Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nico was exhausted beyond anything he’d ever imagined. He’d never even thought anyone could be as exhausted as he was right now. Even the nectar and ambrosia Hazel had fed him on their way to find Annabeth, had been exhausting to eat.

So when the floor of the cavern started to crumble, he knew something bad was going to happen to him.

“This floor won’t last,” Hazel warned. “The rest of us should get to the ladder.”

The chamber groaned again, and the cobwebs under their feet began to snap. Hazel lunged for the bottom of the rope ladder and gestured for Nico to follow, but Nico was in no condition to sprint. He slowly made his way over the smouldering ground, Percy and Annabeth right behind him.

Above them, Frank and Jason were flying around the Athena Parthenos, securing the statue with ropes. Slowly the giant Athena was pulled inside the Argo II.

Nico had just reached the rope ladder when he heard Percy asked Annabeth, “What is it?”

Suddenly Hazel shouted, “Her ankle! Cut it! Cut it!”

Nico’s mind was still fuzzy from exhaustion. Cut her ankle?

He turned to see Annabeth be dragged to the edge of the pit by her ankle. Cobwebs covered her foot. Percy lunged for her and caught her arm, but the momentum only got him dragged with.

“Help them!” Hazel shouted from above him, but he wasn’t sure if it was meant for him or the flying boys above them. His only thoughts were, no! They can’t fall! I have to help him!

Slowly, much too slow, he humbled after them. He wouldn’t reach them in time. They reached the edge.

But when Nico saw Annabeth and Percy falling over the edge of the cliff, a surge of adrenalin filled him and gave him just enough energy to leap forward and catch Annabeth’s other hand.

It was not enough.

Instead of only the golden couple of Camp Half-Blood plunging down into the pit, the son of Hades fell with them.

He heard Hazel scream above him, calling for Frank, Jason, anyone to help. Nico tightened his grip in Annabeth’s hand and reached out with the other in a silly attempt to hold on to something, anything, though even if he’d catch anything, he wouldn’t be able to hold on. He was too weak. Another idea came to him instead. He reached for his sword and managed to get it out, just as his other hand was ripped upwards. A loud crack sounded from his shoulder and he groaned in pain. He looked up and saw that Percy had managed to grip onto a tiny ledge above them, holding on only with one hand. He wouldn’t have enough strength to hold on for long, especially not when the cobwebs still was pulling in Annabeth’s ankle.

“No escape,” said a voice in the darkness below. “I go to Tartarus, and you will come too.” Nico didn’t know what it was, but the silk strings on Annabeth’s foot tightened and made the daughter of Athena cry out in pain. Percy’s face was strained from the effort to hold them up.

Nico did the only thing he could do and swung his sword to cut the silk strings over. A hiss sounded from the pit, but Percy’s face relaxed a bit. The green-eyed demigod looked down at him, a silent question in his eyes. Nico knew what he meant.

Do you have enough strength to shadow-travel?

He closed his eyes and focused on the shadows. They refused to obey his commands.

The son of Hades looked up on the older demigod and shook his head. “He’s too strong.”

Percy nodded as if he had expected that and looked up at Hazel, who was leaning over the edge, reaching down, though it was impossible. They were at least twenty feet down.

“Hazel!” Percy called. “The other side! Meet us there!”

Hazel’s eyes widened. Her golden eyes focused at her brother longer down. Nico nodded, trying to make her believe that she could do it.

“I know you can,” he told her, his voice barely a hoarse whisper, but Hazel understood.

“Okay,” she croaked. “I’ll try.”

Annabeth gave her a strained smile, gripping Nico’s hand harder. She looked down and met the exhausted and scared brown irises under her. “We can do it. You have us this time.” Her voice was soft and understanding.

She has no idea what await us, Nico thought grimly, but nodded anyways.

Percy looked down too, his eyes flickering from Nico to Annabeth and back again. An agreement passed between the three of them, and while Hazel screamed for the others to come and help, Percy let go of the ledge.

Chapter Text

The wind rushed by, ripping in Nico’s hair and clothes. The hand he held tightened its grip in him and pulled him closer. Suddenly he felt an arm around his middle, and he was pulled into the embrace of Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase. As if it wasn’t bad enough to fall into Tartarus again, he also had to do it with Percy Freaking Jackson and his freaking amazing and clever girlfriend.

Percy had his arm around Nico’s waist, Annabeth’s around his shoulders.

After some time – was it minutes or hours? – Percy spoke up.

“So, how long down?” he asked no one in particular.

“Well, there are some different theories about it,” Annabeth started. “The old Greek poet Hesiod said it would take nine days to reach the bottom, other says–”

“It’s different from entrance to entrance,” Nico interrupted her. “Time is different down there. We know when we are nearing when the air grows warmer and damper. I would say we still have a couple of hours before we reach the bottom.”

He could feel two pairs of surprised eyes glancing at him, though he couldn’t see them in the darkness. Only the silhouettes of their auras/life-forces/whatever-you-want-to-call-it was visible to him.

“How do you…?” Annabeth started. “Oh, right. Sorry.”

Nico shrugged the best he could, then remembered that they couldn’t see him either. “Child of Hades thing, I guess.” His expression turned bitter. “It’s a little like Hazel underground, though this is about hell instead of earth.”

He felt one of the arms around him tighten its grip, and he was pressed further into Percy’s broad chest. Even with the wind rushing by and the smell of blood and acid all around them, he still caught a whiff of sea breeze.

“You have us with us this time, Nico. We will all get through this,” he heard Percy’s voice close to his ear. “But,” he continued, “we will need you. You can’t give up, we need to get back to the others, to Hazel.”

Nico found himself nodding and leaning into the embrace. He needed to survive this for Hazel’s sake. And he would make sure both heroes of Olympus would be there with him.

The air started to grow hotter. The darkness gave way for a red-grey light. Below them, a tiny red-glowing spot became visible, growing the longer time they fell. Nico was now able to make out the outlines of his two companions. Annabeth and Percy were clinging to each other even more than they were clinging to Nico, their hands intertwined. Both of them looked scared, but not as scared as he felt.

When the spot was the size of a ball, Nico became aware of a black line across it. Frowning, he focused on the line until the hole –as they soon realized the spot was– was looking as big as a swimming pool. He realized the black ribbon was one of the Underworld’s rivers, weaving across the harsh landscape.

They kept falling and the hole came nearer and nearer until they fell through it. The first thing Nico became aware off was the acid cloud right under them. He just had time to think, this is going to hurt a lot, and they tumbled through the red, vaporized-blood-like cloud, and simultaneously screamed in pain as the acid touched their skin.

“Okay,” Percy muttered in his ear once they were out, pain audible in his voice. “Acid clouds that smells of rotten eggs. That’s a first.”

Nico chose to ignore the comment and instead yelled, “Aim for the river!”

Percy closed his eyes, concentrating on bending the river’s will, while Annabeth glanced at Nico.

“Which one?” she asked nervously, her eyes glancing around on the landscape beneath them. Nico wondered what she saw it as– she didn’t seem to like it very much, but looking on her face, Nico could see that she didn’t see Tartarus the way he did – her eyes didn’t radiate nearly enough fear for that.

She didn’t see the river under them as the vein it actually was; she didn’t see the black ground as the insides of the god of the pit. She didn’t see how the air all around them was his breath, or the monsters as small pitiful blood cells in this monstrous, evil being.

The horrifying truth: they were inside a living creature.

Nico closed his eyes to let his mind relax and let the Mist cloud his brain. When he reopened them, the scenery had changed to black, rocky plains, punctuated by jagged mountains and fiery chasms. To one side, the ground dropped off in a series of cliffs, like colossal steps leading deeper into the abyss. Then the Mist cleared and revealed the truth yet again. The saddest part of it was that it no longer really scared Nico. He’d gotten used to it.

Nico focused back on Annabeth’s face and bit his lip. “I hope for Acheron or Cocytus. It’s not the Phlegethon or Styx, that much I know…”

“So,” she added, hopeful that he would deny it, “it might be Lethe.”

Nico could only nod grimly, and her face darkened.

“Percy?” she asked, her gaze shifting to the taller boy in her arms.

Her boyfriend still had his eyes closed, a frown on his face. “It’s not any river I’ve been near. It’s not Lethe.”

Annabeth let out a relieved breath. “Then it’s either the river of pain or the river of wailing. Yay.” There was so much sarcasm in her voice that Nico couldn’t help but snort and comment, “You’ve been too much together with Percy.”

Percy pouted but didn’t open his eyes.

“Percy…” Annabeth glanced down at the nearing ground, “Anytime now!”

“I’m trying!” he exclaimed. “The river has a will on it’s own and it doesn’t like to be controlled!”

About five hundred feet till they would be crushed to demigod pancakes. Four hundred feet. Three hundred. Two hundred-and-fifty. Two hundred.

Finally the river shot a tendril up and grabbed them, slowing their fall a bit and directing them toward the rest of the water. Sweat erupted on Percy’s forehead.

“I. Can’t. Hold. It. Much. Longer,” he managed to say through gritted teeth.

“Hold on to each other, and try not to let go!” Annabeth yelled as the water released them thirty feet over the river. She tightened her grip in both boys, and they hit the surface.

The first thing Nico felt when the water pulled him under was the cold. The water was freezing cold, cold enough to kill if you were submerged too long. He could feel his limps go numb, his grip in the others lessen.

The next he noticed was the wailing. Millions of heartbroken voices, as if the river was made of distilled sadness – which was somewhat true, he guessed, since it’s the river where the traitors’ and the frauds’ souls are swimming around for the rest of eternity. That had to be quite a lot of sadness.

Son of Hades, the voices wailed, hands grabbing him, trying to tear him away from the others. He could feel their grips in him lessen too.

What’s the point of struggling? You are in hell yet again, you are never going to escape twice. You’re already dead. Give up.

The voices all around him wailed and hailed in his jacket, persuading him to stop struggling… to give up… to die… He will never love you anyways.

That was the wrong thing to say. Anger flared up in Nico. No one should ever say something like that to him. Never.

He tightened his grip in Annabeth and Percy and kicked upward and broke the surface. Air welled down his lungs. Annabeth was lifeless in his grip, but Percy thrashed around, trying to get free of Nico’s grasp.

“Percy!” Nico yelled. “It’s me!”

Percy stopped abruptly and looked at him. Then he saw Annabeth floating beside him, and anger filled his green eyes. The water began to swirl around them, holding them afloat.

“We…” Nico gasped, “We need to get to the shore.”

Percy nodded and swam over to grab Annabeth’s other arm, and together they slowly swam towards the shore, though they didn’t get very far before the wails began to fill their ears again.

Life is despair, they called. Everything is pointless.

Percy’s teeth chattered as he repeated the wailing souls. “Pointless.” He slowly ceased swimming and began to sink.

“Percy, you Seaweed Brain! Stop listening to them and swim!” Nico yelled at him. He couldn’t lose his Sea Prince to the river. Nico looked down at the blond girl between them. No, not his…

Percy blinked at his words, the fog clearing from his eyes, a flare of irritation showing in them. “Don’t call me that!” he snapped, and Nico almost laughed, but he chose to scowl at him.

“Then swim!”

Percy looked surprised at Nico, but obediently began to swim again, dragging Annabeth with.

You will not make it to your friends, son of sea. You will all fail. You both are failures, one born to be stuffed away for later use, the other born as a mistake.

This time Nico couldn’t keep the voices out; they’d hit spot on. “Failure…” he muttered, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “I’m just another failure.”

The cold seeped into his very bones, making it harder to move. Why not just give up? What was the point of struggling?

Then his eyes met green ones, and Nico remembered the sole reason he was here in the first place. I need to help Percy.

Determination set, and he began to swim harder. Percy seemed to be jolted out of the misery by Nico’s harsh speed, because he too began to swim even faster.

You can’t get away! The river wailed after them. You will suffer and die!

Nico’s feet hit the bottom. Together the two sons of the Big Three dragged the unconscious daughter of Athena between them upon the black riverbank and collapsed.

Nico’s breathing was heavy. His bones were frozen. All he wanted to do right now was to curl up in a ball and sleep for a decade. But then he saw Percy kneeling beside Annabeth, franticly trying to find her pulse.

Groaning, Nico sat up again, only to realize that the beach wasn’t made of sand, but of tiny glass chips. Some of them were embed into his palms, blood trickling out. Sighing, he brushed off his hands in his jeans and crawled over to Percy.

“She’s not dead,” he said quietly.

Percy looked up, desperation in his every feature. “Can you help?”

Nico nodded slowly. “First, have you emptied her lungs for water?”

Percy nodded.

“Then we need to get her to the Phlegethon.”

The green-eyed demigod frowned, forgetting the seriousness of the situation for a second. “That sounds like a spit-ball competition or something.”

Nico raised his eyebrows. “Really, Percy?”

The other just shrugged and Nico rolled his eyes.

“The Phlegethon is the river of fire, but also the river of healing,” he explained.

“Well, lead the way then,” Percy said and tried to stand up, but gasped in pain and landed back on his butt. Looking down on his arms, he saw the blood running down from various cuts and scrapes. When Percy looked uncomprehending over at Nico, the younger boy held up a piece of the beach.

“Shattered glass.”

“Of course,” Percy sighed. Then he sniffed the air and made a face. “This place smells worse than my ex-stepfather – and that takes a lot.”

Nico couldn’t help but smile a little at that. Then he stood and proceeded to brush off some of the broken glass. His bones were creaking from the cold, and when he looked at Percy, he noticed the blue lips of the other boy.

“We should get moving,” he said and reached a hand down for Percy to take. “The Phlegethon will help us.”

Percy nodded and took Nico’s outstretched hand gratefully. While Percy tried to brush off the rest of the glass shards, Nico took in their surroundings. Fifty feet away the glass beach gave way for a cliff. From where they were standing, Nico couldn’t see the bottom, but light was flickering along the edge, like from a fire. The Phlegethon.

He turned to Percy when the other boy inhaled sharply and pointed. “Look.”

A hundred feet away, a baby blue Italian car had crashed headfirst into the glass beach. It looked just like the Fiat that had hit Arachne and sent her down here…

Well, damn.

“Stay here,” Nico said and unsheltered his sword. Percy looked as if he was about to protest, so he added, “You need to look out for her.”

Percy looked from Nico down to Annabeth and back, but finally nodded.

Nico slowly made his way over to the Italian sports car. One of the car’s tires had come off and was floating in the backwater eddy of the Cocytus. The Fiat’s windows had shattered, sending brighter glass like frosting across the dark beach. Under the crushed hood lay the tattered, glistening remains of a giant silk cocoon – the thing Arachne had been trapped in when the Argo II broke down the roof of her cavern. Slash marks in the sand made a trail downriver, as if something heavy, with multiple legs, had scuttled into the darkness.

Nico looked back at Percy, who had now hoisted Annabeth up in his arms, bridal style. He walked back to them, a grave expression on his face.

“She’s still alive,” he said. “She’s somewhere downstream.”

Percy cursed. “Seriously? Couldn’t we just have a little luck for once?”

“Seems like Tyche hates us,” Nico agreed. “Anyways, we need to get to the Phlegethon.”

“Which way?” Percy asked, but seemed to regret his question when Nico pointed at the cliff. “Of course.”

Chapter Text

They’d been walking the edge of the cliff for ten and some minutes before they gave up on trying to find a safe path down.

“How will we get Annabeth down? I can’t climb with her,” Percy asked.

Of some reason, Nico looked back at the car wreck. “I might have a solution to that…”

Another thirty minutes went as they unraveled the silk cocoon and another twenty to set their makeshift hoisting system for unconscious demigod girls up. They agreed that Nico would climb down to the bottom fist, then Percy would hoist Annabeth down, and then follow her.

Standing together on the top of the cliff, looking down on the Phlegethon eighty feet bellow, the heat was almost already too intense, though it did nothing to heat up their frozen bones.

“Well, I better get going down then…” Nico said nervously, glancing over the edge.

“Wait, I have an idea!” Percy said and ran –humbled– back to the car wreck. Nico looked curiously after him, having no clue about what Percy was thinking. The older boy came back a few minutes after with another string of spider webbing.

“We can tie this around your waist. Then if you slip, I can catch you before you hit the ground.”

Nico looked impressed at him. “That’s actually a good idea. Guess there’s more in your head than kelp.”

Percy huffed, but handed the silk rope to Nico, who began wrapping it around his waist. When he was sure it was securely bound, he began climbing down. The first pair of ledges were barely wide enough to allow a toehold, but with the rope around his waist and his light weight, Nico was hopeful.

Slowly but surely, Nico managed his way down, only losing his hold a couple of times. His arms and legs were shaking from the effort, but he managed to stand and back away from the cliff, gesturing for Percy to hoist Annabeth down.

Percy had tied the other end of Nico’s rope around Annabeth so he could pull her out from the wall if she was about to hit a ledge.

It took them about fifteen minutes to get her safely down on the ground. Nico snaked his arms in under her arms and pulled her over to the riverbank, while Percy began to climb down.

The girl in his arms barely looked like a girl anymore. Blisters from the poisonous air had formed all over her face and exposed arms. His own arms didn’t look much better and he could only guess how bad he looked. Their clothes steamed from the heat of the river.

Nico trust his hands into the flames. The heat was so intense it felt cold. Cupping his hands, he brought the fiery liquid to his mouth and drank. The fire burned down his throat. It stung his insides and he felt like it was actually setting him on fire. His tongue felt like it had been deep-fried. His eyes started to water.

Worst of all, it was a feeling he’d had before.

When the burning sensation finally subsided and he could breathe normally again, he turned to the blonde girl beside him. Scooping up another handful of liquid fire, he slowly dropped it down her throat. Immediately she began to spasm and cramp, and Nico had to sit on her legs and hold onto her shoulders to keep her from rolling into the river.

After a moment though, she calmed down again and the blisters on her body began to fade away. Slowly she opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times. When she finally focused on Nico above her she frowned, and Nico remembered that he was still sitting on her.

He scrambled off the girl so fast he almost tumbled down into the river.

“That,” she croaked, then cleared her throat, “that was the worst thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.”

Nico nodded. “Yeah, I know, but it’ll keep us alive for now.”

“Where are we? And where’s Percy?”

Nico looked back towards the cliff, just in time to see Percy, about two-thirds down the cliff, as his foot slipped from the ledge he was standing on. He was now hanging in only his fingertips at least twenty feet above the ground.

“Percy!” Annabeth screamed and tried to stand. Nico got to his feet too, and together they ran as fast as they could over to where the son of Poseidon was hanging.

“I’m– I’m okay,” the boy above them croaked. His arms were blistered and swollen and his hands were bleeding, making the ledge even harder to keep on to.

“There’s a ledge a little above your right foot,” Nico called up.

Scrambling around to find it, the ledge he was holding on to with his left hand started to crumble.

“Percy! Your hand!” Annabeth shouted, just as his hand slipped. And too exhausted to hold himself up with only one hand, he fell.

“No!”

Percy landed with a bone-crushing thump. Nico was sure the other boy had broken something. Not even Percy Jackson would be able to fall thirty feet down on stone without breaking something.

He and Annabeth rushed to the fallen boy’s side.

“Percy!” Annabeth cried, tears brimming in her eyes. Falling to her knees at his side, she gently touched his shoulder. A groan rose from the boy. Nico crouched down beside Annabeth.

“Where?”

“Everywhere!” Percy groaned. “But mostly my shoulder.”

Nico looked at Annabeth. “We need to get him to the river. Soon he will die from the toxic air.”

She nodded. “Sorry Seaweed Brain, but this is going to hurt.”

They took an arm each and together they dragged the groaning, half-conscious boy toward the riverbank.

Laying the boy down on the ground as gently as they could, Nico scooped up another handful of liquid fire. “Hold him still,” he told Annabeth, and emptied the contents of his palm down Percy’s throat. He too started trashing violently, and Nico had to help Annabeth hold him down.

The boils on his skin faded, and his skin temperature fell to normal. After another moment, laid still and opened his eyes. His eyes shifted between Annabeth and Nico, and he managed a crooked smile.

“That, Wise Girl, tasted worse than the ghost-chili-smoothie we got on that Indian restaurant,” he said, and the blond girl smiled down at him. Nico felt like he was interrupting something.

“Can you sit up?” Annabeth asked. Gently they pulled him up.

Percy winced in pain. “My shoulder… I think I landed on it.”

True enough, his left shoulder seemed to sit in a bit odd angle.

Annabeth’s eyes shone in sympathy. “We’ll have to push it back in place.”

“I think we’ve got a bit of ambrosia…” Nico added and took the backpack off. Inside there was half a bottle of water, a bronze laptop – which surprised Nico – a bronze disc, some matches, some colorful string, and some ambrosia.

Annabeth made Nico hold Percy up while she set his shoulder back in place.

“Three. Two. Crack.”

Percy cried out in pain. “What happened to one?”

“Sorry, I thought I heard something…” Annabeth said and glanced downstream. Nico followed her gaze. He couldn’t see anything else than the black tumors on the skin of Tartarus – something that probably just looked like a big rock or something to the others.

Annabeth shook her head. “Sorry.”

They fed him a bit of the ambrosia and made him drink a little water. When it was packed away again, Nico stood up and scanned the area.

“We need to get moving. It won’t be long before they sense…” His voice trailed off as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He pulled his sword as he turned a trust it forward, just in time for a huge black thing to spring at them. His sword sank to the hilt in the things hide until it exploded in a cloud of yellow dust, a horrifying wail echoing into silence.

Two pair of eyes stared up on him.

“What?” he inquired, uncomfortable with the attention.

“That,” Percy said, “was amazing.”

Annabeth nodded, and Nico felt his cheeks heat up, which he tried to cover up with a scowl.

“Just means we have to get going,” he said simply and began walking downstream, keeping eyes open for more monster attacks. He heard Annabeth and Percy get up and hurry after him.

As they walked, he heard Percy whisper to Annabeth, “Are you alright?” He guessed Annabeth nodded, because Percy continued, “Do you know how he… How did he react that fast? He’s… he’s only fourteen…”

Nico bit his lower lip to keep himself from answering. The sadness in his voice when Percy’d said it was almost too much.

Annabeth walked a little brisker and came up to his side. “So… You know which way to go?”

Nico nodded and pointed. “Downstream.” Then he sighed and explained further. “The Phlegethon’s spring is on the upper levels of the Underworld. So following the river downstream–”

“–will lead us deeper into Tartarus where there are more dangers and therefore the Doors of Death,” Annabeth continued.

Percy came up on Nico’s other side with a sigh. “Just our luck.”

They’d walked for about twenty minutes when they heard voices from behind them. Nico froze, then all but pushed Percy and Annabeth behind the nearest tumor, holding his index finger to his lips. The heat from the Phlegethon almost burned off the backs of their clothing, but there was no time to change hiding place, because the voices were approaching quickly. They sounded vaguely human, but then again, that unfortunately didn’t close out too many monsters. And everything in Tartarus was an enemy.

The voices neared, their uneven footsteps echoing – scrap, clump, scrap, clump.

“Soon?” a female voice asked, a hoarse sound that sent shivers up his spine.

“Oh my gods!” another said. She sounded both younger and more human than the first, like a normal teenage girl seeing her friend in clothes from last year’s fashion. “You guys are totally annoying! I told you, it’s like three days from here.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Nico saw Percy gripping Annabeth’s wrist in alarm, as if he’d recognized the younger girl’s voice. Actually, there was something familiar about it…

Grumbling and growling sounded from the group of monsters. If Nico had to guess, he’d say five or six. They paused just on the other side of the tumor – which Nico was careful not to touch, though he didn’t say anything to Percy and Annabeth – but they hadn’t caught their scent yet. Suddenly he was glad for the many other stenches in Tartarus.

Wow, that’s a first – Nico being glad for something about Tartarus. Well, as the saying is, there’s a first to everything, right?

“I wonder,” a third voice said, much alike the first one, “if perhaps you don’t know the way, young one.”

“Oh, shut your fang hole, Serephone,” the girl answered irritated. “When’s the last time you escaped to the mortal world? I was up there a couple of years ago. I know the way! Besides, I understand what we’re facing up there. You don’t have a clue!”

A fourth voice joined in. “The Earth Mother did not make you boss!” she shrieked.

Judging from the sounds that came, they’d broken into a fight, hissing like giant alley cats. At last, Serephone yelled, “Enough!”

The scuffling died down.

“We will follow for now,” she continued. “But if you do not lead us well, if we find you have lied about the summons of Gaea–”

“I don’t lie!” the girl snapped. “Believe me, I’ve got good reason to get into this battle. I have some enemies to devour, and you’ll feast on the blood of heroes. Just leave one special morsel for me – the one named Percy Jackson.”

Oh, great, Nico thought, another monster that personally want to kill Percy.

Beside him, Annabeth looked ready to jump out and attack, her knife already drawn. Percy had a firm hand around her biceps, probably the only thing holding her here.

“Believe me,” the girl continued. “Gaea has called us, and we’re going to have so much fun. Before the war is over, mortals and demigods will tremble at the sound of my name – Kelli!”

Pictures flashed before his eyes – the Labyrinth, Minos, Luke, Daedalus’ workshop, and her; the she-demon Kelli with flaming hair, fangs, and her mismatched bronze/donkey legs. The monsters on the other side of the tumor were empousai.

Annabeth and Percy shared a look, seeming to come to the same conclusion as him.

On the other side of their hiding place, the monsters’ shuffling faded longer downstream, their voices growing fainter. Nico dared to poke his head out from their hiding spot. Yep, five women on mismatched legs were hobbling away.

When they were out of sight Nico rose and helped Annabeth up. Hatred was burning in her eyes, and Nico was sure if Percy let go of her, she would dart after them and attack.

“They are heading for the Doors of Death,” Percy muttered from behind her. “Follow them?”

Nico shook his head. “We just risk to be seen. Plus, I already know where the Doors are.”

“But they will keep the other monsters away,” Annabeth argued, but again Nico shook his head.

“Not likely. As violent and inhumane monsters are, they still respect each other. The empousai will most likely only take on lesser monsters. And down here there are monsters a lot more frightening than the empousai.”

Percy frowned at him. “Way to light up the mood.”

Nico just glared at him in response. “I say we rest here for a bit, then follow the river further downstream. We could all use some rest.”

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other, then admitted defeat to the son of Hades.

“Fine,” Annabeth said and sat down on the ground, her back against the tumor (Nico shuddered on the inside at the thought), “I’ll take the first watch.”

Nico was about to protest, but Annabeth held up her hand. “You were the one who suggested that we rest. Plus, we need you at your full strength. So go to sleep!”

Percy obediently lay down on the ground and propped his head in her lap and closed his eyes.

Sighing, Nico sat down on the ground too. Annabeth handed him the backpack with a, “use this as pillow.”

He took it from her, still reluctant to go to sleep, but his body was screaming EXHAUSTED. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d really slept… Before his first trip here, that was sure. Which was how long since? At least a month… Wow. No wonder his body was aching all over. Maybe a little sleep would do him good…

Laying the backpack a good three feet away from Annabeth, he slowly sank down – just to get it ripped away.

“Hey!” he protested weakly, sleep already catching up on him.

“Get over here,” came the response from the irritated blonde. She placed the backpack on the ground beside her and patted it. Nico’s mind was telling him to protest with all his might, but his body just moved over and lay down.

Just before he blacked completely out, he felt a hand brushing through his hair, and a soft voice murmuring, “Sweet dreams,” and the soft smell of sea.

Chapter Text

His dreams started in Italy with his mother and Bianca. It was a memory he’d only just gained, the Lethe wearing off. They were singing and dancing around in the kitchen while cooking dinner. Nico was laughing on a chair at their table, not old enough to sing with them. It was Christmas time, and the kitchen was filled with Christmas decorations. Oranges were hanging in red strings from the curtain rod above the kitchen window.

The dream shifted. Nico was standing in a room filled with all the video games a person could dream of. The sound of hundreds and hundreds of machines bibbing and making other noises. In front of him was his favorite game in the room, a game called ‘Guess the God’. He was really good at it, especially Greek and Roman gods.

A boy came over to him, his green eyes shining. Nico had never seen eyes that green before. The boy spoke to him.

“Do you know what year it is?” he asked, and Nico had happily answered him, so glad he could help the boy with the beautiful eyes.

“1944,” he said, but the answer made the beautiful-eyed boy frown. Nico didn’t understand why, but he didn’t want the other boy to frown. When he frowned, he couldn’t see those green eyes nearly as much.

“Thank you,” the boy said, and Nico smiled up to him, but then he walked away, leaving Nico alone with his game.

Then the dream shifted again to the night. The night Percy saved him and Bianca from the Manticore. The night his whole world changed. The night he finally saw the green-eyed boy again, though he didn’t remember him at that time, being too fascinated by the boy’s actions, the way he swung his sword, the way he slashed at the monster, the way he fearlessly talked back even though he was dying, to notice his eyes.

It was the night Nico fell head over heels in love with Percy Jackson, and there was no turning back.

Nico woke with a warm feeling in his body. The first he became aware off was the warm steady wall he was cuddling against. The next was that he was moving. He then became aware of the arm under his bent knees and one behind his back, holding him bridal style. After that, his nose caught the scent of the sea, and with horror, Nico realized what was happening.

Percy Jackson was carrying him in his arms. Percy Freaking Jackson was carrying him while he slept. And Nico had been cuddling close into his chest.

Nico didn’t think he could be more embarrassed. He was about to move, to let Percy know he was awake, but a small thought in the back of his mind had to whisper, why not enjoy it as long as you can? And of course, Nico listened to the voice. Just a moment more. I’ll just enjoy it a moment more. But the steady rhythm of Percy’s heart against his ear, the soft rocking of his arms… Nico was on the edge of sleep again when he heard Annabeth’s voice.

“He looks so…”

“Peaceful?” Percy suggested.

“…young when he sleeps. He has been through so much… He doesn’t deserve all the crap the Fates has given him until now. Remember the first time? In Maine?”

“Yeah…” Percy sighed and held Nico a bit closer. “He was so tiny. And happy. You didn’t even hear all the questions he asked.” A pause. “Man, I can’t believe this is the same boy… Did you know he asked if I was good at surfing because I was the son of Poseidon?”

Annabeth chuckled. “You good at surfing? You would fall off the board even before you were standing up.”

Percy huffed, but didn’t deny it. Instead, he asked, “How long do you think he’ll sleep? My arms are beginning to feel a little numb, even though he doesn’t weigh that much.” Then as an afterthought he added, “Remind me to stuff him up with food when we get back.”

Annabeth chuckled again.

Nico couldn’t believe it. Percy had actually remembered that he had asked him if he was good at surfing? Three and a half years, and Percy still remembered? A fuzzy feeling spread through Nico, warming his insides up, starting from his heart and spread out through his veins.

