Chapter Three

Somehow, against all odds, Percy managed to talk Nico into staying. It wasn't that difficult as Nico obviously hadn't recovered from shadow-traveling and drowning - not to mention that a couch in a nice apartment had to be preferable to wherever it was Nico went to sleep. Certainly it had to be better than the Underworld.

Percy laid out a pillow and a couple of blankets (he figured Nico's body temperature was equal to a river in winter). Nico sat, his shoulders hunched to his ears, staring at his pillow as if he had never seen anything like it.

"You can take my bed if -"

"No."

"Okay." He made a move to leave, happy to exit the awkward tension for the night when Nico spoke again.

"Why did Annabeth leave?"

Percy swallowed, the tension rising. "Um... It's not important."

"Was it because of me?"

Sighing, he turned to him, seeing the vulnerability, the little boy he had once been. It was a peek within and soon it would snap shut. It was his chance to make sure that Nico knew he was safe with him.

"No. No, Nico, it was me."

"Do you... You know... Love her?"

The memory of his relationship's end with Annabeth was fresh in his mind, bringing truths out that Percy was not willing to admit, not just then. Nico going to Annabeth's rescue had made her realize what a mess Percy was. He lied to everyone and worse yet, he had lied to himself.

"Maybe not as much as I thought."

Forlornly, Nico nodded.

"Can you answer something for me now?"

Nico stopped nodding.

"Where do you normally sleep?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Anywhere."

"Look... You have a place here, alright? You can have my bed. My mom won't mind."

Nico slapped his pillow and laid down, an obvious sign that their conversation was over. Percy left him to sleep and closed himself in his room, throwing himself on his bed, his hands behind his head and stared at the unremarkable ceiling.

Sleep evaded and his heart wouldn't stop fluttering. Over the hours he shifted uncomfortably, facing his window where Nico appeared long ago. That was truly where they started. Now they were on a thin string about to break. It could be the end, and Percy was grasping straws to keep him in his life.

It was yet another thing he was never able to say: He couldn't lose Nico.

Some time in the night Percy drifted off...

Apollo's temple crumbled, the stones cracking and rolling under Giant's and Titan's feet. The ground rumbled, steam rolling up from fissures in the earth.

Percy and Piper fought a rather large giant wearing traditional white and gold garb, but one made for women as opposed to men, but he obviously had gone to a lot of trouble to dress for the occasion.

They cut along his ankles and shins, but it was hardly slowing him up. They were out of breath, covered in grime, sporting cuts all over their body. Percy spotted streaks on Piper's cheeks, but they weren't ones of sadness but of anger and exhaustion. She stabbed at the giant's toes, screaming at no one.

Jason stood among fiery bushes, the sky above them gray and black, white flashes of lightening striking the ground, the wind furious, tearing at their clothes. It was doing the most damage, and that was saying a lot, because they were terribly outnumbered. Gaia had kept safe the remaining monsters that she freed from Tartarus, before it was closed, and they must have all gathered for the show.

The giant lifted it's fungus-covered-foot, Percy and Piper rolling away as it pounded hard on the ground. Dust swirled over them. Percy got to his tired feet, his body on the verge of giving up. He looked over at Piper sprawled out on the ground.

"Piper," he called, falling and crawling to her still body. He grasped her shoulder, shaking it. "Piper!"

A wave of sleepiness nearly overtook him. Coming from the brown dust was a tall figure with eyes of white, his body hard to focus on, like an photo under water. Morpheus.

Annabeth ran forward, but she stopped short, staggering. Morpheus gave a twisted grin, taking in his grasp her wrist. She collapsed. He let her go, leaving her as lifeless as Piper.

Percy staggered to his feet, but through his blurry vision saw Nico was running full speed, putting himself between the god and her body. His skeleton army behind him continued fighting the giants and cyclopes leaving him on his own.

Morpheus waved his hand in front of Nico's face, and his knees buckled, but he slashed at the God who only disappeared and appeared behind them, stealing their arms. He grinned as Annabeth screamed in her sleep, a scream like the one when she had swallowed fire from Tartarus and Percy just knew that was what she was dreaming of. Tartarus.

Percy tried standing, but fell on all fours. He tried crawling, but he felt like he was falling into some horrible dream. Nothing was real.

Nico's eyes rolled upward and he fell, too, mouthing something incoherent. Annabeth went startlingly quiet, tears escaping from the crinkles of her eyes. Nico was crying too, fat tears falling fast.

A skeleton came forth, charging at the God. He vanished before the skeleton reached him.

Percy sat up, feeling Piper's hands around his arm, pulling him to his feet. He didn't stop staring at Annabeth and Nico, lying motionless on the ground, the tears continuing to wash their faces.

Annabeth blinked, curling herself around the son of Hades, whispering to him.

The dream of a memory faded, and Percy was standing in Annabeth's dining room. Confused, he looked around at the high vault ceilings, the thick windows overlooking a city in the distance, the sun peeping over the flat buildings. The long glass table contained small greasy hand prints of her twin brothers, but they or her step-mother were nowhere in sight, it was only Annabeth and her father.

