Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Never let it be said that things went according to plan. If things went according to plan, Will would not be staring at the boy that he couldn’t help but love, that he has kissed and dreamed of kissing a hundred times more.

He would not stare at the most beautiful angle to ever grace reality, as he bled out.

And he would be able to help, not pinned hopelessly to the ground by a spear through his left lung.

He would not watch as Nico di Angelo, the boy he had grown as old as he could ever hope to grow with, as the slash through his neck drowned him in his own blood, as the same happened to Will.

If things had gone according to plan, they would not be reaching across the ground to each other, desperate to hold each other through their pain as they had so many times before, as their blood mixed together, flowing in and out, becoming one in the same, looking for all the world like the sea where Aphrodite herself was born, had that sea been nothing but blood.

If things had gone according to plan, Nico would not have to stare weakly and breathless has the brightest person he’d know, the person who he’d love in this and every lifetime, died. He could feel Will Solace as his soul began to fade, falling further into Thanatos’s hands with every second that passed. He could see the light fading from his loves eyes, just as he knew it was fading fast from his own.

And both of them mourned for each other, mourned for all the others lost. Strangers, friends, and most of all, their families. Their siblings.

Will, in his blinding pain longed, not for the first time that Lee and Michael would come running, and scoop him up, and heal and protect him. He wanted them to come here, now, and save him and Nico, tease him for his love and ease the pain of their wounds.

Nico, with agony coursing along his very being wished for Bianca to tuck him close and tell him it was alright. To have lived and laughed with Thalia and Percy, to have loved and cared for Hazel and Reyna. He wanted Jason to come in and help him, tell him that Will would be okay and get them to safety. He wanted them to look at Will and welcome him into their little mismatched family, like all the others had.

Both wanted, more than anything for the other to be okay. For the pain and loss to be taken, and for love to be all that remained.

They reached, and held the others hand, has both hearts slowed, not even the love they held could keep them beating.

And has they gripped each other as tightly as the were able to manage, weak as they were, they both wished that some way, some how, the end could have been different.

And in what should have been their last moments, when they should have seen death himself before them, all the lovers saw was a blinding light.

And then, years ago, they opened their eyes.

Chapter Text

Lee liked to think he was a good older brother. Someone his siblings could rely on and look up to when they needed. Someone who could make them smile, dry their tears and hold them after a bad dream.

He was under no illusions that he was perfect, the amount of times he almost strangled Michael were a testament to that, but when push came to shove he generally had a good idea of how to help is little siblings.

It was still difficult, waking up in the middle of the night to sobbing after a long day.

Perhaps sobbing was downplaying it a bit too much. Screaming wails was a more accurate description. And tired or no, Lee wasted not time in shooting up from bed to comfort the source of the noise. He wasn’t the only one.

Michael was already sat next to Will, doing his best to calm him, to seemingly little avail.

Will Solace was a tiny thing, about ten or so, and had been at camp for the past couple of years. A year rounder, the only other one besides himself and Michael in their cabin. Small, sweet and sunny, he had a knack for healing and brightening everyone else’s day. With many things surrounding him, Will was content to roll with it, and wasn’t too hung up on many things. He cared easily, but he was tougher than he seemed. Usually even if he’d had a nightmare, he would just crawl in bed with one of the two of them, and stay there until sunrise.

To see him wailing as if the world was crashing down around him was as unsettling as it was concerning.

Lee crouched on the other side of Will, attempting to reach out and hug the usually tactile boy. This proved to be a mistake, as Will’s screams became impossibly louder. Michael looked at Lee, silently conveying distress and confusion as he tried to talk Will down from his distressed state.

He was having very little luck.

“Hey buddy it’s alright, you’re okay. We’re right here, alright Willy? We’ll protect you, okay? Nothings going to happen, we’re here. Can you tell us what’s wrong bud? Did you have a bad dream?” Michael rambled.

Lee could only think to look at Will and put on his best calming smile as he gently shushed him.

Strange enough, but these things only seemed to make it worse. Most of the cabin had woken up by now, and even if they were smart enough not to approach in that moment, it didn’t mean that there were no sleepy stares.

Will continued to wail, seemingly becoming completely out of breath as he gasped and coughed between sobs, tears and snot a never ending waterfall.

As Lee began to murmur his own reassurances along side Michael’s, he couldn’t help but wonder what happened that threw his baby brother into such a state.

It was a completely opposite reaction to any nightmare or demigod dream he’d had before. Perhaps he’d woken up missing his mom? Sweet as Naomi Solace was to her son, and Michael and Lee by extension, she still left her son to grow up someplace without her. Safer, maybe, but still he could be missing her. Never mind the fact that the few times he cried over her he’d gone strait to them, and they were always soft sobs, not the screams and shying away of now. But what else could cause this in the middle of the night? Maybe-

Interrupting his train of thought and contradicting himself, Will chose that moment to fling himself forwards, crashing into Lee and Michael’s waiting arms.

Still coughing, still out of breath, still sobbing harder than his little body could take, Will clung to them as if they would disappear.

Michael looked almost shocked, like the last thing he expected was for Will to grasp onto him too, and didn’t that just break Lee’s heart a little. His immediate younger brother was surprised by how much he was loved and adored. Another thing to talk through, once this storm had passed.

Will’s desperate strength did not last long, with his sobs never stopping, shaking his entire body in Lee’s arms. After what might’ve been a few minutes, but could’ve been an eternity, Will simply couldn’t get much more air in his lungs, and with a final shutter, slumped into the two of them completely, still and quiet.

It was an eerie quiet, from a usually bubbly boy to a desperate wailing mess to completely still and asleep. The entire ordeal seemed unnatural.

The quiet did not last long.

Abruptly Lee was reminded that it wasn’t just the three of them, that everyone was home for the winter and the cabin was full.

The cacophony of noise, confusion and questions was startling, and quickly taken care of as Michael hissed at everyone to “Shut the fuck up”.

Truely a master of bedside manner, his little brother.

But regardless of tact, it was effective, to a degree.

“What happened?” Hissed Auggie, a new camper of 14 who’d taken to shooting Ares kids like Percy to water.

“We don’t know” Michael snapped back.

“Why was Willy so upset?” Groaned Delilah, twelve and with a pillow over her ears. The irony was not lost on Lee as if she so choose Delilah could make them all go deaf with a single, beautiful song.

“We don’t know”

“What are we going to do?” Lee was ignoring Ross’s ink covered cheek, deeming it not the time to argue weather poetry was more important than sleep.

“We don’t know!”

“We’re going to start by being quiet!” Lee intervened before a fight could break out as he finished looking over Will. He seemed fine, his breath stuttering and heart racing but both were quickly evening themselves out. Not hurt or anywhere, inside or out as far as Lee could tell. Still no reason for this to have happened.

“Nobody knows what happened and I doubt we’ll get answers tonight so unless you want to go round two and explain to all of camp why you woke him when he was so upset, all of you are going to keep your mouths shut.”

“But then what do we do?” Ross pressed, and it was a fair question, even if Lee made no move to stop the pillow that Michael hurtled at his head.

“Help him” was what Lee wanted to say, but that was the obvious part. The hard part was answering the how. Lee bit the inside of his cheek, trying to think. How do they go about this?

“Let him come to us. If he wants to talk, fine. If he doesn’t, fine but we’ll keep an eye on him no matter what. For the love of Hera don’t press him about what happened. Go on about as normal and let us” Michael gestured between himself and Lee “handle it.”

Michael said it with such confidence, like it was the most obvious solution. But Lee could feel his hands trembling slightly against him. He was scared. So was Lee. Their baby brother, the youngest of their bunch, was hurting. Nobody liked it. And nobody, not even Michael or Lee who knew him the best, had any idea why.

That was very scary. Lee took the arm unoccupied by Will and wrapped it around Michael pressing him closer. It got him a half-hearted glare and Michael slumping into him. A win.

The rest of the Cabin seemed to accept this and as ten of their siblings curled back up to catch a bit more sleep before sunrise, Lee guided his two younger brothers onto Will’s bed, tucked him close, and laid awake wonder what happened.

~

Bianca was woken by a knock on her dorm door.

Unusual.

The room was dark and the cold was oppressive and her roommate was still snoring.

Normal.

She crept to the door, uncaring of the cold as it seeped through her thin nightdress. On the other side of the door stood Ms. Katherine, a shrewish woman who held a distinct distaste for the world at large.

Unusual.

“Come.” Ms. Katherine stalked down the hall.

Bianca went.

The order was quite expected at Westover hall, as were all orders. Children weren’t people after all, but animals to be corrected. Bianca couldn’t help but privately roll her eyes at that, she knew very well how to navigate the world for her and her brother, thank you. But still,

Normal.