His mind snapped back to attention and quickly shoved the feeling away. Percy would never return it in that way, and he was fine with that.

Well, he was okay with it…

Fine, he had accepted it. Percy was in love with Annabeth, a girl who was everything he wasn’t. She was smart, sweet, blonde, pretty, and, oh yeah, a girl.

And even though she had all he ever wanted, he couldn’t hate her. She was kind to him when no one else was. She had helped him out a lot of times.

Nico decided that he was ready to ‘wake up’ now. He managed a huge yawn and lifted his hand up to rub his eyes.

“Goodmorning sleepyhead,” Percy said and stopped up. Even though Nico hadn’t opened his eyes yet, he still knew the other boy was smiling.

Has Tartarus ever seen a real genuine smile before? Nico wondered, though he doubted it.

“Is it morning?” he asked, knowing the answer: I don’t know.

“It is actually. Well, up in the living world,” Percy said.

Nico opened surprised his eyes and looked up at the other boy – and let out a little shriek, because Percy’s face was a lot closer than he had expected.

Percy became so startled at the sound that he dropped Nico on the rocky ground. “Owww…”

“Sorry!” Percy said and fell to his knees beside Nico. “Sorry! I’m so sorry, are you okay?”

Annabeth sighed above them. “Seaweed Brain…” Then she held a hand down for Nico to take.

“Sorry Nico,” she said when he was back on his feet. “I shouldn’t have let Percy carry you, but we needed to get away, and we tried to wake you, but you refused.” She had a small smile playing on her lips.

Nico just nodded. “Okay, but why did you have to get away?”

“A couple of telkhines found us. We’ve killed them all, but I think there are more in our tracks…” Percy explained. “And sorry, again, for dropping you…”

Nico waved him away. “Let’s just move on.”

The silence was thick around them. Nico walked in front, Annabeth and Percy walking side by side behind him. Nico was feeling jittery and anxious, his ADHD acting up like never before. His mind kept going back to the feeling of Percy’s arms around him, his heart beating against his arm… How close their faces had been before Nico had made Percy drop him…

Gods, he needed something to distract him.

There wasn’t anything special about the landscape until now; no monsters had attacked them since the telkhines. They’d stopped a couple of times to drink some more fire.

Suddenly Annabeth broke the silence, startling Nico. “So, do you know how long there is till we are at the Doors of Death?”

Nico looked over his shoulder at her. “If we walk directly there, maybe twenty-four hours.”

“Directly?” Percy asked.

“Directly into Gaea’s army of monsters,” Nico answered and looked forward again.

“I guess you have a plan to avoid that?” Percy sounded a bit hopeful.

“No,” Nico answered, “but I know how to get there. And maybe I have an idea…”

Annabeth wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “What do you have in mind?” she asked.

Nico stopped and turned around, studying her for a moment. “I don’t think you’re going to like it,” he finally said, then turned around and continued to walk.

“Probably not, but try me anyways,” Annabeth challenged, jogging up beside him. Percy followed, coming up on Nico’s other side. Nico fixed his dark eyes on Annabeth’s gray ones.

“The same way I tried to get out last time.” He paused for a moment. “Night’s mansion.”

The color quickly drained form Annabeth’s face, and Percy was looking confused from one to the other.

“What’s ‘Night’s mansion’?” he asked, but Annabeth ignored him.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Do I look like I'm joking, Annabeth?” Nico asked, completely stone-faced except for a cold glare.

“Uhm, no. No not really.” She looked nervous under his glare. “But, Nico. Night?”

“It’s the only way.”

“Are you sure? Can’t there be anything else? Anything?”

“Uh,” Percy looked like he’d just been handed a test in Chinese and was expected to complete it 100 percent correct. “Someone please explain to me what this is about?”

They both ignored him. Nico held Annabeth’s gaze. “You have any better idea? I thought so,” he said, not letting her answer, and began to walk a little brisker. Annabeth didn’t say anything else.

They walked in silence for some moments until Percy suddenly broke it, saying, “Remember the time you, me, and Thalia were called to the Underworld by Persephone?”

Nico frowned at him, but nodded. “You threw a Titan into the Lethe, and Persephone threatened yet again to turn me into a plant. That’s pretty hard to forget.”

Percy smiled sheepishly. “Yeah… But this just reminded me a little about it. That time we were just following the Styx instead of the Phlege-something.”

“Phlegethon, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said fondly.

“Yeah, that.”

“What was it you renamed Iapetus to, again?” she asked.

“Bob. Bob the Titan,” Percy smiled. He turned to Nico. “How is he by the way?”

Nico frowned a bit. “His my dad’s new janitor. I think he likes it, though Hades is totally unfair to him, making him clean up exploded zombies and damned souls. Though he’s good talking to about… things.”

“Things,” Percy repeated. “Funny to think that the Titan, who threatened to rip out our insides is good to talk to about one’s problems… Oh well, nothing in my life makes sense, so nothing new here.” He grinned a little to himself, though it was a bitter grin. Nico’s insides clenched seeing him like this. This wasn’t like Percy, he was supposed to be happy and joking, not laughing a bitter laugh that only belonged to those who had seen too much… Oh. Right.

“Come on,” Nico muttered and sped up. “I want anyone to track us down.”

The others silenced and followed him. Annabeth kept sending him worried glances, though Nico ignored her and just looked ahead. He didn’t need any thoughts haunting him. He just wanted to get over with this, help the others defeat Gaea, and then he could disappear forever. No one would miss him anyways.

He was broken out of his thoughts when Annabeth grabbed her shoulder. He quickly shook it off and was about to snap at her, but the expression on her face stopped him, alarm welling up instead.

Annabeth pointed in front of them where the river disappeared down over a cliff in a massive fiery waterfall. Another cliff for them to climb down. Just their luck.

Nico answered the question in Annabeth’s eyes with a sigh and a slight nod. She huffed.

“Of course,” she said and walked over to the edge – and froze. Percy saw it and hurried to her side, and let out a small, ragged breath. Nico frowned and followed.

They had reached the part of Tartarus Nico had dubbed ‘the Nursery’. Yes, he knew it was a weird name for a part of Hell, but that was the best he’d been able to come up with. Plus, it was better than what it really was: Tartarus’ ribcage.

At the bottom of the cliff, a black plain stretched as long as they could see, into a huge, black, churning cloud. In the air above them, different winged demons flew around.

Blisters and ragged trees dotted the landscape. Every once in a while the blisters would pop and spill out a monster, like a larva from an egg. And the monsters all headed the same way: towards the black fog.

At the bottom of the waterfall, the Phlegethon slit up in twelve sections, slitting the plain under them with smoky, glowing lines. Around the main part of the river, the ground was filled with cave entrances where Nico knew monsters lurked. He’d almost gotten snapped up by one the first time he was here.

The broken ribs of Tartarus jutted up along the edges of their view.

“Well,” Percy said, his voice shaking a little, “shall we get going?”

“We should have packed more of the cobweb,” Nico mused, frowning a bit at the cliffs. Beside him, Percy nodded, though Annabeth looked confused.

“What for?” she asked.

Percy looked a bit uncomprehending at her, then understanding hit him. “To use it as windlass down the cliff as we did with the first.”

Annabeth stared at him, then at Nico. “You used Arachne’s webbing to climb down the cliff.”

Nico shrugged, not seeing a problem. “It worked.” He turned his gaze back at the ledge. “Though we can’t use it here. Should have thought of that.”

Percy placed a hand on his shoulder, which made him flinch. Percy dropped his hand again, though looking a bit hurt. “Sorry. But you can’t think of everything. It doesn’t matter, we’ll just have to climb.” He attempted to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes. Nico just nodded.

Chapter Text

The climb down the cliff was harder than they’d imagined. Nico’s arms were already shaking violently a third of the way down. His fingers were numb from pain, and blisters were forming on his ankles. The others didn’t look much better.

Halfway Annabeth found a ledge big enough for all three of them to rest, where she collapsed against Percy. He put an arm protectively around her. Nico, who had climbed down last, settled down as long away from the two others as the ledge allowed him, pulling his legs up against his chest and laying his arms around them.

Percy groaned. “I am starving,” he said, holding his stomach with his free hand. Nico could hear it growling all the way, from where he sat.

Another sad thing that Nico was surprised to be happy about: that he had gotten so used to not eating that he wasn’t really hungry.

Annabeth nodded weakly in agreement, and Percy frowned when Nico didn’t agree too.

“Let’s just get going,” Nico said and shakily got to his feet. He could feel Percy’s worried eyes on his back, but he just started climbing.

The cliff was even less climbable here, and when Nico finally reached the bottom, he collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. Percy and Annabeth soon joined him. They all three just lay there on the ground, breathing heavily and trying to get the energy back to continue.

“More fire?” Nico asked after a good ten minutes, and slowly got to his feet. He made his way to the bank and began to drink. When the blisters on his heels finally disappeared, he turned to the others, who were still at the foot of the cliff. Percy was sitting up though, a look of horror on his face as his eyes searched the landscape around them. Nico realized that the other boy maybe was seeing a little of the truth about where they were.

He let his mind relax and the Mist take over, clouding his sight. When he looked around now, he the landscape hadn’t changed much, though the ribs now looked a bit more like rocks, and the wells with the monsters looked a bit less gross – which wasn’t saying much, but whatever.

Percy was now rising to his feet, and reaching down to help Annabeth up too.

A blister burst near the caves, a good hundred feet form Annabeth and Percy, and a telkhine crawled out, it’s fur glistening with slime. Suddenly a green, reptilian head shot out from one of the caves, snapped up the young telkhine, and dragged it squealing back into the cave, all in a matter of seconds.

Nico looked back at Percy, who too had seen the cruel fate of the sea demon. He walked over to them just as Percy said, “Yeah, this is gong to be fun.”

The trio began to make their way across the wasteland, keeping to the banks of the river and avoiding the cave entrances. The tumors began to become higher and closer together, and Nico got the feeling of being spied on. He kept his senses on high alert, so he felt Percy tense beside him.

“Something’s here,” Percy said, alarm in his voice. He stuck his hand in his pocket to get Riptide out, and Nico unsheltered his sword, just as the empousai came out from their hiding spots – five of them in a circle around them. A perfect planned trap.

Cursing his own stupidity, Nico leveled his sword at the nearest empousa’s chest, and backed up against Percy and Annabeth, the three of them guarding each other’s backs. Kelli stepped forward, a cruel smile on her face.

“Ah, Percy Jackson. What a nice surprise to find down here.” Nico didn’t dare take his eyes of the empousa in front of him, but he could feel Kelli’s cold gaze travel over him. “And you’ve taken other snacks with, though the boy there is a bit boney – not much to eat.”

Nico growled and, with out taking his eyes off the other demon, he snarled, “You can try, though you will fail. Just like you failed Kronos and Luke.”

He mentally high-fived himself. Even as a scrawny twelve-year-old he’d been able to tell that Kelli had had a thing for Luke Castellan. And he knew that a love you could never have was a sore spot on anyone. Not that he had any personal experiences on that point. Not at all. Nope.

Kelli growled low in her throat, and Nico imagined her fangs were barred. The empousa in front of him looked like she tried not to laugh at her friend. Her tattered dress looked like one of those Greek wrap-around dresses one often saw on old statues.

Behind him, he felt Percy shift nervously. “Uh, Nico? Would you stop making her angry?” he whispered. Nico was about to answer that, no, he wouldn’t, when Annabeth chimed in.

“Do you know what happened to Luke, Kronos, and the rest of their army after I killed you, Kelli?” she asked, confidence making her voice strong and convincing. “I’m sure you have heard how Kronos failed to bring down the Olympians, but do you know how? What about the rest of you?”

Growling and confusion spread among the rest of the empousai. The one in front of Nico barred her fangs at Kelli. “What do they mean, young one?”

“I mean,” Annabeth said, “that Kelli here was supposed to make sure my friend, Luke Castellan, was loyal to Kronos and would lead the Titans to their victory. But because Kelli here failed her duties, Kronos and the other Titans lost. And now she wants you to follow her into another disaster.”

Nico imagined Kelli was staring at Annabeth for a moment in confusion and hatred, before she exclaimed, “Enough! She is just trying to delay her death.” The other empousai shifted nervously from donkey cloven to bronze foot and back again. “So the Titans lost. Fine! That was part of the plan to wake Gaia! Now the Earth Mother and her giants will destroy the mortal world, and we will totally feast on demigods!” Kelli said and took a step nearer, her bronze foot clanging hollowly.

“The demigods have united!” Annabeth exclaimed desperately. That made the empousai freeze and look at Kelli. Taking advantage of their hesitation, Nico continued.

“You’d better think twice before you attack us. Romans and Greeks will fight you together. You don’t stand a chance.” He glared pointedly at the empousa in front of him.

“Romani,” she hissed.

“That’s right,” Percy said, and pulled up in his sleeve to show them his SPQR tattoo. “You mix Greek and Roman, and you know what you get? You get BAM!”

At the last word, he stomped his foot on the ground, and the empousai tripped over themselves to get away from him. It was actually pretty comically to see, though they quickly recovered and closed in again.

“Bold talk,” Kelli said, “for three demigods lost in Tartarus. Lower your sword, Percy Jackson, and I’ll kill you quickly. Believe me, there are worse ways to die down here.”

“Wait!” Annabeth tried again. “Aren’t empousai the servants of Hecate?”

Kelli curled her lip. “So?”

“So? Hecate is on our side now,” Annabeth said. “She has a cabin at Camp Half-Blood. Some of her demigod children are my friends. If you fight us, she’ll be angry.”

The empousa in front of Nico looked at Kelli. “Is that true? Has our Dark Mistress made peace with the Olympians?”

Kelli hissed and stomped her cloven foot. “Shut up, Serephone!”

“I will not cross the Lady.” Serephone straightened up and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Annabeth took the opening. “You’d all be better following Serephone. She’s older and wiser.”

“Yes!” Serephone shrieked. “Follow me!”

Kelli lunged at the older vampire. The fight only took half a second, though with their lightning speed, their sharp fangs and claws were the only things visible in the blur. Then it was over. The only thing back of Serephone was her ripped and tattered dress.

Well, one enemy less, Nico thought.

“Any more issues?” Kelli snapped at her sisters. “Hecate is the goddess of the Mist! Her ways are mysterious. Who knows which side she truly favours? She is also the goddess of the crossroads, and she expects us to make our own choices. I choose the path that will bring us the most demigod blood! I choose Gaia!”

Her three friends left hissed in approval.

Since Kelli had killed the she-demon who had been in front of Nico, he could focus on another one. She seemed to be from the late fifties with her old-fashioned dress and hairstyle. She eyed Nico from face to foot and back again, her face turning into a murderous grin. Nico was aware of the other empousai circling in on them from the other sides, though he kept his gaze on the redhead in front of him.

Suddenly her appearance changed. Her dress was still tattered, though Nico now found it beautiful. Her skin got more color, and her talons shrunk back into normal nails. Her before red eyes turned blue. She smiled sweetly at him and began to walk forward.

“What a nice young man,” she said, her voice loaded with charmspeaking, though it didn’t affect Nico.

You have to like women to be affected by one, he thought bitterly, though he lowered his sword to let her think she had him. She took one final step and reached out for him, which was a mistake. He swung his sword up and cut of her hand in one clean motion. The demon screeched in pain and stumbled back.

“How did you–” she cut herself off with a scream when Nico stabbed her in the gut, turning her to dust.

He spun around just to see two of the empousai jumping Percy, one sinking her fangs into his sword arm, making him drop Riptide, the other jumping up on his back to sink her teeth into his neck.

Nico lunged at the one on his arm, cutting her in two by the waist. Percy reached up and yanked the last one off his back, sending her flying into a tumor. There was a satisfying crunch, and the empousa turned to dust.

Both boys turned to Kelli and Annabeth, though she was doing fine by herself. Her dagger was gleaming in the light of the Phlegethon, a trail of fire at her fast movements. She swung at Kelli’s head, but the empousa was faster. She dodged Annabeth’s knife and racked her claws across her forearm, making Annabeth cry out in pain and fall to the ground, her knife flying out into the river.

Kelli grinned triumphantly. Beside him, Percy stumbled forward, though he was cut up and bleeding from both his arm and neck. Kelli turned to him faster than Nico had time to see and sent him sprawling at the bank of the fire river.

She turned her glowing eyes on Nico. “You,” she said, “will be the first to die.”

Nico raised his sword, but he knew it was hopeless. The empousa in front of him had just taken out both Annabeth and Percy in the matter of seconds. He didn’t stand a chance.

Chapter Text

Suddenly a dark shadow fell over them and out of the sky fell a Titan in a janitor’s uniform, his broom in his hands.

Kelli stumbled back in surprise, and didn’t have time to dodge the Titan’s broom at it was swept at her head. Nico blinked and where Kelli had been standing half a second ago was now a cloud of dust slowly falling to the ground.

Silence spread out until the Titan grinned and ruffled up in his silver Einstein hair.

“Sweep!” he grinned in delight. “Sweep, sweep, sweep!” The Titan did a little victory dance that made the ground rumble. Then he turned his silver eyes on Nico and broke into an even bigger grin.

“Tiny Darkie!” he exclaimed and picked Nico up in a bone-crushing hug. “Bob is so glad to see you!”

He set Nico down on the ground again, who gave him a small smile. “It’s good to see you to Bob. How have you been?”

“Bob is good! Even better when friend Percy called me!” the janitor exclaimed and clapped his big hands as a three-year-old.

Nico looked at his two companions, who were both gaping at the happy Titan.

“H-how…?” Percy stuttered as he slowly got to his feet, his eyes not leaving Bob.

“Percy called me!” Bob said happily. “Yes he did!”

“What,” Annabeth said, “called you? You’re Bob? The Bob?”

The silver Titan nodded enthusiastically. Then he noticed Annabeth’s wound and frowned. “Owie.”

Annabeth flinched away as he knelt next to her, but Percy – still as in a daze – said, “It’s alright. He’s friendly.”

She sent her boyfriend a confused and scared glance, but didn’t move away when Bob touched her wounded arm. Soon the wound closed up and left her skin completely mended, not even a scar left.

Happy with his work, the Titan bounded over to Percy and healed him too. Then Bob turned to Nico. “Tiny Darkie have any wounds?” Bob asked concerned.

Nico smiled at the Titan and shook his head. “You came before I got hurt. You saved us, Bob. Thank you.”

Bob broke into a huge grin and picked Nico up into another hug, though this was a bit less bone crushing.

Meanwhile Percy helped Annabeth to her feet and was watching the Titan in awe.

Bob sat Nico down again. “I am helping,” he said happily. “I heard my name. Upstairs in Hades’ palace, nobody calls for Bob unless there is a mess. Bob, sweep up these bones. Bob, mop up these tortured souls. Bob, a zombie exploded in the dining room.”

Percy and Annabeth didn’t seem to know what to make of this information, but Nico smiled and clapped his big silvery hand. “And we’re glad for your help.”

Bob beamed down at him. “But now friends, we need to go. They are coming. Yes, indeed.”

Percy quickly scanned the horizon, but Nico knew there were no monsters approaching in their view. Bob had an ultra good hearing in Tartarus, so he could hear others approaching long before they would even come into sight of the demigods.

Bob began to walk forward, Nico quickly following.

Annabeth and Percy were following them wearier. Nico could sense that they didn’t trust Bob, especially not Annabeth, but they didn’t really have any other choice.

Glancing back, Nico saw Percy take Annabeth’s hand and give it a comforting squeeze. Nico felt it as if Percy had just squeezed his heart.

“Don’t worry,” Percy said to her, “Bob knows what he is doing, and Nico trusts him, so should we.”

“You have interesting friends,” Annabeth muttered back.

Bob turned around to them and grinned. “Bob is interesting, yes indeed! Thank you!”

Nico smiled a little at the happy Titan (and maybe also at the baffled expression on Annabeth’s face.)

“So, Bob…” It seemed like she tried to sound casual and friendly, but it came out a little suspicious to Nico “How did you get to Tartarus?”

“I jumped,” he said, like it was obvious. Nico couldn’t help but smile, though Annabeth and Percy both looked confused.

“You jumped into Tartarus,” she said, “because Percy said your name?”

“He needed me.” Bob’s silver eyes gleamed in the darkness. Nico could feel how nervous she was around the janitor. “It is okay. I was tired of sweeping the palace. Come along! We are almost at a rest stop.”

Watching the couple out of the corner of his eyes, he saw a crazed glint in Annabeth’s grey eyes, though it disappeared so fast than Nico wasn’t sure he’d seen right, but if he had, he couldn’t blame her. He admitted, he had gone a bit mad himself the first time down here.

“Bob, how long is–” Nico broke off as he doubled over in pain, clutching his stomach and falling to his knees. He felt a pair of hands on his back and was vaguely aware of someone yelling into his ear, though the high-pitched ringing in his ears made it impossible to make out the words.

“Ha-Hazel,” he managed to stutter out. “Hazel is in danger.” His head snapped up to see a pair of confused sea-green eyes in front of him. “Hazel is in danger!”

He tried to get to his feet but something held him down. He could feel panic welling up in him. His sister needed him! She was in danger! He needed to get to her, he needed to–

“Nico!” Percy’s voice broke through the ringing in his ears. “Nico! Stop! Calm down!”

Nico froze. His mind was jumbled and he couldn’t get a clear thought in his head. He felt a pair of strong arms lift him off the ground, hugging him close to their chest. Percy’s voice sounded near his ear, telling him to calm down, that Hazel would be fine – she had Frank and the others – to take some deep breathes, in a hushed, soft voice.

Slowly the ringing faded and the panic fled with it. Nico felt his body starting to relax and the words from Percy finally settled. He was so tired, the panic attack had taxed his energy greatly. He was about to dose off when he heard Bob’s voice, “We are at the rest stop soon. Only a few more steps.”

Nico tried to shake himself out of his daze, though the soft smell of sea, and the lulling of Percy’s steps – because, yes, Percy was yet again carrying him – made it hard to concentrate.

“Hermes’ shrine,” Bob said.

Nico opened his eyes in confusion. A godly shrine in Tartarus? But yes, in front of them down in the bottom of a crater, like one of those on the moon, stood a ring of broken black marble columns surrounding a dark stone altar.

Percy seemed to share Nico’s confusion, because he said, “Why would Hermes have a shrine in Tartarus?”

“It fell from somewhere long ago,” Bob said. “Maybe mortal world. Maybe Olympus. Anyway, monsters steer clear. Mostly.”

“How did you know it was here?” Annabeth asked.

Bob’s smile faded. He got a vacant look in his eyes. “Can’t remember.”

“That’s okay,” Percy said quickly. He turned his green eyes down to Nico. Concern filled those green orbs, and Nico’s heart clenched at the thought that he was the one Percy’s concern was directed to.

“How are you feeling?” Percy asked him, a gentle smile on his lips.

“Like I’m in hell for the second time,” Nico answered truthfully. “But else I'm fine. You can set me down now. Gently this time, if that’s not too much to ask for.”

Percy chuckled darkly and lowered Nico’s legs till his feet touched the ground. They stood a bit awkwardly beside each other, Nico keeping his eyes on his shoes, until Bob laughed.

“Come on, friends. Food should be here any second.” At the mention of food, three heads snapped to the happy Titan.

Percy stuttered, “Di– did you say food?!” and Nico swore he could hear the other boy’s stomach rumble.

Bob nodded and began to climb down to the altar. “Food down here.”

At that, both Annabeth and Percy looked uncertain at each other, but Nico quickly scrambled down after Bob, who walked over and sat down cross-legged by the altar. Nico joined him, his eyes trained on the black marble in front of him. After a moment, Percy sat down beside him, Annabeth on his other side.

“Food should be here soon,” the silver Titan said. “You sleep, Bob will guard you and wake you up when food is here.”

Again, Nico smiled at the Titan and curled up on the ground in seconds, while the two others were a bit more hesitant.

“He will warn us if something comes,” Nico grumbled, his eyes closed. “Just sleep, you won’t get anymore in a while.”

Prying one eye open, he saw Annabeth lying down on the ground, her head in Percy’s lap, and close her eyes. Percy stayed where he was, his eyes roaming the horizon.

“Percy, you should sleep too,” Nico commented as he closed his eye again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Nico could hear the smile in his voice. Percy shifted a bit beside him, and a hand was laid on his head. It took all of Nico’s willpower not to flinch away. “Just go to sleep.” A pause. “I’ll keep Bob with company.”

Nico would be lying if he said that Percy’s hand carting through his hair wasn’t soothing. He made a little sound to acknowledge that he’d heard what Percy said, and then let Hypnos carry him away.

This time Nico’s dreams weren’t as sweet. Or, well, it started out fine. He saw Hazel and Frank standing at the railing of the Argo II looking out over what Nico assumed was Italy. They were talking with each other, though Nico couldn’t hear what. In the back of his mind, he registered that Frank seemed to have grown a lot. His shoulders had gotten broader and he seemed less pudgy. Instead of a panda bear, he now looked like a football player.

Suddenly the Argo II lunched forward, and Hazel and Frank tumbled over each other. Nico’s form floated over to where Hazel was wheezing with her arms around her stomach, where she’d landed on the deck, though his hands went directly through her. Frank was lying on her legs, but he’d gotten himself tangled in some rope.

All of sudden Nico was able to hear the voices around him. Leo was yelling, “-eating the oars!” whatever that meant.

Hazel tried to get up, but Frank was still lying on her. Jason came racing out of nowhere and jumped over Hazel and Frank, and directly through Nico.

Piper was at the stern, shooting fruit out of a cornucopia over the railing, and yelling, “Hey! HEY! Eat this, ya stupid turtle!”

Nico frowned, then was passed through again as Frank finally got to his feet and helped Hazel up too.

“Are you okay?” he asked her, and she nodded weakly.

“I’m fine,” she managed, though Nico could see she wasn’t. “Go! Help the others!”

Frank ran to the stern to join the others. He was already firing arrows.

Nico tried to help Hazel stand, but she still didn’t know he was there. The rest of the deck was a chaos. The satyr, whose name Nico didn’t remember having heard, trotted up the stairs, his baseball-bat waving around, galloped for the stern and jumped over the railing with a triumphant, “Ha-HA!”

Hazel staggered towards the quarterdeck to join her friends, Nico floating just behind her. The boat shuddered. More oars snapped, and Leo yelled, “No, no, no! Dang slimy-shelled son of a mother!”

When Piper had said turtle Nico had expected maybe a big sea turtle. He’d heard those could be about two meters across the shell, but the sight that met him was much more startling. A tortoise the size of an island was in the middle of eating the oars of the Argo II, though tortoise wasn’t a word Nico would have used. More like Sea-Godzilla or something like that.

Its gold eyes were at least the size of wading pools with slit pupils and an evil glint. Its mouth was big enough to swallow the Athena Parthenos in one huge bite.

“Stop, you stupid thing!” Leo yelled at it as he pressed some more buttons on his Wii controllers.

The satyr clambered around the turtle’s shell, whacking at it uselessly with his baseball bat and yelling, ‘Take that! And that!”

Jason took off from the deck and tried to whack the turtle between the eyes, though the sword just skittered sideways as if its skin was made of greased steel. Frank shot arrows at the monster’s eyes with no success. The turtle’s filmy inner eyelids blinked with uncanny precision, deflecting each shot. Piper shot cantaloupes into the water, yelling, “Fetch, ya stupid turtle!”

But the turtle seemed fixated on eating the Argo II.

Suddenly a voice seemed to come from the turtle, though it hadn’t moved its mouth. “Food is here!” it said.

Suddenly Nico felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, shaking him lightly, and the voice said, “Nico wake up! There’s food!”

Nico sat up and blinked. Percy was squatting in front of him, an exited gleam in his eyes. “There’s food!” he repeated.

Nico looked around Percy, where he saw Bob happily munching on a slice of pizza. Annabeth was sitting nearby too, eating roast beef.

“F-food?” Nico repeated, and blinked to be sure he wasn’t still dreaming.

Percy nodded eagerly. “Yes! What would you like? We’ve got roast beef, half a hot dog, some grapes, and a packed of peanut M&M’s.”

He handed Nico the hot dog and a couple of grapes. Nico didn’t complain, just took it and almost swallowed the grapes whole.

“Mmm, this tastes like home…” Annabeth said as she took another bite of roast beef.

“Yeah,” Percy agreed, “It’s made exactly like in camp.”

Silence. Then, “Do you think it–”

“Is that possible?” Annabeth asked looking at Bob. “Could this actually be from camp?”

Bob shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe.”

They all ate in silence after then, Annabeth frowning like she was thinking hard, until Bob began talking.

“Should go now. They’ll be here in minutes.”

Annabeth choked on her last bite of roast beef. “Minutes?!” she managed to get out.

Bob frowned. “Yeah, well… I think minutes, though time is different here. Hard to say in Tartarus,” he said and scratched his silver hair.

Percy crept to the edge of the crater. He peered back the way they’d come. “I don’t see anything, but that doesn’t mean much. Bob, which giants are we talking about? Which Titans?”

Bob grunted. “Not sure of names. Six, maybe seven. I can sense them.”

“Six or seven?” Annabeth repeated and reached to her belt where her dagger normally was, until she remembered it was in the Phlegethon. “If you can sense them, can they sense you too?”

Bob shrugged and smiled. “Bob is special. Bob is good. But they can smell demigods, yes. You two–” Bob pointed at Nico and Percy “– you smell really strong. Good strong. Like… hmm… Buttery bread. Yes.”

Nico frowned and looked down himself. “I smell like butter-bread?”

Bob nodded. “Yes. With cinnamon.”

Nico decided to not comment and got to his feet, at the same time as Percy slit down from the edge and came back to the altar. “So… is it possible to kill a giant in Tartarus? I mean, since we don’t have any gods with us here.” He looked expectantly over at Annabeth, like she would know.

She sighed. “Percy, I don’t know. No one has ever travelled Tartarus before, or fought monsters here… I don’t know. Wait–”

Then both of their heads snapped to Nico, who shrugged. “The only giants I met were the twins that caught me. Though I think Bob could count as a god.”

Bob looked up when Nico said his name. “Bob can help?”

Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances.

“Would we be able to kill a giant with your help,” Annabeth asked, “or do we need a god?”

Bob thought for a moment, then frowned and shrugged. “Bob don’t know. Never been done before, I think.”

“Oh great,” Annabeth said and threw her hands up in expiration, “thank you for that information.”

Nico frowned at her. “Don’t talk to Bob like that. He has saved our lives. Again,” he added as an afterthought.

Placing a hand on her knee, Percy tried to calm Annabeth down. “Nico is right, there’s no need to lash out. Okay?”

