A/N So sorry about the wait. But between school, homework, and the fact that I know have to study math a lot more since I'm a mathlete, I just haven't had time to write. That and I feel into a case of writers block. This isn't as long as I had hoped it to be, but I hope you guys like it. I also just finished the Mark of Athena and needed to write something where Percy cares about Nico, since there were only like two times that Percy ever seemed to care about Nico, it was all about Annabeth.

p- I'm honestly don't like the fact that Annabeth is the seventh, what are the chances that two demigods are involved with two Great Prophecies? It's like to billion to one! Yeah, Nico can't be happy all the time, which makes me angry that even Annabeth and Percy are creeped out by Nico in the Mark of Athena. I can try to make Percy more funny, although my humor only appears when I'm not trying, otherwise I might as well be an android.

KittlyAbz- Sorry that I didn't update soon. Yep, and trust me, after this you'll be having to wait for something else.

Percyjacksonsister98- Well, you'll find out what happens to Percy, but Nico is a different story. You'll see.

Disclaimer: If I owned Heroes of Olympus/Percy Jackson it would focus more on the war about to happen instead of love and Nico would be the seventh of the prophecy. Not to mention the fact that Percy would actually have cared for what happened to Nico!

"Come and get us," I said as Nico and I ran toward the monsters.

My first thought as my sword clashed against one of the guard's sword was how totally screwed we were at that moment. We were outnumbered one to twenty-four, at least. But there was no way I was going to give up, if this was the only way we could get out, then so be it. The guard wasn't that hard to stop, I just slammed the butt of my sword into his helmet and he went down quickly. Glancing around for a second I spotted Nico dodging a dracaena's sword.

I didn't have much time to see how he was doing for at that moment the minotaur decided to finish what he started when I was twelve. He ran toward me, his arms outstretched to catch me. Seemed he had learned something from our first encounter, just not enough. As he charged me I ducked, getting onto one knee, avoiding his arms, and did a shoulder roll around him. Getting back up I poised my sword towards the minotaur as he turned back around to me, snorting in anger.

"I defeated you when I was twelve,you really think I won't stop you again?" I had gotten stronger over the years, the minotaur was not going to stop me now.

As if in response the minotaur snorted and stomped his hove in anger, and charged at me. I was about to get ready to roll again when something heavy slammed into me, sending me toppling to the floor. My head hit the floor hard, sending black spots in my vision. For a second I was to dazed to really do anything, when the black spots and dizziness finally passed I looked next to me to see what had slammed into me. It was Nico. Blood was covering the right side of his face and their was a nasty bruise forming on his left cheek. He had just begun to rise from where he had fallen, stumbling forward when he took a step, definitely a concussion. Pushing myself up I stood next to Nico.

"Why did you slam into me?" I whispered to him.

Nico gave me a look that said 'You're an idiot, "The empusa threw me at you." He then turned back around to look around us.

While we had been down on the floor the monsters and guards had surrounded us in a circle. Some were farther out, ready to capture us should we try and run, other were closing in on us, like the minotaur.

"Hey Nico?" Nico turned to look at me, "Think you could call some skeletons to help us?"

"Maybe. I'm not so sure, I'll try though," Nico held his sword out in front of him and shouted, "Dead, rise and protect me, the Son of Hades!"

A bunch of long cracks began to form in the ground, expanding till they went from one end of the room to another. The monsters and guards began to go backwards in fear of what was happening. The cracks began to open up and bright red fire shot from the ground, reaching at least thirty feet up. I'm so going to die. I thought as stared in fear and shock at the fire. Out of the fire walked at least two dozen skeletons, all in battle armor and with their weapons drawn. Weapons that ranged form swords to spears to bow and arrows. They formed their own ring around us, protecting us from the monsters.

"You did it Nico," I smiled turning to Nico. Nico was swaying on his feet, pale, and sweaty. "Nico? Are you alright?"

Nico placed one of his hands to his forehead, "I'm fine, I just haven't called any skeletons for a while."

I nodded, still not fully convinced. But if Nico thought he could keep going then I trusted him. Nico rose his sword once again and shouted, "Skeletons of the Underworld, attack!"

