Disclaimer: I do not own PJO. But man, do I wish I did! :)

Oh, and if anyone wants me to do it from Thalia's POV, or to do another story for The demigod Files from another POV, then let me know. :) This is my first Fanfic so please give me advice on anything that could be changed! I will update ASAP.

Sword of Hades through Nico's Eyes Part 1

My day was pretty normal-If you consider hanging out in a graveyard in New Orleans normal. It was cold afternoon. The slight breeze sent a chill down my back. I pulled my jacket tighter around me. I glanced around. I stood, brushing snow off of my jeans. I started to walk toward the gate when the temperature dropped ten degrees. Clouds covered the sun, sending a shadow over the graveyard. Suddenly I started to sink. A small patch of darkness opened at my feet. I cried out as I fell into the darkness. Next thing i know I'm being thrown out onto grass.

"Ow." I mumbled. I stood up and brushed off my jacket. I looked up and saw a teen boy with black hair that hung into his sea green eyes. Percy! I thought. I glanced over and smiled. Thalia! She wore her shining silver parka. Long black hair hung loosely over her shoulders. Her electric blue eyes studied me.

"Nico?" Percy said. A look of understanding overcame Thalia's face.

"Bianca's little brother?" She asked. I scowled.

"Why'd you bring me here?" I grumbled. "One minute I'm in a New Orleans graveyard. The next minute-is this New York? What in Hades's name am I doing in New York?"

"We didn't bring you here." Percy stated. "We were-" He froze. I looked around worriedly.

"We were brought together. All three of us."

"What are you talking about?" I said, confused. He glanced at me.

"The children of the Big Three," He said. "Zeus, Poseidon, Hades." Thalia gasped. My eyes widened.

"The prophecy. You don't think Kronos..." She let that hang. The prophecy. A child of the Big Three would decide the fate of the world in the upcoming war between the Titans and the gods. It was one of us. What could Kronos be planing? I thought. I didn't have much time to think about it because the ground suddenly began to rumble. I drew my sword. Mrs. O'leary leaped back and barked. The ground underneath us opened and we tumbled into the dark. We screamed as we fell for what seemed like forever. Suddenly we were standing in a garden, still screaming. I stopped instantly, realizing where we were. I frowned.

"What-where are we?" Thalia asked. I looked around at the dark garden, glancing at the gems in the ground. Cool, damp air tickled my skin. Trees filled with fruit hung over us.

"I've been here before." Percy said. I snatched a pomegranate off a nearby tree.

"My stepmother Persephone's garden." I scowled and let the fruit tumble out of my hand. "Don't eat anything." I warned, remembering that one bite and you would be stuck in the Underworld forever.

"Heads up." Thalia said. I looked up and frowned. Thalia was pointing her bow at a woman in a long white dress. Her long dark hair flowed through the air as if she was underwater. She was deathly pale. Her kaleidoscope dress and eyes looked drained of energy and washed out.

"I am Persephone." She said. "Welcome, demigods." I stepped on the pomegranate at my feet.

"Welcome? After last time, you've got the nerve to welcome me?" I snapped. Percy shifted next to me.

"Um, Nico-" He started, probably trying to warn me, but Persephone cut him off.

"It's all right," Persephone said coldly. "We had a little family spat." I growled.

"Family spat?" I cried. "You turned me into a dandelion!" I grimaced at the memory. As usual, Persephone ignored me and continued.

"As I was saying, demigods, I welcome you to my garden." Thalia lowered her bow. I wished she would have just shot her, but sadly, Persephone was immortal.

"You sent the golden deer?" Thalia asked. Persephone nodded.

"And the hellhound," She said. "And the shadow that collected Nico. It was necessary to bring you together." I was confused. Why? I thought.

"Why?" Percy asked, speaking my thoughts. Persephone glared at Percy.

"Lord Hades has a problem," She said. "And if you know what's good for you, you will help him."

We were seated on a veranda looking out at the garden. Persephone's handmaidens brought out heaping trays of food and drinks, but none of us touched it. The handmaidens looked like dead flower girls. They had yellow dresses and wore flower wreaths on their heads. Their black eyes regarded me with hatred. I shuddered.

Persephone took her place on her silver throne and glared at us. "If this were spring, I would be able to greet you properly in the world above. Alas, in winter this is the best I can do. She looked sad, but I knew it was an act to make us want to help her. She turned to Percy, regarding him coldly.

"Hades is my husband and master, young one. I would do anything for him. But in this case I need your help, and quickly. It concerns Lord Hades's sword." I frowned.

"My father doesn't have a sword. He used a staff in battle, and his helm of terror." I said.

"He didn't have a sword." She corrected. My eyes widened. Thalia sat up straighter.