Annabeth glared at him, then slumped her shoulders in defeat. “Yeah, alright. Sorry Bob.”

Bob grinned and clapped his enormous hands. “Doesn’t matter, friend. But now is good time to get going.”

“Wait!” Annabeth said, an idea clear in her eyes. “Percy, can Riptide turn into a pen you can write with?”

Percy frowned and took his sword out of his pocket, handing it to her. “I don’t know, I still haven’t tried.” He flashed Nico a grin, which both surprised and confused him. Then he remembered a snowy night… The day Nico found out he was a half-blood. He’d asked Percy if Riptide could be used as writing utensil. He remembered.

Annabeth uncapped Riptide and it transformed as always into Percy’s bronze sword. Frowning, she examined it, turning it over and over, the cap in her hand.

An idea popped into Nico’s head. “Have you tried putting the cap in the end – like you sometimes do when you write?”

Annabeth looked up at him, then did as he suggested. Instantly the sword shrunk back into a pen, but with the cap in the wrong end so you were able to write. Annabeth flashed him a smile, then snatched up a napkin and started to write.

“Uh,” Percy said as she handed him back Riptide, “what are you doing?”

“Sending a message.” Annabeth laid the folded napkin on the altar. “I just need some fire–”

“Bob will help!” the Titan said immediately and pointed his broom at the altar. The hidden knife sprung forward, scratching the surface of the marble stone, and a silver fire sprung to life.

“Uh, thank you, Bob,” Annabeth said, then she placed the napkin in the fire and said, “For Connor Stoll, son of Hermes, Camp Half-Blood.”

The fire ate up the napkin, and Annabeth got to her feet, brushing off her jeans. “Let’s go before we get visitors,” she said and began climbing out of the hole. Percy quickly followed her, Bob  and Nico getting to their feet too.

“Uh, Annabeth? Why Connor?” Percy asked as they joined her in her brisk walk.

“Because,” she said, like it should have been obvious, “if it was from Camp all the food came from, then it must have been Hermes’ kids’ offerings since it’s their father’s alter. And Connor always eats M&M’s, so I knew he was there to get the message.”

Percy nodded like he understood, though Nico could still see the confused look in his eyes.

Chapter Text

Silence stretched among them as they continued their journey. Nico considered telling the others about his dream, but it didn’t seem to matter anyways. Bob was humming a tune Nico didn’t know, and Annabeth was frowning to herself. Percy kept looking around, keeping an eye out for monsters, but none came.

“So, uh,” Annabeth said after a while, breaking the silence, “where are we going?”

Bob turned around so he was walking backward, and smiled. “Friends need to cross the Dark Lands to get to the Doors–”

Annabeth interrupted. “You know about–” she turned to Percy, “You told him about the Doors of Death?!”

Nico rolled his eyes, but Percy looked uncomfortable. “Yeah, well. I thought it was a good idea to have him helping us.”

Annabeth was looking furious, but before she could say anything, Nico interrupted. “Nobody here knows Tartarus better than Bob.” He turned to the Titan. “Do you have a better idea than through the House of Night?”

The Titan stopped up a moment and thought. Then he shook his head. “But I know how to hide. It will help in the Dark House. Friends need to go through the House to get to the Doors of Death, but many monsters there. Bob knows a way to hide, if the Lady gives the Death Mist.”

With that he turned again and continued to walk. The three demigods hurried after him.

“Uh, Death Mist?” Percy repeated nervously.

The Titan nodded his silver head. “Yes. The Lady might give you the Death Mist. That will help hiding. And she is very close to Night. That both good and bad.”

“The Lady?” Annabeth asked suspiciously.

“Yes,” Bob agreed.

After a moment of waiting for him to elaborate, Annabeth asked impatiently. “What Lady?”

“The Lady of the Death Mist,” Bob answered. “The sad Lady.”

Nico’s stomach recoiled. He was now sure of whom this ‘lady’ was, though he weren’t happy to meet her again. But he could see what Bob meant about the Death Mist. Of course! Why hadn’t Nico thought of that? Nico couldn’t help but facepalm, which didn’t go unnoticed by Annabeth and Percy.

“What?” Annabeth said, grabbing his wrist. He quickly jerked it free. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

Nico sighed and nodded. “The solution I should have seen myself. If I just had thought about it the first time, we wouldn’t be here now…” he muttered, more to himself than to them.

Percy suddenly grabbed his shoulder and violently turned him around to face him. Nico was so shocked he didn’t even pull back.

“It isn’t your fault that we are here, okay?!” Percy said furiously. Nico could only stare surprised up at him. “You were trying to save Annabeth and I and ended up here with us. It’s not your fault! Don’t go blaming yourself for such a stupid thing! Understand?”

Nico blinked, and Percy’s gaze softened. “Don’t blame yourself for things that’s out of your hands,” he whispered, and then pulled Nico into a hug.

Nico couldn’t believe it. Percy was hugging him? Percy was angry with him because he blamed himself for being stupid? It was an understatement to say Nico was confused, but when Percy pulled back – only just enough to look down at him with worried eyes – and said, “Promise?” Nico couldn’t resist him. He nodded. Which made Percy smile. Causing Nico’s stomach to make somersaults, knowing it was him who made Percy smile.

Annabeth cleared her throat behind Percy, and reality struck Nico down hard. He stiffened in Percy’s arms, though Percy didn’t seem to notice as he was already pulling away.

Bob was waiting for them a good pace away, looking confused. “Is friends coming?” he called after them.

Nico slapped himself mentally out of his daze and jogged up to the Titan. “Sorry, Bob.”

Annabeth and Percy joined them, and Bob set off again in a brisk walk, which meant the demigods had to run to keep up with him.

“So,” Annabeth said after a moment of silence, “someone volunteering in telling us about who this Lady is?”

“The goddess of Misery, poison, and the Death Mist,” Nico said, his voice hoarse. He remembered the sobbing goddess, her bloody cheeks, her hollow eyes, the way her arms and legs like sticks… Just the thought of her mistreated body made all the newly eaten food in Nico’s stomach want to come up again.

He shook his head and tried to think about something else, but his mind was clouded from exhaustion, after having run this much. He felt like he was about to pass out. Spots were dancing in the edge of his vision.

After a moment, Nico believed his mind really was clouding his eyes over, but then he realized that the fog was outside his head, not inside.

Opposing to fog in the Land of Living, the fog here was black, like vaporized ink. He could barely see three feet forward, the only light provided by Percy’s sword, and Bob, who gave off a soft silver glow.

Nico tried to hold open his senses, but it was hard when he was this exhausted.

Once they passed closely on a tumor, and Nico could feel the life force within it growing, almost at the level to sustain a living creature. He could tell it was a humanoid shape, though it wasn’t completely done. Annabeth gasped and the others around him stopped. They were all three looking closely at the tumor, Percy with irritation and disgust, Annabeth with a bit of fear, and Bob with… wonder. Oh no.

Nico etched closer to get a look inside, and what he saw made him want to turn around and run away (not that he would admit that to anyone). Hyperion was rolled up like a foster, his golden armor gleaming in the light from Percy’s sword. Nico remember hearing how Percy had fought the golden Titan in the first war, and how Grover had turned him into a tree.

Bob frowned at his bother in the tumor. “He looks like me… Just – gold.”

Nico didn’t know what to say. Luckily, Percy did. “Bob?”

The Titan reluctantly turned. “Yes?”

“Am I your friend?” Nico frowned at Percy’s question, but didn’t interrupt.

Bob nodded, and Percy smiled to him. “I'm glad to hear that. But you know that there are good monsters and bad monsters, right?”

Again, Bob nodded. Nico realized what Percy was doing, and decided to help.

“This guy in here, he is a bad Titan, whereas you are a good one,” Nico said, and walked over to place his hand on Bob’s enormous one. He waited till Bob had nodded before continuing, “And if this guy wakes up, he will try to kill us. He has tried to kill Percy before, and he has killed a lot of people. Many mortals, dryads, satyrs, and demigods have died at the hand of this Titan.”

He let this information sink in, then Percy continued. “Bob, if we are friends, will you then help us make sure he doesn’t wake up yet?”

Bob looked confused between Percy, Nico, and Hyperion. “But… he looks like me.”

“Yes,” Nico said and clapped his hand again, “because he is a Titan like you, but a bad one.”

Percy stepped a bit closer. “Please Bob? For your friends?”

A determined look crossed Bob’s face, and in one clean motion the blade swung out of his broom and pierced the tumor, which exploded all over the place.

Nico grimaced and let go of Bob’s hand to wipe Titan goo out of his eyes. “Yuck!”

Percy was smiling to the Titan. “Thank you, Bob.”

The determined expression was still on the silver Titan’s face. “No one shall hurt my friends.”

“We appreciate that,” Nico said and patted his hand again. “Now, let’s continue, shall–”

Something hit him hard in the back, making him topple over. Annabeth screamed. He tried to sit up, though that was a bad idea. His vision was swimming, and his head was throbbing badly after having hit the hard ground.

Percy yelled Annabeth’s name. Bob roared a blood-curling war howl. Nico blinked and tried to take in the scene in from of him. Percy was standing a few feet away, swing his sword at a hellhound. Annabeth was lying on the ground between them. Bob was whacking three monsters over the heads with his broom.

Nico waited a moment, then got to his feet, drawing his sword, and staggering up beside Percy.

“Are you alright?” Percy asked as he swung at the hellhounds head and made it disintegrate.

“Fine, all things considered,” Nico answered and sidestepped a monster. He slashed his sword through the air and cut up its flank. The monster howled in pain, and Nico stabbed it again, making it disappear.

There were still two more. Bob was nowhere to be seen at the moment, though Nico didn’t have any time to worry. Both monsters were looking from Percy to Nico, who were almost on either side of them.

Then, fast as lightning, they both charged at Nico, their fangs barred and claws extended. He only had time to swing his sword in a wide arc, hitting one of them across the snout, without maiming it fatally, before they were over him. One of them bit down in his leg, the other racking its claws across his face.

Nico screamed as white-hot pain shot up his leg and in his face. He couldn’t see anything, but he could feel the blood cascading out of the wounds. Percy yelled his name, and the pressure on his leg eased, the howls disappearing, but the pain did not lessen. Nico clamped his hands over his face, trying to push the pain back, hold the blood in. Of course it didn’t help.

“Nico!” Percy’s voice sounded like he was yelling to him from under water. He vaguely registered someone gripping his shoulders, but Nico felt his consciousness slip away through his fingers.

He was numb when he hit the dark wall of his subconsciousness and drifted off.

When Nico opened his eyes, his mother reached down and helped him to his feet. Bianca was standing near, grinning at him.

“Long time, mio bel fratellino,” she said and hugged him. “I wish you could stay here with us, but you have a promise to keep to Hazel and Percy.”

Nico looked confused at her. He wanted to say that he didn’t understand, but his voice wasn’t working. What promise?

His mother hugged him too. “She looks wonderful, your new sister. You need to get back and take care of her. Mio bel tesoro. Mioeroe. Make your mother proud. I don’t want to see you down here again before a long time, capire?”

No, Nico didn’t understand. He shook his head, but his mother just laughed. “Caro, you will understand soon. And just so you know, I approve of anyone worth my little boy’s affection. No matter what. And don’t worry. You still have the world’s most beautiful dark eyes.”

Bianca laughed. “Yeah. Percy is good enough. So is Annabeth. Please,” she leaned over and kissed his forehead, “do whatever to make yourself happy. You deserve it.”

His mother kissed his cheek. “Now off you go, get back to your ‘eroes. Oh, and Nico. Never forget, that even when everything seems hopeless and black, light will find you. And everyone has their strong and weak sides. Don’t forget. See you in hopefully a long time, Mio eroe coraggioso”

Their images became blurred, and Nico tried to protest that, no, he would stay with them, even though he didn’t understand what they were telling him. It was like they talked another language, a language he was supposed to know.

His mother and sister began to fade into blackness. The last thing he saw was a face that hadn’t been there before, a face with green eyes and a playful smirk. Then the blackness overcame him.

Chapter Text

“Nico?”

Percy’s voice reached down and pulled him up to consciousness. He tried to open his eyes, but the world was still black. Hadn’t he opened his eyes? Or maybe the room was just dark?

He was lying on something extremely soft and wooly. He felt warm and comfortable, something he hadn’t done in a long time, though it bothered him that it was so dark…

“Nico?” Percy’s voice was hesitant.

“Percy?” Nico’s voice was hoarse. His whole face felt numb, especially around his eyes. His left leg too.

“How are you feeling?” Percy asked in the same soft tone.

Nico frowned and blinked again. It was still as dark as ever. He sat up and tried to look around, and his eyes caught a green-blue figure next to him, like a reverse silhouette – everything around it was black, and then there were the glowing figures made of liquid light. In the middle of the chest where ones heart are, a little ball of the same colored light floated and pulsated a bit stronger than the rest of the light.

“Why… why is everything so dark?” Nico asked, looking around. A dark-silver figure was standing nearby. And longer away, a bright silver one, though much bigger, and there wasn’t a glowing ball at the heart of this one, just… darkness.

The green-blue figure moved a bit, giving Nico access to the last figure, a red, warm glow, the biggest of the four, but the same as the bright silver – no ball of light at their heart.

A sob came from the dark-silver figure, who came nearer and knelt next to the green-blue one. “Nico,” Annabeth’s voice sounded from it.

The green-blue figure reached out and placed a hand on Nico’s arm, stroking it up and down.

“What’s going on?” Nico was getting panicky now. Why was Annabeth crying? Why didn’t they answer his question? Where were they anyways? What was happening to him?

He tried to reach up and rub his eyes, but both the silver and the green figure reached out and grabbed his hands before he could touch his face.

“Nico,” Percy said again, and Nico could have sworn on the Styx it came from the green-blue figure. “How much do you remember?”

Nico raked his brain. “Tartarus,” he said. “Bob… Bob killed Hyperion… And we were attacked by a pack of hellhounds. The two last came at me… Pain. One of them bit my leg… and the other racked its claws across my face…”

Hesitantly, Nico reached up and touched his cheekbone. Pain flared up from the spot and Nico winced.

Annabeth began to talk again. “He hasn’t got any memory loss then,” she said. Her voice came out choked, like she was still fighting to hold back tears.

The green-blue figure nodded, and Percy said, “Are you in pain anywhere, Nico?”

Nico shook his head. “Not if I don’t touch it.” He paused. “Is it bad?”

He could feel them hesitate. “Uh,” Percy said. “It doesn’t look very good right now, and you probably will get scars, but I’ve seen worse, I guess…”

Nico looked around again. The two big figures, the bright silver and the red, were talking together, judging from their gestures.

“How is your vision?” Annabeth asked gently. The dark-silver reached up and pushed some hair away from his forehead.

“What do you mean?” Nico frowned, then realization hit him like a ton of bricks. “You mean, it isn’t really dark? I… I have…” His voice shook. “I have lost my sight?” he whispered.

He looked around on the shining figures. The green-blue must be Percy, and the dark-silver Annabeth. Bob had to be the big silver one…

Annabeth’s silver figure nodded, and she pressed a hand to her mouth. “Yes,” she whispered back. Percy laid a hand on her shoulder, their lights mixing a bit. Percy’s other hand came up and gently stroked Nico’s hair behind his ear.

Nico could feel panic rising in his chest, tightening his throat. His breath began to hitch. He couldn’t be blind, how was he supposed to see when a monster came at him then? How was he supposed to see Hazel’s smile, or… or Percy’s green eyes. How was he supposed to survive without his sight?

How was he supposed to live?

Percy took his hand and suddenly the panic disappeared. He had a rock. He still had Percy –… and his other friends.

Then a thought came to him.

“But…” Nico talked a bit louder, but still barely more than his whisper. “But where are all these… these lights?”

Percy and Annabeth fell silent. He could just imagine the frowns on their faces.

“What lights?” Percy asked a little confused.

Nico shrugged a bit helplessly. “It’s like… it’s like I can see light inside of you… like your soul.” An idea formed in Nico’s head. “I have always been able to feel life-forces, but now… It’s like light trapped in a body, and around your hearts…” Nico pointed at Percy’s heart, and both of them turned their heads to look at each other, then back at Nico. “I can see your soul.”

As the words left his mouth, he knew they were true.

Another thought popped into Nico’s head and made him frown, and look over at Bob and the red figure. “It’s Bob over there, right? Who’s he talking to?”

He saw Percy and Annabeth exchange another look.

“Damasen,” Annabeth answered wearily, “a good giant.”

Nico’s frown deepened, all thoughts of his new disability momentarily forgotten. “How long have I been out? You seem to have been on some of an adventure…”

Percy snorted. “Well, we’ve met the arai, the curses or whatever they called themselves–”

“I know them, I’ve met them a couple of times…” Nico interrupted. More bad memories.

“Okay… Uh, then we’ve wandered till it got darker, and then we walked sideways. I got poisoned, but I’m totally cured now, don’t worry. Uh… And Bob’s got a kitten.”

“Wait, what?!” Nico exclaimed and stared at Percy’s head for a moment, then searched the room for a kitten. Finally, he saw a tiny golden spot on the shoulder of Bob’s silver figure, and concluded that had to be the cat. “Where did he find a cat down here?”

“Actually, it kinda found us…” Percy said. “I’ll tell you later, we need to get some food in you.”

Nico frowned as he climbed to the edge of the bed, stood up – and immediately tripped over something. “ARGH!”

“Whoa!” Percy exclaimed and caught Nico just before his face collided with the floor. “Are you alright?”

Nico scowled in his direction. “That’s meant as a joke, right?”

“Uh, right. Yes. Sorry,” he stammered and helped Nico to his feet, though he didn’t let go again. “Come on.”

Nico was about to protest, but swallowed it down. He hated relying on others. He hated it. If he only relied on himself, he wouldn’t be disappointed if something went wrong, because it would be his own fault – a burden he could carry on his own shoulders. Relying on others meant the possibility of disappointment and grudges.

Though without his sight, Nico couldn’t even get out of bed without getting himself hurt. See, that was just sad.

Nico shook his head, disgusted with his own self-pity. Others were living worse lives.

“Nico?” Percy asked, “Is this… uh, is this alright?”

Nico felt a strong arm around his waist. It took all his willpower to stop the blood to gush up in his cheeks. He nodded vaguely, and Percy took his arm and placed it over his shoulder. Nico could even feel the muscles there. Fuck.

Nico looked around to distract himself. Bob hadn’t yet seen that he was awake, but the red figure – the friendly giant Damasen – looked up as they approached. Nico could feel heat on his skin, as if there was a fire in front of him. Or maybe it was just himself. His cheeks definitely felt like they were burning – and not because of the wounds.

Looking down and closing his eyes, he took a deep breath. His head was spinning. Then he realized that he didn’t need to have his eyes open to see the shiny figures. And then he realized that he didn’t actually see them, more like… felt them. Quite like when he had his vision, when he could sense people’s life forces, but not completely. Geez, Nico couldn’t even explain it to himself.

“I think I need to sit down.” He hadn’t meant to whisper, but he wasn’t able to raise his voice.

“Of course, of course,” Percy said beside him. “Here you go.”

He slowly eased Nico down on what Nico hoped just was a thick carpet. Bob came over, holding something in his hands. “Little Darkie needs to eat.”

The Titan held out something, but since it obviously didn’t have a life force, Nico couldn’t know what it was. He held out his hands in an attempt to grasp it, but after a moment, Percy said, “Here, let me.”

He took the thing out of Bob’s hands and turned to Nico. “Open up.”

Nico stared at his green-blue glittering head. “No way I'm letting you feed me. Just give it to here.” Nico reached out and tried to grasp it again but without luck.

Percy’s voice sounded worried when he talked again. “Nico, seriously. I don’t want you to spill stew out over yourself.”

Nico wanted to argue, because if he couldn’t even eat by himself, then how was he supposed to survive? They were in Tartarus, for the gods’ sake! Even they feared this place!

But as he opened his mouth to say these things, Percy shoved a spoon inside, emptied it, withdrew, and slapped a hand across Nico’s mouth so he had no other choice than to swallow the stew. It actually tasted quite good – not that Nico would admit that right now.

“What the he–” Nico began to say, but Percy stopped another spoonful of food inside, effectively shutting him up.

Nico swallowed and scrambled backwards out of Percy’s reach. “Stop it, Percy!”

“But you need to eat!” came the answer, and Nico could feel Percy moving after him.

“Percy,” Annabeth said, “let the poor boy be!” Nico appreciated her words, even though he could hear the playful tone in her voice.

“Yes please! I’m not five! Now give me my food!” Though that statement he ruined a bit by pouting and making grabby hands for his food.

Percy giggled at him. “Fine! But I won’t help you if you spill.”

He came nearer and placed something in Nico’s outstretched hands. He assumed it was a very misshapen bowl. Nico shifted it over in one hand and searched for a spoon. Percy made a mournful sound and placed something in Nico’s free hand. The spoon.

“Thanks,” Nico said, scowling in his direction, and tried to stick the spoon down in the bowl. It was a lot harder than he had first assumed. Cursing under his breath, he finally got some stew on it and then tried to get it into his mouth. After a moment – hitting his chin and cheeks several times – he finally got the spoon into his mouth, only to find it empty.

“Nico…” Percy said, but Nico violently shook his head and tried again, suppressing his tears. Why couldn’t he even eat? How was he supposed to live like this?

Chapter Text

Nico dug the spoon back into the stew and began again to try and get something up on it. Feeling the spoon getting a bit heavier, he slowly lifted it to his mouth again, getting about a milliliter of soup inside. Well, an improvement at least, though Nico could still feel the tears threatening to burst out.

Nico tried to fill his spoon again.

“Funny creatures, humans are,” said someone in such a deep rumble, Nico almost dropped the bowl. “So persistent in not getting help from others, though having no problem in the reverse situation.”

Nico looked up. He was sure it was the red figure, Damasen, who had spoken. Then he realized what the giant had said, and he could feel a blush creeping up in his cheeks. Beside him, Percy shifted uncomfortable.

“So,” the giant continued, seeing that Nico didn’t try to eat more. “What is your story, dark one?”

Without thinking, Nico burst out, “Why does everyone call me something like that? Dark one, darkie, ghost boy–”

Damasen, though, didn’t seem to mind. “You wear the darkness as a cloak. Though if it is to hide yourself from friends or foes, I can't say.”

Nico couldn’t believe it. A giant who he had never spoken to before now had seen right through him. “I…”

“But I actually wasn’t referring to that. You have many dark emotions around you – sorrow, guilt. Hatred. Fear. You must have had a hard past. I can relate to that. So tell me, what is your story?”

Nico bit his lip. “I… uh, I don’t like talking about it.”

Percy shifted again, and Annabeth laid a hand on his shoulder. “Nico? It’s okay, you have us. Understand? We are in this together.”

He stared wide-eyed at her glowing face. He realized that there was a string of red and blue intertwined with all the silver, mingling and writhing in her head. He also realized there was some near the two other colors that were more grey than silver, something more lifeless.

He realized he hadn’t said anything before Annabeth moved a bit, like she was uncomfortable with him staring. “Nico?”

Then she seemed to realize that he was staring at her, because she asked, “What do you see?” in a low, urgent voice, like she wanted to understand how his new ‘vision’ worked.

Nico frowned and studied the colors. A yellow was now flaring up, outshining the red and blue almost completely. “I don’t know. But I think it is your… No. No, it can't be.”

He tried to shake it off and peel his eyes away from the colors in Annabeth’s head, but he couldn’t. The yellow dampened as the words left his mouth, which made him frown. Could it really be that? Was he really able to see through others like that?

“Please? I promise I wont laugh,” Annabeth begged and grabbed his shoulders. A soft pink bond was twirling forward now.

Nico nodded. “I think… I think I can see your emotions.”

A mixture of orange, violet, yellow, and grey shot forward in her mind, twirling rapidly around each other.

“How?” Annabeth insisted. “What does it look like?”

“Annabeth,” Percy warned, but was cut off when Annabeth demanded that he got over here too, which Percy applied without hesitating. Nico didn’t know if it was out of loyalty or fear. Could be both, with the tone Annabeth used.

“Can you see the same with Percy?” she wanted to know.

Nico frowned at her. “One question at a time, please?” he said and crossed his arms across his too skinny chest.

“Yes, yes,” Annabeth waved a glowing hand impatiently at him. “Read Percy first!”

Damn. “Uh…” Slowly, Nico looked at Percy’s head and could feel those beautiful eyes on him, comforting him. “It’s like colors, swirling around in your heads. Percy’s are red, green, soft pink, orange, grey, and black at the moment.” He turned to Annabeth. “But I don’t know what it means. Right now, yours are orange, yellow, and violet, though other… nuances than the ones in Percy’s head…”

Nico trailed off, unsure of what to say next. Luckily, it wasn’t Annabeth who said anything, but the giant Damasen.

“You, little friend, shouldn’t be related to Aphrodite, huh?”

Percy burst out laughing despite their situation, and Nico scowled at him, though he answered the giant as kindly as possible. “No, actually I'm a son of Hades, not Lady Aphrodite.”

Damasen nodded. “That makes sense too. Your father has very powerful emotions too. I think I'm right when I say your powers get affected by your emotions?”

Nico nodded, admittedly a bit hesitant.

“Yes, it is one of the reasons especially children of Hades are really powerful. The children of Poseidon and Zeus can have their powers affected by their emotions, but not as clearly as Hades’. And for the reason you say you can see their life forces – that is pretty obvious.”

Again, Nico nodded. “How come it that you know so much about this?”

Damasen laughed a bitter laugh. “Oh, I’ve treated many wounds down here, though not of demigods obviously. But I know a great deal about the Underworld from the few visitors I get.”

In that moment, the small golden figure on Bob’s shoulder decided to jump down in Nico’s lab and began to purr loudly. Like, Nico felt like he was vibrating himself.

“What is this?” Nico asked, a bit panicked, and reached down to feel the vibrating thing on his legs.

“Remember when I said that Bob had gotten a kitten?” Percy said. “Well, that’s it. Say hi to Small Bob.”

“Small Bob?” Nico asked, his short pang of panic changing to amusement as he scratched the kitten under its chin. If possible, it began purring even louder.

“Yes!” Bob said excitedly. “Bob has found Small Bob!”

“Okay…” Nico said, even though he was pretty confused. Then he turned his attention to the giant. “But Damasen… I’ve never heard of you before, and–”

“That’s saying something,” Percy ended his sentence. Nico rolled his eyes.

“The point is, I would like to know who you are.” Nico tried with a small smile. “You don’t seem like your brothers.”

The giant chuckled darkly again. “No, I’m not very much like the others. That’s the reason I’m here in the first place. You know how we giants were born to oppose one of each of the Olympian gods?”

Nico nodded.

“I was Ares’ opposite. I didn’t want to fight the gods. It wasn’t in my nature, you see, since I am the opposite of the god of war, I am peaceful – for a giant at least. My mother and father did not like that. I lived in the land of Macedonia, what you now call Turkey, where I tended my sheep and collected my herbs. I liked it. I was happy, I didn’t feel the need to fight the gods. So, of course, my parents cursed me. They sent the Macedonian drakon at the village I lived near, where the monster killed a shepherd I called friend. I hunted down the creature and slew it like you saw me slay the drakon earlier–”

“Wait up,” Nico said, looking over at Percy and Annabeth, who had huddled together under the storytelling. “There have been a drakon? And you didn’t tell me?”

Percy shrugged. “Damasen killed it in two minutes. We didn’t even need to dodge it.”

Nico frowned at him, but signaled for Damasen to continue. “Well, because I killed the drakon, the only killing I’d done, my mother banned me from the Earth, and I got stuck here in the belly of my father for eternity, doomed to kill the Macedonian drakon every day.”

“So, because you killed for the first time – something your parents had wanted you to do from birth – you were exiled to this hole to kill the same monster again and again?” Annabeth asked. “Somehow I’m not so angry with my parents now.”

“Your father is a nice guy,” Percy protested, and Nico knew that Annabeth was rolling her eyes.

“But Damasen,” Nico said, feeling the sadness roll of the giant. “Can’t you break the curse? I mean, couldn’t you leave through the Doors of Death together with the rest of the monsters down here?”

“Break the curse?” Damasen asked, though Nico couldn’t guess what he was thinking. “Why haven’t I thought of that before? Oh yes, I have!” The giant slammed his fist down in the ground and Nico flinched. “I can’t! I’ve tried to many times to count.” His voice broke. “It’s impossible. I’ve tried walking in every direction. I cannot leave my swamp, I know nothing about anything outside. I always end up here. No, little demigod. I can’t leave.”

“But–” Annabeth said, but Damasen held up a hand to silence her.

“No. You need to rest.”

“But we could need your help to get to the Doors!” Annabeth tried desperately.

The giant seemed to consider something. “How are you planning to do that, half-blood? The Doors are heavily guarded – not counting the monster army, who is waiting to get through. You will be dead before you even realize how hopeless it is to fight your way through.”

It was Percy who answered. “Bob told us that we would be able to hide if we used Death Mist.”

Damasen turned to said Titan, who shifted uncomfortably. “You will lead them to Akhlys?”

Bob nodded. “The only way.”

“You will die painfully,” Damasen said flatly. “In the darkness. Akhlys trusts and helps no one.”

“Do you have a better idea, then?” Nico asked, maybe a little hopeful. He wasn’t very fond of the idea of visiting Misery again either.

He could almost feel the giant frown in irritation. “No. Akhlys is the best way, not that it matters. You will die anyway.”

Percy snorted. “And I thought Nico was pessimistic.”

Nico hit him hard in the shoulder.

“Okay, okay!” Percy exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder. “Just joking! Jeez. Well, good to see you still can throw a good punch.”

“You should get some sleep,” Damasen said again. “I will prepare some supplies for you.”

Annabeth seemed to want to protest, but Percy nudged her and shook his head. Then they both turned to Nico, helped him up and over to the bed.

Nico guessed the bed was quite big, since the both of them climbed in after him and was still lying at least twenty inches away from him. Nico rolled over facing where he was quite sure there was a wall, his back to the others, and fell into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Percy POV

Percy woke up feeling warm and comfortable, though something was tickling his nose. It felt like hair. Probably Annabeth's. He could also feel a body close to him, a back against his chest.

Slowly, he opened his eyes a little, but instead of the blonde hair he expected too see, he found his nose deep in a mop of black curls.

I guess that explains the earthen smell, Percy thought sleepily, burrowing his nose deeper and taking a deep inhale. Nico smelled like earth and smoke, like a bonfire in the forest. Like good memories, Percy wondered.

