I Don't Own Percy Jackson

"So what exactly are we doing? Because I'm not up for killing people" Yeah, that sounds about right, Nico was like that to with people who weren't obviously monsters. I really don't get what the big deal about murder was, but whatever, I wasn't really planning on something like that, so I just said to Silena.

"I'll keep that in mind you prune" She looked offended before glancing at me before finally pausing, looking like she was considering something before finally mentioning.

"I-... Have never heard an Aphrodite kid being called a prune" I took in that information and instantly said the first thing that came to mind.

"Oh, does that mean you're all really kinky then?" Silena went bright red this time, as I laughed while she shot me a sharp look which did nothing because the look on her face just made it even more hilarious!

"I- No! Shut up!" I just snickered before saying as I gave her a pat on the back.

"Don't worry! No judgement here, I'm totally into some fucked up stuff" She went even more red, though it didn't seem to be normal embarrassment, as she choked out.

"Gods why can't you have shame like a normal person!"

"Shame is boring, plus it implies I actually care about what people think about me, which is just ridiculous"

"That doesn't mean I want to hear about this!" I just hummed.

"Yeah, true, but let's be honest you're totally the one that brought this up"

"How did I start this?!"

"By denying being a prune, and if anything I think my point has been proven"

"Proven? I'm not a prune you're just weird. I've seen the things you 'like' from the quest, it was... horrific" She made a face but I could tell she was trying to goad me on. I, of course, went with it for the bit.

"Hey! You're the one that said you didn't want to talk about it so no judging!" She was the one laughing now as I just made a mock huff of hurt as we continued to walk onward, I hadn't really had a reason to just teleport all over the place and Silena apparently didn't like my normal means of transportation, so instead we were just driving because a lovely road trip just sounded nice while I moved across the states to do my normal insane shit.

It was just one of the camp's vans, but I was planning on switching it out with a much better ride at some point in the future, but until then this worked well enough, no car really ever was a problem for me, I could literally drive anything with four or less wheels as long as it moved on the ground from the few tests I've conducted. I mean, I don't know if trains are counted in there yet, but the point stands. I just knew for certain I didn't know how to fly an airplane.

"So where are we going anyways?" I glanced over at Silena as she scrolled through something on her phone as I thought about that. I had a lot of stuff I've been planning to be honest, but there was a fair bit of it that was just way to dangerous, like, in every way possible for a normal demigod. I'd be fine, because I'm a fair few ranks above demigods on the divine totem pole, but Silena would probably die or get mind fucked into a trauma spiral, so...

"Picking up some pets" Silena glanced over at me again at that before simply asking, knowing that me being vague wasn't always the best.

"Pets?" I nodded, as I absently tossed my mind off to the side, checking in on the animals in question, while my body mostly worked on autopilot to drive, it only really required a fraction of my attention anyways. Just making sure the little ones in question were alright as I spied on them through the... whatever it was that Scrying worked through.

"Yep, how do you feel about cats?" Silena looked confused for about two seconds before something seemed to click into place behind her eyes.

"No" I just leaned my head over to give him a smile, she just shook her head even harder, "No! Nick, come on... Seriously?"

I continued to give her my best charming smile, she actually broke faster than I thought she would, a faint look of something coming across her face as she just huffed, burying her face into her phone screen once more before finally saying.

"Yeah, fine. But I'm not taking care of them! And I swear Nick if they tear up my clothes I will not be happy!" I just laughed.

(Silena Pov)

Ok, admittedly, the cat was cute, for as... big as it already was over just the few months it had been left on it's own. The one they had found first, and the one Nick was currently cuddling like it was still a new born kitten instead of a three foot long muscle bound tiger with blades sticking out of their face. If it wasn't for the fact this was Nick, and he seemed to find the massive revived saber tooth tiger chomping on his hand nothing more than cute teething, Silena would probably be regretting following along with this.

Silena had no idea how Nick managed to track this one down, or just how they were expected to run around and find the other ones, and she also wasn't sure just how the animals had survived this long in general to be honest, but it was clear this was something her friend was going to do anyways, so instead of wondering how she was going to put up with the half dozen expected tigers that were no doubt going to be following them around, she instead asked Nick a question that was on her mind.

"So..." Nick glanced up, a look on his face that... did something to Silena's chest, Nick was beaming a massive real smile on his face, it was a look he didn't get often. Silena could honestly count the few times she had seen such an expression on her friend's face on one hand, the pure innocent happiness was startling in a way that made her almost forget what she was going to say, but floundering didn't make a good look, and she was suddenly a bit more self-conscious about it as she continued what she had been meaning to say, adjusting herself to stand a bit more steady.

"I never really got a chance to ask, but what is up with these things anyways? I know Atlas brought them back but..." Nick just hummed, leaning and looking over the one in his arms even as it tried to bat at him with hits that would probably smack around a normal full grown adult, he acted like he barely felt it. The freak probably didn't, as he continued to look down at the animal in wonder before finally answering.

"They all are Spartoi, which are reanimated skeleton warriors, we fought an actual human set after Atlas did the ritual with the right bones" Silena nodded at that, she remembered, "Well, even if they weren't what he was going for, he still did the ritual, and still gave life back to these animals, making them monsters in the Greek sense. Which also means they are under the protection of the Mist so the humans probably haven't been bothering them much" Silena... nodded at that, it made sense.

