So here it is, Chapter 2. I'll say more at the end, but now for the obligatory disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson.


Nico was having a hard time thinking clearly. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he was covered in bruises and his body ached. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he couldn't remember the last time he ate. Maybe it had something to do with his lack of sleep. Maybe it had something to do with the dreams. Terrible dreams that made the rare moments of sleep worse than being awake. Dreams of the people he'd lost, and even worse, the people he could lose.

That thought made him straighten. What was he doing? Laying here moaning about his problems like a prissy Aphrodite girl? He had to figure out how to get out of here, he had to warn them! He frantically got to his feet, but all that did was make him acutely aware of a headache he hadn't even realized he had. He had to think, damn it; he had to figure out some way to get out of here before they came to rescue him.

If they came to rescue him, they'd be trapped, too.


Percy tapped her foot impatiently, a regular habit of hers: she wasn't diagnosed with ADHD for nothing. If only the Roman Camp had an ocean nearby, the salt water always calmed her down. As it was, she was sitting on the bank of the Little Tiber, but the river was not helping to ease her nerves.

After more debates and long-winded speeches, the Senate had finally given the Argo II permission to set sail ("How magnanimous of them," Annabeth had observed). Now all that needed to happen was for everything to get loaded onto the ship and then they could be on their way.

"Percy!" She turned to see Hazel walking towards her. "Jason and Leo are making sure we get all the supplies we need, and Frank and Annabeth have almost finished all the plans. We should be leaving in about two hours."

Percy nodded, trying very hard not to let out an annoyed sigh. She looked up at Hazel, who was dragging the toe of her shoe through the dirt, making little meaningless designs. She thought to herself that this seemed like a childish thing to do, then she remembered that Hazel was only thirteen years old. Sometimes she forgot how young her friend was. Sometimes she forgot how young they all were.

"This is just as hard for you, isn't it? The waiting, I mean." Percy asked, more as a distraction than anything else.

Hazel glanced up at her friend, golden eyes shining. "I owe my life to Nico. He gave me a second chance, a chance to redeem myself. Plus, he's the only family I have now, if something happens to him…"

"It won't," Percy cut in decisively. "Nico's been through a lot, he'll get through this, too." He has to, she added to herself, something she seemed to be saying a lot lately.

"I hope you're right. It's just, I didn't realize how much I'd started to rely on him for advice, I keep thinking 'Oh I'll just ask Nico,' but he isn't there. I… I just really miss him."

Percy watched Hazel dig her toe further and further into the ground, wondering what could be bothering her this much. It was probably something to do with Frank, or maybe it had to do with Leo Valdez? It had to be strange, after all, to meet a guy who was the great-great grandson of the boy you had liked. She wished she knew what to say.

"You know, I'm not really good at the whole advice thing, but if you ever want to just talk to me you can," Percy finally said. Hazel nodded, a small smile gracing her face for just a moment before she went back to digging in the dirt, this time with her other foot.

"He'll be all right," Percy found herself stating. "He'll be all right." She said it again, wondering just how many times she'd have to repeat it before either of them really believed it.


Think, damn it, Nico found himself saying over and over. How did you get here? Think!

The Doors! He was trying figure out how to close the Doors of Death. He had shadow traveled over here and then… everything got hazy. What had happened? And where the hell was here?

His musings were interrupted by the grating sound of a door being drug open. Nico looked up, knowing it could be one of two people. He sincerely hoped it was the jailor who brought him food and not... he shuddered involuntarily. Thankfully, one of the Earthborn lumbered into his line of sight, carrying a ring of keys in one hand, a cup of water in another, and finally a plate of delicious, wonderful food. His jailor set down the food and water, making sure to keep an eye on his prisoner and stay well out of grabbing distance (he learned that after Nico's first escape attempt). He kicked the meal towards his prisoner then walked over towards the door, which Nico knew the Gegeine had to use all six arms to haul open. "Bad door," the giant muttered, repeating these words over and over as he finally managed to slam it shut again. Nico knew from watching his guard countless times that the door melted back into the wall as soon as the Earthborn had left.

As Nico began devouring the food (cheese and disgustingly grainy bread, Demeter would be proud), he realized that it had probably been at least three days since he had eaten. It was hard to keep track of time in here, he thought, as he glanced around at the windowless space with the dirt walls, floor, and ceiling; of course Gaea would have an underground cell made of dirt. The only thing in it was a bucket which he used to go to the bathroom, other than that the room was completely bare. I wonder how Gaea gets it to stay light in here, he thought, gulping down the water. I wonder how she keeps enough oxygen in here for me to breathe…

Stop it, he ordered himself, cursing his demigod ADHD. Run through it all again. How did you get here? How can you get out?

-Flash back-

After saying goodbye to Percy and Hazel, Nico shadow traveled to Rome. That's where he was going to start his scouting; he had a fairly good idea of where the Doors would be, and knew that it probably wasn't here. But Gaea was up to something in this city, too, and he wanted to try and figure out what it was. Besides, he had visited Rome before on several of his adventures, and he figured it might be a good idea to start his search in a place he knew well, just in case something went wrong.

He appeared in a garden behind one of the stunning villas gracing the northern part of the city, as he didn't want to land on top of some tourist at the Coliseum (again). He barely paid any attention to the beautiful scenery; he was on a mission. He started heading across the gardens, looking for an exit. After he left here he was going to head south, keeping an eye out for a place where he could buy some cheap food in case he needed to do some summoning later.

