"Hades, what are you doing here?" Zeus demanded, shooting to his feet. "You are not welcome here!"

Hades paid no attention to his brother's outrage, instead matching it with his own. His normally crazy eyes seemed to gleam with an unusually intense madness. "I will not stand for this, Brother! I have let your insults stand for millennia, and even allowed your most recent outrage to stand in the name of peace, but this day my demands will be heard."

The moment he felt solid again, he started seeing spots.

Biting back a curse, he immediately turned to comfort Jack who was sobbing uncontrollably now. Rey was clinging to him, and he couldn't blame her. The first time he had shadow traveled, he had felt like all the marrow from his bones had been sucked out and replaced with ice. Rey was five at most, and Jack was only two. That had to be one of the most uncomfortable things they had ever gone through.

Despite their discomfort or Nico's fatigue though, he had to get them to a safer location. He looked around; he was near the edge of the cabins. He paused just long enough to run some calculations and check the date before shrugging Jack higher and taking off for the one cabin he knew he could find help in.

The sun was almost completely down, so the cabin looked completely normal. Despite the hour, he could tell from the noise (ie blaring music and laughter) coming from it that the inhabitants were far from asleep.

It still took a few moments for the door to open. He wasted no time once someone appeared in the doorway though.

"Take them to the Big House. Wake Chiron up if you have to."

"What?"

"Do what I said! Take them to the Big House. Rey, you're going to stay with him until you meet Chiron okay? You remember Chiron, right?"

"But Uncle Nico—" she said, clinging tighter to him.

"Will is going to take care of you, alright? He's going to be really nice. I'm counting on you to protect Jack."

Her lip quivered, but she nodded.

"I've got to go help Mommy and Daddy."

She nodded again, and allowed herself to be handed off to the still slightly confused son of Apollo.

"Wait, Nico, what's going on? And why do you have a butterfly clip in your—"

"No time to explain, I've got to go."

"di Angelo, don't you dare shadow travel away from me! You're not strong enough—!"

The shadows swallowed Nico once again.

"We will not stand for this insolence!" Zeus thundered (he was good at that).

"He had done more for my House than any of my children have ever dared!" Hades yelled back. "He has consistently done more for this world and this lousy council of immortal children than any hero ever had and never received recognition. And now you will have him suffer the ultimate sacrifice for doing the same good that has kept you all in power. You may not stand for my insolence, but I will not stand for this insult. I demand satisfaction."

"How do you feel?" Jason asked tentatively.

Leo turned around and grinned. He didn't look much different at all. He was still looked like a scrawny Latino elf. He still looked grimy and his hair wasn't lying flat. But there was something different about the air around him. His eyes seemed to sparkle more.

"Like I could take you on any day, Sparky!" he said back with a smirk and a thumbs up.

"Sparky?" Zeus asked, his voice a great deal more than just 'sparky'.

Leo didn't even seem to register the danger in the god's voice though, instead turning back to the council.

"So what am I? Like God of Flying Dragons? Or Spanking Hot Warships?"

"God of Tool Belts," Hera suggested with a raised eyebrow.

To that Leo didn't have a response.

"We'll figure that out later," Hephaestus said quickly.

Now Zeus turned to the rest of the Seven of the Prophecy, his eyebrows meeting together in a thundercloud. "And the rest of you chose to refuse our offers? In one of your cases, again?"

Percy did at least have the decency to look slightly abashed.

"Very well. Get out of here."

He waited just about long enough to give Jason an acknowledging nod before sweeping out of the throne room. The rest of the demigods stared at each other in hesitation. The rest of the gods seemed used to it though.

Over all, it had quite a different feel from the last time this had happened.

Nico shrugged, and stood up from where he was sitting at his the foot of his father's throne.

He was surprised to see his father looking angry though.

"Father?"

"He'd rather let Jackson turn him down twice than offer you anything."

Nico blinked. "Father?"

"You had just as much a part in their quest as any of them. You found the Doors in Tarturus, you led them to the House of Hades, you brought the Athena Parthenos to the camp, without which our identities never would have been healed enough to fight. And yet you—"

"Father! Father! It's fine. Thank you." And he really meant it. He didn't know that his father would care so much.

His expression darkened slightly. "It's more than just an insult to you, my son, it's an insult to me. It's because you're my son that he won't look twice at you. There is no justice in it; you've done twice as much as Jackson or any of the others!"

Nico stood there, jaw open and slightly touched. "I… thank you, Father."

"You deserve better."

"Nico—" Jason said, running over. Then he stopped dead and inclined his head. "Lord Hades, I'm sorry for interrupting."

