Chapter 21

Lily stared at him, pushing the pain of her friends' deaths to the back of her mind. She would deal with it later – if she looked it in the face now, she knew she would crumble like a fragmented bridge loaded with too much weight. "It isn't that simple," Lily snapped, fighting to keep her voice steady. "We can't just find her! We don't even know where she is?"

"Relax," Nico breathed, his famous poker face sliding into place. "We'll find her. I can –"

"No, you can't!" Lily shouted, jabbing a finger into his chest angrily. "You can't do anything! Percy is going to die, you heard him!"

Irritation burned through her as Nico grabbed her wrist with one hand, catching the other in midair as she tried to hit him. "Calm down," he growled, pulling her close. "I can get a ghost to find her, and we'll be there in seconds after that."

"But that'll take too long." Defeat. It tasted salty. Lily could feel it tracing liquid lines down her cheeks. She wanted to shake Nico, to scream at him that he didn't know how to she felt. That he didn't know how it felt to love and lose someone. But that would be the cruelest thing to say; she knew he knew. She also knew that she needed an outlet for her pain and fear and frustration.

Nico had already released her. He was muttering something in Ancient Greek, his brow furrowed, and the air shimmered slightly, as if parting to make way for a silvery ghost of a beautiful girl. Lily sucked in her breath slightly – Bianca. Even though she knew that the girl was definitely benign, Lily took a tiny sideways step towards Nico. She couldn't help her instinctual fear of the dead.

Her ears were buzzing with panic, and she didn't notice Bianca nod and fade away. The fires, the dirt, the screams and sounds of monsters roaring, everything was blurring together, her head pounding. Lily didn't realize her legs had given way until her knees sank into something soft and cool. Mud. Her hands gripped at the sides of her face as she crumpled beneath the weight of what had just happened – and what was about to.

Connor and Isabelle couldn't be gone. They couldn't. It was this simple. She wouldn't and couldn't believe it. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw their faces, their smiles, the way they gazed into each other's eyes when they thought no one was watching them. There was a physical pain building up behind her heart. A sort of emptiness – but how did emptiness hurt?

Hands descended onto her shoulders, pressing down gently and rubbing the base of her neck. Nico. Lily felt him kneel behind her, felt his arms twine around her and lift her up so she was standing, cuddled against him, limp.

He was murmuring something against her neck, but she couldn't have cared less. Dropping her forehead, she let it rest against him, trying to physically and emotionally offload everything she felt onto him. And judging by the way he planted himself into the ground, Nico was more than capable of handling it at the moment.

He was hardened to loss, and Lily felt immensely guilty for making him deal with hers. No doubt Nico was remembering how he'd lost his mother and Bianca, especially now that he had just summoned Bianca's ghost for a favor. But his grip on her never wavered, and his heartbeat was firm through his shirt. And she was grateful for it.

The tears hadn't stopped yet, but Lily knew she was going to get a lot worse before she could get better. They would have to go back and retrieve the bodies…assuming that everyone made it out of here alive. Typhon. Oh, gods. She had forgotten about him.

But they couldn't do anything about him anyway. The campers were caught up in either treating each other or fighting the monsters that were somehow getting past the boundaries to attack them. Typhon was too large, too powerful for any of them to attack. So as of right now, they would all die tonight.

Maybe they would all be together in Elysium then.

She was jolted from her train of thought when Nico shook her slightly. "Lily." His voice was sharp. "We have to go. He's in the Big House."

No more tears. Lily sniffled, took a deep breath, and then another, willing the smoke-tinged air to calm her. If she lost it now, she would lose her brother too. "Okay. Let's go."

The familiar sense of whirling through a hurricane surrounded her, and for a moment it felt as if her lungs were compressed so hard that she couldn't even breathe. But then Nico's arms went lax around her and Lily allowed the air to swirl down her windpipe again. She turned around and gasped.

The Big House no longer resembled what it used to. It was wrecked – the door lay a few hundred feet away, roof shingles were scattered around, the walls had collapsed, glass from the windows twinkled in the grass like fallen stars. And flames were making it shine.

