Chapter Eight: The Underworld

Disclaimer: Not mine, not the money, not the characters. Just for fun.

Author's Notes: So...I've been doing a lot of time skips...This is because I want to get the real plot underway, and so this is probably the last 'time-skip' for a while. Things are going to get interesting from here on out….


It had been almost six months since Nico and Kane had first met each other in the labyrinth, and they weren't doing too badly. In fact, Nico would say he was having the time of his life. He got to spend every day with his brother, and Hestia had somehow gifted him with the power to make home-cooked meals appear. They never went hungry. Nico began to think of the labyrinth as home.

He would admit this logic was rather twisted, after all the labyrinth was considered the ultimate prison, but Nico found comfort in the ever-changing landscape and the endless number of rooms. Kane and him had found all sort of places in the labyrinth, from swimming pools to a rollercoaster.

Of course, they ran into their fair share of monsters, after all, they were in a deadly maze, but they learned how to avoid them well enough. Apparently living in the labyrinth gave this kind of smell which monsters almost wanted to avoid. A strange, but awesome perk.

There was that nasty run in with Janus….the only thing the two heads could agree on was that they hated the di Angelo brothers. His big brother had decided he might as well become a di Angelo, after all, he didn't have a last name...

Nico and Kane thought the labyrinth was somehow sentient, because Kane couldn't shadow travel in the labyrinth until they accepted it as their home. They must have gained stockholm syndrome or something They couldn't whether this a good thing or a bad thing.

Kane taught Nico how to shadow travel, and Nico was rather good at it, although him trying to learn was rather humorous. The first time he shadow traveled he ended up in China and passed out for a week. Luckily Kane had come along, and had been worried sick. When Nico woke up, the first thing he got was Kane yelling at his for his reckless, stupid, Gryffindor behavior. Whatever that meant.

The funny thing was, most they weren't in the labyrinth at all. At one point they figured out that the labyrinth could lead them to anyplace in the world. Even Olympus. Nico remembered that day with a smile. Christmas. So many memories. He was forever in Apollo's debt.

The day the labyrinth shoved them out into the underworld was that day their life changed once again.

It was a normal day….for two demigods living in an ever-changing labyrinth. They had woken up in the cave they had taken refuge in for the night. This time it was a simple Spartan furnished room. They had no idea who lived here, or if anyone did, but they figured it safe enough and took turns keeping watch.

The cave had turned out to be safe, and no creepy crawlies had bugged either of them through the night. In the morning they started on their normal schedule. Nico, courtesy of Hestia, would whip up a home meal, and they would eat. Then the two brothers would walk through the labyrinth for around two hours before finding a cave to practice in.

Nico had never been in camp half-blood long enough to learn enough sword fighting. He mainly spent his time with the Apollo campers, and sometimes the Hephaestus. Many of the other demigods had seemed to wary of him. Still, he practiced with Kane every day. They had found an old book on sword fighting in a library they ran into one day, and they grabbed it.

Now they learned more and more every day. They became quite accomplished sword fighters, and were nearly on equal ground. Granted, they didn't think they could hold up against the better sword fighters in camp, but they had never had formal training. They both realized they probably had the wrong hand hold on the sword and other such formalities, but they could fight.

After training, they had walked along a new cavern where they walls started to leach into a black stone. For some reason, the brothers weren't scared, in fact, they felt as though they were going home.

One minute they were in the labyrinth, the next, they were in a landscape covered in darkness. There was a giant, dark wall to their left, and a river stood to their right. The odd this was, the river was horribly polluted. Not in the ordinary plastic bag and bottle sort of way, but in the "I just dumped all my belongings in here" sort of way. Nico wondered if that was a real thing….

There were broken toys, ripped up diplomas, and other such paraphernalia. Nico could sense the sadness emanating from the river. Into his soul.

Next to him, Kane stood tense, ready to fight. This was very different than anything they had come into before.

Nico began to feel more than a little terrified. The original feeling of warmth was gone, and they both knew they had to leave as soon as possible. Nico shakily pulled out his celestial bronze sword. He hadn't ever used it in reality, but who knows what could be here.

The tunnel to the labyrinth was gone. The only way out was to either cross the gaping river, or somehow climb the looming walls.

The river was wide, and gave off a far more foreboding feeling than the wall did.

"K-kane?" Nico asked, trying not to let his voice stutter.

Kane looked down at Nico and recognized how terrified his younger brother looked. Truth be told, Kane was terrified out of his wits, and wanted to run fast and far away from where ever the hell they were. But, it was his duty as older brother to at least LOOK strong and brave.

So, he put his arm around Nico's shoulder and said, "It's okay, we'll find a way out," then Kane had an idea, "Hey Nico! We could follow the wall, and find a gate, or door of sorts."

Nico smiled, that was actually a brilliant idea. They began walking along the dreary landscape, careful to stay far away from the river, and close to the wall.

The di Angelos were no strangers to walking for long periods of time, and this time was no exception. Due probably to the ADHD, they could never concentrate on on task, so they often filled the time between destinations with talking. This was a major part of the reason they had grown so close over six months.

"So….Kane?" Nico asked, "Watcha think we are going to encounter?"

Kane shook his head, "No idea...could be anything...from a safe haven to a prison…" His thoughts were elsewhere, so he only half paid attention to Nico.

Nico nodded his head sagely, "I see, obviously at the end of this wall we will find a giant teddy bear that shoots marshmallows out of its mouth." He said this in a completely serious tone, and Kane never caught what Nico said.

"That's quite possible, I mean who know-" Kane stopped mid sentence, his brain catching up to what he had just heard. "Wait, what did you say?"

