The Golden Prince | Solangelo Royal AU

Chapter XXII: Kronos' Army is Back

Nico stood on the balcony at the front of the castle, staring at the ruins of parts of Umbra. He sighed. There were times he wished Will was there to make him feel better, and this was one of those times. The their last meeting, Will had said he would be there if he could on the day of their next meeting. Nico had said the same. But with what was happening, Nico wasn't sure he would be able to.

Hazel came onto the balcony with him. "I thought it was peaceful. But it seems it's not anymore," she said. Nico sighed. "I wish it was," he said. "Me, too," she replied.

After a few seconds of silence, Hazel asked, "I know this probably isn't the time to ask this, but have you been leaving the castle very week or so?" "No," Nico said, lying. "Sure. Then why can I never find you on those days?" She asked. "Maybe you didn't look hard enough," he said. "Sure. That's probably it. Are you sure, though?" She asked, trying to get something out of Nico about it. He nodded. "Yep. That's it," he said. Hazel clearly didn't believe him, but she stopped bugging him about it for the moment.

"There's bound to be another fight soon," Nico said after a few seconds. "Yeah. I do hope it's not here. That sounds selfish-" Hazel said. "No, I get it. This place has seen much destruction in recent times. We don't need more," he said. She nodded.

Nico looked down at the destroyed part of the castle, and the people clearing the rubble to see if they could find any salvageable things. Nico was headed in that direction when it was destroyed. He was glad he didn't make it there. They were vulnerable now, with all the destruction. Anyone could attack them and they wouldn't meet organized resistance.

With that thought in mind, Nico immediately looked to the trees, expecting someone to be there. He looked to both sides. "What is it?" Hazel asked. "They could attack at any time because-" "we're vulnerable," Hazel finished. "What if that was their goal the whole time?" Nico asked. Hazel and Nico looked at each other. "I need to warn father. Stay here and alert us if you see them," he said. Hazel nodded, and Nico ran off.

Hades was in the main room. "Father! The attacks- Hazel and I think they were meant to make us vulnerable. Anyone could attack us now and we wouldn't be ready. We need to be ready. They may have already had time to organize a plan of attack, find out our weak spots, and all that," Nico explained. Hades looked at him. "That... makes sense. Thanatos, tell the army to be prepared," Hades told his advisor. Thanatos nodded and speed-walked off.

A few minutes later, Hazel came running in, saying, "They're coming!" "Oh no. Go tell Thanatos and the army. Now," Hades said. Hazel nodded and ran off in the direction Thanatos went.

Nico ran to his quarters and grabbed his sword. He ran back out and out of castle. What he saw was less than he expected. There were less soldiers of Kronos' Army than previous attacks, but there were still a lot.

He started to fight them, but they were good. Better than they used to be. He still managed to kill a few, but it took longer than previous times.

One of them took even longer than he expected. The soldier attacked Nico. Nico blocked the strike, but the soldier's sword kept swinging at Nico. One of them hit Nico's arm, but despite that, he kept going. He managed to hit the soldier's arm and side at least twice before he cut the soldier's throat.

After tiring fighting, they came. It was only a part of the Golden Army, and Nico assumed there was some of the army at each kingdom, but it still made a difference. The Golden Army consisted of archers, swordsmen, and spearmen, all very skilled with their weapon. There were a few for each weapon, and Nico was glad to see that Will was one of the archers.

With the combined strength of Nico, Hazel, the Shadow Kingdom's Army, Will, the Golden Army, and sort of Hades, they managed to either defeat or drive off the attackers. A few medics from the Golden Kingdom took care of the injuries, and once Nico's were treated, he went over to Will.

