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Nico might still be new to the whole "socialising" thing... but he's pretty sure the sense of dread he feels upon walking into the Big House is not a Child of the Underworld ability. He's pretty sure it's not, because he's been able to sense the impending doom of a conversation long before he ever found out about any of this half-blood business... but, he quickly brushes the thoughts away and lets the dread be drowned by annoyance.
He's not really sure what's going on; but, being summoned to the Big House usually means trouble or quest. Since the Oracle has been silent, he doubts it's a quest; and, given that he can hear Percy, he's almost positive it's trouble. What he isn't expecting... is the pair of blondes in the room, as well. Anger is starting to sound better than annoyance, with just a speckle of dread. Any time the children of the Big Three end up together something bad always follows. Jason and Percy know that... and still invited Will. Or summoned him or whatever they did—
Nico doesn't even realise his nails are digging into his palms until Will looks back over his shoulder and the warily amused expression that had been on his face immediately turns into a welcoming smile. For a moment Nico panics—glances down to make sure he didn't destroy anything—and then embarrassed and then just a tad annoyed again. Not bad annoyed. He's slowly learning that there are, gods forbid, good types of annoyed. The kind of annoyed that comes hand-in-hand with dating a son of Apollo. The kind of annoyed when aforementioned son of Apollo decides to more or less announce to the entire camp they are dating by physically hauling Nico away from his lone spot at Hades table and sitting him with the rest of the Apollo kids. There had been very little warning—"Hey, Nico, morning hug?" and a begrudging compliance (Nico is only just coming to terms with the fact he will never be a morning person)—before Will had slipped his arms around Nico's torso and actually snuggled him for a few seconds. Nico was just trying to figure out why Will insisted on nestling against his hair when he was suddenly in the air and being carried away. He's proud of himself for not screaming but that certainly hadn't stopped the string of Italian, Greek, and English swears and threats that followed. The entire camp was staring, by the time Will deposited him—ok, deposit is a little harsh. He set Nico down very gentle, nuzzled against his hair one more time and then sat down next to him—and Nico... Nico's kind of surprised he didn't faint right then and there. He felt the heat taking over his face—uncertain it was embarrassment or anger or a bit of both or just pure mortification—but he couldn't find the words to express any of it. He'd spent a few minutes giving Will the darkest glare he could muster without actually turning to face him (mostly in fear he would actually punch him), before Austin pushed a plate towards him, "Eat. Will's right, you need food."
That particular morning had been about a month ago, just after Jason had come back from Camp Jupiter. Nico wasn't really sure where Piper and Annabeth were; but, Jason had heard about the ordeal from Percy, who heard it from one of the Aphrodite kids. Since then, whenever they wanted to get Nico to do anything and knew it was going to be something he absolutely would never in a million years agree to... they got Will in on it. Thankfully, Will usually took Nico's side (most notably, when Percy and Jason were still desperately holding onto the hope that Leo was ok. When they spent every moment they could corner Nico asking the same thing over and over: "Are you sure?"... Nico was grateful when Will intervened and that was before they started dating.) but sometimes... sometimes Will took their side. Nico had the vaguest feeling this was one of those times.
Percy and Jason hadn't noticed him yet—or, if they did, they didn't acknowledge him yet. Chiron had his arms crossed, his tail giving a vaguely annoyed flicker that said he'd been arguing with Percy for more than the few minutes it took Nico to get the summon and make his way to the Big House from the dining pavilion. (Which had taken longer than normal because the other Apollo kids wanted to eavesdrop. They weren't normally so nosy, but when Will hadn't shown up to breakfast and Nico suddenly got a summons... that meant they were extremely interested. Nico had to promise to fill them in later to get them to stay put. He had a feeling he wouldn't need to tell them and that just made the sense of dread return.)
He finally sighed, clearing his throat to get the rest of the room's attention, "You wanted to see me, Chiron?"
Percy jumped and spun around; Jason finally looked over his shoulder and flashed a grin at Nico when he waved, "We left you a seat by Will. How long were you planning on standing there?"
