Percy gave an exasperated sigh. "Mom, really, we'll be back by school Monday. No, nothing is actually wrong, we just want to hang out at camp for a day or two." He said with a comforting smile.

She pressed her lips together.

He said the same thing whether he was actually going to relax on the beach or off to war, no matter how much he detested lying to her. The thing was, he hated worrying her more, and Sally damn well knew it and therefore couldn't trust his words.

But if it were a war… it was war that needed to be fought, and as much as it killed her inside her baby boy was a skilled fighter. If all these demigods going away to Camp this afternoon were going into a fight, then she'd want Percy to be there with them, since she knew he'd never live it down if he weren't by their side.

Besides, she had book club this afternoon. If something were really up, she could ask Lady Athena and get a real answer.

"You need a haircut," She switched tactics instead to break their long glare-off, and he burst out laughing.

"Yeah, ok, I'll go get a haircut sometime next week," he promised, hugging her goodbye—not typically something he did when going to school, but since they were headed to camp after the last bell rang (and with demigods you never knew how long they'd really be gone) they took no chances. She sighed, putting a hand on his head and ruffling his hair affectionately. Suddenly, her smile slipped as she caught sight of something, and she gripped his chin and pushed his head to the side.

"Uh, mom?" He asked curiously at the oddly pushy motion.

Sally felt her heart clench. "Percy… your hair is greying again." She said softly, running a hand over the light grey streaks evidently growing in beneath the shaggy mess, exactly where his old streak had grown out.

He sighed, closing his eyes and putting a hand over hers. "I'm… not really surprised." He finally said, shifting.

She frowned worriedly at him. They both knew it wasn't just a latent result of holding up the sky, it was something else. The old grey had grown out, but this didn't just appear out of nowhere like it had the first time, it was growing back in naturally.

She hated that her teenage son had naturally grey hair.

"Mom, it's ok." Percy hugged her again, so she knew it was probably all playing out on her face.

"I wish I could just make it go away." She muttered unhappily, holding him tight once more. She was supposed to protect him, but…

He was all grown up. Had been for a long time now, and he'd fought battles she could never hope to understand. She hated it.

"I know." He said simply, smiling at her warmly and patting her on the back gently. "I'll be back Monday, promise." He said once more and she sighed.

"Have fun." She waved him off, trying hard to return the smile.

But even to her it felt worried.

0000000000000

"All of you?"

"Yep."

"And that's not strange?"

"Nope."

"Huh." Tilly frowned suspiciously looking around the room. Mark was smiling innocently at her, but Percy had already forgotten the conversation as Lou Ellen and Melinda started complaining about something concerning their trip back to camp—Lou Ellen had been working on magically protecting two school buses to transport them all back to camp but had caught Melinda and Connor setting up a prank instead. Normally it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but if they screwed up their protection they were going to have a lot of monsters on their ass, which would really kill the 'celebratory' mood everyone was in. Annabeth had sent them both to Percy to sort it out since she already had her hands full getting everyone else in line and Lou Ellen was inches away from drawing blood.

Tilly and Juliana watched Percy listen patiently to the two girls talking his ears off and half arguing with each other with wary, curious eyes.

"So you do this stuff often? Just all up and leave back to the camp Percy his a counselor at?" Juliana frowned.

"Well, not really, but now that we're all in the same place it makes it easier." Mark shrugged. He left out the fact none of them would've been at all motivated to head back to camp during the school year before, and it was only this new 'family' oriented atmosphere they'd been working on that inspired this at all.

"Huh." She echoed Tilly's statement, watching the chaos unfold as everyone tried to organize themselves around the fountain in Goode's front garden. Annabeth seemed to be giving it a good go, but as it was, the demigods were wrecking havoc. The three Hephaestus kids were under the school buses waiting to take them, pulling things out of the engine that looked pretty important, Daemon and Stephanie was tossing a fisbee back and forth and catching it in increasingly distracting and acrobatic ways, a couple Ares kids had set up an impromptu arm-wrestling tournament, Vicky was taking bets as some of the Hermes girls crowded around to watch, Travis was running from a red-faced Katie like his life depended on it, and… yeah. Everyone was losing their minds—with the exception of the Demeter kids who were still out with their mother, but would most likely meet up with them at camp when they were done.