Percy guessed that it must have been part of the promise her father made in an attempt at developing a relationship with his daughter, but it was not going well, she stabbed her peas angrily as her father spoke harshly to her. Percy couldn't imagine what Annabeth could have done wrong. She was as close as perfection got.

"Explain this to me," he told her.

"There's nothing to explain, dad."

"I liked that boy. I thought you did, too."

"I did, dad – I do."

"Then what happened? He seemed like such a nice young man."

Annabeth pursed her lips, flinging her flaxen braid over her shoulder. Percy remembered that look, and he considered her father brave for continuing the interrogation.

"Annabeth, I understand you not telling me everything. You don't want to scare me, but you have to give me something. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, dad. It's complicated."

"Nothing is ever as complicated as we think it is."

Tears shone in her brilliant gray eyes as haunting as an owl's. "He's in love with someone else."

Mr. Chase sat back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. "I never liked that boy."

Annabeth gave a hint of a smile. "He deserves to be happy."

"So do you."

"I will be. He tried, dad, but I saw it in his face. I can't keep him when he's not mine to begin with."

The smile was fake and it wasn't enough to stop the ache that Percy felt in his gut. It pulled him toward Annabeth and he reached for her hand, but it was a dream, and it all melted into nothingness.

The scene became hazy. "No, I'm not ready. Annabeth..." But when did his dreams ever listen?

Another scene took its place. It was a beach, stones marring the sand. In the lapping waves there was a woman, her pink dress flowing in the wind. Over her shoulder she flashed her pearly whites, and his heart nearly stopped. It was a goddess as frightening as Ares.

Percy approached her, his tennis shoes soaking in the waves. He tried to keep them dry but it wasn't working. Maybe because it was a dream?

"Didn't I tell you," she cooed.

"What?"

"That I would make your love life interesting, of course."

"It was interesting enough, thanks." He wasn't feeling kind toward Aphrodite, not after his breakup with Annabeth, his affection toward Nico. Aphrodite was the last goddess he wanted to dream of.

"Oh," she sighed, her hair that changed colors from blond to black to brown swept over her back. "I like Annabeth, but it wasn't satisfying. That's my bad."

Percy had been in fights before, and sometimes there was the sensation before the sucker punch, a horrifying realization that you were going to get pummeled. Aphrodite was giving him that vibe.

"Your bad?"

"Is that not the right slang? It's so hard to keep up with what the kids are saying and I'm so busy as it is."

Yeah, Percy thought sarcastically, butting into demigods lives would keep you busy.

"What do you mean that it's your bad?"

"You were impressive, Percy. You fought off a Minotaur on your first try! I know many demigods who couldn't do that. You were fearless and Annabeth was so unimpressed. I had to do something about it, you understand. You two were together and were adorable, but she never saw you as anything more. I like experimenting, to see what happens when two people who aren't meant for each other fall in love. It's delicious."

"You made her fall in love with me?"

"I gave Eros that pleasure. Don't worry, he was gentle, not a lot of pain."

"All of this was you?" The anger boiled fast in his veins.

"You have a lot of steamy moments to thank me for, Percy. Oh, that first kiss! It was one for the storybooks!"

"Did you send Eros after Nico, too?"

Aphrodite clapped her hands. "Oh, I hadn't even considered of the two of you! I'm sorry I can't take credit for this. What Nico feels for you is not our doing."

"And how I feel about him?"

"That's not us either."

It did little to dull his fury. If the Gods affected every facet of demigod and mortal lives, how did anyone know what they felt was real or not? Aphrodite peered at him with her ever-changing eyes, her face never settling on a shape or color, but all beautiful.

"Percy, all of it is real. Just because someone was hit with Eros arrows doesn't make it less real. You don't have a lot of faith in us."

Percy snapped, "you don't make that easy. You mess with us."

"Now, now," she chastised lightly, "you were happy with Annabeth and you were too young to settle with Nico back then. Some things take time. You and Nico needed years, but you're young - babies in the eyes of us Gods. You haven't lost any time, you've learned is all."

"That's a nice twist on morals."

"You'll be fine, Percy, but I must say, you will face more difficulties. They will begin when you wake up." Aphrodite shivered with anticipation, fixating her gaze back on the roaring ocean.

"I'm not done talking with you yet."

Green - no blue - eyes widened. "You have grown. I love the fire, but that's not your decision, is it? This is enough, for now." She snapped her fingers.

Percy woke on his stomach, his arm reaching out above him, his wrist bent oddly between the wall and the mattress. Sitting up he listened. There wasn't a sound, but did he really expect there'd be? Nico was quieter than a mouse.

However, when he peeked into the living room, it was empty. The blanket had fallen halfway on the floor as if Nico got up in a hurry, and the clothes that he wore were rumpled up carelessly.

His heart plummeted. Picking up the shirt, he brought it to his nose. It smelled of him and Nico, a perfect mix of both of them, like someone bottled the ocean's tide and burnt wood. Like summer days.

That was it. Nico was gone just like the ghost that he was.

Percy dropped the shirt, grabbed his keys from the table and left. He probably should have taken a shower, changed his clothes from yesterday, but he didn't care, all he wanted was some food, and his grumbling stomach agreed.

