This chapter kind of (really) sucks, sorry

Chapter XIII

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Carter sat at the head of the table, feeling mildly important. He was currently leading a meeting whose soul purpose was putting the broken peices of a perfect relationship back together and at which he was going to present his plan.

The meeting's attendance consisted of the entirety of the Hephaestus and Apollo cabins, a few random, assorted campers, and Calypso. They hadn't invited the Seven because Piper still didn't know and if she wasn't invited to something and the others were it wouldn't end well for anyone.

They were currently discussing all of their failed attempts to talk the pair into talking to each other. Apparently Leo was the only one who had been able to talk to Nico and the Apollo cabin had convinced Will to come out of the cabin. He was at least participating in his normal activities, but he had yet to smile.

Carter noticed Leo tapping his fingers against the table nervously, Calypso reached over and squeezed them gently, giving him a smile, he returned the smile weakly. 

Carter looked at everyone, "Okay, guys. Any thoughts before I present the plan?"

A girl with short, auburn hair cleared her throat awkwardly. "Well. . . I think we should let them work it out themselves, I mean, what if they realize they're not right for eachother?"

Carter stared at her disbelievingly, "Not right for each other?"

She shifted uncomfortably, "Well, yeah. . . I mean--"

Carter stood up, "Not right for each other?"

The girl's eyes widened and she made a small squeeking noise.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave the meeting." Carter said dangerously.

"Carter." Andy said, taking his arm, "Leave her alone."

A/N: Andy is Carter and Will's sister, she was mentioned a couple of times before

Carter turned to her exasperated, "But she's hating on my OTP, Andy!" He protested.

"Let it go." she said slowly. Carter opened his mouth to say something and she fixed him with a glare. He huffed out a defeated breath and plopped back down into his seat.

"Okay. . ." Leo said, steepling his fingers. "Now, it may very well turn out that Nico and Will don't want to be together," Everyone in the room looked horrified by this statement (especially Carter, who looked a lot like a kicked puppy) except the girl and a few others. "And that would be terrible for all of us," he continued carefully, "but if that is the case, then we'd have to respect their decision. As of right now, we have no intention of letting that happen."

An audible sigh of relief swept around the room and Leo grinned broadly. "Now, it's time to get down to business."

He looked over at Carter, who stood up and pulled a blue sheet off of an easle. Instead of displaying art, it had several sheets of cardstock propped up on it, the one in front had "Operation Solangelo Jr." written in large letters with, "Plan B" written in smaller letters below that. Carter thought he heard someone say something about that being a really lame name, but he decided to ignore them.

"What I'm about to show you is the first, and hopefully last, plan in our attempt to. . . gently nudge Nico and Will into making up."

"And hopefully making out too!" Leo called, everyone laughed and chorused their agreement.

Carter grinned at him, "That can be arranged." Leo whooped happily and everyone laughed again.

"Okay, so we're obviously failing at Plan A, which was simply to get them to talk again, so me and Leo have devised a slightly more complex plan to carry out."

He flipped th through the cards, explaining each step to the plan as he went while Leo threw in stupid jokes, some people laughed and others just rolled their eyes.

The plan was fairly simple and, admittedly, not entirely original. The basic idea was to get them to meet somewhere without telling them they were actually meeting.

Carter finished and looked at the assembled demigods, "So, any questions?"

A redheaded Hephaestus girl raised her hand, and Carter pointed to her, "Yes, uhm. . ." He waved his hand, looking for a name.

"Rusty." Leo supplied, Carter gave him a weird look and the girl rolled her eyes.

"Tilly." She told Carter.

"Okay, Tilly, what's your question?"

"Well, once we get them to said location, how are we going to get them to stay? We can't just force them to talk things out."

Leo slammed his hand down on the table, "A GIANT NET!"

Everyone turned to look at him. "Is this a joke?" An Apollo kid asked disbelievingly.

Leo laughed nervously, "Yeah, of course it was. I mean, a giant net? Psch! That's absurd, who would think that's a good idea?" He leaned over and whispered something to one of his brothers, who sighed despairingly, pinching the bridge of his nose, and then stood up and left the cabin.

Leo smiled awkwardly at everyone. "He had to go to the little demigod room."

Carter rolled his eyes at him, Leo felt like he'd been receiving that expression far too often lately. "We were thinking about that and we decided that this plan is resting mainly on pure luck." He stated brightly, the look he received from the group wasn't exactly reassuring, he sighed. "Okay, I know it's not the best plan in existence but for now,  it's all we got. So make it work."

No one looked completely excited about this, but there weren't any protests, so Carter assumed that they were fine with the plan.  "MEETING ADJURNED!" He declared, wishing he had a mallet.

Everyone stood up, talking as they exited the cabin.

"REMEMBER," He yelled over the noise, "SEVEN O'CLOCK!"

Once everyone had left th cabin but, Carter, Leo and Calypso, they started putting away all of the chairs.

"What if this doesn't work?" Calypso asked, "What's plan C?"

Carter and Leo looked at eachother. "Well," Leo said, "that's where things get complicated."

Calypso rose an eyebrow, folding a chair, "Do I want to know?"

They shared another look, and Leo shook his head. "Probably not." Carter told her apologetically.

"Should I be afraid for Nico and Will?" She asked.

"No." Leo said, "It's not dangerous, it's just last resort. . . And we don't want to have to go there."

"Oo-kay." His girlfriend said, "I guess I should be used to this by now. . ."

"Probably." Leo told her, grinning, she hit him playfully over the shoulder and he pretended to be deeply hurt by this.