Then he realized he was practically cuddling the younger boy, his arms around his waist, his legs tangled up with Nico's. Well, that was unexpected. And nice. Yup, Percy could definitely get used to this.

Nico moved a bit, cuddling closer to Percy. He muttered a bit and turned around, his face now buried at the crook of Percy's neck. Percy smiled fondly down at the boy.

"You awake, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth's voice came from behind him, the bed dipping down under her weight.

"Yeah," he whispered, not wanting to wake Nico up.

"Is Nico?"

Percy wanted to snort. "You think? Really? He wouldn't be cuddling up to me if he were..." He could hear the sad tone in his own voice.

Annabeth leaned over him and pecked his forehead. "Don't worry, I think he likes you just fine."

"Really?" Percy asked skeptically. "He doesn't act like he does. Actually, I got the idea that he hates me. You know, after... after Bianca and all..."

"Oh, Percy," Annabeth said and began to cart a hand through his hair. "I'm sure Nico doesn't hate you. I just think he... uh... I think he hates himself. Blames himself for her death."

Percy frowned up at her, though he still had his nose near enough to catch Nico's smell. "Why would he blame himself for that? He wasn't even there."

"Percy, I think that's just the point. He wasn't there to protect her. Haven't you seen the way he always wants to prove himself? That he can protect himself, that he doesn't need anyone? I think, he feels that if he does everything on his own, no one can get hurt on his account." She paused and looked fondly down at him. "Like someone else I know."

Percy looked down at the sleeping boy in his arms. When he thought about it, it made sense. Of course, it was Annabeth. She always made sense. Well, if she explained it slowly to him, she would. Sometimes she could just go on and on about something where he only understood a third of it at most.

Behind them, Percy could hear Damasen and Bob scramble around. They were talking in low voices, so Percy couldn't hear what they were saying.

"We'll have to go soon. We need to wake up Nico," Annabeth said and reached over Percy to stroke Nico's cheek. "Nico?" she asked softly.

Percy moved a bit, shifting his arms so he had his hands on Nico's ribs. "You think he will wake up if I tickle him?" he asked Annabeth, who nodded with a smile. And Percy began tickling him.

At first nothing happened, then Nico flew up and away, sitting flat against the wall, panting, a wild expression on his face.

"Never. Ever. Do. That. Again. If you have your life dear," he said, his dark, now-ruined eyes boring into Percy.

Percy held up his hands in surrender, though he still had a smile on his face. "Sorry, sorry! Won't happen again!"

Nico huffed annoyed and looked around. Seriously, Percy couldn't help but wince at the scars down Nico's eyes. Four parallel lines ran across his face, an empty yet alive look in the brown, broken irises. The black fog that seemed to fill his pupils, making the line between pupil and iris blurred, and making Nico’s eyes even darker than before. He could still recall all the blood that had flooded from Nico's face. Bob had been able to stop the blood, but the damage on Nico's eyes was done.

"You're staring," Nico said. "Why are you staring at me?"

Percy blushed. "Sorry. Lost in thought."

Nico rolled his eyes, then got a pained look on his face.

"What is it?" Percy asked admittedly a bit panicked. "Are you in pain? Should I get—

"Just bad dreams. I'm okay, for now..." Nico answered, waving a hand as if to brush off any more questions. "Uh, can you... can you help me out of the bed?"

Percy had never heard Nico sound like that, and hurried over to him. "Of course! Of course I can!"

He guided Nico to the edge of the gigantic bed and down on the floor.

“Ah, good. You’re awake,” Damasen said and handed them both a drakon-skin satchel. Looking over at Annabeth, Percy saw that she wore one matching.

“Thank you, Damasen. Are you sure you don’t want to join us?” Percy asked as he helped Nico get the satchel on right. Nico didn’t say anything, just had his head lowered towards the ground, keeping his eyes downcast.

“Thank you, brave one, but I can’t. If I go with you, you will never leave this swamp either.” The giant chuckled to himself. “It is hard to believe I even considered helping a couple of demigods.” Percy got the feeling that Damasen was talking more to himself than them. “We are supposed to be foes, the monsters versus the gods and their children. Aren’t that what you call us?”

The giant looked up – or down – at Percy, as if expecting him to deny. Percy winced. “If we should sum up everyone, then yeah, it would be monsters. Though if you ask what we define as a monster, it would be something like: A Greek creature trying to kill me, and who I can’t kill and keep dead.”

Beside him, Nico choked on seemingly nothing. “Percy, that is the worst explanation ever. …Though it might be the most accurate too.” He frowned to himself, then seemed to remember something sad, because his face fell, and he cast his eyes downward again.

“Wait,” Annabeth said, looking at Damasen. “The Prophecy of Seven.”

Percy frowned at his girlfriend. “Yeah?”

Annabeth didn’t even glance at him. She walked up at grabbed Damasen’s hand, shocking the big guy. “You have to come with us!” Her tone was desperate. “‘Foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. That’s what the last line in the prophecy – foes! Not as in Romans and Greeks as I thought, no. It means us. Demigods, a Titan, a giant, all united and fighting together! We need you to close the doors of Death!”

Outside the hut, the Macedonian drakon roared in the distance. Damasen was looking down at Annabeth with sad eyes, then shook his head and took his hand out of Annabeth’s.

“No, daughter of wisdom.” The giant looked so sad that it almost hurt Percy physically. “My curse is here. I cannot escape.”

“Yes, you can! Find another fate! You could refuse to go out there and kill the drakon, come with us instead. Break the cycle!”

Damasen shook his head again. “Child, there is no other fate for me. Even if I could leave the drakon live, I cannot leave this swamp. I cannot picture another destination–”

“Yes you can!” Annabeth insisted. “Look at me! Remember my face. When you’re ready, come find me.” She lowered her voice to barely a whisper. “Please, Damasen. We need you. We will take you with to the mortal world, to see the sun and stars. The moon.”

The giant seemed to be about to answer when the ground shook, and a voice Percy only had heard twice, though he still loathed it, yelled, “THE SEAGOD’S SPAWN. THEY ARE CLOSE! I CAN SMELL HIM!”

Percy grabbed Annabeth’s arm. “We need to leave before Polybotes and the others arrive.”

She nodded, then turned to the giant, opening her mouth to say something, but Damasen came first. “One last gift for the brave child of Athena. I cannot go with you, but I can at least make sure you wont go down without fighting.”

He held out what in the giant’s enormous hand looked like a toothpick, but when Annabeth took it, Percy realized it was a sword made of drakon bone.

“Now go!” The giant said before Annabeth could say anything again, and ushered them towards the door. “Before it is too late.”

Percy nodded and grabbed Nico’s arm. “Let me help you. Please.”

He knew how much Nico loathed being helped, but to his surprise, Nico didn’t even hesitate before nodding. “Just do whatever.”

Percy stared a bit surprised, but shook himself out of it as Bob said, “We really need to leave now.” He had Small Bob on his shoulder, and Annabeth walked out of the entrance without a word or a glance back.

Damasen looked sad, but Percy sent him a grateful smile. Then he turned to Nico. “Would it be all right with… uh–”

“Yes,” Nico said, holding out his arms. “Percy. Just do whatever. We need to get away.”

Percy nodded, though still unsure. “Can you– uhm…”

“Percy!” Nico said sharply. “Come on!”

Blinking in surprise, Percy barely registered what he was doing before he felt Nico’s weight on his back, his thin arms around his neck, and he was rising again.

“Now go!” Nico’s voice sounded in his ear.

And Percy ran out of the cozy drakon bone hut and into the darkness after Bob and Annabeth.

Nico was too light for Percy’s liking. They had been walking for hours, but he barely noticed the extra weight. The boy was so silent, once Percy actually forgot he was there until Nico had said, “We are getting closer. Do you feel the misery?”

He had jumped a little, not going unnoticed by Nico, who chuckled darkly and laid his chin on his arm.

When the words Nico had said sank in, Percy wasn’t sure if Nico had joking or not, but he could feel it. The misery was all around them, whispering in Percy’s ears, weighing down on him in another way than Nico on his back. But somehow, they didn’t really affect him. He just focused on the sound of Nico’s breathing, his heartbeat against his back.

Annabeth on the other hand seemed to be on the wedge of breaking down. She kept wiping tears away, looking the other way so Percy couldn’t see her.

After another glance over at him, Percy couldn’t take it anymore and reached out to take her hand in his. He gave her a small smile, which she returned with a quiver of her lips.

“This is messed up, huh?” Percy said. “Next time, I’ll take you somewhere else. What do you say about Milano? Or Nice? There should be nice in Nice, right?”

Annabeth gave him a weak smile. “Or New Rome?”

“Really?” Percy actually felt a gist of happiness spread in his chest.

He was about to say something else, but on his back, Nico tensed. “We’re here.”

Okay, how bad was Percy to forget about him? Guilt filled his chest, overruling the happiness he’d felt before.

“Percy, can you set me down? We are at her clearing in seconds.”

Percy bent down a little to set Nico down, though he grabbed his hand tightly, so he wouldn’t get lost. Nico looked up at him, surprise in his eyes, but didn’t try to get away.

Then Percy grabbed Annabeth’s hand again with his free one, and together they followed Bob the last way. The darkness dispersed with a huge sigh, like the last breath of a dying god. In front of them was a clearing – not exactly with light, but the darkness wasn’t quite as intense here.

A wailing filled his ears. Twenty yards away, a woman was kneeling on the ground, a shield in her lab, and she was probably the most disgusting woman Percy’d ever seen, though he couldn’t concentrate over the sobs of shattered hopes filling the air.

“We have arrived. Akhlys can help,” Bob announced and trudged forward.

Nico followed the Titan, and not wanting to let go of his hand, Percy followed. In the back of his mind, Percy wondered just how Bob thought this sobbing ghoul would help them.

Of one another reason, Bob wanted to get the gruesome ghoul’s attention, yelling “Akhlys!” at her.

Akhlys raised her head and all thoughts of anything else than how disgusting she looked, disappeared from Percy’s mind.

If Percy had found her gruesome with her head bent and hidden behind her hands, her leathery green skin stretching tightly over her bones, her knees and elbows knobby and swollen, her toe- and fingernails flossed and flecked with blood, he couldn’t describe just how much he wanted to throw up at the sight of her face.

Snot was running like a waterfall from her nostrils, her eyes were sunken and swollen, pouring tears out in tracks down her hollow cheeks, which were raked and caked in blood as if she’d been clawing herself. Her stringy grey hair was mattered and filled with dirt, clinging together from her scull in greasy tufts.

Percy wanted to claw his own eyes out just by looking at her. In a short second, Percy envied Nico for not having his sight, then instantly felt guilty about it.

Beside him, Annabeth was too trying not to retch, turning her attention to something else.

“That shield,” she murmured. “I’ve seen it before… It’s his. I thought it was just a story…”

“Oh, no,” Akhlys said – or more like wailed – “The shield of Hercules. He painted me on its surface so the last thing his enemies would see before he killed them was me, Misery.” She coughed hard, more snot flowing from her nose. “Like he’d ever known true misery. That brat! Not even close.”

The goddess turned her horrible eyes to them. “So, who have come to me?” Her eyes landed at Percy’s side – at Nico, and a wicked grin spread across her face. “Ah, I remember you, son of Hades. So much misery… And you’ve collected more since our last meeting. How–”

“Akhlys.” Annabeth sounded harsh, turning the ghoul’s attention to her. “Leave. Him. Alone.”

Nico shifted uncomfortably beside Percy, who tightened his grip in the younger boy’s hand.

“Bob,” Percy said, “we shouldn’t have come here.”

“But…” Bob said, clearly uncomfortable too. “Akhlys controls the Death Mist. She can hide you.”

“Hide them?” The old hag made a chocked sound in the back of her throat. Percy half hoped she was going to choke on her own snot, but he wasn’t lucky. “Why would I do that?”

“They need to reach the Doors of Death,” Bob explained, twisting his big hands. “To return to the mortal world.”

“No!” Akhlys almost screamed. “That’s impossible! The armies of Tartarus will find you and kill you. I will not help.”

Percy just wanted to get out of there, but Annabeth had other plans. She drew her drakon bone sword and began to inspect it casually. “So, your Death Mist is useless then,” she said, flicking the edge of the blade with a finger.

He had to admit, Annabeth looked intimidating and hot like that, standing confidently with her sword in hand, kind of like a Barbarian Princess or something.

The goddess barred her broken, yellow teeth at her and sneered. “Useless? Who are you, coming here and calling me useless?!”

“A daughter of Athena,” Annabeth said, glancing down as if inspecting her fingernails. “I did not walk halfway across Tartarus just to be told it’s impossible by some minor goddess.”

All around them, the fog began to quiver, the dust rising up from the ground. Akhlys’ voice was barely a whisper, a low threatening sound. “Minor goddess?” she repeated. “I was old before the Titans were born, I was old before Gaea first woke, you ignorant menace! Misery is eternal! Misery is existence! I was born of Chaos and Night. I was–”

“I get it,” Annabeth interrupted in a bored voice. “Yeah, you are an old hag, great. But even though you are so old, you are still useless if you can't even hide three demigods in your precious Death Mist.”

“Uh,” Percy said nervously, his eyes flicking between his girlfriend and the wailing goddess. “Annabeth–”

She sent him a glance that clearly showed how terrified she actually was, and then a follow-my-lead-instead-of-screwing-it-all-up look. He realized she hadn’t much of a choice.

“Oh, yeah, Annabeth’s right!” he said, hoping not to sound too fake. “Bob believed you would be able to do this simple task, but I guess we just have to find another way. You can’t help us, even if you would. You are obviously too preoccupied in wailing.”

The ghoul glared at Bob, who shifted nervously. “Why did you send these annoying children to me?” Her glance fell back on Nico. “Well, the scrawny one I like, but the two others–”

Bob tried to come up with an answer, but he was struggling. “I thought–”

“Death Mist isn’t for helping!” The goddess shrieked. “It is the veil people who are on their way to the Underworld is shrouded in! Not some tool for you to use for entertainment! It is pain and terror and–”

“Great!” Percy exclaimed. “We’ll take three of those.”

Akhlys hissed. “You know what else I’m goddess for, other than misery? A million other ways to die less painful than by the Death Mist. I’m the goddess of poisons, fool.”

All around her, sickly-colored flowers blossomed up, and the air was filled with a bittersweet smell. Percy’s head immediately began to swim.

“Nightshade,” Akhlys said, sounding a bit delighted. “Hemlock. Belladonna, henbane, or strychnine. I can dissolve your insides, boil your blood.”

“That’s very nice of you,” Percy said, trying to clear his head. “But I’ve had enough poison for one trip. The arai came first; sorry. So, could you just give us some Death Mist?”

“Yeah, come on, Akhlys. It’ll be fun!” Annabeth interjected.

The ghoul narrowed her eyes. “Fun?”

“Sure,” Annabeth shrugged, shifting her sword to her other hand, drawing attention to that again. “If we fail, think of how great it would feel to be able to say ‘I told you so’ for the rest of eternity? And if we don’t, then the monsters at the Doors have suffered a great deal.”

The goddess thought about that. “I guess I do enjoy suffering. Fine, I will shroud you in my Death Mist. Follow.”

Akhlys struggled to her feet, the shield of Hercules rolling away into a patch of poisonous flowers. Percy exchanged a look with Annabeth, then looked down at Nico.

He was still holding his hand, but Nico hadn’t said a word since they arrived. He was pale – even more than usual – and he had a haunted look in his eyes.

“Are you okay? You’ve met this creature before?” Percy asked quietly as they trudged forward after Misery.

Nico nodded and closed his eyes, a small sarcastic smile on his face. “Yeah, once in person, though Misery loves me. She’s almost constantly with me, wherever I go. She’s going to betray us in a moment.”

Percy gave a bitter chuckle. “I figured that much.”

“Good. Then you aren’t completely oblivious,” Nico said, reopening his eyes, but looking forward. Percy was about to ask what he meant, but Nico pointed ahead.

Percy followed his finger and saw that they’d reached a cliff. Akhlys was waiting for them at the edge, grinning, snot still running from her nose. Percy had a bad feeling about this. Duh.

“I can feel the cliff, so don’t worry about me falling over,” Nico muttered, then stepped forward. “Akhlys, shroud us in the Death Mist or you will pay.”

As soon as the words left Nico’s mouth, his whole body changed before Percy’s eyes. Nico’s skin became grayish, stretching across his high cheekbones. His hair fell limp and dry down across his eyes, which lost the last glow they had in them.

Shortly said, Nico look more like a corpse than ever, and that’s saying something.

Percy wasn’t sure what to do, so he turned to Annabeth as always – and yelped.

Annabeth too was looking like a corpse, her beautiful grey eyes dead. She turned her head to look at him, terror showing in her eyes.

Looking down at himself, Percy only saw white vapor where his body should have been. When he moved his arm, it blurred even more, then the mist collected a bit again. Percy felt like he was made of Candy Floss and helium, that’s how good he could move.

“Uh…” He flexed his fingers in front of him, the vapor struggling to keep up. He looked over at Annabeth again. “Well, I guess the name makes sense…”

Nico made a sound in the back of his throat, and Akhlys cackled. “Ah, yes indeed, foolish demigod. You are now shrouded in my Death Mist. So, how does it feel to die?”

“Percy,” Nico warned, before Percy even could open his mouth to retort. “Akhlys, will this shroud us completely from the monsters guarding the Doors of Death?”

“Yes, but you don’t have to worry about that!” Akhlys said cheerfully. “You will die before you even reach them! I will sacrifice you to my mother, Night!”

“We had a deal, Akhlys!” Percy said, grabbing for Riptide, but his movement were ever so slow. “This is a trap.”

Akhlys tilted her head in wonder, her disgusting eyes searching his face. “But, you must have believed I would betray you.”

“Yes,” all three demigods answered automatically, and the answer seemed to amuse Misery.

“But then it’s hardly a trap!” Akhlys grinned. “Well, who wants to die first? What about you?” She pointed her gruesome, clawed finger at Percy. “Then our little Nico can get as miserable as possible when he dies! Oh, I like that idea. That’s settled, then. You, son of Poseidon, will be the first to die!”

Chapter Text

If Percy had been in his normal, solid state, he could easily have dodged the old goddess and shredded her to pieces with Riptide, but, as it was, Percy and his trusted sword was made of smoke. Percy’s mind was set on slug speed. He had barely comprehended what Akhlys had said when he felt her talons raking across his chest.

“No!” Percy heard Nico yell, and Akhlys wailed.

He scrambled backwards in slow motion, just in time to see Annabeth charging at Akhlys, dodging and striking at the goddess. How she could move that fast, Percy had no clue, – maybe they had classes back at camp, Percy’d never known about, like How-To-Fight-While-Partly-Made-Of-Smoke? – though it was nothing compared to Nico.

The son of Hades had his sword out, which had somehow not turned to smoke, and was locked in combat with Akhlys’s talons. He was moving even faster and swifter than normally, which Percy guessed made sense, with his control-over-the-dead powers and all.

Percy tried to collect his misty form together so he could help, but he really was bad at it, and for now, Annabeth and Nico seemed to be winning. Akhlys had a cut in her thigh, two on her right arm, and one across her stomach, her tattered dress even more ripped than before.

Annabeth had just ducked Misery’s talons when the goddess feinted and got Nico across the chest. He stumbled back, nearing the cliff, clutching his chest. Annabeth saw and tried to help him away from the edge, but Akhlys had anticipated that, and hit her square in the chest, sending her to the ground.

The goddess bowed over her and hissed in her ear. “So, you can fight, alright. But you are going to die.”

Percy had only a second to think as Akhlys raised her talons to strike, and he yelled the first thing that came to his mind: “Yo, Cheerful! Over here!”

The goddess froze, then turned to stare at him. “What did you just call me?”

“Miss Happy! Cheerful! Lovely!” Percy yelled, waving his arms. He was gaining more control over his body, though he wouldn’t be able to fight Akhlys for long. “Come get me, you sweet lady!”

“ARHG!” Akhlys screamed and lunged for him. Percy raised Riptide, but it when right through her without doing any damage. Misery's talons racked him across his right biceps, but luckily, Annabeth had gotten to her feet, and was now yelling things like, “Adorable! Fluffy! Cute!” at the goddess, who tore into a blind rage.

“You will die a painful death!” she wailed and flung out her hand. The motion confused Percy, who stopped up to catch his breath. Then hundreds of flowers grew from the ground, the air turning sickly sweet with their poisonous fumes.

Akhlys turned her eyes to Percy. “You will die first,” she said, and the acrid fumes from the flowers began to surround him. His mind quickly became hazy, and his knees buckled under his weight.

Annabeth screamed his name. Nico too called on him, but Percy’s mind was too fuzzy, like a big wad of cotton. Or seaweed. Like Annabeth’s nickname for him. He liked seaweed. And the sea. Actually, he just liked water in general. The poison at his feet actually looked like green water, pooling around him.

Water. Could there be water in poison? Percy’s clouded mind wondered, just as Nico and Annabeth both screamed, “PERCY!” and his knees gave away. Maybe the united strength of their voices cleared a little bit of Percy’s mind, because he thought, If there’s water in poison, would I be able to control it? Of course, Poseidon was the god of sea, not all liquids ever to exist, but hey, if it worked, it worked, right?

So Percy concentrated with all his might on the fumes around him and thought, Go away! focusing like he did when he controlled the ocean. Later, Percy would tell you if he was surprised that it actually worked, because the poisons had already begun to kill him (even more).

But the fumes stopped coming toward him, stopped in midair like, Hey, the old lady says this way, and the dude says that way, what do we do?

Percy’s mind cleared, instead being overtaken by anger. How dare that old hag try to kill him and his friends?!

Then, suddenly, it felt like a glass ball broke inside him and the anger exploded. The only color Percy could see was red. I’m going to kill her with her own poisons.

Percy willed the poisons to move forward, to surround their creator, to kill. The fumes closed in, and Akhlys began to choke, the snot and tears falling even more rapidly than before. Oh great! Even more water! Percy thought, and willed it to choke the goddess too.

He could feel a creepy smile forming on his face, but he didn’t care. This hag needed to die, slowly, painfully. She had hurt his friends, tried to kill them. She deserved to die.

“Percy!”

Annabeth’s voice cut through the anger filling his head.

“Percy!” Nico was yelling too.

Why were they yelling? He had Akhlys right here, trapped, unable to hurt his beloved ones. Why did they keep yelling his name?

“Percy, stop!” Annabeth yelled, and Percy glanced confused at her. She was staring at him, tears in her eyes, and – was that fear? Was Annabeth afraid of him? She must know he never would hurt her, right?

“Percy,” she sobbed. “Let her go.”

Percy’s eyes found Nico’s. They were unreadable, though if it was his lack of vision that affected that, or just Nico himself, Percy didn’t know, and right now, he didn’t care. He had a goddess to kill. But Nico’s voice cut through the haze in his mind, a warm glow in the cold darkness of anger.

“Percy,” he said calmly, “stop it, and release Akhlys.”

And Percy stopped. He blinked, the crazed smile sliding off his face. The fumes slowly left the goddess, and the tears and snot began to run freely down her cheeks and chin. Akhlys had run away a second after.

Annabeth was sobbing. Nico looked calculating at him, like he was an undiscovered species of insect.

Slowly the anger faded away, leaving only numbness back.

Realization of what he had almost done dawned to him. Percy had almost choked a goddess to death with her own tears. And he didn’t even feel bad about it.

Tartarus really doesn’t have a great effect on me… Percy thought and grimaced.

He turned to his – friends? Did that even describe the way he felt about them? Annabeth was his girlfriend, but that didn’t seem fitting either. And Nico? Percy had no idea how he felt about the kid – who wasn’t much of a kid anymore, but whatever.

Annabeth was trying to pull herself together, Nico patting her back, though he was still looking at him. It was like there was a wall between them and Percy.

They stood like that in for a moment in silence, until Percy broke it by taking a step towards them, and Annabeth flinched back.

“Per– Percy…” She hesitated, then collected herself and took a step forward. “Please. Promise me never ever to do that again.” Her grey eyes seemed bigger than normal. “Some things are not meant to be controlled.”

Percy didn’t know what to do. Tears were still running silently down Annabeth’s gaunt face, blurring the grey of her irises.

“She’s right, Percy,” Nico said and stepped forward too, so he was standing right behind Annabeth. “Some things aren’t meant to be controlled. But you need to learn to control this new power.”

Annabeth turned around to stare at him, and Nico just shrugged. “I know how it feels.” He turned his gaze back to Percy. “How it feels to have powers that scare others. It’s not nice. Everyone backs away from you, even the people you had thought was your friends. Turn their backs to you. Percy needs to learn to control it.”

The two older demigods stared at him. Percy couldn’t believe how he’d missed that completely. Of course Nico was so silent, no one ever talked with him. Guilt filled Percy’s chest, replacing the numbness, and it was difficult to say which he disliked the most.

“But–” Annabeth began to protest, but Percy didn’t listen. He walked straight over to Nico and embraced him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Sorry,” he muttered in the younger boy’s ear. “I’m sorry.”

Nico was standing completely still, his arms at his sides.

“You know,” Percy said after a moment, “It’s going to be awkward if you don’t hug back soon.”

And slowly, ever so slowly, Nico’s arms snaked around Percy’s chest, his hands gripping the back of Percy’s shirt.

“Don’t apologize. Please,” Nico whispered and buried his face at the crook of Percy’s neck.

They stood like that for a moment, until Nico pulled back, his eyes watery, and whispered, “Your girlfriend.”

Percy turned and grabbed Annabeth’s hand, pulling her into his embrace too. At first she tried vaguely to get away, but soon she gave up, tears rolling down her cheeks, and leaned in to Percy’s chest. She held her arms out to Nico, who hesitated a moment, his broken eyes calculating, then stepped forward into her arms. Percy put his arms around the both of them, and for the first time since they had left Damasen’s cozy little hut, he actually felt warm and like everything would be all right.

And that was the moment a female voice broke the silence. “Who dares to interrupt me in my beauty sleep?!”

The three demigods startled away from each other and swirled towards the voice. At first, Percy couldn’t see anything but darkness. Then a pair of shining dark eyes appeared, anger flaring in them.

"Remember when Akhlys said she would sacrifice us to Night?" Annabeth whispered beside him, fear tinting her voice. "I think I now know what she meant."

"Ah, yes, Akhlys is one of my children," Night said. The darkness around her dispatched a little, revealing her face and body. She was wearing a black dress dotted with stars, standing in a pitch-black chariot made of the same metal as Nico's sword –Stygian Iron– pulled by two all-black horses, each with a pair of silver fangs that they barred at Percy. And just to be clear, those horses could really use some soap to wash their mouths.

Night herself was actually quite beautiful in that I'll-kill-you-if-you-mean-anything-else way, which Percy personally didn't like much. She had milky-pale skin, which made sense since Percy didn't think she sunbathed much. Her black hair flowed around her like as if she was underwater, even though her and her chariot were floating midair. A pair of void black wings beat from her back.

"So," Night said, picking up a whip made of stars that had been strapped to her chariot. "What do three demigods do down here in Tartarus?"

"Uh," Percy said, his sluggish mind struggling to come up with something useful. The horses saying things like, ---come on, take a short leap over here so we can eat you, tear your limps off one by one!--- didn't help on Percy's concentration either. "We, uh, we're on a, uh... Tour!"

Annabeth and Nico both whipped their heads around to stare at him.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered frantically. "What in Hades are you doing?!"

"Trying to survive!" Percy whispered back, then spoke up to Nyx. "We are taking the all Tartarus tour."

Night stared down at him. "What are you talking about, little demigod?"

Annabeth chimed in when Percy didn't answer. "A tour? You know, sightseeing?"

"I know what a tour is," Nyx hissed and cracked her whip. "I meant, what tour? I have never heard of a tour!"

"Oh," Annabeth said, "when I think about it, Night wasn't mentioned in the guidebook. That might be the reason why you didn't know; you aren't one of the attractions."

"What?! I'm not worthy of this sightseeing?" Night pointed at Annabeth with a long black-painted nail. "Who are the one deciding these attractions?"

"Uh..." Annabeth glanced up at Percy, who shrugged helplessly.

Luckily, Nico knew who to blame. "Oh, some of the Giants. I think it was the twins, Otis and Ephialtes. They always plan new things to earn money, right?"

Night huffed and crossed her long, slim arms. "Of course it's them. And they did not include me in their tour." She turned her gaze back to the demigods, the stars in them blazing. "But now you're here, what shall we do with you? Since I'm not important enough to be on this tour, I will kill you."

"Sorry," Annabeth said frowning, probably forgetting she was talking to a forty-foot tall goddess, "but the logic in that statement makes no sense."

The horses whinnied and snarled, reaching out for them. "No, Shade. Down, Shadow. Such fine prizes, I will kill myself!"

"Your horses really want the honor," Percy said on the same time as Annabeth said, "Oh no! You shouldn't kill yourself because of us!"

Night stared confused at her. "What? No, I meant I would kill you!"

"Oh, you don't need to do that either," Annabeth said and attempted a smile, though with her ghoulish face and the fear Percy clearly could see in her eyes, it didn't work very well. "Who should tell Otis and Ephialtes that you want to be a part of the Tartarus tour, then?"

Nyx blinked. "Well, I could send one of my children."

"But would they even get to get an audience with the twins? You know, they have much to do, and you need to have special contacts to even arrange a short meeting. You have no idea about how long time it took us to get tickets to this tour! We needed to-"

"Enough talking!" Nyx yelled and cracked her whip again. "You will go back to these idiots of giants and make them add me to this foolish tour, and then you will come back here so I can kill you!"

Annabeth glanced at Percy and Nico. The other boy was gazing calculating at the goddess, but seemed to feel Annabeth's gaze, because his eyes flickered to her face and gave a short nod.

"Okay, that's a deal," Annabeth hesitantly agreed.

Nyx gave a cruel smile. "Do you swear on the River Styx that you will come back as soon as you have made Ephialtes and Otis add me to the tour?"

Her eyes wide, Annabeth whipped her head around to look at the boys again. Again, Nico just nodded, but spoke up this time. "We swear on the River Styx, that when Otis and Ephialtes have added you to the tour, we will return to you."

Night held out her arms. "Then return to the two foolish Giants."

"We will need to pass through your Mansion," Nico said, crossing his arms across his chest.

Nyx narrowed her eyes. "Why would you want that?"

Since Nico had decided he had said enough, just staring at the goddess with his lips pressed tightly together, Annabeth answered. "Well, they are waiting for us at the end of the tour, right?"

"And where is that?" Nyx asked, her eyes still small slits.

"In the mortal world." Annabeth's eyes flickered to Percy and then back to Nyx. Percy got it, they should not tell too much to Night.

