Chapter Text
In his defence, Nico was curious. And he just so happened to also be tired, which is what led them to this situation.
In fact, too tired to even be conscious through his impromptu trip across the multiverse. The only things he could remember was forgetting what morals were, tying up his friends (oh, he did do that, didn’t he?), and opening a portal to the multiverse in the process.
The next thing he knows, he has a very agitated Walt Stone holding onto him for dear life, his eyes wide and mouth open as he screams for his life. And to his confusion, his voice sounded like it was muffled, despite him basically screaming into his ear.
Of course, it didn’t take long to find out why.
“Oh, we’re falling.” Nico thought as he looked at the world below. “That’s not good.”
In fact, now that his senses were coming back to him, Nico finally caught on to the distinct feeling of falling, the weight of his body cutting through the empty air, ready to splat against the ground if he didn’t act quickly.
Of course, that didn’t stop his curiosity, to Walt’s exasperation. Nico looked upon the ground, thousands of feet below him. He noticed there was a city, and a very large one at that. There were truly ridiculous amounts of highways built around it, to the point where they could be seen from high in the air. Nico took note of a large, bright red bridge in the distance, overshadowing all the other buildings around it.
“San Francisco?” he thought in curiosity “It doesn’t look like it, other than the bridge…”
“…ICO!” a strained voice yelled into his ear, finally getting through.
The son of Hades turned towards his companion, who looked significantly more panicked than him. His clothes were shaking against his body, the air beating against him. He was hugging Nico like his life depended on it. Which it probably did, considering their situation.
Normally, he would’ve pushed him away, Nico had never been the biggest fan of physical contact after all. But he had a feeling that maybe, just maybe, it was the least of his worries right now.
“…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Walt yells with desperation in his voice “GET US OUT OF HERE!”
“I CAN’T!” Nico shouts back, fighting the wind to make himself heard “THERE ARE NO SHADOWS HERE!”
It would’ve been too easy if it had been night time, so of course it was noon. There weren’t even clouds in the sky, which only made things worse.
Walt groans in exasperation, and frantically rummages through his endless assortment of amulets around his neck. It doesn’t take long for him to grunt in resignation, unable to find anything that could help them out of this.
“GIVE ME MY WAND!” Walt asked frantically.
Nico didn’t have any better ideas, so he took the boomerang-shaped tool out of his jacket and slowly gave it to Walt, not wanting to drop it.
Walt’s grip on the wand was strong and frantic. He forced his limbs to move against the current, and with great struggle, he managed to draw some glowing hieroglyphs in the air, which Nico recognized as Pa, or Fly. To his surprise, the hieroglyphs fell with them, which certainly made drawing them easier.
Nico let himself relax for a second as the hieroglyphs shimmered with light, ready for the spell to take effect.
Except it didn’t.
To the boys’ terrified shock, the hieroglyphs began to flicker like faulty lightbulbs for a few seconds, before promptly dissipating in the air.
“…well, fuck.” Nico mutters to himself.
Walt doesn’t even acknowledge Nico’s words, too panicked to do anything else.
“No no NO, NOT NOW!” the magician yells at his wand “WHY ISN’T IT WORKING?”
“I DON’T KNOW, YOU’RE THE MAGICIAN!”
“YOU OPENED THE PORTAL, YOU ARE A MAGICIAN TOO!”
“I’M NOT-” Nico shook himself out of it. This was not the time to figure out his magical qualifications. Especially since they were getting uncomfortably closer to becoming human pancakes.
Suddenly, his eye catches a sky scrapper nearby. With no better ideas, he nudges Walt to get his attention.
“WE HAVE TO GET CLOSE TO THE BUILDING’S SHADOW!”
“WHAT?” Walt yelled in disbelief “WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT, IT WILL BE TOO LATE!”
“WE GOT TO TRY!” Nico shouted back, grabbing Walt’s arm before breaking free from his arms. He made sure to move in the direction of the building’s shadow, careful not to collide with it by accident.
Walt had gone back to screaming for his life as they fell below the sky scrapper’s top. Not even a few seconds later, they were halfway through, a whole metre away from the shadow.
“WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT, WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT, WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAK—AHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Walt screamed, his voice so high, Nico thought he sounded like a little girl. It occurred to him that, if they didn’t make it, those would be the worst final thoughts of all time.
Just as they were less than than 5 floors away from the ground, and still a few inches too far from the building’s shadow, Nico noticed a tall palm tree standing on the ground of the street. Never before had he been so thankful for eco-friendly urban planning more than when he noticed how a nearby street lamp’s light made a shadow out of the plant’s leaves, right where they were about to splatter into demigod mush.
Sending a quick prayer to his dad (despite being in a different universe than him), he willed both of their bodies into darkness, getting ready for impact. Walt scrunched his eyes closed, unable to watch. Nico waited for the right moment for a second, getting ready to travel at the nearest contact with a shadow.
“Not yet, not yet…” he thought as his face got closer and closer to the ground “…NOW!”
And in the blink of an eye, both boys dissolved into the shadows, only a few inches above the ground.
Nico immediately knew something was…different.
The familiar darkness of shadow travel was somewhat comforting, as he dragged a still screaming Walt through the shadows, moving at incredible speeds towards the nearest shadow. But something about this darkness still felt…off, somehow.
But what really concerned him was what lied beneath the darkness.
Deep below, weak and dim purple flames lighted the shadows. Not in a good way. No, Nico had a feeling that whatever it was, it was not friendly. Surprisingly the presence felt…familiar. In one of the worst ways possible, that is. Despite it being the only source of light in the shadows, it felt darker than anything in this universe.
Soon after, Nico realized the flames were coming out of tendrils of purple darkness, slithering slowly, as if whatever monster that they were a part of was sleeping soundly.
The last thing Nico saw before jumping out of the shadows was an eye.
A large, monstrous, half-lidded green eye. Its reptile-like pupils widened ever so slightly at the sight of him, before giving him a careless, yet disinterested look.
Soon, the eye was closed, the creature retreating back into its slumber.
Nico got whiplash from the sudden change of scenery, as he fell into dirty, rough pavement. He had apparently pulled a Lester and fallen right into a trash-filled alley. Walt had finally stopped screaming, as he now had to deal with getting out of the trash container he had fallen into.
The magician struggled as he dragged himself out of the container, before laying on the ground next to an exhausted, half-awake Nico.
Neither of them said a word for a good 30 seconds, only panting in exhaustion as they recovered their breaths. Only Walt had enough energy to talk.
“That…” he said with a shell-shocked look on his face, heavily panting for air “…was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life. And I was in the front lines of the battle against Apophis.”
“Uh huh.” Nico hummed noncommittally, too exhausted to form coherent words.
It took a minute for his brain to catch up to the situation. He had no clue where he was, or how he even got there in the first place.
The best thing he could manage to do was to try to retrace his steps.
He remembered that he had at some point tied two of his friends up as he discovered new types of magic. Which wasn’t too bad in his opinion, even though said friends seemed to disagree. He also recalled performing overly complicated spells he perfected over months, all to open a portal to travel across universes to surprise Will as an anniversary gift. The thought of his shocked smile nearly led Nico to lose his train of thought, before shaking his head, begrudgingly forcing himself to focus on the situation at hand. Nico remembered how the first portal was unstable, how he went absolutely feral as he tried to get it to work, and how he actually managed to open a portal at some point during the night.
Only for him to fall into the portal, because his stupid body decided to call it quits. He just knew he would never hear the end of it from Will. Nico could already picture his bossy tone, worried expression, his assertive medic persona ordering him to take better care of himself, and oh gods he got so lucky—
Wait.
WAIT.
...fall into the portal?
“Oh my gods we did it.” Nico muttered as he realized what had happened, leading Walt to turn his head towards him. “We actually fucking did it.”
“…what?” asked Walt as he tried to stand up, his legs still wobbly from the adrenaline.
“We…” Nico gasped as the second realization hit him. "…we’re in another universe."
But before he could elaborate or explain the situation to Walt, his body decided to call it quits once more, and he promptly passed out.
Lou Ellen doesn’t realize how utterly fucked she is until Will calls an emergency meeting.
To be fair, it was kind of her fault for telling him the gist of what had happened last night as soon as she woke up in the infirmary. And for helping on the whole Lab magic experiments thing as well, she supposed.
She had tried to stop him, for the sake of her fellow senior counsellors, but once Will had heard the words “Nico”, “multiverse”, “passed out”, “fell”, and “portal”, all of his usual cheerfulness had vanished in the blink of an eye, before he silently stood up. Not even a second after that, he began to menacingly walk towards the Big House’s Rec Room, his eyes full with nothing but fury.
So that’s how she found herself telling her own side of the story in the middle of a Senior Counsellor Emergency Meeting, in front of Chiron, Mr D., and her blissfully unaware fellow counsellors. All of this, less than 10 minutes after waking up from last night’s disaster. Her hair was dishevelled, and her clothes were still dirty from her impromptu nap on the forest’s ground. Of course, she now had other things to worry about, namely a mad and smoking hot son of Apollo. No, really, he was smoking out of his skin, and Lou Ellen could certainly see the slightest glimpse of light coming out of him.
She told them everything she knew, from the experiments to last night’s incident. By the end of her story, she had ended up with a very perplexed Chiron, looking like he wanted to ask a lot of questions while knowing he wouldn’t like the answers, an exasperated Mr. D rubbing his temples while muttering about “idiot Italian gremlins”, and a bunch of confused and astounded Head Counsellors, gaping at the sheer ridiculousness of her tale.
They knew better than to completely doubt it though. They were demigods after all.
No, what really concerned her- no, terrified her, was the menacing lack of emotion in Will Solace’s face. Her best friend had remained eerily silent throughout her story, which was reflected in the tense atmosphere of the room.
Now, Lou Ellen knew she was not exactly the sweetest angel of a camper. She had occasionally pulled pranks and actively participated in the camp’s usual chaos. But now she had a feeling that she was in trouble. Big trouble.
And can you blame her for being at least a little bit nervous? Last night’s fiasco had somehow managed to astound, confuse, and absolutely terrify her in ways she didn’t fully understand. Her brain had been too overloaded, too confused, too hysterical for her to bear. Hence the fainting.
It wasn’t her proudest moment, but she couldn’t dwell on it right now. Especially when Will finally stood up.
Yup, she was completely and utterly fucked.
And if- no, when Nico was dragged back to camp from wherever he went, he would be as well.
The son of Apollo rubbed the bridge of his nose in exasperation, and Lou Ellen could swear she heard him pray to the gods in Greek under his breath, asking for the patience to deal with this μαλακίες.
“So let me get this straight- DON’T!” Will raised his finger towards Connor Stoll, who looked ready to make a poorly timed joke. The glare he directed at the son of Hermes made everyone in the room wince “Do not make that joke right now Connor, this is not the time.”
To everyone’s surprise, and to the seniors’ horror, Connor immediately sat back down when his eyes caught Will’s. He immediately shut up, his entire life flashing in front of his eyes, and let Will continue.