"I was just leaving," Hades said stiffly.

"Well, we're heading out. I was going to ask you if you wanted to come with us and kidnap you even if you didn't, but I'm rethinking that last bit."

"No need to kidnap, Grace," Nico said, rolling his eyes. "As long as you're not planning on anymore Chinese take-out, I might as well get a ride back to camp as long as I'm on shadow travel probation. "

"Uncle Nico!" the child squealed as she threw herself at his legs.

"Hey," he said, smiling at the little girl. A smile was still an uncommon expression on the son of Hades's face, but at least it wasn't so unfamiliar it hurt anymore. "Am I late?"

"No, Daddy was just telling us about how you and him and Mommy and Uncle Frank were surrounded by monsters and you were going to die, but then you summoned a whole army of ghosts and Uncle Frank commanded them to beat up the monsters!"

"That's right."

"That is so cool"

He got down so that they were close to eyelevel. "Let me give you a bit of advice, Rey. It always sounds a lot cooler than it seemed at the moment."

"Was it really scary?"

He nodded solemnly and her face fell from her excited expression into a more disappointed face.

Then he picked her up from under her armpits and threw her up in the air.

"But not as scary as I'll be if you don't do what I tell you tonight!"

"I'm not scared of you Uncle Nico!" she squealed as he flipped her upside down and tucked her under one arm.

"Oh really?"

"Uh huh!"

Nico had to bite down on his tongue to keep from spitting out a string of cuss words when he materialized out of the shadows. He knew he should have gotten Jules Albert to drive him there, but it seemed far too slow.

Now his legs were shaking too hard for him to even be able to walk out of the alley. Nico gritted his teeth. He kept hoping that after his adventure with the Athena Pathenos his shadow powers would stabilize – and they had. Just at a much lower tolerance that he had had before. Before his trip into Tarturus he had been able to shadow travel two or three times in one day before becoming tired to the point where he was incapacitated. Now he'd be lucky to make it two. If he was trying to transport other things or people, forget about it.

He took a deep breath though, gritting his teeth as he reached into his pocket to retrieve some of Will's healing gum. It tasted as awful as always, but it gave him the strength he needed to wander out of the alley into the sunlight.

He kept getting odd looks as he hurried into the building. Perhaps they didn't see many 18 year olds with shaggy hair dressed in all black. All the same, they still gave him the proper direction. That much was clear when he saw his sister sitting in the waiting room.

"Hazel, what's going on?"

She smiled, and Nico felt a lump of something hard dissolve in his chest. Everything was alright.

"She's fine. So's the baby."

"Where is everyone?"

"They're in there already. The nurse just came back from cleaning her off and weighing her and stuff. I'm only out here waiting for you."

"So it's okay to go in?"

"Yeah."

The two Underworld children slipped in the hospital room as quietly as they could. Piper was almost entirely surrounded, so Nico couldn't get a good look at her, but Jason was standing and looking like he was about to cry. There was a small pink blanket in his arms.

"I'm a dad…" he said softly. "This is my baby… My precious little baby."

Hazel stepped up closer to the group and Piper's bed, putting her hand on Frank's shoulder. All of The Seven, plus Thalia and now Nico had shown up to meet Jason and Piper's little girl. As the first of any of them to start their own family, no one would have dared missed it. The crowd made Nico feel a bit claustrophobic though, so he stayed in the back of the room.

"She may be your baby," Thalia said with a gruffness everyone recognized as just a show. "But she's my niece. Hand her over." It seemed a bit odd for the youngest looking person in the room to be demanding first right to hold the baby after the parents, but everyone just laughed.

Except Leo, that is, who protested with a loud "Hey! I'm the kid's godfather! Godfather trumps Aunt! I'm the person they actually chose to look over her."

"You're lucky they haven't put you down yet, Valdez," the Hunter said with a roll of her eyes.

Jason was glancing at Piper though with an uncomfortable look on his face. They seemed to be having some sort of debate with their eyes. Eventually it was Piper that cleared her throat.

"Um… Leo."

"What is it Beauty Queen?" he said, turning to her with a grin. She winced.

"Well… I'm really sorry, Leo, but we didn't decide to make you godfather."

The mechanic blinked. "Oh."

"I'm so sorry Leo. It's not that we don't trust you or know you're going to love her to bits, but… well we already decided to make Nico godfather."

Nico blinked. "Me?"

Everyone seemed to turn to him.

