

"Let's talk, Di Angelo." Thalia said before falling silent and offering nothing more. Nico sat, waiting for her to continue. When she didn't and the air began to grow awkward, he spoke up.

"About what, Grace?" He ventured in an attempt to diffuse the tension.

"How about we start with the obvious problem – your sister." Nico tensed and seemingly so did the air around him, as if warning him to remain quiet until Thalia had finished speaking. "Look, we both know that her death was an accident and she died the way we all want to – like a hero." Thalia glanced up at the sky, mapping out the stars. "She died too young but she died happy, Di Angelo. The last thing she did before she died was make a giant robot dance. I bet Jackson didn't tell you that, did he?" She looked over at him then, her expression softening. After all, he was still quite young and he had lost his only living relative – with the exception of his half-sister Hazel – at an even younger age. Nico shook his head.

"No. I guess it slipped his mind." He replied, his eyes returning to the fire and watching the flames flicker mildly in the evening air.

"I may sound harsh when I say it, Di Angelo, but in the end it was her choice to become a Hunter." Thalia returned to looking at the stars. "We all know the risk when we pledge ourselves to the hunt and we do it anyway. Bianca knew that and so did I when I took the oath too. She died living the life she wanted to live – you can't begrudge her that, or blame her comrades for her death." "Anyway," She patted him on the shoulder awkwardly before she stood and began walking away, calling over her shoulder, "La Rue is right, you should get some sleep. You look half dead. I'll get Marianne to cover your watch."

Nico rolled his eyes before calling out his thanks to Thalia's retreating form before he turned back to the fire and sighed. That night had certainly given him a lot to think about – Will's apparent attraction to him and whether or not he reciprocated it, Clarisse's friendship and a discussion about his dead sister with the last person he expected to talk to about her. He massaged his temples again, desperately trying to fight off an oncoming headache before he took Clarisse and Thalia's advice and headed to his own tent, pitched next to Will's in case the Apollo medic needed assistance, and turned in for the night. He was almost surprised that he fell asleep nearly instantly when his head touched the pillow. Almost.


Will rolled onto his side and cracked open a weary eye, shielding himself from the sunlight filtering into the tent only to jump in slight surprise to find Nico sitting directly opposite him, wide awake and sifting through a leather-bound book in his hands. Ignoring the smug grin on Nico's face, Will cautiously sat up and stretched precariously, happy to find he wasn't met with pain from his bruises – his father must have followed through on his late night prayer. He made a mental note to make an offering to him when – if – they returned to camp. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Nico admiring his handiwork and smirked. Nico rewarded Will's smirk by throwing a clean shirt and clean pair of pants at him.

"Go get a shower or something, Solace." Nico wrinkled his nose. "You reek."

Will grinned and slowly eased his way out of his bed. Though Nico looked deep in thought with his book, he could tell the son of Hades was ready to spring from his seat at a moment's notice to catch him – he could tell by the slight crease in the boy's brow. He admired that about Nico, really, how the boy was always ready to defend his friends. He took a few moments removing the bandages covering his chest and admired his father's handiwork, pleased to find no bruises remained. Nico looked similarly pleased.

"You love me really, Di Angelo." Will winked but headed to the front of the tent regardless. He threw a glance and a mischievous smirk back at Nico. "Care to join me?"

Nico rolled his eyes and turned a page in his book. "Dream on, sunshine." Will grinned but didn't press the subject further and left the tent without another word. After being pointed in the right direction by a Hunter, he quickly located the secluded and quite well-hidden stream and stripped down, lowering himself cautiously in to the water, careful not to knock any of his recently-healed bruises and cuts. He leaned his head against a low-hanging rock and heaved a sigh of relief before he inhaled deeply and dove under the water, running his hands through his blond locks to rid them of flecks of dirt, dust, dried blood and even bits of soot and ash. He resurfaced a short while later and cleaned himself quickly before he simply sat back and looked up at the sky, gazing at the moving clouds.

His mind wandered to camp and he wondered how they were doing and whether they knew just how close the three of them had come to death already, and they weren't even there yet. He thought of Jake Mason, who would no doubt kill him if he survived for breaking the chariot they had only just repaired. He thought of his siblings who had been reluctant to take his place in the quest – not that he held it against them, he would have done the same – and wondered if they believed he would return or not. He prayed it was the former. Then he was brought out of his wondering by the thought of Annabeth, and he looked around wildly. Hastily, he reached across from the stream to his discard pants and reached around inside a side pocket, practically ripping a golden drachma out of the seams. He looked around equally wildly until he spotted what he was looking for – a slight drop in the stream with cascading water – and swam towards it, tossing the drachma through the small rainbow that had formed there.

