10. A twin

Percy POV

The identity reveal yesterday was great. All other members of the Chaos army were catching up with their siblings, chatting and laughing. We stayed up till the early morning hours. I was the only one that noticed that something's off about Annabeth. Like she's planning something.

I also didn't realize until now, but all older campers looked the same as when I left. So I decided to ask somebody about that. I was walking around camp and spotted a familiar death-pale skin. Nico.

I felt sorry. I could've at least talk to him before I left, but I just forgot. I know that no number of excuses can cover up that mistake. And the worst thing was the fact that my old feelings for him resurfaced. You see, I liked Nico, but I didn't do anything about it because of the age difference and the fact that I was everybody's hero. I needed to be perfect.

And I doubt that everybody would see me as their hero if they found out I was gay.

Ok, I wasn't completely gay, I was bi. I still am. But I just couldn't push myself to come out. I knew that some people would be supportive, but I also knew that the majority won't so I just continued as nothing happened.

Now when I think of it, I haven't seen Will anywhere. I'll ask Chiron what's that about. As I walked towards Nico, he disappeared into the shadows. Great. Then I'll go to Chiron and ask him about Will.

--- time skip ---

"Chiron!" I called out to get old centaurs' attention. It worked and he turned around. "I need to ask you something. Can we go to the Big house?"

"Of course." He answered.

When we were seated in comfortable chairs, or at least I was, and Chiron was in his magical wheelchair, he asked me:

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well, I saw that all older campers look exactly the same, and it has been five years. And also where is Will? I haven't seen him anywhere." The look of sorrow crossed his face.

"After your disappearance, gods granted all cabin counselors and everyone important partial immortality. Like Hunters of Artemis. As for Will, he died."

I couldn't believe it. So that's why Nico was more moody than usual.

"When? Why? Who?" I asked. I took a deep, shaky breath and asked him:

"What happened?"

"Will was walking in the woods and he saw a new camper coming in. He was followed by quite a lot of monsters. He was able to protect the boy but sadly nobody got there in time. Nico was the one to find him. The poor boy wasn't the same ever since." He answered sadly.

"Percy, I need to tell you one more thing. I should've told you this yesterday but the dinner came and you left and then later just wasn't the time to tell you this. You have a twin."

"What!" I yelled. I was happy but confused. Why did nobody tell me this?

"When your mother was pregnant, she was pregnant with twins. The doctors told her that the other baby died. Something was off about that, but soon she didn't have much time to investigate more. She had you and as time passed the other baby didn't come across her mind much. But it turns out that she was very much alive. She survived on her own all those years and came to the camp a little bit after your disappearance. You have a twin sister."

''Wh-What?'' I stuttered.

''Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier, but-'' He didn't finish the sentence because we heard the conch horn signaling the attack.

I quickly uncapped Riptide, pulled my hood up, and ran to the camps' magical border. The rest of my team was already there along with half of the campers and more kept coming. I looked at the 'army' attacking the Camp. It was less than a thousand monsters. I smirked. This will be a piece of cake.

''Campers, you'll sit this one out. I and my team will deal with this little problem.'' I yelled so everybody could hear me.

Some campers began to protest but they shut up one glare later.

We charged forward. My mind went to autopilot. Slash. Stab. Duck. Punch. Kick. Repeat. There weren't any real threats in the army. Just monsters that were easier to defeat. That meant that this is probably a test. I didn't like this one bit.

But nonetheless, we were covered in gold dust a few minutes later. No monsters in sight. I turned around to see all campers' mouths hanging wide open. Me and my team snickered. This was barely a warmup for us. We really need to train them.

We all went back to camp.

-----

''So you have a twin sister?'' Luke asked me.

''That's what Chiron told me,'' I answered.

''Then where is she? I haven't seen anybody sitting at Poseidon table at dinner yesterday, nor today at breakfast?''

''I don't know but I know that she's at camp. Maybe she'll be at lunch. Look, I need to talk to Nico, I'll probably reveal my identity to him. You need to talk to Chiron about the training timetable.'' I told him. I really needed to talk to Nico after I found out what happened to Will.

''Chaos, can I reveal myself to Nico? '' I mind messaged Chaos.

''Yes, but make him swear on River Styx not to tell anybody else.'' Was his answer.

I got up and went to search for a certain emo boy.

--- time skip ---

When I finally found him, he was sitting at the beach looking at the sea. He had a faraway look in his eyes which meant that he was probably remembering something from his past, probably Will. I felt really sad, I knew how much happier Will made Nico, how different he was.

He is again acting like he was when Bianca died. But now Bianca is back and I thought that her reveal will cheer him up at least a little bit.

I watched a tear slide down his face. One tear was enough to make my heart shatter into millions of little pieces. There was nothing that I wanted more at that moment than just to hug him and never let him go.

At that moment I realized that I LOVE Nico di Angelo.

I silently walked forward and sat next to him. He still didn't see me.

''It's beautiful, isn't it?'' I asked him. This seemed to startle him. His hand quickly shot to the hilt of his sword but when he realized that it's just me he relaxed once more.

''Commander, why are you here?'' He asked me.

''I wanted to talk to you, in private.'' He weirdly looked at me but nodded. I sat up and started walking towards Zeus' fist, Nico following me. When I made sure that we are out of earshot, I turned back to face him.

''I wanted to reveal my identity to you because you knew me and I know that I can trust you. But you still need to swear on the River Styx not to tell this information to anybody else.''

''How can I know that I can trust you.'' He asked.

''I swear on River Styx that what I said is true and that I won't hurt Nico di Angelo today.''

''What's with today?'' He asked me confused.

''Well, if you try to kill me in the future, I'll need to be able to defend myself,'' I replied amused.

''Ok, ok. I, Nico di Angelo, swear on the River Styx to not reveal Commanders' identity unless he tells me otherwise.'' Thunder rumbled in the distance signaling that the oath was sealed.

''Well, here we go...'' I said while pulling my hood down.

He looked at me surprised. And then he hugged me.

Nico di Angelo hugged me.

It was my turn to be confused now.

''Didn't you hate human contact?'' I asked him. He was still tightly holding onto me like I'm going to disappear any second now. I hugged him back.

He looked at me and frowned.

''Well, people change Percy.'' I laughed. He looks cute with a frown.

Wait! What? When did I start thinking like that? I wasn't his type anyway.

''So, what happened to you?'' He asked me.

I sighed and sat down. And then we talked. We talked for hours. We even missed the lunch. I thought that he'll be mad or annoyed, but it seemed like he enjoyed my company.

When we talked about everything there's to talk about we just sat there in the comfortable silence that was disturbed by the conch horn that signaled dinner. We both got up and slowly walked towards the dining pavilion.

I looked around and then I saw her.

The only person sitting at the Poseidon table.

My sister.