Book 2: Oaths and Victories.

Chapter 17: For the first time (at long last).

One more my dudes.

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It all happens in a matter of seconds.

Through the years, he's remained fond of the fictional world, despite and because of his own part in one such story. But, unlike his own, in those stories the moments of climax are always slowed down, letting the tension build bit by bit until it blows.

He doesn't get that sort of luxury.

One moment he's trying to lend a hand to the fight, followed by some Apollo kid he's pretty sure is flirting with him, and if that isn't its own can of worms, and baiting Octavian into blowing himself up. The next he's watching the projectile fly, Octavian in tow, arching through the shifted trajectory, and collide with Festus and Leo.

He's right fucking there.

To watch the way the sky turns to light, followed by smoke.

To watch Festus, flaming and beaten, take a dive.

"Leo!" it's ripped out of his lungs without him thinking it.

But once it's in the air it's all he can think about.

Ground opening under his feet, battle waging around him, he runs.

Runs towards the burning debris without a thought to the fighting, to the possibility of getting hurt.

There's screaming and rushing around him, a call of his name, he ignores both, ignores the fire and the heat, ignores everything but the figure slumped in the ground.

He gets to him as the sky opens and rain starts falling, hurrying to move the metal that's on top of him, to drag Leo away from the wreckage. He feels the change in temperature, hands grabbing at him and pulling, and then the world goes dark.

The world comes back to him in pieces, first sounds, then feelings, and finally sight.

He finds himself in what can only be the camp's infirmary, squinting at the bright lights overhead, and wonders why in the world would hospitals insist on having everything be so bright and reflective.

Head pounding, he turns sideways to alleviate his eyes even if slightly, and is met with an empty bed to his right. Somehow, that's what fully pulls him back into reality, the fact that the other bed's empty.

The voices he'd been hearing get louder as he struggles to sit up, and turns to watch the door open to the Argo II's crew minus its captain.

Hazel and Reyna are quick to get to his side, but the rest linger.

"Where's Leo?" asks Piper.

Instantly, his heart starts racing, and he finds himself jumping out of bed and into the shadows to screamed protest. He emerges under a tree in the edge of camp, a few paces away from the entrance to the labyrinth.

He stumbles into its halls, almost falling countless times on the descending stairs, but Delta welcomes him almost amusedly, and a line of torches lights up.

A laugh bursts from his chest, shaky and unpracticed, but he takes a deep breath and runs. Rushing through paved halls, turning every time Delta opens a new pathway for him, a feeling bubbling in his chest.

Growing larger with each turn, each step he takes forward.

Until he reaches the heart of the labyrinth for the second time in his life, though this one's nothing more than an empty circular room.

Until he sees Leo, hand pressed against the brick as though in prayer, tense up and turn toward him.

"Nico" is all Leo says.

And then the feeling explodes.

His feet move him forward, as he watches Leo detach from the wall and match him, step for step. And when he's close enough, when Leo's only a few breaths away from him, he reaches out first, grabbing hold of this boy that's grown to mean so much.

To the one good thing to come out of this entire mess.

He grabs it and tugs, making them crash together, and holds him there, where every beat is echoed. And Leo, who knows him better than even himself, holds him right back, pressing them flush together.

"Leo" he allows himself to plead.

The hold around him tightens, warmth chasing away the worst of his ever-present cold.

"I've got you" Leo answers.

A promise and a prayer in one, matching him even in this.

"I've got you" Leo repeats.