A Mortal School With A Mortal Enemy

Avenging Nico

   The day the other demigods were told what Thomas and his lackeys had done to Nico was the day all buildings within a 50 mile radius of Camp Half Blood lost electricity for approximately an hour, a very mad blazing demigod nearly set the forest on fire, New York experienced a very brief but severe earthquake, all of coast of New York was nearly flooded by a massive wave, approximately half of the Camp became filled with jewels, and a child of Athena came up with about 20 different battle strategies on how to cause Thomas to experience pain that would put the torture used in the Field of Punishments to shame.
   In Nico's mind he held zero responsibility for the near destruction of New York; he would have loved to let the situation with Thomas die with Will punching him, but Will insisted that they tell the others. He said it was only right to let them know and that it was inevitable for them to find out, Will punching Thomas was going to be all the school talked about for the next week. Before he started explaining the situation, Nico made everyone swear on the River Styx that they would wait for him to finish before they spoke. So under the watchful gaze of his boyfriend, Nico had gathered the seven demigods outside of the big house after school that Friday. He tried to skim over some of the details and make it sound better then it was but every time he tried to lie Will called him out on it.
   When Nico finally got to the end of the story, he had just told them how Will had punched Thomas, he waited for their angry reactions to start. However, none of the seven said a word. Nico waited, looked at Will, and waited some more. Finally Percy raised his hand, still not speaking. Eventually Nico said,
   "Yes Percy?" After waiting a few moments Percy asked, "Are you done talking?" Nico nodded. "So are we allowed to speak and respond to everything you just said without breaking our promise on the River Styx?" When Nico nodded again, he quickly added,
  "Though I would appreciate it if you let me get inside the big house with Will before your reaction begins," he told them. "Then once you all have calmed down enough to talk rationally, you can find me in the big house and we will talk then."
   Without a second glance back, Will and Nico headed into the big house so they could take cover. It was wise of them to get inside considering the second they were out of sight, complete chaos began. The couple could hear rain hitting the roof of the house and they noted how the lights started to flicker on and off before completely shutting down. Despite being inside they could hear multiple strings of curse words and insults directed towards Thomas, most of which would have been to vulgar to repeat.
   "Remind me why we had to tell them again," Nico said to his boyfriend. "You know it's quite likely that they're going to kill him, right?" Will laughed,
   "You're over analyzing this Nico. Yes they're mad but they, or at least some of them, are wise enough to know better then to go kill a mortal. And we had to tell them so that they didn't find out at school on Monday, because then they would definitely kill Thomas." As much as Nico wanted to deny it, he knew Will had a point and Will knew that Nico knew that he was right. The couple went to the living room where they tried to block out the outside noises and just focused on talking with each other.
   Meanwhile throughout Camp Half Blood, the seven demigods from the prophecy were trying (and failing) at calming themselves down. Jason was sitting on top of the roof of Zeus's cabin, his emotions were causing a major storm; he felt beyond guilty, like he had failed to recognize and protect a friend who was in need. Leo was experiencing such an intense blast of emotions that if it weren't for the rain that Jason was summoning and the intense waves that were crashing throughout campus that Percy kept making, Leo likely would have set the place on fire by now.
   Annabeth was in the Athena cabin researching different methods of torture; she threw herself into her research even more than normal as a way to try and get rid of the sadness she was feeling. She hated the fact that she had been so caught up in her happiness that she had failed to recognize the misery of another camper. Words couldn't give the level of sadness, guilt, and hatred that Percy was feeling justice. He should have realized that something was going on with Nico, he should have gone out of his way to spend more time with him at school so he could have realized what was going on, he should have done so much to help Nico; but instead he got caught up in how amazing it felt to attend a normal school and spend time with his girlfriend.
   Piper was livid but she was still thinking semi-rationally. She was standing on the group by the Zeus's cabin, shouting for Jason to come down so they could talk. But she never got far because she would get half way through a sentence, think about how sad Nico had looked when he was telling them about Thomas, and start cursing him out (even though he wasn't there) Frank was beyond mad; he kept shifting between forms and running through camp. He had always prided himself on protecting the people he cared about and now he was finding out that failed miserably at it.
   It was clear without a doubt that everyone was feeling anger towards Thomas and disappointment towards themselves. But no one felt those emotions more strongly than Hazel did. She was obviously mad at Thomas but she felt more guilt then she did anything else. Nico had tried to provide as little detail as possible about how the reason he didn't tell the others was to keep Hazel safe but it wasn't like much information was needed to understand that statement. She had been the reason he had kept his mouth quiet and taken all of the abuse from Thomas. This was enough to cause her, while all the other demigods were causing destruction and letting out their anger, to be on her bed crying. Precious metals and jewelry would appear out of the ground from time to time.  All Hazel would do was stop crying long enough to get rid of it and them continue crying. She was easily the most guilt stricken of them all.
   Hazel had lost track of time when she finally heard a quiet knock on her cabin door. "Come in," she wished her voice wasn't so shaky. She sat up from her lying position, rubbed her eyes, and saw that Frank had been the one who knocked on the door.
   "Hey, why were you crying?" He asked as he rushed over to her where he engulfed her in a hug.
   "It's all my fault," she whispered quietly; it took all of her self-control to not break down crying again.
   "Hey no, no, no please don't say that. That's not true, Hazel." Frank rubbed her shoulders comfortingly and whispered soothing things in her ear.             
   "But it is. Nico's done so much for me already and now he took new abuse quietly just to protect me. If he hasn't been so stubborn about trying to protect me then he would have been much safer." Frank listened to her quietly but shook his head in disagreement.
