Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HoO.

Nico and James obediently followed the cloaked figure. Secretly, Nico had been hoping that he could shadow travel away as soon as he had left the room, but unfortunately the power only got stronger as he continued down the corridors. Now there was light, or rather an absence of darkness, he began to fell aches and pains all over his body, and he felt really tired. Great, now not only am I helpless, I'm weak too… The maze of corridors he was being led through made no sense, and he quickly lost his way. James fell over a few times, and Nico had to stop and help him up while the hooded man continued walking, so that James didn't get left behind. Eventually, as Nico felt as though his legs were about to buckle, the figure stopped and pushed open two huge doors, revealing a huge chasm, brightly lit by fires that surrounded the edges. He then grabbed the boys and flung them into the room, where they lay in a sprawled heap. A voice spoke, deep and resonating,

"Welcome," but it sounded far from welcoming. It came from the centre of the room, where a cloud of endlessly moving smoke was circulating, with two white eyes staring at them. "Son of Hades, how kind of you to join me," Nico spat on the ground, and the eyes flashed menacingly, "I am not as foolish as you seem to believe, demigod. You will not provoke me so easily. You seem to categorise every enemy you face in the same way: stupid, quick to anger, and easily fooled,"

"I've heard the speech before and the answer is no,"

There was a sound, like some sick kind of laughter, which came from within the smoke, "You are mistaken. I only bring you before me to pass the time. You are worthless to me. My siblings, the Titans, may have tried to convert you to their cause, but believe me, however special and superior that may have made you feel, my brethren and I care nothing for your kind. You are pests,"

James looked up at the swirling mass from beside Nico, and he looked like he was soiling himself and looking for some kind of screen between him and the… it, so as to disprove what his eyes confirmed. "What the hell are you?"

"That, my friend, is fact best known to myself. No need to be afraid, while Nico is of no use to me, you are of great importance,"

"Don't listen to him," Nico warned, though he felt it was fairly unnecessary: so far James had disbelieved almost everything he had said, "He's trying to trick you. He'll use you like a puppet, and then throw you to the hellhounds as soon as you have fulfilled your purpose,"

"Ignore the brat. He knows nothing, all he cares about it blaming everyone but himself for his sister's death," don't react, don't react… "Because he knows it's true, if he hadn't been such a pathetic, bratty, selfish little-"

"Shut up!" Nico felt the anger again, deep inside him. The pure essence of hatred, like the very spirit of the Styx was fighting to get out of him. He recognised it dimly, like the time with the wolves and the moon, only worse. He could feel the waves of hatred, and he knew what they could probably do at this strength, but all he heard was a feint snicker from the voice,

"Impressive. But no-where near enough. You merely waste your energy, and while you may be both an interesting distraction and a fine specimen of how powerful a demigod can be, I am far more interested in your friend," Nico felt hot, his strength evaporated and he fell back onto the floor. "Now then, James, I suppose I should introduce myself, I am Mimas, ancient foe to Hephaestus, who Nico loves so much, son of Gaia and Tartarus. You need to choose a side, and I now offer to you the correct one. Just shy of five millennia ago, my siblings, for want of a better phrase, fought in a war with what the average Joe of today might name as the Greek gods, and-"

"Oh for God's sake, can you please end this stupid practical joke, it's past twelve o'clock*, and it stopped being amusing yesterday!" Nico started making cutting motions across his throat, as funny as the situation was, James was about to get himself killed. Immortals could get touchy.

"How dare you! You dare to call my family a joke! Lycaon, show him exactly what happens when a practical joke goes terribly wrong!" the cloaked figure threw back his hood, revealing the man who had ambushed Nico earlier on. His nails grew longer, more claw like, and his eyes changed shape and colour. He growled, and for a moment Nico was terrified, but then he saw James, who was pale as death, staring at the wolf-man-thing before him. Nico moved slowly so as not to gather attention, as he pulled his sword out of the thankfully bare earth around him. He thought a silent permission, then yelled "Catch!" and flung the sword at James, who fumbled with it before managing to catch it by the handle. Lycaon pounced.

James jumped back, almost tripping on Nico, and flinging up a haphazard karate-esque kick, which missed completely. Then he stood his ground holding the sword pointed at Lycaon, but unfortunately he looked more like the sort of ten-year-old who likes to play with wooden swords than a particularly well trained fighter. He stepped forwards and swung at the monstrosity that was to be his first foe, which seemed slightly unfair to Nico, but it was parried easily. Lycaon rolled between his legs, before springing up and slashing at his left arm. James gasped, and fell to the ground, and Nico mentally groaned. This was harsh; at least whichever god called itself his parent could have let him be at least half decent at fighting? No, wait, that would be too easy, and much too boring. Nico felt sorry for the kid, or rather, older boy. This was probably the first time he'd been properly hurt, and he had been unready. And now he was about to suffer for it. Lycaon raised a hand, and swiped at his neck. As one long, razor sharp claw was about to slice through James' spine however, it seemed to change direction, flying away from the boy completely. He let out a low growl, and tried to scissor his head with two of his claws, but his arms were flung away. Lycaon seemed enraged. He sprang at him, but was flung at the wall by an unseen force, where he became an unmoving mass of wonky limbs and fur.

The eyes looked furious, and Nico was thinking something along the lines of face-palm, when there was a yell from outside. A crack was forming, in the side of the chasm. Pure white sunlight broke in, and Nico could see a face he knew all too well smirking down at him.

*You get April Fools Day in countries that aren't the UK, right?

Thought I might just ask again, just in case I get a response, if there are any problems with the story in relation to characters? I'm yet to get a review about it, but you know what they say, if at first you don't succeed…