Evelyn woke up the next morning, got dressed and walked outside, just to be sickened about the number of couples she saw milling around. Seriously, one dance and suddenly love is in the air! Who cares if we just won a war? Evelyn rolled her eyes and walked toward the training area, passing Sam and Elizabeth on the way. She waved, but neither of them noticed; they were too caught up in each other. She shrugged and walked past them into the training area, only to see Sicomba and Louise.. kissing. She turned right back around and walked back towards camp where she saw Dalia and Travis holding hands. She turned around once more just to see Percy and Annabeth kissing on a bench.

"THEY'RE FREAKING EVERYWHERE!" she shouted, turning and stomping into the woods and toward the river. When she got there she spotted Nico sitting on the rock, sipping a root beer. She sat next to him and held out her hand. He handed her a bottle and leaned back on his hands.

"Cheers." She said, holding her bottle up, touching it to his and gulping a good amount of it down.

"Drowning in the sap?" Nico asked her.

She chuckled.

"Uh, yeah."

He nodded.

"Sierra's been chasing me all day."

Evelyn scowled a bit.

"She's getting plain annoying." She said.

"Tell me about it."

Evelyn sat there for a few minutes, thinking, and building up the courage to say what she wanted to say.

"Hey… Nico?"

"Yeah?"

"You.. talk to the dead a lot, right?"

Nico sighed, staring at his bottle of root beer.

"I knew you'd ask me sooner or later."

"Please. I just want to.. tie up loose ends."

"You don't get it. Seeing someone you .. love," he said after a moment's hesitation, " when they're dead… it'll hurt more than you think."

"I have to talk to him!"

"Ev, I can't just-"

"Yes you can. I know you can. You just don't want to."

"It doesn't do to dwell on the dead."

"Please." She whispered.

Nico sighed, setting down his root beer and holding out his hand. Evelyn smiled slightly and took it, and she was pulled into the shadows, barely having time to be terrified before she was standing in the Fields of Asphodel, Nico pulling her toward Elysium. She followed him, excitement and a hint of nervousness building inside her. Suddenly, Nico stopped outside the gates of Elysium and Evelyn watched as Nico summoned Ben. (Unfortunately using the rest of her root beer)

Evelyn stared as Ben slowly materialized in front of her, becoming (almost) solid. He looked at her, then at Nico and back at her. He slowly smiled.

"Having a seance?"

Nico remained emotionless, but Evelyn smiled, half-laughing and half-sobbing.

"I'll take it you're glad to see me then?" Ben said.

Evelyn nodded and Nico gave an almost in-audible huff.

"I had to talk to you. See you. Say goodbye to you." She said quietly, glancing at Nico, who was scowling. "Nico." She said, giving him a look. He rolled his eyes and walked off a bit, although Evelyn knew he was still in ear-shot.

"Come to confess you're undying love for me?" Ben asked with a smile.

Evelyn rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"That's one way of putting it, I suppose."

They both chuckled, a layer of sadness hidden beneath their laughter.

"I miss you." She said after a few moments.

"I know. I miss you too." He replied quietly.

She wanted to tell him he shouldn't have killed himself, ask him why he did it. But she knew why.

"You shouldn't have done it for me."

He frowned.

"I couldn't let you die."

"You'd seriously do anything to save my life?"

"Yeah. I would… I did."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"Didn't have to. Knew it wouldn't be the same between us."

She stared at him, wishing he could be real, and realizing this was the last time she would ever speak to him. The last time she would ever see him.

"Yeah… shame, though. Never gave you that kiss."

He laughed.

"Ah well. Maybe I'll get a new life and you can come lookin' for me."

"Naw. Then you wouldn't be Ben. You'd forget all about me."

He smiled slightly.

"Wouldn't want that."

"Nope."

He glanced at Nico who was still standing a ways away with his arms crossed.

"You better go."

"I don't want to. I just got here!"

"I know. But I can't stay much longer."

It was true; his form was getting shaky.

She bit her lip to stop from crying.

"Well… see ya son of Hermes." She said with a small laugh.

"Later, little water bender." He replied.

She smiled.

"Goodbye Ben."

"Goodbye Evelyn."

She turned to walk away but looked back.

"They have Reese's Blizzards down here?"

"Truckloads." He smiled before fading away and leaving nothing but a pair of golden gates and a hole in Evelyn's heart.

She turned and walked slowly over to Nico and stopped in front of him.

He looked at her for a minute, then held out his arms.

She buried herself in them and cried, even though she said she never did.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Sierra had looked everywhere. She'd searched every inch of camp and couldn't find Nico anywhere. She took one more look around her and then spotted him walking out of the woods… With Evelyn. She would have been jealous even if they hadn't been holding hands. And since they were, Sierra could only imagine what else they'd been doing in the shadows of those trees. Anger boiled in her stomach. Nico had gone to the 'wedding' with her: Sierra. He had asked her! Why would he ask if he didn't like her? Sierra turned on her heel and stormed into the Hermes cabin to sulk, to steam and to plot.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Evelyn and Nico shadow-travelled right to the edge of the woods, then walked out. She let go of Nico's hand, which she had been clutching to shadow-travel and waved to Sierra, but she didn't seem to see her and stormed into the Hermes Cabin. Evelyn shrugged and Louise and Sicomba walked over.

"Hey. Where you two been?" Sicomba asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"Visiting my dead boyfriend." Evelyn said with a shrug. She felt Nico tense up slightly when she said 'boyfriend' but she ignored it.

Sicomba raised his eyebrow higher and then shrugged.

"Okay then."

"What's up with you?" she asked him and Louise.

"Nothing." Sicomba answered a bit too quickly. Evelyn searched his face for some clue as to what was wrong, but found nothing. She decided to drill him about it later.

"Well see you guys. I have a feeling Nico needs to take a nap." She said, knowing a couple shadow-travels must've absolutely wiped Nico out. And honestly, she needed to be alone for a while, too. Get over Ben. Or try to, at least.

"See ya." Louise said.

Evelyn smiled and walked toward the cabins, pausing when she reached the Hades' cabin door.

"Have a nice nap." She said to an exhausted looking Nico. He smiled slightly.

"I shall." He said.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"Anything for you."

"Yeah… yeah." She said, walking off to her own cabin.

Author's Note: Hey, I know it's short, and hardly any characters, but I really wanted to close up that open ending between Evelyn and Ben. I wanted to make sure it was all said and done between them. So, yeah. Hope you liked it, sorry it was late. My stepdad kept asking to read what I was writing. So I had to stop. I'll update again this weekend hopefully, although I do have to keep up with my other stories, too. Thanks for reading, guys!