Author's Note: Don't worry readers, I am not dead! Finally! I have updated! It took a while, but, hey, better late than never. Enjoy!

Oh, and by the way, when Annabeth was talking about Percy dating Rachel and how it broke her heart, she meant when it happened in the past. Percy and Annabeth are now a happy couple, very much together. Nico also mentioned that Rachel was the oracle in Chapter two, and that was another hint that the whole dating Rachel thing happened BEFORE. It's all in the past! They ARE together again! Percabeth still lives!

On with the story….

-Scars

Chapter 3:

The Quest Begins

Nico got up early the next morning, still wondering why he felt so down. Then, the memories of what he saw out his cabin window the day before came flooding back to him. He suddenly felt nauseous and depressed when the vivid memory of Katie kissing Pollux replayed inside his mind.

He looked outside the window, half expecting to see Pollux and Katie underneath the same tree, looking far too comfortable snuggling each other. But, no one was there, just the trees and the flowers rustling in the wind.

Nico slowly allowed himself to breathe again. The world looked pretty peaceful outside. The sun was shining, the wind was softly whistling through the trees.

It seemed that nature was completely oblivious to the way Nico was feeling. He felt… well… he didn't really know how to explain it. He felt miserable because of Katie dating Pollux. He felt angry that Pollux was even BORN. No, wait, angry that Pollux was ever even a THOUGHT. And he felt… he felt… he felt this strange squirmy feeling in his gut every time he even saw Katie. He didn't exactly know what it was or how to explain it, but it made his heart beat a little faster every time she walked by. It made his brain stop working at the mere thought of her. It made him feeling like a complete idiot.

He kept looking out of the window, enjoying the view of the sun beginning to rise ahead of him. This early in the morning, the camp almost seemed… normal. Not that there was anything strange about a bunch of half-god, half-mortal children running around a camp with swords, spears, bows and arrows, training to kick monster butt. To a demigod, this was a usual day.

As he kept staring out his window, enjoying the scenery and tranquility around him, he thought he saw a figure.

No, it couldn't be a figure. It was way too early in the morning, even for Chiron. But this figure had just two legs and seemed fairly human. Then, Nico noticed the figure had long, brown-looking hair. It seemed to stretch down its back….

Katie.

* * *

Katie was walking along the shore of the beach, trying to think.

What was going on with her lately? She liked Pollux, and now… now she wished she didn't even have to see him.

Ever since that afternoon… the afternoon she had first met Nico Di Angelo, her emotions had been mixed up. She didn't think straight, like she used to. Everything seemed different.

She took a deep breath as she inhaled the smell of the sea. The sand felt cool beneath her feet. Sometimes Katie wondered if she was really a daughter of Poseidon, but she always felt even MORE relaxed when she was by plants and the dirt.

She closed her eyes and let the breeze of the sea blow through her hair. It felt so peaceful out here. It almost made her forget about all of her problems.

Katie stared into the sand, wondering if her life would EVER go back to being normal.

But, of course, life was NEVER normal for a demigod as mixed up as she was.

All of a sudden, she heard a noise from behind her. She could hear a person approaching her. All she could do was stand there and pray to every god out there, 'Please don't let it be Pollux, please don't let it be Pollux--'

"Hey," she heard a familiar voice say.

She turned to face the one and only, Nico Di Angelo.

"Oh, hi," she said, taking a seat in the wet sand and taking a deep breath.

"Can I sit here?" he asked hesitantly.

Katie grinned to herself. "I don't know, can you?"

Nico smiled. "Ha, Ha, very funny." He sat down next to her and looked out into the horizon. "Wow," was all he could say at the beautiful sight of the sun rising over the water, blending perfectly together.

"Yeah, I know," Katie said, sighing. She turned to him. "So what brings you out here?"

Nico replied, "Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Katie laughed lightly. "Seriously," she said, scrunching her eyebrows at him. "Why are you out here?"

Nico shrugged. "You know… just here to think."

"Think?" she asked, curiously. "About what?"

Nico took a deep breath. Truthfully, he was here to talk to her and think. About everything. But mostly about her.

"You know… thinking about stuff…."

"Like what?"

"About… a-about," he took a deep breath, trying to find a way that he could say this, without actually saying it. "Just about… about, um- you know… Katie, I--"

She looked up at him, smiling. "It's so cute when you stutter."

Did she just say that? She almost slapped herself. But, something inside of Katie just let that slip. And it felt easy to say. Just like asking how the weather was, or something casual. It just rolled off her tongue.

But now, she wished she hadn't even opened her big mouth.

Nico was blushing like crazy. Suddenly, he had forgotten what she had even asked.

They sat there in award silence for a little while before Nico finally remembered their conversation and asked hesitantly, "So… why are you out here?"

Katie looked down. "Honestly, I'm here to think, too."

Before Nico could interrupt to ask cockily about what like she had done to him, she opened her mouth and kept going.

"It's just that… I'm not sure about anything anymore. Nothing is the same for some reason. I'm just so confused."

