Nico POV

I woke up with a headache for no apparent reason, and I was not appreciating it. I rubbed my eyes before sitting back against a tree, my bag on my lap. The sun hadn't risen yet. We had to begin our march to the capital again soon. I looked over at Will. Should I wake him up?

His face was peaceful. I decided he should at least get a few more minutes. I blew out a breath. In the morning chill, I was glad to have my jacket, and I was glad Will had had his royal one in his bag. He'd thrown it over himself sometime in the night.

I looked around. My eyes found Hazel. She didn't have anything to keep her warm. I stood up and laid my jacket over her. She stirred for a moment, and I froze, but then she seemed to go back to sleep. I relaxed and went back to my spot. There was still a guard watching me; I could feel their eyes on my back. I leaned against the tree again.

Will shifted and rubbed his face. He looked up at me blearily before a goofy grin overtook his face. I smiled back and he moved over to kiss my forehead.

"I notice you're not in form this morning. That's—"

"Oh, shit!" I whisper-yelled, trying to kneel but he put his hand on my chest.

"No, wait, I'm sorry—I was about to say that's exciting. I'm really happy for you, Nico." His hand is still on my chest, and now the anxiety is washing away into something that's making me blush. "I'm sorry I made you panic. I shouldn't have said anything about it—it's just, seeing you feel safe here makes me unbelievably happy."

I swallowed hard, trying to get my mind to focus, but the feeling of his lingering hand on my chest makes me feel like I'll never be able to focus again. "We still have a few minutes before we have to go. Are you sure you don't want to go back to sleep? You look exhausted."

"You can't get rid of me that easily, di Angelo. Besides, I'm not tired anymore. How can I sleep when I have a gorgeous boyfriend next to me?" I felt my face heat up again. He took my hand and rubbed circles into it. "Who else is awake?"

I shrugged. "I haven't seen very many people yet. I'm sure Reyna is. She'll probably send someone to wake up the camp soon."

As if on cue, a faint crashing sound was heard—like a cymbal, but not quite. I tilted my head to listen and as it grew louder, I grew more curious.

"Wake up! Wake up everyone!" A guy yelled, banging two trash can lids together. "It's time to move! Pack your bags! No more sleeping! Oh, di Angelo, right? Reyna wants to see you. Wake up! Everyone has to get ready! Don't let the McShizzle down! I gotta see your beautiful faces—yes, even yours, Piper—so wakey wakey!"

I rubbed my eyes. "I'll be back, Will. I don't know when but as soon as I can. I promise."

He nodded and squeezed my hand before letting go. "See you later."

I found Reyna quickly. She was pacing, and when she saw me, she gestured for me to come closer. I broke form to obey and then resumed the respectful salute. Her face was grim. We were away from the view of the troops.

She raised her sword to my throat. I wasn't even surprised at this point.

"Break form and explain why the hell that letter is addressed to you," she hissed.

"Thalia and Luke were talking to me about it. Did they tell you what they think? The letter was really easy to decode, I guess, and—"

"Their theory is circumstantial. This letter is evidence. Give me a reason not to run my sword through your heart right now."

I huffed, "Reyna, you know as well as anyone that I can't prove I'm innocent; I've barely been here two weeks. The most I can do is tell you I usually don't go places by myself anyway in order to be a spy, and I've never seen that letter in my life, and even now I have no clue what's in it except my name. I don't know how to show you I'm innocent. If you have an idea, let me know."

She didn't move the sword. "You're a soldier. You could still be loyal to the army."

"Yeah, a former soldier and so are you, so you could be a traitor too by that logic."

"My name," she growled, "is not on a letter from the king."

I sighed. "What do you want me to do, Reyna? I already had this same conversation with Thalia and Luke, and I'm exhausted. Look at the letter, look at Thalia's theory, and make your own decision. I'm not a spy, but I can't prove it. Do what you want."

She was not looking at me. Slowly, she lowered her sword. "You better be telling the truth," she said. "Or else, I will kill you much more painfully than I was going to just now. Do you understand me? I don't have time for this."

I bowed my head for a moment. "I'm telling the truth, and I understand. Thank you, Reyna."

She shook her head and turned to go back to her tent. "Don't mention it. Now, we have to figure out how we're going to attack the base and the castle, and I can't do it without you. So hurry up."