When Will saw Nico approach him, he jogged over to Nico. He took both of Nico's hands and asked, "You okay?" "Yeah, I'm okay," Nico said. "Good," Will said. Nico sighed after a second. "I can't believe it took me so long to figure out their plan," he said. "It took me long as well. We barely got here in time. We have a part of the army in each main town of each kingdom. We're splitting our forces throughout the other towns now, just in case. If there are any extras, they'll be going to whatever town seems most vulnerable," Will said. "That's good," Nico replied. After a moment, he asked, "Why does the Golden Kingdom get involved with making sure the other kingdoms are safe? I don't mean offense or anything- I'm just wondering." "I guess it's always been a goal of ours. The Golden Kingdom was, as a matter of fact, one of the first kingdoms. We've always believed that each kingdom that is here is here for a reason. Imagine one of the kingdoms was completely destroyed one day. Too many lives lost. Many needing new homes. That wouldn't be good," Will explained. "That makes sense, I guess," Nico said. "You guess? Really?" Will said in a joking manner. Nico chuckled.

After a second, Will asked, "I need to talk to your father, King Hades. My father, Aurelius, wants to leave some golden soldiers in the other kingdoms, for protection. Just in case. Do you know where King Hades is?" "Yeah, follow me," Nico said.

Nico walked to where he saw Hades. He was still holding one of Will's hands as they walked. When they got over to Hades, Will said, "Hello, King Hades." "Ah, Prince William. Thank you for your help in defeating the attackers," Hades said. Nico stood on the sidelines, watching the interaction. "Of course, sir. My father, King Aurelius, asks if we may station a few of our soldiers around the kingdom for protection of the Shadow Kingdom," Will said. "That would be fine, but why would you do that?" Hades asked. "At the Golden Kingdom, we make sure each kingdom survives and doesn't get destroyed. Considering recent events, we would like to make sure we keep each kingdom alive by giving some extra protection to them," Will said. "That seems reasonable. Tell King Aurelius that it works for me," Hades replied. "That I will do, sir. He also asks one more thing. He would like to have some of our soldiers train yours, if it's needed," Will said. "Some do need some training. That works as well," Hades said. "Alright. We'll get the soldiers posted as soon as we can, sir," Will told Hades. Hades nodded and Will walked away. Nico followed.

"Are you going to be here as a guard?" Nico asked once they were away from Hades. Will smiled, a little sadly. "No. I'm not a part of the golden army. I'm a prince, so that means I have to be at the kingdom unless I have a mission. Sadly, this doesn't count," he said. "Oh. See you next meeting, if we can?" Nico asked. "Yeah. See you then," Will said. "Bye," Nico said. "Bye," Will replied. He jogged off to the forest by Umbra, where his horse was waiting.

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Over the next few days, when Nico passed the training area, he saw the Shadow Kingdom soldiers getting trained by one or two Golden Kingdom soldiers. He watched from the outside, and occasionally memorized what they were teaching and practiced on his own.

One day, one of the golden kingdom people saw Nico watching. He told the other soldier something and walked over to Nico. "Hi. Prince Nico, correct? I'm Grover Underwood. I'm not exactly a soldier, but sometimes I watch. I give the king updates on happenings outside the kingdom," he said. "Yeah, I'm Nico. And I think I've heard Percy mention you multiple times before... are you friends?" Nico asked. "Yeah. In my time outside the Golden Kingdom, me and Percy became friends. Are you interested in joining the training?" Grover asked. "Um... yeah. Kind of," Nico said. "Then come in," Grover said, and he walked back to where he was before.

Nico hesitated. He watched for a few more seconds, then he walked in. He talked to the soldier and asked if he could train as well. The golden soldier said Nico could, so he did.

And he did that every few days. He didn't know when and how Kronos' Army got better at fighting, but he wanted to make sure he could fight them and beat them as easily as he used to.

So he trained.

He didn't go everyday. He usually couldn't or didn't want to. But he did some days. He slowly became a better swordsman than he already was. And he was glad. He could need it very soon.

A/N: HAHA I FINALLY FOUND A WAY TO TIE GROVER INTO THIS

Welcome to the chapter before the chapter I'm currently writing but I don't know what else to write