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"Good morning!" Will sang as he knocked on Nico's door. Nico groaned loudly and pointedly. He pulled a hoodie on and opened the door, walking past Will without a second glance.
"Wow." Will walked a little quicker to keep up with Nico's brisk pace. "Someone had a rough night. You need to talk about it? Mr. D is around somewhere."
"Nope," Nico said. He slowed down just a little and Will strode alongside him with a grateful grin.
"You playing capture the flag later?" Will asked. He walked with a bounce in his step like a puppy and his eyes flicked around, analysing everything he saw in the same way he did when assessing an injury.
"Maybe." Nico tugged at his hoodie's drawstrings. "Are you?"
"Yeah," Will said, waving to one of the many people he was friendly with as they walked past the training arena. "You wanna be on my team?"
"Do I have to be?"
"Yes."
"Okay then."
Nico glanced at Will with a small smile and a soft smile in response.
Capture the flag started an hour later. Kids grabbed their shields, swords and spears and geared up.
"You ready?" Nico asked, jabbing Will's side. Will scrunched up his nose.
"Your strap is loose," he said, reaching up to Nico's shoulder to adjust it.
"I'll take that as a yes," Nico said. Will stepped away and picked up his med kit.
"Don't do anything stupid."
"Right back at you."
"Alright, lovebirds." Kayla patted them both on the back. "Let's go."
Nico nodded sharply and disappeared into the trees. He adjusted his grip on his sword, shifting his weight.
He heard a snap behind him and whirled around. There wasn't any signs of movement so he slowly stepped forward.
Quick as a blur, there was a sword at his throat.
"Hey, Percy." Nico rolled his eyes, ducking under the sword.
"Hey, Nico." Percy grinned. "How does it feel to be losing?"
Nico lunged forward, knocking the sword out of Percy's grasp and booping Percy's nose with the tip.
"I don't know. How does it?"
Percy darted down and reached for his sword, ducking under Nico's arms and delivering a parry. Nico went to block it but his grip slipped and his sword dropped. The sword pierced through his skin, diving into his flesh.
Nico choked, watching Percy's expression morph into horror. He could taste metallic blood in his mouth.
"Oh my gods, Nico!" Percy caught him before he fell.
"Nico!"
It sounded like Will's voice but black spots were swirling in Nico's voice and he couldn't see. He turned his head towards the sun and exhaled for the last time.
-
"Nico?"
Nico's bedroom door was flung open. Nico sat up, clutching the knife he kept on his bedside table. He looked up to see Will, looking as pale as a ghost.
"You good?" Nico asked. Will hesitated, inhaling sharply.
"Um, yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Sorry, I had a nightmare. Did you sleep well?"
"Do I look like I slept well?" Nico deadpanned.
"That feels like a trick question."
"It was," Nico clarified, picking up a hoodie he'd dumped on the floor and tugging it on. "Is capture the flag still on later?"
"Yeah," Will said, following Nico out of the cabin. "You can be on my team."
"Is that a question or is it decided?"
"Decided." Will grinned a little. It was dimmer than usual but he seemed slightly more relaxed.
"Okay," Nico said, hiding his own smile. "Let's go."
Two hours later he lay in a pool of his own blood. Will was bent over him, cradling his face and singing frantically. Nico held onto Will's hand as the life slipped out of him.
-
"Nico!"
"Gods, Will!" Nico jumped as he opened the door right into Will's face. "Don't do that."
Will grabbed his shoulders and looked him dead in the eye. That caught Nico's attention. They both hated eye contact.
"Nico, listen to me. Something is wrong."
Nico frowned. "What? With my face? I know I didn't sleep well but that's harsh."
"No!" Will was practically shaking.
"Hey," Nico tried to awkwardly sooth him. "It was just a joke."
"You keep dying," Will said bluntly. Nico blinked.
"Excuse me?"
Will's hands moved to hold his face roughly, eyes scanning his features and searching for something.
"This is the twelfth time I've woken up today. Every day, I wake up and, by the end of the day, you're dead. You've been stabbed, sliced and maimed. You've fallen into holes and tripped over rocks and fell from trees. You've had a roof fall on you and Chiron trampled on you by accident. I try to save you every time and every time I fail. Quite frankly, your deaths are getting insulting to your character."
"Okay..." Nico searched for his next words. "Have you told Chiron?"
"I've tried!" Will exclaimed. "The only person I seem to be able to tell is you."
"Have you annoyed anyone more than usual lately?"
"I don't think so."
"Has your dad annoyed anyone more than usual lately?"
Will paused. "Shit, that's a good point. We should try and talk to Dad."
"Great!" Nico slipped out of Will's grasp. "We should get started with an offering or something."
He started walking down the stairs when his jeans snagged on a loose nail and he came toppling down, landing right on his sword. He stayed conscious just long enough to hear Will say "oh come on!"
-
Nico felt claws digging into his chest.
-
Nico heard the screams of the other campers and he charged towards the monster.
