I walked around the viewing area looking for Will. Missing the first few matches was a tough choice, but my surprise for Will was worth it. Once I got towards the main hall of the viewing area, I noticed that it was finally empty for once. I couldn't see the couches from here, but the majority of people were gone for now. Either watching the fights in the balconies and or in the stands.

'Good. I can use the practice range in peace.' I thought to myself. This year allowed me to be more open with my peers, but I wasn't a social butterfly yet. I would leave that personality trait to someone like Percy, Piper, or…

"Nico! Where were you?" Will yelled from across the room. Speak of Hades, and he shall appear. Will dashed up and gave me a hug as if he hadn't seen me in years. I'm not surprised, a morning where we didn't see each other seemed like an eternity these days.

He dropped the hug, and I got a better look at him. His wounds from yesterday were completely gone, but he was still a tad dirty from working in the infirmary all day. His shaggy hair was long and needed a trim. I would happily give him one if the circumstances allowed it. I thought he would be wearing his Camp Half-blood shirt and some shorts, but he was rocking some light armor and had his bow to his back with some arrows peeking out of their quiver.

Will gave me an inquisitive look before smiling.

"You forgot that my match was coming up, did you?"

I sighed, facepalming at my forgetfulness.

"Ok, I forgot, but I was busy trying to surprise you with this."

I dragged out the plastic bag from behind me and pulled out a sandwich. It had no crust on its sides and was shaped like a triangle. It had light and flaky tuna, thinly sliced prosciutto, and provolone cheese. I offered it to Will as he looked towards me with confusion. I still had two more left in the bag for safekeeping.

"Let me get this straight," Will said. "You missed some great matches, so you can get me a tuna sandwich."

"It's not just a tuna sandwich." I snorted. "It's a Tramezzino. I shadow-traveled to get it for you."

Will didn't seem convinced until he took a bite. His eyes lit up as he took three more bites and engulfed the sandwich.

"Oh, this is good. Like really good." He said in-between bites.

I looked towards the ground. A little embarrassed by his reaction.

"It's pretty popular in Italy now. I used to eat them with my sister back when no one really knew about them." I shut myself up quickly after that. That was a time I wasn't prepared to talk about yet.

Will and I have officially started dating after the battle with Gaea. He was more than sweet. I feel as if I could tell him everything about myself. Talking about the past though was another issue. It had nothing to do with him, and it wasn't like it was secret knowledge at this point, as Will knew of my past circumstances. I guess I just wasn't ready to fully talk about that time with anybody. I rather focus on the future, like the amount of time I was planning to spend with him.

Will finished up the sandwich while licking his fingers. I hope he washes his hands.

"Thanks, Nico, but you know you're going up against Annabeth next, right? Your match could happen at any minute now." Will said while looking at the arena.

I took a turn towards the balcony and saw a storm brewing, even though it was late in the morning on the sunny west coast.

"Jason's not going easy. Who's he fighting?" I asked.

Will looked surprised. "You haven't been paying attention to the fights, have you?"

I scratched my head. "After that fight with Katie, I slept in for the rest of the night. I only missed one match yesterday and like two today. What's the problem?" I asked.

Will grabbed my shoulders and started to shake me. He was doing it comedically, but I wasn't ready for that type of violent shaking.

"Nico! That was valuable fighting data you could've used. Annabeth's fight against Clarisse was amazing! You could've learned a lot about it."

He stopped shaking me after he noticed I was a little dizzy. Will looked concerned before I let out a small chuckle.

"Listen, I'm happy to be here with you and see everyone again, but when it comes to this tournament, I kind of don't care about my results."

Will looked shocked. As if I told him that both Gaea and Kronos came back for round two.

"I can't believe this. You're like the strongest demigod I know, and you're not taking this seriously? You can beat everyone here if you put your mind to it!" Will insisted.

I shrugged. "Percy is way stronger than me, and besides, I rather spend the time needed to win this whole thing with you."

I said it with a sweet voice. I wouldn't even try to sound like this if anybody else was present. Will wasn't buying it and was a bit weirded out.

"First off, I'm the endearing one in this relationship so cut it out, and second off, you can beat anybody if you set your mind to it. I mean it when I say you're the strongest here."

I couldn't help but smile at what he said. There were many people who believed in me now and treated me as a friend, but Will is always a step above. Without him or Hazel, I don't know what I would do.

Will pulled me aside. "Let's talk strategy. You're against Annabeth and she was looking good in her last fight. She wiped the floor with Clarisse, so what's your plan?"

Will put his hand over my shoulders and I did the same to him. As if we're in a football team huddle but with only two players. I didn't really care about a plan before, but Will always had me try new things. I'll entertain him for a bit.

