I DO NOT OWN THE PERCY JACKSON SERIES...
NICO
Nico cracked open his eyes slightly to see the forms of five heads staring down at him intently. He couldn't really focus on their facial features, but considering how his luck had been for the last few days; which is too say, a lot worse that usual, he expected the worst.
He turned to his right side, and settled down, his hand moving to his sword, which should have been under the right of his lower back; but it wasn't. The only thing he felt was bare skin and the surface of a cotton bed sheet.
Nico breathed in deeply, panic threading through his mind.
OK...so I'm naked and weaponless...please don't be a pervert giant...that would really hurt...oh...don't be Khione either...that would really suck...but since my luck keeps surprising me and sucks even more than before...
…er...okay...best option...quick escape...
Nico bolted upright on the bed, scanning the room for escapes, barely noticing the people around him except to know their positions. His hands tightly snatched the blanket around him.
There was an open door, but he'd have to go through them. There was a small port hole window, like from a ship...except it looked out to the sky.
Must be an above deck room...but why would Gaea have me on a boat...?
"Nico?"
He heard a soft hesitant voice call out to him, a voice that sounded a lot like Hazel's own.
Gah...its Gaea again...she's trying to trick you again...draw you out...
Unconsciously, Nico shook his head, trying to clear his head of the voice; of the comfort it promised.
"Nico...its me..Hazel..." he heard the voice again, but he refused it...didn't even look at the form before him.
It would look like Hazel...but it wouldn't be Hazel...it would be Gaea...Gaea trying to trap me...trying to make me do it...
Nico saw a hand reaching slowly to him. "Nico...its alright...its me...Hazel..." the voice said again.
Nico closed his eyes and rocked back and forth automatically.
I don't want this...I can't do this...its too much...
He felt his eyes fill up with tears.
I'm tired...I just want to sleep this all away...
Nico felt hands, soft, real hands grip him on the shoulders, stopping him from rocking.
"Nico...look at me..." the voice came again, but it was somehow comforting and stern at the same time.
Nico gritted his teeth, determined not to be fooled this time.
"Nico..." the voice became stern still and his effort failed. He opened his eyes to stared into the gold green eyes of Hazel, the real Hazel.
Nico swallowed and and gazed at her intently, making sure her form didn't flicker to Gaea's.
"Hazel?" he asked hoarsely. She nodded, her eyes watering up, and an awkward smile forming on her lips.
Then, from the corner of his eyes he saw movement, he looked and saw that it was Percy, and Annabeth
There was Frank and Thalia and some people he didn't know; but they didn't matter.
Nico sighed, relieved.
Its not Gaea...
He hugged Hazel, burying his head in her shoulder.
He stiffened, becoming conscious of his nudity.
He pulled back form Hazel, his eyes downcast.
"err...where are my...er...stuff?"
Hazel looked a but confused. Then she said, " your sword is over there on the table...and...your clo-...oh...er..." she looked embarrassed.
"we needed to bandage you up a bit...and apply some unicorn shavings...sorry..."she shrugged.
The she looked at Frank and Percy. "er..."
"Am...we should go ...now" Percy said.
"yeah...we'll leave you two to er...talk...okay..." Frank spoke up.
Hazel rolled her eye a bit, and Nico felt his cheeks go up in flames. Even though she was his sister, and there was nothing weird going on between them, it was really awkward, and Percy and Frank had made it feel even more awkward.
Thus one by one they left, Hazel being the last to leave.
"If you need anything, I'll be right outside." she said before exiting.
Nico sat still for a while, disbelief at being free from Gaea.
He was beginning to smile when he heard a soft buzzing at his ear. Then it stopped, and he heard the beginning of a desperate cry; somewhere in the darkness of Gaea, someone was being tortured and he knew who it was.
Percy.
Percy sighed as Annabeth stared impatiently at him, her foot tapping the floor.
"I do not think you should go to Rome Annabeth."
"yeah, well I'm going Percy...to not go would be ridiculous..." she stated firmly.
Percy sighed. The way Annabeth stared at him, it could out do any of the snarls he had learned from Lupa; and he had learnt a lot from Lupa.
He looked around the room.
Jason was leaning on the wall, his body conveniently facing away from them.
Piper was being fascinated by the awesome design of the floor.
And Thalia looked thoughtful, which never boded well for Percy.
Thalia sighed.
"Percy I think we all know what your trying to do...but the fact is...we can't stop a prophecy..." she said.
"but maybe we could prevented it...like the way you prevented yourself from being the child of the prophecy by becoming a huntress?" Percy asked hopefully.
"that was different Percy, you were the child of the prophecy, and kronos was trying to use me to prevent that...and look where that ended up..." Thalia said calmly.
Wow Percy thought, normally she'd just shock me...
"thals is right Percy, if something is to happen then it will, regardless of where I am or I'm with..." Annabeth said calmly, her voice sounding as though she really believed that, but her eyes, they were fear filled.
Percy tried again.
"Annabeth...you could die..." he shook his head, " I can't...after what we've been through...I can't"
Something in him broke.
She was the one thing I remembered, the one thing that made me want to remember...
Annabeth looked away from him, her eyes slightly dampened.
