The Plea of Apollo || COMPLETED

24HRS AT CAMP JUPITER: PT1

Half a dozen bright yellow school buses drove along the back roads of San Francisco Bay, California. It was a cool, cloudy day as the buses full of excited Greeks approached a river by the name of Little Tiber. Terminus grumbled as he reluctantly allowed the non-Roman campers through his defenses, only threatening them to behave a little after Chiron reassured him there would be no trouble. Reyna and Frank had told the guard that they were on good terms with the Greeks, but after a possessed Leo attacked several months before he was still a bit suspicious.

"I'm so excited!" Will babbled as he bobbed up and down in the seat next to his boyfriend.

Nico rolled his eyes. He would never say out loud how cute he looked with his bright blue eyes shining and blond hair slowly getting messier as he whipped his head around to look at the scenery around them. There were plenty of other campers just as excited too.

"You lived here for a short time, didn't you?"

"Yeah. I was and still sort of am an Ambassador of Pluto."

Will's eyes shone even brighter. "You'll show me around, right? I want you to take me to your favorite spots and show me everything worth seeing! Oh, after you spend some time with your sister," he added.

Nico shook his head, a smile gracing his lips. "She can come with us. Frank will most likely join too, since they're dating and all."

"Yay!"

A few minutes later, the middle of Camp Jupiter was swamped with not only Roman campers but Greek ones as well. Despite the two Praetors wanting to start their meeting with a formal speech, they could not stop everyone from happily rejoicing with one another. Many of the campers had made friendships after Gaea's defeat. It was heartwarming to see them greet each other with open arms. There was also the fact that Leo had tackled Frank as soon as he saw the son of Mars. Reyna was also preoccupied with greeting Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Percy, Nico, and Will.

"Everyone made it here without trouble, I presume?" Reyna asked as he exchanged quick hugs with all of them. Nico even returned hers warmly, causing the Praetor's smile to widen just a bit more.

Percy nodded. "Yep! No monster would be stupid enough to mess with us when the sons of the Big Three are together, ready to kick their butts. Together the three of us are unstoppable!" The son of Poseidon grinned widely as he looped his arms with Jason and Nico goofily. Jason chuckled at his antics while Nico just rolled his eyes. This whole "bro" thing was no longer strange and new to him, but that didn't mean it still didn't confuse and somewhat embarrass him.

"Really, Jackson?" A feminine voice caught him off guard. "What about a daughter of the Big Three? I might be from the Roman side, but I'm still offended you'd forgotten about me."

They all turned to see Hazel, long hair as curly as ever, with a hand on her hip and a teasing smile on her face. Nico quickly walked up to her, kissing her on the cheek before enveloping her into a hug.

"I've missed you, Hazel." Nico said as he stepped away.

"I've missed you more! You know, with that shadow travel trick you've got I thought you'd visit me more often. It seems to me someone's been keeping you distracted," her gold eyes flashed with humor as she glanced at a certain son of Apollo.

The two blushed before the daughter of Pluto turned to greet Annabeth and Piper.

Several minutes later, when the campers had finished their greetings and were beginning to get restless, Reyna stepped up onto a picnic table and commanded everyone to be quiet. Those within hearing distance silenced instantly.

"I would like to formerly welcome Chiron and the Greeks of Camp Half-blood to Camp Jupiter and New Rome," she said just before clapping broke out. When it died down a little she continued. "For the next few hours I invite you all to explore the camp, preferably with at least one of the Roman campers as to not get lost. Feel free to look around, ask about the training programs offered here, or just have fun. At six o'clock I want everyone to meet at the pavilion for dinner. It will be during dinner that we decide what game the Greeks will be losing to the Romans tonight."

Campers "oohed", many of them erupting into small arguments or declaring war on their Roman friends. Only after Reyna jumped down from the table did they start to disperse.

"Hazel," Nico tapped on her shoulder before she could continue talking to the two other girls of the Seven. "I'm going to show Will around. You'll be alright, won't you?"

She nodded happily. "Of course! I'm going to catch up with my girlfriends here, so you two have fun. No making out in front of Pluto's Shrine though," she teased.

"Hazel!"

"I love you, brother."

Nico narrowed his eyes at her, but he couldn't stop his lips from twitching. "I love you too, sister. See you for dinner."

After a peaceful, semi-romantic (they may have kissed a little bit) walk around most of New Rome, Nico and Will were wandering past the Field of Mars. The Ambassador had explained that was where they would be most likely playing whatever game was decided on.

"I hope we play Siege!" The blond said as he swung his arm back and forth, Nico's swinging with his. "It'd be awesome to have an elephant on our team!"

"Oh, Hannibal? He's pretty cool I suppose. He's actually friends with Mrs. O'Leary; they love play-fight together."

Nico was about to offer to summon the playful Hellhound, since he hadn't seen her in a while anyway, when a gruff voice suddenly spoke from behind them. The two Greeks spun around to face one of the ten senators of the Legion. Beside Hank, his godly parent unknown to the son of Hades, were two other campers dressed in armor. It looked like they were ready to fight hard in the friendly game between camps later on.

"I always thought you were a strange one," Hank commented sourly. "Always alone, sneaking off, surrounded by an aura of death. Something told me you weren't a true son of Pluto. You're nothing but a child of a Greek knock-off."

The dark-haired teenager was about to step forward when Will's hand suddenly squeezed his tightly. Thank the gods he was there to keep Nico calm. Hank and he had always been at odds in the past, neither of them liking nor trusting each other one bit. Nico knew the Greek-hating demigod wasn't worth his time. Still...

"I wouldn't call myself a knock-off," Nico said as a crack appeared in the ground and a few skeletons crawled out from it. The two beside Hank look frightened, but the senator himself was unfazed. Just for good measure though Nico let shadows rise up around him, pouring over the skeletons and into the hole that closed up a few seconds later. "If I was, I wouldn't be able to do any of that."

Hank sneered at him. "Simple parlor tricks, son of Hades. It's not like some homosexual loser can scare me."

"Hey," Will cut in defensively. "There's nothing wrong with being homosexual and Nico is not a loser."

"You are no better, Greek scum. Who are you? Why spend time with a child of death?"

The blond beside him grew rigid, his voice becoming cross and less friendly. "My name is Will Solace, son of Apollo, and Nico is my boyfriend. Unless you develop early dementia I hope you remember that."

The Roman laughed, his cronies grinning along with him. "Of course you're a son of that god. He was always running around with men after all. Like father like son."

"Look, I get some people aren't comfortable with the idea of homosexuality, but that's no reason to act like someone who just left a particularly uncomfortable prostate exam."

Nico had to hide a snicker. Will tended to vent his anger through medical-themed insults.

Hank, on the other hand, was fuming. "No one makes fun of me without suffering the consequences. Guys, let's—"

"Hey, everyone!" Hazel and Frank called from a few yards away. The two were holding hands, their eyes glancing between their friends and the Romans curiously. "What's going on? It's almost time for dinner, so we should start heading over." The daughter of Pluto turned to her brother's boyfriend with a smile. "How do you like the camp? Did Nico show you everything?"

Will quickly smiled, deciding to forget about the fight that had just been prevented. "It's awesome here, Hazel. Nico showed me everything. Your cabin is pretty cool by the way; I love the colors."

As the four friends began the short trek towards the food, three simmering Romans trailing a few yards behind them, Will and Nico shared a glance.

This wasn't over, not by a long shot.