Nico walked along the gravel road that ran through Camp Half Blood. It was dark, and far too late. Around midnight, to be exact. But Nico never really minded the blackness of the night, or how the flashing alarm clock always indicated that it was beyond the time that the sixteen year-old boy should be outside. It was what he did almost every night. He glanced at the ground, and saw the flash of silver on the bottom of an arrow. It was a huntress's arrow.

He had always hated when they visited camp, like they were now. They reminded him of Bianca. How she had given up on going to camp with him, in return to stay with Artemis and her group of maidens. And how she had died. Died on a quest. He knew she was happy. But whenever he thought about her, he balled his fists until his knuckles turned white, and he squinted his eyes tightly. He missed her. He wanted her back. Back on earth where she could laugh, and practice at Camp. But he knew. In her case, she was never coming back. Even though her father was Hades- Lord of the Underworld-, he knew she didn't want to come back. She had always said, before she knew she was a demigod, that when she passed—that that was when she had completed her mission on Earth. And she had. But that didn't stop him from wishing.

He continued to walk. The huntresses were bitter. They held grudges. That's what each one of them had in common with the other. They held a grudge against men, each for their own reasons. Except one huntress… Thalia Grace. He knew she became a huntress to prevent herself from being the one the prophecy was about. But she still held grudges. Maybe not against men, but against something or other. She hadn't been a huntress for long compared to the others. She was still young, not quite as sucked into immortality as the others were.

She was also like him in a lot of ways. Both were an offspring of one of the Big Three. Both had managed to wrap themselves in darkness. And both didn't know what was to come of their lives. Thalia had started to grow tired of the never-ending routine that the huntresses lived everyday of their never-ending lives. She began to gaze into the future more often, asking herself what was going to happen twenty years from now. Would she be a huntress? Would she have fallen in battle? The questions constantly stirred in her head. Nico knew he would always have to tolerate the feeling of death. It would be something that continually followed him wherever he chose to go. So he cherished times like this. He breathed in the fresh scent of the forest. It was refreshing. New. Different in an amazing way. But alike Thalia, he asked, what exactly was going to happen in the years to come. He wanted to know. So did Thalia.

Nico knew how unthinkably beautiful Thalia was, in her own way. When she wore something other than her huntress uniform, she wore ripped black denim jeans, a punk band tee shirt or something like that, 'biker boots' as Annabeth tended to call them, and used dark makeup to frame her electric blue eyes that flashed with emotions every minute or so, she seemed happy, like she forgot that she was holding that bitter grudge against something, or forgot she was immortal, and never got to move one. But, once again, she was a huntress. She was holding a grudge.

"Hey. Dead Boy, wait up."

Nico had memorized her voice as well as to know it was her. He stopped in his tracks and watched as she skipped down the stairs of Cabin One—Zeus's Cabin. Chiron had insisted she stayed in her father's cabin, instead of Artemis'. She hadn't been home in a while. He waited until she was standing next to him—in her long blue sweatpants, and a lose fitting Pink Floyd tee shirt— to continue his walk. They strolled in silence until Nico spoke.

"Aren't you being here with me at this time, not allowed?" Nico questioned. He didn't want her to leave. He wanted her to stay, but he had to ask.

"No. I knew you before I was a huntress. So isn't it fair that I get to walk around camp with you at any hour I please?" Thalia said as she looked up at him.

He had grown. The last time she and her group had visited, he was still shorter than her. But, now? He was taller by at least half a foot and his muscles were presented amazingly through his shirt. His jaw had gotten more distinct, and he looked older. Much older, she noted. He looked like a man. He was a man.

"I guess." He shrugged. They walked in muteness, yet not in an uncomfortable way.

Nico turned into the forest and Thalia followed him. The soft crunches of leaves were oddly comforting in the darkness, as though they weren't walking into a black hole. Thalia watched as he leaned against a large oak tree. She leaned against the same one, next to Nico. Nico turned, brushing against her, and catching her eyes. They gazed at each other. Dark— almost black eyes bore into electric blue. He firmly, but gently grabbed her wrist, and suddenly she was against her tree. Nico's hands surrounded either side of her body, palms against the rough bark.

"I took an oath." She whispered. She wanted this. She wanted to tell that she truly wanted to try. But she couldn't.

"So?"

"I can't."

He sighed and turned away. "I guess it was a stupid idea. You're a huntress."

"Your odor is one like death."

"You don't even like boys."

Thalia's angry-filled, ringing laughter filled the silent night.

"And you're probably the same as you were six years ago, playing with that stupid card game!"

"I liked you better as a tree!"

Lightning suddenly erupted from the sky. Something so innocent had been taken levels up, and was now turning into a battle. Daughter of Zeus against Son of Hades.

"You're just as idiotic as your stupid father!" Thalia challenged.

Nico blazed. "Why do you have to make things so difficult, Thalia?"

Nico paced away from her. She was upset, and he didn't want to start a war. He listened to her angry pants, trying to regain her normal breathing pattern.

"Take it back." he said simply but firmly.

"No!"

Nico shook his head, and once again pressed Thalia against the tree.

"I don't hate you." He sighed as Thalia's hand experimentally rested on his hip. "But you aren't a huntress. It's not you, and I know it. You know you shouldn't be one." He said as he wrapped his arms around her. She knew she shouldn't be doing this. But she couldn't stop herself.

"I know." She breathed. He was right. She needed more excitement in her life. She knew she needed him.

"Then don't." he challenged.

"Fine." She whispered, as she caught his lips. The kiss was soft and gentle, as Nico positioned his hands against Thalia's hips. Thalia placed one hand on his cheek, and used the other to rake through his hair.

"I'll tell Lady Artemis tomorrow." Thalia said as the sun lifted.

Nico smiled at her. This was the beginning. And Thalia and Nico were looking forward to it, as they walked back into the light-filled camp, hand-in-hand, earning stares from everyone. But they didn't seem to care. They were together.

A/N: So…. Did you like it? If I get enough encouragement, I'll continue to with different kinds of moments with them…So….

Review?

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