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Nico's ears rung along with the sword in his hand as it bounced off the stolen shield the empousa in front of him was wielding.

"Styx" he muttered to himself and let himself spin in a circle with the force of the blow, slicing the monster and her school cheer uniform to dust. This was defiantly not how Nico had planned his date with Will going today, gods it was the weekend and all Nico wanted was one afternoon of peace. Glancing over at Will, Nico was momentarily distracted. The sun bounced off Nico's boyfriend in a way that gave him a fiery halo as he too, ripped through the monsters who had chased them from their afternoon picnic by the forested beaches of California. Nico huffed as he tuned back into his fight.

"Damn you little god-scum!" a harpy shrieked as Nico downed one of her sisters "You've ruined it! Ruined it all!" She rushed forward a she, well, harped at Nico.
Nico's back hit Will's as they turned their focus on keeping eachother safe from the newfound frenzy that erupted from the malicious crowd surrounding them.

"What in Tartarus are you screeching about? We were minding our own fucking business!" Nico demanded from the harpy who'd seemed the leader of the attack "Unless your plan was to take the same picnic spot, I don't see what we did to upset you so much except exist." he squinted with disdain. "RAAAHHH" the harpy swung her clawed arm forward, wordlessly ordering the gruesome hoard forward in attack. Nico and Will worked as shadow and light, never apart, always one following the other. As they neared the tree line, the harpy darted into the forest alongside a few other monsters who all carried a bag or random items that honesty spelled trouble in Nico's opinion.

"Will," Nico called " the forest, they're headed into the forest! Let's move that way so we can split. Then you watch my back while I try to head them off and bring them back!"

"Nico are you sure?" Will sounded a bit worried for his boyfriend "I know you're strong, I know you can handle yourself, I just don't like the idea of you heading off alone." Will then placated the argument Nico hadn't even voiced "We can fight our way there together Nico." Nico sliced the tail off a chimera as it tried to swipe at his calf and grunted in reply "You know I'll be fine, we've fought worse, and we shouldn't wait. This whole thing smells of Tartarus. If anything goes wrong I'll shadow-travel back to you okay?". Will looked concerned but understood Nico's point of view, he also knew his boyfriend was in no way weak.

"Okay Nico, I trust you to come back." Will nodded his consent. The two demigods pushed their way towards the line of trees with Will drawing attention and guarding Nico's back as Nico spun to face the direction he'd seen the harpy and her fellow monsters run off to. A break in the last offensive line came as Will dusted another miscellaneous monster, and Nico took his chance. In the span of a few seconds he tapped Will's side once to let him know he was going and ran forward into the redwoods.

Nico ran fast, the sound of Will's doubled efforts to keep the monsters off Nico's tail fading behind him. Using what little he'd learned of tracking from the few of the Artemis Cabin who tolerated him, Nico followed the trail of broken branches, fur tugged onto bark, and leaf-litter trampled by all manner of hooves, feet, claws, or scales to a clearing darkened by the imposing size of the trees around it. A circle of monsters was made with an unlit black candle and the cloth bags they had carried laying in-front of them, the harpy stood in the circle's center. Nico used the shadows to travel his way closer as the head harpy spoke.

"Quickly, quickly! Those brats will be here soon. Open your bags and hurry up! I will not let our plans be ruined by two dirty half-blooded children!". The monsters jumped to follow her orders as the harpy held up her clawed hand and began to speak in Ancient Greek.

"Our Father, Lord of us all, whose name strikes fear into the gods themselves. We offer you our power," she raked her claws through her own arm "our loyalty," again her blood splattered "and our flesh" the harpy's arm fell to the forest floor and Nico's eyes widened in surprise. The other monsters had opened their bags to reveal copious monster parts, still freshly bloodied. The candles flickered to life with green fire and the arm from the harpy seemed to sink into the earth as it began bubble with the blood spilt. Each monster, Nico now realized, was pulling parts of their own kinds out of their bags to feed to the growing blood-pool in the center of the circle. A gorgon, perhaps Stheno or Euryale, threw a handful of snakes in, a gryphon, his own wings, and a manticore threw in its own tail.

Nico edged forward to the edge of the candle light as a the last few monsters threw the contents of their bags into the boiling blood. The harpy lowered her head in a sick mimicry of prayer and was handed a large jug that had Nico shivering with unwelcome memories.

