Nico

My eyes fluttered open, and I groggily sat up, putting a hand to my forehead. My vision adjusted to see that I was sitting in the middle of a dimly lit room. The walls were solid rock, and a wooden door was at the corner of the room. 

I glanced down and saw a blanket covering my body. I pushed it away and slid off of the bed. I stood up and walked over to the door. I put my hand on the doorknob and the door opened. 

"Right, my dad fucking used some spell to make me sleep." I muttered as I stepped out into the hallway. I heard voices echoing from up ahead, and I made my way towards them. 

 I entered the main room to see Clarisse and Will sitting at the table, talking in low voices. Artemis, Apollo, and Hades were sitting near them, while Atlas and Athena were nowhere to be seen. 

As I walked in, Clarisse was the first to notice me. Her eyes widened slightly before a small smile spread across her face. "Nico!" 

When she said my name, everyone stopped what they were doing to turn and look at me. I smiled faintly at them and went to sit down beside Will. 

Will looked tired, and his hair and clothes were all rumpled and dishevelled. Strapped to his waist was an unfamiliar celestial bronze sword. "Since when did you use a sword?" I asked playfully. 

Will blinked before he chuckled quietly. "I wanted to know how to fight better in close combat. Can't keep using a bow forever, you know?" 

"Yes, I get it." I said before poking his cheek, surprising him. "You should get some rest. You look like you're going to drop dead any second now." 

"No I'm not! I'm fine." Will sputtered as he swatted my hand away. "Clarisse was helping me train!" I raised an eyebrow at the daughter of Ares, and she rolled her eyes at me. 

"Son." A familiar voice said. I turned to see Hades standing behind me, looking at me with no expression evident on his face. "How are you feeling?" 

"Better. Thanks." I replied. "What did you guys do while I was asleep?" Hades glanced back at Artemis and Apollo before answering. 

"We all trained. Atlas and Athena are still going at it, and the rest of us are discussing about how to infiltrate Olympus. Have a seat, Nico." Hades' body suddenly disappeared before reappearing beside Artemis. 

I blinked before taking a seat next to Apollo, who gave me a cheery thumbs up. 

"So how are we doing this?" I asked after a moment of silence. "I thought we discussed this already." 

"We did, but not fully in depth." Artemis said, staring at the table. She reached out and placed one of her hunting knives on the table before continuing "What we have so far is that you and Hades will shadow-travel Apollo and I inside while the rest of the demigods and Gods will take on Olympus from the front doors." 

"We thought about it for a while longer after that." Apollo agreed. "But what we're worried about is that we're setting up those demigods to die. Perseus won't fight on the front lines, we're thinking he will stay inside Olympus and let his army do the dirty work for him." 

"If Percy doesn't fight on the front lines, then we stand a better chance, don't we?" I asked, confused. Hades rubbed his eyes before sighing and leaning back in his chair. 

"Yes, but then it would be harder for the four of us to sneak in. Perseus would know something is up if he doesn't catch wind of the four of us on the battlefield." 

"We have no other choice." Artemis interjected, slamming her fist onto the table. She gave Hades a fierce look, determination shining in her silver eyes. "We have to attack Olympus and try to rescue the demigods and Gods Perseus has imprisoned." 

Apollo clicked his tongue and laced his fingers together. "We're all going to die, aren't we?" Artemis glared at her twin and spat "Aren't you supposed to be the cheerful one?" 

"We keep the same plan." Hades said, interrupting the two twins. "Nico and I will shadow-travel you two inside, and we find the prisoners. If we encounter Perseus, well, I'll think about that later." 

I stared at the table, a frown on my face. I was scared of attacking Olympus. I was afraid of dying. I almost already died once, and now we're going to attack my cousin head-on. 

Apollo was right. We're all going to die.

I was broken out of my depressing thoughts by a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see a certain smiling son of Apollo staring at me. "You have this gloomy aura around you again." Will chided. "Come here." 

He wrapped his arms around me to give a hug, and when he did so, my mind went blank. The thought going through my head right now was.....

"WILLISHUGGINGMEWILLISHUGGINGMEOHMYGODSOHMYGODSHE'SHUGGINGMEAHHHH!"

Will finally released me and he frowned as he saw my face. "What is going on with you?" I shook my head quickly and said "Nothing, nothing. It's just....I'm scared. I'm scared of going against Percy again. I almost...I almost died, Will."

He gazed at me for a few seconds before reaching out and ruffling my hair, earning a shriek from me. 

"We're all scared, Nico. Percy is a monster, a killer. But we have to do this. We have to get Olympus back and kill Percy. We have to fix everything that he's done." Will managed a small smile as he added "And we need our normal lives back. We can't keep living in this underground bunker forever."

I nodded slowly and Will put his arm around my shoulders. "All hope isn't lost." The son of Apollo muttered. "This time, we will win. We have to."

I looked into Will's steely blue eyes and laughed quietly. "I love the determination and confidence you have, Solace. Thanks for trying to cheer me up."

"Don't forget you aren't the only one facing Percy." Clarisse said gruffly. She crossed her arms against her chest and blew her stringy brown hair out of her eyes. "We're all fighting him, whether we like it or not."

I opened my mouth to respond when I saw Athena and Atlas enter the room. They were both breathing hard, and their clothes were ripped in various places. 

"I'm-I'm done for today." The Wisdom Goddess panted as she took a seat next to Clarisse. Atlas tsked as he walked over to the sink and filled up a glass of water. "Shut up you hag, you stabbed me in the chest!" 

"Because I felt like it." Athena answered as she threw her shield onto the table. Her grey eyes locked onto me, and she said "How are you feeling, son of Hades?" 

I was little surprised the Goddess asked me that, but I replied anyways. "I'm fine. I'm much more refreshed and energized. Thanks for wondering." 

Athena studied me carefully before she looked back at Atlas. The titan was currently chugging down the glass of water. 

"We should take the whole day tomorrow to rest." Athena said as she looked back at the other Gods and Goddesses. "We trained the whole day today. Give ourselves time tomorrow to plan as well." 

"I agree." Artemis said, picking up her knife and examining it. "Get our energy back to kick Perseus's ass." 

I flinched at the Moon Goddess's words. In all honesty, I don't think Percy would be getting his ass kicked. 

We would be getting our asses kicked by him. 

Word count: 1276

So I went to watch a basketball game today....and wow, that was probably the most intense game I've ever watched. Half-court gamewinner, like I'M SHOOK

ok that's enough about basketball, how are you guys today?