Chapter 1- A Fresh Start

"Mind if I sit down?" Will Solace asked, as he set an apple on the stone table.

"Do what you want," Nico answered. Will took that as a yes, and took a seat. Nico looked down at his bagel, which only had one bite taken out of it. He wasn't feeling very hungry. What he was feeling was a mixture of excitement and nervousness, since today was the first day that he would see his sister since she had left for New Rome. He glanced back up, and saw Will staring at him. "Is there something you want?"

"No, just thinking. You look tired, is everything all right?" Will, being a doctor, could normally tell when something wasn't sitting right, whether it be with Nico or any other one of his patients.

"I'm fine, it's good. I'm just going to see Hazel later today."

"Oh, that sounds fun. I hope you aren't shadow traveling, though." He seemed worried, but there was no need. It had been a couple weeks since the war had ended, if it could even be called a war. And Nico hadn't used any underworld magic since, so he should be perfectly good to go. He said as much, and Will relaxed, though he didn't let it go completely.

"Yeah, and I should probably get going soon. Different time zones, and all." Even if Nico's time zone logic was flawed, he didn't care. He could never remember if California was four hours behind or four hours ahead. So, he decided not to take any chances, and would be leaving early.

Just as he started to stand, he heard a voice behind him. "Nico! Will!" He turned to see Percy and Annabeth, holding a volleyball. "Catch!" He threw it towards NIco and Will, and while Nico flinched a bit, Will's arm shot out and caught it.

"Hey, Percy," Will greeted, and tossed the ball back. "What's up?"

"We were wondering if you guys wanted to play some volleyball," Percy answered.

"Oh, I was actually just leaving," Nico said, glancing to side. "Maybe next time?"

"Leaving? Where?" Percy looked confused. Nico hoped that he didn't think he was leaving for good, because he wasn't.

"Well, he's probably going to see Hazel. Isn't that right?" Annabeth said, taking the volleyball from Percy. She tossed it up and down in her hands.

"Yeah, I am. How did you guess?"

"It's been a couple of weeks, and you're all rested up, and you've got to be missing her by now. Plus, you promised Reyna that you'd visit," Annabeth explained. As per usual, the daughter of Athena was spot on. Nico shrugged and nodded. "That's what I thought."

"Wow, that's pretty impressive, Wise Girl," Percy commented, as he hooked an arm around her. Nico was starting to feel awkward, so he dismissed himself. After he said goodbye to Will, he started out into the woods of Camp Half-Blood.

The trees blocked most of the sunlight, which was a fortunate fact in the late August heat. It didn't help that Nico's pale skin naturally didn't like the sun's rays, and he burned pretty easily. Will kept trying to get him to wear more sunscreen, but he didn't like the feel of the lotion.

Even if his roughly-guessed time zones meant that he should hurry a little, Nico figured he should probably get the daily new report of the Underworld since he was partly running the place. He luckily wasn't called in very often, but being the son of Hades, he was highly respected amongst the dead. Hazel and Reyna could wait a little while more. Plus, he'd been looking for news of Leo's spirit in Elysium, or maybe in the Fields.

He placed the rest of his uneaten bagel on some pre-dug dirt that he used nearly every day, along with a couple of oranges he grabbed from the dining hall. That was probably enough for one spirit, especially since they couldn't really deny the Prince of the Underworld. Sure enough, the misty silhouette of a man rose from the displaced ground.

"At your service, sir," The spirit bowed. He was corporeal enough for ragged clothes to be seen, some kind of old uniform. He wasn't a spirit that Nico recognized, which was slightly unusual.

"Where is the normal reporter?" Nico asked. He didn't really have time for small talk.

"She's, uh, busy with something else," He answered. The spirit looked nervous, but Nico just stared him down until he relented and told him more. "Lord Hades sent me as a messenger to you."

"Oh, really? Why wouldn't he message me himself?" Nico wasn't sure whether the spirit was telling the truth or not, since the undead generally weren't the most trustworthy of beings.

"Lord Hades is very busy these days, with things that aren't meant for common knowledge." Nico decided that he wouldn't be getting much valuable information from him, so it was better to get to the point.

"So, then. What is my father's message?" Nico asked.

"He wishes for counsel with you and your living sister, sooner rather than later," The spirit answered. He also looked like he'd rather not be here, with the way he was fidgeting.