"Lastly we offer this, the blood of a hundred demigods, one child to satisfy each of your heads". Dread began to fill Nico when the ground seemed to breathe inwards with wicked hunger as the harpy began to pull the large jar towards the center with the help of a freshly one-armed cyclops. Nico knew that whatever was writhing beneath the earth's crust was wicked, perhaps as much as even Gaea had been. He steeled himself and used his inherited powers to call skeletal hands from the depths, holding the members of the circle in place while he rushed to the harpy and cyclops in hopes of stopping this final sacrifice. The blood of one hundred demigods wasn't something that could lead to a good outcome. "Harpy, drop the blood-jar and back away from the blood pit." Nico demanded as he leveled his Stygian iron sword at her. The harpy screeched for what seemed the hundredth time and set the jar down, pushing the cyclops forward.

"Get rid of it Sterontes! Don't let Hades' ilk near the jar, it took too long to collect."
The cyclops rushed forward, all lumbering limb and heavy footfall. While Nico had fought and defeated many a monster much stronger, and much more scary that this Sterontes, it was a bit tricky to maneuver with a circle of monsters clawing and biting at your back like some crappy fight club ring. Dodging a sideswipe from a meaty fist, Nico rolled into the claw of the tailless manticore, earning himself a nasty bite to his left arm, his sword arm. Slicing easily through the manicures neck, blood poured from Nico's shoulder, soaking his black bomber jacket and making his sword-grip slippery.

"Gods damnit" he growled "just one day of peace, that's just too much to ask huh?". Rolling to avoid another punch from the cyclops, Nico felt his sense of dread grow as he was now right next to the boiling blood pit. It seemed alive, and… hissing? No that was defiantly barking… no, braying? The pit seemed to echo every kind of animalistic sound Nico had ever heard, and plenty he had not.

Nico's momentary distraction proved dangerous as the cyclops easily swatted him to the side, sending him clear over and across the pit. Landing with a huff of air, Nico rolled a few times before coming to a stop on his back, hitting something with a thunk.

"Owww, shit, my head." Nico breathed out as he tried to scurry up before he was pounced on by the cyclops or harpy. Nico, never to be lucky, groaned in pain as a sharp-clawed foot sat itself on his stomach. He'd effectively been used like a volley ball, being served over the pit to the waiting harpy who now smiled down at him with wicked eyes.

"Little Ghost King, how nice of you to put yourself in my talons. You can be an extra source of blood for our Father." that dread doubled in Nico as pain spread from where the harpies claw sat, now digging deep into him, ripping and shredding blood vessels along with sensitive nerves.

"FUCK!" Nico screamed with what little air he'd recovered, pain moving him to try and take action. Grasping for his sword, Nico was confused to feel nothing in his hand. As a matter of fact, Nico couldn't feel his hand at all and looking down he could see his fingers limp and red-stained. That manticore must've nicked something important in his shoulder. The pit began to bubble faster as Nico's blood joined that in the jar now being poured in by the cyclops. The ground began to shake like it had during the Giant War when Gaea had showed herself. Nico's vision began to get hazy and his thoughts turned again to Will.
They had decided to take a trip away from camp to have an uninterrupted date. Don't get Nico wrong, he loves his cousins and friends, but dear gods they never let Will and him have a moment of peace. Especially not the golden retrievers that are Percy and Jason, always busting into whatever cabin Will and he were in to ask about sparing or show off a new scar. They meant well though and Nico wished he'd taken up Percy's offer to go to the beach near camp instead of trying to be romantic for Will by taking them to the Coastal Redwoods.

'Oh Will' Nico thought 'his hair was so pretty earlier, and his eyes were so blue, they looked like the sky his father travels in his chariot… I can't leave him like this". Nico felt a pit like the one next to him grow in his stomach, however his was of fear and rage. He couldn't give up, couldn't leave behind his friends and camp, he couldn't abandon the man he'd bought a ring for. Darkness swelled up from deep inside him and he clenched his working hand with effort as the darkness began to pour out from him in inky-black swirls of fog "NOOO" Nico's voice reverberated around the clearing as the fog solidified and shot out, lightning fast, towards all the monsters around him, spearing them on sharp spikes. Feeling utterly exhausted and empty, Nico opened his eyes and heaved himself up to sit. The harpy and cyclops were on the floor were they had stood, the blood-jar having fallen to rest on its side. The rest of the monsters were still in their circle but now impaled, their blood dripping on the mossy forest floor. They hadn't dusted. They were actually dead. Nico's eyes drew to the pit, still a cacophony of animalistic noise and blood. Struggling with one arm, Nico stood and walked a step closer to the edge.

