The reviews started showing after I updated so I quickly edited, if you read before then whoops, Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter- in which Nico and Leo have a lot of up and down moments- and also- technically the chapter after this takes place a good few hours before this one but hey- I will say no more.
Replies:
Undeath9087: It's definitely going to be a lot for her to deal with- a lot of trauma to unpack there honestly.
JjlovesPJO: Yep, which makes it so much more fun later.
Drizzle: Patience my loves.
Guest: I mean, technically three, Arachne, the Manticore and Kelli

Nico wouldn't have thought it possible to have anything good happen to them in the pit- really he wouldn't. But the fact that food came through to Hermes' shrine, yeah he was happy about that.

He'd been very disappointed that Leo's belt wasn't working properly when Leo had first tested it- usually he could get all sorts of ingredients from it but now it didn't seem capable of bringing any food- or much of anything really, which had upset Leo a lot. He'd come to depend on his belt over the years.

Still, at least they had food now- and it was good food too, Nico was pretty sure that it was coming straight from Camp, burnt offerings, sacrifices to Hermes which had appeared in a cloud of smoke- they'd gotten half of a hot dog, some grapes, a plate of roast beefy, a package of peanut M&M's, and some pizza- which Nico had swiped before waking Leo up.

They'd had the protein bars of course but they'd been too busy and distracted to waste time on eating.

Now though? Yeah, Nico was going to take the chance to stuff his face with food, as was Leo when he woke up. Both of them had agreed to make the most of the food while they had it- and they'd let Bob claim the M&M's before he left to go and try and find Percy.
Nico wasn't sure if the Titan would find her- but he knew Bob had a better chance than either of them.

Or that had been the plan anyway. Unfortunately for the two demigods Bob seemed to have changed his mind- not out of any bad reason but because he could sense a group of Titans and Giants tracking them. Which meant he wasn't willing to leave Nico and Leo on their own- even for a short time.

And of course even with Bob's help they didn't want to run into a group of enemies.

So, once they shoved the grapes into the bag- to snack on later if they got the chance, they headed off once more, sticking close to Bob- who seemed to glow faintly in the dark.

And Nico was worried about Bob- he didn't like any of this- and he was scared, scared that the Titan was starting to remember something, not much but something.

That could be bad- Nico knew they wouldn't stand a chance if Bob remembered everything- and he felt guilty for even thinking like that. Bob had helped them, had saved them. But- he could also remember how terrifying Iapetus had been when they'd faced him what felt like a lifetime ago. The Titan had been weak then and he'd still nearly killed four big three kids.

The only one who'd stood a chance had been Percy- and she'd been half dead at the time. If she hadn't tossed him into the Lethe they'd have probably all died. Nico shook off those thoughts, gritting his teeth as they trudged onwards- and they'd entered a storm front of dark fog- and it was not pleasant- Nico usually loved shadows- and there were plenty of shadows all around but this? This he didn't like, and he wasn't ashamed to admit that he clung to Leo's hand tightly, afraid that he could lose sight of his brother.
Nico had always thought his night vision was good until now, but even he couldn't see too far. ahead. Rocks loomed out of nowhere. Pits appeared at their feet. Monstrous roars echoed in the gloom, eerie and terrifying in the darkness, all they could be sure of was that the terrain was sloping downwards.

It was Leo who slipped- he'd been swaying slightly- Nico had noticed that Leo struggled more than he did- maybe it was because Nico was a son of Hades but he could go longer without the Phlegethon water, and there was the exhaustion of course- he'd noticed that Leo's sleep had been a bit less than restful he'd been tossing and turning whilst Nico had slept deeply- no dreams at all.

So it shouldn't have been surprising when Leo's foot slipped off a ledge- and Nico almost toppled in with him but he didn't.
Thankfully he didn't- and also thankfully it was only a shallow depression. Most of it was filled with a monster blister.

And if they had been anywhere else Nico may have found the very, very high pitched scream that Leo let out kind of funny, as it was Nico was leaning down, grabbing the back of his brothers shirt and yanking him backwards- and he had to admit he felt the urge to scream when his gaze focused on what was inside of the monster blister- or more accurately who was inside of it.

"Holy Hades." Nico gasped the words, "Is that-"

"Hyperion." Leo choked out, "That's freakin' Hyperion. You and Percy took him down with Grover's help- I remember seeing some of the action from the sky."

"Yeah, yeah I remember it pretty well." Nico felt sick to his stomach- he'd arrived just in time to help Percy and Grover defeat the Titan.

And there he was, curled in the membrane bubble was a fully formed Titan in golden armor, his skin the color of polished pennies. His eyes were closed, but he scowled so deeply he appeared to be on the verge of a bloodcurdling war cry. And yeah, yeah that was not good.

"What do we do?" Leo was steadying himself against Nico, "What the heck do we do Nico?"

"I- I don't know." Nico managed, "Do we- do we pop it or something- I don't-" and then he noticed the way Bob was staring at Hyperion, and his heart sunk. Bob's expression was confused- and there was a hint of recognition in his eyes, which made sense. Hyperion was his brother. Hyperion was the Titan lord of the east. Iapetus, Bob, was the lord of the west. Take away Bob's broom and his janitor's clothes, put him in armor and cut his hair, change his color scheme from silver to gold, and Iapetus would have been almost indistinguishable from Hyperion.

