From this chapter on, a lot will be similar to the books until the quest is over. So again, I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Heroes of Olympus.

You know what's ironic? I'm currently Los Angeles, just in time to post a chapter where Nico arrives in the same place. Well, maybe not the same place, since I'm at Disneyland and I doubt the lightning bolt is hiden here. I've been dragged around on rides the past few days and for the first time ever, vacation is more trying than school. Ha! Looks like you learn something new everyday.

Anyway, so here's the third chapter.

Impossibility 3, The Smallest Change CAN Make the Biggest Difference

Nico silently walked behind his sister on the way to the hotel roof, missing Bianca's backward glances. His mind was in a turmoil; he was deciding what to do when he meets Percy later on in the day and how they were going to meet him in the first place. One thing was for sure, they couldn't follow their original schedule or they'll miss Percy and the others completely. There was also the issue of taking Bianca with himself on the quest, because there was no way he won't be accompanying Percy on their quest and to Camp Half-Blood. On one hand, he wouldn't be able to bear leaving Bianca behind after just being reunited with her, but on the other, she would be in much more danger if she accompanied them and this Bianca wasn't yet a hunter. Not that it made much of a difference, he heard a voice that sounded surprisingly like Tartarus', she still died on her first quest. Nico ruthlessly snuffed the voice out but it was true, not that it matters much, because at this rate, he will die on his first quest as well. Leaving Bianca here was a valid option, since at least here she would be safe until Alecto came to bring her to Westover Hall and Dr. Thorn decides to attack her, an attack that would stopped by Percy, Thalia, Annabeth, and Grover, before they were all saved by Lady Artemis.

Speaking, or rather thinking, of Lady Artemis, Nico had long since decided that he'll let Bianca join the Hunters if she wants to, if it'll make her happy. He'll just have to be there to stop her from being killed. Or, he mused, get the Hades Mythomagic figurine before she goes on that quest. But that is in the future and he should focus on the present. After a few more minutes of pondering, he decided to let Bianca pick; if she decides to go with them after the Greek gods are explained or if she wants to stay at the hotel, it will be her choice. As for meeting Percy and the others, he'll simply have to make up an excuse for them to go to the arcade, the place where Percy had told him they played until the son of Poseidon realised what the Lotus Hotel and Casino did. Grover will then sense that they are demigods, especially Bianca, since her power isn't as controlled as his. It's more than likely that Grover will mistake him for a weak demigod but that's perfectly fine, he worked best in the shadows anyway and if he made people wary of him, his actions will be closely observed, therefore limiting his movements.

Decisions made, Nico nodded to himself. He looked back up just in time to avoid colliding with his sister. Bianca had stopped and turned around, her hands on her hips.

"Alright, I've had enough! What's wrong with you?"

"What?" Nico questioned hesitantly.

"You barely spoke at all the whole morning and during lunch; you didn't even mention Mythomagic once! You're usually chatting my ears out by now! Are you sick or something?"

Nico was about to deny the accusation, but stopped as he realized it was a perfect excuse to skip the rest of the day and con Bianca into going to the arcade so he nodded and replied, "I think so. I mean, I've been feeling woozy the whole morning."

"Well why didn't you say so? You go back to the dining hall and I'll go and excuse ourselves for the afternoon. I'll pick you up to go back to your room later." With that said, she turned around, presumably to find one of the staffs. Nico looked at her retreating form, thinking. She might be unbearable at times and doesn't allow him to go long distances by himself, but no one can say that she didn't care about him. Just... not quite enough to stay with him when she was offered the chance for a better life.

He continued on his way to the dining hall, absently checking the arcade for any familiar face, sighing in disappointment when there were none. That was another problem; he didn't know when Percy and the others will arrive, except that it was sometime after noon. He'll just have to keep checking then.

He entered the dining and plopped on a chair at a table for two. 15 minutes later, he began to tap his fingers on the table impatiently; why was Bianca taking so long? It shouldn't have taken her more that 5 minutes. Just as he was about to stand up and go look for Bianca despite her order, his sister walked in... followed by Annabeth and Grover.

Well, Nico raised an eyebrow, that was convenient. He waved at Bianca when she looked his way and she hurried over. Grover and Annabeth made to block her path, with Grover still gesturing frantically. Bianca ignored them and pushed aside.

"Are you alright, Nico? I'm sorry you had to wait so long." Nico dismissed her concerns and asked, "What's with them?" He smirked slightly at the ongoing spectacle.

"I just bumped into them and they won't leave me alone." She complained, "they keep saying some mumbo-jumbo about demigods and some place called Camp Half-blood."

