"Dios, this place is fucking cold!"

Nico walked up a steep, snow-covered mountain. It had been at least a few days of shadow-travelling to get to the mountain in Himalaya, of all places. In that time the two had spoken every waking moment. Anubis had told him about his family, about his mother, his adoptive father, and of course his real father (suddenly, Nico was kinda happy that Hades was his father). Nico had confided in him about his feelings concerning his sexuality. It was actually refreshing when the god muttered something about him never understanding the big deal with someone being romantically involved with the same gender, seeing as the gods themselves did it frequently.

Anubis chuckled in his mind. "I didn't know you had such a foul mouth."

Nico rolled his eyes, trudging forward through the snow. He would need a warm shower after this one.

"Where is this lichen, anyway?"

Anubis hummed in thought. "Uh-"

Nico frowned. "Just spit it out, already!"

"Um, it's at the summit."

The son of Hades gazed upwards at the peak hundreds of meters above him. Shit-fuck. "Y'know, I really hate you sometimes…"

They chatted idly as Nico climbed the mountain. He had to sit down at some point, chowing down on some food.

Nico was rambling about how the war against Gaea had ended, and his budding friendship with Will. His smile faded somewhat as his thoughts settled on the blond.

"Are you worried about him?" Anubis questioned.

Nico thought it over. He was surprised to realise that he hadn't thought about Will once since he left camp. He guessed it was the fact that he was distraught about Anubis' voice suddenly disappearing.

"I- I dunno… I haven't really thought about him that much after this whole thing started." He gestured vaguely in the air, hoping that Anubis would get it.

"Ah, I see," Anubis muttered. "I suppose this is rather time and thought consuming." The god was quiet for a second, seemingly hesitant to say whatever he was about to say. "I'm sorry that you weren't able to spend more time with him after things settled down after Gaea."

Nico paused at that. Sure, he'd wanted to spend more time with Will, but he was way too restless to settle down at camp for the time being, even after Gaea had been defeated. "You don't have to apologise… I owe you my life, after all." He said it with an honest smile.

Anubis was silent for a while after that, but his presence felt warm in the back of his head.

As he walked, Nico couldn't shake Will from his thoughts. He felt guilty about just leaving like he did, with no explanation or anything. "Ugh, it sucks that I can't talk to him about any of this."

"I apologise for that," Anubis muttered. "The fewer that know about this, the better."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Well, if the information about me inhabiting your body gets into the wrong hands, then you would definitely be in danger," Anubis explained. "There will be those that want to capture you, to either torture you for information or keep you, and therefore me, out of commission. And those that would just straight out kill you, to keep me away from this plane of existence for a while." Anubis explained all this in a way that made it seem like this was the most common-place thing to ever occur on earth.

Nico blinked a few times to take it all in. "Okay… How would killing me keep you away? And, also, who's leading the souls to the Hall of Judgement now?"

"If you die, with me still inhabiting your body, my essence would be trapped on the astral plane for a while. So I wouldn't be able to carry out my godly duties during that time." He paused, seemingly in thought. "It's kinda like I'm asleep. I won't be able to concentrate my essence into a physical body. And, there's someone that's most likely filling in for me. My apprentice Kabechet."

Nico noticed his voice turning fond as he spoke of his apprentice. Anubis told him about how he had taken her on as an apprentice three hundred years ago. She was the welcoming party for the souls that awaited trial in the Hall of Judgement, where she would serve them cool, pure water to the souls. She was a valued member of their haphazardly put-together family, and he seemed sure that she was filling in for him perfectly.

"She's like a little sister to me. I hope she's doing okay…" Anubis said, pensively.

As a person who valued family as much as he did, Nico felt his heart warm at the way Anubis spoke about his family-members. He bit his lip as he thought about his impression of the god after their conversations. It was kinda scary how easy it was to talk to Anubis. It almost felt like he couldn't keep anything from him (wanted to share everything with him), which he supposed he couldn't either way, with the god being stuck in his head. He tried not to think too much about his sudden change in his attraction to the other (Anubis could probably notice his thoughts lingering a little too long on his stupid smile and infuriating chuckle).

Nico cleared his throat, trying to will the heat creeping up his neck away. "What does this lichen even look like?"

"It looks like a leafy lichen, with greenish leaves. It grows on rocks."

Nico hummed. He was pretty close to the summit now. The snow covered his shoes as he walked. He was seriously regretting not picking up some shoes that were better suited to the snow.

"A bit late to regret that now, isn't it?" Anubis muttered, a laugh at the tip of his tongue.

Nico simply rolled his eyes at him.

As he reached the summit, he paused to catch his breath. The summit was covered in snow, with a few rocks strewn across the ground. Nico squinted in the harsh reflection off the snow, trying to make out any lichen on the rocks. Some discoloration on a rock caught his attention. Nico put his backpack down on the ground and started to make his way over to the rocks, his eyes locked onto the patch of colour on the rock.

A sound behind the rocks made him stop in his tracks. The hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up.

Wasting no time, he grabbed his sword. He dropped down into a crouch, on guard. He kept his eyes trained on the spot where the sound originated. A second passed, and then a tiny, white rodent jumped out onto the snow. It spotted Nico, and scurried back behind the rocks.

The son of Hades let out his breath. He straightened his back, relaxing slightly.

