The Plea of Apollo || COMPLETED

MISTAKE: PT2

After a few days of brooding, Nico seemed like he was back to normal. He no longer avoided eye contact with his friends, shied away from Will, or refused to spar like he had been since Black Friday. He smiled just as often as he did a week before and poked fun at his "brothers" like always. Will also got his cuddles. The son of Hades was fine.

Or was he?

It was the third of December when the next game of capture the flag was played. The teams were as follows: Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Athena, Ares, Demeter and a few other cabins were on the blue team while Zeus, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hecate, Dionysus, and Hypnos cabins on the red team. Tonight's game was special since the team that lost would have to decorate the Big House for Christmas.

"You're going down, Jackson."

"I don't think so, Grace."

Piper and Annabeth rolled their eyes, shaking each other's hands good-naturedly before the teams went their separate ways. Ten minutes later, Chiron sounded the horn that meant the game had begun.

"Nico, Will, you two are with me." Percy said as they ran towards where he thought the red team would be guarding the flag. "Annabeth, you and your siblings ready for a sneak attack?"

She nodded. "See you soon, Seaweed Brain."

With that they parted, the three boys running to the east where the water was. Once Percy controlled the small river that wound through the forest it would be hard for any campers trying to get to their flag to get past him. However, just as he was nearing the thin line of rolling water a blast of lightning sent the son of the sea god reeling back.

"Jason!" Percy yelled as he felt the hairs on his head, neck, and arms rise from the electricity in the air.

Said son of Jupiter was in the air above them, grinning as the air around him swirled to keep him aloft. "What's up, bro? Oh wait, it's just me."

Percy flicked his hand, sending a blast of water at his friend from behind. Jason quickly flew out of the way, but was caught off guard when a loud whistle made him cover his ears. Taking advantage of this, Percy jumped into the water and used his powers to shoot himself into the air where they began clashing with swords.

"Hello there," Piper greeted as she sprung out from a bush. Nico met her dagger with his sword instinctively, blocking her attack with ease. What he didn't expect was a fireball to be lobbed at him from the darkness of the forest in front of him. If he hadn't seen the light of the flames, he wouldn't have had enough time to duck out of the way.

Nico touched his long hair for a moment, sighing when he felt that the top of it was singed.

"I guess I should really take up your offer for that haircut, huh?"

Piper grinned. "You could put that hair of yours into a ponytail, Nico. Now, both of you put your hands up!" She ordered using her charm speak. Neither Leo nor she was actually expecting it to work, since it never did when Nico was around to use his shadows to block out her power, but for some reason both Nico and Will dropped their weapons and put their hands in the air.

"Huh?" Leo tilted his head in confusion. "Skeleton Butt, what's the deal? You never fall for her charm speak."

Nico glanced at the ground, a frown on his face. "I guess I forgot to call them. My mistake."

Will shared a look with his friends on the red team. Nico di Angelo rarely forgot things or made mistakes.

After Leo snuck off to help those trying to capture the blue team's flag, Piper stayed to make sure Nico wasn't going to pull anything while also making sure none of Percy's back up interrupted his fight with Jason.

Speaking of their fight, it was getting intense. They seemed to not be holding anything back. Lightning flashed, wind swirled, and water assembled into a hurricane around the two sons of the Big Three. As the minutes went by those watching the fight could see them both becoming tired, minor injuries on both of them from their swords. Just as they were about to end it, the horn blew to signal victory. From the loud cheering coming from the west it was clear that Jason's team had won. No doubt Leo's fire had something to do with it. The Ares kids guarding the flag probably had burns on them.

"You guys are free to go," Piper said with a smile. Will and Nico were happy to move again, blood flowing back into their arms gratefully. "Be happy I didn't make you guys do anything embarrassing."

Will was about to retort, when all of a sudden two forms crashed into the water a few yards away from them with a huge splash.

"Holy Hera!" Piper shouted as the three of them ran to where Percy and Jason were crawling out of the tiny river. They were supporting one another, both smiling painfully as they collapsed on the side of the bank.

"I think we overdid it," Percy said with a small laugh.

Jason nodded but winced; he had strained his shoulder while fighting. "I agree. That was fun though."

"You got that right!"

"You guys!" Will shouted as he checked over the two idiots on the ground. Piper was running a comforting hand through Jason's hair while Nico told Percy he was a moron. "Both of you are very injured! You two will have to spend a night in the infirmary so we can make sure none of your cuts get infected. Also, Jason has a pulled muscle in his shoulder while Percy has a nasty bump on his head. Percy, that means you will need to be woken up every other hour while you sleep tonight to make sure you don't have any brain damage."

Percy rolled his eyes, about to say something when Jason cut him off.

"He's fine, Will. Percy has no brain to damage. Just a clump of seaweed," he teased despite still not being able to get up from sheer overuse of powers.

"Hey! You weren't very graceful up their either, Jason."

Will sighed, turning to his boyfriend with a small smile. "Do you mind shadow traveling us to the infirmary? They shouldn't be walking right now and it'd be easier than the alternatives."

To those listening, they were surprised to hear Nico say no.

"Why not? Your powers aren't making you fade again, are they?"

"No!" Nico said quickly, not wanting to make his boyfriend panic. He glanced away, brown eyes secretive. "I'm just tired."

Will's brow creased as he studied the son of Hades. "Tired, huh? That's surprising since you haven't used them for the past six days."

"Whatever. If I don't want to use them then I don't have to. I'll just go get a gurney or something," he muttered as he began walking away from them. Piper and Will watched as he broke out into a run towards the infirmary. Even through the pain they were in, Percy and Jason managed to share a worried look.

"You don't think..." Jason started.

Percy bit his lip. "He's refusing to use his powers?"

Will frowned, staring in the direction where his boyfriend had ran off.

"Death Boy," he whispered sadly.