And there was a sight that stopped him dead.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A gash in Will's arm. A bow that Will never allowed him to touch or even see, broken. 

No. It cannot be. 

Nico quickly dashed back into his room, stumbling a few times on the way. He slammed the door shut and locked it, then sat down heavily in front of the door with his head in his hands. 

Most people would think: Oh my Gods, he's the hero I was fighting? or maybe, I hurt my crush?

But he didn't think that, no. Instead, the first thought on his mind was: HE WON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE. 

And then Nico realized that Will probably didn't love him in the first place. 

He shakily got up and flopped onto his bed. What will happen now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next few weeks were hard. For both Nico and his alter-ego the Ghost King. And Will. He was getting suspicious. Why is Nico avoiding him?  Does he not like him? Why is the Ghost King not fighting him? Why does nothing make sense?

 And Reyna. She was exasperated. Why would two people who clearly like each other not get together? It was excruciatingly painful to watch. 

And half of the school. They consist of fangirls who ship Solangelo really hard. They tried everything to get those two together but it never worked. The fangirls are sad.

And also basically all of the population in the town of Olympus. A new supervillain named Kronos was rising. He had the power to slow down time and maybe even stop it, and he was wicked with his poisonous scythe. And he loved to torture and kill people for fun. AND he was planning to take over the town. So yeah. That's bad. 

Many people thought that the Ghost King and Kronos was on the same team, but that was far from the truth. In fact, the Ghost King was ANGRY that Kronos was taking over the town HE was terrorizing. Who does Kronos think he is? How dare he? 

Sun Archer was annoyed. ANOTHER supervillain? This is getting ridiculous. This wasn't what I signed up for. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sun Archer was patrolling the perimeter of the town when he heard a thump. So he did what any hero would've done and decided to investigate the cause. 

It came from a forest. A really mystical forest with all that fancy mist and sparkles and stuff. Normal, sensible people wouldn't have gone in. So of course Will went in. 

Sun Archer crept along, getting startled every so often by the wind in the leaves, and an occasional chirping of an animal. 

He finally decided that this wasn't a good idea, and he should go back before the sun rises. But naturally, he turns and stumble. When he gets up, he has no idea where to go. How the fuck do you find the way back if everything looks the same?

Giving up on going home, Will ventures in a random direction, which just so happens to lead him deeper in the forest f̶o̶r̶ ̶p̶l̶o̶t̶ ̶p̶u̶r̶p̶o̶s̶e̶s̶. 

Finding a cave, he decides to rest there for the night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico was worried. Yesterday, he stalked, no, followed Sun Archer as the Ghost King to the edge of a forest. And today, he's nowhere to be seen. Deciding to wait a few minutes until he sets out to find his f̶u̶t̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶y̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶ idiotic crush, he settles on the couch and immediately got up again and went out the door. Because nope, he's not a patient person and won't wait another second.

Nico stalked to the edge of the forest. He didn't want to go in because the forest was giving off bad vibes and didn't seem friendly, but he had no choice. He sighed. "Let's get this over with." He muttered.

He walked in, and in the first few minutes, already regretted it. He thinks, no, he KNOWS that the trees are out to get him. He's gotten tripped by them a few times already. Nico was about to head out, when piercing shriek cut through the fog. It sounded suspiciously like Will. That's because it probably is. 

He didn't know what he was doing, but Nico took off running as fast as his legs can carry him. It was moments like this that he wished he could remember that he had superpowers and can teleport using shadows, which there are a lot of in that wretched forest. Looking back, he told himself that he didn't shadowtravel because he would probably get stuck in a tree, but truth to be told, he forgot. 

Another scream pierced through the air. It sounded like it was coming from the cave that came into view a second ago. 

Nico stumbled into the cave, just in time to see Kronos holding Will in place with his time power, prepared to strike. 

Nico didn't think. He didn't pull out his Stygian Iron sword, nor did he try to use his powers to raise skeletons to stop him. No. Nico stupidly jumped in front of the curved, not to mention poisonous, blade. The blade wedged itself into his ribs.

Kronos laughed. "Stupid child. You think that can stop me?" He grabbed the handle and pulled the scythe out. Blood poured onto the floor, and Nico collapsed. 

"No," Nico croaked. "but this might." He painstakingly raised his hand and using the last of his strength, raised an army of skeletons. 

Kronos looked around. Nope, I'm out. He retreated outside, but left a little message. 

"I'll get you Ghost King!" and with that, he disappeared. 

Nico faintly heard someone calling his name in the distance. 

"I did it, right?" His voice was barely a whisper. He then promptly collapsed. 

Random statement of the chapter: I didn't finish my homework yet and I have to sleep soon. 

Random question of the chapter: Do you have a question?  ('cause I ran out.)