Strife

Nico rushed over the camp grounds, making his way over to the agreed spot. Almost making it at the agreed time… He probably still could if he really put whatever was left of his heart and soul into it. 

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. Just what exactly had he let Chiron talk him into yesterday…? Nico’d tried to refuse so many times. Until Chiron had actually started begging and much worse, apologizing… Chiron had figured out one of his biggest weaknesses, the ability to set healthy fucking boundaries... He didn’t have trouble saying no, it was doing no that was difficult. Chiron had assured him he was desperate, quickly running out of time, that Nico was the only one who could help… and explained fuck all else…

Who was he kidding? This was his own fault…

He paced up to the small group of people. He saw a short figure embrace a taller figure. As he got closer he could see there was a lot more warmth from one side than the other. The taller one, a young man he could see now, patted the shorter young woman on the back half heartedly. She released him from her grasp. It wasn’t much of a guess who was who.

The short, stout looking girl adjusted her glasses slightly. She picked at her many colourful bracelets with her index finger. The many, many beads rattled as she did. Her heavy framed, square glasses made her angular, dark brown eyes look slightly further apart than they would be naturally. Farsighted, Nico guessed. Her black bobcut framed her pale, round face nicely. Despite her friendly appearance the way she dressed hinted at a slightly serious attitude. Her purple blouse was neatly tucked in and she wore bright yellow, smart looking shoes.

Nico assumed she was the representative of the Apollo cabin joining this mission.

She looked up nervously at the young man in front of her.

Even if he hadn’t been tall, compared to her particularly short stature he still would have looked imposing. He stood up straight, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his camouflage print cargo pants. It could have come off as casual if it weren’t for his serious, almost angry looking expression. His slightly oversized biker jacket, with its lapels covered entirely in small metal spikes, didn’t do much to dispel the somewhat hostile aura he was giving off. His dark blonde hair looked messy, almost gravity defying, sticking up in spiky strands. The short undercut did little to tame it. An army dog tag hung prominently on his chest.

If Nico hadn’t been sure who was who before, he was now. There was no way this guy wasn’t the Ares cabin candidate.

Clarisse gestured at Nico from behind them. “di Angelo! You’re one minute late!” she declared.

“I’m sorry!” he offered. He really was. For showing up at all.

The other two looked at her, then at him. The reaction was mixed, but otherwise surprised. The short young woman widened her eyes but then smiled. He smiled back, putting up a hand. Not such a warm welcome from his other new friend.

“Who the fuck are you?!” He got yelled at. Before Nico could react the young man turned to Clarisse “Who the fuck is this bloodsucker?! What’s going on?! You said this was going to be a two man job” he spat.

Great… So not only was Nico apparently a vampire, it seems he wasn’t even one of the popular ones! What a perfect way to start this dream job. They hadn’t even started and at least half of his new colleagues already hated him…

He took a deep breath. He wasn’t exactly doing this for the brownie points, but a little appreciation would be nice. Just keeping his gaze straight ahead, trying to ignore the spark of annoyance he felt, seemed like the best strategy. Too bad he couldn’t.

Nico threw up a hand in frustration. “What does it even matter who I am? We’re not here to make friends. We’re here because we’ve got a job to do” he said, shooting him an unimpressed look.

This seemed to set the other young man off. He stepped in front of Nico, staring right into him. Nico noticed he was a little taller than him, probably only one or two inches. His rage added to the fiery intensity of his amber coloured eyes. Their upturned edge and the dark circles underneath only underlined the anger further.

If he hadn’t pissed Nico off so much, he might have actually been intimidated.

Whoever he was ripped into him. “You bet your ass we’re not going to be fucking friends, you spooky looking dork! It matters exactly because we’ve got a job to do! I don’t know if you realize, but this is going to be fucking dangerous! And I don’t trust-”.

“Shut it! Now!” Clarisse barked. She grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, making him recoil. “Listen, I love you, but you need to seriously back down. Right now! I know what I said, but we’re running out of time here! So we needed to make some adjustments. I promise you that Nico here is more than capable enough for this mission! In fact, the whole thing depends on him! He is the one who is going to make sure you all get where you need to go in time. It’s not him I’m worried about here. So behave yourself”.

She pulled him closer. “Am I clear?” she added loudly in his ear.

“Yes, ma’am…” he replied with a clenched jaw.

“Good!” she said happily, giving him a hard shove back to his spot.

Nico couldn’t help feeling a little smug.

“We’re behind schedule. Let’s get on with it and talk objectives. You can get to know each other after. We’ve kept our lord waiting long enough” Clarisse hurried along.

Our lord? Were they actually summoned by a God? She gestured to someone behind her. A very large figure slowly came into view.

A huge man with long brown hair that seamlessly transitioned into an equally long beard came riding up in an electric wheelchair. Nico could only describe the machine as a small monster truck. Hephaestus unintentionally further strengthened the comparison by driving its large, textured wheels over a freshly fallen tree trunk in a straight line, completely unfazed.