"We need to get out of here." he tried not to let the panic seep into his voice but it was hard. "Bob- Leo we need to keep-" He was cut off by Bob.

"Gold, not silver," Bob murmured. "But he looks like me."

"I know-" Nico's mind was racing, he felt sick to his stomach as he tightened his grip on Leo's arm- and Leo was starting to look pretty nervous too. "I know he does Bob but- we don't have time to stay here."

"He looks like Bob-"

"Yeah-" Leo was clearly thinking quickly, "But he's not our friend and you are Bob- please. Nico's right you said we had enemies chasing us."

"He is not Nico and Leo's friend?"

"No." Nico shook his head, "He tried to hurt us- a while ago. He tried to take Percy away from us. His brother wanted to marry Percy against her will. He tried to take her away and force her, we had to stop him."

"He-" Bob looked like a wounded puppy almost, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. "Brother?"

"Yes." Nico nodded, "They're Titans like you Bob- but please they don't want to help us they're not our friends. We need to keep moving- if he wakes up-"

"If he wakes up he will hurt Bob's friends?"

"Uh, probably." Leo pulled a face, "Which is why we need to get moving- that and the fact that you said we were being chased dude. And we have to find Percy-" he glanced at Nico, "Is she still-"

"Alive, yeah. Other than that I don't know." Nico admitted with a pained look on his face. "So pl-" and then Bob's broom-spear was moving- and Nico cried out loudly- half expecting to get sliced in half- but instead of aiming for Nico and Leo Bob was slashing through the monstrous blister, which burst in a geyser of hot golden mud.

Nico blinked rapidly as he wiped the Titan sludge out of his face- and Leo was groaning and spitting it out- clearly he'd been open mouthed when the blister burst.

Gross.

"Bob-" Leo sounded stunned, "You just-" because neither of them had expected that. Nico had thought that their best chance would be for Bob to just agree to move on quickly, he'd never expected him to burst the blister himself- to stop his brother mid re-forming- was that like killing him again?

"Hyperion is a bad Titan." Bob declared, "Now he can't hurt my friends. He will have to re-form somewhere else in Tartarus. Away from Nico and Leo and Percy. Hopefully it will take a long time-"

And then Leo was launching himself at Bob and hugging the Titan tightly- and Bob hugged him back-much more gently of course, and Nico noticed that his eyes seemed brighter than usual- as if they were about to cry quicksilver.

"Thank you Bob." Leo's voice was muffled, "Thank you."

"Bob will protect his friends." the Titan declared, "Even from the bad Titans."

"We don't deserve you." Nico said the words quietly, a feeling of guilt churning in his stomach- Bob had just basically killed his own brother for them.

And with that they moved onwards- they did meet a little spartoi kitten, which Bob had adopted and decided to name Small Bob- Nico and Leo hadn't had the heart to protest.

And as they moved Bob searched- sometimes almost sniffing the air- which was strange, but- well, they could smell them so it made sense that would be how he'd be able to track Percy.

At one point he stopped, his brows furrowing. "Bob can smell Percy. But- something else too. Bob doesn't know what it is." he'd told
them- which had just made Nico and Leo both more nervous about the whole situation because whatever it was seemed to be sticking close to Percy.

It was when they reached the edge of some sort of forest that it happened- Towering black trees soared into the gloom above them, perfectly round and bare of all branches like monstrous hair follicles.

They'd stopped at the edge, Nico and Leo taking sips from the water they had with them- which they were drinking as sparingly as they could, and Leo had been muttering about how of course they had to go into the creepy looking forest, because they could never get any luck.

Nico however had been looking around- and he'd spotted something glinting slightly on the pale smooth ground at their feet.

He'd moved forward, ignoring Leo's confused questions as he'd bent down and picked it up.

And it felt like his heart stopped as he stared at the bracelet- because that was what it was.

A thick chained silver bracelet with a single charm on it- with some blood on it too.

And the charm- the charm was Hecate's symbol.

Nico could feel the terror rising, like water in a sinking boat- "No- no no no-"

"Nico what's wrong?" Leo's voice was worried as Nico spun around to look at him.

"Alabaster. It has to be Alabaster-"

"What-"

"A bracelet with Hecates symbol." Nico's voice cracked, "You know what he's like you know-"

"Oh gods- the other scent." Leo looked like he'd been punched in the belly too.

"What is wrong?" Bob looked confused, and Nico turned to look at Bob, suddenly frantic.

"Bob- Bob you have to go. You can move faster without us. You need to get to Percy please."

"What is wrong?"

"There's this boy- a few years older than us, brown hair, green eyes." Nico was shaking, "He's obsessed with Percy. He hurts her every time he's near her. He's bad. Really bad Bob. This bracelet has his symbol on it and it's got blood. He has Percy Bob. Please. Please go- please. Help her. We'll follow as close as we can just- please find our sister."

And Bob stared at them for maybe a second before nodding, spinning and sprinting into the trees.