The gleaming dagger twirled between his fingers, the point briefly catching his eye before he was spinning the weapon again.
"When the hunters become the prey,
and when the gods hold no sway.
Where monsters roam and Ancient Heroes subside,
the entrance to Hades the Doors abide.
But the Angel shall lead the way,
To the sea's castaway.
And when the fatal war renews,
Time, the Storm shall heal or lose."
How interesting.
But the Angel shall lead the way. Kronos' eyes narrowed. Oh, he knew what that prophecy was referring to.
His eyes flickered to the screen of mist, shot through with colour as it showed him the meeting of the cabin counsellors through the eyes of a spy of his. Kronos smiled to himself. Really, why the gods even thought they could match him in war baffled him.
Kronos had more experience than them – both in strategy and in simple combat. He was already planning out the last stages of a war they'd only just started.
"What do you think?" He asked, still twirling the dagger around carelessly. There were small cuts over his knuckles, but he ignored them in favour of staring down the son of Hades. "An interesting prophecy, is it not?"
Nico bit his lip, looking surprised to be spoken to. But he nodded. "Very interesting," he said flatly.
Kronos grinned. "Yes, I thought so too." He paused slightly. "Particularly the fifth line: But the Angel shall lead the way." His smile becomes deceptively pleasant. "Because both of us know that you've been referred to as the Angel before." The Lord's smile grew. "When you were trapped in that jar, I believe – during the Giant War? You do remember?"
Nico warily nodded. "Yes, I remember."
"Good." Kronos smiled. "But there must be something else you remember?"
Nico ground his teeth together. "No," he said lowly. "No, I don't know."
"You're lying to me," Kronos accused. "I don't like liars, demigod." Nico chooses to remain silent, glaring at Kronos, but saying nothing. The Titan rolled his eyes. "Let's not forget whom Olympus thinks is dead," he chided. Nico flinched. "Exactly."
Nico swallowed, his hands fisting at his side. "I don't know," Nico repeated. His expression tightened, his jaw locking. "I swear; I don't know," he said.
Kronos sighed. "Liar. What did I say?" Annoyance flashed across his face, greatly resembling a storm cloud.
"Look," Nico growled out, the shadows writhing in the corners and at the base of Kronos' throne, "I don't know! That answer's not going to change! I'm not just being stubborn or whatever – I don't know where the Doors are!"
Kronos rolled his head to the side, eyes narrowing down at him. He looked like a dopey dog – Nico wanted to carve the smile off the Titan's face. Kronos' smile widened, apparently sensing the line Nico's thoughts had taken. "Promise?" The Titan questioned. "Because if I thought you'd be that fun – I'd let you stand. You must understand, of course," Kronos continued carelessly, "I rarely get a challenge anymore."
"Erebus gave you a challenge."
Kronos' eyes narrowed sharply at the demigod, and Nico felt a sudden warmth against the back of his neck, a wisp of divine energy that crackled against his skin. Nico stilled, knowing from the other Titans what could happen if he moved. Kronos smiled. "He did," he agreed, the presence disappearing, "and next time we meet – I'll tear his throat open."
Something that felt horrifyingly alike to a hammer collided with Nico's chest, a ball of Titanic energy. Nico cried out, feeling a rib snap as he was thrown backwards. More importantly, his barely healed injury from before reopened, spilling warm blood over the floor. Nico gasped, groaning as he felt the blood trickle down his side, pooling on the ground beneath him.
The son of Hades had been stabbed there by Iapetus, mere minutes before he'd found himself kneeling before the Titan King. The Titans had barely bothered to heal him, leaving him sore and injured.
"Son of Hades," Kronos said, hovering above Nico, golden eyes blazing.
Nico pressed a hand against his reopened injury, feeling blood being pumped out of his body and spilling out between his fingers. Nico ground his teeth. "What?" He snarled, knowing that Kronos expected an answer.
The Titan crouched down next to him, and Nico felt the King's hand force his own away, allowing blood to spill out faster. Then Nico felt his skin being knitted together. He gasped and looked down at his side, watching in bewilderment as his skin writhed and healed, sealing over and stopping the blood flow.
Nico dropped his head down, his eyes briefly closing, but he snapped them open again when he heard Kronos chuckle. Kronos took Nico's jaw in his hand, forcing the demigod to look at him. "I'll make a deal with you, Angel." He said, his face entirely emotionless, as if carved from marble. Nico tried to open his mouth to speak, to tell Kronos that he could shove his deal up his own ass, but Kronos' grip tightened and Nico found himself unable to get a word out. "You will lead me to the doors, and I shall in turn grant you a merciful death." His thumb rubbed against Nico's cheek, almost hot enough to scorch his skin. "I shall not torture you, and none of my Titans will do so either. Are we in agreement? If not... I shall enjoy stripping your flesh from your bones."
Nico let out a sharp breath when Kronos released his jaw, feeling his heart press against his ribcage, every beat drawing itself out; and every movement sent pain throbbing through him from the broken rib.
When Nico didn't answer, Kronos sighed and snapped his fingers. For several seconds, Nico wondered what Kronos had just done, but then he felt a burning sensation at his side – where his injury was. He watched with wide eyes as the skin split, a faint golden glow emerging. Blood started trickling down his side again, and the pain came back in full force.
Nico screamed.
The darkness impacted Thalia first.
It was almost a solid presence, coiling around her and pressing against her skin, latching onto her parka as it whispered nonsense into her ear.
Thalia really hadn't expected Pompeii to be so dark. The storm clouds overhead were unnerving, too unnerving for her to ignore them. But the people who'd been buried in the hot volcanic ash – their husks were still there.
"It's creepy," Jason muttered, his voice low. He held his sword ready at his side, the golden point pointed unerringly ahead.
