Ha...so I lied. I said that it would be a Percy point of View, but this is not that.

Enjoy Nico's perspective.

Nico

It was already late at night and all of the search parties had returned from another fruitless day of searching. By the grace of the gods they somehow managed to make the trip across the ocean in three days opposed to five and they'd been searching various
locations all over the countries of Italy and Greece looking for any signs of the missing kids.

"This is absolutely pointless!" Nico yelled into the open sky. The ship was currently docked in the air above the Mediterranean sea somewhere along the southern coast of Italy. It seemed like a great spot considering that there were people from both Greek
and Roman linages that hated the entire crew upon the Argo III and from that location they could easily swing between the two different countries.

"Not entirely pointless," Percy assured from beside Nico. They'd both were standing out on the deck staring out over the railing. Everyone else had long since gone to bed, but as usual Nico found himself standing out in the chilly air with Percy.

"Are you kidding me?" Nico snapped, "We just climbed aboard the Argo III and raced to Europe without the slightest clue as to where our kids are or who took them. Seriously, the list of possible kidnapper candidate is pathetically long."

"Yeah, yeah. I know that, but at least we're over here. We know that they were taken to the Southern end of Europe and considering our messed up family lineage, we know that they are in one of two countries."

"But that's not enough!" Nico snapped. He wasn't entirely sure how to handle this. They were coming up onto the second week and there were no clues to where Cole or Angie were being hidden. It had never taken them this long to find their kids. Nico couldn't
help but worry, "They could already be dead for all we know."

"If they had died, you would know, Nico." Percy reminded. "You can feel that kind of stuff remember."

"Right, yeah."

"You haven't been sleeping, have you." Nico wasn't surprised that he could tell. For the most part Nico had stopped looking like an almost dead human being after the war with Gaea. His usualOlive skin tone actually glowed (according to Will)
on good days, so when he wasn't sleeping or he was becoming ill, it became much more obvious. Suffice to say he hadn't been sleeping much since Cole had disappeared.

"I believe the same goes for you." Nico countered. While Percy was better at hiding it, Nico knew how to tell when his friend looked more weary than usual.

"I should have known something like this would happen." Percy huff slamming his hand down in the flat of the rail, "Things had been too peaceful for too long. Something like this was bound to happen."

"If only we could see the future."

"That's Rachel's job." They both sighed. Honestly the life of a demi-god never got easier. If you thought simply being one was difficult than being one and having a family is even harder, especially when you have a list of enemies as long as what Nico
and Percy had.

"We should probably get some sleep." Percy said

"Or we could run through one of the towns on Annabeth's list. Let's be real, Percy, neither of us are going to be getting any sleeping tonight."

"If you can get me down there, then I'm game." Nico smiled ready to shadow travel down to the ground when something hit him in the gut. He felt all the air drain from his lungs and empty feeling in his stomach. Slowly he sunk to his knees, or…no. He'd
downright collapsed but Percy caught him and lowered him to the ground until his came to his senses.

"Nico, what happened?" Percy asked as calmly as he could, but Nico could see the panicked look in his eyes. It probably reflected his own. He knew this feeling. He's felt it when he was a kid, when his sister died, when any of his friends died, but it
had never been as bad as this. "Nico, you need to tell me something. What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Death," He muttered. That's what the feeling meant.

"Who?" Was all Percy could manage to say.

"I—I don't—" Nico couldn't tell who it was, he wasn't even sure if this feeling really meant what he believed it did. It felt the same as every other time, but also completely foreign.

"Nico—"

"We're leaving." Nico gripped Percy's wristed dragging him along as he sunk into the shadows. The cold, crazedspace they had to pass through hardly fazed Nico. He's long since grown used to it, but it still felt colder and darker than it ever
had before. When they exited the shadows they found themselves no longer on the wooden deck of the Argo III but on the polished Bronze floors of the Palace of Hades.

The place was exactly like Nico remembered, but he had no time to stroll down memory lane. He was on a mission. The feeling in the gut of his stomach had faded some but hadn't disappeared. Usually when someone dies it's a passing feeling. A ghost of a
whisper as they pass through to the afterlife, but this had been like he'd been beat up by the football team multiple time. He was hoping that the difference would turn out to be good.

"Are we—"

"In Hades, yes. We're in my dad's place right now."

"Why?" Percy asked as Nico continued to drag Percy behind him. He eventually let go of his wrist assuming Percy was out of his shock from suddenly and unexpectedly traveling through the shadows and could follow on his own.

"Because I have a feeling that whoever is down here isn't actually dead yet," Nico informed as they continued to race through the palace halls. The skeletons standing guard beside every door seemed to be pointing the boys in the direction they needed
to go, so neither questioned the behavior and simply followed directions.

Eventually they reached a door that Nico immediately recognized.

"I stayed here," He said. "This was my room whenever I stayed down here."

"You actually slept in the underworld?" Percy asked giving Nico a questioning look, "Like slept down here with all the ghosts and the skeletons?"

"Probably a step up from the places you've slept."

"Touché," Percy returned knowing exactly what Nico was refereeing to. "So what's passed this door?"