"maybe that's not what it means..." piper spoke up. The demigods looked at her, including Jason.
Percy notice that she seemed to stand straighter when she realized Jason as paying attention.
Part of him really hated that, because he'd come to respect Reyna and knew that despite everything, she had really deep feelings for Jason.
Not that he discounted piper's feelings for Jason, its just that he felt Reyna deserved better.
Part of him felt really bad for Jason; it could easily have been him between the girls.
He remembered Rachel before she became the oracle, and how she and Annabeth hadn't liked each other at all, but no they were best of friends.
Percy mentally shook himself...no time for that...
He focused on what piper was saying.
"maybe...its a good thing...maybe it doesn't mean Annabeth will die...it could mean that she, and she alone, would figure out how to win this war...maybe she'll figure it out in Rome..." piper said.
Thalia backed her up, "she's right Percy...prophecies usually have more than one meaning, and usually its not the meaning we're thinking about..."
Percy still hesitated, " and what about "wisdom's daughter walks alone'? If she alone figures it out, then why are we here?" he asked.
Thalia sighed.
"we all have to walk alone sometimes Percy, its makes us stronger...if Annabeth has to do this alone, then she will, and she'll be stronger..." Thalia spoke softly.
"sometimes Percy, we have to let people go, let them do what they have to do...if we really care for them...we have to..." Thalia spoke as though in a trance. It was really weird hearing her talk like that.
Percy licked his lips and closed his eyes.
Overhead, Leo's voice boomed over the intercom.
"arrival in Rome in 02 hours "
Percy groaned.
After a few seconds, he nodded grudgingly and hugged him.
THALIA
Thalia sighed as she closed the door lightly behind Hazel. She was going to stay with the now sleeping Nico while Hazel got some rest.
Thalia turned and looked at the sleeping boy on the bed.
While he was awake, it was easy to forget that he was thirteen years old, but now, even with the bruises and cuts on his face, and the dark spots that shadowed his eyes, there was a certain vulnerability and innocence that shone from him.
Thalia stared at him, thinking that even though they'd all had hard lives; Nico's seemed somehow worse, because somehow, even with the reward Percy had demanded of Zeus; children of Hades were still outcast.
She turned away as a familiar flame of anger flared in her.
Its unfair...she thought.
But it is what it is...she said to herself, willing and almost fooling herself into believing it.
She folded herself comfortably in the single sofa seat in the corner. She then plugged on her iPod and turned it up high.
some hours later...
Thalia was awoken by the sounds of light foot steps falling away from her. It then stopped, and she slowly turned around, so that she could face the bed.
She snuggled deeper into the cushion seat, as a means of throwing off suspicion taht she was awake.
Where the hell did this come from? She thought as she tugged the blanket up. She then crack her eyes open thinly.
Nico was sitting on the bed, holding his sword between his legs with both his hands. At the end of the sword, where it touched the ground, a faint light glowed. In the center it looked yellow, then it faded to purple and to black. It threw enough light for her to see that he was still barefooted.
Funny thing, his eyes looked glassy, as though he was in a daze.
She bolted up right, her breath caught in her throat.
"Nico?" she called to him without any success.
He simply sat there and stared.
"Nico?" she called again, pushing herself off the seat.
The light from his sword wavered and then died. He shook his head, and looked around the room in confusion. Then he looked at her. He wore a hunted look.
"hey..." he said to her.
"er...hey...what was that?" she asked him.
"what was what?" he looked genuinely confused. He then looked at his sword and a strange look flashed across his face; it was as though he didn't even know he was holding his sword.
He raised it up and placed it cautiously to his side and stared at it, his hands clasped together on his lap.
Thalia watched him in silence.
The he looked at her again.
"I woke you...I'm sorry..."
Thalia smiled weakly, her skin was tingling with unnamed sensations.
"its okay...er..." she licked her lips.
"Nico, are you alright?" she asked him.
After a full minute he nodded slowly, then he stopped and shook his head. His features twisted by pain, his eyes began to shine.
"Nico-"
"I can hear her..." he whispered, and Thalia gaped at him, unsure what to say, think or do.
He then looked her in the eye, "I hear her screaming in pain...Gaea is torturing her...just like she tortured me..."
His eyes became glassy again, as he wandered off into the past.
Getting a hold of herself, Thalia swallowed.
"Nico...its Gaea, she playing with you, trying to trick you...weaken you..."
Nico shook his head. "no, I know her, I know Gaea and I know her." he squinted his eyes at the floor, then said, "she helped me escape, I should have waited for her."
Thalia didn't know what to say, but she thought, so this is how Luke and Annabeth felt when I was turned into a tree...oh dear...
"look Nico, its not your fault..besides, it's Gaea...I know it is..."
he cut her off, with a stronger, more firm voice. One that didn't suit a thirteen year old boy.
"but what if it isn't? What if she dies down there, alone in the dark?" he shook his head, "I have to make it right..."
okay, who is he talking about...and make what right exactly?
while Thalia tried to figure out what he meant. Nico grabbed his sword and stood up.
Thalia jumped off the seat, but the blanket tangled around her legs, and she fell just as Nico walked through the darkness, quite possibly into a trap.