Nico had a couple of weird dreams from the coffin.
He already was beginning to loathe such a drab choice of décor-not that he would admit it for fear that someone would joke about how 'cute' it was that he went through different phases so quickly. However, even if Nico slept in Aphrodite's Barbie dreamhouse, he was confident he couldn't escape these dreams.
He was met with a vision of a man chained to a rock, his back to him. Nico held out his silver skull ring, basking in what little light it gave. The man had golden hair, and his chains matched its gleam in their bronze glow. He was breathing heavily, leaking gold ichor from several cuts and gashes.
"I don't understand!" he cried out, thrashing against his chains. Nico had a feeling this man-this god-could shake the entire cave they were in with his strength, though the bronze seemed to restrain his true power.
"You understand plenty, Phoebus Apollo," a woman's cold voice called out. Though he knew this was only a dream, a chill rushed over Nico's spine. The woman's voice struck him in the same way Kronos's had; it was nails on a chalkboard, wild animals screeching after catching a long-pursued prey. "You have taken too long on your promise to me. Night will sweep over the earth, and all will be at peace without the sun glaring upon mother Gaea. Think upon this as a retirement. You are free of the burden of driving the sun chariot. The earth is free from the sun..."
"No!" Apollo resisted, starting to stand on shaking legs only to fall against the rock keeping him captive. "No, the mortals need me! You can't do this!"
"Ah, but you see, child of the Big Three," the woman finally visualized before Nico. She was pale, wrapped in layers upon layers of cloth that appeared to be cut from the night sky itself. Her hair fell down in long, straight tresses, so thin she may have just come out of water. Slowly streaming down her face were strings of silvery tears, and when she looked at Nico, her eyes were completely black.
"I already have."
Nico's heart raced, panic welling up inside. He longed to wake up, but a force loomed over him that he couldn't fight off. The panic seemed to be smothered, the very breath in his lungs slowing to a stop. His eyelids drooped and-oh gods-Nico couldn't imagine something more terrifying than being magically put to sleep inside a nightmare.
Nico fell forward, only instead of falling against the jagged rocks, he slipped through.
He was floating in a bubble made out of what looked like ink, the reflection dark against the light rather than rainbow colors. Nico floated above camp, looking over his friends in their respective bubbles. The camp was lit up by multicolored lights in all directions-Hecate's magic, Artemis's 2008 moon model knockoff (long story), the Big House's fairy lights. Still, it felt...empty. Nothing was enough.
Nico's bubble bumped into another on his left, and he saw the blurry shape of Leo, unconscious in his bubble. Piper's bubble was to his right, and she was also asleep. Everyone was . Nico could sense it, like death, that he was the only one awake here, perhaps within a span of fifty miles.
He knocked against the rubbery surface, shouting, panicked that he would die of suffocation before the thing popped and plummeted him to his death.
"Be at peace, little ghost king," a nasally voice mused, and Nico turned-a slippery stunt, in the case of this bubble-to see a man with two faces. According to-admittedly-Mythomagic, this was Janus, god of doorways. Percy had told him how he'd come across the crafty god in the Labyrinth, and how he'd twisted even the wisest of demigods into doubt.
"Hey, don't downplay this!" one of the faces, Right, countered. "He should totally be freaking out right now. First quest with his name on it, and it's a little worldly emergency-"
"This doesn't look that bad, that's all I'm saying," Left shrugged, consequently making Right shrug with him, which he didn't seem to be on board with. "Think about it, floating in abyss with your friends, not having to worry about taxes, or getting your wisdom teeth out, or anything, really!"
"The world stopped," Nico said, looking out in the direction of Manhattan, where the half the lights had gone out. He'd seen it for the first time with Kronos's army, and that was frightening enough, but this was something new. The sun had been turned off.
"The world stopped being a nuisance, that's what," Left replied.
"But you're the only one that can make things right," Right added.
"So what do you say, Mr. di Angelo?" Janus asked, holding out two hands to shake.
"I," Nico hesitated. Kronos had been defeated. Four months had gone by, and everyone was fine. Percy and Annabeth were with Sally for the winter holidays, and the camp was taking in new campers every day. Things were healing. Things were finally healing.
Nico had been brought into this world of half bloods and monsters in the middle of a war. The war was over, and here he was, back in the trenches.
"I accept the quest," Nico shook the right hand. "I will save Apollo from the endless night."
"Oh, goody!" Right replied, beaming, squeezing his hand perhaps a little too hard.
Just then, the bubble suspending Nico fifty feet above the ground popped.