“Hello, youngsters. Good morning. I want to thank you for coming. And apologize for the inconvenience”. Hephaestus spoke in a low, calming, naturally authoritarian voice. He ruined it pretty much right after.

“I will ’be so for real with you’ as my children would say. The reason I call on you today is that sadly I am having some severe marital problems at the moment…”.

Seriously…?

Nico had to clasp a hand on his mouth to keep his expression in check. He carefully glanced over. His shorter new friend had a face like a statue, showing nothing other than a polite smile. Her eyes looked like they were made of glass. His taller new ‘friend’ seemed to be having a much harder time. He’d opened his mouth in exasperation, clearly about to mouth off again. Clarisse glared some daggers at him, all hitting dead centre. He visibly ground his teeth.

Nico turned his attention back to Hephaestus. There better be a good story to back this up.

“Who of you has heard of the myth of Harmonia’s necklace?” The God asked brightly.

None of them reacted. His bright smile died down noticeably.

“Truly? None of you…? It is quite a well known legend… One of my few…” he started complaining.

Clarisse carefully gestured at him. “My lord, the crushing time pressure…”.

He picked himself back up. “Of course! It all started one thousand seven hundred and thirty five years ago. Hermes flew into my workshop to enlighten me-”.

Clarisse gestured again, a bit less carefully.

“Apologies…” Hephaestus offered. He stroked his beard a few times pensively. “Wife found out about tryst with favourite mistress, thus intends to kill her with cursed necklace” he summarized. He looked at Clarisse for approval.

“Perfect, my lord” she praised.

He turned back to them, clearly encouraged. “Yes! Please, get it back to me. But, beware! The labyrinth I built to protect it is rife with traps and creatures beyond your wildest imagination! You must take every precaution, lest you perish! On this quest you may-!”.

Clarisse coughed loudly.

“Right… Right…”. He turned the small control on his arm rest, turning his wheelchair as if to drive away. He visibly remembered something. “Remember!” he exclaimed at them dramatically. He paused just long enough to make Nico believe that was going to be all, like some sort of senile self-affirmation.

“When you find the necklace you must never wear it! In fact, do not handle it in any way that might even resemble wearing it! If you do, the nefarious critters protecting it will follow you to the very ends of the earth to retrieve it. Stopping at nothing! You would not survive! It is a terribly dangerous, highly sophisticated curse. You might even consider it a trap, depending on how you look-”.

Clarisse straight up chopped the air with her hand. “Thank you, my lord”.

Hephaestus blinked at her.

“No, thank you my dear! All of you have my gratitude! Best of luck to you!” he said happily, putting his wheelchair into gear.

They watched as the God of industrialization drove away in another straight line, right into a tree. His machine tore it down like it was nothing but a speed bump, running two of its large wheels over it all along the length. The tree’s branches bristled and broke like a horrifying death rattle as he made his way.

The Gods were… Interesting people…

They turned back to Clarisse, trying to ignore the occasional sound of falling trees in the background. Clarisse clapped her hands together.

“So, we all got that? Good. Now, Nico here is going to use his Hades DNA to get you to the entrance of the cave system. Our lord has been so kind to offer up his personal vacation home right outside of it for you to stay at. Or well… as he called it, his mancave…” she paused a second to let her eye get some good twitches in, then instantly regrouped. “Point is, It’ll have everything you need. When you get there, you’re going to split tasks properly and get me that damn necklace from that damn cave! I will see you all here in thirty minutes sharp! Dismissed!”. She clapped her hands again.

His new best friend grunted and walked off. The shorter girl stepped closer and stuck out her hand. Nico shook it.

“Hi, I’m Yan, daughter of Apollo. Sorry about all that earlier… My friend there is Logan, son of Ares. He’s not usually… He’s… He, uh… ”.

Nico held up a hand. “It’s not your fault. Don’t worry about it”. He gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m Nico, son of Hades. Nice to meet you”.

Yan smiled. “I know, we’ve actually met before back at camp when you used to sit with us. It’s been a while, though!”.

Right. Of course.

“How is Will?” he forced himself to ask. He twisted his ring nervously.

Yan smiled brighter. “Good! He still works here actually, I can let him know you’re here if you-”.

Nico almost choked and waved wildly with his hands. “No!” he shouted desperately, making Yan lean away a bit. “I mean, no thank you... I don’t think-”.

Like a beefy guardian angel Clarisse interjected before he could finish stammering himself into a corner. “Nico, I’ll show you the location”.

“Right!” he replied. “See you in half an hour” he told Yan, quickly turning away from her.

Clarisse wasted no time, drilling all the information into his ear loudly and efficiently, occasionally holding up a grainy picture. He tried to absorb as much of it as he could, nodding along. She dismissed him with a quick gesture, then shoved the small piece of paper with the coordinates in his hand.

“Uh, thanks” he said to her back as he watched it walk off.

