The battle was complete chaos. Percy looked around, breathing heavily, Riptide in his hand. His arms were tired, sweat dripped from him. He thought the battle of Manhattan was bad enough, but this was much remembered how they'd just managed to scrape by with around 40 demigods from Camp Half-Blood before the Ares kids showed up. Now, the battlefield was filled with nearly all the demigods from Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter combined, some dead, some still fighting valiantly. Chiron was here too, with the Party Ponies and most of the satyrs from camp. Coach had stayed at camp to keep an eye on things there.

When Nico, Reyna and Coach Hedge had left them it had only taken 2 days for them to shadow-travel back to Camp Half-Blood. When they had got there, Reyna had presented the Greek demigods with the Athena Parthenos and regained control of her Roman demigods. Reyna had made it perfectly clear that Frank Zhang was now praetor and that Octavian no longer had a role to play in this war and that he was to return to Camp Jupiter immediately. Percy would have loved to have seen his face then.

Nico had vanished into the Underworld and reappeared the next day, to everyone's shock, with a big bunch of Hellhounds. He had somehow managed to persuade Hades to order these hellhounds to help them out. Percy had a feeling the gods were starting to find peace with themselves now the Athena Parthenos had been returned, and finally realised they need to start helping the demigods with their fight. There were enough Hellhounds to transport around 60 demigods to Athens by shadow-travel, and the rest used pegasi and chariots that had been designed and built by the Ares and Hephaestus cabins.

It had taken them 4 days to get there thanks to all of Gaia's monsters post-poning their arrival. Before they started the war, Frank had summoned an entire army of dead soldiers to help out, Leo had managed to create a whole new arsenal for them using his Archimedes sphere. After that, they'd been battling Gaia's army for 2 days before the first round of back-up arrived. Seeing 60 demigods marching towards them, half in orange and half in purple, standing side by side with a load of hellhounds in front of them, ready for battle, Percy's whole body had tingled and filled with pride. It had also re-energised him, and though he knew he was silly for feeling it, he felt a huge wave of hope wash over him.

Up until today, the giants had remained hidden, waiting for the monsters to tire the demigods out before stepping in. It was now the 29th of July. They had just over 2 days to stop Gaia's army and the gaints. The demigods that came in the chariots and on the pegasi had started arriving yesterday. His trusty friend Blackjack was here, too, although Percy had the feeling Blackjack was avoiding him because of the incident in Kansas, but Percy really didn't care about that anymore.

Percy heard someone shouting 'look, another chariot!'. He glanced up and just made out a black chariot being pulled by horse skeletons in the distance. Nico. It must be. Percy couldn't believe it. After everything Nico had been through, surviving Tartarus on his own, surviving in a giant jar for days on nothing but seeds, and shadow-travelling a demigod, a satyr and the Athena Parthenos all the way back to Camp Half-Blood, he had still come back to fight. Despite being in a war zone, Percy couldn't help but smile. Nico was amazing. As he got closer, Hazel noticed it was him, too.

Percy heard Hazel shouting 'Oh, Nico, he's come back!' and then stood, watching in terror, as a couple of Gaia's venti destroyed the horse skeletons, grabbed hold of Nico's chariot and carried him away, before returning to the fight without him. Percy couldn't move. He couldn't think. He couldn't even believe what he had just seen. It was Hazel that snapped him out of his daze.

'He's still alive!' she screamed in Percy's face. 'I can feel it, he isn't dead. You have to save him!'

'Where is he? Can you sense where he is?', Percy shouted back. He could feel his voice cracking, tears were starting to well up in his eyes. Stop it Percy Jackson. Stop it. You have to save him. You can't cry. He cleared his throat and watched Hazel as she tried to concentrate, which was a little hard for her to do considering they were in the middle of a battlefield. Luckily the other demigods were keeping the monsters away from them, but it wouldn't be for long. Hazel looked up at Percy with tears in her eyes. She shook her head.

