The Plea of Apollo || COMPLETED

SOLO QUEST: PT1

When Rachel sent an Iris Message to Chiron, many assumed it was to relay prophecies for quests Ella had deciphered. It turned out the newfound peace that had settled after the war with Gaea was there to stay for a while. This meant less quests. While the time to relax and train was much appreciated, some campers were getting stir crazy. They were demigods after all; ADHD was in their DNA.

Nico and Will, on the other hand, kept themselves occupied quite well. They both enjoyed their life of leisure in the midst of training, rescue missions, and their respective duties. Truth be told they were practically inseparable.

That meant when Nico was assigned a solo quest by Rachel herself, Will was upset.

"You can't go alone," the son of Apollo pouted. "What if you get hurt? I need to be there to heal you as well as make sure you don't do anything stupid."

"You have such confidence in me, Sunshine."

"Sarcasm is a sign of a highly developed brain, but that doesn't mean you can get snippy with me, Death Boy."

Rolling his eyes, the son of Hades handed Will a small sheet of paper that had the quest hastily written on it. "Snippy? I'm the one from the 1930s and you're the one using the word snippy? Anyway, read that and tell me what you can make of this."

Will's eyebrow's furrowed as he read the Greek letters.

"One to descend to his father's domain,

One to have suffered Tartarus' pain,

One to be reborn again from below,

To three do the twins say hello."

"Chiron, Rachel, and I are sure I am the one mentioned in the first line," Nico pointed out before Will could comment. "We gathered that the end meant there would be three demigods— well, three somethings including me, returning from the trip to the Underworld. I'm still a bit skeptical about what exactly I'll be returning with since there shouldn't be any living souls in my father's domain, especially with Thanatos doing his job as well as he does. However, what I am more concerned about is how one of those I am supposedly rescuing has suffered Tartarus and the other had been reborn. The later points to a maybe a spirit or ghost, but only Percy, Annabeth, and I have survived Tartarus. The twin thing is unclear as well."

The blond nodded. "There are a lot of twins in mythology. There are twin gods, Apollo and Artemis, twin giants, whom you've unfortunately met, and many more. It could be a good or bad thing to say hello to these 'twins' near the end of the journey."

"With demigod luck I'm sure it won't be your dad and Artemis."

"Now now, di Angelo, you haven't even left yet and you're being pessimistic." Nico rolled his eyes at Will's half-hearted scolding. It was then said healer noticed what was strapped to Nico's hip and back. He had told Will he needed something before leaving, the oracle pointing out that she felt this quest was urgent and had to be carried out right away. "Hey, are you bringing your sister's bow?"

One would have though the son of Hades would be embarrassed to be caught wearing something only owned by the Hunters of Artemis, immortal females who have sworn off men. On the other hand, Nico smiled softly as he put a hand on the quiver attached to the left side of his hip and shot a glance at the silver bow strapped to his back.

"You know Ella, Tyson's girlfriend. When Rachel gave me the quest the harpy kept reciting random bits of information on bows in the background. While she may babble a lot I know she is not stupid. She was trying to tell me I might need this, for some reason or another."

Will nodded in understanding. He was about to say something when all of a sudden his eyes darted upward.

A few seconds later Nico found himself in a bone-crushing hug.

"You were going to leave on a dangerous quest without saying goodbye to your big brother?" The son of Jupiter said dramatically as Nico struggled to escape his strong arms.

At the word "dangerous" Will frowned, but Nico was too busy yelling at Jason to notice.

"Grace, unhand me this instant! If you somehow crush my sister's bow I will literally watch you burn in the fires of the Underworld while I laugh."

Blinking behind his glasses, Jason let him go with a nervous chuckle. In truth he would have felt horrible if he broke Nico's deceased sister's bow despite the fact he was probably nowhere near strong enough to. Those bows were resilient.

"I asked Chiron where you were and he said you were leaving on a special quest." He explained, slowly becoming serious. "He said it was so important you had to leave right away, so I'm glad I caught you. You should know better than to leave without saying goodbye, Nico."

"Actually, I was just trying to say goodbye to Will when you attempted to crush my lungs. If you're worried about me then don't be, okay? I can take care of myself just fine." His dark eyes flashed with quiet determination as he turned to Will, confidence in his voice as to reassure the son of Apollo he believed it himself.

Will wrapped his arms around his boyfriend gently, planting a kiss on his forehead before taking a step back. "Good luck, alright? Don't take too long either, because the longer you're away the harder I'm going to tackle you out of sheer joy when you get back. I don't want to have to break a rib; I'm a healer and doing that is a conflict of interest."

Nico rolled his eyes before pecking Will on the lips one last time before departing.

"I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise. This quest is more of a rescue mission, and since I'll be looking in my father's own domain it should go rather quickly. I just have to locate two souls that most likely stand out in the Underworld, right? Hades or Thanatos might be able to steer me in the right direction as well."

Two pairs of blue eyes lit up and found each other immediately.

"Dude, you up for getting some food and burning a bunch for them?" Jason asked.

Will nodded. "Yep! Don't worry, Death Boy, Jason and I will pray to them right away. They'll have to help you then!"

"They don't have to do anything, but I thank you both for being the lovable idiots you are."

Jason seemed as if he were about to cry. "Oh, Nico! That's the closest you've come to saying you love me!"

"Shut up."

"I love you too!"

Chuckling, Will watched as the shadows engulfed Nico a moment later.