"If you knew I was here you should've said something—"
"You knew he was there, Grace? Seriously? You couldn't have warned me—"
"Nico, sit with meee." Will pointed to the open spot on the couch next to him, ignoring that Percy and Jason began bickering, knowing it wasn't remotely hostile. He was still smiling and Jason's earlier smile was unnerving. They were definitely planning something; but, Nico complied and slowly lowered himself to the spot, just close enough that he and Will weren't making any physical contact... not that it mattered a few seconds later when Will dragged him into a hug. Nico had complained the first few days—probably a week—before he was finally comfortable with the fact that Will was always—without a doubt, one way or another—going to get his morning hug. Satisfied, Will released him and settled back to his previously relaxed position; they didn't separate and were still close enough that their legs brushed. It didn't take Will long to lean on Nico and Nico felt a faint heat crawling up the back of his neck. This was perfectly normal when they were alone and Nico might have been nervous if he did this in front of too many people... but, around Jason and Percy... he figured it could be worse.
Chiron finally cleared his throat, "Good morning, Nico." Nico gave a tiny wave, "I apologise for taking you from breakfast; but, as this matter concerns you, I would like to hear your opinion before I decide."
Percy was giving him an expectant, excited look. He was still a little wary around Nico, but they'd more or less moved past the hostility and trust issues. He was a lot more relaxed whenever Will was around but Nico shrugged it off; no one was ever really comfortable around any of the Underworld kids. ... Will and Jason being apparent exceptions. He pushed the thoughts away and, before Chiron could explain why he'd been summoned, mustered the best deadpan voice he could, "Whatever Percy's plan was, I'm against it."
Jason immediately turned away; but Nico definitely just heard him trying to cover an amused snort. He was failing, spectacularly, because a few seconds later his shoulders were shaking from the effort and he'd started coughing to suppress it. Even Will gave a polite cough, though he was obviously biting hard on the inside of his cheek before he made an attempt to soothe Nico over, "Come on, just hear him out, Nico."
"No."
"It's a great idea!"
"Shut it, Jackson. Your ideas never end well for me. Especially when any combination of the Big Three are involved."
Percy looked like he wanted to argue, then thought better of it. Nico had a creeping suspicion that whatever he was planning, he'd already run it by Annabeth for input and had brought it to Chiron, even when she told him it was a bad idea. Probably in about the same way Nico just did.
The last time Percy had some inane plan that involved a combination of the Big Three, it had been when Thalia and her Hunters—along with Hylla and her Amazons—had stopped by to recover and introduce themselves to their opposing camps. There'd been some tension between the Hunters and Camp Jupiter; but, they'd resolved it pretty quick. Hylla and most of the Ares kids hit it off almost right away, though he was pretty sure the Stoll brothers would never go near them again. It was still tense, with the fresh alliance between Greek and Roman half-bloods finally coming down from battle-induced adrenaline... things were starting to sink in and they were all looking at each other, waiting to see who would make the first move. It had somehow turned into a few days of friendly competition—to honour their dead, to honour Leo and all the other sacrifices that had been made, to toast new friendships. Friendly. Nico was pretty sure no one would ever trust Ares, Mars, and Bellona kids teaming up for any event ever again. But the final day of the competition—and Nico still isn't sure how it happened or why any of them agreed—put both camps, the Hunters, and the Amazons against them. Thalia had agreed to fight alongside her brother; Tyson had joined in on the game, too; and, of course, Nico and Hazel. Nico's still not sure what was going on that day. Some kind of triathlon, taking on the Big Three in their elements... the details had been put together in a hurry and the only thing he really remembered from that day was Will—and every other healer in camp—had been mad. None of the kids with healing abilities had participated (and Will urged his siblings not to participate, either), knowing that all Hades was going to break loose when the Nike kids teamed up with the war kids (Somehow, Athena's kids had gotten in with Mars, Ares, and Bellona. Then Nike joined in. It was bad, even before the triathlon started. The worst part was that Reyna—one of the few sensible ones—had opted to join her sister and the Amazons so the two Praetors wouldn't be in the same group. Clarisse had sat out, too, surprisingly enough; she claimed it was to keep an eye on Coach Hedge and make sure he stayed with Mellie and their baby.) Point being, the infirmary was filled for days after that. Roman, Greek, Hunter, Amazon... pretty much everyone except the "final bosses". (In any other situation, Nico might've been a little giddy that people were calling them that behind their backs... but, given how frazzled Will had been and the fact he'd more or less made Nico help with the injuries... well. It kind of took the luster away.)
