Nico and Toby sat together for a few minutes waiting for Nico's leg to heal as much as it could from the nectar. It wouldn't get him to full health again of course, not from a wound like this, but it would get him close enough to work around. They were startled out of their calm by the sound of a small gasp from the room where Hoody and Tim still were. Nico would have ignored it but Toby leaped up.
"What?" Nico asked eyes widening in surprise.
"Hoody makes the same noise when the house is on fire and when he spills milk, and here there's no milk for him to spill." He shouted as he dove back towards the room and through the doorway. Nico took longer to get up with his still stiff and pained leg. He did his best to hurry when he heard Toby swear, but still by the time Nico got into the room both Hoody and Toby were holding down Tim who was having a fit.
"What can I do?" Nico asked hovering uncertainly as Shade materialized behind him in the doorway.
"G-Get his other arm before he d-dislocates it." Hoody said. Toby had Tim's other arm and Hoody was nearly sitting on Tim's lap trying to keep him from pulling his legs against the ties and hurting them. Nico lunged forward and grabbed Tim's other arms holding it still as Tim stiffened and arched, making a small choking sound. Both his arms and legs thrashed violently nearly throwing Hoody, who clung on making small distressed whimpering sounds.
Nico wasn't sure how long it was before Tim went limp, slowly Nico and Toby let go and stepped back but Hoody stayed close. Leaning over Tim and cupping his face.
"Masky p-please?" Hoody whispered. "Please be you." Tim or Masky didn't respond at first groaning unhappily. After a moment he opened his eyes only slightly and squinted up at Hoody like the light hurt his eyes.
"Hoody?" he asked closing one of his eyes like the light hurt them. Hoody's breathing hitched, "Where are we?" he asked closing his eyes and then opening them for a minute to look around at the square white room. "The hospital? How did I?" Hoody had cut him off by kissing him. For a moment Masky seemed surprised but then he kissed back matching Hoody's aggressive passion.
"You been g-gone for d-days Masky." Hoody said separating the kiss by only a inch and leaving Masky looking mildly dazed.
"Huh?" Masky asked snapping out of his days.
"You forgot to take your m-meds and T-Tim took over, I was scared you'd be gone for m-months like last t-time." Hoody half whispered. They seemed to have forgotten Nico and Toby where there.
"Oh my god, Hoody, I'm so sorry. I promised I wouldn't leave too." Masky said and went to lift his arms to hug Hoody who was now on his lap. Masky glared down at the restraints when they stopped him. Hoody gave a hiccup and pulled out a hidden knife from under his sleeve before cutting the plastic restraints. Once they were gone Masky instantly wrapped his arms around Hoody and pulled him down for another softer kiss. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you."
"It's okay." Hoody said muffling his voice by burying his face in Masky's shoulder. "Just quit smoking and we'll call it even." Masky laughed.
"If that's what it takes then you've got it." Hoody laughed to and nodded sniffling slightly. "Are you going to be okay now Hoody?" Masky asked gently rubbing Hoody's back. Hoody nodded again. "Good, then I need to know what's happened since Tim took over. I'm assuming it's been a lot since I'm tied to a chair and there's a body missing most of it's head over there." Masky jerked his head at Alex's body, which Nico was doing his best not to look at.
As quickly as they could all three of them explained what had happened to Masky. His eyes followed whoever was speaking. The coldness Nico had realized was unique to Masky slowly settling around him again as he listened and calculated.
"Alright, so what is our next move? With Alex dead it won't be long until the Operator comes to take some form of revenge." Masky asked looking at Hoody first, and then Nico when Hoody shrugged.
"I need to be as close to the heart of the forest as possible before he comes. More importantly I need someone willing to and capable of setting the heart of the forest on fire." Toby perked up visibly at that and Nico laughed. "Ya I figured that would be you, you won't like the next part though."
"Why not?" It was Masky who asked staring at Nico suspiciously.
"Once the fire is lit and going well the Operator will appear for sure. If any of you are there he might be able to take control of you to try to put out the fire, you may all be strong willed but you are all human. Because of this I need whoever is with me to run as soon as the Operator shows himself. Light as many fires as you can on your way out of the woods and let me handle the rest."
"You expect us to leave you in a fire!?" Toby asked standing up straight, his neck cracking as he twitched more violently in shock.
"Yes I do, Toby. You're all human, I'm not I have a better chance of living, besides I need to stay in the fire to make sure the Operator does as well." Nico snapped.
"Ya but last time I checked you aren't fireproof." Toby said with a angry laugh. Masky and Hoody were watching their fight silently.
"No I'm not, but what I can do is put myself into a death sleep. I can make my body die temporarily, if I do that I can open a crack in the ground and bury myself where the fire can't reach me. In a death sleep I won't need to breath, so I won't suffocate, then I'll just need you to come back for me once the fire has died down." Nico said patiently. Toby opened his mouth to argue then choked on his words as he twitched again and closed his mouth.