“Let me see if I got this right.” Will went back to his former exasperation, ignoring the nightmares he had inflicted upon his fellow counsellors with his glare “My idiot boyfriend has been trying to find a way to travel across the multiverse because of some random conversation we had months ago. And not only did he mix Greek and Egyptian magic in the process, which is definitely a bad idea, but he also brought an Egyptian magician who is sharing a body with an Egyptian God à la Kronos into camp, recruited you to help him on his goal for interdimensional travel, opened a portal into the multiverse with the last of his strength, and fell into the portal once he passed out!?”
Will’s voice cracked at that last word, but no one dared to laugh. Nico would’ve snorted, but his absence left everyone to fend for themselves.
It takes Will giving Lou Ellen a deathly look for her realize he was waiting for a response. She nodded in confirmation slowly, not daring to say another word.
There are a few seconds of silence after that. You could hear a pin drop as everyone warily looked at the son of Apollo, as if expecting him to blow up.
Suddenly, a bright orange light erupted from his body. Everyone stepped back in surprise, and a few of them of gasped in surprise at the literal outburst. Lou Ellen could swear she heard Connor whimper.
If that wasn’t enough, bursts- no, flares of light erupted from his skin, raising the temperature of the room in an instant.
"I am going to kill him." Will says, his steel-hard voice filled with exasperated rage, growling as he spat those last few words like they had personally offended him.
At this point, many of the counsellors were panicking. The smarter ones had fled of course, to the safety of their cabins, and the younger ones would probably need a change of underwear after this. Chiron stepped back in alarm, unable to figure out how to respond. Even Mr. D looked slightly concerned, which only further frightened the panicking counsellors.
Except for one, because not everyone was blessed with the power to read the room. Even if the room was seconds away from catching on fire.
“So…are we going to ignore the fact that Egyptian Gods are real? Because I don’t think we’re paying enough attention to tha—”
Will turned towards the offending counsellor, his fire-filled glare immediately shutting up the oblivious counsellor, who raised his arms in surrender, before sitting back down.
He doesn’t bother with a response. Instead, the furious son of Apollo made his way towards the other side of the room, where Rachel Elizabeth Dare was observing the situation with something akin to amusement in her eyes. How she was not afraid for her life, Lou Ellen would never know.
“Sorry Rachel, but I’m going to need a prophecy right now.”
The Oracle of Delphi sighs, before closing her eyes and steadying herself in her seat. Another camper quickly recovered from their shock and pulled a notepad out of nowhere, this time ready to write down whatever came out of the Oracle’s mouth.
A few seconds passed however, before Rachel opens one eye to peek at the rest of the room.
“…did it happen already?”
“…no?” Will said with confusion in his voice, his light dimming ever so slightly.
“That’s odd. I should be giving you a prophecy by now.” Rachel wondered, slightly confused.
“You can’t.”
All of their heads turned towards Mr. D, who had recovered some semblance of divine composure.
“What do you mean?” asks Will with warning in his voice. Normally, he would’ve been blasted to oblivion for talking to a God like that, or even worse, turned into a dolphin. However, Mr. D didn’t seem to mind. And if he did, he hid it very well.
“It’s another universe. It’s out of the Oracle’s…jurisdiction” the god of Madness said “Think of it like that mobile phone reception thing you kids talk about so much. Other universes are outside the Oracle’s…what do you call it? Oh yes, area of service.”
“We’re demigods. We don’t have mobile phones.” Will questions.
“Whatever. My point is, no Oracle can make prophecies that involve beings, places or things outside their universe of origin.” Mr. D states “Fate works…differently in other universes, from what I’ve heard.”
“Wait…” Will asked, an accusatory tone lacing his voice “You knew about the multiverse?”
“Well, not about your boyfriend’s attempts to travel through it, but yeah, I knew. What kind of gods would we be if we didn’t?” Dionysus scoffed “Of course, we don’t travel off-universe often. The domains we rule over in this universe depend on us, our powers are too limited in other universes anyways, and the amount of paperwork we gods need to fill out for a single trip is not worth the effort.”
Will looks like he wants to ask more, but he quickly disregards it. He turns back to the rest of the table, many of which jump in fear as his piercing glare sets on them.
“Prophecy or not, I’m going to save Nico.” Will stated with fire in his voice “That is not debatable. I will be leaving this afternoon.”
The same foolish counsellor from before apparently had a death wish, as he approached the maddened son of Apollo. “Wait…don’t you need a quest to leave camp like that? Or permission from Chiron or Mr. D-”
He isn’t even graced with a response, as the only indication that Will heard him was the increasingly brighter and hotter solar flares surrounding the blonde’s body, and the sudden increase in the room’s temperature, which was probably about to reach into the high 40s (in Celsius, or 104 Fahrenheit).
The camper seems to get the message this time, yelping in fear at the outburst of flames, before hurrying to return to his seat.
Suddenly, Will turns towards Lou Ellen, making her jump in her seat as she fights back a whimper.
“Are you coming?”
The question doesn’t register in her mind until five seconds later, in which she realizes there was only one answer that would let her keep her best friend and her own life.
“Y-yup. I’m coming.” Lou Ellen says as she tries to keep her voice from breaking, to little avail. The daughter of Hecate didn’t even care that she was signing up for a quest, anything to spare her from meeting Icarus’ fate. Or worse; eternal sunburn.
Will seems to nod in approval at her, which slightly puts her at ease. Before he turns towards the door, that is. His loud, determined steps were the only sound that could be heard in the room, which Lou Ellen could swear were actually shaking the ground, each camper jolting in fear as he slowly walked towards the door.
The son of Apollo opened it, smoke coming out of his hand once he grabbed the wooden handle.
“I will start packing. Meeting’s over.” was all he said, before slamming the door shut with enough force to be heard from the strawberry fields.
A few seconds passed before anyone spoke again. Lou Ellen hadn’t even realised she was holding her breath until Will left.
She looked around the Rec Room, already expecting the sight she was greeted with.
Several head counsellors looked ready to cry. One of them had curled up into a ball and hidden under the table, muttering to herself wide-eyed. The handles of the familiar ping pong table were melting off into the ground, the rubber falling victim to the rage of the son of Apollo. Katie Gardner’s kernel bracelet had even turned into a popcorn bracelet, which she was nervously chewing on, somehow having a packet of salt in her pockets to eat it with. Even Chiron wasn’t safe, suddenly looking like he had aged 10 years. The only ones unaffected were Mr. D and Rachel, who just feasted on the chaos before them, amusement gleaming in their eyes.
She never thought she would say this, but when the realisation that Oh my gods I’m going on a quest in another universe hit her, Lou Ellen wished she could faint again, already done with this μαλακίες.
Notes:
Yeah...I used google translate for the Greek in this fic. I hope it worked out well though!
By the way, if you are reading this before chapters 2 and 3 come out, I'd recommend avoid reading the fandom tags, character tags or any tags on this work, if you want to be surprised when I reveal which fandom I am making a Crossover with. If you are reading this after those chapters come out, ignore this, unless you somehow missed that there is another fandom other than PJO in the Fandom tags, in that case, you may want to avoid spoiling yourself with the tags (which, yeah defeats the purpose of tags, I guess, so this is just a suggestion). I believe it may be more enjoyable if you figure out what the crossover is with by reading the work itself. It's ok if you don't though. Whether you do or not, it is up to you. Read in whatever way you like.
Chapter Text
To say Will was fuming was the understatement of the century.
The son of Apollo was furiously shoving an assortment of medical tools, supplies, clothes, food, ambrosia, nectar and water into a bag. Only for him to realize it wasn’t all going to fit, leading him to start packing his bag all over again.
He couldn’t focus on anything but the situation surrounding his idiot of a boyfriend. Will was mad, don’t get him wrong, but he couldn’t find it in him to be angry at Nico for too long.
On one hand, his frustration and concern for Nico was accompanied by the giddy feeling of joy in his stomach at the thought that Nico had tried to invent a whole new type of magic for him. Because of one conversation they had. Will just couldn’t help but feel warm and fuzzy inside at the thought of his boyfriend being so thoughtful.
On the other hand…Nico did mess with magic that no one had messed with before, which was bound to be dangerous, especially considering his penchant for finding trouble. He had ended up stranded in another dimension for gods’ sake! Nico was insane if he thought Will would let him off easy this time.
Of course, a small, pettier part of him felt a little jealous that he hadn’t been invited to their crazy magic experiments club, only hearing about it once his boyfriend was already stuck in another universe. It sounded like it was fun, judging by the absolute state of the lab when he found it.
Despite that, he couldn’t help but worry about his boyfriend. This was the multiverse they were talking about. And if it was as large and endless like it was in the movies, how was Will supposed to find him? This was completely new territory, even to the gods, who couldn’t do much even if they tried (as if many gods would bother).
“He might not make it back,” a small, traitorous voice whispered in the back of his mind “your luck can’t last forever.”
He shook himself out of his thoughts. Will couldn’t afford to give up already. Not after everything they’ve been through. They’ve been through Tartarus of all places, and lived to tell the tale. Nico himself had been there twice. And even though the first time wasn’t exactly pleasant, Will knew that his boyfriend could stand on his own just fine. Besides, he had been told a magician had fallen with him, one that was sharing bodies with a god. He didn’t know if they got along well, but he hoped they would help each other stay alive.
Before his mind could wander into the how they were going to find Nico, his ears registered a serene, calm melody coming from one of the bunks.
He hadn’t noticed someone was in the cabin when he came in, until the ever so familiar sound of guitar strings caught his ears.
Will wasn’t a musician; he had tried to be many times during his time at camp, from piano to singing. None of them ever worked out for him, but he felt like guitar was the instrument he sucked the least at.
Despite his lack of music prowess, he had inherited some hearing abilities from his father. It had taken Will an embarrassing amount of time to realize that people normally couldn’t recognize the exact note, pitch, octave, beat, and time signature of any sound as soon as it was heard with no practice at all. It got chaotic when he tried to listen to non-musical sounds, so he had an easier time understanding music. It was like a music sheet appeared in his head, scoring each sound that graced his ears into its bars and lines like it was second nature.
So he let himself listen to the song, even just for a little bit, to distract himself from his troubles.
Will’s movements calmed as he let the music flow into his ears. He began to pack his bag less frantically, his attention captured by the humble melody.
From then on, the music seemed to loop back to the beginning, but he didn’t mind the repetitiveness. The melody did sound odd however, being played on an acoustic guitar, when it sounded like something written to be played on an electric one instead.
A few repetitions of the song had passed by, and Will didn’t even notice he was done packing, all the items he would need stuffed neatly inside the bag, closing without trouble. He finally gave in to his curiosity, turning his head towards the source of the melody.
Will realized it was coming from one of the bunks in the right of the cabin, the ones reserved for new campers. On it, there was a thin, young teenager. She couldn’t be older than Nico. Her radiant blonde hair and the way she expertly played the guitar’s strings gave it away; she was Will’s new half-sister.
She wore an orange camp t-shirt, but it was covered by a blue blouse, buttoned up neatly. She wore a blue headband on her head. Will noticed she had her eyes closed, focused and flowing in the music she played, her fingers carefully weaving their way through her guitar’s strings.
Her fingers slipped just as she caught the son of Apollo staring, cutting the music short. She turned towards him, a warm welcoming smile in her face. Will immediately shook himself out of the music-led trance, and decided to walk towards her, his steps calm and curious.