"Well, if she beat Clarisse, then overpowering her isn't an option. I'm pretty sure I can beat her in a sword fight at least."

Will's face cringed as if he were recovering from a bad memory.

"Don't even think about close-quarters combat. Her skills with a knife are unparalleled. She would cut off the seams of your pants without you noticing.

"Oddly specific, but duly noted." I added back.

Will knew I wasn't taking it seriously and canceled the huddle.

"Look, if you're going to wing it, then fine. Just don't come crying to me when you lose. Summon some undead or something like you usually do."

Will mockingly developed a surprised face. I knew where this was going.

"Oh wait, you already summoned a bunch of undead skeletons against Katie Gardner and almost lost! I forgot about that."

I squeezed the bridge of my nose. Absolutely nobody was going to forget about that night.

"Listen, it was a bad matchup. Demeter and Persephone may not be as strong as father, but their powers are close to evenly matched in some regards. Our power set is similar in that it all derives from the earth."

Will was smiling at my excuses. I was getting flustered too easily by him.

"What? I still beat her at the end of the day!"

Will clapped his hands. "Congrats, you beat the peaceful gardening-girl in a fight. Like Ali vs Liston. Truly remarkable."

I gave him a half-smirk and punched him in the arm. Will teased me from time to time, but I didn't mind it. Most of the things he said put a smile on my face.

Will took the punch like a champ. "It sucks they scheduled our fights in the same timeslot. You won't see me beat Kahale myself."

I flinched. I totally forgot about Will's opponent. We all didn't see Kahale since his last fight, and his mental state wasn't known to us.

Will saw the concern on my face and sighed. "Relax now, I can handle myself in a fight."

I tried to mask my concern as best as I could and put on a brave face. "Just don't get hurt out there. I wouldn't know what to do if— "

My words were interrupted by Piper running into the viewing area. We both tried to catch up to her, but she was gone in a flash. Her arm was mangled, and her eyes were full of tears. It was obvious to us that she had lost her match against Jason.

"That's our cue," Will said looking towards her. As a healer, he could help with physical pain, but that emotional baggage that Piper carried required a pay bump for Will to handle it.

He turned to me and put his hands on my shoulder one last time.

"Go kick some butt out there. I know I will." He smiled and gave me a hug.

I didn't want to disappoint him. While I didn't care about the tournament, I was going to try my hardest for him at least. There was no time for slacking around as I left Will and grabbed my weapons.

Time passed before I could actually reach the arena. It didn't take long for me to prepare myself. I wore close to no armor. Only my leather jacket, jeans, and a Ramones T-shirt. I had my Stygian sword to my side only. I was on the light side for sure, but it fits me better. I couldn't imagine wearing a heavier set of armor myself.

The arena itself was almost flooded. Whatever Jason did in the last match was enough to blow anybody away. Did Piper really push him to the brink, or did something else happen? The crowd didn't look as happy as most of them were either soaked or tired of the cloudy skies above.

In the arena by her lonesome was Annabeth. I wasn't surprised at what she was wearing but more so surprised at her weaponry. Not only did she have her knife with her, but a Drakon bone sword at her hip. I saw it before after she and Percy made it out of you know where. I didn't think she would keep it.

Annabeth didn't look as confident as she usually does, and that's when I realized that she was worried. She saw me as a real threat in a fight. Someone she might not overcome this time.

Despite all that, she still gave me a smile and ran up for a high five.

"Chin up." She spoke. "It's going to be a fun fight."

"Take it easy on me at least, and maybe it will." I said as Annabeth smirked.

Chiron didn't waste any time as he called our names.

"Are you both ready?" He asked as we both nodded. We walked to our designated spots and pulled out our weapons.

"Then you may fight!"

Annabeth ran towards me at blinding speeds. I didn't have any time to answer back before she tried to slash me with her bone sword. I got out of the way quickly.

Annabeth was smart as always. I was the only one not wearing some sort of armor in this fight, so a quick slice to the torso was enough to put me down at least. Not that I was going to let her.

I positioned my hands to the ground and focused. I didn't have a plan against her, but I still had the powers of the underworld.

From the ground came multiple skeletons of different sizes. All looking for a fight. Improvising was more of a Percy thing, but I had to try it. Will said to avoid close combat, so I'll let the undead handle that for me.

Annabeth slashed at any of the undead near her. She was trying to stop them from forming. She sliced off bones with ease and kept going until there was only a few undead left. Unfortunately for her, it wasn't enough.

There were about twenty undead skeletons in the arena. All surrounding Annabeth. Cutting some of them down whittled the numbers, but it also left Annabeth tired. It was already looking good for me and I haven't done much yet.

