"We can't let them attack Camp Half-Blood like that!" Clarisse scowled. "If Percy chooses to be with them, fine! We'll have to kill him if we have to."

"No," Jason said. "There's a better way. We take Percy hostage and use him as leverage, that way, no one will have to get hurt. Does anyone volunteer on this insanely deadly mission?"

The counselors looked at each other.

Will, Cecil and Lou Ellen raised their hands.

"They'll go," Chiron decided. "They have made quite an impressive team last time. Uh, Will Solace, try not to run when you think of a strategic distraction."

"And Nico." Nico raised his hand. "I have a doctor's note."

"Yes, yes. And Nico di Angelo," Chiron agreed.

"Jason, you know the layout of Camp Jupiter better than we do." Piper sounded shaken up, but she managed to keep herself together for this meeting. His girlfriend was putting on more steel than he let on. "You should go."

"If he goes, he'll die in no time." Clarisse brandished her dagger. "Let the classical scouting four do it. Will for the stupidest distractions, Nico for the transportation and skellies, Ellen for the Mist and Cecil for the sabotage."

"Thank you," said Cecil.

Nico wanted to just slam his face into the ping-pong table. He was part of it to blame for this civil war between the Greek and Romans, but he couldn't just let Percy die, could he?

But he'd sensed Percy's death, loud and clear, yet he's still alive, waging war against them. Then he got wind of his Greek side dying, and his Roman side being reborn.

Weird.

"We'll leave first thing in the midnight," Will suggested, glaring pointedly at the son of Hades. "Nico, no shadow-traveling. Doctor's orders."

Connor burst out into forced laughter. Piper managed a grin, though her eyes were stormy. The counselors all howled.

But Annabeth stayed silent.

Without the son of Poseidon and his sarcastic, sassy attitude, the atmosphere was strained. in fact, the centaur's smile was stretched so tight it looked like his face might split into two.

"You three, go get prepared." Chiron sighed. "The rest of you, go and prep your cabins for war."

* * *

Sneaking into a heavily-armed camp wasn't on top of Nico's bucket list, but here he is.

Ellen stepped on a twig and snapped into two.

"Shh!" Will chided lightly.

As they snuck behind the Fifth Cohort, there were still several Roman demigods were still wide awake, patrolling the area as they speak. Cecil cursed in ancient Greek. Of course, the security here is astounding, Romans were known among the demigods for their organization and safe haven.

"At this rate, the sun's going to come up," Cecil said. "We need to get to the praetor's cabins fast - Nico, you've been here. Do you know where it is?"

Nico nodded. "I do. But we need to get past Terminus, their last line of defense. It wouldn't be easy, because, you know, he's a God."

"I got this," Ellen said confidently. "The Mist could help. I've learned new tricks since last time. And I've got some nasty surprises in store!"

"Could it work against a god?" Will said doubtfully.

"Worth a shot."

Another demigod walked past the Fifth Cohort. He walked right past them, but he didn't seem to see them. Ellen's Mist had worked. The air shimmered as it was shifting to see what the outsiders wanted to see.

Nico loved the Mist. You could go out to the Empire State Building, swing your sword around while a hellhound is tailing you and no one would look at you funny. Yes, he had tried before when he was trying to get Mrs. O' Leary to listen.

If you got it, flaunt it. Just flaunt the weird in you!

Curse you, Perseus Jackson for saying that to Nico.

Will waved his hands. He slowly snuck to the borders, where it was all quiet and sleepy. The statue of Terminus stood still like a real statue, and Julia was nowhere to be seen.

They hid behind some trees, watching as the dim light of the fire crackling at the praetor's houses from a distance, inside the borderline. If you didn't know any better, you'd probably think: Woah! Cool terrain!, and walk straight in. Then Terminus will make you measure every blade of grass in the entire alley.

Ellen's Mist was awesome, but Terminus is a god. Gods are hardly fooled by the Mist. If this were to work, Ellen had to really up her game by a hundredfold.

"This isn't going to work." Nico knew saying this wasn't going to boost the team's morale, but, hey, he is the son of Hades. Light and inspiring people weren't his thing at all. "Isn't there another way? We could wait for him to come out."

WIll snorted. "You know Percy. Grover could play his reed pipes beside him, while the Minotaur holds a tap dance party next to him, and he won't wake up until it's time to eat. If we do wait, it'll be daytime and a hundred armed Roman demigods will be chasing after us like griffins to gold."

"I'll count to three," Cecil decided. "Once I say three, we'll make a beeline towards it. You ready? One, three!"

He leaped towards the statue of Terminus, Will guarding Ellen as she struggled to control the Mist. Nico soon followed, but Cecil was a skilled thief. He could run like a dryad running from Dionysus. Nico had some trouble catching up to him.

If I could shadow travel, it could save us a lot of pain and anguish, he said to himself. But, psych, curse you, Will.

They passed the statue god. The god didn't so much as move. Cecil ran towards the Senate house, which was poorly illuminated by a single light bulb.

"Is that Percy?" Nico whispered, running up next to him.

Cecil frowned. "I don't know the dude like you, so I'm gonna ask ya: is that Percy?"

He scowled. "I'm going to murder you; and no, I don't think that's Percy."

"You are absolutely correct."

They stopped in their tracks. Nico turned his head behind them. When he saw who it was, his heart turned to lead and dropped to his legs. This was the last person he wanted to face during a time like this.

Reyna.

"Just what," she said coolly, "are you doing here, in Camp Jupiter?"

* * *

Cecil gulped, he tried to put on a brave expression, but his neck was sweating like an ice melting away in an oven.

Nico balled his fists. "And just what are you thinking? Waging war, I suppose, almighty praetor. Did you force Percy into this?"