"It's not mumbo-jumbo," Annabeth interrupted, "The Greek gods exists and you-" "Both of you." Grover interrupted, "-are a demigod."

Annabeth blinked, "Both of them?" she questioned.

"Yes. The boy is significantly weaker but he's also a demigod."

Nico let the insult wash over him and echoed his response the first time he learned about being a half-blood, "Cool." He sounded distinctively unenthusiastic, but no one seemed to have noticed because Bianca still denied it as heatedly as before.

"No! This is not cool! Besides, the gods don't exist!"

Thunder rumbled outside hotel and Annabeth rebuked Bianca, "Of course they do. And be careful of what you say."

Nico wondered if he should continue his dialogue and winced at what is to come next; he really did use to be obsessed with Mythomagic, wasn't he? But he has no idea what else to say that won't make Bianca suspicious, and besides, it might be interesting to see if anything she say changes. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

Wow, it seems like that Bianca really is going to keep parroting her older self. It looks like that not witnessing a manticore in action didn't do any significant changes.

The argument continued and Nico tuned it out, after all, he wasn't the one that needed convincing. He absently snapped his fingers to manipulate the Mist, making the mortals hear a mundane conversation about video games. He stood up and muttered an excuse about going to the washroom and left. He needed to go to the wash room, true, but more importantly, he needed to find Percy. If Annabeth and Grover are here, that means that Percy must be as well. He went to the washroom first to mentally prepare himself.

Facing Bianca was hard, yes, but he wasn't really responsible for her death like he was for Percy and Annabeth's. Plus, Bianca died and went to Elysium and was later reincarnated, but the couple was trapped in Tartarus and will most likely continue to be so for the rest of eternity. And Annabeth doesn't really count because he wasn't as close to the daughter of Athena as compared to the son of Poseidon.

Nico exited the public washroom and stopped right before he turned the corner taking a deep breath. He tilted his head as he sensed someone rapidly approaching. He took a moment to lock in on the Life Aura and panicked when he recognized Percy. He wasn't ready! Unexpectedly, Percy turned just as he passed the corner and Nico came face to face with his best and only friend. Frozen in shock, Nico didn't have time to dodge and Percy knocked both of them down.

Nico eyed Percy from the corner of his eyes as he led him toward the dining hall. His friend still looked the same as ever, with his jet black hair and bright sea green eyes that currently had a hint of impatience in them, mixed with trace of relief, probably from knowing where Annabeth and Grover are. While not as tall as before, he was still tall for a 12-year-old. At that, Nico almost laughed giddily as he realized that Percy was now only 2 years older than him and the same age as Bianca.

"We're here." Nico announced as they entered the dining hall. Percy rushed over to his friends and began informing them of the ability of the hotel. Grover and Annabeth's face grew horrified.

"You mean that years could have passed?!" Annabeth exclaimed, "What if we go out and find ourselves in the middle of World War III? Bianca, what year did you come in?" His sister looked uncomfortable, as she should be, since she didn't have any memory of her life before arriving at Lotus Hotel and Casino. He himself didn't know at this point in time because their memories were washed away by the River Leithe, but the river's effect were weakened on children of Hades, so as he grew stronger and learned more about his mother, pieces of his memories returned, though it was still far from complete.

"We have no memory of life before coming to the hotel." Nico interrupted, keeping up the charade.

Percy leaned over and asked the lady at the next table what year it was. She looked at him weirdly, but answered 1879.

The two campers and one satyr looked at each other and came to a conclusion. Percy was the one who spoke, "Our first priority is to get out of here. It doesn't matter if you don't believe us about the Greek gods, but the current year is 2006. Come with us and we'll show you proof that we really are demigods and that Greek Mythology is real."

Annabeth hissed at Percy, "But they can't come with us, remember our quest?"

"We sure can use some more help on this quest of ours and Grover said that Bianca is a very strong demigod. Besides, I barely received any training myself." Annabeth pursed her lips but accepted what Percy said as the truth.

Nico nodded readily but Bianca still looked hesitant so he gave her a push, "Come on sis, it wouldn't hurt to check, besides we can always come back if they're lying; we're platinum-card members." Bianca sighed, "Alright, we'll go with you."

On the way out, Nico let the others do the talking, only speaking when he stopped them from eating a Lotus Flower. As they exited the hotel, Percy ran to the nearest newspaper stand to grab a newspaper. Nico watched as shock played over their faces, Bianca because of the year and the others because of the day.

