Nico's trip through the shadowscape was hard. His leg was almost non-functioning at this point. He limped across the wispy ground, feeling his movements turn more sluggish with every step. His eyes started drooping, too.

"You need to stay awake, Nico," Anubis sounded worried but insistent. "If you fall unconscious with that poison in your body, I'm not sure you'll wake up."

Nico shook his head, trying to shake some of the fog out of his head. "Help me stay awake. Tell me about what happened back there... Why were those serpopards there?"

"Those beasts were believed to reside in the lands outside Egypt during ancient times. They are usually not found anywhere else than areas connected to the Egyptian gods. They were definitely not supposed to be there, and I wonder how they even got there."

Nico pursed his lips in thought. "Yeah, they seemed to come out of nowhere…" He bent down to place his hands on his knees, taking a breather. "Also, what happened to the serpopard that was on my back? It just disappeared."

Anubis was silent for a second. "That puzzled me, as well. I think you got that from me…"

That made Nico pause. "What? How?"

"One of my abilities is to turn things to dust, but I honestly don't know how you were able to do that…" Anubis trailed off, and Nico felt that strange warmth from him again (it was scary how comforting that warmth felt).

Nico stumbled through the shadows, finally locating the exit point for the dining-pavilion in Camp Half-Blood.

He stepped out of the darkness, feeling solid ground beneath his feet. He all but fell down as he felt his bitten leg give out under him.

"Fuck, everything hurts…"

He lay motionless on the ground, noticing how his limbs refused to listen to his commands for them to move.

He could hear shocked voices around him, but his eyes were glued shut. Someone carefully rolled him onto his side.

Nico tried to say something, but could only muster a pained groan as his clothes pulled at his wounds. He heard a sharp intake of breath and hands touching his face.

"Someone get Will Solace!" Oh, it was Percy. Nico felt relieved to be in safe hands at least.

He felt hands press against his wounds, probably to staunch the bleeding somewhat.

He heard people moving around, hurried. Anubis' was begging him to stay awake, but his voice was sounding more and more muddled.

He could feel his consciousness beginning to fade, and struggled to focus on what the god was saying.

"... -wake! Stay awake!"

"...You're too loud…" Nico managed to groan in his mind.

"I'll be as loud as I want if that's what keeps you awake!"

Nico laughed a tired laugh, the movement causing him searing pain from his injuries.

"Will! He's moving!" Percy shouted.

"You shouldn't be laughing at this, you idiot!" Anubis' voice was bordering on hysterical, but there was that warmth in his tone.

Nico felt another set of hands on his body. They removed his jacket and cut off his shirt and skimmed over his injuries.

"Gods, Nico. What happened to you?" It was Will's voice. "I've never seen slashes like these, but it looks like he's affected by poison at least. We have to get him to the cabin."

Two sets of hands lifted him off the ground and carried him to what was probably the Apollo cabin. He was carefully placed down on a soft surface, something cooling pressed into the wounds on his back.

He heard Will rummaging around, Percy asking him if he could help find anything.

"Get me some fresh, cool water," the blond answered.

Nico could smell some sort of herbs, most likely medicinal.

Will was muttering something about how Nico could do this to him again, and wondering how in Hades he got those wounds.

"He's angry at you for getting injured again…" Anubis' voice sounds strained, like there was something affecting his mood.

"... I know…" Nico muttered. He would love to speak to Will, but he also felt guilty about not being able to tell him anything about the god stuck in his body.

Will started a prayer to Apollo, and Nico felt the numbness in his limbs slowly fade. Unfortunately, that brought back feeling to his body, so he could feel the intense pain from his injuries.

A cooling substance was carefully applied to his wounds, helping a little with the pain. Nico felt weariness settle in his body, the battle finally catching up to him as the adrenaline left him.

"It's okay, Nico. Just go to sleep." Anubis' voice was soft and comforting. Nico felt his consciousness start to slip. "Don't worry, I'll keep you safe."

Nico blinked.

He was leaning against something solid and warm. It felt so comfortable, he snuggled closer to it. Whatever it was started to move with a chuckle.

"You sure like to cuddle when you're sleepy," Anubis' smug voice sounded somewhere above him.

Had it been any other situation, Nico might've jolted away with embarrassment, but now, he simply hummed and buried his head into the god's shoulder. Anubis' energy was very much like his own, and Nico could feel his whole body sing when he was this close to him.

He opened his eyes.

He wasn't in the rendition of The Hall of Judgement. He lifted his head, looking around.

It looked like they were sitting in a graveyard. Gravestones were strewn around them, beautiful flowers sprouting from the flowerbeds. There were no people around, the moon shining in the sky being the only source of light.

Nico felt like this place was very important to Anubis. "What is this place?"

Anubis hummed beside him. "This is my favourite gravesite."

"Where is this?"

