Falling for You

Nico: III

Nico: III

(One hour before Octavian escaped)

The plan was simple, but in his own personal experience, Nico knew it would never turn out that way.

As the sun tipped over the precipice of mid-afternoon, the army made their move. Half braced themselves at the hidden entrances that weaved through the sandy cliff, sorted into a mix of cohorts and cabins. Nico gripped his Stygian iron sword tightly. On their leaders' signal, they were to flush out the army of monsters they knew was down there. The other half of the demigods had positioned themselves at the top, crouched around the stone ruins, and waiting for the incoming outpour of monsters.

They had agreed that Reyna and the rest of the Seven would actually be inside the ruins, ready to take out the first to run into the acropolis courtyard.

Nico and Hazel, as children of Hades/Pluto, had been put in charge of the two main groups going underground. Nico didn't know anyone in his team. And he didn't particularly want to. The Greeks looked at him apprehensively and warily, the Romans' stare full of distrust and fear. Nico ignored them thoroughly. He closed his eyes in exasperation. He hated working with other people. They always looked at him like they were expecting something bad.

"That's the signal." he said suddenly, catching sight of a glint of white light in the distance, a mirror reflecting off the slowly sinking sun. "Time to go."

He walked into the small passageway, rolling his eyes as the boy behind him hit his head on the low ledge, a low Greek curse fading into the darkness. For a second, Nico felt a tendril of fear slip through his stomach, his father's domain encompassing everything around him, only the cold of the stone walls guiding his way.

He tugged with his free hand at the tight chestplate of his armour.

As a kid of the big three and a powerful demigod, he'd been one of a few ordered to get some better armour from Leo. The result was Leo looking awkwardly at the shiny bronze armour, then back to him, then back to the armour again, and saying 'Wait' before disappearing into the piles of scraps he called his workspace. He'd got it handed back to him several minutes later, spray painted black, with a large white skull on the back. A younger Nico may have grinned at the cool armour, the type a stage 5 Mythomagic God would wear into battle, but Nico was older now, so he had just taken it with a nod. It was a regular style, but Leo had made some strange kind of kevlar material to bridge gaps where they could be cut. Made of a tough and absorbent fabric, it deflected slashes or claws, Leo had warned, but not direct stabs.

At least he could still move the same in it, he thought, his cheek twitching as a passing cobweb brushed his skin.

He found himself at a turn in the dark tunnel, and peered around. Still nothing. He flicked a glance backwards at the vague outlines of the demigods following him.

"Light." he said shortly, resolutely ignoring any panic he may be feeling at the blackness around him.

His little stint with the pomegranate seeds, the jar, and Tartarus had not been good for him, but Nico couldn't throw off the whole mission, not now, not when they were so close to stopping Gaia from rising. He owed it to Hazel to help. Gaia had ruined her life once, and he wouldn't let her do it a second time.

After a minute or so of fumbling, Nico breathed out a heavy sigh as a torch finally caught light to the match held under it. The tunnel expanded with flickers, illuminating shadows and details previously unnoticeable. The demigod opposite him held it aloft, an expression of worry smeared across his face, an expression Nico worked hard to keep off his own.