Annabeth was the first one to snap back to her senses and bundled all of them into a taxi. Grover sat in the passenger seat and it was a bit of a squeeze with the four of them in the backseat, but they all fit. The driver wasn't all that pleased with driving all the way to Los Angeles or having more passengers than his car can fit, but he relented and even drove pass the speed limit when Annabeth gave him her green LotusCash card.

On the way, Percy and the others informed them, or more specifically Bianca about their quest.

"So let me get this straight. You're on a quest to retrieve Zeus' lightning bolt and prevent the world from seeing the horrors of a World War III." Three nods answered Nico.

"So will you help us?"

"I suppose that I can help you," Bianca answered with a thoughtful nod, "but Nico's still a child, no way am I letting him go to the Underworld. He'll have to stay in Los Angeles."

Nico would've protested, he lives, or at least lived, in the Underworld and he was much more suited to it than Bianca, nor was it really her job to make his decisions without consulting him first. But in this case, Nico agreed with Bianca, not because he's too young to be in the Underworld, mind you, but because he should put off meeting any of the gods directly for as long as possible; there's no telling what the gods may sense and the Mist doesn't work on them.

"That's fine." Percy agreed.

Percy proceeded to tell them about his dream and the others tried to pin the blame on his father. Percy was the only one who was reluctant, even Bianca seemed convinced that Hades was the culprit, not that she knew the Lord of the Dead was her father. And Nico, well, Nico was trying not to punch their face in for suspecting his father. But he had to admit that it was something that Hades would do given the chance, or at least something that the Hades from this time period would.

When they got off from the taxi at the beach in Santa Monica, Percy looked slightly dazed, staring out at the ocean. He then started walking into the water, not heeding Annabeth's calls. Nico wasn't worried; Percy was after all a son of the Sea God, but he was curious, he had never heard about this part of their quest. Nico sat down and waited while his sister, Annabeth, and Grover panicked.

10 minutes later Percy resurfaced and told them about the pearls. They Percy and the others planned to take a bus into West Hollywood and Nico decided that it was best if he stayed at the beach, it was were the Coast Guards will deposit them, plus there is no way that Bianca will come to any harm in his father's domain. Percy asked the driver where the DOA Recording Studios is and when the driver apologized saying no, Nico had a short internal debate, but ended up telling them the directions.

"How do you know that?" Bianca questioned.

"Um, I saw it on TV." Bianca accepted the answer and they waved goodbye.

Percy watched Bianca play with Cerberus and frowned. He remembered what the Nereid told him.

Flashback

"...That is why I give you a gift, and a warning, or rather two warnings." She held out her hand. Three white pearls flashed in her palm.

"Why are there only three pearls?"

"Because one of you will not need one, and that goes hand in hand with one of my warnings."

"What?"

"Do not trust the two strays you have picked up. They are not to be trusted."

"..."

End of Flashback

He shook the thought out of his head. The Nereid must have been mistaken, there no way that Bianca or Nico will betray them, they didn't even know they were half-bloods before today, they couldn't betray them even if they wanted to.

But even so, he can't help but remember how Nico knew the studio and how Percy still can't see him clearly, a phenomenon that neither Annabeth of Grover has experienced. They saw him as a boy that looked similar to Bianca and waved his concerns off, though they did admitted that he tend to slip bellow their notice, but that might just be how unnoticeable he is. Last but not least, Charon refused to let them in, even with bribe, until he saw Bianca, then he almost tripped in his haste to get them to the boat.

He pushed it out of his mind, but can't help the hint of suspicion that remains.

Hades sat on his throne waiting for the little thieves. He will get his helmet back and Poseidon's son will pay. If the little brat refused, well, that's what the hostage's for. There was only one thing he was confused about; he was informed by his Kindly Ones that they were a party of four, three demigods and one satyr, but quest groups are only composed of three and they were three when they left camp, meaning they picked up a third godling somewhere along the way. No matter, one more of those little brats won't make any difference in the long run.

He frowned as he sensed them getting closer to Tartarus. For the Fates' sake, what are they doing? After a few minutes of being at the edge later, they backed off and Hades heaved a sigh of relief. They might be thieves, but he wouldn't wish Tartarus on anyone, the Field of Punishments is enough and even he had some trouble with a few of the punishments dished out there. Besides, they have yet to return his helm of darkness.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Hades heard their voices and followed along.

"The gardens of Persephone, keep walking." The girl, like all daughters of Athena, is quite knowledgeable.

"You know, I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesman." And the satyr is an idiot.