-
A sinkhole opened up beneath him and he plummeted.
-
Leo accidentally set him on fire.
-
He drowned after Percy turned the river into a wave machine.
-
He didn't tie his shoelaces properly and hit his head on the pavement.
-
He forgot to close his eyes when Apollo showed up.
-
A hellhound got too excitable.
-
He accidentally choked himself with his hoodie.
-
He fell off his bed and broke his neck.
-
Nico opened the cabin door and came face to face with Will.
"Look," Will said hurriedly, "I have been through this exact day two hundred and fifty seven times. You die at the end of it. We have never got a clear answer out of my father, I can never save you, I can't tell anyone but you about what's happening. Please help me."
Nico froze. "What?"
"Your name is Niccolò Di Angelo. You once ate only Happy Meals for a week. You hate green hats because your sister wore one. You have a crush on me, which is great because I like you too. You pretend to hate mashed potatoes but you love them. You listen to Lil Nas X and you told me to give you this note."
Will shoved a piece of paper into Nico's hands. Nico slowly opened it.
'Nico,
This is Nico. Will says we're stuck in a time loop. He might be having a breakdown but I think he's legit. Whatever you do, DON'T DIE.'
"Wait," Nico hesitated. "Go back to the crush thing?"
"I would love to but we genuinely don't have time," Will said. "We have to call my father and go through a list of his enemies and figure who's doing this. We've crossed off everyone except one. Tyche. She's the goddess of luck and we've been having some pretty terrible luck recently."
"How do we find her?" Nico asked.
"We take my dad's chariot."
Nico's eyes lit up. "Can I drive?"
It turned out that Nico was not a good driver but Will was apparently too focused on his mission to care.
"So we find her and then what?" Nico asked. "Charge in there and demand that she stops?"
"Something like that," Will muttered. "I've never gotten this far."
Nico hummed thoughtfully. "Do I always help you?"
Will pulled a face that could have been a smile or a grimace. "Yes."
"And I always die?"
It was a grimace. "Yes."
"That's... sorry about that."
Will huffed. "It isn't your fault."
"I know," Nico said. "But it still sucks."
He met Will's eyes and smiled. Will smiled back but then his eyes darted to ahead of them and he yelped.
"Nico, watch out for that mountain!"
-
"Can I drive?"
"No."
They arrived at the casino where Tyche was supposedly spending most of her days. Will grabbed Nico's hand, keeping him close as they pushed through crowds to reach the VIP section.
Nico recognised Tyche instantly. She had a warmth radiating from her and her smile was bewitching to all whom she sat with. She was playing poker and had a huge pile of poker chips sitting by her cards.
"Tyche," Will greeted, not dropping Nico's hand as they came to a stop. Tyche rolled her golden eyes. She didn't bother looking up.
"Can you come back later? I'm in the middle of winning a game."
"No can do," Nico said firmly, letting shadows start crawling up the walls. Tyche met his eye.
"I'm playing a game," she repeated, looking away again.
"Yeah, well poker isn't the only game you're playing. Stop messing with Will."
Tyche sighed, pushing her chips to one side. "I check."
A few of the players whooped. Tyche glared at them with disgust. She turned back to Will and Nico.
"Apollo bet against me a while back," she said. "He bet he could beat me at a game. Any game. I chose poker. Half way through the game. I caught him cheating. He used light to cast shadows so he could see my cards. I thought perhaps I should teach his offspring a thing or two about how you can cheat all you want but that does not mean you will win. I am the goddess of luck. You cannot outplay me."
She turned back to the table.
"I raise $1000."
Will frowned. "I'm not trying to. It isn't my fault that my dad's a cheat. I don't see why I should get punished for it."
"Well." Tyche leaned back in her chair. "You are his winning horse after all. And life isn't fair."
"Listen here." Nico took a step forward. "Life might not be fair but you're supposed to be a goddess of chance. There is no chance and no luck if everything always turns out badly. Aren't you tired of playing a game over and over again when you always know how it ends?"
"I call." Tyche said to the group. Her eyes landed once more on the boys. "True but I can't abide cheating."
"Then don't," Will said. "But Apollo is still lucky if the only people who get punished are his children. You should deal with it on Olympus. Demigods are needed to protect and fight for all of you. We're more useful to you alive and healthy. Don't lose your important cards to pettiness."
Tyche's eyes narrowed. "Don't call me petty, demigod. I have lived for millennia. I could end you with a snap of my fingers."
"Don't you dare." Nico scowled. Tyche tapped her nails on the table.
"Alright," she said eventually. "I'll let you out of the loop. You get lucky this time. Don't expect to get lucky twice."
She faced the table, slumping in her seat. "I fold."
-
Will rubbed his eyes, sitting up. He could feel a warm body wrapped around his. He looked down to see Nico hugging him around the waist and finally felt like he could breathe.
It was a new day.
He lay back down again, pulling Nico into his arms and kissing his head.
He'd never felt so lucky.