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"Hi, Will."

Nico met Will's eyes and immediately knew what was coming. Chaos burst out in the room.

From his place next to Nico, Jace stiffed at the unknown intruder, grip tight on his newly acquired dagger. Magnus shot up from his position next to Catarina, hands sparking with blue magic. Will started to move forward just in time to miss Simon's lunge forward, sending the other face-first into the ground. Clary skidded to a halt, blocking the entrance. Will ignored them both in favor of gawking at Nico. He paused, gripped the bridge of his nose

"Neeks, I love you, but what the fuck?" Will sighed.

Nico quickly glanced between Will and Jace, just waiting to see what would happen. Will could take them if he really wanted to... maybe. Jace gave Will a suspicious stare, but didn't stop him from coming right up next to Nico, and glancing his injuries over.

"Things got a bit messy," Nico started.

"No, not this mess, I'm talking about the wings, Sunshine," Will huffed, but clearly upset.

Nico paused for a moment then sighed, "I promise to tell you later. But you're about 5 seconds away from being jumped."

Jace chose this time to speak up, "Who are you?" a hand on the dagger Nico had just given him.

Will regarded Jace with a flat stare, but also quickly noted the dagger and the danger accompanying it. Hopefully, he wouldn't realize it was in his wing not even 20 minutes prior.

"Will Solace," Will turned back to Nico with a pointed finger, "We're not done here, but you mentioned Lou when you called me? Where is she?"

Nico pointed over to Catarina and the cot Lou was currently in towards the far wall. Will's head snapped towards it and it turned back to Nico with a hard look, "We're definitely not done yet," he grumbled before putting Lou's survival as his top priority.

Nico watched as all eyes turned watched as Will approached Catarina, her blue skin making him do a double-take in half a second before he moved seamlessly next to her. She paused at the sudden interruption, they argued for a moment, most likely about Will helping her, before he moved to the other side of the cot, taking up his set of tasks, letting Catarina lead and dictate.

Across the room, Simon and Clary watched Will with wary eyes, Simon gathering himself to his feet.

"Simon!" Jace called suddenly, "How did he get inside the Institute?"

Simon suddenly looked sheepish, "He knocked, I opened the door, then he pushed past me and ran."

"You should know better than to open the door for strangers!" Jace chided.

Clary snickered while Simon scoffed in indignation, "I'm not a child!"

Nico let out a weary breath he didn't know he was holding, his muscles still drawn taunt, but exhaustion was fighting hard against any attempt to stay alert. His mind started to cloud over with the allure of sleep. Unfortunately, Jace noticed, however, didn't care. He frowned then shook Nico, breaking him out of his stupor.

"Nuh-uh, you don't get to sleep until you explain," Jace said and beckoned the unoccupied people in the room over. Maryse had left at some point and was no longer in the room.

Jace, Simon, Clary crowded his bed while Alec and Magnus hung a bit further away.

"What was the question again?" Nico asked, too tired for this.

"First things first. What are you? Son on Hades? What does that even mean?" Jace practically demanded, far too loud.

"How does it go again?" Nico muttered to himself, "Oh yeah, Greek and Roman myths aren't actually myths, but real and still around today. Monsters, gods, spirits, the whole shebang. Sometimes the gods get bored, come down to the mortal plane, and make a demigod." Nico explained in the flattest monotone most of the group had ever heard. "Also, most things want to kill demigods, so we typically take refuge in one of the two camps."

"So, I guess that means you're quite literally a 'son of Hades' then?" Clary asked, and Nico nodded.

"Yep."

"Ok, my turn. Who is Will? You know, the one who just practically broke into the Institute?" Simon asked, gesturing towards Will.

"Will Solace, head of the Apollo cabin and the main doctor-"Nico began but was cut off by Will walking over.

"Will Solace, son of Apollo. Main doctor at the camp. Also, Nico's boyfriend," Will introduced, and sent a small smile towards Nico, "Neeks, that has to be one of the worst 'welcome to camp' speeches I've heard in a long while."

Nico, still blushing over being outed, gave Will a half-hearted glare, "It's not like I've had to do it before."

