"So, Devil-Spawn is an actual spawn of the devil?" Bellerophon whistled.
Percy nodded before glancing to the gods. "We should probably get back to Camp, see what he's doing and who he's talking to."
"Unleash us on the masses." Bellerophon's smile was wicked.
"Is it too late to send him back and swap him for someone else?" Luke asked playfully. "We could have had Invicta or Cera or anyone else, and we got you."
"I would happily swap him for Invicta," Patroclus informed them.
"We know, Patch." Luke nodded.
"I miss Invicta," Patroclus informed them.
"We know, Patch," Luke repeated, nodding.
"It's not even been a few hours yet." Lee teased.
"You know what happened last time they got separated." Luke pointed out, a small expression of fear flickering across his face.
"Should we be worried?" Apollo asked. He didn't look concerned in the slightest, playful fascination in his eyes as if he wanted the answer to be terrible.
"Invicta got sent on a mission to supervise Poseidon's pests and he helped them nearly blow up a planet, just so he'd get to come back faster," Lee told his dad.
"Well, we don't have to worry about their mission taking much longer then," Apollo responded cheerfully. "Especially if Invicta is who we all think he is."
"Of course he is who we think he is." Aphrodite clapped her hands together delightedly. "Look at him, he's literally radiating love and happiness."
"You're the only one of us who can see such auras." Zeus reminded her.
"I have a proposal," Athena spoke up.
"To who?" Poseidon asked.
"Not you," Athena smirked. "To Percy, Luke and the rest of the team."
"What kind of proposal?" Percy asked, exchanging uncertain looks with Luke.
"You'll be going to camp with four additional members," Athena spoke. It took Percy a second to register that she was counting Nico in that number. "May we suggest making it five?"
"And who would that fifth person be?" Luke asked, expression guarded.
"One of us." Athena gestured to the council. "We want to keep a close eye on Mr. Burns, you need the firepower until the rest of your team can join you."
"Who would you suggest?" Nico asked.
"Naturally, it would have to be one of the council members who can fit in with the teens of Camp Half-Blood," Athena responded.
The room's gaze split between two.
"Unfair!" Hermes protested.
"Why do you think it would just be us two who would fit in with the kids?" Apollo frowned.
"The pair of you spend the most time there." Ares pointed out. "Makes sense, doesn't it?"
"You visit your kids every weekend!" Hermes protested.
"You can't prove that." Ares glared at him.
"I have seen you there!" Hermes argued.
Ares continued to glare at him. "You can't prove that."
"He may visit his children, but he is the most likely to start a fight with Nathan." Athena pointed out before Hermes could say anything more.
"I don't visit my kids," Ares huffed, now glaring at Athena. "You can't prove that I visit them. Kids? What are kids?"
"You know how that little voice in your head tells you to play dumb?" Apollo asked. "Yeah, don't play that dumb."
"Come to think of it..." Zeus narrowed his eyes at Apollo, his attention drawn to him as Ares turned his glare to the Sun God. "Do you recall when the Giant War ended, and I was going to strip you of your immortality?"
"You made an Oath not to do that!" Apollo yelped, holding up his hands and glaring at his father. "We came to an agreement, I admitted I was at fault for my part."
"And I admitted my wrongdoings." Hera reluctantly admitted. "So you could not punish your son and not your wife without looking like an utter hypocrite. Or without a divorce."
"Do this and it will never be mentioned again." Zeus proposed.
Apollo scowled but transformed before their eyes, 24 to 18. His hair lengthened into blonde curls that he tied half of into a bun atop his head, leaving the rest to brush his shoulders that had slimmed slightly but still retained their strength. His eyes that were constantly shifting to match the sky settled on the typical sky blue that all of his children inherited, face becoming younger and far more innocent. Designer clothes were swapped for tight denim shorts that Zeus made a sound of instant disapproval over but didn't comment on, paired with a white t-shirt and black Converse. He still looked as if he had stepped out of a fashion ad, even when he scowled and produced a cloak that matched the ones Percy and his team wore.
"All of you have different colours inside these, right?" Apollo asked, looking to Percy for guidance.
"Yep." Percy nodded, showing the blue silk inside his that shimmered to match a crystal-clear ocean. Luke held up his, which was golden and bright. Bellerophon's matched the shimmer of Pegasus' coat, Patroclus' was golden too but it was a lighter shade that he would never admit matched Invicta's hair, and Lee's rippled like the sun.
