Nico stepped out of the shadows in front of the Poseidon table at what appeared to be breakfast time. Percy dropped his fork in surprise before standing up, his green eyes lit up in excitement. "Nico!"

"Percy." Nico crossed his arms as campers looked over. Will wasn't at his table. "You IM'd me when I told you not to."

Percy scratched the back of his neck. "It was important."

"I was with my mother!" Nico stopped for a second, blinked. "You know who I mean! I had to tell her!"

"You should have told her a long time ago." Percy sat back down before picking his fork up again. "And she let you come, obviously."

"She let me come because she's worried about Harry." Nico looked around. "Where's Rachel?"

"Big House."

"Why?"

"She's talking to Chiron."

Nico then noticed the centaur's absence. "About what?"

Percy shrugged. "Something about you."

"Great." Nico ran a hand through his hair before walking away from the table. The youngest campers looked at him as if they thought he was one of the gods.

He was almost out of the Pavilion when a blond Apollo kid walked in front of him, those blue eyes full of innocence. He couldn't have been older than six. "Hades?"

"That's my father, kid." Nico felt his heart drop at the assumption. "Why?"

"Harold, leave him alone." Will was suddenly at the kid's side but his eyes stared into Nico's. "He can't do what you want."

Will looked how Nico remembered, but his eyes were far more tired than usual. His scrub top, his jeans, bandages on his arms. Nico could tell he just came from the infirmary.

"Not many kids ask for Hades." Nico looked away from Will, tried to ignore those beautiful eyes. He kneeled in front of Harold, trying to keep his robes from getting dirty. "What do you want, kid?"

Harold stepped closer to Nico. "You're not Hades?" His voice was filled with disappointment.

Nico shook his head. "He's my dad just like Apollo is yours. Why did you want to see him?"

Harold reached out to touch Nico's robes. "He...he took my mom...and I want her back...I was gonna ask for her back."

"That's why you're here so young..." Nico sighed. "I can't bring her back, kid. Death is death...but I can make sure she's okay, how about that? I can tell her whatever you want."

Harold nodded vigorously. "Please!"

"Okay, tell me what I should say." Nico stood up. "I don't have much time."

"I'll write it down!" Harold ran off toward the Athena table, no doubt to ask for one of them to write it. His little legs didn't take him too quick.

Nico glanced up at Will, tried to think how they got so distant, tried to tell himself that he still shouldn't love him. "I have to talk to Rachel."

"Okay."

Nico scowled. "That's all you have to say?"

Will froze. "Excuse me?"

"We don't talk in months and you don't even try when you see me!" Nico hissed. "What happened to still being friends?"

Will frowned. "You cut me off...said not to IM you...I thought you didn't want to talk to me. There's a reason I stayed away when I heard you were coming."

"I'd never cut you off, I promise." Nico dusted his robes off. "I don't make promises lightly."

"I know." Will reached his arms out. "Can I have a hug?"

Nico hugged him, frowning at the reminder of their age difference. "I've been really busy. I have to talk to Rachel, go find Harold's mother, hurry home... I'll be coming on the weekends, though."

"Percy told me." Will leaned his chin on top of Nico's head. "It'll be good to see you."

"You have studying, though."

"So? I also can visit you." Will pulled away. "You...should probably get going."

"Agreed." Nico waved slightly before walking off, keeping his head bowed to stop himself from looking at Will again. It was hard to keep away, especially after such a short encounter.

He kept wanting to go back, kept wanting to go say more. There was so much to catch Will up on, so much to tell him. But he couldn't. He had stuff to do. And Will...he wasn't his boyfriend.

"Nico!" Rachel waved from the porch of the Big House. "Come here!"

"What do you need?" Nico climbed the steps before sitting on the railing.

"I saw more." Rachel sat next to him. "I don't know why they're showing me...but they are. I saw...I saw Voldemort die."

Nico felt himself sink into relief. "Really?"

She nodded. "But that's as good as the news gets. I also saw a lot of destruction, a lot of death."

Nico let his head fall back. "A real war, huh? Another one."

She nodded. "Another one. Are you going to fight?"

"Of course," he smiled. "How could I not? I'm a demigod. And...and that's my family they're attacking. It isn't just random wizards. It's my family."

"Do you think that's why they did it?" Rachel asked. "Why they actually had you grow up there?"

Nico nodded. "And I'm not gonna fight them about it because by the time I realized, I was already attached."

"Maybe it's for the best." Rachel sighed as she moved some hair behind her ear. "You've had enough wars."

Nico nodded as he watched Harold run up to the Big House. "That's for sure." He looked down at him when he finally stopped. "You got it ready?"

Harold held out a piece of paper. "Here."

Nico put it in his pocket. "Thanks, kid. I've got to go, now."

"Keep in contact," Rachel reminded.

Nico sighed at the familiar demand. "Okay, I will." He stepped back into the shadows, couldn't help but long to be back in the wizarding world already.

Was this how Jason had felt? He grew up Roman, was tricked into the Greeks. Had he also fallen in love with his new life, even though his old still waited for him?

Jason had felt more Greek. Nico had been certain of it. It was the only way he justified his own feelings about the wizards