Quick note before the story starts, and I have no plans to do this normally!
So! I want to address some things before the chapter starts, from both the comments and some things I got asked.
Yes, Annabeth is dead in this fic. No, I don't know what ship this fic will be. No, I don't have a consistent update schedule.
I didn't kill Annabeth for the purpose of character development, or not liking her, or not liking Percabeth. I simply... couldn't write her. I spent months before I started properly writing this fic trying to figure out her characterization with the changes I made to canon, how I wanted to write her, and how I wanted to write them together.
And I couldn't find any way I was happy with it. So, I made the choice to kill her in a way that would shape some of the bigger things leading up to this.
As for the shipping - I'm aromantic. It's hard for me to engineer things like that. If I feel something works, I'll write it when and where I can. If I don't, then the fic will remain shipless. It's not important for the story, so I won't try to force anything.
And, unfortunately, I am not in a situation where I can really have a reliable update schedule. I write when I have inspiration and time, and they very rarely line up, which often leads to me making time in the middle of other things for the purpose of writing what I can, even if that's only a couple hundred words.
Normal stuff will be at the bottom! I hope you enjoy, and sorry for the wait!
Even before he got thrown off a cliff, Nico was having a pretty bad day.
First, he woke up. Most normal people consider that a pretty good thing, but he's really good friends with Clovis, and he was just starting to actually get to the point of the story he was telling, and it's impossible to get that guy to remember anything after he woke up, if you could even wake him up long enough to talk in the first place. So, that was pretty annoying to deal with, because it seemed pretty interesting - Nico's always had an interest in the Dreamscape, and while his Chthonic connections made it easier for him to travel and learn about than most people, he was by no means an expert, and tried to get his hands on any information he could.
Second, he had a quest. Again - something most people would consider a good thing, or cool, but Nico's been on about seven in the past month, and most haven't even been real quests, just demigod-retrievals that the Satyr's thought would be difficult to deal with. Which this one was.
Again.
Nico, by virtue of being a child of the Big Three, having experience in this type of quest, and being one of the fastest demigods in Camp (thanks, shadow-travel) was often first pick, even with his generally dour attitude. He'd made a point about Thalia being available, but she'd apparently been scheduled to assist in a training course, and couldn't. Because… of course.
Slipping his way into the shadows making up the remaining body of Erebus cast by the early morning sun hitting Thalia's tree, Nico found himself in a familiar place - almost a second home, after Camp Half-Blood. When he'd been on the run, Erebus was a distant figure. A place he could barely skim to get to where he wanted - or, often, needed , primordials are funny like that - to be. Now, with proper training and resting time, he found the place easier to travel than ever.
Previously, this realm manifested as more of a feeling than a place.
Now, this place felt… eerily similar to the Mansion of Night. An endless corridor of white noise, and shadows he can travel purely by feel as opposed to anything resembling sight. He simply… knew where places he wanted to go were. How long he had to travel to get there, when to shift directions, and by how much. It was incredibly useful, as opposed to traveling by pure vibes and just hoping the Fates didn't feel like screwing him over this time.
He'd discovered that, by staying here, he could heal his wounds much faster (though still incredibly slowly), recover stamina easier, think clearer… It was similar to what Percy had previously described being in water like. Though, he had noticed this was far more similar to a lower potency, over-time effect, as opposed to a supercharge and crash like Percy had previously established his to be.
Percy… Over the past few days, Nico had heard mentions of him a few times while he was in Erebus. That wasn't uncommon - even when mortal, Percy had been a bigger, more important figure than most deities. He'd managed to find his way into everything , had fingers in every pie, most of the time by complete accident if the story about that Crocodile held any truth - and Nico knew it did. The Chthonic deities held the rift between Pantheons in far less reverence than the Olympians or Asgardians or whatever-the-hell the Egyptians call their not-Heaven, and Nico had learned plenty about them during his time in the Labyrinth, and even more during his hunt for Percy.
Nico shifted a few inches to the left - he's not sure how much of a difference that made in the world above, to be honest. Could be millimeters, could be kilometers.
Then the third big issue with his day. The shadows seemed… loud, today. Not in volume - no matter what, they felt like whispered screams. But maybe… heavier? Deeper? Something about them seemed more important. But he couldn't hear anything that made sense -
- God who has Turned -
- Make it Your Own -
- Bane of Olympus -
- Lost One Raise -
- Hera's Rage -
- Neptune shall Drown -
- Angel's Breath -
- The Final Verse -
- Death and Madness -
- Pages turning -
- The cloven guide -
- Destroy the Tyrant -
- Open His Door -
Nico… Nico knew some of these. They were fragments of Prophecy - but why was he hearing them now? These had all passed… What was the link? Just that they had happened in his life? But-
Nico felt the Realm shift. He'd hit the right door.