“Hey,” Will asked, putting on his signature friendly-healer smile “I haven’t seen you around here. I like your song.”
As Will got closer, he took note of the wheelchair next to her bunk, which he hadn’t seen before due to the bunks blocking it from his sight.
“Thank you.” she cheerfully answered, life and cheerfulness filling her voice. “I arrived late yesterday, just in time to get claimed at the campfire last night.”
Will suddenly felt a bit guilty; he had totally skipped campfire last night, in favour of looking for Nico. He mentally reprimanded himself, telling himself he should’ve been there to receive his new sister, specially since he was head counsellor
“Well, I’m Will. Will Solace.” he introduced himself. “Head Counsellor of the Apollo Cabin, and head of the Infirmary.”
“Nice to meet you.” his sister replied, politely nodding at him.
“Sorry you couldn’t meet me yesterday, I was a bit… busy.” Will mentioned, unable to confess to this person he just met (despite being his sister) that he had in fact, been worried sick about his boyfriend.
“It’s alright.” the girl chirped, her eyes filled with understanding “Kayla and Austin showed me around camp. They say you owe them one though.”
The girl giggled softly as he felt the ever so familiar sibling-induced annoyance.
“What are you doing here though?” Will asked curiously “Everyone else in our cabin should be doing sword fighting about now.”
“Yeah…” she pointed with her thumb to the wheelchair next to her. Will immediately muttered an apology at his mistake “…there aren’t many activities I can really do properly. I will do archery though. I used to do it all the time with my grandfather. You said you were head of the infirmary right?”
Will nodded in confirmation.
“Oh, ok. I guess we’ll be seeing each other a lot then.”
Will twisted his head to the side “What do you mean?”
“Well…” the girl shifted a little in her bunk “…I guess I have to tell someone at some point. Especially a medic.”
She sighed for a second, before facing Will once more.
“I have a very…rare disease.” she admits, which catches Will’s attention “I don’t think it has a name so far. It is difficult to explain, but one of its symptoms is that it makes it harder for me to move for long periods of time. I get exhausted when I walk or run for too long.”
“Oh…” Will said, realizing she was implying that it wasn’t curable. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be, it’s fine.” she reassured, although whether it was to reassure him or herself, it wasn’t clear. The resigned tone in her voice concerned Will, but he decided not to push.
“You looked pretty shaken up when you came in here.” she said after a few seconds of silence “Did something happen?”
“Oh, it’s nothing…” Will said unconvincingly “I don’t want to bore you with my issues.”
“Please do.” the girl pleaded lightly, to his surprise “Being in bed all day gets boring. Spill.”
Will couldn’t argue with the girl’s puppy dog eyes, which looked like they had gotten years of practice.
He sat down on her bed after she patted a spot next to her. Will begun to re-tell the story he had heard from Lou Ellen, adding a few comments about Nico’s lack of self-preservation and how he was adorable in a grumpy-ball-of-darkness kind of way, which got a few giggles out of his sister.
“So, Nico actually managed to open a portal to another universe?” she gasped, genuinely impressed at the feat “With magic?”
“Yup.” Will responded, and he couldn’t help but feel a little bit proud of his boyfriend. “It’s not something easy to do, I’ll tell you that much.”
“And he was trying to open it for you?”
“Yup.” Will repeated, unable to contain his blush and the fuzzy warmth that filled his chest at the thought.
“Gods, you’re really lucky.” she giggled.
“Yeah…” he muttered, his mind drifting back to the issue at hand “…and now he’s lost. And I have no clue where to find him.”
There was a few seconds of silence between them. Will could sense the girl’s eyes studying his face before she spoke.
“…are you mad at him?”
Will stood up, thinking about her question as he began to pace back and forth across the room.
“I don’t know. I think? It’s just, how can that idiot put himself in danger so easily! And now that he’s stranded, I have no way to reach him. And Iris Messages won’t work because it’s another universe, so I have no way to contact him! And without any leads, I have no idea what to do! But on the other hand, I am also happy that he tried to do something nice for me, but I also kind of wish that he’d included me in his crazy magic experiments, but I’m also worried that I’ll never see him again. Was that even a portal? Who is to say that wasn’t a black hole? Who’s to say he isn’t gone for good already, and who know if I’ll ever see him again, and…”
“Hey.” the girl grabbed his wrists, reaching once he had gotten close to her. “Look at me.”
Will begrudgingly sat back down, slightly ashamed he had almost spiralled in front of a new camper.
“Listen,” his sister said, a determined fire in her eyes “I don’t know what to say or what can I do to help. But I do know you are allowed to be worried about your boyfriend.”
She looked at the window of the cabin, staring at the clear sky.
“I know it’s scary when you don’t know what’s going to happen, or if everything will really be fine.” she said with calmness in her voice, drowning out Will’s worries “But I haven’t been at camp for even a full day, and even I have heard about Nico di Angelo. I heard he made it out of Tartarus twice. He helped win the final battle of a war by getting his father to help. He helped connect Roman and Greek demigods. I heard that he is one of the most powerful demigods alive. He will be fine. He is strong. Sometimes you got to trust him a little. Trust that he will be alright, despite his lack of self-preservation skills, while you try to find a way to find him.”
Will’s breathing relaxed, just now noticing he had been hyperventilating. The tension in his shoulders eased a little, as his mind got calmer with each breath.
“Thank you.” Will said as reassurance filled his head “I really needed to hear that.”
“It’s all good.” the girl dismissed, before her mind wandered somewhere else “Say…didn’t you say someone else fell with him?”
“Yup, an Egyptian magician.”
She blinked in slight surprise, before recovering and getting back on her train of thought. “Do you know any other Egyptian magicians?”
“No…” Will wondered, before an idea popped up in his mind “But Lou Ellen might. She knew the magician.”
“Well, that’s a good place to start!” his sister chirped cheerfully.
“Oh!” Will exclaimed as he noticed the time. “Lou Ellen should be waiting for me. Thank you for the help!”
“Anytime.” she smiled and nodded, waving goodbye as her brother rushed out of the cabin.
It was only when Will was half-way through the path to Half-Blood Hill when he realized that he hadn’t gotten her name.
To say Sadie was fuming was the understatement of the century.
That much was obvious to her guests as she opened the door to the Brooklyn Mansion furiously. Her blonde hair was messy and unkept, red and blue dyed strands of hair crazily pointing in all directions. Her glare was the worst however, as she had a furious, almost manic look in her eyes.
Will was the only one unfazed when she yelled in their faces.
“WHERE ON GEB’S BLODDY EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN–” she froze as she registered the two teenagers in front of her. “Oh, sorry. I thought you were someone else.”
Before she can close the door, Will moves forward, Lou Ellen too scared by the other girl.
“Wait!” he said, getting the girl’s attention on him “Is the person you are looking for Walt Stone?”
The blonde looked shocked for a few seconds. She took a look at Will. Then she turned towards Lou Ellen, making her flinch back in fear. Her gaze went between the two of them, as if she was solving a puzzle in her mind. Something seemed to click in her head, when her confusion suddenly turned into anger.
“Right now,” she said, her voice dripping with cold venom “his name is Jackal Meat. Come on in.”
Lou Ellen follows Will inside the mansion, only to be left gaping at the grandeur of the building. She stared in amazement at the many initiates practicing magic around, at the symbols and statues in the hall, and at the funny looking baboon that was chewing on a domino piece. Walt had definitely undersold this place when he told her about it.
Will however, doesn’t let himself get distracted, as he follows Sadie through the hallways.
“I’m Sadie Kane. Magician and Eye of Isis.” she introduces herself casually.
“I’m Will Solace, and this is my friend Lou Ellen.” he pointed at his mesmerized best friend, who focused back on the two blondes.
“Nice to meet ya.” she nods, but a seriousness that felt out of place laced her voice “We’re going to my room to talk about my idiot of a boyfriend and whatever he has gotten into now.”
“Oh my gods there’s two of them.” Lou Ellen realized with horror, suddenly feeling the urge to cry.
A bunch of teenagers and younger kids seem to share the sentiment, as they tense and move out of Sadie’s way, some of them with terrified or pleading looks in their faces, muttering among themselves things that sounded a lot like “Who was it this time?”.
It wasn’t long before they reached her room. It looked like a combination between a posh bedroom and an ancient Egyptian exhibition, judging by the hieroglyphics decorating the walls and the ivory headrest on top of her bed.
“Welp.” Sadie turned towards the duo of demigods “How do you know Walt?”
“W-well…” Lou Ellen steadies herself “Will doesn’t, but Nico introduced him to me.”
“Nico?” she asked curiously “Do you mean Nico di Angelo?”
“Yes!” Will exclaimed at the mention of his boyfriend “Do you know him?”
“Yeah, he came to visit a few months ago. He wanted to talk to Walt about something.”
Lou Ellen perks up “Oh yeah, he was trying to get Walt to help him to open a portal to travel through the multiverse.”
Sadie stared at her like she had grown a third head for a few seconds, but once she realized she wasn’t joking, she gasped in excitement.
“WHAT? I’ve wanted to do that for AGES!” she exclaimed “Why did he not invite me?”
“THANK YOU!” Will exclaimed in understanding “That’s what I’ve been saying!”
“Well…Walt and Nico have been experimenting with mixing Egyptian and Greek magic for the last few months.” Lou Ellen says, bringing the conversation back on track.
“So that’s why I can’t find him at night.” Sadie realizes.
“Now that I think about it, Nico’s been the same lately.” Will says, thinking back about how he couldn’t find Nico late in the afternoon or during the night for the last few months.
“I’ve been helping them with the Greek part of it.” the other demigod said, moving her hand and making mist flicker around her fingers “It’s easier for me to deal with the Mist.”
“Do you mean the Duat?”
Lou Ellen is taken aback by Sadie’s question “Yeah…but how did you know that? I thought Walt hadn’t told you about it.”
“Nah, I remember hearing something about it when I had to defeat a crazy dead magician with Percy and Annabeth. Wait, does that mean you’re demigods too?”
Both demigods froze in shock at her words, at the same time Sadie realized she had said something she was definitely not supposed to share.
“Yes, we are…” Will said, still shocked “But how do you know Percy and Annabeth?”
“I wasn’t supposed to talk about that.” Sadie cursed herself, before sighing in defeat “Well, Bast’s out of the bag. I assume you mean Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase?”
The two demigods nodded, still surprised Percy and Annabeth had met her, an Egyptian magician, without telling them.
“Yeah, my brother and I met them a while ago, when we had to stop Uncle Vinnie from making himself into a God. He lived in a snow globe in our basement for a while after that.”
Will wants to ask, but he immediately realized that the “you really don’t want to know” rule still applied to Egyptian magicians, so he decided to let it go.
“Well, the thing is, Nico actually managed to open a portal.” Lou Ellen continued, only to be interrupted by Sadie’s excited gasp, her eyes lighting up in joy. Will almost felt bad telling her the truth.
“But then your boyfriend and Nico kind of… fell into it? And they have no way to come back.”
Her excitement immediately died at the words. Both demigods would’ve felt pity for the girl, if she hadn’t begun to glow just a few seconds later, hieroglyphics forming an aura of danger around her, making both of them to step back, as if she was a bomb about to blow.
Her fury died almost as fast however, as it was replaced by exhaustion, to their surprise.
