A/N
Hello, human being! So, after almost two years, I finally have an edited version of this fanfic. I think it was for the better, though, since I probably wouldn't have seen how badly this was actually written without that much time. I'm also working on my other fanfics, so if you actually read my works (which you may or may not have done at one point, but because of my inactivity, you have all probably forgotten my existence anyway), prepare for some big improvements to my old stuff.
For those who have read this story before, you don't have to worry too much because the storyline is basically the same. The writing's just a lot better, at least in my opinion.
For those who haven't read this, congratulations! You would see the beauty of this work without having to look past the bad writing!
Now, just because this is edited, it does not mean that it is flawless. I probably still have more things to change, add, or remove, and I probably will do a couple more rounds of edits after a while. To help me, please comment your thoughts on my story—about the plot, the characterization, the dialogue, the writing in general, or whatever else you want. CCs are very much appreciated! Flames without basis will be ignored.
Disclaimer: Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Kane Chronicles are copyrighted properties, which, unfortunately, I have no rights to. So in order for me not to be accused of any criminal action, this disclaimer will tell you that I don't own any of the characters or places used even if I want to own them.
Nico di Angelo was just getting the hang of shadow travelling. After a few accidental trips to China, one time he accidentally ended up inside a tree, not to mention a couple of times he went on an unexpected swim in some sea or lake, he should have known to be more careful. Having travelled to the Underworld countless times, though, he was certain that he couldn't mess it up. He should've known that it was never that easy in the life of a demigod.
Nico was around the dead more often than he was around the living. He understood them better. He could see their history and feel their grief, their pain, and—on some occasions—their happiness. They were far less complicated than the living and much more willing to reveal their true colors.
After the titan war, he decided to try something new and stay with the living at camp. Most of the campers actually seemed to develop a liking for him—at least it was evident during the first two days. It still didn't feel right to him, though. He never felt at home at Camp Half-Blood, and he doubted he ever would. So after a week of gradually decreasing praises, appreciation, and acceptance, he snuck out of the Hermes cabin at the crack of dawn and got ready to go back to his true home—the Underworld.
He had already told Chiron, Percy, and Annabeth the day before that he was leaving. They had argued with him, but he did tell them that his mind was made up and nothing they did could stop him.
He walked freely out in the open, heading away from the cabins. He didn't bother trying to hide. He was certain that Percy would scold him if he saw him roaming around camp looking for a nice shadow, and Annabeth and Chiron would have probably looked at him disapprovingly, but otherwise, he figured that the other campers wouldn't notice nor care if he left.
Apollo must have been either very happy that day or very disappointed at Nico for trying to leave camp because the sun was so blindingly bright that Nico had difficulty looking for a nearby shadow large enough to easily travel through. But even though he didn't claim to be an expert about camp, he knew just where to go.
He walked towards the eerie forest at the edge of Half-Blood Hill that was home to many mysterious creatures. The trees grew denser the deeper you go, and after about the first ten rows of trees, the forest looked as if it had no idea of the sun's existence. If he walked in long enough, Nico was sure it would feel like it was midnight instead of morning.
He didn't stray too far, though. He had no need for complete darkness. He stopped under a large tree just at the outer ring of the forest.
He took a deep breath and looked back at the twelve diverse cabins on the lush green field at the bottom of the hill and the beautiful white columns of the mess hall. The sight brought a familiar but still unpleasant ache in his chest.
I don't belong here, he thought.
With a sigh, he turned around, closed his eyes, and imagined the dark and depressing features of the Underworld. He felt a pull, and suddenly he was being moved at the speed of light. The very few contents of his stomach churned, but the nauseating feeling didn't bother him as much anymore.
After a few seconds, his feet landed unsteadily on the dark ground. He felt like he just ran the entire perimeter of Manhattan ten times. He still had enough energy to stay awake, but this trip exhausted him more than usual.
He opened his eyes when he felt stable enough, but the sight that greeted him nearly made him trip over his own feet. The place he shadow travelled to was dark and radiated death, but it certainly wasn't the Underworld he knew and loved.
There were large golden scales on one side with a bulky rough-looking rug at its feet—or at least Nico thought it was a rug until a sound like a motor engine accompanied its intake of breath, and Nico realized that it was a strange-looking crocodile that seemed to have cat-like paws. The son of Hades slowly inched away from the creature, walking backwards toward the end of the hall, but he stopped when he realized that there were voices that echoed from the direction he was going in.
He turned around. The place seemed even more peculiar as he continued to take in his surroundings. A marble throne sat at the end of the room, and it was currently occupied by someone who looked far too blue to be alive. He was dressed similar to a few paintings Nico has seen before, but he couldn't remember what they were about. The strange blue man seemed to be talking to a man wearing a very realistic dog mask and a black kilt.
Nico rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. When he opened them, he saw the same blue man, but instead of the dog person, he was with a teenage boy that looked like a mirror image of the extremely confused son of Hades.
They were both staring at Nico.
"Oh," Nico said sheepishly, his voice echoing across the hall. "Uh, hi?"
They all stared at each other for a few more moments, thickening the tense atmosphere.
The boy who looked like Nico but wasn't Nico finally broke the silence. "You're not dead," he said in a convicting tone.
"Yes, I realized that," Nico replied dryly.
"What are you doing here?" The other teenager asked.
Nico shrugged. "Mind telling me where 'here' is first?"
"This is the Underworld." The blue man's voice was deep and reverberated through Nico. "The Hall of Judgment to be precise."