"Well, he's hellhound food," Left pouted, and whatever he had left to say was left in the air as Nico plummeted at the speed of a bullet, screaming all the way down.
"Son of death and curse of flame," a voice mused in his head, booming over the screaming, sounding like the all-too-familiar voice of the Oracle.
Nico woke up, miraculously, with a start, kicking his midnight-black mess of blankets off of himself. Really ironic décor choice that was now.
Piper McLean was knocking on his door. He checked the time-even the clock had literal hand-carved hand bones for clock hands, what a mess. It was 8:47, so she was early. And he was late, which was new for him, as usually he'd been woken up by unpleasant dreams at all hours.
"Just a second!" he called, changing into his clothes for the day quickly enough so-hopefully-she wouldn't catch him slacking off. He was the leader of the quest, after all, and the longest camper. Not only would he have to descend into the depths of Nyx's home in Tartarus, but he would have to protect two new demigods as well.
When Nico let Piper in, Leo stumbled closely after her, clearly out of breath. She handed Nico a granola bar from the breakfast table, which Nico was grateful for-it was small and packaged, so he could have it later if he wanted. He had what Dionysus would call a "shameful" relationship with food, in which he didn't "divulge in the pleasure of it" or something like that. His wording did nothing to increase Nico's appetite; he just kind of ate at his own pace, in small portions, something that came about when he was on the run and never knew where his next meal was coming from. Will Solace from the Apollo cabin noticed it one time and said that he could ask for help with it, if he wanted. Nico thought he might when he came back, which was a little weird considering he was off to save Will Solace's father.
"So," Leo said, picking off a grape from the grapevine he'd gotten at the table. He tossed it in the air, attempting to catch it in his mouth, though it bounced off his cheek and landed on the floor of the cabin.
Nico gave him a look. He went to go pick it up.
Leo went to put it in the pocket of a new toolbelt he was wearing before stopping short and going to the door, chucking it out towards the direction of the woods. With Leo's luck, it would probably knock an unsuspecting squirrel in the head.
"Yep," He said with a sigh, leaning against the cabin doorframe in a poor attempt at nonchalance. "Probably shouldn't put that in my tool belt pocket to throw away...my tool belt pocket that is unlimited...and can summon any tool at will...including a, like, super-huge monster-crushing hammer...it's whatever..."
Nico and Piper just blinked at him. Nico was not the best with social cues, though it was clear Leo was trying to get a reaction out of him. Normally, Nico would ignore the bait, but with Leo...he figured it would be easier to just let him get it out of his system.
"Where'd you get the toolbelt, Leo?" Nico asked, reciting it rather, as if it were a line in a child's play.
Leo's eyes lit up, a grin forming that was-admittedly-slightly infectious. "So I was getting ready in my cabin, right? Getting dressed, getting packed-not that I didn't pack last night, I mean." he shot Nico a look. "Doing my morning workout routine, you know what I'm talking about, Beauty Queen?" he winked in Piper's direction, to which she raised a brow and tried to conceal a laugh.
Nico frowned. Great, now he had to be a third wheel on his first official quest? He knew Piper wasn't that interested in guys, but would a small fraction of her be interested in Leo? It was a bit rich, him making jokes about working out-Piper was more built than both of them combined, which was easy, considering how admittedly scrawny they both were.
"Anyways, this Hephaestus camper-Carter, I think was his name-he just gave it to me! He said all Hephaestus campers get to use the belt...but then..." Leo's smile faded slightly. "Apparently the past two quests since this belt was found, Hephaestus campers have died and the belt was brought back by someone else. But, Carter said that if I survive, I get to keep it! So that's pretty cool, right?"
Nico and Piper shared a glance, and for a moment, his worries about her getting with Leo dissolved into thin air. Leo was...a handful. Hopefully a handful worth holding with the power of the tool belt.
"That's great, Leo," Piper smiled. "I definitely want to test some limits with that later about what all it can summon. Anyway, Nico," she turned to him. "Where do you think we should start?"
"Well," Nico scratched the back of his neck. "We need to get to the Underworld in order to find Nyx. To do that, we need a satyr's music, as it-"
"What?" Leo cut him off, brows furrowed. "You mean you can't just pop up in the Underworld as a Son of Hades? First you don't have a free pass into Elysium, then you can't even visit without extra steps? That's ridiculous."
Nico could feel himself tense, expression growing stony. He and his dad...they were working things out. No demigod-godly parent relationship was perfect. Leo didn't have to bring it up.
