The Not so Golden Ages (A Solangelo AU)

A table for some monsters, please

Nico gathered a spoonful of beans and stared down at his plate as Will exchanged talk with Reyna and Frank. Nico noticed that Hazel, the dark skinned girl, kept looking over to him. Whenever he caught her staring, she would blush and look away. 

He looked over to Will who had disregarded his food as he talked to them. Nico noticed that he hadn't eaten much since the wolf attack. He was growing a lot thinner than he had been. His blonde curls hung around his tan freckled face. The dark bags under the prince's bright blue eyes had grown almost as bad as Nico's own. Nico was curious if it was because Will missed his home. 

Nico was aware of the obvious fact that if a person went from sleeping in a bed made of feathers and cotton with silk sheets to an apothecary table with a few pieces of cotton fabric over it, they would lose some sleep. 

But it had been weeks. Surely Will had adjusted, right? 

Will looked over to Nico and gave him a small smile, pushing some hair from his face. Nico blinked and looked away, scowling into his beans. 

Will frowned and looked back at Reyna. "So, where did you guys say you're from again?" He raised a brow.

Frank stared at Will. The big guy's expression made Nico feel like he should go and hide. "North east." He said gruffly, tearing some bread apart and taking a large bite. 

Nico blinked. He wasn't sure what was north east. But apparently Will did as his eyes widened slightly as he inhaled sharply. Nico glanced over to him. The prince had lost most color in his face as he slowly blinked. Frank looked over to Will. "Are you alright?" Hazel asked quietly.

"Will and I need to leave. An emergency came up." Nico said, grabbing Will's hand and pulling him up. "Now." 

Will's usually kind and caring expression turned cold as he glared at their new "friends".

But just as they started walking out, there was a loud crash behind them, followed by screams.

Across the room, there were three snake-ladies, looking around. They sensed royal blood most likely, as monsters ever rarely showed themselves. Nico gulped and shoved Will behind him, glaring. He had never seen monsters before. They were terrifying. From the waist up, they were beautiful women. Silky curls resting down their backs and over their shoulders. Their faces smooth porcelain. It almost distracted Nico from the scale-y snake trunk each obtained. The slime and muck that covered them made Nico want to gag. 

Reyna, Frank, and Hazel turned around at the sounds of the screams. Reyna pulled her spear off her back and stood, glaring. Frank readied an arrow, aiming it at the middle monster. 

The snake-ladies approached quickly, hissing. "Let's get out of here..." Nico grabbed Will's wrist and tried to drag him out. Will stayed put. 

"Wait." He said quietly, still glaring. "I wanna watch how they fight..."  Will stared at Reyna, Frank, and Hazel starting to fight. 

"Wha-? Will, we need to get out of here. Before we get hu-" Will's memorized and angry look made Nico frown and turn around. 

The way they fought. It wasn't the way Nico had watched people fight in duels. They seemed to have different attack methods. Instead of cutting and slashing like Nico had seen around in the duels, the seemed to stab. Nico noticed that Reyna's and Hazel's weapons were shorter than the ones used by the soldiers around Skiio. They tried to keep their weapons closer to their bodies. A good idea, Nico thought.

As they started attacking, so did the snake-ladies. They hissed and spit out green stuff. Acid? Reyna was in the direct line of the acid. It was squirted onto her chest, causing her to cry out and crumble to the ground. She writhed on the ground as the acid burned through her skin. Nico resisted the urge to run to her side. To help. He always had that issue, wanting to help anyone in need. Instead, Hazel beat him to it. A snake-lady took her distraction to her advantage. She slashed at Hazel with her razor sharp fingernails. They cut deeply into her shoulder and collarbone. 

Then, before Nico could stop him, Will picked up some old person's cane and dove into battle. Nico was worried at first before he remembered: Will was a prince. He had probably been training in sword-work since he was in diapers. 

Will proved him right when he started slashing and swiping. Cutting like a maniac. He beheaded two snake-ladies with ease. After doing so, he clutched his bicep. Nico gulped as he saw blood soak between his fingers. It was his sword arm, how was he gonna fight. 

Just as the snake-lady approached, hissing, green gas escaping through her lips, Nico made an idiotic decision and ran, jumping in between Will and the snake-lady. He picked up the fallen cane and wacked the monster on the head. "Bad snake lady! Go back to Tartarus where you belong!" He wacked her again, glaring. 

Snake-Lady hissed and made a face that made her look ready to take a dump. She made a kissing face. At first Nico thought that she was gonna try to kiss him. But then acid squirted out of her mouth. Nico felt Will grab him and pull him to the ground and press himself on top of Nico, shielding him from the acid. Will's breathing was hard as his body trembled. Nico found himself burying his face into Will's shoulder, shaking too. 

The acid puddled not even two inches away from them. Nico heard a loud hiss and looked over Will's shoulder, eyes widening as he saw the snake-lady lunge towards them. Nico felt Will cling to him. Nico's eyes stayed widened towards the snake-lady. Just as she was about to attack and arrow went straight through her chest, making her turn to dust. 

Frank!

​​​​​​​Nico had forgotten about him! He looked towards Frank who was lowering his bow, breathing shakily. "What do you say to getting these three some help?"