(Oh my flipping glob, I have been so so long! I'm so sorry! I've been going through some tough stuff yuou know? I ju never got the time to write and I'm focusing a lot more on my art, trust me it's so much better than the cover of this story. In fact I may redraw that, and color it too. Oh! And thanks for all the support you all had given me while I was gone, I'm so grateful! Enjoy the story!
"Ready?" Percy was always asked the question now and he was unsure whether to answer truthfully or not. Usually he lied, he didn't want anyone to think he was weak. He was supposed to be the strong savior of Olympus, not a blind kid stumbling through the dark. People looked up to him, he couldn't let them down. Everyone thought he was calm and collected, perfect even, but really he was shattered. He soul was broken and there was no way to fix it. Tarturus broke him. And...and Gabe. Gabe Uglino. His once stepfather. He was long gone, but Percy still remembered the days when he came home and Gabe was there, waiting for him.
When he was little he had a hard time with dealing with the abuse from Gabe. Still, he never told his mom. He never wanted to stress her out even more than she alreadly was.
A warm hand placed on his shoulder brought him back to reality. He looked up into the endless darkness of his lover's eyes. "Nico?" He asked, his blind eyes still fixated on the floor below them. "What if...what if something happens to you?" He said, his hands clenching at his sides. "I won't be there to protect you! Nico, I'm so useless right now! So no! I...I'm not ready." He said closing his eyes. Nico sighed softly and reached down to grab Percy's trembling hands.
"Hey, stop crying." He said, gently brushing away Percy's tears that flowed freely from his blind eyes.
"Tu sei la mia bello guerriera. Warriors don't cry, they fight, okay? And you, you're the strongest warrior I've ever met. You're far from useless mi amore, okay? Don't doubt yourself like that, you're just hurting yourself more." He leaned down and kissed Percy's forehead, pulling him close.
"Just...just give me some time. Alone please." Percy said quietly. Nico frowned and walked out onto the deck, hoping that things would not get worse.
*time skip*
Percy and Nico arrived back on deck. Jason turned towards them and nodded. "Let's go then. We'll split up, everyone with their special someone, and we'll meet up tonight. Base camp is right up on the hill, so head towards it at sunset." He said, pointing towards a small, grassy mountian at the center of the island.
"Our goal is to find Lady Aphrodite and rescue her. Be prepared for anything. I don't they call this the Island of the Sirens for nothing." Everyone shared an uneasy look at that. They knew what sirens were. Percy and Annabeth even encountered them before.
Everyone grabbed their lovers hand and walked slowly down towards the island as if they wanted to do everything they possibly could to delay the quest. Percy listened as the footsteps of his closet friends drowned out by the natural sounds if the ocean. He felt Nico take his hand.
"There's no going back now. I'm ready."
(Sorry it was so short! I promise that the next chapter will be much longer! I just didn't want to start the quest in this one, I wanted the beginning to have it's own chapter. Oh! The translations for that Italian is: "You're my beautiful warrior." Thanks for reading! See you next time!)