Chapter XIII
The Escape Plan

Bianca strode through the halls of Hades's palace, a small smile on her face when she saw Nico walking next to her purposefully, a long way from the insecure kid he'd been five years ago. Of course, he still played Mythomagic, and definitely wouldn't be considered outgoing by any social standard, but he wasn't worried to even start up a conversation with a stranger anymore.

"What are you looking at?"

Nico's voice was annoyed, and Bianca chuckled. Nothing, not even Nico's glum tone, could make her mad today. After all, it was her birthday- and after spending decades in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, she was determined to make the most of all of her birthdays. In the past, Hades had allowed her a glimpse of the mortal realm, an entire day spent entirely to catering to her every need, and had given her art lessons, among other things. Of course, the glimpse of the mortal realm was Bianca's favorite gift by far, but the art lessons were a close second.

"Fine then, don't answer me," Nico grumbled.

"Aren't you happy, Nico?" Bianca's voice was light and airy, sounding nothing like the voice of most other fourteen-year-old's.

"Should I be?" The rhetorical question had Bianca letting out a laugh, mussing up Nico's hair after he asked that as she smirked and gave a little twirl in the hallway.

"Come, dance with me!"

"What?" Nico looked horrified at the idea of dancing with his older sister, but Bianca just chuckled, grabbing Nico by the wrist and spinning him in the hall. "Have fun in your life! Dance!"

And with that, Bianca began to hum a lively tune, a grin on her face as she watched Nico frown and try to leave, only to be snatched back by Bianca and to have his hands wrapped around her waist, Bianca's arms holding Nico's shoulders. They both swayed in the hall, and a tiny, reluctant smile grew on Nico's face as he danced with his older sister, until both of the brother-sister duo were humming and laughing, their steps odd and halting and yet holding much more emotion than that of any experienced dancer.

"Oh, I didn't know that there was a dance party!"

Nico and Bianca's heads both turned at the new voice, only to see Persephone standing in the hallway, a laugh plastered on her face as a crown of thorns wove its way through her white-blonde hair.

"Join us, Aunt Seph!" Bianca cried, and lifted an arm from Nico's shoulder to invite Persephone over. Hesitating for a moment when she saw them, Persephone carefully shook her head and waved Bianca off.

"No, I must get to Hades. But you two... continue with your dancing!"

Persephone carefully inched her way through the hall, and turned back to look at the skeleton guards that shadowed her every move. "Remind me to get the two dance lessons later," she murmured with a roll of her eyes.

«∙»

"Lady Persephone."

The guard that announced Persephone's stayed silent for a beat before leaving, Hades and Persephone now alone in the long hallway.

"Hades," Persephone acknowledged curtly. After Hades had allowed Nico and Bianca to stay in their palace without any warning for Persephone, she hadn't talked to him for the rest of her stay. And the couple's relationship was still strained, especially as Nico and Bianca had begun to call her 'Aunt Seph', even though Persephone went out of her way to avoid the kids. She hadn't even seen them until after one month of their stay.

"I- I don't understand- don't understand why you're- you're still mad at me."

Hades's voice was confused, lonely, quavering, and it took all of Persephone's self-control to not wrap Hades in a hug and tell him that everything would be fine, that she didn't hold a grudge, that she was just being angry. Because this had all happened before, and before that, and even before that, and every single time Hades had said those exact same words, only to go back on those words again.

"Because you have kept these- these children alive for so long, and then you bring them into our palace, as though you seem to forget that your wife lives here as well."

"You aren't even here for half the year. My children deserve to live, Persephone, they deserve to be heroes!" Facade dropping, Hades shook his head and began to pace, already feeling the emotions that had been plugged back for so long begin to spill. The long-awaited argument was finally happening, and Hades wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

" 'They deserve to be heroes'," Persephone mimicked bitterly, letting out a harsh scoff. "As if there weren't hundreds of, thousands of, other options out there. As if the daughter of Zeus- what was her name, Thalia? As if Thalia wasn't just as worthy of being a hero. As if the boy you threw into Tartarus wasn't worthy of being a hero."