"He's forging a new symbol of power? Without Zeus's permission?" Persephone pointed. A image formed above the table: skeleton weapon smiths working over a forge with black flames, using metal skull hammers to beat the iron into a sword blade. I grimaced. So it's true. I thought.

"War with the Titans is almost upon us," The goddess said. "My Lord must be ready."

"But Zeus and Poseidon would never allow Hades to forge a new weapon!" Thalia argued. "It would unbalance the power sharing agreement!"

Persephone shook her head. "You mean is would make Hades their equal? Believe me, daughter of Zeus, the Lord of the Dead has no designs against his brothers. He knew they would never understand, which is why he forged the blade in secret."

The forges scene shimmered. The skeleton lifted the blade, revealing something set in the base. I groaned inwardly. If that was what I thought is was. . .

"Is that a key?" Percy asked. I gagged. I wasn't imagining it.

"The keys of Hades?" Thalia glanced at me.

"Wait," She said. "What are the keys of Hades?"

"Hades has a set of golden keys that can lock or unlock death. At least. . . that's the legend." I paled, thinking of what the sword could do if the keys were set in it.

"It is true," Persephone said. I glanced at my friends. Percy looked confused, as usual. Thalia looked worried.

"How do you lock and unlock death?" Percy asked.

"The keys have the power to imprison a soul in the Underworld," Persephone explained. "Or to release it."

I gulped. "If one of those keys has been set in the sword-" I started, but Persephone interrupted.

"The wielder can raise the dead," She said. "Or slay any living thing and send its soul to the underworld with a mere touch of the blade."

I sat quietly, thinking of the situation. Why would father make a new symbol of power? And why would he have Persephone tell us and not come tell us himself? I wondered. My thoughts were interrupted when Percy said,

"That's a wicked sword." If the situation wouldn't have been so scary, I would have laughed.

"It would make Hades unstoppable," Thalia agreed.

"So you see," Persephone said. "why you must help get it back." I gasped.

Percy stared at her. "Did you say get it back?"

Persephone's eyes hardened. "The blade was stolen when it was almost finished. I do not know how, but I suspect a demigod, some servant of Kronos. If the blade falls into the Titan lord's hands-" Thalia jumped up. She glared at the goddess. I grimaced. She was just like her cousin, Percy! She couldn't last five minutes without offending a being that could blast her to pieces without even thinking.

"You allowed the blade to be stolen! How stupid was that? Kronos probably has it by now!"

Thalia's arrows turned into long roses. Her bow transformed into a vine with white and gold flowers.

"Take care, huntress," Persephone cautioned. "Your father may be Zeus, and you may be the lieutenant of Artemis, but you do not speak to me with disrespect in my own palace."

Thalia gritted her teeth. "Give. . .me. . .back. . .my. . .bow."

Persephone waved her hand and Thalia's bow and arrows melted back.

"Now, sit and listen. The sword could not have left the underworld yet. Lord Hades used his remaining keys to shut down the realm. Nothing gets in or out until he finds the sword, and he is using all his power to locate the thief."

Thalia sat back down. "Then what do you need us for?"

"The search for the blade cannot be common knowledge," She said. "We have locked the realm, but we have not announced why, nor can Hades's servants be used for the search. They cannot know the blade exists until it is finished. Certainly they can't know it is missing."

"If they thought Hades was in trouble, they might desert him," I guessed. "And join the Titans."

Persephone looked at me nervously. "The thief must be a demigod. No immortal can steal another immortal's weapon directly. Even Kronos must abide by the Ancient Law. He has a champion down here somewhere. And to catch a demigod … we shall use three."

"Why us?" Percy asked.

"You are the children of the three major gods," Persephone said. "Who could withstand your combined power? Besides, when you restore the sword to Hades, you will send a message to Olympus. Zeus and Poseidon will not protest Hades's new weapon if it is given to him by their own children. It will show that you trust Hades."

"But I don't trust him," Thalia said.

"Ditto," Percy said. "Why should we do anything for Hades, much less give him a super weapon? Right, Nico?"

I stared at the table. I tapped my black Stygian blade with my fingers.

"Right, Nico?" Percy repeated.

I glanced at him. "I have to do this, Percy. He's my father."

"Oh, no way," Thalia protested. "You can't believe this is a good idea!"

"Would you rather have the sword in Kronos's hands?"

"Time is wasting," Persephone said. "The thief may have accomplices in the Underworld, and he will be looking for a way out."

Percy frowned."I thought you said the realm was locked."

"No prison is airtight, not even the Underworld. Souls are always finding new ways out faster than Hades can close them. You must retrieve the sword before it leaves our realm, or all is lost."

"Even if we wanted to," Thalia said, "how would we find this thief?"