"While Nico has a very valid point," Will's voice brought him back to the present and judging by the sidelong glance, he'd been thinking about the same incident, "I promise. This isn't nearly as bad as the triathlon was. Just hear him out, ok?"
There was a few minutes of them staring each other down, daring the other to back down first. Finally, Nico looked away, scowl still on his face, and slouched into the couch, his arms crossed petulantly, "Fine. Talk."
"Capture the flag. You, me, and Jason. Against the whole camp."
Nico immediately shot Will an irritated look, "You said this wasn't as bad as the triathlon, this is exactly what happened."
"Thalia, Hazel, and Tyson were involved in the triathlon; the triathlon took up the entire camp grounds; and, it involved three parties we don't normally account for during capture the flag." Will pointed out, then shrugged a bit, "My cabin won't be participating, either. Chiron already agreed that having Ares and Nike on a team was enough to warrant having healers on stand-by; and, given how many... uhm... 'misdirected' arrows we had during the triathlon... best if my cabin sits out."
"I said I was sorry!" Everyone knew Jason hadn't meant for the arrows to go that far off course, but no one was letting him live it down. Even if Nico felt bad (only sometimes, mind you), he also knew that Jason and Percy both needed constant reminders that their... methods could hold dire consequences for the rest of their camps. Will just waved him off.
"I actually wasn't trying to remind you to ground yourself that time, but thanks. Point is: we're taking precautions and, of course, you three are going to have restrictions."
Nico relaxed a little. Restrictions were good.
"Ok... I'm assuming most of those are aimed at me."
"Sorry." Will gave him an apologetic smile and pulled a notebook up from the floor next to him. Nico isn't really sure how he missed it; but, he keeps the question to himself and listens.
"Alright, first off—no shadow-travel."
"What."
"We agreed to let you have one shadow-travel." Jason amended. The panicked apology from earlier was gone and Nico felt a small shiver go up his spine at how serious Jason looked, "Will already told us. You're getting better, that's great. But we're not going to let you endanger your health over a game. You get to shadow-travel once. Not round-trip, so I would advise you keep it around the flag."
Nico immediately shot Will a glare. It was nice to have someone worry about him, but that was low. He resumed slouching, "Fine. One short distance shadow-travel."
"Your flag isn't going to be anywhere near a water source." Will glanced at Percy, "If Percy wants to rely on his powers, he's going to have to rely on what he can summon on his own. If we put you too close to the lake or, gods forbid, the ocean... well. You already know what would happen."
Percy nodded. He looked annoyed but didn't argue, "And it puts me about where you are on shadow-travel. I can... sort of... make water come to me from long-distances. But it rarely ends well. I'll only be able to use that as a last resort. Jason was the one we had trouble putting restrictions on."
Jason shrugged a little, an apologetic smile on his face. The twinkle in his eye said he wasn't sorry at all, however.
"Jason's restrictions are pretty simple—he gets ten bolts. Ten very low-voltage bolts. Just enough to scatter a group."
Normally, Nico might have complained about what "low-voltage" really entitled. But, he also knew that Jason would follow the rules absolutely. He'd loosened up, considerably, from his time at Camp Jupiter... but, he was still Roman at heart and when he was given a rule, he upheld it. If this were Percy, Nico might be a little worried... but, he resigned that he'd have to trust Jason in this instance.
"Anything else?"
"Well, obviously, you can't just knock the camp out with fear. We saw how well that went."
Nico felt colour on his cheeks and glared off to the side, "I said I was sorry. Sherman started it."