The roof was aflame, red and orange tongues leaping up towards the sky, adorned with broiling thunderclouds. Percy was inside the wreckage…Lily began to feel sick. There was no way he could still be alive – two floors would have collapsed on top of him. And then there was the fire…

"Are you sure he's here?"

"Bianca said so," Nico frowned, eyeing the ruins apprehensively and wishing he was Leo. Lethal he may be, but he knew he wasn't fireproof. "And ghosts, trust me, know everything."

Lily released the hilt of her sword. It wasn't going to help her here. "How are we going to get in? The entrance looks buried."

"We don't take the front entrance," Nico said, already moving to where the side of the Big House had been and examining the wooden beams. "We can climb through here."

"I'll go first." Lily felt him pull her back as she approached the triangle of darkness leading to the interior of the wreckage, and jerked free. "I'm smaller, Nico, it makes sense."

"And what if it collapses on you?" The concern in his dark eyes made something stir inside her, a warmth spreading from the pit of her abdomen. Lily felt a blush creeping up her neck and face, but she squashed the desire to kiss him right there.

"It won't," she whispered, laying her hand on his shoulder and giving it a squeeze. Turning, she explored the ruins of the house. Thankfully, the fire was still on the other side of the house, but she couldn't help worrying that it would spread quickly.

"Don't worry about the fire," Nico said from behind her, almost as if he had read her mind. "Can't you feel it?"

She stared at him. "Feel what?" But then she did – something cool landing on the tip of her nose. Rain. Her eyes zoomed upwards from Nico's face to the clouds above him, and she could see raindrops falling languidly down from their heavy, dark-gray homes. "Are they coming?"

"I don't know," he whispered. "I don't know." But the hope was there in his eyes, flaring despite everything. The sky was rumbling, and Lily shrieked as lightning flashed and thunder boomed simultaneously, and as they did the clouds burst.

The fire behind her hissed as the deluge crashed down upon it, but continued to burn, desperately fighting to resume its dance of heat. Lily watched the flames, watched their reflection in Nico's eyes. And felt the cold rainwater slip between her shirt and her skin, traveling in smooth rivers down her back, soothing the heated skin.

His eyes were darkening as he watched her, and Lily felt her mouth go dry as she noticed how his soaked clothes clung to his hard lines, emphasizing the outline of his body. But an image flashed into her mind, one of Percy lying in the dark, bleeding to death while she wasted her time kissing Nico in the rain, and she shakily stepped away from her boyfriend, giving him one last longing look before turning away.

She ducked down, bending over as she clambered through the narrow triangle of darkness making a hole in the pile of collapsed wood. There was a little light filtering in, and before her was a ledge a few feet long and wide. "Come on," she whispered, turning around to Nico and motioning him in. But he was rather red in the face and appeared to be wrapped up in his own thoughts. "Nico!"

"What?" He blushed harder, and Lily blinked uncomprehendingly at him. Nico was very studiously not looking at her, his olive skin turning even redder, and suddenly she remembered the way she had bent over while climbing through the whole.

Lily raised her eyebrows, fighting a blush. "Were you checking me out?"

Nico coughed. "No," he said, very unconvincingly.

Rolling her eyes, Lily turned around again. "Come on already!" Grateful for the darkness obscuring her face, Lily gave in to her blush as Nico stole through the opening. She could stand nearly upright in the sort of tent created by the angles at which beams had collapsed, but Nico was hunched over, muttering obscenities as his head nearly bumped into the drastically lowered ceiling.

But it was still gratifying to know that she could make a boy so in control of himself blush redder than a tomato.

"The floor collapsed," Nico whispered, kneeling down at the ledge and looking over. Lily joined him. It was pitch dark below them, but her fingers found the edge of the floor that hadn't given way and hooked over it. Jagged wooden edges cut into her skin.

She opened her mouth to call for Percy but Nico slapped his hand over her lips, smothering her voice. "Quiet," he hissed. "We don't know if we're alone in here or not."

"How do we go down?" Gripping the edge tightly, Lily tilted herself forward, and felt Nico shift next to her. His arm slid around her waist, tethering her to him as she tried to penetrate the blackness. "I can't see anything," Lily sighed, straightening up again.

