I feel so bad for Nico in the book! He does belong, he just chooses to not let anyone get close to him. Jason is willing to be his friend if he's just get passed his own self-pity… okay I'm all done ranting. Enjoy the new chapter. Be prepared for a fight.

…

Nico's POV

…

I knew something was wrong as soon as I arrived for breakfast. Percy sat with his shoulders hunched, staring at his hands. He had no food in front of him. Concerned, I made my way over to him, sitting next to him and cuddling up against him.

"What's wrong Prince?" I asked. He rounded on me, his eyes blazing. "Wha?" I scooted away from him, my eyes widening. In all the time I've known him, Percy has never gotten mad at me, so seeing the fury in his eyes surprised me. "Prince?" I asked hesitantly. He got right in my face, thrusting a piece of paper at me, and it turned my blood to ice. It was a drawing of me standing over Percy, making him suffer for letting Bianca get killed. "Percy, I can explain…" I began.

"Don't Nico," he growled, and once again I was surprised by the fury in him. He practically shook with it. "You don't blame me anymore? What the fuck is this then? This wouldn't be your revenge would it?" His eyes clouded with pain. "I can live with the drawing Nico," he said, his voice going suddenly calm. "What I can't live is you lied to me. You lied right to my face."

"What in Hades did you want me to say?" I snapped back. I was aware of people staring at us now, but I didn't care. "'Oh, you let my sister get killed, but I don't blame you even though it only recently happened?' How the fuck do you expect me to not forget about that." Percy took a deep breath, and I was aware of the sudden wave of calm.

"First off, don't swear," he said. "You're only thirteen. Don't you dare say you're older!" he added loudly when I opened my mouth to speak. "You know what? I think we're done here. With Bianca. With our relationship. Goodbye Nico. It was nice while it lasted." Sarcasm dripped like icicles from his voice, and this time he really shook from fury. "Have a nice life Nico." He stormed off, and everyone in the pavilion watched him leave. Instead of the anger I expected, I only felt a great wave of sadness. I didn't want to fight with my Prince of the Sea.

"Percy…" I called hoarsely, getting up and stumbling, sinking down to my knees. "Percy…please wait…" I called weakly. Jason and Leo came running. Leo hauled me to my feet and Jason checked me over.

"Are you okay?" the blonde boy asked, concern written all over his face. Mutely, I shook my head. I never got to tell Percy it was an old drawing, and the lashes I'd said today were only a reaction to his accusations.

…

"Nico," Jason said softly. My bed creaked as he sat down carefully on the edge. "Hey it's going to be okay." I'd spent the rest of the day in my cabin, cuddling with the shirt Percy accidently left during his last stay. It still smelled of the sea and cinnamon (I still wouldn't ask). So basically, it smelled like him. I cried into it from time to time, letting my tears soak the orange fabric.

"Nico, skeletons are popping up all over the place," Leo added unhelpfully. "Half the camp is busy fighting them off. And they don't die easy." That only served to make me more upset, and I began to sob into my pillow. "Oh," Leo mumbled.

"You imbecile," Jason said. "You aren't helping." Leo snorted and wandered over.

"I don't see you coming up with any more bright ideas, you self-absorbed thundercloud," he snapped back. Jason lunged at him and they began to wrestle on my floor, one or the other occasionally throwing in a punch.

"Knock it off!" I yelled so loud they both froze mid-punch. They stared at me in surprise. "You don't need to fight, so knock it off! You two love each other, not hate. You shouldn't be fucking fighting, you should be loving each other!" Even as I said it, all the fight left me and I plopped back down onto my pillow. "If you're going to fight, leave me alone." I looked back over at them as they both helped each other off the floor. Leo took his shirt off and pressed it to the cut above Jason's eye.

"Sorry Nico," he mumbled as he relinquished possession of the shirt to Jason. "I guess we can't take the stress of you guys fighting. He's right though," he said, pressing kisses to Jason's neck. "We don't need to fight. Sorry."

"I shouldn't have called you an imbecile," Jason said, casting his eyes downward, looking ashamed. "Sorry." I rolled onto my side to watch them make up.

"Why can't we do that?" I asked them, and they both turned to look at me. "Why can't Percy and I make up like that? I've never seen him madder at me before. Actually, it's the first time I've ever seen him mad at me. I don't like it." I hugged his shirt to my chest and Leo came over. He and Jason sat side by side on my bed. I crawled onto Jason's lap, which both he and Leo looked surprised about.

"It'll be okay Nico," he said. "Just give him some time to think things through."

…

Percy's POV

…

I wasn't even really mad.

Okay, I know that sounds awful after the fight with Nico (which I was beginning to really regret) but I only acted out of surprise. I'd found the drawing while Nico was falling asleep. To say the least, it was a little disturbing. But it made me question whether or not he really didn't blame me for her death. I beat myself up about it enough as it was. It ate at me all night, making it hard to sleep, and at breakfast my suspicions were confirmed when I confronted him about it. At the time, I was furious at him for lying to me.