Annabeth seemed to give up on trying to convince Shane that the bus engine didn't need to be re-built and just joined Percy, who at the same moment seemed to give up on the argument in front of him when Lou Ellen tackled Melinda and they rolled away with fists of each others' hair in their grasp. He sighed and rolled his eyes as his girlfriend walked up to him, leaning against his shoulder wearily.

"This is impossible." She huffed, and he wrapped an arm around her waist comfortingly.

"Just wait 'till we get to camp and they can all spread out to be crazy." He said cheerfully, watching in resignation and Lou Ellen and chased Melinda towards the other end of the garden. "That is, if we make it that far."

Annabeth nodded absently, looking up at him and returning to a conversation they'd had this morning.

"Your hair grows fast." She commented, reaching up and running her fingers over the discolored hair just as his mother had not so long ago.

"And your hair grows slow." He returned, brushing aside her golden curls to reveal where her own streaks of grey were also growing in—much slower and much less noticeable in her light hair. She'd said she'd already noticed it in his hair and assumed as much for her own. He didn't want to think about it. He thought they'd go away, but now they were here to stay.

Percy wondered briefly at whether or not Nico suffered the same effect, or if this was just already a weak point in them for holding up the sky that was exacerbated by Tartarus. Like an old wound coming open again—an old stressor resurfacing in the face of new ones.

He sighed, forgetting it for the moment.

"Just wait. We'll get to camp, have dinner, watch the fireworks, and be back at the campfire before long." He said, almost wistfully, and Annabeth smiled contentedly at the mental picture.

"And we can go swimming in the lake tomorrow and do nothing of particular importance until we get word that the bombs' been dropped." She chimed in mischievously.

He echoed her smile, tightening his hold around her.

"And then ya'know, the real work starts."

000

…Three months ago…

000

"…"

"…"

"…what are you doing?"

Nico didn't answer.

Leo huffed lightly once. He could see no other thing to do but lie down on the stone floor next to the catatonic son of Hades, facing into those coffee black eyes to catch any amount of his attention, so he did.

"…hey." He broke the silence casually.

Nico hummed, looking straight back and yet not really seeing him. His eyes were far away.

Leo just sighed in defeat and put and arm under his head to cradle it against the hard bedrock floor of the Hades cabin, watching his younger friend think through whatever he needed to. This place wasn't much good structurally anymore, seeing as a particularly bad nightmare had caused Nico's recovering powers to go and rip it up in the night. Despite the fact it was ready to fall down, it'd been the first place he'd looked when no one could find the young Ghost King because Leo had known Nico would hide here to just be away from everyone in these not-so-peaceful days of his.

The war was over, it was supposed to be ok again.

But Annabeth had had a full on mental breakdown at breakfast in the pavilion that morning and Nico still hadn't said more than ten words a day for the past week, no matter how much Leo babbled to him. Percy was… elsewhere. Training, always training, not stopping much to breathe much less to chat. Training hard and no one could get him to stop, even though he'd ripped open the cuts on his chest four times already. He'd stopped noticing the blood some time ago—his own blood and the blood around him, it didn't matter—acting as if it wasn't even there, like he just didn't see it anymore.

They were suffering, the three of them were. The whole camp saw it.

They could do nothing but watch it happen.

They couldn't do a damn thing, except listen to their screams in the night.

Leo swallowed back the feeling of nausea creeping up on him as he thought of it. He didn't even try to drown the screams out each night like everyone else did. Somehow… it was his fault. Every single scream. He deserved to hear every single one, because this was his punishment—first for the cookie, then for the key.

"You weren't at breakfast." He said conversationally instead, hoping his thoughts didn't show on his face or in his voice. Nico only blinked at him, looking the son of Hephaestus dead in the eye and yet not really seeing him at all.

"… not hungry."

His voice was like a whisper, echoing from across six lanes of traffic. Leo barely heard it, and there was barely a foot between them in the empty, silent cabin ruins. But, he spoke. Which was more than he did with anyone else, Leo had to admit. Nico just hadn't had words to give since the rush of waking up that first time, gradually sinking far away into his mind and away from the real world—away from the memories that had started to come back. Only Leo and Jason seemed to be able to coax him to speak anymore, even to just respond in monosyllabic answers.