"Hold on." Nico let go of her, and she felt a light breeze whoosh by her cheek as he moved.

"Nico!"

"Shh. I'm right here." His voice was coming from…below her?

Lily bent forward, resting on her hands and knees, crawling towards the edge. Her groping fingers found something hard – his forearm. And it was hanging off the edge. "What are you doing?" Her whisper was harsh, raspy.

"I'm going to drop," his slow, calm voice answered her, twisting up from the darkness. "If I tell you it's okay, you can come down too."

"Are you insane?" Lily thrust her hand down, clutching his wrist and searching the pitch black all around her for the other. "You could die! Don't even think about it!"

A sigh blew up at her, and seconds later pain shot through her wrist. He had pinched her already damaged wrist, pinched it hard. Lily shrieked, losing her grip on Nico's arm – and knew he had let go of the wooden ledge. "Nico!" she screamed, hearing a soft thump from below her. She could hear him groaning, and something inside her just snapped.

Hoisting herself over the ledge, Lily closed her eyes tightly and let her fingers slide over the wood, fighting the instinct to scream as she fell towards the unknown, hoping the ground wasn't too far below her.

The landed came faster than she had expected. It knocked all the wind out of her, but at the same time Lily was conscious that it had been softer than it should have. And from below her came a cry of pain.

"Nico?"

A grunt answered her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Lily whispered. She rolled off him, her breast heaving as she sucked in mouthfuls of the musty, dusty air. What a time to begin rhyming. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Nico said, his voice tight with pain. "Landing was not the most comfortable thing, but I'm alive."

She reached out in the dark, touched something rough and hard. A low chuckle tickled her ear, and Nico's hand covered hers. "Lily," he said, mirth in his soft voice, "You're touching my hip, not my hand."

Blushing, she twined her fingers with his. He had strong hipbones…What?

"Wish we had a light," Nico muttered, pulling her along behind him as he took slow, careful steps. "Can't see shit in this light."

"Can't you see in the dark? Son of Hades and all that?"

"I can sense stuff," he said, his breathing loud in the unnatural quiet, "But I can't really see. So I had a feeling dropping from up there wouldn't kill me. I didn't know it would hurt this damn bad either. So I can keep us from crashing into walls, but I can't – freaking hell!"

"What?" Lily drew her sword, careful to keep the blade away from where she heard Nico's voice coming from, and from where his hand grasped hers. Panic made her heart thud again, and she wished desperately she could see. How could she defend herself in the dark?

"There's someone here," he hissed, switching her hand from his right to his left. She heard the harsh scraping sound of his blade being drawn, and then silence. Nico was holding on to her so tightly it hurt; he was crushing her fingers in a cocoon of his, but she didn't complain. This way she knew where he was.

Then she heard it too – a soft swish, almost as if silken robes were swirling together. A ghost of a breath, barely audible. And then nothing.

Lily moved, pressing her back against Nico's, pushing up against him until she felt his hard body as clearly as if it were her own. Her breathing sounding loud in her own ears; too loud. She felt as though she were shining the bright beam of a flashlight into the dark, shouting, "Come get us! We're right here! One injured demigod and one scared one thrown into the bargain!"

"Why, hello, little heroes," a mocking voice said, and it was so smooth, so oily, Lily imagined it running into the dark, blending with it, like watercolors whirling into each other with no regard for boundaries on their paper.

Nico sucked in his breath behind her, and she felt his hand slide down her arm from her elbow to her upper wrist, gripping her tightly. Squeezing. One word. "Morpheus."

She shivered. The god of dreams, she knew that much. But Nico's voice sounded scared – and he rarely sounded scared. But what could the god of dreams even do?

"My, this one looks frightened." Morpheus stepped out of the dark, black robes swirling around him, the dusty ruins suddenly illuminating with just enough light that they could see him. He stood close to Lily, and she backed away from him, feeling Nico turn to stand beside her. "Are you scared, little girl?"

She huffed at him, irritated. Just because she was a girl did not mean she was the weak link!

"Get lost," Nico snarled, venom dripping from his lips with his words.

