a/n: this is the last. official. chapter. then it's the epilogue.
i'm so in awe of this. thanks to everyone who's read :)
reviewer responses at the bottom.
. . .
The addition of Bryce Lawrence and Octavian to the fray is not very good news for their team of fighters. This means that there are more distractions from the dismantling of Alconeyus, more distractions from the army's task at hand, and more energy expended on the wasteful fighting.
Nico is not fond of this new development. But he raises a hand and dispatches ten skeletons — they are all he will spare for now — to deal with Lawrence, Octavian, and his followers. They assemble themselves, and he steers them toward the fight.
Nico dodges attacks from skeletons and humans alike with a lithe ease, slipping his slender frame up and away from incoming strikes. He multitasks, directing his skeletons whilst moving, and he draws a knife from his boot, slashing out at skeletons and dismantling their bones; he finds Octavian in the mess of bodies and slices a gash onto his pale face, which quickly begins to ooze blood.
Will, Nico notes, is all over the place. He heals his own sustained injuries, the skeletons, and he shoots light at invading skeletons and into Bryce and Octavian's faces occasionally. Nico isn't sure how Will hasn't keeled over yet, but it's good, although he probably won't last much longer.
He can't worry about Will, though. His boyfriend can take care of himself.
Jason shoots wind gusts into their faces — they've got a tactical advantage in this area, but it doesn't really work out very well, because damn, they can fight, and crap, Octavian is practically psychic, almost predicting moves coming his way.
Most of the skeletons do their job, hacking away at Alconeyus, but more and more of them are drawn away to fight the hordes created by Lawrence. Nico curses under his breath, but he moves on, flicking his knife and cutting the head off of a particularly persistent skeleton created by Lawrence.
Bianca and Hazel prove to be near invincible. They've been trained by the same people that trained Octavian and Lawrence, and they weave their way through the crowds, almost invisible, striking with guerilla-esque attacks that damage the forces of Lawrence when they occur.
"I'm not afraid of death," says Bianca. "I'm already dead."
It pains Nico to hear the words but he knows they're true. Bianca will have to leave, return to the dead, if they succeed. She has been resurrected, and it would be hard for her to stay.
But somehow, he allows himself to hope. What if she can stay? What if she does? They have a chance at rebuilding their lives, a chance to be happy with one another once more.
Jason looks at Nico with a little sympathy but says nothing, only getting out his hidden coin-sword, courtesy Agency, and he throws himself into the throngs of the fight. Nico can see his sword flying through the air, precise movements hacking away at skeletons. Hazel raises a hand and claims some fallen skeletons for her own little small army, taking the task force off to disassemble the oil figure.
Hazel suddenly spots Octavian: Nico can see it in the sudden gleam appearing in her golden eyes, locking on their target. She leaps out at him, and out of nowhere there's a knife in her hands. She socks him in his weak spots, kicks flying out at him wildly but still accurately, and her knife slits at his body, hitting him unexpectedly in the chest. Blood pours out of his new wound, and now he's weakened, but he throws a slash at her of his own.
But before he can, the clear-cut sound of oil gushing and a clink of metal interrupts him.
An ambitious skeleton has unearthed the last piece of Alconeyus. He's — gone. Dismantled. The oil has all pooled to the floor, and there's a bit of a scream emanating from the earth. Nico isn't sure if he's imagined it or not, but the ground seems to vibrate and a high-pitched sound comes out of it, so perhaps it is a scream. Suddenly, the earth shakes violently, spinning Nico's senses, but the feeling subsides soon and so does the shaking, a moment later.
The scene in front of him shows Lawrence and Octavian done for. He's got the larger army, has dismantled Alconeyus, and overall Nico's team has more morale and manpower than theirs.
They're gone.
Nico smirks. He looks at the two with vindication and a kind of otherworldly rage, because they've been terrorizing him this entire year, they may have had a hand in taking his boyfriend away from him, and they're just so overall horrible, have done such terrible things that Nico can't look at them anymore without thinking Useless.
He waves a hand, opening a fissure in the ground: a vortex, brown earth spinning and swirling inside it, and the skeletons are sucked into it, going back to where they belong, almost like a vacuum, cleaning up his mess and leaving the place neat and tidy.
Nico looks at Lawrence and Octavian, at their pitiful faces and existences, and at their sneering lips that spewed such insults at him —
The borders of the fissure grow wider, just enough to suck in two bodies. Lawrence looks down fearfully, eyes widening, and he opens his mouth in a silent protest, but it is too late. He falls in before he gets the chance to say a word. Octavian watches him in wonder, and then a moment later, he too falls into the pit.
Nico's anger flares, and maybe he should not have done this, but for everything Lawrence and Octavian and their organization has done to him and his friends and his family, he believes they deserve it. It's what they get for siding with Gaea.
Hazel watches in silence, her gold eyes unreadable and stoic in the face of the darkness emitted by the fissure. Her face is shadowy, and he cannot see what she is thinking.
"Nico —" Will gasps. The sheer astonishment in his voice grounds Nico and opens him up to the consequences of his deed. Perhaps Will is fearful, and perhaps he should be, because Oh, wait. Nico just killed someone and he barely feels anything about it in the moment, he is a terrible person and he just killed two teenagers.
"They tore everything apart. They were prepared to tear the world apart," Nico tells him simply. He tries to tell Will that he shouldn't fear him, but the words can't come out. He can't come up with a reason why he shouldn't.
"I don't deny that wasn't a bad move, but it wasn't a good one either," says Will matter-of-factly. Nico is surprised to find no fear in his shining blue eyes. Just shock. Will is not afraid of him. Perhaps he is ashamed, but he is not fearful, and Nico thinks with force that He should be...
"I'm not a good person, Will. I left my own sister to die."
"Shut up, Nico," Jason argues. "We slacked a bit, but you were the most dedicated person to this whole thing, you worked through the mystery and the mint chip, and no bad person would've done that."
Bianca chimes in, "And you made up for it, Neeks. You did. And I can tell that you love Will. And that you love me, and you love Hazel…so with that, knowing you're good, I'm ready. I'm ready to go," she breathes, as if she has just come to the revelation and that it is a freeing one.
She opens up her own fissure in the ground, twisting and swirling, dark, just like Nico's, and before Nico can do anything to stop her —
"Bianca, no!"
. . .
reviewer responses:
celestial vivacity: i'm glad you enjoyed it, and i'm glad i was able to get you in love with my solangelo! i know how much you don't like them and it honors me that my version was good enough for you :')
Thrawn13: yes, i feel like the teamwork is one of the best parts. the original plan for this story didn't have much of a team dynamic in this, but i loved jason so much i added more of him than i intended lol. thanks :)