Nothing Left To Lose || Tangled: The Series meets PJO/HoO/ToA

Chapter 3

Apollo looked down on his son Will from Olympus. "It's time I gave him his full powers as my child. After the help he gave me, he deserves it," he said to himself. He snapped his fingers. A faint golden aura wrapped around Will, absorbing into his skin after a second and leaving no trace behind. Apollo breathed out in relief and closed his eyes. "He'll be alright."

Nico opened his eyes. He had had a dream about the giants cornering him in Tartarus and flinging him into the bronze jar. He took in the fact that he was no longer in his bed in Cabin 13, but in a place made of rocks that niggled at him, like he should know what they were. A blue-haired young woman sat facing him on a throne made of the rocks, asleep. He tried to move his arm to brush a strand of black hair out of his face, and couldn't. He glanced up. His arms were attached to the wall by links of rock. Suddenly, Nico was no longer in the strange place, but in the jar, struggling to breathe. All the pomegranate seeds at his feet were bare.

Cass woke to the sound of quick, shallow, panicked breathing. She looked and saw that the pale boy was awake. But something was wrong. His dark eyes were wide and unfocused, and his breathing was growing more labored by the second. She got up and hurried over to him, hoping she could snap the boy out of it before he passed out again.

Nico gasped for air as the jar swirled around him. The world started to dim. Just as he was about to black out, he felt someone shake him. He remembered he was no longer in the jar. The world faded back into view, and the jar vanished. His breath evened, and he gulped in air gratefully. The blue-haired young woman was in front of him, looking alarmed. Her eyes were bright blue, like Thalia's. That was enough to annoy him, and the fact that she had him chained to the wall added to his annoyance. "What just happened?" she demanded.

"None of your business." Nico growled. "What do you want?"

She flinched slightly. If Nico hadn't been a demigod, he probably would have missed it, but he knew body language well enough to catch it. Reading people was a survival skill, and being around Annabeth, he had picked up a few tricks. "None of your business."

He looked around. Will was next to him on one side, also chained to the wall, she'll pay for that. On his other side: Frank, Hazel, Piper, Jason, Leo, Percy, Annabeth, and, of course, Thalia. Every time that Hunter appeared, she tried to take someone he cared about. First, Bianca joined the Hunters. Then she died, and when Thalia took charge, she began recruiting even more girls, like Bianca was replaceable. Then, she had kidnapped Reyna. Nico didn't mind that Reyna had joined the Hunters, that was her choice, but the kidnapping had made him furious. He was the only one awake, probably because dating a son of Apollo, he had been trained to wake early. Meaning Will woke him up at dawn so often that getting up early became a habit.

"Why?" he asked, genuinely curious. "I've never seen you before in my life, and if any of them had, I'm sure they would have said something. Why are we here now?"

She turned away, clearly avoiding the question. Something's strange here.

He pushed that thought aside for the moment and focused on his predicament. I need to get out of here, but I can't leave Will. He reached out and nudged Will with his foot. His significant annoyance stirred. "Hey, Sunshine. Up and at 'em." At the sound of Nico's voice, Will opened his eyes. "Neeks?" He looked around. "What's going on?"

"I wish I knew the whole story. What I do know is we're being held captive by a girl who refuses to tell me what she wants with us."

"Why didn't you..." Will blushed. "Oh."

"I can now..." Making sure he was in contact with his boyfriend, he willed them into the shadows. The bands on his wrists burned, suddenly searing hot. Nothing happened. He gritted his teeth and tried harder. Still nothing, and now the pain in his wrists was so bad he felt faint. He gave up, knowing Will would murder him if he passed out from pain and failed shadow-travel. Nico locked eyes with Will and shook his head grimly. The rocks must block my abilities. The cuffs on his wrists cooled down.