A/N: Thank you for reviewing, following, favoriting, and reading! Sorry that this isn't as soon as you expected, but I have swim practice and school, so... Yeah...

This chapter was mainly written by jeffgangfan.

"Woa-"

"Nico! We're gonna be late!" Percy shook Nico's shoulder and the other boy tried to shove him out of the bed. Why did Percy have to disturb this wonderful cold, cozy morning sleep?

"If I recall correctly, I don't have school today, Perseus." Nico wanted to sound serious by using Percy's real name but he was too sleepy so maybe that was not effective. He grabbed the nearby pillow and covered his face with it. Percy slowly yanked the soft thing out and Nico sunk right in the blankets.

"Nico. Nico. Nico." The son of Poseidon decided to whisper into Nico's ear, which is totally a dumb idea anyway but it worked like a splash of cold water to the obsidian-eyed. The raven-haired sprang up from his position, hands flying up to cover his reddening ear.

"You told me yesterday we would leave at half past seven," Percy told him, eyeing the clock. It was five minutes to seven.

"J-Just let me brush my teeth." Nico scrambled his way out of bed and shuffled into the bathroom, trying to keep calm.

If not for Percy having packed all their stuff before waking Nico up, they would have been late. After a quick breakfast, they checked out of Atanya and Marni drove them to Tanah Lot, a beautiful temple. Nico wanted to take Percy to Uluwatu first but yesterday in his restless dreams, he had been brought to his father's palace. The god of the Underworld had a serious conversation with him and Nico had to change the schedule.

"There's a reason behind this trip, Nico." His father was sitting on his throne, souls trying to escape his suit. Hades picked a business suit for no reason and Nico found that funny. However, he kept his composure.

"Yes, father."

"You must have been aware of the fact that we Greeks are not the only mythical ones to exist." Hades swatted his hands, as if wanting to go straight to the point. "Nico, Bali was where the largest monsters of Asia assembled. There is one place that is surrounded by something even greater than The Mist."

Nico shifted uncomfortably.

"I need you to get rid of the Great Snake at the temple of Tanah Lot. Which, I believe, is included in your schedule?"

"Yes, of course."

"Your sword is in your backpack. I hope you finish the purpose of this trip."

This was not how he had planned the trip to be but he was using his father's bank account so he couldn't just refuse. Nico tried to figure out why he had to kill the snake. Why not something else? What does something greater than the Mist had to do with this trip?

However, he didn't think much of it and decided to just comply. He didn't tell Percy about this, though, in fear of ruining the trip which was supposed to mean 'fun' and not 'get rid of the Great Snake at the temple'.

Percy was dozing off again, but Nico couldn't sleep so he took his time to look at the older boy. Last night he hadn't gotten much sleep. Maybe it was due to the fact that they were sharing a bed, but Nico considered himself not that childish, so, no. Lying back-to-back with Percy, he thought about how the green-eyed clapped a hand over his (not so different, still the same level of childish) when he told Nico he had interest in someone. Could it be that Percy had figured out that Nico liked him and tried to comfort him over the fact that the son of Poseidon was not interested?

I'm fine with that. He shrugged. As long as he sticks around.

It sounded so uncertain.

He sounded so uncertain.

They arrived at the temple and Marni told them to go back to the car when they felt like going to Bartur. After that, the short man sprinted to where his friends were waiting for him, spilling a bunch of Balinese words that they didn't understand. Nico chuckled to himself; the people here are just full of beans.

Mount Bartur is an inactive volcano but Nico focused on the Tanah Lot temple first.

"This place looks amazing! Annabeth would have loved this!" Percy complimented, eyes scanning the rock-carved gate. The swift but delicate shaping of the waves surrounding the head of the dragon created a vivid effect of the creature emerging from the sea. There were many different gates on the path to the beach where the island lays. On the island, there was a small temple and Nico could see lines of tourists wading towards the entrance.

"Tanah Lot – Land of Sea. That explains the statues and sculptures," Nico told the older boy. "Excellent bas-reliefs."

"How long did it take people to carve this?" Percy exclaimed, eyes squinted due to the sunlight.

"No one knows, the local people said it was kept a secret back then to protect Dang Hyang Dwi Jendra."

"Who?"

"A priest who was venerated for having spread the religion of Hindu," Nico answered, feeling a bit nervous as they were about to touch on the subject that was related to the snake. According to the local people (he asked when Percy was buying sunscreen), the priest had 'created' snakes to be the guardians and protectors of the temple. He would have trouble knowing which one was the Great Ular (Great Snake, according to the locals).

