𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐢━━Nico di Angelo

8

The crew descended next to Annabeth.

Hazel and Nico were the first to reach her because they had already been on deck. Nico had refused Hazel's offer to go to the mess hall and eat something. Sure, his stomach screaming at him, but Nico would rather crawl back into the jar than go join the little party everyone was having.

Percy hugged her tightly and Nico knew he had never seen him look at anyone else with that look. It made his heart ache. Which was bad enough because his whole body still ached.

"It's okay," Percy said. "We're together."

"Your leg." Piper knelt next to her and examined the Bubble Wrap cast. "Oh, Annabeth, what happened?"

Slowly she began to explain about her quest from the very beginning, up until the Argo II burst through the ceiling. By the time she finished, everyone's faces were slack with amazement. See, Nico didn't hate her, she was amazing, and wonderfully capable, but he still couldn't tear his eyes away from her fingers entwined with Percy's.

"Gods of Olympus," Jason said. "You did all that alone. With a broken ankle."

"Well...some of it with a broken ankle."

Percy grinned. "You made Arachne weave her own trap? I knew you were good, but Holy Hera—Annabeth, you did it. Generations of Athena kids tried and failed. You found the Athena Parthenos!"

Everyone gazed at the statue. Nico was awestruck, it was beautiful. He didn't think anyone could correctly capture how the gods and goddesses looked, they were divine beings after all. But this particular statue came the closest. 

It had an aura around it, Nico could tell. It was powerful, it was magic. 

"What do we do with her?" Frank asked. "She's huge."

"We'll have to take her with us to Greece," Annabeth said. "The statue is powerful. Something about it will help us stop the giants."

"The giants' bane stands gold and pale," Hazel quoted. "Won with pain from a woven jail." She looked at Annabeth with admiration. "It was Arachne's jail. You tricked her into weaving it."

"And talking about the prophecy..." Percy looked like he didn't know what to make of Ajax. Finally he settled on- "We found the the son of Hecate."

Annabeth's eyebrows shot up. "Who is it? Where did you find him? what was he doing in Rome?"

Percy raised his hands to make Annabeth calm down, "It's a long story, you'll find out soon enough"

Leo raised his hands. He made a finger picture frame around the Athena Parthenos like he was taking measurements. "Well, it might take some rearranging, but I think we can fit her through the bay doors in the stable. If she sticks out the end, I might have to wrap a flag around her feet or something."

Nico shuddered at the mental image.

Annabeth asked about the giants and about Ajax again so they all dove into the story. Nico didn't add anything, just listened. Truly, he couldn't find it in himself to care for the new guy. He looked lost more than anything, how was he supposed to help?

Percy told her about rescuing Nico and Ajax, the appearance of Bacchus, and the fight with the twins in the Colosseum. Percy explained about his memory loss and how he thought Ajax could be trusted. All around him the others agreed. 

Nico was glad they had left though, even the satyr- Coach Hedge had wandered off somewhere.  And it was finally then, that Nico broke down. For a terrible, horrible moment, he imagined it was Bianca holding him and not Hazel. She held on to him so tight, like she would personally fight the gods for him. He didn't care if he seemed weak, he was. He didn't care that he was letting her see the ugliest parts of him. Good, she should know. And then she would leave and Nico would be alone again. It seemed that no matter what happened, Nico always ended up there- alone.