𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙰𝚍𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙻𝚎𝚊 𝚅𝚊𝚕𝚍𝚎𝚣

Side Chapter 1: "𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔"

This side chapter is about how Nico and Lea became friends enjoy!
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3rd POV

Hazel wiped her tears away at the sight of her brother.

He was so withered, Hazel choked back a sob.

"I'm alright Hazel," Nico murmured into her ear as he hugged her.

"I think you should go to the infirmary," Hazel said sniffling. She could practically wrap her arms around him twice. The pomegranate seeds had done nothing for him.

"I'm fine," Nico tried to reassure her.

"Lea!" Haze called out to the girl in the crow's nest.

"What's up, Sugar?" Lea called down.

"Could you take my brother to the infirmary? He was in that jar for too long..." Hazel asked, her tone borderline pleading.

"Anything for you, Haz," Lea nodded sliding down a rope. "Howdy! I'm Lea Valdez. Come with me."

"I'm perfectly ok. I don't need your help," Nico said looking at her up and down.

She looked shorter than him but Nico quickly realized it was only because of her terrible posture. She wore a flannel with some overalls, had a tool belt around her waist, and steampunk goggles in her curly hair.

Nico decided that her pointy ears made her look like one of Santa's elves.

"I doubt that. I gotta check for a concussion and/or broken bones. You were being held by giants. It's better safe then sorry," Lea said gesturing to door that led into the Argo II.

Nico only sighed and nodded. Quickly promising Hazel that he'd stop by her cabin later, he swiftly followed Lea to the ship's infirmary.

He sat down on the examination table in there and stared at Lea with curiosity as she dug through cabinets grabbing medical supplies.

"You're obviously a daughter of Hephaestus. Why do you have medical knowledge?" He asked her resting his head on his hand as he leaned forward setting his elbow on his knee.

"I believe everybody should have at least some basic medical knowledge," Lea replied as she grabbed bandages looking back at Nico. "Also, there was a time where I had a crush on a child of Apollo so I did everything I could so I could spend a few nights in the Camp infirmary."

Nico scoffed at her answer as he switched the hand he had rest his head on.

"Okay," Lea said walking up to him turning on a small flashlight. "Follow the light with your eyes."

After a minute or so, Lea clicked off the flashlight.

"No concussion so that good," Lea muttered nodding. "Lift you arms, I'm gonna check for any rib damage so I'm gonna have to touch you."

Nico thought it was kind of her to warn him as he nodded and did what he was told.

Lea felt around his ribs until she reached the middle of of his right side where Nico hissed in pain.

"That's not good. Bruised ribs." She told him.

"So? I can't fight or?" Nico asked.

"Mmm you should probably not. I'm gonna have to bandage you up though. Eat some ambrosia as well," Lea said nodding to her words as though she was reassuring herself.

Nico felt a little sweat go down the back of his neck in worry.

"Okay, just hurry up." Nico murmured.

"Shirt up." Lea told him holding the roll of bandages.

Nico lifted his shirt and Lea began wrapping him up.

'Warm.' Nico thought as Lea set her hand on his chest to steady him as she taped down the bandages.

"Thanks." Nico said putting his shirt down, nodding towards Lea.

"Here are some bandaids and alcohol wipes. Make sure to clean your cuts or else you'll have to worry about a lot more than giants," Lea said passing him said supplies.

"Like what?" Nico asked tilting his head.

"Infections."

"....And Hazel." Lea added after a bit of thought causing Nico to snort.

"Alright. Thank you." Nico said nodding.

"Sure thing. You're related to Hazel so that makes automatically makes you my friend." Lea said shrugging.

"Your friend?" Nico said raising an eyebrow.

"Yep. I've bandaged you up, you've reacted well to one of my jokes, and you're related to one of the nicest people alive. I think we count as like total besties now or something," Lea said moving her hands as she spoke.

Nico's lip seemed to twitch up before he put on a scowl.

"That's not how that works." Nico scoffed.

"Too bad. You're stuck with me now loser. Also you give off the best vibes ever." Lea admitted, helping Nico down from the examination table.

Rolling his eyes, Nico walked out of the infirmary causing Lea to slowly frown in sadness.

"Are you coming or not?" Nico said popping his head through the door frame.

Lea immediately lit up in joy and raced after him.

"So is the black clothing a child of the underworld thing or just a fashion statement?"

"Hey Valdez?"

"Yeah?"

"𝚂𝚑𝚞𝚝 𝚞𝚙."

Word count: 823 words