The Angel took a Breath, and left Erebus.
Of course, when Nico actually got there it turns out the kid was being chased by monsters, and Nico didn't like to shadow-travel new kids (or new people at all) because it was a generally bad time to someone that wasn't used to it (and a lot of people that were(Thalia)). At least they were pretty close to Camp, which meant Nico didn't have to go far and still had plenty of energy left after his trip through Erebus, and would be plenty fine when they got back to camp.
The satyr gave him a bit of a briefing - demonic math teacher (where had he heard that before?), ran out of school by the teachers (a common trend), fire department and police called (bog standard, though the cyclops gym teacher was new, he had to admit) and the cyclops was still on their tail. Nico gave the satyr and kid (who'd been told about the godly world a few days before the start of break, to get her prepped to leave ASAP (always sixth grade. Always.)) a nod and some directions, and went off to deal with the cyclops.
And the fourth big issue with his day:
The cyclops found him first.
Nico thought he'd been stealthy after finding the cyclops trying to move through the forest on the edge of a hill, likely hoping to corner the demigod and satyr before they could properly escape. Nico, however, was very much so wrong, which he realized after the cyclops ripped off a tree limb and swatted Nico off the side of the cliff before he could so much as grab the handle of his sword, being sent a dozen or so feet out and a couple dozen down before his jacket caught on a branch, dangling maybe ten feet off the ground below the edge of the cliff, freshly out of contact with any good enough shadows to free himself.
The terrifying Son of Hades, King of Ghosts, was being held up from a tree like a kitten by the scruff of its neck, trying to reach behind himself to be able to grab onto the branch and pull himself up enough (he really should stop skipping training sessions) to be able to pry himself free, or at least break the branch he was stuck on.
It took a few minutes, but Nico finally managed to bend the branch enough to yank his jacket off of it, falling the distance and landing within one of the billions of tunnels connecting Earth and Erebus, taking a moment to rest within the realm, feeling the darkness envelop him and giving him a chance to listen to the whispers, guiding him to his target, waiting for the right moment.
It doesn't take long for the Cyclops to catch up to the demigod- and that's when Nico strikes. Popping out of the satyr's shadow, Nico emerges in a kneeling position and slashes his sword through the leg of the cyclops, sending him toppling with a roar. As Nico stabs his blade downwards through its eye, the monster dissolves into a fine golden mist that solidifies into obsidian-colored glass-like shards that melt into the Stygian Iron, the fuller glowing a soft purple for a moment as the blade glistens.
From there, the demigod (oddly quick - maybe Hermes? Enagônios, maybe. Nico likes trying to guess - Mythomagic was useful for some things) is escorted to camp - through the forest and into a peach orchard that reeks of death for… some reason. From the peach orchard to the road, from the road to Thalia's Tree and Half-Blood Hill. All in all, Nico was gone for maybe two hours, and in that time, Camp apparently went to shit.
All in all, Thalia was having a pretty good day.
She managed to get out of demigod-retrieval duty (really, the satyrs need better training. Next time he's in Camp, Thalia needs to talk to Grover about getting that weird satyr-council to mandate some combat training) by instead volunteering to teach some kids some one-on-one spear-combat tactics, and assisting a son of Aeolus (poor guy) named Kari in learning how to do some wind manipulation (she still refused to learn how to fly, but she'd learned some aeromancy from Jason during the Second Giant War, to help control the Argo II and deal with different wind spirits and other flying monsters.)
Sure, when she learned Nico had been sent instead, she felt kinda bad - but really, if it got Death Breath out more, it was a win in her books. He's gotten much better about locking himself away from people recently, she'd admit, but he's still not exactly sociable. Being an introvert's great and all, she even considers herself one, but he still takes it a bit too far for Thalia to not try to get him to open up when she could. Bit too close to "recluse" territory.
Walking by the cabins and nodding in greetings towards the Hearth Goddess tending to the everburning flame in the middle of Camp, Thalia felt something in the winds shift, words and segments of sentences carried by the Anemoi whispering in her ear.
