Hello and merry Christmas! This is a one-shot I wrote per request from Bookdancer. It is also her Christmas present!

In it, Joe Hardy is a son of Apollo. Biff is a son of Ares. This is part of their journey. It has secrets unveiled to them and the Hardy family, brotherly friendship, and more! I hope you all enjoy! Also, I'm sorry if Joe seems a bit OOC. It's my first time writing him.

Joe Hardy, a fifteen year old son of Apollo, stared in horror at the sight before him. His father was morphing into-

Wait. Before you know any of this, you need to know how Joe came to this point in his life. So... He was given a quest to find out how he is a son of Apollo. This was because he had an older brother, Frank, who was most definitely mortal. And he knew that his mother would never sleep with anyone but her husband. So, he asked the oracle - Rachel Dare - for a quest. He brought along his best friends Nico Di Angelo son of Hades, and Biff Cooper son of Ares. They had battled Apollo's body cows - yes, cows, not guards - to get into his memory room. Being a thousand year old god, you tended to have one of those instead of a diary.

Anyways... Joe Hardy, a fifteen year old son of Apollo, stared in horror at the sight before him. His father was morphing into Fenton Hardy, his mother's husband. Apollo studied himself in a mirror before nodding, satisfied. "She'll be fooled, and you'll finally get the woman of your dreams," he muttered to himself.

Then the memory changed to a few hours later. It showed Fenton/Apollo slipping out of the house, a satisfied look on his face. On the way, he passed the real Fenton and focused. A dreamy look came over the detective's face, and he nodded eagerly before walking into his house.

The screen went blank. Joe's hands clenched in fists, while Biff and Nico stared at him in worry. "Joe?" the son of Ares whispered.

"What?" came the bitter reply.

"Are you ok?"

Joe spun around to stare at his friend. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine! I don't care that I'm basically the product of rape!" The last word was spat out with a mix of anger, sadness, horror, and so much more.

"Joe," Nico said calmly, "it wasn't rape. Apollo was Fenton in every way, right down to his very molecules. The only difference was that he was also a greek god. Plus, your mom gave her consent. She bore you and birth. Fenton has memories of, well, you know. As far I'm concerned, you are a legitimate child. It astounds me that you are even a demigod."

"Are you sure?" Joe whispered, staring at his friend in hope.

"As sure as I am that my dad doesn't wear My Little Pony underwear to bed."

Joe and Biff laughed, and Nico cracked a smile at his own joke that had served its purpose - making the son of Apollo smile.

"Now," Biff said, grinning. "Let's get out of here because I don't know about you, but I do not want to meet your dad after we've sent some of body cows to Tartarus and peeked into his diary."

"Memory room," Nico corrected.

"Diary," Biff and Joe chorused.

"Much more feminine," Biff said.

"Which is just what he needs," Joe finished.

"According to you," Nico sighed, rolling his eyes at his two friends. Honestly. Did they have to take a note out of Percy's brain and annoy the gods just because? It was bad enough when they mouthed off to Kronos in the Battle of Manhatten. Now, only four months after, they'd already picked a new target.

"Wait," Joe said suddenly, glancing around them as they exited the building. "What time is it?"

"What does it matter?" Biff asked, hiding his worry.

"Are you kidding?" Joe asked his friend in both worlds, staring at him incredulously. "Our 'camping trip'," the teen put quotations around the last two words, indicating that it was just a facade, "ends today! We're supposed to be back in Bayport in time for lunch with Frank, Phil, Chet, and the girls at noon!"

"Uh, guys?" Nico tried, but had no success catching his friends attention. They were too busy freaking out.

"Ah, no," the son of Ares moaned. "If we're late-"

"Frank will worry and drag everyone else into it." Joe finished impatiently. "I know, which is why I'm wishing it wasn't raining so I could read the sun!"

"Guys?" the son of Hades tried again.

"And no matter what time it is, it's still, like, a two hour drive back to Bayport from New York," Biff groaned.

"Guys!" Nico yelled, finally succeeding in grabbing their attention, however small it was. "I can just shadow travel you where ever you need to go."

"And our bikes?" the son of Apollo asked hopefully. "Frank will get suspicious if we show up without them."

"Yes, and your bikes," Nico sighed. He didn't know how or why he put up with the two. Maybe it was because they were the only ones who weren't scared of him that were his own age.

"Great!" Biff said happily. "Then let's go!"

Nodding, the son of Hades grabbed hold of his friends before running into the shadows, taking them to where their motorcycles were. All three got on their own, then Nico reached out and grasped his friends by their jackets. He then reached out a second time, this time grabbing the shadows and wrapping them around the three demigods like a blanket, before sending them to Bayport. Once there, Nico stumbled. He had actually never tried it with his own shadows before, and it took a lot out of him. Plus, it was right after another trip which was after a quest. Nico was tired, and his friends didn't miss it.

