A/N: Recognizable sections belong to the Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan.
Will's heart stopped when Otis knocked over the bronze jar and Nico di Angelo spilled out. His face was pale and his clothes seemed way too loose.
"Nico!" he shouted, running to his friend.
"No, Will!" he heard Percy shout, but Will ignored him.
He slid down next to Nico. "Oh, gods, Nico. What happened to you?"
Percy, Jason, and Piper were busy keeping the giants occupied. Will was grateful for that at least. It gave him time to somewhat heal Nico and move him out of the way.
Will hummed a quick hymn to his father, and started to gently feed Nico some ambrosia. Nico groaned and started to push to his hands and knees.
"Will?" Nico mumbled, eyes half closed.
"Hey, Death Boy," Will grinned. "Let's get you out of here, yeah?"
Nico groaned again, but started crawling. Luckily, the giants hadn't noticed them yet.
"What the Hades!" Piper shouted.
Nico turned his head to look, but Will forced him to keep going away from the danger zone. When Will looked over his shoulder, he saw the giants in different spots, purple smoke fading. He assumed they must have teleported or something to that effect because there was no way they moved that fast and silent.
A growl behind them. Will jumped. Right behind him and Nico were two leopards. Will drew his bow. He aimed an arrow at them.
"Stay back," he said forcefully.
Piper appeared at Will's side. She aimed her cornucopia at the leopards. A pot roast shot out and flew over their heads. Almost immediately, the leopards took off after it.
"Thanks," Will said in relief.
Piper nodded, cocking her cornucopia like a gun.
"DUCK AND COVER!" Percy's shout rang above the noise of the battle.
Will and Piper dropped to the ground and Will pushed Nico down. A sound like a fiesta in the middle of an exploding gunpowder factory. Chunks of the ceiling collapsed, and cages unleashed their contents on the giants and demigods. Sandbags rained down on Piper, Will, and Nico. One of the bags caught Piper's shoulder.
"Piper!" Jason shouted.
"I've got her! She's fine!" Will yelled, waving Jason back to his fight with Otis.
"Look out!" Percy's voice exclaimed.
Will flinched, expecting something to happen, but it must have been Jason Percy was talking to because nothing happened. He quickly set to work healing Piper's shoulder.
Jason ran over a few moments later.
"Fine," Piper mumbled. "I'm fine."
Nico finally decided to sit up. He blinked slowly. "Sunshine? What are you doing here?"
Will rolled his eyes. "I'm going to kill you for shadow traveling me," he said darkly.
"I had to," Nico slurred. "Something about a prophecy or whatever." He was still blinking slowly, not fully comprehending what was going on. "Where are we?"
Will barely noticed as Percy and Jason rushed off to fight the giants again. He gave Nico a sympathetic look. "Uh, the twin giants' place. You've been in a bronze jar for days, Nico. I thought you were dead when one of the giants dumped you out."
As he said that, Will thought the ghost of a smile was on Nico's lips as if he was remembering something. Then it was gone, replaced with Nico's seemingly permanent frown.
"Not dead," Nico said. He sat up, eyes still slightly glazed. "Woah."
"Hey, come on, Nico," Will said, placing his hands on Nico's shoulders. "We're here to rescue you."
Nico was suddenly fully alert. He looked around wildly. "No, no! Will, you can't be here! Oh gods, where's Annabeth? Please tell me she didn't go off on her own."
"Calm down," Will snapped. Nico went silent. "Annabeth is going to find the Athena Parthenos. We are going to meet her once Percy and Jason defeat the giants." He had forgotten Piper was there until she cleared her throat and coughed loudly. "You have an injured shoulder," Will said firmly. "You aren't going to be fighting any giants until that's healed."
Suddenly, they disappeared in purple mist only to reappear in the emperor's box at the Colosseum. A man sat next to them. He had purple robes and golden laurels. Despite his formal Roman attire, Will could see khaki shorts under the robes and feet with sandals over white socks. In the man's hand was a staff with a pinecone at the top.
"This is a proper show!" the man's voice boomed.
Will glanced down at the arena and his eyes widened. Percy and Jason stood together facing the two giants.