"But what are they then? If they were made from titan power right? They can't just be like those skeletons but they aren't just cats right?" Nick gave her another smile, the one he got when people asked him questions that allowed him to show off, the show boat always enjoyed the chance normally. Silena kept how endearing it was to herself as Nick spoke up, his words tumbling out like they always did when he was excited.

"They were made from a titan, so these little guys are sort of like demigods in their own way, their bodies are infused with divinity, which is honestly why the skeletons were so hard to kill, and another reason why these little ones can survive on their own for so long. Sure they probably aren't as strong as those skeletons were, but with some proper training and some loving, they'll get there easily, and I think they'll make great friends! Plus... Ah, well, they're cute" Silena frowned for a second, noticing the barely noticeable half hint of hesitation from her friend.

"Anything else? I mean, it's you, there has to be another reason beyond you just wanting to" That was something that had taken her a while to come to terms to with her friend, given how hard it was at first to look past how seemingly impulsive he was at all times, but it was true. Nick never did anything that wasn't going to help him out in the long or short term, and as it stood, these cats, while admittedly cute, honestly were just pets more than anything, strong and near unkillable or not, they both knew they'd just slow Nick down at this point given just how insane he was in terms of strength. Which was obviously not helpful to Nick's insane goals. So there had to be something else.

"Uh... Well" Nick reached up and scratched his chin for a moment, clearly thinking about something, before finally he just shrugged, "I don't really have any other reason?" Silena blinked and glanced back at him as he looked a bit uncomfortable with the idea of that himself, as he continued, "I mean, I have ideas of course, but... I just wanted them so I figured I'd go around and collect them I guess, plus it seemed like fun to do with you and... Yeah, I just wanted to"

"Ideas?" She said it because she wasn't really sure what else to say, as much as she knew about Nick, she wasn't at all used to seeing him vulnerable like this, even during the Trails from the Fates, she never actually saw him break down, ever, he was a tough bastard who never let anyone actually see him, even when he was trying. He always kept himself two steps removed, even when the two talked about their friendship, Silena wasn't enough of a fool to not realize just how guarded he was even if no one else noticed.

"Yeah, I mean, I don't really know how it's going to go in the future, but what kind of god would I be if I didn't have an animal right? I'm taking butterflies as well, or at least I plan to, and wolves if I can talk one of my friends into letting me share a bit of her domain, but that's mostly just a second thought. I just... wanted some pets to keep me company" Silena wasn't sure what to say about that, it was something that was new about Nick.

Something she hadn't seen before. She knew about the weird thing in Nick's chest, the butterfly spirit thing, she learned about it during the Fates quest. And she was even thankful for the spirit to be with Nick during that time, because he clearly needed it, even if Silena knew she didn't really know just how he needed the company, given he was a jerk who never let anyone see how he was struggling.

Damn jerk didn't even let her talk about the quest when it was over, seemingly to wrapped up in her being safe, which was so... so like him, but whatever, the point was, after that time, Nick did his normal thing, he ran off again, but this time it was different. He didn't just go by himself, he took Nico, kept in surprisingly well contact with Silena, and even made a new friend in the form of an angel, which Silena really wasn't sure what to think about that just yet.

Still, now he was taking her as well, and to top it off was looking to get an entourage of unkillable pet saber tooth tigers to top it off?

Silena wasn't exactly the best at some emotions, but she was a daughter of Aphrodite and matters of the heart was something she did manage to excel in, love was just one of them despite what some people like to think. She also wasn't Nick, and therefore not blind to every other emotion out there as well, which certainly helped her make the simple conclusion about her best friend.

He was lonely and desperate to fill in that space in any way he could, be it revived, by a titan, tiger monsters, or a fallen-angel he literally dragged up from the pits of Hell, he clearly wanted as much company as he could afford himself while still going out in the world and doing his own thing.

It made Silena's heart hurt a bit to realize a fraction of what must have been going on in his head, as well as the fact he hadn't even thought to ask her to come with him to help with that feeling... Actually, if Silena was being honest with herself, the idiot probably didn't even realize what he was doing. Nick was many things, but he was not at all emotionally competent.

She pushed the feeling that realization, about Nick, invoked deep down in her chest, not blind to her own emotions to know just where those thoughts could lead, and instead pushed herself out of her own head, a place she spent to much time apparently given the look Nick was already sending her, curious and open, only one of those emotions were real, looks but that was fine. Nick didn't hide things from her, he was just too dumb at times to realize he either needed to or should have said something. So Silena just managed a smile and said.

"So you're going to train them? Because I will not be happy if that thing bites me in my sleep" Nick beamed, and while Silena could still feel the faint hints of sadness in her own chest at the guy who tossed her life into a whirlwind, went on to explain with a sudden rush of enthusiasm about what he was thinking about, it wasn't everything, for a guy who never lied, he sure as well never said everything the first time around, but he was happy, and Silena could work on keeping him like that, as the two chatted before moving on, apparently the next one was not to far away.