"Zeus and Poseidon are far from worthy- their children could never fulfill the prophecy. And Bianca is much more capable than a pine tree and a dead body."

"Bianca? The girl barely understands what war is. And you want to have her fight the Titan of Time himself?"

Hades laughed when he heard Persephone, and turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow. "Do you not see the bigger picture? She- no, we will have glory! The gods will finally recognize us as more than just servants, we will have respect. And there will be no one, no foolish, upstart demigod to steal Bianca's fame!"

" 'We' will have respect? I already have respect, Hades. It is you who is a coward, a thief, a liar, you who Olympus looks down on."

"I don't deserve to have to look down anytime I see Zeus, as though I'm not his older brother, as though I'm not his elder, as though I didn't help overthrow Kronos," Hades seethed.

Biting back a response, Persephone shot a scathing look when Hades said Kronos's name, her sharp green eyes darting around the hallway as she tried to make sure that the overthrown king wasn't lurking about somewhere in the shadows- you could never be too cautious.

"Don't say his name," she hissed. "And you would still have some semblance of respect in Poseidon and Zeus's eyes if you hadn't killed their children! Do you know how foolish that was? Did you think about the consequences of doing that? No, you just wanted vengeance, didn't you, Hades?"

"I deserve vengeance, Persephone. Don't act as though I am the villain here. You know that I deserve a throne on Olympus, not a palace in the land of the dead."

Persephone looked at Hades before shaking her head. "I don't understand why you act like such a monster. You are not the same person you were millennia ago, Hades, don't try to pretend like you're still the same. You've changed, and not for the best."

«∙»

You've changed, and not for the best.

Those final words echoed in Bianca's head as she ran down the hallway corridor with worry in her eyes, trying to find Nico before something happened to her brother, before he was subject to being thrown into Tartarus. She couldn't think clearly, not with those biting remarks by Persephone and Hades swimming around in her head. And while Bianca wasn't the one on the receiving end of those words, nor was she even meant to hear those words, they couldn't be taken back.

Hades had done something big, something horrible to make sure that Bianca and Nico would live- or, more correctly, that they would be heroes. He'd killed demigods in order to have Bianca be the only one able to fulfill some so-called prophecy, in order to have Bianca regain Hades's lost respect. And while Bianca might've once cursed Olympus for doing something like that to her seemingly wonderful father, now all she could think of was the fact that she and Nico needed to leave the palace. Immediately.

"Nico! Nico!" Her voice echoed through the halls, and she tried to ignore the questioning, worried looks that the guards and servants sent her, instead hurtling to Nico's room as fast as humanly possible.

When she finally arrived there, she only saw Nico laying on his massive bed, music blasting from every speaker. "Did Hades say yes?"

Heart thudding in her chest, Bianca's head shook as she remembered the reason she had followed Aunt Se- Persephone: Bianca and Nico had wanted to host a ball, and needed permission to do so. But after overhearing Persephone and Hades's conversation, a ball was the furthest thing from her mind.

"No. C'mon, we need to pack!"

Quickly catching on to his sister's change in attitude, Nico sat up worriedly, brows furrowing. "What's going on? Are we going somewhere?"

Faltering as Bianca tried to make sense of the vague ideas of a plan floating around in her head, Bianca quickly closed her eyes before opening them again. "Yes, we're going to the mortal realm."

Nico paused before grinning ear to ear, fist pumping and laughing out loud. "Yes! Was this your birthday present?"

"No, and Persephone and Hades don't know about this trip. We need to leave now."

"They don't- they don't know about this? How are we going then?"

"Shadow Travel."

Gripping the bedpost as he swung off the bed, Nico raised an eyebrow at Bianca. "I don't know why we're leaving here, and don't you need to know where you're going in order to shadow travel there?"

"We see the mortal realm twice a year, and each time we see something different. One of those places is bound to be safe."