Nico burst out laughing, he loved having a brother to tease. Kane...helped him move on...from Bianca. He knew Kane wasn't a replacement, in fact, he knew nobody could ever replace his sister, but Kane understood that. He didn't try to take her place completely, and he didn't try to make him forget about her. And for that, Nico was grateful.

They continued walking playing their new game of, "What We will Find at the End of this Wall", laughing as the situations grew ever more hilarious.

Unfortunately, about an hour into their hike they heard a growl. They immediately drew out their swords, and took places at each others backs.

Danger was close, they could both feel it, and so they continued slowly with more caution. They were right to do this. Around the next corner lay a massive three-headed dog.

Kane gasped, "A cerberus," He breathed out. He had only ever heard of these in whispered hushed conversations in the wizarding world. They made excellent guard dogs, and were extremely vicious. The questions however was, what was the dog guarding.

Nico noticed the looming, towering gates first. He tugged in kane's sleeve to point his view to the gate. Black, curling and dominating the landscape around it, the gates rose high into the skyless land, and their mouths hung open in awe.

Neither of them quite knew why they were so drawn to the gates, but they knew that they had to get inside.

The cerberus wasn't looking at them...yet, and they started trying to make a plan. The best idea they could come up with was to seek past the beast and hope for the best. Kind of suicidal, true, but hey, demigods.

They dared to walk a bit closer to the beast, and found that the...creature looked more like a dog up close. It had the appearance of a rottweiler, and was much larger than Kane had been led to believe most cerberuses were. For a second, he shuddered wondering if this was a wizard's territory. An extremely dark one's.

It had sharp, dagger-like teeth, and blood red eyes. Kane had a flashback to the horror stories of the dark lord and his red eyes. Soulless they said.

Kane and Nico slowly approached in imposing dog, and inched along the wall. There were a few gaps large enough for them to fit through. When they reached the gate Nico went through first. Kane was halfway through when the Cerberus turned. He gasped, and tried to get through the space faster, but they monster was too fast.

It opened its gaping mouth wide open, ready to kill, but then it stopped and paused, before smelling Kane and walking away. He breathed a deep sigh of relief, and made his way through the bars before he was tackled into a hug by Nico.

"You..idiot!" Nico said, accentuating his words with a solid punch to Kane's arm. He winced, that would leave a mark. "You could have been killed!"

Kane apologized, then Nico looked at him again, "Hey Kane, I...I think I know where we are."

"Really?" Kane said excitedly, "That's great! Where are we then?"

Nico looked a little ill. "I think...we are in the underworld."

Kane gasped, "THE underworld, as in the creepy dead person underworld?"

Nico nodded, and Kane let out a breath of frustration, "Well, then know any way out of this...hellhole?" He smiled at the pun.

"The thing is," Nico started, "the only thing I know about the underworld is that the only place not filled with pain and torture..is Hades' palace."

Kane Groaned. It would be just their luck. Finally find a wall 'out' of the strange land only to find themselves in an even stranger.

Nico continued speaking, "From what I can understand, the dog was Cerberus, and the river was the River Styx."

"Well then genious," Kane asked ,"where to?"

Nico pointed to the left, "That way…" Then to the right, "Nope, that way."

Kane sighed, "We're lost aren't we?"

"Look on the bright side," Nico said, "There was really never a place where we weren't lost in here." Kane face-palmed.

They wandered aimlessly in the best direction they could think of, the left, and when they came upon the field of punishments, they immediately turned back around. After backtracking and this time heading right, they felt like they were on a better path. Shrubbery around them began to look for pruned, and the paths cleaner. Then they saw it. The Palace of Hades

It was magnificent. In front of the palace was a beautiful garden with exotic fruits everywhere, and gave the palace a beauty it would have otherwise lack. The Palace itself looked much like an Ancient Grecian temple, done up in silver, gold and bronze. It was a magnificent sight to behold in the dreary landscape, and the two brothers stumbled towards it.

They walked through the garden, and were surprised to find skeleton servants, and they both counted their lucky stars that no one bothered them.

Inside the palace was just as beautiful as the outside. One entire hall was made of gold, and the followed this tunnel to what they assumed to be a throne room. The walls were light with orange light cast by fire, and there stood a throne in the center of the room. It was made out of human skulls and bones, looking rather terrifying.

Behind the throne stood a small gathering of skeleton soldiers, dressed in military regalia. and at the center of it all was Hades. He was a tall, imposing and very muscular god with albino white skin, intense black eyes that glittered like frozen tar, and were either the eyes of a genius or a madman, and had a mesmerizing, evil charisma, and shoulder-length black hair.

On his fingers he wore two rings both brothers could clearly see. The first was a simple opal ring, the other a silver skull. He looks at both of them, and for a second doesn't say anything. Then he speaks,

"How did you find your way down here?" His voice is deep and controlling, commanding power and respect.

Kane steps forward, "We found ourselves in your land by accident...Lord Hades..and wish to return to the mortal realm."

Hades nodded his head in approval, before suddenly freezing. He stepped off his throne and walked towards the brothers, "What are your names," Hades demanded.

Nico spoke up, "I'm Nico di Angelo, and this is my brother Kane…"

For a second, they saw a mask on Hades' face slip and a heartbroken look crossed his face.

"No," the god said, "This can't be true, Kane is...gone, and Nico is in a labyrinth."

Kane spoke again, "Actually we just came from the labyrinth. What business is this to you?"

The god looked at them with his piercing gaze, his eyes boring holes into the brother's souls, "I think...I think that both of you might just be my sons."


Author's note: And...that's a wrap! God, it has been so long since I've updated, sorry about that guys...I APOLOGIZE! Really, I have caught up with life in general, and thought, "Oh, yah, write that fanfiction…."

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