AN: Hola chicas!! (Or however it's spelt lol) anyway I'm back again! Thanks for sticking with me so far and I hope you enjoy the chap :) Special thanks to everyone who's favourited and to my lovely reviews from Hullanta and Imaginative geek (more cuteness is in store for these guys).

I've split the chap in half because I felt like having a semi short chapter soon is better than having a mega chapter later. So here's chapter 18 part 1! Song of the chapter is These silent hearts by Armin Van Buuren (what a guy).

Chapter 18 - The not so great escape

Will's POV

This definitely had to be in the demigod records for 'Worst quest ever'. Will honestly had no clue how they had managed to avoid grizzly deaths so far. His half formed and half idiotic plan would definitely rectify that situation soon. But, as much as he disliked it, his plan was the only way to get anywhere on this quest. Will decided he should probably act vaguely leader-like and end the chaotic whispers filling the cells (mostly comprised of shouts of "Solace you better be joking", "are you insane" and "I really want some cheetos"). Ignoring the last comment, no doubt from Cecil, he gave a loud, staccato "Shhh" that put many primary school teachers to shame.

"Ok guys, hear me out. So obviously we'll escape here soon, but we need to be logical about this. If we barge out right now what's gonna happen?" Will strongly suspected he was transforming into a teacher. Cecil raised his hand tentatively resulting in an eye roll from Nico that probably shook the foundations of the underworld.

"We die?"

"Well, yeah probably. Or get caught again. Either way it's not ideal." Leo shuddered dramatically, his face pulling into a grimace.

"Ugh, no thanks. I doubt that even I could miraculously come back to life a second time." Calypso rolled her eyes this time, shaking her head lightly in amusement.

"How modest."

"Thanks Babe." He flashed her his trademark troublemaker grin eliciting a swat on the arm from her, before looking back to Will as though nothing had happened.

"Uh... Right, so we need to have a plan."

"I thought you said you had a plan." Nico questioned sceptically, his eyes narrowed in threat. Man, Will could not take him seriously at all.

"Uh, not exactly. I just said that to get your attention before we all went traipsing outside to get stabbed to death."

"Lovely." Lou Ellen muttered. Will was freaked out that he couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. Before he could elaborate on his point anymore, a loud clang at the door made the demigods jump in unison. A cyclops at least 3 metres tall towered over the cell door, its features hidden in the darkness of the cell. Jingling filled the cramped room as the cyclops fiddled with a hatch on the door (thankfully not quite understanding the way the door swung backwards slightly when he rattled the hatch open, maybe luck did exist for demigods).

With a grunt, a child's plastic plate with Simba, Timone and Pumba in the centre and a severely mouldy piece of bread was shoved forcefully into the cell, the food falling straight onto the floor as soon as the plate left the hatch.

"Geez thanks." Cecil muttered glumly, eyeing the loaf with despair. Deep rumbling echoed through the corridor which Will first mistook for thunder. A few seconds later Will worked out that it was the Cyclops' laughter.

"You'll need all the strength you can get. Pretty boys, Khione wants to meet you soon." After a similarly delicious meal was delivered to Leo and Calypso, silence enveloped the rooms. The only sounds the clumsy footfalls of the Cyclops ricocheting off the old corridors.

"Well that wasn't ominous." Nico muttered glumly, his hair hanging dejectedly across his face as though it could sense Nico's feelings. The others grunted in agreement before settling into eery silence once more.

"Wonder who he was referring to as pretty boys. There's a lot of boys here, could be -"

"It's Nico and Will, obviously Cec." Lou Ellen deadpanned before shooting Will a slightly off putting wink.

"You traitor." Cecil harrumphed before sitting to sulk in the corner. Will decided this was probably a good point to intervene if he wanted to avoid healing anyone in the near future.

"Ok guys, new plan -"

"There was no plan to start with!" Nico sassed before sneering in annoyance. The persistent twisting of his skull ring gave Will a small insight into his inner turmoil. Gods knew what was causing it though. Well apart from the fact that they were in prison. And that they were about to be taken for questioning. But apart from that, Will didn't know what his problem was.

"Well we've got one now. Anyway, so me and Nico -"

"Nico and I." Lou Ellen corrected. Frustration built up inside Will to the point where light began to slowly ebb from his fingertips.

"Grammar doesn't matter. You know what does? Living and getting this quest finished. So me and Nico are gonna go to this meeting with Khione and try to find out as much info as possible, while you guys are gonna escape. The guards will be distracted when we leave the cell, so hopefully you can get away without being noticed. If not, Cec you know what to do." Cecil bounced up and down excitedly like a toddler that had raided the hidden skittles.