"What in Tartarus are you?" He questioned quietly, receiving no answer he could understand, though the animals screamed louder in mocking answer.

"NICO!" Will's voice cut through the haze. "Oh my gods Angel what happened!? Are you okay!?" Will rushed forward, giving the pit a nervous glance and caught Nico as he let himself go limp now that his boyfriend was here.

"Will!" Nico smiled, a little loopy from blood-loss and power exertion "I'm okay, just a little banged up, a bit confused". Will didn't look too relieved at that news. He gave the stomach wounds a once over then began to gently pull off his boyfriends jacket to get a better look at his much worse shoulder wound.

"Angel, Styx this is bad. Let me dress this real quick and we can get out of here and away from whatever that is". Nico was surprised, Will seemed worried. Should he be worried too? No probably not, Will could take care of him. But he needed to take care of Will.

"Will, Sunshine, we need to hurry, those monsters were trying to summon something. They called it their Father, it can't be Tartarus though, they spoke of a hundred heads". Will's hands stilled on his shoulder and he let out sound like someone had kicked his chest in.

"Sunshine?" Nico questioned, looking into Will's horror-stricken eyes. Will whispered something to himself that Nico couldn't quite catch. "What?" he asked Will, leaning in closer.

"Typhon" Will said loud enough for Nico to hear, and a chill settled over him. In his beginning years as a Child of Hades, Nico had never heard the name, but as soon as he gained the title of Ghost King, he began to catch the whispers. The ghosts of ancient heroes and demigods alike would occasionally mention a wicked creature who was the progenitor of all monster kind. A giant who was so tall his head brushed the stars and his arms stretched across the earth as far as the eye could see. Made of loathing for the gods and men alike, with awe-inspiring wings, a hundred snake heads sprouting from his shoulders, and a split tail in place of legs. They called him Serpent of the Deep, the Bane of Olympus, Consort to Echidna, and Zeus' Boogeyman. His name is Typhon, Father of Monsters.

"But Zeus banished him to Tartarus' deepest caverns thousands of years ago!" It cant be him!" Nico nearly cried.

"We need to hurry and go now Angel. We'll patch you up more at camp." Will said, the most serious Nico had seen him in years. Will picked Nico up and had Nico hold onto his neck with his good arm, laying the injured one across his own stomach.

"Can you shadow travel?" Will asked apologetically.

"I don't think I can, sorry. I used what I had left to do that." Nico nodded towards the solid shadow-spikes around them.

"Okay Angel, let's head to the nearest town and we can Iris message from there, have someone come get us." Will suggested gently. He straightened his back and used his knees to easily lift the light weight of Nico, turning away from that nasty pit.

"NOOOOO" Will spun around as a horrible voice called from behind.
"If I cannot have the blood of a hundred lower demigods then I will take all the prized blood of the Ghost King"!

A string of blood pooled itself upwards to form a vague shape that both demigods recognized as Typhon, though much much smaller then his true shape. Will tensed then broke into a run right as the candles around them roared into green towers of flame and the Typhon puppet slithered after them. Nico clung to his boyfriend tightly, unable to do much else at the speed the son of Apollo was putting on to try and save them both. Ahead there was a break in the shadowed forest and the beach was just beyond.

"NO, you cannot escape me even in this form." The blood puppet screamed after them, catching up far too quickly for either of their liking. Will broke through the tree-line, using his shoulder and an arm to protect Nico's face from hitting branches.

"There!" Will shouted, "If we can make it to the water he shouldn't be able to follow! That's just a puppet, a golem. It may be strong but it's still made of blood, it'll disparate in the water!". Nico nodded his agreement and held on a little tighter, the anxiety amping him up. Typhon's golem was right behind them, they could feel air vibrating by them as it screeched again. Just as Will was a few steps away from the water's edge, another string of blood rushed forward, this time from the golem itself and tripped him.

"Agh fuck, Nico!" Will called as they both went sprawling to the sandy ground. Nico's anxiety served him well and he was up before his boyfriend.

