Happy Valentine's Day! Sorry that I couldn't post it on the day, but I was LOADED with work! Right now, I'm watching Skyfall. I have to go see Beautiful Creatures, since I am a HUGE fan of the book!

Sorry for Typos and OOCness!

Happy Reading!

Chapter 26

Nico

Nico awoke to yelling.

His muscles stiff like he had been sleeping for days. His head hurt, his eyes would barely stay open, and the sky was much too bright. He had sand in uncomfortable place, his limbs were bind, and he heard the arguing between people.

The dream he'd had was still billowing around his is mind like a hurricane. The giant, Tityos, had been unbelievably proper and way too much like Prometheus for Nico's liking. And he had proclaimed that Nico would die. That was always good news to hear.

Part of Nico had wanted to agree to his proposition. If it meant saving his friends, then he should have. But giants and gods and titans all fell into a category that Nico called the 'Never Believe Them' category. They always told half of the truth and usually lied.

He forced himself to focus on their faces. He recognized his friend's faces. Jason was in front of Piper like he was trying to protect her, and Frank, Hazel, and Leo were standing in a little triangle a few feet away.

"Listen, Triton," thundered Jason. "Piper won. She beat you. Now untie Nico and give us the information."

Triton? Nico shifted his head to where they were glaring. The guy that looked a lot like Percy was there, standing in the surf, his face completely red with rage, and a surf board at his feet. Only then did Nico realize that Piper had had a surf board too.

How much had happened while he had been knocked out?

He remembered then what Tityos had said. Percy was still stuck in Tartarus, and his half brother Triton was in Kauai with them. Why Triton was in Hawaii, Nico still wasn't sure, but right now, it looked like he was looking for surfing competitors.

"You're lying scumbags and disgusting cheaters," he hissed at them. With his anger, the tide started coming in at a rapid, unnatural pace. Nico looked down the beach and watched all of the people move their chairs back.

The tide came all the way up to Nico and started to soak his clothes. It reminded Nico of why he didn't like the beach that much. But wet clothes weren't a big issue. Nico was starting to look at the big picture.

If Triton didn't stop, it could be a tsunami. Should he start talking, or should he pretend to be asleep?

"It's not like we were the only ones," Piper shot back. "You cheated too. Every time you almost fell off, you just made the ocean save you and bring you back up. I'm a daughter of Aphrodite; that kind of stuff doesn't exactly work out for me, if you know what I am saying."

Triton's anger rose again. The tide started to go past Nico. He was fully awake and moving as best as he could now, but no one even noticed him. They were too busy being mad at each other to even care about Nico.

"I wanted to see how you would do. Obviously you wouldn't win the competition; I'm just too good for you. But you should've tried. I want to be on the better man's side of this war, because they usually win. Of course you'll all agree it is Gaea's, but with the performance you just made, I'd say you both are the same in your intentions."

That was like a slap in the face, but somehow humbling at the same time. All of them were taken aback. Leo even stumbled like he wanted to physically get as far away from Triton as he could. Nico wanted to, but there was the fact that he was still tied up.

Something in the air changed, and they all pulled their weapons. Jason had his sword and Piper took her dagger from him. Frank had an arrow notched, Hazel had her sword, and Leo had the Archimedes Sphere at its normal size in his hands. Nico sure didn't want lazer mode to go off.

They were preparing for a fight, because something told Nico that Triton wasn't going to let them leave alive.

Think fast, he yelled at himself. He didn't have anything to use. He had left most of his belongings by the pool. He had a pocket knife in his pocket (duh) but he couldn't reach it with how his hands were tied. The most he could do was flail like a fish and make stupid sounds with the gag in his mouth.

Okay Nico, prioritize.

His hands could touch the ground and lie flat, and Nico had a flashback to when he was ten and had found out that Bianca was dead. He had been so mad at Percy, at the skeleton soldiers, at life in general, that he had put a crack in the ground that was still at Camp Half-Blood.

Another time, about half a year later, Nico had been in the Labyrinth with Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel. To prevent Kronos/Luke from attacking them and monsters following them, he had caused giant rocks to come out of the ground and close the cave.

And just a few hours ago, if that was how long it had been, Nico had almost broken Piper's kitchen. He was powerful and needed to learn how to control his powers without being scared of mad.

But he had the advantage. He was a little bit scared of the situation. And he was mad that he was tied to a pole. He thought momentarily how much easier it would've been if he could just Shadow Travel out of there, but apparently that wasn't working anymore.

He imagined Triton falling all the way down to Tartarus and being stuck down there, like he had been and Percy and Annabeth now were. He imagined every single person that he hated just dying with a blink of his eye or a twitch of his hand.