He looked out over the camp grounds. Gods, he hadn’t been here in years… For good reason… Suddenly, he was very aware of how visible the clearing was from most other parts of camp. Crap. He moved away from the opening in the treeline and waited out the rest of the time left.

With how precise Clarisse had been, the wait was luckily not much longer. Even more luckily, she was the first to return. She dropped down three backpacks.

Yan turned up next, walking up so quietly and carefully she almost seemed to appear out of thin air.

Clarisse eyed her watch sternly, then found Logan, apparently exactly in time. Nico ignored the hint of nerves when their eyes met, Logan was clearly in no better mood than before.

Clarisse broke the silence. “Get ready” she ordered.

They each grabbed a back pack and lined up. Nico sighed out the dread inside him and offered up his hands. Yan took one without question. Logan looked taken aback, then ground his teeth and did the same.

Nico took a deep breath. The shadows from the trees nearby reached out to them in long dark streaks. Everything went dark. Cold, quiet whispers flew past. He felt Yan’s grip tighten, her hand turned a little clammy. Poor thing. Not much longer, he mentally reassured her. Well, not just her, actually.

Shadow travelling always took a lot out of Nico. Especially with multiple people. Especially that far away.

He had dragged them all the way to the Kamchatka peninsula, Russia. Just wanting to get it over with, he’d done it in a single jump. However, with the three of them, he’d essentially done so three times. He should have remembered how that worked… Then again, it had been years since he’d last brought someone along.

Once they hit the ground at their designated location, Nico immediately staggered. He landed on his knees, hard. Yan yelped. Her bright yellow shoes came into view. With a gasp, he dragged his eyes away from them and onto her face, finding her fussing over him nervously. Nico could barely make out what she was saying.

Yan was a sweet girl, he thought to himself.

He looked at her face more carefully. Her mouth was moving quickly. Suddenly it stopped and she looked at him expectantly.

Crap, she probably asked him something.

“H’m fine! … Really” he panted, hoping he guessed the question right.

It came out a little breathier than he had hoped, but Yan seemed to buy into his facade. At least for now. She smiled and pulled at his arm. Nico groaned, this wasn’t a good time to get up yet. He tried nonetheless, pulling himself up on her arm. Somehow, he got to his feet.

He was still a little wobbly, but he figured he’d manage. He’d have to.

For the first time in a while Logan made himself known. He ripped the backpack from Nico’s back. Nico recoiled, startled at the sudden jolt and relief. He would never give Logan the satisfaction, but that actually helped a lot. He might have even felt grateful if Logan hadn’t opened his mouth.

“Tired already? You better know what you signed yourself up for, Spooky”.

Nico glared at him. He tried to hide his unsteady breath.

Logan met his eyes with a scowl. “If you are going to get yourself in trouble, I don’t wanna be the one to have to come save you.” He lowered his voice as he finished the sentence.

“It almost sounds like you’re worried about me” Nico taunted.

Logan rolled his eyes. “Just don’t drag us down with you” he warned as he averted himself from them. There was a short silence before Yan tapped Nico on his shoulder.

“Hey… maybe you should rest for a bit”.

Nico knew she was right. He glanced at Logan and thought about what he had said. There was no way Nico was going to feel like a burden. Especially not from the start! He wasn’t just here to move people around.

“Don’t worry about me okay? I’m fine, I mean it” he tried to look reassuring.

Yan seemed less convinced than last time. Maybe he shouldn’t have smiled as wide. Her eyes lingered on him as she turned to the cabin. He looked up at it after her.

It was an interesting looking log cabin. It was obvious a lot of time and care had gone into the design and… Was he still dizzy, or did this cabin have eight chimneys? He exhaled when he realized that, no, it did in fact not have eight chimneys… It had nine.

He followed after Logan towards the door.

Yan held up the near infinite amount of keys. She sighed at the round, fluffy little donkey dangling underneath the daunting bunch. Based on its googly eyes and goofy little smile, the little jackass seemed a lot more excited to be here than they were.

Nico tried not to fall over while the sound of infinite keys being tried out clinked and rattled in the background.

The lock turned.

He almost caught himself being relieved, then put a quick stop to that as soon as they made their way in and he actually caught sight of all the… Everything. There were unfinished inventions on pretty much every flat surface as far as the eye could see. Even parts of the floor. The only thing mixing up the pattern being the tools, open beer cans and soot stains from the many random fireplaces.

Mess was an understatement, this was a-!

“What a fucking dump” Logan complained.

Nico tried his hardest not to, out of sheer spite, but he tragically had to agree.

Yan tried harder. “Well… I wouldn’t call it romantic, but-”.

Almost as soon as the word left her mouth the many, many fireplaces burst into smouldering, passionate flames. The loudest, most out of tune saxophones attacked them from all sides, accompanied by a sultry and even more out of tune voice singing in ancient Greek. Despite the clear inability to sing, the voice had a low, calming, naturally authoritarian-?

“Is that Hephaestus?!” Nico wondered loudly in abject horror.