"Are you angry?" Morpheus smirked, and it occurred to Lily that Morpheus was a bizarre, twisted version of Hades – with the pale skin and black robes, they even vaguely resembled each other. But Hades exuded power and confidence, even danger, while Morpheus…she wasn't too sure. He gave her the feeling to be careful of her surroundings, that if she let down her guard he would slip a poisoned dagger in between her ribs. But only when she wasn't watching. As if he was afraid to attack head-on, as many of the more powerful gods often did.

But he was still dangerous – Nico's initial reaction had proved that much.

"You see, I have a problem," Morpheus continued, stepping in a slow circle around them. Lily planted her feet firmly, refusing to back into Nico for protection. Never back down. "I can't have you two running around. Enyalius has asked me to…get rid of you. Put you out of commission, if you will."

Lily glared at him, bending her knees slightly, preparing to move fast. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Nico, who was standing perfectly still. But his face was flickering again – he seemed to be half part of the shadows and half human. And half god. Screw the fact that they didn't add up properly.

"Scared yet?" Morpheus breathed, vanishing and reappearing behind her, making Lily spin in a dizzying arc. "You should be."

Nico was gone. Her brain registered it dimly, and Lily slowly became aware that her mind moved as if through resin. Panic flared in her chest but her sudden lethargy dimmed it, and sleep made her eyelids heavy. She sank under it, as if under a warm blanket, letting it claim her, closing her eyes upon the cold, fractured wooden floor.

"Lily!" Someone was shaking her, and irritation at being woken finally overcame her drowsiness. Lily opened her eyes, blinked once, and screamed.

A huge, hulking figure was crouching beside her, its eyes red and gleaming, fangs glistening by its chin. Its breath was fetid, stinking of blood and death, hitting in the face like a blow as it opened its mouth. Its body, though, was shrouded by the dark.

For a moment she froze, paralyzed by fear, unable to react, and then everything snapped into place. Lily leaped up, and the creature seemed to rear up as she did, bright green spittle flying from its mouth, sizzling holes in the wood upon which it landed. Poison.

She swung her sword, pausing for a moment to admire the graceful, gleaming arc it made as it sliced through the air. The monster roared as she slashed it, and again green blood ran from its wound, the poison making a loud hissing noise as it burned into the wood. A droplet had landed on her skin, and Lily collapsed to her knees, howling as it stung and burned her flesh. A tiny drop.

When the pain ceased enough for her to glance up through streaming eyes, Lily was shocked. The creature had vanished. Even the holes in the wood were gone. But her skin still burned, blood oozing slowly from the wound. Such a small wound. Such a pretty green. All sparkly. Lining the angry burn it had inflicted on her like stars around the moon.

She shook her head, trying to clear it. Wooziness settled slowly on her, like a honeybee lazily droning along to its desired flower. A slight sound behind her made her turn.

Spiders. A new terror. They were large, fat, hairy, some even bigger than her palm. Their legs made sharp scuttling sounds as they scurried towards her, and Lily backed up until her back was pressing into the wall. The arachnids surrounded her, and she closed her eyes and screamed as she felt those hard legs weight down her jeans as they began to climb up her legs.

Something inside her snapped and she began to kick her feet, screaming until her throat burned as they passed her hips and began climbing her abdomen. She couldn't shake them off; the terrifying things were resilient as anything.

And then one bit her. She heard the snip of the pincers, felt it pierce cloth and skin as it bit her on the midriff, and doubled over, sobbing and shrieking at the same time. The pain was nearly unbearable, a sharp, stabbing pain that recurred over and over, never fading to even a throb. Warm blood flowed over her, and it seemed to signal something to the others.

They were all biting her, climbing over her neck, her arms, and Lily felt sick, her stomach heaving, her body and mind screaming with fear and pain. Her sword was in her hands and she raised it, desiring nothing other than to end her misery now.

But someone knocked it from her hands, someone grabbed her and held her down as she screamed and thrashed, fighting with the desperation born of absolute terror for her freedom. She could still feel spiders swarming over her, racking her body with fresh waves of agony as they bit her, but finally Lily opened her eyes to see who was pinning her.

It was the final straw. The hideous, terrifying creature from earlier had returned, its eyes glimmering with malice, and Lily snapped. Her vision spun, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted cleanly away, her last thought full of regret. She would never see Nico again.