"...an hour…" "...Cabin…" "...dare…"
Over the years, Thalia's gotten better at figuring out what the Anemoi try to tell her with these - and this one was fairly obvious. Someone - probably the Hermes Cabin - was going to be pranking their resident Oracle in about an hour. Thalia didn't think she'd shown up yet, so maybe they were just setting up for when she did? Either way - not her problem. If it was dangerous, her Oracleness would probably warn her. If it was funny, she got a laugh out of it.
Making her way up to her tree, Thalia sat against the base where she crawled out of, looking down the hill towards the road leaving camp, elbow digging into her thigh and chin resting on her palm. Over the years, she's found her Tree oddly… comforting? Soothing? Something of the sort, which considering it was kind of her grave that was a bit concerning, and not something she really liked thinking about. Way too easy to spiral, all things considered- it also tended to happen when she thought about Percy.
Percy… she thought she'd heard something from the Spirits earlier in the day, during her training session with Kari. When she channeled the Winds, she often heard more and more whispers from the Anemoi than usual, likely due to the fact she was actually working with them as opposed to passive over-time exposure. She'd tried to ignore it, especially due to the bruise on her side caused by her hesitation when she heard it (kids a natural) but finding herself on her own… She couldn't help it.
The last time she'd seen Percy, he looked like a storm, as if he belonged in it. His father was the Stormbringer, sure, but Percy had never been the best at channeling that aspect of his powers, despite the oddities - Walking under a river of milky white water, feeling her memories slipping from her grasp even from proximity - An ocean of poison, Percy standing on the only bit of land in the middle, a crumpled goddess standing on the edge of the Abyss - A hurricane spawning out of thin air in the middle of Manhattan, a Titan falling to his knees from the force of the winds as bark begins to grow from his skin - he'd always had. She didn't get to see him before Poseidon rushed him to Olympus, Apollo confirming his Ascension - something Thalia had subconsciously always known - Emerging from the River Styx - drinking the blood of the Last Olympian - staring down the King of the Titans - the Giants - a Primordial - may happen to him… even with the other kids of the Big Three, Percy had been… different. Less human, more God, despite what he'd always tried to say and maintain and do, despite the fact he cared and she couldn't-
She forced herself from her thoughts, digging her elbow into her thigh to focus on something else - pain brings clarity. She couldn't afford to think about Percy, especially not here. In the privacy of her Cabin, in Nico's company… maybe. Nico understood more than most, she'd never been the closest with Hazel, and Jason…
She nearly growled at the thought. She knew it wasn't Apollo's fault, sure. But knowing and caring are two very different things, as often showcased by the Olympians, and she couldn't find it in herself to do anything but blame the god for her little brothers death. For fuck's sake, he was the god of healing! Even if he'd been stuck as a mortal, he got godly bursts all the time according to him and - what was her name, Meg? Why not then? Why not to help her brother? He more than deserved it, with the shit he did during the quest, and the life Hera - Juno, whoever - forced him to live.
Even if they actually cared about the Greco-Roman divide, which they proved no one really did , then why did he have to leave at two years old? Get - literally - thrown to the wolves as a toddler? What did any of them do to deserve that? And who the hell was Zeus to give him up to her in the way he did? Why did what he was named matter?
Why was a two year old abandoned, a family split, on the orders of the Goddess of Family?
Why was he forced into military service as a child?
Why were any of them forced onto the front lines of a war?
From what she'd been told in her time on the Argo II, despite how quickly he progressed due to his father, Jason's life hadn't been easy. His time with the Wolves was long, and they held no mercy despite - or possibly even due to - the fact he was a child. Getting Centurion at such a young age - she thinks he said thirteen - likely hadn't helped much either. Barely a teenager, and he'd been expected to lead a small army, and any decision he made was so incredibly criticized by his peers that he might as well have disgraced the entire Legion.
None of them deserved this. So why-
Thalia felt a searing heat against her back, and scrambled her way up to look back at camp, only to see a plume of green flame roar its way into the sky from the conglomerate of Olympian cabins.
She was sprinting before she knew what she was even really doing.
By the time she got to the Olympian cabins, shit was wildly out of hand.
The Demeter cabin was, somehow, on fire. Greek fire. She thought it was enchanted - like most of the cabins - to be nigh-indestructible, but nothing seemed like it was collapsing, so maybe it was? Was the fire just kinda… there? Maybe? She really hoped so-
The next thing she noticed was that, somehow , the fucking Hermes cabin was on fire too, despite being on the opposite side of the U-shape and four cabins down the row. Made absolutely no sense, but, was likely deserved.