“Please excuse me.” the magician said, before promptly throwing herself on her bed, where she ungracefully groaned into a pillow.
The two demigods stared awkwardly at the teen as she buried her face in her pillow. Lou Ellen was the one to break the silence.
“So…does that mean you’ll help us find them then?” she asked hopefully.
The magician merely lifted a thumbs up, not facing up from her bed, muttering something that sounded a lot like “gimme a second, I need to pack.”
She laid in her bed for 10 whole minutes before she actually got up to pack.
The sun was about to set by the time they got back to Long Island Sound. They had just passed Thalia’s tree, having to make an awkward stop to give Sadie permission to enter camp after she ran up the hill for no reason, only for her to bounce away from the magical barrier, rolling back downhill until she reached the demigods who had brought her here.
It was Sadie’s turn to be stunned, as she gaped at the sight of Camp Half-Blood’s cabins, fields, and the teenagers casually fighting each other with swords. Lou Ellen couldn’t help but feel a bit proud of her camp.
However, something else wriggled inside of Sadie, a deep uncomfortable feeling that told her to get out of here, like a voice whispering in her head “you are not supposed to be in this place. Leave.” Her curiosity, on the other hand, was trying to convince her that it would be a good idea to approach the dragon that slept near the hill.
Will on the other hand, was quick to remind them of their mission “Sorry, but we’re going to have to show you around some other time. Right now, we have to find our boyfriends and drag them back if we need to.”
On the way there, they had exchanged many details and information about their own worlds. Will got the basics of Egyptian magic, although he doubted he could even use any even if he wanted to. Sadie explained the whole Walt/Anubis deal, and how the three were dating each other, which lead to Will to mention that Nico was his boyfriend.
“We should start a club,” Sadie said as they walked through the forest “the blondes-with-powerful-idiot-boyfriends club!”
“We got to invite Annabeth if that’s the case,” Will laughed as the teens snickered between themselves. Sadie was about to ask if she was at camp right now, but she froze once a small shed entered her sight.
The Lab had not changed at all since Will and Lou Ellen’s last visit. There were flames visible from the window, but they seemed to not be spreading. A Nico-shaped hole that Will had not seen last night due to the darkness stood out from the rest of the wooden walls. All windows were cracked if not broken, with only once of them being completely intact, except for the fact it was floating in its place, no longer connected to the rest of the cabin, a covering a window shaped hole in the wall.
“What in the name of Isis…?” Sadie asked, shocked, confused, and somehow impressed at the same time.
“I have literally no idea.” Will added, a resigned air in his voice that told Sadie that he was used to this kind of shit.
Lou Ellen is the first one to open the door, as she was already familiar with the place. The inside was also untouched: the fake fire was still in the same place as before, just casually lighting and warming the room without spreading from the random spots in the floor where it was lit aflame, the tesseract that smelled like literature was still stuck to the ceiling, and the shabti that had unsuccessfully tried to toothlessly eat Will was now locked in a jar, courtesy of Will, after the little wax gremlin had tried to follow him as he dragged an unconscious Lou Ellen back to camp last night.
What seems to surprise Sadie the most however, was the sheer amount of papyrus scrolls thrown in the floor, the shed being basically flooded in them. She picks one up, only to find a bunch of Greek letters and Egyptian hieroglyphics arranged to form a sad face, with a single word in English written below, reading "help".
Lou Ellen suddenly freezes at the sight of the scrolls, before turning back towards the duo.
“…we may have a problem.” she said warily “I don’t remember which one of these opens the portal.”
Sadie groans loudly, before banging her head in the walls. Or at least she tried to, since the wooden wall suddenly liquified at the touch, leaving a puddle of liquid bark dripping from a freshly made hole in the wall. She warily stepped back, touching her hair to make sure none of the liquified trunk got on her.
Will merely sighs as he rubs his temples, already tired of this shit “I guess we have to find the scroll first.”
The trio sighed, already resigned to the fact that this was going to take a while.
Nico woke up at the sound of a truck, passing through the road near the alley he has been sleeping on for the entire afternoon.
As he opens his eyes, he catches sight of the tall buildings towering around him. There were warm yellow lights coming out of their windows, brightening up the darkness of the night.
He groggily lifts his head, no longer feeling as exhausted as before. Nico takes a look around as his eyes get used to the darkness of the alley, barely illuminated by the lights of the city.
The son of Hades finds Walt sitting next to him, who looked like he had just woken up from a nap as well. The magician was fidgeting with a few amulets hung around his neck. Nico suddenly recalls the specific ones he’s holding as energy amulets. Walt had told him that they can store some energy for magicians to use, in case their reserves are not enough. Before however, Nico had been able to sense the energy emanating from the amulets. Now, it was significantly weaker, like the amulets had been almost entirely emptied.
“You all good?” Walt asked, to which Nico nodded “Good, you had me worried there for a bit.”
“Yeah,” Nico responded, stretching his arms “shadow travelling after using my energies to open a portal…was probably not good for my health.”
Walt nods in agreement “Can you walk?”
“I don’t wannaaa…” Nico whined, his muscles still numb from exertion.
Walt smirks in amusement, lightly kicking the son of Hades with his foot, only to get swatted back. The taller boy snickers at that, only to earn a tired glare from his friend.
“Yeah, well, we kind of have bigger problems right now.”
Nico turns his head as if to ask why, before his own words before fainting come back to him.
The son of Hades suddenly pales, the realization hitting him for the second time.
“Please don’t tell me I was right…”
“…you might want to take a look.” the magician answered grimly, avoiding the question.
With some help from Walt, Nico manages to stand up on his own, his legs only wobbling a little as he tries to steady himself.
Both boys take a look out of the trash filled alley they had crash-landed in, peeking at the empty streets of the city. The night seemed to have driven most of the people into their homes, since there were very few vehicles and people roaming through the large metropolis. Billboards adorned the buildings, advertising various drinks and products Nico had never heard about.
They both immediately notice something is off the moment they see another person in a suit, walking in the streets with a briefcase in hand.
The random man jumps when he sees the duo, and runs away before the duo could ask any questions. Nico could swear his eyes were on his sword.
"Can he see through the Mist?" he asks himself "Does it even exist here?"
Similar reactions come from random civilians. A woman simply walks to the other side of the road, while another merely stares at the sword and amulets, before shrugging and minding her own business.
But what really freaks them out about the people of this town is how they looked.
Their body shapes seemed exaggerated. Some had heads bigger than normal. Eyes were larger and placed slightly differently. Some noses were rounder or pointier, while others were completely normal. Something about their features seemed…strange, cartoonish even. They didn’t look too odd, since Nico and Walt could perfectly blend in, as their features were not too different for the demigods to look like freaks of nature (despite the fact they actually were). In fact, the few people they found walking around at night seemed more scared of their weapons than their faces.
“I think they can see our weapons.” Walt confirmed to the son of Hades. “…maybe this is just a low mist area?”
As much as Nico wanted to believe it, his gut told him this wasn’t the case.
“The people here look…different.” Nico said “Not too different, but enough for them to be from another…”
“Nope!” Walt covered his ears, to Nico’s exasperation “We just…opened a portal somewhere else, somewhere that is definitely in our universe. Yup, I just got to contact the House of Life and they’ll arrange a portal or a ride to get us back home, yeah, that sounds about right…”
“Then why didn’t your spell work? Shouldn’t we have been able to fly away?”
Walt froze. He frantically reached for his wand, and tried a simple water spell, drawing the hieroglyphics in the air.
To no one’s surprise, the hieroglyphics flickered in place, before dissolving into the air, not a single drop of water forming anywhere nearby.
“Oh no, oh no no no no no” the magician mutters to himself. “This is not good, this is not good…”
“Calm down.” Nico tried to be reassuring, but he found it difficult when he tried with someone other than Will and Hazel “What does Anubis say?”
“He’s…” Walt tries to focus, closing his eyes for a second before blinking in surprise “…asleep? He’s not responding, but he’s still in here, I can feel it. And I’m not dead, so he has to be here, so…”
The rest of Walt’s response is ignored however, as Nico’s sight drifts to the night sky, only for him to do a double take at the sight he was greeted with. He rubs his eyes, trying to make sure he was seeing correctly, staring at the sky in shocked disbelief.
“No way.” he thought to himself as he stared at the offending satellite “No fucking way.”
Nico nudged Walt with his arm, breaking him out of his words. The magician stares at Nico in confusion, which makes the latter point towards the sky. Walt’s gaze hesitantly moved towards the direction Nico was pointing towards, only for him to freeze alongside the son of Hades, his eyes unable to believe what he was seeing.
“What the fuck…?” was all Walt could say at the bizarre sight.
In the middle of the sky, the moon rested as it always did, reflecting light from the sun to illuminate the night.
Except there was one key difference from the moon they were accustomed to.
A gigantic, dark crater laid on its surface, breaking the spherical shape of the moon. Lunar rocks and debris gave away the fact that it was not always that way, as large pieces of white gigantic stone floated above the crater. Smaller chunks of the broken satellite floated around what remained of the moon, forming a loose ring around it. The crater the rocks had once filled had a diameter that was nearly half of the moon’s own. It occurred to Nico that it looked like someone had taken a bite off of it, like it was an apple instead of the literal moon.
And of course it was right then that Nico remembered a movie he had seen with Bianca and his Mom, not too long before he was sent to the hotel. However, rather than feeling nostalgic or sad at the memory, a specific line from the film came to mind. One that perfectly encapsulated their situation at the moment. Before he could stop himself, he blurted it out, not even looking at Walt, as they were both too busy gaping at the broken moon.
“Yeah…I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Notes:
so...i may have dropped a few hints on what the crossover is. i'd love to hear what you think though :)
Chapter Text
Will was not a quitter. His attempts to get Nico to open up to him after the Giant War are proof of that.
But this was definitely testing his limits.
"Aughhhhh…" Sadie groaned in exasperation “This is taking forever!”
The trio spent the rest of the previous day’s evening gathering the scrolls from the ground. By midnight, they had managed to split about half of them across three piles, each labelled "no way", “maybe”, and “just maybe”, to categorize which ones were likely to have the spell that Nico had written. Of course, they had to be stopped by a very tired Chiron at 3 AM, and forced the trio to rest. He only sighed when they explained how and why Sadie was there, muttering something about it being “too early for this”.
They were resuming their search on the following day, already having disqualified most of the scrolls from their search by noon. There were only around 12 scrolls that could potentially be Nico’s Portal Scroll (as Lou Ellen had begun to call it), so all there was left to do was test.
Will had decided to just observe the mayhem, as the girls casted the spells on the scrolls one-by-one. He wasn’t much use in the magic department, so he mostly just ensured they weren’t overexerting themselves, like a certain boyfriend of his tends to do.
“I have never seen anything like this,” Sadie commented at some point, sounding genuinely intrigued “these spells are very different from what I’m used to. Is this Latin?”
“Yup, and Greek too.” Lou Ellen elaborated “It was Nico’s idea to mix different languages and types of magic.”
“Huh,” Sadie hummed as she analysed the scroll “I got to admit, I’m impressed.”
Will couldn’t help but feel pride swell in his chest at the mention of his boyfriend. He was about to voice his thoughts out loud when someone knocked on the door.