Ok, so Nico might need to be grounded about as much as Percy and Jason but that really hadn't been his fault. He and Hazel had probably been the most docile of the three groups, merely manipulating the Mist and shadows and maybe causing a few tremors every few minutes. But then the first group of war kids arrived. Nico would admit he never really got on well with any of them—well... honestly, at that point, he hadn't gotten on well with anyone. But especially Ares cabin. (They had tried their welcoming ceremony on him. Bianca warded them off the first time and the second time... well, he tries not to think about it. Some of them are still scared of him but others were just out for blood.) The only person from Mars he even kind of got along with was Frank and he really didn't want to upset Hazel if he hurt her boyfriend. Additionally, he was only participating because Hazel wanted one game together. They hadn't spent much time together during actual battles and Nico had never participated in the war games at Camp Jupiter... so, this was literally the first time Hazel had ever fought side-by-side (game as it may have been) with another child of the Underworld. When he thought about it, it was Nico's first time, too. He and Bianca had never gotten to fight together and probably never would have. So, fighting side-by-side with Hazel, even just a game.... It felt good.
Sherman was one of the Ares kids that teetered between scared of Nico and hating Nico; but no matter which mood he was in, he always had enough energy to get on Nico's bad side. Usually it was just sneers or under breath comments. Nico still isn't exactly sure what happened.
He remembers Frank tried keeping order—he'd warned all of the Mars and Bellona kids not to razz Hazel or Nico. Mostly Hazel, because no one at Camp Jupiter was sure what Nico could do aside from summoning the dead and shadow-travel. Not even Ares and Nike's cabins could fill in the blanks. So they'd decided to find out first hand. Frank had tried to reign in the jeers; maybe if Reyna had been there, he could have. Nico was good at ignoring him. He'd had plenty of practice. What he wasn't good at... was letting people take shots at his sister. Hazel had ignored the comments, too; they had no plans to do more than cause minor tremors (and Hazel might have buried a few of the Mars kids that were giving Frank a hard time). Everything was fine until Hazel let out a short, startled scream; Nico turned to find her on the ground, nursing her ankle. Probably a trick grenade and nothing serious; but someone (and Nico knew exactly who) had the gall to laugh.
"That was one of the seven? Who even thought taking you two anywhere would be a good idea? Everyone knows Hades' kids are bad luck. I heard Pluto's even worse. Is it true she's cursed?"
Normally things like this wouldn't bother him. They wouldn't because all of it was basically true. He and Hazel both knew that bad luck followed them and they both knew they were cursed. But it still made her flinch and Nico saw her lip quiver. She was still hung up in her part of the final battle—having tricked Piper into thinking she had the Physician's Cure. She still felt responsible for Leo's death, even though neither of them could really explain why his death felt different.
He vaguely heard Frank telling everyone to back off and give them a few seconds to compose themselves. Nico went to help Hazel up. He intended to have Frank take her to the healers.
"Is it true she let Valdez die?"
No one had actually asked any of them that to their faces. Jason or Percy or Reyna was always there to stop them. Normally, Frank's presence was enough to stop the Romans in Reyna and Jason's absence. But that wasn't a Roman; that was an Ares child. It wasn't an accusatory question; it wasn't disgust. It was just a question everyone had been hung up on since the rumours started circulating. None of them even knew how the rumours started, but they had. They'd all done pretty well keeping Hazel from hearing them; but, now that she had, a small, hiccoughed sob forced its way out of her throat before she could stop it. Nico put a calm hand on her head, trying to remind her it wasn't her fault, before he turned.
A larger group had gathered; there were other teams that had advanced from the other two fights and were waiting for their turn to get past the Underworld siblings. He wasn't sure how many of them had heard the question and now he wasn't even sure if Sherman had been the one asking or if he just heard it that way because he was already mad at the other boy. Everyone looked uncomfortable. Frank looked angry, trying to find who had asked. So, not Sherman. But, Sherman saw him first and balked, quickly backing away. The movement was enough to startle everyone out of their uncertain murmurs and turn their attention to Nico. He wasn't sure what expression he was wearing; but, from what he was told later—well after Jason had run to get Will, well after Percy and Tyson and Thalia had tried to evacuate everyone—he had put everyone into a trance of fear. Well. Almost everyone. Percy, Tyson, and Thalia had lasted long enough to get everyone away from him... well... enough away that they weren't suffocating from fear. It wasn't enough to stop them from attacking each other in panic. They couldn't get close enough to calm him down and he isn't really sure how Will and Jason got close enough to do so. (Jason claims he used the wind to knock him off balance but they really aren't sure.)
