three days

-Eleven-

Nico's POV

"The sunset is beautiful." Will leaned down and whispered into my ear.

The sun was beginning to set with light shades of pink and orange painting the sky.

"Yeah... it is, " I whispered back. Still gazing up at the sky, I stumbled over a rock. For a moment I thought that I was going to fall on my face. But I felt hands holding me by my waist keeping me steady. I felt my knees go weak and cheeks heat up even more.

"You're such a klutz. Try not to get injured all the time, okay?" He joked.

"I'll be fine, Will."

I wriggled out of his grasp.

"That never happened." I muttered angrily. The Ghost King doesn't trip over a rock. I brushed invisible dust off my jeans. What an embarrassment.

"What happened?" Will smirked, winking at me. I gave him a small smile and laughed. I grabbed his elbow and tugged him along. The campfire was all the way across camp, near the forest, and I didn't want to be late. And Will was kind of a slowpoke.

"Hurry the fuck up."

"Passive aggressive hate isn't going to get you anywhere, Death Boy."

I huffed, "Oh shut up, will you?"

"Make me." Will teased.

"I'd rather not."

"Fine, be a boring old man."

"I'm not old!"

Will snorted, very unattractively may I add.

"Nico, you're like... 90 or something."

"I look good for my age, don't I?"

"You could say that." He shrugged his shoulders.

My mouth hung open, "What do you mean 'you could say that' ?!"

Will chuckled and brought his hand to my chin. His pretty sky-colored eyes had a devilish look in them and I had to admit that it was pretty hot. "You'll catch flies, di Angelo."

I stammered, unable to come up with a sassy retort. He placed his hand at the small of my back. The thought of his hand there made me shiver with unwanted pleasure. Him being close enough for me to smell his intoxicating cologne... it always brought the skeleton butterflies to my stomach. The affect Will had on me was annoyingly dizzying. I hated it.

That's when I noticed all the staring being directed at us, or rather, behind us. My face was scrunched up in confusion. I stood there clueless for a while before Will forcefully turned me around. There was yelling in the distance and all I could decipher was DRAGON!! On the horizon was a bronze speck that was getting larger by the minute. I could make out the outline of two people, one of them was whooping and the other was shrieking - it sounded more fearful than excited.

"What a commotion..." Will whispered beside me.

"You can say that again."

"What a-" Before he could finish, I elbowed him in the rib.

Piper pushed past me hurriedly, not even even bothering to apologize. I stumbled back a bit but righted myself almost immediately. That's when a sudden cold wave of nausea washed over me. I rushed over to a nearby bush and puked my guts out. Will rushed after me and began to rub my back soothingly, asking what was wrong. I dry-heaved for another minute, the shouts around me making me dizzy.

"This can't be possible. He died. I felt him die!"

"Well, he doesn't look very dead."

And he was right. Leo fucking Valdez looked very much alive.

His dragon began to descend, its strong wings blowing dust into our eyes. A ring of fire made sure that we backed the fuck off, or else we were in risk of becoming burnt toast. I instinctively buried my face in Will's shirt. His arms held me closer in a protective and caring manner.

"The Super-sized McShizzle is back!"

I pulled away from Will and looked at the scene unfolding before me.

Leo was grinning like the madman he was and slid off his dragon's side, hitting the ground with a thump. That's when we noticed the girl. Some people may have described her as 'out of his league'. I say she had long caramel hair tied back in a ponytail with jeans and a white shirt. Leo helped her down then placed a kiss on her cheek, only causing her to blush a little.

"Leo Valdez!" Piper stepped up, her eyes raging with anger.

"Beauty Queen! What's-"

She slapped him in the face, leaving a red handprint across his cheek. "That's for letting us think you were dead," the daughter of Aphrodite hissed.

Even I cowered back at the tone of her voice.

"And this is for coming back, Repair Boy," Leo received a small peck on the cheek in a sisterly manner. The unfamiliar girl looked at Piper with wide and surprised eyes.

Will looked at me with concern.

'Are you okay?'

I nodded my head in response. I was fine. It was a little hard to explain what it had felt like. The feeling of someone being dead and then alive, I mean. Maybe like  I was floating in the water peacefully, and then a sudden wave that I hadn't noticed washed over me, pushing me under too deep.

"Who cares about that, let's just go already." He suggested.

"Sure."

He slung his arm around my shoulders nonchalantly. Will played with a few strands of my hair and was humming a little tune. We walked past Annabeth and Percy, the former giving us a bright smile. Percy just stared, eyes bulging out of his head.

"WHAT DOES WILL HAVE THAT I DON'T?!?!" He yelled out.

"NICO DI ANGELO!" Will shouted back smugly without hesitation. I gasped. I couldn't stifle my laughter as we continued on our way. Their reactions were hilarious; Annabeth had chuckled a little, but Percy was a mess.

We were nearing the campfire as I could see the flames and people sitting on logs. I didn't feel comfortable sitting near the front where everyone else was, so I told Will, and we chose a log at the back. There was a comfortable silence as we waited for Chiron to step up to the platform.

Thinking things over, I realized, how did Will know about... the thing with Percy?

-

Surprise surprise, motherfuckers. I'm alive! After not updating for... 10 days, here it is. Some shit went down in this chapter but come on, who am I not to add fluff?? I have a little something planned for the next chapter. Hopefully that one won't take as long to write and publish.

I'm still not sure if I want to make a sequel or just continue their story here. Tell me what you think?

THANK YOU FOR 1K READS!!❤️