With her head tilted in curiosity, Lou Ellen yelled “Come on in!”
The door opened, and to Will’s surprise, he found his new sister on the other side. She was wearing the same camp shirt and blouse as before. The girl peeked through the door from the wheelchair Will had seen near her bunk. Most interestingly, she had a small shoebox in her lap, covered in grease stains and pen scribbles.
“Hello,” Lou Ellen faced the newcomer, slightly surprised by someone else being here “can we help you with anything?”
“Oh, I heard that I might find Will around here,” she looked at him expectantly “I just wanted to talk to him for a second, if that’s alright?”
Will nodded with a light smile, and stood up to walk towards the door. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about what his half-sister wanted to talk to him about.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked casually, looking at the shoebox on her lap.
“I just wanted to give you this,” she moved her hand to open the box “for your quest.”
Intrigued, he leaned closer to have a peek at what she was talking about.
He nearly gasped at the sight.
They were shoes, yes. But not any shoes. They were smooth and elegant in shape and design, and it had small, mechanical parts that were visible from the outside. The pair was mainly white in colour with golden accents, with metallic pieces that seemed bathed in gold encasing the edges. Their soles had three small, ring shaped gold circles on them each. Most notably, there were metallic golden rings around the ankles of the shoe. To his surprise, Will realized the metal was not Celestial Bronze. He also took note of the small sun designs and patterns on the soles, small details he appreciated. For some reason, despite all the strange and flashy features, they still managed to maintain the shape of regular running sneakers.
“I got busy in the forges with the Hephaestus Cabin yesterday.” the girl shrugged shyly “They helped me make these real fast, I don’t know how they did it!”
“Woah…” he gasped in astoundment, too shocked by the sight of the shoes “But…how…?”
“Well…you see,” his sister responded, her eyes suddenly nostalgic “my grandfather was a son of Athena, and he taught me a lot about tinkering and design.”
Will was slightly taken aback. A demigod who lived long enough to be a grandfather? That wasn’t something you saw every day. There was a reason there weren’t many legacies in Camp Half-Blood in comparison to Camp Jupiter. In fact, now that Will thought about it, he had never met a legacy in Camp Half-Blood in all his time here.
“I designed these and made blueprints for them since I was little.” she continued “I have only improved the design over the years, because I never had the resources or the Imperial Gold to make them. Until now, of course.”
“…what do the mechanical bits do?” Will asked in curiosity, his eyes back on the pair of golden shoes.
“They capture light and sun energy, kind of like solar panels, but way more efficient.” she chirped, a hint of pride lacing her voice “That energy is used to charge the shoes. It lets them power jets on the soles to help the wearer hover in mid-air. Not enough to fly, sure. But if wielded right, you can use them to move at high speeds! As long as they have energy of course. They also capture light from the inside of the shoes, and I’ve heard you can…”
“Turn into a human glowstick?” Will answered, eliciting a giggle from his sister.
“Yes, that’s why I thought you would need them more than me.”
In the recesses of his mind however, Will couldn’t help but feel a little wary. He has heard what happened the last time someone gave special shoes to a demigod before a quest, and he has no intention of returning to Tartarus, especially on his own. On the other hand, he sees the gleam in the girl’s eyes, a look of pride and joy that gives away the pure intentions his sister has.
“These are so cool, thank you!” he finally exclaims, just now realizing he hadn’t thanked her yet “I really appreciate the help, really. But…why did you make them now? You’ve thought about making them for ages haven’t you?”
“Well…I made them mostly because I was bored,” the girl giggled softly “but honestly? I’ve always wanted to move…more. To move faster, you know?”
Her gaze shifted towards the forest, deep in thought.
“I can’t walk for too long without getting tired, so I thought that I could walk more if I moved faster.” she looked back at her brother “but I think you’ll need them more than me. Besides, the Hephaestus kids said they are happy to make another pair, so it’s no big loss.”
Will gives her a heartfelt smile, lifting up her mood “Thank you. This means a lot to me.”
“Anytime.” the girl nods back with a smile of her own.
“Will!” Sadie’s voice calls from the inside of the Lab “I think we got the spell!”
“I better go, I’ll see ya around!” the girl beckons her arms towards the wheelchair’s wheels, ready to go back.
“Wait!” Will exclaimed, leading the girl to look back at him.
He suddenly felt a bit embarrassed at what he was going to say, especially considering she had given her a really good gift, but it would be best to get this out of the way or it would be bothering him forever.
“I…don’t think I got your name?” Will chuckles nervously.
The girl looks slightly confused for a few seconds, before she blushes in embarrassment.
“Oh gods, I forgot to introduce myself didn’t I?” she put her hand in her face. “Sorry, I always forget to give new people my name.”
“It’s fine, it happens.” Will responded, slightly relieved. “So…let’s start over. I’m Will, head counsellor of Apollo Cabin, head of the Infirmary, and local human glowstick. And you are…”
The girl giggles at his introduction, to his delight, before responding.
“Well, nice to meet you Will.” the girl seems to take a second before continuing.
“My name is Maria. Daughter of Apollo, Legacy of Athena, and aspiring head of the Infirmary.”
Will smirks at the suggestion “We’ll see about that.”
The two siblings share a laugh. The moment of peace is interrupted however, as Sadie calls for Will once more.
“I better go.” Maria answers “I’ll see ya around.”
And after saying his goodbyes, Will entered back into the cabin, new shoes in hand. Maria looked at the closed cabin door for a few seconds, lost in thought, before grabbing her wheelchair’s wheels, heading back to camp for the day.
To say Walt was in shock would be an understatement.
The poor boy was staring at the table he was sitting at, illuminated only by nearby streetlight. The café they had found was closed for the night, but the outdoor tables were the closest place the duo could find to take a breather and process just what the fuck they have gotten themselves into.
Nico was not as affected as Walt, but he was shocked nonetheless. If Nico hadn’t known better, he would’ve thought Walt had gone full-on catatonic.
And the worst part was that he couldn’t blame him. Who wouldn’t be surprised at the realization and confirmation of the fact they were now in an alternate universe? Nico himself was having trouble processing this information.
“We…did it.” Walt finally said after a few minutes of silence “W–we actually fucking did it.”
“No shit Sherlock” Nico bit back, getting the idea that it might not be the best time to joke.
After all, they were in a completely different world. One where magic seemed to not work properly. Where the mist just…wasn’t there. Where there were no gods. No Greek, Roman, or Egyptian Gods, at least.
Before Walt could say anything else, something occurred to Nico. He didn’t want to say it, but he knew he had to.
“…how are we going to get back?”
Walt froze once more, his face dropping even lower than before.
“…you have the spell, right?” he looked at Nico, only for him to despair when the son of Hades couldn’t meet his eyes "Right?"
Hoping he was just misremembering things, Nico rummaged and looked through his pockets and inside his aviator jacket. His hope evaporated after he finds nothing.
“Maybe it fell near the buildings where we shadow-travelled?” Walt suggested, not wanting to entertain the idea that they might have lost the scroll in the travel between universes.
“No, it didn’t.” Walt’s face lights up with hope once more at Nico’s words. “I think I dropped it…back at the Lab.”
Walt’s face drops as his relief is immediately crushed once more. Nico begins to think that panicking would be an appropriate reaction to this situation.
“Can you remember the spell?” Walt asks, trying to find a way out of this mess “We can try to rebuild the spell and–”
“No magic, remember?” Nico reminded him grimly “Only my powers work in here, and that’s because they’re a part of me. I’ve only worked with magic for a few months, but I think they are more of a language to shape reality. And since this is a different reality…”
“…then our magic might not be compatible” Walt finished his thought. His brow suddenly frowned as something else occurred to him, before he paled in shock. “Oh shit.”
“What?” Nico asked, slightly alarmed at his friend’s sudden change in demeanour.
“The Duat.” Walt said as if that were to explain everything. “There is no Mist in here, because there is no Duat.”
Suddenly, Walt doubled over in his seat, putting his hands on his head on instinct. Nico immediately went to his side, trying to remember the medical training Will had given him. Before he could even put any of it into practice however, another voice came from Walt’s mouth.
“What is going on? Where am I?” the voice said, who Nico assumed was Anubis “Why can’t I feel the Duat?”
“Catch up, sleepyhead.” Nico deadpanned, which only earned him a glare from the god wearing Walt’s face.
"How did I even fall asleep?" Anubis asked, genuine confusion in his voice. “The last thing I remember is us grabbing you before you fell into that portal and…oh.”
“Yeah…we might’ve been successful on the ‘multiverse-travelling’ thing,” Nico sheepishly elaborated “and now we might be stuck here… with no way to get back.”
“WHAT?” Anubis shrieked, which looked slightly amusing coming from Walt’s mouth.
Before Nico could respond, Anubis’ expression suddenly changed back to how it was before the god had taken over.
“Dude! Warn me next time!” Walt reprimanded, putting a hand to his forehead as if he had a headache.
"You don’t get to talk! You were the one that dragged me into this mess! Especially when I specifically told you not to!" Anubis took back control just to annoy Walt.
Nico was slightly shocked by his friend(s)'s host-possession-body-sharing-control thing. He had never seen Anubis and Walt fight over their control of the body like this.
The god and the magician kept overtaking each other’s control over Walt’s body, until the latter seemed to come to a realization that made his face drop in horror “Oh. Oh no.”
“What now?” Nico asked.
“…Anubis.” Walt said with wide eyes “Anubis is here.”
“…yeah?” the son of Hades questioned “I already knew that. It’s kind of your thing.”
“No no, I mean, he’s here,” Walt emphasized “with us. Away from our world.”
Although he didn’t fully understand the implications of that fact, a bad feeling crept up Nico’s spine.
“And that means…?”
“Well, how do I explain this…?” Walt inhaled sharply “Egyptian Gods aren’t like your Gods. They can’t physically manifest in the mortal world without a host.”
"That can be a human, animal, object, place, building, anything really," Anubis’ voice took over. "I only manifested on graveyards before Walt let me join him."
“Which I still regret to this day.” Walt’s face shifted back to a smirk, no real fire in his words. Anubis still stuck his tongue out, which was odd considering Walt wouldn’t be able to see it.
“Anyways,” Walt continued “the reason a host is needed is because Egyptian Gods are creatures of the Duat. When the host is too damaged, killed, or the god uses too much energy without rest, they get send back into the depths of the Duat.”
“But there is no Duat here.” Nico said, following Walt’s train of thought “So if you get hurt or something else sends Anubis out of you…”
"…I don’t…" Anubis suddenly sounded uncharacteristically scared “…I don’t know what would happen. Would I…?”
“Die?” Nico finished his sentence. “Probably?”
"Oh no. Oh no no no no no no." Anubis began to pace back and forth, his eyes full of disbelief "Does this mean I’m…mortal?"
“Um, we might have bigger problems right now, babe.” Walt said to Anubis “It also doesn’t help that, since you’re severed from the Duat, your magic reserves are also limited, so there is only so much energy you can use until you run out. And that’s not even considering…”
“What?” Nico questioned when Walt didn’t finish his sentence.
“Well…” Walt’s face suddenly felt grim, which alarmed Nico “Without Anubis, the order of our universe, the Ma’at, will be unbalanced. It will lead chaos, or Isfet, to run rampant.”