She had said more than she wanted to. It was just… so easy to talk to Nico, something that she never really had with Pollux. Usually, she just kept her feelings to herself around Pollux. But around Nico, it was different. The air was lighter for some reason.

She took a deep breath. Katie felt better now that she had said that out loud. She hadn't realized how much pressure she had been feeling with that bottled up inside of her.

When she looked up, Nico was staring at her in concern. "Confused? What are you confused about?"

Katie felt tears forming in her eyes. She hadn't realized just how confused and frustrated she really felt. "Confused about everything!" she managed to choke out in a strangled sob.

"Oh, Hades no," Nico said, quickly placing an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. "Please, Katie. Please don't cry."

She sobbed on his shoulder, saying muffled things, like, "The world just doesn't make sense anymore!" and "And I-I don't know what to do!"

Nico gently rubbed her back. He couldn't think about anything except Katie, and why she was so sad. It seemed that when she was sad, sadness swallowed him. Everything beautiful about the day was suddenly gone. The only thing that really mattered was that Katie was sad. More than that, she was sobbing harder than ever now.

It was a while before Nico noticed how close he was to Katie and the fact that his arms where around her. He slowly began to blush, but still he spoke soft words of comfort to her.

When she had calmed down enough to get a word out without crying, she looked up at him.

"Thanks Nico," she said, smiling a watery smile, and eyes shining through all of the tears. "That… that really made me feel better." She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"Um, you're welcome, I guess," he said, slowly letting go of her, but letting her head stay on his shoulder.

Katie didn't want Nico to let go of her just yet. It felt… comforting whenever he held her. It felt like she had a place where she could pour her heart out and feel safe.

Nico sat there for a while, enjoying the feel of Katie on his shoulder, enjoying the breeze blowing on his face, and enjoying the faint smell of… what was it? Daisies, maybe? No… this was definitely something else. It was more like… like a Jasmine flower. It smelled sweet, and partially strong. Nico guessed it was because of the fact that she was a daughter of Demeter that she smelled like a flower.

He sat there, almost intoxicated by her scent, when all of a sudden, he was roughly awoken by Katie, who had just removed her head from his shoulder and began to talk.

"Nico, can I ask you something?" she asked in a soft voice that, for some reason, made Nico's knees turn to butter.

"S-Sure," he replied, still a little shaken by the sound of her voice so close to his ear.

Katie took a deep breath, trying to find the right wording for her question. "If… if there was this… this pest, this disturbance in YOUR life, that was stopping you from really living your life to the fullest, like it was holding you back, what would you do to it?"

Nico turned to her, a little confused at the question. "You mean… like it was stopping you from reaching your goals?"

"Exactly!" Katie exclaimed. "Like it's stopping you from what you REALLY want. Like… like it's there as a wall, right smack in between you… and what you really wish for. What would you do to it?"

Nico shivered slightly as he felt Katie's dark, penetrating eyes on him, watching him keenly, waiting for an answer.

"Um… well, I'd probably get rid of that obstacle that was standing in my way of living life."

"Really?" she asked in wonder, placing both of her hands on one of his shoulders, staring at him now even more intensely.

Nico could feel his face burning. "Y-Yeah. I'd take that distraction or whatever-it-is that is stopping me and toss it out the window!" Nico felt adrenaline pumping in his veins. "YEAH!" For some reason, he just had a vivid mental picture of himself, tossing Pollux out of a window….

He got up so sharply and suddenly, that Katie was taken by surprise and nearly tipped over and dropped into the sand. She would have, too, if it wasn't for Nico, who grabbed her arm just as she fell.

For a second, all time seemed to be frozen.

Their hands still joined, Katie stared into Nico's eyes, not seeing a simple little son of Hades, but seeing a kind, thoughtful person who cared about her and what she thought. Nico stared back into her own eyes, seeing nothing but deep brown and also seeing an amazing girl, who really understood him and valued him as a person, and not just because he could summon a few skeletons out of the ground to take care of the problem.

They both stood there, slightly breathless.

Katie all of a sudden had an urge to run her fingers through Nico hair. She almost physically slapped herself for that one.

Nico wanted to just stand there forever.

But, of course, it just HAD to end.

It seemed as though the god that had been so kind as to stop time for them, wasn't feeling so generous anymore, and that time had begun to work normally again.

Katie was first to look away. Nico could see that her face was a deep scarlet.

"Um… I-I think I have to go. It's getting to be about time for breakfast, anyway." She slowly, and almost painfully, removed her hand from Nico's. Katie waved a goodbye and took off at a run down to the pavilion for breakfast.

Nico just stood there, like a complete moron, staring after her like a sad puppy. Then, he remembered his quest, his anger, and the cause of it all.

He sneered, picturing Pollux, his arm wrapped smugly around a confused and tortured Katie, almost rubbing the fact that she was his in Nico's face.

So… the quest begins, Nico thought to himself, feeling ready to take on the strongest minotaur if it meant Katie's heart would be his.