They walked silently through the girls dormitory, down the hall, and through the boys dormitory. Not long after entering the floor Nico was meant to be on, Bianca heard crying. Her brother crying.

Very, very unusual.

“He will not calm. He’s asked for you, amongst other people. Get him to stop as quickly as possible and the two of you will still be allowed at the dance tomorrow.”

Bianca couldn’t care less about that stupid dance, but she nodded. What was important right now was making sure her brother was okay. She entered, as Ms. Katherine stood across the hall to wait for her.

Nico was thankfully in a room by himself, lest he’d woken more people than he’d already had tonight. He sat with his knees pulled up to his chest backed against the corner, looking for all the world like a tiny caged animal.

His sobs, once mighty and echoing, stopped with a gasp as he stared at her. The look on his face would haunt Bianca for the rest of time, the mix of hope, fear and grief was heartbreaking.

Before she could say anything, he broke the silence, disbelief palpable in his voice.

“Bia?” More tears trickled down his face, silent and silver in the dim winter night.

“Wha-What? Where? What’s going on! How are you here? Where are we?”

He paused, his breath stuttering as if this next bit was the worst to ask of all the strange questions

“Where’s Will?”

Not a single thing her brother had just said made any sense. Nothing had changed since they’d arrived at the school with the lawyer, and Nico had never mentioned a single Will in any of his classes, let alone someone who’d matter as much as this person seemed to given the reverence Nico uttered the name with.

Obviously, a nightmare. They both had quite a few of them, mostly just about a flash of lighting and an odd smell. Admittedly recently Bianca had been having a new nightmare of her own, being all alone on a desert, sometimes surrounded by mountains of humming metal. Maybe Nico was having a new dream of his own? Neither of them were hard pressed to cry, so while he was rattled, it should be as straightforward as answering his questions and letting him know she was here.

“Nico, we’re still at school. The lawyer dropped us off, remember? She gave you part of the Underworld expansion deck?”

Nico stares at her still as a statue. He kept staring. Minuets or hours, whose to say? But when he finally did speak, it made so much less sense than before.

“I don’t want to lose you. I can’t do it again, please. You have to meet our sisters. You’d love them so much. Reyna will be right beside you with Thalia and you’ll adore Hazel but you can’t meet them if you leave. You a-and everyone would be such good friends but you can’t if you leave and I want you to meet Will and get to know how wonderful and bright he is and you can’t do that if you leave pleasedontleaveicouldntbareitaginPLEASE-“

She cut off her brothers nonsensical sobbing with a tight hug.

A really, really bad dream then.

“I won’t leave you Nico, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of okay? And whoever you dreamed about, we can meet them if you want. I’ve got to take care of you; you can’t get rid of me forever.”

At these words, Nico gripped the front of her nightdress tight, soaking it with his now silent tears as Ms. Katherine opened the door, expecting them to be finishing up.

Bianca scooped her little brother up and tucked his sheets around him, and just before he let go, he said something that was both just as unusual as the rest of his rambles tonight, but also felt strangely heavy and grave.

“You don’t have to take care of me forever, I know you need your own life. But I can’t bare losing you again. Please, don’t touch anything in that scrapyard.”

And with that final ominous warning he allowed himself to be tucked in fully, and watched with shattered eyes as she was ushered away by the cruel teacher.

And as Bianca stalked silently through the shadows to her own room, all she could do was try to figure out what, exactly, was going on with Nico.

Because that was wisdom he did not possess. He would have never understood her quiet wish for freedom to just be his sister, not mother.

He could not have possibly known about her dreams.

And who were the people he mentioned? The names meant absolutely nothing to her, but should they? What if they really did have sisters out there? Would they help Nico? Who were “they”? Friends, more family? And who on earth was Will, why did he matter so much to Nico?

Nothing made sense and until she could figure out at least some of what was happening, she wasn’t letting Nico out of her sight.

Because there’s nobody else who would make sure he’s alright. Nobody else to try. Her nerdy, dork of a little brother who talked to much had nobody.

Nobody at all, but her.

Chapter Text

Will was most assuredly dead.

Barring the fact that the last thing he remembered of his life was holding his boyfriend’s hand as they both bled out, wishing for things to be different; there were a couple more signs. The blinding light, for one.

Then he saw his brothers, Lee Fletcher and Michael Yew. His dead, loving older brothers, who looked better than the last time he’d seen either of them.

Never mind the fact that they both looked younger than he’d seen them last. Never mind the fact that his hands had looked and he felt so much smaller than he’d last been.

Never mind the fact that Nico wasn’t beside him, or that this place looked nothing like the underworld.

Never mind the fact that now he could hear both their hearts beating where he was pressed against their chests.

None of that mattered because this had to be Elysium.

That was the only place his big brothers could possibly be, where he could ever have the prayer of a chance to be held by them, curled up next to them in the dawn light like he did when he was barely six and terrified over a nightmare.

It was the only place where Lee and Michael could have been after they died, aside from maybe the Isles of the Blessed, but Will wouldn’t be there so it had to be Elysium but if it was then where was Nico? He wouldn’t have left him a lone right after they died, he promised that every time they came close. But then again his father had probably summoned him to the palace or something. Yes that had to be it! Nico was at the palace and he’d be here soon and then it would all be okay.

Everything was okay.

He just needed to calm down and be patient and everything would be just fine.

Now if his body (he was dead he shouldn’t have a body if he was dead) would get with the program that would be super duper.

Apparently he wasn’t the only one to notice his erratic breathing and heart rate, because not a moment passed between him becoming stressed and a voice he hadn’t heard in years began to talk to him, while the hand on his right arm began gently running up and down in a soothing motion.

“Deep breaths, okay baby? Can you do that for me?”

Hades, what Will wouldn’t have given to hear that the past seven years. Lee always seemed to know what to do.

It didn’t feel real. Dying had sure as shit felt real, but Lee? Michael? Even seeing them through tears last night, and being squished between them, it all still didn’t feel real.

Will opened his eyes, needing to see this for it to be real.

Lee was staring down at him, smile on his face and worry in his eyes. Will smiled back, and did his best to force down his tears. His older brother was right there. Worried and seeming a bit tired, maybe but Will could help fix that! All that mattered was he was real!

Will looked to the other side of him and saw Michael snoring next to him. He was still there as well! Of course he was but it was so wonderful to see it after all this time. He got a better view of the room from here too.

Will paused.

This wasn’t the underworld. It wasn’t even close.

The Apollo cabin was bathed in morning sunlight. It looked exactly as it did when Lee was still head councilor. Will could physically feel the sun, bright and unwavering as it always was in their cabin. He could smell the hyacinths, and further from that, the strawberry fields. He could hear birds, and the wind and other campers walking towards breakfast, and a few shouts of alarm.

None of that could be in the underworld.

Will was going to ignore that fact.

Where else could he be?

Where else could his brothers be?

Lee seemed to pick up on him becoming nervous again, and Michael’s snores began to peter off, a sure sign he was waking up.

“How bout we go get some breakfast, see what all that racket is about?”

Will nodded, not trusting his voice and trying to force his mind away from the fact that Nico wasn’t here, and the ‘here’ didn’t make sense. As much of a relief as it was to see his brothers again, it’d be nice to make sure that his boyfriend was doing alright after their deaths.

With agreement at hand, Lee took the opportunity to expedite the process of waking Michael by shoving him off the cramped bed.

With a loud thump and shout that echoed through the empty cabin, Michael sprang up and snarled at his assailant.

“That’s it!”

Will was promptly scooped out of bed, and Micheal sprinted into the cool morning air, both still in their pajamas. He was abruptly confronted with the fact that not only did his brothers look young, so did he. He looked around the age when he met Nico for the very first time, back when they were both bright eyed and had yet to learn the cost of war.

Will was small for his age back then, to the point where newer campers would think he was a few years younger than he was. Small enough for Michael to scoop up. He could barely reach the desk in the infirmary like this!

Elysium was a weirder place than he’d thought it would be.

(This still didn’t look anything like the underworld.)

“VENGEANCE!” Michael cackled as Lee chased after them.

The chase did not last long.

A crowd of people were standing a ways away from the dining pavilion, staring at something in the center. Strangely enough all the Athena kids seemed to be cowering behind one person or another.

(Some of those people were alive, he knew that for a fact, but they shouldn’t be here then, what was happening?)

Will, being short and Michael, being shorter, could not immediately see what everyone was staring at. They didn’t need to wait long, however for all to be revealed.

