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Zagreus was having a normal day, or as normal as one’s day could be when you lived in the Underworld.
His latest escape attempt (was it really an escape attempt now that he was allowed to do it?) had gone about as well as he should’ve expected after maxing out the pact of punishment. In other words, Lernie the bone-hydra almost defeated him embarrassingly early, the royal asshole Theseus’s ego nearly tripled, and dear old dad sent him back to the Styx before their battle even got serious.
Now, Zagreus was bound for the administrative chamber to dig through the records of his newest escape attempt. The droll little room was scarce to be considered his favorite, what with the perpetual droning of the office shades and the overall feeling of stagnation that eternally occupied the small space. However, if he wanted to make progress, he would need to figure out what wrong choice had been his undoing.
Achilles was strangely absent from his usual post as Zagreus passed through the West Wing. Dusa, too, had quickly disappeared in her usual manner with a quick mumbling of “ something , something , Prince!” Only Cerberus remained, always consistent in his quiet vigilance and simultaneous want for pets.
So, when he opened the door to a noticeably not vacant administrative chamber, he shouldn’t have been surprised. However, the figure that met his gaze was not Achilles, or Dusa, or even Thanatos. Instead, it was a rather oddly dressed shade whose arms were laden with scrolls. A new assistant?
Zagreus stepped forward, hard-learned manners on auto-drive. “Hello! I don’t think we’ve met before, dear shade. Are you perhaps new?”
The shade frowned, dark-circled eyes scrunching at the edges as he tilted his head to look at Zagreus. Now, Zagreus was used to being short- after all, his father was nearly double his height, as was his mother when she assumed her true godly form. This shade, however, was short- er. For once, Zagreus got to experience the glory of standing taller than someone, which the shade noticeably didn’t appreciate.
“Who are you?” The shade asked at last, his tone near-offended. Zagreus’s own frown mirrored his, now. Beside them, the other administrative shades had not-so-subtly stopped their work in favor of eavesdropping.
“Who are you? You do realize I am the one who should be asking that, with this being my house and all.”
The shade nearly dropped the scrolls in his hands.
“This is my house!”
“I can assure you, it is not.”
With an exasperated sigh, the shade deposited the scrolls he had been carrying on the table beside him and ran a hand over his face. . . his face, which upon closer examination, did not look particularly deathly.
“Ok,” the shade started, “Who exactly are you?”
Zagreus shifted. “Prince Zagreus, son of Hades, god of the Underworld, and Persephone, goddess of Spring and what not. Now, you know it is normally considered polite to introduce yourself when someone tells you who they are.”
While Zagreus had already begun to feel the subtle onset of annoyance, the shade’s face had paled drastically, his eyes now wide. The shade muttered a curse, then straightened to meet Zagreus’s gaze once more.
“Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. . . and Maria di Angelo, a mortal.”
Oh.
For what had to be the longest moment in grecian history, they just stared at each other, either Prince of the Underworld not sure what to do about the other. Finally, the older moved, straightening his back and grounding himself with a huff.
“Father.” bit Zagreus.
“Father.” agreed Nico.
Well, at least that settled something. “So,” Zagreus began, quite clueless as to how such an interaction was meant to go. What even was the proper reaction to suddenly acquiring a new brother? “You’re a demigod. . . a mortal.”
The shade, no, Nico. Nico had the gall to roll his eyes. Zagreus had never had someone roll their eyes at him before- that was his job!
“Uh, yeah,” he grumbled, like the answer was obvious.
“I have never met a mortal before. Er , a living mortal.”
“Congratulations?”
Gods, the prospect of an agonizing bath in the lava rivers of Tartarus was growing ever more appealing compared to this conversation.
Zagreus attempted to steel himself. “How exactly are you down here, then? Better yet, why are you down here? I was of the impression that this is quite literally the last place any mortal would want to be.”
Nico’s focus drifted back to the scrolls he had abandoned, eyes darting between them and Zagreus, as if assessing which was of greater importance. “I’m here on business for Father, so, if you could move, that would be appreciated.” It appeared that he chose the scrolls.
Zagreus took a step back so that Nico could reclaim the offending rolls of parchment. “So he is expecting you, then?”
Nico frowned down at the scrolls as he gathered them in his arms. “Yes?”
“Wonderful!” Zagreus exclaimed, “then what is one more?”
