disclaimer disclaimer; roses are red, violets are blue, i dont own percy jackson, but neither do you :P

Chapter 9

(1619 words)

"Percy!"

A familiar voice called out to him. After slicing through a monster, Percy turned to face Nico.

"Hey! Need anything?" Percy casually asked. Like they weren't in the middle of a battle or anything. He took down a hellhound that had tried - (very) unsuccessfully - to sneak up behind him while waiting for Nico's answer.

Nico's eyes met his. "I just saw Piper and Jason run into battle, and I'm guessing it was towards Leo. You know, what with the fire and stuff. Maybe they need help."

Percy's expression turned serious, and he nodded. "Lead the way."

~.~

Percy and Nico fought through the crowd to get to Piper and Jason, only to find the two powerful demigods lying lifeless on the floor, their torsos clawed open by monsters, smoking all over.

"They're gone. I can't feel any life coming from them." Nico said. Nico felt a dull pain in his chest. Piper had always been kind to him, and Jason had treated him like a younger brother, someone who had protected him (and his feelings).

Percy kneeled down by Jason. "Oh man..."

Nico had never seen him like this. The mighty son of Poseidon, crying and vulnerable after losing two of his best friends. Nico told him, "I'll try to go and find Leo and convince him to stop, I guess. You can stay here for a bit."

"Wait, are you su-" Percy opened his mouth to protest (talking wasn't something Nico liked to do) as he tried to grab Nico's arm. The only thing he grasped was air.

Nico was already gone.

~.~

Leo stabbed another Hunter with her arrow and flung her forcefully against a tree, knocking her out. The sky was a sea of arrows and smoke, signifying the raging battle that was going on.

Suddenly, he heard a rustle coming from the bottom of the tree. He glared at the shadows.

"I know you're there. You can't hide from me."

The boy in the black aviator jacket stumbled out of the shadows. He heaved in exhaustion, his face paler than usual. He glanced at Leo and the two of them stared at each other in silence.

Nico noticed that Leo's free hand unconsciously cupping his left ear. His left ear was also guarded by this weird looking guard that looked a lot like an earmuff.

Why?

His thoughts were interrupted by Leo who spoke first.

"What are you doing here? Do you have a death wish?"

Nico sighed. "I've come to stop you."

Leo smirked and laughed menacingly.

"Jason and Piper didn't stand a chance against me. What do you think you can do? You couldn't even shadowtravel us out of the tavern without Hazel's help that time. You're better off running away, crying to Hazel."

Nico felt like he had been stabbed through his heart at the mention of her. Struggling to maintain his composure, he plainly replied, "Hazel's dead. She killed herself. She couldn't live without Frank."

Leo's smile fell. Even though he knew his old friends were now his enemies, he couldn't imagine that Hazel, innocent and pure Hazel, would take her own life.

However, he quickly recovered and laughed instead.

"See? That's what she gets for trusting the gods. She made the wrong choice to fight for them and this is how she is repaid."

Of all the things Leo could have said, Nico certainly wasn't expecting this.

"No! She died because you killed her love! You destroyed her world!"

"No, she died because she thought that by fighting for the gods, the gods could give her happiness. She trusted them. Clearly she was wrong."

Nico felt sick. Leo really had changed. However, he took a deep breath. He was not here to fight; he was here to negotiate, to help Leo, no matter how hopeless it may seem.

So instead, he changed the subject.

"Stop doing this madness Leo! We're your friends, your comrades! It's true that the gods aren't the most trustworthy, but Minos is filled with nothing but lies! I've had firsthand experience of his manipulation! I understand how you feel, but this isn't the way to go. Please. Stop fighting. Come back home."

Nico stretched out on open arm.

Leo glared down at his hand. "What makes you think I would listen to you? The gods will pay for killing Cal."

"It's not what Calypso would have wanted!"

Leo froze.

Taking advantage of Leo's shocked state, he continued. "I understand that it hurts to have Cal dead. But look around you, Leo. All this war and bloodshed. Look at the amount of blood of other demigods you have on your hands. Is this what Cal would have wanted? Did Calypso want people to die because of her?"

