After the drama died down everyone realized how tired they were almost immediately, and planning was forgoed until the next day. They all trudged back to the ship in silence besides Piper, suggesting that Nico and Toby could share her room if they wanted and she would share with Annabeth.

"I don't think coach Hedge will mind since we don't have enough beds to go around right now. As long as I'm not sharing with Jason." Her eyes flashed playfully. Nico agreed gratefully, behind him he heard Percy mumble to Jason.

"I think your girlfriend has a thing for blondes and I should be worried." It made Jason laugh and Nico didn't know how to feel about the casual mention of homosexuality so he ignored it.

As Piper had predicted coach Hedge was fine with the arrangement. Of course he was, he hadn't been around enough to realize the nature of Nico and Toby's relationship. Nico found Toby slumped in a chair at the mess hell in front of a half eaten plate of food that he was ignoring now. That meant that he had taken the pills that were meant to be taken with a meal at least.

"How are you feeling Toby?" Nico asked softly resting his hand gently on Toby's shoulder. "I think we should go get some sleep soon, Piper has offered to share a room with Annabeth so we can share hers now that Percy and Annabeth are back."

"I'm fine. I always am, I can't feel pain after all." Toby said but he didn't look at Nico, and Nico didn't quite believe him.

"Come on. If you're done eating let's go to bed and we can talk about whatever's bothering you if you want." Nico said hugging Toby gently from behind and Toby nodded. He pushed his plate away and the food on it vanished. Silently he followed Nico to Piper's room. She had obviously already gotten her things and gone to crash in Annabeth's room. Her bed was made and the room was a bit clearer than Nico knew she usually kept it. Nico closed the door behind him and Toby and they both settled on the edge of the bed.

Nico leant down to take off his shoes and Toby rubbed Nico's back. Nico arched into the touch slightly, enjoying the innocent affection.

"So what's bothering you?" Nico asked once his shoes were off and kicked under the bed. He crossed his legs under him and looked at Toby sidelong, his head cocked slightly.

"I think that's the first time I've made you mad at me." Toby said still not meeting Nico's eyes. Nico blinked in surprise and slowly leaned against Toby.

"I'm not mad anymore. I understand. I've come close to killing Percy a couple of times myself." Nico assured uncertainly.

"It's okay just what I expect from people when they're angry with me… what people have done to me when they were angry." Toby made a hopeless gesture with his hands. Nico hugged him tightly noticing with distress that Toby flinched slightly.

"Mentally or physically, I will never hurt you Toby, I promise." Nico said softly. "You are my life, Vita mia, of course I would never hurt you." Nico felt Toby slowly relax in his arms and gave a small smile.

"You loved that boy Percy before me, didn't you?" Toby asked softly. Nico felt his breath catch in his throat, he hadn't told Toby that before. Though he had ranted about how infuriating Percy could be now and then.

"Yes. I was young and I thought he was a real hero like the ones in my games and books. He never knew about or returned those feelings of course, it only made it hurt more when I found out he let my sister die." He looked away from Toby when he spoke but it felt good to be honest and open with Toby.

"Jason seems fond of you too." Toby pointed out.

"He wants to be my friend. Gods only know why but I appreciate his attempt." Nico said unsure of where Toby was going with this.

"They're both so much… better than me." Toby said making another small gesture and twitching suddenly. Nico ducked to avoid a collision.

"No." Nico said firmly Toby looked at him shocked. "No they aren't. Percy might think he is but neither of them are."

"Nico." Toby laughed twining his fingers gently through Nico's hair. "I appreciate the sentiment but you don't have to lie. I know, I have to cover half my face all the time because I'm so scared I scare people. I'm so fucked up in the head that most of my family didn't want me. Besides Slenderman no one but my own Mother and sister has ever wanted me around."

"I want you around." Nico whispered softly placing his hand gently on Toby's cheek. "More than anything. And I don't mind the scars, you know that. I hardly notice them, I've spent most of my time with the dead so I've gotten used to much worse. Please don't worry, I'm not going anywhere where you can't come if you want to. If the gods want me to again then they can forget it." Nico giggled a little nervously it was never safe to speak of denying the gods. Toby laughed too, finally wrapping his arms around Nico's shoulders comfortably.

"Thank you." Toby said smiling at Nico. They kissed gently then turned out the light and settled down to sleep. It had been a very long day and since Nico had been drawing on Toby's energy to summon more dead, Toby was exhausted too. They were both asleep as soon as they got settled.