The boy looked up at him with a skeptical look, which allowed Zagreus to study him for the slightest moment.
Small scars ran up and down his face, scattered across a field of freckles that suggested extensive time in the sun. Despite this, his face held a certain pallor that was all too reminiscent of Thanatos, which couldn’t be healthy for someone without ichor causing those yellow undertones. He supposed, too, that under-eye circles as dark as those of Orpheus weren’t befitting of a mortal.
The boy huffed, clearly having noticed Zagreus’s examination. “You’re serious?”
“As a heart attack. . .although I’m not entirely sure what that is.”
For the faintest moment, Zagreus could have sworn that Nico laughed, even if the sound had been more reminiscent of a groan.
“Fine, then.”
And then, in a move oddly similar to Thanatos ( sans bell toll), he disappeared.
Unluckily for Nico, the two of them were the only two red-blooded creatures in the House of Hades, meaning that the younger boy was absurdly easy to track. Just as soon as he disappeared, Zagreus felt him reappear in the main chamber. Doubly unluckily for Nico, Zagreus was nothing if not fast.
Nico reared back as Zagreus appeared beside him, a black sword instantly materializing in the boy’s grip.
“Stygius?” Zagreus asked with a frown.
“Stygi an .” corrected Nico.
Before either could process the interaction, an annoyed humph (strikingly reminiscent of Nico's) drew their attention back to the desk in front of them.
Towering over them both, Hades cut an incredibly menacing figure. As usual, the eternal king of the underworld wore that ghastly cloak and even worse frown. Their father’s eyes, the colors of burning coal, danced over the two of them for the shortest moment before he, ever dismissive, sat back down and returned his focus to his paperwork. Nico made an indignant noise while Zagreus just leaned casually back, entirely too used to this behavior.
“Father,” he began, summoning a tone as reminiscent of Persephone as he could muster, “You seem to have neglected to inform me of a rather crucial part of our family tree.”
“And, boy?” his father hummed, not bothering to lift his eyes from his work.
Zagreus dug his teeth into his bottom lip and rolled his eyes before promptly turning in the direction of the garden.
“Mother!” he yelled, and that was enough to get his father’s head back up, eyes alight with annoyance. Before he could retort, Persephone had already poked her head in from the garden.
“What is it Zagreus- oh, hello Nico.”
Nico bowed sheepishly, slinking the slightest bit behind Zagreus. “Hello, Lady Persephone.”
Hades rose from his desk, quickly making his way over to the goddess. “Apologies, my love. I did not mean for Zagreus to disturb you,” he said, biting the last part out with a scathing glance in his direction.
“Not at all, my love. I always have time for my son. Speaking of which, what exactly is going on?”
Father opened his mouth to respond, but Zagreus was faster.
“Father was just about to explain to me why he didn’t tell me that I had a brother.”
Persephone cast her husband a headlong glance, a trace of annoyance seeping into her green gaze. “You what ?”
Hades sighed, exasperated in a way that only the combined forces of his wife and son could make him. Wife and sons .
“I did not think he needed to know,” he admitted.
“And why not!” exclaimed Zagreus.
Father broke away from his place at Persephone’s side and instead stepped towards Nico. For a moment, Zagreus’s mind flashed to their various violent altercations that had occurred outside the House, and wondered if Hades would finally break his rule.
Instead, in an action that shocked Zagreus to his core, Hades placed a gentle hand on Nico’s shoulder.
“Nico is but a child, not only in human years but in comparison to the eternal span of our lives. With what is going on above, it’s a miracle he has survived as long as he has. I thought it would be cruel to present you with a new family member, only for him to die in a few scarce years.”
“He thought you would be a bad influence on him,” interjected Persephone.
“That as well,” Hades affirmed.
Meanwhile, insult aside, Zagreus’s attention was stubbornly focused on Nico.
“Wait, what exactly is happening on the surface?”
The boy grimaced before raising a hand as if to count on his fingers. “Well, the Big Three, father included, made a pact to not have demigod children which they all subsequently violated. A halfblood stole Zeus’s lightning bolt, and then tried and only sort of failed to resurrect Kronos. Then, the gods all sort of had an identity crisis, so that messed things up for a while. The Doors of Death opened, Gaia tried to take over everything, Apollo became mortal, and, oh, that’s ignoring everything that’s going on with the Nordics and Egyptians. So yeah, that all kinda sucked.”
