Vanished

Chapter Fifteen - Nico - Welcome Home

As the ship docked into the Long Island Sound Nico could hear the cheers of the demigods that awaited them on the shore. Greeks and Romans were huddled together in a large crowd cheering joyfully as the heroes returned. Hazel was smiling and waving from from the docks with her arm around an anxious looking Reyna. The rest of the crew stood behind them with smiles plastered across their faces. They had dropped Liberty off in Madrid, she wanted to see the Camp Half-Blood but she knew that wouldn't she be able to enter.

Nico stood a few feet to the left of them with his arms crossed. He was deep in thought about what Reyna had told him earlier.

"He said that the reason he took us was to show you that he always has the power. Always. He said that he saved you and you never said thank you so he needed to punish you. Although the entire time we where there he never told us who he was..."

Nico knew that the only reason he took his family was to show that had so much power over him. He killed Calypso to show it.nReyna had told him that she saw the green in his eyes but he never saw it. Apparently Reyna was favored by him. Hopefully the beating he got from Frank was enough to make him leave Nico and his family alone. He sure hoped so.

The ship neared the shore and Leo starting rushing everyone off of the Argo II. Hazel riding piggyback on Frank as she got off of the boat. She hadn't used her legs for awhile considering she was forced to sit down for so long. She didn't want to admit it, but she was weak and so was Reyna. Reyna forced herself to walk off by herself (and maybe Jason forced himself to help her also).

Piper was cheerfully talking Annabeth. She bit her lip as Annabeth spoke to her as if she was telling her a secret.

Nico followed after Reyna and Jason quietly. As soon as they reached the ground Will kept his promise. He called out Nico's name, ran up to him and basically tackled him. He pinned Nico to the ground and kissed him, full on the mouth. In front of everyone, Greeks and Romans, even Mr. D and Chiron. A warm sensation rushed to his cheeks. Nico felt himself blushing and kissing Will back. The crowd fell silent for a brief moment before one of the daughters of Venus screamed, "OTP!" and the crowd erupted into more cheers and screams. Nico heard Reyna whisper to Jason, "I knew it." Percy broke out into an unnecessary coughing fit.

"Will?" Nico asked pulling away and out breath.

"Yeah?"

"Can you get off of me you're basically crushing me." Nico's face broke into a stupid grin.

"Oh yeah, sure." Will said quickly blushing and dart off of him and held out a hand to help him.

"Hey everybody! Nico di Angelo is my boyfriend!" Will shouted still holding onto Nico's hand.

"No shit, Sherlock." Leo muttered with a smart aleck grin on his face.

"Okay! Okay!" Mr. D shouted. "Party's over...for now." Mr. D paused as if that sentence pained him. The god of parties just told someone to stop partying. "Everyone go back to whatever you where doing!"

Just like that, the crowd of giddy demigods scattered their different ways. The only demigods that remained where the crew of the Argo II and Will.

"I'm so happy for you two!" Hazel said in a raspy voice from behind Frank's shoulder. She had lost her voice from screaming so much, yet she still was using her voice to express how happy she was for Nico and Will.

"Leo!" A familiar voice called out. Nico could recognize that voice anywhere. It was Calypso.

Leo immediately looked up to follow the sound of the voice. Calypso stood about two hundred feet away from where the crew stood. She was beaming and looked more stunning than ever.

Leo ran to her, they embraced each in a very long kiss while the rest of the crew stood there confused because they all thought she was dead.

Once the two finally stopped kissing Calypso explained that she made a deal with Hades to let her out of Elysium because she could not be without Leo and the rest of them, if she gave him advice on how to tend to a garden, apparently he really wanted to impress Persephone for some odd reason. There seemed to be more to the story than Calypso was telling them.

Reyna was literally crying tears of joy. "I'm so sorry, your death was my fault, I shouldn't have tried to escape. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

Calypso grabbed Reyna by the shoulders. "Reyna, calm down. It's fine. I'm okay now. I'm here with you guys." Calypso looked back at Leo. "I'm with him." She smiled.

"Okay I can't hold it in any longer! Annabeth and I engaged!" Percy exclaimed.

Nico's eyes widened in surprise, it was bound to happen of course and they are both twenty now. "I call flower boy!" Leo yelled.

"No way! Oh my gosh...I already told Lacy she could be the flower girl." Annabeth laughed.

"That's great." Reyna smiled. Although behind the surface of her smile Nico saw the pain that no one else noticed.

"Aphrodite wants it to be held on Mount Olympus." Annabeth droned, looking displeased. "There's no way I'm letting that happen, it's not finished yet!"

Hazel and Reyna wanted to rest so Annabeth and Piper took them to the Hades' cabin to be alone. Calypso and Leo went to their tree house. It was usually just him and Hazel, now all of the girls were headed towards his cabin too.

Now it was just Percy, Jason, Nico and Will. Jason clapped Percy on the back who was grinning like an idiot. "Congrats bro."

"We're going to go...you two do your "bro" thing." Nico announced and led Will into the forest. Talks trees loomed over the two boys. Nico rested his head on Will's lap as Will played with his hair while Nico told him about the quest. Nico usually didn't enjoy people touching him but Will was the only exception. Nico fell silent as he stared up at the clear sky.

"What?" worry hinted in Will's tone.

"Nothing...I'm just happy to have my family back."

Epilogue:

"And do you take Percy Jackson as your lawfully wedded husband?" Chiron asked as Chuck Hedge trotted down the aisle dotted with rose petals holding the rings.

Annabeth smiled. She glowed with happiness in her stunning lace trimmed dress. Hazel, Reyna, Piper, Calypso and Rachel stood behind her in lavender colored dresses with smiles plastered on their faces. It had been around nine months and Hazel and Reyna were healthy and back to normal now although Nico knew they would never be the same. Percy stood across from her smiling even wider than Annabeth was. Behind him was Frank, Leo, Jason, and Grover. Percy wanted Nico to be up there but Nico politely declined. Today was a happy day on Half-Blood Hill.

Nico glanced over to the person to the left of him. He squeezed Will's hand and smiled. To his right, Coach Hedge was crying tears of joy and his wife Mellie kept offering him tissues but rejected them saying that he wasn't crying. The seats were filled to the brim with young demigods and some mortals were there (the gods made an exception). Sally And Paul Blofis sat in the front row, the same row the Olympian gods sat in. Aphrodite was whispering something to an annoyed looking Athena.

"I do." Annabeth nodded.

Chiron turned to Percy. "You may kiss the bride."

Annabeth grabbed Percy by the cheeks and kissed him. Percy rested his hands on her waist and Annabeth wrapped her arms around his next. The audience hooted and hollered and clapped. Some of younger demigods giggled and shifted uncomfortably, yet it probably wasn't the first they had seen Annabeth and Percy kiss. They kiss all the time. Annabeth pulled away from Percy beaming.

Percy picked up Annabeth bridal style and shouted, "We're married!"