"If you only need Toby with you what should we do?" Masky asked putting his arm around Hoody's waist lightly. Nico glanced at him.
"Figure out what to do with her firstly." Gesturing to the girl who was still unconscious. "She'll wake up soon and now that the Operator's grip on her has been broken. I doubt she'll remember anything or be any threat." Masky's eyes followed Nico's gesture and widened.
"Jessica?" He asked and chuckled. "Well I didn't expect her to get involved in this but I suppose the reunion wouldn't be complete without her. Anything else?"
"If you can set some fire around the edges of the forest as well once most people are out of the park, or just leaving some escape routes at first. I'll need time and the heart of the forest needs to burn. If more fires closer to the edges will delay firefighters enough to make that happen, then do whatever you think you need to." Masky met Nico's eyes for a moment and then nodded.
"Okay now that that's decided we should start as soon as possible, preferably now. The more time we have the better and I think the nectar I drank has healed me as much as it will." Nico said. Masky and Hoody nodded. Hoody slid off Masky's lap and passed him the knife so that Masky could cut the restraints from his ankles and stand.
"Good luck Nico." Masky said quickly crossing the room to Jessica's limp body and picking her up. Hoody pulled a lighter out of his pocket and tossed it to Toby who caught it quickly.
"Thank you. Toby are you coming?" Toby nodded shoving the lighter in his pants pockets and trotting after Nico as he limped quickly out of the room, down the three flights of stairs and out of the door.
"How will we know what the heart of the forest is?" Toby asked slipping an arm around Nico's waist to help support him.
"It will be near the center of the forest where the trees are thickest." Nico said, leaning gratefully against Toby.
"Okay but first we need to go around the edge of the forest a little. I think there's an old gas station near here and if you want the fire to burn well we need some gasoline or something. There's plenty of leaf litter and stuff here but with the rain a couple of days ago it won't be dry all the way through yet. It'll need something really flammable to get it going."
"Whatever you think Toby." Nico said letting Toby steer him along the edge of the woods. "I know almost nothing about fire besides the stuff in the underworld and that doesn't require any fuel to burn."
"How much time have you spent in the underworld?" toby asked curiously and Nico shrugged.
"I don't know, enough to warrant my own room but not enough to stop my father from redecorating it jokingly on a regular basis." Nico said rolling his eyes. "You'd think he'd have too much to do to find time to order everything in my room to be done in yellow and pink but nope. Yet I'm always the one who has to walk the bloody dog. Why can't he take Cerberus for a walk instead convincing my step mother to 'bless me' so that flowers grow wherever I walk for a week." Toby started laughing and Nico couldn't help but chuckle too. A minute later Shade caught up with them with a couple of bottles of whiskey and a zippo lighter in his arms.
"This might help in the fire building." Shade said as he took a big gulp of whiskey.
"Are you crazy?" Nico asked as Toby walked around the corner and saw Shade put one of the bottles in his backpack.
"Last time I checked, yes, because who in their right mind would do this kinds of thing?"
"Nobody I guess."
After that they were silent for the time it took them to reach the gas station. Nico stayed in the shadows of the forest with Shade and let Toby go get the gasoline he needed on his own. Nico figured since he was still obviously bloody, and Shade was obviously drinking, they might draw a little bit too much attention. When Toby returned with a big can of gas that made him lean to the side with it's weight they started deeper into the woods.
"Do you really need me to leave you?" Toby said his voice sounding smaller than usual. Nico glanced over at him to see him looking down.
"Ya I'm sure, Toby. I'm sure I can keep myself alive but not if I have someone else to worry about too." Nico replied uncertainly.
"Isn't there anything else I can do to be useful?" Toby asked, grabbing Nico's hand with his free one and lacing their fingers together.
"Just let me take as much of your energy as you can before you go." Nico said squeezing Toby's hand. "But be careful with that, I need you to get out and remember where you left me and come back for me. If you don't I can spend weeks in death sleep, maybe even until I actually die."
"Don't worry I'll come for you." Toby said giving Nico's hand a gentle squeeze
"Oh right I almost forgot." Nico said snapping his fingers, he let go of Toby's hand and walked over to a tree. Using a darker patch of shadows in a knot he reached through into the graveyard he had slept in, where he had left the axe he had got for Toby. He heard a squeak of surprise from the other side and chuckled. Toby looked at him in confusion.
"One of the worst things about being able to see and hear the dead is that whenever one of them says or does something funny and I laugh everyone thinks I'm crazy." Nico said with a crooked smile. Toby laughed as Nico's fingers finally closed around the hatchets handle and he pulled it through. "Happy birthday." Nico said holding the handle of the hatchet out to Toby. Toby's jaw dropped. He reached out, taking the handle and tilting it so the small amount of light glinted off the blade mesmerizingly as Toby gazed at it.