“Who fucking cares?! How do we get him to shut up?!” Logan wondered louder and more pressingly

“Stop!” Yan tried desperately, clapping her hands loudly.

The assault on their senses let up instantly. The fires died down slowly and sizzled out, almost disappointed.

Yan still had her hands pressed together as she turned to them. “Let’s never say-”. She caught herself. “That word again” she offered.

Nico smiled at her in agreement, not managing to muster much more, and crashed down on a chair.

For fuck’s-!

He’d grazed a terrifyingly pointy trap placed on the seat. With a jolt, he quickly grabbed the deadly… What the fuck was this? He rotated the shiny pyramid a few times in his hand, all types of different buttons scattered on all sides.

Some sort of remote control? But, what for? He wondered-?

No. He didn’t wonder, he decided. He tossed it on the table and focussed on trying to stay upright.

Yan was busy explaining to them what she was cooking. Nico wasn’t really listening anymore. He wasn’t going to make it to dinner either, he realized.

He got up with considerably more effort than he anticipated. “Alright… I’m going to bed” he managed.

Yan looked at him with worry. “But it’s only five o clock! And you haven’t eaten anything!”.

Nico looked at her, then Logan. If Nico didn’t know any better even Logan looked a little uneasy. He decided not to dwell on it, and pushed on into the small hallway despite Yan’s protest. Practically in a daze at this point. He’d pretended to be functional long enough. He walked up to the first bed he found, dropped down, and was asleep before his body touched the mattress.

When Nico woke up, it was dark around him. He noticed there was a blanket over him. Yan, he figured. He reckoned he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep anymore. Luckily, they had their own bathrooms. So, he wouldn’t have to worry about waking her.

Nico rolled his eyes at the two fireplaces he had to pass on his way. He shouldn’t have wasted his eye roll so carelessly… With a very deep sigh, he figured out all the bells and whistles in the shower. Literal bells and whistles!

Why?!

Praising all the Gods except Hephaestus, he managed to take a quiet shower. Without a sound, he got dressed and walked into the hallway. He needed some fresh air.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one up.

Lucky…

Logan opened his door at about the same time Nico did. They both stumbled to a halt, almost running into each other. He needed some time to make him out in the dimly lit hallway.

Logan’s expression was one that Nico couldn’t really place. He usually looked angry, Nico guessed this time it might have been surprised? No… He almost looked afraid, but there was no way Logan was scared of him. Nico was about to ask him what he was doing being up at this time when he noticed the cigarette and lighter in Logan’s hand.

Ah. Caught.

Nico raised an eyebrow. Logan grimaced in disgust and quickly faced away. Nico clicked his tongue at the sudden disrespect. Seriously? Like I’m any happier to see you, fucker!

While glaring at him, Nico noticed he seemed different from before. He’d had an intense, strained vibe the entire time. Probably on account of being so angry all the time. That was all still there, but he seemed really nervous. Almost jittery, maybe even a bit… Unstable. Nico could tell he was trembling a little. That was new.

“Uh….” Nico started before he had time to stop himself. “Are you alright?”.

Logan huffed loudly, still not looking at him.

Nico decided to give up being cordial. It’s not like he even cared anyway. “Whatever, asshole. Try to go insane a little quietly, Yan’s still sleeping” he whispered angrily. He turned away and moved to go outside, more than a little done with all of this.

Logan blocked him, hooking one arm around his chest from behind as Nico walked past. He pressed himself against his back, his hand on Nico’s throat with a threatening grip, keeping him close. Nico felt him lean in over his shoulder.

“You really don’t want to fuck with me right now, I mean it” he growled quietly into Nico’s ear, tightening his grip on his throat a little. Both Logan’s hand and voice were noticeably shaky, but somehow that didn’t take away from the danger he emanated even a bit. If anything, it only made him seem even less stable.

Nico felt a shiver go over him as the words hit his ear. He hoped Logan hadn’t noticed. He’d barely been able to concentrate on what he was saying…

Logan let go, shoving him off of him. Nico gasped a little, he hadn’t realized he was holding his breath. When Nico didn’t move, Logan pushed past him, knocking into his shoulder and stomping off to the front door. Nico watched him as he flung it open. He left it that way, disappearing through the opening.

Al…Right…?

No, not alright!

Not fucking alright at all!

What the fuck?!

Sure, Nico hadn’t been exactly polite, but this seemed like an overreaction even for Logan. As his nerves calmed down his face slowly twisted with rage. He decided not to let it go and paced after him, out the door.

He looked around.

Nowhere? That didn’t make any sense! There was nowhere to go.

He heard quiet but shaky breathing. Looking down at the source, he finally found him. Logan had bent over, crouching next to the door, his face in his hands. The now lit cigarette trembled in his fingers, letting off a jagged trail of smoke.

Nico froze for a second. This wasn’t what he expected. He didn’t really know what he had expected. A fight? That didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore.