"The Underworld?" Nico scanned his surroundings again and shook his head. This was definitely not his intended destination. "No, I don't think it is. Unless dad decided to redecorate. Who are you anyway?"
The blue guy stared at me curiously. "I am Osiris, god of the dead."
Nico gaped at him. "God of the dead? No, there must be some misunderstanding," Nico said, furiously shaking his head. "My father is the god of the dead, and no offense to you, but he definitely isn't blue."
Osiris raised his eyebrows, while Nico's look-alike tilted his head like a dog. "Your father?" Osiris asked.
Nico nodded.
"And who, may I ask, is your father?"
Nico blinked. "Hades, of course!"
Osiris and Nico II shared a look. "My lord, is he—" the boy began to whisper to Osiris, but since the room was silent, the walls resounded his voice. It also didn't help the fact that Nico was standing only about five feet away from them.
"Yes, I think so, Anubis," Osiris told his companion. He looked back at Nico and said, "You should not be here, demigod."
"Yeah, I sort of figured that out," The son of Hades replied slowly, but couldn't help the curiosity that bubbled up in him. "What part of the Underworld is this? Is this like an extension I haven't explored yet? And who are you really?"
Osiris looked at him sadly and sighed. "Boy, you do not understand. You cannot be here. You must leave now."
"But—"
"Go back to your Underworld. Your father might be looking for you." he said.
Nico didn't move. "My Underworld? So this is a different Underworld?"
"Go!" Osiris bellowed. "Anubis, please escort him out."
Nico still had a lot of questions as he was still very confused, but he let the other teenager lead him to the door on the other side of the hall.
He looked at Anubis as they walked and asked, "You aren't my long lost brother are you?"
Anubis continued to look ahead. His face was impassive. "I am certain I'm not."
"Oh, okay then."
They stopped at the door. It was dark enough on this side of the hall for shadow travelling.
"Well," Nico sighed, "bye, then."
Anubis nodded at him then turned around to return to his original place beside the throne.
Nico watched him for a while with curiosity, but then decided that he wouldn't learn anything more. He closed his eyes, muttered "I'll be back," then disappeared into the shadows.
"Oof!" Nico lay tangled in one of the trees in Persephone's garden. He wiggled a little to extract his limbs from between the branches and, with a yelp, found himself face-first on the muddy earth with a severely aching body.
He wanted to stay there forever. No one would probably care if he tried to dissolve into the dark Underworld soil (although, Nico had a feeling that the soil he lay in was imported), but just as Nico began to succumb to his exhaustion, someone cleared their throat.
Nico looked up slightly to see a pair of familiar sandaled feet right in front of him. His eyes widened, and he quickly stood up, ignoring the stars dancing across his eyes and his protesting body. He brushed off his clothes and tried to look as if he wasn't about to faint.
"Where have you been?" Hades asked calmly.
Despite his father's calm demeanor, Nico couldn't help the unease in his stomach. He didn't understand why, though. He wasn't that late. His minor detour didn't take too much time—at least, he didn't think so. "At camp."
The lord of the Underworld continued to stare pointedly at his son. "You told me that you were going to arrive here yesterday."
Nico's forehead creased. "Yesterday? No, I told you yesterday that I was gonna arrive here today. I just left camp a while ago, but I accidentally ended up somewhere else first before I got here," Nico sheepishly admitted his travelling mistake.
Hades raised his eyebrows. "And where exactly have you been?"
"Uh," Nico wasn't sure if telling his father about that other Underworld would be a smart decision, but Hades was looking at him expectantly. He swallowed and said slowly, "Well, it was a big place with a throne, and there was this blue guy and a teenage guy that had a dog mask." He paused and stared hard at his shoes. "They said that it was the Underworld."
Hades did not say anything. Nico wondered what his father's expression looked like, but his nerves told him that if he took his eyes off the ground, he would be a permanent resident of this Underworld.
After about five minutes of silence, Hades managed to ask in the same calm tone, "What did they say? Did they do anything to you?"
"No, they didn't do anything," Nico said. "They just asked what I was doing there, then they made me leave and go here."
He couldn't bear to look at his muddy worn out shoes any longer and finally looked up and into his father's eyes. Nico was surprised to see something like worry and panic in the black orbs.
Hades closed his eyes momentarily, as if sensing Nico's worry. The god exhaled slowly and said, "You must never speak to them or of them to anyone ever again. Do you understand?"
Nico frowned and furrowed his brows. "What—"
"Just go with it, boy!" Hades snapped, breaking his composure. He realized his mistake and began to control his breathing. He calmed himself significantly before saying, "You must be more careful when you shadow travel. There are certain places you may end up in that would do you more harm than good. Now go to your room."
Nico was still very much confused, but he didn't argue. He marched up to his room in Hades' palace, chucked off his shoes and socks, took off his tattered jacket, and flopped onto his bed.
His mind was reeling. He wanted to know who those mysterious people he met were and why they seemed to look panicked when he mentioned that Hades was his father. And why had his father seem worried when he told him about his encounter? He stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out what in Hades he has gotten into.
A/N
Thank you for reading!
A lot of people have asked about the time difference thing, and I'm not exactly sure about this, but from what I can remember, time in the Duat goes on differently. Since Nico is Greek, I thought that he might be affected more since he doesn't really belong there, and I think that shadow travelling through all those Duat layers probably took time too.
So, that's it. Please leave a review if you have anything to say!