By the time Toby and Nico woke up the next morning Reyna had arrived. It was the noise of Leo using one of his machines to lower the Athena Parthenos to the ground that woke them. For the first time since getting out of Tartarus, Nico was tired enough to have slept without nightmares and he felt much better for it. They got ready quickly and went down to join the rest of the crew where they were having a picnic breakfast with Reyna, filling her in on everything that had happened so far.

Toby and Nico just listened, both good at being quiet and unnoticed when they needed to be. Though they both laughed at Reyna's comment about Percy being unable to find his way out of a paper bag. Toby gave most of his attention to making sure that Nico ate something and almost forgot that he needed to eat too and take his morning meds. Nico reminded him.

"So the twenty-million-peso question. We got the twenty-foot-tall statue of Athena. What do we do with it?" Leo asked. Nico started to pay more attention because indeed that was the question.

"As fine as it does look on this hill, I didn't come all this way to admire it. According to Annabeth it must be returned to Camp Half-blood by a Roman leader. Do I understand correctly?" Reyna asked precisely. She was always precise and militant, Nico had noticed that before, no word was ever out of pace in her speech.

"I had a dream down in…you know, Tartarus. I was on Half-Blood Hill and Athena's voice said, "I must stand here. The Roman must bring me." Annabeth confirmed falling into a similar speech pattern to Reyna's.

"It makes sense." Nico said and noticed Percy flinch out of the corner of his eye, had Percy forgotten he was there again? "The statue is a powerful symbol. A Roman returning it to the Greeks… that could heal the historical rift, maybe even heal the gods of their split personalities." That was a bit of a stretch but he was trying to be optimistic for the others sakes.

Instead it was Coach Hedge became the naysayer. Nico stayed out of the short resulting argument. Instead he started thinking about all the problems that were being brought up. The coach was right, they were short of time and there was a long distance and no real way of moving the statue unless… Frank mentioned that he could change to carry the statue, but of course he couldn't he was required for the prophesy.

"I'm not." Nico cut in when Reyna pointed that out. Everyone froze and looked at him. Nico stared back making his face into stone as he picked at the pomegranate he had been eating.

"Nico-" Hazel started, but Nico cut her off.

"I'll go with Reyna. I can transport the statue with shadow travel." He thought he could do it. He hadn't realized until the night before just how much his power had grown. With use, practice, and feed off of his own energy, that of Toby's, and the few people he had had no choice but to kill over the last few months.

"Uh.." Percy sounded and Nico rolled his eyes. Great, what did he have to say. "I mean, I know you just got all eleven of us to the surface and that was awesome. But a year ago you said transporting yourself was dangerous and unpredictable. A couple of times you ended up in China. Transporting a forty foot statue and three people across the world-"

"A lot can happen in a year." Nico interrupted, his eyes flashing dangerously. "And I've changed since I got back from Tartarus."

"Nico." Jason said in a placating tone. "We're not questioning your power. We just want to make sure you don't kill yourself trying."

Nico knew Percy wasn't worried about that. Percy was definitely questioning Nico's power but Nico let Jason's words reassure him. He wasn't at all sure if he could do this without killing himself trying but there didn't seem to be any option but to try. He knew he was letting his responsibilities take priority over his life again, but as usual at times like this, that didn't seem important.

"I can do it." Nico said sounding more sure than he was. "I'll take short jumps, a few hundred miles each time. It's true after each jump I won't be in any shape to fend off monsters. I'll need Reyna and Toby to defend me and the statue." There was no question that Toby was not coming with Nico, they were not being separated again.

"Any objections." Reyna said looking around and then nodding firmly when no one spoke up. "I see no better option. But there will be many monster attacks. I would feel better taking a fourth person."

"Coach Hedge." Frank blurted suddenly. Nico didn't know what was going on but he was distracted when Toby put a hand on his shoulder and leaned closer to him.

"Are you sure you can do this?" He asked softly. "I know your power has grown so much but… you still sometimes start losing physical form when you push yourself."

"I will do this." Nico said softly but firmly. Toby sighed, Nico knew that Toby knew better than to argue, but he would still worry. Nico gave Toby a small reassuring smile. When coach Hedge jogged away Nico got up too. "I should go too and rest before the first passage. We'll meet at the statue at sunset." He had slept well, but he wanted to have a shower and maybe actually relax for a little bit before everything went crazy. He could feel Hazel's eyes on his back. He would have to talk to her before leaving most likely. He could hear Toby's soft footsteps following him back to the ship.