" 'Safe'?" Nico echoed. "Why would we need to be safe?"

Snatching out and grabbing Nico's shoulders, Bianca forced Nico to look her in the eyes, and said the words slowly and carefully so that Nico didn't miss anything. "Hades and Persephone aren't who they say they are. They are dangerous, and we need to leave."

"They're dangerous? But they're so nice! Aunt Seph always talks to us, and Hades always gives us stuff, and-"

"Nico, they murdered two demigods. One was thrown into Tartarus. We need to leave. Now."

Nico froze, horror setting into his face. "They couldn't have," he whispered weakly, but the look on his sister's face was enough to tell him that she wasn't joking, that this wasn't a game.

"Pack, we'll leave in ten minutes," Bianca's voice was firm, telling Nico that this wasn't up for discussion. "We'll meet at the gargoyle statue in front of the Great Doors." Biting her lip, Bianca pulled Nico into a hug, and took in a shaky breath. "I love you, Neeks."

Burrowing his head in Bianca's shoulder, Nico closed his eyes. "I love you too, Bi."

«∙»

"We need clothes, food, money, cloth- I already said that..." Letting her voice trail off, Bianca paced the length of her room, trying to think of anything that she and Nico would need for their little 'trip'. It was strange, intimidating to think about leaving the palace, leaving what was once her home. The purple bag on her bed was almost bursting with the amount of things in it. After all, Bianca was used to being waited on for most of her life- she didn't know what to bring with her.

Shooting another glance at the clock on her wall, Bianca took in a breath and looked around her room, with its purple walls and silver lights, with the worn black couch and the walls marred with dents and scuffs. If all went well, this would be the last time she would see the room- and she wasn't sure if she could live with that.

Get it together, Bi.

After rolling shoulders to get the kink out of them, Bianca grabbed her Stygian iron knife, the last thing that she needed before she left. Giving a last, forlorn glance to her room, she walked out the door, hearing it slam shut with a sort of finality behind her.

Gripping the bag tightly, Bianca carefully walked out of her room, making sure that no one was around as she crept across the halls, making her way over to the gargoyle statue. When she finally reached the statue with nothing other than odd looks from the guards who knew better than to disturb her, Bianca took in a breath and let it out, closing her eyes nervously. Nico wasn't there yet, and she felt the familiar worry gnaw at her stomach, letting her know that there was a high probablity that something had happened to Nico, that he hadn't believed her, that he wasn-

"Hey. Bi."

Bianca's head immediately turned to the source of the noise, her neck cracking at the sudden activity while her eyes opened and glowed with relief when she saw Nico. Although he was dressed in a cheesy, all-black outfit like the people in the movies did, it was better than not seeing him there at all.

"You're here!" Bianca hissed back, and Nico walked up to her with a nervous smile.

"Let's go."

Grabbing Nico's wrist, Bianca closed her eyes, and the two disappeared in a cloud of shadows.

«∙»

"Where are they!"

The sound of the angry God of the Underworld sent all the skeleton guards into a frenzy as they all stood to attention, the god's cape billowing past him when he walked into the throne room.

"Where are Nico and Bianca!"

"My lord, I-"

"Silence, Mercutio." With a wave of his hand, the skeleton guard that had spoken burst into a pile of ash that quickly turned to nothingness.

"Where did they go?"

The guards that were in charge of protecting the palace- and more importantly, the guards in charge of protecting the di Angelos all stood to attention, the rest of the servants quickly scurrying out of the room to avoid Hades's wrath. The remaining skeletons began to talk at once, their overlapping voices growing too loud to Hades's ears, his eyes flashing a red as every other being in the room found themselves unable to talk.

"That's better. Where are the di Ange-" voice cutting off, something occurred to Hades and he raised an eyebrow. "Where is Persephone?"

When no one spoke, Hades let out a low growl. "I'll say it again. Where. Is. Persephone."

"I'm here, Hades. There is no need to take your anger out on your poor guards, who can't even speak."