A potted plant appeared on the table. A small yellow flower resided in the pot.

"This will guide you." Persephone said. I felt like laughing. A flower, guiding us?

"A magic carnation?" Percy asked.

"The flower always faces the thief. As your prey gets closer to escaping, the petals will fall off."

A yellow petal turned gray and fluttered into the dirt, as if on cue.

"If all the petals fall off," Persephone said, "the flower dies. This means the thief has reached an exit and you have failed."

"One condition," Percy told Persephone. "Hades will have to swear on the River Styx that he will never use this sword against the gods."

The goddess shrugged. "I am not Lord Hades, but I am confident he would do this – as payment for your help."

Another petal fell off the carnation.

Percy turned to Thalia. "I'll hold the flower while you beat up the thief?"

She sighed. "Fine. Let's go catch this jerk."

We made our way down the palace road into the Fields of Asphodel. Yellow grass and stunted black poplar trees rolled on forever. Shades drifted aimlessly across the hills, coming from nowhere and going nowhere, chattering to each other and trying to remember who they were in life. High above us, the cavern ceiling glistened darkly.

Percy carried the carnation while I led the way, clearing a path through the crowd of undead. Thalia mostly grumbled that she should've known better than to go on a quest with a couple of boys.

"Did Persephone seem kind of uptight?" Percy asked.

I waded through a mob of ghosts, driving them back with Stygian iron. "She's always acts that way when I'm around. She hates me."

"Then why did she include you in the quest?" I asked.

"Probably my dad's idea." Though I wasn't quite sure. Dad loved to threaten demigods, so why not tell us about the problem himself?

I forged ahead, keeping the undead back from my friends.

"He's handy with zombie crowds," Thalia admitted. "Think I'll take him along next time I go to the mall." I smiled at that. I listened to their conversation.

"So," Percy said. "How's immortality treating you?"

She rolled her eyes. "It's not total immortality, Percy. You know that. We can still die in combat. It's just … we don't ever age or get sick, so we live forever assuming we don't get sliced to pieces by monsters."

"Always a danger."

"Always," She looked around, scanned the undead. I frowned. Was she looking for someone?

Percy mumbled something and Thalia glared at him.

"I know that," She snapped. Then she caught herself. "It's not that, Percy. I was just … never mind."

"I'm sorry," He mumbled. "I wasn't thinking."

She sighed. "It's okay. Let's just get this over with."

Another petal fell off the carnation as we marched on.

The flower pointed us toward the Fields of Punishment. I grimaced. Of course it had to take us there.

We jumped over a lava stream and headed past hideous torture scenes. I tried not to look, but couldn't resist. I glanced to my left and gagged. I will never get that image out of my head! I thought.

The flower tilted its face toward a hill on our left.

"Up there," Percy said.

Thalia and I stopped. I glanced down and saw that we were all covered in dirt from walking through Punishment.

A loud grinding noise came from the other side of the hill, like somebody was dragging a washing machine. Then the hill shook with a BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! and a man yelled curses.

Thalia looked at me. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Afraid so," I said. "The number-one expert on cheating death."

Percy looked confused and was looked like he was about to ask something but I quickly led us up the hill.

The dude on the other side was not pretty, and he was not happy. He looked like one of those troll dolls with orange skin, a pot belly, scrawny legs and arms, and a big loincloth/diaper thing around his waist.

His ratty hair stuck up like a torch. He was hopping around, cursing and kicking a boulder that was twice as big as he was.

"I won't!" he screamed. "No, no, no!" Then he launched into a string of cuss words in several different languages. I grimaced.

He started to walk away from the boulder, but after ten feet he lurched backward, like some invisible force had pulled him. He staggered back to the boulder and started banging his head against it.

"All right!" He screamed. "All right, curse you!"

He rubbed his head and muttered some more cuss words. "But this is the last time. Do you hear me?"

I looked at my friends. "Come on. While he's between attempts."

We scrambled down the hill.

"Sisyphus!" I called.

The troll guy looked up in surprise. Then he scrambled behind his rock. "Oh, no! You're not fooling me with those disguises! I know you're the Furies!"

"We're not the Furies," Percy said. "We just want to talk."

"Go away!" he shrieked. "Flowers won't make it better. It's too late to apologize!"

"Look," Thalia said, "we just want – "

"La-la-la!" he yelled. "I'm not listening!"

We played tag with him around the boulder until finally Thalia, who was the quickest, caught the old man by his hair. "Stop it!" he wailed. "I have rocks to move. Rocks to move!"

"I'll move your rock!" Thalia offered. "Just shut up and talk to my friends."

Sisyphus stopped fighting. "You'll – you'll move my rock?"

"It's better than looking at you." Thalia glanced at Percy. "Be quick about it." Then she shoved Sisyphus toward us.