Will turned back towards the Shadowhunters (and Magnus), "Sorry about breaking in, but I was worried. Nico always manages to get himself into trouble. Also, as you can see, Nico needs sleep, so I'll answer any general demigod questions, so unless there's something specific you need to ask him, let him rest." Will let out a long breath, "You mentioned gave you a new prophecy before you left, do you remember it? You told me already, but share with the class."

Nico nodded, "A trampled flower, a hunted secret, Death's chosen, is who must keep it. A fallen foe, a primal's pride, drives a hunt in terror's stride. A daughter of magic, A vengeance sought must go awry or all for naught. A fire's burning, a lost-then-found friend shall bring the ashes to their end."

"Sounds like we're almost done then. Just that last part, the other things have already happened. I suppose we'll know by the end of tomorrow," Will commented.

Nico glanced towards the others, he could almost feel the silent conversation going on between them. He knew they probably had even more questions than before. Will could most likely answer most of them. He was definitely more used to dealing with "new campers" than Nico was.

Alec took a step forward, "Nico, who are we fighting against?"

"Valentine with support from Tartarus itself."

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Will's thoughts turned dark as he ushered the Nephilim the best he could out of the infirmary and into the hall, leaving Catarina to finish up with Lou and Nico to rest (for once). He was half tempted to spike his next drink with unicorn drought just to make sure Nico was properly healed before tomorrow's problems came hunting him down.

The Pit. Even that left a sour taste in his mouth. If he was after Nico and using this Valentine character (who was pretty bad by the Shadowhunter's reactions) to attack the camp, then things were about to get a lot worse before they got better. It was still too soon after the last war for them to go full force at another enemy, especially Tartarus. Neither camp was equipped to handle a full force threat alone and there was little time to get support from Camp Jupiter by this point. But the monsters had to recover from the recent war too, so there was a lull in overall activity. Full-force wasn't an option for anyone.

Will wondered if Nico had gotten around to contacting either Percy or Annabeth about what was going on. In this case, the time difference between New York and California was to his advantage. Will intended to call at least Annabeth once he was done answering the Shadowhunters questions. He had told Chiron before he left and fully expected an emergency counselor's meeting when he returned.

The situation quickly reversed itself, going from Will ushering them out, to him getting dragged along to whatever place. He was able to pick up the words meeting, Maryse, Clave, and High Inquisitor. The last two sounded important but he had no idea what they implied. Will's knowledge was pretty general. Just that a new assortment of beings existed (Nephilim, demons, warlocks, fae, vampires, and werewolves amongst other things) and anything he managed to pick up about them from Nico's rambles and complaints. He was pretty sure it was safe to give them information about demigods and Greek stuff in general if Nico was giving them a 'Welcome to Camp' speech, (a very bad one at that).

Will knew Nico was a private person, but the wings were something else. If he had to guess, they were related to the "death's chosen" part of the prophecy, along with all the running around Nico had been up to lately. Will only knew of two winged gods after all, and it wasn't too unlikely for Nico to be working alongside Thanatos either. Of course, that didn't explain the wings, or exactly how Nico got caught up in all of this, or Lou, that was important too. Will wanted the full story, he deserved that much.

Will eyed the Shadowhunters untrustingly. He knew they were the ones who had kidnapped Nico the first time. He didn't forgive them for jumpstarting Nico's nightmares about his time in a jar, something he had only recently gotten over. But he also knew they had questions and were involved in Tartarus's attack in camp tomorrow. It was just a question of how involved.

The only ones who were clearly armed was the blond and the guy with the bow who hung close to the guy with cat eyes and glitter in his hair. It was a nice bow, it had his approval. Neither the guy with glasses nor the Rachel-lookalike were clearly armed and were a lot more friendly than the blonde. The other two seemed to be in a whispering match, arguing about something on their breath. He couldn't make anything out. He didn't think it was about him so it didn't really matter to him anyway.

They went into a library, and the older woman who had left earlier was there, looking over an assortment of papers, but stopped when they entered the room. Chairs were offered and Will politely refused to join them at the table.

"Will, right?" The one with the bow asked.

"Yeah?" Will answered, snapping to full attention.

"What did Nico mean by that? Who or what is Tartarus?"

