There was a small marble shrine draped in ivy and moss. Nico sat in front of the altar. Will sat down next to him, unchanged since twenty-five.
The stygian iron sword was sitting on the underneath the black rose and sunflower insignia. He thought of Daedalus and Gaia. He thoughts of Bryce and Octavian. He remembered Orion and Bianca.
Golden threads appeared in thin air and started wrapping themselves around the sword. It glowed brightly for a full minute before turning into fine ash.
"She said I was the youngest to come to her river and that was enough. One day I would be able to return it in person."
"Styx gave you the sword herself?"
"Don't make it weird."
Will sighed. "Okay, I won't make it weird. But you've been gone for weeks and I find you here and like this."
"It's peaceful here."
Will glanced around. How was this peaceful? "Yeah I still don't get it. Even with Apollo. Conservation of energy, I guess." He raised his hand to eye level and wiggled his fingers. "If it's real than what am I doing here?" He dropped his hand and grabbed Nico's. "Come on, I want to show you something."
There was a path of the same plain white stone that made up the shrine. It led down the hill and to a covered archway, reminding Will intensely of Camp Jupiter. The archway opened up into a courtyard and revealed the Pacific far below. He hesitated, trying to gather his thoughts. Two blocks north and they'd be in the arts district with the shops that Nico loved.
Will leaned over the metal rail to see the Pacific better.
It's the Mediterranean. Realizing this made Nico even more hesitant. He touched the cobblestone wall between them and the fall into the glittering sea. Dozens of tiny animals made their homes between the stones. There was even a nest with three blue eggs. He ignored them and reached inside a small groove. Something crawled onto his hand. He pulled it free revealing a fat lizard with frills where it's ears should have been.
"I think that's an axolotl. Every laboratory I've been in has at least a dozen of them but they don't exist in the wild anymore," Will said. While Nico was distracted he stuck his hand into the space that Nico had found the salamander.
"Why not," Nico asked. Will was still too disorientated to answer. He tried reaching in again. "Don't," Nico warned. "That centipede looks angry."
Will stopped but he stared at the open gap distrustfully. "I'm not sure I like it here." So he decided to think of something else and nodded towards the village. "I've been exploring. There are actual shops that way but Charon took everyone's money away. There's even a place that has sashimi."
The LucyB was waiting at the docks. Nico wasn't surprised but he was still relieved to see her. He touched the boards. "Thalia did this," he told Will.
They set a picnic on the deck in later afternoon. Nico was reluctant to eat which didn't really surprise Will. They weren't even in the same place. Nico had made the islands but he was in Elysium
"You need to eat something."
"I can still help them."
"I'm not leaving." Will ate a slice of pastrami. " I don't know how I ended up here but I don't need to prove myself again."
"What about the islands?"
"Its enough for me that you made it." "Nepotism," Nico said bitterly.
"I really don't think so. Nico, you held Kronos back for longer than Luke was alive."
Nico blackened a marshmallow over the Bunsen flame and remembered Juniper's kindness. He ate it and wished she and Grover would make it here too one day.
Will handed him a plate. "Pastrami and Gouda."
"You know you actually can make a sandwich every now and then."
"And you know how I feel about carbs. What is tzatziki?"
"It's Greek," Nico told him.
"Thanks for clarifying," Will said a few minutes later. He poured them smoothies and they watched the sun sink below the horizon.
At Camp Jupiter, Thalia finished sanding the railings of the LucyB. The yacht had been nearly restored and it was decided that Annabeth would use it in service to the legion. She looked up just as Reyna came out of the cabin. They made eye contact briefly before Reyna left to meet with the current pontifex.
She hated being Artemis but Reyna hated it more. Just like Nico hated Kronos. At least they still called her Thalia. Not one of them would fade.
Elsewhere, Annabeth moved around statues and monuments. The garden of fallen they called it here but she couldn't forget Medusa's lair. She held a camcorder with her good hand.
Percy had been here every day since. She went to him carrying the memories. The first Christmas where Nico felt out of place with the Solace's and the following few years as he grew into Nico. His first Pride. The last birthday that she had secretly recorded for all of them.
It was a small shrine of marble with the insignia of black roses and sunflowers. Percy lost his nerve and told her how he wished things had been. She listened and they rendezvoused with Reyna for dinner at Plato's.
