Hullo, my lovelies. Miss me? ;)

So, I've been kind of lazy the past few days-not writing as much as I should have been in my notebook. But I have been writing-I'm trying really hard to get this story on a roll. Lots of action, a little fluff mixed in, progressively moving forward, because I know there have been several complaints that this story is dragging a little. I'm attempting to change that. Although a few chapters from now, it may not seem like that.

Any-hoo, thanks for all the reviews-I am now updating, and should continue to do so daily. Don't expect double updates, though-writer's block is being a pain in my podex. But if you get to two thousand, since that is a special occasion, I will double update for you-I did promise that, after all. But besides then, no double updates, at least not until I have the story completely finished on my end. I'm always a few chapters ahead of updates-takes away the stress-so I'll be finished writing before it's time to upload the last chapter. Which I think is super cool, and you guys probably don't.

So, here is the update-the Reyna/Nico chapters are moving particularly slowly; I really want to speed them up. So the next group of these chappies will probably be packed with action to the point of making my head explode-just a heads up. (haha. Pun.)

Thanks to new reviewers/readers and old ones alike-I really love you guys; you're the best.

Enjoy!

(Oh, and cherries-now cherriesawesome-I'm so glad you got your own account! That's great!)

Chapter LXXIX

Nico

If there was an award for patience, Nico wouldn't win it. He spends the entire time while Reyna and Gwen are talking pacing in front of the tent, waiting for Reyna to come back out or for her to call him in.

The waiting is torture. He hates it.

It gets so bad at one point that he leans against a tent pole and starts twisting the shadows into shapes-sort of like Hazel's thing with the Mist, except that his are obviously made of shadows and don't really seem to have any magical purpose.

He leans back with one arm folded across his chest, propping his other elbow on that arm so that he can watch his hand twist shadows around his fingers. They curl happily against his skin-it's like they're alive, and they really seem to like him.

Nice. Nico thinks. Instead of a girl magnet, I'm a shadow magnet.

He sighs and absentminedly continues twirling the shadows, looking off into the distance, where the Athena Parthenos is standing on Half-Blood Hill, next to Thalia's pine.

Funny how everyone still calls it that. Nico muses. Even though Thalia's alive and well now, and definitely not a tree.

He thinks back on the scene at camp-getting ambushed by Drew. And acting like a total idiot again. Weird how girls could do that to him-Hazel, Reyna, and now Drew. He's starting to suspect that girls have some weird otherworldly power over boys that makes them act like morons.

It wasn't that he was attracted to Drew-gods, no, that would be the worst thing the gods ever did to him. And when he was with Reyna, and Drew was insulting her, he wanted to kill her, but as soon as Reyna was gone, all he could do to Drew was mumble at her. Not exactly very intimidating.

He promises himself it won't happen again-the next time Drew tries to make a move on him, if she does, she's going to have nightmares. For the rest of her life.

Behind him, he hears Reyna whisper his name from the cover of the tent.

"Nico," she calls to him softly. "Come in now."

Nico scans the area surrounding the tent one last time-nothing. He can sense that no one's hidden in the shadows-handy talent, that-and no one else is visible.

He ducks inside the tent. Almost immediately, Aurum and Argentum start growling at him, baring their razor sharp fangs, their metal bodies glinting in the lantern light.

At one point, they might have made him nervous. But now, they kind of just amuse him. He bares his teeth back at them, giving them both the most confused look he's ever seen on a dog, and making a smile tug at the corners of Reyna's mouth.

"Aurum, Argentum-down. Nico's a friend." She commands, and immediately, they sit back on their haunches and let Nico pass, although he could swear they're still looking at him suspiciously.

Gwen is standing by a desk, studying him. Her gaze isn't hard, though, like most-it's open-minded, almost welcoming.

Of course, Gwen's seen him around Camp Jupiter before. But they've never talked to each other-he was basically a shadow in the corner of the room at camp, which he tried very hard to be.

"Gwen, Nico. Nico, Gwen." Reyna says in a brisk tone, introducing them properly.

Nico steps forward to shake Gwen's hand, and grasps his hand firmly in her own.

"Nice to officially meet you, Gwen." Nico tells her, smirking a little.