"No clue, but let's find out." The large black door opened silently into a brightly lit room (or as bright as you can get in the underworld) and the first thing either parent noticed was Hades. He was still as pale as always with his jet black hair pulled
back instead of falling to his shoulders as usual. He was hovering over a king sized bed and only looked up when he heard the door open (or sensed it considering it made no sound. Nico never did know how he could tell when he entered rooms).

"Nico!" He called, the worry clear in his voice

"Who is it?"

"It's Cole." Nico's heart dropped. All the life seemed to drain out of him in that moment and he felt Percy suddenly at his side, just in case.

"Is he—"

"Dead?" the god finished, "No, not yet."

"What do you mean not yet?" Percy asked as they stepped up to the bed. There was Cole laying on top of the sheets already looking as pale as a ghost. He was in a cold sweat and his hair and cloths stuck to his skin he was covered in cuts and his cloths
stained in blood.

"He's still alive, but barely. I managed to slow down the process, but if he doesn't get help soon then death is inevitable."

"And you didn't think to call me or anything!" Nico snapped. "You've had Cole for how long? You've been watching him slowly die and you didn't think once "Hey, let me call Nico, my son and Cole's legal guardian!"

"I am breaking the very laws of death by keeping Cole alive, Nico," Hades returned coolly, "Cole should have been dead hours ago, I barely managed to pull him out before he was hit with a final killing blow, but his injuries were already grave. He was
bleeding out, and he still is, just more slowly. If I remove too much of my focus from him he will die."

"We are going to exchange words, later," Nico scowled, "And you are going to explain everything to me!" Nico glanced once more at Cole before pivoting on his heel and running straight into the wall. The shadows swallowed him whole, only to spit him back
out in front of the big house back at camp Half-blood. Will was still a councilor during the summer (more like a head of the camp), and he stayed at the big house. Nico didn't care who he woke up as he ran inside. He bee-lined to Will's room and shook
him awake.

"N—Nico?" the blonde mutter in a sleepy daze. He rubbed his eyes and yawned obviously confused as to why his partner was suddenly in his room when he should be across the see, "Look I understand if you missed me but—"

"No time—" Nico cut in, "Medical emergency, I need you right now." That seemed to wake Will right up. He quickly threw on a T-shirt and a pair of shoes before grabbing his ultra first aid kit and allowing Nico to pull him into the shadows. They arrived
back at the room in the Underworld and almost immediately Will went to work. He didn't ask questions other than what he needed to know about Cole's condition and in all seriousness he acted as if Cole wasn't even his son.

"Percy, take Nico out of here." Will suddenly ordered as he started to treat Cole.

"No way! Will, I am not leaving and you could obviously use all the help you can get."

"I'll be fine, but I need you to leave. I know you. You'll hover and that's the last thing I need right now."

"But—"

"Let's just go," Percy said quietly.

"No, I—"

"Nico!" He flinched at Percy's raised voice. You would never expect it, but the guy could be terrifying when he wanted, enough to scare a kid of the god of the underworld into submission. Regardless, Nico still left reluctantly.

Once out of the room, the door closed behind them and locked. The room must have been sound proof as well because Nico couldn't hear a thing that was happening inside.

"I'm so sorry." Percy said as his slid down the wall across from the door.

"This isn't your fault, and Will will save Cole."

"I'm sure; it's just—" Nico watched Percy from across the hall. He watched his expression morph into different emotions. Fear, shock, joy, but it paused on anger. It paused then shifted between anger and absolute rage. Nico could count the times he'd
ever seen Percy show as much rage as he was now on one hand. This was the anger that Annabeth had once told him about, the one time that Percy had truly terrified her back when they were in Tartarus. Thankfully Nico had never been on the receiving
end of Percy rage, but he still stepped away cautiously.

"Percy, what's running through your head?" Nico asked as his friend took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"When we find whoever is behind all of this, I am going to personally march him down here and throw him into the darkest pits of Tartarus."

"Cole is going to be fine, and I'm sure that Angie will be as well."

"No, you're not understanding," Percy snapped. "Didn't you notice?"

"Notice what?"

"Cole was covered in cuts, deep cuts and shallow cuts. They were all across his face and arm; across his chest. They were everywhere. There are very few monsters who can do something like that, and even fewer humans."

"I take it you know who did this to Cole then." Percy shivered slightly and took a few shaky breaths."

"Yeah, I do. It was Angela." Nico would have laughed if it wasn't for the tension in the air.

"Why would Angie attack Cole? They're best friends she wouldn't do that."

"But if their life was on the line and Cole insisted. I know him, he's a bit like me. He'll go to the ends of the world to protect what matters to him, and that includes Angie. Whoever has them must be forcing them to fight, and if he suddenly decided
to pit them against each other."

"They would refuse."

"But then he says something like "'Either you fight each other and one dies or I can kill you both right now.'"

"Wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose of kidnapping them?"

"Not necessarily. Most of the time the reason any of the kids are taken is because someone had a grudge against us and they're hoping to take revenge on us through our kids. The best way to make us suffer would be to take one of their lives, but sometimes
there are worse things than dying."