Leo muttered doubtfully, "What do you know about Calypso? What do you understand about me? If you understand me, then help me bring Calypso back. Resurrect her. You're the son of Hades. Help me. I just want to see her again."

Nico shook his head.

"First of all, I've tried to summon her as a ghost. And failed. I'm not going to be able to resurrect her even if I wanted to. And secondly I won't. It's not going to help you. Believe me, I'm probably the person who understands you the most."

"When my sister, Bianca, died, I hated everything. I blamed the gods for letting her die, I blamed the demigods for not taking care of her. I hated them. I hated everyone. I thought that my world was dead. I thought that I couldn't live without her."

"Minos fed me nothing but lies. He took advantage of my state and manipulated me. Because of that, I nearly turned against all the campers who had taken care of me ever since I came to camp."

"I tried to talk to her, I tried to talk to her ghost. It didn't help, okay? Seeing her just made me feel even more devastated."

Tears streamed down Nico's cheeks as he said all of this and his voice started to break.

"Yes, Bianca is dead, and that was the hardest part for me to accept. But I realised that she wasn't really gone. She still lives in my heart. My memories of her are as fresh as if it were just yesterday. And I melted a Mythomagic figurine of Hades - my last gift from Bianca - and remodeled it into a ring. This way, everywhere I go, in my opinion, Bianca is always with me. She will always be."

"That necklace around your neck…it's Calypso's isn't it? That...that just shows that she isn't truly gone."

One of Leo's hands subconsciously touched the necklace protectively.

"Bianca told me to follow my own path. She wanted me to move on. She didn't want me to become a bitter and angry person because of her."

"You see, Calypso would have wanted the same thing. She wouldn't want you to become someone who only knows of anger and bitterness because of her. It would break her heart."

"Moving on means allowing yourself to continue living everyday of your life with joy, so you can honour their death and sacrifice and and cherish the times they had spent with you. Sometimes...sometimes loving someone means wanting their happiness, not just your own. Cal… she…would have wanted you to move on."

Nico paused as if to think about what he had just said, before continuing.

"Sometimes, you've… you've just gotta let go."

His eyes were brimming with tears. He stretched out his arm again.

"You don't have to do this."

"Come on, Leo. Come back home."

Leo was stunned. He didn't know what to think. This whole time, he was so hell-bent on revenge and avenging Cal that he didn't even think about what she would have wanted. No matter how much he tried to deny it, Nico's words actually made sense. What would Cal want?

He nodded and muttered, "Let go… move on… Cal… she would have wanted that…"

Suddenly, a voice from the back of his head (that sounded remarkably like an echo of Calypso's, and Leo failed to distinguish the familiar rasp that belonged to Minos' voice) whispered.

"Are you sure that's what I would have wanted? I hate the gods. They imprisoned me on that island for not much reason, forced me to fall in love with every hero that came, only for me to watch them sail away every time, get my poor heart broken, over and over again."

"And when I finally met the love of my life, and I had the chance to leave, to fly away with you, to be finally free, they had to separate us. They had to get my heart broken again. I died an unfair death. I hate the gods. They did nothing but cruelly hurt me over and over."

"Avenge me, my hero."

Leo drew his sword. His eyes were ablaze. As sure as ever, he said. "No, Cal would have wanted this. The gods did nothing but hurt her. And nobody is going to get in my way."

~.~

Nico lifted his sword just in time to block a strike from him. Around ten to twenty undead sprouted from the ground, but this only temporarily held Leo back. He slashed his sword in fiery arcs, completely obliterating all of them. The strikes from the undead soldiers bounced off Leo, as if he were… bulletproof.

Nico looked back up at Leo's earmuff thingy. He understood now.

Leo continued pressing his sword down on the Son of Hades. Nico struggled under his strength.

"What I said is true Leo! Stop this! I don't want to fight you!"

Leo snarled. "You don't need to. Once you're fried."

And Leo hurled a fireball directly at him.