She smiles back at him, rolling her eyes a little. "Nice to officially meet you, too, Nico." She replies. Then she lets go of his hand and turns back to Reyna. "You said you're going to visit Dakota next?"

"That's the plan." Reyna confirms.

"Be careful with him." Gwen warns. "When Jason fought against him-and won-it kind of bruised his pride. He didn't want to fight Jason in the first place, or so he told me, but the idea that Jason would fight back seemed to offend him." Gwen rolls her eyes. "I've tried to explain how stupid he's being, but he won't listen to me." Nico could swear he hears her mutter, "Boys." under her breath, in a very uncomplimentary tone.

"He's still against Octavian, though?" Reyna asks.

"Oh, definitely. He hates Octavian. He didn't used to, at least not this much, but ever since those last war games where I...um...got hurt, he's been weird towards me-and some of that weirdness is how much he hates Octavian now." Gwen explains, her voice wavering a bit when she mentions her death experience.

Normally, that would be near death experience, but considering she'd actually died and then came back, Nico doesn't think it qualifies under that category.

For some reason, Reyna seems to hesitate-like she knows why Dakota has a sudden burning hatred for Octavian. "We'll be careful, Gwen." She finally promises. "Besides, he was one of the most excited to find out I was back. He was there when I punched Octavian."

"You punched Octavian?" Gwen asks incredulously. Reyna opens her mouth to answer, but Gwen stops her. "No, never mind-anyway, yeah, he was the most excited-but he also took it the hardest when he found out you were gone."

Reyna's eyes are stormy, and she nods. "I'll keep that in mind. We all better get going, though, Gwen, if we're going to get everyone together before midnight."

Gwen nods. "Good luck, Reyna."

"Same to you." Reyna replies.

"Nico." Gwen says, inclining her head to him. Nico inclines his head back, and she swiftly turns and disappears through the tent flap.

Aurum and Argentum look after her, but then their eyes quickly return back to Reyna-their true master.

"Aurum, Argentum-it'd be better if you stayed here." Reyna tells the dogs quietly.

They lower their heads and whine, peering up at her with puppy dog eyes.

Nico can see Reyna weakening, looking at them-he finds it amazing that she can be so kind-hearted and compassionate after all she's been through.

"Oh, all right, fine." Reyna capitulates. "You can come."

The dogs leap to their feet and let out joyful barks, wagging their tails happily.

"But you have to be quiet." Reyna adds sternly, and they immediately go eerily silent. They pad over to her and take positions on either side of her, brushing against the sides of her legs.

Nico shakes his head at the dogs' antics and quickly reaches out his hand for Reyna's. "The dogs'll have to stay visible, I can't touch both of them."

Reyna puts her hand in his. "It'll be fine, they often go off on their own. No one'll think anything about it."

Nico nods and closes his eyes, concentrating on wrapping the shadows around them, essentially bending darkness, and when he opens his eyes, both of them are wrapped completely in shadows.

Aurum and Argentum don't seem to notice anything different-maybe the invisibility thing doesn't work on metal dogs. Or maybe it's just because they can still smell them-and that they're used to weird things, like people turning invisible.

Nico and Reyna look out the tent flap to check that no one's coming before stepping out and heading to Dakota's tent, which is only a few down from Gwen's. Aurum and Argentum follow them quickly and quietly, right on Reyna's heels.

When they get there, Nico starts to let go of Reyna's hand, but she grips his tighter and doesn't let him.

"No, Nico, you can come in with me this time. You've actually met and talked to Dakota before." She tells him.

Nico's a little distracted by the thrill of warmth at her tightened grip on his hand to answer, but he nods once in understanding before following her into Dakota's tent.

Unfortunately, unlike Gwen, Dakota is asleep-passed out on his bed with his mouth wide open, snoring loud enough to wake the dead.

Reyna sighs and lets go of Nico's hand to start shaking Dakota awake.

Nico feels an unexpected and strong feeling of loss when her hand leaves his-but he shakes it away; he can't afford to be distracted.

Besides, He reminds himself for the millionth time, Reyna isn't interested in me. And I'm still in love with Percy-I'm still gay.

He flinches at the word like he always does. Luckily, Reyna has her back turned to him, so she doesn't notice.