Silena once more thought about asking about how he knew, but she knew she wouldn't like the answer. Silena had... complicated feelings on everything that was going on at the moment, to say the least, the idea of Nick being in trouble for the stupid things he got up to wasn't lost on her no matter how clear it was he didn't want her to worry about it. That didn't even start on her other feelings about his apparent and way to sudden move to possible godhood and to even think about the cult gave her a headache at times.

But... as the two got up and started to walk down the street to the next one that was apparently in walking distance, Silena couldn't help but gaze back and see Nick, still cuddling the little hell cat to his chest, the animal apparently long sense figuring out that fighting or trying to smack away the strange person wasn't going to work and instead conformed to the demigod's wishes for cuddles, or at least not fighting against the idea anymore.

It put a smile on her face, and Silena had to admit, while everything constantly never made sense because of her friend, she couldn't find it anywhere in herself to actually mind anymore. She was just... She just cared to much at this point, after everything, she was content with the insanity as long as Nick was alright while he did his own strange things.

Well, perhaps not content, but understanding that there was nothing she could do to really stop it from happening, and this was simply better than worrying about it. Besides, if there was one thing that Nick has managed to actually make sure that Silena knew, he wasn't one to just roll over and die, ever.

Silena could still count in much to horrid detail the number of times she's watched Nick nearly die, watched him break his everything to just move the extra foot needed to continue on, to keep fighting even when he was nothing more than a body covered in his own blood and gashes.

The two didn't talk about the Fate's trials, not just the stranger things she watched Nick do to relieve boredom or frustration, but everything else, because neither wanted to talk about it, didn't want to remember it. Nick went through hell for way longer than Silena could even hope to think herself capable of, and Silena had to watch him put himself through all of that for her.

They both didn't talk about it, but they both remembered.

Nick wanted more people or creatures around him now because he was basically alone, trapped with nothing, and Silena just... Silena wasn't sure yet just what she wanted now, but being able to not think about it would have been nice.

It was a shame, she thought to herself, as they stumbled across the next tiger with Nick already dropping low to scope them up like they were a quarter the size the animal actually was, that Silena would never be able to forget.

That was her punishment, from the Fates for being friends with Nick, she would always remember watching what he went through, every second of every day he spent fighting for both of them, knowing that it was pointless because she had never been in any danger, knowing that Nick was just killing himself mentally and psychically for something he could never accomplish, but trying anyways like the stubborn idiot he was, while she had to watch.

Silena really wished she could forget it.

Fate wouldn't let her, so instead she just watched as Nick let out a cute little squeal as he gave the two mountain lion sized tigers a hug with both arms while ignoring the fact that they were trying to bite his face off. So she just watched, and made a promise with herself to remember this as well, remember how happy he looked now, how they were both fine, and remember that Nick, for all his idiotic tendencies at times, would never give up, and some how more importantly, he would never leave her.

It helped.

Silena... woke up alone in a room. That was a bit surprising. She spent most of her time at camp obviously, so she was constantly used to waking up in the early morning either because her siblings were arguing about who got to shower first or whoever was hogging the makeup mirror or whatever, and recently in the last week as well, she was used to sharing a hotel room with Nick and his own group, which had expanded to a frankly worrying amount of large animals.

Counting March, who was still really freaky to Silena and as well slept outside of Nick's shadow because of... some reason, there was now a full four mountain lion sized fleabags that were just around. Somehow Nick managed to get them all to not act like feral animals within the first few days so they weren't all fighting or anything and actually seemed well enough behaved at times, but that wasn't the point.

She had somehow gotten used to waking up and seeing at least five massive animals all smothering Nick to death on the other bed, and yet when she woke up, way earlier than she should have, but she had been having a nightmare about... things, so she had woken up anyways only to look over and see... nothing, the bed was empty, messed up blankets and covered in more than one kind of hair, but no sign of any life.

Confusion rolled about in her chest for a brief moment, and before she knew what she was doing, she had already tossed on an extra layer on top of her naturally minimal sleeping wear as she made a quick look around the hotel room. Not to act spoiled, but Nick had way more money than Silena thought possible and she had always wanted to see what a proper super fancy hotel was like, so it took more than a second to look around the hotel room itself, but after a minute, it was clear there was no sign of the demigod or the animals.

Moving ahead, not really knowing what else to do, she found herself even more surprised to find he hadn't brought his gear with him, as on a nearby table was the belt that housed guns, daggers, and swords alike as well as the bag Nick always carried around that had way to much space inside of it, and on top, resting innocently was his hat.

So he obviously couldn't have gone far... Well, that was a ridiculous thing to assume, it was Nick, he could be anywhere from the Underworld to China right now, but it did mean he would come back at the very least, and that kept her mood from falling as she just moved to turn some lights on before heading to the balcony, her phone in hand to at least do something in the mean time while she waited for the dumbass to return so she could tell him off.

Apparently it didn't take to long, though not in the way she was expecting, that being a portal of darkness opening up in front of her or whatever it was Nick did with the shadows to move around from place to place.

Instead of that, she simply leaned over the balcony and blinked when she spotted the familiar form of a girl's body down below along with equally recognizable sight of the half dozen massive animals around said body.

Nick wasn't actually on the ground, he was on the roof of a nearby shorter building, sitting down and seemingly chatting with the group, or maybe to himself, as his hands flapped about in that way they did when he had to much on his mind and his mouth just wasn't fast enough to get it all out.

