""It lets the demigods in! It shuts the monsters out! It keeps the half-bloods safe, but turns mortals all about! It's Misty, and it's magic, and it makes me want to shout: the border is all about!"

…

"Oh, come on," Nico protested. "You've all heard that annoying song, right? It's from Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. "

Nobody responded."

—Camp Half-Blood Confidential, Rick Riordan

..The thing is. Nico knew that Camp Half-Blood had moved to follow where the gods went. Considering he was kind of the reason the guide to Camp Half-Blood existed (in which, it was still endlessly embarrassing that he was of the few who'd even seen the orientation film, the humiliation of singing the song and nobody understanding would haunt him forever), nearly everyone had read the book and understood how Camp Half-Blood came to be.

It was just. He had zero clue where the gods were. It sucked, and he realized, yeah, having Satyrs find demigods was a good idea, but with the huge divide between mortals and demigods it was hard to find them when they were born in the world with the mortals.

(he wondered if the Mist was here, or if it was just gone. It wasn't like he'd know, any weird thing he could do would probably be seen for what it was due to people accepting the reality of quirks.)

So the best place to start was where he knew camp had been before .

On Long Island.

Nico didn't know what he was going to do if he couldn't find it.

If the last thing that he really had from the past was gone. (you've done it before, get it together!)

He told Yamada to stay put, and that he'd be safe (that wasn't true). There must've been something showing on his face however, because the blonde had just softened and nodded his head in understanding.

The son of Hades then moved to where he knew camp was, lifting his head and where in his head he just knew the barrier had been, and his heart broke.

In front of his eyes, sat ruins.

The cabins he knew by heart were rusted and decayed, pieces scattered across the ground. Some looked crushed, others were as if the structure had grown old and fell apart on its own.

Cabin One, with its grand and marble exterior now merely looked like the ruins of old buildings and temples that would've existed in Greek or Rome. Maybe not nearly as bad (if he recalled correctly, one used to have a statue. It went missing), but even just the thought of it being a tourist attraction, of them taking pictures and finding enjoyment here where the sight now just brings him pain.. As if it wasn't a tragedy…

Nico didn't want to think about it. ( He didn't want to think about the fact that something else could've come to attack the demigods, to have killed them all, and he would've walked unknowingly into a slaughter that he missed because he wasn't–)

Cabin Two shared a similar fate to One, however the now broken statue of Hera stared at him, as if in judgment. A pitiful remainder, but Hera had been the most bitchy. No matter how much sympathy he had for her, she'd been a jerk.

He wouldn't wish for anyone to fade, however. No one could change that way, and it would only breed resentment and hatred.

Cabin Three was in okay shape, however many of the decorations seemed almost dried out, reminding him a little of the smell of dead fish. Which, eughh, and it just felt. Well, dry. And freezing.
It was a stark contrast, or perhaps there'd been a now faded enchantment, and since it was on land.. it just dried up. Died. (he could've sworn he'd seen a glint of celestial bronze, although he couldn't say if he'd just imagined it or not. On the other hand, there was a pile of drachmas, likely from the fountain. He could've just imagined seeing what was likely Riptide.)

Faced with the reality that the Percy he knew was dead and gone, just hurt.

All the cabins just felt like graves ! And he knew graves, but this was much more personal, and he hated it.

Cabin Four was dead. Well the plants were dead. Might as well get a little morbid, huh? He wasn't wrong. It felt wrong not to see it full of life, even if plants kind of hated him.

Cabin Five looked as if it came out of an explosion, its parts scattered everywhere, and he could almost see the charred remains of beds if he looked too closely. (you don't want to go down that path, Nico, don't think about it).

Gods, what if the campers had gotten into a fight, many growing to hate the Gods, and they just had a civil war? What if they'd fought, one lost their temper and just blew it up? What if. If they weren't afraid of hurting their siblings. Their cabinmates.

FUCK.

Cabin Six, looking partially inhabitable, however he could see a lot of dust, in which he quickly steered away so as not to sneeze horribly. It wasn't too surprising that it would be in good shape, but Athena's biggest flaw had to be pride, not wanting to admit that they were wrong.

If something had happened and the campers didn't get along in time to fight against something…

He didn't want to know what the insides looked like. Gods, it was already screwing with the memories of the camp, and he was starting to be less and less willing to ruin the happy memories he had with its crude remains.

Cabin Seven had dead plants as well, and you could barely see the gold underneath the huge rust the building had, in which it hit him that the barrier probably ceased to exist, and any control over the weather had vanished, likely causing most of the issues. (don't think about him. Don't think about how stupidly accommodating he was to the newer campers, and how he'd likely stayed at camp until he died.)

Cabin Eight was in a similar state to Cabin Seven. It was pretty, once upon a time, but now it just looked abandoned. Well, it kind of was before, but it was just a sad sight under all of its rust and mess.

Cabin Nine was.. crushed. As if there was a fight and they'd decided it was a better idea to get rid of it to spare them the trouble of any campers being able to create weapons in a proper space. ( but there were separate forges. ..unless what if the campers were in– ? don't. Just don't.)

Gods, what if there was a fight.

..What if the quirked had seen past the mist, and Camp Half-Blood had ended up in the quirk wars, with no choice but to fight?

He skipped past Cabin Ten, not wanting to know, not wanting to let his mind spiral (there were rapists in all kinds of wars, don't even think about it) .

Cabin Eleven definitely looked worse for wear, although he still cringed, almost able to remember how it was horribly overcrowded once upon a time. It was only normal that it would've broken eventually.

Cabin Twelve also had dead plants. Covered in what used to be grapevines.

Finally, he stopped at Cabin Thirteen. He could almost imagine the vampire-like interior, however Nico could almost feel how freezing it was.

Fitting.

..He left it alone, and with a cursory glance he could see the other cabins in not so good condition, as well as some that he didn't recognize.

Nico took a deep breath. It almost felt like he was in a ghost town, although it probably fit more than he thought.

Lastly, he turned to the next place, and headed towards the Big House.

Covering his nose from the dust that made his eyes water, he stepped onto the porch, and the old wood creaked under his weight.

The building looked bad, but at least still livable. Even if nature was starting to take over, it wasn't crushed or anything like some of the other cabins.

Entering the Big House, he glanced around before going still, gaze snapping to the centaur in the room, who was sitting on a chair (don't ask) and staring out the window where in the past, you could've seen the campers having fun doing various outdoor activities.

"Chiron?"

Chiron sat up, head snapping to where Nico was, before he let out a crushed sound, like a deflating balloon, but sad .

" Nico. "

"..Hey."

Safe to say, they had a very long chat. And he may have cried, once or twice.

Chiron then told him that many of the remaining gods had left to where their domains resided.

He didn't ask how the centaur had known that he was worried about his dad, Chiron knew them all too well (Nico couldn't even imagine how much pain he was in, caring so much about the campers, and having to outlive them all the time, dammit) .

Of course, Nico couldn't stay forever.

Chiron didn't ask him to stay, just nodded at him in understanding.

For some reason, that hurt so much more. That Chiron would love them all the same, yet still let them leave, even if he was in pain with their loss. Wouldn't beg. Wouldn't be selfish.

..They didn't deserve him.

With a heavy heart, Nico left camp, and returned to where Yamada was waiting, and promptly burst into tears again.