The crowd jumped apart, creating a direct line to Will for the object of everyone’s focus to zip through and attach themselves to him.

Michael stumbled backwards and held Will close, trying to pull him away, to no avail. They weren’t going anywhere, not until they wanted to.

Ah. The Cocoa Puffs.

They weren’t supposed to be here.

They weren’t supposed to be here at all.

Normally, they never strayed too far from Nico. They didn’t have to be near him at all times, but they tended to stay in the general area. Some of them had made a little habit of startling campers in empty rooms, and in dark corners. The fluffy dark clouds quite liked their independence, not unlike the man himself.

But they still didn’t like being far away from him.

And they certainly didn’t belong in Elysium.

For all that Will and especially Nico had grown, lived with and loved the Cocoa Puffs, they were still physical manifestations on Nico’s pain and suffering. Things that were distinctly banned from Elysium.

And yet, they were here, hanging off of Will like they did when it was time for the campfire songs.

Michael and Lee were both frantically trying to pull them off Will, with much shouting and no avail. They couldn’t even touch the little creatures. Luckily the Cocoa Puffs were treating it more like a game to dodge his brothers’ attempts at containment, but Will didn’t have much faith in that lasting very long. He wiggled and squirmed until he was finally released. He landed gracelessly on his butt and Sadness took the opportunity to plop himself on his lap and wrap his many arms around him, much to an Athena kid’s very vocal disgust.

Will was quickly enveloped in a shadow, this one not alive, and he turned to face it. Chiron, standing taller than Will felt was fair, stared down at him with a mix of carefully concealed alarm and concern written in his eyes.

Immortal, steady Chiron, who never had reason to enter the underworld and wasn’t about to start now.

Chiron, who can’t have died in the two days since they’d last seen him, safe at camp.

And Will was forced to abruptly confront what he’d been ignoring since he’d arrived last night.

He wasn’t dead.

He wasn’t in the Underworld.

He was somehow, some way, in the past.

~

Nico bet the Fates thought they were real funny, booting him to the past. Making him cry in front of his dead sister and yell about things and people she didn’t know. Jokes on them, he was going to use this golden opportunity to save her.

Don’t get him wrong, he knew full well the dangers of messing with fate and life.

But, it hasn’t happened yet. So it can be changed.

He had a chance.

He wouldn’t waste it.

He couldn’t waste it.

Not with everything on the line.

Too many times, even as he healed, Nico would think about the what-ifs. He thought about how well Bianca and Hazel might’ve gotten along, how they would care of each other and tease him mercilessly. The thought about the Hunters, how Reyna would admire Bianca’s strength, how her and Thalia would bond over the years. How they would support each other through forever. He thought about Percy and how in the recent years as he grew closer to him, how similar he and Bianca were. How they were both sarcastic, loving and completely absent-minded in all things regarding vulnerability. He thought of Jason, and how kind both of them were, that they would make the world a better place.

He thought, maybe most of all, about Will. About how she might react to him. About how she might even like him, approve of him. About how she might love the fact that he found someone to love him.

He wanted to stop wondering. Stop questioning what it would be like for her to be here, and instead have her here.

But if he wanted to succeed, he had to be very, very careful.

His sister was smart. She was sweet. She loves him so much and as he’s grown he’s been able to mourn her childhood for her, stuck caring for him and unable to live her own life, just be his sister and not his caretaker.

The childish part of him, the one that’s so much louder now, selfishly wanted her to never leave, wanted her to be able to be his sister with out her leaving him. That part of him was still a little angry, still a little hurt.

But he knew that wouldn’t make her happy.

His sister was clever. She was bossy. She had a determination and stubbornness that he shared. No matter what he wanted her to do, she wouldn’t do it unless that’s what she wanted.

And if she could get it, she wanted her freedom. He knew he shackled her, kept her from being carefree. Being a Hunter gave her that freedom, and with him being raised at camp, he was safe and cared for.

It was the perfect solution for her, no matter if it didn’t feel perfect to him. He could deal. He would live.

And in the end, all he really wanted was for her to be alive.

He would make sure that she lived.

He would find Hazel again, bring her home.

He would meet Jason and Reyna, laugh and train with them.

He would bond with Percy, with the gained understanding that he was not a hero, he was a scared and confused kid just like Nico himself.

He would save Bianca, so that she could be there for all of it, and gain her own friends and family, and live.

He’d already warned her, and he had a plan to keep her from getting hurt in that junk heap. He knew better than trying to stop her from going, he couldn’t do that. But he could make sure she never touched that damned figure of their father.

But before he could do most of that, he had to find Will.

Will had been dying. He’d felt him dying, and that had killed Nico faster. His beautiful, bright boyfriend faded right in front of his eyes and soul, and it crushed him.

But Nico didn’t feel him die. He didn’t feel that final nail in the coffin, for Will or himself.

And then he was without Will. He woke up in a place he hadn’t seen in years, alive and no boyfriend in sight.

He very much didn’t feel dead, and it very much didn’t feel like the underworld. It didn’t feel like coming home, it felt distant.

He was not proud of his initial reaction to all this information, but he liked to think he collected himself well enough. Setting aside that part where be cried into Bianca’s nightdress.

Now that he knew he was at Westover hall, he just had to wait for the night of the dance, protect Bianca from Dr. Thorn, see if he can’t stop Annabeth from being kidnapped, make it to camp and kiss Will.

Because obviously Will had come back with him.

(He didn’t know what he’d do if Will didn’t come back with him)

But right now, he had to start convincing Bianca that the Hades figure was useless.

It was at this moment Nico bumped right into his sister.

Perfect timing.

It was honestly a miracle Nico had managed not to bump into anyone thus far, and navigate towards his sister in a school he couldn’t care to remember.

She raised her eyebrow at him, analyzing his appearance up and down, doing her best to uncover every secret he had before he opened his mouth.

“Are you feeling better?” she whispered, aware of how cruel the children around them could be.

Here goes nothing.

Nico channeled every good memory he had, of his father, of his friends, of Will. So many of Will. He mustered every happy thought he could, and did his best to beam.

These past years, Nico had become happier. Life was still hard, depression and PTSD still were apart of his life and routine, but he lived with them. The Cocoa Puffs were very sweet. (He wondered where they were now). It became easier to smile in the moment to let himself live and love.

But it wasn’t easy right now. Not with so much on the line, and so much uncertainty.

But now was also not the time to be having doubts.

“Of course!” That wasn’t too enthusiastic, was it? “I’m feeling a lot better! No sadness here!”

“Oh?” She looked unimpressed, if a touch confused.

“Uh, yeah. But um, I did have something to tell you.”

She was staring at him, he had her full attention.

He breathed, doing his best not to be too nervous. He could do this.

“I don’t really want any more Mythomagic cards or figures right now.”

“What?”

“I think I should stick with what I have, become a better player and not just rely on heavy hitters. I want to wait a really long time to get anymore big players, like Hades. Strategies are important and I need to get a lot better at them, y’know?”

Please, please take the bait.

“Are you sure you’re alright? This is very unlike you. Is something wrong that you’re not telling me?”

Damn it.

His sister studied him as he bounced on the balls of his feet. He couldn’t help it, he really was nervous and this body seemed to want to act it’s age, not his real age.

“Yep, yeah of course I’m fine. I just thought it’d be good to become a better player instead of getting a new figure each time I see one.”

Her doubt was so obvious it was painful.

She began to usher him towards the line for breakfast, the unappetizing smell doing nothing to help with his nerves.

“Nico, you know you can talk to me. If you’re worried about something, you just need to tell me. Are you worried about classes? Do you have a test? Are you worried about the Will you mentioned last night? The dance tonight? Whatever it is, just tell me, I can help.”

“Whose Will”

The words slipped out before he could think the response through. That was biting him in the ass the second he got to camp.

He’d figure it out.

“Niccolo.”

She was scooping suspicious eggs onto a tray for him, with her voice growing a bit strained. He felt guilty for worrying her, but there wasn’t much else he could do. Quit Mythomagic completely? That’d be even more suspicious. Tell her any approximation of the truth? Until she saw this stuff with her own eyes, she’d think he was crazy. After Dr. Thorn he could tell her some stuff and frame it as a dream but right now there wasn’t much else he could do.

Abruptly, his brain caught up and latched onto a vital piece of information that’s nearly slipped by him.

“THE DANCE IS TONIGHT?”

~

“Will, are you alright?”

Chiron was going to have to wait a minute or two for a response because Will was currently fast-tracking a crisis.

He’s. He’s in the past. He could help. He could save his brothers. He could save so many lives.

His head was spinning.

He had a chance he’d only dreamed of in the dead of night, knowing it’d never come true.