"They're all dead," Nico explained. "Obviously. But we're standing in a massive graveyard here. The last time I was here... Gaea wasn't that hospitable."
Nico had told Thalia about that – how Gaea had made the earthen husks come alive. Thalia inwardly shuddered. "What about that feeling?" She asked. "Was that here before?"
Nico hesitated, his Stygian iron sword dropping slightly. "No. No – it wasn't. That's different."
"So they could be here?" Jason asked. "This isn't just a wild goose chase? The Doors might be here?"
"I can't tell yet," Nico said, looking towards the volcano – Vesuvius – and grimacing. "We'll have to get closer."
"Closer to the angry mountain god?" Thalia questioned. "That's a great idea."
"I can't tell from here," Nico said. "There's too much death. It's too difficult to separate one death from the other death."
"Right, because that makes total sense," Thalia muttered.
Annabeth glanced pointedly at her, before she scanned the area. "Let's move quickly," she decided.
None of the hardened ash figures moved as they steadily made their way closer to the volcano.
That was good, Annabeth thought. Especially since Gaea was still awake and alive. Considering the last time Nico had ran into the Primordial goddess at Pompeii, Annabeth wasn't eager for a repeat.
Eventually, they reached the base of the volcano, where the ground beneath their feet began sloping up. The peak of the volcano was hidden amongst the storm clouds. Nico crouched, resting a hand against the bare rock.
Thalia, Jason and Annabeth hovered behind him, expectantly waiting for his prognosis.
Nico's eyebrows furrowed. "There's definitely something deathly here," he said, his voice low as he glanced back at them. "Definitely something. The Doors have been here. I don't know when, but they have."
Annabeth nodded slightly. "A step closer then," she murmured.
"To Percy," Thalia added, her tone tight.
Olympus was split regarding the youngest Titan's fate. Many wanted him executed for his actions on Olympus with Kronos, but others were remaining loyal to Percy and convinced that he was still on Olympus' side. Camp Half-Blood was split much the same, with Ares' kids vying for Percy's immortal blood in revenge for his actions against their father.
"So you're looking for him too?" A voice behind them questions. "Oh good. Perhaps we can join forces in hunting down our little castaway."
Nico jerked to his feet, his eyes narrowing at the two immortals in front of Annabeth, Thalia and Jason. "Iapetus."
The brother of Kronos smiled. "Nico," he greeted. Nico's eyes flickered over to the woman standing beside Iapetus, a bow drawn and arrow knocked. "Ah, right. Nico, meet Phoebe – Phoebe, meet Nico."
"What are you doing here?" Thalia demanded, threateningly lifting her hunting knives.
Iapetus cocked his head to the side. "The same thing as you, it seems. Kronos has tasked Phoebe and I with locating the Doors of Death and securing them. Unfortunately, we're having no more luck than you."
"We will fight you," Thalia snapped. "Back off."
Iapetus' spear formed in his hand with a flick of a finger, the weapon glowing harshly in the faint light. At his side, Phoebe pulled back on the bowstring, but he lazily held his arm out across her chest. "Let's not be hasty, sister." Phoebe's Oracle green eyes narrowed at Annabeth, but she lowered the arrow to point it at the ground. Iapetus stepped towards them. "Why fight?" He demanded. "We want the same thing."
"For different reason," Annabeth muttered, his voice low. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Iapetus. But no."
Nico shoved his way past her, his eyes narrowing at the Titan. "Nico," Jason started, reaching out to grab the son of Hades' arm, but Nico shook him off.
"We trusted you," Nico growled out angrily, glaring at Iapetus. "Percy trusted you, and you're turning your back on him-"
"I'm trying to find him," Iapetus snapped back, his hand tightening around his spear. "That is not turning my back on him."
"You're helping Kronos!"
"So is Perseus!" Iapetus roared, his silver eyes blazing. "When will all of you understand? The two truly love each other – for some reason I cannot fathom – and Kronos was considering taking a swan-dive into Tartarus to get Percy back, but we talked him out of it-"
"What a shame," Thalia muttered.
Nico scowled at Iapetus. "You're deluding yourself." The son of Hades stepped closer to Iapetus.
"Nico-" Jason started worriedly.
"Shut up, Jason!" Nico exclaimed. "Iapetus, Percy's not the only one you betrayed. You betrayed Annabeth – and me. And Thalia – we were your friends."
Iapetus shook his head. "No," he disagreed tiredly, "you weren't. We never have been."
"Yes, we-"
Iapetus had moved too fast for even Annabeth's immortal eyes to keep track of. He'd lifted his spear, and ran Nico through before any of them could react. Nico gasped as they saw the spear point emerge from his back, the silver tip bathed with red blood.
Then Iapetus pulled back the spear, leaving Nico to crumple down.
"No!" Thalia screamed, finding her body moving before her mind had comprehended what had happened. She lunged at Iapetus, but he easily batted her slashes away with minimal effort.
Jason threw himself down at Nico's side as Annabeth moved to engage Phoebe, forcing the Titaness to bring out two hunting knives. Nico choked up blood as Jason tried desperately to plug the injury that went straight through him.
"It'll be alright, Nico," Jason said. "You're gonna be alright." Blood trickled out of Nico's mouth, and the son of Hades desperately tried to clear his throat of the metallic liquid. "It's alright," Jason repeated, even as he realised that this injury wasn't one that many had lived. Jason had seen other demigods skewered by the Titans die in his arms, and he knew that this would be no different. "It's alright," Jason soothed. "You're going to be alright, Nico."
"I'm a son of Hades..." Nico gasped out, blood steadily trickling from his mouth and onto the rocks beneath him. "I know you're lying."
"Yeah," Jason choked out. "I know." He watched as Nico's head dropped down, his eyes glazing over. "I'm sorry, Nico."