There was a great pizza place down the street from the apartment. It wasn't breakfast food, but that was the point in having pizza in the morning. He wanted it greasy with all the toppings. He wanted it so greasy he'd need a pile of napkins to keep it dripping off his chin.

New York was beautiful that day, the Summer melting into Autumn, the cool air itching to get under his warm jacket. He spotted a few colorful splotches in the trees and thought of how everything seemed more vibrant when the dead was coming alive and the alive when it was dying.

"Hey! Hey!"

Percy turned and spotted a little girl with blond pigtails smiling at him sweetly. She offered a crumpled dollar, "I think you dropped this."

He knew very well that he had a full twenty on him. "Keep it," he tried to smile back.

"This is yours." He could have sworn her voice lowered in timbre.

Cautiously, he gripped his pen. "Buy yourself some candy."

"Take it," the girl growled, her shiny black shoes steaming. "Take the money, Percy Jackson." She grew taller, an insane growth-spurt.

The dollar went up in smoke and Percy swung his sword, small hands that turned into claws grappled with the hilt, turning it away from her. Her scales cut into his knuckles, the more he fought, the more they cut in.

"You should be nicer, Percy Jackson," the girl hissed, boils on her cheeks popping, she pushed his sword up.

"Yeah, I'll remember that," he grunted, kicking her in the stomach.

She fell, a murderous visage taking over her once sweet-appearance. Where once her feet had been there were three snake-like legs that wiggled uncontrollably.

No one passing them on the sidewalk took interest; the Mist stronger than ever. She grinned suddenly, her teeth popping out of her mouth like coins from a slot machine.

Percy gripped his sword, but didn't attack just yet. Behind her the concrete cracked, the earth shaking violently, Percy grasping on to a cafe table for balance. The cracks widened, large enough to swallow the people that were unwittingly avoiding it.

"Do you know what isss happening?"

It couldn't have been Gaia. She was defeated. This was something different but familiar. He remembered the ground opening up like that once, it happened right in Camp Half-Blood.

The bones of a hand flew out from the ground, it lifted the rest of itself up. It stood there, its dingy old sword poised and ready.

"They're here to take you, Percccy. Sssomeone wantsss you. It'sss here to take you to the Underworld. Death awaitsss you."

"I've been to the Underworld - got the t-shirt and everything."

The skeleton raised its sword and Percy raised his. Then, the skeleton's skull turned downward, the sockets of where its eyes used to be aiming at the monster lying sprawled at its feet. Swiftly, it pointed its sword at her, piercing the girl/monster through her back and chest. The scream was cut short, her body turning to dust.

Another snake creature came slithering out from a table, her face scaly, her teeth dripping poison. The only thing human about her was her glassy eyes, brown flecked with green. Percy chopped off her head easily, but there were more, coming out from the gaps in the concrete, from under chairs and taxi's. Percy spun, seeing them from around buildings and across the busy street, some getting hit by cars, turning to dust under the wheels.

They were everywhere.

Three more skeletons came crawling up, their old weaponry lifting to defend. From behind the cafe Nico came into the sun, Percy's blue sunglasses firmly over his eyes.

"You're here," Percy commented stupidly.

Nico moved behind him, their backs together. He spun the Stygian sword threateningly. "Ready for this?"

"Sure, but what are they?"

"Let's say hybrids."

Percy didn't want to witness that family reunion.

When they were surrounded, him and Nico attacked together, duckign and dodging their clawing, slashing through the droves. The skeleton soldiers sliced through them with remarkable speed, protecting their backs.

Nico cut through two at once, their heads rolling under a passing Lamborghini.

"Double the points," Percy called out to him.

Nico laughed, a genuine laugh. Percy grinned, kicking one to the side, stabbing it in the stomach.

"I'm not giving you any points for that," Nico yelled.

"It wasn't that bad."

"Not. Impressive. At. All." He punctuated each word with a kill.

Fighting them was easy, but they kept coming. They slithered forward, bearing their claws, spitting poison that bubbled and ate the long laces of Percy's shoes.

Nico's movements were slowing. He had called forth two more skeletons, and while they helped, it was taking its toll on their summoner.

Percy kept close to him, making sure that none of them were planning on accosting him from behind. They weren't too bright, but they were enthusiastic.

The sun was high in the sky, and they were beginning to attract attention. They had stayed in one place for too long. Nico had noticed it, too.

"We need to get out of here."

There were a few more monsters crawling their way toward them, the skeletons taking care of them.

Nico bent forward, his hand on his knee, his sword hanging limply. With a yawn he dismissed their aid, and with their job done, the skeletons fell apart, their bones clattering into the pitch blackness of the earth. With a jolt, the sidewalk snapped itself shut. Percy nearly tumbled.

"We have to go," he yawned again, "before more come." Nico reached for him, his hand hovering in mid-air.

Percy's brain was slow to take it in. Nico didn't like to be touched. Before Percy could compute it Nico fell apart as his skeleton had done, like a broken morbid doll, he collapsed. Percy caught him, raising him up in his arms with ease.