"Regardless of all of that, I can't see Angie doing something as severe as what happened to Cole. I've seen her fight, she's not capable of pulling that off."

"Yes, she is." Percy pushed himself to his feet, pulling out riptide. He held it in his hand the way he usually did, sword facing forward towards the enemy. "This is how I taught her to wield a sword and the only way I will allow her to wield a sword,
but she's taught herself another method; her own sword style." Percy Easily altered his grip, swinging the sword around to that the blade ran along his forearm. "She saw it in a movie once and fell in love with the style. It took her over a year,
but she finally figured out an efficient way to make it work."

"That is an efficient way to fight?" Nico watched as Percy spun the blade back to its usual position and capped it, returning the pen back to his pocket.

"It's not efficient, unless you're a certain type of person. Instead of the sword being an extension of your arm it replaces it. You have to use it to block attacks as well as attack, so you have to have fast enough reflexes and good enough instincts
to be able to tell when you're able to use the swords as a shield, when you have to avoid the attack in general, and when you're able to attack. If you can't do that much then you won't stand much of a chance."

"Angie's always been good at reading a battle," Nico recalled, "It was like she knew what her opponent was going to do before they did."

"That's why this method works for her. The second component is speed. Because the blades are kept at such a close proximity to your body the only way you can efficiently attack is in extremely close range combat. The faster you can move, the more effective
your attacks will be."

"So basically if you or I ever tried to pull off this sword style—"

"We would most likely fail—epically. Angie's got a god like intuition and she's small and fast. If she didn't have even one of those then this method wouldn't have worked for her."

"But it did, so how come I've never seen her fight with this style?" Nico asked." All I've ever seen is a forward sword style, and also, you kept saying blades, as in plural."

"Angie liked to use two swords at once when she fought like this. She said it was more efficient and she could create more damage on her opponent with the extra weapon, but it is still possible to only use one sword. The damage was the problem. Half the
time I wasn't even sure if she was aware of how much damage she was causing her opponents when she fought like this. It was weird. It's like she'd lose herself in the battle and then after that there was no way of knowing just what she would end up
doing."

"Which would be why I've never seen her use that specific style."

"I banned her from using that in casual combat. If she's fighting an enemy or a monster and is in a life threatening situation then she can, and she often does, but any other situation she'll fight normally. The fact that she used it against Cole is alarming."
Nico stayed quite as he processed all this new information. He'd always known that Angela was powerful. Even as a Legacy he'd watched her easily over power many demi-gods.

"You're daughter really is something else."

"She's in trouble." Percy said, "And we need to find her soon. There are worse things than death." Nico knew what he was thinking. Hades had told them how he'd been able to pull Cole out before the final blow could be delivered and if Percy is right and
Angela is the one Cole was fighting.

"She probably thinks she killed Cole." He realized, "A physiological blow on her and a strategic move on her captors part."

"We need to find her," Percy said again.

"Well, Cole should be able to tell you where she is whenever he waked up." Both Percy and Nico turned to find Will leaning against the door frame. He looked like he'd been standing there for a while, but neither had heard the door and had failed to notice
when the blonde healer had arrived.

"So he's going to be okay?" Nico asked feeling over joyed.

"His condition is stable, and there shouldn't be a risk on his life now; however, I have no idea when he will actually wake up."

"But he will wake up."

"Eventually," Will answered.

"You know, I could kiss you right now." Nico announced earning a smile from Will.

"I mean, yeah you could. I don't know what's stopping you." Will was right, so Nico kissed him. It was short, but enough. Nico was eager to get to Coles side. He wanted to be able to see him breath, to feel his pulse. He wanted physical proof that he
was alive.

Hades was still hover over by the bed. He'd summoned a chair and was sitting watching as the boys returned from the hallway.

"You know, I failed to ask you when you arrived," Hades started, "But how did you know to come here. I already told you I didn't call and I have yet to speak to anything or anyone since Cole arrived."

"It was a feeling. Like a punch to the gut."

"A punch to the gut?" Percy repeated, "Is that why you collapsed back on the ship?"

"Yeah. I thought that Cole had died, but it was a different feeling than when people usually die."

"I would hope so. It would seem that Cole was trying to get your attention." Hades said with a slight laugh, "and apparently to most efficient way he could manage in his condition was a shot to the stomach. Smart kid."

"Yeah. He's pretty smart."

"Should we let the others know that we found Cole?" Percy suggested, "I'm not entirely sure how long we've been down here, but I'd assume they've noticed out absence."

"Probably, but—" Nico glanced at Cole who was still unconscious on the bed.

"Just go," Will ordered." I'll stay with Cole until one of you comes back."

"You sure about that?"

"It's not like you haven't left me down here before." Nico felt his face turn red as he quickly spun on his heel and dragged Percy towards the wall.

"You're right, we should go inform the others. Will is willing to stay with Cole so we can leave." And just like that they were both off to the Argo III where the rest of the crew was waiting.

And here's another chapter.

Hope you enjoyed. please feel free to leave a review, i'd appreciate it!

Also thank you for waiting so long.

NaturalAthlete