Zagreus raised his eyebrows. That sounded like it sucked. Especially for mortals who couldn’t simply drag themselves out of the Styx every time they died.
He turned back to Father. “And where were we throughout all of this?”
“Great question,” Nico laughed, the sound somewhat bitter.
Hades sighed. “Olympus was a bit. . . preoccupied throughout the entire ordeal.”
Zagreus shook his head, ultimately deciding to file that issue away for another day.
“So, to be clear, everyone knew about this besides me?”
Hades avoided his gaze, and if Zagreus didn’t know better, he would have thought his father looked the tiniest bit guilty. Persephone rolled her eyes at her husband.
“We’re sorry about not telling you sooner, Zagreus, but your father’s line of reasoning wasn’t wrong. Demigods tend to drop like flies.”
Nico did not seem to appreciate that statement, if his face was anything to go off of.
“He seems to be doing fine!” Zagreus argued.
“His sister is not.”
“ Persephone.”
Nico cleared his throat. “ He is in fact not a shade and can hear you, you know.”
“Wait, a sister? Are you talking about Melinoe?”
Nico turned to face Zagreus. “Her name was Bianca- she was a demigod like me. . .” His tone grew sullen for a moment before he shook his head, as if to dismiss the topic. “We do, however, have a living sister thanks to Father’s Roman counterpart. Her name is Hazel, and while she doesn’t particularly like it down here, I’m sure I could convince her to visit.”
“Nico,” Father huffed.
“After filling out the necessary paperwork, that is!” Nico added quickly. Hades seemed to find that acceptable.
“Satisfied now, Zagreus? I do believe Nico has some work he is meant to be getting to.” Hades sent the boy a firm look, which Zagreus chose to ignore.
“Hardly! I feel this warrants a far longer conversation!”
Nico shifted on his feet and cast a glance around himself, looking awfully antsy. “I really should get going before it gets too dark on the surface. Chiron is expecting me to be back at camp soon, and time isn’t exactly easy to keep track of down here.”
Zagreus frowned. “So that’s it? ‘Hey Zagreus, you have a mortal little brother, and now that you’ve seen him for two minutes that should be enough for the next century. Bye!’”
“Zagreus. . .” Persephone warned.
“No, I know that our kind doesn’t tend to do well with family, but this is important.”
“Zagreus.” Hades said more firmly.
Beside him, Nico did not look pleased to be left out of a conversation about himself. The boy cleared his throat before looking back up at the three of them. “Uh, if you really want to, you can pass on messages through the skeletons. They’re not exactly articulate, but maybe if you give them some sort of symbol, I’ll get the idea.”
Zagreus practically lit up. “A nectar offering!”
“A what. . .?”
The older of the two practically scrambled to pull out a bottle of nectar from his stash. “It’s something I do with the gods up on Olympus! Contact can be kind of thready down here, but if I give them a gift of nectar, they give me a means of contacting them in return!”
Nico didn’t seem to entirely get it, but he set about rifling through his pockets nonetheless. “Um, okay. . . does this work?”
In his hands, Nico cradled a wooden bead that had been carefully painted black with a tiny skull in the middle. “We were messing around with designs for this year’s camp bead, and well, this one definitely didn’t make the cut, but-”
Zagreus excitedly clapped his hands over the younger’s. “I’ll treasure it!”
For the shortest moment, Nico looked alarmed at the contact. After a moment, however, he slowly nodded. “. . .Cool.”
“Cool!” Zagreus echoed giddily, even without much of an understanding of what the word meant.
“So. . . I’m gonna go now?” Nico said carefully, as if asking for permission. Zagreus nodded in kind.
“Yes! Erm, safe travels and what not!”
“Yeah, uh, okay.” Nico turned to the other two gods. “Goodbye Father, Lady Persephone,” he said with a polite bow in their direction.
Shadows had begun to nip at the boy’s feet, slowly working their way up his body. Just as they reached his shoulders, Nico turned back to Zagreus. “Thank you, really. This was. . . nice.”
Just as quickly as he had appeared, Nico di Angelo was gone. However, no matter how many times the ghost of that old fool had told him that parting was such sweet sorrow, all Zagreus felt was glee as he carefully held the black bead between his fingers.
The little skull seemed to smile at him as he held it up to his eye.
“Nico,” he murmured, rolling the words over his tongue.
Yes, he doubted that was the last he would be seeing of his little brother.