Shattered

Percy

Well this is certainly unexpected, he thought with a grin.

Just mere moments ago they were ready to fight for their lives, and now Nico was as rigid as a statue as the blonde Mythomagic player wrapped her arms around him, while he and Hades were trying not to laugh at Nico's discomfort.

The girl then forcefully grabbed Nico's head and tilted his head back as she examined him for any scratch or bruise. "I thought for sure you'd be beat up pretty badly if a car wreck had you knocked out for all this time!"

Before Nico had a chance to respond, Chelsea's eyes drifted over to him.

Oh shit...

In a blur of movement that had him wondering if she was a daughter of Hermes, the girl was crouched down next to him, examining the bandages on his arms and leg as well as the newly healed scar on his cheek. "Now he looks like someone who has been through a wreck," the girl announced, before turning her attention back to him. "Hi Percy! How are you feeling?" she cooed as if he were a small child.

"I'm. Doing. Just. Fine," he responded, rolling his eyes.

The girl reared back in surprise, falling onto her backside, sending Nico into a fit of laughter. "Holy crap he can talk!"

"Getting him to shut up, now that's the trick," Hades chuckled as he eyed the strange blonde girl on the floor. "Nico, who is this girl?"

Nico walked over and begrudgingly helped their classmate to her feet. "Father, this is Chelsea. She's one of our classmates. She's a junior just like Jason."

He couldn't help but snicker as the girl's eyes bugged out as he finally noticed the god of the underworld and fellow connoisseur of the musical arts. If he was right that Chelsea had a crush on Nico, then she had just embarrassed herself in front of the wrong person. Thank the gods I've... done that more times than I can count. Crap...

"Um, nice to-to m-meet you Mr. di Angelo," the blonde stuttered, offering her hand to the god. "I'm Ch-Chelsea."

Almost comically, Hades eyed the girl's hand with apprehension before taking it in his own. "I'm Azrael di Angelo, but please, call me Mr. di Angelo."

The blonde then furrowed her brow and looked to Nico and then back to Hades, and Percy realized immediately what she was doing: trying to figure out how Nico could be so small. Hades wasn't a huge muscular guy by any stretch of the imagination, but in his mortal form he was a head taller than Percy and was built like some kind of Olympic gymnast. Nico on the other hand was at least a head shorter than Percy and his porcelain complexion and wiry frame made him look so small and delicate. Not that it wasn't obvious Nico was his son, but it did make one wonder how this could possibly happen.

The difference was though Percy knew the answer. It's my fault. I shouldn't have let him leave camp the first time. I should've went after him! If I could've brought him back to camp he would have been properly fed, he would've had a social life, and he wouldn't have lived with all that pain I caused him.

He felt a touch on his shoulder, shaking him from his thoughts. He looked up to see the son of Hades looking down at him, concern etched on his face. "You okay Percy?"

But I can make it up to him now. "Yeah," he smiled. "As long as you're by my side."

While Nico did his best to hide his blush, Hades and Chelsea looked at the two of them with confused looks.

Wow, kind of forgot they were there. That's what? Three seconds? That's got to be a record!

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