Alternate title: Little Do You Know
Content warnings: Mentions of child soldiers, death, injury, and trauma.
I'm sorry that this world is more worldbuilding than anything, but still, enjoy.
I'm also sorry that this fic took almost two weeks for me to write, I swear I had to study and often got tired.
The Nike Cabin, contrary to popular belief, did not solely house the children of the victory goddess. Their cousins, demigod children of Styx's other offspring, also took residence there, it was merely that the competitive nature of Nike's children forced them to the forefront of everyone's impressions, while the children of Kratos, Bia and Zelus faded into the background of Camp like their godly parents did in mythology. Which was all the more surprising for the beginner Campers that the Head Counselor of the Nike Cabin wasn't a child of Nike, but one of Bia, goddess of force, compulsion and raw energy.
All the older Campers remembered the days following the Titan War, when previously unclaimed members of the Hermes Cabin were bathed in glowing holograms of their godly parents. Kayla Knowles and Austin Lake were granted the heart engulfed with flames of Zelus, while Tyche's wheel of fortune manifested above Miranda Gardiner's head. Annabeth Chase, long-time Camper, was Claimed with Khione's snowflake.
Several deceased Campers were also laid to rest in shrouds signifying their godly parents who had just Claimed them — Michael Yew's was embroidered with the golden laurels of Nike. Silena charged into battle in golden armour, but the pendant on her necklace was a caduceus charm, and her shroud was decorated with the same pattern.
The Hermes Cabin was also not the only cabin to have occupants move out. A good few 'claimed' Campers had vacated the Apollo Cabin — Apollo would explain during his trials that he knew those kids weren't his but still granted them his lyre hologram to make sure they had a place to stay, 'foreigners' did fall under his domain as Apollo Theoxenius, after all. Among the new cabins built behind Apollo's were the Muses Cabin, the Asclepius Cabin (which also housed the demigod descendants of his wife and divine children) and the Aristaeus Cabin.
One of these 're-Claimed' Campers was Nico di Angelo, whose second Claiming was a tragic mask and a sword, both of which dropped down as a gift of sorts to the newly re-Claimed demigod. The tragic mask was hung above his bunk space in the Muses' Cabin, but the celestial bronze kopis was almost always present in the sheath at his hip, and everyone who had faced him on the battlefield or just in the arena could attest to his skill — ironic for a child of a Muse, a goddess of arts and academia, something that seemed so inherently diplomatic as opposed to martial.
Similarly in contrast, no one had seen Will Solace until the Battle of Manhattan, when he showed up as the Williamsburg Bridge collapsed to act as some sort of human medevac, carrying wounded Campers to the sidewalk and administering nectar and ambrosia and basic first aid, even though he was only barely in his teenage years. Despite being a newbie at Camp, he was instantly made Head Counselor for his Cabin as his cousins were too young to take on the role.
And in that very Cabin, people could often find Nico napping in the bed surrounded by Star Wars memorabilia, sometimes curled up in the arms of his boyfriend. This time, it was after a sparring session in the arena, about an hour before dinner. Both of them had just exited the private bathrooms in the cabin and were settling in for a cuddling session after trying to slice each other with sharp blades — clothed, of course — under the black duvet with the Sith Order's emblem plastered all over it.
The newer campers he was supposed to look after would probably be concerned where he went, but Nico was quite certain that his second-in-command and one of Will's best friends, Lou Ellen, daughter of Urania, would know where to find them.
"I used to be part of the Titan Army, you know," Will recalled.
Nico only buried his head further into Will's blue Cabin 17 shirt (red for Kratos, golden yellow for Nike, blue for Bia, green for Zelus). "How did you get there?"
"They brought up all the bad things the Olympians did and used them as a reason to oppose them. Being a little kid — barely in middle school — from small-town Texas, I didn't know better and joined them.
"I watched so many people my age — our age — fight to the death, in that arena in the Labyrinth, y' know?"
"I remember that place." After Bianca passed away on a quest, Nico had found himself wandering in the forests of Camp Half-Blood in a haze of numbness and fell into the Labyrinth. It took him weeks to find his way back to Camp.
"I— I was disgusted they were makin' kids — like us — fight like gladiators and… so scared… that the same thing would happen to me, that I'd have to be the one fightin' down there. Gettin' killed for a whole load of monsters' entertainment like it's the Hunger Games. The Battle of the Labyrinth put an end to all that, but I was still scared sh!tless that I'd get sent on a mission that I wouldn't come back from.
"But then came the Battle of Manhattan. I heard Luke talk about how much he hated Star Wars because his godly mom Claimed him with the whole 'Luke, I am your father' thing — the movies were my childhood. By then, my loyalties to them were all but gone, 'cause all us demigods were practically expendable to 'em — they wanted fighters, not healers, and even though I could fight, after seeing all the sh!t that went down in Antaeus's Arena, I... didn't want to fight anymore, even if my godly mom was s'posed to be a war goddess and all. And that was the final straw. I took a chance. Snuck away from where I was supposed to be — on the bridge — stole a spare Camp shirt from the Camp supplies and joined up with y'all and, well, here I am."
"Well, I'm glad you had a change of heart, tesoro." Nico gave Will a quick peck on the lips before nestling back into the crook of his neck.
By dinner-time, when Jerry, Gracie and Yan came looking for their cousin (or in the latter's case, brother), they found him asleep with him and his boyfriend — wearing an oversized shirt identical to the one his boyfriend was wearing — in each other's arms, legs tangling together. Their sheathed swords were hanging from hooks on the back of the cabin door.
"Should we wake them?" Gracie asked, bending down to re-tie the laces on her Nike 'tennis shoes', as she called them.
Jerry shook his head. Yan only responded by whipping out her smartphone and opening the Camera app on it. Contrary to her brother's choice in allegiance, Yan's phone case had the symbol of the Jedi Order on it instead.
"Sith, Jedi, what is it with you Bia kids and the Star Wars films?" Jerry asked, waving his hand around the room. It was quite clear that he had been forced to watch all the films with the rest of the cabin during weekend movie nights and apparently this was his reaction to everything.
"BIa's the goddess of force," Yan replied, as though that alone explained everything. "Kind of on the nose there, cuz."
No matter what AU, Nico is always going to be a clothes stealing gremlin. Always.
On looking up Star Wars backstories (no, I haven't watched any of the movies or anything, the closest contact I've had to it was playing the two Angry Birds crossovers years ago), the series really reminds me of Chinese martial arts novels, with good and evil practitioners of special skills and each sect having a code of honour of sorts — especially the Condor Trilogy by Jin Yong, may he rest in peace.