Too Late

Chapter 20

~ Will ~

"Nico! Wait!" Will called as he saw the son of Hades walking up the hill.

His boyfriend stopped and waited for him to catch up, "I've been looking for you all morning, Solace. Where were you? You know what, it doesn't matter."

Will smiled as he walked up the hill with him, sliding his hand into Nico's. At the top of the hill Nico gave him a kiss on the cheek and let go, "I'll be back soon, Will."

"You'd better be."

There was an akward pause.

"You sure you have everything?"

"Yes, mother."

"Aren't you forgetting something?"

"I just gave you your kiss good bye."

"No you're forgetting something else, Nico."

"What?" The son of Hades said with a sigh.

"Me!" Will said, with a grin.

Nico stared at him for a moment, "You're joking right?"

"No."

"That was probably the dorkiest thing you've ever said. And for that you can come."

"Perfect, I wasn't going to let you leave without me."

Nico rolled his eyes, "We'll have to go back down and tell Chiron."

"I left him a note."

"You still need clothes, weapons and supplies."

"Oh, I have that stuff."

"Oh yeah, where?" Nico said, skeptically.

"It's in your bag. I repacked it last night, you can actually fit lots more in there if you don't just through it all in."

"You what?"

"I repacked it."

Nico slung the bag off his shoulder and looked inside, and sure enough there were the things he packed and all of Will necessities. "What the hell?"

Will smiled, "We're wasting daylight here. Let's go!"

Nico closed the bag and handed it to Will, "You carry it, it's mostly full of your garbage."

Will sighed, and put the bag on, then slipped his hand into Nico's and they fell into darkness.

* * *

Nico squeezed his hand gently and Will opened his eyes. They stood on a hill. Overlooking a three lane highway.

"Where are we?" Will asked.

"The Oakland Hills, near San Francisco. And that is where we want to go." Nico said, pointing to a tunnel. It looked like a service tunnel.

"Why can't we just shadow travel into the camp?"

"Terminus would probably kill us."

"Who?"

"You'll meet him soon." Nico said brushing off the question.

"Why can't we shadow travel to the entrance?"

"The guards would shoot us."

"So we walk?"

"Yes. We walk."

* * *

They reached the doors, and were greeted by guards. Who glared at Will's drawn bow and Nico's black sword. Nico took a step forward, and the guards blocked the door with their spears. "Do we know you?" One asked.

"You might." Nico scowled. It had been so long since he had seen that expression on Nico's face he realized just how much Nico di Angelo had changed. But he pushed that thought aside for now. He had to help.

Nico glared at the guards, "We need to get into camp. We have a message from the greeks."

The guard who had spoken before took off her helmet, "You can't just go in sweetie." She batted her eyelashes and Will wanted to hit her. Nico glanced at him and smirked, "Why not?" Nico asked.

The other guard took off her helmet. "Because, that's what the others said. And they were lying."

"Others?" Will echoed.

"Yes," The first girl looked at Will with her big brown eyes, if he hadn't been gay he might have been entranced by her beauty. Thank the gods for his sexuality. Nico seemed to be sharing his thoughts. "I'm the son of Hades and this is the son of Apollo. We were sent by Chiron."

"Oh really? We were sent by the praetors, because we are stronger than the ones who fell."

"You know what, I think that makes sense." Nico muttered, Will heard him and forced back a smile.

"Look, ladies, I don't want to have to but if you don't let us in we'll be forced to take you into camp ourselves, and that might just tarnish your flawless reputation. Or you could simply let us pass, take us in and you will be rewarded for bringing us."

They shrugged, "But that breaks the rules."

"The rules are that any demigod who comes is let into camp."

"But no new demigods have come for months. And the two of you are already claimed."

Nico narrowed his eyes, "That's nice."

Will stepped forward, "Can we all calm down for a moment, please."

"I agree," the second guard said, as she slid her hand slowly up Will's arm. He shivered and Nico pushed the girl away, "Get away from him." He growled.

The girl went flying, she crashed into the wall and didn't get back up.

"Oops." Nico said.

"Oops?" Will demanded.

"I meant to push her away... not... do that."

The other guard glared at them, "You will pay!"

"Distract her," Will muttered, "I'll see if the other one is okay."

Nico nodded.

Will ran around the first guard, who was too busy trying to kill Nico to notice, and knelt next to the other girl. She was still breathing, that was good. He forced some ambrosia into her mouth and prayed she wouldn't choke and die. She didn't. Even better.

He heard footsteps and looked up, from the tunnel a guy ran out, in full battle armour. He looked at the guards, who were both unconscious at this point. He walked over to Will and knelt next to the girl, "She'll be fine, don't worry. You're pretty good at healing, you know. I bet you're a child of Apollo."

"Uh, yeah."

"You guys okay?"

Nico nodded, "Yes, sorry about your comrades. They wouldn't let us in."

"And who exactly are you?"

"The ambassador of Pluto."

The guy dropped his bow and stumbled back, "Nico?"

Nico frowned, "Do I know you?"

The guy took off his helmet and Nico started to smile, "Oh, hey Frank. I should have know it was you, voice and height and stuff." Frank looked stunned, "You're here?"

"No. I'm obviously not." Nico muttered, "Come on, we should move. We don't want to attract monsters." He picked up one of the girls and Frank picked up the other.

As they walked through the tunnel Frank turned to Nico, "They are daughters of Terminus."

"Well then, that explains everything." Nico said with a harsh laugh. Leaving Will to wonder who Terminus was and why his daughters were so annoying.