She put her shoulder against the rock and started pushing it very slowly uphill.

Sisyphus scowled at Percy distrustfully. He pinched his nose.

"Ow!" Percy said. I snickered.

"So you're really not a Fury," he said in amazement. "What's the flower for?"

"We're looking for someone," I said. "The flower is helping us find him."

"Persephone!" He spit in the dust. "That's one of her tracking devices, isn't it?" He leaned forward, and I almost gagged as i got a whiff of him. "I fooled her once, you know. I fooled them all."

Percy looked at me. "Translation?"

"Sisyphus cheated death," I explained. "First he chained up Thanatos, the reaper of souls, so no one could die. Then when Thanatos got free and was about to kill him, Sisyphus told his wife to do incorrect funeral rites so he wouldn't rest in peace. Sisy here – May I call you Sisy?"

"No!"

"Sisy tricked Persephone into letting him go back to the world to haunt his wife. And he didn't come back."

The old man cackled. "I stayed alive another thirty years before they finally tracked me down!"

I glanced up at Thalia. She was halfway to the top. She looked at me and frowned. I got the message. We needed to hurry.

"So that was your punishment," Percy said to Sisyphus. "Rolling a boulder up a hill forever. Was it worth it?"

"A temporary setback!" Sisyphus cried. "I'll bust out of here soon, and when I do, they'll all be sorry!"

"How would you get out of the Underworld?" I asked. "It's locked down, you know."

Sisyphus grinned wickedly. "That's what the other one asked."

"Someone else asked your advice?" Percy asked.

"An angry young man," Sisyphus recalled. "Not very polite. Held a sword to my throat. Didn't offer to roll my boulder at all."

"What did you tell him?" I said. "Who was he?"

Sisyphus massaged his shoulders. He glanced up at Thalia, who was almost to the top of the hill. Her face was bright red and drenched in sweat.

"Oh … it's hard to say," Sisyphus said. "Never seen him before. He carried a long package all wrapped up in black cloth. Skis, maybe? A shovel? Maybe if you wait here, I could go look for him …"

"What did you tell him?" Percy demanded.

"Can't remember."

I drew my sword. The Stygian iron was so cold it steamed in the hot dry air of Punishment. "Try harder."

The old man winced. "What kind of person carries a sword like that?"

"A son of Hades," I said. "Now answer me!"

The color drained from Sisyphus's face. "I told him to talk to Melinoe! She always has a way out!"

I lowered his sword. Oh no, I thought. anyone but her!

"Are you crazy?" I said. "That's suicide!"

The old man shrugged. "I've cheated death before. I could do it again."

"What did this demigod look like?"

"Um … he had a nose," Sisyphus said. "A mouth. And one eye and – "

"One eye?" Percy interrupted. "Did he have an eye patch?"

"Oh … maybe," Sisyphus said. "He had hair on his head. And –" He gasped and looked over my shoulder. "There he is!"

We fell for it.

As soon as we turned, Sisyphus took off down the hill. "I'm free! I'm free! I'm – ACK!" Ten feet from the hill, he hit the end of his invisible leash and fell on his back. Percy and I grabbed his arms and hauled him up the hill.

"Curse you!" He let loose with bad words in Ancient Greek, Latin, English, French, and several other languages I didn't recognize. "I'll never help you! Go to Hades!"

"Already there," I muttered.

"Incoming!" Thalia shouted.

I looked up and gasped.

The boulder was bouncing straight toward us. I jumped one way. Percy jumped the other. Sisyphus yelled, "NOOOOOOO!" as the thing plowed into him. Somehow he braced himself and stopped it before it could run him over. I guess he'd had a lot of practice.

"Take it again!" he wailed. "Please. I can't hold it."

"Not again," Thalia gasped. "You're on your own."

He treated us to a lot more colorful language. It was clear he wasn't going to help us any further, so we left him to his punishment.

"Melinoe's cave is this way," I said.

"If this thief guy really has one eye," Percy said, "that could be Ethan Nakamura, son of Nemesis. He's the one who freed Kronos."

"I remember," I said darkly. "But if we're dealing with Melinoe, we've got bigger problems. Come on."

As we walked away, Sisyphus was yelling, "All right, but this is the last time. Do you hear me? The last time!"

Thalia shuddered.

"You okay?" Percy asked her.

"I guess …" She hesitated. "Percy, the scary thing is, when I got to the top, I thought I had it. I thought, This isn't so hard. I can get the rock to stay. And as it rolled down, I was almost tempted to try it again. I figure I could get it the second time."

She looked back wistfully.

"Come on," Percy told her. "The sooner we're out of here the better."

I will try to update as soon as I can. Plz review on other POV I could do. :)

Xion98