“And that means…?” the son of Hades asked, knowing he wouldn’t like the answer.
"It means bad things are going to happen, son of Hades." Anubis responded “Anything from war to the end of the world.”
Nico’s stomach drops as he hears this. Another war? No way. He’s already had enough of those in his lifetime, thank you very much. The end of the world didn’t sound much better.
“And that’s not all.” Walt continued “Without Anubis, no one will be there to guide the dead to the Egyptian afterlife, or help in the weighing of the heart.”
“Which Osiris will definitely notice, and then the gods will start accusing each other, and then they’ll realize it’s something to do with the Greek pantheon, and we’ll be in so, so much trouble.” Anubis finished, his voice filling with nervousness "Also, can we get back to the fact that I can die now? Because I feel like that’s kind of important, and – oh my gods is this terrifying, how can you live without knowing you will never fade out of existence as long as humanity lives? Gods, what if we get run over, or if a monster gets us, or if…"
As Walt tried to calm down an increasingly panicking Anubis (which was difficult, since…well, they shared a mouth), Nico tried to think of anything to say. He couldn’t exactly think about his current predicament while his two companions were too busy having an existential crisis and trying to stop the other from having an existential crisis respectively.
He blames his tiredness on what he did next. Apparently Nico hadn’t learned anything about his years as a demigod, because he thought it would be a good, even a great idea, to say what he said, and to expect no consequences whatsoever.
“Well,” Nico started, the words spilling from his mouth “At least it can’t get any worse–”
By the time he realized what he said, it was already too late, as things immediately got worse.
Walt yells in surprise as a series of loud, shattering explosions catches the boys’ attention, and before they can even react, a loud bang resonates a few blocks from them, sending shards of broken glass pouring down on them.
Nico and Walt only manage to avoid the worst of the debris as they tried to hide under the table, the former getting cuts on his face and hands from the falling shards of glass. They both realized too late that they wouldn’t fit under it, but before they can come up with a better plan, another explosion comes from the building. A much louder and powerful explosion, enough to make a hole in the building’s walls and send pieces of concrete falling down onto the ground.
From the corner of his eye, Nico sees a blue figure flying out of the building, moving too fast to identify it. The only details he gets other than its colour are its bipedal shape, and a bright, red glow coming from it.
He doesn’t have time to analyse it further however, as another piece of rubble falls on top of them, only saved by the table that covered them. The pair (trio?) immediately leaped out of the table in opposite directions. Nico manages to get on his feet quickly, but Walt is too disoriented to do the same.
“What the heck was that!?” Walt shouts, panic and fear in his voice. He looks even more shell-shocked than before, his eyes impossibly wider and his mouth wide open in shock. “Why did you have to jinx it!?”
Before Nico could even respond, a dark blur approaches them from the road at high speeds, and several things happen at once.
In the split seconds of mayhem, Nico manages to catch a glimpse of a motorcycle, likely the black figure that had approached them. He manages to see a white, gloved hand, larger than his own reach for the back of Walt’s shirt.
But what really shocked him was the rider.
That–It–They weren’t human, that much was clear. Their humanoid shape were where the similarities ended. The…creature had a torso significantly smaller than its head. Thin legs and arms came out of it, wearing gold rings on their ankles and wrists. What really caught his eye was their fur–no, their quills.
Apart from their white bush of chest hair and their tanned muzzle from which a black nose came out, their body was almost entirely covered in jet black quills. The creature’s large head had the most, as they curved into a sextet of quills, each of which had a red stripe on it. Pointy, triangled ears came out from the top of their head. Nico thought they looked like a Disney character, if Mickey Mouse was marketed towards edgy teenagers and a different kind of rodent.
His attention shifted to the creatures eyes as they stared at him. The bright, violent red glow coming out of their oval-shaped pupils was enough to freeze him into place, the glare intimidating and careless.
Time seemed to suddenly restart as the newcomer sped away from the scene, dragging Walt away with him as they became a blur in the road. Not even a second later, a large piece of rubble fell right where Walt’s head would’ve been, had he not moved at all.
Nico, on the other hand, did not move at all out of shock. He had nearly seen his friend die, only saved by a strange creature on a motorcycle, who definitely saw speed limits as mere suggestions. His breathing was shaky and scared, and who could blame him?
A quarter of a minute passed before the realization that Oh, Walt was taken hit him. Nico lightly slapped himself back to his senses, and stood up with urgency. He grabbed his fallen sword as he sprinted towards the direction the motorcycle had gone, hoping he wasn’t too late.
It didn’t take long for Nico to find Walt after that.
The only thing in the direction of the road the motorcycle had sped towards was the bridge. The large, red Golden Gate-like bridge he had seen when he was falling.
Of course, on closer inspection, he realized it couldn’t be the Golden Gate Bridge he knew existed on his own universe, as he had a feeling there weren’t as many tall towers, flashy billboards, and floating highway platforms in his universe’s San Francisco.
The road towards the non-Golden Gate Bridge was a complete disaster. The few cars, trucks and buses that had been out in the road at this hour of the night were completely wrecked. Fire and smoke blocked the road, forming a small maze of rubble and burning cars in the entrance to the bridge. Thankfully, he noted there were no people inside those cars anymore, and he didn’t sense death around him, which was good. Nico figured this had been the work of that strange flying blue figure that had flown by through the buildings and nearly gave Walt a heart attack.
Speaking of, after sneaking behind the destroyed cars, he finally managed to find a very distressed Walt, sitting in the pavement with his arms around his legs. Nico would say he was alive and well, but he wasn’t sure about that last part.
“Are you okay?” Nico panted, slightly startling the other boy.
“…no.” Walt said monotonously while staring into the ground, his voice cracking. “No, I am not. HOW COULD I BE AFTER THIS–!?”
He gestured wildly around him, “–HAPPENS?”
"I CAN’T DIE! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!" Anubis’ panicked voice came out of Walt’s voice, matching his boyfriend’s despair.
“I can take magic. I can live with the fact that there are Egyptian Gods. I can understand there are Greek Gods too. That is cool and normal for me.” Walt said, a façade of calmness masking his true panic "But alternate universes? Where there is no magic? Where we are probably stuck in for good? Where Anubis and I almost fucking die to a piece of rubble that some blue asshole dropped when breaking through a building? Where I get dragged across a pavement by a creature on a motorcycle, right after a near death experience? No. I’m done. I’m done with this shit. I want to go home. Please. PLEASE!"
Just as Nico sat there, unsure as to what to say in the face of his friend’s breakdown, they both hear a loud sound coming from the other side of the bridge.
"Before anything, we have to get out of here. Now." Nico said, grabbing Walt’s arm to get him to safety. However, Walt seemed to halt for a second, grabbing Nico and beckoning him to stay down. The son of Hades begrudgingly complied, only for him to get transfixed on what Walt was currently staring at.
The blue menace from before had skidded to a halt, now standing–no, hovering a few centimetres off the ground, staring with its back to Nico and Walt’s hiding spot behind a few wrecked cars, and facing the large police barricade in the entrance of the bridge.
To Nico’s surprise, the officers holding the barricade did not look like your regular police squad. They wore full-on military equipment, and had tanks, cars, and other kind of high-tech mechs on their side, aiming right at the blue figure that had wrecked the city. In all their uniforms, vehicles, and equipment had a logo with a large white G on it.
But what really caught his attention was the blue offender.
Its body was made almost entirely of blue metal. Its body parts where sharp and sophisticated, with metallic grey arms and legs. Two sharp triangular ears sat upon its large head, which had three blue metal fins coming out of it. On its chest, Nico could see what looked like a turbine or engine. It had faux red metallic shoes, which didn’t touch the ground. But once it turned its head backwards to get a glimpse at Nico, the son of Hades couldn’t help but freeze.
He had killed monsters before. He had fought in wars. He had gone against beings and horrors beyond his comprehension. But this…being’s eyes, its bright red pupils that gleamed against artificial pitch dark sclera…it shocked him like nothing ever had. There was no emotion, no soul, no empathy in its gaze. Nico would be lying if he said he didn’t feel intimidated by it.
The being’s (which Nico assumed was some sort of machine or automaton) attention shifted back to the barricade however, once a loud booming voice came from a megaphone.
"Freeze!" a man’s voice shouted, a hint of nervousness escaping him “This is the New Guardian Units of Nations! Surrender yourself to the United Federation, and return the Emerald you have stolen!” This is your first and only warning! Surrender–"
The man wasn’t able to finish however, as the blue machine dashed into a blur, right towards the barricade.
Before the soldiers had a chance to open fire, their machines and vehicles exploded in a bright flash of fire, sending soldiers and machinery flying off in all directions. The blue machine sped with terrifying speed, tearing through the tanks, cars and mechs that stood on his way like they were paper.
The soldiers that piloted the mechs immediately jumped out of their vehicles, and made a run of their lives. Most of them were humans, but Nico could swear he saw some other non-human figures in uniform running for their lives.
"Are they monsters? Demons? What is going on?" Nico thought to himself, as he watched the chaos that unfolded in front of him. But what he really focused on was the destruction the machine had caused in seconds, how it had destroyed everything in its path with no remorse or care for the people inside.
His thoughts were once again interrupted, when he saw a man in military uniform run in their directions, before he tripped over a small piece of rubble, catching the attention of the machine.
Nico rushed over towards the man, ignoring Walt’s cries. He lend his arm to the man, who took it and used it to stand up.
“Thank–” the man rasped, before his eyes widened at the sight of Nico “Kid, what are you doing here!? You got to run! Get away from Metal–”
He didn’t even finish his sentence, as a nearby military car exploded, sending Nico flying across the pavement. The car was launched right in front of Nico, blocking the man from being able to reach him.
With no other option, the man ran away, calling for help, while Nico tried to get to his feet, sword in hand.
He raised his head and immediately regretted it, as he saw the blue machine, who the man had called Metal, staring at him with his glowing red eyes.
Nico only had a second before the robot dashed in his direction, ready to claw through him. He swung his sword at the last possible second.
Suddenly, the sound of the machine dashing across the wind went silent. Nico looked up in confusion, only to be shocked at the sight.
He knew his sword couldn’t cut through metal easily, but it seemed to be sharp enough for the machine to come to a halt, as its metallic neck got caught right on the stygian iron sword.
The son of Hades knew he had to think fast. The robot’s head was not severed, but it looked looser than before. Nevertheless, he knew he couldn’t rip it off, since it risked making him lose his momentary advantage, as the robot had frozen in shock. However, Nico’s attention shifted elsewhere, towards the robot’s chest.
In the centre of it, where a turbine was meant to be, a red, glowing gem sat encrusted in the circular hole. It shimmered with a strange light, almost as if it was brimming with energy.
Without a second thought, Nico reached for the gem, grabbed it, and pulled.
The robot realized what he was trying to do, but Nico reacted just in time before the robot could retaliate, as he used his other fist to punch the robot square in the face, a metallic crack coming from its already damaged neck.
In the few seconds he had earned, Nico used all of his strength, ignoring the searing pain in his knuckles at the contact of metal, and pulled once more.
This time, the gem budged, and it came out of Metal’s chest with a resounding pop, sending Nico tumbling to the ground, jewel in hand.