Logan didn’t seem to have noticed him, too caught up in whatever was on his mind. Nico debated asking him what was up. Neither of them seemed very eager to talk earlier, Logan especially. Nico finally decided to leave him alone, quietly backing away.

He dropped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Now he definitely couldn’t sleep anymore….

He waited for the sun to come up.

Yan woke up soon after the sun did. Nico closed his eyes for a while. He listened to her sing to herself while whatever she was doing ticked and clattered.

Time to face the music… He got up and walked into the front room.

“Morning” he mustered.

Logan didn’t look up. He looked pissed off, but mostly very tired. Nico decided not to care about it either way.

“Morning!” Yan chimed. “Did you manage to rest up a bit?” she asked cheerfully.

“Yeah, I’m a lot better”.

Yan hummed in approval, turning her attention back to her breakfast. Nico tried his best to keep up with Yan’s stories as he made his way through making and eating his own breakfast. She seemed a little nervous. She also seemed to get a little chatty when she was nervous.

That was fine, Nico didn’t mind.

If anything, she was making up for the complete lack of input from the third side of the table. Logan hadn’t said a single word up until now. That would have been fine too, were it not for his barely concealed irritation.

Nico debated calling him out on it when Logan got up and made his way to the hallway, making Yan pause for a second. He watched Logan’s eyes narrow at something on the wall next to the kitchen, then snicker at it. His grin had an evil undertone, but looked genuinely amused.

That was… Interesting…? He hadn’t seen Logan be happy with anything until this point. He couldn’t help but wonder what could possibly manage to earn that reaction. He watched Logan disappear into his room, the remains of the smirk still on his face.

Nico crossed his arms.

He wasn’t going to look.

He didn’t care…

But… He was kinda going that way anyway…

He excused himself and got up, bringing their plates to the kitchen and quickly dumping them in the sink. Walking past, he couldn’t resist a glance. He stopped in front of a very beaten up dartboard with a picture tacked onto the centre. A small figure looked back at him from behind even smaller sunglasses.

Ares.

Yeah… Alright… Guess he wasn’t just on Hephaestus’ black list.

Someone else seemed to have been torn away, leaving just a perfectly manicured hand on his arm. Ha. It had been Ares who’d been torn away from her, he realized.

By the state of the picture, and the board, it was obvious it had been a test subject for pretty much all inventions sprawled around the cabin. He looked at a particularly large, triangular dent. Apparently even the pyramid shaped remote control… He still didn’t know what that was for. He tried not to wonder as he got ready for the day. A day he doubted was going to be a fond memory…

Before he had the chance to build up the appropriate amount of dread, it was already time to get to work. The three of them stood outside, in front of the entrance of the cave complex. Deciding who should stay behind at base wasn’t hard. It wasn’t really much of a choice.

“Yan, how d’you feel about keeping watch while we go and search the caves for a while?” Logan asked “We’ll be back before you know it” he reassured her.

Nico huffed. It’s not like he was looking forward to spending more one on one time with Logan, but between the three of them Yan made by far the most sense. He’d heard she was a fantastic shot with a bow. A talent that most likely wouldn’t really have a chance to shine in the narrow hallways ahead.

Fighting wasn’t really her role in this mission anyway. Apart from their prowess in archery, children of Apollo were widely known as expert healers. A trait that was very valuable in case something went wrong and someone got hurt. Risking Yan being taken out of commission would put their whole team in danger.

Yan looked at them hesitantly. “Are you sure you two are going to be okay?” she asked. Nico and Logan shot each other a wary look.

“Sure” Nico said with a forced smile.

“I’ll try my best not to kill him” Logan promised, crossing his fingers with a smirk.

Yan shook her head and sighed.

Nico closed his eyes. “Whatever…” he almost breathed out. “Let’s just go”.

They unsheathed their swords. Nico noted Logan held his in his left hand, and opted to pick up the lantern with his right.

“Lefty, huh?” he asked.

“Yup… Truly a rebel in every way…” Logan joked humourlessly.

They entered the cave. It didn’t take long for Yan to disappear in a dot of light at the end of the tunnel. The thread they unwound to find their way back left a soft red glow in the corner of Nico’s eye.

So far neither of them had said anything. So far so good, Nico reckoned. Each time they’d had to choose a path, Logan had kept quiet. Sadly, that didn’t mean it wasn’t very noticeable that he clearly didn’t really want to keep quiet. So far Nico had decided to just stick to basic logic and ignore him.

At least they still had the ‘quiet’ part in ‘peace and quiet’ down, right?

They reached a fork in the road, three paths opened up in front of them.

“Makes most sense to start left and work our way to the right” Nico said.

“We’re still practically at surface level. Clarisse told us they think the necklace is at the centre of the caves, which means we should go down. That’s the one on the right” Logan grumbled, finally speaking his mind.

“If it is, we’ll get there eventually…” Nico said.

The tension rose.

Logan turned toward him, already angry. “We don’t have time to try out every option! Did you forget we’re in a hurry?! We need to try our best bets here! Besides, we have no idea what’s lurking down there!”.

