The end of winter was always the worst time in Nico di Angelo's life. He used to be overjoyed when Persephone would depart from the Underworld to go be with her mother for spring and summer. While she was never outright cruel to him, he knew she didn't like him very much. Many Goddesses were terrible to their husband's demigod children, and he was thankful that she tended to ignore him most of the time. However, it was always incredibly awkward when the whole family was together.

Now, he wished Persephone would never leave. Since souls still came in at an ever-alarming rate from the war with Gaia and they had to rebuild parts of the Underworld that were destroyed, Hades didn't have enough time to comfort the young Goddess Macaria throughout the time her mother was gone. Melinoe, their elder daughter, was lucky that she grew up, accepted Persephone's time away, and didn't have to take care of her younger sibling. To earn his keep, Hades had enlisted Nico to babysit his immortal sister this year.

Macaria, the Goddess of blessed death, was millennia old, but she never grew or took the form of a girl any older than ten. While it was not uncommon for Gods to sometimes favor the form of children, Nico tended to think Hades and Persephone's babying had everything to do with it. They would melt into a puddle at the first sign of a whine and gave her whatever she desired. Even Nico found it hard to deny her requests when she smiled sweetly and looked at him with her big violet eyes, promising to give him a blessed death and a free pass to Elysium when his time came.

Millennia ago, Hades and Persephone both came to a begrudging agreement that Macaria would stay in the Underworld while Persephone took her springtime leave as she was conceived and born there. Hades would not let his daughter be taken away and let her be tempted to leave her home in favor of the Upperworld.

It may have made sense to Nico if he had been born when the agreement had taken place, but it seemed unnecessary now. Every year, Persephone would tearfully say goodbye as Macaria threw a tantrum and begged her not to go. She would cry for weeks, only stopping if Hades coddled her or someone would devote his or her life to make sure she was preoccupied. Nico didn't know how his father had dealt with it for centuries.

However, her behavior was a stark contrast to what she was like in the winter months. She was very intelligent and acted older than her ten year old form. While Nico hardly spoke to her and didn't stay in the Underworld for long periods of time, they had always been on decent terms. Sometimes he forgot she was in the body of a child because she had always acted older. Apparently, for all the wisdom and knowledge she possessed, she still didn't understand why Mommy left every year.

Now it was Nico's problem to deal with, and he was sure that he wouldn't care if he received passage to Elysium or not, as long as Macaria didn't annoy him in the afterlife.

…

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase both had enough of the Underworld for their lifetimes and didn't want to step foot there again until they were dead. However, when Nico begged them for weeks to come down for the spring holiday, they begrudgingly accepted, unaware of what they were actually agreeing to. Sure, he had promised that they could all party in Elysium and the Isles of Blest, but there was always an ulterior motive when it came to anything regarding Hades.

When they arrived at Hades' palace, Percy quickly put his hands on his ears to drown out the screams as Nico rolled his eyes at the situation. "What's going on? It's louder than the Fields of Punishment in here!" Percy asked wondering why a dark haired child screamed while sitting on Persephone's throne.

"Persephone left," Nico said shrugging his shoulders. "And now we have to babysit."

Both Percy and Annabeth looked at him like he was crazy. How were any of them going to comfort a spoiled Goddess who wanted something she couldn't have?

"Look, Nico, we didn't sign up to babysit- especially a Goddess" Percy said uneasy with the situation. He had heard mention of how Hades had doted on his immortal daughters, the younger in particular. What if they screwed something up? He knew all blame would fall on him.

"Oh, Macaria is harmless really. I mean, she did almost tear Persephone's skirt from pulling it, but she doesn't usually curse people," Nico said. He hoped that Percy and Annabeth would be able to get her to stop wailing, as he was completely hopeless in that department. "Plus, we won't be able to gate crash Elysium without her."

"Macaria, hush," Annabeth crooned, knowing that Percy was at a loss of what to do. The young Goddess frowned at her, as Annabeth cautiously approached her, but at least her attention was focused on something else besides screaming for Persephone. "It's going to be okay."

"No, it's not," Macaria whined as tears slid down her cheeks. Annabeth got close enough to notice gemstones were woven in her dark curls. "Mother left."

"I know, but she will come back like she does every year," Annabeth sighed, motioning for Percy and Nico to come over. She thought that Demeter, Hades, and Persephone could have came to a better agreement by now, if only for Macaria's sake. Perhaps the Goddess would adopt an older form if her mother hadn't been taken away from her.

"Nico, where is Will?" Macaria asked, ignoring Annabeth completely as she gazed upon a golden harp in the corner of the throne room.

"Believe me if he could, I would make him be here," Nico said wishing his boyfriend was with him. Will was busy as a full time healer at Camp Halfblood, and there was only so much time that he could spend in the Underworld before he started missing the Sun and his creative juices stopped flowing.

Macaria also liked Will, a bit too much for Nico's liking, but he could keep her occupied for hours by playing the harp or painting with her. Macaria wasn't impressed with Nico's demigod abilities, for she could do the same and more, but Will's talents always delighted her.