Next thing Carter knew they were chasing eachother around the cabin and hitting eachother with pillows, it was really rather amusing to watch. Eventually Leo caught Calypso and pulled her in for a kiss, then they proceded to stare longingly into eachother's eyes.

Carter averted his gaze, feeling like he was invading a private moment and stepped out of the cabin. There was a heavy feeling in his chest that he couldn't quite place, he shrugged it off and walked to the archery range.

* * * * *

It was 7:25 and Carter was heading towards the Apollo cabin to put the plan into action. His pulse was racing in excitement and nervousness as he pushed the door open, stepping inside.

Will was sitting on his bed, his legs folded underneath him and his guitar perched in his lap. He was nodding his head to the music, his eyes closed and his lips were moving, probably mouthing lyrics he'd written to the music he was now playing. Carter had never heard his brother sing, but he'd bet ten times the amount he'd placed on his virginity that he was good.

He didn't want to interupt, it had been so long since he'd picked up his beloved guitar, but he didn't want to delay the plan, it could ruin everything.

He cleared his throat awkwardly and Will immediately stopped playing, his eye opening and his fingers freezing over the strings. "Did you need something?" He asked.

"Uhm, yeah, I wanted to talk to you."

Will laid the guitar aside carefully, "Yeah, of course, what's up?"

He looked up and Carter couldn't help but notice how tired and beaten down he looked. There were dark circles under his eyes and his hair was a complete disaster, his skin seemed pale.

"Want to take a walk with me?" He asked, feeling lame.

Will looked confused about this but he didn't object. "Yeah, sure." He stood up and slipped on his sandals, seeming a bit shaky.

Carter nodded and led himout the door, gears turning in his head, he hadn't figured out what to say in advance and only now he was beginning to realize that might have been a good idea. Neither of them spoke until they entered the woods.

"So, what'd you need to talk about."

Carter's mind sped about one hundred miles an hour and he said the first thing that came to mind, "Are you doing okay?"

Will froze momentarily before relaxing, "Of course I am." He said.

I glanced over at him, "You don't seem fine. . ."

He blew out a breath, "I know. But. . . I need to get over it." He looked away and pushed a branch aside.

"Hey!" Carter said, "Why don't we go this way?" He pointed in the direction of the pre-planned clearing.

Will gave him a weird look, "Okay, sure. . ." He dropped the branch and followed.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Carter spoke again. "Why do you have to get over it?"

"Because Nico doesn't want to be with me. . . "

"What if he does?" Carter asked.

"That wouldn't make sense, why would he break up with me if he. . . Still likes me?"

Carter pursed his lips, "I don't know, but he seemed really upset about it. . . Maybe. . ." He struggled for an explanation.

"Exactly." Will said, dejectedly, "There's no way."

Carter dropped his gaze to the forest floor as they walked, "There has to be."

Will looked over at him, "Why?"

"Because. . . You made each other happy."

Will frowned, looking away, and Carter thought that he might be trying not to cry. They walked in silence for a while, Will didn't question not turning to go back, and eventually they stepped into the clearing.

Shoot, no one's here, crap, crap, where's L- Leo brust into the clearing, his eyes practically bursting from his head, "GUYS, GUYS, NICO IS--" his foot slapped down onto the ground right as a girl appeared from the trees, "DON'T--"

Leo was pulled into the air by the foot that had hit the trigger, his head barely missed smacking against the ground as he was jerked high into the air and wrapped in a golden net. "I SAID NO NET!" He yelled.

The girl looked sheepish, "Sorry, Boss."

Will stepped forward frantically, "Nico is what?!" He grabbed the net, looking at Leo desperately.

"He's gone." Leo gasped, his face was turning red from the blood rushing to his head, Will stepped back, "Cut him down before he passes out! Hurry!"

The net jerked once before toppling to the ground and spilling open, apparently some Hephaestus kid somewhere had pulled a lever or something.

Leo sat up, looking rath dizzy and Will crouched down next to him, "Are you okay?"

Leo nodded, and then closed his eyes, shaking his head a bit like he was trying to get rid of troubling thoughts.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Will asked urgently, once he was sure Leo was fine.

"I went to cabin to get him, and I was knocking and I even called him Neeks a few times but he never answered, so I opened the door, usually he'd yell at me if I did that, but he didn't, and. . ." He paused in his rambling to catch his breath, "He's not there and no one saw him leave. He's gone."

Will looked like he'd been slapped in the face, "Wh-what?" He just sat there for a few seconds before looking back to Leo, "Where would he go? We need to find him."

"Hazel." I blurted, they both turned to look at me. "He probably went to Camp Jupiter."

"SEE!" Will exclaimed, "THIS IS WHY I KEEP YOU AROUND!"

"I'm offended." I said, but he ignored me.

"LEO, I NEED YOU GET FESTUS."

"RIGHT!" Leo said, jumping to his feet, "Wait, why do we need Festus?"

Will rolled his eyes, "We're going toget Nico."

"OH! RIGHT!" He ran off into the forest to get the ginormous dragon.

"Can I come?" Carter asked hopefully.

Will sighed, "Fine. But only us three."

Annnddd I'm stopping right there because reasons. I'm so sorry, this chapter was short and boring and sucky *sigh* and it took forever to get it done because I was writing a chapter in Will's POV but it just wasn't working and then I started doing this and I was spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to make it better but I ended up settling for this crap, ANYWAY I promise the next chapter will be ten times better than this one, sorry again, I really don't deserve you amazing peoples