The work was frustrating and confusing and did nothing to help the headache that was coming in waves to make my eyes hurt. We worked until a man came in with a bowl of fruit the troops had scavenged. Neither of us paid any attention to it, so engrossed by our work. By the end, we had an elementary outline of the base worked out using common sense and my knowledge of how bases were usually set up. The castle was much harder, and we mostly only had a blank outline for that, but the base was the difficult part anyway.

Reyna reached for a few berries and my eyes were drawn to the movement instinctively.

I narrowed my eyes at the berries in her hand. Red. The fruit bowl was filled with red berries.

Juice leaked down her wrist and she frowned at it, annoyed, before raising her hand to her mouth—

"NO!" I cried as I pulled her hand away. I stared at the berries. Was I seeing things? Like another flashback, or a hallucination?

Images of Bianca's body flooded my mind. Of Percy leaving me with Bianca, who lay unmoving on the floor. Of the juice leaking down her arm.

Reyna's arm.

Reyna narrowed her eyes. "What? What is it?"

It was hard to catch my breath as I was swallowed in memories. Drowning. "Don't eat them. They're poisonous. My sister—at the test to move up ranks—the berries—"

She looked back to her hand, which was stained red. "They're poisonous."

I nodded. Percy's face as he knew she was dying, not choking, poison—

I felt like I was choking now, like I was in her place. I saw her body, over and over, different angles. Percy's face. His terrified eyes—Percy was never scared—

Reyna stood up, dropping the fruit into the bowl again. "Then we have to figure out who sent them. Then we've got our spy."

I stood up with her and my vision went black for a moment. I stumbled out of the tent after her, but I was suddenly drained of all energy. I leaned against a tree as my head pounded. Reyna looked back. "Are you alright, soldier?"

I swallowed hard and nodded. But there were images in my head, of bodies and poison and berries—

She came back and hooked her arm under my armpits to help me get back to camp. I felt like I was going to puke.

Percy saying with a disappointed look on his face, "To the stars."

To the stars? No, to the heavens or underworld. That's where Bianca was going. That's where she was, though her body laid at my feet—

"Deep breaths," Reyna instructed, pulling me back to reality if only for a second.

"I'm sorry," I told her. "I'm really sorry—"

She shook her head. "You're okay, Nico. Everything about that place was traumatic; I had things like this too for a while. It's okay. Let's get you back to William. Deep breaths."

We did get back to Will, who took me into his arms with wide eyes and strong arms. I was shaking, trembling. He'd packed up my stuff already. Where was my jacket? Where the hell was my jacket?

Hazel brought it to us, looking afraid. Will took it from her gratefully and set it over my shoulders. He leaned his forehead against mine and whispered instructions, condolences, optimism into my ear. He laid me down, and I could see the sky. I could breathe.

I was brought back to earth, back to the present. Reyna had left to find the guard who'd brought her breakfast. Hazel was sitting on her knees a few feet away, watching worriedly.

"I'm sorry," I told Will.

"No, don't be sorry. Do you need anything? Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, hand in mine.

And for the first time, I talked about it. It didn't feel good; a web of guilt was sticking to my heart and I had to shut my eyes halfway through so I wouldn't have to see his expression. He was silent the whole time, just watching me with prodding eyes.

A sob escaped my mouth as I finished. My throat and lungs ached from trying not to cry and my headache was getting worse.

I opened my eyes, but I was too afraid to look at him. Was he going to be disappointed too that I hadn't saved her? That I'd just sat there, useless, as she died? Or that I stayed with her dead body when Percy asked me to join the rebellion and fight for people like her?

He pulled me into his arms, and relief washed over me. It was okay. I had made mistakes, but I was okay, or going to be. I wrapped my arms around him too. I cried. There's not much else to say; it was a low moment of mine, but Will held me, and I tried to get myself to calm down. I still felt shaky, and I noticed throughout the day Will would whisper to our friends variations of "be gentle with him" when he didn't think I could hear.

I tried not to acknowledge the fact that I'd cried in his arms for who-knows-how-long.

That makes it more times that I've cried than he's cried. And I'm a soldier. Dammit.

We continued our march to the capital. While I'd had my breakdown, Reyna had searched for the guard who'd given her breakfast that morning. Apparently she'd found only his body; he'd been poisoned as well. This spy, they were hitting us hard. I guess they knew what they were doing. Probably someone who's been in the rebellion for a long time and the army even longer.

Despite the havoc caused by the assassination attempt, we marched on. Rumors were spread about our need to turn back, return to camp and reassess our plans, but Reyna put them to rest as quickly as they came, and before any of us had time to catch our breath, we were at the edges of the capital.

Word count: 1923