Song: Hometown by Twenty Øne Piløts

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Nico's POV

Kara was watching us with her indescribably incredible eyes when I awoke. Percy slept on, a peaceful expression on his face. He was curled into my side, making me feel warm inside and out.

"Good morning," Kara greeted; her voice lacking its usual energy.

I yawned, concluding that she was probably just tired. "'Morning, Kara."

"Did Percy fall asleep like that?" She nudged her chin at us.

A treacherous blush crept into my cheeks. "No-o," I said uncertainly, hesitant to go into detail.

Kara looked away and tugged at the grass. "Maybe you should wake him up. If we want to leave we should probably do it soon, before you become too attached to this world."

I looked down at Percy's sleeping form, and watched the trees' shifting shadows slide across his face in wavering stripes. I thought about all he'd been through. Wondered about how, after all this time, he could still manage to smile my heart in a melting puddle on the ground. Considered that even when he went to hell and back he always had Annabeth Chase with him. Maybe she was why he could still smile at all.

For a fleeting, foolish moment I didn't want to wake him. I could feel Kara's eyes on me — I shifted his head off of my side and took him by the shoulders, giving them the gentlest of shakes. I could feel the muscles shifting on his shoulders. "Percy. Wake up."

Percy shifted a little, and turned his head. He kept kept sleeping.

"Percy," I prompted, a little louder that time.

No response.

Hmm... "Blue pancakes!" I announced loudly. Kara gave me a quizzical look.

Percy's eyelids fluttered. And then opened completely. "Blue pancakes?" He pushed himself up, yawning hugely. "I swear I heard someone say blue pancakes."

Gods. Percy had the sexiest morning voice ever.

"Nico said 'blue pancakes'," Kara explained. "I have no idea why, though? Pan-cake?"

"Blue pancakes for the win, Kara." Percy shook his head, rubbing sleep form his eyes. "Seriously. You should know this stuff!"

"Well, I'm sorry. It's hardly my fault I that I don't know what they are! I wasn't even alive! Although I'd really like to try them, come to think of it..."

"You have to!" Percy grinned excitedly. "The first thing we'll do when we get back is visit my mom and have a blue pancake party!"

"Yay!" Kara laughed, and I couldn't help but laugh along with her, because Percy equals absolute adorableness. How could he keep that innocence, even in a gods forsaken place like this?

I sighed. Kara made a face at Percy, who responded by sticking his tongue out at her. A goofy — hot — smile danced across his face.

I want to freeze this moment in time. Just capture it, and never let it go. Like a photograph.

Kara turned to me, and then back to Percy. Her smile vanished instantly. "Percy! Oh my gods! Are you alright?!"

I realized with sudden horror Percy's skin had a yellowish tinge, and he was taking shallow breathes.

"Yeah. Yeah. I'm ah- okay. I'm okay." It sounded as if he was trying to convince himself. I squatted next to him, and felt his forehead worriedly. It was an impossible temperature.

"Percy what the-? He's burning up!" Percy grimaced. Kara gasped again, and said a few unladylike words.

"Kara..? Kara?" A ball of lead dropped into my stomach. Her terrified eyes locked on mine.

"Oh shit." She knelt next to Percy, and whispered into his ear. He nodded his head slightly.

She glanced back up at me, and exhaled. "This has happened to all of my friends as well. They're preparing his body for the burning ceremony. If he-" Her voice broke off. "If he doesn't return before he's burnt, he'll have no body to return to."

My mouth hung open in shock. How had I not known this?

"What about you?" I asked incredulously. She shook her head. "I was killed in battle. I don't think they ever found my body. If they did, I would've been burnt as well."

I closed my eyes and took a few steadying breaths.

"We're going to have to leave. Now. We'll have to make it by sunset."

Percy grunted, and stood. "I think I'm good," he stated. "For now."

Kara huffed. "Alright guys, after my first step I cannot look back. Not for any reason. Please stay near me, because I'm not sure if we can talk to one another." Percy held out his hand to Kara, and they both nodded.

"Well then...," I stammered, gripping Agápi. "Here we go."

It was tense, silent. Terrifying. Just the fact that I couldn't look back was enough to set us on edge. Because what if I did? If I did, we were done. Percy and Kara would never get out of here. My grip on Agápi was sweaty, slippery. My heart pounded irregularly in my ears.

As the trees around us began to thin, the grass did too. The atmosphere grew heavier. The feeling of joy and buoyancy began to fall away, leaving in its place a familiar, oppressing weight. Fog swirled about our ankles.

And there...! I almost did it. I almost looked at Percy.

Oh gods. My heart nearly stopped.

I almost looked back at him! — I was going to ask him how he was doing. If he thought he could make it.

Fuck.

It was getting harder to breathe, as if the air was becoming less clean.

Time stretched on immeasurably. My feet felt like led, it got harder to see... the urge to look back was near overpowering. I could barely distinguish Percy and Kara's footsteps over my own. And I was scared to stop moving.

So I just kept fighting on.

This is worth it, my sluggish brain assured me halfheartedly. For Percy. For Percy.

And Kara. Her eyes...

And then I was on the ground.

Percy's POV

I leapt back a considerable distance when the monster sprang out of the shadows and flattened Nico to the ground. Kara screamed, Nico yelled and I plunged my hand into my pocket — Riptide — anything — but it wasn't there —

Damn it! I hated being dead. Hated being unarmed. Hated being helpless.

Nico was struggling to unsheathed his sword — I sprang forward, unsure of how to help but ready to try anyway, when Kara latched onto my arm. Holding me back.

"Don't," she hissed, teeth gritted, as if afraid of speaking.

And with a huge effort of will, I obeyed.

Nico had gotten his sword out. He slashed wildly up at the beast, grazing it's side. It to leap off of him with a howl of fury. Nico was on his feet in a flash, darting in with impossible agility, swinging his sword down and up in a graceful arc as the monster leapt at him. The Stygian iron met its mark perfectly, and the monster exploded above Nico in a shower of powdered ichor.

Nico stepped back, breathing heavily, and sheathed his sword. Wordlessly he rolled back his shoulders, and the muscles shifted; visible through dampness of his shirt. It clung closely to his narrow frame, and to his chest... and —

Wait, wait. Hold it right there. I was not just checking Nico out! Of course I wasn't. I shook my head violently and dismissed it as a fleetingly bent thought. He's like my little brother... Who isn't so little anymore.

Without looking back, and without uttering a word, Nico resumed walking.

Kara cleared her throat, and nudged me onward. We had a least a couple more miles to go, and I was not going to be the one to hold us up.

Plus, Nico couldn't check me out. CHECK ON ME. CHECK ON ME. He couldn't check on me! Gods, all this darkness was starting to get my head...

As if on cue, the tunnel seemed to dim. Kara grunted again, but this time a little louder.

"I get it, I get it," I mumbled as I evened my pace. This was going to be a long journey.