A/N. I'm not ruling out an epilogue for "I Take A Page From Hades' Playbook" - This was just a side project. These five years of Nico are similar to the five years we got of Percy, so if Nico had his own books it would be like a summary for each.

Disclaimer: Still don't own PJO... or you know, these books would really happen.

The Five Years of Nico at Camp Half Blood

OR

Dear Bianca

O-O

Year One.

Dear Bianca,

Camp Half Blood has been interesting since all the new demigods have come. There's been no new children of Hades. It's just me. I guess you already know that. You already probably know more about my life than I do.

Hades… dad, he took a trip to Olympus recently, to see what Annabeth has done to the place. She designs it and it doesn't take much to put it into action, she only drew up the most recent improvements last month. I guess I'm telling you because he took me as well. Artemis was there, with her hunters. So was Zeus. It's the second time I've seen him now. It's been a year. I guess you knew that too. Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Clarisse. The usual gang, except Rachel, Juniper and everyone else stayed back at camp.

Percy took me to school with him during the year. It was supposed to be a special school. Not special as in monsters were attacking all the time, but special as in they didn't have normal testing, they want to give ADHD kids a chance to learn on their own. Percy likes it, he says it's the only school he's ever been comfortable at. Annabeth says it's the only school he hasn't blown up. It wasn't anything like being at Camp Half Blood, but then I'd been away from school for so long that I'd forgotten how boring it was. They let me play with Mythomagic cards, but I didn't really feel like it. I just stared at the cards for a couple of classes; I guess it seems immature when your life is revolving around the real gods of the game, and I guess they also remind me of you. It wasn't that lonely at school, I had Percy and Annabeth at lunch but most of the other kids aren't like the people at Camp Half Blood. I have friends there; I don't really have friends at school although Mr Blofis, Percy's stepdad is encouraging, he works there to.

Life has been as eventful as it has been in the life of any demigod. Rachel has been giving some interesting prophecies. I'm not sure if she's being serious or just trying to joke with me. She said my life was intertwined with one of my deepest and darkest grudges. She was probably joking about Percy since we go to the same school together this year but he's graduating soon, so I won't be seeing him as much.

Except at Camp Half Blood where I am again now. I have Mrs O'Leary just outside my window. I've been feeding her treats and she hasn't left since. I guess it gets lonely being in the cabin alone. Percy now has a couple of brothers and one sister. His sister is eleven and one brother is another Cyclops. They're pretty cool. As for girls, I'm thirteen! And you were going to swear off boys for the whole of your life, so there's no hurry. The wood nymphs can be pretty cute (I can't believe I'm telling you this), and Rachel I guess. Percy decided to remind me the other day that she can't date anyone. I don't know what gave him the idea I was even thinking about Rachel at the time.

Dad still thinks you'd be a better child, more obedient. I guess he just doesn't like that I speak up when he has a stupid idea – you're not supposed to say that to gods, that they have stupid ideas, but I guess you'd know that too.

Still no word about the seven halfbloods prophecy that was Rachel's first prophecy. Percy seems to be expecting it to happen any day soon but Grover just told me he's been itching to go on a quest. It has been a year now.

Anyway, I guess I'll speak to you again soon. Maybe it won't take another whole year next time.

Always,

Your brother Nico.

O-O

Year Two.

Dear Bianca,

So it's been over a year. Percy and Annabeth graduated. I'm doing fine. I elected to do more tests; the sooner I do them the sooner I can get out of school. Mr Blofis says at the rate I'm going that I'll be in university by the time I'm sixteen. I wish.

It's Percy's eighteenth birthday soon. The whole camp is celebrating and they even are working on something so Mr Blofis and Percy's mom can be invited. The hunters are in town for it as well. I know better to expect that you'll be there among them, but I can't help… just for a second… getting my hopes up. Thalia told me I had a "cool crib" and that the Zeus one is too boring to stay in. I guess she's pretty cool. Yeah, I know what you'd be saying, she's pretty too, but I've learned my lesson with unattainable girls. Not that I had much of a crush on Rachel. I just, I don't know, admired her. You would probably be laughing right now if I was saying that right to your face (probably at what I've admired about her).

I miss seeing you. I almost want to do something stupid again like conjure up some crazy image from the past again to get you to warn me against it. Sometimes it's easy, but then other times… other times I want to fall into the shadows forever. I know you'd never let me do that though, you'd never want me to do that. So I work it out.

Dad liked Annabeth's designs so much that he asked her to make some for the underworld. She still hasn't given him an answer yet, I think she's just thinking of a polite way to say no. I should write to you more often, I feel like if I don't that I'm forgetting you. How could I ever forget you? You're my sister, and even if some other sister just pops up from one of Grover's finds then it won't matter. I would never forget you. And now I'm crying. Don't tell anyone. I'm fourteen now. I don't cry, while I'm alone especially when things are going so great for me.

I wish I could see you.

Always,

Your brother Nico.

O-O

Year Three.