"But… I…"

"You're the best person to pick," Jason said with a half-smile. "You're a great friend, and you'll do anything for the people you care about. You make the right choices no matter how much you might want to make the wrong ones. I can't think of anyone else to teach my daughter how to act and keep her safe."

There was something warm in Nico's chest that completely washed away his fatigue from shadow traveling. And it didn't have anything to do with nectar or ambrosia.

Piper entered the room, shouting a "We're home" to the apartment at large, then almost promptly had to slap her hand to her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing. The image was too hilarious. Only one of the party of three she had walked in on thought that that was odd at all though.

"Hi Mommy!"

Jason entered in after her, and obviously had the same reaction she did at the sight. He managed to pass off his urge to laugh as a cough into his hand though.

"Um… so did you all have fun while we were gone?"

"It was a lot of fun," Rey proclaimed, bouncing over for her Daddy to pick her up. "But Uncle Nico wouldn't wear the tutu you put on when I do your hair."

"I draw the line at tutus," Nico said, obviously trying to salvage what was left of his pride as he picked Jack up and handed him to his mother.

"I thought Jason was going to warn you about Rey's fascination with pink bows," she said, no longer able to hide her smile.

"These aren't pink bows," he said stiffly, raising his chin slightly, which only made the fact that his shaggy hair was pulled into random clumps and even in a stunted braid at one point more obvious. "They're sparkly butterfly clips."

He noticed the kid sitting all alone at the center hearth and almost got déjà vu.

Well, he wasn't completely alone.

"My Lady," he said, bowing as he approached the two. Hestia smiled at him, then turned back to the boy she was talking to. As if to make his déjà vu worse, he had black hair and looked about ten years old.

"Everything will work out, Eric. Your step-father just doesn't understand yet. It's hard for any mortal to be compared to a god, especially one with a reputation like my nephew's."

"But what am I supposed to do?"

"Give him time. He will come to accept it. Continue to love him as you always have."

She reached out to touch his cheek, and Nico knew from experience he was being filled up with all sorts of warm feelings.

Then she disappeared.

The boy took a deep breath in, then tucked his knees to his chest.

"What do you want?"

"Not many people bother to stop and talk to Hestia," Nico chose to say in response.

"I didn't know there was anyone here. I just wanted to be alone for a bit. The cabin was too…"

"Which Cabin?"

"Cabin 11," the boy, Eric, told him.

Nico nodded with understanding. "Cabin 11 is one of the loudest, busiest cabins in the camp. Not somewhere you want to be for some peace."

"No…"

"May I sit here?"

"… if you promise to tell me your name."

Nico nodded, then sat down. "Nico di Angelo. I'm one of the counselors." He left out of which cabin for now.

"You're one of the oldest people I've seen here."

"Yeah. Most of the rest of the campers that have made it to my age have gone off and gotten jobs in the rest of the world. That or they're in New Rome going to college."

"So why aren't you?"

"I work for my father most of the year," he said. "It doesn't take a college degree to do that. But during the summer he's crabby because my step-mother's not there, so I come and help out here at camp when it's busiest."

He was being vague on purpose. No doubt the kid thought that his father was a mortal and Nico did secretary type work for him.

"You might end up seeing some other people my age showing up though. A lot of people try to make it back here during the summer when they can."

"More new people."

Nico had to feel for the kid. Coming to camp was completely overwhelming. Especially when you didn't know there was anything different about you in the first place.

"It's overwhelming, huh? First you find out you're the child of a god, then there are all these different people to meet and classes to go to… It's exciting, for sure, but you feel like you're almost drowning at the same time."

"How did you know?"

"You didn't think everyone here was raised being told their full heritage did you? I can count on one hand the number of demigods I know who knew what they were before they showed up to camp."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Everyone's gone through it. And even if all of your brothers and sisters are crazy and loud and stealing your stuff all the time, they're good people. I can vouch for them. They look after their own."

Eric nodded.

"And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Are you someone I can trust?"

Nico paused. Trust. Then he nodded. "Of course."

"Well then can I trust you to not get mad if I stole your wallet?"

Nico couldn't help a small grin as he grabbed the billfold from him. "You're going to fit in with your siblings just fine."

Rey screamed.

In almost no time at all, all three of the demigods had their weapons drawn and Jason ran straight at the monsters, yelling at Piper to get the children out of there. She immediately ran towards Rey's room, grabbing her right in the middle of brushing her teeth. She turned around to make a mad dash for Jack's room, but Nico had reached him first.

"Piper, help Jason, I'll take the kids to Camp Half Blood by shadow travel. Meet us there when you can."