The angel wolf was curled up around his back, with it's head laid down, though Silena could see it's tail wagging back and forth on occasion, while the other, more normal but not actually normal, animals were roaming around, coming and going from Nick, staring up at him like they were asking something, or just playing around with each other.

It honestly looked like a strange picture, the full moon glowing down on them make the sight almost ethereal in it's own way, Nick's natural beauty, even if the teen himself couldn't see it, made it even more so, his longish hair catching the moonlight in a way that made his form seem almost supernatural in it's glow.

Silena wasn't sure why she kept watching, there wasn't a reason to, she knew where her friend was, he wasn't getting in trouble or anything, she could have gone back to sleep.

She didn't.

It was just... to tempting to pass up, as guilty as she was sure she would feel at some point about this, Silena never got the chance to see her friend like this. Seeing him naturally, outside of her, when everything was quiet and the eyes weren't on him anymore.

Nick was quieter, sort of, he just... didn't have the same larger than life energy she normally saw in him, as he moved around, seemingly working through the night to teach the cats some new tricks and to make sure they knew to listen to him. He was... gentler, softer? No... It was a word she just didn't have the word for, he was still Nick, he still acted the same, she wasn't sure why she expected something different.

He just... was, as always, Nick. Perhaps not as fast and sporadic as she was used to, but that seemed to come from the way he was handling the animals, clearly teaching them though Silena had no idea just how that was happening, but it did explain just how quickly the cats had been in complying, not to mention how much that they had been sleeping during the day. He was wearing them out at night.

...If he was doing this at night, every night, then when was the last time he slept? Did he even need to sleep anymore? Was he was so used to not sleeping that he just forgot?

The questions came and went, and in the end, Silena decided to just ask him about it later, Nick didn't exactly get angry often, and she really doubted he'd be mad she was watching him, hell if he was then she's just smack him for being a hypocrite given his own stalk-ish nature, especially recently.

Then again, this was also Nick, who always was smarter and way more observant than anyone else gave him credit for, for all she knew, he's been aware. How, she had no idea, but she wouldn't put it past him.

Heck, she was honestly pretty certain she's caught that wolf staring up at her on occasion already, she wasn't really the best at being subtle even on a good day, a healthy fashion sense and self-confidence naturally lead her more being used to working with being the one that stands out than the other way around. In the end, she finally, after what was probably way to long of standing there, turned back around to head into the hotel room once more.

Nick might be a freak of nature who didn't need to sleep and could look good in near anything, but she was required to have eight hours if she wanted to look her best.

Still... Maybe tomorrow, after she talked to him about it, she could see if she could stay up a while with him during the night. Just for a bit, there wasn't anything keeping her from sleeping in after all.

Silena has seen Nick fight before, she's seen him fight more than she's spent days training, she thought she had a rough idea of just how strong he was sometimes. At first, he was ok, back when he first arrived at camp, nothing special, but no one was expecting something crazy from him... Well, expect for Nick himself that is, but that's besides the point. Then after months later after her first scare about him being dead, he was strong enough suddenly to go head to head with the toughest from the Are's cabin.

Then in the Fates trial, Silena was sure he could put those Ares kids to shame if only from sheer battle experience, but now? It was... Well, it was insane.

Nick didn't even bother acting like he needed a weapon anymore, if March didn't rip a monster's entire body apart within the first few seconds, then it was because Nick was playing with the monster like it was a toy with his shadows, or if he was just to bored to care, he'd just incinerate it with a half bored wave of the hand that would unleash a flurry of flames of so many colors Silena wasn't sure it was actually fire at first.

It had barely been four months since the Fates, Nick was... he just wasn't suppose to be this strong so fast, she was used to jumps in power from her friend, but this was ridiculous!

Nick wasn't the best about explaining it either, something about stealing divinity or whatever. Sure, she knew logically Nick had to be way stronger than he had been before to kill a titan, even one bound up like from what Nick had told her when she decided to brave the details, not to mention how strong he would be afterwards but even that had to have a limit.

Silena had never seen such an insane amount of raw power being used like it was nothing. Moves that would have killed Nick to do not even a few months ago, that she knew because she watched him nearly kill himself to pull them off, he just did now like it was more out of a habit to overkill than anything else.

He didn't even seem to notice it himself, he just did what he had to and kept on his way.

Silena wasn't even sure where they were even going at the moment though, Nick said it was suppose to be a surprise, which meant it could be anything from something that would give her a nightmare to something actually sweet and thoughtful, though knowing him, it was probably going to be somewhere in between.

In other news Nick was almost scary good at getting animal to do what he wanted with minimal training. He said something about an stat boost to the skill and made a comment about phantom levels, but Silena mostly had learned to just tune that sort of thing out so it didn't really mean much. That wasn't anything new, Silena just choose to understand it that Nick was just like that and spent the time saved by having that understanding by not having a headache.

Anyways, the point of this was, she just watched Nick, who was giving one of the tigers a belly rub, absently pull out the massive black gun he kept on his belt, aimed above his head, and fired without bothering to look, and now there was golden dust of a destroyed bird monster or something similar was raining down around them. Silena just dusted herself off, the dust washing off her easy with a small bit of magic, while Nick didn't even bother acting like he noticed, still giving the massive animal his attention.