Nico stared down at her, his chest heaving. The building was shaking, and he could hear roars of rage – probably from Typhon – as well as a conch blowing loudly. He'd heard it before. The call of Poseidon. The gods had finally arrived, but he would miss the showdown.

Not that it mattered. His entire world had fallen apart – again. Morpheus had done something to her, messed with her mind, and Lily had gone haywire. He'd shadow-traveled to behind Morpheus, intending to stab the god from behind, but instead Lily saw him coming out of the darkness with his sword raised. But that didn't explain her reaction. She knew he would never hurt her, right?

Maybe she didn't. Lily had stared at him, the expression in those gorgeous aquamarine eyes tearing him apart. Terror. She had never looked at him that way before, and he knew it would haunt him for the remainder of his life – which, judging by the tremors in the ground and the ominous swaying of the ruined building, might not be all that long anyway.

Lily had thrashed when he tried to hold on to her, had fled as soon as she got the chance. And then…he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling them burn at the memory. But his mind, his traitorous, merciless mind, wouldn't stop the replay. He saw her twitching, saw her staring at nothing on her legs, by her feet, saw her jerk and scream and collapse under the weight of something he couldn't see. When he'd tried to help her, she had only gotten worse, her raw screams of pain and fear ripping through him. But he'd seen no blood on her skinny frame…

The muscles in his arms and back tensed as he lifted her limp form up from the ground, cradling her to his chest, supporting her head and gazing into her still faced, watching the still lashes, the still mouth. The still chest.

He knew she wasn't dead, he could sense that much – but her life force was fading fast, being sucked away by some unseen force. Desperate, Nico shook her, screaming her name till his voice was hoarse. Lily's head flopped from side to side, her lips parting with the motion. But this time she didn't look up at him in that sexy way as she invited him to kiss her, her cheeks flushed with his nearness. This time, she was unresponsive. Dying. But he didn't want to use that word.

"Lily," he whispered, his lips moving against her cold skin. "Lily. Princess. Please!" It was cruel, he thought dully, that he, the son of Hades, should be unable to save the girl he loved from death.

His finger moved of its own accord, tracing her eyes gently. Those fascinating eyes. "Come back, princess," Nico breathed, pressing his mouth to hers. It was cold, lifeless, and for one of the first times in his life he felt his eyes begin to burn, and he squeezed them shut, feeling his heart thudding irregularly against his ribs, as if it were trying to escape his chest cavity. Maybe then he could die with her, escape into the Underworld with her, never be forced to leave her. They could lie together in the dark forever, buried beneath the completely collapsed rubble. They would never be found. They would become a myth, shrouded in mystery. They would remain as one.

He felt something liquid and hot trickle down his face. One tear, then another…Nico gave in. Pulling Lily close, he buried his face in her wavy black hair, breathing as deeply as his shaking shoulders allowed, hoping to catch a whiff of her vanilla scent. But it was gone, and she smelled only of blood, dust, and death.

The building shook even more violently, and a shower of dust and wood shavings fell upon him, coating his shoulders, hair, and neck with a fine pale powder. Nico laid her body carefully on the ground, aware that her heart still beat in her breast. Stretching out beside her, he drew her close, the way she would have snuggled up to him if she were still able. His face found the skin of her neck, and suddenly he detected that vanilla scent he could always identify her by, and he gulped in a deep, shuddering breath, trying to stem those desperate hot tears. He hadn't been so shaken up since Bianca had died.

A wave of anger rolled through him. What had Morpheus done to her? Turned her waking moments into a living nightmare? A boom of thunder made the very ground vibrate, and Nico heard the drone of a steady downpour from up above. Hopefully Morpheus was getting what he deserved. But then there was Typhon…

Lily stirred beneath him, and Nico hugged her closer, kissing the side of her neck sadly, wondering if he was just imagining the pain in his chest, in his heart. Wait. Had she moved? She had seemed too faded to move. He lifted himself off her, giving her space to breathe. Waiting.

"Lily," he whispered, bending to her ear, "Princess, can you hear me? Wake up. Please. I love you. So much." His voice cracked, his breathing shifting her hair slightly.

