"Anubis!" Nico leapt to his feet and pulled out his switchblade. He hit the button that turned it into a three foot long sword of pure Stygian iron and hurried toward the water's edge, trying to discern what was happening. The violent splashing of the water made that difficult but as Nico got closer he was able to get a better idea what was going on.

Anubis was in his jackal form, fighting something massive. Nico couldn't get a good look at it, but he could tell that it was bigger than Anubis and in the water it seemed to have the advantage. In fact, it seemed to have latched onto the back of Anubis' neck by its teeth and was worrying at the scruff of his neck, trying to bite through deeper and reach his spine. Nico felt his blood start to boil as he launched himself into the fight.

He landed on the monster's back and immediately sunk his sword between two of its vertebrae, severing its spinal cord quite neatly. The monster made a horrible gasping noise as its hind legs went limp and it released Anubis from its grasp.

"How do you like it?" Nico growled and twisted his sword savagely. Energy began flowing through the sword as the Stygian iron drained the monster's life force. The monster gave a scream and thrashed, falling backwards, and Nico, still on its back, went under with it. Thankfully he managed to inhale before being submerged but he didn't manage to hold his ground on the monster's back. Its skin was too slippery and the facts that he was upside down, underwater, and weighed less than the monster were all against him managing to stay on. He used his fall (even though it wasn't quite a fall since he was . . . well, falling up) to his advantage, however, and held onto his sword, dragging it through the monster's belly as he made for the surface.

The water turned red, like a sea of Kool-aide, as Nico's head broke the surface of the water. Something caught the back of his jacket and Nico started to twist, ready to slice whatever was attacking him, but stopped himself when he realized that it was just Anubis. The jackal snapped its neck back and tossed Nico into the air and slightly backwards. Nico flipped and this time when he landed, it was on Anubis' back. That was good, since he would have been at a disadvantage trying to fight the monster while swimming. Even Anubis had been at a disadvantage of it in the water, before Nico severed its spine, and Nico wasn't the greatest swimmer.

"What in Dad's name is that?" Nico wanted to know.

"A minor goddess," Anubis told him. "Reret. Hold on."

Nico had just enough time to brace himself before Anubis darted in for the kill. The giant jackal's jaws snapped down on the monster's neck, severing the vital arteries and windpipe.

"Damn it, Anubis!" shouted Nico. "You stole my kill!"

"It was my kill."

"My kill!"

"I saw it first!" growled the death god. Then he had to shut up for a minute as he grabbed Reret's carcass by the back of her neck and dragged her onto the shore.

"Couldn't you see I was in the process of carving my name on it?"

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better." Anubis stepped away from the corpse and knelt down so that Nico could slide off.

"So . . . you said he . . . I mean she . . . or it . . . is a goddess?" asked Nico, inspecting their defeated foe. She was some sort of hippo-crocodile-hybrid, but didn't really look anything like Ammit, who was small but fierce and cool looking. Reret seemed to be put together from the rejected parts of the two animals, sporting a crocodile's stubby legs and tail, and a hippo's bulky body. Its head was a little like a crocodile's near the eyes and neck, but it had a hippo's not-so-fierce-looking mouth. All in all . . . lame. No wonder they never made a Mythomagic card of it. Or her . . . or whatever.

"She was a goddess," said Anubis, shifting into his human form and looking down at her. His voice was a little strange. "She's dead now. Truly dead."

"What?" exclaimed Nico. Surely he couldn't have heard that right.

"We killed her," said Anubis. "Permanantly."

"But - what - how - wasn't she a goddess?" spluttered Nico. "Isn't she supposed to be immortal?"

"In time all things meet their end. She was never a very powerful goddess to begin with. Her followers were never numerous. There were at least a dozen of other hippopotamus goddesses more popular than her, and being mistaken for them or overshadowed by them for centuries would have weakened her."

"But she was strong enough to think she could take you on," said Nico. "In fact, when I woke up it looked like she had the upper hand."

"In the water," said Anubis, looking annoyed. "I went to get a drink and lowered my guard, but there is no way she could have defeated me."

He was telling the truth, Nico knew. Anubis couldn't lie to him flat out with their souls fused as they were. He would have turned the fight around on his own if Nico hadn't intervened. It just would have taken him a minute or two to throw the annoyance off of him.

"I don't think she would have died . . . except . . ." Anubis looked at Nico's sword. "She barely had any life force left to begin with. When it was drained . . ."

"It's not my fault she picked a fight with a death god and a death god's son," growled Nico. "If she was that weak and she went against us, she was asking for it! What did she attack you for anyway?"

"She sided against the Kanes."

"Stupid."

Anubis nodded. "More and more gods are declaring their sides: those who wish Ra to return, those who fight against his return, and those who side with Apophis."

"And was she one of the ones who doesn't want Ra back, or one of the ones siding with the snake?"

"With the snake. She was weak enough that she had nothing to lose."