"But I thought you couldn't-"

"I'll be fine," he said quickly, shifting Jack so he was resting against one hip and grabbing Rey with his free arm. "Go, go!"

She planted a kiss on Rey's forehead, then drew Katropis and rushed back to where there were loud thumping noises coming from the living room.

Nico melted into the shadows with the two children.

"You will stay here tonight." It wasn't a question or a request. It was an order. One that Nico was very unfamiliar with being given in the Underworld. He blinked, then frowned.

"Why?"

"Do not think I'm ignorant of your problem, my son."

"My problem?"

"You nearly lost yourself this summer. You will not be shadow traveling back to Camp Half Blood in your condition."

"Not you too," Nico fought the urge to groan. It was bad enough when it was just Will and Reyna nagging him about using his shadow powers, but it had been even worse since they decided to tell everyone else to keep him from doing it. "With all due respect, Father, I think I know my own powers. And besides, even if I tried it and died, didn't you already prepare a room for me?"

His scowl deepened. "This is not a joking matter."

"I wasn't really joking," Nico muttered which only seemed to make Hades scowl worse.

"Your healer friend is absolute correct in making sure you do not over exert yourself. There is much more at stake than just your life, my son. If you were to ever not return from a shadow jump, you wouldn't simply die, you would cease to exist."

Nico felt something chilly settle in his bones. He would cease to exist?

"Maybe I will spend the night."

"I thought you might. When you find the room decorated with skulls, you'll know it's yours."

They were both lucky nearly the entire cabin full of Apollo children decided to cheer up and amuse Rey and Jack. Because when three people appeared in the middle of the lawn in front of the Big House where they were taking turns trying to amuse the two shaken children and two of them fainted, there were plenty of healers on hand to help.

Or, at least there were plenty of healers on hand to help Jason.

"What you ask Hades. It is—"

"Do not tell me it is impossible. I know it is not."

"For this particular mortal, it is! He is too far gone—"

"Do not tell me he is too far gone Zeus! If he is lost—"

"You of all of us must respect the dead—"

"The dead have no part in this! Now Zeus! Or I swear on the Styx, no human soul will find rest in the Underworld! I will bar the gates of Erebos and turn away the dead. Thantos will take no lives and Charon will ferry no soul. The dead will rise and run rampant—"

"Hades!"

"No monsters will die, the Furies will take no actions to control them, the worst of human souls will be unfettered—"

"Hades!"

"Now Zeus!"

Piper was hugging the two children to her chest while Jason was being carefully instructed to stay seated until he could count how many strings there were on the lyre one of the campers had been trying to use to entertain Rey. The rest of the cabin stood around and took orders from their ex-counselor, there for a few weeks on break from his residency at a hospital in New Jersey.

"The nectar and ambrosia isn't doing anything, I doubt unicorn draught will be any better. There's not much anything we can do for him while he's unconscious, but maybe some—"

"Will, I can't see his fingers anymore. Is that bad?"

He spun around, glanced up at the moonless sky, and started swearing again like he had been for the past twenty minutes or so while he tried to unsuccessfully to bring Nico di Angelo back to a tangible state.

"I told him not to shadow travel, I told him."

"Will—"

"Get me anything, get me everything you think might help! Nature magic, godly magic, anything! Apollo's hymns won't work on this, he's not injured, he's fading into darkness — di Angelo! I told you not to!"

"Will—"

He was so concentrated on raking his brains for anything that might help he didn't notice anyone approaching until said someone grabbed his shoulder and shoved him aside.

He almost yelled at whoever it was, and was fully prepared to attack him if needs be, until he realized who it was muttering under their breath. All he could do after that was stare.

"Mommy, why is that scary man near Uncle Nico? And why is he sleeping?"

Piper couldn't even answer her daughter since she herself was holding her breath, waiting.

For a moment his body seemed to solidify.

His eyes opened.

"Father?"

"I will fix this, my son, I will."

Then his eyes closed. When Hades reached out to touch his shoulder, his hand met no resistance whatsoever. It was like his hand was passing through shadows.

"Lord Hades, is there anything, absolutely anything we can do—"

There was a slight gust of wind, and just like that the shadows seemed to have swallowed the god of the dead whole.

"I still don't get why you think anyone wants me here."

"We've been over this di Angelo, no one at camp actually hates you, you're just imagining it," Will said testily as he walked around the room picking up bloody bandages. Nico trailed behind him, being careful to avoid bumping into any of the cots people were recovering on.

"Debatable, but I mean here in the infirmary! No one wants a son of Hades at their deathbed!"

