A/N For this fic:
Inspired by:
Mission to Marzipan's Instead of Going Under
A song for this fic:
Make it Stop - Rise Against
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO


Nico just lay there in his tiny bedroom in his tiny apartment, curtains drawn and lights off. Staring at the opposite wall, he listened to Rachel and Percy trying to convince him to get him outside or at least open a window. He just didn't care anymore, he was losing the will to live.

It was a pathetic sight, a year after the giant war and still unable to cope. It wasn't the day to day tasks of caring for himself that Nico was struggling with, no, it was the memories. Every time he closed his eyes he saw the evil grins of his captors. He heard his own screams. He smelled his own blood. He knew those images would never truly leave him. He would be stuck with them for the rest of his life. For the rest of his life he would hear a symphony of insane laughter and strangled screams. As much as his friends at camp, most prominent among them Rachel and Percy, tried to be understanding. As much as they tried to help, they just didn't know.

They didn't know the feeling of flesh torn from flesh. They didn't know the agony of a brand on your neck. They didn't know, and Nico would never let them. Nico would never let his friends know that pain. The friends that had become his family could never know. The only thing that kept him holding on was the thought of protecting his friends. Rachel, Percy, Annabeth, even the Stoll brothers, if they ever felt that pain…

Nico didn't even take his eyes off the blank stretch of wall when his father appeared in the doorway behind Percy and Rachel. His friends didn't notice the god glaring at them until Nico finally spoke.

"Get out." His two friends looked at each other, bewildered.

"Not you, him," Nico spat out the last word as though it was the worst insult he could think of.

Rachel and Percy turned to see who it was and immediately jumped to their feet, half out of respect for the god, half out of anger on behalf of their friend.

"What are you doing here, Lord Hades?" asked Rachel, Percy looked like he was struggling to keep himself from punching Hades in the jaw.

"I came to see my son," Hades replied simply, inclining his head slightly in Nico's direction.

"You've got some nerve!" said Percy rather hotly, "It's been nearly a year since the war and you choose now to show up? Look at him! All we can get him to tell us is 'I was alone for so long' and 'don't bring my father into this'. If you'd paid a bit more attention to your son he might not be in this apartment! He could be fully recovered by-"

"Could you two go into the other room for a minute?" All three of them turned to Nico in astonishment. Surely he didn't want to be alone with his father. He had been telling them to leave Hades out of the loop for months now. Nevertheless Rachel and Percy both stood and left the room, sending nervous glances over their shoulders as they went.

Hades moved towards his son whose attention had returned to the wall. Sitting down in Percy's empty chair he leaned forward, examining Nico's condition. "You're healing well," he said finally.

"What do you want from me? I'm not in the mood to make small talk."

"Son, you've had a… hard year and a difficult recovery but by now you should be back on your feet." Nico just shook his head. Unbelievable, he shows up after a year of ignoring me and has the nerve to tell me to get over it. As if he had read Nico's mind Hades continued, "I would have come sooner but I got the impression you didn't want to see me."

"Never stopped you before," Nico mumbled bitterly. Then, much more clearly, he said, "Get out."

"Oh, I will, and you will accompany me."

"What makes you think I'll do that?"

"No matter what those giants did to you I am still your father and you are still my-"

"Son, I'm your son. There's a big difference between son and errand boy. I'm not going back to your palace to run around doing all the jobs you can't be bothered to do."

"I don't expect you to. I just want you to come home."

Nico snorted, "Who're you and what have you done with Hades?" He honestly didn't care if his father blasted him to a pile of ash for being disrespectful. It would just be a relief. "I don't recall you being so eager for me to 'come home' when they found me half dead in that cave, or when I was ten and you left me to fend for myself. But I guess you need something done now, right?"

"Nico, you have responsibilities, I gave you a year to recover now you are coming with me."

Nico sat up straight and looked his father full in the face, "No! I'm eighteen, you aren't in charge anymore! I don't have to listen to you!"