Nico had reached a particularly deserted stretch of grass when he felt something tugging at his feet. He looked down and noticed with horror that his shoes were already buried about an inch deep into the dirt, and it was still rising. He looked around in panic and tried to bolt towards the nearest shadows, but it was no use. He sank further and further into the ground, kicking and struggling all the while. Soon the dirt had reached his torso, then his neck. As the dirt closed over his head he began to choke, but the dirt kept pulling him down, down, down. Finally, just when he thought he was going to suffocate, he fell into an open space. He hit the floor hard and everything faded to black.

-End Flash back-

So that was how he had ended up here. How stupid could he have been, shadow traveling into the middle of a deserted park? It would have been better to flatten a tourist than to be captured by Gaea. Now he was stuck in this room which had no doors or windows, except for the one that appeared when the Earthborn came in. And even that door wasn't helpful. The first time Nico had tried to escape he had knocked the guard out cold and sprinted towards the door, only to be met by six more Earthborn outside. And these Earthborn were armed with nasty, pointed rocks. So the only way out was through a disappearing door which was heavily guarded by monosyllabic giants.

Normally he could have escaped easily, heavily armed guards or not, but he couldn't use his powers. It seemed as though Gaea had been planning this all along and had designed the prison specifically to counteract his powers. He couldn't summon skeletons or spires of rock, presumably because he was so deep within Gaea's domain that his father's control over the underground meant nothing here. He was surrounded so completely by the Earth deity's power that he couldn't even get a message through to Mrs. O'Leary or any of the of the other creatures of the Underworld. Also, there were no shadows anywhere within the room that he could bend to his will or use to travel; the dim light seemed to come from all directions. And finally, worst of all, they had taken his sword. So he was virtually defenseless.

It also didn't help that they were keeping him weak, giving him just enough food to survive on and not providing him with anything comfortable to sleep on. Plus there were the "interrogation" sessions…

Stop it, he ordered himself again. You have to get out of here before Percy and Hazel come barging in here trying to rescue you. He felt his stomach clench at the thought of his baby sister or Percy being locked up in here, subjected to everything he was. He let out a growl and began pacing his cell. He made a vow then and there that if any of Gaea's minions dared to lay a hand on his family or his Percy he would slaughter them all with his bare hands, powers be damned.


"Well, I think that's everything. ¡Vamos, amigos!"

"Does he always speak Spanglish?" Percy asked the daughter of Aphrodite, what was her name? Pepper? No, Piper. She'd have to make a better effort to get to know the new Greeks and Jason on this trip.

"Usually. Leo likes to confuse people. Just wait, he speaks in Morse code, too. You'll be having as normal of a conversation as you can have with him and suddenly he'll start talking in dashes and dots." The two girls shared a laugh as Annabeth and Frank walked over.

"I've finalized our route," Annabeth started a little breathlessly. "We're going to travel for as long as possible in the air, we'll make better time. I have a feeling that the closer we get to Rome, though, the more storm spirits will attack us. Once they get to be too much to handle we'll continue the rest of the voyage by sea." Frank nodded, looking a little uncomfortable (as always).

"We should get going," this time it was Jason who spoke. "No reason to delay any further." He turned to say goodbye to Reyna. Percy noticed an ugly look cross Piper's face and thought to herself, So someone else has a thing for Blondy. Shaking her head, she went with Frank and Hazel to say goodbye to their friends in the Fifth Cohort.

Dakota handed them each flagons of Kool-Aid for good luck ("I made yours blue" he slurred at Percy) while Gwen told them to stay out of trouble. The rest of their cohort wished them well; even Hannibal was there to send them on their way. Finally, Percy reached Reyna.

"Good luck, my fellow praetor," Reyna said, shaking her hand. "You may have only been here for a few days, but I can already tell that you are an amazing fighter and leader. Stay safe."

"I'll try my best," Percy replied with a smile. "And don't worry, I'll also try my best to make sure everyone comes back."

"I know you will," Reyna gave her a hard look. "That's what worries me. Promise me you won't do anything rash."

Percy was saved replying by Octavian barging into their conversation. "On this momentous occasion, I can only wish you the best, my esteemed praetor," he exclaimed, not quite managing to mask the sarcasm. He reached to shake Percy's hand, and when she reluctantly gave it to him he pulled her in close. "If anything goes wrong, if any of the Romans don't come back from this quest, I will hold you to your oath," he hissed in her ear. "And if I do decide to spare your life, you will be entirely in my debt." Percy wrenched her hand out of his grasp, trying to ignore the leer on his face. "Mark my words well, graeca," he shouted at her retreating form.

"What was that about?" Jason asked her, looking troubled. She just shook her head and moved past him onto the deck of the ship.

Percy knew she had a lot to worry about. Apparently there was a love triangle to consider (between Piper, Reyna, and Jason), and everyone knew it was only a matter of time before love triangles blew up in everyone's faces. Hazel was having some issues beyond just missing her brother. There was the possibility that everyone on this ship was going to end up fighting and trying to kill each other, which would start another Civil War. Now there was the added worry of Octavian's scheming. Not to mention the usual problems: ancient powers trying to take over the world, depressing prophecies, and bloodthirsty monsters.

But as the Argo II took off into the air, Percy couldn't make herself care too much, because, finally, finally, they were on their way. They were on their way to save Nico.


So, some unanswered questions! What does Hazel need advice about? What are the "interrogation sessions" that Nico mentioned? And will the demigods be able to rescue him, or will they all be captured by Gaea? Who knows? Besides me, of course.

Not sure how long I'm going to make this- it'll probably end once they rescue Nico.

And to reiterate why I'm writing fem!Percy: I like the character of Percy Jackson, but I also like the idea of having a strong female hero that's the center of the story (props to the Hunger Games). Besides, I love Nicercy but could not write slash to save my life, and I think it's interesting how all the rest of the relationships in the book are affected. So basically, no logical reason, I just want to.

Anyways, let me know if you have any suggestions, or just anything to say about anything, really.