Chapter 4
Nico
The last thing Nico saw before he blacked out was a new chasm threatening to swallow up Reyna and her soldiers. Then he lost consciousness.
When he woke up, -if you can call it that- he was completely encased in darkness.
For a second he panicked. Was he dead?
-But no, he wasn't in the underworld, he realized. He was in the shadows. Like shadow travel except… he couldn't seem to move.
Nico tried to pull out of the darkness; he focused on one spot, the Big House.
It was protected by magical enchantments and, as far as he knew, Gaea hadn't managed to break them. Almost immediately, a massive wave of fatigue washed over him, and he gave up. He clearly wasn't going anywhere.
And that scared him much, much worse then being dead would have.
I could be trapped in here forever while the war is won or lost without me.
He had to go back.
He knew he wouldn't be any help. He'd already pushed himself way past his limits- to the point where he'd literally dissolved into shadow apparently. But spending eternity alone in the darkness wasn't exactly on his bucket list.
Hazel was out there somewhere- Reyna and Coach Hedge too. People who genuinely liked him, assuming they weren't dead.
How much time had passed? A few minutes? A few days?
Nico extended his senses to the underworld to find out how many had died, and immediately regretted it.
Hundreds. Both Demigods and mortals who must have gotten in the way of Gaea's rampage, as well as an unpleasant tingling sensation that meant someone he knew well had died.
Oh no.
He had to go back.
He forced himself to move through the shadow, ignoring the overwhelming exhaustion that came with it.
What if it was Hazel?
He was moving, he didn't care where.
What if it was Reyna?
Out. He had to get out.
What if it was Percy?
And then he saw sunlight, though he didn't have time to enjoy it before he passed out a second time.
….
Nico woke up lying on a couch in the Big House living room. He could hear a baby crying nearby.
He looked around. The room had been turned into an infirmary. Mitchell, the Aphrodite kid, slept on a mat next to him, his chest covered in bandages.
The door to the room creaked open and Will Solace stepped in, carrying a doctor's bag. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.
"Mitchell, you awake? We need to change your bandages."
He stopped when he saw Nico sitting up, and grinned.
"Hey, you're up!" He said as he walked over and poured Nico a glass of Nectar from a pitcher on the coffee table.
"You were in a coma for three days. I was getting worried."
"Three days?!" Nico croaked, accepting the Nectar.
"Yeah. And missing for two. I don't know how you stayed out of Gaea's way that long, but you were lucky enough to make it to the big house porch when you came back. Scared Lacy half to death, she said you just appeared there."
Nico nodded. Up on the wall, a random mounted leopard head-one that was apparently more alive than he'd thought it was- started growling at him.
"Oh, shut up Seymour." Will said, stuffing a wad of gauze in its mouth.
He turned back to Nico. "So, do you need anything? How are you feeling?"
Nico answered his questions with another one: "Who didn't make it back?"
Will bit his lip. "Chris Rodriguez, Katie Gardner, Nyssa, and a bunch of others."
"Who else?"
Will sighed. "Jason Grace."
A/N: Alright, Chapter Four! Sorry about that cliff hanger :D Chapter five should be up within a week, and it'll pick up right where chapter three left off. Until next time….
-FreakofNature