I thought about Annabeth's weaknesses. Giving myself an overview during the fight, like a procrastinated student. She usually relied on Percy to handle this sort of fighting. She was smart and tactical but lacked any of the huge power that many other demigods had.

My undead were not useful against Katie, but they were the perfect threat against Annabeth. She would waste her energy on them while I summoned some more.

The first of the skeletons attacked Annabeth in a group. She jumped right over the mob of undead. Both feet stepping on the skeleton's heads as she made her way towards me. She attacked with a jumping arc of her sword and I blocked it with mine. Ok, my makeshift plan failed as I was fighting Annabeth in close quarters.

It didn't last long as I parried her second hit and kicked her towards the group of undead behind her. One skeleton grabbed her while the others were ready to strike.

Annabeth was irritated, but not out yet.

"Get your hands off me! I prefer a living boyfriend." She yelled.

She pulled out her knife with her non-dominant hand and slashed off the skeleton's arms through the joints like butter. The undead I summoned wasn't sturdy at all. I had to be energy efficient with them or I was down for the count.

I remember summoning stronger skeletons when I first came to camp, but that took too much energy to reproduce. It wasn't useful, it was only a suicide play.

Annabeth shred through multiple skeletons like nothing. I was hiding between a few in the back. Summoning more and more until she fell.

Annabeth was having none of it as she scanned the arena to see where I was before being bombarded with more skeletons. There were close to forty skeletons and I was losing about six of them every second. I couldn't keep it up. I was losing more energy than she was.

Annabeth slashed at two skeletons at the same time. Both falling to nothingness. Another came from behind and she pivoted with her other hand and slashed him as well with her knife. Her dual-wielding knife and bone sword combo were new for her, but it was trouble for me. Annabeth dispatched ten more skeletons in a matter of a minute before I tried to reposition myself so she wouldn't see me.

I had to think of another plan. She was sweating profusely, but it wasn't enough to put her down. She wasted enough stamina, so it was time for me to strike.

Annabeth slashed at another skeleton before three more descended on her. She was ready to handle them before I came from behind and slashed her. Her back armor was nicked but not gone. She turned around to see nothing, as I disappeared from her sight. At the same time, the three skeletons jumped her, and she fell on the muddy floor. Annabeth was on the ropes before she cut off every head of the skeletons attacking her at the same time.

I was watching from behind the last group of skeletons. I stop summoning them and instead focused on attacking her alongside them. I only had thirteen skeletons left, but that was more than enough.

Annabeth got up. Her hair was a complete mess and there was mud all around her face. She was not happy. I imagine that face greeted Percy every time he messed up in their relationship.

Ending this fight quickly seemed to be the only play, as fighting an angrier than usual Annabeth was a death sentence.

Annabeth went on a rampage against the skeletons. She attacked four skeletons at once and came out on top. She ripped through three more as I positioned myself behind Annabeth and kicked her from under. She fell to a knee before two more skeletons jumped at her. One started to pull her hair and the other had a sword ready to fall towards her body.

Annabeth didn't falter as she grabbed the skeleton tugging at her hair towards her. The other skeleton slashed downwards at the same time and hit his skeleton's friend's ribcage instead of Annabeth. She rolled away unharmed.

The skeleton that attacked his friend looked confused until Annabeth came and punched his head clean off. These last few undead were far too weak. I didn't construct them the best I could. I underestimated her.

With Annabeth on her feet, and a loose skeleton hand still gripping a piece of her hair, she attacked the remaining skeletons. Four, now three, and two. I had one left as Annabeth saw me in the corner of her eye. This was my last chance and I had to take it.

The last skeleton ran in for an attack. Annabeth ignored it and ran towards me. I stood my ground against her and was ready for any form of attack. Annabeth went for a horizontal slash to my mid-section, only using the tip of her blade for a shallow cut.

'Gotcha!' I thought as I shadow traveled away. Darkness surrounded me and I saw a blurry image of New York before coming back to the arena, but in another position to the side of Annabeth.

The last skeleton went for a jumping dive as I was attacking from another angle. She was surrounded and didn't have time for a counterattack.

Annabeth ducked my first attack. That didn't matter as the skeleton was already airborne for his body slam. Annabeth shocked me by pulling out a baseball cap and disappearing right before my eyes.

My skeleton fell right on the floor. Even more confused than his predecessor. He looked towards me and I shrugged. At that very moment, the last of the undead skeleton was chopped to pieces. Annabeth took off her baseball cap and looked towards me. The anger no longer in her eyes.

"That was annoying. Can we fight for real now?"

Those were her last words before she rushed me.

Change of plans, the next chapter is coming... THIS FRIDAY INSTEAD OF SATURDAY.

Nico vs Annabeth PT2.