[Nico]

Everyone left the room when Apollo and Hermes showed up again. Well, everyone but Percy.

Lee was completely baffled to see his dad appear from nowhere, ruffle his hair, say how proud he is of him, and give him some enchanted bandages before quickly following Hermes saying "You're going to freak him out, he's fragile enough as it is."

Lee confusedly led us out of the room. Annabeth quickly disappeared for breakfast down at the pavilion and Sally mentioned something about having a…. talk with Chiron, so Bianca and I were left in the Big House, waiting for a camp director to show up and give us the rundown.

From the muffled conversation between Aunt Sally and Chiron, and the suspicious lack of alcoholic god, I suspect it'll take a while .

"How long were you without me?" Bianca spoke up quietly.

I turned to her. This is not something I want to talk to her about right now.

"Percy said I died undertaking a quest, but he refused to tell me any more. What happened, were you okay?" She continued, frowning down at me in concern.

"Yeah," I sighed. "It took a while, but I'm okay now."

She took my hand. "That's not what I was asking."

"You-" My voice cracked and Bianca pulled me into a hug. "You died. You joined the Hunters of Artemis as soon as possible and left me and then you died."

"I'm so sorry," Bianca said into the crown of my head. "I'm so so sorry."

"I was alone for a long time after that. I tried to get you back but you had moved on. I found a new sister, Hazel, stayed with her for a bit. I came back to camp, made friends, but it just didn't feel quite right. Mrs Jackson took me in, Percy truly got me back on my feet." I continued.

"Yeah?" Bianca said softly, "I have to thank them."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Percy was, is, great, the brother I needed. I'd crawl into his bed after a nightmare and eat all his fries, yet he'd still fuss over me when I started school with him. When he moved out with Annabeth he still wanted me around because apparently I'd 'go three days without sleep then try to shadow travel.' He's right of course, but rude."

"I'm glad you were still being that annoying little brother," Bianca laughed. She dropped a kiss on my forehead, "Never change, Neeks."

"Never," I promised.

Hugging my sister like this, I could almost imagine that she was never gone. Never dead.

"You made friends?" She asked, "Lovers? Partners?"

"Friends? Yes, so many good friends. I can't wait to introduce you to them. Lovers?" I shook my head, "I never could. I have too many issues and the idea of entering a relationship before I worked everything out made me too guilty. By the time I was ready, they had moved on."

"Mio Niccolo," Bianca cooed in sympathy. "I'm so sorry you had to feel this pain."

I waved her sympathy away, "I didn't enjoy it, but I learnt from it. It's fine Bi, I'm okay now."

She pulled me even closer and gave me another kiss on my forehead. "It doesn't mean that you needed to deal with it in the first place. I'm your sister, I care for you."

I digested that slowly.

"Will you leave me again?" I asked in a small voice.

"No," she promised. "Never again."

[Apollo]

Percy dragged me out of the room with a very exasperated 'What did you do now?' expression on his face.

"You told Hermes?!" He hissed, "I thought we were keeping this quiet!"

I thought about pointing out the fact that he told Sally, but waved that thought off because it's Sally; everyone tells Sally everything and that's how she's so powerful.

"It's not my fault!" I said instead, fully aware that it technically is my fault that Hermes knows. "The Fates showed up and we held an emergency council meeting and they said it, not me!"

"The Fates showed up?!"

"Yeah, and they told everyone that I know the future and Father got pissed so I yelled at him- probably not my best move- but the Fates told them that we're in charge and they have to listen to us and not kill us!"

Percy looked like he couldn't comprehend what I just said. "They… know about us."

I shook my head quickly, "No, no. They know about me. They don't know who you are, but they'll probably figure it out quick- that's what Hermes did, especially since they know that I have four companions in this."

I watched as he took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Apollo. Is there any possibility that they are watching us right now?"

I fell silent, blushing in the embarrassment at forgetting to check. "Uh, um, I hope not?"

"Great. Right. How about I take over here and go find where Nico and Bianca went off to, and you can go tell your sister what's happening because I'm sure she's upset."

I paled.

"Oh shit, I forgot about Artemis!"

oOo

Artemis sat on my bed, looking highly unimpressed.

"Heyyy, sis," I tried weakly.

"Don't 'hey sis' me!" She snarled, standing up and stalking towards me. "Do you know how worried I was? Not only do you risk your life yelling at the council- at our Father- but then you go about demanding things that could get a lesser god punished for even daring to bring up! And, when we finally leave the stupid council, you run off!"

I flinched away from her furious form, tripping over my own feet and falling backwards onto the floor.

She froze, staring down at me in shock. Then, she knelt down next to me and pulled me into a hug.

"Apollo, please, just tell me what's going on with you." She pleaded softly.

Quicker than I ever remember being, I wrapped my arms around her, burying my face into the crook of her neck.

"I lost you," I told her. "I was mortal, I had no powers, and you were gone."

A tear ran down my face. How long have I been away from my sister? Too long.

"I watched my friends die, and realised that what the gods are doing is wrong. When I told them all I wouldn't rejoin them, they couldn't come and see me either. You tried… but Father- Father claimed it was interference, against the ancient laws." A raggedy, choked sob left me, "Please don't leave me! Don't let me lose you again!"

"I won't," she promised. "I'll never leave you alone again."

A/N

Okay, I've got multiple points to address here!

1. This story will now be changing to weekly updates as you're all caught up to where I've written so far.

2. No, this story is not Solangelo. This is because of many reasons, from the fact that I'd hate to put Nico through more torture like losing his boyfriend, to the fact that as a mental health/lgbtq+ advocate I find Solangelo as not the best rep Uncle Rick could have given; I know I'm nitpicking, but the fact that Nico, highly traumatised from growing up in a homophobic enviroment and then being forcibly outed, would not have immediately thrown himself into a relationship (as he is characterised). He also shouldn't of been with his medical doctor, that is a huge power imbalance, throw in the fact that Will is 2/3 years older and also helping him with his mental health, this is not okay. It's a cute relationship, I ship it even, but as a bi girl I felt like there were a lot of things lowkey off about it.

3. This story is about the characters' mental health, development, and arc. If you want there to be an actual plot, there won't be. In fact, I'm planning on only another 5 to 10 chapters. If you want something specific to show up, cool, feel free to ask, but I'm not going to write a whole plot. I have enough major rewrites and stories of already 40k words in the works. This entire story was me just going, 'huh, what would their reactions be?'