Have I ever mentioned that I adore both Nico and Leo. Because I adore both Nico and Leo.
Replies:
Undeath9087: You will have to wait and see- but I personally think how I handle it is rather satisfying.
Weirdhead: I think you will. You may also get a taste of dark Percy- and I genuinely think she goes a lot darker than just what she does to Akhlys in the book.
Guest: She needs him right now, but I do think you'll like how it goes when the time comes.
Fir3gamer: Well I can tell you that this is kinda Alabaster's last real hurrah, if that makes sense, don't worry I have that all planned out believe me. But Percy needed closure when it came to Alabaster- like, in a sense she got it with Kronos when she killed him but he wasn't really Alabaster and as bad as Kronos was, the things Alabaster did were worse personally if that makes sense. And I had a specific scene planned for it and I love it.
Leo was in shock. That was the only way to put it.
It had all happened so fast, he hadn't had time to even process- one second they'd been walking and the next they'd all been knocked down and he'd seen Nico rolling towards the river- and sure drinking from the Phlegethon might keep them alive but he didn't think going swimming in the fiery water would go well for anyone, not even a son of Hades.
So he'd lunged for his brother- but even as he'd been grabbing Nico, desperately trying to haul him away from the bank of the river he'd seen Arachne- and that sickly scent had made his head go fuzzy, slow- and he'd watched helplessly as the monstrous spider woman had scooped Percy up and sped off with her so fast that he hadn't even had time to stagger to his feet before she was out of sight.
They'd tried to follow, Nico and Leo had tried to rush after them, but they didn't get far before the toxic air had been making it hard to bleed- and despite the fact that neither of them wanted to give up on finding their sister, they knew that she'd be so incredibly pissed off if they let one another die because of trying to find her.
Besides, Leo didn't want to lose Nico anymore than he wanted to lose Percy, and he knew Nico felt the same way about him, so they returned to the Phlegethon reluctantly, drinking from the fiery liquid before they were forced to acknowledge the situation.
"We have no way of knowing where she is." Nico's voice was strained as he pulled his jacket around himself tighter. "Arachne moved so fast I-"
"We need to find her." Leo swallowed hard, "I- I don't think I can survive losing her again Nico, not after we fucking jumped down here to stay with her."
"She's alive." Nico took a deep breath, "I can sense that. I don't know where exactly she is but I know she's alive. I'd feel it if she died. That means we have time-"
"How much time?!" Leo let out a frustrated growl, kicking a chunk of glass into the fiery river "How much time do we fucking have Nico? She needs to drink from the Phlegethon just like we do- even if she can get away from Arachne, who probably wants her dead because she didn't let Annabeth fall, she's gonna need to get back here and we don't know how far she is."
"I don't know!" Nico almost shouted the words back at Leo, "I don't have any answers Leo but I know she's alive right now and I know we can't get too far from the Phlegethon without dying. If- if she starts dying I'll feel it I'm sure and we'll be able to track her. Until then we have nothing- but the fact that she's still alive means something Leo. She- she's been away from the Phlegethon just as long as we were- but I can't sense her dying so maybe she's back by it further along."
"I-" Leo faltered before exhaling slowly, "So what are we saying here? What do we do? Just staying here is pointless right? She probably won't be able to find her way back to us."
"We have to keep moving." Nico decided, "Downstream, like we said. Percy's smart, she's smart enough to know we'll stay close to it and it's the most logical thing to do."
"I really fucking hate this."
"You say that like I don't." Nico snorted, giving Leo a jaded smile. "C'mon dumbass. Let's get moving."
"Right." Leo managed a wry smile back "C'mon, Death Beath and Flameo working together, nothing can stop us-"
"Death Breath? Seriously Valdez?" Nico let out a laugh, shaking his head "You're so fucking annoying."
"Bitch please I'm a pleasure to be around."
"I will stab you-"
"Oooh. Scary." as they bickered lightly they started picking their way downstream.
They hadn't made it very far when they heard voices, and Leo forced down a yelp when Nico yanked him down behind the nearest boulder, wedging them both so close against the riverbank that Leo's shoes were nearly touching the fiery water- better him than Nico in Leo's opinion so he didn't complain. Besides at least this way they weren't in sight of whatever was coming .
And on the other side, in the narrow path between the river and the cliffs, voices snarled, getting louder as they approached from upstream.
The voices sounded vaguely human, but that meant nothing, Leo knew that much, and it was probably pretty safe to assume that anything in the pit was their enemy.
Thankfully the monsters didn't seem to have spotted them, and Leo grabbed Nico's jacket tightly as they pressed closer to the boulder.
It was odd that they hadn't smelled them either, then again, maybe Tartarus even messed with Demigod smell. That would actually be at least a tiny positive in this nightmare place.
And as the monsters got closer their voices didn't seem to change, their uneven sounding footsteps didn't get any faster.
"Soon?" one of them asked in a raspy voice, as if she'd been gargling in the Phlegethon.
"Oh my gods!" said another voice. This one sounded much younger and much more human, like a teenaged mortal girl getting exasperated with her friends at the mall. For some reason, she sounded familiar to Leo-and he could see from the look on Leo's face that he felt the same, he recognised something about the voice. "You guys are totally annoying! I told you, it's like three days from here."
