Still Nico's POV yay

I raced down the corridor, drawing my Stygian iron sword, Astraea, circling back when I could find nothing. "Percy? Levi? Where are you?" Amy and Alexandra (or Alexa as I will call her from now on because honestly Alexandra is too long) followed close behind, weapons drawn.

A whimper came from a room I'd just passed, and I looked in to see Percy against the wall, clutching Levi tightly. "Nico...?" He was cornered by two large stone statues that had definitely not been there before.

At first glance, they looked harmless, people dressed in robes with wings and laurels, hands covering their faces. Solid stone, I noticed, tapping one gingerly. It didn't move.

Turning back into the corridor, I swivelled my head, looking for Amy and Alexa, who were standing a few feet behind me.

Right behind them, a stone angel was reaching out, teeth bared in a ferocious snarl. I stiffened, slicing Astrea sideways. The black blade pushed through the stone like thick mud, and I grunted as it resisted. Finally, I managed to slash it in half, the stone crashing to the ground loudly. Exhaling, I looked back at Amy and Alexa, who looked petrified, hands trembling. I turned quickly, rushing back into the room, only to feel a fine dust drifting into my eyes. Looking up, I blinked the dust out to see a leering face next to mine, stone hands wrapped around my neck. With difficulty, I stabbed Astraea into its eye and then sliced off its fingers.

"Uh, Nico? Little help here?" I glanced across the room to see Percy, arms locked to his sides with stone hands, the same two angel statues grabbing him tightly. Another slash, and the head of one came rolling off, and with another, I beheaded the other, using the blade to release the vice it had on Percy's arm.

"Thanks." I smiled at Percy, before lunging out and kissing him forcefully, I could actually hear, no- feel him gasp, and I grinned-

"Ahem, not interrupting anything, are we?" Amy stood in the doorway, smirking, albeit pale and weakly, hand in hand with Alexa, who was blushing slightly and tugging subtly on Amy's hand, trying to pull her out.

"Uh...uh- uh... right. Let's go, before more of those things come, yeah?" Percy stuttered, grabbing my hand and drawing his sword.

Out in the corridor, we saw more and more of the angels, some of them covering their eyes, others baring their teeth at us. I cut them down, Percy bringing up the rear.

Finally, we burst out into the evening chill, cool air biting at my skin. I could hear Percy walk up behind me, panting. "What are those things?" Turning back to look at the strange temple, I choked back a gasp. They were lined up behind us, all with their teeth bared, growling ferociously at us. Amy yelled; and we saw one of the angels holding Alexa, who was turning slightly blue, in a chokehold. Quickly, I sliced off its hand and yanked her away, darting through the woods and keeping an eye on the angels, who seemed to move inhumanly fast. They seemed like stone when you touched them, but yet somehow they weren't. I hadn't seen anything like them before and I never wanted to again. It seemed the only way to defeat them was not to blink.

As we trekked through the forest, always with one or two people keeping a wary eye out behind us, I clutched Percy's hand in mine. Mine was probably the same temperature as an icicle, but he smiled down at me, squeezing softly, and like that, we made the long, insanely scary hike back to the boat more bearable. We walked in a line, Levi holding Percy's other hand and Alexa holding his. Amy walked beside me, hand loosely linked to mine, but I could sense her apprehension and fear.

"Well, here we are. Your home for the next couple of months or so." Percy swung his stuff onto the prow of the boat and lifted the almost-asleep Levi before helping me and then the girls up. They didn't say much, staggering from exhaustion, the adrenaline wearing off, but headed to the bottom of the boat where Percy had pointed to.

Eventually, we put Levi to sleep as well, and I smiled at Percy as we set sail, as far away from the angels as we could get. We didn't know if they could swim, but we weren't about to take any chances.

"So. Crazy day, huh?" I grinned at Percy tiredly as we lay on the deck, watching the night sky, the boat rocking gently underneath us. The son of Poseidon smiled, pulling me closer, until our ribs were fitted together like jigsaw pieces, pressing his lips to my hair. I wrapped my arms around him, breathing in the unique sea-salt-mint scent that was just so him.

Leaning up, I kissed Percy lightly, and snuggled into the firm chest, eliciting a small chuckle out of him, and as his breathing deepened and settled into a steady rhythm, I watched the sky lighten above us, stars sinking behind the horizon and pale blue streaks scissoring across the sky, followed by spears of red and arrows of gold. Slowly, as the sky bled blue, I drifted off into sleep.

A/N:

YES. YES YES YES YES YES. YES YES YES. YESHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. *pumps fists enthusiastically* DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID DID YOU SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE *celebratory butt wiggle*

Also, I'm kinda sad nobody got the references in Amy and Alexa's names. Oh well.

Ahem. So, if you understood this chapter/went HELL NAW when I... y'know, COMMENT. I WANT TO SEE WHO YOU ARE. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO COMMENT MUCH, JUST A, "Fantastic!", "Allons-y!", "Geronimo!" will do. DOOWEEEEWOOOOOOO

okay I'll shut up now byeeeeeee!

~N