Spinning around, Hades was face-to-face to his wife in only name, seeing Persephone's green eyes inches from his own. Taking in a breath, Hades turned to the dead bodies that were crowded around in his room. "You are dismissed." The remaining guards left as fast as they could without seeming rude, and Hades turned to Persephone again. "You took them."

The goddess of Spring raised an eyebrow. "Took whom?"

"You- you took Bianca and Nico!"

Laughing, Persephone rolled her eyes. "What use would I have to kidnap Bianca and Nico?"

"You were angry that I had my children in the palace, and you were jealous," Hades's hands shook with anger, and he glared at Persephone. "You didn't kidnap them. You murdered them."

"I'd be careful of who you were pointing fingers at," Persephone said in a lilting tone. "After all, I'm not the one who threw a toddler into Tartarus, or sent an army of monsters after a twelve-year-old."

"You killed them."

"I really think we should be more careful of where we hold our conversations, don't you agree?" Persephone's eyes glinted with something like madness, and a horrible feeling churned in Hades's gut at the conversation so reminiscent of the one he'd held with Poseidon.

"What did you do."

"Oh, I didn't do anything," Persephone began. "But poor Bianca, who'd just wanted to ask her father permission to hold a ball. Imagine her surprise when she eavesdropped on a conversation and found out that her sweet, wonderful father was a killer."

Hades let out a half-strangled gasp, the pieces already fitting together in his mind.

"Of course, she simply couldn't allow her and Nico to continue living in a place where their father, a murderer, roamed the halls, so she'd shadow traveled into the mortal world with her brother."

"She- she what?"

"I did say to not allow them those glimpses of the upper realm, but who's to say no to you?"

"Leave," Hades cried, and Persephone, deeming her work done, quickly vanished and left behind the faint smell of wet roses. After seemingly ages, Hades walked out of the room, and turned to his guards.

"I have mission for you..."

Hey guys! I know that I promised that part of this chapter would be dedicated to what was going on in Tartarus, but as I was writing this, I got a bit carried away... the next chapter will probably be entirely focused on what's going on in hell :) This is the beginning of the Hades/Bianca story arc that I was talking about, and before you guys say anything, yes, there is more on this coming up soon, probably in the 10th chapter. Anyway, I just have a question: do any of you guys draw fanart? Because I'd really like to get a better cover image than the one I currently have...

DreamCatcher06: ooh, that part is something that's been preplanned from before the prologue was even posted :) And yea, Kelli didn't get a lot of canon time so I thought that it would be cool to explore her character in this fic :)

mylifeisogre: there are reasons for that that will definitely be explained next chapter, and thank you!

aesir21: Bloodbending will actually be kinda important later on... as for what happens with Kelli, you're just going to have to wait and see :)

Keranovi (Guest): Oh wow, thank you! He will definitely tie into the Titan and Giant war, but you'll just have to wait for the next updates to see what'll happen :)

Anonymous (Guest): Yep, bloodbending is definitely going to be more explored later on :) And yea, the angst is already starting to set in... plus, Percy can't really control his emotions that well, as seen in the past chapter, so he would definitely lash out. Oh, I guess that I hadn't clarified in well enough, so I went back and edited it, but it was meant to be Kelli wondering exactly how powerful Percy was, as most children of Poseidon weren't able to control blood.

Celine Ariadna Evelyn: Ohmigod, thank you so much! And yea, Hades is a pretty big jerk :)

Guest (Guest): Kelli and Maddy will definitely meet Percy, but if they become friends or not is the million dollar question, isn't it :) And thank you!

Darkshot123: Oh no, I love frequent reviews! I sort of excites me anytime I see a frequent reviewer, just because I know that I haven't done something really stupid, or that I've done an unexpected plot twist or something :) And while I assume you were looking for this '~', those weren't weird sentences at all :)

whycan'tIfindanamethatfits: Thank you! I like to know that the plot twists are good :)

And that's it, see you guys next chapter!

-Lauren Swan

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