"Except her very existence, or whatever you call a god's semblance of life," said Nico. He hesitated and attuned himself to his connection with Anubis, searching for an answer to the question that was eating at him, hoping he wouldn't have to ask it. But Anubis thoughts weren't clear to Nico at that moment, and so he had to ask. "Are you mad at me?"

Anubis looked at him with surprise. "Why would I be mad at you?"

"I . . . was partly a little bit responsible for ending her immortal life."

"I'm not mad at you." A smile tugged at the corner of Anubis' mouth and he lowered his mental guard slightly, probably unintentionally, but it let Nico get a better idea of what his friend was feeling. He was proud, Nico realized. Pleased that Nico had immediately come to his rescue, with no hesitation, even though he hadn't needed rescuing, because he wasn't used to having anyone looking out for him or being unconditionally on his side.

"Oh . . . well, good," said Nico, feeling a little embarrassed. He stood up straighter and scowled at Anubis. "Because I'm not sorry!"

Anubis chuckled and shook his head. "How are you feeling, by the way?"

"Better. Awake. Should we go? Or did you want to do something about that?" Nico looked at the corpse, just as it started to smolder and evaporate. "Or . . . never mind."

"You didn't rest very long, but you are looking better," said Anubis.

"I'm ready to go if you are," Nico told him. "I do feel better. Nothing like killing a goddess to make a death god's son feel alive."

"We have a long trek ahead of us," Anubis warned him.

"That's fine. Maybe it'll give me time to think of something to get Sadie for her birthday," said Nico. He climbed back onto Anubis's back when Anubis knelt beside him.

"I'll keep an eye out for rocks," teased Anubis.

"I already told you, I can't just give her a rock. She'll only use it to hit me in the head." Nico held on as Anubis stood and started running.

He could appreciate the sped that Anubis was capable of moving at better now that he wasn't feeling so sick and tired, and also since the sun wasn't so scorchingly hot. It was hot, but not too hot. Warm enough to chase away the constant chill that usually plagued Nico as a side effect of his powers. Both Nico and Anubis were still drenched from their fight in the water when they started off, but it didn't take them too long to dry. After that, the journey was almost . . . well, pleasant.

It was weird, and Nico would have been the first to admit it. The world was on the brink of ending. It survival depended on him and his friends, but mainly his friends now that he was stuck here, unable to help them. 'Here' was the time-bent conundrum of a dimension that he was currently stuck in, on his way to help a cat goddess, while riding a giant jackal god, who he'd accidentally fused souls with . . . and Nico was feeling pretty good about life in general. He was happy.

Yeah, said Anubis in his mind, after gleaning off his thoughts. You're definitely messed up.

Oh shut up, said Nico. Don't think I couldn't feel how happy you were to have a mere demi-god backing you up against that washed up hippo goddess

Anubis laughed it off, or at least he tried to, but with their connection wide open, Nico could tell he was still just as touched by Nico's immediate and unconditional support as he'd been when it first happened. Oddly enough, he reminded Nico of himself in this respect. Before Percy found him, back around the time of the Battle of the Labyrinth, Nico had grown so used to being alone that he couldn't understand why Percy was so hell-bent on helping him. Especially after the way he'd acted toward Percy. It had been nice realizing there was someone there he could depend on. And Nico had needed help a lot worse than Anubis ever would. Still, he could understand why Anubis appreciated Nico's support, even if he didn't really need it. Sometimes it was just nice knowing someone had your back.

---------------------------------------------

They traveled for a long time. Hours. Sometimes talking, sometimes not. Anubis ran for most of the day without tiring. For Nico, it was kind of like a long boring road trip. They stopped to rest for awhile when he fell asleep and tumbled off Anubis's back. Then they started journeying again.

By the time they reached the end of the that zone of the Duat, Nico was nearly out of his mind with boredom. And the truth was, even though he'd never been officially diagnosed with ADHD like most demigods in that era were, Nico had it just as bad as the rest of them. He was hardwired for battle and sitting still for so long was killing him. He was actually ready to welcome a fight for his life when Anubis skidded to a stop before the spot where the zone they were currently in merged with the one Bast had called for help from.

"This may affect you badly," warned Anubis. "In the area we are about to enter, time is nearly as compressed as it was in the area we were in before this one. On the one hand, this is good because it means not much time has passed for Bast since when she called for help. On the other hand, if the longer we stay here, the less likely we are to make it out in time to help Sadie and Carter."

Nico swallowed and tried to mentally prepare himself. "If something happens to me, like if I jump off and get sick, don't stop. Just get to Bast. I'll catch up."

"Once we get her, we're getting out of there," said Anubis. "As quickly as possible. Most likely she's overwhelmed by enemies since there aren't many gods or demons that can go one on one against Bast. As much as I hate to admit it, the cat is one of the best melee fighters in existence. If I have to plunge into the middle of a mob of demons I want you staying back. Understand?"

Nico just smirked. "We'll see."