Dear Bianca,

There was a quest. But it wasn't the big quest. Percy came on it. So did I. So did Clarisse's sister Jordan, although she ended up getting a sword in the arm early in the quest. Thalia came too. Thalia and Percy had been fighting almost the entire time. Another school year passed but I haven't finished all that I need to do there. I don't know if I even want to go to university. Dad's given me the opportunity to live down there with him for the rest of my life, if I wanted to. Said he could use an advisor. Persephone and Demeter aren't happy about it, and I haven't made my mind up yet.

The quest… the quest was to save Chiron. We got to ride centaurs but Percy stuck with his Pegasus. Thalia said she'd left the hunters because of a fight between Zeus and Artemis. It didn't go well when I told her that you didn't go pissing off the gods, especially Zeus and he wouldn't hesitate to kill his own children… probably. She slapped me. Hard. I don't think my jaw will ever be the same again. But I was just concerned. Zeus would have killed both of us, and he didn't hesitate in killing our mother. I'd never say that Hades is any better, but Thalia didn't want to hear it. She didn't speak to me for the rest of the quest. Even when I killed a three headed minotaur that was coming for her she didn't even thank me. She just glowered and told me that she could have handled it.

River Styx, she's really annoying. I almost feel sorry for you that you had to spend any time with her at all during your quest with her. I could have even been angrier with her for not doing more to save you or for even just being a child of Zeus but I wasn't! And I had to put up with her and Percy's competition with each other the entire time.

When we got back to camp I ignored her and went to spend time with Rachel instead. She kind of treats me like a little brother, which I'm not sure how I feel about but it's better than being treated like dirt. How did Artemis ever put up with her? How did you ever put up with her? You would probably tell me I'm blowing this all out of proportion and I'd hate to admit it but you'd probably be right. I have a trouble not taking things personally sometimes. It may not be my fatal flaw, but it's a flaw.

Percy told me it was just Thalia though and she's always been so disagreeable (that wasn't the way he put it though). He joked that sometimes he wished he could turn her back into a tree, but told me he'd never say that around Annabeth. Percy thinks it's his last quest. He's nineteen now but he was really angry about it. He said quests are all he knows how to do but I think he was just exaggerating. Grover and Annabeth would both probably hit him if they heard him speaking like that.

I had better go. Sorry it had taken me an entire year to write again. I think about you a lot, I think you know that already but I don't do much writing at all. I'm all action like Percy.

Always,

Your brother Nico.

O-O

Year Four.

Dear Bianca,

I wish you had come to the wedding. Percy and Annabeth were married this week. Everyone was there, even some of the gods. Hades came to say congratulations to Poseidon and a few scornful remarks to Percy. I don't think he'll ever like Percy. Not really.

Artemis was there as well, Thalia had been begging her to take her back as a huntress but Artemis didn't budge on it. I told her not to worry about it. She was much safer this way staying on Zeus' good side but I wasn't stupid enough to tell her that and potentially get a big enough slap to knock me to the underworld again. Thalia's seventeen now, by biological age. I'm sixteen. You already knew that too.

In Percy's speech at the wedding he mentioned how Annabeth was always about building something permanent. I couldn't help but look to Thalia when he said that, Thalia was crying silently but she didn't look back to me. Rachel saw it. She laughed at me pretty hard afterward about it but then she got my hopes up a little as well. Told me Artemis had been hostile toward Hades, maybe I was to blame but didn't say any more. I hope she isn't. Nobody needs the gods to do something really stupid again. Something that could get somebody killed.

Athena made a touching speech as well, about Percy being an idiot that wasn't good enough for her daughter but that love, when approached wisely could be the strongest bond in the universe.

I danced with a few people. Juniper, Rachel, Jordan, and a few girls from the Aphrodite cabin. Thalia wouldn't dance with me, she was steaming too much about Artemis and only danced with Percy for a split second, although Percy came out all the worse for it. I can't believe I would like someone that you went on your last quest with. Grover tells me I'd do a lot better with one of the wood nymphs or the girls from Aphrodite and that he'd set me up. None of the girls from Aphrodite have spiky hair. None of them wear cool t-shirts with slogans that I'd almost want to wear myself – if I was a girl. None of them have the same explosive personality. I can't believe she came from Zeus. Actually with her personality I'm not all that surprised.

I want to trust her though. Maybe I've been harboring feelings of resentment still, but I want to trust her. I don't know how I'm supposed to tell her either. I don't want to get slapped again, believe me. I'd pretty much avoid saying anything in order to stop that from happening. I'm glad I could tell someone and I know you'd encourage me too.

I know I should choose a girl that you'd like… and you never met Rachel, not that I still think about Rachel like that. Often. Graduating next year anyway, haven't turned our dad down on his request. I still need to think about it. What do you think I should do?

Always,

Your brother Nico.

O-O

Year Five.

Dear Bianca,

I didn't take our dad up on his offer. I couldn't. I would have to leave Thalia. I'm pretty much in love with her and she feels the same. At least she hasn't wanted to go back and join the hunters again this past year. Hades wasn't happy with me, because Artemis had words with him but what else is new? I'm going to go to university. I've already been admitted to one. Mr Blofis recommended me. He's a really great guy. Sometimes I've been over to his and Percy's mom's place even when Percy hasn't been there. They treat me like one of the family. It's nice to have a normal family.

