As Nico fought monster after monster, he felt a presence slip onto the back of the Argo II.
Probably a backup sailor, he thought, fending off a clumsy attack. About time they came.
The presence mingled itself into the hectic mess. Yet, it didn't stop to fight. It flawlessly threaded through seas of skeletons and monsters alike, as though it was searching for something. It was when it suddenly stopped and made a beeline to Nico's location that it had drawn his attention.
Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Nico glanced in the direction of the Roman Legacy. Sure enough, Octavian was nowhere to be seen.
Interesting, he mused. Maybe Octavian finally learnt a thing or two about stealthiness. Seriously, his stupidity makes me doubt what Grace used to say about him.
Nico didn't know much about Octavian, apart from the fact that he and Jason were once the cabin boys aboard the same ship, with Hazel and Frank as the powder monkeys. With what little information he had about Octavian, Nico had started to form his own impression of the man. Usually, the words "idiot" and "doofus" first came to mind.
As Octavian drew nearer, Nico mentally estimated the amount of time Octavian would take to finally make his way to where Nico stood. He intended to turn around just in time to catch Octavian red-handed to give him a little shock just for fun.
Three steps away.
Two steps away. Nico smirked. Octavian's face was going to be worth remembering.
One step away.
Nico turned, sword in hand to swing a fake attack at him.
Instead, what greeted his eyes was Octavian's bloody hand, gripping tightly onto the blade of the sword. Red liquid steadily trickled off its tip.
In a matter of seconds, blood dripped copiously onto the floor. "W-What are you doing, you idiot!?" Nico hissed, trying to draw his blade away from Octavian, but he wouldn't let go. Immediately, pearly white scales blossomed from the deep cut, bursting down his arm and spreading across the right side of his body. The scales glistened beautifully in the sunlight, but Nico knew that the pain wasn't half as pretty.
Nico desperately tugged away the sword from Octavian's grip, finally succeeding but leaving a large gash across his palm. What's with idiots and this sword recently? Nico thought exasperatedly to himself.
In the corner of his eyes, bright golden scales caught his attention.
"Thank goodness," Nico breathed. "Will! Come here and help me heal this guy!"
Piper's expression shifted from worried, to confused, to a doubtful are you crazy? No, wait, he's crazy too. Are you both crazy?
As Will slid over as quickly as he could, Nico looked down at Octavian, who was no doubt shuddering in pain. He sighed. "Dude, if you want something for someone, you gotta ask them nicely, you know? Not that I'll give it to you, but…" His voice trailed off as he heard something amiss. "...um, are you crying?"
A tear-streaked face looked up at the quartermaster. And Gods, was he mad.
"Nothing that you'd know of, di Angelo!" he shouted, choking. "Give me the sword!"
Nico quickly swung it out of reach, flinching. "Hey -"
"Give it to me!" Octavian yelled, his voice cracking under exertion. "I said, give it to me!"
Nico looked desperately at Will for help, who looked back at him cluelessly.
By now, Octavian was positively shrieking and screaming hysterically. All the monsters stopped, looking at their leader curiously.
Nico stood there helplessly, deciding to wait for Octavian to calm down. It didn't seem as though he was capable of doing anything else, anyway. The three watched Octavian as his screams died down to shouts, and then to sobs.
Nico sighed again as he kneeled down to face Octavian. "You know, how about we all stop this fighting and have a nice, long talk?"
Once those aboard the Roman Legacy returned, they tied a shuddering Octavian to the mast ("for safety purposes," Jackson had said) while letting Will heal him. The white scales almost entirely covered his right upper body, but with the siren's healing, the spreading stopped.
Nico watched the captain sit before Octavian, setting his golden sword aside. "Care to tell us what's going on?"
Octavian stayed silent.
Jason sighed, resting his chin on his arm. "It's been a long time since we got to talk like this, hasn't it?"
The sound of waves filled in the silence.
Jason stared at Octavian, confused and a little worried. "Fine, I'll bite. What happened after we...last saw you?"
Octavian hung his head low, trying to put his memories into words. "I...the Queen took me. Made me part of the Royal Navy."
Jason tilted his head. "Why did you agree? You could've just escaped. We would come for you."
"No, you wouldn't," he hissed. "You never came. It was years after you left that I first set sail to find you. Even then, you'd label me as a traitor, a betrayer. When you were the true betrayer," he spat bitterly.
Nico realised that some colour had drained from the captain's face. Jason remained silent for a while, searching for an answer.
Octavian laughed hollowly. "I haven't forgotten, Grace. The first time I came on the Roman Legacy, you didn't even give me a chance to explain. Straight away, you engaged in battle, even after you recognised my voice. And that's not even the end of it," Octavian interrupted as Jason opened his mouth to speak.
"After a while, you just couldn't be bothered with me anymore. You and your crew treated me like a mindless idiot, and every battle we fought was just something you wanted to get done and over with. Don't you dare think that I can forgive you for that,"
The captain hung his head low, looking away.
"That was still fine. That was okay. Can you imagine, Grace? What could possibly have happened to me to make that look like a walk in the garden?" Octavian pressed, a maniacal grin splitting across his face. Fear crept across the captain's face. "I'll tell you. Five years ago, Gaea promised me that if I could bring the Stygian Iron sword to her, she would return my family to me."
Jason looked at him, surprised. Octavian continued.
"Two years ago, I finally met my parents. Two years ago, I saw my father being burnt alive. Two years ago, Gaea threatened me that if I didn't get the stupid black sword by today, I'd see my mother burn alive, too. And probably myself, as well," he added.
Jason's mouth hang open, speechless.
He didn't say anything for a long, long time.
"Look, I'm sorry -" Jason begun, promptly cut off by Octavian's wild laughter.
"I knew you'd say that, Grace! You're so, so predictable. But unfortunately, even if you apologised a million times, I wouldn't be satisfied. Even if you gave me the sword right now, I wouldn't be satisfied. Even if you killed yourself, I wouldn't be satisfied," he growled, leaving Jason helplessly looking at him, searching for a solution.
Nico felt a tinge of pity for Octavian, but he decided that he'd had enough of Grace's sorriness. Stepping forward, he addressed the former.
"Look, I know you're in a difficult situation. Trust me, I understand what it's like to lose your family. That being said, I can't just give you this sword for a number of reasons, the first being that you'll completely turn into a fish if I let you touch it. Secondly, this sword isn't just something I can give away to anyone, and you know that. There are a whole lot more reasons, but I'd rather not waste the next month listing them all. You get what I mean?"
Piper jumped at the opportunity to chip in. "Exactly! Not only that, we could reason with Gaea for you, if you wanted. All you have to do is just to bring us back to her with you, and then we could sort things out! I'm sure this was just a huge misunderstanding; in fact, all of this started with a small misunderstanding. Even if it boils down to a fight, we'd gladly take your side. You can join us, and we'll fight her together. Why don't you consider it?" she tried, hopeful.
Octavian snorted. "If only it were that easy," he spat. "If it were that easy, I wouldn't even have bothered leaving the SPQR in the first place. I should have known that I signed myself up for all this. This is it. This is the end of the road for me."
Before Jason could say anything, Octavian's hand shot out for the golden sword and flung it outwards at Jason, scratching his upper lip. He put the point of the sword over his chest.
Octavian laughed bitterly. "I hope it hurt."
Then he plunged the sword into his heart.