She was in her purple SPQR T-shirt and praetor's cloak, her armor nowhere to be seen for once. It was a rare sight to see the almighty praetor without her golden armor. Her sword was strapped to her waist. Nico knew even without armor, Reyna is a demon to rival Ares.

She crossed her arms. "Percy is capable of making his own choices." Her tone was flat but dangerous.

"So waging war is?" Cecil demanded. "And you allowed it to happen? What happened the last time, huh? It was that Octavian guy, you're repeating his mistakes!"

"Has your judgment clouded you?" Reyna said. "Your boy, Leo Valdez had attacked Camp Jupiter."

"Controlled by an Eidolon!" Nico protested. "I've been through the Titan war, fighting Kronos's army myself. You lot just stormed up to his palace and destroyed his chair. You don't know what real war is like. The process."

Reyna moistened her lips. "Been there," she said, "done that. The point is, you Greeks have attacked our Camp first. Then you attack our praetor. Our pride has been wounded, and the Romans want blood. It is no longer bottled up by my control alone."

"Reyna!" Nico scowled. "Are you mad? I thought you were wise, experienced. Now you're waging war against us because of this? What happened? Does death mean nothing to you?"

Reyna's mask didn't crack. She was a flawless liar and an actor. Though her eyes were stormy, and there was fear hidden in them; Nico knew it all too well. He'd seen the same look in people's eyes when they caught sight of him - the son of Hades. Bad luck.

"Dead? Death is the hazard of being a demigod. Especially Greeks, you are so ancient, so unpredictable, so powerful . . . but you have no fixed organization. You're just banshees, sending twelve-year-olds to some stupid quest to prove your worth."

"Hey!" Cecil spoke up. "That's how we survive. The strongest stays, the weak ones die. You think it's easy living in a camp like that? With the danger of dying, even in your cabin? You have a haven, a haven for demigods! We do not. Rome isn't strong, you just make everyone into the same person. Where's the individuality? You're just a factory!"

"Since Camp Jupiter was founded, it has been mighty and powerful. We don't suppress any demigod's talents."

"Mighty and powerful my ass," Cecil spat. "You literally looked at Percy as a threat, but when he comes back from freeing Death from his chains, you straight up make him praetor. Bullshit."

"The point of making him praetor was seeing that he is selfless and he's the light of what the people need. You raised him for his strength, not his personality."

Nico's hand went for his stygian iron sword. Despite being a skilled fighter and able to summon skeletons at his will, he figured that Reyna would be too much for him to handle, even with Cecil.

"We fought with you," Nico said darkly, "side by side, during the Giant war. Now you turn our backs on us, saying that we've attacked Percy, your praetor, who is supposed to be our camp Leader."

"Giant Wars are one thing. Demigod messes are another." Reyna massaged the bridge of her nose. Her dark eyes seemed even darker than before. The worry lines around her eyes seemed more visible since Nico last fought with her to protect that stupid Athena Parthenos. "I am grateful to you, di Angelo . . . but now we stand on opposite grounds. I do not wish to harm you."

Cecil's hand went for his sword. Nico stopped him. If Reyna wasn't being merciful on them, he'd figured he and Cecil would see his father the hard way. There is no way he could win against the praetor of Rome.

"You're his girlfriend." Cecil sneered. "That's why you didn't want him to leave. You love him, and you couldn't let him go."

Her eyes flared dangerously.

"War comes with many historical and reasons. Love is definitely qualified, but I am not doing this because of our relationship."

The grass around Nico's feet withered and died. Shadows poured out of his presence as if he was anxious to expel them, he was, truth be told, but he was deadly mad.

He unsheathed his sword. "THEN WHAT?" he exploded. "After all we've been through in the war, you just start another war? A war between the demigods, without the Gods incapacitated, without Gaia? You're as bad as the Earth Mother!"

Reyna kept her regal and cool expression. She was not affected by Nico's anger - she'd experienced the worst of it. She was not affected by anything.

At least, on the outside.

"Gaia had wanted to destroy the world." She clipped off every damn word. "Not me. Either your surrender or be destroyed. We perfected the Greek Gods, every flaw, every weakness - we've countered it."

"Excuses!" Cecil growled despite the darkness that Nico was radiating. Then he noticed something. "Nico! Your form!"

Nico looked at his arms. His arms were melting into shadow slowly. Every time he moved, he dissolved into the shadows and his figure reformed again like the Death Mist.

"Is this what you want?" Reyna continued, but she showed concern for the son of Hades. Yeah, she'd waged war against the Greeks now, and she would still care for Nico. Pah-lease.

Nope. Not buying it.

Cecil dug out nectar and ambrosia from his portable backpack hastily. "Nico! You're dissolving! Eat this."

He tried to hand Nico the godly food, but it went straight through his hands like he was a ghost. Because he is turning into one.

"Control is futile. You could dissolve any second!" Reyna raised her voice. "Nico, you can't seriously do this! By Gaia, if you get killed by her, I would understand, but this is suicide! You need to figure this one out!"

Nico scowled at the praetor, his voice sounded so far away like a ghost in Asphodel.

"I never had a friend like you," he spat.

Before he disappeared into mist, he gave the praetor of Rome one last hateful glare.

Clink.

Only the stygian iron sword remained on the ground, accompanied by a son of Hermes, a praetor of Rome, and the grieving wails of Will Solace and Lou Ellen.

I just killed Nico~

By the way, AN, sing this to Taylor Swift's Call It What You Want's chorus:

So kill me if ya want, yeah, kill me if you can too~

My baby's dead and now I am too

Because I have just killed Nico and say goodbye~ (to him)

So kill me if you want, yeah, kill me if you can, too...