"Will, Nico, there is urgent news. Please come to the meeting room at once."
Two sentences have rarely instilled more fear in Will's heart than those. Between the issues with his dad, his siblings being spread all over the states due to it being school time… Or the myriad of other things that plague demigods, his leg bounces as he sits next to Nico on the couch, waiting for Chiron to finish up whatever he had been doing.
Nico looks down at him, resting a hand on his knee, the skull ring gleaming up at him. "Okay, stop doing that, please. You're stressing me out." Will looks over at Nico, still not stopping his leg from bouncing.
"I'm stressed out, I can't help it." Will says in a low voice, and Nico sighs, nodding. He squeezes Will's leg reassuringly, but Will barely feels any assurance from the action. Not that he wouldn't normally, just being around Nico calms him, but there's just something that Will can't shake about this time.
Chiron wheels himself into the room not a second later, a dark look on his face. Will sits up a bit, looking up at Chiron. The centaur takes a moment, collecting his thoughts before he speaks.
"I just had a phone call with Miss Godsey. It would appear that your siblings and Nova have gotten into a bit of trouble at their school. There seems to have been a group of Empousai that have locked onto their location. The way Nova made it seem, they can fight their way out, but they need some assistance."
"I can shadow travel me and Will there." Nico says suddenly, and Will looks over at his boyfriend. Nico's mouth is settled into a frown. "They're just in Soho, right?" Will nods, his hands starting to shake.
Nova.. Mel.. .Yan. He honest to the gods feels like he might pass out with how fast his heart is racing. His precious siblings, the people most precious to them. In trouble again. You'vefailedyou'vefailedyouvefailedyouv–
"Will? Hey, are you doing okay?" Nico's voice drags him out of his spiral, and Will blinks, looking up at Chiron and Nico. Nico's standing up, concern as clear as day on his face, his dark eyes searching Will's expression. Chiron still looks largely the same, but there is a gleam of concern for Will in his face. Will shakes his head, plastering on his best patented Apollo kid "there's nothing wrong with me what are you talking about" smile.
"Yeah, yeah M'fine. Sorry, jus' got a little lost in thought for a second. Are you sure you're up to shadow traveling, Neeks? It's further than we've been practicing…" Nico nods, fiddling with the ring on his finger. Will knows he only does that when he's thinking.
"It'll be mostly fine. I'll probably overexert myself a bit, but this isn't something we should take the long road on, you know that right?" Nico says seriously, looking at Will. Will feels his shoulders fall and he nods, running a hand through his hair.
"You two can prepare to leave immediately. Will, I trust you as senior counselor of the Apollo Cabin to delegate to your siblings in the way you see fit." Chiron says, and Will nods, standing up and dusting off his hands on his shorts.
"Yeah, I got this, Chiron. No need ta worry!"
–
"Are you sure it's really okay to leave me in charge like this?" Anteros asks, and Will sighs, zipping up his bag. He turns to face Anteros, who is pacing back and forth like Will just delivered him the most devastating news of his life.
"I won't even be but a few hours, Tero. You can handle the kids and the infirmary. It shouldn't be too hard, since it'll be five of us and what, four? Monsters. They just need our help and then they're coming back to camp for safety. We can get a taxi back or something, Nico said his dad would help us out there." Will says, leaning against the counter in the storage room, watching his brother pace back and forth. "Why are you freaking out more than me?"
"You've never left me in charge before!" Anteros cries, his blue eyes wide, his light hair falling across his forehead. "Not when you were, like, actually not here! You've only left camp, what, one time, and you left KAYLA in charge. This is a big deal!"
"It's just a few hours, and I trust you Tero. This is already taking a lot out of me to even leave camp, even just for a few hours, but–"
"You're leaving?" A small voice pipes up. Will and Anteros turn at the same time to see Sohee standing in the doorway, a gummy worm half hanging out of her mouth, her brown eyes wide.