"O Iris, Goddesss of the Rainbow, accept my offering." He watched as the drachma disappeared the moment it passed through the iridescent rays of the rainbow. "Show me Annabeth Chase." Annabeth's face flickered into view through the rays of the rainbow and Will adjusted himself to get comfortable, leaning against a rock in the water. She had her back to him and was clearly busy, bent forward over a giant table in what Will guessed was the Athena cabin. He took a moment to take in the various maps and scrolls strewn across the top of the table before he got her attention. "Chase, I'm reporting in as asked." Annabeth jumped and turned around with a startled look in her eyes but inhaled and quickly regained her composure.

"Solace." She glanced at a clock behind her. "You're a day behind schedule. What kept you?" Then she seemed to take in his appearance and raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms across her chest. "Are you even wearing any clothes?"

"Yeah, uh, about that," He scratched the back of his head and grinned sheepishly. "I'm kinda taking a bath right now – don't worry, you can't see anything – and we're behind schedule because we got attacked." Her eyebrows shot up into her hairline and, Will was convinced, off her head completely. A new look of surprise and alarm crossed her face.

"Attacked? By who?" She asked.

"A jumped-up demigod with a grudge against Ares, an overgrown lizard with too many heads and bad breath, a load of vampire ladies and a lovely guy called Dr. Thorn." He answered, watching with some sense of dark amusement at the expressions that crossed her face.

"The Manticore?" She asked, disbelievingly. When he nodded, she added, "Well, I guess it was about time he reformed… he went for Nico, didn't he?" Will nodded. Annabeth didn't look surprised. "Where are you now?"

"We're about a day's travel from Athens, we're heading off soon I think. After that, we should be at the ruins in two days at the mo—" His head snapped to the side as the hairs on the back of his neck prickled and stood up. He glanced around the area, so still he may as well have been paralysed and deathly silent. After a moment of nothing but the sounds of the rushing stream, he turned back to Annabeth who had a concerned expression on her face but remained silent. "Sorry… thought I heard something."

"Be careful, Solace. You may have more monsters on your trail." She checked the clock on the wall again. "You better be going. Contact me when you get to the ruins." With that, she swiped her hand through the image of his face and ended the call. Will sighed and ran a hand through his dripping wet hair before he swam back over to where his clothes lay abandoned and climbed out, drying himself quickly with the towel he had brought with him before slipping into the clean clothes Nico had thrown at him.

He got back to the campsite and was greeted by the sight of Nico and Clarisse standing in front of a jet-black chariot securely harnessed to Blackjack. He brushed a wet lock that fell into his eye to the side and walked towards the two. He noticed the chariot was already packed and all their bags were accounted for, looking slightly bigger and heavier than before. Thalia emerged from one of the tents carrying another bag and joined him in his walk to the chariot, filling him in on the way.

"The Gods aren't strictly allowed to help during this quest, but that restriction doesn't apply to us so long as Lady Artemis isn't here." Will smirked – that explained why the goddess was absent. "We've refilled your supplies and we're even giving you our chariot to complete your journey to Athens." They stopped in front of the chariot and she handed the rucksack in her hand to him "Do me a favour, Solace? Don't destroy this chariot."

Will smiled, his white teeth shining in the sunlight, and jumped onto the back of the chariot, dropping the extra bag next to the others. Clarisse clambered on behind him but Nico paused and turned to Thalia.

"Look," He began, extending a hand out to Thalia. "I've been a jerk to you and I'm sorry." Will was surprised by the sudden apology and so too was Clarisse and the hunters. Thalia's expression, however, remained unchanged until she grabbed Nico's hand with her own and shook it, a small grin on her face.

"We'll never exactly be the best of friends, but it's good you don't hold a grudge Di Angelo." She said and then she walked back to her Hunters and took her place among them, clearing Will and the others for take-off. "Good luck. You're gonna' need it."

The three of them looked back once and raised their hands in farewell before Will took the reins in his hand and with a quick whip of the reins they were airborne again. The campsite quickly shrank to nothing while the grey speck in the distance that was Athens grew steadily larger. Will glanced behind him once and took in Nico and Clarisse's confident expressions before he turned back to the front of the chariot with a new sense of confidence setting in.