"Do you want to show us around Elysium?" Percy asked as she began to cry again. That is why they had come in the first place anyway, and he would like to have a tour of their future home. Macaria's domain was Elysium, so she had to like it at least a little bit.

Annabeth smacked her face thinking Percy could be so daft, but Macaria's violet eyes lit up. "Only if I can hold your hand," Macaria smiled brightly at the boy she had been ignoring.

"Uh, sure, why not?" Percy said nervously as she slid off the throne and skipped to him, noting her complete personality switch (which wasn't uncommon when dealing with a God).

"Well come on then, Nico and friends!" Macaria squealed. Nico rolled his eyes, thinking that maybe she would have a chance with all the boys she fancied if she didn't look like she was ten years old.

…

When Macaria found out that the boy she was walking with was Percy Jackson in the flesh, she was giddy with excitement. He was very uncomfortable of course as she told him everything Nico had said about him, from the endless depths of his sea green eyes to his unparalleled fighting abilities. Luckily, Nico had already confessed that he had a crush on Percy.

Then she would start crying and demand to see her mother. The walk was quite exhausting when they had to deal with a screaming Goddess, and Percy was forced to carry her at one point and Nico at another.

"You need to be quiet, Macaria. Father won't be pleased if he can hear you all the way in the Judgment Pavilion," the place where you should be, but you neglect your duties for months, and father never says anything, he failed to mention as he carried her. She went back to hold Percy's hand after that, but at least she had stopped wailing.

"Tell me about the sea," Macaria said, suddenly becoming serious as she wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Well, it's big," Percy said.

"Bigger than the River Styx?" she asked, and Percy and Annabeth realized that in all her thousands of years, she hadn't been allowed to see the wonders above.

"Yeah, it covers most of the earth," Percy said thinking of a better description. "You can look out for miles and never see the end. At a certain, point the blue of the water meets the sky. You can't tell which is which."

"We have a sky, but not a sea, nor a real sun," Macaria said sadly thinking of the illusion of the sky they did have. She wondered if the pink sky mixed with oranges and purple above Elysium or the gray storm clouds in Asphodel Fields were similar to anything he had seen in the Upperworld.

Percy squeezed her hand lightly as she began to silently cry. But soon the gates of Elysium were in front of them, and Macaria plastered on a smile as she opened the gates.

While everyone greeted Macaria and Nico, several people also greeted Percy and Annabeth. The children of Hades didn't even get to give Percy and Annabeth a tour before they were dragged off by some of the heroes they had been friends with in life.

They would have been welcome to join the festivities, but neither Macaria nor Nico felt like celebrating. Instead, they sat together on a bench watching the blessed souls go on with their party.

"I know you don't like me, Nico," Macaria said as her brother looked at her incredulously. "And it's all right, I still like you."

"Maybe I should bring Percy and Annabeth down here more often. It hasn't even been a day and you have stopped wailing like a wounded hellhound for more than a few minutes," Nico said a bit flabbergasted that she had fully come to her senses again.

"Do you want to know a secret? When Mother leaves it doesn't even hurt anymore," Macaria said, and Nico's jaw dropped. Was it an act the entire time? "I want Father to feel sorry for keeping me locked up here, and I want Mother to hate every moment she spends above. I even want you to suffer because you don't realize how lucky you are to come and go as you please. But you won't hear me say it again."

"You little devil, doing it all for show," Nico said still not believing what he was hearing. He didn't understand why she had confessed this to him as she could have made his life a living hell (as if he wasn't living there already) by screaming all day.

"If you tell Father…" She threatened.

"Why don't you tell Father?" Nico asked. "Surely, he must realize that it is the twenty first century, and that you should be able to be with your mother if you want to."

"He doesn't see it that way. Mother was taken away, so I have to stay." She said, "Why do you think Elysium is what it is? I've spent a lot of time learning what everyone desires. I turned their memories into a fake reality to make them feel at home and so I could have a version of a world I've never seen."

Her words pulled at Nico's heartstrings, and he found himself sighing in defeat. Even though she was much older than he was, he saw her as a baby sister that he needed to protect.

"I'll tell you what, as my word as a brother, I will help you convince Father of letting you go to California while I chaperone. But you would have to swear on the Styx that you won't run away and that you will return to the Underworld when I say it's time,"

"All right,"

"Then it's settled. We will give Percy and Annabeth time to party before we can tell them to go home. I'm sure they will both be relieved," Nico said chuckling at his friends who were currently partaking in the dance party that was going on.

"Percy is very handsome," Macaria said grinning as Nico huffed. He really did have beautiful eyes.

Apparently all children of Hades were destined to love Percy Jackson.

…

Author's Note: I'm honestly just trying to get feedback from this story. Write in a review what you think or want to happen! It came to me on a whim, so I'm not sure if I should continue or not, even though I left it pretty open. I haven't read the PJO books in a long time, and I am not up to date on the Apollo books, but I'm eager to know what you all think!