"And how," the goddess said, "do you plan to get there?"

"Oh," Nico answered, "you know. There's only one way, right?"

A cruel smile spread on Night's face. "Yes, through my home. But I don't just let anyone through. You will have to pass a test–”

Percy interrupted her by groaning loudly, which probably wasn’t a good idea, but since when was he the one to come up with the good ideas? “You know, I’m beginning to see why Otis and Ephialtes didn’t want you with on the tour. You are planning on killing us on the same time as you need our help. Seriously, that’s just double moralistic.”

“I…” Night hesitated, clearly confused by Percy’s words. “What?”

“Yeah, I mean, we can’t exactly say to the twins that you want to be a part of the tour if we’re dead. Even if we could, do you think that they would like an attraction who kills the costumers?”

Again, Nyx hesitated. “I guess not… Demigod, I will make you a deal. You can pass through my house, and if you survive, you will tell those scum of a pair to make me their main attraction.”

Percy glanced over at Annabeth, who got the message and stepped forward. “Nyx, we swear on the River Styx that when we meet Otis and Ephialtes again, we will take your case up with them and make you the main attraction in the Tartarus tour.”

Night seemed satisfied with this, and nodded her head shortly. “Okay then, you may try to pass through my house.”

The darkness around the goddess thickened until Percy could see absolute nothing but black, and when it cleared, she was gone.

Beside him, Annabeth breathed out, like she’d held her breath in a long time. “Gods, that was close.”

Nico chuckled a bitter laugh. “Right. Because that was the hard part.” He shook his head, one of his silken bangs falling down in his face. “No one knows what horrors there lay inside the Mansion of Night, because no one has seen them and survived. Even their souls have perished. So, yeah. Close.”

Frowning at the other boy, Percy said, “Really? That was called for. Thanks Mr. Brightside.”

“You’re welcome,” Nico said, as if not catching the sarcasm in Percy’s tone. “To survive, we will have to – or you will have to – go through the place with eyes closed.”

Percy nodded and looked over the edge of the cliff, down at the entrance to the mansion. “Okay. But, uh, how do we get there?”

Annabeth came up beside him to peer down too. There had to be at least three hundred feet down to the dark stone floor. If their even where able to hit the platform.

“Well, we will have to jump.” Annabeth backed a bit away, crossing her arms across her chest. Percy hated seeing her like this. It physically hurt him to look at her sunken cheeks, the dry, leathery skin stretched across her bones–

Percy turned to look down in the darkness. “Do you think we can survive that fall?”

“It’s worth the try,” Nico said, shrugging. “We will die for sure if we stay here.”

Rolling his eyes, turned toward the two others and held out his hands for them to take. “Well, if I have to turn into a pancake on the doorstep of Night, I will do it with two of my best friends.”

Annabeth shook her head, but had a small smile on her face as she took one of his hands in hers and called him a “Cheesy dork.” Nico was a bit more hesitant, seemed to be fighting with himself, but took Percy’s other hand no less, and nodded.

“Let’s do this,” he said.

Percy smiled to them. “Together on three.

One.

Two.

Three.”

Chapter Text

Nico’s POV

The darkness swirled by Nico, ripping in his hair and clothes. His left hand was clamped tightly in Percy’s grip.

This is it, Nico thought. This is how I’m going to die.

Time went by in slow motion. It felt like forever, just falling through the darkness, Percy’s warm hand comforting him. It definitely wasn’t the worst way to die – Nico’d talked to souls who died by suffocation, slowly burning up on a bonfire, or getting tickled to death. Literally.

At least this death would be quick. The ground in front of Nico neared, the whole place seemingly alive, emitting a dark aura. Soon he would be a demigod-pancake, splattered out on the doorstep of Night.

Nico’s eyes went to Percy’s face to get one last glance of him. The green-blue color of his soul was weak and pale because of the Death Mist, Percy’s emotions a swirling hurricane of colors in his head.

What Nico wouldn’t give to see his green eyes one last time.

Percy squeezed his hand about ten meters from the ground, making Nico’s heart make one final jump before– CRASH!

Pain exploded out in Nico’s body. His already hurt leg seared like he’d just dipped it in the Phlegethon. But he was alive. He’d survived the fall.

Relief overcame Nico, numbing a bit of the pain. He’d survived. He was okay. …Except that he was still stuck in Tartarus…

Beside him, Percy grunted and sat up, stretching his limbs, and muttering insults at stone and night. Annabeth was already on her feet, helping Percy get to his feet.

They had all three survived the fall. Nico relaxed his tense muscles for once. They were going to get through this.

When Percy was on his feet, both of them came over to help Nico get up too. But when Nico tried to take a step, his bad leg buckled and collapsed under him. He would have face planted the ground if Percy and Annabeth didn’t have that quick reactions.

“Whoa there,” Percy said and held Nico up by his elbows. “Are you hurt?”

“My leg,” Nico said, wincing. “I think the wound sprung up.”

Annabeth bend down to inspect it. “Do you think you would be able to walk with our help?” she asked anxiously.

Nico tried to put a little more weight on his leg, and let out a whimper.

“No you can’t,” Percy decided, and without further warning, he threw Nico up on his back, and began carrying him toward the big, black, Stygian iron doors that lead into the House of Night.

“Percy!” Nico protested weakly, though he didn’t dare move, afraid that Percy might drop him (again). “You can’t just carry me all the way through Nyx’ home!”

“I can and I will if necessary,” Percy answered stubbornly and kept walking. Annabeth came up beside them.

“Sorry, Nico, but we need to get going, and we don’t really have other opportunities,” she said, though he could hear the smile in her voice. Nico huffed in irritation and scowled at them both.

Percy chuckled. “How come it that you are cute, even when you’re angry and covered in Death Mist?”

“I am NOT cute,” Nico said with a pout that just turned Percy’s chuckle into a full-on laugh.

They reached the doors – or Nico guessed they did, because Percy stopped up. “So…” Percy said, all laughter gone from his voice, clearly feeling the darkness that the place emitted, too.

They were silent for a moment, waiting for something to happen. Nico was just about to suggest that they maybe should try to knock on the door, when a deep rumble echoed out in the chasm. The doors to the Mansion of Night were opening.

“Whatever you do,” Nico said, “keep your eyes shut at all times while we are inside. There are things in there that are not meant for mortal eyes.”

Both of his companions nodded, and Annabeth stepped forward, her head held high, and said, “Let’s do this,” and together the three of them when into the House of Night.

They started out running. Even with the extra weight Nico provided, Percy didn’t seem to have any trouble running, his breath even and his pace steady, even taking the lead, Annabeth running closely behind them. All around, Nico could feel monsters roaming, each one older and more powerful than the former.

A loud booming noise echoed between the walls, like a giant heartbeat. Og great, they were getting close, Nico thought bitterly.

After some time, Percy began to slow down. The rushing noise of running water almost drowned out Percy’s voice when he mumbled, “What is– ANNABETH!”

He lunged forward and grabbed Annabeth’s hand as she ran by, yanking her back. Nico winced as Percy tumbled forward with Annabeth’s momentum, but he stayed on his feet.

“That was close,” Nico said, his voice barely a whisper.

“Agreed.” Annabeth nodded, breathing heavily from their run.

“Too close,” Percy muttered as he set Nico back down on the ground. “That’s the Acheron you were about to dive in to.”

Nico’s mouth felt dry, like he’d just eaten a bucket of sand. ”How long across, Percy?”

“About twenty feet. No bridge as far as I can sense…”

Nico nodded, then remembered that the others still had their eyes closed, so he spoke up instead.

“Okay. Well, we can’t swim across. I think that maybe we could–”

Nico cut himself off. Pictures flashed across his retina. All the deaths Nico’d ever felt guilty about, deaths that he could have prevented, were flashing before him, each one becoming increasingly more painful. First, a face of a boy from Italy, a Jew taken away to a concentration camp, a boy Nico’d liked playing with. Then the boy’s face faded and was replaced by his mother, her smile to him strained. A girl who’d died in the Battle of Manhattan. Selena. She’d been nice to him when he’d been at camp. Other faces of demigods who died in the battle.

But the most painful came last. Bianca. She was smiling to him, though she had tears in her eyes. Nico saw how she ran up to the giant bronze automaton, sacrificing herself. Nico could have prevented that. He could have taken after them. He could have stopped her from joining the Hunters. He could have stopped her taking the quest. He could have done so much to prevent her death. But he did none. And she was dead. She’d died without even saying goodbye.

‘Yes, you could have prevented all these deaths, son of Hades,’ the river hissed in his head. ‘You are a murderer like the rest of us! You deserve this punishment! Join us–’

“Don’t listen to them.” Percy’s voice interrupted the river’s wailing.

“But–” Annabeth’s voice sounded strained and unsteady.

‘You thought he was comforting you? He doesn’t care about you. Join us. It only takes a few steps.’

“I know,” Percy said to Annabeth, his voice hard as ice. “They are saying the same things to me.”

How? Nico thought in the back of his mind, though he bare ly registered the thought through the haze of the river’s wails. How can the Acheron find any deaths that are Percy’s fault?

‘You are going to fail him and everyone else. You are going to have their deaths on your conscience too. Join us now. You will end up here sooner or later.’

Nico took a step toward the river. And another. Two steps more, and he would tumble down to the rest of the souls of ancient murderers. Souls of damnation like himself. Another step forward.

‘One step, son of Hades, one step more.’

A hand closed around Nico’s right biceps, pulling him backwards and away from the roaring river.

“And where do you think you are going?” Percy asked. “I meant it for you too. Don’t listen to them.”

Nico looked up at him. “Why?” He was surprised by how much pain his voice contained. “Why not?”

“Because we need you.” Percy paused, hesitating, then added in a whisper, “I need you.”

Nico didn’t know what to say. So, he said nothing.

Even the river seemed at loss of words. After a couple of moments in silence, Annabeth asked, “How do we get to the other side?”

”We’ll need to jump. I think–”

“Jump?!” Annabeth exclaimed, interrupting her boyfriend. “Percy, you said that there were twenty feet across!”

“Yeah,” Percy replied. “You’ll have to trust me.”

He moved over and picked Nico up again, Nico clinging to his back. “Annabeth, I need you to put your arms around my neck and hold on.”

“Percy,” Nico warned, “You can’t possibly–”

“I need to. And I will. Come on, Annabeth.”

Annabeth took a deep breath, then complied and put her arms around them both. “I really do hope you know what you are doing, Percy…”

“I don’t,” Percy said, and leaped off the ground.

Chapter Text

To Nico, it felt like they were flying trough the air for hours, though he knew it was only for seconds.

“It’s safe to open your eyes now, but you wont like what you see…” Percy said and helped Nico down from his back.

Beside them, Annabeth gasped. “It looks like–” She swallowed audibly. “It looks like a giant heart.”

A bitter smile formed on Nico’s face. “Ding, ding! You answered the million-dollar-question correctly. Percy, Annabeth, welcome to the life force of the Pit of Evil. Welcome to the heart of Tartarus.”

They were both silent for a moment, then Percy placed a hand on his shoulder. “Great. What do we do now?”

“Now? We go to the Doors of Death, close them, and go back to the mortal world, hopefully in time to stop Gaea from rising,” Nico said, his best poker face in place. On the inside, he was about to have a heart attack from the adrenalin and panic flowing through his body.

“Thanks for the happy sum-up, Sunshine,” Percy said, and moved his hand, so that instead of holding on to Nico’s shoulder, his arm was draped across them.

Nico just shrugged, but was careful not to make it seem like he was trying to shrug Percy’s arm off. He wouldn’t admit it, not even to himself, but he quite enjoyed the way Percy casually would touch him, especially when everyone else were trying to make as little contact as possible with Nico.

“Friends!” A loud voice boomed behind them, startling Percy to drop his arm from Nico’s shoulders.

Whirling around with his blade in hand, Nico saw the huge, silver figure coming at them, a golden-black shape on his shoulder.

Nico felt a smile take form on his lips. It was nice to see a friendly soul again, and he almost welcomed the bone-crushing hug that Bob pulled them into.

“It’s good you’re not dead!” Bob said as he set them down on the ground again. “And you look like smoking, dead people! That is also good!”

Small Bob purred in agreement. Or, Nico hoped it was agreement.

“Bob!” Percy sounded delighted. “How did you get here? Through the House of Nyx?”

“Oh no,” Bob said, shaking his massive head. “Too scary. Another way – only good for Titans and such.”

Nico could hear the tired grin in Annabeth’s voice when she said, “Let me guess, you went sideways.”

“Hm, no,” Bob said, shaking his head again. “More like diagonal.”

Nico couldn’t help it – he laughed. Annabeth laughed too, and then leaned up to kiss Bob’s huge nose.

Bob seemed flustered when he asked, “Stay together now?”, and Annabeth answered “Yes.”

“Let’s go then,” Percy said, a tad too cheery to be convincing. “Let’s see if this Death Mist works.”

And together, Bob going first Annabeth and Percy on either side of Nico holding his hands, they walked toward the waiting army of monsters.

Percy’s POV

The worst was the anticipation. Percy felt it like his whole body was tingling, though it felt quite weird when he was partly made of smoke. His skin seemed to be made of leather stretched to the point of almost cracking, his bones right under the surface. Even the small hairs on his arms seemed completely dry, like if he scratched himself, it would all disappear – which his legs seemed to do every time he took a step, though he’d learned to move somewhat normally with it. The only thing was that he felt like he was walking in a helium bubble.

Thirty yards before they reached the edge of the crowd of monsters, Bob turned around toward them and put a finger to his lips, then whispered, “Stay right behind me, then they won’t notice you.” Percy’s fingers began tingling, wanting to reach for his sword.

Beside him, Nico nodded in agreement, though Percy couldn’t help but mutter, “We hope,” earning him an elbow in the ribs from Nico.

“And you say I’m the pessimistic one,” Nico said, glaring at him through his bangs. “Really?”

Percy couldn’t help the grin he felt forming on his face. “Touché.”

On Nico’s other side, Annabeth rolled her eyes of them, then asked the silver Titan before them, “Bob, if we technically are invisible, how come it you can see us?”

Bob shrugged and kept going. “We are friends.”

“But what about Nyx and her children? They could see us too,” Annabeth pressed.

“That was different, you were in Nyx’s territory.”

Percy stared at the swarm of vicious monsters that rapidly came nearer. “Well, at least we won’t have to worry about bumping into any other friends in this crowd.”

Bob grinned. “Yes, that is good news! Now, let’s go. Death is close.”

“The Doors of Death are close,” Annabeth corrected. “Let’s watch the phrasing.”

“Yeah, we wouldn’t wish for Thanatos to be stuck down here with us to help us kill the giants, would we?” Percy sighed.

“No, we wouldn’t,” Nico said, “first of all because Thanatos only shows up when a mortal soul dies, second because Dad already makes him work his ass off.”

The two older demigods stared wide-eyed at him for a moment, then spoke on the same time.

“Your dad really is harsh on his employees, aren’t he?” Annabeth asked, while Percy said, “Did you just swear?” which made Nico glare even more at him.

“Yes Percy, I did,” Nico huffed, then turned to Annabeth, “I guess, but not without reason though… In most occasions.”

“Huh…” Annabeth said, her expression turning thoughtful.

Then they crossed the first couple of monsters – a group of empousai was tearing through the carcass of a gryphon while a couple of other gryphons were flying around their head, screaming in outrage. A wisp of smoke floated by – Percy guessed it was an eidolon, since it disappeared inside a Cyclops, who hit himself in the head with his bat, then the wisp floated on leaving the Cyclops looking confused and lost around on his comrades.

Annabeth nudged his shoulder and pointed in front of them. Following her finger, Percy quickly recognized the monster – a guy in a cowboy outfit was cracking a whip at some fire-breathing horses. Percy immediately recognized him as Geryon the three-bodied farmer. The wrangler wore a Stetson hat on his greasy hair, an extra-large set of jeans and a pair of black leather boots. His three torsos each wore a different colored Western shirt, and just looking at him made Percy’s sides sting from where the arai had fulfilled Geryon’s dying wish.

Seeing him made also Percy ponder just how many old enemies where standing in line here to get into the mortal world and wish for another chance at killing him. There had to be at least a hundred, if not a thousand monsters that had a personal hatred for him. And no matter how many times he killed them, they would just reform some time later and try again. And again. And again.

The thought made Percy feel as hopeless as the river Cocytus. All these enemies would just keep coming, but if one of them got him, he would be dead forever. So what was the point exactly? So what if he was a hero? So what if he did something brave? Evil was always here, regenerating, bubbling under the surface. Percy was no more than a minor annoyance to these immortal beings. They just had to outwait him. Poof. Then they could run rampage as much they would like. Some day, Percy’s sons or daughters might have to face them all over again.

Sons and daughters.

The thought jarred him. As quickly as hopelessness had overtaken him, it disappeared. He glanced at his two fellow demigods. They both looked like corpses because of the Death Mist, but Percy imagined them as they were in the mortal world. Annabeth with her blonde hair up in a messy bun, bend over a book with a concentrated look on her face. Nico as a ten year old kid, talking a hundred miles an hour about Mythomagic and Greek mythology, how his eyes lit up at the mere mention of the game, how he reacted to hearing that one of his parents were a god.

Okay, maybe monsters kept coming back forever. But so did demigods. Generation after generation, Camp Half-Blood had endured. Camp Jupiter too. Even separately, the two camps had survived. Now, if the Greeks and Romans could come together, they would be even stronger.

There was still hope. They had come this far. The Doors of Death were almost within reach.

Sons and daughters.

Percy couldn’t help the grin slipping onto his face at the ridiculous thought. Here he was in Hell’s hell, and he was thinking about his future children.

Beside him, Nico sent him a curios glance. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing,” Percy said, shaking his head a bit. “Just a random–”

He was interrupted by a loud voice ahead. “IAPETUS!” And the only thought crossing Percy’s mind was, Well, dam. And then, Ha, dam… Oh, good memories… because Percy’s mind was too ADHD to focus on the possible thread in form of a Titan in Stygian iron armor coming at them with open arms, his blue-white eyes fixed on Bob. He was about Bob’s height, his military buzz same color as his eyes and the diamond embed in the middle of his breastplate. A battle helmet shaped like a bear’s head was tucked under his arm. From his belt hung a sword the size of a surfboard.

“Koios,” Annabeth muttered under her breath, supplying the name that was on the tip of Percy’s tongue, though he found the Titan’s face quite familiar despite the battle scars that seemed fairly new. His eyes and his smile reminded Percy of someone…

The Titan casually strolled over to them, kicking lesser monsters out of his way, and moved to pull Bob into a hug that would have cracked all the bones in Percy’s body.

“Iapetus! Don’t tell me you don’t recognize your own brother!”

“No!” Bob agreed nervously. “I won’t tell you that.”

Luckily, Koios just tossed his head back and laughed loudly. “It’s true then? That Ol’ Seaweed’s son threw you into the Lethe? Ha-ha! Oh, well, how about the two of us go get some good old revenge on that brat and rip him to pieces, huh?”

“Haha, yes,” Bob replied rather weakly, “rip him to pieces. Yay.”

Percy’s fingers closed around his pen. He didn’t think much of Bob’s brother, even without the rip him to pieces threat. Compared to Bob’s simple way of speaking, Koios sounded like he was reciting Shakespeare. That alone was enough to make Percy irritated. Nico must have felt it, because he laid a hand on Percy’s shoulder, keeping him in place.

“Ah, it’s good to see you …” Koios grinned, smacking Bob on the shoulder, almost hard enough to make the other Titan stumble. “You remember what fun we had in the old days?”

“Of course!” Bob looked like he was racking his brain for anything to say. “When we, uh…”

“Holding down our father Ouranos,” Koios said.

“Yes! We loved wrestling with Dad…”

“We restrained him.”

“That’s what I meant!”

“While Kronos cut him to pieces with his scythe.”

“Yes, ha-ha.” Bob looked like he was going to be sick and throw up out over his brother. “What fun.”

“You grabbed Father’s right foot, as I recall,” Koios said, not really paying attention to Bob. “And Ouranos kicked you in the face as he struggled. How we used to tease you about that!”

“Silly me,” Bob agreed, looking more and more nauseous as Koios continued.

“Sadly, our brother Kronos was dissolved by those impudent demigods.” The Titan heaved a sigh. “Bits and pieces of his essence remain, but nothing you could put together again. I suppose some injuries even Tartarus cannot heal.”

“That’s right…”

“But the rest of us have another chance to shine, eh?” He leaned forward conspiratorially, an evil glint in is ice-blue eyes. “These giants may think they will rule. Let them be our shock troops and destroy the Olympians – all well and good. But once the Earth Mother is awake she will remember that we are her eldest children. Mark my words. The Titans shall rule again, and this time, Iapetus, we will both get a bigger bite of the universe, right?”

“Right…” Bob nodded weakly.

“But whatever.” Koios waved a hand around. “The last ones have already passed on into the mortal world, though Polybotes who went last didn’t seem quite so enthusiastic about it. He kept mumbling about how he ‘missed his prey’ or something. Word got around that a couple of demigods had the luck of falling down here, but they were swallowed up by Nyx at her house or something like that. A wonder they even reached that far with old Polybotes in their heels. Never going to see them again, I bet!” Koios laughed. “Surviving Nyx. Yikes.”

Annabeth was completely tense, her eyes boring into Percy’s. If the giants had already passed through the Doors that meant they would have twelve powerful monsters less to fight, though it also meant that their friends on the other side of the Doors could run into them…

“But I must get going,” Koios said, pulling his surf-board-sized sword out. The black metal radiated more coolness than the Hubbard Glacier. “Leto should have regenerated by now. I will convince her to fight.”

“Of course,” Bob murmured with a frown. “Leto.”

Koios laughed again. “You forgot about my daughter? I suppose it’s a long time since you met last, you know how the gentle are always longer to reform. Though I do hope she is willing to fight after the way Zeus treated her while – and after – she was pregnant with the twins.”

Percy almost grunted out loud.

The twins.

His memory kicked in at that. Leto was the mother of Apollo and Artemis. This guy Koios looked vaguely familiar because he had Artemis’s cold eyes and Apollo’s smile. The Titan was their grandfather, Leto’s father. The idea gave Percy a headache. Why did all these myths have to be so complicated?

Chapter Text

“Well, I’ll see you in the mortal world, Iapetus,” Koios said and chest-bumped Bob so hard, Small Bob almost fell off his shoulder. “You should go greet our two other brothers at the Doors.”

“I should?” Bob asked, still rubbing his chest.

“You should,” Koios confirmed, then turned to leave. “Bye!” And then he lumbered away, almost flattening Percy and Annabeth, who scrambled out of the way as fast as they could, but before the monsters around them closed in on Bob again, Percy leaned in to the giant.

“Hey, you okay?” Percy asked, to which Bob frowned and said, “I do not know. In all this–” he gestured around them – “what is the meaning of okay?”

Fair point, Percy thought and settled with just patting Bob’s enormous hand.

“Guys?” Annabeth asked beside him, “Did I hear correctly when Koios said that there were two more Titans guarding the Doors?”

She was squinting into the distance, trying to see if it was true.

Nico nodded gravely. “You did, unfortunately. But we’ll have to deal. But–” He turned towards the Titan with them, who was looking blindly ahead. “Bob, do you remember? The things Koios told you, I mean.”

Bob blinked and looked down at him with a sad smile. “When he said it, I did.” He gripped his broom harder. “I… I feel like I’ve been handed a spear, but I don’t know if I want to take it or not.”

“You don’t,” Annabeth said firmly, taking his hand. “Bob, you are different now. Better.”

Bob still looked unsure, and Annabeth sent a pointed glance towards Percy, like say something helpful to back me up. But the thing was, Percy wasn’t sure he could say something useful. He couldn’t just say that Bob should just forget his past and move on. Don’t get him wrong, he wanted to, but he understood Bob and how he felt. He’d tried it himself. He still remembered quite vividly how it was to wake up at the Wolf House in California without knowing who he was or where he came from. If somebody had been waiting for him at that moment, telling him that his name was Bob and he was on the monsters’ side in this war… would he have believed it? Would he have felt betrayed once he found out his true identity?

That’s different, Percy tried to tell himself, we’re the good guys.

But… was that true? Percy himself had left Bob at Hades’ palace and then forgotten about him, leaving him in the hands of a god who hated them both. If it hadn’t been for Nico…

Percy had no right to tell Bob to forget all of his past. So he didn’t.

“Bob,” he said instead, “I believe that you get to choose. You can pick that of Iapetus’ past you want to keep, and then leave the rest. It’s only the future that matters.”

The Titan smiled sadly. “Future is a mortal concept, Percy Friend. We are not meant to change, to have a future. We stay the same… forever.”

“That can’t be true, though,” Percy argued, “because then Annabeth, Nico and I would already have been dead. Maybe you weren’t meant to become friends with three demigods, but you are. And isn’t that what matters? Because you are the best friend we could have hoped or asked for.”

Bob regarded him silently, his face unreadable. Then after a long moment, he held out his hand for Small Bob to jump up on. “Let’s go then, friends. Not much further.”

Walking all over the heart of Tartarus was a much worse experience than Percy’d imagined. And he’d not imagined it to be very fun. Never the less, as they trudged through the monster army, Percy kept flinching at every monster that came near them, ready to draw his sword.

It really didn’t help either that the ground was slippery and lumped, making Percy stumble every other step. From a distance, the plane had looked… well plane, though as they moved closer to the Doors, the ground turned more and more uneven, folds and ridges dominating the terrain. He could also feel the pulsing of the veins under their feet, feel the water of the Lethe, the Styx, and the other rivers of the underworld right under the surface. If one of those arteries burst… Percy didn’t want to think about the consequences.

“Look,” Annabeth said, gaining Percy’s attention. She was looking ahead, and Percy followed her gaze. A loud boom rang out across the hills, and the monster army roared. Black lightning was shooting out from the Doors of Death.

“A big group must just have gone through,” Bob said, tilting his head a bit. “Friends should hurry.”

The three demigods nodded in agreement, climbing even faster across the hilly landscape, though they were still going way too slow for Percy’s taste.

“Does they all end up at the House of Hades?” Annabeth asked as she crossed the fold in front of Percy.

Bob shook his head. “I don’t think so. The House of Hades in underground, yes? In the earth? Gaia should be able to move her army around as she wants.”

Percy felt it like a cold hand had just wrapped around his heart, dragging its fingers down his spine. It was one thing that Gaia could send that many monsters at his friends in Epirus, it was another thing that she could choose any other destination – Camp Half-Blood, Camp Jupiter, anywhere in the mortal world, she could wreck havoc.

“But,” Annabeth said, and somehow Percy knew he wouldn’t like the question she was about to ask, “if Gaea is that powerful, couldn’t she then control where we end up?”

Shrugging, Bob scratched his chin with a thoughtful expression. “You aren’t monsters. Could hope that will make a difference.”

Annabeth winced. “Sounds great.”

They scrambled over another fold in the ground, and suddenly the Doors of Death was in plain view in front of them – unfortunately including the two heavily armored Titans on guard duty. Even though they still were a long way off, Percy still recognized them. The Titan left for the Doors wore shining golden armor, which shimmered with heat and had a face they’d already seen down here –

“Hyperion,” Nico muttered beside him. “I recognize his life force. Who’s the other one?”

“Krios,” Percy answered, looking at the Titan stand to the right from the Doors. “Jason defeated him at Mount Tam back when Kronos was trying to take over Olympus.”

Said Titan was like his brother dressed in armor, though Krios’s was dark-blue and his helmet had rams-horns sticking out from each side.

“Bob?” Nico said, his eyes on the other Titans, “If it gets to it, would you be able to fight them? Because we will need you to.”

Bob hefted his broom, looking like he was preparing for the cleanup of his life. “Come on, friends. Not much further.”

Percy noticed that wasn’t really an answer, but he chose not to comment. Instead he concentrated on not tripping over the veins beneath them, and on how Nico seemed to know exactly where the right place were to step, even without his vision.

“You can see the landscape, can’t you?” Percy asked him quietly, watching how the Death Mist temporarily made Nico’s skin and flesh fully transparent, turning his face shortly into a grinning skull.

“Yeah,” Nico answered, wincing a little. “Like I said earlier, it’s the heart of Tartarus. It’s the root of his life force. If he hadn’t been this evil, everything would be so bright that it would have blinded me, but as it is, everything is just different shades of black with various glowing dots here and there indicating monsters. And you, of course.”

For one another reason, the tenderness in Nico’s voice as he said the last few words, made Percy blush. Hm… Okay, when they got back to the mortal world, Percy had to figure out what this weird feeling he had in his stomach right now was. Thinking about Nico caring as much about him as it sounded in his voice…

“Percy? Peeeercyyyy? Hey, Earth to Percy?” Percy stopped up and blinked. Nico was waving his hand in from of his face, concern filling his eyes. “You okay?”

“Yeah, sorry. Just lost in thought.” Percy tried for a smile, but it felt fake even to himself. He hoped the Death Mist would cover it up some though.

“You? Lost in thought? I thought that your head was only full of kelp,” Nico joked, startling a laugh out of Percy.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we’re there soon,” Annabeth said placing a hand on Nico’s shoulder. “Look.”

Percy followed her finger, and saw something that made him stop in his tracks. “Oh. My. Gods. They… The Doors…”

“I know,” Annabeth said, pain in her voice.

Nico looked confused from one to the other. “What? What is it about the Doors?”

“They are the same…” Percy muttered, still in shock. “The same as the ones to… to Olympus. In Empire State Building. Just– just in Stygian Iron instead of gold.”

Nico frowned. “Seriously? Huh. Hadn’t thought Thanatos would design his doors after the ones on Olympus. Normally he doesn’t like the Olympians very much.”

“I wonder why,” Percy snorted. But at the sight of the Doors, he could help it – he felt homesick. He missed everything they’d left behind – Olympus, Camp Half-Blood, New York City, his mom and stepdad. Even Camp Jupiter though he’d only spent five days there all in all.

Then, rage flooded him. It was like the Doors was placed there as a personal insult to him, but he would be the last one laughing. He would get back to the mortal world with Annabeth and Nico, and nothing could stop him from reaching his goal.

Except, you know, the two Titans guarding it, or the monster army around you, a pessimistic voice said in the back of his head. It sounded an awfully lot like Nico.

Shut it, Percy thought irritated to it. I can and I will do it. No matter what.

Chapter Text

Well, fuck, was the only thing that Percy could think off as they came closer to the Doors of Death.

The two Titans was calling out things like "A-21!" and a group of monsters would cheer and push forward, trying to be the first to get through the Doors. Each time the Doors closed behind a group, black lightning would shoot up and fill the sky, and monsters cheered, and the Doors shook in the black iron chains that kept them to the ground, and the frost on the ground around them spread further. Percy also noticed that the Doors glowed with a faint purple light.