"How can you do that anyways?" Nick just hummed, tilting his head to look at Silena for about half a second before saying.

"I can sense body heat now, and my perception is high enough that I can guesstimate where things are in reference to myself, plus my aim is bullshit, I don't even have to look most of the time as long as I'm pointed in the general direction of what I want to shoot as long as it's big enough"

"That's bullshit" He just grinned but didn't say anything more about it simply glancing up after a second, before moving to stand, his face shifting into a much more childlike and eager one as Silena commented on the shift, "Uh, hey what's up?"

"They're finally here, made me wait, but I guess that's on me" Silena frowned before glancing in the same direction as Nick who was staring ahead, a big grin on his face, as he nearly bounced on his heels in excitement. It couldn't be anything bad... probably, Nick had a habit of his surprises being bad, but he wasn't one to put himself or those around him in situations he couldn't handle, it's just... His excitement usually didn't leave the average person unscathed mentally.

Before she could think more about the matter however, Silena watched as from the other side of the clearing bounded out a... woman, a grown one at that, at least in her mid twenties, wearing a thick leather tunic like armor with dulled metal armor pieces decorating her body, a massive broad sword at her hip as well. She was slightly bulky and looked like her default expression was rage screaming with the lines already on her face.

"Bryja!" Nick called the name out happily, moving forward while tossing his arms to the side as he approached the woman who's eyes raked over her friend's form, like she was comparing him with something.

"Nick, glad to see you haven't gotten yourself killed just yet. I'm still surprised you finally called me, only three years late I might add for that favor" Three years? Just when did Nick meet this woman?

"Well I had to get stronger of course! What's the point in asking you to help me hunt some things down if I couldn't keep up!" That... was a massive lie, Nick totally just forgot and was covering his ass with as big a half-truth as he was allowed to under his own power. The idea that this woman was even close to Nick's strength was laughable, because it was laughable to compare any mortal to Nick these days.

"I'm sure... Well come on then, let's get this going. I have Jor already searching into the list that was suppose to only be one item, we'll meet him on the other side" Nick perked up at the sound of the name.

"Jor! How is that insanely handsome elf by the way! Hasn't had a heart attack yet I assume?" That got a proper smirk out of Bryja who replied back.

"Not yet, though remind me to tell you about this Huldra that scared the big idiot into almost pissing himself, best week of my life!" Nick laughed like it was on cue, while the two moved around each other, not perfectly but with an air of familiarity showing that they really did know each other well enough to talk like this. It was confusing, then Bryja smacked the back of Nick's head, the teen didn't even react to it outside of giving her a pout, as the adult said back, "Don't give me that shit, and don't skim around it either, I said one favor for helping back during my trail, but this is pushing it brat"

"You said one thing, my thing just happened to be a list with things on it, I don't see the issue!" Bryja just sighed, but she was clearly grinning to herself in spite of her act as she said to the teenager soon after.

"You haven't changed that much huh? Still the same shitty brat I meet back then, just taller and stronger... Way stronger, don't think I didn't notice that either, you'd give... Well it's unimportant" She shifted the conversation tone harshly, Silena and Nick both noticed it, it wasn't very subtle, but before Nick could press it, as was his nature, Bryja instead turned on Silena, who blinked in surprise as a finger was pointed right at her head as the woman spoke up, "What is important is who is this little missy? You got a girlfriend kid?"

"Nah, Silena's dating someone else" Silena, who had been turning red at the idea, paused and gave Nick a look before saying with pursed lips.

"No, me and Charles decided to just stay friends" Nick sort of just froze, Silena could almost see the loading screen in his head, no doubt because she just said something he didn't know, and therefore he was probably going through some kind of freak out about not being able to predict everything or some other ridiculous notion. Before she could think more about it, Nick was in front of her, he didn't move, or at least she didn't see him move, he sort of just... appeared.

"What?" His face was... scrunched up, like he was hearing something that didn't make sense. Silena was more surprised that this of all things was what stumped him, so she just said back, an amused look pulling on her own face.

"We, are, staying, friends. He's nice and all, but we both just have to many different interests and we only see each other during the summers, where we both are too busy to really hang out" Nick just sort of did a weird frowny face before his eyes sort of just zoned out when Silena has come to realize was him being a weird stalker, before he suddenly came back into focus again and said.

"Huh... Mortals, so fucking weird, you all need to start making sense one of these days you know?" Silena just huffed at that, Nick was just an idiot when it came to people even approaching normal. Killing titans and talking circles around gods, sure, no big deal, but sue her if she didn't want to try and force a relationship just because he thought it would work out almost three years ago.

"You're not there yet, don't go calling us well adjusted people mortals" Nick just gave a cheeky smirk before vanishing again, and Silena really wanted to know if he was teleporting or was just that fast, Bryja frowned, when he appeared back in front of her, clearly she wasn't a fan him doing that either, as she said.

"Really strong... You sure you know what you're doing kid? Some of the things on that list wasn't exactly... small, I figured they were just flights of fantasy since it was you, but now? I like you brat, but not nearly that much for the latter half" Nick just shrugged, not looking all that bothered while Silena was mostly just wondering what the hell he was asking for and just how long he was expecting this to take. Silena was fine to be gone for a while, a few months at least, but she didn't really want to miss the entire Summer doing some weird tsk run for Nick.

