Nico was kneeling before his father's throne, on the cold tiles of the underworld palace.
He looked up, confused.
"Why did you summon me, father?"
"Ah, Nico," Hades winced, looking guilty. "Nice to see you again. Please, rise."
Nico did, and looked at the figure cloaked in dark, silently screaming souls before him questioningly.
"You see, son.." Hades winced again, as if expecting to get yelled at. "I wanted to talk to you about this, but you didn't sleep at all until now, so I couldn't send you a message."
Nico was getting a bit worried about whatever Hades was getting at.
"What's going on, father?"
"You see, twelve hours ago you became my official heir."
"Your.. official...?"
Hades nodded grimly. "This is an automatic process, concequental of living to this age and undergoing a certain set of trials accidentally. As of now, if I were to fade away during your lifetime, you will take over as the God of the Underworld and get every privilege and responsibility that comes with it."
"... Oh Hades no. I would have to marry Persephone, wouldn't I? Oh Styx.."
Hades looked amused, despite himself. "That's really the first thing that comes to your mind?"
Suddenly Nico remembered. "Is that the reason I felt so drained all of a sudden?"
Hades looked thoughtful for a second, before answering. "Probably. The title of heir itself comes with a few privileges too. A permanent power boost, for one. It was probably your body adjusting to the new balance."
" Ah, makes sense." Nico nodded. His temporarily weaker body may not be appreciated, but it could have been something much worse.
He felt himself fading away into wakefulness.
"Goodbye for now, Father."
"See you next time, Nico."
Nico woke up to fluorescent lights. It took a moment to remember what happened, but when he did, he wished he didn't.
Man, Bruce was gonna kill him. Even more than usual.
Dick groaned at the thought and immediately regretted is as his throat felt scratchy and dry. He took the glass of water pressed into his hands gratefully and gulped it down, which was a mistake, as Dick quickly choked on it.
When his coughing fit had died down Nico looked over blearily to see Alfred sitting in the chair next to the bed he was laying in, polite indifference masking the concern on his face. He must've been carried to the hospital-ish white room of the manor. (Bruce insisted he call it the Hospital Wing like everyone did, but Dick refused on the grounds that 'you only wish the manor was Hogwarts, Bruce,')
Bruce wasn't in the room.
"Master Dick," Alfred began neutrally, and the aforementioned gave him a sheepish grin in the hopes of diminishing Alfred's wrath, "the next time you decide you've gotten bored of training, please say so instead of passing out."
Dick's grin dimmed slightly as he thought about what had happened not too long ago.
"Sorry, Alfred." He apologized sheepishly. Then again, he felt a lot better now. He must've been unconscious for a while. Or maybe it was just his unnaturally stubborn nature, as Alfred would have worded it.
He was still gonna get revenge on Messrs Overly Optimistic, though.
"What time is it?"
"Around dinnertime. Master Bruce said that if you're sufficiently healthy, to visit the Cave for a mission at eleven o'clock."
"Aww, really, a late mission? What about patrol?" Then he sighed. "Nevermind, Bruce won't let me patrol in Gotham after I just passed out, will he? He's probably searching the archives right now for a mission to get me out of Gotham."
"Most certainly." Alfred agreed.
"Alright, I guess I might as well go to the Cave immediately after dinner. Thanks for the help, Alfred."
"Of course, Master Dick."
A few hours and a long mission later, the Team confirmed that there was absolutely nothing behind the rumor of a new drug ring in Ivy Town.
"Well, if it wasn't for the robbery we stopped, I would've thought this was a waste of time." Artemis commented.
"Small missions like these strengthen team bonds." Kaldur reminded her, and Megan nodded.
"Yeah, besides, what if there really was a drug ring? It's important these things are discovered quickly, Artemis." Megan called over her shoulder as she entered the Bioship after Superboy and Kaldur.
Artemis shrugged and entered the Bioship too.
"You coming, Rob?" Wally called, pausing at the entrance of the Bioship when he saw Robin still standing in the street.
"Nah, I think I might head over to a nearby Zeta beam and go straight home. I still have some homework to finish for tomorrow." Robin answered yawning. Then he froze.
Nico sensed something and his instincts were screaming at him before he even realized what it was.
"Alright, see you then Rob."
Wally got no answer, and turned back around to see Robin standing still. He was facing away from Wally, so he couldn't see his friend's face, but his posture was tense and radiated danger.
Wally blinked in surprise and was about to ask what was wrong, but Robin had already disappeared into the shadows of the night.
Wally shrugged and joined the rest of the team in the bioship. Whatever it was, Robin thought he could handle it himself, so he probably could.
The next moment, Nico had slipped out of the shadows and slammed the Manticore up against the wall of a back alley, holding it by its throat, staring into its mismatched eyes with a hard fury only rivaled by Hades' himself.
The monster tried to yell in shock, but didn't have enough oxygen. Nico's arm was blocking his lungs
"Hello again. I've been waiting for you to reform ever since Dionysus got you before I could."
Nico's voice was casual, pleasant almost as he spoke to the monster that had indirectly taken his sister away from him forever.
"Try anything and you'll make me guilty of felicide by hellfire."
Nico squeezed its neck harder and the Manticore let out a choked noise of agreement, wide eyes trailing to the Stygian Iron blade pointed in his face.
"You pathetic little worm thought you could get away with what you've done?"
Nico's voice turned to a low growl as he spit the words at the monster like they were acid.
"Were you under the impression that dying once would make me stop hunting you? I am a child of the Underworld. We don't let go of grudges. Not these."
Nico's dark voice gained an eerie echo and his eyes seemed to almost glow as he spoke for both his father and himself.
"You will regret crossing me for the rest of e t e r n i t y."
The monster looked absolutely horrified and flinched away from the cold, dark metal of the blade.
"You caused her death. You will never be forgiven. Your essence will burn in my blade forevermore."
With that, Nico stabbed the monster in the heart and relished in the scream of aging that followed, echoing away as his sword absorbed the monster equivalent of a soul.
The glow in his eyes faded with his anger as he turned away and disappears into the shadows of the alley.
Exhaustion set in as he reappeared in his room in the Underworld, falling onto his bed and burying his head in his hands. He felt sick.
He'd just permanently ended a monster's existence. He'd known he could do it for a while, but actually doing it... Sure, the thing had deserved it beyond anything, but the fact that it was a monster didn't impact the No Killing rule that was so firmly ingrained in his mind.
He'd known monsters that were almost like humans. Monsters were people too, they had personalities, wants, hopes, dreams, and he had just ended one forever.
He had lowered himself to that level.
Nico thought bitterly that it wasn't surprising. He was a child of the Underworld, after all. Murder and hatred were only expected from him.
*Felicide: killing of a cat. Basically, Nico is insulting the manticore by calling him a mere cat while he's actually a lion/scorpion hybrid, while at the same time threatening to kill him with hellfire. Good times.