Nico groaned. “What are you talking about?! We have no idea where the necklace is! It’s going to get way too complicated to figure out where to go next if we don’t have a system!” he burst out.

“If it’s too complicated for you just leave the thinking to me” Logan snapped back.

“That’s not-!” Nico tried exasperated.

“Who even put you in charge anyway?!” Logan interrupted him.

“I am not trying to take charge! I’m just trying to stop you from screwing everything up. You’re not being rational!” Nico let out.

Logan opened his mouth, and then clenched his jaw and groaned. He looked up at the ceiling. He seemed to have given up.

Nico couldn’t resist reveling in it a little. “Thank the Gods, it’s a miracle. I’ve finally managed to find the off switch! Could’ve used that a little sooner, would’ve saved me a few headaches” he hissed sarcastically.

He took it too far.

Before he even realized what happened, Logan had grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the wall. All the air got knocked out of his body.

“You know what?!” Logan growled in his face “You want to prove you can handle all of this so bad? You can! Show me you can get us out in one piece, even when things go sideways and I’ll let you call the shots. Beat me in an actual fight! If you’re not up for that, stop trying to mess with me!”. He gave Nico a final shove against the wall then let go.

Nico almost slid down but managed to catch himself just in time. He thought about it. This was just plain stupid. It wouldn’t prove anything meaningful. They did not have time for this. Any of this.

But… he was angry. Very angry.

Knowing Logan was a son of Ares, he realized a one on one fight was probably in Logan’s favour. Then again. Nico had tricks up his sleeve that Logan probably couldn’t even dream of. And the idea of being able to put him in his place…

“You know what” Nico said bitterly. “Fine”.

Nico could see Yan’s face drop when they arrived at base shortly after. All in all, just barely three hours after they entered the cave. Probably not just that, both Nico and Logan were in the foulest mood yet.

“Nooo… What happened?” Yan almost whined.

“Pretty much nothing! That’s the problem” Logan explained while stabbing his sword into the ground. He started taking off his backpack and coat. “So Spooky and I have got a little something to settle, and then we’ll be on our merry way. No more discussions”. He side-eyed him angrily.

Nico stayed quiet and started getting ready himself, taking off his own backpack and unsheathing his stygian iron sword. It glowed a sinister purple. Logan hardly seemed to care.

“Oh, no.. Nonono!” Yan shook her head “No way, we’re not doing this. Clarisse is going to freak! We don’t have time for this”.

Neither Logan or Nico responded.

In a seeming last ditch effort Yan yelled. “Logan, you promised!”.

Logan laughed joylessly “Oh, don’t worry. I won’t kill him”. He walked off to a clearing in the woods, in front of the cabin, and beckoned Nico to follow.

Logan seemed confident. Apart from that, Yan seemed very worried about what Logan was going to do to him. Was it just arrogance? Or was Nico actually going to regret this? Uncertainty made itself known with some sudden nerves. He wasn’t going to let either Yan or Logan see that though. No matter what Logan was up to, Nico was a son of Hades. He wielded the powers of Tartarus itself, for fuck’s sake. He was going to show Logan what happens when you underestimate him…

He followed.

They stood a few feet away, Nico at the top of a steep slope, Logan at the treeline. Nico readied his stance. Logan twisted his sword in his hand, tossing it slightly up and then gripping it. As if to test its weight. They stared each other down for a while.

Logan gestured at Nico with his sword, seemingly telling him to call it when he was ready. Nico hesitated for a second. Then he looked into Logan’s eyes and saw the same fire raging in them he’d seen before at the briefing.

Nico felt bloodlust filling him to the core. He had heard of this, this was an ability of the children of Ares. He wasn’t going to show that he was getting to him. Besides, he could do worse.

He threw him a smile, the creepiest he could muster. The bloodlust in the air mixed with intense fear and an aura of death. There, even more intimate!

Logan grinned, a wicked grin.

That fucking psycho… “Ready!” Nico yelled in a sudden outburst.

Guess he wasn’t?

Logan shot off like a bolt of lightning, he cleared the distance in an instance.

Crap!

Nico was stunned, he barely managed to block the blow with his sword. Even though he caught it in time, he felt it through his entire body. He wasn’t as used to fighting left handed opponents, giving Logan an edge.

Yan screamed loudly.

This was bad. Close combat wasn’t his strong suit. Most of what he could do needed at least some distance. Well, time to make some then. With a groan he threw himself backward. As he rolled down the hill, he willed a crater in his trail. When he got up, he could see the crater had had an effect on Logan. He was still on guard, but visibly confused.

Nico, smirked. He concentrated, willing the dead to wake. Eight undead crawled out of the crater as the ground shook. Crap, Nico cursed to himself, that wasn’t nearly as much as he’d hoped for. Most of them not even armed either.

Logan seemed to have collected himself. Before the first undead soldier could even reach out to him, he had lopped his head off in a clean sweep.

