Different War

The Mark of Athena

Last time on Different War:

"So, what happened next?" The still proud looking Poseidon asked.

Shrugs and looks were thrown around. I was the only one that was around during that time, but I wasn't around. I only heard the story from the seven...or what's left of the seven.

"Nico..."

I stood up and walked out of the throne room without a word, not caring about the startled and concerned looks.

I had to get around before I drowned from the guilt of what happened...

Now On Different War:

~Percy's Perspective~

To say I was concerned was an understatement. Nico wasn't acting like the happy kid I first met, but he also wasn't acting like the Nico I know from my time either.

Whatever happened during the war with Gaea changed him.

"Okay, does anyone know what's with him?" Thalia asked, frowning at the throne room doors.

There was a silence surrounding the demigods as looks were exchanged between each other, trying to see who would be the best one to answer.

I wouldn't say Nico feels close enough to me to confide in me, so I was out of the question. Besides, I'm about here a year in the past from Nico's present. Who knows how much has changed for him.

"He's your brother, isn't he?" Leo asked Hazel out of the silence, not looking up from...whatever he was fiddling with.

"Hazel?" Frank nudged his girlfriend who only stared at the son of Hephaestus as if she was staring at a ghost. Now that I think about it, the daughter of Pluto (Hades?) had been stealing glances towards Leo the whole time.

"Huh?" She blinked and shook her head. "I'm sorry, it's just...you look like an old friend of mine."

Leo sent her a quick grin, his hands not faltering as he continued to mess with...tin foil and a paperclip? "Is that so?"

Hazel swallowed thickly. "Do you know someone named Sammy Valdez-"

Suddenly the doors opened with a bang and the son of Hades came storming in.

"Nico?!"

"Son, what is-"

"HOW DARE YOU-"

Nico didn't say anything, only glared at Zeus. "Shut up." That only caused Zeus to turn purple. "You can't hurt me, I'm from the future. I'm the only one here that knows what happened next. I lived it." He sighed heavily, shoulders sagging. "And the fates won't take it well if any one of us in this room gets hurt."

"Nico, are you okay?" I asked, worriedly. He flinched as a response.

Hazel frowned and walked up to her half-brother. "Nico, tell me what's wrong?" She brought a hand up to his cheek. "Please."

"The fates gave me a message. They didn't want this part of the journey of the seven to be told. As none of us-" He flinched again, "-were there, and I don't exactly know what happened when you left to go to Rome and then later Greece."

"But something happened, didn't it?" Annabeth asked, frowning in the way she does when she's trying to figure something out.

"Yeah," Nico nodded and looked Annabeth straight in the eye. "The war against Gaea was...nothing like the war against Kronos! With a prophecy telling seven demigods to go defeat mother earth herself, you would think that all but three would die because that's what happened with the quest that Bianca went on! But no! Six out of the seven-" He stopped, choking on the emotions that he clearly had been bottling up this whole time.