Solangelo Oneshots

Labyrinth

A loud thud made Nico jolt awake. He scrambled to his feet, eyes darting around the room. He rubbed his eyes, grabbing his sword and holding it out stiffly in front of him.

"Who's there?"

There's a groan and Nico spins around to find a body-shaped heap on the floor. Nico took a step back. Where was King Minos when you needed him?

The heap started to rise.

"Who are you?" Nico demanded. "Are you a god?"

A head lifted to reveal a freckled, gangly guy with blue eyes and curly hair. He looked kind of like a god. Or at least he looked pretty godly. Nico tried to steady his shaking hands. The possibly-a-god's eyes widened, scanning Nico from head to toe. Nico flinched, taking another step back. He was powerful. He was the Ghost King. He could take this guy on.

"Woah!" The guy held up his hands, sensing Nico's anxiety. "I'm not a god. Or a monster. You're not going to believe this but I'm your boyfriend."

Nico nearly dropped his sword.

"Obviously I'm not your boyfriend yet," the guy started to ramble. "Maybe not for a few years. By the way, what year is it? How old are you? Where are we? Also, I hope time isn't still going because you're going to be super annoyed if I miss our date. Not you you. You like my you. But not mine because you're your you. But not this you because that would be wildly inappropriate. I'm not a pedophile. I promise. You're, like, twenty. Where I come from. Completely age appropriate. I feel like I'm digging myself into a hole. I should shut up."

Nico's mouth opened and closed a few times. "What kind of weird monster are you?"

"Not a monster!" The guy interjected. "My name is Will. I'm just a guy. Not on any mythomagic cards. You're a mythomagic guy at this age, right?"

"Mythomagic is for kids." Nico scowled.

"Take that as a no then." Will winced. "Look, I just want to get back to my home. In the future. So, um, sorry to bother you. Do you happen to know where the exit is?"

Nico stared at him. "It's a Labyrinth. No one knows where the exit is."

Will blinked. Then he took a deep breath, tilted his head to the air and let out a silent scream.

"Of course it's a Labyrinth!" He threw his hands in the air. "Why would anything ever be simple? I wanted pizza and Shrek. Was that too much to ask?"

Nico kept his sword firmly in between them. "Sorry about your pizza. I'm going to go now."

"Wait, wait!" Will said. "You're smart. You know your way around a Labyrinth. Any chance you could help a guy out?"

"If I say no, will you follow me?"

Will hesitated. "Probably."

Nico sighed. "Come on, then. There's a ghost around here somewhere, by the way."

Will nodded. "Good to know."

Nico made Will go first, sword lightly prodding Will's back. They walked for a while, narrowly avoiding getting caught in some traps. Will got snatched up by a net and Nico nearly got hit by an arrow but mostly they were unscathed.

Nico made a point not to talk as they walked. He still wasn't sure if Will was a demigod or if he was messing with him and it was better safe than sorry.

Eventually, they rounded to a dead end. Nico turned to try another path but Will stopped.

"Something's off," he said, pulling a rock from his pocket.

"Why do you have rocks in your pocket?" Nico wrinkled his nose.

Will frowned. "It's a cool rock."

He threw it and it rolled right through the supposed wall.

"Huh," Will said. He took a tentative step forward. Then another. He stood right in front of the wall and was about to walk through when...

He vanished.

Nico jumped back in alarm, poking his sword at the air where Will had just been. He was about to start calling for Will when he heard King Minos' voice.

"My lord?" Minos asked. "Are you alright?"

Nico hesitated. "Yeah, I... I thought I saw something."

He turned away. He didn't have time for this. Bianca needed him.