There were two chains holding the Doors in place, one from each top corner of the frame. The chains were anchored with a hook in the fleshy ground, each one between the feet of a Titan. When a group went through, the Titans would place a foot on the hooks, keeping them in place as the Doors shook, trying to break free.

Well, fuck.

If they wanted to get the Doors out of Tartarus, they would have to cut the chains. Which would mean coming way too close to the Titans for Percy's liking. He knew that he wouldn't be able to fight the Titans alone and especially not down here - last time Percy'd fought Hyperion, they'd fought on the Central Park Lake, where Percy'd been on his home court, surrounded by water - plus he'd had the curse of Achilles to help him...

Now, they were up against two Titans on their home court, and Percy and his two companions had been traveling for days across a landscape throwing everything at them in the hope of killing them off. It was an understatement to say that Percy was exhausted.

Well, fuck.

Then the Doors shook violently again, and with a ding they opened, revealing an empty elevator car to absurdly ordinary that Percy had a crazy urge to laugh and cry and the same time. Beside him, Annabeth tensed up, and Bob put a hand on her shoulder. 

"Wait," Bob whispered and gestured toward Hyperion, just as the golden Titan yelled, "GROUP A-22! Hurry up you sluggards!" and a horde of Cyclopes surged forward with a cheer and waving around small red tickets. Percy absently wondered how they would all fit in through the Doors, as they were the size of regular elevator doors, but as the monsters neared, they all shrank like they were sucked in through the opening. Then Krios pressed the UP button on the elevator and grumbled at his brother.

"I still don't get why I'm the one who have to hold the button! I mean, why can't we change for a while? 12 minutes is a long time!"

Hyperion scowled at his brother. "Shut it, Krios! I'm the one who decides, and I have decided you are pressing the button!"

Bob stage-coughed into his hand, leading Percy's attention away from the two bickering Titans. "Friends have to know what you have in front of you," the silver Titan muttered seemingly to Small Bob on his hand. “Each time the Doors open, they try to teleport to a new location. Thanatos made them this way, so only he could find them. But now they are chained. The Doors cannot relocate.”

"So," Annabeth elaborated, "we have to cut the chains just before we go in, and the Doors will relocate themselves as we go up?"

"Sounds like a plan," Percy said, which earned him two irritated glances from Annabeth and Nico.

"Percy, it's hardly a concept," Nico said, and made Percy pout.

"Fine, what's the plan then?"

"Bob," Annabeth said, "We'll need you to distract Hyperion and Krios while we do what we have to do."

"Mrow?" Small Bob said, and Bob nodded to the cat.

"I will do that."

"Good. Nico, how are you feeling?"

Blinking in surprise, Nico shrugged. "Fine, I guess. My leg doesn't hurt that much, and I can sort of see where I'm walking, so..."

"Would you have enough strength to cut one of the chains?" Annabeth asked, and Nico nodded. "Great. Percy–"

"Yeah?" Percy said, snapping out of his daze from staring in wonder on his two demigod companions. He really needed to find out what these weird feelings in his gut were.

Annabeth was looking at him weirdly. "Can you help Bob with a distraction if it becomes necessary? Like, pop some of these veins or something?"

"Yup," Percy said and gave a thumps up.

"Fine. Then Nico and Percy, you will go right behind Krios, where Nico will cut the chain while Percy keep an eye out for enemies–"

"Found," Percy said and pointed around on the army. "Found, found, found–"

"Enemies who might be an immediate threat for Nico or you, Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth huffed irritated, then continued. "I will go around the left, where I will cut the other chain, all while Bob distracts Hyperion and Krios."

Again, Bob nodded to the cat. Percy realized he probably did that so curious monsters wouldn't question why he was talking to himself. Percy slapped himself in his mind. Of course!

"But that is only one problem solved," Bob said, effectively gaining the three demigods' attention. "But you still have to worry about who should defend the button.”

Frowning, Annabeth leaned a bit forward. “What exactly do you mean by ‘defend the button’?”

“The button needs to be pressed for 12 minutes. One must stay outside and fend off any attackers while the others go up.”

Percy glanced up at the Doors and two Titans. Sure enough, Krios was still pressing the UP button, muttering grumpily to himself. Percy thought he caught the words ‘hot-head’, ‘shining bastard’, and ‘glowing f***head’.

Distracted by the Titan’s angry muttering about his ‘all-bright a-hole’ brother, Percy randomly asked, “Why twelve minutes?”

Bob shrugged. “I do not know. Why twelve Titans? Why twelve Olympian gods? Some questions cannot be answered.”

“Fair enough, I guess…” Percy said. He was admittedly surprised by Bob’s suddenly philosophical answer, though his mind still swirled with dark thoughts.

“Bob, what happens if the button isn’t pressed for all twelve minutes?” Annabeth looked like she didn’t want the answer.

“The journey won’t finish,” Bob answered gravely.

Nico crossed his arms across his chest and scowled at the monsters around them. “Meaning the ones inside with perish in Chaos. No turning back, no chance of surviving. At all,” he said, confirming Percy’s fears.

“That’s just great.” Percy kicked at a clump of veins at their feet. “So what’s the plan then?”

“I will stay,” Bob said, smiling sadly down to the kitting in his palm. “I will stay to defend the button and make sure friends get to the mortal world safely.”

“Bob,” Percy said, his voice thick with emotions – guilt, gratitude, sadness, anger, and grief all welled up in one boiling mess inside him, threatening to choke him. “Bob, we can’t ask you to do that. You want to go up to the mortal world too! To say hello to the sun and stars and–”

“Percy friend,” Bob interrupted, “I know. But if you don’t go through, I won’t be much help anyways. The world needs you. And, once the chains are cut my brethren will to fight back and get hold of the Doors again. They do not want for the Doors to disappear. They will try to stop your passage.”

“I will stay,” Nico said softly. “I will help Bob.”

Percy stared at him in disbelief. “Wha– Oh, no you wont!” he exclaimed and grabbed Nico’s shoulders. “Don’t you even dare think about it, di Angelo, okay?! You need to get safely back to Hazel and the others. Nico, you hear me? Of anyone here, you are the one deserving it most.”

Annabeth moved to stand beside him, and laid a hand on his shoulder. Nico was staring wide-eyed up, his mouth hanging open in surprise by Percy’s outburst. Tears prickled in Percy’s eyes.

“Nico, don’t you dare believe you’re any less worthy than you are.”

“He’s right, Nico.” Annabeth smiled a sad smile, and Nico’s dead eyes shifted to her. “Are you alright?”

Nico nodded, then looked back up at Percy, his dark chocolate-brown eyes shining with unshed tears. “I hear you.” His voice broke and Percy pulled both Nico and Annabeth into a tight embrace.

“Good,” he muttered. “Let’s get back to the others.” He let go from the embrace and took each of their hands in his, and gave Nico’s a squeeze. “To Hazel.”

Nico’s POV

They walked the rest of the way to the Doors of Death in silence. Percy kept a tight grip in his hand, not once slacking his hold. He could feel Percy’s troubled emotions swirling around in a huge hurricane in his head, all the different colors writhing and mingling, fighting to fill the most. Annabeth’s head wasn’t much better, though judging from the colors, her priorities were a bit more straightforward and neat, not as jumbled as Percy’s. Annabeth’s mind was different colors of grey – only hints of orange and violet , where Percy’s was a rainbow of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, grey, and black.

“So, we’ll just go through the plan again,” Annabeth whispered. “I will go left and cut the chain there, while you, Percy, and Nico go right, where Nico cut the chain and Percy keep watch, all while Bob will distract Hyperion and Krios. We will find out  about the button later. Everyone ready?”

The three boys nodded, Bob holding up Small Bob again.

Just then, Hyperion saw Bob and called for him. “Iapetus! Great to see you, brother! I thought you were hiding in a dust bin up in Deathbreath’s palace?”

Bob lumbered forward, placing Small Bob in his front pocket, and scowled to his brother. “I was not hiding.”

“That’s good to hear! Well, come on here and say hi to Krios. I don’t want to keep him entertained anymore.”

Percy began pulling Nico around Bob and toward the right side of the Doors, where Krios was standing with his thumb still on the UP button. Seriously, how long is twelve minutes? Nico thought irritated to himself, glaring at the dark-blue shade.

At least the lesser monsters kept a respectful distance to the three Titans, so him and Percy had enough space to creep towards the chain in a somewhat safe distance from being trampled by the talking Titans.

“So, how was it to swim in Lethe?” Hyperion laughed.

Bob frowned irritated at him. “Cold. And wet.”

“HA!” Hyperion exclaimed and laughed even louder. “Oh, it is good to have you back. I heard it was no less than Percy Jackson to throw you in? He’s a bastardy prick, just like his daddy, Ol’ Kelpbeard. What was it he convinced you, your name was? Betty?”

“Bob,” Bob corrected growling.

“Well, it’s about time you showed up, Bob, because I’m bored out of my mind, and Krios and I have been here for weeks–”

“Hours,” Krios interrupted. “We’ve only been here for a couple of–”

“Okay,” Hyperion said and waved him away. “Whatever. It’s boring. Guarding these stupid Doors, once in a while letting some monsters through, waiting for Gaia’s orders. Krios, what group are we at, by the way?”

“Double Red.”

Hyperion made to call out, only to turn back and frown at the Titan in dark-blue armor. “Double Red comes after A-22? How does that make any sense? Who made these group names?”

Krios just shrugged and scowled, and Hyperion called for the next group. “DOUBLE RED. GET YOUR LAZY ASSES UP HERE.”

Then he turned back to Bob. “Seriously, this is not a job for me. I’m the Titan of the East! Lord of the Light! Master of Dawn! Why have I gotten such a lousy job as this? Well, Krios, I understand but me…”

“I always get the worst assignments,” Krios muttered to himself, and then began his snarling rant of were Hyperion could stick up all of his titles and his ego.

“Iapetus, you take over for me here,” Hyperion said, stepping closer to Bob. “Come on, this is just a job for you. Better than cleaning at Deathbreath’s at least.”

Nico scowled at the golden-glowing Titan. That was the second time he’d insulted his dad.

Percy squeezed Nico’s hand, making him take his eyes off the Titan and look at him instead. He shook his head in warning. No, Nico. Not now.

Taking a deep breath, Nico nodded. Sorry. And they sneaked closer to the chain and Krios feet.

Chapter Text

Of course, that's when everything went wrong. As Percy took a step forward, just as him and Nico had come up behind Krios, his  foot caught on a particularly big lump of veins, and therefore fell flat on his face. Nico luckily had fast reflexes and prevented to get dragged with down by letting go of Percy's hand. He did stumble a bit, though it was for the better, because Percy, having been prepared to fend of potential enemies, had held his powers ready, a tight mental grip in the water from the Underworld Rivers under their feet. The veins he'd tripped over burst open, dousing everyone near Percy in water. Percy had just the time to think, please, not the Lethe before the black water overcame him and left him screaming and writhing in pain by an all too familiar feeling of getting dissolved in acid.

That was all there was.

Unbearable, painful pain.

At least the pain made the voice from last time warn him again: “Hero, if you must do this, concentrate on your mortal point. Imagine one spot of your body that will remain vulnerable.”

Percy could feel his already misty body fall even more apart. It took up all his concentration to think through the pain. One spot. That’s what Achilles had told him last year before Nico’d helped him bathe in the Styx. Percy tried to get hold of his body, to keep it together. His vision blacked out completely. Pain surged through his body. His mind went numb.

“Percy!” Blond hair filled his vision, then zoomed out to focus on gray eyes. Annabeth was standing up on the dock, holding a hand down to him, wanting him to take it, so she could pull him out of the water. He smiled. She looked so beautiful. The sun was behind her, making her hair shine like gold and the water shimmer around him. “Come on, Seaweed Brain, we don’t have all day.” Annabeth grinned and reached down further, her hand almost breaking the surface.

Suddenly her hair began to shorten, turning darker until it was completely black. Her eyes too began to darken, and her body turned leaner, her breasts shrinking, until it wasn’t Annabeth reaching out for him. It was Nico.

Nico was smiling and holding out his hand for Percy, his stygian iron sword strapped to his waist. “Percy!” The urgent scream of his name didn’t match the smile and peacefulness. Percy frowned. Suddenly both Annabeth and Nico were standing above him, reaching out and grapping his left elbow together, pulling him upright and out of the water.

Percy spluttered and took a deep breath, the acid air stinging and burning in his lungs, but it was still better than the water from Styx. He looked around him, disorientated, and realized that he had a big audience looking at him, most of them with gaping mouths. His skin was tingling all over, the feeling one he remembered, and his mind came with a random thought, Two times surviving a dip in the Styx. What’s next, I get to face Tartarus in person? Or better, I get to survive long enough to get killed by my mother when I get home. She's probably going to be furious.

No one said anything. No one dared to move. Percy knew Nico was standing behind him, staring at him in surprise and amazement. The three titans all seemed equally stunned about Percy’s sudden appearance. Krios was frowning confused, like he was trying to decide if he had eaten anything bad that could have made him hallucinate, whereas Hyperion’s expression was slowly shifting from surprise to horror, and lastly ending on extremely furious. Annabeth was still standing behind the golden Titan, Death Mist intact, her bone sword lifted as if she’d frozen mid-swing.

Suddenly the spell was broken when a monster down the back of the crowd roared and screeched. Hyperion unfroze.

“PERCY JACKSON.” That woke up the rest of the army and Percy hurried to uncap Riptide. His sword grew to full length just as the first monster, a black griffin with shining talons, reached him, and he slashed it to monster dust.

The well-known feeling of adrenaline met him, flowing through his blood and filling his body. His mind quickly went on autopilot and he slashed, stabbed and parried his way through the monster army.

Percy wasn't sure of how much time had passed when Hyperion finally had made his way through the crowd of monsters coming at him, but he seemed even angrier than when he'd yelled his name earlier. He'd pulled out his enormous golden sword and in one huge swipe, he swung it towards Percy's head. Faster than he should have been able to, Percy parried the strike and danced out of Hyperion's reach, stabbed a Cyclops in the foot, and came up on Hyperion's side. Hyperion roared and slashed at Percy again, and again Percy parried. He didn't remember it to be this easy last year, when they'd fought in Central Park under the War of Manhattan. Maybe it was his training at Camp Jupiter that helped? Feinting to the right, Percy rolled up and stabbed Hyperion in his left thigh. Golden ichor welled out of the wound and Hyperion roared again, this time with pain mixed into the rage.

"DIE, SEA SCUM! DIE, SO I CAN GET OUT OF THIS STINKING PIT AND KILL THE REST OF YOU PUNY GODLINGS!"

"No thanks," Percy answered cheekily, dodging another swing of Hyperion's sword. "I think I'll stay alive."

In the back of his mind, he noticed zombie Nico sneaking around and stabbing monsters in the back without any of the others noticing him. Annabeth had cut the chain Hyperion had guarded and was trying to get to the other chain, dancing around to avoid getting trampled by the two titans fighting each other. Bob was excellent with his spear, and with the help of Small Bob, who was crawling around the enemy, scratching him with his claws and biting him with his sharp teeth, they held their own against Krios pretty well.

Hyperion attacked again with his ginormous sword, which Percy met with Riptide in an explosion of sound. He made to stab Hyperion again, but suddenly the ground began shaking. A high-pitched whine echoed out through the heart of Tartarus, like the sound of an incoming rocket. An explosion of heat almost knocked Percy over. Then a dark voice rang out, sending shivers down his spine. STINKING PIT? The voice shook the ground, which exploded around the feet of Hyperion, the sharp shrapnel skewering him as easily as if he was made of marshmallows.

I AM THE PIT OF ETERNAL DARKNESS. COWER BEFORE ME, TITAN. YOUR RACE IS IMPERFECT, UNWORTHY OF YOUR BEAUTIFUL MOTHER'S HERITAGE. WEAK AND USELESS.

All around, the darkness swirled and shifted, drawing closer to the Doors of Death and solidifying. A massive being was appearing before the Doors, radiating so much hatred and pure evil that even with the curse of Achilles as backup, Percy wanted to curl together on the ground and cower in fear.

Instead, though, Percy forced his eyes upon the dark figure in front of him, starting with his black iron boots - each one the length of Percy himself - and the dark greaves covering the beings shins, then the armored skirt made from blackened, twisted bones woven together like chain links. His belt was designed to look like interlocking arms of monstrous size, and his breastplate was decorated much like the robes of Hades - just, like, instead of tortured mortal souls, the ginormous being had drakons and Cyclopes and giants and other terrifying, extremely-hard-to-kill monsters in his clothes, all pressing against the metal, trying to break free from their prison.

All of that in addition to his purple, veined skin and huge muscular arms was enough to reduce even the toughest monster or god to a whimpering mess, but with the beings head, it was a thousand times worse - he wore a helmet of twisted lava stones and half melted metal with no particular shape - just jagged spikes and glowing patches of magma. Beneath the helmet, there was nothing but darkness, a maelstrom whirling inwards, sucking in the light and the last glittery dust of Hyperion and Krios' essence, the latter of whom had been pierced through the gut by Bob's spear.

Somehow, Percy found his voice, and even more to his surprise, it came out strong and even. "Tartarus."

At the mention of his name, the primary god turned his vortex-face towards Percy, who could feel himself skidding on the ground, his whole, puny, mortal being gravitating toward the creature before him. A sound like a mountain collapsing echoed out through the valley. Percy wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a roar or a laugh.

This form is only a small manifestation of my power, the god said in an almost bored tone. But, it's enough to deal with you. I do not interfere lightly, little demigod, but you have shown surprising resilience to Death. Thanatos either hates or favors you. To think I should have to deal with gnats like you, it is beneath me.

"Uh," Percy stammered, his legs threatening to give out under him. "You don't... have to... deal with us if you think so..."

You have come too far, Tartarus mused. I can no longer just stand by and trust others to kill you. You should be honored. Tartarus spread out his arms and thousands of monsters roared in approval. Even the Olympians have never been worthy of my personal attention. But you three, you get to be destroyed by Tartarus himself!

Percy didn't feel very honored, and when his eyes flickered to the very un-corpsed and very terrified Annabeth and Nico, they didn't look very honored either. Percy vaguely hoped Annabeth would come up with something to get them out of this mess like she always did, but judging from her slack mouth and wide eyes, she was just as empty-minded as he was.

Percy hadn't quite realized before how much he depended on Annabeth to get them out of situations like this, but now it hit him like a ton of bricks. And Nico too, Percy never worried about someone coming up behind him, because he always knew Nico would be there and cover him. If he lost any of them, he wouldn't know how to keep going with his life – how to survive without them.

It is actually nice to have a real, physical form, Tartarus said, flexing his fingers and admiring his polished, black talons. He seemed satisfied, judging from the way his shoulders straightened as he let his hand fall back to his side, but it was difficult to say since he didn't have a face. With these hands, I'll rip you to pieces.

And then, Percy did something he'd never done before (out of fear anyways) - he dropped his sword. The fear surging through his body had numbed his fingers completely. Riptide clattered to the ground, the sound deafening in Percy's ears.

Tartarus made the ground rumble with his mountain shattering laughter. Your fear is delightful to me, he told them. I can see the appeal of having a physical form with all these senses. Perhaps my lovely Gaea is right in wanting to wake from her slumber.

Tartarus held his hand up in front of his face as if admiring it again, then he extended it towards Percy, who was now weaponless, but still completely frozen in fear. But just before the black claws, which were each the size of Percy's forearm, reached Percy, Bob yelled "Be gone!" and leveled his spear at the lord of the abyss' chest. "You have no right to meddle!"

No right? Tartarus turned towards Bob. NO. RIGHT?! I AM THE LORD OF ALL CREATURES OF DARKNESS, PUNY IAPETUS. I CAN DO AS I PLEASE. I AM THE ETERNAL PIT!/

The vortex of Tartarus' face began swirling faster and faster, and to Percy's horror, the comet-y vapor trail of Bob's essence enlarged, getting sucked toward the maelstrom of Tartarus. Bob roared and began running - spear-tip first - toward the god, who at first seemed surprised, but as soon as Bob came closer, Tartarus whacked him aside as if he were nothing but an annoying bug.

Why aren't you disintegrating? Tartarus wondered, seemingly more mildly amused than irritated or angry. You are even weaker than Hyperion or Krios, how can you still be here, Iapetus?

"I am not Iapetus, and I am not like my brothers. I am more. I am Bob."

Bob? What's a Bob?

"I choose to be more than just Iapetus, I have chosen what of my old life to keep and what to change, and you can't control me! I AM BOB!" Bob roared with his spear lifted above his head. Then Small Bob jumped out of his overalls and landed on the ground between his master and their enemy where he began to change, his form flickering and growing, until it wasn't a cute kitten but a full-grown skeletal saber toothed tiger standing between Bob and Tartarus. No-Longer-Small Bob crouched together and growled. Then he leaped forward, claws extended and sank them in the lord of the abyss' thigh. Tartarus howled in pain. Clearly, he no longer enjoyed having a physical form quite as much. The saber toothed skeleton quickly crawled up under the god's bone-linked skirt and the god began another round of howling. Percy winced on behalf of Tartarus. It couldn't be nice having a saber tooth in your underwear...

Meanwhile, Bob hefted his spear and trusted it into Tartarus' chest, right below his breastplate. Tartarus roared. He tried swatting Bob away, but the Titan merely danced out of reach. He thrust his hand forward and the broom came flying back into his hand. Percy made a mental note to have such a handy mechanism installed in some of his own weapons.

Small Bob then jumped down from the god's skirt and ran to his master’s side, his huge fangs dripping with golden ichor.

I will kill you first, Iapetus. Your soul will look nice on my breastplate while you slowly dissolve over and over again in extreme and total agony for eternity, Tartarus rumbled. Bob turned to Percy, Annabeth and Nico and grinned. Percy wondered if he'd taken a too hard hit in the head, because even Percy wouldn't have reacted that nicely to a death threat like Tartarus'.

"Take the Doors," Bob said. "I will deal with this one."

Those words made Tartarus lean back and roar, the vortex of his face enlarging and sucking in the nearest flying demons. Deal with me? I will crush you like a fly, little puny Titan! As for the mortals... Tartarus turned to the waiting army. KILL THEM!

Luckily, Percy was waiting for the attack. All around him, the veins in the ground exploded, the water pressure making hundreds of monsters fall and even disintegrated some of them. And then there were the whole deal with the effects of the Underworld rivers. All in all, Percy thought it was a nice beginning to the fight.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled, brandishing her drakon-bone sword - Oh. Percy swiftly bend down and picked up Riptide, then yelled defiantly, making another round of veins pop, and jumped into the fight.

Beside him, Nico was a whirlwind of destruction. Even completely exhausted and beat up, monsters fell on either side of him. Annabeth, too, cut down every monster, who dared crossing her path towards the last chain. She pulled off the whole Barbarian Queen so nicely that Percy almost stopped swinging his sword just to stare dumbly at her and probably drool (a lot) with her blonde hair swirling around like a halo, and blood and grime covering her skin and clothes.

Nico wasn't helpful about the drool-thing, though. Especially when one of the griffins dove for him and lashed out with a taloned paw, and in avoiding it, Nico bend backwards in a perfect arc and kicked up with his Stygian Iron clad boots to hit the monster right in the stomach. The monster turned to dust with a shriek of pain while Nico continued his flip to a backwards handspring and came to his feet, swinging his sword in a wide arc and cut a Cyclops in half. To say Percy was inappropriately and utterly turned on between the two of them would be a complete understatement.

A telkhine then nearly smacked Percy's brains in, and he turned his focus back on the fight.

SNAP

The sound of the other chain being cut, rang out through the valley, but Percy only had a second of optimism before the arai attacked him. Most of the physical curses didn't seem to affect him as much as they did before, but the small ones like the itch under his foot seemed to get the full result.

"Gah, stupid curses!" Percy mutter-yelled as other itch began at the back of his neck.

DING! the elevator doors said as the opened. The monsters all around them began fighting harder, attacking with new vigor at the sight of their path to the mortal world.

Annabeth leaped for the Doors as they began closing again, but Percy could tell she was tired. With one foot between the doors, the fought off any monster daring to attack her, but she wouldn't be able to keep the Doors for long.

Bob and Small Bob was still weaving around the feet of Tartarus, keeping him distracted, but they couldn't seem to bring him any real harm.

"Percy! Nico! Get over here!" Annabeth yelled, stabbing an empousa through the gut.

A fire-breathing horse ran by Percy on its way to Annabeth, and Percy felt a stab of guilt at the thought of killing it, but then he heard what it was thinking about doing to Annabeth and Nico. Then Percy had no qualms about jumping on its back and using it to get quicker through the crowd of monsters, then sliced its throat as they reached the Doors.

Nico'd gotten there too, bleeding from various cuts and scrapes here and there, his leatherjacket torn in most places.

Percy pushed them both toward the elevator, yelling "Go!" and stabbed a hellhound through the flank.

"Are you stupid?!" Annabeth yelled furiously at the same time Nico said, "Did you hit your head too hard?" with a half-concerned frown.

"One of us has to stay to press the button and I wouldn't be able to live without you. Any of you," Percy added, looking at Nico. They both began to protest, but Percy held up his hand and continued. "Plus, with the curse of Achilles, I have an advanta-"

"Duck!" Annabeth yelled, interrupting him, but Percy was smart enough to still listen to her, and threw himself to the ground. Swinging her sword over his head, Percy heard the puff of another monster turning to dust. "We are not leaving you here!" Annabeth continued angrily.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Percy asked. He knew it was an unfair question, because they didn't have any other choice if any of them where to come out of this alive. He made another vein explode, this time with water from the Phlegethon, which made the nearby monsters combust from heat. The monster army paused for a moment, cautious about the busted vein.

Bob was still fighting Tartarus, but his attacks were getting slower and sloppier. Tartarus was gaining more control over his new body. When Small Bob lunged again, Tartarus managed to smack the big cat away and into a horde of carnivorous horses. Bob bellowed in rage on behalf of his friend and charged, but Tartarus kicked him down the hill.

YIELD! Tartarus rumbled.

"I will not!" Bob answered as he staggered to his feet. "You are not my master, you have no control over me!"

Die in defiance then, the god of the dark abyss said. You Titans are nothing but worthless scum! My children, the Giants, are superior to you in any way, have always been! They will turn the mortal world as dark as my realm! Tartarus picked up Bob's spear and broke it in half. The scream Bob managed was soul breaking and so filled with agony and raw pain that Percy wanted to throw up.

The saber toothed Small Bob rose and leaped to his master's aid, growling at the god. Bob was wobbling on his feet, looking so weak even the monsters stopped their growling toward the demigods and turned to watch Tartarus and Bob. The death of a Titan was worth the wait for demigod blood.

Percy knew Bob wouldn't be able to take another hit and moved to help. Two sets of hands grabbed him, though, effectively holding him back.

"You can't, Percy," Nico said. "Even with the curse you won't be able to make a difference. Tartarus can't be fought by us."

Percy knew he was right, but that didn't change anything. Bob needed him. He couldn't just stand by, letting Bob get killed - not alone.

But just as Percy was about to say sorry, and charge out anyways, a ripple went through the monster army. Screams of pain and panic were heard in the distance. Then a very well known roar ripped through the air as an Earthborn became airborne. Percy couldn't believe his own eyes. There, on the back of a roaring, green, Macedonian drakon sat Damasen the friendly giant, a drakon rib in hand which he used a lance to skewer the unlucky monster in their way.

A grin spread on Annabeth's face, probably matching the one Percy knew he was sporting. Even Nico had to smile in relieve at the sight.

Damasen lifted his bone lance in greeting, knocking a griffin out of the air. "Annabeth Chase, daughter of wisdom, I listened to your words. I have chosen a new fate. And that fate starts with the destruction of my father."

Tartarus turned toward the newly arrived giant and hissed. What is this? Why have you, my disgraced son, come here? And how?

The red giant's eyes flickered to them and looked at Annabeth, telling her something without words. Then he turned back to his father and levered his lance.

"Father," Damasen said with an eerily calm voice, "you said that you wished for a more worthy opponent, and for me to be more war-like. So maybe I should combine your wishes. I am on of the giants whom you are oh so proud of. So, father, fight me."

With that, Damasen lowered his lance, and the drakon roared and charged. Instantly, the army swarmed them, but the drakon ended up trampling them all underfoot. It sprayed out poisonous gasses at the "lucky" ones that managed not getting mushed. Meanwhile, Damasen kept poking and hitting Tartarus, who slowly retreated like a bat to fire.

While Damasen engaged Tartarus and the army in combat, Bob staggered away from the fight, Small Bob at his side, and made his way to the Doors of Death. Percy helped them as much as he could from the distance, making veins pop and dosing any monsters daring to attack his friends.

Bob did not look good. Golden ichor was dripping from his chest and arms and legs, and his janitor’s uniform was in tatters. His shoulders were hunched and he looked drained, as if Tartarus breaking his spear had broken something inside the Titan. But even through all of these wounds, the silver Titan was grinning from ear to ear, his Einstein hair glimmering and poking out in every direction, his eyes bright with satisfaction.

"Go, friends," Bob ordered. "Go and stop Gaea and save the world. I will press the button for you."

"Bob we can't-" Percy began, but Annabeth interrupted, tears in her eyes. "We have to."

Percy looked at Nico, who looked just as broken and crestfallen as Percy felt. He nodded and went to give Bob a last hug, then stepped inside the elevator. No other choice. You will meet a sacrifice you can't make. It will cost you the world.He had to do it. Let Bob and Damasen sacrifice themselves. The fate of all demigods and mortals relied on him. He had to make the ultimate sacrifice - not his own life, but the lives of friends.

Percy could feel the tears threatening to spill. He reached out and gave the Titan a huge hug, then joined Nico in the car. It wasn't his choice to make, not really. Bob had chosen his own fate, as had Damasen. He just had to believe in them. That they could - well, not exactly ‘win’, but at least reform and escape someday. Percy knew the odds. They were inside of Tartarus, there was no completely defeating him. But he had to hope that his friends would make it somehow.

Annabeth kissed Bob's forehead, and the elevator doors closed after her as she joined them, with Bob's last words filling the dreadful silence: "Tell the sun and stars hello from me."

Chapter Text

As soon as the car started moving, the doors began opening, almost sucking them out in whatever there was between life and death.

"Percy, help me!" Annabeth yelled as she leaped for the left door and wrenched it closed. Percy hurried to seal the other door, but these doors really wanted to open. Nico went to help Annabeth with her door, but they were all tired. The soft music in the elevator didn't help.