Surely two or three would give him more trouble, Nico thought.

He thought wrong.

As Logan blocked the next undead’s blow with his sword and cut off its arms, he managed to kick the other’s leg off. As it fell helplessly to the ground, he crushed its head with his boot.

Nico realized he was going to have to take a more hands-on approach than he usually would.

He reached Logan just as his last three undead did. Nico swung his sword at him. Logan caught it with his.

One of the undead grabbed Logan’s right arm. Logan swung him around, right into Nico. It burst into loose bones. Nico felt the wind get knocked out of him.

Fuck! He’s crazy strong…!

In the blow, Nico lost hold of his sword. He saw it fly barely out of his reach and hit the ground, regaining his balance just in time to see two more of his undead already down on the ground in a heap. Another one managed to successfully disarm Logan by getting stabbed hard enough for the sword to get stuck in his chest. The undead fell flat on its back, taking the blade with him.

“Ha!” Nico gasped. He didn’t get to gloat long.

Logan’s fist flew right at his face.

Nico managed to protect his face with his forearms. He recoiled and nearly fell back, but got caught by a tree. Before he could catch his breath, another blow hit him, and another.

Nico had to think quickly, or this would pretty much be over.

Whichever undead might have been left weren’t doing their fucking jobs! He let them go and hurled their bones at Logan’s back. It just seemed to make him angrier, hitting even harder.

Nico started to panic. No way to run, not enough distance to create a proper shield, too bright out to disappear…! He couldn’t concentrate through the blows.

Shit, shit, shit!

He focused all his attention on summoning something, anything, that would heed his call. He took a particularly hard hit to the stomach. Something big laid buried near them, close to the surface. It stirred. The grass around them wilted.

“Stop it! Stop it right now!” Yan screeched close by.

“I’ll stop as soon as he yields!” Logan yelled back, reaching right between Nico’s forearms and grabbing him by the throat. He squeezed almost all life out of him.

Come on…!

Before Logan could even turn back to face Nico, something huge rammed into them from the side.

Yan screamed.

Nico looked at the sky, drawing ragged breaths. He quickly turned to look to his side. He saw the skeleton of what he presumed to be some type of bear pinning Logan under him, it was absolutely huge. Where its nose used to be almost touched Logan’s.

“Do you-” Nico gasped “Yield?”.

Logan struggled for a few seconds under the weight, gripping at the bears’ front paws. Then he hit the ground next to his sides with his fists. All the fire in his eyes seemed to snuff out. “Yeah.” he let out breathlessly.

Nico released the bear as it crumpled into a pile of bones. Logan managed to protect himself with his hand before the bear skull hit him right in the face. He threw it to the side, hard. It split as it hit the ground.

Logan got to his feet. He stared at the bear skeleton for a second. Then growled as he kicked the pile of bones. “Congrats.” he said icily “Guess we’re going left.”. He didn’t even turn to look at Nico, he just walked over to his sword and swiped it from the ground. The undead that stole it had long disintegrated by now.

He stomped off.

Nico jutted his elbows under him in an attempt to sit up. Yan stepped next to him. Nico turned to look at her.

She had her arms crossed. “You guys are such idiots”.

“Yeah… I know” Nico replied. He looked at the bruises on his lower arms, then pulled up his shirt a bit. Yep, nice dark hue to it there as well…

He finally got up.

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. Hours flew by. Nico and Logan ignored each other as best they could. Quiet, seething rage from both sides filled the silence.

Somehow, they’d managed to eat without a single word. A lot more impressively, they were able to get on each other’s nerves without any either.

Logan rapped his fingers against the table in a frustrated rhythm, then got up. He gathered the dishes with the cold, brute force of a warden restraining an unruly inmate. The angry little flames in his eyes clearly showed the rage he was trying to hide. They flared up a little further as he stopped at the last fork. His grip on it tightened enough to whiten his knuckles.

Nico leaned back a little, preparing for whatever might be coming.

Whatever it was, it wasn’t meant for him.

With a powerful, cathartic movement, Logan flung the fork over to the other side of the room, right through Ares’ tiny sunglasses. The hint of an evil smirk broke through his scowl before he made his way over to the counter in the small kitchen. The surprisingly quiet, controlled way he put down the dishes, almost gave Nico some hope it had actually cheered him up a bit.

Nico made a note to make a small offering for Ares later, for the sake of being an even bigger nuisance than him apparently. Sadly, Ares’ brave sacrifice didn’t seem to have a lasting effect. Logan’s knuckles whitened again in his tight grip on the counter. He flipped the tap on.

Fuck this.

Nico clicked his tongue and got up. Yan shifted a little as he did, clearly worried about what he was up to. He gave her the most reassuring smile he could muster, then walked up to Ares’ little shrine of blasphemy.

He attempted to free Ares’ smiling face from the snide cutlery. It took some dedication. The fork was clearly dedicated too. So deeply driven in its task, it had pierced all the way through the dartboard. Nico nearly pulled it off the wall along with it. The fork lightly bowed to him in a grateful gesture, bent from the force he had to use. Nico did his best to bend it back in an acceptable shape as he made his way over to the counter.