Waiting again. He seemed to be spending his entire life waiting. When he was an old man, would he be married to a little old woman with startling sea-green eyes and wavy hair? Or would he remember this tension, this wait, this longing to see her smile?

Pain. That was the first thing Lily was conscious of. It wasn't unbearable, just there. A throbbing beneath her skin. She heard someone whispering something. "Princess, can you hear me?" It was Nico's voice. "Wake up. Please. I love you." A long pause, a rasping breath tickling her ear. "So much." Lily heard his voice crack, felt something splash onto her cheek, and that did it.

But it was so hard. She wanted to open her eyes, but it felt as if she just didn't know how. She lay there, burrowed deep into the dark recesses of her own mind, struggling to pull herself out. And as she did, the pain intensified, until a sharp stab of it tore through her.

With a gasp, her eyes burst open.

Instantly Nico was hanging over her, his eyes wild, fractured, red. A lone tear trailed down his cheek. "Lily!"

Lily smiled at him, ignoring the pain the simple motion caused.

"How do you feel? What happened?" His arm moved behind her back and Nico gently pulled her into a sitting position, her back against his chest. He was kissing her hair.

"There was something here," Lily whispered, slowly laying her hand on his arm, gripping it. There was something comforting about him, that convinced her that monster that had earlier been menacing her couldn't attack her now. She told him about what she had seen and felt, speaking slowly for fear of being overwhelmed by her pain.

"There weren't any spiders," Nico said, hugging her tightly. "And no monster. That was just me, and I wasn't even attacking you. And you didn't hurt me at all! Morpheus was messing with your mind."

"Percy!" Lily jumped to her feet, stumbling as sharp spines of pain drove like needles through her. Nico steadied her.

"Crap," he muttered. "Crap. Crap. I forgot!"

"Where is he?" Lily looked around frantically. How could she have forgotten about her own brother? "Can you sense him? Is he still alive?"

"Bianca!" Nico bellowed, his voice loud over the rumbling thunder and rain. "Bianca!"

The girl's ghost appeared a moment later. Bianca was frowning, looking worried. "Go straight behind you," she said softly, pointing. "He's still alive, just very banged up. Very. You'll need to hurry! And he's in one of the collapsed bedrooms – there's ambrosia a few feet away from him. You'll all need some. Go!"

They were moving before she finished and melted away, Nico scooping Lily up into his arms and running with her as soon as he realized she couldn't keep up with him. He could feel her trembling slightly, probably with the aftereffects of what Morpheus had done to her. But right now the main concern was Percy.

Nico saw a solid mass beyond a partially caved in doorway and ducked down to go through it, before lowering Lily down beside it. She crawled over to it, shaking Percy, shrieking his name, while Nico searched for the ambrosia packet in the dark. There was a squished plastic bag with some inside nearby, and he broke off a large chunk and devoured it, before giving Lily an equally large piece. And then he turned to Percy.

"He's doing fine," Nico said, feeling dizzy with relief. He could sense it – Percy was nearly as alive as usual. Just, as Bianca had said, very banged up. But Annabeth had been convinced he was dying!

"He smells of perfume," Lily said, confused. The distinctive scent reached her nostrils. "Designer perfume. Aphrodite!"

"She loves to meddle, doesn't she?" Nico rolled his eyes.

"She keeps saving all of ours lives! Don't be so rude." Lily scowled at him through the dark, slipping a piece of ambrosia into Percy's throat and massaging his throat to make him swallow. Something struck her. "The rain stopped," she said, looking up. "It's stopped. Do you think everything's over?"

"It's possible," Nico shrugged. "We've been down here for a while. I hope it is. I don't want to fight any more."

"Me neither." Lily crawled to him, the ambrosia already soothing her body. Straddling his lap, she began to kiss him furiously, her neck bobbing like a bird's as her lips constantly opened and closed, in time with his. His hands were traveling all over her abdomen, caressing her midriff, rubbing her spine, gripping her neck, playing with her hair.

It was something familiar they both slipped into easily for comfort, but every time brought something new. Nico had a sudden fixation with her collarbone – he broke the kiss, ignoring her whine of disappointment, and suddenly bit her clavicle, coaxing a cry of surprise from her.