But now he has a chance. He could save his Lee. He could save Michael. He could save the rest of his siblings from dying before Kayla and Austin arrived.

He could try.

Grief pressed close around his shoulders, and Guilt cooed from atop his head. They could sense both in him. They were right, he had to be careful. He knew, as a medic, that you just couldn’t save everyone.

But now he could try.

“Will? Do you know what these things are?”

Lee sounded very worried, which was rude. The Cocoa Puffs were harmless.

Harmless for Will at least, but that’s besides the point.

“Cocoa Puffs.”

“What? Like the cereal?” Michael said, sounding almost scandalized.

“Does that look like cereal to you?”

“Does that look like anything to you?”

“It looks like a spider! Shoot it!”

“Not on Zeus’s underpants! It’s attached to my baby brother! How do you not know what it is? Aren’t you Athena’s son?”

“I’ve failed almost every test I’ve taken. I’m wise, not smart.”

“Then how do you know it’s not cereal!”

“Because-“

“ENOUGH!”

Chiron looked tired. That wasn’t good for early in the morning. As Chiron took a deep breath (it’s worse than he thought), Lee bent down as close to Will as he seemed to dare, wary of the glaring Cocoa Puffs. Most all of them had surrounded him again at this point, with Jealousy hissing and spitting at any of the crowd that attempted to come closer.

“Will? Do these…Cocoa Puffs have anything to do with last night?”

He whispered it, like it was a secret he’d woken their entire cabin.

Will hesitated, not sure how to respond, and took the opportunity to look around.

Camp was full, in a way that it wasn’t during the school year proper. They were on a break then.

Kayla and Austin weren’t here. The two of them had arrived within weeks of each other, and just before the summer where they…lost… Lee had begun.

The Battle of the Labyrinth wasn’t too soon.

Staring up at Lee again, Will noted that he didn’t look all too much younger than he did before he’d been gone for good. Maybe slightly, but less than a year’s difference was there.

So it wasn’t too far off.

Looking back towards the crowd, who were now being harassed by Michael to take their leave, it seemed that while camp was far too full for it not to be some sort of break, it was still sparser than it normally was. Fewer campers than there should be, before any of the big battles had occurred.

The air was also slightly brisker. Camp was always summer, the magic made certain of it, but I’m the winter time, cold breezes would sweep in every now and again, reminding them that the days were shorter and less safe.

Winter break, the one before the Battle of the Labyrinth, and not a Hunter of Artemis in sight.

Nico would be here tomorrow morning.

Nico had arrived at sunrise on the second official day of Winter break. That was tomorrow, if Will’s guess was correct.

And that introduced a whole slew of agonizing questions. But one stood out amongst them all

Would Nico remember? Would it be his Nico?

Will wasn’t sure he could do this alone. Save his siblings. Save as many people as possible.

He told himself that the Cocoa Puffs were here, and they were attached to his Nico, so of course he would be here.

The rational part of his brain was hard to hear over the overwhelming panic that made its way into his mind.

What if he failed? What if Nico wasn’t here, and he couldn’t save Lee or Michael again and he’d be all alone? What if he couldn’t help his father when the time came, and lost him too? What if Kayla am Austin are lost in battle because he did something different?

Will sniffled, fresh tears coasting down his cheeks as his thoughts swirled.

Distantly he heard the Cocoa Puffs growl, then soften. Distantly he felt himself be hugged, burying his face in the person’s shoulder, then he was lifted off the ground. Distantly he felt himself be carried, three sets footsteps and three voices, his brothers and Chiron, as the echo of the dining pavilion grew softer.

Mostly, he just cried, and tried to push the anxiety away alone with the forming headache.

Doors opened and shut, and all was quiet save for him. He was transferred from one set of arms to another, and he quickly latched onto the new body with the same force as he had the other.

He heard Lee and Chiron begin to talk Ashe was carried away from them. He peaked up, and watched as the familiar path to the infirmary through the big house was played over Michael shoulder.

His tears were dying out now, not having many to spare to begin with.

Michael gently placed him on a cot as Will breathed in the comforting smell of antiseptic. This was the place most familiar to him. This was his place. It was comforting in its familiarity, and in this moment, he closed his eyes and reveled in it.

He sniffled and looked at his older brother.

Lee was a leader. He had a powerful voice, one that grabbed your attention and held onto it. He generally knew what he was talking about, and he was kind. People wanted to listen. Combined with his skills in archery, he was an amazing head councilor for their siblings, and for their fathers cabin.

He was also utter shit at healing.

Anything more than a scraped knee and he somehow managed to fumble it. Not make it worse, but he certainly couldn’t make it better. He was firmly stuck with calming people down and helping with supplies.

Michael was the real head of the infirmary. Everything Will had learned about healing, he learned from his brother. And quite a few books, but they were less useful than the real world application his brother gave him. With aim truer than most of the cabin at large, and a temper to rival all of The Ares cabin, he was never one to give up on a patent. You wouldn’t feel the most
loved, but you would feel better.

Will had to try very hard to not cry again.

Michael turned to gave him, hesitating a bit when he saw the unshed tears.

Michael had never been the most tactile of people, but he barely even hesitated in giving Will a hug. He could faintly here the Cocoa Puffs scattering, and Lee and Chiron speaking, too faintly to make out words but pleasant background noise none the less.

They sat there for a few moments, as Will began to ground himself.

He was here. He had his brothers. He had his siblings. By no means as large of a cabin as they once were, but hopefully they wouldn’t lose as many as before.

They still loved him, and cared about him.

He had the Cocoa Puffs, loyal and protective as they were mischievous. Currently settled around the infirmary, in most of the usual spots. Disgruntled at the lack of nests, but still there.

And Nico would come tomorrow, and together they would plan.

(He pushed away the traitorous worry that it would be his Nico)

All he had to do right now was breathe, and wait.

“I’m going to give you a quick checkup bud, ‘kay? Then we can eat and get dressed and head to morning activities. Sound good?”

Michael was murmuring into his hair as he gently nodded at his brother's words.

The checkup was quick and gentle in contrast to Michael’s usual brash dealings with patents.

Everything came back fine, and that seemed to worry him more.

Will was told to stay, and Michael rushed off. His voice joined Lee and Chiron’s in the white noise of there conversation. Much as he tried, Will couldn’t here a word said but figured the topic was his weird behavior. He’d have to get a handle on that. A few minutes more, and the conversation died, as footsteps started towards him.

Will did his best to not look like he was eavesdropping, probably looking incredibly guilty in the process if Lee’s unimpressed look was anything to go by. With them, Lee had two plates and Michael had one.

Breakfast, which was a relief because as soon as he took a bite of the apple, he almost inhaled the rest, ignoring Lee’s pleas for him to “slow down and not choke to death”.

He’s alive so jokes on him.

The rest of the day passes in a bit of a blur.

Activities were done, food was eaten and Will managed to not break down for the rest of the day. Michael and Lee were constant presence by his side. One or both of them were always within arms reach, while most everyone else seemed to be giving him some space. Drew in particular seemed ready to approach a couple of times, but never ended up getting over to him.

Will couldn’t tell if that was because they were told too, or because of the Cocoa Puffs.

Honestly most of his focus was on Nico. Tonight would be rough for him, and while he would be here soon, Will didn’t like the idea of Nico facing off against a manticore on his own, or trying to run interference on everything that would happen. He’d been given the rundown on the specifics of how Nico got to camp, around the fire one summer with their siblings and friends.

Just thinking about it made Will miss his boyfriend more.

Quicker than he could blink, but not a moment too soon all the same, Will was back in the cabin, the sun had set, the Cocoa Puffs had curled up in his bed, and the lights were off.

Michael had told him to climb the ladder if he needed anything tonight, and Lee had given him a big hug and promised that he wouldn’t mind an extra lump in the bed tonight.

Will appreciated the offers, but there shouldn’t be any need. He’d spent many a night awake in the infirmary from dusk to dawn, worried about his patients and friends.

Tonight would be no different. Hypnos would not touch him, not until Nico was safely by his side.

All to do now was watch the moon, and wait.

Chapter Text

Nico almost threw up about five times throughout the day while waiting for the dance to start.

That was ignoring the jolt of anxiety that went down his spine every time he thought he saw Dr. Thorn, or caught Bianca giving him a weird look, or thought about what he planned to do.

Because he couldn't be too obvious. If he was too obvious, he would be suspicious. And if people were trying to figure out how he knew what he did, or even if he was to be trusted, then that would pull eyes off of the Actual War they were fighting.

He had to be careful not to do too much, at least not until he got to camp, where he could blend in a little more.