"Join us," Biff suggested suddenly, causing Nico to twist to stare at him in faked horror.

"More time with you guys? I don't think I could live!"

"Yeah, yeah, save the compliments for later," Joe said, laughing before turning serious. "But seriously, you look like you're about to pass out. Come along and we'll introduce you to our friends. We'll say we met you at the camp site and that we know you from camp, so we invited you back with us. If they ask why, we can say you ran away from home. Frank will then offer you a place to say at home, you'll look to me for confirmation, I'll say okay, you'll say yes, and you'll either be gone by morning or will have stayed, hooked like a fish to a fishing line unable to leave my mom and Aunt Gertrude's cooking. 'K?"

"But-!" Nico started to protest, only to collapse under Joe and Biff's stern stare that obviously said you-will-or-we-will-force-you. "Fine," he groaned, defeated.

"Excellent!" the son of Ares said excitedly. "Now let's go before we're late, even though we might be already!"

Frank Hardy looked anxiously at the clock. It was two minutes past twelve. His brother and friend were supposed to be at the pizza joint two minutes before. "Where do you think they are? What's taking them so long?" He asked of his other friends.

"Frank," his girlfriend, Callie, began, "it's only been a few minutes. I'm sure they're fine."

"Besides," Phil added, "this is Joe and Biff we're talking about. They've been late tons of times before."

"Never when food is involved," Chet pointed out, then winced multiple glares hit him as Frank began to hyperventilate. "Sorry," he whispered.

Vanessa, Joe's girlfriend, opened her mouth to console Frank when a cheerful voice called out, "Hello! Got any pizza left or was it all eaten by Chet?"

"Hey!" said teen protested.

Frank interrupted the soon-to-be-arguement by demanding, "Where were you? What took you so long?" Catching sight of a teen behind Joe and Biff, he asked, "And who's that?"

"Huh? Oh, this is Nico DiAngelo. We know each other from summer camp and met at the camp site in the forest. We invited him to come back with us," Biff explained.

"Obviously, he said yes," Joe added, laughing.

"But why did he say yes?" Phil asked, frowning. "You were up in New York, why would he come down to Bayport?"

"I uh, um, well, I kind of, uh," Nico silently cursed whatever god was in charge of the loss of words for giving it to him right when he needed them.

"Oh, good grief," Joe said, taking pity on his friend. "Nico ran away from home," he explained. "Didn't like his home life and figured he had a better chance at enjoying life away from his dad."

"Oh," Phil muttered. "Sorry 'bout that."

"S'ok," Nico shrugged.

"Do you want to stay with us?" Frank questioned. "We have two guest rooms, so there's room. Plus, Mom and Aunt Gertrude always cook enough for an army."

Nico, remembering Joe's words from earlier, glanced at his friend for confirmation. Joe nodded, so he said, "Sure. That sounds great."

Grinning, Frank nodded and was about to say something else when he was interrupted by Chet saying, "Hey! Are we going to eat? The pizza's getting cold!"

Laughing, the teens turned to their food.

Frank frowned as he road his motorcycle home. At the last red light, the three younger boys had leaned together and gotten into a heated discussion that excluded Frank. He didn't know what it was about, but he didn't like it. His younger brother had never kept secrets from him before, and suddenly, when this new guy showed up, it started. Also, what he could hear of the whispered conversation didn't make much sense.

"...tell...doesn't matter..."

"...freak out...what will Dad and Mom say...don't want to..."

"...know the truth now...need this off you...just do it..."

Sighing, Frank decided to wait until the next morning, when it was a new day and everyone was in a good mood, to talk to Joe about it. What he didn't know was that Joe had convinced Biff and Nico to not mention anything. Biff would also come over the next morning so that Joe could explain everything to his family with more moral support than just Nico.

The next morning during breakfast, Joe jumped out of his chair and raced for the door as the doorbell rang again, calling, "I'll get it! It's probably Biff, he said he was coming over this morning!"

But when Joe opened the door, he was faced with something way different than his best friend. To be specific, there was a gun in his face. Preventing a gulp of shock and nerves, Joe yelled, "Nico! Get them out of here! It's some old Hardy family frie-." The son of Apollo was cut off by his own scream as a bullet entered his right thigh, causing him to crash to the ground.

In the kitchen, Nico had jumped to his feet the moment he heard his name and gathered Fenton, Laura, Gertrude, and Frank. He told them quickly, "Stay calm, and I'll explain everything later. I'll come back for Joe after I've dropped you off at Biff's house. Now, take my arm."

"But Joe-," Frank began, only to be interrupted by a gun shot and a crash.

Immediately, Nico grabbed each member of the Hardy family and, gathering shadows, shadow traveled to Biff's house. Specifically, his bedroom. Biff, who was pulling on shoes and getting ready to head out the door, stared in shock. However, there were four others who were in even more shock.

"What in the world just happened?" Fenton demanded after he had gained back control of his stomach.