The skeletons response was instantaneous. The ones with swords all rushed forward, swords poised for the kill. The ones with spears threw them, skewering at least three monsters/guards per throw. The ones with the bows shot two to three arrows at a time, hitting their marks every time. Realizing this was are one and only distraction, our one and only way out, I turned around and grabbed Nico by the arms, pulling him away from the fighting.

"We've got to hurry and find a way out. Then we can find the Argo II and the others," I panted as we ran.

"Where to?" Nico asked as he once again stumbled while running.

That made me realize something, I didn't know where an exit was, didn't know where anything was. Looking over I saw Nico was staring at me, fear reflecting in his eyes. I'm his last hope, I've got to be the leader. I thought. "We look for an area that still has guards, if it still has guards then they were most likely left there to guard the entrance/exit," That was an idea Annabeth would be proud of. I had realized that all the guards were looking for us, so if there were some still at a post then they had to be guarding something, and if they hadn't been guarding the war room then the only thing more important would be the exit.

Nico nodded in agreement and we continued running. More than once I had to pull Nico back as he ran around a corner, nearly being spotted by a guard, they were searching for us so they weren't guarding the exit. We had been running for around a half hour when I saw it, the exit. I was right that there were guards around it, luckily though there was only five, we could defeat that many.

I looked over at Nico, trying to convey my message without saying anything, Nico seemed to understand and nodded. Putting my sword in front of me I ran forward, taking the guards by surprise. Nico was right behind me. I hit the first guard with the butt of my sword then moved onto the next one. They obviously hadn't had that much training for in less than three minutes they were on the ground.

Nico was counting them up, "One, two three, four...four! Where's the fifth one?" Nico turned to look at me, practically begging me to answer his question.

Looking around I spotted the last guard at the far wall, pushing a button in the wall. I realized to late what the button was. Alarms began to blaze once more around the base as the guard shouted into some microphone, "I've got them! They're at the exit! Hurry! Hurry!"

I groaned as I heard footsteps thundering towards us. Moving back I stood right next to Nico, who was shaking in fear, and probably pain form his concussion. In less than a minute we were once again surrounded, apparently Nico's skeletons hadn't lasted long because the minotaur was there as well. As the monsters and guards closed in on us I frantically tried to think of some way out of this. Water, I needed water, but we're underground, there's no body of water around, how could I find water. Think, what did I learn in science, something about springs. Yes! There are underwater springs all over, so I just have to find one.

I tried to concentrate on finding an underwater spring instead of being a minute from being killed. I felt a familiar tug in my gut as I located the water, is was just to my left. I just had to figure out a way to get Nico out of here so he didn't drown. That's when it hit me, Shadow traveling. Now that he had his powers back and we were at the exit maybe he could transport us to the surface.

Leaning over I whispered, "On my signal Shadow travel us out of here."

Nico nodded so I turned back to the monsters nearing us. "Say 'Hello' to my little friend." The tugging sensation worsened as water exploded from the wall of the hideout. I felt Nico grab my arm and then darkness was surrounding us. My last sight of the hideout was of the guards and monsters trying to run away from the water crashing down on them.

Darkness swirled around me, making me feel sick to my stomach. But in less than a minute it was over and we landed on our backs, hard. Looking up I could see the blue sky and sun, which meant we were back on the surface. Looking around I saw that we were in a dense forest, one that was a great hiding spot. Where we were sitting was a round clearing with many fruit trees surrounding it.

Looking down towards where Nico was laying I smiled, "You did it N...Nico!"

Nico was laying on the ground, not moving, with labored breath. It seemed like he was gasping for air and he was paler than ever. Getting to my knees I leaned over him, "Nico!" No response. I put my fingers to his neck and was happy to feel a weak pulse, but that pulse was wavering. It was then that I realized what was happening. The same thing as when he called up a dozen skeletons when Kronos' army attacked Camp Half-Blood using the Labyrinth. He had used to much of his energy and was dying. For the first time I noticed that the grass around Nico was dying, turning brown like it hadn't had enough water. Nico was dying and we were in the middle of the gods no where with no nectar or ambrosia. We were screwed.

A/N What's going to happen to Nico? You'll just have to wait and see.