5. Nico- As if things weren't weird enough

12 hours earlier- I sat on half-blood hill, my hand in Will's, watching camp life go on as normal, even though we have just been pushed into another war. Does it ever end? Can we not just be left in peace? Ares and all his… warring. Give us a break. As if that wasn't enough, we've had that new guy, Daniel, stirring people up recently, since Percy and Annabeth got here. Half the camp thinks he's great. The other half see what I see, a jealous, self-centered, egotistical jerk. Dan is a debate, but the camp is able to agree to disagree, and frankly I don't want any part of it, so it's Percy's problem. Percy always seems to win their little fights though, mainly because everyone on Dan's side of things isn't dumb enough to stand against Percy.

Percy… something's different about him since he got back. I have always been able to physically feel the difference between life and death. Death, stone cold, chills me to the touch, a feeling I have learnt to live with, and even revel in, being the son of Hades. Life, warmth, something death can manipulate, in whatever form it comes in. But then, there's the other one, life on a bigger scale. Life that is never ending, immortality. Life of gods, and monsters, beings that death has no hold of, or at least, no permanent hold.

But Percy, he feels different. Whenever I'm around him, I get a vibe that's not quite mortal, but not entirely immortal either. Until now, I had no knowledge of an area in between. Can he die? Does he know? Does Annabeth know? Is this why those two are falling apart recently? They used to be inseparable, now they can hardly look at each other without Annabeth going off at him. I feel bad for Percy on that part. He gave up so much for her, has gone through so much for her, and I can tell that he's hurting. Part of me wants to hit that girl across the face, another makes me want to talk to her… well, drill her for answers anyway. What I really should be asking is why do I care so much? I'm over Percy. I know that. He's more of a big brother to me than a love interest… a kind of cute big brother, but still.

"What are you thinking about?" Will asked me.

"Just… Everything at camp is moving so fast, Will. With this new war, and whatever's going on with Dan and Percy… somethings wrong, on a bigger scale than we know. I can feel it. I'm half expecting Rachel to pop us a prophecy any day now. I'm telling you, something-"

"Stop being so pessimistic," he said, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me into his chest. "As long as we have each other, we'll make it through. Besides, we have the Athena Parthenos, and more campers than ever before."

"I guess," I said.

"Don't worry so much. We'll get through it, we always do."

I removed myself from his chest, and looked into his eyes.

"I'm going on a trip to New Rome tomorrow. Do you want to… you know, come with?"

A smile touched the corners of his mouth. I knew he wanted to see New Rome, he has since we defeated Gaea. He pulled me into a kiss. We held it for a minute, then pulled apart.

"I guess I could come with you. You told Hazel about me yet?"

"Uhh… not really."

"Why?"

"You just never came up."

"Never came- really?"

"I dunno, she never asks about my love life."

He gave me a blank stare.

"Anyway," he said, changing the topic. "We have more important things to worry about. The game for instance."

"Yea… speaking of which, I promised to help Dan with his sword skills, since he refuses to ask Percy."

"Want me on stand by… you know, in case he hurts himself?"

"Nah. He has to be more worried about me hurting him based on what I heard from Grace."

"What?"

"Yea, the idiot got fed up mid training, and threw his sword at him. For that, Jason gave him a tour of the camp… by air."

At this, I stood up, and stretched.

"See you at the game then?" He asked.

"Ok." He reached out, but before I let him pull me in, I grabbed him by his shirt, and kissed him myself. This surprised him, considering he's usually the confident one in our relationship. I pulled back a little, our lips inches apart.

"So I'll take it you're coming then."

"Huh?" He replied dumbly.

"To new rome."
"Ye- yes."

"Great," I pecked him on the lips again. "See you at capture the flag."

Then, I let go of him, and stepped into the shade of the tree, shadow travelling to the Arena.

Gods, that boy is cute when he blushes.

11 hours earlier- I waited ten minutes or so before Dan turned up for his 'appointment'. In his hand, he held a celestial bronze sword, and even for me, it was clearly obvious he had the wrong pick. You don't just pick up any old sword. You try them out, test the grip, the weight, the length. He held it like a burden. That thing has to guard your life just as much as it has to spite your enemies. Hard to do that when you can barely lift it.

"Ok. I see what the problem is. You need something lighter, maybe a different grip."

"No, I'm fine," he said, as he heaved it onto his shoulder. The blade of the sword had images of gods and warfare made into it. The gods defeating the titans, Zeus as Kronos's cupbearer, Jason and the Argonauts.

Then he let the blade drop, and I caught the other side of the blade.

I small grin was set on my face.

"Did you choose that blade because it looked cool?"

"No, a Hephaestus kid gave it to me. Said: 'A guy of my heritage should wield it', whatever that means."

"Do you know what that design is?" I asked, pointing to the other side of the sword.