"This is celestial bronze." Nico said reaching out and tapping the metal with his nail, it made a small ringing noise. "Anything that can't be harmed with normal metals should be able to be killed by this. Now if you want to fight the monsters from my world for a challenge you can." Nico added smiling crookedly again.
Hesitantly Toby put down the container of gasoline and reached out to touch the blade. His fingers went right through it, since the handle was wood Toby could hold it but the metal was as unsubstantial to him as if he was a ghost.
"You're human, Toby, so you have to added bonus that you can't hurt yourself accidentally with this. No matter what it'll just go right through you. I on the other hand can be hurt by this even more easily than by mortal metals." Nico said pressing his fingers lightly against the blade, blood beading delicately along the edge. "So be careful with it."
"You trust me that much?" Toby asked hoarsely finally looking up from the blade and the small drop of blood that trickled down it to meet Nico's eyes.
"Of course I do." Nico said softly. "I'm trusting you to come back for me aren't I? That means I'm trusting you with my life." Suddenly Toby holstered the new hatchet in his belt and dived forward wrapping Nico in a tight hug. Nico was so surprised that it took him a moment to return the hug but when he did he could feel Toby shaking slightly. Toby's breath came in shallow bursts against Nico's neck as he hunched himself around the smaller boy.
"Thank you Nico." Toby said his voice slightly choked. "This is the best birthday I've had in a long time, even if we're about to go fight a crazy monster made of dead people." Nico eyes widened in shock, then half closed in contentment.
"You're welcome vita mia." Nico said closing his eyes and burying his nose into Toby's hair. He smelled like smoke, pinesap, marshmallows, damp leaves and under that just a hint of blood. Nico took another deep breath memorizing Toby's scent, then kissed the side of his head and then he heard Shade clear his throat and pushed Toby away gently. "We still have work to do." He apologized still keeping hold of Toby's hand.
"Right!" Toby agreed picking up the can of gasoline with his free hand again and they got moving. It wasn't long before the trees began to close in around them becoming denser and broader. They were taller now as well, the canopies meeting so that almost no light filtered through the leaves.
Toby was fidgeting and ticking more often than normal. Nico couldn't blame him because he could feel it too. There was something very, very, wrong about this part of the woods. Out of the corners of his eyes he could see ropes swinging from the trunks and lower branches but they weren't there when he looked straight at them. The air felt heavy and choking. Underneath the normal smells of the forest, Nico could smell the sickeningly sweet scent of death. He didn't mind that smell so much but it did remind him of beats which he had hated for as long as he could remember. He wrinkled his nose.
"Are we almost there?" Toby asked shrinking closer to Nico at the same time that Nico stood up straighter making himself bigger.
"Yes." Nico said definitely. "But the trees are still getting bigger so we're not quite there yet." Nico said refusing to let his breath come more heavily with the illusion of thick air. Next to him he could hear Toby gasping.
"There it is." Nico murmured, spotting a very large tree that looked like it had grown through and around a brick building.
"That's the one we need to burn?" Toby asked in a hushed tone.
"Yes it is." Nico murmured in response. "But make sure you've done everything you need to here before you set fire to it. I suspect that's the heart tree. I'm surprised the Operator hasn't showed up yet but he will for sure as soon as that's on fire so if smaller fires need to be set around it or anything do that first." Toby nodded and slipped obediently away from Nico's side to start spreading around the gasoline.
Shade didn't feel right, he didn't like the feeling of the forest. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Nico watched sharply as Toby worked, his eyes darting around from time to time to check for the Operator. He had just realized how oddly easy it was to direct Masky Hoody and Toby. Most of the time people who were older than him, even ghosts who were supposed to be Nico's subjects didn't like to take direction from someone who looked as young as Nico. He had expected Masky at least to have more objections to taking direction from Nico, but they all seemed to recognize that even though Nico seemed the youngest and technically was he also knew the most about their situation.
That made him the best person to direct. Already he could smell smoke on the wind from where Hoody and Masky must be starting to set fires around the edges of the forest.
Nico was jerked out of his thoughts by a flicker of white out of the corner of his vision. Immediately he pivoted and grasped at it with his power. It was the Operator finally having realized what they were doing. The Operator struggled fiercely against Nico's hold but Nico wouldn't let go. He could feel static inside his head, trying to distract Nico from their struggle.
"Oh no you don't." Nico snarled. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Toby straighten up and turn but he didn't dare look away from the Operator. "Stop that this instant." The static only intensified and Nico clamped down even harder feeling the writhing tug in his chest that made him gasp. "That was a command not a request." He barked out and the static lessoned. Toby had turned back adding the last of the gasoline, and then running back to Nico, Shade poured the rest of the secound bottle of whiskey n the heart tree while he held the last one in his other hand, and grabbed his own lighter and filled his mouth with the alcohol and prepared to stit into the flame of the lighter.