"Don't worry about it, if you have a favor in the future just call it in. I'll handle all the consequences and I'll give you something in exchange for services rendered and all that good shit" Bryja frowned for a moment before saying.

"Do you even know just what services rendered even means for us trackers?"

"Nope!" Silena... wasn't that surprised so she just sighed as the woman shook her head, not looking surprised either, instead just saying.

"It means a exchange of offerings to my lord, something worth his efforts" Nick just nodded, seemingly accepting that before reaching into his bag, before pulling out... A solid gold bar? Bryja blinked before glancing up at Nick for a long moment, before finally saying.

"One might cover, like, half a favor but a single offering isn't tha-" Nick then just held his hand up and they all watched as from in the air a black disk sort of just appeared as from it a full crate's worth of golden bars tumbled out of it, dozens at the very least, as Silena just... sort of watched. It wasn't anything she didn't know was possible, just was a lot more than she was expecting. But then again, Nick was rich beyond measure, somehow.

She never actually got an answer on just how now that she was thinking about it, but it was just such a pointless thing to worry about of all things that it just slipped her mind as Nick said happily to the adult.

"So, is that enough then?" Bryja let out a huff for a moment, her eyes clearly trying to figure out if it was all real or not before finally just shaking her head, giving up on figuring out if this was suppose to make sense or not. Silena had to give Bryja props at least for that, it took Silena much longer to learn that method to deal with Nick.

Something had to come from being old she guessed...

"Yeah, that's more a freaking payment plan for the next decade, but sure if you're willing to part with that much just for the main favor" Nick just shrugged.

"It's not that much" With a wave, the darkness under the bars opened up again and they were tossed off in whatever corner of the world Nick was using as his storage shed, as he said, "I'll give it to the man myself when we arrive"

"You're insane" Bryja almost sounded impressed, Silena wished she didn't, it was just going to fuel his ego.

"I make a game of it, you know, the game of the ins-" Silena interrupted whatever joke Nick was about to say, already just knowing it would be something no one else but him understood anyways, walking forwards and instead said.

"So, mind actually explaining what the hell is going on Nick?" Said demigod just pouted, glancing off at nowhere as his joke being ignored, before suddenly his smile back as he bounced on the balls of his feet for just a moment, spinning around so he could see both girls in his line of sight and said with excitement in his voice.

"We're going to be visiting the Library known as the The Prose Edda, it's overseen by a Norse god named Heimdall and one of it's biggest supporters is Ullr, a Norse god of the hunt who has a collection fetish, and just so happens to be the patron of my good friend Bryja here. So she's going to get us an audience with her patron, who I will pay to allow me access to the library itself!" He sounded so excited, it almost made Silena not want to question literally everything that just came out of his mouth.

Almost never counted when it came to Nick.

"What? Norse mythology now? I know they exist cause of March, but since when did you know about this!? And is it even allowed? And just how do you even know about this!" Nick opened his mouth, shut it, frowned, seemed to think, for about half a second, and seemingly decided he didn't care about his life as he answered.

"Of course, and since I was twelve, that's when I meet Bryja, a few weeks before I arrived at the camp. Probably, as long as we have an invitation, but I doubt I'll be allowed to walk around for long, but I have a plan anyways. And I know about this because I'm awesome!" Silena... just gave him such an unimpressed look he just paused before sighing, looking a bit like a kicked puppy as he said, "I may have done a bit of stalking on Jor"

Silena kind of wished she a spray bottle to just mist Nick every time he said something that didn't make much else.

"You've been spying on the elf? I didn't know you were that desperate for eye-candy" Silena's head whipped back to glare at Bryja, while Nick just huffed.

"Oh please, I like my men blonde and buff, and Jor is a freaking twig! I was just doing it to know if my idea of the place was right. I figured it would be right anyways, just didn't have all the details" Silena... Really wasn't sure how she was suppose to respond to that first part, and so instead she just sighed.

"If you say so brat, come on, the Bifrost isn't exactly something that just opens for fun. Lord Heimdall is going to meet us at the library should you prove yourself to my lord Ullr, but before then, we have to arrive at the base of Yggdrasil and deal with Ratatoskr" She said that last name with distaste, but Nick just smiled and nodded, Silena couldn't help but ask though, given she's already lost of the plot.

"I'm sorry, but what?" Nick paused, before spinning back around, explaining as he started to walk backwards, his tigers, all of which he had already named, simply stalking around him as he spoke.

"Right! Mythology one-oh-one! Norse mythology is built around nine worlds, or realms, earth is one of them, and there are eight others, they aren't really important right now, just know that they all are connected to each other by a massive metaphysical tree that allows people to move between these realms, that's Yggdrasil. The Bifrost is a gay pride bridge that is used to move people around without having to move through the branches itself, it's a lot quicker if you don't know how to move around them, which I don't!" Nick seemed almost giddy to admit something he didn't know at that end of that, still, Silena slowly nodded, not a lot of that made a lot of sense logically, but she's been around the block a few things, logic didn't really matter much in her life.

"I see... and Ratatoskr?" Bryja piqued up there, already looking a bit pissed thinking about whatever it was.