The rest of the day went well. Nico was able to have a long shower, Toby apparently talked to Reyna while he did. He watched some tv in Piper's room which she agreed was still his until the end of the day, when he and the rest of the statue party would be leaving. He had a brief nap and when he was woken by a nightmare he and Toby went for a brief walk over the hills around the house of Hades. All of the monsters had been cleared out of the house of Hades the night before, so there were no attacks. They stretched out over used muscles. Even though Toby wasn't sore (of course), Nico was and so he assumed Toby needed to stretch too, Toby agreed that it was a good idea.

About an hour before sunset Nico returned to the statue. With Toby's help he started to tie ropes around it. He would have to be harnessed to the statue, well, in order to be sure of bringing it with. It was there that Percy found Nico finishing the last of the harness while Toby was gone getting their stuff.

"Thank you." Percy said suddenly. Nico looked up him frostily.

"For what?" He asked keeping his face unreadable and cold.

"You promised you would lead the others to the House of Hades. You did it." Percy explained awkwardly. Nico nearly scoffed, as if he would break his promise.

"You got me out of that bronze jar in Rome. Saved my life again. It was the least I could do." Nico stated but he didn't mean it, he had done it for Hazel and his friends who would be hurt if Gaia won this war.

"Also." Percy said and then hesitated. "You visited Bob." He explained what had happened in Tartarus to Nico. Nico felt like he had been stabbed. Poor Bob was down there alone now. All because he had tried to help Percy and he had tried to help Percy because of what Nico had told him.

"Yeah well… not giving people a second thought… that can be dangerous." Nico barbed absently checking over his ropes one more time.

"Dude I'm trying to thank you." Percy objected. It made Nico laugh humorlessly at how Percy just rejected his faults. He had no idea now how he had ever thought Percy was a hero.

"Ya, I know, and I'm trying to say you don't need to, or maybe you can't. Now I need to finish this, can you give me some space."

"Yeah. Yeah okay." Percy said and took a few steps back still watching as Nico adjusted a few of the ropes so he could slip them over his arms like backpack straps. It seemed like the most sure way of making sure it came with him. Annabeth came see them off, wishing Nico good luck which he excepted gratefully. Really they could use some good luck.

"Grab the ropes please." Nico instructed once Reyna, Coach Hedge and Toby were all there. "Here we go." He said, once he was sure they all had a good grip Nico teleported immediately.

\(^_^)/ - (little time skip buddy)

The first few shadow travels had gone fairly well, maybe that's what had made Nico a little overconfident. This time he was paying for it. Nico had started feeling something building under his skin the last two times he had jumped. He couldn't even explain it. There had been too much energy leaving his body and not enough replenishing.

It was leaving empty spaces inside him which the darkness of the shadow world had eagerly rushied in to fill. It was almost like a kind of power in itself, he had felt the same thing in Tartarus, this was dark power. It didn't want him to control it, it wanted to control him. To make him just like his fortunately dead brothers from the past. This time he could feel it writhing under his skin.

It hurt it like dry ice, so cold it burned him from the inside. He held on to the end of the jump, but as soon as they were back in the light he half screamed. The light made it a little better but it was still almost unbearable. He struggled out of his harness and fell to his hands and knees. His body convulsed involuntarily.

"Nico." He heard Toby say from near him. He couldn't see anything, the darkness was clouding his eyes. When he looked up at the place he thought Toby was he knew there were no white to his eyes and he could hear Toby gasp.

"Don't touch me." Nico hissed and with horror he realized that a few of the whispering voices from the shadow realm had been carried back on his breath. "Run."

"What-" Reyna started to say but the her words started to move farther away. Nico knew that Toby would listen. Living with the creeps you start learning to run when someone says run. Toby must have grabbed Reyna and coach Hedge and dragged them with him. Nico didn't think he could hurt the statue at least. He waited as long as he could, giving them as much time as he could, but then another convulsion hit and Nico's arms gave out.

He screamed again forcing the darkness out of his body. It hurt so much, the darkness didn't want to leave and it hung on. It was a fight to try and get rid of it. Nico knew around him the things that were alive were dying and the things that had been dead were living. His body didn't want to lose the dark power either, didn't want the empty spaces it left. He didn't know quite how long he struggled to rid himself of the darkness and make it stay gone, but finally it dissipated.