Had he not been as battle-hardened as he was, Nico would have probably lost a hand when a giant, sharp-toothed maw snapped at the spot where his sword-wielding hand had been less than a second ago.

Whirling around, he came face to face with something he had never seen before. It looked like a leopard, with a long-ass neck, and a snake's tail. Its mouth was filled with sharp teeth that looked suspiciously like the fangs of a snake, as well.

Anubis let out a surprised sound in his head, followed by a string of what Nico could only assume was curses.

Nico ducked to avoid a swipe of ridiculously sharp claws. "What?! You know what this is?!"

"It's a serpopard," Anubis said. "Definitely dangerous, and not supposed to be here at all!"

Nico wanted to follow up on that, but had to continuously duck out of the way of the serpopard's swipes. He tried to find an opening, but it seemed impossible with the way the beast was moving. It wasn't letting up, constantly lunging for him. "How do I kill this thing?!"

"Cut off its head, at the very top," Anubis explained. "Be careful not to get bitten."

Nico felt his jaw clench as his body screamed at him from the exertion of first hiking up a mountain and then launching right into a fight. He dropped to his knees to avoid the pounce of the serpopard, but felt the sting of claws tear into his back as it leapt over him.

"Nico!" Anubis shouted in his head.

"Shut up!"

The demigod rolled forwards onto his feet. His back stung like a bitch. The serpopard looked smug, if that was even possible for a beast like that.

Nico kept his body lowered, to make himself a smaller target. The cold was really sinking into his bones, and it was definitely not helping his body move quickly. He made a feint forward, trying to get the serpopard to give him an opening. The beast didn't take the bait, choosing to circle around him instead.

A searing pain in his thigh made his knees buckle and he fell to the ground. Instinctively, he swung his sword at whatever might be the reason he was in pain. It didn't hit anything, but the pain in his leg lessened.

Nico rolled to the side to get to his feet. Somehow, another serpopard had showed up behind him, and used his attention on the other beast to bite his leg. His thigh burned, and Nico didn't want to think about whatever venom was in those teeth.

He could feel Anubis' anguish, like a weight in the back of his mind.

Nico tried to keep both serpopards in his line of sight. The beasts seemed to be more intelligent than other monsters he had faced, and started to circle him, in opposite directions. Nico had to rely on something other than his sword for this. There was a giant mountain right beneath his feet, and he could use that to his advantage.

Not wasting any time, he willed spikes of rock to rise from the ground, entrapping one of the serpopards. Luckily, he was able to trap one beast, unluckily, the other serpopard leapt at him, and latched itself to his back. Its claws sank into the skin on his shoulders. Nico could feel the claws on the hind legs digging into the back of his thighs. Worst of all was the fact that the serpopard had wrapped its long neck around his own throat, and its snake-like teeth had sunk into his sword-wielding arm.

Nico wailed in pain. Falling to his knees under the weight of the beast, he lost the grip on his sword. He could hear the yowling of the trapped serpopard, and the blood rushing in his head. He definitely couldn't use his arm now.

Anubis' voice was shouting in his head telling him to get up. He really wanted to do that, but his bitten leg was starting to go numb.

"Your arm will go numb soon, too!" Anubis yelled.

Shit, shit, shit! He really needed to do something. His hands were melting the snow underneath them. He wanted to move, but his body wasn't listening to him. The serpopard didn't let up, choosing to bite his shoulder, too.

"Nico! Get up! You can't- you can't give up! I- I can't lose you! Not after- fuck…" Anubis' voice started loud and dropped at the end of his rant.

Nico felt an unfamiliar warmth from the god. He didn't want to give up, either. Fuck! He wanted to figure out why the hell he felt at home with Anubis, and why in Hades he couldn't keep the smile off his face whenever he spoke to him in the dreamscape.

He felt red hot rage fill him. He would be damned if this ugly leopard snake would be the end of him. A shiver went down his spine as an unfamiliar, yet so familiar energy permeated his body. He grabbed the serpopard's head with his healthy hand and released the building force inside him.

The serpopard let out a surprised sound. Nico couldn't really tell what happened, but the weight of the beast disappeared completely from his back. There were no claws in his body now, and he could feel the blood starting to soak his clothes. He needed to finish off the last serpopard and get to a healer.

He slowly got to his feet, leaning his weight on his good leg. The snow was covered in what could only be described as dust.

He grabbed his sword with his non-dominant hand and started to make his way over to the trapped serpopard. It sneered at him.

Nico willed one of the spikes to crumble. The serpopard leapt out at him, but this time, its movements were predictable. He sidestepped it, and sliced off its head. The beast dissolved and was absorbed into his blade.

Nico sighed heavily. Holy Hades, he was tired.

"Nico…" Anubis muttered. "You're bleeding, and you're poisoned. No ordinary healer can fix that…"

The god trailed off, but Nico knew what his point was. "I know. We need to head back to camp."

He limped through the snow, making his way to the rocks where he hoped the lichen was growing. He let out a sob of relief when he saw the leaves of the lichen cover the surface of two rocks. He dropped to his knees, carefully prying the lichen from the stone. He rose and grabbed his backpack, stashing the ingredient in a pouch.

He limped over to the rock spikes and slipped into the shadows they cast.