The One That Got Away... (A Jasico fanfic)

Chapter 1

Jason pov

"Where's Reyna?" I asked. The Seven, including myself, were at Reyna's birthday party that her boyfriend, Chase, had organized. I approved of the guy, but Percy and I made sure that he knew if he hurt our Reyna, we would be a force to be reckoned with.

Organizing the party had been a lot of work, because most of Camp Jupiter was there, and we were planning on it being a surprise party. It was going to be, until Valdez arrived and completely messed us up.

"I think she's talking to Percy and Piper, over there by the fountain," her boyfriend answered. He was a mortal who could see through the Mist, which was good or else he wouldn't be able to see Camp Jupiter.

"Oh..." Now I knew no one who I could talk to. The rest of the Seven were arguing with Leo about how long he could go without talking (about two minutes was my bet) and Calypso and Rachel were chatting animatedly about Percy (both having a slight crush on him, still).

"Hey, Superman." A voice behind me made me jump and unsheathe my sword.

"Who - Oh, Nico! Where the Hades have you been, Neeks? Hazel and Reyna are going to kill you, oh, she's coming now, better get an explanation ready-" I was interrupted by a scream. Reyna barreled towards us, or, more accurately, towards Nico, who had put his hands up, an easy grin on his face. When did he get so lighthearted? And how come I didn't get to see it?

"NICO! WHERE ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN FOR THE PAST TWO YEARS?! ME AND HAZEL WENT CRAZY, WE TRIED TO I.M YOU, BUT IT DIDN'T WORK, AND..." She stopped yelling and pulled Nico into a bone crushing hug. Me, being the softie that I am, joined the hug. A weight on top of me told me that the rest of the Seven was here, and were ready to strangle Nico and hug him at the same time. They were doing that to me, at least.

"No... air... can't... breathe..." Nico panted under me (don't even tell me how sexual that sounds)

"Sorry, Neeks, but where have you been?" Hazel was standing in front of him, hands on her hips. "We have every right to hug the living daylights out of you if we want, Neeks. We thought you were dead, for pete's sake." Hazel shook her head, as if the thought was stupid.

"Dead? Geez, you know you aren't getting rid of me that easily." Again, with the lighthearted-ness!

"Dude, you've got your Italian accent again," Percy noted. He had an Italian accent before?

"Really? Oh, alright. Didn't know it would happen that easily, though." He grinned up at me. "Ah, il mio amico idiota che salvato il mondo."

"Huh?" I said intelligently. He sounded different when he spoke Italian; his voice was deep and rich like he- wait, what?!

"I said 'Ah, my idiot friend that saved the world.' Although, the same could apply to Percy." He nodded at the son of Poseidon.

"So, we're cool? Like, you don't... like me anymore?" Wait, Nico told Percy?

"Yeah. Like I said, not my type." Nico shrugged indifferently. Percy smirked.

"So, what about Solace?" Wait, Nico had a crush on Will and he didn't tell me?

"What about Solace?" Percy frowned.

"So you didn't like him? But I told Piper, and you two were like her OTP for a month."

"Now we're great friends. And what's an OTP?"

Percy went on to explain what ships and OTP's were. I shook my head in a daze. I seriously didn't want to know how Percy got his extensive knowledge of relationships. Probably Piper... my heart ached at the thought of her. We had broken up a month ago, agreeing that we just didn't 'click', as she said. We were still great friends, of course, but I missed having someone to cheer me up when I was down. I had everyone to do that, I guess, but I suppose I want someone to do it out of love, not friendship.

*time skip

"So you are staying, right?" I asked Nico. He shrugged.

"Probably not."

"Why not? Percy isn't the reason anymore, is he?" I pouted. He just got here, after all.

"No, not at all, actually." He sipped his coffee. He had refused to drink the wine or beer, saying that it didn't 'meet his high expectation of wine' that he got from being in Italy for a year. Yeah, that's where he had been. The other year, he had been in the Underworld, learning how to judge souls and other son of Hades whatnot.

"I guess I'll be going," he said, standing up and dumping his Styrofoam cup into a wastebasket.

"Will I see you again?" I got a weird feeling in my stomach whenever I thought about the possibility of him staying here, for another day at least. I categorized it as happiness, because he was one of my best friends, right?

"Maybe." He gave me one of his trademark mysterious smiles.

"Will you be going back to Italy?"

"Maybe." My heart fluttered.

"If you are, then I could go with you. I don't really have anything else to do, after all..." His smile vanished, leaving what looked like a slightly panicked expression.

"No, no, you can't, I'm not going to Italy, I'll be going... somewhere else..." He trailed off, leaving me confused. Where could he be going that I couldn't go?

"Where are you going?" I asked. Pain showed up in his obsidian eyes.

"An... an old home. You can't go, though. It's for your own good." His eyes darted around, coming to land on Percy. "Perce has been there too, with Annabeth. You could ask him"

He left.

Where have Percy and Annabeth gone that Nico has as well? I cast my mind around. It probably had something to do with Greek myths... Where have Percy and Annabeth gone that the rest of us haven't?

Suddenly, it dawned on me.

Nico was going back to Tartarus.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

#CLIFFHANGER