"No. But it looks pretty cool. I think one day, I could be like them."

Fat chance. On the other side of the blade, it sported seven warriors, standing side by side, their weapons in hand, a robot dragon to their left, and a very specific ship to their right, with the figurehead of the very same dragon. The sword of the seven, Hephaestus cabin's best work.

"Dan, that is the seven demigods of the Argo II. You know who they are, right?" He shook his head.

"I've heard of the Argo II a couple times, didn't they kill an evil goddess or something?"

I decided to have a little fun with this.

"Put it down," he did so and I kneeled before the blade. He knelt next to me.

"Dan, the seven are the most legendary heroes of the modern age. You heard of Leo Valdez? Or say, Frank Zhang?"

"Sure. Were they parts of the seven?" So naive.

I began pointing out my friends.

"That's Leo Valdez, and here's Piper, and Jason."

"As in, the one's here at camp?" I gave him a nod, and slid my finger across the blade, skipping the next two heroes.

"That's Frank Zhang, and Hazel Levesque, my sister."

"What about them?" He asked, pointing to the one in the middle, holding the hand of the girl next to him.

"Ah, they're the most legendary of all," a subtle smirk on my mouth.

"Heroes, maybe the greatest of this age, saving the world since they were twelve. You honestly don't know who they are?"

"No, should I?"

"Well, first off, that's Annabeth Chase-"

"Annabeth?"

"Yes, and that of course… is your brother, Percy Jackson. Not a guy you want to mess with."

"That's… Percy?!" He yelped, his skin paler than mine after months in the underworld.

"Oh yes." Gods, the look on his face. I was tempted to say: And I am the mighty ghost king, Nico di Angelo! and have some skeletal warriors kick down the door, but that may be taking it too far. Doesn't matter how humble they are about it, the seven are legends at half-blood, and Percy, a legend above legends. The fact that Dan didn't know this is astounding.

Have to admit, the Hephaestus kids out did themselves. Percy, Jason and Frank wore capes, symbolising praetorship. Everyone else wore some form of light body armour, except Leo, who wore his normal work clothes, his tool belt around his waist, and fire around his hands. Great detail was put into Festus and the Argo II as well. Percy had Riptide resting on his shoulder.

"So… still wanna keep that sword?"

"I- I think you were right. Maybe something a little lighter."

"Uh huh."

7 hours earlier- How much longer? I am a very patient person, but this beginning to get annoying. He has tested and retested a dozen of the blades in the armoury. Specifically choosing the one's adorned with cool designs, having me educate him on the meaning of each one. Purposely ignoring anything that lacked any kind of 'special touch'.

Suddenly I felt a powerful presence, and I was expecting Chiron or Dionysus, but the door opened behind me, and I turned around to be met with Percy. Dan took no notice. After getting over the initial shock I whispered, "Help me, We've been here for hours."

"Why?" He whispered back.

"He wants a sword that looks cool, but none of them fit him… can I borrow Riptide?"

"Uh, no. He can't have Riptide."

"No, no. Course not, just wanted to show him a sword that is legendary without being… you know…"

"Jazzed up? Fine," he said, as he removed Riptide from his pocket, and uncapped it.

"Dan, come here!"

"Wha- Percy," Dan said, a hateful glare in his eyes. He made his way towards us, straightening his back, trying to get eye level with Percy, but he was still an inch short.

Percy handed me Riptide. Only when holding it do you realise just how remarkable a weapon it is. Perfectly balanced, light without lacking in strength, and is double bladed, allowing for a more diverse range of attacks, as well as being razor sharp, making it extremely versatile in the right hands.

"Dan," I started. "Describe the design of this blade. Tell me why it's special."

"It's not. It's like most the other swords in here, boring."

"Well, I'll have you know that this sword has been owned by a number of great heroes," Percy said, a little defensively.

"Oh really, like who?" He said doubtfully.

Percy's eyes darkened as he took the blade from me, and looked at his own reflection. Percy has never discussed the blades heritage with me, so I myself was also interested.

"Well, this blade has been owned by a couple of people, but the most notable two are…" He paused. "Riptide was owned by the 'hero' hercules, for a time. But it's original owner, a true hero, Zoë Nightshade. A Hunter of Artemis… and a good friend."

I remember Zoë as the one who convinced Bianca to join the Hunters of Artemis, which ultimately led to her death. When I heard Zoë died, I wasn't the least bit upset. But I heard she died fighting, she died a hero. I can respect that, the way one dies is just as important as the way one lives… that being said, that's coming from the mouth of the son of Hades, so perhaps I'm being biased.

"One shall perish by a parent's hand," Percy mumbled, his eyes not leaving his sword, grief and anguish in his eyes.

"Percy?" I asked, a little worried. "You ok?" He looked up at me, and tried to blink away the sadness in his eyes, but he wasn't fooling me.