"Twelve minutes. Just twelve minutes," Percy muttered, but he was already using all of his strength. Twelve minutes seemed like a long time.

Percy blinked sweat out of his eyes, looking over at his two... what? What exactly were they to him? Friends didn't even begin to cover it, not for any of them. "Girlfriend" didn't fit either on Annabeth. And Nico... He had no idea. Percy decided that some things were not to be thought about now. Like Bob. And Damasen. Who'd sacrificed themselves for their sake. Damn, Percy was bad at taking his own advice.

Looking at Annabeth, he saw the same determination he felt himself, even though the anger boiling in his body didn't seem to be present in her. Instead, tears flowed freely down her cheeks, her grey eyes glaring hateful holes in the doors.

Nico was about to pass out from exhaustion. Percy could see him shaking, using all of his remaining strength to help Annabeth, his muscles completely tense through the holes in his clothes.

A sob interrupted the music, a sound so broken Percy had to take some time to realize it came from himself. A tear hit his arm, dripping from his chin. His vision blurred, and Percy began blinking to hold back the rest of his tears.

Annabeth and Nico were quietly studying him, Annabeth reading him like an open book and Nico’s ruined gaze boring right into his mind and digging everything out.

“Percy,” Annabeth said, tears brimming her eyes too. “You couldn’t have done anything else. We have to stay strong and get back to the others. They’ll need our help.”

“I know,” Percy muttered, taking a deep breath, trying to collect himself. “I know.”

Nico’s POV

Trying to keep the Doors from opening was exhausting. Like, Nico felt like he could pass out any moment. Literally. Any moment now. Annabeth’s silver silhouette above him leaning against the frame of the elevator door seemed to be dimming black spots dancing around it. Same with Percy’s blue-green. Everything else was already black. Listening to the choked sobs Percy was trying to hold back didn’t help. Annabeth’s breathing was ragged and irregular above him.

How long had they been holding the doors closed now? Five minutes? Seven? He had no idea.

How would they even know when they were there?

Nico was about to ask what the others thought when he felt himself sliding further down the wall, the two glowing and glittering silhouettes with him growing dimmer and dimmer until everything turned dark and Nico felt himself fall to the floor. The last thing he heard was Percy and Annabeth exclaiming his name.

Nico woke to screaming. Or more specifically, Hazel’s scream. Hazel. His mind tried to focus on what she was saying, but the exhaustion made his mind work slower than a snail through honey.

“…supposed to be weak against it.” Hazel’s voice finally reached him. Her voice was trembling.

Another voice, much deeper, like a bass, came from somewhere way too close for Nico’s liking. “You were counting on that, eh? It is true I do not like fire. But Leo Valdez’s flames are not strong enough to trouble me.”

A soft lyrical voice then joined Hazel’s and the deep one. “What about my flames, old friend?”                                                       It asked, an excited accompanying it.

“You,” the deep voice said, a half-scared tone in his words.

“Me,” the female agreed. “It has been millennia since I fought at the side of a demigod, but Hazel Levesque has proved herself worthy. What do you say, Clytius? Shall we play with fire?”

Nico was trying his hardest to make the conversation make sense. Clytius must be the name of the deep voice, probably a giant, but who was the woman? Some sort of goddess… She said something about fire…

He was shaken out of his sluggish musings by the giant stomping the ground hard, making Nico’s head jump a bit up and crack hard against the stone floor he was lying on.

“Bold words,” Clytius said, but his voice had moved from beside Nico to somewhere farer away. “You forget, goddess. When we last met, you had the help of Hercules and Dionysus – the most powerful heroes in the world, both of them destined to become gods. Now you bring… these?”

“Stop it!” Hazel yelled, and Nico wanted so badly to come to her rescue, but he couldn’t move, couldn’t even feel his own body. He was trapped in his own head, only one of his senses working.

Suddenly, Nico felt himself dissolve and he panicked for a moment until he felt the ground under him again, a little different this time though… Wait, he could feel now? Tryingly, Nico wriggled his fingers and toes. Pain flared through his body, but he could move them, alright. He groaned lowly and heard Hazel’s surprised intake of breath.

“Wh-what…?” Leo’s confused voice sounded above him, and Nico reached out with his consciousness. There on the floor was Annabeth and Percy’s now well-known silhouettes, their life-forces glowing dimly, but alive. A little to Nico’s right was a dark-purple, short silhouette he instantly recognized as Hazel’s, even though her aura seemed changed somewhat. Beside her was a silhouette shining a too-brightly orange that had to be Leo. The figure Nico judged to be the goddess had a white and purple swirling aura shining like she was made up of a ton of compressed glitter. But the one that unsettled Nico the most was the black, almost shapeless one taking up most of the room.

The goddess voice sounded strong and confident when she answered the giant. “You’re right, Clytius. Hazel Levesque is not Hercules or Dionysus, but I think you will find her just as formidable.”

The too-bright silhouette groaned and sat up, rubbing its head. “What’s going on?” Leo’s voice sounded. “What can I–”

“Watch Nico, Percy and Annabeth,” Hazel interrupted as the sound of a sword being drawn echoing through the room. “Stay behind me. Stay in the Mist.”

Nico frowned at her words. Mist?

“But–” Hazel must have given Leo a pretty severe glare because he shut right up and gulped audibly. “Yeah, got it. White Mist good. Black smoke bad.”

Hazel’s purple silhouette moved into fighting stance. All around them, the stone that made up the room began shaking and the deep voice rung out, magnified a hundred times. “Formidable? Because the girl had learned your magic tricks, Hecate? Because you allow weaklings to hide in your Mist?”

Oh. The goddess was Hecate, master of magic and the Mist among other things. That made some of the earlier conversation make more sense. But what was it Clytius said about Hazel? She’d learned magic?!

Nico sensed a shift in the energy of the room and Nico felt the well-known presence of Stygian Iron – a sword five times the size of Nico’s own had just appeared in the giant’s hand.

“I do not understand why Gaea would find any of these demigods worthy of sacrifice. I will crush them like empty nutshells.”

Hazel’s mind suddenly flared red and she let out an outraged scream. The walls of the chamber made a crackling sound like ice in warm water, and a sound like a hundred guns firing at the same time echoed out through the stone. Clytius howled in pain in his disembodied voice. Under the entire rampage, Nico was able to hear the sound of something liquid hitting the floor, dripping off the black, smoky figure.

“You,” Clytius said, “you worthless–”

“Worthless?” Hecate repeated quietly, as in wonder. “I’d say Hazel Levesque knows a few tricks even I couldn’t teach her.”

The giant shifted a bit, then tossed something aside. “So, daughter of Pluto,” he rumbled, “do you really believe Hecate has your interests at heart? Circe was a favorite of hers. And Medea. And Pasiphaë. How did they end up, eh?”

Beside Nico, the two others began to stir, Percy quietly calling Bob’s name and Annabeth groaning in pain.

Clytius stepped forward, his sword casually at his side, but Nico could sense the strike the giant could make with a single motion of his hand. Fast and deadly. Just as his next words, “Hecate will not tell you the truth. She sends acolytes like you to do her bidding and take all the risk. If by some miracle you incapacitate me, only then will she be able to set me on fire. Then she will claim the glory of the kill. You heard how Bacchus dealt with the Alodai twins in the Coliseum. Hecate is worse. She is a Titan who betrayed the Titans. Then she betrayed the gods. Do you really think she will keep faith with you?”

Nico remembered what Kelli had told her fellow empousai, that the ways of Hecate was unclear and she expected them to choose their own ways. He hoped his sister would choose her fate wisely.

“I cannot answer his accusations, Hazel,” the goddess said with a toneless voice. “This is your crossroads. You must choose.”

“Yes,” Clytius laughed, “crossroads. Hecate offers you obscurity, choices, vague promises of magic. I am the anti-Hecate. I will give you the truth. I will eliminate choices and magic. I will strip away the Mist, once and for all, and show you the world in all its true horror.”

Nico couldn’t even begin to imagine how much chaos that would ensue. Leo seemed to agree, because when he, wheezing like an asthmatic, came to his feet, coughing, he said, “I’m loving this guy. Seriously, we should keep him around for inspirational seminars.” When Leo then lit his hands on fire, Nico was able to see the flames licking around his fingers, the light of his aura set ablaze. Leo’s fire was a part of his life force, his soul. Huh. Impressive. “Or,” he continued, “I could just light him up.”

Hazel stopped him. “Leo, no. My father’s temple. My call.”

“Yeah, okay. But–”

“Hazel…” Annabeth wheezed beside Nico, and would have made him jump at least five feet in the air if he’d had the energy. “The chains…”

Nico heard his sister intake a sharp breath and knew she’d understood. Good, then he didn’t need to waste any energy in formulating words or moving his tongue. Perfect.

“You can’t seriously believe you have the strength,” Clytius chided. “What will you do, Hazel Levesque – pelt me with more rubies? Shower me with sapphires?”

Hazel didn’t even wait a second with her answer – she charged headfirst at the giant with her sword raised. Nico wondered if she’d managed to surprise the giant or if Clytius just was real slow in his reflexes. He guessed on the first one. His brave sister ducked between the giant’s legs before he’d even swung his sword. And then she did something that made Nico both respect and fear her even more – she drove her sword right into his gluteus maximus. He winced on behalf of Clytius, who was now howling in pain and agony.

Hazel then sprinted towards the Doors of Death and cut one of the chains, shattering it completely. But when she lunged to the right for the other, Clytius yelled “NO!” at the same time as Nico.

The giant had lashed out with his sword and smacked Hazel like he was hitting a homerun, directly into the nearest stonewall with a sickening crack of bones.

Leo screamed her name, exploding in fire.

Hazel was struggling to her feet, but Nico could tell she was close to losing consciousness. If it’d been under any other circumstances, he’d have rushed to her side and made her lie down.

“Clytius!” she tried to shout, but her voice was barely able to get past her lips. Clytius did hear her nonetheless and turned away from Leo.

“A good try, Hazel Levesque,” he said, maybe a bit impressed, “You did better than I anticipated. But magic alone cannot defeat me, and you do not have the sufficient strength. Hecate has failed you, as she fails all of her followers in the end.”

Hecate’s silhouette was flickering, as if not sure if she should stay or not, which made Nico boil with anger on behalf of his sister. Her torches were in hand, Nico guessed, judging by the way her arms were held.

Meanwhile, Leo was trying to force-feed Percy some ambrosia, but he was still clean out, and Annabeth was a groaning mess, barely able to hold her own head aloft.

Finally Hazel made her move, throwing her sword like a dart-arrow. But not at the giant. At the Doors of Death. She must have hit the last chain perfectly, because it splintered into a million pieces, which all fell to the ground in such a harmonious way that left Nico a bit awestruck. The Doors shuttered and disappeared with a rumble.

Clytius roared so loudly that half a dozen stelae fell from the ceiling and shattered.

“That was for my brother, Nico,” Hazel gasped. “And for destroying my father’s altar.”

“You have forfeited you right to a quick death,” Clytius snarled at her, gripping his sword. “I will suffocate you in darkness, slowly, painfully. Hecate cannot help you. NO ONE can help you!”

Hecate raised her torches. “I would not be so certain, Clytius. Hazel’s friends simply needed a little time to reach her – time you have given them with your boasting and bragging.”

Clytius snorted. “What friends? These weaklings? They are no challenge.”

But Nico knew what the goddess was talking about. He could see their life forces. They were here. The three missing pieces of the Seven.

Hazel wept in relief at the sight of her friends – Nico was happy too, but that was more for tactical reasons than anything else. He didn’t know these people all that well anyways.

“Sorry we’re late,” Jason, the blond superman with the sky-blue aura, said. “Is this the guy who needs killing?”

Nico winced. He actually did feel a bit bad for Clytius at the moment. First Hazel piercing his junk, then this: Leo shooting fire at his legs, Frank and Piper running around him and attacking everything they could reach, and Jason flying around his head and kicking him in the face.

Nico struggled to his feet to help, taking care of the black mist trying to take over his friends. He realized his blade could suck in the energy from the veil, like a vacuum machine.

Clytius was struggling to choose which of them to try to kill first. “Wait! Hold still! No! Ouch!”

When Nico’d sucked up all of the black mist that protected Clytius, leaving the giant with only his battered armor as defense, he staggered back to where Annabeth was now standing. Together they watched as the others took nicely care of the giant. Jason placed a roundhouse kick in Clytius chest, making the giant stagger backwards and his chest plate shatter.

“And so it ends,” Hecate declared.

Chapter Text

Nico’s POV

Clytius’ voice echoed through the stone chamber. “It does not end. My brethren have risen. Gaea waits only for the blood of Olympus. It took all of you together to defeat me. What will you do when the Earth Mother opens her eyes?”

Hecate turned her fists upside down and thrust them at Clytius’ head as if she was holding a pair of daggers. The giant screamed in pain and the room quickly heated up. Nico guessed Hecate had set fire to the giant, judging by everything.

Clytius fell face-first to the ground without another sound, his life-force exploding outwards in a burst of glitter and fleeing into the ground.

Everyone was silent, waiting for something to happen. Nico could hear the others’ breathing, most of them ragged and painful. His sister’s life force was flickering from exhaustion, nothing too serious, but Nico knew she could pass out any moment now.

Hecate faced her. “You should go now, Hazel Levesque. Lead your friends out of this place.”

Nico could tell Hazel was angry with the goddess. He had to admit, he was too.

“Just like that? No ‘thank you’? No ‘good work’?”

Hecate tilted her head and regarded the fuming girl before her. “You look in the wrong place for gratitude,” Hecate told her. “As for ‘good work’, that remains to be seen. Speed your way to Athens. Clytius was not wrong. The giants have risen – all of them, stronger than ever. Gaea is on the very edge of waking. The Feast of Hope will be poorly named unless you arrive to stop her.” The chamber rumbled again, and another stele crashed to the floor. “The House of Hades is unstable,” Hecate told them, like it wasn’t completely obvious. “Leave now. Till we meet again, Hazel.” With that, the goddess dissolved.

“She’s seemed friendly,” Percy grumbled, coming to his feet. “What did I miss?”

Everyone in the room turned towards him, Annabeth and Nico, as if just now really realizing that they were here.

“Dude!” Jason’s silver-blue aura threw itself at Percy to give him a huge bear hug.

“Back from Tartarus!” Leo whooped, his silhouette blazing. “That’s my peeps!”

Piper’s soft pink figure threw her arms around Annabeth’s neck and wept quietly. Frank’s glowing red figure ran to Hazel’s side and gently hugged her, talking quietly to her.

Basically, Nico felt alone, left out, conflicted and sad.

Until Hazel noticed him and all but dragged Frank with over to him, her arms instantly around him, like a comforting shield. Suddenly Nico couldn’t keep it together anymore, and he burst into tears of stress and relief and joy of being back with his sister. Hazel was patting his hair, mumbling reassuring nonsense in his ear.

Then suddenly the roof started to rumble even louder, cracks appearing all over the walls, and the demigods hustled together to help each other avoid the falling stelae and rocks.

“Frank?” Jason asked. “Can they help…?”

Frank shook his head. “I think I’ve used of my quota of favours from the dead for today.”

Both Hazel and Nico stared incredulously at him. “Wait, what?”

Piper raised her eyebrows. “Your unbelievable boyfriend called in a favour as a child of Mars. He summoned a legion of dead warriors to help us defeat the monster army and then lead us to you through… um, well, I’m not sure actually. The passages of the dead? All I know is that it was very, very dark.”

To their left, a section of the wall split. Something popped out from the wall and rolled across the floor.

“We have to shadow-travel,” Hazel said, regret in her voice.

Nico winced. “Hazel, I can barely manage that with only myself. With seven more people…”

“I’ll help you.” His sister sounded so confident, Nico wanted to cry again. Instead he kept himself together and nodded solemnly.

An entire section of the tiles peeled loose from the ceiling. They had to hurry.

“Everyone, grab hands!” Nico yelled and grabbed the two people nearest him. “Hazel, visualize where we are going. Now!”

He pulled at the shadows and he felt them dissolve into the darkness.

Annabeth’s POV

All of Annabeth’s senses were attacked as they re-emerged from the shadow-realm. The rising sun was blinding her eyes. The cool breeze was filled with a thousand smells. The sounds of a thousand cicadas and birds vibrated her eardrums. All in all, Annabeth was overwhelmed and thrilled. How long had it been since she’d been outside in the sun? It was back in Rome, before she’d ventured underground to find Arachne.

Annabeth wanted to cry. She was alive. She had both Percy and Nico with her, alive and well–

The two boys, whose hands she’d just been holding, both sank to the ground, out cold from exhaustion. Nico had just used up his last reservoir of energy on getting them all to safety, and Percy from having gotten the Curse of Achilles back. Holding on to that much power cost him greatly. Annabeth could still remember finding him in a chair under the Titan War, his head dangling over the edge of it, completely out cold.

Smiling at the memory, Annabeth sat down and rearranged her boys to lie more comfortably, then began carting her fingers through their black hair. When asleep, she could really see the family resemblance their fathers also shared.

Hazel sat down on the other side of Nico, a worried frown on her face. “I know Nico just used up the last of his energy on shadow traveling, but … what’s with Percy?” She was asking hesitantly, as if afraid that there was something really wrong with him.

“Got the Curse of Achilles back. Don’t worry, it just drains his energy a lot.” Annabeth smiled fondly down at the boy. He was already drooling on her. “He’ll be back on his feet in a twelve hour’s time.”

Hazel nodded with wide eyes. “That’s an awful lot of sleep…”

Annabeth laughed. It felt good to laugh again.

The others joined them on the ground then, Piper cuddling up to Annabeth from behind, Jason sitting on Percy’s other side, Frank beside Hazel, and Leo between Jason and Frank.

“Wait, the Curse of Achilles?” Jason said suddenly. “Isn’t that the one where he basically turns invincible? Which can only be achieved through a dip in the Styx?”

Annabeth nodded. “This time, it was more of a shower, though. He popped this vein–” Annabeth’s voice caught in her throat. A pair of silver eyes flashed before her, and she could feel the tears burning. “You know what, that’s a story for another day – I can’t – I’m not ready to relive it just yet.”

The others looked amazed and scared at her, but still nodded in understanding. It had to be a cruel place if it could bring her to tears just thinking about it. Piper tightened her arms around Annabeth’s waist and nuzzled her neck with her nose.

After a moment of silence, Hazel suddenly turned around in Frank’s arms and stared up at her boyfriend. “Wait a minute, down in the cave; a legion of dead warriors?! What in all of Asphodel did I miss out on?”

Frank blushed and began stuttering. Luckily for him, or not, Jason came to his rescue. “Frank here just did the most awesome thing I’ve ever seen a demigod do–”

“Shu-shut up!” Frank’s face turned even redder. “It wasn’t that awesome, really. Nothing compared to killing a Titan by yourself, or–”

“Don’t listen to him,” Piper chimed in, “Frank’s just being modest.”

“Thanks, Piper,” Jason nodded and then continued, “as I was trying to say, Hazel and Leo had just disappeared into the tunnel and the monster army was getting bigger and bigger. Even with the three of us, we didn’t stand that big of a chance, though we did a pretty good job, if I should say so myself. Oh, well, back to the point. Frank was changing shape like five times a second and then he suddenly began to glow a really bright red.

"Suddenly the ground began churning, and I thought, well, shit, now they get undead reinforcements, but turns out they were reinforcement for us. Frank called in a favour from Mars and BAM! An army of undead soldiers come to his aid. But Frank with only being centurion and me being ‘too Greek’, most of them wouldn’t listen to our commands, so I resigned my office and field-promoted Frank to praetor… I hope Percy doesn’t mind.”

Annabeth waved her hand. “If he does, I’ll talk to him. But I’m positive he doesn’t,” she told Jason, on the same time as Hazel again turned to her boyfriend.

“Praetor?” Hazel asked incredulous. Frank nodded hesitantly. “Well, yeah… I know it seems weird, but–”

Hazel shut him up with a kiss. “It seems perfect.”

Beside them, Leo grinned. “Way to go, Zhang. Now you can order Octavian to fall on his sword.”

“Tempting,” Frank agreed with a grin. “But now tell me, what happened with you?”

And Leo launched out in an extreme retelling on their epic match against Pasiphaë with Hazel interjecting and correcting him, when he went too much off track.

Just when they reached to the point where Clytius had used Annabeth and Percy as puppets, Annabeth glanced to the side and blinked.

“Guys, I think our ride is here,” she interrupted, and pointed into the sky where the Argo II was veering to port, its aerial oars in motion, its sails catching the wind.

Festus’s head glinted in the sunlight, and Annabeth’s mouth stretched into a grin. Even from this distance, she could hear him creaking and clanking in jubilation.

“That’s my boy!” Leo yelled and got to his feet.

As the ship got closer, Annabeth recognized the satyr at the prow, waving his club at them in greeting.

“About time!” Coach Hedge yelled down. “What took you so long, cupcakes? You kept your visitor waiting!”

“Visitor?” Hazel murmured.

At the rail next to Coach Hedge, a dark-haired girl appeared wearing a purple cloak, her face so covered in soot and bloody scratches that Annabeth didn’t recognize her for a second. Then her face split in an even bigger grin.

Reyna had arrived.

Chapter Text

Percy’s POV

When he woke up, Percy was confused at first. Where was he?

Then he remembered: they’d been saved. They were with the others. He’d passed out from exhaustion just as they’d arrived on the hillside. Judging from the whiteness of his covers and the smell of medicine and herbs, he was in the infirmary. He looked around. Yup, this was sure the infirmary on the Argo II – but he wasn’t as alone as he’d believed at first. On the bed next to his lay Nico, still sleeping. Between their beds sat Annabeth, one of her hands gently carting though Nico’s hair, the other holding his own.

Percy was just about to greet her when a yawn overtook him – though that got her attention just as well. She smirked down at him and said in the cheekiest way possible, “You drool in your sleep.”

He couldn’t help it – he burst out laughing. It felt so good to be laughing again, even though it wasn’t as whole-heartedly as his laugh normally was. He himself could hear the sad edge in his voice.

As Annabeth leaned down to kiss his forehead, Percy asked, “How long was I out?”

“Longer than normally,” Annabeth grinned. There was a tired sadness there too. “About fifteen hours, I think.”

“Then I better understand why my stomach is growling so loudly!” Percy complained and sat up. “Is there anything to eat?”

“Leo actually just called to dinner on the deck. Let’s wake up Nico and join the others.” Annabeth stood with a smile and released his hand.

“Ahead of you,” a tired voice sounded from behind her. Percy got to his feet too and rustled up in Nico’s hair.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like I could use a few more hours of sleep,” Nico admitted with a tiny smile.

“Me too,” Percy agreed, then held a hand out for him to take. “Join us for dinner?”

Nico hesitated a bit, but only for a moment. He gripped Percy’s hand tightly and used his other hand to feel for the edge of the bed. His face was still marred from the claws of the hellhound, but the scars were healing up nicely. Four thin parallel red lines were going from left side of his forehead to the right side of his chin.

Annabeth grabbed Nico’s other hand and together they silently guided him through the Argo II. Percy wanted so badly to ask him how he felt, and how his eyes were, if they were hurting or itching or anything, but he knew Nico wouldn’t like it. He would tell them if he needed anything. Right now, they would just lend him strength and comfort and let him take everything in it’s own time.

They were just about to reach the stairs for the deck when Nico stopped up. He wasn’t looking at any of them but at his shoes, scuffing the floorboards with his right shoe shout. “I…” he began, then took a deep breath. “I just wanted to tell you, before we reach the others… that um, I’ve been very thankful for your help. Both of you. And…” Nico’s breath hitched and Percy squeezed his hand comfortingly. “And I know you both care for me, and I really appreciate it and I wanted to tell you that I care really much for you too... So… Thank you. For all.” When it was clear Nico’d gotten everything out, both Annabeth and Percy brought him in for a tight hug.

“We should be thanking you too, Nico,” Annabeth said in a soft voice.

Percy grinned. “Seriously, you are freaking amazing, dude. Getting through would have been so much more difficult without you. Plus,” Percy tightened his grip and planted a light kiss to Nico’s forehead, “having you by our side really was a motivator to keep fighting.”

Nico’s face was so red, Percy absentmindedly wondered if he was getting a fever, but Annabeth just giggled and gave Nico a quick kiss on his cheek, which just darkened further.

Percy, who always spoke without thinking, commented, “You look really cute when you’re blushing,” which of course made Nico blush even more. Annabeth laughed and agreed. Nico just ducked his head in embarrassment, hiding in their embrace. “Please stop,” he muttered quietly, but Percy could hear the smile in his voice. “My cheeks feel like they’re burning up.”

Laughing, Annabeth pulled back a little and slung her arm across Nico’s shoulder with a, “Come on, dorks, the others are waiting,” and the boys followed her up the stairs.

When they emerged, the others immediately greeted them. They were sitting in a circle on the floor of the deck, a red-and-white patterned cloth spread out under them and loads of food stacked in the middle.

“Nice to see you back on your feet, Jackson, di Angelo,” a familiar voice greeted them and Percy stopped up, surprised. Before him was Reyna standing, only wearing a purple t-shirt and jeans, which made it hard for Percy to recognize her. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her without her armour or praetor cape before, now he thought about it. In her casual clothes, she looked almost… approachable.

Beside him, Nico blinked, seemingly a bit surprised too, but inclined his head with a respectful, “Reyna. It’s good to see you too.”

Percy grinned. “Yeah, it is! So you got Annabeth’s message?”

The praetor nodded with an impressed glance at Annabeth. “Yes. That was very clever thinking. And if I understood your oracle correctly, then I must bring that back to your camp?” She gestured to the Athena Parthenos, who was standing on the ground beside the ship, scowling. Percy felt like that scowl was directed at him.

Nico nodded, as if he’d read Percy’s thoughts and said, “Would make sense.”

Percy glanced confused at him, to see if it was actually directed at him, but Nico was just looking ahead, not really minding anything.

Then Leo spoke up, interrupting Percy’s musings. “As nice as it is to see you reunite and all that, I’ve made you food, so please come and eat!”

Percy chuckled and led Nico to the blanket on the deck and helped him sit down. Annabeth sat down between Nico and Reyna and picked up a sandwich for Nico, which he gratefully took.

Crawling over to them, Hazel placed a careful hand on her brother’s cheek. “Hey, big brother. How are you feeling?”

She didn’t mention anything about the scars crossing Nico’s face or how close he was sitting to both Annabeth and Percy. Percy briefly wondered how much Annabeth had told the others.

Nico shrugged, a small smile on his lips, though it was laced with pain. “Everything considered, I could have been off worse. Though I’m not optimistic enough to say I’m fine, but I’m quite sure I will be.” Nico paused, seemingly to gather his courage. Percy squeezed his hand in comfort and began drawing circles on his palm with his thumb. “Hazel, you should know… This” – he gestured to his face, tears forming in his eyes – “means that I… I’ve lost…” Deep breath. “Hazel, I can’t see.”

Tears formed in Hazel’s eyes too, and soon the Underworld siblings were both crying and hugging each other. Percy knew it had taken a lot of courage from Nico to say it out loud, and that the siblings needed a little space, so he moved a little away, not enough for Nico to be unable to reach out for him, but long enough away to not be touching him constantly.

When he’d made sure they both were okay, Percy gave a little smile to Annabeth across the top of Nico’s head and picked up a sandwich for himself.

Before long, he’d inhaled at least ten, and everyone but Annabeth and Nico was staring at him in shock when his stomach was still rumbling, and he asked for more.

Hazel, who’d cuddled up in Nico’s lap after they’d both calmed a bit down, Nico playing with her hair and nipping to his sandwich, asked him how he could possibly eat this much.

Percy just shrugged. “Having the curse of Achilles is costing a lot of energy. I need fuel.”

“The curse of who now?” Reyna asked in astonishment beside him. The others stared at him in confusion or amazement too. Even Coach Hedge had gotten his head out of the picnic basket to listen.

“Achilles,” Percy repeated calmly, picking up a taco and munching it down in three bites.

“You– You what? Achilles?! The curse of– You?!” the satyr seemed so baffled that Percy had to smile.

“Yup,” Percy agreed.

“Uh…” Leo raised his hand. “What is this Achilles’ curse thingy? Annabeth mentioned it earlier too, but didn't care elaborate...”

Annabeth glared half-heartedly at him, but smiled then and placed her glass on the floor, beginning to explain. “The curse of Achilles is what happens to you, if you, with the right preparations, are dunked into the River of Styx. The symptoms of the curse are increased needs to eat and sleep, recklessness, increased strength and almost complete invulnerability.”

Percy frowned. “Recklessness?”

Shrugging, Annabeth amended, “Okay, maybe it’s just you, but I would still say so, yes.”

Thinking about it, Percy could see what she meant. “Yeah, okay. Perhaps.”

“Wait, wait wait,” Jason said, holding up his hands in a timeout signal. “Hold up. Dunked into the Styx?! Invulnerability?! What?!”

“Jason, breathe,” Piper said, placing a hand on his chest. “One question at a time.”

Percy just waved his hand. “Don’t worry, Grace. It just means I’m even better than you. No seriously, there’s no need to worry, I’ve had the curse before.”

“Wait, what?” Frank asked. “You’ve bathed in the Styx twice?”

“Yeah, though the first time was planned. This time, not really. But having the curse means I can’t go to Camp Jupiter without loosing it, it being a Greek curse and all. Or, that’s what Juno told me the last time, before I lost the curse.”

“The gorgons,” Hazel remembered. “That’s how you survived that long.”

“Yeah, that was a fun road trip, neither of us being able to really kill each other, just chasing through the country without any memories. That was good times, eh?” Percy grinned. “When Frank still looked like a teddy bear.”

Frank blushed as the others laughed good-naturedly.

“What even happened to you, Frank?” Annabeth asked.

“It was nothing, really,” Frank said dismissively, but Leo, who was sitting beside him, smacked his arm.

“Shut up and tell what actually happened,” he chided. And so Frank told about how he and Hazel had ventured Venice to look for a black house and about the poisonous cows and the crazy grain god, who needed a snake.

When he finished telling about the fight on the bridge against an army of cows, Percy whistled loudly.

“’It was nothing really’, huh?” Percy grinned, making Frank blush again.

Then Nico spoke up, surprising most of the others, “Frank, you should never think less of yourself or your powers. It will only end up badly. Take this advice from someone, who knows from experience.”

Silence spread among them, everyone considering Nico’s words.

Nico himself didn’t seem to like the silence, so to save him from the awkward silence, Percy faked a yawn that quickly turned real. “On that note, I will go back to my room.”

He lightly tapped Nico’s hand and he nodded in response.