"Sohee! No, I'm not leavin' for reals, sunbaby." Will says, stepping closer to her. "Just Mel and Yan and Nova need mine 'n' Neeks's help, so we are gonna go help them and bring them back to camp, so I have to go into New York for a little while. I'll be back before you know it. Before dinner, even." Sohee chews thoughtfully on her gummy worm, her brown eyes searching Will's face. After a while, she nods, holding up the bag in her hand.
"Well, okay. Do you wanna gummy worm?"
—-
"Woah there, Neeks." Will says, letting Nico lean heavily on him once the world stops spinning a bit. Nico blinks once, twice, three times. Shakes his head.
"M'fine." Nico mumbles, but Will can tell how tired he is. He sits Nico down on a bench, rifling through the bag he'd taken with them on the trip. He pulls out a KitKat and a bottle of Gatorade, handing them to his half-asleep boyfriend.
"You can't pass out on me right now, Nico." He says, and Nico mumbles something under his breath that Will can't quite make out, taking the KitKat and munching on it grumpily.
"Glad you two could make it." A deep voice says, and Will perks up, turning at the sound so familiar to him.
Yan looks much the same, but maybe an inch taller, his dark hair a little bit longer. He wears a dark blue uniform with a loose red and blue tie, but even the clothes can't hide the myriad of piercings in his brother's ears, and the dark eyeliner that lines his cat-shaped eyes. Will can't help but run over to his older brother, and Yan laughs as he hugs Will tightly.
"Hey there, Will. Glad you're all in one piece." Yan says softly, and Will sniffs, trying to avoid letting tears fall.
"Says the one in trouble." He mutters into Yan's blazer lapel, and Yan just laughs, ruffling Will's hair.
"Yeah, yeah, you'll never let me hear the end of it, I'm sure. Now, we gotta make sure di Angelo is okay so that we can get outta here with the girls." Will nods, straightening up. He wipes at his face to get rid of any evidence of tears, and Nico finally makes his way over to the pair of them, half the Gatorade bottle drained. He has a little bit more color in his face, his dark eyes brighter.
"I'm fine. I ate something. Also I'm not shadow traveling us out of here." Will nods, and Nico pats his shoulder, giving him a small smile. "Let's go get the girls out and then we can head back to camp together. What's the issue you've been having?"
Yan sighs, motioning for them to follow him. "Empousa. Some new girls came to the academy a few weeks ago, and they've been giving Nova a hard time. There was a flicker in their disguises or something, and Nova told Melody. And so here we are."
"It is about time you made it." A familiar French drawl fills Will's ears as they turn the corner, and it takes everything in Will to not throw himself into his sister's arms. She hugs him tightly, her long blonde hair falling over them like a curtain, the faintest smell of roses and vanilla surrounding Will in the most familiar way.
"I was so worried when Chiron told us that you were in trouble and needed to come help get you out." Will mumbles into his sister's shoulder, and Melody snorts, rubbing his back gently.
"Nonsense. We all have our weapons if anything came down to it, you know. Yan is quite good with that sword of his." Melody said, her voice lilting gently as she speaks. "It is just a bit of trouble, but it is not safe for us to stay here, I fear." Will nods, standing up, blinking back tears.
"Where's Nova?" He asks, and Melody snorts, shaking her blonde hair out.
"She should be—" There's a slam, and Yan startles, reaching for the sword earring in his ear.
"Okay, that didn't sound good." He says, and Will nods, his hand going to his hip where his dagger is. Melody waves them forward, her navy blue skirt swishing as she turns a corner.
"Nova, cheri?" She calls, and Will hears Nova respond from somewhere, her voice panicked. Melody shoots Yan a look, and Will sees Nico's expression harden out of the corner of his eye. He reaches out to grab onto Nico's hand for a second, and Nico jerks back. He shoots Will a glance, his eyes softening after just a second.
"Sorry." WIll apologizes, and Nico shakes his head.