A few seconds passed before Nico realized the robot wasn’t breaking or falling apart. To his horror, the robot only glared at him with more intensity than before. Before he had looked at Nico like he was easy prey, but now, he was completely and utterly enraged. His eyes glowed redder and redder, which is when Nico realised he had only pissed him off.
He wasn’t so lucky this time, as he couldn’t react before Metal punched him with all his might, sending him flying across the bridge. It was a miracle he hadn’t broken any bones so far, but he knew his luck would not last long. In the impact, he dropped his sword, which bounced away from him into the pavement, too far for him to reach in time.
Nico scowled in frustration as Metal suddenly dashed to his side, looking ready to tear him apart into pieces with its sharp metallic claws, and take back his gem from Nico’s cold dead hands.
“Well, this is it, I guess.” Nico thought "Of all the things that could've killed me, it had to be this blue fucker I don't even know the name of. Great. I'm sorry, Will..."
Just as he closed his eyes, getting ready for the impact, a loud metallic BANG made him look again.
To his surprise, a black and red ball of quills came flying at the speed of sound, and hit the robot on its side, sending it tumbling back, before Metal stood back up, now looking at the newcomer.
Nico was even more surprised when the ball of quills unrolled itself, to reveal the same creature that had taken Walt to safety before.
The son of Hades immediately rushed away, taking cover behind a car. He knew the creature had only bought him time, but despite his brain screaming at him to run, he couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the sight he was greeted with when he turned back.
Explosions of sound resonated every second, as the creature and the killer robot began to trade blows. All Nico could register were the black quills of the creature surrounded by an orange and red trail of energy, blurring as they moved at speeds faster than sound. The two were fighting frantically and viciously, punching and kicking at the other with no mercy, dodging and counterattacking within seconds as their speeds made them blur out of existence every so often. Arion would have trouble keeping up with the two, since their speed seemed to defy all logic, treating physics like a mere suggestion.
At one point, the dark creature jumped, curled into a spiky ball, and hit the robot with more force than it should’ve been possible. After the robot recovered, both fighters returned to trading blows, recovering their previous speed. Nico swore that, if he were to throw anything towards the fighting, it would be turned into dust immediately from the sheer friction alone.
Suddenly, the creature with quills let themself open, to Nico’s surprise. Before he could warn him of the incoming blow from the robot, the strangest thing occurred.
In the blink of an eye, the dark being vanished out of existence, their body disappearing in a sudden flash of light. Nico didn’t get to process that, as not even a second later, the creature rematerialized right behind the robot, their leg raised as if ready to kick the robot.
Which he did, as a loud BANG came out from the robot’s head. The blue machine whirred in apparent disgruntlement, as its already loose head spun in its place a couple of times, before glaring back at its adversary.
“Pathetic.” the creature spoke, to Nico’s surprise. Their (his?) voice was deep and serious, laced with annoyance towards the machine “Even the real faker is more of a challenge than you. He definitely lasts longer.”
That seemed to hit a nerve, as the robot’s eyes increased in glow, its following movements becoming more erratic and violent. As it began to strike back with more ferocity, the dark creature began to be pushed back by the machine. Before he could even notice, he stepped on a piece of rubble, making him lose his balance. Metal seizes the opportunity, as it curls into a sharp metal ball, and tackles the creature in the stomach.
To Nico’s shock, the creature was sent flying upwards by the hit, his eyes scrunched in pain. In the blink of an eye, the robot dashed upwards, and punched the quill-covered being in the face, sending him flying down towards one of the bridge’s beams, opposite to where Nico was hiding.
A sickening THUD can be heard as the creature’s head makes impact with the beam. He doesn’t pass out, which surprises Nico, but the look in his face is way too familiar to him. The look of disorientation gave away the fact that the creature had gotten a pretty bad concussion. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that he may not recover in time when the robot catches up to him.
As the realization hits Nico, he shakes the shock off his body as he leaps into action. He inwardly curses when he realizes he doesn’t have his sword; it was laying on the other side of the bridge-turned-battlefield, too far for him to reach without getting the robot’s attention.
Immediately as he comes to this conclusion, a strange warmth covered his hand. Nico looked at it, and realized he was still holding the gem he had ripped off the robot’s chest. It was roughly large enough to fit in his hand, and it glowed a bright red colour. Its round brilliant cut seemed perfect, each edge and face the correct size, as if there had been no mistakes when cutting the jewel. However, what really freaked Nico out was the feeling of it in his hand. A strange, buzzing of energy was sent through his body as he held it, seemingly endless power flowing within the precious stone, pulling him towards it as it glowed brighter and brighter in response to Nico’s thoughts, almost as if it was begging him to use it. But how?
His head suddenly snaps back up as he realized the robot had already gotten to the creature. The dark being was still trying to get his bearings, just as Metal got ready to jump towards him, its sharp claws ready to tear him apart.
“NO!” Nico yells out without thinking, reaching towards the robot with his free hand.
Before he could even realize his mistake, something shifted within Nico. The familiar feeling of shadows began to emanate from his body, which is when he realized he could see it emanate from his body, as clouds of darkness began to surround him. A strange pull–no, a strange push towards his stretched arm was the only warning he got before it happened.
It was so quick, so incredible, that neither Nico or the creature got the time to realize what had happened until a few seconds later. A shapeless projectile of darkness materialized in Nico’s hand, glowing with a red light inside the shadows, which immediately flew right towards Metal’s face. Caught off-guard, the robot was met with an explosion of energy and force, strong enough to send him flying towards the centre of the bridge. It hits the floor before it can even stop, its worn metal body whirring and sparking against the pavement as it rolled and bumped from the impact, finally clashing against the cars it had torn through just a few minutes prior.
Time seemed to stop for a few moments, as the air was the only thing that could be heard. Even the dark creature, now significantly more aware, was looking at Nico in a combination of shock, confusion, and alarm.
The son of Hades warily looked down at his hand, still shaky from shock. Darkness and shadows still seeped out of his own palm, as if it were ink turned into smoke.
He recognized this feeling; it was similar to the feeling he got when he tried to shadow-travel, but much more concentrated and powerful. Despite knowing these were part of his powers, he had never been able (or tried at least) to use the shadows this way, to bend it to its will like this. Especially not as a projectile.
Nico’s gaze drifted towards his other hand, where he found the red gem glowing with more intensity than before. He suspected that the gem had played a part in this, but how or why was beyond him.
“What in the…?” Nico’s gaze turned towards the creature with dark quills, who had noticed his presence. His eyes were wide with shock, looking at him as if Nico had summoned all of the skeletons out of his closet “How did you do that?”
Before the son of Hades could respond (something he had not been able to do a lot today), he was suddenly tackled from the side, the blue machine already having recovered, its eyes glowing with rage.
Out of pure desperation, Nico decides to risk it all, and shadow travels himself away before his head could hit the head, leaving Metal to claw away at nothingness.
However, something was different. This time, shadow travelling felt…smoother, for the lack of a better word. Nico only caught a glimpse inside the darkness before he was plunged back into reality, rematerializing right behind the robot.
Just as the blue machine was beginning to turn its head, Nico reacted on pure demigod/ADHD-borne instinct, and punched the living daylights out of the robot. Right before connecting his fist to the metal casing however, he curiously willed the shadows to wrap around his closed fist, charging energy in the few seconds before impact. Immediately after his punch landed, a burst of shadows and small sparks of red light came out of the impact, sending Metal flying towards the other side of the bridge once more.
As the robot was send flying backwards towards the other side of the bridge, a realization hit Nico so suddenly that it nearly made him drop the gem. He wasn’t…tired. Not tired in the slightest. Not even after shadow travelling and using parts of his shadow powers the had never used before. He didn’t feel any weakness in his body, or the familiar exhaustion on his bones after overexerting himself, or the feeling of dissolving into the shadows.
Instead, he felt…energized? Awake? Filled to the brim with energy? Nico briefly had to wonder if this is what people with regular sleep schedules feel like every day.
His attention shifts towards the glowing red jewel in his hand, feeling pure energy flowing through his veins.
“The gem…” Nico’s eyes widened as he stared at the gem “…is it giving me energy? How?”
The son of Hades stood in place, his eyes transfixed on the gem on his hand. The realization had hit him like a truck, especially considering what it implied. Does this mean he can use his powers with no drawbacks? Without getting tired? Without passing out?
Suddenly, a small and dry laugh escaped his mouth, to the surprise of both the creature and Metal, both still laying on the ground from confusion and shock. It didn’t take long for it to devolve into hysterical laughter, so much so that Nico had to clutch his own stomach, unable to keep himself together. It was just so ridiculous. Of course all of this happened to him in a single day. Because why not? He can’t even blame the universe this time, because he’s also in a different universe.
His thoughts are interrupted by the mechanical whirring of Metal’s head, snapping its dark red eyes towards him. However, he was met with a deranged, giddy, downright feral look in Nico’s eyes. His shit-eating grin stretched across his entire face. Had Metal been organic, he would’ve likely flinched at the sight, as per fight or flight.
Instead, the robot stood back up on its metallic legs, and (foolishly) lifted a finger to taunt Nico, moving it as if telling him to “Come and get me.”
Nico panted for air as he noticed his opponents gesture, his smile never leaving his face.
Before the robot could reach him, he commanded the shadows to surround him, feeling the electrical surge of power running through his veins.
“Huh.” Nico muttered to himself, grinning even wider. “I might be starting to like this place.”
Not even a second later, both Metal and Nico lunged at each other, and all hell broke loose.
Walt gaped at the scene in front of him, unable to move from the shock. He would’ve said he couldn't believe his eyes, but that would be a lie, considering everything that had happened today.
He had been looking for Nico after the blue robot thing attacked him (“Not even Sadie gets into this much trouble”, Anubis thought, to Walt’s agreement), since Walt had lost him after hiding behind some cars. The magician felt bad for not doing anything to help Nico, but he had a feeling that he wasn’t going to be much help. Of course, now he realized he shouldn’t have even worried about the son of Hades, as he seemed to be doing just fine. A little bit too fine.
The magician almost doesn’t recognize Nico, but he manages to make out the shape of his body somewhere amongst…whatever this was.
It looked like a fight, but Walt couldn’t be sure, since Nico and the robot were moving at speeds too high for him to process. The son of Hades is surrounded by clouds of pure darkness, mixed with bursts of red energy. Now Walt wasn’t an expert on demigods, but what Nico had told him about his powers did not match what he was seeing here.
Suddenly, the shadows around Nico grew and swallowed him, only for him to vanish into thin air, to Walt’s surprise. Hadn’t he shadow travelled earlier today? Wasn’t he exhausted from it? Nico had told him that after shadow travelling, he feels too tired to even walk. The same person who is currently fighting against a killer robot bare-handed, and winning.
Nico rematerializes almost instantly, and immediately kicks the blue robot on the back. Not even a second later, Nico shadow travels again, only to appear under the robot immediately after, who hadn’t even gotten the chance to counterattack. To Walt’s shock, darkness covered in red energy began to build up in Nico’s fist, before he immediately punched the machine with such force, that it resounded through the entire bridge.
