Nico and Reyna looked up at the volcano.

"I pictured it bigger," Nico said, breaking the silence.

"It was practically destroyed twice," Reyna answered.

Nico shrugged," I still thought it was bigger."

"How are we going to get up there? You can't shadow travel into a volcano."

"We climb."

"Climb?! Who knows how long that will take?!

"Got any better ideas?" Nico looked over at her skeptically.

Reyna shook her head and closed here her eyes in thought. Where is Scipio when you need him?

The unmistakable sound of wings made her open her eyes. That couldn't be...

Her Pegasus landed a few feet away from them. Scipio, or Skippy, was the color of peanut butter. Skippy was one of the only animals (or mythical creatures) to actually go near Nico. Along with Arion, Mrs. O'Leary, Reyna's metal dogs, and occasionally Ella. Ella liked to recite facts about famous deaths and funerals around him. Thanks Ella.

"Are you sure about this? Last chance to bail," Nico said, looking out over the water to Mount St. Helens.

Reyna ignored him as she climbed onto the Pegasus's back. She held out her hand," Coming?"

Nico sighed as he grabbed it. "Something going to blow up in our faces, I know it."

"Of course. That's why it's a quest. Everything has to go wrong."

Nico laughed as they started to fly.

They spent a few minutes in silence, just looking at the scenery.

"What's the plan?" Reyna asked, leading Scipio to the volcano.

"Well, I was thinking of finding whatever Ares wants, grab it, and book it on out of there."

"So, we're going to wing it. Great Plan," Reyna said sarcastically.

"I'd like to see you come up with something better," Nico retorted.

"That's your job."

Nico rolled his eyes," You're the daughter of the goddess of war."

"Sometimes I need a break from running a legion."

Nico muttered something about overworked boyfriends as the mountain loomed closer.

They landed near the top. Scipio almost flew away when Reyna stopped him.

"Meet us here, okay boy? Meet us here," Reyna turned to look at Nico, who was crouching down on the ground. "Think you can make a hole?"

"Yeah, but we could fall into a patch of lava. Even if we did miss the lava, it would be a hard landing. Maybe if we could find something to latch onto, like a ledge or something, it would make it easier to get down."

"We could give it a try."

Nico nodded. He placed a hand on the rock, and concentrated.

Reyna watched as a piece of the ground gave way. "You're going to have to show me how to do that."

"I'm flattered," He turned back to the hole. "There's a ledge a few hundred feet down. It looks big enough for the both of us, but we'd have to hit it just right."

"It's not like we have much of a choice," Reyna looked into the hole. What ledge?

"I'll go first," He frowned. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck. Don't squash yourself."

"Funny," With that, he jumped into the volcano.

Nico tried to focus as he looked down for the ledge. But he looked down at the lava. (Or is it magma?) Tons of it. He nearly missed the ledge.

He barely managed to grab it. It was big, but he was worried if he could get up. He tried to swing his leg up, and eventually he managed to pull himself up. He was covered in sweat and he was exhausted.

"Come on down!" Nico shakily stood up, only to fall again when Reyna landed on top of him.

"Oof!"

"Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Reyna picked herself up and offered Nico a hand. "Are you okay? I didn't see you there, I just jumped and I-"

"It's fine," Nico cut her off. "It doesn't hurt, that bad."

Reyna ignored the end of his sentence. "There seem to be ledges all the way down from here," she turned to Nico," Any good at rock climbing?"

"I can do that rock wall at Camp Half-Blood. Is that good enough?"

"Yeah, but instead of trying to get away from the lava, you're going towards it. Think you can handle it?"

Nico looked down and nodded. "I never thought we'd have to do this."

"Funny, I didn't either."

Nico grabbed the ledge and slowly lowered himself down until he was hanging from two separate ledges. Reyna followed suit afterwards.

They didn't speak for the whole time, afraid just one word would make one of them fall, or one of Hephaestus automatons find them. When Nico finally helped Reyna down, she brushed off her clothes and shared a look of pure determination with him. They weren't going to back down now, not when they were so close.

They found a small tunnel branching off the pit of lava they were already in. If it felt hot on the surface, it was nothing compared to what it felt down here. It was hot as Hades there.

The tunnel was more of a slide than an actual tunnel. It was probably a tube that excess lava went through.

Because it was a slide, and Nico had bad luck, Reyna ended up on Nico again. Nico didn't complain aloud like last time, but Reyna could tell that it hurt by the way he was rubbing his back afterwards.

