Forced to Love

Eliza
It had been a few weeks since the night on the roof. When Nico had dropped me off that morning, Percy had been slightly mad, even though he had obviously calmed himself some. Nico hadn’t tried anything like that since then. But, it’s not like they exactly had the time. They had one month EXACTLY to plan an entire wedding, so they didn’t have much time for messing around, even though it had been super romantic and fun. I had a feeling that Nico had something else planned, though, not just the wedding. For that one something, he seemed to be working with the Hephaestus cabin, Chiron and the Stoll twins. That isn’t the best combination, but Nico seemed to make it work. Soon I found out what that surprise was……
Nico and I had been in my cabin all day working on wedding preparations. Hera was forcing us to make it a big wedding, saying, ‘Its a big and important matrimony!’ Nico and I really just wanted our closest friends there,. Hera comprised with him. ‘Fine!’ she had said. ‘Big, make it a big wedding, the gods are going to be there to make sure it happens!’ Then when she left, I cried into Nico’s shoulder sitting on his lap. We wanted to be a couple. I loved Nico. But we didn’t want to be married. Not yet, at least. Strong relationships don’t form in just two months! Isn’t being a child of one of the Big Three and being threatened into marriage with a complete destruction of the world just wonderful (*cough* NOT *cough*)
We had been working all day on the people in the ceremony. So far all we had was Leo, Jason, and Frank as groomsmen (Leo as Best Man); Piper, Annabeth, and Hazel as Bridesmaids (Annabeth as Maid of Honor); a younger camper named Lily (Daughter of Athena) as the Flower Girl; and Peter (son of Apollo) as Ring Bearer All day! All day, we had been working on it, and that’s all we had gotten! Forget the dresses and tuxedos. Nico had zoned out so many times that I was doing good to get him to agree with what I was saying. That’s how far he was gone.
I eventually gave up and just went to go swordfight.
I had returned from sword fighting early to take a shower before dinner. When I entered my room, I saw a beautiful, sleeveless, turquoise dress laying on my bed. Along with it was a long, gray sweater cardigan and turquoise flats that matched the dress.
As I walked closer, I noticed a note on top of the dress. It read:
“Eliza-
I bought this dress for you for tonight. I was hoping you would be wearing it when I come to pick you up for dinner this evening.
Love you Forever and Always,
Nico”
I stood there in shock. Nico had spent time searching for a dress for me. It was my favorite color which was next to impossible to find this year. A warm feeling spread from the pit of my stomach to my whole body. Once again, I was reassured that Nico and I were in love, and that Nico did love me very much.
I went and quickly took a shower and tried on the dress. It fit perfectly! I quickly put on the rest of my outfit and did my hair up in an elaborate braided design.
When I had finished getting ready , I slid open my door and almost ran into Nico. He had been standing against the doorframe waiting for me. When I stepped out, he quickly grabbed my wrist and twirled me to him, preventing me from falling.
We stood like this for several minutes. Nico broke the silence “We should probably get moving. We don’t to be late.”
I allowed him to guide me. I found that we were headed to the Big House, not to the Dining Pavilion. “Where are we going?” I asked. “Isn’t dinner in the Dining Pavilion?”
“You’ll see…” he answered.
I heard music, talking, and laughing coming from the Big House. I vaguely wondered what was going on.
The second Nico and I set foot in the room, it automatically went silent. They had obviously been waiting for us and we were the last ones to show. Percy came up too me, wearing a black tux and tie. He grabbed my hand. “Hurry, hide!”
I hid wondering what we were doing. The door opened and Coral, ,Caleb, Leo, and Butch walked in. I gasped in shock. Coral looked so… different. She had the same dark hair, and it was braided like it was when she first came to Camp Half Blood. But she had muscles, and had tanner skin. Coral was holding a bundle in her arms, cooing into it.. It took a lot of strength to keep myself from running up to Caleb and Coral and hug them. It had been almost a month since they had left to save a child of Iris from cyclopes. I had missed them horribly. I was extremely happy they were back.
The minute we jumped up and yelled ‘surprise,’ I ran over to Coral, Caleb, Leo, and Butch. smiling at their shocked faces. “Welcome home!” I told them giving them all huge hugs, carefully avoiding the bundle of fluff. Leo gave me a nervous grin. Normally, I might of kissed him… but now...well..guess.