The Demeter Cabin seemed to be working in conjecture with the Hephaestus cabin to keep the spread limited. The Demeter cabin was enchanting plants to be a bit more fire resistant, she guessed, while the Hephaestus cabin had grabbed their bucket-chain stuff from that incident during the Fourth of July with Chirton, and was working on soaking the grass in the area around the cabins. Greek Fire could burn under and on water, sure, but she guessed it couldn't spread well on it? They probably knew more than her on the subject-
Watching a bit of fire leap over the waterline and catch quickly on the grass, she figured it may not matter.
Sprinting her way towards Miranda Gardner, Thalia nearly tripped over some sort of thick root that was spiraling its way up from the ground and burrowing its way under the cabin, righting herself and coming up to the de facto head of the Demeter cabin.
Miranda was a rather short girl, especially for a demigod - maybe five foot three. Deep brown hair currently in a very messy, likely rushed bun. A lot of the Demeter cabin seemed to fall to the extremes in a lot of bodily directions, Katie being nearly six and a half feet tall for instance and built like a stick despite the two being full-blooded siblings, while Miranda was a whole lot stockier and muscley, kind of like a tree trunk.
Wait- important stuff. Cabin on fire. Right.
Thalia placed a hand on Miranda's shoulder to get her attention, and the daughter of Demeter seemed overjoyed to have more hands on deck, her vibrant green eyes with hints of orange sparkling. Fortunately, Thalia had a plan. "Get everyone away from the cabin," demanded the Daughter of Zeus. "You can really only keep it from getting worse, I'll try to choke out the fire. Help Nyssa over at the Hermes cabin."
Miranda nodded, and Thalia felt the ground beneath her shift and split as more roots came up from the bottom to try and hold the walls of the cabin together, Miranda calling out to Thalia and granting her good luck while she sprinted towards Cabin Eleven.
Taking a deep breath, Thalia held her hands out and felt the winds shift to answer her call, coalescing infront of her as she took a few steps back from the burning Cabin, just to play it a bit safe.
Sending the winds in her palm out to wrap around the Cabin, she felt for the currents and directed them to form an outline, calling more and more air from the surrounding area until she had a good mental map of the box she'd ordered they create, and with a shove of willpower that felt like a punch to the sternum she ripped the air out from around the Cabin, feeling the wind blow past her and ruffle her hair and clothing, though she remained standing. They were hers to control, and the winds could not hope to demand something of her if she did not let them.
Thalia grinned, blue eyes sparking with electricity as she continued to rip more and more air out from the area she sectioned off from the rest of the world, the fire rapidly sputtering and dying as it lost one of its most vital components. Greek fire didn't need nearly as much air as normal fire did, but the shoddy stuff they kept at Camp still needed some, and that meant she could kill it.
It could have been minutes, it could have been hours, but the fire finally died out, leaving a still-standing (though soot-stained) Cabin. They'd probably need to work on the roof, but that's what you get for using grass.
Looking around, Thalia went to take a few steps towards the Hermes cabin to help out, only to notice they'd already finished. Kari seems to have been able to mimic what she did - at least somewhat (damn that kid really was a natural. How much better would she be if she'd tried to embrace this side of her powers sooner?) and put out a lot of the smaller ones while the Hephaestus and Demeter cabins seemed to have gotten the rest.
Nico apparently seemed to show up during the middle, too - he was standing on the roof of the cabin with a bucket in his hand, walking around and testing paneling by stomping on it. Or maybe he was annoying the Hermes kids?
Both, probably. They definitely did something to deserve it.
The moment Percy's feet touched the ground, he nearly crumpled.
It wasn't the teleportation - Percy felt better than ever in the moments it took for him to manifest into a physical body again, more true to himself than he ever had before.
No, when Percy touched down inside the borders, he felt something in his soul burn in a way he hadn't felt since landing on Ogygia after Mount Saint Helens. His worldview shattered, and he could see the Olympian Cabins from a perspective just above the Hearth, the burning feeling turning cold as his attention was shifted towards the Demeter and Hermes cabins, seeing the soot-stains and holes through the Cabin roofs into the buildings below.
Staring at the holes made the pain dull, as Percy felt a part of his being scream in agony at the sight of the damaged cabins, his essence stretching out towards them. He instinctively reached inside and felt a tug in his chest, higher than he normally did for his powers granted by his status as a Son of Poseidon, and he watched as blue - the same blue as his moms cookies - energy shined around the holes, the soot burning away in flames of a matching tone, the hole knitting themselves back closed as the energy overlaps with itself, wood planking replacing the missing bits of the Hermes cabin and the sod that makes up the roof of the Demeter cabin weaving itself back together to form a tight, weather-proof seal.
