If Only (Nico di Angelo) {Complete} {#Wattys2015 #Feels}

Chapter 17

A/N: Yes guys! Over 300 views! I want to see how fast we can get it to 500 from here! Time starts now, let's go. This is a challenge, not a request. Tell your friends, get me 500 views.
I dare you.

~*~

The dream that I had that night scared me.

I was in the same moon-lit forest that Arc had Iris Messaged us from. Nico was hanging from the tree, his eyes hard and set. "What the heck do you want with me?" He whispered. Arc walked around him, blue eyes glittering. "I only want you as bait, Son of Hades. Then we'll handle the daughter of Poseidon. The prophecy will never come true if she dies."
"What prophecy?"
"You made your mistake, you sealed your fate. Child of water, not son but daughter, strength of will, to add to the kill. The end will come, when all is done."
"Who says it's your end?"
"I will take no chances. I will kill her when she comes for you."
"I'd rather die."
"Then I will kill you both."

Arc strolled up to Nico and held his hand up, twisting it in the light as if it was a weapon. "So easy." He said quietly, dragging his finger down Nico's arm and leaving angry red burns in its wake. "And yet..." He lifted Nico's face to level it with his eyes. "So complicated..."

Nico gritted his teeth. There was no way that didn't hurt him."Get your hand off of me." He growled. "Does it hurt, little demigod?" Arc whispered. He moved his hand over Nico's shoulder and down to his chest. "Does it-" He pushed hard, "-hurt?"

Nico gasped. He went limp and his head fell into his chest. His eyes closed and Arc's laughter echoed around the forest. I screamed and woke myself up.

~*~

The next morning I dragged myself into the mess hall and shoved some pancakes down my throat. Everyone was already there, so it was kind of awkward until Leo spoke up. "Good morning Sleeping Not-so-Beauty." He greeted. I scowled at him. "I had a dream last night."

"What?" Annabeth asked, leaning forward and sticking her dagger into the table. I quickly explained my dream, though I left out the part of me screaming myself awake.

"That doesn't help us figure out where he is though." Piper said. "How do we know they're still not in the forest at Camp Half-Blood anyway?" Leo asked. "Well, if Arc and his group of monsters had been there they would have kidnapped me instead of Nico. It's pretty unlikely that they're still camped in our forest." I replied.

Annabeth's mouth twitched. "You're good with strategy." She told me. Percy made a face behind her back.

"See? Just because I'm a daughter of Poseidon, doesn't mean I'm dumb." I teased Percy. He scowled at me.

"Speaking of daughters..." Piper began, "why did Arc try to get to Percy before you?" I shrugged. "I don't have an answer for you here. Maybe he took the prophecy the wrong way." "Or maybe he takes Percy for an idiot that would turn his sister in to save his parents?" Annabeth suggested.

"Huh?" Hazel asked. "Well, they said that they would be going for Erica first, didn't they? Maybe they thought Percy would give up all hope, and surrender her? Maybe they thought that he would surrender and Erica would follow."

I shrugged again. "Could be."

Percy ruffled my hair. "Either way, my little sis had a prophecy made for her!" "That's not exactly a good thing, Percy." I said, brushing my hair out of my eyes. Percy grinned. "It's a milestone..."

Suddenly the ship gave an awful lurch. Leo swore and charged out of the mess hall. "What the heck was that?" Jason snapped. "I don't know. Let's go look." Frank replied, getting up and running after Leo. The rest of us followed on his heels.

On the main deck, we found Leo fiddling with the controls while a horde of Stymphalian Birds flew at the ship. They were about the size of Ravens, with metallic feathers that glinted in the sunlight. "Shoot," Percy muttered. "I hate these things."

I pulled my dagger out of my belt. Piper had her ice sword in one hand and her dagger in the other. Annabeth had her dagger, Frank had his bow, Hazel had her cavalry sword, Jason had his sword and Percy had Riptide.

We all dropped into our battle stances, ready to fight, as the birds swooped down on us. They flung their sharp black-tipped feathers at us and squawked a battle cry.

I stabbed the first one that flew at me through the middle. It disintegrated in the air and a second bird stormed through its remains, flinging a feather at my neck. I dodged easily and slashed its head off.

A volley of arrows flew into the air and took down most of the birds. Percy slashed through them like a tornado. Hazel, Piper, and Annabeth hit the ones that came too close while Jason got rid of the ones that were out of reach by flying around in the sky and cutting them down.

Four birds shot feathers at me at the same time. I blocked three of them with my dagger, and the other clipped my head. Blood spattered onto the deck, but I didn't care. I brought my dagger down on the birds and they disintegrated as well. A feather hit my shoulder and I let out a little yelp as I turned and killed another one.

Leo shot fire into the sky and got rid of a good chunk of the creatures. Finally, they were all dead. The only thing that was left of them were the feathers they had shot into the wood and into us. I pulled a feather out of my shoulder and threw it onto the ground.

"Well that was fun." Leo said, hopping over. Percy laughed a little. "Just like old times, huh?"

I laughed along with everyone else. It was nice having these people as a family. They were a lot of fun.

Suddenly, Piper screamed. Everyone jumped and looked at her. She was staring at her dagger, horror written on her face.

We all bent over her shoulder and watched the scene in Katropis.

Percy and I were standing on the deck, and an arrow was coming right for us. Percy pushed me out of the way and I watched the arrow fly right into his chest. I watched him collapse. I watched the future me get hit by another arrow.

And I watched the rest of the crew get shot down, one by one, until we were all out of the way.

I watched the world collapse around me. I suddenly felt very dizzy, and I dropped to the ground, the vision of an arrow going through me still fresh in my mind.