"Did he state a reason?"

"No, sir."

"Alright. I will meet with him later today. You are dismissed." Nico waved a hand, and the spirit vanished. Nico sighed. Today was already nerve-wracking enough, did the Fates really need to throw something else at him?

He stepped behind a tree, where the shadows were thicker, and pictured the Pluto Temple as he melted into the darkness. It was a good landing spot, since no one ever really went in there and it was guaranteed to be dark.

As he stepped out of the shadows on the other side, he was met with a dark, empty room. The walls were stone, and pictures were etched into the walls, depicting various rituals and artifacts. There was no light source, besides the open entrance. There was a shrine in the middle, with the symbol for Pluto and an altar for offerings.

Nico thought he saw something move. Even though it might have just been his paranoia, he drew his sword partway in defence. The thing moved again, and this time he noticed a mass of curls poking out from outside the entrance. That would be Hazel. He sheathed his sword, since he really wasn't supposed to even have it in the temples.

"Hey!" Nico called, making her jump. He walked over to her, and leaned against the stone columns. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Oh, hi Nico! You scared me a bit," Hazel laughed. It made sense that it was her, since she was the only one who ever visited the Pluto temple. Right now it looked like she was feeding pigeons, from the bag of breadcrumbs in her hands. "I was starting to think that you weren't coming."

"I got held up a little. You know, the usual shenanigans." Nico debated telling her about the message from their father, but decided to put it off for later and not ruin the relaxed atmosphere. When Nico looked at Hazel a little closer, he saw that she looked pretty tired. "So, um, how have you been?" His plan might not last long. If they needed to talk seriously, then he would.

"Oh, you know. New Rome is pretty much as I remember," Hazel shrugged. She seemed exhausted, but not like she was going to tell him what was wrong that easily. That was fine, he didn't want to pry, but that emotion was battling with the feeling of a responsibility to protect her.

"...Alright. Should we go say hello to Reyna before she hunts me down?" Nico went with leaving it alone. Also, he was actually kind of worried Reyna would try to find him.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," Hazel agreed. She stood up, and they made their way down the streets together. Nico recognized some people, but he was never around long enough to get to know anyone here. Everyone knew him, though. He was the Graecus who united the camps, and gained the friendship of Reyna, which was not an easy task. So he got stared at a lot.

Finally they made it to the Senate House, where they would find Reyna and Frank. Frank was able to keep his Praetor status since Jason had left to be the head of Cabin 1 at Camp Half-Blood, and also since Piper was there. So far, Nico hadn't heard anything bad about Frank's leadership, which wasn't surprising. Frank was already a great leader.

Nico knocked on the door, which shortly was answered by Reyna. "Nico!" She said in surprise. Nico glanced at his sister.

"You didn't tell her I was coming today?" He asked.

"She certainly did not." Reyna said, with a good-natured frown in Hazel's direction. Hazel shrugged.

"I thought it would be a nice surprise."

"Well, you were right about that, I guess," Reyna said thoughtfully. She lightly held both of Nico's arms, holding him out to examine him. "You look a lot better than when I left."

"Yeah, a couple week's rest can work miracles. Though that was mostly Will's doing." Nico explained. The scars on his arms, from the werewolf, had almost completely healed, which was good because he was wearing short sleeves more. Today he was wearing a T-shirt from a band that he had only heard about one song from, but clothes were clothes. And no way was he wearing that horrible Hawaiian shirt ever again.

"I'm glad someone's taking care of you, since you can't seem to do it yourself." Reyna smirked. "Come on in. Frank's in here pretending not to be bored out of his mind without you, Hazel."

"I hope we weren't interrupting anything?" Hazel asked.

"No, we were discussing some praetor stuff. It can wait." Reyna led them into the Senate Building, where Frank was leaning back in a chair, feet on the table. When he saw Hazel, he hurriedly stood up, and hugged her tightly.

"I thought I was going to die." He said. He looked pretty good, he had healed almost completely from the battle, and seemed healthy as ever. The only thing was he also looked kind of tired. But who didn't, these days?

"Frank, this is an important part of being a praetor. Get used to it," Reyna scolded. She lightly swatted him on the arm, and gestured for everyone to sit down around the table. She sat at the head, with Frank on her right. Hazel and I sat to her left. It was good to see friends again. It was weird to say, but Nico kind of prefered being with Reyna and Hazel as opposed to anyone at Camp. He definitely enjoyed being with Will, but these two just knew him better.