Mild annoyance turned severe when he realized he wasn’t even going to get a glance. He tossed the fork in the sink, finally earning himself a fiery glare. Nico crossed his arms and suppressed a mean edge curling in the corner of his mouth.

“Move. I’ll do it” he offered coldly. The fire died down a bit as Logan narrowed his eyes. Nico looked at him expectantly, not backing down.

“Whatever…” Logan finally sighed as he turned around, walking off with a dismissive hand gesture.

Nico pursed his lips and got to work, quietly celebrating yet another unsatisfying victory. At least the dishes gave him something to distract himself with. He took as long as he possibly could.

At some point it had gotten dark.

Nico hadn’t really felt like moving from the relative safety of the kitchen. He rested against the counter, looking over at the other two. They found themselves in a triangle so stormy, Nico was sure it could make ships sink.

Yan looked absolutely miserable.

Poor Yan... Collateral damage in their silent warfare...

She sat slumped over the table, her chin resting on her folded arms. Their eyes met. Yan gave him a faint, sad smile. He smiled back at her. Nico watched her look at Logan clean his sword from the other side of the room. Logan looked up at her. She shot him a painful look. He stopped what he was doing and frowned, turning away a bit. Her expression hardened, she put her hands down on the table and got up.

“Look, guys…” she started carefully, but sternly. “I know this hasn’t exactly been fun, but I’m sure we can still try to work out a-”.

Absolute chaos cut her off. High, intense flames burst up in the fireplaces all around them. A rack of weights and a sand bag dramatically descended from the ceiling. Loud guitars surrounded them, bombarding them with random noises in an awful attempt at Power Metal. A loud, low, naturally authoritarian voice howled over it in ancient Greek. Despite not wanting to, Nico picked up the words ’Achilles’ and ’Skamandros’.

“Stop!” all three of them yelled at the same time.

It did, leaving another uncomfortable silence behind.

Yan closed her eyes in frustration. “Screw this... I can’t take it anymore…” she grumbled. “I’m going for a walk. You guys stew in this bitterness all you want. Just don’t burn the place down…”. She slowly dragged herself away from the table and out the door, closing it quietly behind her. The sad little thud hurt much more than if she would have slammed it.

Logan closed his eyes and sighed. For the first time since the fight, they looked at each other. Logan’s expression was hard to read. Nico stared back without any emotion, wondering where this was going to go. Logan narrowed his eyes and turned away in disgust.

Nico clicked his tongue. “Don’t pin this on me, asshole” he growled.

Logan snapped his eyes back onto him, a dangerous flicker of heated orange went through. With one rough movement he stabbed his sword into the floor and got up. He glared at him as he walked closer. “I’m not pinning this on just you” he spat. “But you’re not exactly easy to be around either, you stuck-up bastard”. He got close, just ever so slightly too close, probably to really sell his menacing look.

Nico didn’t care. This was all Logan’s fault. Ever since he’d lost he was acting like an angry toddler. It didn’t really help that Nico wasn’t that proud of his own performance either… With how overwhelmed he had been during the whole fight, and how much it had taken out of him, it almost felt like he hadn’t won at all.

But he had won damn it!

That was supposed to mean this bickering would be over!

Nico finally felt the rage that had built up all day spill over. “You’ve done nothing but act like a bitch ever since the fight! Which was your own idea by the way! That was supposed to settle it! Of course I’m going to be an asshole back to you when you act like this! You unhinged psycho!”.

Logan’s irises burst into flames, he bared his teeth with rage.

Crap. He’d taken it too far again.

Nico hadn’t really recovered after their fight today, his arms and stomach aching and almost no energy left. He glanced to his sides, no room to really defend himself either. His eyes lingered on the large kitchen knives to his side.

The pure animosity Nico sent out was met with two glaring, absolutely lethal fires.

With a sudden shift, Logan moved his arm.

In a growl, Nico reached and swept the block of knives onto the floor where it scattered. It burst against the tiles, so loudly it might as well have been an explosion.

Logan raised his hands at him in a flash. Nico scowled as he tried to back away, practically crawling onto the countertop. Logan held up his hands even higher.

“Calm down” he demanded firmly.

Nico took some shaky breaths, still a little unfocused in the rush of everything.

“Did you think I was going to stab you…?” Logan asked weakly.

Nico actually looked at his face. Logan was clearly hurt, all rage and fire gone.

Nico looked down. “No… I-” he croaked.

No!...

No, right?

Nico didn’t know anymore. He saw Logan lower his hands to his sides, then looked back up. Logan seemed stunned.

Nico pushed off of the counter a little. “Look… I shouldn’t have called you that”. He pushed further, past Logan.

Thankfully, he didn’t follow him outside. The bright, full moon did. It followed him wherever he went, staring coldly at his back. It warned of a long, silent night ahead of them.