"A really fucking annoying squirrel. He's a messanger, or at least he used to be, now he runs the elevators" Silena glanced at Nick, but he seemed to have no idea about that either, seeming just content to smile before moving forwards, throwing his hands up before clapping them together as he spoke.

"Well, I'm sure he'll be in great company! Now let's get moving alright? I have a lot of stuff I need to get done before the month is up!" Silena... decided to not mention that there was only four days left in March even though it was clear Nick apparently had a long list of things he was looking into doing, instead just moving forwards, with him as Bryja just shook her head.

"Still impatient as well, let's get this going" With that she moved and seemingly twisted a strange golden ring on one of her fingers... Wait... Silena's eyes unconsciously shot over towards Nick who was absently looking around at nothing, a habit Silena was used to, as her eyes zoomed in on the exact same ring on his right hand... What?! She's seen that ring before, Nick's had it for as long as she could remember.

Silena just thought it was something he picked up along the way given his hording tendency, or something that was from his father, if Nick even ever knew the man, he didn't exactly talk about his family, but then again, Silena never talked about her's either, so she just let it rest, but apparently there was another piece of history there that she just didn't know about.

It made her uncomfortable in a way she wasn't sure just how to describe, she just knew she was probably in trouble.

Daughter of Aphrodite, she wasn't a fool... Just had really, really bad tastes apparently...

Before long though, they were walking through the bush that Bryja had walked through while Nick was... doing something, his eyes darting around all over the place like he was seeing something but wasn't sure what it was, Silena just let it be. Probably some Norse thing, as they stepped into a clearing with a weird sigil thing on the ground, as Bryja moved to stand in the middle before gesturing for them to follow before asking.

"Uh, Nick, are you brining your pets?" Nick paused suddenly, realizing the tigers were still with him, as he seemed to just freeze for about half a second before he waved his hand and just like that the tigers were gone as he said with a smile.

"Sorry, forgot"

"Where did you send them?"

"Underworld, I have a few friends down there that will look after them while we're busy, I already discussed it with both the kitties and the dead people. I'll find some more permanent solution at some point but this works for right now" Silena didn't comment on the fact that Nick talked to his cats, or that he called them kittens, that was just normal now, though Bryja didn't seem to understand that one just yet.

"What was with those things anyways? They looked like saber tooth tigers, and did you just say Underworld? Like... Hel?" Silena wanted to feel bad, which was how she knew Nick was a horrible influence when instead she had to fight off a smile.

"They are saver tooth tigers, I got them from when Atlas raised a bunch of unkillable warriors from the dead but used the wrong teeth in the middle of a space museum right after I tried to shoot Kronos in the face with a god killing bullet. And, yeah, Underworld, I'm a resident on occasion, me and Hades are tight like that because I kicked the Three Fates asses to keep his children from the nineteen-forties alive, that was one really busy day"

Ok, so many Silena could understand just why Nick did this, the look on Bryja's face was so amusing that she barely managed to hold in her own snickers while Nick just gave the woman his classic and always infuriating innocent look, like he had no idea what he did was that wild, like the little liar he was. He knew exactly what he was doing and was no doubt enjoying it.

"I... See... Well, I'm sure that made sense to someone, but for now let's just get going" With that Bryja tapped her foot onto the rune thingy and just like that the world was suddenly exploding into light of so many colors that it nearly blinded her. Well... At least she knew just why Nick called it the gay bridge, the amount of rainbows being shoved into her eyes was... well, a lot.

A hand found it's way onto her shoulder, and even though she could honestly barely see, she could still make out the questioning face of Nick who seemed wholly unaffected by it all, lucky jerk. Suddenly they were moving, Silena wasn't really sure she was moving herself, just that she was being moved, Nick had probably just picked her up, or maybe she was on March? Whatever it was under her hands as she held on, it felt fluffy.

Even though Silena wasn't quite sure what was happening, she could still hear, could hear Nick say it was fine, that he was to awesome to be effected and that she just needed to deal with it for a bit longer, something about a divine presence that she couldn't understand because of her weak Greek mindset and something about the veil.

All Silena really remembered in detail was smacking the fluff, cause it wasn't nearly fluffy enough to deal with the teasing, but all that did was get a giggle like laugh, and then suddenly it was over.

She could see, and she... was somewhere.

It was strange, everything looked like it was wooden, but it looked like a waiting room of all things, just made out of, or at least covered in bark, over every ounce of the walls, the furniture, the desk where... a worryingly large squirrel in a strange looking parka was sat on top of it, laying down while juggling with looked like very over sized acorns.

She also realized that she was on Nick's back, not March's, the fluff was his cloak, as she realized she was looking over Nick's head, her arms wrapped around his neck, though said head was currently moving around a mile a minute, taking in everything before suddenly moving as she let out a yelp as he moved to the front desk, to the squirrel, Ratatoskr, Silena guessed.

"Why hello there my squirrelly fri-" nick was suddenly cut off, as Silena tensed, just for a moment, looking down only to gasp, half stumbling back of her friend's back as he literally sunk into the floor, not through a patch of darkness, like the literal floor was quicksand that h was just slipping into. Already he was below her waist level looking down at the wooden bark floor with mild interest, saying off handly.