"Will!" Nico shouted, limping his way quickly to tackle the puppet that was reaching for his boyfriend. It was disgusting, solid in a way but all warm and sticky, and smelling too much of copper, musk, and rot. Nico yelped as he rolled, aggravating his wounds. He was covered in the blood of a hundred demigods and the gore of monsters but didn't even notice as he was frozen on the spot staring at the Typhon puppet as it writhed.

"YOu HorRIBle cHild!" it hissed at him "HOw dARe yOu touCh Me?! EvEN tHis forM Is toO glOriOUs to Be sUllIed bY youR fIlth"! Nico watched as it bubbled again and grew in size, now at least half as tall as the redwoods they had just escaped and defiantly taller then Nico or Will. It shuddered with power and drew in a deep breath, targeted the downed son of Apollo, and swung its large hand towards him.

"NOO WIll!" Nico shouted and from somewhere inside, that rage-pit grew again, lending him strength to summon those solid shadows once more. A wave of them rushed from the nearby shadows of the trees and crashed over both Nico and the Typhon golem. The golem turned to him as darkness surrounded them.

"LiTtle DemigOd, YoU HaVe gRown To MAtch Your fAther's poWers. No MatTer, iF I caNnot leave HerE I wiLl SimPly deStRoy anoTher wOrld, drInk iTs bLOod unTil I aM PowErfuL tO ComE baCk aNd beAt yOur gODs thEn." His chuckle grated on Nico's ears, sounding like the moaning of countless writhing animals. The green of Greek fire seemed to build behind the puppets eyes and Nico braced himself for a fight. The roaring heat from the green fire grew until it reached a pitch that deafened Nico as he closed his eyes against it. The pain grew and grew but Nico didn't let his shadow waiver, his Sunshine was out there. The deafness became a ringing in Nico's ears as he screamed in pain, the Greek fire melting his clothes into his skin and then boiling the flesh off his bones.

'This wasn't how today was supposed to go.' Nico thought. 'I was supposed to take him on a picnic, one day of peace.
Nico thought to the ring he'd had in his jacket pocket and realized Will must still have it with him from when he'd taken it off Nico to check his wounds. It gave him some kind of comfort to know that Will could at least have the ring to remember him by until they saw each-other again in Hades' realm.

LIIIIIIINNNNNE BBBBRRREEEEAAAAK

Something cold and wet lapped at his feet and he could hear the sound of waves. Nico could hear waves. Wait! Nico could hear again and it wasn't awful animal screeching or that horrible ringing in his ears. Opening his eyes, Nico saw clear blue sky above him and immediately thought of Will.

"Will!" He cried out to his boyfriend, hoping that if he was still alive, Will would be too.

"Will!?" Nico began to sit up, a choked-off yelp of pain rushing from his dry lips.

"Sunshine you okay?!" He cried desperately, he couldn't see anyone around on the beach. 'Actually this beach seems a lot bigger then a few minutes ago' Nico thought to himself as he took note of his surroundings. There were no redwood trees nearby, just a small spattering of odd trees that sort of reminded Nico of a palm tree and a forest line in the distance that defiantly didn't look the same as before. Gathering his strength and bracing for the inevitable pain, Nico used his right arm to push himself to his feet, bracing his still-mangled left on his stomach.

"Styx" he mumbled as he took stock of himself, his left arm was still unresponsive and his stomach wound slowly dribbled blood. This obviously wasn't the same beach. His power flare-up must've sent him shadow traveling while knocked out again, Will wasn't going to be pleased. Searching inside himself, Nico was unsurprised to find no trace of his powers other then a line of shadows somewhere in his subconscious, it was stretched out and wavering like an overworked cattle dog. There went traveling himself back to his boyfriend.
'What was it Chiron always said for situations where you're lost?' Nico wondered to himself. He pictured Chiron standing proudly on all four hooves,

"Water, shelter, food. In that order. If you're ever lost or stuck because of a monster you cannot defeat, these are the most important things while you wait for help." he'd told them over and over again.

'Suppose salt water can't check the first off the list' Nico thought to himself sullenly. He was not excited to have to trudge a seemingly deserted island in search of anything, even if he needed it.
Walking was as fun and easy for Nico as you'd expect, that is to say he'd rather be back in Tartarus. After coming to the quick conclusion that there would more chance of fresh water inland then at the beach, Nico made his way to the forest he'd seen earlier. He'd been walking for what felt like hours when he felt something shift. Someone or something was watching him.