And then he was back.
Standing perfectly upright, Grover still standing at his side, having barely started moving, as if no time had passed at all.
…What… What just happened?
Percy didn't have much time to think about it, Grover grabbing his wrist and pulling him down the hill, rambling about… something or other. Percy couldn't really hear him, a sound like sand pouring into his ears overtaking the rest of his senses.
As they got closer and closer to the Big House, the sound began to fade, a sound like a fireplace - a Hearth - crackling overpowering it, and Percy's head twisted towards the middle of the Olympian Cabins, seeing the Hearth and its Keeper through the gaps in the cabins, and sent a small smile her way.
Despite their argument, she would always be here for him. They were okay.
Everything was okay.
Except the Demeter and Hermes cabins, apparently-
Unless he… did fix them? Odd. That didn't feel like…
Oh- Chiron's here! When did that happen?
He… Chiron was different to Percy. He noticed things he didn't before - more scars, an older face, older - sadder - eyes… and yet he seemed freer than Percy had ever seen him, especially since the Titan War.
How much of this was Percy being able to see the world as it was more than as a Demigod, versus Percy being more experienced? He was never the best at seeing through the Mist, even the most basic illusions pretty much always working on him, and forget ever really trying to control the damn stuff either. Or maybe Chiron was just… changing? The weight of the wars off his back, and life at Camp flourishing? More campers to help, safer borders, stronger connections… Percy would think that would help the old centaur feel better about his position.
Well - that and Dionysus being gone.
"Percy." The ancient Trainer of Heroes breathed out his name like a prayer, and the newly crowned god smiled at him, moving in for a hug. "The King sent Hermes to let me know of my promotion and your new role, though I must say that I wasn't expecting you so soon, my boy. Dionysus' office and room has already been cleared, for when you have time to move in properly, though I was informed of your status."
Percy was a bit confused by that - his status? There were a few different things that could mean, though he didn't ask.
Didn't get the chance, either, as he felt something slam into his left side, the world tilted, and he hit the floor with what felt like a jolt of electricity to his arm, and heard two different voices shout what he thought was his name, though he wasn't really sure, and his vision was covered in black leather.
There was a short flurry of activity - Grover trying to help him up, Thalia and Nico yapping like they hadn't seen him in over a year (to be fair, they hadn't) and he thought they said something about the Anemoi or shadow voices or whatever-the-hell, but he was too busy grinning as he looked at his little cousins (shorter and younger, thank you very much, despite what they both might say) to fully process what they were saying, and reached out to grab them both and pull them into one big hug.
They both got quiet really quickly, clinging to Percy like he might vanish again. "Hey, guys. I'd say I missed you, but I don't really remember being gone for more than just a few hours, if I'm honest. Must've sucked for you, though." One of them smacked his chest - he's not sure which, and it wouldn't matter if he was. They could definitely sense the smugness from that sentence.
"C'mon, let's sit and catch up. Inside, though, I don't want anyone else trying to break my arm."
Grover, apparently, had to leave - something about a meeting with the Council of Cloven Elders (Percy idly wondered if the Council had been rotated around since he last saw them, but didn't ask) and promised to see them before he left (and then he felt more of those same bonds appear - between Grover and himself, and connections between Thalia and Nico too. So those were Oaths, then. That… makes sense, with any level of thought.) The satyr took off towards the forest, Thalia smacking herself on the forehead as if she forgot to do something (again, Percy didn't ask).
Stepping inside the doorway, Percy noticed a few things were different. As in, basically everything.
From what he could tell, the layout was the same - the rec room and the main room were where he remembered, and the decoration even looked the same (Dionysus apparently forgot his Pac-Man machine, something Nico went to take advantage of) but everything felt… bigger?
Before, when everything was normal-person sized, demigods would often smack their heads on door frames, bump against furniture that was a bit too tightly packed, and have to squeeze through the halls if even one more person was present. Now, the house felt taller and wider. Percy wasn't sure if he had just… missed it from the outside, as he wasn't paying too much attention to the building itself, or of this was some Doctor Who TARDIS bullshit, but seeing as Chiron didn't have to basically play limbo with the doors, he didn't care too much either.
Bet Clarisse - the fucking giant - was happy about this.