"Take a step back." Toby whispered from behind Nico's shoulder. He was making sure not to get between Nico and the Operator. "You don't want to be near that when it goes up." Nico nodded and took a step back, for just a second he lost his grip on the Operator. Nico regained his grip only after the Operator was two feet closer to them. The good thing about that was that now he was in the catch area of the gasoline. "Can you take my energy now?" Toby murmured sliding his hand into Nico's. "Any skin on skin contact will do right? Then I'll set the fire and run."
"Yes." Nico said distractedly taking hold of the energy Toby had learned how to give. When he felt it rush through him, Nico was worried that Toby had offered too much but after a moment and a stumble Toby righted himself and slunk around Nico. A little ways around the clearing from where Nico held the Operator, Toby lit a small stick on fire with the lighter and then threw it onto the grass while Shade used the whiskey in his mouth to spit fire all over the other trees
The fire exploded into life but Nico was too intent on holding the Operator in place to flinch. Toby and Shade turned and sprinted away into the woods as the fire flowed over the ground like a serpent. Quickly using the energy Toby had lent him, Nico created breaks in the ground around himself. Crevices he hoped the fire would not cross.
The heart tree was burning sending up an oily smoke that made Nico choke, he couldn't breath. His body wanted desperately to gasp for what little air around the smoke, but he knew that would only make him cough so he breathed shallowly the smoke stinging his eyes and clogging his lungs. He could hear screaming in a hundred different voices but he didn't cover his ears. It wouldn't help, the screaming was in his head coming from the Operator as he burned.
Already as the wood burned and the bricks blackened he could see the Operator drifting apart. Faces started appearing in his suit like Nico could sometimes see in the one his father wore. Nico gritted his teeth and snarled, this abomination had no right to have any similarities to his fathers. He gripped the being even more, tightly snatching at the souls that separated from it in an attempt to save themselves and forcing them back into the fire as well.
The wind gusted and sparks flew onto the trees around Nico, dying on fresh bark but catching quickly on dry leaves and then raising back up to claim the trees once it had a hold there. Nico could feel the heat pressing against his skin and worming it's way deeper inside of him making him feel sick and dizzy. More sparks landed on his clothes, searing small holes in them and on the bare skin of his arms causing his skin to blister. He didn't hear his own screams of pain. Too intent on the ones of the Operator as Nico forced him, with every drop of strength he had, to remain in the fire.
He could feel the Operator's ties to the trees snapping one by one as they creaked and crackled. Behind him he heard a snap and a large tree branch came plummeting down to earth in a shower of sparks. As soon as it touched the ground the leaves around it burst into flames and pressed even hotter against Nico. He couldn't think anymore through the heat and the pain. Only instinct and determination were keeping him here, holding the Operator in the blaze. He had used all of his power now and he knew he was starting to drain his life energy. He couldn't keep this up much longer but finally the bricks surrounding the heart tree couldn't take it anymore and exploded outwards. One of the hot fragments simultaneously cutting and cauterizing a long cut on Nico's cheek.
"Get used to it." He hissed at the Operator, or meant to, though it came out as more of a croak through the smoke. "Most of you won't be seeing anything but fire ever again." The screams reached a crescendo, Nico joining in, screaming at the pain in his head and of the heat. The finally the Operator lost his form, bulging and swaying and then burst apart at the seams. The individual spirits disappeared quicker with Nico pushing them. They couldn't resist the call of the underworld.
Once that was done Nico didn't look around to see how the fire was burning. He knew how it was burning and it was burning him, it would burn him up if it gave him the chance. With the last of his strength Nico opened a shallow pit in the ground behind him. He pulled his energy into himself burying it deep in his chest. He pulled his shirt up over his face so the earth wouldn't suffocate him, and then the life left his limbs. He fell backwards limply into the pit loosing consciousness as the loose earth fell over him of it's own accord, extinguishing the fire that had caught his clothes and Nico's vision of the world.
Nico didn't know how much later it was when he woke up, but when he did, he knew he was being moved. There was a swaying motion that let him know whoever was carrying him was walking. Then the person twitched.
"Toby?" Nico asked, his voice was soft and raspy from the spoke. He winced at the sound of it and coughed weakly.
"Ya it's me Nico. Don't worry I've got you, just go back to sleep, you did a hell of a thing back there."
"It worked." Nico said, it was half a question even though he knew he had seen the Operator go.
"Ya it worked. We're going back to Clockwork's place so you can rest. We'll look after you." Nico smiled slightly and nuzzled into Toby's chest.
"As I always say, with great power comes great need to take a nap." He didn't stay awake long enough to hear Toby's laugh.