"Don't apologize, I was lost in thought." Nico says back, and Will shrugs his shoulders.
"Still shouldn't have grabbed you without warning, especially in public." Will says, and NIco frowns, but he doesn't press the issue further, since Yan is quieting them, his back pressed against the wall next to the open door.
"Could you seriously lay off me for once?" Will hears Nova say, and there's a bit of cold laughter. Will can hear individual voices, but they also.. Blend together?
"Your little girlfriend can't save you now, demigod." A sickly sweet voice says, and Will's hand tightens on his dagger. "What's a daughter of Apollo going to do anyway? I don't see her."
"I'm right here, bitch." Melody says, stepping into the classroom, her blue eyes set in anger. Will realizes he didn't see her take out her bow, but the golden weapon gleams in her hand, a golden arrow notched, her gaze set on something, or someone, that Will can't see at the moment.
"GO!" Yan yells, and he darts into the classroom, Nico and Will hot on his heels. Before Will can even blink, Nova reaches into her hair, taking out a bronze hairpin. As her dark waves tumble down her shoulders, she flicks the hairpin in her hand, and a long whip with roses on the hilt materializes out of nowhere, settling in her hand.
Will blinks. He didn't even know that Nova carried a weapon, much less one as beautiful and badass as a whip. He shakes his head, clearing his thoughts. They can talk about the whip once they're out of this situation.
Yan's earring has turned into the familiar makhaira that he has helped Nyssa with when he started at camp, and it draws Will's attention as he slams it into the chest of the nearest empousa. As she crumbles into dust, screeching, Yan spits on the ground next to her, wiping his cheek of sweat.
"That's for grabbing Nova." He mutters, swearing under his breath in a language Will doesn't understand, which he can only assume is Cantonese. Yan looks up through his dark bangs, catching Will's eye, and grins at him. Will can't help but chuckle, but he barely has time to react before a flash near him catches his eye.
One of the empousa has taken to the air with her huge, ugly wings, and it lunges at Will, claws extended. Will's hands shake, and he has to force it down. Not a bird, not a bird. You're fine. He raises his dagger to parry the sharp talons coming his way, and he sees a flash of purple out of the side of his vision.
"Neeks, lil help here!" He shouts, and Nico materializes at his side, dark eyes hardened. The eerie purple glow of his sword seems to unsettled the empousa as well, and she tries to pull back, but a painted gold arrow lodges itself into her eye.
Nova's whip lashes out, wrapping itself around the empousa's throat, slamming her into the ground, and Will takes the opportunity to stab her through the chest, watching her crumble into dust. "So much for needing my help." Nico quips, a laugh coloring his statement.
Will pushes his hair out of his face, sweat dripping down his temple. Jeez, he hasn't done this in much too long. He needs to be training more, seriously. Maybe once they get back to camp, he can have some sparring lessons with Nico again…
"You're bleeding." Nico says, taking Will's face in his hands and turning it to the side. Will winces, feeling where the empousa had gotten him with one of her claws. "Do you have some ambrosia? Yan's just getting the—"
SLAM!
"Last one." Nico says with a smug tone coloring the end of his sentence. "Knew it would be easy, but didn't expect it to be THAT easy." Will rolls his eyes affectionately, reaching into the pocket of his shorts, where he had stored a piece of ambrosia for easy access.
He breaks off a piece, stuffing it in his mouth, and Nico brushes his thumb across Will's cheek, dark eyes focused on the wound that Will can feel slowly closing up.
"Y'know, it sucks that we don't get any cool scars." Will says, and Nico snorts, dropping his hand from Will's face, wiping the blood off on his thigh, the dark red seeping into the black of Nico's jeans.
"Demigods can get scars. Remember Luke?" Will stops, thinking about it. Huh. I guess that's true. "You just don't get hurt as much as some others do. I'm sure you've seen scars yourself in the infirmary too."