"You're just going to sit there?" Percy shouted up.
"The demigod is right!" Ephialtes bellowed. "Fight us yourself, coward! Um, without the demigods."
The man smiled lazily. "Juno says she's assembled a worthy crew of demigods. Show me. Entertain me, heroes of Olympus. Give me a reason to do more. Being a god has its privileges." He popped his soda can top, and the crowd cheered.
"Lord Bacchus," Nico mumbled.
Will did a double take. "Bacchus? As in-"
"Please don't," Bacchus said, holding up a hand. "I've had enough of the splitting headaches."
Nico groaned and put a hand to his head. "What is going on?"
Piper's shout of fear grabbed their attention. Will looked down hurriedly and saw Jason bleeding from a thin line down his chest. He had been kicked by one of the giants. To Will's utter disgust, Bacchus just kept munching on a bag of Doritos.
"Will!" Nico hissed. He pointed up.
"What?" Will asked, then he followed Nico's point.
A large shape was descending rapidly. The Argo II turned in the sky, presenting its port side, and green fire blazed from the ballista. Percy and Jason rolled away from the giants and into a trench just as an explosion rocked the Colosseum.
The Argo II extended its landing gear and settled on the arena floor. Leo stood at the helm, Hazel and Frank grinning at his side. Coach Hedge danced around the firing platform, pumping his fist in the air and yelling, "That's what I'm talking about!"
Percy turned to the emperor's box. "Well?" he yelled at Bacchus. "Was that entertaining enough for you, you winebreathed little—"
"No need for that." Suddenly the god was standing right next to Percy in the arena. "I have decided you are worthy partners for this combat."
"Partners?" Jason growled. "You did nothing!"
Bacchus walked to the edge of the lake. The water instantly drained, leaving an Otis-headed pile of mush. Bacchus picked his way to the bottom and looked up at the crowd. He raised his thyrsus.
The crowd jeered and hollered and pointed their thumbs down. Bacchus smacked Otis's head with his pinecone staff, and the giant pile of Otismeal disintegrated completely. Bacchus climbed out of the lake and strutted over to Ephialtes, who was still lying spread-eagled, overcooked and smoking. Again, Bacchus raised his thyrsus. Bacchus tapped the giant on the nose, and Ephialtes crumbled to ashes.
He grinned at the demigods. "That, my friends, is a show! And of course I did something. I killed two giants!"
"Come on!" Will said, waving Piper and Nico to follow him. He helped Nico stumbled down to their friends. They reached the group just as Bacchus disappeared into a cloud of purple mist that smelled of grape juice.
"Nico!" Percy exclaimed. He rushed over to hug the son of Hades, ignoring Nico's wince.
Will looked around. "Is it over? Are we going to get Annabeth now?"
Percy's smile faded. "Bacchus said my voyage may be a little harder than I expect."
"Oh gods," Piper whispered in horror. Her hands flew to her mouth. "Percy, please don't tell us that means what I think it means."
Nico's head swiveled between the two. "They know?"
"That you, Percy, and Annabeth time traveled?" Will asked. He snorted. "Yeah. We know."
Coach Hedge trotted up to Percy, with Hazel, Frank, and Leo close behind. "Was that Dionysus?" Hedge asked. "I love that guy!"
"I hate you, Percy," Leo muttered darkly. "What was that, huh? Setting us up to be followed by eidolons."
"Setting you up to find all that Archimedes stuff," Percy corrected. "I forgot you guys said eidolons showed up." He bit his lip. "Annabeth's still gone, then?"
"You said you know how to get there?" Leo asked.
Percy nodded. "Come on! We have to get there soon."
Will climbed aboard the Argo II with a growing sense of dread. Percy and Annabeth were destined to fall into Tartarus in less than an hour. When they had joked and talked that morning, the impending fall had seemed light years away. Now, faced with the actual moment, Will could hardly breath.
"You okay?" Nico asked hesitantly.
Will swallowed. "Fine."
A/N: I like having Will in here. Just wanted a lil chapter with his take on the giants battle.
And now for the chapter we have all been waiting for. With they or won't they Tartarus style.