But if he did too little, things would happen the exact same way.

And quite frankly, he didn’t want everything to be the same. He didn’t want Annabeth to have to hold up the sky. He didn’t want Thalia and Percy to feel that fear, the devastating pit in their stomachs wondering if she was even alive.

He didn't want his sister to die again.

Not if it could be helped.

But on the other hand, nothing can truly stop death. Once the Fates cut a person's string, it cannot be mended. No matter what. At least not until that person is in the Underworld. Nico knew this intimately. There was the very real chance that nothing he did would save his sister from that desert.

His head had been swirling with these thoughts all day, and he was struggling to force his brain to stop worrying about that problem right now, because he needed a plan for tonight.

By the time the dance was under way, Nico felt that he had what was probably the best plan he could grasp at the moment. His bag was packed and ready to go in his room, and was doing his best to ignore Bianca staring at him as he rearranged his Mythomagic cards.

Yes, he was acutely aware of the fact that continuing to mess with them would not, in fact, convince his big sister that she didn't need to take the figure of their father from that scrapheap. But frankly, he couldn't help it. Over the past few years, Nico had fallen back in love with the game, bonding with Frank over it, starting a Camp-wide tournament, and organizing his cards to help calm himself down and sort out his thoughts.

A strategy that was immensely useful at the moment.

Because just a few minutes ago, he noticed four very familiar faces enter the gym, and it was almost time for his world to be turned upside down.

For like the tenth time, so he wasn't really holding his breath about that part.

He was more worried about how convincing his scared kid act was going to be, especially when held up against the patron goddess of children, and the god of truth.

Michael remained stubbornly awake for the better part of three hours before he heard the bunk shift below him.

It wasn't the normal shifting that happened every night. Will was a very active sleeper, moving about each night like he hadn't spent an entire day running around the camp. The bunk's creaking, once a slight annoyance to him, now served to lull Michael to sleep, knowing his brother was there and resting.

But this was different. This was more significant. And it only served to confirm what Michael had been suspecting.

This creaking, combined with a lack of distinctive soft snores, told him that Will was not asleep. Moreover, right now, Will was getting up.

The past 24 hours have been extraordinarily worrisome when it comes to Will. Between the nightmare, the crying, everything that happened that morning and whatever in Zeus’s name the shadowy fluffballs were, being worried was a given. Maybe too much so. They did baby him most of the day, and no ten year old likes being treated like they’re six again.

When checking for signs of anything wrong physically, nothing came up. That meant the solution would be harder to determine and likely harder to execute. He, Lee and Chiron had talked for the better part of an hour, explaining everything that had happened and what might have led up to it. The best they could figure was an intense demigod dream, but that idea had a giant, shadowy hole in it. But nothing else fits. Children of Apollo are known to occasionally have more intense dreams than other demigods. The domain of prophecy looms above them all, at least a little bit. It’s not really a domain that is embodied in any meaningful way, but it can boost their dreams.

They really are just hoping that at some point or another, Will will tell them what he saw, and they can work on puzzling it out, and things can return to normal. Yesterday, Will had mostly retreated into himself, but the boy was more introverted than most assumed, and he usually opens up soon. He’s a good kid with a kind heart, and if he’s worried right now, pushing him would do no good, they’d determined.

But sneaking out past curfew is new. It’s almost entirely unheard of for Will. And it’s much more dangerous now, with the harpies from this summer, than it ever was in the past.

So maybe they’d babied him too much, but that doesn’t mean he can go and pull a stupid stunt like this. Not without getting followed.

Will wasn’t far, at least. He was sitting on the stoop of the cabin, staring east, like he was expecting something. At his feet were the strange shadow creatures, the ‘Cocoa Puffs”, all seemingly asleep.

Michael cleared his throat, suddenly feeling slightly awkward. Everything about this situation was weird, alright?

“What are you doing up?” He tried his best to keep his tone light, and non accusatory. It was a voice he reserved purely for Will.

“Just waiting for Dad”

There was something about the way he said it that set off something in Michael’s head. It was quick, almost dismissive, like this was a perfectly fine response for being awake at 1 in the fucking morning. But there was something else. He sounded so sure about it. Like he wasn’t using a metaphor, like he was quite literally waiting for their dad to drop in.

Which makes absolutely no sense.

For one, that wasn’t really a metaphor they used. “Waiting for dad’s chariot”, maybe, but that was a stretch. It just made more sense to say the sun. For another, Dad was not one to “drop in”. Neither of them had ever even seen the god in person, let alone met him. He was a mostly distant figure outside of waking them with a song and presents on their birthdays and the Winter Solstice. And while Michael kind of understood it (he tried at least) with Zeus’s no interference orders, that didn’t mean he had to like it, and the general expectation of interacting with him at all was below zero.

And finally, most damning of all, Will never called Apollo “Dad”. Kid was, thus far, too nervous to attach a relationship to him. Best they ever got was father. The first six years of Will’s life, surrounded by extreme christians, made him weary of being “disrespectful”. They were working on it, but they were a long way off from “Dad”. “Were” being the operative word.

Things weren’t adding up.

There was definitely some bullshit going on.

Well…Fuck.

The plan didn’t work. At least, not how he wanted it to. And all because of a stupid mistake on his end.

He’d intended for things to play out mostly the same. His logic being that if he changed too much about the fight immediately, he’d have a harder time predicting where it was going to go. And with no weapon and noticeably weaker power reserves then what he was used to, there wasn’t much he could do in a fight to begin with, much less one gone bad.

Mostly, his goal was this: Don’t let Annabeth get kidnapped. If she wasn’t kidnapped, maybe Artemis wouldn’t go in without her Hunters. That’s a long shot, if he was being honest with himself, she trusted them and was protective over them in equal measure. But if she didn’t go in alone, the Hunters were more than capable back up. Nico, despite all the immediately associated pain, knows just how strong they are individually and together. There was no doubt in his mind that they could topple Atlas. It might cost, and he hated to think that, but they could do it, and would if their Lady needed them too.

But as said, that’s the less likely scenario. What’s more likely is that Annabeth, if she remains safe, would be allowed on the resulting quest and, in no uncertain terms, would change the game entirely. When it comes to the unknown, she has always come out on top, one way or the other. More than anything, Nico trusts that. The selfish part of him acknowledges that he wants her to be with his sister to make sure she’s aware of the dangers of the scrap heap, and survives. The other, slightly less selfish part, wants to make sure that none of the people he has come to consider family have to fear for her life again. That she will not be in danger again.

In the most ideal scenario, Annabeth wouldn’t be kidnapped and Dr. Thorn would be killed here and now, but that’s asking for miracles. Dr. Thorn maneuvered in a way that everyone would be caught off guard. If Nico tried to counteract it, that would draw attention to himself, which again, he didn’t want, or change things too much too soon and someone could be killed.

There were just too many variables in everything, each with their own consequences and Nico was feeling more than a little powerless in the face of it all.

So that’s why he’s simplified his goal. Keep Annabeth here, and put himself between Bianca and Dr. Thorn.

Realistically he probably didn’t need to do that second one, but he felt more comfortable protecting his sister. She had no idea what was going on, or what they could do (It had really scared her last time, being so lost and seeing so much danger). He at least did, even if it would sap a lot of his strength to do anything big. Just, it felt better to try to protect her.

But he didn’t even achieve his goal.

His plan was stupid, reckless, and dangerous. That was by design, he was supposed to be a clueless, excitable ten-year-old.

Put simply, he was going to make sure she never ended up on the Manticore’s back. When this had happened the first time, she was trying to make sure Percy and Thalia didn’t get mauled by him. Then the Hunter’s fired on him and he ran like a coward, dragging Annabeth with him. So, all he had to do was make sure Percy and Thalia weren’t in between the Manticore and the fucking armed helicopter on the edge of the cliff, and things should be mostly good.

Except, it didn't really work out.

First of all, his memory of the night wasn’t perfect. It’d been nearly a decade ago at this point, it had been late, and while he had lingered on certain parts of the night for one reason or another over the next couple years, he hadn’t gone over it with a fine tooth comb on what he would have done differently in this regard. Thought about how to convince Bianca not to join the Hunters? About a million times. Thought about everyone else, and how to stop the night from ending the way that it did for everyone? Not really. Even if he felt abandoned later on in the night, the fact of the matter was that he was frozen completely and there was very little he could have done with the information he had at the time. He had much more information now, much more training. But for all his master planning, he’d forgotten that Thalia had been disarmed. He’d forgotten how Percy and Thalia had ended up needing Annabeth to intervene. He’d forgotten the exact timing of everything.