“You can sleep in my room,” Percy offered, though Hazel quickly offered the same, so it wouldn't seem like Nico didn't have a choice.

“Thank you, Hazel,” Nico said and kissed her forehead. “But I think I’ll stay with Percy. Don’t worry, okay?” He leaned in and whispered something in her ear. Hazel nodded and kissed his cheek, then let him go and cuddled back up to Frank. Percy then took Nico’s hand and led him downstairs with a last glance at Annabeth, who nodded to him with a smile.

Chapter Text

Nico’s POV

Even though Nico knew Percy hadn’t been in his room in gods know how long, it still smelled so much like him – sea, salt and warm memories, with a hint of chocolate. Nico had been in here only once, on their way to save Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper back at the Coliseum, but he felt like he knew the room as if he’d grown up here. Or, well, he guessed that was what it felt like, but he couldn’t actually be sure since he hadn’t really ever had a place where he’d actually grown up.

Italy was a candidate, but seeing as he could barely remember anything about it, he didn’t really feel like it counted.

Otherwise there was the Lotus Casino, which was just one big NO. And then the military school he’d attended in Maine for about two or three months. Or his very short stay at the Hermes Cabin at Camp Half-Blood. And then there was the Underworld, but, well... That place had its own reasons to not being qualified to be called 'home' for anyone else than the dead, and maybe a couple of daimons.

He’d never actually had a home, Nico realized. Ever since he left Italy, he’d never had a place to call home, not really.

Nico didn’t notice the tears were forming in his eyes before a soft hand wiped them off his cheek.

“Hey,” Percy said in a warm, caring voice, “hey, why are you crying?”

Strong arms circled Nico’s waist and ribcage, and Percy pulled him in to an embrace. He instantly felt more at ease. Warm, protected. Suddenly everything that had happened since his last visit in Camp Jupiter crashed over him in an emotional tide, and the tears began flowing. Nico buried his face in Percy’s shirt and wept. Wept for the hurt, the pain, the relief, the anger, everything he’d bunched up inside him. He was weeping a lot these days, he mused in the back of his mind.

Percy began stroking his hair, murmuring nothings in his ear and just held him tight and let Nico cry as much as he wanted and needed to.

Nico must've dozed off while crying, because when the tears finally subsided, they were lying down on the bed, Percy with his back against the wall and embracing Nico, who was lying with his face hidden at the crook of Percy’s neck, their legs tangled up in each other. Percy must’ve carried him to the bed without Nico noticing.

He lay still, enjoying the quiet sound of Percy’s snores and the reassuring movement of his chest rising and falling, watching the pulsation of Percy’s soul at his heart. He vaguely wondered what time of the day it was, but abandoned the thought quickly – he didn’t want to think about what would happen when it was time to get up. As nice as it was, this breathing room would come to an end, and they would have to face the fact that Gaea was still on the loose and the war between the camps was still on the brink of happening.

“You’re awake,” Percy suddenly whispered, startling Nico. “How are you?”

Nico closed his eyes again and snuggled closer to Percy and retorted softly, “warm.”

Percy chuckled and tightened his arms around him. They lay in silence for a moment, just relishing in each other’s embrace, when Percy spoke again.

“But really, are you okay?” He pulled a bit away to look at Nico’s face, his hand coming up to caress Nico’s cheek. “What happened yesterday?”

Nico’s face flushed a bit. “It’s really stupid actually…” he whispered, his eyes drifting from the glowing outline of Percy’s face back down to his heart.

“I bet it can’t compete with some of the stupid things I’ve done through the years,” Percy lightly joked, earning a small breath of laughter from Nico. That moron.

“Uhm… It’s just…” Nico had no idea how to formulate the feeling from yesterday. What had he been crying about, anyways? “There’s so much going on… and… and…” and suddenly it all just came rushing out of him, all of the pain and confusing feelings he’d juggled with in way too long time, “And I’ve never actually felt at home anywhere until when we came down here and I realized that even though I’ve only been in here once, I just felt at home here with you and it has actually nothing to do with the room but more with you because I like you in a way that boys shouldn’t like other boys but I like you like that even from when I first saw you because you where Mythomagic come to life and at that time it was probably only a silly hero crush because I was star struck and I thought you could do anything so I made you promise to take care of Bianca but then you obviously couldn’t because you are only human and I was so confused because I wanted so badly to hate you but I couldn’t and I ran away then just before I had the chance to really feel at home at camp and I was back to running around and having nowhere to go and I still wanted so badly to hate you but then you went and helped me and I could hate you even less and I then just began hating myself more and projecting that onto you instead but even though I had convinced myself I hated you I still came running when I heard you where in danger because I'm weak and stupid and when I heard you’d disappeared after the war I couldn’t stop coming up with all these worst case scenarios until I stumbled upon Camp Jupiter and I found Hazel and she helped me take my mind off things for a little and then you just randomly show up without memories and my dad warned me not to tell you about yourself but I wanted to so badly, Percy, but I couldn’t and then you seemed to recognize me and I hoped that we could start over and maybe if you didn’t remember Annabeth… we could have become more… and…”

The words died out then, and Nico realized he’d just rambled for a long time about the biggest of his secrets, and oh my f–.

Nico’s mind went blank when his chin was suddenly turned upwards and Percy’s lips crashed into his. It was only when Percy pulled away that Nico’s mind began reeling again, and his inner ramble started up in full speed. Ohmygodsohmygodsohmyfuckinggods, Percy Fucking Jackson just kissed me, oh my gods, what, what just happened, I can’t believe it, oh my gods, I–

“Stop thinking so much, Nico,” Percy said, but Nico could hear the cheeky smile that was gracing his lips and voice.

“You just kissed me.” No shit, Nico. He mentally deadpanned over himself.

“Nice observation.”

“Why?” because Nico could really not fathom that.

“For a couple of reasons, actually,” Percy said, smile still in his voice, but sounding a bit more tender than before. “One, because you were adorable and I wanted to. Two, because you really seemed like you needed some kind of reassuring, and three, to tell you that I like you too. A lot.”

Staring stupidly at Percy’s face, Nico’s mind went in circles, questions and exclamations tumbling over each other. Percy Freaking Jackson likes me. A lot. What the hell? Am I still sleeping? No, I know when I dream. But this can’t be real, either. Maybe Hypnos high-jacked my mind and is now messing with me? Maybe Aphrodite paid him to do it. But what if this IS real? Could Percy really like me? And so on, but none of this came over Nico’s lips. Instead, what he blurted out was, “What about Annabeth?” and internally winced. He had to ruin his chances completely. Now Percy would realize he’d just fucking kissed Nico and throw him out of there and go find his amazing girlfriend and maybe they’ll argue because did Percy kiss someone else, but they’d make up (and probably out) and everything would go back to the way it was before and Nico would be heartbroken again and–

“Well…” Percy’s voice tore him out of his panicked thoughts. “I actually spoke to her about this when she came down to check on us after you’d fallen asleep… And uhm… Nico, I really like you. Like, I might have fallen in love with you…”

Nico was dumbstruck to say at least. He could only stare at Percy as he kept talking.

“–I still love Annabeth and all, of course–”

Of. Fucking. Course. Of course he still loves her and chooses her over you, you dumbass, Nico! He’d never break up with her for you.

“But when I told her, she agreed. Like, that she likes you too. And, uhm… I should probably have waited to tell you this until–”

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Nico wanted to scream in frustration. Tell me what?! Percy made absolutely no sense! And what had he said about Annabeth? That she… likes me too? What?

“Who’s there?” Percy asked, and as if called, Annabeth poked her head inside, her grey aura glittering.

“Ah, good, you’re awake. Is Nico still sleeping?” she asked quietly as she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

Nico almost wanted to pretend to still be sleeping, but turned onto his back to face her with a small smile, shaking his head.

Walking over to sit on the edge of the bed, she leaned down and kissed Percy’s forehead, and then Nico’s, tenderly brushing some of his hair out of his face. “How are you? Does the scars hurt?”

Nico closed his eyes, overwhelmed by how affectionate her touch was.

“No, they’re fine… thank you," he said, blushing a bit as he pushed himself up into sitting position, back against the headboard.

“Hey, Annabeth,” Percy said gently, pushing himself up on his elbow. “Nico and I were just about to talk about… you know, the thing we talked about last night.”

“Oh.” Annabeth moved a bit, getting more comfortable, then asked, “How much have you told yet?”

“I was just about to tell him of our proposal.”

Nico could hear Percy’s smile, but he was a bit unnerved by his words. His blind eyes flitted between the two glowing shades with him. “What proposal?”

Clearing her throat a bit, Annabeth took the word. “Nico, after everything we’ve been through the last couple of days, Percy and I realized that we both really like you. And we wanted to hear if you’d want to be a part of our relationship.”

“And it’s completely all right if you say no,” Percy added, not quite hiding the disappointment tinting his voice. “But of course we would prefer if you said yes.”

“And we don’t need an answer right now either, “Annabeth continued, and Nico was surprised to her nervousness in her voice. “We want you to be sure of your answer before, and we completely get that it’s a lot to get thrown in the face this early in the morning, so…”

Nico had no idea of what to do or say. The Golden Freaking Couple was asking him to join their relationship?!

“Wha… what do you mean by ‘be a part of’?” Nico asked in a small voice, not daring to hope, though it was also laced with anxiety.

“Like, be our boyfriend.” Percy said and reached out and fingered with the edge of Nico’s t-shirt, not being one to sit still for long.

Boyfriend. The word circled around in Nico’s mind, echoing in the blank space in there. Boyfriend. Percy and Annabeth want me to be their boyfriend.

“I…” Nico had no idea what to answer. Percy and Annabeth both like me. They want to be in a relationship with me. Then something hit him like a ton of bricks and he almost wanted to cry.

It must’ve shown on his face, because both Annabeth and Percy began scrambling over each other in their eagerness to console him and make sure he knew that they would never want to pressure him into anything and that they probably should have chosen another time to throw a bomb like this on him.

“You really don’t have to answer now, Nico, and you can also just say no if you really don’t want to,” Annabeth said, making a move to get up from the bed and leave, but Nico, even in his confused state of mind, was quick enough to grab her hand.

“Don’t leave. Please,” he said in a really small voice. Annabeth settled back down, and both of them shut up, nervously watching him, waiting for him to say something more.

“I…” Nico swallowed dryly. “It’s just that…”

He couldn’t say it. To admit it out loud? It would be one of the hardest things he had ever done and would probably ever do.

He took a deep breath. In and out. In and out.

“I… like both of you too… but… I’m…”

He could practically feel their anxiety of what he’d say next.

He couldn’t say it.

Admitting it out loud would make it real.

How do other people admit such a thing?

It was barely more than a breath, but to Nico, he could just as well have been shouting it at the top of his lungs.

“I’m gay.”

It was out. He’d said it out loud.

He’d said it out loud.

“Oh…” Annabeth’s shoulder slumped together in defeat.

“But,” Percy said, sounding confused, and Nico’s whole body was tense in what was to come. “What do you mean by liking the both of us then?”

Nico blinked. He had somehow not anticipated that question, though he probably should have instead of things like, ‘what? You like boys? What the hell is wrong with you?!’ and the likes. Especially when their proposal would mean that Percy likes boys as well…

“I… am not really sure,” he answered, his voice still very quiet. “I, um… Just don’t find, you know, uhm…” Nico could feel his cheeks heating up at the prospect of saying what he was about to say. “Boobs and such… very… appealing…”

“But you still like me?” Annabeth asked, and Nico’s eyes flickered to her face.

What should he say? What did he even feel? Why must feelings always be this confusing…?

He decided just to say the first thing to come to his mind: “Yes. But I don’t know how or anything, and everything is just so confusing and–”

“Shush,” Percy said and sat up, taking Nico's hand. Nico waited for him to continue, nervousness gnawing in his stomach.

He didn’t, but Annabeth did. “Okay, so, ignoring that for a second, what would you say if it was only Percy asking? Theoretically speaking.”

Nico blinked. “Yes.” He answered without hesitation, then blushed bright red. “Sorry, I–”

“No need to apologize,” Annabeth interrupted him. Was it just Nico or did it sound like she was smiling? “I had kind of figured that out before.”

Percy chuckled and scooted a bit closer to Nico, speaking up. “And if Annabeth had been a boy? Would you then have said yes?”

Hesitantly, Nico nodded. “I guess so, yeah.”

“And, hypothetically speaking,” Annabeth continued, “would you be all right with me kissing you? Like, if I were to kiss you right now, would you be okay with that?”

That one was more difficult. Would he be okay with kissing Annabeth?

“I guess… Yeah... Yeah, I would.” Nico became more and more sure. He would like to at least give it a try. And he liked Annabeth. Like, like liked. Or something.

“And hugs? Cuddles?” she asked, scooting closer and taking his other hand.

Nico nodded slowly, then more surely. He could practically see Annabeth’s cheeks widen.

“Good. Would you like that? To be in a relationship with us on those premises?”

Both of them were gradually coming closer, and Nico could feel his body tingling in anticipation.

“Yes.”

One little word. That was all it took.

“Yes.”

How could he say anything else?

“Yes.”

Both Percy and Annabeth radiated happiness as they both surged forward and enveloped him in a hug that took his breath away. He could feel their smiles against his skin, Percy cuddled up on his left, his face pressed into the nape of his neck, and Annabeth on his right, her nose burrowed in his hair.

“We are very happy to hear you say that,” Percy muttered, his lips ghosting lightly over Nico’s jaw, sending shivers down his back.

Annabeth pulled a bit back to look at him, placing a light hand on his chin. “May I kiss you?”

Her careful tone and the affection laced in her voice made Nico feel a bit overwhelmed, but he nodded anyways, already closing his eyes in anticipation.

Annabeth’s lips were a lot softer than Percy’s, and their kiss were a lot more careful and tender, slow and steady, and Nico felt himself melting into it. He’d never kissed anyone before, so he had no idea what the hell to do, but Annabeth just took control, gently guiding him.

All too soon, she began to pull back and Nico couldn’t help himself leaning forward with her. She giggled lightly and Nico felt his cheeks heating up again with embarrassment as he reopened his eyes. Though, he didn’t have much time to feel embarrassed because Percy began kissing down his neck and when he found a particularly sensitive spot, all other thoughts fled Nico’s mind and he did not at all let out a tiny whine. Not at all.

“Percy,” Annabeth scolded teasingly. “Play nice.”

Pulling back, Percy chuckled lightly. “Okay, okay. Sorry.” He leaned up and kissed Nico’s cheek. “We must wait with that to some other time then.”

Annabeth slapped his arm, and then they both settled down on each side of Nico, pulling him down so they were all lying down, and slinging their arms around his middle, embracing him and cuddling up to him.

This must be what home feels like, Nico wondered with a content smile on his lips and closing his eyes.

Percy’s POV

Percy was very content to say at least. He was snuggled up in his bed, cuddling up to Nico with his fingers laced through Annabeth’s on top of Nico’s stomach. It was still early in the morning, soft light shining in through the porthole. The two others were still sleeping. If only they could stay like this forever… Instead, they had the world to save by keeping their very evil grandmother from waking up.

Huh, the last one sounded way less cool formulated like that…

Beside him, Annabeth stirred, her blonde curls splaying out around her face and on Nico’s chest, catching the sunlight which make her hair look like pure gold. He always liked watching her in the mornings when she woke up. She was so beautiful. Smiling sleepily at him, she untangled her hand from his to reach up at rub her eye free from sleep.

“Morning,” he mouthed to her and she reached over to brush a lock of hair out of his eyes. “Morning.”

Her grey eyes flitted up to Nico’s face, her featured filling with tenderness. Percy guessed his own expression resembled hers a lot when he looked at Nico. Their Nico.

They lay like that for some time, just enjoying the quiet and calm, when Nico quirked one eye open with half a smirk on his lips.

“You know most people find it creepy when others watch them sleeping, right?”

Percy blushed, but Annabeth just laughed and leaned up to kiss his cheek. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

A light red tint spread on Nico’s cheeks but he smiled affectionately at her. “Good morning indeed. What time is it anyway?”

“About eight in the morning,” Percy answered, nuzzling his nose against Nico’s neck and then placing a soft kiss there. “There’s probably breakfast soon.”

And as if called, someone knocked loudly on the door and yelled, “Get up, you lazy butts! Breakfast's ready!”

“Ugh…” Annabeth groaned and burrowed her face at Nico’s shoulder. “Who put Leo on wake-up-guard? He’s too loud…”

Percy chuckled and poked her side, making her jump. “Hey, it’s either him or Coach Hedge.”

She glared at him, but had to agree. “Yeah, okay. Maybe Leo is preferable to the coach, but still.”

“I’m just saying,” Percy grinned and sat up in the bed, ruffling up in his hair.

Nico shook his head with a small smile on his face. “You two argue like an old married couple, did you know that?”

Percy pouted at him, but Annabeth just laughed. “Yeah, but we’re now your old, married couple.”

Winking at the now blushing Nico, she crawled out of bed and stretched, her ruffled t-shirt sliding up her stomach, revealing her skin and how pale she’d become in their time down… there. Percy supposed he didn’t look much better himself. Neither did Nico.

“We better get going,” Annabeth said while collecting her hair and tying it into a ponytail. “Don’t want Leo or Coach barging in here, would we?”

Percy and Nico exchanged a panicked look at that horrible thought and hurried out of bed, following their girlfriend out of the door.

In the dining room, the only one that was still missing was Hedge. The others were all sitting around the table, talking loudly and merrily with each other. Percy sat down beside Jason, pulling Nico down on his other side, and Annabeth sitting down between him and Reyna, quickly engaging in a conversation with the other girl.

“So,” Jason said, smiling to Percy, nudging his arm. “How are you? Ready to soon kick some giant butt?”

“With a bit of these–” Percy leaned across the table, stabbing a stack of pancakes with his fork and hauling them back onto his own plate, “–I am good to go.”

Beside him, Nico tried to hide a smile behind his glass of orange juice, but Percy saw and winked at him, making him blush. Gods, was Nico adorable when he blushed or what?

“Well,” Reyna said then, loudly enough to gain everyone’s attention. “A plan of action. As nice as it is to finally relax, we still have a war looming over our heads.”

“Yeah,” Annabeth agreed. “We need to get to Athens before the Feast of Hope.”

“And I need to bring the Athena Parthenos back to your camp, if I understood your message correctly?” Reyna looked at Annabeth with a lifted eyebrow, like she still couldn’t believe that Annabeth had managed to send a message to her all the way from the Hell of Hell.

“You did,” Annabeth agreed, fingers thrumming on the table, her gaze far away – Percy recognized this as her thinking face. “The question is: how?”

“Even if I’d had Scipio, I wouldn’t be able to travel half-way across the globe with a statue of this size,” Reyna said, with an undertone of, Even I’m not that awesome.

“Protecting it will also be difficult,” Frank added with a grave face. “It attracts monsters even worse than Percy, Jason and Nico together.” He sounded so resolute that Percy had a feeling that he wouldn’t like what came out of his mouth next. “I should go with you. As praetor, I should go with you and help you calm everyone down from the war. It is my duty and–”

“Wait,” Percy interrupted him, staring at his friend in surprise, “wait, wait, wait. First of, since what did you become praetor? Not, like, I completely approve of it, no doubt, but when? And why haven’t I heard yet? And, secondly, Frank, we need you. You are one of the seven, we have to have you at your side.”

Frank seemed very flustered at Percy’s little speak, his cheeks lightly red. “Uh, it was down in the House of Hades… Jason field-promoted me because the dead legion wouldn’t follow either of us, me being too low a rank and Jason being too Greek, so…”

“Dead legion?!” Percy repeated, and Annabeth had to place a hand on his arm to calm him down.

“Percy, we have to wait with that, you can question Frank later. But, he’s right, Frank. We were all chosen to be part of the Prophecy of Seven. We will need you in Athens.”

There was silence for a few moments, everyone contemplating Annabeth’s words, until Nico spoke with a soft voice. “I’m not.”

Everyone’s attention turned to him and he self-consciously cleared his throat, repeating himself. “I’m not one of the Seven. I’ll go with Reyna.”

Percy wanted to protest. He wanted nothing more than to pick Nico up and carry him to the safety of his room, cuddling him up in a ton of blankets and make him stay there until he couldn’t bear the sight of Percy anymore. Annabeth seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because she gripped Nico’s hand below the table, beginning to circle her thump across the back of his hand.

But, they both knew Nico was right. He was the only one of the demigods, who wasn’t a part of the prophecy.

Nico’s next words did make Percy protest though, “I could transport the statue with shadow travel.”

“NO.” Percy glared sternly at him, but then realized glares didn’t have an effect on Nico anymore, since he couldn't see. “Nononono. You are not going to shadow travel all the way across the globe in your condition. You, di Angelo, need rest, food and cuddles. No discussion.”

“Percy–” Nico tried glaring experatedly at him, but Percy would hear none of it.

“No. You’ve told me yourself, even when you’re at full health with loads of rest, you accidently shadow travelled all the way to China by mistake. And travelling with a huge thing like the Athena Parthenos would drain you so much that you would pass out the moment you got there, if not d–”

The last word got stuck in his throat, tears threatening to spill at the thought of Nico, lying on the ground, no sign of life…

Getting up before he started crying in front of everyone, Percy stormed out of the dining hall and into his room.

Nico’s POV

Nico’d never seen Percy loose it like he’d done right there. To say he was surprised was an understatement as big as saying the universe was “large” or that drinking liquid fire was “uncomfortable”. He was outright startled. He knew Percy cared for him, but to this extent…?

Beside him, Annabeth placed a consoling hand on his arm, gave him a tiny smile and then followed her boyfriend – their boyfriend.

After a moment of silence, Reyna cleared her throat. “Nico, would you be able to get the statue all the way to Camp Half-Blood without dying?”

Nico moved in his chair, a bit uncomfortable with all the attention on him, but he nodded. “Not in one jump, no, but if I make short jumps of a few hundred miles, I could make it, yes. After every jump I’d be out cold, though, so I’d need someone else to fend off the monsters, but I can do it.”

Reyna studied him for a moment, then looked around at the other demigods at the table. “Anyone here with objections?”

Sending her brother a worried glance, Hazel shook her head like the rest. “Just get there safely, okay, Nico? Don’t push your limits.”

Nico nodded. He knew himself good enough to know that he wouldn’t take as many risks as he usually would have, because now he had reasons to get back safely.

“Good. I see no better option. But there will be many monsters. I would feel better if we had a third person with us. It is the optimal number for a quest for a reason.”

“Coach Hedge,” Frank blurted, just as the satyr came in through the door.

“What about me?” Hedge asked suspiciously as he walked to the fridge and found something to eat.

“You’d be the best choice to accompany Reyna and Nico to Camp Half-Blood,” Frank said, then turned to the dismayed face of Reyna. “He’s a great fighter. His job is to protect half-bloods.”

Reyna didn’t seem impressed at all. “A faun.”

“Satyr!” the Coach barked and trotted up to the table, standing across from Reyna. “And, yeah, I’ll go. You will need a contact person inside camp too, after all. Whatever you Romans believe, we aren’t as good-hearted and welcoming when we’re at war. And Nico wouldn’t be much help for that. No offense, kid.”

“None taken,” Nico shrugged. He knew what the other campers thought about him. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go rest before the trip. I’ll meet you at the statue by sunset.”

He rose from his chair, heading for Percy’s room. He’d have to talk some sense into that thick head of his.

Nico could hear Annabeth’s voice through the door, but it was only soft murmurings, nothing Nico could make sense of. He knocked quietly on the door, to give them a warning, and then opened it without waiting for an answer.

Percy was sitting in the corner of his bed, something Nico guessed to be his pillow cramped together in an iron grip against his chest, head burrowed in it. Annabeth was sitting beside him, a hand on his arm in a comforting gesture. Looking up as Nico entered, Annabeth waved him over, patting the spot beside her on the bed.

“Percy?” Nico asked hesitantly.

Peaking up from his arms, Percy regarded him silently for a few moments, then in the tiniest of voices whispered, “Please be safe. I can’t bear losing you.”

“None of us can,” Annabeth said, taking Nico’s hand.

Percy uncurled himself and pulled them both into a tight hug, Nico ending up sitting in his lap, his face burrowed at Annabeth’s neck.

They sat like that for a long time, just enjoying each other’s presence.

“You know,” Nico said softly, “I can’t bear losing you too. Either of you. So… Be careful.”

“We will,” Percy said, leaning back to pull Nico in to a slow, tender kiss that made Nico feel dizzy. But in a good way, Nico mused as Percy pulled back with a shaky smile.

“You saps,” Annabeth told them, grinning fondly at them, then pulling them down so they were all cuddled up together on the bed and fell asleep.

It was one of the hardest things Nico’d ever done to leave the warmth of Percy and Annabeth, but with a last kiss on each of their foreheads, Nico slowly got up and began readying himself for the long journey ahead of him.

The ropes were all in place now. He just had to wait for Reyna and Hedge to get to the statue and they would be off. He’d left a note in Percy’s cabin where both Annabeth and Percy were still sleeping peacefully. Hazel had been sad, but she promised him to take care of herself and the others and gave him a final hug, knowing he hated saying goodbye, and followed him out to the statue to keep him company.

He was jittery with nerves. Could Reyna and Coach hurry up a bit please? He didn’t have all day… And he didn’t think he would be able to leave if Percy and Annabeth woke up before they were gone.

Finally came Reyna’s strong golden-red silhouette into Nico’s view together with the green-red shadow of Hedge. Nature spirits’ aura and life force had always been weird to Nico. Like, they had a life force, but it was like it was more fluid than anyone else’s. Like a walking blob. And don’t even get him started on naiads.

“Good, you’re ready,” Reyna said as she approached him. “How do we do this?”

Nico glared out in the distance where he knew the sun was setting. “Just grab hold of a rope, then we can get going.” He cast a glance at Hazel, who grabbed his hand, gave it a soft squeeze, and then headed back to the Argo II.

Just as he began pulling the shadows around them, he heard the yell of his name. Percy and Annabeth were running towards them, Annabeth holding the slip of paper he’d written on. Nico didn’t think he’d ever seen Percy run as fast as he did then, but he was still too slow.

With a last longing glance at the glittering silhouettes of Percy and Annabeth, Nico wrapped himself, Reyna, Hedge and the statue in the shadows and disappeared.

Percy’s POV

Please let him be safe, Percy begged to every god that might hear him. Please, let him get back safely. Please, please, please.

He was kneeling on the ground where Nico’d last been standing, looking sad but determined as he disappeared into the shadows with Reyna and Coach Hedge. Annabeth was sitting beside him, regarding him with sad eyes, but he knew just as well as she did that Nico’d meant it well. He wasn’t trying to make them sad, he was doing it for the good of the entire world.

Still, Percy felt like they deserved more than the small note they’d gotten from him, which was still clutched in Annabeth’s hand.

Percy, Annabeth

Thank you. I can’t stand saying goodbye, so this will have to do.

I will see you when you’ve become the saviours of the world yet again.

Be safe. And Annabeth, please stop Percy from doing anything too stupid.

I know you will no matter what, but still.

See you soon

Nico

“You’re a bastard, Nico,” Percy said, looking down at his neat handwriting, voice so tender it made Annabeth chuckle.

“And you’re a sap, Percy,” she said, bumping his shoulder. “Come on, hero, we still have the world to save. If we don’t, Nico’s gonna kick our asses down in the Underworld.”

Percy laughed. “Yeah, he probably would.” He rose to his feet, and then held a hand down to help Annabeth up too. They walked back to the ship hand in hand, both smiling with a sad happiness which only survivors of something as terrible as they had experienced could manage.

They set sail an hour after, as the darkness had completely fallen over them, heading east towards Athens. Percy didn’t think he could feel more relieved when they landed on the surface of the Ionian Sea, the waves rolling beneath them, and the soft sea breeze blowing his hair around his face.

It would have been shorter to fly over land, but the others didn’t dare take the chance with the mountain gods again. They’d briefed Annabeth and Percy up about how their journey had gone from Rome, and Percy was awestruck that they’d made it all the way here more or less in one piece. He couldn’t really argue with them either about taking the water way to Athens, because being back in his father’s element felt way too good to give up at the moment.

At the moment he was leaning out over the starboard railing, feeling the salty spray of seawater on his skin, the fresh air filling his lungs. He had his eyes closed, feeling the currents under them, the life swimming about in the deep waters, but images of Tartarus kept interrupting his peaceful mind – the fire from the Phlegethon burning his throat, monsters crawling out of the blistered, black ground, arai attacking in the black forest with bloody clouds above them, Nico screaming in pain as the hellhound slashed his face up, Annabeth stumbling around, blinded by Calypso’s curse. But, the most painful was the warm, cozy little drakon-hide hut in the little swamp with a small fire crackling and racks of drying herbs and drakon jerky and the red and green inhabitant and their silver friend, whom they’d left behind.

Annabeth’s hand was placed upon his on the rail as she came over to stand beside him, her warmth and closeness reassuring.

“I know,” she whispered, and Percy looked at her, watching the same pain as he felt, reflected in her eyes. “I can’t get that place out of my head either.”

“Damasen,” Percy said, his voice raw. “And Bob…”

“I know…” Her voice was the kind of steady that told Percy that she was fighting back tears. “We have to make their sacrifice worth it. We have to beat Gaea, for them and for Nico.”

Her eyes turned to the night sky, and Percy followed her gaze. He wished they were looking at them from the safety of camp, sitting on the beach with Nico, all of them safe and sound. Not from all the way across the globe, sailing towards an almost certain death.

He wondered where Nico was now, hoping they were still okay, that Reyna and Hedge could take care of their Nico. How long would it take them to get to camp?

They had fourteen days to reach Athens. Then, one way or another, the war between the two camps would be decided…

Over at the bow, Leo was whistling happily, tinkering inside Festus’ brain, muttering about crystals and an astrolabe, whatever that was. Amidships, Piper and Hazel were practicing their sword fighting skills, gold and bronze flashing, the blades clanking together and filling the air. Jason and Frank were talking together in hushed voices at the helm, probably sharing stories of the legion or praetor tips.

“We’ve got a good crew,” Percy muttered, mostly to himself, regarding his friends with fond eyes. “If I have to sail to my death–”

“You’re not dying on me, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth said, poking him in the side. “Remember? Never separated again. Plus, Nico would spank us both if any of us got hurt.” They both chuckled. “And after we get home…”

Annabeth’s voice faltered, and Percy didn’t know if he should be worried or not.

“What?”

“Ask me again, once we defeat Gaea.” She leaned up to kiss him, though her smirk held promises.

Percy smiled, then looked up into the sky. “Bob says hello,” he told the stars. Annabeth leaned into his embrace and the Argo sailed off into the night.