As he began sucking on her skin, Lily felt heat seep through her, pulsating from the pit of her abdomen, butterflies taking flight under her skin. She was moaning, and couldn't help it. He made her feel so nervous, so scared, but so alive. Lily was aware of every inch of her body, the way he had flipped her under him and was pressing against her, his hips hard against hers.

She busied herself with his upper body, running her hands up beneath his shirt, marveling at his thin but strong back, the way she could feel muscles shifting as he moved. Whenever she stroked his lower stomach with a single finger Nico would stiffen, freezing and growling in the back of his throat before attacking a new spot of her skin. She was aware that her leather jacket was unzipped, and suddenly she felt it fly off her completely, leaving her in a black V-neck, one that exposed a good part of her upper chest, although hiding most of her cleavage.

Nico had now devoted himself to a spot about two inches below the hollow of her neck, low enough to make her uncomfortable. But with him, discomfort was an impossibility. Lily's breath hitched every few seconds, and he had also pushed her shirt up so far that nearly her entire stomach was bare, rubbing against his shirt.

His lips fused with hers again, their tongues dancing together, and Lily felt herself moaning and whimpering into his kiss as his fingers began to rub circles around her navel, pressing gently into her flesh. Her body was on fire, and she was lifting herself up from the hips, pushing into him, desperate for something, although she didn't really know what.

And then his fingers pushed too hard and she squealed.

"What?" Nico's voice sounded so deep, so husky, that Lily kissed him again.

"Tickles," she mumbled, settling into his arms, letting his body absorb her heat. Lily kissed his neck lazily, tracing his collarbone with her finger. She shivered suddenly, and his warm hands brushed her midriff as he tugged her shirt down again. But those hands remained under the material, resting on her sides.

"I love you," Lily breathed, her head resting on his heart. Listening to the steady beat.

"I love you too."

A few days later, Lily stood with his fingers twined tightly with her own, tears streaming down her face. Chiron, his arm and leg bandaged, was overseeing several funerals of dead campers. Isabelle and Connor's shrouds were lit as one, both a lovely shimmering gray decorated with an owl taking flight, a caduceus held in its claws, looking down at it with love in its bird eyes.

Annabeth and Travis had both tried and failed to make speeches, overcome by sobs. Lily had gone up instead, clinging to Nico's hand, unable to speak. "I love you," she choked out, her breast heaving, her breaths uneven. "I wish you didn't have to go. You both had so much more to live. You were always there for others who needed you, even when you could have been with each other." She sniffled, wiping away her tears. "I hope you're together now. I hope you always stay that way. And I hope you're happy, in a beautiful place. We love you. We miss you. Goodbye."

Nico had walked her away, letting her cry on him, his face stony. But the grief was clear, raging like a storm in his dark eyes.

The gods had won the battle. They had subdued Typhon after a furious battle. But this time the Big Three had united, fighting together and with full strength. That, coupled with the presence of the other gods to combat the minor gods, had led to a victory in a relatively short time. Things remained much as they were. The minor gods had been denied thrones, but were invited to Olympus on solstice days to convene with the other gods.

"They'll be okay," Nico told her as they sat by the creek in the woods, their feet in the cool water. "My dad promised me. He's sending them to Elysium."

"Thank you," Lily smiled. It had been a month since the funeral, but the pain and loss were still fresh in her heart and mind.

"I love you so much," Nico mumbled, his face buried in her neck. Lily laid her cheek against his silky hair, loving the feel of it on her skin.

"Don't ever leave me," she whispered, feeling his arm snake around her.

Nico kissed her softly, pressing his lips to hers for a delicious minute before pulling back, his dark eyes of midnight showing nothing but love. A side of him others never saw, but she rarely went without. "Never."

The End

A/N: THE END! Thank you sooo much to everyone who stuck with me throughout these stories! I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SOO MUCH. You all mean the WORLD and the entire GALAXY to me! Your support is the most beautiful thing. Please keep reading my stories! I love you so much. Reviews? For the last chapter of this story ever? THANK YOUUUU. Cockapoo xxx