I looked down at the fluffy bundle Coral was holding, and saw the cutest baby I’d ever seen. It had eyes that shifted between every color imaginable and was giggling a bubbly laugh. AWW! How cute! yeah! Coral said, tickling the baby. Her wings unfolded to their natural state to stretch, and I gawked at the immensity of their size. They had grown, which was weird, since they were silver. She flapped them gently, making the baby giggle. Music started to play, and Coral joined the group of screaming Aphrodite girls and nymphs to show them the tiny baby…. and Percy.
After a few minutes, Percy yelled “Okay!” and everybody backed away from Coral slowly. “So… “ he continued. “As most of us know, this is a joint party. It’s a welcome back party for Coral, Caleb, Butch, and Leo, and it's a thank you party for eliza for... um… everything she’s, like, done for the Camp. I rolled my eyes. That was obviously not the purpose behind this party. I looked over at Percy and caught him looking at Nico out of the corner of his eye for help. I tried not to laugh. I looked over at Coral to see if she knew what was going on. She gave me a knowing smile but didn’t say anything. “Fine” I thought to myself, determined. “I’ll figure it out myself”
“So… yeah….. everybody have fun and all. There’s dancing and food and that sort of thing, so…. yeah….“ Percy finished.
Conversation started up and couples started dancing. I stayed mostly with Coral and Caleb. Butch was with his fellow Iris campers holding the baby, whose name I had discovered to be Astrid. Suddenly Iris appeared standing next to all her children.
Silence. I had never seen Iris before, she looked like, well… A goddess. Besides the fact she was wearing glasses. She was glowing and her eyes were rainbow. She had golden butterfly wings, Olive colored skin, long black hair and warm brown eyes. She was wearing a tight rainbow dress, that seemed to glow, like it was a regular rainbow in the sky. You could really see the resemblance, in all her children.
She clasped her hands together. “Ah, my beautiful children.” She smiled at them. Some of the older kids, like Butch, shifted their feet nervously. But most of the kids, especially the younger ones, hugged the goddess. Iris laughed, tickling Hannah, who was about nine. I felt a little jealous. I wish my godly parent was minor then, she/he could visit me anytime. But then, I wouldnt be related to Percy. So no way.
She scooped the baby from Butch’s arms, and rocked her, She turned her head to Chiron, who was still trying to compensate that there was a goddess in the room.
He shook his head. “Goddess Iris, what brings the pleasure of my good friend coming here?”
“Why, Chiron.” she answered, her eyes twinkling. “I came to thank the demigod heroes who saved my child.” She turned to Coral, and walked to her.
Iris smiled. “What pretty wings, a bit like mine, i suppose,” She looked over her shoulder to Percy. “I usually don’t show my wings, but I wanted to fly today, See if I could blast some monsters, here or there.” She looked back at Coral. “I cannot thank you enough, child, for saving my baby from those dreaded Cyclopes.”
Coral blushed. “Oh..um...thank you m’am. But it wasn’t just me, it also B-”
“I know that.” Iris chuckled. “I just want to give you a gift, to show my appreciation.” She tapped her chin in thought.
“Aha!” she snapped her fingers, and a beautiful, multicolored pegasus appeared next to Coral in a flash of colorful light. It had large silver wings, not unlike Coral’s own. Coral’s mouth dropped open. The horse neighed.
Iris smiled. “For you my dear.” Iris patted the horse. “Her name is Electra, after my mother. She has wings like yours, can help blind an enemy for a small time if they hit the light right. I figure you get tired after a while flying.”
Coral hugged the horse, and ran her fingers through its colorful mane. “Thank- Thanks you so much!”
“As for you, my son,” She she turned to Butch. Suddenly, a large, white blade appeared in his hand. Butch gasped. “Its name is Thaumas, after my father.”
Butch looked at Iris, he looked like he wanted to say something, but no words came out of his mouth.
She turned to Leo. “As for you, dear boy-”
Leo put his hands up. “Don’t need anything, honest.”
“Hmm..” Iris said, tilting her head. “Very well… but you do want somthing, I can see it in your heart. But it is nothing I can give, I'll have to see what I can do later.”
