Some days, Nico's bad luck rivaled even Percy's. This was one of those days. In the space of twenty-four hours, he had been chased by his cousin's (scary) girlfriend, had a shadow traveling accident, and had immediately been forced to engage in battle. In the middle of nowhere.
Nico hated the Fates.
It started to go wrong with the shadow traveling. He hadn't had an accident since a month ago (during which he was officially banned from Ecuador), so he had thought that he was getting better at controlling where he ended up.
As he clasped his cousin's hands in his, Nico concentrated firmly on the Empire State Building and was confident he would reach his intended destination. Apparently, he had overestimated his abilities.
Five minutes later, he had a major headache and a group of soldiers attacking him. It happened in a blur. One minute he was observing his surroundings - a hilltop, dilapidated and broken stones, - and the next, a flurry of motion.
Nico's instincts kicked in and he drew his sword, eyes flitting around the group. There were only thirty - he had taken worse odds - yet they still outnumbered him. He barely had time to adopt a defensive stance before the men were upon him. Hacking and slashing, he disabled the first couple of them before going on the offensive.
At some point during the battle, recognizing the distinct lack of thunderstorms and hurricanes, he realized that neither Thalia nor Percy were with him. Thoughts and worries for his cousins distracted him for just a split second, and one of the soldiers took advantage of it. Managing a lucky shot, he sent Nico's sword skittering to the ground. Believing the younger boy to be vulnerable and defenseless, he smiled predatorily and went in for the kill.
With his weapon out of reach and a sword swinging to reach him, Nico was running out of options. While he knew it wasn't wise to reveal himself to these people, he also knew that his choices were limited.
Falling back on his powers, Nico reached out his senses, calling the earth to his aid. The ground shook, throwing many soldiers off-balance, including the one preparing to gut Nico. Uneasy, a few of them shifted unsteadily, while others seemed more determined than ever to kill this boy. As the first one took a step towards Nico, he acted.
He slammed his empty palm on the ground and focused. "Defeated warriors, I call you now to my aid!" he yelled, and the earth split open.
There was a painful tug in his gut, and the undead warriors worked their way out of the hole. Nico was glad his powers still worked, despite the fact that he had absolutely no clue where he was, Sending a quick prayer up to his father, he gathered up his sword again as the skeletons came at his bidding.
Half a dozen soldiers climbed out of the ground, prompting several soldiers to scamper away, properly terrified. Satisfactorily, Nico let out a grim smile on his face before the rest of the men - still a good twenty or so - let out battle cries and rushed foward.
Refocusing, Nico raised his sword. "Επίθεση! (Attack!)" he shouted. As one, the skeletal warriors drew their swords and charged. Several of the men teamed up against Nico's soldiers, but without Celestial Bronze or Imperial Gold, their weapons were useless. Thankfully, this gave Nico a brief respite. Raising the undead had wearied him, so he decided to take a quick breather before joining the battle.
His ADHD saved him. A quick flash out of the corner of his eye alerted him to another presence. Whirling, he raised his sword just in time to block an overhead strike. Quickly analyzing his enemy, he realized his attacker wore different colors than the other men; while he wore the same tunic-like garment over his armor, his depicted a blossoming white tree surrounded by stars instead of the brown camouflage. Did this mean he wasn't an ally of the other men then?
His unspoken question was answered by another forceful swing of the sword. Cursing, Nico ducked, bringing up his sword at the same time. Ally of the others or not, he was trying to kill the son of Hades.
His new foe appeared to be a better swordsman than the others, confirming that he did, in fact, have different training than Nico's other adversaries. The man fought with a strange style, mostly powerful sweeps that would decapitate Nico in one fell swoop if he wasn't careful enough.
Of course, Nico, being a demigod, had lots of practice fighting enemies larger and stronger than himself. From hyperborean giants to hellhounds, he was well accustomed to using his speed and small size to his advantage; though this wasn't a monster, Nico figured that the techniques were similar enough for him to use the same battle strategy. To be honest, he wasn't that anxious to kill another human being. It was different from monsters. They didn't die, just regenerated in, that place.*
Waiting for an opportune moment, Nico held back until the larger man had put all his force into his swing. Seizing his chance, he dicked away, and, before the man could regain his balance, lunged foward and sliced deeply into the back of his leg. Not a crippling or life-threatening blow, but one that would take him out of this fight.**
He was prepared for the blood that came instead of dust, but he wasn't prepared for the arrow.
He should have died. The arrow pierced his back straight through his heart. Nico should have died instantly, to rejoin his family in his father's realm. But the Fates had other plans.
As the man's leg gave out, he grasped onto Nico, pulling him down with him. Taken aback Nico was dragged with him, crouching as he attempted to regain his balance. Thus the arrow, instead of killing Nico, only buried itself in his left shoulder.
The weight came like Atlas dumped the sky on his shoulders. The force of the arrow propelled Nico forward, slamming him against the ruins of the dilapidated watchtower. Blinking the stars out of his eyes, Nico slowly and painfully turned around to see his latest in the long line of attackers.
The first thing he noticed was the tunic. The man was wearing the same tunic as the man lying on the ground. And he looked furious. Nico pushed himself up with the help of the broken stones, breathing heavily. He thought about pulling the arrow out of his shoulder but realized that might do more harm than good, especially since he had no nectar and only a small amount of ambrosia, having used most of it on a dracanae attack earlier that week. He really should have paid more attention during those mandatory First-Aid classes.
Frankly, he was just relieved it wasn't his sword-fighting arm. Although he did prefer to fight with a two-handed grip.
Forcing himself to ignore the burning ache in his shoulder, he concentrated hard on the shadows. Stepping back into their comforting embrace, they gladly welcomed their master back, wicking him away just as an arrow pierced where his skull had been a moment before.
Re-emerging behind his attacker, Nico gathered his strength for a final effort. Thrusting downwards with all his might, he was astonished, when, with almost cat-like reflexes, the man spun and drew his sword to parry. If Nico had been any less a warrior, he might have not have been able to withstand the force behind the parry, but Nico was a demigod with years of experience.
He slashed and parried, ducked, and evaded around the man's large sword. Normally he would be able to win this fight, but the pain from his shoulder was slowing him down. Knowing he couldn't win this fight injured as he was, he frantically searched for a shadow.
He backed away for a second and dived into a nearby shadow, telling it to take him anywhere safe. He stepped out and fell down immediately, his legs giving out. He dragged himself under an outcropping of rocks, where he assessed himself.
He looked at his shoulder, which was now bleeding sluggishly. He slowly pried the tip out, biting down on his lip so hard it bled to stop from screaming. Once done, he wolfed down what ambrosia he had left and carefully bandaged it with some dirty bandages in his jacket pocket.
Once done, he slumped down, fighting a losing battle with sleep. He knew he had to find out where he was, and he had to locate Percy and Thalia, but his eyes were drifting shut without his permission. Rude. He tried to force them open, but his own body didn't respond to him, sending him into blissful unconsciousness, with a poorly bandaged arrow wound to his shoulder.
Yep, it was official; the Fates hated him.
Deep in a cave, far away, a dark creature stirred. It let loose a horrible laugh, one that could chill you to a bone.
Hundreds of miles away, Percy woke with a start.
*Okay, so many people seem to forget that Nico also went through Tartarus, alone, so I think he still has some trauma associated with it and maybe doesn't like to say its name, same with Annabeth and Percy.
**Nico wouldn't kill a human being. His dad being the god of the dead, I don't think he would take lightly to the idea of taking the life of someone. Monsters are different, they just turn into dust and reappear in Tartarus's armpit or something.
Hope you enjoyed.