Jack knew Nico couldn't deny it. The Winter Spirit could see it in the son of Hades eyes. The usually dark eyes, glinting with madness and genius, were nowadays light as melted chocolate. For the first time, Nico looked truly happy. Despite his happy eyes, his injured face remained stoic as he stuck his hands into his pockets.

"Give Nico time to breath,"Jack got off the bed, flashing Nico a smile as he moved to Jamie's desk, "what you working on? I thought school would be cancelled?"

Jamie didn't even blink at the change of subject. He looked away from Nico and towards the desk. The son of Hades took the opportunity to move away from the pre-teen and sit on the bed. Taking off his jacket to let air flow around him a little better, he set it down besides him. Sophie kneaded over on her side, snuggling into the jacket, and in a matter of seconds, was fast asleep.

"-its a creative writing assignment...I have no idea what to write! I've been trying for days!" Jamie was complaining.

"Write about me!" Jack floated behind the boy, "it'll be easy."

"Cupcake already is..." Jamie deflated a little, "and I don't want the other Guardians to laugh at my story if I write about them."

Of all the things to tall about, Jack was talking about homework. The winter spirit had easily drawn Jamie away from his worries, and all the while, he'd changed the subject so he wouldn't have to answer questions. 'He had made it fun,' Nico couldn't help but think, 'he's always making everything fun.'

"They won't laugh," The winter spirit absently floated up to the ceiling, "if worse comes to worse, you can always write a story about Nico. Share it with your friends, get him more believers."

"What?" Nico snapped to attention.

"Can I?" Jamie questioned.

Caught off guard, Nico automatically answered "yes."

"Awesome!" Jamie scrambled under a pile of papers and pulled out a sleek looking laptop, "it has to be around 5,000 words...the teacher says she expects someone with a skill level like mine to write more-"

"I'm going to take Sophie to bed," Jack dropped down and untangled the blonde from Nico's jacket, "let you two get too it."

The white haired teen grinned at Nico, who stared stoically back at him until he'd left the room. Jamie jumped up on the bed, taking his sisters place, word document open.

"You're a real go getter, aren't you?" Nico asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"My dad says its one of my best traits!" Jamie said with a large smile, "so, what did Jack mean by you saved the world?"

"I think he was just taking creative liberties," Nico wondered if he'd ever been in a more awkward situation in his life. He didn't click with children. Jamie didn't seem to notice. The kid was so up beat it was slightly off putting. "And no one can ever just save the world not their own."

"So what happened?" Jamie's hands rested over the keys.

"I'm a demigod," Nico stood up, "or I was- doesn't matter-my fathers is Hades-"

"Wow," Jamie breathed, "that's awesome! So the gods exist?"

Nico turned to the window and rolled his eyes, "yeah, all of them."

"Wow," Jamie repeated.

"You've already said that-"

As he passed by the window, he paused, heart missing a best. Despite the dark shadows outside cast by the street lamps, the night seemed to be filled with a large array of colours. Nico nearly pressed himself up against the window, but controlled himself and settled for leaning heavily on the window ledge.

"What is it?" Jamie questioned from the bed.

"Bianca," Nico breathed, breath fogging up the window.

The little girls aura glowed so brightly that the son of hades couldn't miss it. He almost pulled him in with its glow. There, right in the front yard of the house across the street was a little girl of about four, playing in the snow. From the distance Nico couldn't see any more details, but he knew. It had to be her. Nico' aura reading was poor at best, he could usually notice thin tendrils around people. But this girl-;she was illuminating the whole street.

Before he knew it, he had pushed open the window and was climbing out onto the roof, boots easily finding purchase on the outside ledge. The cold bitter wind bit into his bare arms (unlike at the North Pole, he didn't have anger to dull his senses)-but he ignored it. He could climb, but he risked slipping, so instead, he tensed his legs and prepared to jump.

"Are you insane-"

He jumped out, the ground rushing up to meet him, but he quickly changed his body positions and used the force of the fall to roll off shoulder and land uninsured on the ground.

"Nico," Jack called from the window, obviously having just returned.

Nico ignored Jack and ran across the street. His knees betrayed him as he landed in front of the little girl. Falling hard on his knees, he couldn't help but stare at the girl. She had long dark silky hair, tied into little pony tails, even olive toned skin, everything was right, except her vibrant green eyes. She was building a snow man, oblivious to his presence.

"Amazing," Nico breathed, moving to touch, but his hand went straight through.

"That's Maria. She's Sophie's friend," Jack said as he floated down next to Nico, "they used to go to the same Daycare."

"It's my sister," Nico nearly smiled, but managed to contain it, "are you sure her names Maria...?"

"Yeah, Maria Etana," Jack knelt down in the snow next to Nico, "how many sisters do you have?-"

"I only have-had- two," The little girl giggled in delight as she began looking for decorations for her snowman, "Bianca when she died, went for rebirth, her soul got transferred to a new body. Of all the places..."

"That's your sister?" Jack tried to comprehend what was happening.

"Not technically...it was my sister," Nico slumped slightly, "I never expected to see her again; not in this life anyway."

A car pulled into the driveway and a man stepped out. His face was drawn, making him look older then he was, his clothes crumpled and hair thinning. When he saw the little girl though, the scowl that had been marring his face disappeared. The little girl stood up and ran to him, and the man picked her up and spun her around, making her giggle.

"She's so happy," Nico stood up, wrapping his arms around himself.

"They have a great family, she has a brother as well, I think," Jack stood up as well and rubbed the back of his neck.

"She looks so happy," Nico stuffed his hands into his jean pockets.

"Well, maybe, after we're done with Pitch, we can get her to believe in you," the winter spirit shrugged.

It became a hard task for Nico to drag his gaze away from the girl. She soon disappeared inside with her father, abandoning her snowman, leaving it to crumble in the yard. He smiled as he thought of a life like this; a happy life with Bianca.

"Jack!" Jamie ran out into the snow, rushing to put on his thick winter jacket, "what happened-"

"Nothing to worry about, Jamie," Jack said casually, "Nico just doesn't think before acting."

Nico was too filled up with Euphoria about the future that he didn't respond. A strong breeze blew through, making him shudder. Turning away from it slightly, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. To the west, up against the black sky, rested a bank of grey clouds- only visible to due to the constant flashes from lightening above it.

"That's not natural," Nico drew his sword instinctively.

"Pitch?" Jack questioned.

"Can't hurt to check it out," Nico nodded in agreement.

-THIS IS A LINE BREAK-

"Food, food, food, food," the fish in the tank sang as Percy walked past.

"You've already been fed," Percy commented as he picked up a box containing a selection of newly imported corals.

"Again, again, again," they cheered.

Percy rolled his eyes and looked at his watch with a sigh. He had to work double overtime to make up for the work he missed out on. Running a hand through his hair, he began placing the corals into a new display close to the shop entrance. As he knelt to adjust the temperature on the tank, something caught his eye. Reaching down to pick it up.

Resting in his palm was the Hades figurine. He gazed at it for a moment before straightening up. Shaking his head, he set it down on the counter. The bosses son liked to play the game. He probably dropped it and couldn't reach it.

After finishing putting the corals in, he moved to the back room, starting to turn off all of the lights on the tanks. After he turned off all the lights, he locked the shop up and headed out into the parking lot. There in the shadows rested the figurine. Percy picked it up, heart missing a beat.

"Nico?" Percy questioned.

As if in response the shadows shifted. Stepping forward Percy touched the shadows, finding them thick and solid. He pushed his arm in further, and instead of hitting the wall of the building, it just kept going. Gazing around the parking lot, he took a deep breath before stepping in; disappearing without a trace.