Secondly, he had forgotten how protective Bianca was. Kind of. He remembered her always taking care of him, even in the hotel where they had everything. He could remember when monsters would stalk them before they ended up at Westover, and even if they couldn’t see what they really were for the most part, she still put herself between him and any perceived threat. He could remember relying on her, and her making him her whole life. Over time, after he was able to mourn properly without Minos or War hanging over him, he recognized how good the Hunters would have been for her. All of the things he remembered were facts. But he thought he had warped things in his mind more. Still idealized them. When he thought about all she’d done for him, Nico felt that she had done it out of love, because she was his sister and nothing else. When he tried to think about the past in a more objective manner, he came to the conclusion that his sister was doing it because she had to, because no one else around would. Based on this conclusion, he figured that when he went and did his Very Stupid and Reckless action to change the outcome, she would just kinda let him, because there were other people running around that were very dedicated to keeping them safe. There was also the fact that originally, just like him, she had been mostly confused and terrified the entire time, and would be able to react quick enough to stop him. He was very, very wrong.

See, based both on what he remembered before and as the night unraveled, there was a window of opportunity for him to react and get Percy and Thalia out of the way. Right when the Hunters show up, around the time the helicopter reveals itself, there’s a moment or two when nobody is doing anything, and then Artemis, Zoe Nightshade, and Dr. Thorn have an exchange before all the action starts up again.

So his plan was to dart out from where Annabeth had tackled him and Bianca out of harm's way, get Thalia her spear, and stay close to run interference just in case he needs to latch himself onto Annabeth and Shadow Travel them both to some kind of safety. That was a last resort, because it would drain him something fierce even without having gone on a round the world tour with a praetor, a sayter and giant statue as a backpack. Also it’d be kinda hard to explain.

But when he started to move out from under the two girls to grab the spear, he felt arms latch themselves around his stomach. When he tried to squirm free, desperate to not miss his chance, Bianca just held tighter, pulling him to her chest. No matter how much he twitched or fought or elbowed her, she would just tighten her grip.

Throughout the entire exchange, the Hunt's arrival, Artemis giving the order, Annabeth saving her friends and the rain of bullets, Bianca held him close. He fought against her grip, but she didn’t give him an inch and he wasn’t keen on hurting her to get away.

He’d failed, and more or less, everything ended the same tonight.

Nico can’t bring himself to do it.

He knows he should be acting like the world's most annoying little shit right now, but he just…can’t. Last time he was so blinded by the excitement of his favorite game being a reality. But now he knows loss. He understands the expressions his family wears. And he’s scared too. Sure Annabeth survived the first time, but that wasn’t without consequence. He was worried about her. And he was worried about Percy and Grover and Thalia, because they didn’t know what he knew. They didn’t know that ultimately, she would be alright. They didn’t even know she was alive. Thalia looked especially stormy, probably thinking about Jason, probably believing she had just lost another younger sibling.

He can’t bring himself to act like he would, because right now is painful enough. So right now they sit, quiet around a campfire as Percy’s arm is bandaged. Thalia had been given a little bit of nectar for her head. If he tried to look on the bright side, everyone else was alright. Every Huntress accounted for, and though morale was low in their little group off to the side, they would come out of it no worse for wear.

That almost made Nico feel worse.

He’s felt stuck in this weird limbo since arriving here post-mortem. Cautious of changing too much, wanting to change everything, and unable to make a solid move one way or another. So far, most everything was playing out the same. What if everything ended the same too? What if Bianca still died? What if Will hadn’t returned with him, and he was truly alone again? And how was he even meant to convince Bianca not to touch anything in the desert? He’d been harping on not needing a Hades figure all day, but a few words would hardly change everything. It couldn’t be that simple, could it?

With the way his plan fell through so thoroughly earlier, Nico was hesitant to trust the idea that trying to explain away his behavior and beg her not to touch anything would work. Fates, he didn’t even know why she was on that quest in the first place! He… he was spiraling.

Nico took a deep breath.

Then another

And then a third.

They didn’t fix everything, but stopping to breathe did help calm his mind a little, he’d learned.

No solution would be foolproof. There was a reason for the old saying “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”. No matter how much information Nico had from his past, everything could change at a moment's notice. He had very little control over any given situation, especially involving other people. That’s just how life, especially lives as chaotic as his, went. But panicking over it never solved anything. And maybe he was right, maybe talking wouldn’t work. Very few people would listen to a ten year old about this sort of thing, after all. But that doesn’t mean he can’t fix things. He just has to get back to Camp, and figure out his next steps there. He’ll talk to Will (who will be here with him) and they can piece out the plan together.

It will all work itself out.

It had to.

But for now, one more deep breath.

“She’ll be okay.”

“...what?” Percy, and Thalia and Grover for that matter, were looking at him like he had grown a spare head. Which… fair. Nico would also like to know where his brain to mouth filter went. But, in for a penny.

“I mean, she will be okay, right? She’s the daughter of Athena. That’s like, super cool, and she jumped on Dr. Thorn like it was nothing. There’s no way she doesn’t have some kind of a plan. So she’ll be okay.”

In for a pound. And it’s not like he lied at all. Annabeth would be making escape plans immediately, she’s just that good. Even if they don’t work, she's more than smart enough to survive.

Everyone was quiet for a minute, staring at him. Percy’s face was blank, unreadable to a stranger, but going a thousand miles a minute trying to piece out his next move. He was trying to plan her rescue, Nico knew. He didn’t expect anything less. Thalia looked ready to storm off, if only to hide her tears and keep her pride. She didn’t yet know how unnecessary that was in this group, how safe her grief would be. Grover’s voice shook slightly, though with what emotion Nico couldn’t say.

“Y-Yeah, she’ll be just fine. We’ll get her back.” He looked like he wanted to say more, but was interrupted by an approaching Huntress.

“Percy Jackson.”

Zoe Nightshade herself. Nico didn’t really know her before, she’d died before he’d ever gotten the chance, but he’d heard the Hunters speak highly of her, and knew his sister, Thalia and Percy had grown close with her before her death. She stared at Percy as if he was responsible for everything wrong in the world.

“Come with me. Lady Artemis wishes to speak with thee.”

He went, and Nico stared at his retreating back, swirling with emotions.

Anticipation of the long journey ahead, finally underway.

Dread of what was soon to befall everyone on the quest, of what he might not be able to change.

Hope that his sister would still grab her freedom with both her hands, gain sisters of her own choosing, and not worry about him.

Most of all, excitement. Not too long after Percy went to speak with Lady Artemis, dawn came. With it, as expected, was Apollo.

And with him, a ride to Camp Half-Blood.

To Will.

Apollo felt strange.

Since last night, at his sister’s peak, a sense that something was off persisted. He felt more like he did in the years following his past punishments as a mortal than he had in millenia. He felt less of a need to perform, to be seen as perfect. Of course, he was perfect, he was a god after all, but he didn’t feel like he needed to prove it. He didn’t even realize he usually did, until the feeling was absent.

He had spent most of the day before driving his chariot, trying to puzzle the what, the why and the how. Two more things happened as he drove. First, he received several prayers from his children asking him to help heal one of his sons, Will. Attached was a prayer from Will himself, more standard, thanking him for his gifts, but strange in the ending.

“I know you can’t really, but please hurry. Love you.”

Will had never ended a prayer like that. And hurry what? What was he going to do that Will wanted done faster, that he couldn’t do faster? All important questions that he would usually pay at least a little attention to figuring out, if only because he hated not having answers, if it weren’t for the second discovery he had made that day.

The future was fuzzy.

Now it often was fuzzy, for the pure and simple fact that mortals have free will. The future is always changing and growing and it’s lovely. But that rings most true for the distant future, for the future that was years or even decades off. For the future that is most immediate, the next few seconds or days or even perhaps the future that is about to be given a prophecy, it was crystal clear. Free will may be something mortals possess, but they are creatures of habit, and they cannot often escape their nature. They can change, but it is an incredibly difficult task.

So the future becoming uncertain, unstable, just days before the prophecy is spoken is an incredibly disconcerting event. Even more so, whatever the change is, it disrupts the near future so entirely that it is hard to see past even the next year.

Apollo doesn’t often indulge in the future, he prefers the present moment. He is not a mortal, desperate to change everything so he gets his desired outcome. He is a god, and he cannot defy the fates as they weave their tapestry. He must simply see what it will become, and let it. To do anything else would cause him to perish, if not literally then his mind.

But he did indulge yesterday. And what he could see was much more desirable than what he had seen.

