It took a day for Silva to realise that going by boat was not a good idea, as he might only reach back home by the time everything was over in Mount Othrys. So, he waited for two days until he managed to sneak onto a plane that was flying towards Long Island.
And since he was not a child of Poseidon, he was safe from any sort of problems from flying in the sky.
After the plane steadied itself and began moving towards America, Silva relaxed and sat down on a makeshift chair he had created using a few sacks filled with sand. He had no idea why they were there and was too tired to think about it. So he fell asleep.
After sleeping for who knows how long, he woke up, finding out that he was not alone in the plane's cargo hold. There was another makeshift chair made up of sacks just like the one he made, with the God of the Sun sitting on it, wearing a T-shirt that said, "I CAME BEFORE MY SISTER."
For his sanity, Karna decided to ignore that statement.
"Well, good morning, champ. You gave me a scare when you suddenly disappeared from the Western Hemisphere. Now tell me where the hell have you been," Apollo said in a joking manner, but Silva was able to hear the concern underlying his cheerful voice.
"Fell into a stupid trap, had a meet and greet with the members of the largest religion in the world," he said as he moved slightly to make himself more comfortable. He knew it was going to take some time for Apollo to process all that information.
Apollo, on the other hand, had his jaw wide open when he heard what Silva told him. He was worried earlier because he was unable to see where Silva had gone when he went missing and was only able to sense him when the plane he was in entered Greek airspace. But he never imagined Silva would have been transported to the most dangerous place on the planet.
"Say that again," he asked, bewildered.
Silva then told him about what happened. About how he got teleported to the Vatican, how he ended up at a crime scene, how he had waltzed through the Vatican while fighting the Templars, and how he had utterly crushed all of them, including the half-angel. Though he left out the part about the ancient spell and just told him that he defeated every spell of the Church easily.
Apollo was sweating as he listened to each part of the story. With how arrogant the Greek Gods were, they did have a few run-ins with Christian Orthodox throughout the millennia. And Apollo had seen how strong each of those Nephilim were and even remembered how most Greek and Roman demigods were outclassed when they battled each other.
The only reason the demigods survived was because of a few outliers like Hercules, Perseus, Achilles, etc. If not for them, the entire demigod community would have been wiped out of history itself.
And hearing that his nephew had reached that level so young was making him feel extremely proud. And at the same time, learning that they were this close to having an international incident with Christianity was increasing the sweat on his back.
"Let's keep that info on the down low, all right?"
"Okay," Silva said as he leaned back with a tired expression.
"Well, seeing that you just woke up, I know you are not tired because of what happened in the last few days. Why don't you tell me what's really bothering you, kiddo?"
"Aren't you the God of prophecy? Don't you know already?" he said, a bit of anger in his voice that even he did not realise.
Apollo was not offended at all. Even though he had only met his nephew a few times, he knew mostly about his nephew's character and knew what was causing problems for his nephew right now.
"Alright then. Let me give you some advice, kid. Most things are not set in stone until you decide they are set in stone. Free will is actually a real thing, you know, especially for demigods. So don't hold yourself back thinking you are causing something worse to happen by being true to your desires," he said, which made Silva pause.
He got the feeling that Apollo knew about the situation between him and Rachel, but his current words implied that what he feared might not come at all if he chose to.
"It's not about what I want or desire. If it was, it would have been easier," Silva replied with a calm expression.
"Then don't make it just about yourself. Make sure the choice is made by both of you and not unilaterally by yourself. At the end of the day, you are not really giving her a choice by keeping everything to yourself.
"Now, I am not saying that secrets are wrong. Keeping something a secret is actually better on many occasions, but make sure that the secret is not important enough to cause problems." Apollo then stood up. "Just make sure to be happy, kid. Life is something that will always be filled with regrets of past actions. All we can do is try our best to be happy for most of it. And one extra piece of advice: keep the battle with the Nephilim to yourself. It's better for not many people to know about it."
And then, in a flash of golden light, Apollo vanished, leaving Silva with his own thoughts.
He remembered the last time he had seen Rachel before going on the mission. He remembered her telling him about having a talk about his rejection.
'Guess I can't run away from it… no, it's more like I don't want to,' Silva monologued as he closed his eyes once more. He knew he would have to travel non-stop when he reached the States, so he was getting as much rest as he possibly could right now.
At the same time, in the Hoover Dam.
"So you are friends with Silva?" Percy asked Rachel, who had saved him from the monsters a few minutes ago.
A/N- Hope you like it.