Nico, ignoring him and the rest of the Hardys, told Biff, "I'll be right back, I need to get Joe. Explain shadow traveling but nothing else."

And with those last few words, Nico ran into the shadows once more.

Joe groaned as he gazed up at the furious man. "You stupid, infuriating boy! You ruined everything! Somehow, someway, they are all gone! This leaves me with just you! Just! You! And you know what I'm going to do with you?"

"Something that kids shouldn't do at home without adult supervision?" Joe asked, grinning up at the man while inwardly groaning and cursing his defense mechanism of annoying the bad guys.

The reason for that groaning became apparent as the current bad guy howled in fury and stomped on Joe's right leg, causing a yell of pain to erupt from the teen.

This infuriated the boy who had just come out of the shadows. Nico screamed angrily, "Oi! Pick on someone not laying on the ground!"

"Huh? Where did you come from?" a henchman asked stupidly.

"None of your business," the son of Hades yelled before lashing out in a violent kick that sent the boss flying away from the son of Apollo. Immediately, Nico dove for Joe and, lifting him bridlestyle, ran into the shadows again.

Meanwhile, Biff said, "Alright, so, Nico has the power to manipulate shadows. Since there are shadows everywhere, he can travel from one to the other. He can also take passengers. So, that is what he did with you. We'll explain more later. Right now, you need to explain what just happened."

"The doorbell rang," Frank started, "and Joe answered it thinking it was you. Instead... well, all we know is that it's an old family friend from what Joe yelled to Nico. Also, there was a gun shot and a crash as we were leaving. We don't know what happened because Nico didn't let us help Joe!" By the time the sixteen year-old was finished, he was yelling.

"Alright, so we can assume Joe is injured?" Biff questioned.

"Yes!" Frank yelled again, still annoyed at not being able to help his brother.

Nodding, the son of Ares went to his backpack and retrieved a baggy full of mini cakes and a thermos. He also took out a first aid kit. Biff then laid all the supplies out on his bedside table.

The five people only had to wait another minute before Nico appeared, Joe in his arms. "Lay him here," Biff demanded, pointing to his bed. Nodding, Nico complied.

Immediately Biff took in Joe's appearance. There was a bullet in his right thigh and blood all around it. His jeans were soaked with it. There was also a bruise blossoming on his face from where, Biff assumed, he had been hit.

"Get his pants off," Biff commanded the Hardy family. "Nico, hand me the ambrosia. Joe, wake up. I need you awake buddy. I can't feed you while you sleep."

"Five more minutes, Mom," Joe moaned.

"Joe. I'm not kidding. Wake up. At the least open your mouth and prepare to swallow."

Still groaning, the son of Apollo cracked open his eyes before opening them all the way once they were adjusted to the light. "What happened? I feel like I've been trampled by the Minotaur."

"What?" Fenton asked, concerned. "Does he have a concussion?"

"Huh? No, no," Biff muttered distractedly as he took one of the cakes and put it in Joe's waiting and ready mouth. "Just a saying."

Then, as Joe chewed on the ambrosia, Biff held a hand and Nico deposited the tools to take out the bullet into it. Laura's mouth dropped open. "You're going to operate on it yourself?"

"Huh? Oh, kinda, just remove the bullet. Then I'll let the nectar take care of the rest."

"Just hurry," Joe muttered. "These kind of things always hurt."

"I will," Biff said. "Don't worry."

"And there's my cue to worry," Joe sighed.

Two hours later, after Joe is healed and the Greek gods and demigods and the whole thing had been explained:

Joe looked up as Frank entered his room. He had been looking at his camp neckless. Five years... five years worth of beads... five years worth of secrets... five years since he first went to Camp Half-Blood... and yet, only a few months since he had been claimed by Apollo because he had only been claimed after the deal with Percy... only two hours since his secrets had been revealed. It was a lot to take in for him still, and his brother and parents only just found out. Taking that last thought into acount, Joe asked quietly, "How are you? I mean, I know it's a lot to take in and all, but... I mean, you don't hate me for keeping it all a secret? For not telling you and Dad that I knew exactly what the answer to a few of our mysteries have been from the start?"

"What?" Frank asked, startled. "No, Joe. I'm a little upset, but I don't hate you. I could never hate you. Besides, I know it's probably been hurting you ever since you first found out, so I forgive you for keeping it a secret."

Joe smiled, relieved, before asking suddenly, "Do you want to go? To camp, I mean? In the summer? You wouldn't be able to stay that long, but I'm sure Chiron would let you stay for a week."

Frank stared at his younger brother for a few seconds before nodding slowly, "I'd like that. Thanks, little brother."

Joe looked at him for a minute and then smiled again. All was well in the Hardy family, and he knew it. His brother didn't hate him and still saw him as a brother, so all was well.

There you go! Not the best ending in the world, and not what I wanted, but... please review!