What If Three Days Meant Forever?

Nico POV

After what Monique told us last night, we quickly rushed over to the campfire to tell Chiron about the news which then spread like wildfire across the camp until everyone was tossing up questions regarding Leo's return. Chiron eventually got everyone to be quiet and head to their respective cabins.

"Gods, I hope he's alright." Will says to me. We're standing outside my cabin watching the other campers go into theirs to turn in for the night.

I nod my head. "Valdez is strong. He'll be just fine." I offer. To be honest, I'm pissed. I mean, Leo Valdez pulls this big plan to be the hero and scares the absolute Styx out of us all, only to still be alive and tell us days later? It's infuriating and I swear to the gods when I see him again, I will kill him. Will kisses my temple before giving my shoulder a squeeze and walking back toward Apollo Cabin.

My dreams are about as peaceful as everyone finding out about Valdez.

***

It was a sunny day in Italy, the village working as usual. Everything was going perfectly until-

WHIZZ

Two tornado like figures raced into the square in a haste. A man grumbled to his wife about the sudden disturbance to which she immediately shook her head.

"They are just having fun, amore mio." She said, kissing his cheek lightly as they watched the kids rush farther from the village square, yelling to each other, "Run run run as fast as you can! You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man!"

"I'm going to get you!" The older girl bellowed.

Once out of the square, the boy swerved between buildings before finally turning to one in particular and dashing through the lobby and up the stairs as the man behind the counter scolded them.

"Sorry, Lorenzo!" They yelled over their shoulders to him.

"Wait!" The girl yelled at the boy, stopping them both on the second flight of stairs. "Mama won't be home until later." She said. The boy turned his head to the side in confusion. "Outside." The girl elaborated. His face lit up as he raced passed her back down the stairs, earning another yell from the man behind the counter.

"Sorry, Lorenzo!" They yelled again.

They made their way out of the building and rushed toward the grassy field their mother had taken them to the week before.

The wide open area was peaceful, untouched and the perfect place to collapse for a break so that's exactly what they did.

With laughter still on their tongues, they pointed up at the clouds and named the shapes, going from pigs, to snakes, to griffins, and even more outrageous things, all the while waiting for their mom to get home from work.

"Hey, Nico?" The girl said, interrupting the boy's going on to call out the same cloud shaped like a pig for the umpteenth time.

"Yeah, B?" The young boy, Nico, replied, filled with curiosity of what his big sister, his hero, was going to say to him.

"Promise me you will never make promises that you can't keep." She said in a hushed tone. It was something random and different than the conversation they'd been having so it took the boy by surprise.

"What if I can't keep that promise?" He wondered. The girl chuckled.

"Well, you should be able to judge that for yourself, Neeks."