Author's Note: This is an old story I wrote almost 5 years ago that I decided to post. It's got some problems but it's one of the ones I'm most proud of from that time.
Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Nico was well aware that he didn't look like a god. All the gods he had ever met were either very tall, imposing, and or so muscular that they looked like body builders. When he was mortal he had never been any of those. Even now he looked like a malnourished, homeless teenager.
Nico wasn't sure when he had first realized that this was his destiny. Back when he was in the Labyrinth, and King Minos had declared himself the Ghost King, Nico knew that didn't sound right, and even now whenever he even thought of King Minos's declaration it left a sour taste in his mouth. King Minos the Ghost King didn't have a ring to it. However, Nico Di Angelo the Ghost King sounded much better.
He had taken to the name since them. He hadn't realized it when he was alive, but whenever he helped a ghost move on or tracked down and killed a murderer, he had been fulfilling the duties of a true Ghost King. Because Nico was so comfortable with his position in the circle of life, it only seemed natural that he would be the Ghost King forever. For his father, it was a dream come true. Hades had been trying to fill the position for a hundred years. Now, he had found the perfect person for the job, and that person was his son.
Nico hadn't known what it meant to be the Ghost King since he had first donned the title. He knew it wasn't King Minos's interpretation. It wasn't as glamorous as Minos made it appear to be, nor was it as rewarding as the title suggested. Nico was always working from the shadows, and was responsible for more murders than the average serial killer.
It was only after he had been the Ghost King for a decade that it hit him. It didn't mean you were a dead king or a person who beat down on anyone who missed behaved. Being the Ghost King wasn't that simple. It meant that you were always on the move. You never had a home, and you were always following orders. Being the Ghost King meant that he was Hades' trash collector, and personal ghost buster. But Nico was o.k. with that, he had been doing that even before he had been given his abilities. Being the "Ghost King" had very little benefits, but Nico planned on enjoying them for eternity. Percy had turned down being a god, but Nico hadn't made that mistake. He was the Ghost king, Hades' only demigod turned immortal son, and no matter what happened no one would ever get in his way.
He would always be lurking in the shadows, watching history being made. He'd always be Hades' right hand man, and no matter what form he took, he would always be feared.
He is known to mortals as many things; Zero, Red Hood, Kira, Danny Phantom, and many others. However, he would always be the Ghost King. It was his title. It was who he was. And no one would ever be able to take that away from him.