"Old wounds. Never mind that, this is the finest sword that has ever existed. A pretty sword doesn't kill your opponents any quicker, and trust me when I say that it won't make people think any better of you." He gestured to the pile of weapons that Dan had deemed boring and useless. "That being said, consider a spear if you prefer keeping your distance, or a dagger if you want to be more up close and personal. You'd be surprised just how effective they can be, just ask Annabeth.

He capped Riptide and put it in his pocket.

"Speaking of Annabeth, she's about to kick my butt as her co-instructor in combat practice for the young ones. Are the training weapons here?"

I looked around and pointed him towards the wooden swords, daggers, and spears in the corner.

"Thanks, you two have fun," he said, shooting Daniel with a glance, and as he left, he turned around and gave me a look vaguely resembling: Kick his butt for me would you?

He closed the door behind him, and I turned around to see Dan, with a 'boring' celestial bronze sword in his hand, swinging it around a little.

"This one," he said, a satisfied smile on his face.

10 minutes earlier- I stood at Will's side, a dozen yards from the flag, watching, waiting, but mostly hoping that Percy, Jason and Dan can hold the line. I heard the crack of lightning, and watched Percy fly between the trees, before hitting one with a loud CRRAAK!

"Oof, that gotta hurt. I'm gonna go make sure he's ok," Will said, as he took a step forward. But then we heard a slight grunt through the clashing of blades, and watched Percy stumble back into the fight, his step quickening each time he appeared in our view before stepping back in front of a tree.

"I think he's ok," I said.

"Apparently."

We stood there, listening as the clashing of swords died down. I continued alternating my sight between the flag and the forest. Flag. Forest. Flag. Forest. Flag. For- I saw rustling in a bush.

"Will!" I pointed to the bush.

"What!?" He jumped, and held up his sword, before calming down. "Yes Nico, it's a bush, they're everywhere here."

"I saw movement, I'm going to go check it out."

"Ok."

I slowly moved towards the bush, my stygian iron sword in hand.

"Nico!"

I turned as I heard the clang of metal on metal, and Will crumpled to the floor, Thalia running off, sword in one hand, flag in the other. I gave chase, but she's fast, really fast. When the river came into view, I yelled out.

"Stop her!"

Percy stepped onto the river and raised his sword… and suddenly I was looking up at him. He was standing on top of a tsunami, taller that the big house, times ten. I could feel the power radiating off him. I've never seen a demigod with such power. If he wanted, he could destroy a city with that, and he was barely breaking a sweat.

"Drop the flag, Thal," Jason said, as he hovered in the air next to me.

"There's no getting out of this," Percy said.

Thalia ran to the right, although what she thought that would accomplish is beyond me, considering he had the entire river up.

"Dam!" Percy yelled, and he swiftly jumped in front of her, blocking her exit. She was trapped between us. Thalia stepped to Percy's left, then switched directions, and tried to run past him, but he tripped her, and planted his sword on her shoulder, pulling the flag from her grasp.

"Get this back to home," he said, throwing me the flag, before lowering the wave and directing Thalia across the river. I began to run back, but I froze when I saw a yellow trail of liquid, almost like ichor, but not quite… golden and glowy enough.

The conch horn blew, signaling our victory, but I was too shocked by what I was seeing. Ichor… I think. I heard the others celebrating, paying no attention to me and this scene in the forest. A powerful presence approached me, Chiron.

"Nico! We won! We- what is this?" He stepped next to me, and took in the scene.

"I- I think it's-"

"Ichor," he finished for me. "I knew he was getting powerful, but I had no idea that… that he's becoming-"

"Immortal? Who?"

"The gods must know. Why wasn't I told?" He wondered aloud.

I picked up the orange stained stick.

"Why's it orange?"

"Because he's no longer a half blood. He's got more ichor in his blood than human DNA."

"Who?"

"I… It's not for me to tell."

"Percy?" He looked at me, quite surprised. "I can feel it. The same way I feel death, I feel the presence of the unkillable, the deathless, the immortal."

"What's this?" Asked a familiar voice. I turned around to be faced with Annabeth, who pushed past me, and kneeled down by the ichor trail.

"Is that ichor? She asked.

"We think so," Chiron said. "But where it came from is beyond me."

I glanced at Chiron, and he looked at me with an 'I'll explain later' glare.

"Annabeth, can you go and round up the campers to the mess hall. A feast is in order for this victory," Chiron said.

"But-"

"Annabeth…"

"Yes, Chiron," Annabeth said, with a sigh.

We waited for Annabeth to be out of sight, before continuing.

"Let's go have a chat with Percy," Chiron said, and I followed him as he made his way towards the son of Poseidon. He called his name, and Percy turned around nervously as we met him. "We need to talk, in private."

"About what?" Percy asked.

"You know what," I said, and I grabbed his arm, and we followed Chiron to the big house.