"Cool."

"Would you like some flowers?" A feminine but tired voice startled both of them.

The short, dark-skinned lady was standing behind them, her hands holding a basket full of Plumerias. Nico squinted and looked closer to find out that they were actually pin-bobs with the flowers attached on them. The flowers vary in different sizes and colors. Percy yelped with excitement and Nico found that very, very cute.

"Buy some flowers," the lady added, knowing that she had captured their interest.

Nico scanned other tourists and saw that every tourist had a flower tugged behind their ears. The girls are undeniably beautiful but guys also put the flowers in their hair, too. Nothing to be shy, right?

But before he could pay for the two flowers, Percy already tugged a flower behind Nico's ear, making him blush. The green-eyed grinned, doing the same with his flower, too. The white flowers were small, but Percy looked really, really cute with his eyes shining so bright. The lady thanked them and Nico asked Percy how he got the rupies to pay for the pin-bobs. And Percy told him he woke up early that morning so he went out to exchange some money and Nico wondered what Percy had done when he was still asleep.

They walked out to the shore where a lot of tourists taking pictures and shouting out to each other. The beach couldn't be described as sandy because of the Tufa rock created by lava being cooled down by the sea millions of years ago. Basically people were walking on Tufa slabs instead of sand. Everything was going fine for Nico, he hadn't seen any sign of the Great Ular, and Percy was taking so many pictures that Nico was sure there's a picture of himself tripping over a slab.

"Careful!" Percy shouted out to him.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nico turned and saw a large cave with a small, rusty sign that said 'Great Ular – Do not go inside'. He almost wanted to let out a laugh.

"Nico, are you hurt?" Percy rushed to his side but Nico stood up immediately, not wanting to let Percy see the small sign in front of the cave.

"Percy, would you mind buying me some bandages?" Nico forced himself to stand up straight but his knee hurt. This was the only chance to kill the Ular and to get Percy away from the mission.

Percy kneeled down in front of him and frowned at the gash on his knee. "Do you need me to carry you on my back?"

"No, I'll just sit on that rock right there," Nico said, trying not to hiss. It hurt more than expected, which meant he was going to fight the monster not in his best condition. "Percy, take your time. Buy me some ice cream, too?"

"Sure." Percy ran towards the nearest gate but he kept looking back at Nico so the younger had to refrain from running to the dark, unfriendly cave until Percy couldn't be seen in the batch of tourists.

Nico adjusted the straps of the backpack he was wearing and rushed to the cave. Some tourists looked at him concerned but then stopped paying attention and went on with their sightseeing. He sneaked in to the entrance of the cave and could already smell the scent of the monster. It was not an ancient one but the thick sweet smell of insects sent chills up his spine. He fumbled through the backpack and found a flashlight. Before turning it on, he carefully unsheathed his sword. Using a flashlight could help him find the snake but it also meant attracting its attention. Nico couldn't risk that because he was already hurt.

A hiss came right behind him and Nico spun around, alert. He realized he was having disadvantages because the Great Ular could have been used to the dark and knew where to hide.

"I am the son of Hades. I am used to the dark, too," Nico thought to himself, feeling braver.

A wet sound of a creature slithering on the cold, rough ground attracted his attention and Nico was getting tired of its toying. He slowly sank in the dark, eyes scanning for the creature. As if feeling the disappearance of its enemy, the snake stopped hissing and moving to wait for the first blow.

After moment of deadly silence, he finally caught a glimpse of a tail. There was a blade attached to the tail so it sparked up in the dark whenever the snake carelessly dragged its tail across the rock surface. Nico found it hard to breathe; the sickly sweet scent was getting thicker and thicker by the minute.

He wanted to end this quickly; it was getting more difficult for him. Nico exhaled shakily but before he could step out of the shadows, the snake did something stupid. It slithered across the wall right where he was standing, unaware of him merely resurfacing from the dark. Nico yelped and was immediately given an ugly gash on his upper arm. He threw the flashlight at the creature and it magically switched on.

The Great Ular was beautiful in a deadly way; the only thing scary about it was its size. It was so enormous that it could wrap itself around the temple on the island outside. Its eyes were dull, as if tired of living for centuries but every single scale on its body was glowing green. It was abnormal that they didn't reveal the snake to Nico sooner. The creature looked calm, if not bored, and Nico was even more worried.