I guess I never told you what happened with Thalia. She had been really upset with the huntresses turning on her, although they didn't really it's just they had to maintain distance. The whole Zeus complication and apparently one of Apollo's prophecies as well that only Artemis knew of.

Because she was upset she disappeared for some time. It wasn't even certain she was missing at first because Thalia was such a free spirit anyway but Rachel confirmed she was in danger. I went and begged dad for help but he said he'd only give me the help if I promised to take his offer. I didn't.

So I went to Percy for help next. Percy and Annabeth were really concerned. We came across a lot of danger (the usual, monsters and stuff - I can't believe I'm calling that usual!) before finally tracking her down, although apparently Zeus had known where she was all along and just didn't want me to know.

She had been trapped by Hermes and dad had let him do it because he'd led Hermes to believe that Zeus would make a trade – Luke for Thalia if Thalia could agree to it. He basically manipulated Thalia's childhood feelings for Luke to get her to want to do it. It was a good thing Percy and Annabeth were there. I never would have been able to stop them from making their plan a reality myself. I knew a little but not everything about the past with all of them.

Percy and Annabeth started talking her down though and I finished it. Hermes was forgiven, I guess you never really get over the loss of a child, even when you're a god. Just like you never get over the loss of a sister either.

When Percy was busy with the physical side of the battle I had to reassure Thalia of what she had to keep living for. Although she didn't have the hunt, she had me, she had all of us. I promised her that I'd be there – even if she slapped me… and told her the story about mom. I told her that when the gods loose what is theirs they retaliate hard and that was all what it was. Thalia didn't have the hunters to protect her anymore and that's when Hermes thought of it, his plan, apparently. Thalia just got caught up in that. Percy reassured her that Luke died a hero and bringing him back would dishonor that, especially at her expense. Annabeth told her that Luke always looked out for them and wouldn't want it to stop after death. I told her I loved her. It worked.

We took her back to camp and it took her a little while to recover, to mourn. It brought up old wounds about her friend Luke and I guess my own old wounds about you and mom.

Zeus said he was never going to do the deal. I didn't believe him. I didn't tell Thalia that though, it's probably the only thing I've never told her and never plan to tell her. All our parents make mistakes though… and we do too.

I guess if I told Thalia how I felt at the wedding maybe this never would have happened but Percy says I can't beat myself up about it. Thalia said she probably would have slapped me again if I made a move on her during the wedding, since she was so concerned about rejoining the hunt. I guess she's right.

She said she didn't know what to do now that she's out of the hunt as well, and she didn't have the schooling to do what I was doing (though I owe most of that to Percy's parents) and so I went to see dad again. Told him that even though I wouldn't be taking the position that I knew someone who'd be great at it. At first Thalia wasn't too thrilled until I told her that she'd be telling a god what to do and that either reminded her of her days with Artemis or sounded like the perfect fit for her… or both.

Rachel also told me that she always knew that we'd be together; she was really smug about it too. Being the oracle really brings out the smugness in her though she's still a really good friend.

I just can't think of how perfectly everything has aligned. I was ten when I met Thalia, she spent time with you… I think you liked her as well. You had to have since you both became hunters. Then there was the battle of Manhattan. I was twelve, she was still fifteen. We were both too busy fighting at the time, but I remember her being congratulated by Artemis and Zeus both. It was a good day for me as well, the first time dad really realized what an asset I could be I guess. Then I saw her briefly one year. I guess it was that time I started noticing she was attractive, especially when she complimented my cabin, and my clothes. During the quest with her, I guess I couldn't stand her. During the wedding I realize that all my hate towards her was probably because I liked her all along, more than most girls… more than all girls. It was a pretty embarrassing thing to admit but everyone else seemed to catch on before I did. And then this year I realized I loved her, when she went missing and I was more worried than anything.

Now I can see her whenever I want. Whenever I go to visit dad and he's still getting used to hearing anything from a child of Zeus. It's good for him though, I told him it would increase his relations with his siblings and the other gods, he said he didn't care about those jerks but I know he really does. The best part of it: our parents accept us being together due to this new arrangement with Thalia helping out my dad in the underworld. In fact I think it's the longest time that Zeus and Hades have ever been such good friends. Thalia says it's creepy but I like it… or maybe I just like the creepy in general because she also says shadow travelling will make her more open to flying at great heights. I told her she just likes to complain and she hit me for it… but not hard thankfully. She did tell me she loved me too as well, but it's only happened twice, she claims I won't get lucky enough for a third time but I'd like to prove her wrong.

I miss you still. Thalia says you were a really sweet girl and that she can understand why I'd miss you so much. She also says you have a really hot brother, just saying.

Anyway, I think you'd be really happy. If we ever do end up getting married like Percy and Annabeth there will be a special place for you and Luke (and a lot of the dead really) at our wedding. Without you, it really wouldn't have been possible.

Always and forever,

Your brother Nico.

O-O

Telos.