All That is Gold - A Leico/Valdangelo fanfiction

Ch.7 Are we lost?

Chapter 7 - Are we lost?

Nico POV

A/N Real quick: This chapter might not be as well edited because I just received some bad news and I don't have the energy and I really wanted to get this out to you guys as quickly as possible. I am so so so sorry that I didn't update sooner but, I had/have a lot of stressful things going on right now, but I'm going to rant about them in an A/N at the end of this chapter so, if you're curious you can read that? I guess? Well anyway, see you (hopefully) soon for the next chapter! Take care of yourselves I care about you (yes, you!)

     Nico hadn't laughed and smiled this much in ages. He still laughed and joked around with his friends at school, but that always felt a little fake. This was genuine and real. He pulled out his phone to check the time.

     "Hey Leo," Nico said getting up, "it's 6:00 and I need to be home for dinner. Do you know where we are?" He said that last part nervously. Leo took a quick look around. And made an "I don't know" noise with a shoulder shrug. Nico started to look around for any signs of a path. Sometime during their walk, they had left the trail without noticing. Nico was getting worried and now Leo was too.

"Can you check google maps on your phone?" Leo asked

"Uh," Leo responded while taking out his phone, "No, no service."

"Great! We're screwed."

"Not necessarily, if we could just retrace our steps then maybe-"

"Do you remember our steps, because I sure don't."

Nico looked around. "No..." he finally said.

"Great, okay, it looks like we are going to have to remember everything Bear Grylls has taught us."

"Idiot," Nico sighed with a smile on his face. He punched Leo lightly in the arm as he started to pretend to hunt for snakes. "This is serious we have to start going somewhere or else we will still be out here when it gets dark in about..." He checked the time, "an hour and a half."

"So, let's think. My house faces East and we went out the back so, that means we were walking West. To get back we have to walk East and the sun sets in the west which means we have to walk the opposite direction of the sun." Leo finished looking very proud of himself.

"But how do we take into account all the twist and turns of the path? Also, we have been walking for an hour and a half which means we could have easily walked close to three miles. Think of how long it will take us to get back."

"So we pick a direction and run," Leo said with a mischievous look on his face.

"Yeah right," Nico said laughing, "I saw you run earlier today, good luck."

Leo turned East and started running. "Race you!" He called back.

"Hey!" Nico ran after Leo. The two boys weaved through the trees, jumping over roots and rocks. They eventually found their way back to the path and slowed down, both boys desperately trying to catch their breath.

"Ha, told you so!" Leo boasted.

"Sure," Nico chuckled, "let's keep going. I'm not sure how long we still have to go." They walked quickly along the path until they reached the end of the tree line. They walked out through the yards and onto the street trying to figure out where they were.

"My house is right down this street," Nico said. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, neither thinking of how much trouble they would be in when they got home.

Nico slowly opened the door to see his family sitting the dinner table waiting for him. Even worse, this was one of the rare days his dad was home from his business trips.

"Nice of you to finally show up," Nico's father said with a sneer. Nico silently took a seat and absently stared down at his food. After a few minutes, His father cleared his throat. "Well, now that everyone is here," he glared at Nico, "I have some news... and it's not good." He paused presumably for dramatic effect. He was like that sometimes.

"What is it sweetheart?" Persephone said getting impatient.

"Ehrm," he cleared his throat, "Oh, yes... right. So, you all remember the... rival company from a few years back." He said "rival company" slowly like he had to make up a euphemism for what it actually was.

Hazel whispered to Nico, "I don't."

"I'll tell you about it later Haze." He replied, but his mind was already racing he couldn't deal with this again.

"Well anyway, they have somewhat returned which is going to make problems sometime in the future. I have men monitoring them so we don't have to worry."

For now, Nico thought in his head. "But won we have to worry eventually!' He said out loud "Why can't we just report them? You know what they did! Last time they-"

"Now, Nico," his father said in a calm, but stern voice, "you know we can't do that."

"But why!?" he stood up. He was losing control and he knew arguing wouldn't help, but he had to try. He would not have a repeat of last time.

"Nico..." his father warned.

Nico sat down. He knew better than to anger his father at a time like this. quietly he stood up. "May I be excused," he asked quietly.

"Yes, you may," said Persephone politely. Nico made his way upstairs silently and slowly. He could not believe the news he was just given. It was dark in his room when he opened the door. He shut the door silently and slumped face down into his bed. Eventually, he adjusted his position and fell asleep, not caring about which clothes he was wearing.

A/N Okay you can ignore this part, but keep reading if you want. I'm basically just going to rant about my problems. First of all, I moved houses really recently and I'm really stressed about unpacking and finding everything I need. Second I started school Monday (the 21st) 4 freakin' days after I moved and that was really stressful, but I'm surviving. Well, mostly surviving I'm failing Spanish II Honors bleh. I also Just found out as I was finishing this chapter that one of my friends is moving to Wisconsin. I found out as I was video chatting with one of my other friends who practically spends every second of the day with this person who is moving and she started breaking down crying and I didn't know what to do because I'm really bad at talking to people. I'm also just feeling really depressed recently and I feel like crying 95% of the time, but I'll make it through. So, I really will try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible, but I can't make any promises. Until next time my friends.

~Mel ❤️