He saw his sons alive. Lee and Michael were slated to die painful deaths, and Apollo had weeped for them before they even fell. But now he sees them alive. Alive for far longer than most demigods. Alive for years and years. And he sees himself with them, and with his younger children. He sees himself as he has not in melleina. As a father to his children. There for them, caring for them, teaching them. All things he has been denied for so long.

But even more clearly, he sees the future as it was. Before the doubt, before the change happened. He could see it now, not as the future, but as if he was looking upon a memory. Perfect recollection of course, but something that has already been, not what is yet to be.

He sees his children fall in this war. All but three.

He sees a new prophecy, both foretold and fulfilled, through much trial and sacrifice.

He sees the Romans, both his other form and the children, go to war against and with the Greeks.

He sees himself aid a young boy, defying his father’s will. Sees himself become mortal again, suffer challenges, quest much like his children do, befriend demigods, those who he would not normally interact with at all. He sees himself grow to love them.

He sees himself mourn, in a way he hadn’t in the past. Mourn not selfishly, just out of love.

He sees his own walls break down, become nothing but dust, and grow into a god he cannot help but envy, even if it is himself.

He’s able to talk to the other gods and his children in a way he almost never has before. He can be himself, and he can be imperfect, and it doesn’t hurt.

And he remembers every detail, every name of every person he knew and loved, every painful and beautiful second of it perfectly.

But the memories are not his. None of this has happened yet, might not happen at all. But still, he finds himself going over each detail in his mind, committing it to his perfect memory. Reliving every detail as if he was living it now. And he can feel himself shift from what he once was. What could be merged with what is now, and Apollo changes.

The version of himself that he saw, he wants to be.

So he will.

But the day has passed. The night was nearly gone too. The world and the future still felt strange, but Apollo himself felt more settled.

He had hoped to go a little longer without interacting with the other gods, having them ask questions about his sudden shift in personality. It didn’t feel sudden to him, but he knew it was.

Alas, it was not so. His beloved twin sister, Artemis, was calling for him from her encampment in Main. If he didn’t show, there’d be Hades to pay. If he did, she would notice immediately. He supposed she would anyway, no matter when they saw each other again. Better now then later, or however that saying goes.

When Apollo rolled up to the Hunter’s camp with the sun already in its shuttle bus form, Nico knew something was up.

Now, his memory of the first time this happened wasn’t perfect. Time and ADHD aside, he wasn’t paying super close attention when the god first arrived. He’d been a little distracted feeling selfishly betrayed by his sister.

Thankfully she still became a Hunter of Artemis, she still took her independence. He was happy for her, he really was. He just also kind of missed her already. But she would live, and they would see each other again. Nico would make sure of that.

However, what he did know about the first time the god appeared was that he was not staring at Nico like he held the answers to the universe. Now, he was not calling Artemis his little sister. Not offering archery tips to the immortal Hunters. Not being his past normal, frustrating self. Nico had been bracing himself for a lot of things throughout the night, one of which being the fact that the Apollo of now would be vastly different to the one he’d known.

Quite a few of the gods, including his own father, had changed at least a little after the first war, and a few continued after the second. Apollo himself had undergone even more change in the years that followed, both in his time as a mortal and after. And he’d spent a considerable amount of time with his children (especially for a god) and by extension, Nico himself. So he was bracing himself for someone completely different.

And to a degree he got it? This Apollo was vastly different from the one he’d known. He was just also vastly different from the one he’d remembered. There was no over-inflated declaration of his arrival, no teasing the Hunters, he barely teased his sister. There was no sports car. He still smiled, seemed to perform a little bit, but was observing the demigods more than anything. He peered at Percy with something akin to wonder and respect, Thalia with guilt and joy, Grover with a sense of longing(?) and himself with curiosity and wonder.

It was a little more than strange. It was also half of what he’d imagined Apollo to be the first time. Able to see the people in front of him as the future. And maybe that was kind of it? Time travel was a new one, even for demigods. Maybe him and Will (because Will was here too, just at camp right now, he had to be) being blasted through time had shifted things so much Apollo saw something. Or maybe that was just wistful thinking, wanting a god who would be on their side, at least to some degree.

Thankfully, all he was doing was staring. More at Nico than anyone else, but at least he didn’t say anything weird. Artemis seemed concerned though, and why wouldn’t she? Apollo was completely zoned out, not seeming to pay any attention to why he was here, or most of her Hunters like he usually did. She seemed to brush it off as a matter for later, instead barreling forward requesting he give them all a ride to Camp.

“Focus Apollo, listen. I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood.”

“Of course sis. Transportation for the Hunters and demigods won't be a problem. I was just about to roll out.”

He nodded towards the Hunters, not trying to help them pack up this time. Then he looked over at the demigods again. An uncomfortable feeling passed amongst them, being scrutinized yet again by a god that wasn’t acting high and mighty, just odd. He pointed at them individually.

“Thalia Grace, nice to meet you little sis. Glad to see you’re doing well. Percy Jackson, heard a lot about you cousin, all good things I promise. Grover Underwood, I've heard about you too, very resourceful, and not bad with your pipes. Nico di Angleo,” the way he said their names sent a shiver up Nico’s spine, like they held a weight that normally was not there, “Welcome. We’ll get you situated at Camp soon.”

Apollo had readily and enthusiastically agreed, ushering everyone onto his sun-bus. All the while his smile was smaller, and his voice slightly strained. It was weird, and most definitely cause for concern, but Nico chose to take a cue from the goddess and not worry about that right now.

He was going to see his boyfriend.

Will was practically vibrating with anticipation. As he’d predicted, he did not get a single ounce of sleep last night, too impatient for his father to arrive with Nico in tow.

Michael had stayed up all night with him, alternating between trying to sort of subtly grill him on what he was talking about and what had been going on with him, and watching him and the sky, trying not to fall asleep.

Will… really appreciated it.

He’d missed his brothers so much, felt their deaths like a missing limb some days. Sure, he’d mourned and continued to live, but he’d never stopped wanting them there. They’d supported him every day up until their deaths, and it was hard to be without them at all. And he’d forgotten, almost, what their love felt like.

It was different, being loved by Michael and Lee, than by any of his siblings. It felt like all he had to do was be, and they’d love him until the world ended. But he also wanted to do everything to make them proud, to earn the love he didn’t have to earn. It also felt like a safety net. Like the first pillars of support when he needed it. Nico was similar in that regard, he was always there to catch will when he fell, but that was from a relationship that had formed for the both of them, communicating and learning what their needs were and what the safety net looked like. With Lee and Michael, there was nothing Will had ever needed to say. He expected he would, now, he was older after all. But it was unendingly there. It was also a small relief to not be the eldest, not have the weight of everything on him.

Will wasn’t hurting for love, but he still missed his elder brothers dearly.

So he was really glad Michael stayed up with him. Even if he had no idea why, or was so confused as to what was going on. He still stayed. Because he was his big brother.

Will struggled not to cry at that.

He failed a little, but that was okay.

Michael stayed for that too.

But after hours and hours of waiting in the doorway, just out of sight of the harpies, it started.

Dad would wake all of his children up as he started his drive with a song. Sometimes it was about the sun, or one of his other domains. Sometimes it was about something else. Sometimes it was a complete nonsense song. But it was always there. They weren’t always fully awake to hear even the end of the song, but they would be up. Today though, Will and Michael got the treat of hearing the whole thing.

“Sunrise”, by Norah Jones. Not… a song Will would have expected from his dad. He was very different in this time, Will knew, but that just made the song choice all the stranger.

But thoughts of his dad, who he was and how he would change slipped past him easily, because the song today signaled more than just the sunrise.

It signaled Nico.

Will kept his eyes on the sky, straining to catch the first glimpse of his dad’s car.

Sure enough, the slow and blinding descent of the sun made the snow on the ground glow, then slip away as it melted. Will stood from the porch, knowing the harpies would be retreating now. Out of the corner of his eye, the Cocoa Puffs stirred awake, sensing something changing. The sun, appearing as a shuttle bus, barreled toward the lake, with less control and grace than if his dad was at the wheel. It mattered little to Will. He raced to meet it, careful to keep his distance from the burning vehicle, but trying his best to catch it all the same. Distantly, he heard Michael calling after him as the Sun fell into the lake with a mighty Splash! Melting a few canoes with it.

Will sped up, running at full speed.

The doors to the bus opened.

Almost there now, tears stinging his eyes.

Nico flew out of the bus before the doors were fully opened, charging straight towards him.

They crashed into each other, Will panting, Nico full-on sobbing.

Sunlight warmed them, in the bitter winter morning.

They pulled each other close, not quite a tangle of limbs, but inseparable all the same. Their hearts, radiating for the other to hear the clear message of relief, and love.

