𝐖𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐂! percy jackson

xliii. To Fall Alone?

━━ chapter forty-three
to fall alone?

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

    ━━Fiona had started to think she had lost Nico forever. 

   They had never been close. She always felt like she was competing with his dead sister. But right now, none of that mattered. He was here, he was alive, and they had gotten him back. She and Hazel tended to him at the stern, feeding him as much ambrosia as they dared. He could barely lift his head, and his voice was so quiet, she and Hazel had to lean in whenever he spoke. 

    What he did tell them sent shivers down Fiona's spine.

    She had forgotten about her knee, too worried about Nico to realise she had bent it perfectly, sitting normally as she tried to keep him up. The rest of the demigods had gathered around the helm, and Jason bandaged Piper's sprained shoulder. Frank and Leo recounted what had happened in the room with the Archimedes spheres and the visions Gaea and showed them in the bronze mirror. It made Fiona more worried for Annabeth. They had to find her. 

    While Leo and Frank searched for the Emmanuel Building, Percy knelt down next to Jason and Piper. Sam joined him. But their conversation was brought to a quick close when Nico pushed Fiona to let him go to the others. She and Hazel had to help him stand up and make their way over. Fiona wrapped a tight arm around her brother. He was younger than her, but he had always seemed the oldest and the wisest. And in a way, Fiona was the youngest out of all of them. 

    "Guys," Hazel broke in. "I hate to interrupt your admiration session, but you should hear this."

    "Thank you," Nico rasped. His eyes darted nervously around the group. "I'd given up hope."

    "You knew about the two camps all along," Fiona knew Percy was angry, but she appreciated he kept it down. "You could have told me who I was the first day I arrived at Camp Jupiter, but you didn't."

    Nico slumped against Fiona. "Percy, I'm sorry. I discovered Camp Jupiter last year. My dad led me there, though I wasn't sure why. He told me the gods had kept the camps separate for centuries and that I couldn't tell anyone. The time wasn't right. But he said it would be important for me to know..." he doubled over, coughing.

    Fiona held him, her fingers shaking slightly. He was barely anything; weak, torn-down, a sack of skin and bones. 

    "I━I thought Dad meant because of Hazel," Nico continued. "I'd need a safe place to take her. And then Fiona," he glanced at her briefly. "To let her know who she was. But now ... I think he wanted me to know about both camps so I'd understand how important your quest was, and so I'd search for the Doors of Death."

    There was bated breath. 

    "Did you find the doors?" asked Percy.

    Nico nodded. "I was a gool. I thought I could go anywhere in the Underworld, but I walked right into Gaea's trap. I might as well have tried running from a black hole."

    "Uh..." Frank chewed his bottom lip. "What kind of black hole are you talking about?"

    Nico started to speak, but he choked up. Fiona has never seem him so ... broken. He turned to her, and she swallowed hard. She spoke for him. "Nico told us that the Doors of Death have two sides━one in the mortal world, one in the Underworld. The mortal side of the portal is in Greece. It's heavily guarded by Gaea's forces. That's where they brought Nico back into the upper world. Then they transported him to Rome."