Apollo stared at Nico for a moment before the silk interior that he was staring at transformed into pearly silver. "Can't have you permanently shrouded in shadows," he stated, tossing it over. He then produced another for himself, the blue inside matching his eyes and therefore the sky – though the colours shifted in the way his eyes had ceased to.
"Totally doesn't match my outfit." He complained as he chucked it around his shoulders. "I love these shorts too, they show off my assets wonderfully."
Zeus sniffed. "I would have made you scrawny and ginger."
Apollo's hand flew to his hair in horror, looking at Zeus with abject betrayal. "You are the worst father ever."
"Our father ate us," Hades informed him dryly.
"You are the second-worst father ever." Apollo amended after a second of consideration.
"Is sending him truly the best idea we have?" Artemis asked, looking at her brother critically. "I could always go and stay with my girls."
"Alas, dear sister, you hover around them like a moth to a flame, so it would be expected that you join them." Apollo shook his head. "So 'tis I who must undertake this perilous-"
"Can we have Hermes instead?" Nico cut him off.
"Nico, I am hurt." Apollo pouted.
"Papà." Nico looked at his dad, feigning desperation. "You would not subject your only son to having to live with him, would you?"
"You're staying in your own Cabin," Percy informed him.
"Please, I've been staying with you for the past week whenever you haven't stayed with me." Nico scoffed. "I'm staying wherever you stay."
"Fine, Apollo can stay in his Cabin," Percy responded.
"I don't think I could inflict that on my siblings." Lee laughed. "Who's Head Counsellor now anyway? I know it would have been Michael after me, obviously, but who was after Michael?"
Percy could pinpoint the exact second that Apollo's smile became false.
"Kayla." He answered for him. "Kayla Knowles."
"Kay is old enough to be a Counsellor?" Lee whistled. "I thought for sure it would be Will next."
"It was." Apollo's expression was tragic.
Nico's was devastated.
Lee's expression shuttered, swiftly coming to his own conclusion. "Oh."
"I'm going to need a hand getting this lot back if I'm having to blend in." Apollo changed the topic swiftly.
Hades nodded, waving his hand distractedly to create a shadow portal – his attention was on Nico. They all replaced their masks, Apollo handing Nico a mimicry of one with a gentle smile, and they covered their hair with the hoods of their cloaks.
Hades pulled Nico into a warm hug before ushering him through, Poseidon moving to hug both Percy and Bellerophon.
"Visit soon." He instructed.
"I will," Percy promised.
Unsurprisingly, nobody protested when Pegasus refused to leave Bellerophon's side; Hades merely widened the portal to allow for him to pass through.
They stepped out beside the Chaos Cabin and Percy ignored the already gathering crowd to swiftly grab Nico and Apollo firmly by their elbows. He made sure Luke was alright leaning on Patroclus before dragging them both towards the cabin.
"Counsellor's meeting in three hours!" He called over his shoulder to appease the masses before they disappeared inside.
"What's up, Seashell?" Apollo asked as he ushered them both into his bedroom.
He unclasped his cloak and threw it over his chair, mask swiftly joining it. The other two followed suit.
"I haven't asked. I haven't wanted to ask." He grimaced. "Are you both alright?"
"Fine, why?" Nico folded his arms defensively.
"Nic..." Percy sighed.
"I should leave you two to it." Apollo decided. "I'll talk to you later, Percy, I promise, but this is something that Nico needs to talk about himself.
Apollo slipped out of the room and Percy heard him greeting Luke before the door closed and he was left with Nico.
"Don't bullshit me Nic, please." He begged. "I know you're hurting, you've been hurting since I got back, and you haven't told me why. I'm just having to guess at what could be wrong and I'm dreading that what I've guessed is the truth. I said before that I wouldn't ask until you wanted to tell me. All I'm asking right now is are you ready to tell me? Nothing more."
Nico nodded weakly. "I said we'd talk later, didn't I?"
"Let's sit down, come on." Percy gently guided him over to his bed, sitting so that they were opposite, but he could still hold Nico's hands if he wanted to. Nico wrapped his discarded cloak around him like a blanket and Percy swiftly offered the actual blanket that lay at the end of the bed. Nico took that too, huddling in it and suddenly looking far younger than the young man he had become. He looked like the Nico from after the Giant War, worn out and weary, and forced to stay in Camp by the hand of Apollo's son.
"Before you left..."Nico took his time, but Percy didn't prompt him. "Do you remember what Will and I were like?"