He tried to cut off the tail but then missed and received another cut on his forearm. The situation was getting worse for him quickly and the demigod of the Underworld couldn't risk letting the Ular hurt other tourists.

"Why do I have to kill this thing?" Nico ducked as the snake swatted its tail again, this time more precisely. "What's so special about it?"

The snake hissed angrily and bared his fangs, charging Nico upfront but the son of Hades jumped aside in time and slashed down its body. He almost thought he missed again because there was no blood oozing out but the snake thrashed painfully so he figured it worked.

"The snake is said to be the protector of the temple. If I get rid of it, what would happen to this place?"

The snake recovered faster than expected, attempted to squash him in a loop but Nico managed to jump out of it. However, he lost his balance and fell, the Stygian sword clanked and inconveniently slid across the stony surface, away from him.

"Nico!" Percy's angry voice echoed through the cave and the younger was half glad, half wanting to swear.

"Percy!" he cried out and saw Riptide being thrust at the Ular. It must have wounded the target as the creature let out a terrible sound similar to a shriek. It hit Percy with the tail and the son of the sea god was sent outside the cave on his back but he stood right up.

"Nico! Come here!" Percy shouted, raising both hands to gain control of the salt water beneath them.

"I can't! We have to kill it!"

"Why?"

Nico tried to reach for his sword but Percy had already created a huge wall of water, separating the wounded demigod and the giant serpent. The creature looked confused and tried to break the wall by pushing against it but Percy was putting up a forceful fight.

"Percy!"

"You shut up right now!" Percy growled, leaving no room for arguments. Nico shut his mouth and crawled toward the sea demigod.

The wall of water started to push the Ular back in the cave.

Percy pushed forward and the water squished the giant snake against the back of the cave, the creature desperately trying to escape and slashing the blade uselessly at the water wall. Nico watched in horror as Percy gritted his teeth and released the final blow, smashing the wall of water at the serpent one last time. The Ular went slack and slumped down, its body stopped moving after a few twitches. Nico looked down with an unexplainable heavy heart but Percy just kicked it coldly, touching his pocket to check if Riptide was there.

"Percy-"

"Don't talk to me, Nico. Your dad told me everything," Percy snapped at him, throwing Riptide away pointlessly.

"I'm sorry, Percy."

"Why did you go off killing it alone? Didn't you know I was worried?" Percy faced him, looking rather shaken. "Why didn't you tell me? We could have defeated it together!" The green-eyed kicked the limp body of the snake again. "Or maybe you don't trust me enough with your father's secret mission? Maybe I'm too stupid to understand!" Nico couldn't bring himself to look Percy in the eyes, he had no idea Percy would think so. Trust was always a problem between them and now he had just worsened it.

"I thought that it would ruin the trip if you knew we have to kill monsters again."

Percy didn't reply. He collected Nico's soaking backpack and Stygian sword without a word or even a look at their owner. Nico followed him outside the cave, feeling terrible.

They walked by the tourists who were still cheerful and carefree, unaware of any changes in their surroundings. Percy stepped in the ankle-deep water and Nico followed although he knew that he would hate his wet shoes later. The temple is above another cave but Percy ignored them and kept climbing until they reached the ledge. Dark, blue waves kept crashing against rocks as if daring them to jump.

"Take my hand," Percy simply said, not turning around. So they were about to jump.

Nico looked at him one more time, hand slowly reaching out to Percy. The older demigod didn't look like a mad man, if not tired. The Plumeria was still behind his ears and he had a small cut on his face.

No one saw the two boys who jumped off the ledge.

When they emerged, Nico realized they were no longer at the beach of Tanah Lot. He looked at Percy questioningly but the green-eyed shook his head. He took hold of Nico's arm and manipulated the water to heal the wounds. The small stream crawled up to his arm and washed over the bleeding cuts. It hurt a little but then the pain became dull and they were just white scars. Nico whispered almost inaudibly, "Thank you."

Percy sat down on the rock next to him and looked out to the sea. "Let's just not talk for a while, Nico."

Nico nodded, and kept his distance. The sea foam looked strangely white like that of toothpaste and the sun was up high. It must have been noon already. Above of them was another temple and according to Nico's calculations, that temple had to be Uluwatu. It didn't matter anymore.

A/N: Please follow, favorite, and review.