   "That's not true Hazel. Even if he told everyone, if they had done anything to you, Nico would have been first in line to fight them. He would have still gotten hurt physically. And if you got hurt he would have been devastated; sometimes mental pain that you can't escape is worse then physical pain that eventually goes away." Hazel looked at him with round eyes. "I promise you that this was not your fault. Do you think you're up to going to the Big House to talk with the others; everyone's finally calmed down enough to talk." Hazel took a deep breath, nodded, and with that the couple exited the Hades cabin.
  By the time Frank and Hazel got to the Big House, everyone else was already there and were in the midst of a heated discussion. The second Hazel made eye contact with Nico she sprinted from Frank's side and ran to her brother.  
   "I'm so sorry, I should have realized that something was wrong. I'm a horrible sister," it was clear that she had more to say but Nico almost immediately interrupted her.
   "Please do not say that or blame yourself. You are an amazing sister, I just know you well enough that I was able to hide it. It is not your fault, it's Thomas's; also I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I was the reason you got hurt." The room that had been insanely loud just moments ago was not completely silent, everyone was watching the siblings. Nico led Hazel over to the table where he had saved a seat right next to him for her.
   Once everyone was seated, Percy said, "alright, so what's the best way to get back at this scumbag?" At his question the room once again broke out into vocal chaos. It seemed as if Percy, Jason, Frank, and Leo were all trying to figure out the way to cause the most pain to Thomas. Annabeth and Piper seemed to be brainstorming the most tactile solution. Will, Nico, and Hazel all sat silently at the end of the table. Hazel was still trying to control her sadness, Nico wanted to just drop the issue, and Will just wanted Nico to be happy. When it became clear that no solution was being reached, Will motioned for Nico and Hazel to cover their ears and then did his famous ultrasonic whistle. Everyone immediately stopped talking to cover their ears and then looked at Will expectantly.
   "I think you guys are forgetting something important here," Will began. "As much as Thomas may deserves to be in a lot of pain, he's still a mortal. Meaning none of you can use your powers against him and if one more of us assaults him physically then we're risking getting in trouble with the school." Will looked around the table as he spoke. He could tell that Annabeth agreed with him.
   "How can we do nothing? He hurt Nico, he needs to pay," Jason said, most of the others nodded in agreement.
   "I never said that we need to do nothing. I'm all for avenging Nico but we need to go about it in a very smart and cautious manner." Will told the table.
   "We also need to remember that we're not bullies," Piper pointed out. "There's a difference between getting proper revenge and stooping to his level." As someone who had her fair share of experience will bullies, Piper wanted to make sure she didn't turn into one. The room fell silent; everyone was taking in what Will and Piper had said and was trying to come up with the best plan. Suddenly Hazel, who had been silent ever since her conversation with Nico, looked up and said,
   "I have an idea."  Everyone quieted down and let Hazel talk. When she finished explaining her plan it was clear that a few of them, namely Jason and Percy, were skeptical about it but everyone else loved it.
   After coming up with their plan for vengeance on Friday, the rest of the weekend was spent perfecting it. By the time Monday came, all of the demigods were excited to put the plan into action. It started when Nico was walking with Will to his locker. When Thomas spotted them he immediately started speed walking in the opposite direction but Will shouted,
   "Hey Thomas, wait up." Thomas froze. When Nico and Will caught up to him he said, 
   "What do you want? I thought you said I wasn't allowed to be within 10 yards of your boyfriend," there was both fear and anger in Thomas's voice.  
   Will laughed, if Nico hadn't known him as well as he did, he would have thought that Will was genuinely at ease. Thomas's face suddenly appeared a lot more worried when he heard Will's laughter,
   "Come on, are you still obsessing over that? We just had a misunderstanding; you thought it was alright to bully my boyfriend and threaten his sister so I punched you and set you straight. Everything is good now." It was obvious that Thomas didn't trust Will, but he didn't say anything.  The son of Apollo stared down Thomas with a smile on his face. Finally Nico said,
   "Come on Will, we have to get to class. It was great chatting with you Thomas, I'll see you around." After Nico spoke he and Will walked away, leaving Thomas confused and feeling worried. Thomas was a jerk but he was a smart one, he knew there was no way they had forgiven him so quickly.
   As the day went on all of the demigods went out of their way to intercept Thomas on his way to class. Not once did they say anything mean; they all brought up the fact that they knew what he had done to Nico but they all said that it was behind them. With every demigod that Thomas talked to, the more paranoid he began to feel. He began to check every hallway and tried to make sure none of the demigods were in it before he entered it. He would purposely take the long way to his classes to try and avoid them. Anytime someone touched him or even spoke to him, he flinched. He knew they had to be planning something but nothing came.
   As soon as the final bell rang, signaling that school was over, Thomas sprinted out of his classroom. All he wanted was to leave without running into any of the demigods. That plan failed when the second he turned into the hallway, he found all nine of them waiting for him. They all had a smile on their face.
  Thomas frantically turned, trying to find a path away from them but he was surrounded.
   "All right I can't take it anymore. Why are you being so nice to me? I was an ass who bullied your friend and we all know that everyone of you hates me. If you're going to do something to get revenge on me just do it all ready. I can't stand it anymore, it's driving me crazy."  By the end of his statement, Thomas was shouting. At this time, a crowd of mortals had crowded around and were watching his meltdown. Some were even recording it. The demigods just kept smiling and when he was done, they turned without a word and walked away. They left him to realize that they had gotten their revenge by getting him to make a fool out of himself.
   As they walked away Percy asked Hazel,
   "How did you know he would react that way?" Casting Frank a smile she said,
   "Someone once told me that mental pain that you can't escape is worse then physical pain that eventually goes away. I figured the same applied to mental paranoia." With that the demigods left school feeling overjoyed that successfully avenged their friend.