"It's the rules for all children of the gods. My...my friend Percy Jackson," Nico loathed how his voice faltered, how his heart raced at the sound of his broken tone. "He can't visit Poseidon's undersea palace without permission and guidance. A son of Zeus couldn't visit Olympus without going through the Empire State Building."
"Oh," Leo nodded. If Nico was remembering one thing from the orientation video, it was that Apollo mentioned you could find Olympus through the Empire State Building (this, along with some activities one could do with Apollo if they were to visit-because, of course, Apollo was the only god worth visiting.)
"Hey," Leo added. "Do you think there are any sons of Zeus?"
Nico thought of Thalia, who was now with the Hunters of Artemis. He wondered if they had heard of what happened to Apollo, and if they would be doing anything to help. Not that Nico wanted to ask...but if Artemis could help keep the sun up somehow, that could be helpful.
"Nope," Nico settled. "None that I know of."
"Hm," Leo pursed his lips. "That's a shame, that'd be really cool. Anyways, we got off topic...what do we need to get into the Underworld again?"
"A satyr's music," Nico continued. "It has powerful nature magic and can move rocks to allow a pathway. The only problem is that all the satyrs are currently out across the world on the lookout for new demigods and spreading the news about Pan's death. So, I got out the letters sent to Chiron from satyrs on their latest missions. The satyr closest to us is Gleeson Hedge, who's currently in Ottawa. If we can find him, he can play some music and we can get into the Underworld. Then...that's when the quest really begins..."
Leo and Piper nodded solemnly, and Nico sighed with a slight relief, though his heart still sped at the thought of what they were about to do. At least these two were on board...for now.
"I was going to offer to shadow travel," Nico said. "But given the distance, it would be faster to go by car, even with the traffic. Piper, can you drive?"
Piper nodded, but Leo interjected: "Hey, I literally drive for a living! You rode with me once. What's wrong with me driving?"
Nico resisted the urge to roll his eyes-a horrible habit he'd picked up from a lot of the campers here. "The drive is eight hours, so I'll be sure to get you a four hour window."
"Good," Leo replied.
"Great." Nico said, unsure of where this was even going.
A thick silence filled the already small cabin, and Piper stood with an exasperated sigh. "Hey, guys? Let's get to the van. I'll drive first and get us some coffee and donuts...some of us could definitely use some..."
One small black coffee and half a chocolate extreme donut later-what was it with Americans and putting so much sugar in everything?-Nico felt a bit better. Leo was...fine. A bit much, but probably just nervous. He was going into this on something of a blind whim, when he could have escaped.
Nico turned around slightly from his front seat-he'd called dibs on shotgun when Piper asked him to, which Leo seemed a little bummed about, but his seating situation didn't seem that bad. He was lounging across the backseat, belt twisted in a way that would hardly be useful if Piper's driving proved it necessary. He was reading a travel pamphlet on Syracuse, which could only occupy him for so long.
Leo glanced up, meeting Nico's eye with a smile. "Do you feel less grouchy now that you've had your coffee?" he asked sweetly.
"Do you feel less fussy now that you've had your required sugar dosage for the day?" Nico countered.
"Touché," Leo murmured, focusing back on his pamphlet. That seemed to end that.
Piper sighed from behind the driver's seat as she was cut off by some cazzo who didn't use a turn signal-Nico didn't even know how to drive, though he'd probably have more sense than most of the drivers in New York.
Nico sighed, slumping in his seat. Things didn't feel finished with Leo, and starting the quest on some ill-natured quips would probably not be something Chiron would approve of. He turned around, glancing at Leo, and Leo glanced back up at the sound of his movement.
"Do you," Nico started. "Do you want the rest of my donut?" he asked, handing the bag to him. It was for the best-he'd get a stomachache if he ate the rest of it, even though it'd be (debatably) worth it.
"Oh," Leo seemed surprised by the offer, leaning forward. "Yeah, sure, I'll take it off your hands. Thanks, man. Oh! If you don't like the aftertaste, there's these..." he rummaged through his tool belt pocket, summoning a tin of breath mints. "It's the only sort-of food I can summon out of this thing, because it's, like, stuff you can find out of a mechanic's shop. But it's pretty convenient and cool, right?"
Nico opened up the container and took one before offering it to Piper, who also took one. "Yeah," he smiled slightly. For now, he seemed to be doing right by his quest-mates. "Pretty cool..."
The van continued down the street, blending into the traffic, as if the trio were-for just a moment-living through a normal day.