Will sighed, knowing he had their full attention now, "Both, actually. A primordial of unimaginable strength and the place where all our monsters return to once killed. Which means Valentine, whoever he is, now has an army of ancient greek monsters. He shouldn't have too many though, since numbers have been low. He'll still have a couple hundred at his disposal though," Will explained, but devolved into rambling.

As a counselor, he was trying to figure out how the battle would turn out. What kind of monsters? He needs to make sure he has enough medical supplies. Gods, they couldn't deal with another war right now, even if it was significantly less. And what about the Shadowhunters? Would they be involved in the fight? SHould he stock some of their medical supplies just in case? Gods, he needs those extra cots in the infirmary.

"Where is this war going to be waged? Should we expect an attack here?" The older woman asked, a deep frown on her face. She looked worried.

Will thought for a moment, "Probably not. If I had to guess it'll be the camp, it's always camp. Better to ask Nico for confirmation."

"Does 'sunset over Long Island Sound' mean anything?" The blond asked.

"Just confirmation that the battle is going to take place at camp at sunset tommor- today. Today." Will corrected. It was late, this was a lot. A meeting would have to be called as soon as Nico was awake enough for it, probably by dawn. He could put in some calls in the meantime. Did he have enough drachma for all of them? So many were still injured, he would need reinforcements from New Rome.

The Nephilim exchanged glances, then the Rachel-lookalike spoke when they seemed to reach a silent agreement, "Well fight with you," she decided, "Valentine is our problem, you shouldn't have to deal with it. How do we get to your camp?"

Will frowned, "Someone has to let you in. But I'm not sure you're allowed. We'll be fine. We've handled worse."

"What are your forces like?" The woman asked.

Will thought for a minute. "No clue. A hundred perfectly abled maybe? We could let some of the younger campers fight backlines or defense. Call in a few that are close and reinforcements. If we get the remaining of the Seven there and Nico, maybe the Hunters of Artemis? That would be optimal."

"How old are these younger campers?" The man in glitter with the cat eyes asked.

"12 is the age we let campers go on quests, but it's not uncommon for some to be younger. Probably around that age."

"Twelve? You let children fight in wars?" The guy with the bow asked, horrified.

Will had to take a breath. They had burned so many during the last war. How many were younger than 12? All had been under 18. Everyone in this room was older than him, and had never been in a demigod's situation.

"Demigods don't tend to live very long in the first place. Very few of us live to be 18, at least on the Greek side of things. The Romans are a lot more organized from what I've seen and live a lot longer because of it. But historically? I was lucky to live to 16. Nico even more so."

"Why?" The one with glasses, Simon, asked.

"In general or in Nico's case?"

"Both?"

"We're hunted. Monsters, mostly, but sometimes it's something else, angry gods or upset spirits, infighting isn't uncommon, or sometimes it's even mundane stuff. Most of us are orphans and runaways, or even both, and bad things happen when kids are on their own. Chances of survival are higher when you're a part of one of the camps or a few of the other groups floating around. As for Nico's case, I have no idea how he managed to survive. Children of the Big three, Zeus, Posiden, and Hades are a lot bigger targets because they're typically a lot stronger and attract more monsters. Nico's only recently been a part of one of the camps, but he's been about since he was ten, I think. I know he's been all over, and has even stayed in Hades's castle in the Underworld." Will attempted. He really wanted to talk to Nico about it sometime, he knew that Nico had been staying in the Underworld for some time in between and on occasion.

"Underworld? Like land of the dead?" Cat eyes and glitter asked.

"Yeah?" He looked a bit pale.

"Back on topic," the woman (he should really get their names) demanded, focusing on him with a cold and steely gaze, "You're telling me you plan to fight a war with an army of children?"

"We've never had a choice. You know how many I've seen killed in just the past year alone... how many come through the infirmary with mortal wounds and had to watch die!" Will growled, exhaustion and temper getting the better of him. "We're getting better though. With the most severe battles fought recently, we should have some peace for a while," Will slumped.

"I'm so sorry," the younger woman said. She had eyes like the older one and hair just as dark.

Will sighed, slumped where he stood and made a move to exit, before turning back.

"Where's the bathroom, I have a few calls to make. I'll ask at the meeting tomorrow if you can come as join as reinforcements. Otherwise, it's not up to me, but for both our sakes I hope with everything that has happened recently, this battle isn't a major one."

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