A/N: This short story is based off of the fifth Percy Jackson book, The Last Olympian, when Nico di Angelo uses Mrs. O' Leary to shadow travel Percy Jackson to May Castellan's house. Nico uses his own powers, being a son of Hades, to shadow travel. Nico says that he got better at shadow traveling by, "Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China." Nico is very tired after shadow traveling and Percy asks if he needs to take a nap. Nico's response goes as follows, "Nico shook his head. "The first time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week. Now it just makes me a little drowsy…" This story is about Nico's first shadow travel experience and has a twist that leads into The Last Olympian. Enjoy!

Nico was running for two main reasons. It was a nice way of getting some exercise, and he was being chased by two Furies. Technically, he was being chased for four reasons if you counted each Fury's wrath as a reason.

Who knows why the Furies were chasing him? Zeus would. Thunder rumbled over Nico's head. Strike that, not even Zeus would know. Probably just some god messing with him, or maybe it was his dad.

Nico had tried slashing at them with his Stygian iron sword, but it just got him hurt. He had tried many other things, but had to resort to running. He was losing energy, and fast. Nico wished there was somewhere to hide, and then he saw it. There was a forest, right in front of him. Maybe he could hide somewhere in there!

Nico high tailed it into the forest, scraping himself up in the process. He heard the Furies behind him, and knew he couldn't run anywhere in this dense forest. He was trapped.

But even being trapped, he could still hide. He dove behind a bush, realizing too late that there was a tree behind it. Mentally preparing himself for impact, Nico fell.

But Nico never hit the tree. Oh gods, he thought, the Furies have me! Or I'm dead. Either way, I'm definitely dead! I wish I were somewhere else! Really far away. Like China, or… or Russia… or… um… Canada!

Then Nico opened his eyes, only to see total darkness. He heard strange chattering all around him, almost like shades trying to talk. A sound that had become familiar from being in the Underworld for months at a time.

He was moving, but he didn't feel like he was. Except for the fact that he felt like the skin on his face was going to tear away from his skull. It was like the fastest roller coaster ever. And Nico knew what he meant when he said ever, he had stayed at the Lotus Casino long enough to ride each roller coaster inside at least fifty times.

It would have been more fun if the sensation had lasted longer, and if, as it ended, he hadn't fallen onto pavement face first and passed out.

Nico woke up with a massive headache. Not only that, but his felt like he had been dragged along the highway behind a race car from his ankle, then a cat with scalding hot claws had attacked it. He didn't want to get up, but he knew he had to, or he'd be, even more so, dead meat. He took in his surroundings.

He was in some sort of alleyway, with fire escapes and doors on each side, probably apartments. On one end of the alleyway was a brick wall, which he was leaning on for support. The other end was leading to a busy street, which accounted for all of the noise. It must've been a pretty unused alleyway, or someone probably would have found him by now, he hoped.

Nico walked over to the open end of the alleyway. Even though his headache was killing him, he didn't even do a double take when he saw that bright neon signs with lettering that made dyslexia look normal surrounded him. Russian.

Oh joy, he thought sarcastically, I'm in Russia. I wonder if they'll take dollar bills. Great, now I really want coffee. And an aspirin or two.

Sadly, Nico didn't have time to check out one of the nearby coffee stands. Just as he stepped out of the shadows of the alley way, a giant bird swooped down and snatched him up with its claws. Nico realized too late that it wasn't just a huge bird, but in fact one of the Furies that was determined to kill him. Nico tried to struggle out of its grip, but he was only squeezed tighter. The claws were digging into his waist.

"Ow!" he yelped , hoping something could help him.

At least its just one of them this time, he thought.

He dared to look up to see which one. It was Alecto, his friend Percy Jackson's old math teacher from Yancy Academy, the one who had tried to kill him too.

Now honey", Alecto said in her creepy sugar sweet voice, "I wouldn't struggle if I were you. Your father has something to tell you."

Of course, Nico thought, my father. I wonder what he has to say this time. 'You're (instead of your) not as good as Bianca', or 'Bianca could've done better'? Tough decision on his part. Nico wasn't mad, he was past that. He was in rage. He had to calm himself and remember that holding a grudge was the children of Hades' fatal flaws.

As he was thinking, the scene around him was changing from a bustling Russian city to the dark gloomy Underworld that Nico was forced to call home. Alecto passed over the Fields of Punishment and made its way over to Hades's Palace. Alecto dropped Nico into the palace garden.

Nico knew he had to go to see his father, or he would be dragged there. He walked into the palace, hoping his father wasn't mad at him. If so, this would probably be the worst, and worse yet, last day of his life.

Nico walked into the main hall of the palace to see his father sitting in a throne next to Persephone.

"Hello Nico," Hades greeted him in his stone cold voice, face expressionless, "I've been waiting for you."

Nico looked up at his father and bluntly said, "Why did you have the Furies drag me here? I could have come myself."

Hades's eyes glowed with an angry fire, but Persephone whispered something inaudible to Nico into his ear and he calmed down a little. He took a deep breath and said, "I have a deal for you. That is, if you think you can handle it. If you can get me Percy Jackson, I can tell you about you past. I'll answer a few of your ignorant questions."

Nico's eyes lit up, but then the darkness of realization washed over his face, he said, "Wait… why do you want Percy?"

"Why do I even try with this boy?" Hades muttered just loud enough for Nico to hear and lower his head, then louder, "Just to talk. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"Promise?" Nico asked hopefully. All he wanted in the world was to learn more about his past that he knew so little about. But the question arising was if he would risk a friend for it. Could he?

"I, Hades, god of the Underworld, promise that I will just talk with Percy Jackson," Hades said, obviously annoyed, "Now go. Shoo."

"But, how will I convince him to come to the Underworld with me… or anyone. He hasn't had the best of times down here. You know what I mean." Nico said, becoming more hungry for the knowledge his father possessed by the second.

Do some…research. Make it seem real. Do something that history can back up. Prove yourself to me and think for once," Hades said. "Now go."

"Yes father," was Nico's solemn reply. He tried not to run out of the palace, but he was so excited, he couldn't help it. He already had an idea by the time he reached the Styx. He had told this idea to Percy already. Now he just had to get the history to back it up, maybe practice that new shadow travel thing he could do now, and then go see Percy.

A/N: I hoped you enjoyed this little one shot. Its something that I wrote a while back. I give my thanks to Eryr, who helped me edit it...

XO,

Sillwe