He wanted to move then, to get up, to call to the others that it was okay now or see if the darkness had hurt them, but he was too tired to open his eyes at all. He lay breathing shakily and still twitching now and then with the memory of the pain. After maybe twenty minutes he heard footsteps near him. He hoped that was his companions because gods knew he was in no condition to defend himself. He knew he wouldn't be.

"Nico." Toby's voice came from nearby. "Are you going to be okay?" Nico felt Toby's fingers brush his cheek and some warmth flowed into his body, half thawing his frozen body. He sighed relaxing.

"I'm so cold Toby." Nico murmured softly and heard Toby's breath catch in his throat. Toby lay down behind Nico and pressed his chest against Nico's back, wrapping one arm around Nico's torso. He was so warm, Nico tried to press back against him but couldn't move, Toby seemed to understand though, and pressed against Nico even harder.

"Is he going to be okay?" Reyna asked from somewhere a little ways off.

"He's colder than death." Toby yelled back but didn't move. Nico was glad, he couldn't stand to lose his warmth right now. No matter what anyone thought Nico was cold to his core and he needed Toby there. After a minute Nico felt someone, the Coach or Reyna drape a blanket over the both of them to trap Toby's heat. Thin, callused fingers touched his cheek.

"You weren't kidding." Reyna breathed worriedly. "What happened?"

"I'd lost to much energy." Nico tried to explain. "There were… empty spaces inside me. The darkness tried to hitch a ride out in them." He yawned. "Not even it wants to be in there, but if I had let it stay it would have made me… I don't want to know." He didn't hear anything else because he was already asleep.

(POV change: Toby)

"He said he could do this." Toby whispered, he didn't know to who. He didn't know why he was whispering either, Nico had passed out, he wouldn't have been woken by yelling.

"I think Nico's a bit too much like me." Reyna answered anyway her eyes hard. "We both hold our responsibilities above our own safety."

"That's Nico." Toby sighed running his fingers gently through Nico's hair. They had decided they didn't care if the Coach and Reyna know about them anymore. This was too stressful a time to not seek comfort from each other. "Not even just his own. Barely a month after a met him he nearly killed himself trying to help me and the other proxies destroy a rogue… creature called the Operator. Technically that was our responsibility. He wasn't even one of the creeps at that point, but still he nearly killed himself trying to help. We wouldn't have been able to kill him without Nico and this unnamable earth goddess would have had one more powerful alley."

"You love him don't you?" Reyna asked and Toby looked at up her trying to read her face, but she was just as hard to read as Nico was at times.

"Yes." Toby sighed finally. "He doesn't want his sister to know yet, but yes. I've loved him since the first week we met and he's the best thing that's ever happened to me." Toby thought about it for a moment then laughed. "Not that that's a hard competition to win, not many good things have happened to me."

Reyna looked Toby and Nico over appraisingly and then nodded approvingly. "Good he'll need you through this. We're not even half way through this, he'll need a reminder of why he's doing this."

"And I'm a reminder of that?" Toby asked confused and Reyna gave him a disparaging look.

"He's doing this to reunite the camps against the earth goddess, he's doing that so we'll defeat the earth goddess. He's doing that to save the world. Is he doing that for himself?" Toby's eyes widened and he shook his head.

"No, Nico once told me he hasn't cared about his own life since he was nine." Toby admitted.

"I thought so." Reyna nodded. "So who is he saving the world for?"

"Oh." Toby said unable to say anything else as he looked down at Nico in shock. Maybe he was doing it partially for Hazel too but…but. Toby was unsure of how to complete that thought so he just nuzzled his nose into Nico's hair and lay there feeling warmth return to Nico's body slowly.


A/N I'm sorry if I freaked anyone out making you think I would actually stop writing this. Don't worry I'm not going anywhere but I really do want to emphasize how much comments mean to me. I don't mean to guilt trip anyone but even a "Good job" makes me feel better about putting so much time into this when I have school and work.

Other then that I cosplayed Ticci-Toby this weekend and it you want to go see the pictures you can go to my Tumblr to-much-tea-stuff. This site won't let me link them directly but if you search Ticci-Toby cosplay on my blog you'll find them. There's one of my makeup higher up but if you scroll down a bit you'll see a little photoset me and my friend Lizzy did for fun. :P