A/N Welcome all to the second installment of Aftermath.
For this fic:
A song for this fic: Your Guardian Angel - Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Disclaimer: I do not own PJO

The walk back upstairs was a serious case of déjà vu for Nico. Every skeleton jumped to attention when he passed, as he followed the familiar corridors to his room. It was a strange reaction; he hadn't been near the dead for a year and had tried to avoid the living for that period of time, now any reaction at all surprised him, that doesn't even come close to describing what he felt when he was met with respect. Not only were his surroundings of black marble and obsidian familiar, but his emotions as well. When he was younger he would often leave dinner seething about one thing or another, usually a degrading comment about his mother that he had retaliated to and been reprimanded for. Why couldn't his father just go one meal without embarrassing, provoking, or punishing him? Would it really be so hard to just eat in silence and let Nico scurry away to his room? Nico sighed; his life would never be that easy.

Reaching his room the son of Hades was surprised to find the door locked. Nico wiggled the handle, shoved his shoulder against the door, and kicked at the bottom, but eventually he just gave up and slid down the length of the wall into his typical leave-me-alone-my-life-sucks position. Now what? Hades was obviously trying to tell him something or he wouldn't have left his son out in the empty hallway, if he was going to lock the door he usually waited for the thin boy to enter his room.

Unless… Nico cursed in Greek. When he used to spend a large segment of the year in the Underworld, after dinner he went out to collect the days earnings from Charon, and check on Cerberus. Hades had told him that he had been brought back to take care of what he was responsible for, so once again, Nico was demoted to errand boy. So much for 'just want you to come home', but this was his father, had he honestly expected a bit of freedom?

With a huff, Nico rose from his awkward position against the wall and began making his way to the servants' staircase; an obsidian spiral staircase that ran the entire height of the castle as to provide easier access for the skeletal help. Taking this route made almost absolutely sure that he could avoid his father and Persephone. Nico would rather not have another encounter with his stepmother.

Deciding he would rather not repeat the time when he'd gotten so dizzy running down the steps that he'd fallen and rolled the rest of the way down, he went slowly and tried to think about something other than the steep staircase spiraling downward. On his way down Nico bumped into some skeletal maids and, being much stronger than them, accidentally destroyed them. Nico hissed in frustration and used his powers to bring them back to one piece. Despite the recent meal, the unfamiliar use of his powers drained quite a bit of Nico's energy and left him shuffling along tiredly. Resigned to the fact that he wouldn't be getting back in his room with out doing his job, he kept on his way ignoring the pounding in his head. Every step he took increased his headache and the buzzing in his ears intensified. The soft buzz was always there, the dead alerting him to their presence but now they were demanding attention; screaming for him to give them some recognition. A constant asset now became a temporary torture.

Nico stumbled out of the gates and made his way to the River Styx. The sound of the black grass crunching under his uneven footsteps was greatly exaggerated by the fact that the dead were grabbing desperately at his shirt begging to be released. Normally spirits couldn't make contact with the living but weakened sons of the Underworld seemed to be an exception. He shrugged them off but really regretted leaving his sword in his apartment; the dead aren't big fans of Stygian Iron. Especially not sharpened Stygian Iron wielded by an experienced swordsman. Nico seriously doubted that his father would let him keep his sword now; Stygian Iron is rare, extremely valuable, and not to be wasted on errand boys. The son (read: expendable errand boy) of Hades walked the familiar path without any need to concentrate on where his feet took him, a good thing too, or he probably would've fainted from the effort. The only time he could remember his powers draining him this much was when he had shadow traveled for the first time.

Finally reaching the river he was more drained than ever and was resorting to using a towering (or as towering as something can be underground) poplar tree for support. The ferryman eased his boat into the decaying dock and began ushering the spirits off.

He was about to return to the surface when Nico called out, "Charon, wait!" The immortal turned in surprise, or possibly irritation, to the demigod leaning fighting to keep whatever shred of dignity remained. Chest heaving, Nico stumbled up to Charon and held out his hand, "I need the money."