Still, there's something so different about his feelings for Percy and his feelings for Reyna. His feelings for Percy hurt-and he'd always thought that the pain was because of the knowledge that Percy would never love him back. But his feelings for Reyna are different. They're stronger, purer-warmer. And being around her makes him surprisingly content. Even happy, sometimes.

"Dakota." Reyna whispers, trying to wake him up without causing too much of a disruption. She shakes his shoulder harder. "Dakota!" She says, louder, but Dakota only snores and rolls over.

Reyna glares down at him and then looks up to peer around the tent. Something she sees makes her eyes light up with a weirdly mischevious glint, and she strides over to the other side of the tent to pick something up before coming back over to stand beside Dakota's bed.

Then she dumps a pitcher of water on his head.

Dakota jerks upright, spluttering. "What-" And then he sees Reyna.

And he grins from ear to ear. "Reyna!" He exclaims as a greeting.

"Hi, Dakota." Reyna says. "Always nice to see you again."

Dakota nods, still grinning, and then he looks down at his wet shirt, confusion furrowing his brow. "Why am I soaking wet?"

"Reyna had to resort to more drastic measures to wake you up." Nico explains, smirking in satisfaction when he sees Dakota jump. He obviously hadn't realized Nico was there. "You sleep like the dead."

Dakota stumbles out of his bed. His pajamas are a t-shirt and boxers-which Nico is very glad for. It'd be more than a little awkward if he slept shirtless. He walks over to his own desk and picks up a water bottle full of red Kool-Aid, drinking half of it in one gulp.

"So." He slurs. "Why are you here?"

"It's about a peace treaty." Reyna starts, and then launches into her explanation.

Dakota, for his credit, listens without interrupting once-a remarkable achievement for someone so completely ADHD.

"I like this plan." He declares when they're finished, taking another swig of Kool-Aid. "I'm in."

"Perfect." Reyna says. "Then everything's settled-are you sure you can get one of your guys to distract Octavian like I said?"

Dakota nods. "Should be easy enough. I could probably even convince them to stage an actual fight. It'd probably keep him busy for longer that way."

"If they're okay with it, do it." Reyna tells him. "We need to buy as much time as possible to convince the senate."

Dakota nods and then moves to get dressed, pulling on jeans over his boxers and then pulling his toga over his head, fighting to get his head through the hole. He straps his sword to his side as a precautionary measure and then starts to walk out of the tent, before suddenly stopping and turning back to Reyna, his expression more serious than Nico's ever seen it.

"You know what he did to Gwen, don't you?" He asks.

Reyna's eyes turn steely. "I know. I couldn't find a way to prove it, though, so I could never punish him for it."

Dakota nods. "When you're back in place as praetor, though-make him pay." And then he walks through the tent flap without another word.

"What did he mean? What did Octavian do to Gwen?" Nico asks, confused.

Reyna stares into the distance, her expression hard, absentmindedly stroking Aurum's ears. "Octavian was the one who stabbed Gwen during the war games. If Thanatos hadn't been captured, she would have died, and Octavian would have gotten his way a lot sooner."

"Why would Dakota care so much about that?" Nico wonders out loud.

An amused smile tugs at the corners of Reyna's mouth. "Dakota has a crush on Gwen. He always has-or at least for as long as I've known him. Gwen has no clue, and Dakota won't admit it to anyone, let alone her, so they're just really good friends."

"Oh." Nico says. He wonders if Reyna can see his feelings for her.

"Come on, Nico." Reyna tells him, her tone suddenly brisk. "We need to get to the praetor's tent."

So they head back out into the night, with her metal dogs on their heels, preparing for a meeting that will decide the fates of the camps.

So, not really a cliffy-that's probably one of my less suspense-filled endings. I'm still proud of it though-my writing has quite a flair for the dramatic, don't you think? Maybe Zeus snuck into my head along with the other characters... :)

And, guys-those of you concerned with my talk of the voices in my head-it's really nothing. I'm not insane. I'm a writer. There are plenty of others out there who understood that, and I very much appreciate their not thinking I'm certifiable. Because I'm not. I'm crazy, but in a good, doesn't-belong-in-an-asylum way. Okay? Okay. Glad we cleared that up.

I love you, read BunnyBo's stories, review excessively, and whatever you do, DON'T polish Buford with Windex!