Needless to say, that had ended the triathlon all together. No one in the infirmary wanted to see him but the healers were short on help and Will kept him busy enough that no one really had time to complain about his presence past uncomfortable murmurs.
Regardless, the restriction made sense, even if Nico didn't like it, "Any other stories you want to bring up from the triathlon?"
"No skeleton armies."
"... Are you seriously going to restrict me to nothing but my sword?" Nico had a creeping suspicion that was exactly what this was coming to. Will waved the concern off.
"Let me finish. You get five skeletons, but you can't summon them until someone gets close to you. Jason and Percy already volunteered you to be the last line of defense."
It made sense but it still felt like a punishment and Nico scowled.
"Your abilities are all best used at close-range," Jason pointed out, sensing his annoyance (and Nico really hated when he did that), "Tremors are fine, too. No pitfalls, though. So, tremors and five skeletons should be enough of a handicap, right?"
"I guess. I still think this is a horrible idea, though."
"Noted, but you haven't shot us down yet, so, the rest of the plan: I'm only allowed to summon ten bolts. I'll be on patrol in the skies until I use all ten and then I'll join you two for defense. You and Percy are going to have to work together. Try not to use your shadow-travel and hydrogenesis at the same time, you'll both need a few seconds to recuperate afterwards."
"None of us are really good with long-range weapons—well... I guess Jason would be?" Percy shot him a curious look, "I've heard you had a javelin at one point, but can you use a bow?"
"Not... really. It's part of standard training at Camp Jupiter, but I was always better with a sword and javelin." Jason shrugged, "That gives the camp a bit of an advantage, though, if none of us are going to be using bows."
"Point, back to the plan: So, until Jason can join us, we're going to have to make sure no one gets by us to the flag. Fun stuff, right?"
Nico felt his eye twitch. Fun was not the word he would have picked for this plan.
"So. We're capping our powers. We don't have a long-range fighter. And you want to unleash the entire camp on us after what happened at the triathlon?"
"Not if you don't agree." Jason assured him, sending Percy a meaningful look, "We only asked Will to be here so he could give his input on the restrictions. Obviously, neither of us would have been keen on restricting our own powers. We needed a mediator and he's about the only person who has any intel on your personal health. We needed to make sure you wouldn't... y'know. Go ghost or anything if we did get you to agree."
Percy nodded in agreement, "It's just one more big game before everyone goes back to... er... before... most of the camp... goes back into the world, pretending they don't have a godly parent. You've never actually participated in capture the flag and I don't think Jason got to play during his initial stay at Half-Blood, either."
"Nope, we left for a quest almost immediately. Even if we don't do this, I'm still playing. It'll just be me versus you, Jackson." Jason suddenly grinned, looking like this idea appealed to him just as much as the camp taking on all three of them, "It's like high stakes dodgeball."
Percy shuddered, "Remind me at dinner, I have a horrible story about dodgeball for you."
"If we do this, Jason should use his bolts as landmines."
Both boys jumped. Will was grinning; a wide, proud grin. Nico gave him a mild glare before turning his attention back to Jason and Percy, "I'd appreciate you not forgetting I'm present."
"We could bell you." Percy offered and Jason immediately threw a wad of paper at him (Nico finally became aware of all the torn out sheets of paper on the floor. He wondered how many times they'd gone over the list of restrictions.), "What? Just for a few hours."
"I am not a cat."
"You're not." Jason said quickly, a little too quickly and Nico gave him a suspicious glare. The blonde immediately coughed and changed the subject, "You said something about landmines?"
"Can you control your bolts remotely?"
"Er... kind of? I've never really tried, but I can make them burst before they hit their target so I guess?"