The ground shook with Nico's powers. His eyes closed and he could hear the worried screams of tourists and the shocked gasps of his friends. He could hear Triton yelling at them. "What trickery is this?"

With a rip, the ground tore in half, from Nico's feet. He didn't fall in. He almost felt… happy.

Nico's eyes flew open, and he wasn't tied up in the middle of Hawaii, causing mass destruction and probably injuring tons of people. His friends weren't there, Triton wasn't there. Everything had completely changed.

He was running through Tartarus with practically nothing. He darted over the ice bridge. The entire ocean had frozen over. The monsters were much too close to him and he couldn't afford to die now with no one else to help him.

He had to get the Doors of Death before anything happened. He had to close them so everything would be alright, and there wouldn't be a war with the giants. He could save all of his friends and make everything right again, so long as he found them in time.

Nico felt terrible, like he had already died. He hadn't slept since he had ended up in Tartarus. His body felt like a sack of potatoes, and he didn't even need to breathe anymore. He wanted nothing more than to sleep in a bed.

A giant mismatched house was in front of him, surrounded by a barbed-wire gate with a lock on it. He heard the screeching behind him and he knew that he didn't have any time to spare. He reached into his pocket and took out his pocket knife. It was just small enough to be able to pick it with.

He fitted the knife into the lock and twisted it around. The screeching and cackling was getting louder. He could almost hear the beating of wings. He kept moving it and then it clicked. The lock opened up and he pushed the gate open and pulled it shut behind him.

Nico didn't bother staying around to see if the monster was catching up to him. He sprinted to the steps of the house and took them two at a time. He kicked the front doors of the building open and shut them swiftly.

He was safe. He was in a house. He was in a… thrift shop? (A/N: Sorry, but I can't help but start singing Macklemore's Thrift Shop. "I'm gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pockets. I-I'm hunting, looking for a come-up. This is fucking awesome." I love that song…)

The entire floor was lined with crazy item that didn't even make sense. Knickknacks and stupid gag gifts were everywhere, practically spilling off of the shelves. He was almost happy to see these kinds of things. As long as they weren't monsters, they were like family. A trail dust now covered him like a second layer of skin. He coughed and it floated around his body like a giant cloud. He looked like a ghost.

Then he took one step forward. And then ended up on his back with his head hurting like crazy.

A sign was hanging in front of him when he stood up, rubbing his forehead. He didn't really read it, but he got the gist of it. If you stole anything you died. Please sign in, blah blah blah. He past the sign in sheet and walked through the aisles. He didn't feel like taking anything. He wanted to get out of there and find the Doors of Death. He hoped to the gods that the monster had forgotten about him.

When he found the other side of the building, something tugged on him. He turned around, and no one was there.

"Who's there?" he asked. No one answered him. He sighed and felt his body shaking. "Come on Nico, you've come too far to lose it over a little wind or something. Quit being paranoid." He shook his hair out and tried to reach for the handle.

Something tugged on him again, and this time, he ended up on the ground. He cursed and shouted something. He tried to stand back up, but the thing kept tugging on him, and started pulling him back.

He glanced at his leg, and there wasn't anything on it. Some invisible force was tugging on him. It pulled him through the aisles and away from both of the doors, to a different side that he hadn't bothered to observe. He didn't think it was important.

Nico clawed at the ground and tried to grab onto bins and shelves, but the force was much too strong for him. It kept pulling him and he knew he was a goner. Wonderful.

And then, a staircase came into his vision. It led down, probably below ground to a basement or storage area. A rope tied it off. Why would a force be pulling him down there? It had to be more than just extra Wal-Mart space. Where was he going?

"Help!" he screamed, and no one answered him. Instead, he heard laughter. A woman's laughter that he had heard before. It was that of Gaea. "Help!" he yelled again, but the laughter only got louder and madder.

He took one last look at everything around him, and thought, I'm sorry for failing everyone. Then he was pulled down the stairs into darkness.

When his eyes opened, Nico was back in Hawaii. The ground was still shaking, and the crack in the ground had spread to Triton and Triton only. The god was hanging onto the side of the ground like he was clinging to a cliff. He was yelling and the ocean was not helping him. It was only falling down the giant chasm.

Nico thought about the Tartarus vision for a split second. He was starting to remember some of the things that had happened during his time in Tartarus. That was good, but this situation was not.

The earthquake stopped. The crack in the earth stopped spreading. Nico's binds had fallen off, and he stood to his feet, observing the destruction that he had caused.

What have I done?

Thanks for reading! So, I've posted a Percabeth oneshot in honor of Valentine's Day called Glass Vases. I'd love it if you checked it out. Also, I have my Valentine's Day story from last year known as Camp HalfBlood: Five Valentine's Day Love Stories. Please check that out too!

Reviews and ideas are loved!

-BBH