A/N: I wrote this fic quite a while ago for a fanfic contest in a Percy Jackson community on Google Plus. It's bad, rather rushed, and didn't win, but well I hope you enjoy!

Prompt: They call me a traitor. Maybe I am. All I know is that I did what I had to do.

"Something's stirring," Nico di Angelo said, staring at the horizon.

He could feel Hazel's gaze on him. "What?"

"I can't tell exactly what," Nico said absently. "But it's powerful. And it's stirring. And I have a feelings it's going to cause trouble for us."

"Well, of course it is. We'll just have to be on the lookout," Hazel said. She stood. "I'm going back to the cabin. Are you coming with me?"

Nico shook his head. "I'll be there. I just need a moment."

Hazel looked doubtful for a moment, then nodded. "Okay." She headed across the camp green towards Cabin Thirteen, where she was staying on a brief visit to the Greek camp.

Nico sighed and stared down at the ground. Down there, somewhere, a primordial was rising. But he knew who it was.

And he had lied.

Because that primordial was Nico's greatest fear. The one that had an insurmountable amount of control over him. A control that he hated more than anything else in the world.

Because Nico di Angelo was weak.

And he hated himself for it.

A scream woke Hazel Levesque. She bolted upright and ran out of the cabin, followed by Nico, who was rather groggy.

Her jaw dropped.

Percy Jackson was laughing in a laugh that sounded much too evil and much too deep for him. His sword slashed and sliced and stabbed, no camper a match for him. His eyes were swirling, and they seeme to pull a stumbling Hazel towards them, as if the eyes had their own sort of gravity. They were dark as night and cavernous like an endless pit.

Those were not his eyes

And then she saw his blade coming down upon Annabeth, wounded, bleeding, without a weapon.

Annabeth, who was completely defenseless.

Annabeth, who could never win against her boyfriend in this state.

Annabeth, who was about to die.

Annabeth.

Without thinking she threw herself over the bleeding body of her best friend and took the blow of Riptide. For a moment she was immersed in a sea of pain, a terrible terrible pain that seared like a thousand hot daggers, a burning in her waist that would not subside. She screamed, louder than she had ever screamed before, and then-

And then she was floating.

Nico di Angelo was screaming.

He was screaming in grief, loss, pain, guilt, but above all else, anger.

Pure anger.

Anger that consumed his every nerve, setting his senses on fire.

Hot tears were spilling out of his eyes but he barely noticed them, his focus only on the person in front of him.

He didn't care that the demigod hero was possessed.

He didn't care.

All he cared about was the dead body of Hazel Levesque lying on the ground.

The son of Hades roared and charged. He fought like a demon, barely noticing the wounds he received in his side, in his leg, in his arm.

A few seconds later, Nico di Angelo stared down at the dead body of Percy Jackson.

And then he collapsed.

Nico's eyes fluttered open and Will Solace sighed a sigh of pure relief. He wrapped his boyfriend in a hug, tears prickling at the corners of his eyes.

"You're alive," he whispered.

"W-What?" Nico groaned, rubbing his head. "Why does it hurt?"

And then everything came crashing down.

Percy, fighting like a demon, killing campers, sword raised over Annabeth.

Hazel, throwing herself forward, Riptide slashing her in two, bleeding out and dying, and then-dead.

And Nico, remembering just a blur, crying and bleeding and wounded, but still fighting.

Collapsing.

"You've been convicted," Will said. "To be on trial. To be executed. To go to the Fields of Punishment. All because you killed him.

Yes, Nico remembered. He remembered standing over the dead body of Percy Jackson.

"No," he said. "They won't find me."

And he melted into the shadows.

Nico fell to his knees, the tears coming fresh and fast. He couldn't believe it.

They had killed them.

The enraged Roman and Greek camps, in a frenzy over the murder of the hero Percy Jackson, had killed the three demigods who had dared to stand up to the others and defend Nico's actions.

They had killed Will Solace, Frank Zhang, and Reyna Ramirez-Arellano.

Nico knew they were angry, and they had a reason to be.

But this? This murder of the three people left important to him?

This was unforgivable.

Nico stood.

He was going to take revenge.

Nico di Angelo stood before the looming figure of Tartarus. He was the same as before, except his previous whirlpool of a head was now replaced with a more human-like visage. Black hair, purplish skin, and the eyes that Percy Jackson had worn as he died.

"I am here to join you, Tartarus," he said coolly.

Tartarus threw back his head and laughed-a deep, booming laugh that chilled Nico.

But he stood his ground. He would not fall. He had revenge to complete.

"And why is that, Nico di Angelo?" Tartarus taunted, amusement glinting in his pits for eyes.

"Because I need to have revenge," Nico said. "They call me a traitor. Maybe I am. All I know is that I did what I had to do."

"Of course," Tartarus said, smiling. "I always knew you'd come to your senses one day, son of Hades. Join me."