In any case, there was a chorus of growling and grumbling. The creatures—maybe half a dozen had paused just on the other side of the boulder, but still they gave no indication that they'd caught the demigods' scent.
"I wonder," said a third voice, gravelly and ancient like the first, "if perhaps you do not know the way, young one."
"Oh, shut your fang hole, Serephone," said the mall girl. "When's the last time you escaped to the mortal world? I was there a couple of years ago. I know the way! Besides, I understand what we're facing up there. You don't have a clue!"
"The Earth Mother did not make you boss!" shrieked a fourth voice.
More hissing, scuffling, and feral moans—like giant alley cats fighting. At last the one called Serephone yelled, "Enough!"
The scuffling died down.
"We will follow for now," Serephone said. "But if you do not lead us well, if we find you have lied about the summons of Gaea—"
"I don't lie!" snapped the mall girl. "Believe me, I've got good reason to get into this battle. I have some enemies to devour, and you'll feast on the blood of heroes. Just leave one special morsel for me—the one named Percy Jackson."
Nico sucked in a sharp breath at that, and Leo had to put out the flames that burst into life around his fists very quickly.
Who the fuck was the monster? There were so many that might have grudges against his big sister- but still, the idea of any of them targeting her made him want to go feral and tear them to pieces with his bare hands.
"Believe me," said the mall girl. "Gaea has called us, and we're going to have so much fun. Before this war is over, mortals and demigods will tremble at the sound of my name—Kelli!"
And Leo knew that name he was sure of it- and Nico's fingers curled into fists, his expression tightening with fury.
Okay, okay he looked incredibly angry, it was one they'd had run ins with too, not just Percy.
He met Nico's gaze and the other Demigod grimaced and mouthed 'The Labyrinth' and Leo's eyes widened as he felt it clicking into place.
Kelli, that had been the name of the Empousai that had captured them and taken them to the stupid arena where they'd met Ethan.
And then after that the next time they'd seen her she'd captured Nico and betrayed Daedalus... and Annabeth had stabbed her in the back to save Percy from her.
Hadn't Percy told him that the monster had a weird thing about Alabaster which made her jealous because Alabaster cared more about Percy?
Leo pulled a face. Okay, okay that was not a good thing- and Percy was out there on her own- if Kelli found her- yeah that would not go over well.
It was very very tempting to leap out and beat the shit out of all of them because it was no less than that bitch of a monster deserved but- it sounded like there were a group of them and Leo knew enough to know that jumping into a fight in which you were outnumbered was only something you should do when there was no other choice.
Still, he knew Nico felt exactly the same way based on the look on his face.
In any case, the creatures slowly shuffled past, their voices getting closer-and once they judged it to be safe enough Nico and Leo peered out from behind their boulder- and Leo winced. There were five of them, staggering along on mismatched legs—mechanical bronze on the left, shaggy and cloven-hooved on the right. Their hair was made of fire, their skin as white as bone. Most of them wore tattered Ancient Greek dresses, except for the one in the lead, Kelli, who wore a burned and torn blouse with a short pleated skirt…her cheerleader's outfit, the one she'd been wearing when Annabeth had killed her.
Leo turned his head to look at Nico. "Well, there is one positive?"
"And what the Hades would that be?" Nico raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"They're heading towards the Doors of Death." Leo pointed out, "Which is where we want to go after Percy's joined us- and they're heading downstream which means that we're going in the right direction."
"Huh." Nico snorted, "That was actually really logical and well thought out." he smirked, "Who are you and what did you do with my dumbass big brother-"
"Oi." Leo's hand shot out and pinched Nico's arm, "Shut up or I'll glitter trap your cabin again-"
"You wouldn't dare." Nico hissed, "I'll send skeleton mice into your cabin if you even think about it you annoying asshole."
"Hah, jokes on you I'll go crash with Percy." Leo shot back, feeling something ease- some of that horrible tension manage to dissipate slightly.
It wasn't gone- there was never going to be any way to truly relax in this place but- they had each other and they had every intention of kicking ass and fighting their way back to their big sister if it was the last thing they did.
Admittedly that was seeming annoyingly likely these days but- well, they'd do what they had to do. No matter what it took.
It was Nico who turned the conversation slightly more serious, "So. I mean, on one hand, it's great that we were right about the whole downstream thing but on the other hand... it means we have to follow the Empousai."
"Ugh." Leo pulled a face, "Well at least none of them are as pretty as Cal so I'll be able to fend them off if they try and charm my pants off-"
"Leo, I love you but if you even tried to take your pants off I would end your life-"
"Awe, you love me-"
"Fuck off."
"And, and and and-" Leo declared, "You're like, as gay as they come so their charms won't work on you either. So I mean, we're both pretty safe-"
"You know, other than the flaming hair, fangs and claws." Nico added wryly. "Let's just try and not get noticed, okay?"
"Hmmmm..." Leo pretended to consider it before ducking when Nico went to slap him over the head, "Okay okay. We avoid the monsters, solid plan, I like it."
"Just come on." Nico shook his head, trying to hide a smile, "Let's get moving."