Finally, they were together once more.

Chapter Text

The air around the two boys was awkward, to say the very least.

While most of the Hunters seemed to not care about the two 4th graders hugging the life out of each other right in front of them, the demigods, who had spent most of the night with Nico and therefore knew he’d never been to Camp before, were downright puzzled. They had nothing on how Biana was feeling, though.

She had never seen this other boy before. They had never come close to upstate New York before, outside of passing through in the lawyer’s car. Nico had never been out of her sight a full day in his life. There was no possible way for him to have met this other kid without her knowing, and yet he was acting like they were the best of friends. Distantly, it occurred to her that this might be the “Will” her brother was babbling about the other night, but then that emphasized the question she’d had since then. Who was Will?

Bianca didn’t want any of this to matter to her. She was free. She had her own life now, they both did. Nico would be trained so he could fight properly, like he’d tried to against Dr. Thorn. He would learn that life was not his game, but he would still be surrounded by friends. He would be taken care of.

She has her own friends. Both Zoe and Phoebe had taken her under their wing, offering her support and guidance and genuine care for her, as a person. Not as a burden, or a pity case with a little brother that needed more care than her.

She doesn’t have to take care of her little brother any longer. She has her own life now, and she’s not responsible for his.

But she is still worried. She can't fully let go of him, she doesn’t have to. Her Lady promised her that she could still have a relationship with her brother, the hunt just came first. And that sounds perfect.

But there is something wrong.

So maybe not right now, in front of everyone, but she will get to the bottom of what’s happening.

Of who this was and how they met.

And maybe for her own peace of mind, so that she knows that he knows she still loves him. That he understands she’s not just abandoning him forever. Just giving them both a better life.

Michael would like to make it known to the court: He has no idea what the fuck is going on.

It’s been the million dollar question for over a day now, and he is more confused than when this started.

His brother is clinging to a complete stranger. Yeah okay, fine. Will’s always made friends fast. Figures he’d make someone his best friend on literal sight one of these days. Which would be the reasonable explanation if he hadn’t seemingly known when and where this kid was coming from.

Because last night, when he said he was waiting for Dad, he could not have been more literal.

His Dad had carted Will’s apparent best friend, Percy Jackson, Thalia Grace, Grover Underwood and all the Hunters of Artemis (dammit!) to Camp without warning and without any apparent hesitation in his sun chariot, and was now climbing out. How Will knew was impossible to guess.

But suddenly, that seemed the least of his problems. Because what should have happened was Apollo stepping out of the chariot, changing it out of the minibus form into something he found more fitting, maybe spouting off a haiku or two, and dipping to continue the day. The very few other times he’d seen his Dad, that had essentially been the formula it followed. And it worked. Michael had a lot of complicated feelings about his Dad that he really didn’t want to think about, like most other kids at camp. He could deal with the ‘there for a moment gone the next’ situation he’d gotten used to. Hades, the fact that he had two other points of reference to draw on for his Dad’s behavior was a miracle. Most other gods weren’t nearly as attentive, if you could call whatever his Dad did attentive. And as infuriating as that or even the guy himself could be, it was still his Dad, and that meant something to Michael, much as he’d rather it didn’t.

Today however, today seemed to be the day he shook things up. Not once did he look back at the sun to correct it, and he certainly didn’t open his mouth to spout questionable poetry.

Instead, he walked over to Will and his new best friend, still hugging by the way, and patted them both on the head with a smile. He ruffled Will’s hair just a little bit more. Usually that would get a reaction from the little guy, but apparently there was something more important going on.

Then in a horrifying turn of events, Apollo looked up, turned his sights on Michael himself, and smiled. He strutted over with a confidence and certainty that only he could possess, though it seemed more genuine than it had in the past. Not that Michael had an excellent frame of reference for it. It was probably just his imagination. Regardless, his Dad was fast approaching him in a way that was frankly terrifying.

Michael’s fear was justified a moment later. As soon as Apollo got to him, he stooped down and swept Michael up into a hug, lifting his feet off the ground in the process. His Dad buried his nose into his hair, and Michael felt him smile against the crown of his head.

This was completely unprecedented. Gods didn’t do this to their children. They hardly even touched their kids. Receiving a hug from an Olympian was unheard of.

Ordinarily, Michael would be fighting with everything he had to get out of this hold. He was never above biting Lee when he got just a little too affectionate. But this was different. It was terrifying and it was just a little bit wonderful.

Yes okay Michael could admit, if nowhere but the safety of his own mind, that he liked hugs. And his body seemed to know that this hug was from his Dad, because without his permission, it relaxed and melted into the god.

That didn’t stop him from sending a panicked look over his Dad’s shoulder. The Hunters were wandering off towards their cabin by now, though they were throwing looks at the strange sight Michael was a part of. One of the girls was busy flicking between the god holding a child and the two children still hugging. Apparently Michael’s little brother took zero notice of their Dad’s strange behavior or his brother’s predicament, too literally wrapped up in his new friend's hold. When he looked at the three other members of the arrival party, their expression mirrored his own. At least someone was taking an out-of-character Olympian seriously.

Briefly, with a flash of grief, Michael wondered where Annabeth was. She was supposed to be with them he knew, but she hadn’t come back. That felt wrong. Michael had known her almost as long as he’d known Will, and about as long as he’d been at Camp. She was a part of it, all the ins and outs. She felt woven into the very thread of the Camp, like it wouldn’t exist without her. Obviously it had before and would continue after her death, but it felt foreign to Michael, wrong. Out of everyone there, he expected her to outlive them all. Such was the life of a demigod.

He hated it.

However, his Dad refused to give him the mental space to properly grieve the younger girl. Because without removing his lips from the crown of his son’s head, the gods smile morphed into a kiss.

Michael’s Dad had just kissed the top of his head.

Again, what the fuck was happening right now?

Before he could even try to answer that question, the god unwrapped himself from around Michael and started dragging him away from the sun chariot and his little brother. Michael was uncharacteristically quiet, still in a slight daze from how odd his Dad was acting.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chiron making his way toward the remainder of the arrival party with a puzzled look on his face. Michael threw a matching one his way as he was pulled closer to his cabin.
Michael spared a desperate look over his shoulder, as if his little brother would do anything. It seemed he wouldn't, since between one second and the next, Will and his friend had vanished completely, in broad daylight. Michael swung his head this way and that, trying to find where they’d ended up. He saw a flash of movement in the distance, headed in the direction of the forest. Before he could get a better look however, he was yanked into the cabin by his father.

They were met with the ever-familiar sight of siblings waking up and trying to get a move on. Breakfast wouldn’t be for another couple of hours but their dad was their dad, and they were awake at sunrise. Or at least conscious, as many of his siblings were not morning people. But it was hard to stay in bed with Lee as a big brother. Fucker was a morning person down to his core, and he usually made it everyone else’s problem. The only one immune was Will, and there was no such deterrent today.

Lee, for his part, seemed nervous. He was doing a great job of hiding it from everyone who wasn’t Michael, but it was still there, simmering beneath the surface. He had a pretty good guess as to why his brother was nervous. With how Will had been acting recently, seeing him missing from his bed before sunrise with no explanation would have to be nerve racking. Probably the only reason Lee hadn’t gone completely off the rails yet was because Michael had also been gone, and was presumably with their younger brother.

While that was no longer the case, Lee wasn’t given much of a chance to focus on that.

Apollo swept into his cabin with all the confidence that assured everyone here that it was in fact his cabin, and promptly gathered Lee into a hug much the same as he had Michael not a few moments ago.

Michael shrugged helplessly at his elder brother, silently glad it was no longer him.

As if he’d heard his son’s thoughts, Apollo spun on his heel and grabbed him once more, holding them both close as he flopped the three of them onto Will's unoccupied bunk.

Then, promptly and without any other warning, their father, god of the sun, music, healing, poetry and plenty else, burst into tears.

It was not majestic or somber tears that would be appropriate or even cinematic like you would expect from a god such as Apollo. No these were ugly, loud, heaving sobs. There was something almost desperate in them, as if releasing something that hadn’t been allowed to for so long. Between the sobs and gasps for air were cries for “His babies” and that he “was so sorry, so sorry. Daddy will make it right. He promises to make it right” and “damn Zues and anyone else who tries to stop him”. Promises of “no more, no more” and “it’ll be okay, you get everything you want” were almost more concerning than that.

From where they were held against their crazed Dad’s chest, Michael and Lee shared a look that conveyed this: Something was wrong with their Dad. Just as something was wrong with Will. And it could very well be the same thing.

The greatest question that remained was the one they’d had since the beginning.

What was wrong?