Leo blushed, and sunk back into the crowd. “Huh?” I thought to myself. “What does she mean about Leo?”
She turned to Caleb. “What shall I do for you? Ah! A handsome boy like you needs a handsome blade, one to match his skill.” A large hammer appeared in Caleb’s hands.
It was white, like Butch’s blade. “Push the button on the bottom.” Iris said.
Caleb did, and the hammer turned into a long, white spatha.
“You can name it whatever you like.” Iris said. “I just needed to weapons to name after my parents. Well, I need to get going. So long and Thank you!”
At that she disappeared, leaving a still very shocked Camp. Coral, Caleb and Butch were the first to move. They made their way toward the door taking their gifts from Iris with them to be put in their cabins and in the stables.
Music started up again, and campers started to dance again. Nico walked over to me. His face was full of concern, he looked stressed. He nervously ran his fingers through his black midnight hair.
“Look, Eliza… Leo is your boyfriend-”
“Uh oh.” I thought. I nervously bit my lip and took off a sliver of skin. -
“He doesn’t know…” Nico whispered, interrupting my thoughts of worry. “I mean, someone eventually is gonna break the news to him.”
Nico made a face. “Hey man!” He said, mocking a male camper. “Didja know your girlfriend is getting married?!” I looked over to Leo, who had just come back with Coral and were talking with other campers. He caught me staring, and winked. I shamefully put my head down, much to Leo’s confusement.
“Look Eliza, you need to be the one to tell him.” Nico responded, tilting my head up and looking me in the eyes. I admired his eyes in this light, they were dark brown, like the color of chocolate. Or, Nico, being Nico, dark chocolate. It reminded me of the night Nico had kissed me. The thought made me smile, but then I frowned, realizing I had kissed another guy having a boyfriend.
“It would be better than him overhearing or something like that.” He said.
I sighed. “You're right.” I whispered. Nico gave me a small smile, and walked over to Percy, who was standing over at the punch bowl with Annabeth. But.. “Its not fair for him.” I whispered to myself. I knew Leo loved me, he told me so on the sliegh ride. Now I was going to be the worst girlfriend ever and break his heart, and when he just got back from his quest too. I thought.
My stomach hurt from nervousness, it felt like a ball of ice was growing in the pit of my stomach. I blinked back the tears that were forming in my eyes. “I am a cheater and a liar.” I thought bitterly. I didn't want anyone to tell Leo before I did, but I didn't want to tell him either. I silently prayed to God that no one would tell him tonight, and left the room, walking back to my cabin to go to bed. I felt someone follow, and halfway back I turned to find Nico, looking at me.
“What is it?” I replied, tired and a bit annoyed. Nico walked up to me so fast I think he shadow traveled, and kissed me. Wrapping his arms around me, pushing me closer with his hands, He pulled back for air and looked me in the eyes, me, blinking in surprise, still trying to compensate what just happened. “I really wanted to do that.” He said, pulling the word “really” and enunciating it. Leo was right there, and I couldn’t. Nico ran his fingers through my hair. “I love you Eliza, I truly do.”
Even after saying that he didn’t leave. Instead, he pulled me toward the beach. "Eliza," he said getting down on one knee "I love you more than words can ever say. You have made me so happy over the past month. You are worth more to me than any number of drachma, silver, or even gold. You brought out a side in me that I didn't even know still existed. A playful, caring, and loving side. Even though this wedding is being forced, I don't want this love to seem so. I want to marry you out of love. I truly love you and I don't know how I survived without you. Eliza, I owe you all my happiness. I can never repay you for that. All I can ask you is one simple question: Eliza Jackson, will you marry me?"
With this, he opened the box revealing an intricately carved ring made of celestial bronze with flakes of blue sapphire intertwined with the design.
It took me a minute to register what was happening. That’s what the party had been for! Nico had planned the whole thing to propose to me and I had just walked out! I didn’t know what to say. Thankfully, my senses took over for me “Yes!” I managed to say nodding my head vigorously. I jumped on him, wrapping my arms around his neck and sobbing with joy. I pulled away from him long enough for him to slip the ring on my finger before tackling him kissing him some more.
People started to come out of the Big House and we went our separate ways with one last kiss. He went to his cabin and I went to find Leo.

Notes

Surprise!!! They're engaged!!!