"What are you doing back here? I thought you were giving this place the cold-shoulder."

"Believe me, it wasn't my idea to come back. Just give me today's earnings and I'll be on my way."

"What happened to you?" asked Charon, as if he had only just noticed the Nico's condition, "You look like you've been through hell." Nico gave him a pointed look letting him know that his jokes were not appreciated and shook his hand insistently, still waiting for the money. "Oh, alright," Charon plopped the small bag in the demigod's outstretched palm and turned to leave.

"All of it," said Nico tiredly, knowing that the bag was much to light to be the full day's income. Charon walked back to the boy and emptied a fistful of coins into the pouch, "Thank you."

Turning on his heel Nico momentarily forgot his exhaustion and made to walk normally before being overwhelmed by a wave of nausea. Charon chuckled in the distance and Nico cursed under his breath.

Nico staggered along the worn path to the security lines to make sure that Cerberus wasn't having any unplanned snacks. The headache tormenting Nico was only worsened when it was joined by the buzzing in his ears he always felt when he was around the dead. Of course, he had been hearing it since he had arrived in the Underworld but its volume, oh its volume! The buzzing sound of combined voices of the dead mixed with the pounding blood in his ears swelled to a roar Nico had never felt before now. He moaned, the sheer sound of it threatening to tear his brain to shreds.

"Cer-Cerberus…" Nico moaned, he couldn't take the noise anymore, yet, he didn't have the strength to escape it.

Cerberus whined pitifully, almost as if he was sympathetic and bent low, placing his center muzzle alongside Nico. Gently, so as not to harm his old friend, Cerberus nudged him through a line of the dead and into an empty clearing. The tumult raging inside Nico's head died down somewhat and the demigod moved his hand tentatively to Cerberus's snout to give him quick pat before, setting off down the path once again. Thanks to the guidance from his vicious giant three-headed dog, Nico was separated from the dead and had an easier path to the palace. He was still stumbling along but it was a much more manageable feat to reach the castle without the roar of the dead in his ears.

The palace gates came into view and with them, The Fields of Punishment. It was then that Nico realized that when Cerberus had removed him from the security check-point, he had been moved to a different path than the one he had first used. Cerberus had sent him along the main path to the gate rather than to the servants' entrance.

At first this made very little difference for Nico, he still stumbled as much as before and there was still a slight ringing in his ears. Not until he made it within earshot of the Fields did he realize just how severe this could be for him. With every scream of pain emitted from a soul, an old wound reopened itself to that same feeling. With every cry of anguish a nightmare of a memory flashed across his vision. As he drew closer and closer the memories came faster, closer together until Nico could no longer distinguish them from each other and they become a blur of nightmarish scenes and cruel laughter.

In his already weakened state, the memories were too strong for Nico to push back and they took over. Nico saw flashes of his torture and screamed in agony, feeling the old pain flare in his nearly healed scars and burns. He fell to his knees holding his head in his hands. How could pain be this strong? How could possibly have intensified since its first infliction? As the pain reached an even higher level, the volume of Nico's screams built, until they were heard through the entire Underworld. Not a soul (living or dead) made a sound. All activity stopped in Elysium, the shades froze in place in The Fields of Asphodel, the sound of Nico's agonized cries stopped all sign of movement in The Fields of Punishment, even Hades and Persephone stood from their thrones in alarm at the sound.

Fearing for his son, Hades willed himself to appear at Nico's side. He knelt beside the boy sprawled on his back screaming. Hades touched an uncharacteristically gentle finger to his son's forehead and whispered, "ύπνος." Nico blacked out.

A/N Ta-da! One painful chapter with an awkward beginning! I'm actually pretty happy with the ending, I was asked for angst and delivered torture, don't worry it's all in the plan *winking face*

Thanks to Cannibal Crow from whom I borrowed some wonderful dramatic-ness for Nico's pain (well that was cheerful). Check out The Ghost King Chronicles by Cannibal Crow if you like angst and pain and all that other happy stuff!