Percy, Thalia, and Hazel were more baffled by it than everyone else, but Leo thought he understood just a little bit. Those three were people who were family or closer to him—and from what little Leo had heard of Percy and Annabeth's tales from Tartarus, he figured the pit wasn't above using those he loved to torture him. Or at least his memories of them.

Nico and Jason were… friends(?) but not family yet to the son of Hades, or at least they hadn't been when Nico had sold his body to Tartarus in exchange for the world's freedom. Tartarus probably hadn't thought it worth anything to torture him with people he barely considered allies, much less family. They were therefore safe from the horrified looks Nico would give as he looked at someone he once called family and a twisted memory—a flashback— overtook him.

"You should eat something. We can steal a Pegasus and go get McDonalds." Leo suggested, remembering Thalia suggesting something about Nico and that particular brand of food yesterday. Apparently the kid used to love it.

"No." Nico breathed.

Leo let his head rest against his arm, frowning deeply. "Are you planning on doing anything else but lying here?" he muttered dejectedly, and they both knew without words that the Mechanic would totally not blame him if the answer was no. By Nico's silence, they both knew the answer anyway.

Leo sighed, fighting back an aching feeling of despair and self-loathing in his chest as he reached up and put a hand on Nico's cheek, careful of his still-scarlet scar. "You shouldn't lie on the floor like this. You're freezing."

Nico blinked.

"…I'm always cold." His breath seemed to catch, although his expression remained perfectly blank. "I can't remember… anything… but the cold. I tried… but…"

Leo's heart clenched.

Something about that killed him inside, making him blink back tears of frustration. It was like the reason he hated being alone: he had so much love to give, and no one seemed to want it. He had the warmth spilling off his skin, and he'd be damned if he didn't give it to someone—a friend even—who needed it.

His heart flared protectively. He had done this to the younger boy in the first place. He had to fix it.

He pushed himself off the floor to sit up and gently took Nico's arms, pulling him up too. Nico didn't fight or pull away, he just gave up and let himself be manhandled limply. His gaze didn't look anywhere but forward. Leo just pulled them both so they were leaning against a pillar that seemed to have fallen from the ceiling and crashed into some sort of couch. It meant there was a flat portion of wood for them to lean on that he took advantage of, wrapping an arm around the smaller boy and pushing aside his despair at this entire mess.

Pressing Nico close to his side, he let the natural warmth beating constantly in his chest burst outwards and envelop them both in a tight little bubble of intoxicating heat, making sure there was no fire and, should it happen accidentally, Nico was included in his "do not burn" list.

Almost immediately, Nico—the boy who never seemed to sleep—could barely hold his head up anymore and let it drop against Leo's shoulder, seeming unaware of anything anymore—not that he'd been all that aware for the past week to begin with.

"I dreamed of my dad last night. Before…" Nico suddenly found words, and more fluent, coherent words than Leo had heard since he first woke up. His heart skipped a beat at what those words were saying though.

"Oh?" He said cautiously, wary to be hopeful he was finally speaking.

The suspense nearly killed him as Nico took a full minute to find his voice once more. "… he said… I was tired. He said… that Apollo is going to bring me to Elysium."

Leo froze.

"Not for good." Nico corrected as quickly as he could when he voice slurred a little in weariness. Leo unfroze, focusing on keeping their bubble of heat up rather than the fact that now he'd lost his words. "He just… said I was tired. He said Elysium would make me better."

Leo blinked, taking that in. "Well… it is supposed to be paradise and all. It couldn't hurt." He mused lightly.

Nico seemed to hum tiredly, but Leo couldn't tell if it was agreement or not. "I… I can't sleep. I'm going insane. Prematurely at least." He muttered, and Leo chuckled softly, relieved to hear the stab at humor, morbid as it was.

"Elysium will make you better. I believe it will." Leo smiled a bit weakly at the thought.