"Where are we?" Reyna asked, turning around staring at the room.

"The one place we can be. Hephaestus's forge."

The room didn't have much in it, probably because it was where Hephaestus shaped his armor and tools. Another bigger tunnel than the one they came through had light along with a silhouette of a man.

Reyna headed in the direction of the silhouette, forcing Nico to follow. This room was a lot more impressive. Projects where littered almost everywhere, including the ceiling. Some were half finished trash projects, others were complete, and still others looked more like artworks rather than actual machines and automatons. A miniature hellhound followed them across the table as they passed.

They were close enough to hear the grumblings of the figure. "Blasted screws! Where did it go?" Hephaestus limped off to find his tools.

Now. Only time we can do it. Nico mouthed to Reyna. She nodded in response.

Do you know what we're looking for? She mouthed. Nico shook his head and Reyna sighed quietly.

Where would I put something that both my war-crazed brother and I would want? Reyna scanned the piles, ceiling, and walls, searching for a miracle. She knew they could spend hours searching and turn up nothing. They had spent hours researching, and who knew how long they had spent getting in? She wouldn't be surprised if they'd missed the deadline.

Something along the ceiling something caught Reyna's eye and she motioned to
Nico, catching his attention. He hadn't gone far and he came right over when Reyna called.

"Does that look right?" Reyna whispered as she pointed to the rocky roof.

What they both saw was a blob a celestial bronze. What it actually was the most beautiful shield they had ever seen. It was polished celestial bronze with spears in the middle creating an x. On the edge there was an inscription that they couldn't make out from that distance. It was a miracle that Reyna could even see it.

"Maybe," Nico frowned.

"We don't have time for maybes."

"I don't even know what it is."

"It's a celestial bronze blob, on the ceiling. In a volcano. That's got to be it."

"Come on, our luck isn't that awful." Reyna gave him a look. "You're right. It's that bad. Stay down here and keep watch. I'll throw it down. If worse comes to worst, then leave without me. Ares will be appeased with the shield." Nico started to run to the wall, but Reyna stopped him.

"Nico, be careful," He nodded and continued to the wall.

The climb was hard and tiring. There wasn't nearly as much handholds as the first time, and the climb was farther. The only thing that kept Nico from falling was the fact that if he fell, he would fall to a fiery death. That pushed him to keep going.

With him upside-down, he didn't know how he was going to get across. Nico noticed metal bars, almost like monkey bars leading to the shield. Thanking whatever automatons did this, Nico started across the bars. He almost fell twice, and one his hands slipped when he was loosening the strapping on the shield. Nico could barely see Reyna and guessed where he could throw it without hitting her.

When he finished with the straps on the shield, it started a chain of events. An alarm went off; automatons came from many directions, and Reyna pulled out her sword out to defend herself. Nico's grip slackened on the shield, and it went plummeting down the floor. It hit an automaton.

Reyna picked up the shield quickly, and strapped it to her arm. She suddenly felt filled with more confidence and power then she had ever felt in her life. She wiped out the automatons quickly. When she looked up to check on Nico, she was surprised and horrified to see him barely hanging on to one of the bars. Even though she couldn't see him very well, she could see that he was trying to move to the next bar.

"Go!" he shouted. It was a miracle that she could hear him.

"No! We're a team! There's no way I'm leaving you here!"

"Take the shield and go! There's no other way! You'll get caught!"

Before Reyna could argue, Nico let go. He started to plummet when she turned away. She couldn't watch. Against her heart screaming at her to run to lava and check if he was okay, her common sense ruled out. She ran through the tunnel they had come through.

The way back seemed longer than when they had come in. Reyna hung her head in shame for being unable to help her comrade. She gave the shield a thorough look. The craftsmanship was amazing. Reyna stared at the inscription on shield before looking away. The inscription read: Tantum confortamini superesse.

Reyna slowly climbed up the first tunnel. She didn't know how long she had taken to climb it, but she didn't care anymore. She could care less if Ares got mad at her for being late. The only reason why she didn't throw the shield into the lava was that Nico gave his life to get it. She could close her eyes and still see him plummet to his death.

Reyna promised herself that as soon as she gave the shield to Ares and Aphrodite, she would give up love. Jason forgot about her and fell in love with someone else, Percy was with someone to begin with, and the only one who truly understood her, was dead.

For all those who aren't fluent in Latin (everyone), the inscription says: "Only the strong survive."