For a split second Nico saw an angry fire blaze in his father's eyes until the god managed to calm himself. "You're behaving like a child, unfitting for a child of mine. I am bringing you back to the Underworld, end of discussion." Hades made to grab Nico's wrist but his son pulled away.

"Don't pull that 'my word is final' crap on me. You can't just intimidate me into going with you."

"I don't need to." Said Hades, he flicked his wrist and Nico vanished.

I always forget he can do that, Nico thought angrily as he took in his surroundings. The black marble walls and floors and dark wood furnishings were all too familiar. He was in his old room in Hades' palace. Everything was exactly as he had left it before the war. A picture of his sister sat on the desk, an old pack of mythomagic cards was set on his bedside table. It seemed almost an insult, to be brought back to the source of his problems. If he had never left camp all those years ago he wouldn't have ended up here, if he hadn't ended up here he wouldn't have been captured in the first place. But then again, the more reasonable part of his brain chided, if he hadn't come to the Underworld all those years ago, the titan war would've destroyed the whole of western civilization.

Nico growled in frustration and threw himself on the black silk covers of his four-poster bed. It was impossible for him to hate or like this place in the end. "Now what am I supposed to do?" Nico asked the empty room.

Or at least he thought it was empty. "You can start by agreeing not to pull any of your old stunts."

He turned his head in the direction of the voice. There, in Nico's favorite leather armchair, sat Hades. Nico didn't bother to sit up; he just stared at the black canopy over his head. "Which stunts are we talking about?" While being back in his father's realm had relieved his exhaustion, it hadn't done anything to improve his mood and Nico was not looking forward to another conversation with his father.

"Attempting to break down the door when you're sent here for your own good, climbing down the side of the castle," Nico smiled at the memory but quickly reminded himself to be angry and frustrated, "demolishing the room when you get frustrated-"

Nico stuck his hand up in the air as if he was pointing something out on his bed's canopy and said "That's how most teenage boys deal with stuff."

"Not my son." Nico sighed and his arm flopped down. "Do I need to continue?"

"I got the general message. Can I at least IM Percy, tell him what's going on?"

"He knows," Hades said shortly, "Insolent little brat that Jackson. I told him you were coming to the Underworld with me and he was getting that ridiculous pen out." Nico smirked at his father; he obviously didn't know what Percy would do for the people he cared about. Hell, he'd jumped (read: fallen) into Tartarus for Annabeth. It doesn't really get more loyal than that. "I would wipe that grin of your face if I were you, Persephone arrived yesterday, she won't be pleased to see you."

"She won't have to see me. I don't plan on staying long, and staying in this room is sounding like a good idea to me."

Hades suddenly stood, shocking Nico out of his cocky attitude. "Well it does not sound like a good idea to me. I brought you here so you would start taking care of what you are responsible for. Until you sort out your priorities, I expect you to remain in the Underworld and do as you are told!"

Nico finally sat up. Rather than bolting upright as he had in his apartment, he slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed and pulled himself up straight. Glaring at his father he opened his mouth to refuse but stopped at the sight of Hades' narrowed eyes.

"Fine, what do I have to do first?"

"Dinner will be served in one hour, your stepmother and I will see you in the dining hall on time. I trust you remember your way around the palace?" Nico nodded reluctantly, "Good, do not be late." With that Hades started to glow and Nico averted his eyes from his father's true, godly form.

"Well this really sucks," said Nico flopping down in the chair his father had just vacated with his legs over one arm and using the other as a headrest. This chair had always been his favorite merely because of its size. Hades rarely shrank to smaller than sixteen feet and when he used to lecture Nico after sending him to his room (it had happened quite often actually) this was just his chair. Nico had quickly learned to avoid the awkward and make sure that the chair was vacant when he was punished with time in his room.

I'm eighteen for the gods' sake! thought Nico, I can't just be grounded!