Nico hummed again. "He… he said that… that Lady Athena is going to take Annabeth to… to Olympus. And Percy's going to Atlantis. To… to make us better." He murmured drearily.

There were tears on Leo's cheeks, and he had no idea why.

"They'll damn well better fix you guys then." He tried to say evenly, but his voice cracked.

Nico hummed, but he sounded more content as he leaned into Leo and the Mechanic's warmth more firmly. Apparently the heat was the right tactic.

"I should talk to Percy." He whispered, but it sounded more to himself than anything.

"And what are you going to say?"

"…that… I don't love him… anymore."

Now Leo leaned back a little to catch a glimpse of Nico's face. It was blank, but more serene than before, his eyes closed as if he were about to fall asleep. He didn't seem concerned with this drastic news like Leo was.

"… you don't?"

He felt Nico shrug half-heartedly, his ink-black eyes blinking open slowly, finally seeming to spot Leo for real as he met warm, concerned chocolate eyes.

There was a sadness in those pitched irises that broke Leo a little more than he already was.

"There was a place… in my chest… where Percy used to be. It… it isn't there anymore. It's just… cold." He whispered, his eyes fading out again to someplace far away that Leo couldn't see or ever hope to get to (and he had a feeling that he really didn't even want to see it). "I… can't remember. I can't remember… what used to be there. I can't remember loving him… or hating him… I just… can't remember anything but… how cold I am…" he trailed off, his words slurring a bit more.

The tears on his cheeks got hotter, and Leo found the world getting a bit too blurry to see.

It was his fault.

Every scream, and every ounce of this …cold.

He was made of fire, and he was responsible for all the cold.

"You should go find Ogygia."

Leo's focus snapped right back in shock at the son of Hades' words. "What!?" He half cried, half demanded. How could he even think—at a time like—!?

But… he couldn't deny that he hadn't stopped thinking about that island since he got Nico safe and whole once again, even if… he wasn't entirely back yet. At least he was as safe and whole as Leo could get him. The rest… was not up to him.

"…you do realize I might not come back…right?"

Nico shook his head slightly on Leo's shoulder. "But she still has that place in your heart." He muttered, but with some firmness in it now. "And you're warm… you're not cold yet."

Leo forced the sob that shuddered through him to be silent. Nico would not see him like this. He had no reason to break now, after everything they'd been through… it was Nico who needed the help right now, not him. He did not deserve the tears, but it was getting hard to breath steady and see straight anymore.

"I might not come back from there." He repeated weakly, nearly choking on his words.

"And I might not come back from Elysium." Nico admitted quietly.

And there it was.

The harsh reality of where they were.

The three heroes who'd done the impossible and survived the war against all odds were going to be taken away, and maybe they would get better… maybe they wouldn't. They had survived the violence, they had thoughtthey had won. Now… it wasn't so clear. Was this what winning looked like? Was this what winning felt like? Leo didn't think it was worth it—if this was victory, they why did they always have to fight so hard for this wars—why did they fear to die so badly…?

This was probably goodbye.

And Leo hadn't even realized he'd started to care about this kid and now they were going to split paths and…

"…she'll take care of you." The son of Hades muttered sleepily.

Leo shook, but he couldn't bring the words he didn't have to his lips. He didn't trust his voice anyway.

"Take the key with you. Don't leave it unprotected." Nico suddenly yawned, and Leo felt a tremor of agony lace through him. No matter how horrible all this was, the son of Hades was past caring about it now. He had seen too much, and now he was thinking about it being over. And Leo was going to have to let him go.

"I won't."

He was going to have to let him go, and it would all be over. He didn't think he was ready for this.

"Promise me."

He already promised to come back for him, what was he supposed to do now? So many promises…

"I swear. No one will get their hands on it. Ever."

Watch them burn before they do.

Nico hummed, seeming to relax more with his words and his breathing evened out. Leo watched him carefully drift off, the tears that had never fallen so much before this damn war coming hot and fast now, unable to be stopped and less restrained now that there was no eyes to be brave for. He made himself remain quiet though, unable to bear disturbing the resting boy curling into him subconsciously for warmth.

"Goodbye then. I… I'm sorry." He whispered, but Nico didn't hear him.