"But you said I should never steal." He sat with his mouth agape in a comical fashion, his hand covering his mouth dramatically. With a small reluctant laugh, Will continued.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures Cec. You guys need to find all our weapons -" Leo opened his mouth as though hoping to interject. Will quickly cut him off.

"Yes and Festus, then you need to come and rescue us from whatever freaky torture chamber we're taken to." A slight shuffling brought Will's attention to a hunched and rapidly paling form close to him. Nico sat as a husk of his usual sarcastic, yet surprisingly lovable character, as though reliving a terrifying memory. Will made a note to check with him after their discussion.

"That cool with everyone?" Will looked around the group of unlikely heroes scattered around him. The only seasoned quester among them being Leo, and he was dead a week ago so their team was looking interesting at the moment.

Heads nodded slowly in syncopation, various states of stress on their faces as they considered their situations.

"Right, let's do this sh-"

"Language!" Nico interrupted grumpily, picking the underside of his nails.

"Seriously? You're pulling a captain America?" Nico stared up blankly at him as the others laughed (ignoring the absurd look from Calypso which sent Leo into hysterics). Nico remained in his hunched position not even smirking like he normally would at Will's stupid jokes. Something twisted deep inside Will as he saw the demigod folded into half the person he normally was. Familiarity gripped him as he realised he was experiencing what he felt with his powers when healing people, only this time he felt the emotions of the other radiating as though they were a beacon. Will briefly wondered whether he was developing a new power before deciding that he didn't care and shuffling to sit next to Nico, the hushed chatter of the others covering his approach.

"What's up ghosty?" His Levator angulis superioris twitched slightly, raising his mouth marginally into what could maybe be called a smirk (if you had a magnifying glass).

"I thought you'd forgotten that one."

"Wha? Me forget a perfectly good nickname? Never. Now tell me what's wrong before I hit you again." Nico rubbed his arm slowly as he remembered his earlier assault.

"Lou Ellen's rubbing off on you." He muttered as he lifted his gaze to find Will's. Those eyes hypnotised Will whenever he saw them, the haunting brown drawing you in until you finally found small specks of amber at the very depths. Nico smirked again, shuffling so that he was less closed off to Will.

"So, in my angsty teenage years I trudged around on my own a lot. Avoiding trouble, then finding it anyway because monsters are turds." Will started indignantly at that.

"Hey how come you get to swear?"

"Coz I'm older than you." He sassed, leaving Will deeply confused, wasn't Nico's birthday in January?

"Anyway, so I was captured a few times by Kronos's creeps, thinking I would give them information about camp half blood. Obviously I didn't, but... They still tried to get me to...by, well..." He trailed off and twisted his skull ring in agitation as he avoided Will's attention.

"I've never told anyone about that part of my life before." Nico looked up almost scared to find Will's face. Will was really unsettled by this, his eyebrows creasing deeply as he quickly drew Nico in to a smothering hug.

"Oh Neeks. What are we gonna do with you?" He muttered sadly, squeezing the very stiff form in his arms. As his surprise apparently faded, Nico relaxed into Will's embrace and snuggled his head under Will's neck. A stampede of emotions flooded Will's chest as he tightened the hug. Nico's muffled voice filtered up from his hiding place as he continued his story, feeling too safe to move.

"And then there was... Tartarus... The jar. You know the rest. But yeah torture isn't my favourite word to be honest." Will looked down to find the very subtly shaking form of the son of Hades in his arms. Feeling he had to display his sympathy in some way, he resorted to moving one of his arms to Nico's head, slowly carding his fingers through his long hair, the smoothness relaxing Will as well as he did so. How the Hades did he keep it so untangled on the quest? Will seriously needed to ask.

"Don't worry death boy. I'll be here with you this time, we'll get through this together. Team Solangelo." He said in a hushed tones, smiling softly down at the small bundle in his lap. Nico shifted slightly to look at Will quizzically a smile tugging at his mouth despite the situation.

"What's Solangelo?"

"I'm not sure. I heard Lou and Dec mention it earlier. Let's just go with it."

Nico settled into Will's chest more, almost purring slightly as he leant fully against Will's muscled torso, shifting so that he could sit between Will's legs. They must have looked ridiculous, but in that moment Will honestly couldn't have cared less. He was content, so was Nico and that was all that mattered.

AN: Thought I'd give you a nice cosy ending instead of a dramatic one haha. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and see you soon for the more dramatic part two :D