The Last Stand

[6] Victory... Sort of

A/N: U r all going to hate me. Plz try not to kill me. welp, read on...

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Alex's POV:

Capture the flag was about to begin, and Alex could have cared less, until he got his next message from Tartarus.

The mission was simple. Guard the border, don't let the other team in. Alex was on the red team with Hermes/Mercury, Apollo, Hades, and all the minor god's cabins. Being invisible, Nico and the Stolls decided to bestow him the incredible position of border patrol. Which was neither defense nor offense, but rather boring.

Canyon Rivers from the Apollo cabin was going to sneak into enemy territory to find the flag since he was the stealthiest. Then he'd come back to the border and alert Nico or Alex to whichever shadow point was closest and they'd get the flag and shadow travel back right before the border.

The shadow points were a bunch of pins on a map where the two had studied so they could effectively shadow travel to them without getting caught. Connor suspected the points 6-9 would be where the flag was hidden so as soon as the conch horn blew, Canyon was up in the trees, climbing nimbly into enemy territory.

Cameron was on offense, the left flank so Alex didn't see her much, not like he actually cared. It was obvious she liked him, but Alex was just trying to do what his patron asked.

Border patrol was quiet, especially since he shared it with Nico di Angelo, who was hiding in the brush, watching carefully. Since Alex was invisible, he stood in plain sight, waiting until he would be able to sneak up and kidnap the di Angelo kid.

Yeah, kidnap. That's what Tartarus told him to do, that's how he would become the Ghost King. Alex smiled faintly, the thought reminded him of children's fairy tales. Those stories were accurate, the longing for power was greater than humans can understand until put in a position. Tartarus had told Alex that Nico would be a threat, he would play a pivotal role in The Last Stand. Whatever the heck that meant, all Alex knew was he would soon be the official King over Ghosts.

"Hey," Alex finally said, turning visible after thirty minutes had passed. Nico and he had taken out several campers by now and Alex decided to strike up a conversation.

"Hey," Nico said tersely back, his steely brown eyes locked with the border.

"You sure you're up for shadow traveling? It wouldn't hurt to just let Canyon tell me."

"I'm fine, Mors," Nico snapped.

"Yeah, yeah, alright. Just wouldn't want anything to happen to you. Everyone would be devastated."

"Whatever."

"Look, Nico," Alex approached the hedges Nico was hiding behind.

The demigod looked up and by the strange expression on his face, Alex realized he must've turned invisible by accident. Quickly correcting his wrong he said, "Can't we sort out our differences? I feel like we got off on the wrong foot," Alex held his hand out, beckoning Nico to take it and stand up.

"Wrong foot? You nearly stabbed me because you thought I was a monster," Nico looked unimpressed, not even acknowledging Alex's hand.

"Well, it was an accident. I'm sorry," He shook his hand a little, trying to get the di Angelo kid to grab it. How hard was this going to be?

"Yeah right," Nico muttered.

"I just want a truce. A mutual agreement? Come on, we don't have to be enemies."

The Italian hesitated, Alex's heart rate increased. Then, slowly, Nico grabbed Alex's hand and they collapsed into the shadows.

Shadow traveling while grappling the son of Hades wasn't something Alex had accounted for. Nico growled and tried to punch and kick him, but it was useless in the dark. His threats were lost in the ocean of cacophony roaring in their ears and eternal darkness surrounded the two until they appeared in the thickest part of the forest.