his head hurt and felt like he was gonna pass out again. He slowly blinked to catch his surroundings, and he was sitting just behind the bus driver's seat. He panicked and looked for Treya, standing up but only caused him a migraine.

"Nico, are you awake?" Treya asked, and Nico looked at Treya who was now driving the bus.

"Yeah, what- I did something horrible again," Nico mumbled, sitting back down. Nico's mind wandered immediately to the time when a certain mortal called Bryce pissed him off so much he killed him by turning him into a ghost.

He was a little relieved that it was the manticore they encountered, Nico didn't know how he'd be able to live with the guilt of killing someone by forcefully turning them into a ghost.

"What?! Horrible? Nico, you were so cool!" Treya swooned, her driving skills were horrible and Nico felt nauseous the moment he stood up but he wasn't gonna tell her that. She looked like she enjoyed driving a bus.

Nico held his head, "What do you mean?"

"The air started freezing and- hey! It's a red light!" Treya honked the horn and turned back to him with an apologetic look.

Nico looked at Treya with horror, "Keep your eyes on the road!"

Treya stuck out her tongue and faced the road again. "Anyway, it was freezing and you called out the shadows. Almost the entire bus turned black, you radiated this super cool aura, a little scary but you were cool. You forced the shadows, even if they were under a heavy magic and technically wasn't your shadow you made it seem like they were yours! Cool, huh? When the manticore was distracted, I used this handy dandy chain and kept him from moving then you moved so quickly like- like Flash and you stabbed him. Definitely a highlight of this quest! You were so cool!" Treya explained, feeling giddy.

Nico smiled, he couldn't even count how many times Treya gushed about how cool his abilties were.

"I didn't know you were acquaintances with monsters, I thought you only hung out with the dead," Treya joked

Nico rolled his eyes, "You're even worse than Leo and Percy,"

Treya threw her head back laughing, "I'm gonna take that as a compliment,"

"Trust me, it's an insult," Nico muttered as he held the pole behind the driver's seat to watch out so they don't accidentally crash.

"Wait, where are we going?" Nico asked, Treya was driving through the traffic like a madman, made constant comments about how horrible the rest of the drivers were when Nico was pretty sure Treya didn't even have a student's license.

"California right? Isn't San Francisco near Camp Jupiter? You can take a rest while I drive, you still look like shit, that must've been draining-" Suddenly Treya slumps to the side, and groans in pain.

Struggling with the bus, she makes an emergency parking at the side of the road all the while groaning in pain.

"What's wrong?" Nico asked, rushing to her side and kneeling.

Treya clutched her side, as she whimpered in pain. "I.... I thought I fixed it with some ambrosia and nectar," She muttered

"Let me see," Nico demanded

Slowly, Treya took her hands off her abdomen and Nico's eyes widened at the amount of blood that spread through her shirt and a vile color of black spreading through.

"Did nobody at camp tell you that a manticore's spines are always poisonous?!" Nico raised his voice but he knew it was pointless to get angry at her so he immediately carried her to the back of the bus.

"Shit, hang on" Nico said as he peeled her shirt from her abdomen.

The wound wasn't very deep, but the poison was starting to spread. Nico calmed himself down and grabbed Treya's face with his hands.

"Treya, can you hear me?" He asked, as he gently held her face.

"Mmhm," She replied, almost dozing off.

Nico tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, "Hey, stay awake for me. I'll just do a bit of first aid and we'll leave. Okay?"

"I can try," She mumbled

Nico panicked and the words slipped out of his mouth.

"You can ask me anything. Just like when we were in the chariot but now it's you asking me anything. I'll answer anything," He quickly said as he grabbed Treya's bag and went through the things she had. Her new additions were only some junk food, two bottles of water, and that little unknown vial.

Treya giggled, "Okay!" She cheered softly.

Nico proceeded to wash his hands with the sterile water, and quickly poured water over her wound. It wasn't as effective as alcohol or betadine or how the Apollo kids quickly healed poisoned wounds but he had to find a way to make the wound clean so they wouldn't have to deal with the risk of getting an infection later.

Treya hissed, holding his shoulder tightly before asking,

"Your sister," Treya started "Bianca, the one in your dreams, you said there were three children of Hades, but there are two left. How... how did she..?" She trailed off

Nico would've told her to fuck off if he wasn't so used to her, he would've gotten mad for asking something so personal and brooded because it was something that pained his heart till this very day but he found himself calmly explaining.

"She's my sister. Not a half sister like Hazel, she's my actual sister. She died on a quest,"

Treya slowly put her hand on Nico's head and softly caressed his fluffy hair, "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sure she was brave and cool like you,"

Nico looked up, and he was expecting her to give him a look of awkwardness like she shouldn't have asked but instead she was smiling sadly, like she could share his pain even though he knew she was only an ordinary mortal for sixteen years who thought being a soccer captain was the coolest she could ever get.

"And I'm sure she's proud of you," She added and Nico smiled.

Nico quickly tore a part of his shirt and made a makeshift bandage around her abdomen and he gathered her things and prepared for another shadow travel to Camp Jupiter.

"Last question," Treya asked, raising her hand

"Okay," He agreed, drinking the remaining water in the remaining water bottle.

"Will you still be my friend after the quest is over? Will you hang out with me and spar with me?" She asked, her voice cracking.

Nico smiled, "I'll even ask Chiron if you could sit with me every mealtime," He cracked a joke, something he doesn't do often.

"Really?" Treya sounded happy but hurt at the same time.

Nico leaned over and kissed her forehead, just like how he would for Hazel yet it felt so different. Then he put her on his back, and Treya snuggled on his back, tightening her grip on him.

"Really," Nico whispered as he stepped into the shadows.