"Well, guys, I suppose we should... knock?" He'll reserve judgement on Perseus Jackson until he sees him and sent out a hot wind to blow the doors open.

"I guess that means entrez-vous."

"You know French, Annabeth?"Hades paused at that last voice; it sounded quite familiar, he just can't quite put where he heard it before. He tried to get a glimpse of the second girl, but she was hiding behind Perseus and the satyr. The one thing he could get off her soul was that it was surprisingly blank, almost like that of a toddler. He would've delved deeper, but he had a show to put on the road.

"You are brave to come here, son of Poseidon, after what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."

Perseus stepped forward, "Lord and Uncle, I come with two requests."

Hades felt a flash of anger but pushed it down, instead he raised an eyebrow and leaned forward in his throne. He felt more than saw the souls in his robes react to his anger and try to get out.

"Only two requests? Arrogant child. As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet."

Hades saw Perseus swallow and glance at Persephone's throne, most likely feeling scared and hoped for his dear wife's help, and felt smug. Unfortunately for him, Persephone was with her mother.

The daughter of Athena, named Annabeth if he remembered correctly, cleared her throat and Perseus came back on track.

"Lord Hades," he said, "look, sir, there can't be a war among the gods. It would be... bad." Hah! As if the Lord of the Dead wanted a war. His realm was already crowded enough.

"Really bad." The satyr added.

"Return Zeus' master bolt to me," the boy continued, as if he didn't already have it; Hades sensed it as soon as he entered the throne room, "please, sir. let me carry it to Olympus."

Hades narrowed his eyes and was sure they have gone bright as well, he had been told that they do that when he's angry. "You dare keep up this pretence, after what you have done?" Despite how angry he was, he tried to keep his mind from being clouded with anger, it wouldn't do either of them any good if he was beyond reasoning.

"Um... Uncle," Perseus said. "You keep saying 'after what you've done.' What exactly have I done?"

Key word, tried.

The throne room shook with a tremor so strong they probably felt in Los Angeles, but Hades didn't care, the only thing that mattered was the little thief in front of him. He mentally sent a command and doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors from every time period marched in. They then proceeded to line the perimeters of the room, blocking all exits.

"Do you think I want war, godling?" Hades bellowed

"You are the Lord of the Dead," Perseus replied carefully. "A war would expand your kingdom, right?"

"A typical thing for my brothers to say! Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"

"Well..." he was cut off.

"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open?" Hades ranted

Perseus opened his mouth the reply but Hades was on a roll now and didn't let him interrupt.

"More security ghouls," he moaned. "Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"

"Charon wants a pay raise," Perseus blurted.

Hades eyes darkened, "Don't get me started on Charon!" he yelled, fuming, as if he didn't pay the ferryman enough for the sloppy job he does! "He's been impossible ever since he discovered Italian suits! Problems everywhere, and I've got to handle all of them personally. The commute time alone from the palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving. No, godling. I need no help getting subjects! I did not ask for this war."

"But you took Zeus's master bolt."

"Lies!" More rumbling.

"Stop!" the second girl stepped forward.

Hades turned to the speaker, intent on unleashing his full wrath, but as soon as he laid his eyes on her, he froze.

The trip to the Underworld was very simple; go in, get Zeus' master bolt, and get out. The hard part was trying not to get killed. But as soon as they entered the throne room they have been swallowed by confusion.

Hades kept insisting they did something they didn't (something that they still had no idea what the thing was) and said he didn't want war. Percy didn't have any qualms about disbelieving the Lord of the Dead, but even he had to admit that the reasons Hades listed were pretty valid. Though Percy wasn't focusing completely on the angry god, yes he knows, it was suicidal, but Bianca had started shaking pretty much as soon as they entered the throne room, her nerves finally getting to her.

He let her hide behind him and was prepared to shield her from Hades' wrath and true enough, Hades had started raging. So therefore he was surprised when she suddenly stepped out behind him and shouted at Hades, voice full of anger, probably on his behalf.

Even more surprisingly, Hades, God of the Dead, God of Wealth, Lord of the Underworld and probably a hundred more titles, froze. He froze from the rage of a almighty 12-year-old prepubescent girl. So yeah, Percy was a bit, just a teeny-tiny bit, confused.

What was his daughter doing here? And where on earth is his son? It has been co many years since he has seen one of his children. He scanned Bianca's soul for where her brother is and relaxed when he saw him at the Santa Monica beach, good he was safe and like Maria said, the Underworld is no place for children. He remembered that their memories were washed away by the River Leithe and realised that Bianca won't recognise him. It was for the best that his children didn't know who their godly parent is, that way they can't be turned against him and CampHalf-Blood won't ostracize them like the Olympians did to him either.