'I can sense that he's still alive,' she said, 'but I can't locate him. It's like he isn't there, but he is. I know it!' As soon as she'd said that, she looked at Percy. She'd had the same thought he'd had.

'He must be in water,' Percy said, 'leave it to me.' Percy whistled and Blackjack appeared in front of him.

Erm, yo boss.

'Blackjack, I need you to take me to Nico. We have to find him. He's landed in water somewhere.'

Let's get going then.

Percy climbed on and told Hazel not to worry, to get back to the fight. He was determined to bring Nico back alive. Blackjack managed to fly away before anyone realised. They flew in the direction that Nico had been coming from, but they found no water. They kept flying in that direction and the closer they got to the gulf, the stronger Percy's senses got. Nico was in the gulf somewhere. It should have taken them a lot longer than 5 minutes to get there, but pegasi flew like the wind.

After a minute or two of flying over the water, Percy spotted the top of Nico's chariot in the water, but it was sinking. 'There!' he shouted at Blackjack. Blackjack swooped down and Percy jumped off his back straight in to the water. There were some pretty cool looking fish swimming around, but that wasn't important. He summoned them all over to him. There is another boy in here somewhere, help me find him. Now. They did as they were told. After a couple of minutes of frantic searching a school of fish swam over to Percy and signalled for him to follow them. They led him straight to Nico.

Percy swam right over and pulled Nico in to his arms. He remembered the first time he'd felt this kind of panic, back during the quest to the Sea of Monsters with Annabeth when he realised she couldn't breathe under water. He closed his eyes and within seconds, an oxygen-filled bubble formed around both of them. Nico was still breathing, but only faintly. Percy opened Nico's mouth and tried getting some oxygen back in to him and frantically doing cpr, but it was no use.

Percy did the only other thing he could possibly do in this situation. He closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he possibly could. Poseidon. Neptune. I don't care. Father, I need you. Help Nico, please. I know you can. I do not have that power. If it wasn't for Nico, I would not be alive. Annabeth would not be alive. Gods, none of us would be alive right now and the Gaia would already have risen. Help him, please. He opened his eyes again and cradled Nico in his arms, pulling him closer to his body. He looked down at Nico's face, remembering everything they'd been through together since they'd met a few years ago when Nico was just a little geeky kid playing Mythomagic. A tear rolled down his face and landed on Nico's. Suddenly, everything went black and Percy lost consciousness.

Everything was still dark, but Percy could see the figure of a man very clearly in his mind. As he got closer, he realised it was Poseidon. Father. Poseidon smiled at him. Percy. It seems you have managed to unite my two forms momentarily. You demigods have been pretty good at that, it seems. Well done. As it just happens, I can help this child of Hades. I suppose you're right. He has earned it. Poseidon went quiet for a minute and then looked at Percy. You care deeply for this boy. Percy looked at his father as if to say, 'well, duh!' Yes father. He has saved my life plenty of times. He helped us in Manhattan and I - I promised Bianca I would look after him!

Poseidon tilted his head, obviously giving something some thought, and then he sighed. Percy, I will help him, don't worry. But I must make something clear. I have no problem with whom you love, but if your heart is divided between two people, the rest of your body will be in choas until you choose. Be careful, son. We will be joining the fight soon. And with that, Poseidon was gone.

The darkness faded and Percy was still in his oxygen bubble, cradling Nico. He thought about what his father had just said. If your heart is divided between two people. What did he mean by that? Annabeth had his heart. She had everything of his. His heart, mind, soul, life. He looked back down at Nico, and then it clicked. The happiness Percy had felt when he saw Nico's chariot approaching, the sheer horror he felt when Nico went down. The tears. The aching he felt in his heart during the search, and now, waiting helplessly in an oxygen bubble underwater waiting to see if he'd live. Nico was the second person. He shook his head. He couldn't be in love with Nico. He was in love with Annabeth.