Will turned around sharply, causing Nico to walk straight into a cot and mumble an apology at the person who was sleeping there.

"Have you ever thought that maybe someone would like the son of the god of the dead to tell them that they're not going to die? No one believes me, I'm a healer. I'm obligated to say something like that. But coming from a son of Hades, that's powerful."

"But what if they are actually dying?"

"Then you can get someone's attention. You'd be surprised how many good people we've lost just because we don't recognize how bad their condition is."

"I…I…"

"Are you done arguing now? Good. Go get me some nectar, I need to clean Nikki's wounds again."

"di Angelo! Nico! Come on, man, don't do this!"

"Is there anything else you can try?"

"What's happening to Uncle Nico?"

"There's nothing I can do!" Will shouted in frustration. "He's just… fading away. There's nothing... I… can… do."

Everyone still gathered around frowned at Will's sudden hesitation. "What is it?"

He couldn't answer, just pointed down at Nico who was all of a sudden more than solid once again. He was practically… he was… glowing.

"But… how?"

"Maybe this is some blessing from Apollo. He's fading into shadows, so maybe Dad as the god of sun can help…" Will said, trialing off.

It didn't seem like last time when Hades had appeared, where he solidified and then faded again. The only thing that faded after a few moments was the glow, leaving him looking almost the same as ever.

Will was the first to reach him, already fumbling with a canteen of nectar hanging at his hip. He flipped the lid open, then reached out to tip Nico's mouth open.

He could touch him.

The nectar went down without much of any trouble.

Jason let go of Piper and his children to move closer. He gripped his cousin's arm and was relieved to find he actually could.

"Nico?"

He stirred.

"Nico, man, it's me, Jason."

His eyes opened.

"It is done."

"So, Nico my main Death Boy, what will you be having today?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to not call me that, Valdez?"

"At least a couple thousand more," the Latino said with a grin as he filled up a glass with a pale yellow liquid. Probably just for his own amusement, he slipped a pink and purple umbrella in the mix too.

"So, what's up?" he asked, pushing the glass towards Nico and pouring himself his own.

Nico looked around the shop instead. "You two really have made something here."

Leo grinned. "And you all thought I was crazy when I said I was opening up Leo and Calypso's Garage to humans, demigods, and gods. It's been great."

"Is she going to be singing later tonight?"

"You wish, man. Who am I kidding, I wish. Nah, she's too busy with the kids."

Nico took a swig of the drink.

"So, what is it di Angelo? What's on your mind?"

"Maybe I just wanted to stop by."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "My wife's lemonade is good. It's not that good. What's up?"

Nico swirled the drink with the umbrella.

"I met Jason today."

Leo paused, the drink halfway to his mouth. "Really?"

"Yeah. He's a half white, half Mexican son of Athena if you can believe that. And his name is Juan. But I recognize his soul."

"Is this is second or third rebirth?" Leo asked, frowning.

"Third. If he makes it through this one alright… Isles of Blest."

Leo smiled. "If anyone could make it, Jason could."

"He'll be alright."

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Nico asked, defensively.

"Well, they're all rebirthing or enjoying party-town. I'm stuck here, but at least I've got my spanking hot wife. What about you di Angelo?"

"There's always a new adventure. And I like helping the younger demigods. I don't want to be that god."

Leo snorted. "Amen. Uh huh, demigods are totally cool here. I helped this kid out finding my dad's forges the other day. He was afraid I was going to make him scrub the floors after the last monster attack, or find some haywire machine, or kill a squid for Friday special gumbo. I had him try some of Calypso's new recipe and see if he liked it. That was it."

Nico smirked, then downed the rest of the lemonade.

"If only our quests went that easy. Well, I'll be going—"

"Hey, Nico." The minor god froze. "I know I chose this and you didn't, but… if you're ever getting the immortal blues, we Seven Prophecy folks have got to stick together, right?"

"I wasn't a part of the Prophecy, Leo."

"Sure you were. You may not have been mentioned in the prophecy itself, but without you we would have failed a bunch of times over. You were important. And even if we weren't that close then, we got to stick together now, right?" The normally sarcastic Latino's eyes were completely serious. Nico stared.

"… thanks, Leo."

"If you're ever interested, Calypso makes some mean chocolate chip cookies. She got Sally Jackson's recipe a few centuries ago, minus the blue part. You're free to come over any time."

This time, he was more sincere. "It almost doesn't seem right to eat Sally Jackson food that's not blue. But thanks, Leo."

"No problem, Death Boy."

"Don't call me Death Boy!"

"I've got eternity to call you that, why would I stop now!"