"I'm kind of a fire god, I recommend moving me carefully when I'm in the world's largest tree" It said something that Silena was not actively panicking, instead she just rolled her eyes and said, "Are you going to be ok Nick?" He just bent his head up at a painful looking angle and just smiled, "Of course! I'll see you three in a minute, if anything happens you'll be safe" Silena just frowned, not really liking this, but well... It's Nick, it was going to happen anyways, and even though it was clear he didn't really know what was going on, he seemed relaxed all the same, meaning he knew more than well enough what he was doing.

Bryja didn't have that same concern, already shooting to her feet, trying to grab at Nick even as his head dipped before the bark.

"Nick! Nick get back here! What the hell is happening! Nick!" And so the cycle continues...

"He's fine Bryja" She just looked up at Silena like she was insane... Which... fair.

"What do you mean he's fine? He literally just got eaten by the world tree, that's... that's-"

"Not something that happens to normal people?"

"Yes!"

"Well, Nick isn't exactly normal now is he?" Bryja just shook her head before sighing.

"I mean, yeah, I knew that from the start, but I figured it was just a Greek thing, you lot from what I've learned are battle hungry little fuckers. But there is a difference between being a little psycho and getting taken by Yggdrasil!" Silena... Kept her want to defend Nick to a minimal, as well as her own offense to that frankly insulting insinuation about her and everyone at camp, and instead just said.

"He's been through a lot, some god here probably just wanted to have a talk with him about something, it happens more than I'd like to admit" Bryja frowned before saying, slightly tense.

"Gods want to talk with him a lot? Who... Who is Nick really then?" Silena just... shrugged, how was she even suppose to answer something like that? What the hell was Nick, even on paper she had no idea really. A powerful demigod? A fledging god? A divine game player? A psychopathic trans god? But, somehow... all that felt so little? Somehow...

Silena was confused, but she answered all the same, with an answer that wasn't what the older woman wanted, but she wasn't sure just how else to say it as she turned and said.

"He's my friend" Bryja let out a huff of what seemed to be from her holding her breath, no doubt expecting a bigger answer, and clearly was ready to ask for more, when a new voice popped up.

"U-uh, sorry I'm late?" Both women spun around and stared at an incredibly lanky and tall man who nearly jumped a bit from the action. Bryja reacted first, just groaning before saying.

"Jor! What the hell! Wear a bell or something!" Silena, just stared at the man, his perfect facial features, the effortless complication of his skin, the way his hair somehow was perfect even after nearly jumping out of his own skin... Silena...

Ok, yeah, Silena had to admit, Nick was right, Jor was unfairly handsome.

I just wanted to end off the chapter with reminding everyone that Jor is hot as fuck, why? I don't really know.

But beyond that, more important news, Silena chapter! Why? Because... I don't really know to be honest, why not?

I honestly don't have a reason, I just thought it would be interesting, and it's been a bit since I had another POV in this story, and then I thought it would be neat if basically the entire thing was a POV. Beyond that though, Silena... Oh, Silena, yeah... I've broken my code, my honor, I've destroyed my own rule of law! Woe is me! I have officially added a romantic plot into one of my stories! As long as you aren't blind, you can see it, it's kind of been building up since the whole thing with quest involving the Fates, but here, from a perspective that we as a whole can actually recognize as emotionally competent, we can actually see an more in depth and better understanding of these feelings. I mean, Silena is a poster child for Aphrodite right? It wouldn't make sense if she didn't know her own feelings about another person, especially romantically.

Of course, this isn't going to be going anywhere for a while, like, a long, long while it's going to be a sure as hell super slow burn, and given it's taken us over 200k words just to get to the awkward crushes stage... Well, it's going to be slow... Unless I want to speed it up, not sure yet. I'm kind of making up this pacing as it goes, cause I have no idea about romance to be honest, especially how to write it, since it's one of the few things I don't have experience in conveying in word format. Hell, I might just drop it at some point if I don't like it, that happens, especially to teens. I just don't know yet, this just sort of happened though, over the last few months while I've been writing their interactions, so maybe I can even make it seem natural?

I don't know, I'm, like, the worst person to ask about this kind of thing.

Anyways, beyond that boring shit, Norse mythology is back bitches! It's gonna be fun, I have, like, twenty tabs open at the moment just for this and the next chapter. But in the mean time, information I've had to learn and am going to infect you readers with... The Prose Edda is actually a book on Norse mythology, or rather a hyper compiled set of stories and lore about the Norse myths that was created back in the early thirtieth century, and is the main inspiration for, obviously, the Library of The Prose Edda, as mentioned in this chapter. I haven't had much time to actually read the book itself, but I figured it's a cool little tie in until next chapter where I might learn more about the book itself to add some more details no one would be able to understand expect someone who spends way to much time invested in weird mythology factoids... so basically anyone but me, cause this is what I use my free time for for some reason.

Anyways, I would love to talk more about the cats that have been introduced, because good lord I fucking love cats. I already have names, personalities, future abilities, and so fucking much more planned for those four saber tooth tigers, but I'll save that for later, when we're back in the hell that is Nick's mind, probably a chapter or two away after the next post given we're going to do some Norse focusing now. Anyways, see ya.