If you're so in love with Annabeth, why is your heart beating twice as fast looking at Nico? Shut up. But it's true. You left her alone in that battle to come to Nico. You're here, cradling Nico in your arms whilst she's out there fighting without you. It's not like that though. I'm the only one that could save Nico. Yes you are. See? Even you agree. That's not what I meant, though. Why am I arguing with myself?

Nico stirred. Percy's heart leapt. He looked down at him again, and Nico was opening his eyes. Percy smiled at him. Nico looked up at Percy and they held each other's gaze. 'What happened?' Nico said.

'Some venti swept you out of the sky, dumped you here. Hazel sensed you were still alive. I came for you, the fish helped me find you. I put a protective oxygen bubble around us. you were heardly breathing, Poseidon helped you-'

'Poseidon helped me? Why would he do that?'

'I begged him to.'

'Begged him? You? Percy Jackson?'

'Shut up. Yes. I couldn't let you die, no way. I need you- what I mean is, we need you in this battle. All of us need you.' They stared at each other. Percy blushed. The oxygen bubble started to fill up with tension, but not a bad tension. It was more like the awkward kind of tension when people tell your crush that you like them when you're standing right next them. His heart was pounding, and he couldn't take his eyes off of Nico. It was like they'd been locked in to place. Finally Nico broke the silence.

'Percy...'

'Yeah?'

'I need you, too'

There was no hesitation from either of them. Percy felt his head going down, and felt Nico raising his. Their lips locked and a jolt of electricity shot right throught Percy's body. He realised Nico had felt one, too. His hands automatically moved and found Nico's face, cupping it, and they'd both moved positions so that they were upright in the bubble. Nico's hands found Percy's back and traced up and down it. They were as close to each other as they could possibly get.

When the kiss finished, they stayed in the same position, but their noses were touching. Percy was struggling to catch his breath, even though he could breathe easily underwater and there was an oxygen bubble around them. He knew it was from the kiss. Not even Annabeth's kiss had felt as good as that. It felt right with her, but not incredible like it had with Nico. He looked up in to Nico's eyes and noticed that for once, they didn't look distant and miserable. He hated himself for what he about to do.

'Nico...I can't-'

'I know,' Nico replied, gently.

'What do you mean?'

'You can't be with me. You have Annabeth. You need her more than you need me. You love her more than you could ever love me. Besides, my place is down below, with the dead.'

'I'm sorry Nico, really. That kiss...it was...I enjoyed it a lot, more than I care to admit, but you're right. I do have Annabeth, and it isn't fair to either of you...'

They lingered for a while, taking in each other's presence. 'Percy...we should probably go now and rejoin the battle.'

'Oh, yeah, right. The stupid battle.'

'Percy before we go...could I - could I have one more kiss?'

Percy smiled at him. It was that mischievous smile he had that almost everyone swooned over and Nico wondered that, if the circumstances were different and Percy had never met Annabeth, would that mischievous smile mea he was going to get more than just a kiss off Percy Jackson. Percy cupped Nico's face in his hands again and leant in towards him. Their lips locked again, and they both felt another jolt of electricity racing throughout their bodies. This kiss didn't last as long as the first, but Nico felt like Percy was putting all of his emotions in to it. It seemed to say that Percy wanted it, but they could never have it, and that he was truly sorry about that. It also felt like a goodbye kiss, but Nico didn't mind. He knew he couldn't have Percy Jackson, but atleast he knew Percy liked him. They broke apart and smiled at each other. Nico nodded, and Percy gathered the surrounding water and took them back to the surface. After a few seconds of concentration, Blackjack appeared in front of them.

Yo, boss. Finally. Thought you'd never come back. Glad the kid's alright. We'd better hurry and get you two back to the battle, people will be wondering if you've ran away together. Percy glanced awkwardly at Nico before climbing on Blackjack's back. Nico sat behind Percy and put his arms around him. Back to the battle we go then, Blackjack, Percy said to the pegasus. You got it, boss, Blackjack replied. He flapped his wings and within minutes they were all back in Athens, ready to fight.