"Percy, we need your help battling the skeletons!" Leo called as he ran by my cabin. I peeked out and saw half the camp battling skeletal warriors on the volleyball court. I took Riptide out of my pocket and it sprang to life. I slashed through one climbing my stairs and it just looked at me. I found the kink and it flashed away in a cloud of black dust.

"Where are they all coming from?" I yelled to no one in particular, jumping off the small porch and battling more while simultaneously ducking under a swinging baton.

"Nico is summoning them!" Annabeth yelled back, stabbing at a pack of baddies with her bronze knife. At the mention of my little Prince of Shadows, I felt my stomach heave and I momentarily froze. One of the skeletons knocked Riptide out of my hands and the sword went clattering away. I would've become flattened if Jason hadn't come zooming out of nowhere and bashed the skeleton on the head with the butt of his sword.

"Careful!" he said, flying off to help a small crowd of campers being surrounded in a tidal wave of baddies. No matter how many we killed, more seemed to take their place. "Go talk to Nico!" Jason yelled as he once again flew by. I rolled to the side and came up on one knee, driving my sword though one of the warrior's ribs.

"He lied to me!" I called back. "He lied right to my face about Bianca. He still blames me." Jason landed in front of me, his normally cheerful, friendly eyes blazing. In one fluid motion, he flicked the sword up and around, catching me in the chest with the flat and sending me sprawling.

"That's for being an idiot," he said, quickly reversing the sword and stabbing backwards. Another skeleton disappeared in a poof of black. "That was an old drawing, if you would've let him explain. He was caught off guard and was reacting to what you were accusing him of. He doesn't blame you, and he's torn up about your fight." Without looking, he ducked as a baton sailed overhead. Suddenly it was knocked aside by a flying melon. He chuckled softly as Piper ran off, blasting more fruit at supersonic speed.

"How do you know?" I asked, getting to my feet and brushing the dust off myself. Jason rolled his eyes.

"Leo and I talked to him before this stupid battle of the skeletons began," he responded. Leo, who'd been running passed, stopped when he heard his name. Buford the magical table kept on going passed him, bumping into skeletons and basically causing trouble. Leo grinned at his friend and turned back to us. "He's in the Hades cabin cuddling with your shirt and sobbing his eyes out, which I'm pretty sure is what's causing these skeletons to pop up all over the place. I don't think I heard Jason right.

"He's cuddling with my shirt?" I asked in disbelief. I didn't… Oh. One of my Camp Half-Blood shirts. I must have left it there when I spent the night last. "I didn't know he still had it…" I said quietly. Leo reached around me and pushed a skeleton back from us with a spear (I didn't know he fought with one).

"He's devastated," Leo agreed grimly. "He won't really let us talk to him, and what we do say just won't cheer him up. He misses you so much he crawled onto Jason's lap and cried." Jason shot Leo a look, making me wonder how much Jason actually liked that. "You need to talk to him. You need to make this better. Get your ass in there, or I'm going to make you a Percy-ka-bob." I've never seen Leo angry, so I obeyed, because I had no doubt he'd harm me if I didn't do what he said. I scrambled up the steps to the Hades cabin and rapped gently.

"What?" Nico called from inside. "Leo, if that's you again, I'm going to send you to my…" The door was thrown open and Nico stood there, mouth agape. "Percy?" I saw the flash of relief before it was replaced with cold indifference. "What do you want?" I swept him up into my arms, hugging him to my chest. "Oomph, you're crushing me Prince… I mean Percy."

"No, no Prince," I said quickly. "I'm so sorry I wouldn't let you explain at breakfast. I was just… I was mad to think you could lie to my face. You weren't though, were you?" He shook his head, his hair flipping out of his eyes as he did so, and I saw they were rimmed with red. "Oh sweetie…" I mumbled. Jason stumbled up the stairs, sweat beading on his forehead and dripping down his face.

"They skeletons have stopped coming," he said, slumping against the wall. He looked exhausted. Leo fumbled up the stairs after him, collapsing on the porch. They both looked exhausted. "Leo," Jason whispered, crouching beside him.

"I did that?" Nico asked me, forgetting we were supposed to be fighting. His face was grim, once again reminding me of the old Nico. "Sorry guys. I guess I don't know my own powers well enough yet." Jason waved his arm and helped Leo to his feet.

"I'm just glad you guys made up," he replied as he slumped against the wall of the cabin again. "Glad to see you two back together again. When you aren't fighting, you're one of the cutest couples in camp." Nico's face contorted in pain and Jason looked up, sensing he said the wrong thing. "You are a couple again, right?" he asked. Even Leo dropped the usual smile in favor of a frown as he watched us. Beside me, Nico shifted weight uncomfortably.

"Not exactly," I responded, watching Nico out of the corner of my eyes. His shoulders drooped and his eyes dropped to look at the porch. I saw tears in his eyes. "But I want us back together," I added, speaking more to Nico than to anyone else. "Nico, please forgive me stupid and rash behavior. Please say you'll date me again." He looked up, and the pain I saw seemed to leave him.

"How could I say no?" he asked, and I was so grateful, I crashed my lips to his.

…

Yay, they made up! That was a really nasty one though. See you next chap.