"It's somewhere in New Orleans."

Nico slowly got up, walking along the lines of the graves. He looked at the dates, noticing that many of them were very old.

He turned to Anubis, still sitting on the bench he'd woken up on. "This place is really old, but also very loved and cared for." As he continued to walk, he spotted a small grave. He noted the date. He felt his heart sink. The person buried here had been the same age as Bianca.

He felt a hand land on his shoulder, pulling him close to a strong chest. "You okay?" Anubis' voice sounded worried, but had that now familiar warmth.

Nico felt his throat struggle around his words. "This person was the same age as Bianca was when she died…"

Anubis didn't say anything, but pulled Nico closer, embracing him.

The son of Hades felt his eyes sting with tears. Somehow, Anubis knew exactly what he needed, even if he himself might not know. He slowly lifted his hands to hug the god back, his fingers gripping the back of his jacket. His body was singing again, his heart soaring. He bit his lip as he thought about what those signs usually meant.

Shit. He was screwed.

Nico pulled away slightly, looking at the god's face. "After that last attack, I think it's safe to say that someone is trying to sabotage us."
Anubis pursed his lips as he frowned. "I agree, this is definitely starting to get dangerous." His hands rubbed along Nico's arms. "Maybe you should stay in camp for the time being. I'm worried about you getting hurt this much."

Nico scoffed. "No way. I haven't come this far just to give up now." He raised his hand to cradle he god's jaws, his heart most definitely speeding up now (fuck!). "I've come to care for you stupid face, and your moronic chuckle, so I'm not dropping out."

Anubis looked surprised, with pink lightly dusting his cheekbones. Nico almost flinched as his warm hand cupped the outside of his own. "You… You really are something else…" He then kissed the inside of Nico's palm.

The demigod felt his face burn with a furious blush. He felt a little hope that this was closer to what he was feeling, and not some sort of weird Egyptian gods thing.

Anubis' hand cupping his cheek made him jolt, his breath hitching as he noticed how close the god's face suddenly was. His eyes did an involuntary flicker to Anubis' mouth (Gods, he was definitely screwed). He looked up again, doing a double take at the yellow glow of the god's intense eyes. Those eyes seemed to pull him in, and he could feel his head moving closer to the other's. He was just about to close his eyes, when everything went dark.

"-co! Nico!" Someone was yelling.

Nico opened his eyes, Percy and Will staring down at him with worry.

The son of Hades felt disoriented for a second, then suddenly remembered what had almost happened less than a second ago. He could feel a blush creeping up his neck at the thought.

"What?" he asked the two responsible for waking him.

Will frowned at him. "You've been unconscious for fifteen hours!"

Nico's eyes widened. "Fifteen?!"

Percy looked at him, worry evident in his expression. "You showed up covered in injuries… what in Hades happened to you?"

Nico worried his lip. He really hated not telling Percy things. "I… I can't tell you…"

Will grunted angrily and stomped off.

Nico looked after him. What was up with him? "What's wrong with Will?"

Percy looked at the door Will had exited through. "He's mad at you."

Nico had an idea why. "Why?"

The son of Poseidon looked back at him. "He's angry about you showing up covered in blood and injuries again."

Nico averted his gaze. "He told you about that other time?"

"Yeah."

Nico bit the inside of his cheek. This was turning out great! Not only was Will, his newest friend (excluding Anubis), mad at him, but he had to keep things from Percy. He opened his mouth but closed it again. Anubis was being really quiet now.

Percy sighed. He sat down at the end of Nico's bed. "Look. I won't force you to tell me anything, just be careful about pulling too much away from the people close to you."

Nico looked up at him. He thought back to his old feelings for Percy, he couldn't avoid noticing how Anubis' face flickered through his head at the same time.

He wrought his hands together. Screw it, Anubis probably knew about his feelings already. "Perce?"

The boy in question looked at him.

Nico hesitated for a second, feeling embarrassed. "Have you ever had…" he gesticulated with his hand. "Feelings… for two people at once?"

Percy looked surprised at the question. He then frowned in thought. "I think so… Why?"

Nico winced, he should've known that was coming. "I, uh- I think I might have that… feelings for two people."

The son of Poseidon nodded. "And you don't know what to do." It wasn't a question.

Nico nodded mutely.

Percy scratched his cheek. "You know I'm not good at this stuff." He paused, looking at Nico, his expression serious. "I think you at least have to make a choice, of you're not, polyamero- polyamora, poly- whatever!"

Nico mulled that over. He did think he would have to choose at some point. Gods, this was difficult. He spent all his time with only Anubis now, so maybe the choice should be more obvious than it was…

He jolted out of his thoughts as Percy's hand landed on his leg. "Hey. Don't beat yourself up over it. You'll figure it out."

Nico nodded. He smiled at the other. "Thanks, Percy."

Perch just grinned back at him.