"For the gods' sakes if you're that blood-puppet again I'm gonna scream." Nico called out unamused. Silence. Maybe he was a bit paranoid. Turning to walk the way he'd been headed, Nico whipped back around as the brush loudly shook. Without his sword or powers and with the many wounds he was sporting, Nico did the next best thing, he backed up quickly and picked up a branch from the nearby dirt.

"AHHHHHHHHH OH MY GOSH NO PLEASE DON'T EAT MEEEEEEEE!" A small satyr came screaming from the bushes and ran headfirst into Nico's legs. Looking down Nico was confused as he got a better look,

"You're not a satyr" Nico said, mostly to himself. The little horned… no antlered thing looked up at him from the ground with teary eyes and seemed to make a quick decision, scrambling up and putting himself by Nico's leg, trying to hide and doing a horrible job of it. Just as Nico was about to move away and question the fuzzy thing more the brush rumbled again.

"Please mister! It's gonna eat me! Don't let it eat me! I've got Nami, she'll pay you just please don't let it eat me!" The little (satyr?) thing cried. The brush shivered and a human-sized snake slithered quickly from the bushes, stopping momentarily when it saw Nico. It's face was way too expressive and it grinned hungrily as it spotted the little fuzzy guy by Nico's pant leg.

"AHHHH" the little guy squealed as the snake rushed forward, not taking Nico as a threat. That was stupid of it. Nico stepped forward using the stick in his right hand to smash the snakes head upward as it opened its mouth for a bite. Swinging himself around it's back, Nico used the hefty stick to bash the snakes broken jaw away from the wide-eyed little guy. With a thud, the snake fell, dead, to the forest floor.

" Huh," Nico hummed to himself "not a monster then" as the snake hadn't dusted and Nico hadn't used those odd solid shadows. Looking to his damsel in distress Nico gave him a (he had been practicing with Will okay?!) small smile, probably more a grimace from the reaction on the little guy's face.

" Hey, you alright? That thing get you anywhere?" Nico questioned. He was taken aback as the satyr-thing began sobbing loudly with a quivering lip

" You saved meeeeee! WAHHHHHHHH! Thank you so much mister, you're the nicest person I've ever met, Luffy will like you, I'll get Nami to pay you, and Sanji can make you a meal, and" Nico cut the poor little guy off with a gesture of his uninjured arm.

"Hey no problem little guy but I really don't need any of that, thanks. I'm looking for someone right now so I've got to get going and need to find water, head back to those friends of yours and keep an eye out for more snakes, take this." Nico placed the stick into hooved hands and turned to continue his search for water.

"Okay, thanks mister!" the rescuee said, still caught in the happy shock of surviving and, turning to head back where he had come from, then he paused whipping around to Nico after a moment.

"HEY NO!" his little voice shouted, startling Nico with the sheer indigence in it "I can't just let you leave with those injuries, I can't call myself a doctor if I let someone kind like you just walk with those" he seemed to have forgotten his earlier fears and went to grab Nico's uninjured arm.

Nico drew back a little "Sorry I don't know you and I don't know about you but trusting someone out the gate ends badly more often then not…". The hooved hand stopped short of Nico's arm as the fuzzy guys eyes looked deep into Nico's

"I don't know about you," his little voice started surely "but even though trusting people can be hard and scary, it's even worse to never trust anyone cause then, then you're all alone." he drew himself up taller, though that didn't do much for his short frame, and said with a hint of a cheeky smile

"Besides, it's the lest I can do to help you out after you helped me! My crew has food, bandages, and just now you said you need water!". Nico thought on it a second and decided

"Crew huh? Styx, might as well. If my past has taught me anything it's that I need to take help where I can get it little satyr, thank you,". The small self-proclaimed doctor's cheeky smile grew into an all-out toothy grin as he took Nico's hand

" Alrighty then Mister snake-fighter let's go!" he began gently pulling Nico along with him though he paused and looked back

" I don't know what a satyr is Mister but I'm a reindeer, okay? And my name is Chopper.". Nico blinked in momentary surprise at the revelation then relaxed into the chaos and promise of necessities

"I'm Nico, nice to meet you Chopper".