Nico di Angelo; Angel of Chaos

Capture the Flag

After a very shocked reunion, I got punched by my little sister. Like, sucker punched.

"You idiot! You were alive all this time, and yet you didn't even call me? I've been worried sick, mister!" Hazel scolded.

I blinked, dazed, and put a hand to my cheek.

Reyna helped me up, and my ever-so-helpful group of faithful Angels of Chaos burst out laughing.

"Oh... my... Chaos..." Siren managed through laughter.

I glared at him, and spit blood out onto the floor.

"Nico!" Reyna scolded.

"Oh, here." I muttered and waved my hand. The pool of bloody spit disappeared.

Everyone stared at me like I had grown a second head. Including the campers I had never met before, which was a little unnerving.

"Explain. From the beginning. Now." Annabeth commanded.

So, we did. I started at Reyna's death, then Chaos' offer, my odd wings and the shadowfire, then the Underworld. Reyna jumped in there, and we switched off.

When we finished, everyone continued to stare.

We sat in awkward silence until Percy spoke again.

"So... Reyna's your type." He said, and sounded quite proud for figuring it out.

Annabeth slapped him.

"Oww! Hey, I'm just saying!" Percy protested.

I sighed.

"Do you want a ribbon?" I asked sarcastically.

"Oh, you stop too. Or I'll sucker punch you." Reyna scolded.

I flinched, then winced.

"Damn, I never knew you could punch like that." I muttered to Hazel.

Reyna rolled her eyes.

"Shut up, Death Breath. I'll heal it if you stop complaining." Reyna said with an exasperated sigh.

I smiled.

"You always were better at healing than I was anyway." I said with a half-smile.

Reyna placed her hand over my jaw, where Hazel had punched me, and her hand glowed with a white light.

After the glow faded, the swelling was gone, along with the pain and bruising.

"So, moving on, who's ready for Capture the Flag tonight?" Jason said with a grin.

______________________________

That night, our worries were momentarily forgotten as we got ready for Capture the Flag.

I hadn't played this game in so long.

Actually, I hadn't played anything in.. well, about four hundred years.

I'd been a bit busy with council meetings, angry populations of foreign people, and primordials.

But now that we didn't bother hiding our identities, our hoods were down as we walked ton the North Forest.

We didn't bother with armor. We had our chosen weapons, daggers, swords, or bow and arrows. I personally preferred my sword.

Chiron glanced up at us as we walked up.

"So, what side shall you play on?" Chiron asked.

Reyna grinned. It was the kind of grin that made her enemy's want to run very, very far away.

"Oh, we aren't playing on a side. Its us verses you guys." Reyna said.

Chiron looked appalled, and the rest of the camp looked bewildered.

"That isn't fair, though! We have over two hundred campers. You'd be taken down within minutes!" Chiron said, horrified.

I smiled.

"Oh, don't worry about us. We have our own tricks." I said ominously.

Out of my perceptual vision, I saw most of the campers giving me a have-you-lost-your-freaking-mind? look.

But Chiton just nodded, and the camp went to set up there orange flag.

Our flag was hung from a tree's topmost branch, and we left Sparky to guard it. Her fingers were literally sparking with anticipation.

The rest of us began creeping forward with an eerily silent tread.

The first group of campers, about fifty of them, didn't know what hit them.

"C'mon. Let me take these guys. Please?" Siren asked.

"Oh, fine. But no fatalities. Their children." I reminded.

Siren rolled his eyes. And then he sang.

It was a depressing, eerie melody, and immediately everyone in the group dropped their arms and collapsed to the ground unconscious.

Siren stretched and cracked his neck.

"I haven't had that much fun in ages." He said happily.

We moved on.

The next group was a cluster of the older campers, and I knew we were close to the flag. Shadow took them down, radiating pure terror until they all passed out. Or ran away shrieking.

Then we saw the flag.

They had placed in on Zeus's Fist, and our old friends were guarding it. Annabeth and Percy stood back-to-back, a flawless team.

I heard the crackle of lightning, and a blast shook the ground. I knew Sparky was doing her whole daughter-of-Zeus thing. I hope she wasn't killing anybody.

I think we'd have to forfeit if she did.

I grinned mischievously.

"Hey guys. You up for a little fun?" I whispered.

____________________________

The forest was eerily silent.

Annabeth thought she saw a flicker of movement in the corner of her eyes, and suddenly they were ambushed by the Angels of Chaos.

Suddenly, while they were fighting, blade to blade, a loud whoosh sounded behind them.

Annabeth turned just in time to see Nico do a flip off the highest branch of the tree that hung over the clearing Zeus's Fist was in.

She thought, Holy Hera, he's going to kill himself!

But at the last second Nico spread his night black wings and snatched their flag, the orange rippling and turning black.

A cheer went up from the Angels, and Nico held the flag high.

"I think we won. But we'd better get back before Sparky starts blasting craters in the forest." Reyna said with a faint smile.