Nico was so lost in thought that it took a minute for the Iris Message to catch his attention. When the son of Poseidon cleared his throat for the sixth time Nico finally looked up.

"Percy? What are you doing? If my dad finds out-"

"He'll blast me. Yeah, yeah, heard it from Rachel already."

"I still think it's a stupid idea!" came the Oracle's voice from the distance, making Percy chuckle.

"Anyway," said Percy turning his attention back to Nico, "what's happening?"

"Apparently I'm grounded. Dad told me that 'until I get my priorities sorted out I'm expected to remain in the Underworld and do as I'm told'. I've got an hour until I have to get my ass to dinner and pretend I'm happy to be back." Percy shifted uncomfortably his eyes fixed on a spot behind Nico. "He's right behind me, isn't he?" asked Nico, thinking his luck wouldn't have improved.

"Actually no, not this time. It's just… do you think that… maybe if you…" Percy was obviously struggling to find the right way to say whatever he had risked his life to say, so Rachel came up behind him and took over not bothering to be the slightest bit sensitive.

"What seaweed brain here is trying to say is, maybe this'll be good for you. You can get back to being your usual creepy prince of death self and recover from the shock of the war at the same time," Nico's jaw dropped and Percy clapped a hand to his forehead. "What? You both know I don't believe in sugar coating things like this."

"It's just-," began Percy, "you know what? Never mind. But you're okay, Nico?"

"I'm fine, just frustrated. He still treats me like I'm twelve."

"You'll get through it," Said Percy reassuringly, "we should probably go back to camp in case someone Underworld-y comes over to pick something up."

"Okay, I'll talk to you soon then."

"For sure," said Rachel, breaking their connection and leaving Nico alone in his room once again.


When Nico entered the dining hall an hour later, he was greeted by a not-so-reassuring sight. Hades was leaning back in his chair at the head of the table surveying him with a cold stare, like he was making sure he wouldn't make a break for it. Persephone looked him up and down before briefly meeting his eyes with a look of disdain and turning back to changing the flower arrangement with a sniff. What Nico was wearing probably didn't improve the queen's opinion of him, ripped black jeans and a black t-shirt with a skeleton's ribcage printed on the front. Not unlike what he always used to wear, and, if the affect on his stepmother's mood was any indication, it still wasn't scoring him any points. Hades gave him a curt nod and gestured for his son to take the empty seat to his right. Nico groaned inwardly, this would not be fun.

The small… family sat in silence except for the clinking of cutlery for most of the meal. When they had all nearly finished the last course, Nico was beginning to hope that he could just sneak away after the meal and not have to endure another conversation with his father, but, of course, his luck would never be that good.

"Tomorrow, Alecto will be doing an assessment of your powers." The sound of Hades' voice broke Nico's silent mantra of 'sit up straight, sit up straight, sit up straight' startling him into nearly dropping the goblet halfway to his lips. "Just to ensure that nothing was… affected by your part in the war." He nodded, determined not to do or say anything that would cause Persephone's amused smile to widen.

Nico finished what was on his plate and pushed out his chair making to stand but Hades placed a firm hand on his shoulder and pulled him back to his seat.

"Not so fast. I still need to speak with you." Persephone's grin did indeed widen at the plain discomfort on Nico's face. She's going to be even worse than before, he thought bitterly, why is it always me? "I don't want any of your tricks during the assessment. Alecto may have you try shadow travel; you will travel to exactly where she tells you. I've already explained that you are not to leave the Underworld."

"And if I do leave?" Nico asked defiantly,

"If you do leave," said Hades raising an eyebrow, "you will be defying a direct order. You have faced the punishment for that before, would you like to repeat the experience?"

"I'd rather not," he mumbled under his breath.

"You may go."

Nico finally stood up from the table and, with one last look at Persephone's gleeful face, left the room.


A/N Chapter 1 = complete! Time to move onto to the next chapter, brace yourselves.