"Yeah, yeah, it was jus' an impulsive thought." Will mutters, and Nico breathes out a huff of air that could be considered a laugh, handing Will back his dagger.
"We should get out of here before the staff come in." Nova says, wiping her hands off on her skirt. "You guys got your bags?" She looks at Yan and Melody, who are both putting their weapons away. Melody nods, and Yan makes an affirmative noise.
"Yeah. Let's blow this joint." Yan says, picking up his backpack. Melody winds her arm around her girlfriend's, and Will can hear the two of them whispering to each other in French as they walk their way out of the halls of the boarding school.
The back of Nico's hand brushes against Will's as they walk, cool to the touch as always. Will feels a little bit dazed from the battle, his gaze fixed on Melody's back. It feels surreal having his siblings again. Even if Gracie wouldn't be back until the summer…
"You okay?" Nico asks, bumping Will with his shoulder. "You're unexpectedly quiet. I would have thought you would have jumped at being able to talk with Melody and Yan again." Will shrugs his shoulders.
"Jus'... I dunno, Neeks. Everything with Dad goin' on… It has me all outta sorts. Like I can't tell what way is up or down or anything like that. I feel like I'm floating all the time, jus'... existin'." Nico frowns, reaching over to grab onto Will's fingers, tangling them with his.
"Maybe you should let Anteros and Kayla handle things more. And with Yan back now, he's the oldest. He can take on a bit more. I think you're stressing yourself out more than you should." Nico says, his voice low so that Yan and Melody can't hear them.
"Neeks, you know that won't help." Will says, shaking his head. "Not with everything going on with Dad, it just feels like everything is slippin' through my fingers."
"I know, tesoro. But trying to grab sand isn't going to help." Nico says, squeezing Will's hand. "Overextending yourself surely isn't going to help either. Only Gracie is still in school now, so I think that can help you relax a little bit. Maybe take on less infirmary hours?" Will shakes his head, but before Nico can fight him on it, Yan turns to face them, hands on his hips.
"How are we getting out of here, di Angelo? Chiron said you had some special way, but he wouldn't explain, and I'm sure as hell not shadow traveling or whatever it is that disappearing trick of yours is. Creeps me out." Yan says, head cocked to one side.
Will hadn't even noticed that they were out of the school grounds, and he frowns. He needs to be more observant.
Nico steps a bit closer to the street, and he looks left and right, like he's looking for something. Then, he lifts two fingers to his mouth and lets out a sharp whistle. Out of pretty much thin air, a limo appears, and Melody shrieks, jumping back. Nova pats her hand, but she also looks startled.
Yan turns, letting out an appreciative whistle. "Daaaaaang, di Angelo. This from your dad?" Nico nods, opening the back door.
"Ladies first." He says, and Nova reaches out to ruffle Nico's hair with a laugh before pulling Melody into the back of the car, making a giggle leave Will's sister's mouth.
Yan enters after them, and finally, finally, Will slides into the back, resting his head against the seat, his eyes closing. He finally feels a little more at peace, his hands not shaking so much. All the anxiety and fear from the day, even if for such a small moment, had really taken a toll on him. Not to mention the stress of just existing as a demigod, his dad being on a trip to face his destiny and hopefully not die while being MORTAL, and—
"Stop stressing." Nico's voice is low in his ear, but Will doesn't open his eyes. He shuffles a bit closer to his boyfriend, resting his cheek on Nico's shoulder.
"Can' help it." He says, his voice muffled by the way that he's leaning on Nico's shoulder. There's a slight movement, and Will can tell that Nico is laughing quietly. "I feel a bit better now though. Really."
"You should take a nap while we get back to camp then. You can rest on my shoulder. Just promise not to drool." Nico says, and Will reaches out, pinching his boyfriend's thigh.
"I do not drool. You're the one who drools." He mutters, and Nico just tangles a hand into his hair, humming lowly in his chest.
"Just get some rest, tesoro. We will be back at camp before you know it."