"I remember." Percy nodded, knowing that Nico needed an answer, just so he could have a moment to collect himself.
"I found him infuriating when we were working together against the Romans, I had gotten so used to everyone from Camp either being scared of me or just straight up avoiding me and all he did was try and boss me around and he just argued straight back with me," Nico recounted. "I just remember thinking about when I arrived at Camp for the first time and Thalia called Apollo hot; which, when looking back now, was the worst thing I could have remembered about Apollo. Then we watched as Octavian killed himself and I thought he'd be horrified that I didn't do anything to stop him-"
Nico choked on a sob.
"Octavian launching himself at Gaia as a fiery ball of Augur wasn't your fault," Percy comforted. "And I know full well that Will didn't blame you."
"I know, I just wonder what might have happened if Octavian hadn't died and I didn't spend time avoiding Will because of it," Nico confessed. "Maybe we would have had more time."
"Nico?" Percy questioned the sentence softly.
"It was awkward after that, for a while," Nico explained. "Those three days I spent in the infirmary seemed like they'd taken place in our own little world but it didn't translate back into real life. We were confused, there were mixed messages and he was hurt because he thought I was leaving for the Underworld again at the end of the holidays."
"I remember," Percy quirked a smile. "You were actually coming home with me and Leo but you didn't tell him that. Which I know because I was the one who mentioned it and I thought he was about to cart me off to the infirmary to get my head checked."
"He was so mad at me about that!" Nico managed a smile.
"I remember the look on his face, he just looked at me and went 'Nico left for the Underworld at the end of summer, Percy' in the bitchiest tone imaginable," Percy laughed and shook his head. "Do you realise how awkward it was to tell him that you and Leo had been staying at my place for the past three weeks because my mom had forcibly adopted you and you had forgotten to mention it?"
"In my defence, I was only coming back for the joint birthday and welcome home party your mom was throwing you before I was heading down to my dad's. The next thing I knew, mom and Paul had enrolled me and Leo in Goode and were telling us that we were staying," Nico pointed out. "I was supposed to be going to Camp with you the weekend he found out, but I really did have to go to the Underworld because my dad was beginning to think that I was being held hostage again."
"You could have Iris messaged him!" Percy pointed out.
"I was an awkward mess who barely knew how to interact with him in person, do you seriously think I could have managed an Iris message?" Nico raised an eyebrow.
"Point taken." Percy nodded.
Nico seemed to sober again before his eyes. "Did I ever tell you when we kissed for the first time?"
"No," Percy responded softly. "You didn't tell me."
"Remember how we came to Camp for the week after Christmas, so we were here for New Year?" Nico asked, though it was obvious it was rhetorical. "You didn't notice because your attention was... elsewhere..." Percy was glad he didn't say where his attention was on New Year because he knew the answer all too well. "But he stole me away from the campfire and asked if we could talk on the beach. I didn't even think about how close it was to midnight, I was just happy to spend time with him. We chatted, I let it slip that I liked him but was worried about what he thought of me after the war and he asked whether or not there was a brain in my skull and kissed me as the Stolls set off fireworks, bang on midnight."
If it was any other conversation, Percy might have teased him for how cheesy it was.
"We didn't exactly date until when I was back in Camp for the holidays and could see each other everyday, but we decided to keep it a secret because we didn't want it to be another story for the Camp gossip mill if it didn't work out," Nico sighed. "And it was difficult because I was splitting my time between him and you, and I could see how you were spiralling because of Nathan. And then you left."
"I'm sorry." Percy dragged a hand down his face
"After you were gone, I exhausted myself again, searching everywhere we thought you could be." The smile on his face was pained. "Will was furious, he told me he'd go to the Underworld himself and get my dad to ground me if I didn't take a break. It was just like after the war when I agreed to stay in the infirmary for a few days, it was like we were in our own little world again. After that, it was an open secret. Everyone knew we were together but we never felt like officially confirming it. I had to go back to mom's for school and he stayed at Camp, just like he always did. When I wasn't looking for you, I was with him. He came with me sometimes as well, insisting that if I wouldn't stay at Camp again for him to look after me, I'd just have to take him with me. A year since your disappearance passed and I was mad at myself for finding nothing. Despite what we found outside of Camp, I was convinced you were still alive because of the letters you left. All he wanted was for me to spend the rest of summer at Camp and I denied him that. We had a massive argument and I left, figuring that we would talk it out when I got back."
Percy gave his hand an encouraging squeeze.
"I was only back in time to light his shroud."