The shock did him some good, seeing as he finally calmed down. He reviewed the previous conversation and absently realised that the children really had no idea what he was talking about. But the lightning bolt really was in Perseus' bag pack, he had to know, unless... He narrowed his eyes.

"Perseus," he addressed the godling, "where did you get that bag pack."

The boy looked baffled at his sudden change of mood and his unusual question, as did his companions including his daughter, but he hesitantly replied, "From Ares, why are you asking?"

He waved his hand and Bianca disappeared. The other three looked outraged but he spoke before they can start making accusations, "Open your bag pack."

Perseus grudgingly obeyed and took a sharp breath as he took out the content and let the bag fall to the ground.

"Percy," the girl began, "how-"

"I-I don't know. I don't understand."

"Ares gave you that bag pack, didn't he?" Hades cut in.

Perseus looked back up and realisation dawned on his face. "Ares! So he's the one behind-"

"I don't think so. Ares may like war, but he doesn't have the brains to pull off something like this. But that isn't the problem right now, returning the master bolt is."

The son of Poseidon had a look of disbelief that he would let them go so easily.

"I'll even let your mother and your friend go on one condition."

Perseus nodded to show he was listening.

"On winter solstice, Zeus' master bolt wasn't the only thing that was stolen, so was my helm of darkness. I have said nothing of the helm's disappearance because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. I can ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing. and so I searched for you myself." Hades paused to take in their expressions, "This is my ultimatum, return my helm back to me after you get the master bolt back to Zeus and I'll let return both your mother and your friend safe and sound, I swear it on the River Styx."

The Athena girl leaned toward young Perseus, presumably to tell him the importance of such an oath.

Perseus had a determined expressions and nodded, "I'll get it back to you, Lord and Uncle." He gave each of his companions a pearl and they each threw one at their feet. A couple moments later, they were each encased in a bubble, flew towards the ceiling, and disappeared.

Hades blinked. Ah, his brothers and his little tricks. They could have left through the front doors and saved the pearls for when they are in a bind since they had his permission. But their way is faster, he suppose, and right now, every second count.

Now, he had a daughter to see.

Nico sat on the beach, bored. In the past two hours, he had tested out all of his limits with both his demigod powers and physical ability. He found out that all the objects stored in his shadow where still there and that his physical ability was depressingly low, for him. That was one hour ago. Now, he had a pair of reading glasses that translated all literature into Ancient Greek, gifted to him by Hecate, on his face and a huge book on Greek Mythology on his lap. Nico found out that the older a book was the more accurate and more detailed it is. The current book he had was a direct English translation of an ancient Greek book found in a Greek ruin a couple of years in the future. 'Know thy enemy' the saying went. Well, Nico went through a lot of pain to try and know his and he was glad that all his effort didn't go to waste. Plus, all that research material cost a fortune.

The son of Hades saw a Coast Guard boat on the horizon and smirked. He carefully put both his reading glasses and book back to its original spot and stood up, waiting for. He walked toward them as they got off the boat, noting that only Percy, Annabeth, and Grover were present. Bianca wasn't present, probably still in the Underworld and this reinforced his decision to stay away. But the three didn't know that, so put on a concerned expression. As they recounted their tale, Nico was surprised at the difference Bianca's presence alone did. Maybe Tartarus was right and he can do this. But that was something to think about later. Now...

Now they just have to beat up a god, get his father's helm, return Zeus' master bolt to prevent a war, and hand Hades' helm of darkness to Alecto to get back his sister and Aunt Sally. It should be easy.

About the Bianca's soul being like toddler thing, well, in my opinion, the memories and experience as well as the personality makes up the soul. So Bianca, who have had all of her memories washed away by the River Leithe, the river used to wash away the memories of the souls that get reincarnated, and has only the memories of the month in the Lotus Hotel and Casino would've have had limited experience and memory, as well as an incomplete personality, and therefore her soul is like a toddler's. Make sense?

Both Hades and nico strikes me as very intelligent and rational people. Nico even found a solution to help Percy defeat Kronos when no one else could. So here, Hades got a nasty shock and it was enough to temporarily calm him down and make him think rationally.

So far, I've been updating once a week, but I'm naturally a very disorganized person, so don't expect me to keep it up, especially once school starts. I was pretty lucky to finish this before my trip.

I'll try to make the chapters longer, but no promises.

Please review!

Tsuki Hikaru