"So, anything new?" Nico asked. He didn't know when would be a good time to bring up meeting his father. Perhaps an opportunity would come naturally.

"It's been kind of rough, getting the legion back together. Octavian sure did a number on everyone." Reyna sighed, and put her hand over her face. "Morale's been great, though. People haven't really stopped celebrating yet. On the contrary, if some new threat arises, I'm not sure we'll be ready…"

"Oh, Reyna's just being paranoid. Like I've said before, we Romans are ready for anything! Isn't it true that we can move camp completely within four days?" Frank said, leaning back in his chair again.

"That's at our top performance level. Which we are not at right now. That's what we were discussing when you two showed up," Reyna explained. "Do either of you have any suggestions?"

"Well, if everyone could remember what being productive and ready looked like, then maybe they'd go back to their old routines," Nico suggested. He wasn't entirely sure how all of the Romans worked, but he had a good idea of how to lead. It was similar to the battle strategies in Mythomagic, but a little more personal in that you had to consider how people actually worked.

"Are you suggesting that we start up war games again?" Reyna asked. She looked intrigued by the idea, and Nico could almost see the gears spinning in her head.

"That's exactly it," Nico nodded. "It will remind everyone what being Roman really stands for."

"We'd have to have stricter rules. We haven't had any war games since Gwendolyn almost died," Reyna mused. Nico wasn't there when that happened, but he had spoken with her the day after. She had been weird to be around, since Nico knew that she should have been dead. He had felt it. And yet, there she was, talking to him, and very much alive.

"I think it's a good idea," Frank commented. "I always liked them." Frank didn't mention it, but that's where he had gotten his first quest. So it was likely that he would associate good memories with that.

"Alright," Reyna nodded. "We'll let everyone know tomorrow. Thank you for the help."

"What's been new with you, Nico?" Hazel asked. Nico shrugged, and wondered if this was the opportunity he had been waiting for.

"It's about the same as what you described here. Not a lot has changed." He hesitated for a second. "There is one thing, though. For Hazel." She turned sideways to him in curiosity, and gestured for him to continue. "Yeah. Well, father wants to meet with both of us, later today. Or as soon as we can."

"Really? Why?" Hazel asked in surprise, glancing at Frank for support or something.

"I don't know. The messenger spirit who told me just said that he was really busy, but that our presence was important," Nico explained. He figured that they should get going soon, since their father was not a very patient god. Who knows, they might be late already, since the spirit hadn't given them a specific time.

"Interesting. Does he do that very often?" Reyna asked, resting her head on a hand and leaning forwards.

"More recently he's been calling me in to help out with smaller duties, but he hasn't asked for Hazel before."

"That sounds kind of suspicious," Frank commented. "If the God of the Underworld is busier than usual, that can't mean anything good. There hasn't been any massive tragedies recently, has there?"

"Not that I'm aware of, and I would be the person who would know. It's probably something else," Nico said. He wouldn't say that he was suspicious, but something was definitely off.

"If it's as important as it sounds, then we should leave soon, right?" Hazel asked. She had a set look on her face, and even if she wasn't sure if this was a good idea, she seemed determined to at least give it a shot. Nico nodded. Reyna stood up, and walked both of them back over to the large Senate doors.

"I hope all goes well," Reyna said, and shook Nico's hand.

"Yeah, me too." Nico started walking back with Hazel, who linked their arms together. They walked back to the Pluto Temple, since they agreed that it was probably the best place for shadow traveling. It was dark, and already had a strong connection to the Underworld, so it would be pretty easy to cross over from there. Nico could almost picture Will advising him not to shadow travel again, but this time he was with Hazel, and that would also make this much easier.

He wrapped the shadows around the two of them, and with the added strength from Hazel, they vanished from the sight of anyone who might have been watching.

Ayyyyy look at this! I'm finally rewriting it, something i've been wanting to do for like 2 yearssss

So this is kinda the first two chapters of the original, taking the ending of the last book into account, and just being better writing in general

Next update will be whenever I finish the next chapter, schedules are hard especially when you're writing two stories at once. Sadly most of my attention is on Charatale right now... But i'll have fun with this too