Percy and Thalia took a seat on one of the couches against the wall in the main room, butted up against the window (Percy was sad to notice Seymour was gone, he was a good leopard-head) while Nico tried to beat some of the recorded scores (all set by a mysterious "DIO", of course)
Thalia leaned over the armrest of she was sitting against, opening a mini-fridge and grabbing something-or-other that Percy couldn't see, and she tossed one over her shoulder and it landed in his lap, another one being thrown to Nico who grabbed it out of the air without turning away from the game.
Little Fruit Barrels. Huh.
Thalia pulled herself back up, holding one herself and puncturing a hole in the foil lid with her knuckle - the heathen - while she curled up against the armrest, grinning at Percy as she spoke. "So, what's immortality like, Kelp Head?"
Percy took a few seconds to properly peel the entire foil cover off, hunching over with his knees on his elbows and shotgunning the entire barrel (blue raspberry, of course) before he looked over at her (wait, is she taller than him? But on the porch…)
"It's…" he started, before pausing. What was immortality like? He didn't feel all that different by default, just when things set it off - though… "it's… like everything is clearer. Like I can see things in a way I couldn't before." He crumbled up the empty barrel in his hand, throwing it across the room, it bouncing off the wall and landing in a small trash can near the door. "And things seem… slower maybe? Like Time isn't in a rush anymore. Like He knows I'm not in his grasp."
Thalia nodded. Bianca had told them something similar about the world slowing when they were on their quest to free Artemis (he tried not to think about A-)
In the corner, Nico cursed violently and loudly in Italian, smacking the machine in front of him. Not one to look past an excuse to not think about his life, Percy shot to his feet (he's definitely shorter than he was on the porch) and took Nico's spot, clamping a hand over his cousin's mouth. "Shush, Neeks. Swearing is for grown-ups, an- OW!" Goat-like teeth chomped down on Percy's palm, and he yanked his hand towards his chest, shaking it.
Nico looked smug.
"You feral little flea-infested bastard! You better not have given me rabies!"
The Son of Hades preened, as if he was a dog getting praise. All the while, the daughter of Zeus was laughing hard enough to choke herself, coming out more like squawks than anything else.
The Son of Poseidon swore in Greek, pushing Nico back hard enough he fell over the armrest, head landing in Thalia's lap.
Grumbling all the while, Percy turned his attention back to the Pac-Man machine, he squinted at the score flashing on the screen.
Yeah, he could beat that.
Moving Nico's fruit barrel out of the way (why did he leave half the foil on? And it's grape? Ew.) Percy got to work, his cousins still laughing from the couch.
Yet, despite all the mockery, the laughter, the insults thrown back and forth (it takes him three tries to beat Nico's admittedly bad score), he can't help the grin on his face.
And inside his soul, a small spark ignites, and it smiles too.
Hello again! My betas have something to say
(B/N)
"Beta Bill, here. Astra(Hank) covered most of the important stuff, so I won't occupy you for long. We really enjoy writing, editing, and making up new ideas for Oathkeeper. Most of what we do between chapters is throw shit at the wall to see what sticks. So trust me when I say, there's a lot more to come. I just hope you continue to enjoy the ride."
"Beta Dale, here. I don't really do much around here till the very end, but I'm excited for everyone to see what is coming in the future. Don't be like Percy, and always remember to carry pocket sand with you."
My betas can't read.
- Translations, Names, and Other Bullshit -
The Nico Stuff: I took a lot of inspiration from the House of Night for the shadow-travel segment (if that wasn't obvious.) I thought it was a cool way to really showcase how Nico has changed in the year since HOO, and I think him being able to view the shadowy realm that is literally walking on Erebus in a way that's very different than, say, Percy, makes a lot of sense. Plus, I wanted to give each of the Little Three (and others, but they're the only relevant ones so far) their own cool stuff they can spec into. Nico gets a bubble! And by-gone prophecies thrown at him!
The Thalia Stuff: Angst fuels a fic-writers soul, as I'm sure you all know. Self deppy angst is the tastiest flavor, so, suffer. I wanted to show that, despite the fact she's been helped by the God of Madness, he's not perfect, she isn't perfect, and shit like this takes time, and some parts never really go away. Also she just casually made a vacuum so that's cool-
Kari: A complete OC I made up on the spot while writing this. He'll likely show up later, I just really liked the idea of a recurring background character that functionally serves as a weatherman. He's gonna have a good track record, though he may have a tendency to undersell it a bit.
Burning Cabins: thought it was silly. that's all.
I think I explained everything else decently well in the chapter? But, of course, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to drop a comment and I will answer to the best of my ability while not giving spoilers!
Chirton is always right. Goodbye.