As the robot is sent flying to the sky, Nico warps once more, not even breaking a sweat, before appearing right above the robot, kicking him back down with another punch, cracking the pavement as the blue robot hits the ground.
While the two re-engaged in combat, Walt couldn’t help but gape in a combination of shock and horror. And deep inside of him, he can sense Anubis feeling the exact same way.
“I’m scared.” Anubis stated nonchalantly, which Walt would’ve normally teased him for, if he didn’t share the sentiment. It reminded them of what had happened at the Lab, the same feral look evident in Nico’s eyes. Walt shudders at the memory alone, knowing he would most certainly get nightmares about it.
He shifts his view towards the creature with dark quills standing not too far away from him, who was staring at the fight in front of them with their jaw on the floor. When he caught sight of Walt, he seemed torn between 1) asking him what he was doing here or what was even going on, 2) jumping into the fight to assist Nico (who probably didn’t need the help, if the beating he was giving the robot was anything to go by), or 3) blowing up the bridge at the same time, judging by the hint of frustration Walt caught on the creature’s face, or that is what it looked like to him at least. The magician had never seen a creature like this before, and neither had Anubis apparently. Before he could even ask, the being tore itself out of his shocked haze, and glared towards Walt.
“Are you with him?” he asked while pointing a Nico, with a deep and serious voice that slightly intimidated Walt. He hadn’t even known the creature could talk. But again, he had seen him riding a motorcycle, so it wouldn’t be too outlandish to think that he could talk as well.
“Y–yes.” Walt confirmed.
“How is he doing…” the dark-quilled creature gestured towards the blur of shadows that Nico had become, hitting the robot from different directions in a few seconds, shadow travelling over and over again, punching Metal with his shadow powered fist with no mercy. "…that?"
“I’m…not sure.” Walt hesitated.
He didn’t want to spill the details of Nico’s powers to a complete stranger, even if they had saved their lives. Besides, it looked like the creature already had something in mind.
“He’s using the power of the Chaos Emerald on his own.” the creature stated with a hint of disbelief in his voice “That should not be possible. Who sent you?”
“Uh…” Walt blue-screened, since nothing the creature said made sense to him. “Chaos Emerald?”
“Yes. Are you not familiar with the Emeralds?” the being raised an eyebrow.
“Not that I can think of…” Walt said, feeling like he was missing a lot of vital information. Before the creature could question him further however, a particularly loud impact came from where the fight was taking place. The two of them turned their heads towards the commotion, only to gape at the scene even more than they had before.
Because in front of them, was a similarly shocked Nico di Angelo, with one of his fists outstretched as if it had landed a hit on air, right above the headless body of the blue robot.
Not even the clanking sound that Metal’s head did as it rolled off to the ground could even faze the trio, as they stared at the beheaded body of the robot.
Nico looked as if he couldn’t believe he had done that. Especially with his bare hands. And it seemed like his companions seemed to agree.
He didn’t have to celebrate however, as he was met face-to-face with the creature with dark quills. Or he would’ve, if the creature wasn’t so short. He had at least the foresight to approach him while remaining a good distance away, so they wouldn’t have to look up to him.
“How did you do that?” the creature repeated while glaring at Nico, his voice increasing in severity. “Who are you, and who sent you?”
“…who’s asking?” Nico responded, exhaling slowly as the adrenaline rush wore off.
“I could be asking you the same question,” the dark creature looked at the pair. Walt moved closer to Nico, so that they were both facing the mysterious being. “Let me ask again: How did you do that? Who are you, and who sent you?”
“Nobody sent us.” Walt managed to find his voice “My name is Walt Stone, and we just…appeared here?”
“It’s complicated.” Nico adds, which leads to the creature raising an eyebrow at them. “I’m Nico di Angelo. As for how I did what, you’re going to have to be a bit more specific.”
“You know what I mean. Not everyone can warp from one place to another—”
“I thought I saw you doing that earlier.” Nico sassed with a hint of confusion in his eyes.
“That’s different,” the creature spat back “I know what Chaos Control looks like. And that wasn’t what you did. I saw the strange projectile, the shadow fist, that shouldn’t be possible for most humans. And neither it is using the power of a Chaos Emerald so easily.”
“Chaos what?” Nico frowned in confusion, before taking a look at the red gem in his hand “Oh, you mean this? I thought emeralds were supposed to be green?”
The hedgehog flinched back in surprise, as if Nico had suddenly grown a third head “…yes, but…do you really not know what a Chaos Emerald is?”
“No…?” Nico responded, which Walt seemed to agree with.
The strange creature seemed to ponder for a few seconds, before bluntly asking “Have you been living under a rock?”
Both boys were slightly taken aback, before realising why he thought that was the case.
“Well, no… it’s a long story” Walt responded sheepishly.
“We still don’t even know your name.” Nico added, raising an eyebrow back at the creature “Or what you are. And a thank you would be nice, considering I got rid of that robot for you.”
“You are foolish to believe he will not come back for you.”
The trio turned towards the source of the voice, which came from the direction where Metal’s head had rolled off to. And hovering right above the metallic head, was the strangest human-looking person Nico had ever seen (in this universe at least).
She looked like a young and pale girl, no taller than the dark quilled being next to them. Her hair was short and white with a swirl in it, surrounded by a strange blue highlight. She wore a purely white dress, with sleeves too wide for her arms. Nico noticed, along with her white Mary Jane shoes, that the insides of her dress were the same colour as the highlights in her hair. Suddenly, he noticed that those weren’t highlights, as they shifted strangely, almost as if the pattern was changing. He thought it looked like the image a broken screen gives, but before he could ponder even more, the girl glared at him with her blue, cynical eyes.
“You.” She stated coldly, which would’ve been unsettling for most people, but Nico just found it pretentious. “I do not understand how you have managed to accomplish this. But be warned. No one can destroy one of father’s most prized creations and walk away unpunished.”
“Get lost, Sage.” the dark quilled creature glared at her, venom lacing his voice. His anger at the floating little girl only increased when she gave him a dismissive look. “The doctor shouldn’t have stolen a Chaos Emerald if he didn’t want any of his minions wrecked.”
"Your opinion is irrelevant to the doctor’s plans." she turned back towards Nico. The creature immediately stepped in front of Nico, as if to protect him. Sage seemed to evaluate the situation for a few seconds, before hovering to the ground and gently grabbing Metal’s head in her hands instead.
“I may be outmatched today,” Sage turned towards Nico with her most menacing glare “but do not think this is the end, child. You have been made an enemy of the doctor. I would advise you to watch your back for as long as you are alive. Father doesn’t forgive easily.”
And without anything more to say, she floated further above the ground, before dashing into the air, flying until she was out of sight, taking Metal’s head with her.
Not long afterwards, a small squad of strange orange robots appeared out of nowhere and began to carry the headless body of Metal away, marching with a bounce in each step. They looked and walked like life-sized children’s toys, except these looked more advanced and high-tech. The creature merely scoffed at their presence, not even bothering to destroy them. Before Nico could think of stopping them, he was grabbed by the arm by the creature.
"You are not going anywhere," he said with enough severity to make Walt flinch “You are in great danger, being on the doctor’s radar. And I can’t exactly leave you with N.G.U.N. They would lock you up and experiment on you until they find a way to make you a weapon if I don’t watch over you. I’m not taking that chance.”
Nico had a feeling there was something more hiding behind that comment, but he didn’t feel particularly inclined to press right now. Besides, he was still feeling incredibly lost, so a strange creature telling him about the possibility of him becoming a government weapon was not reassuring.
“And you,” the creature pointed at Walt “are coming with me as well. I will escort you somewhere safe. Somewhere where we will have a conversation about what exactly happened here. And you two better have a good explanation.”
“Wait,” Nico interrupts, earning him a glare from the creature “you want to protect us? Why?”
The creature hesitates for a moment, suddenly at a loss for words. After a few seconds of silence, he sighs.
"I don't want the doctor or N.G.U.N. to get any ideas, that's all."
He doesn't sound very convincing to either of the boys, but Nico then asks what they were both thinking.
"What if we don't go with you?"
"You would have to fend for yourselves," the creature looks at them, as if judging if they would be able to survive on their own "If you have somewhere to go, then be my guest. But I have a feeling you don't."
Nico and Walt look at one another, realizing he was right. They had nowhere to go. Neither of them knew no one in this universe, and they highly doubted Camp Half-Blood, Jupiter, or the House of Life even existed here.
After a few seconds of silent debating, they both sighed in surrender, their shoulders slumping with exhaustion.
"Fine." Nico begrudgingly accepted, before looking at the creature, a hint of distrust lacing his eyes "But if we are coming with you, we should at least know your name."
The creature looked slightly taken aback, although the only signs were the slight widening of his eyes, followed by a sudden frown. After a few seconds of silence, he finally relented.
“Very well.” The creature beckoned them to follow him to the entrance of the bridge, where his motorbike was parked before the fight “My name is Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog. Now hurry up and don’t slow me down. I got somewhere to be on the way home.”
Notes:
soo...I may have tricked y'all into reading a Sonic the Hedgehog crossover. Sorry if it isn't what you came here for. Either way, I have updated the tags, so it shows that it is one. Again, it is up to you if you continue to read this, and I understand some of you might be dissuaded because its not just Riordanverse, or if you don't know much about Sonic. Either way, the choice is with you.
I would love to hear what you think in the comments, my motivation feeds on them.
We'll start next chapter with Will, so we can see them finally making some progress.
Enjoy your reading!
water_lily124 on Chapter 1 Sun 14 Sep 2025 01:26PM UTC
Comment Actions
agaydisaster1408 on Chapter 1 Tue 16 Sep 2025 11:55AM UTC
Last Edited Tue 16 Sep 2025 11:58AM UTC
Comment Actions
NereusRai on Chapter 1 Mon 15 Sep 2025 11:06PM UTC
Comment Actions
agaydisaster1408 on Chapter 1 Tue 16 Sep 2025 11:57AM UTC
Comment Actions
ad_astra_H3RS on Chapter 1 Wed 17 Sep 2025 05:25PM UTC
Comment Actions
agaydisaster1408 on Chapter 1 Thu 18 Sep 2025 10:33AM UTC
Comment Actions
Vertiee (Guest) on Chapter 2 Tue 14 Oct 2025 04:38AM UTC
Comment Actions
agaydisaster1408 on Chapter 2 Tue 14 Oct 2025 10:45AM UTC
Comment Actions
Azalea_rose on Chapter 3 Thu 02 Oct 2025 06:49PM UTC
Comment Actions
agaydisaster1408 on Chapter 3 Sat 04 Oct 2025 11:24PM UTC
Comment Actions
Amon (Guest) on Chapter 3 Fri 03 Oct 2025 01:11AM UTC
Comment Actions
agaydisaster1408 on Chapter 3 Sat 04 Oct 2025 11:26PM UTC
Comment Actions
water_lily124 on Chapter 3 Sat 04 Oct 2025 10:46PM UTC
Comment Actions
agaydisaster1408 on Chapter 3 Sat 04 Oct 2025 11:29PM UTC
Comment Actions
MABELAND on Chapter 3 Sun 05 Oct 2025 06:11AM UTC
Comment Actions
agaydisaster1408 on Chapter 3 Sun 05 Oct 2025 12:35PM UTC
Comment Actions