"Ok. So what if we hid them around the perimeter? It would take practice, but if you made it so that they didn't go off until people walked by them?"
"Then we'd have a perimeter and all three of us could stay stationed around the flag," Jason weighed his options, chewing on his lip as he thought, "Capture the flag is two days from now... that's not much practice."
"Guess you'll be busy then, have fun."
Percy snickered and Nico shot him a look, "I've got work for you, too." He felt vaguely smug when the amusement vanished from Percy's face, "You've only summoned your own water, what, twice?"
"Er... give or take, yeah."
"Then you are going to be spending a lot of time well away from any water supply, practicing that."
"What are you going to be doing then?" Percy looked suspicious; likewise, Jason didn't look too excited about whatever Nico was going to be doing either. Like he had more tricks hiding up his sleeve. He gave them both an innocent smile.
"Taking a very long nap."
"Not fair!"
"Hey. I know how my powers work. I can make faults just big enough for Jason to hide his bolts. Up my skeleton count to ten; I can have them on guard near the bolts to let us know when there's enough people to detonate them. I won't summon any of them for fighting. If all three of us are fighting close-ranged and on defense, I have no reason to shadow-travel. You said Jason was originally going to be on patrol in the air, so I guess that means the other team doesn't have a flag. They just need to take ours. There's a time limit?"
"They have until lunch. We're starting an hour or so after breakfast." Will put in, then grinned at the other two, "Guess you two have work to do."
"Shove it, Will." Percy grumbled, "... Can I at least have a canteen for this?"
"A very small canteen, perhaps. We'll see how far you get with your hydrogenesis."
All four of them jumped that time. Chiron had been remarkable quiet through the entire ordeal, letting them sort out the plans on their own. Nico was a little ashamed he'd forgotten about the centaur when he was so picky about everyone else forgetting his presence. But, since Chiron didn't intervene, he assumed that to mean they'd done pretty good with their planning. Or... Nico had. The centaur regarded them a moment longer, "Then, you all agree to the restrictions and to do this?"
A few quickly exchanged looks and they nodded; Chiron smiled, "Very well. I've kept you long enough. You should have just enough time for a quick breakfast while I announce this to the rest of the campers. They'll need the two days to make their preparations as well."
There was a vaguely uneasy silence between the four well after Chiron left before Percy finally spoke up.
"So does anyone else find it really annoying and kind of scary when he just. Falls out of the conversation like that?"
"And comes back in out of nowhere?" Jason put in before letting out a nervous laugh, "It's not as nerve-wracking as Nico appearing out of nowhere, but yeah. Yeah, it's... alarming is a good word here."
Before Nico could protest, Will whacked him with his notebook—not hard, but enough to say 'they're right, don't argue, it is nerve-wracking'—and Percy laughed, "Did I ever tell you he showed up on my fire escape a few years ago on my birthday?"
"Wait, seriously?"
"Shut up! I didn't know it was your birthday and—shut up, Jackson!" Percy dove out of the way before Nico could tackle him, still laughing and trying to tell the story at the same time. Despite the fact the story was from the middle of a war—well... the war hadn't started yet, but they'd spent most of the night talking about preparations for the war and feeding Nico an alarming amount of blue food—it was apparently a fun story because Will and Jason made no move to stop Nico from chasing Percy around the room, nor did they try to stop the story.
Seymour the leopard snarling at them eventually chased all four of them out (Percy at the lead with Nico right behind him, still shouting at his back; and, Will and Jason jogging after them and calling half-hearted warnings not to maim each other before the game).
For once, Nico didn't notice everyone at the pavilion watching him when he collapsed at the Apollo table, gasping for breath and glaring at the Poseidon table. He didn't notice people muttering about them or even care when Kayla and Austin immediately began demanding details after Chiron's announcement, hoping to get inside information about how the defenses were going to be set up. There was an excited buzz in the air, especially from the Hermes, Ares, and Hephaestus tables. Nico would need to talk to Jason and Percy later about how to deal with them... for now, food sounded good. Mostly so he didn't throw anything at Jason or Percy when he heard them still laughing at the Poseidon table, probably still exchanging stories.