A/N: Second chapter tonight!

Disclaimer: PJO is not mine.

Family Bonding

Chapter 25

PERCY

It took a while, but eventually I heard it, too. The echo of soft strumming filled the air as well as a voice I had come to know: Hades' singing voice. The song he sang was one that I knew. It was 'Behind Blue Eyes', one of the few by Limp Bizkit I liked. I could just imagine the pained expression on his face as he sang. It sounded so close, but he was nowhere to be found.

At last, he strummed the last chord and said, "I seem to be quite popular today, aren't I?"

We all stopped and I caught my breath. I turned and nearly jumped when I saw him sitting against a tree we had just passed. The shadows around him seemed to reach for him, as if trying to comfort him in a dark embrace. He lightly placed his hands on the body of the guitar and peered at us from behind his ebony locks. A sigh left my dad's lips as he walked forward and sat on a protruding root next Hades. Nico soon followed and sat on his father's other side. I stood there awkwardly for a moment before strolling as casually as I could and sat on the same root as my dad. I tried to swallow the tightness in my throat.

Hades turned to my dad and smiled, though it didn't seem to reach his eyes which shifted erratically between royal blue and black. "I am sorry."

Poseidon glanced at him questioningly. "What for?"

Without replying, Hades just simply leaned his head against my dad's shoulder. Then he muttered hoarsely, "I can't take this."

I couldn't see his eyes beneath his hair but I could have sworn I saw the faintest of tears trailing down his cheeks. Poseidon put an arm around him and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

My dad glanced at Nico and me before sighing. "Can you two give us a moment of privacy? Please?"

I stood awkwardly and turned, but not before catching Nico's doubtful gaze. He was hesitant to leave his dad. I tugged gently on his shirt sleeve and gave him a small smile.

"C'mon," I said with a small nod of the head.

He reluctantly followedand as we walked to a little patch of clearing several yards away, out of my peripheral vision, I saw him glance back at the two for few moments.

POSEIDON

Hades began shaking uncontrollably against me. I could hear his teeth grind painfully together until it became unbearable and they defaulted to aimless chattering in attempts to hold in his cries. I reached to pull his face up to see his eyes, but he swatted my hand away and recoiled into a dark ball. Instead of attaining his entire face, I simply slid my hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face. He closed his eyes as I did so, leaving me to sigh in exasperation.

"Hades," I groaned, "please, look at me."

At my request he turned away and leaned his back against me. Tired of this behavior, I stood and walked in front of him. His only response was turning around. We went through this endeavor a couple times until I had had enough and snatched his face, pushing him against the tree as I did so. There was a loud smack from my hand meeting his face and a dull thud from his body hitting the tree, and I had no doubt the children had become alert, glancing at us wearily.

"Look at me, Hades," I demanded in a hushed tone.

I almost regretted my words as his eyes revealed themselves behind his lashes. A frigid shiver slithered through my veins as I stared into their depths. They had settled into charcoal black with a midnight blue ring around the pupil, fanning out like the rays of the sun. Being this close I could also see a thin sliver of white between the blue and pupil, making him to appear unearthly, surreal even by gods' standards. I would have given into my instincts to turn away if I hadn't noted how red and puffy they were as well.

I gave a melancholy smile and brushed off a tear from his cheek. "Do you wish to tell me what troubles you so?"

He shook his head like a child would, lightly and full of disconcert. "I would much rather speak of nostalgia than of dilemma."

I gazed off in contemplation. "Very well. What is it you wish to speak of?"

His eyes became distant as he searched. I sat with a content sigh as I watched him. As we sat there, newfound warmth spread through my extremities. It was a quaint feeling, but I found no reason to take it as a serious matter. In fact, I reveled in it.

A moment later, Hades let out a silent gasp and turned to me with, dare I say it or my eyes deceive me, euphoria in his eyes. "Remember when we first escaped from Father's stomach—" We both cringed at the thought of that place—"and we saw Mother for the first time?"

I felt my face split into a wide grin. "Of course I do. She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Not just her face either. She was one of the sweetest. I suppose that must be where Hestia gets it from."

A small smile was finding itself on his lips. "Yeah…I had remembered tiny details from when I was a babe, but they were so blurry…like an out of focus picture… I miss her."

"I do, too," I confided softly.

"Do you think…her essence is out there…somewhere?" Against the doubt, I could hear an ounce of hope.

"I don't know." The air became grim for a moment before I turned to him with as much of a smile as I could muster and clapped him on the shoulder. "I thought you wished to speak of nostalgia rather than dilemma?"

He seemed to be taken aback for a split second before collecting himself. "U—um, yes… Do you recall the time Demeter and I argued for the first time?"

"Um…" I furrowed my brows as I thought. "I…believe so…?"

He chuckled under his breath. "You two were still children, she ten and you seven, if I recall right, and I fifteen… It was so long ago…the memory seems to be fleeting…"

"What were you two fighting about?"

"You know, I don't remember," he said with a hint of amusement. "But ever since that day, we never were the same again… I will never say this to her face, and if you mention it to her—"

"I understand."

He shifted anxiously and looked around suspiciously, as if he were afraid someone might overhear. "But…I don't hate her… True, she is annoying beyond belief and at times I wish to wring her neck—" As he said this, his hands moved on their own accord in a wringing fashion—"...but she's still my younger sister…"

"And mother-in-law," I quipped.

"Don't get me started. That is a different matter," he threatened, though it was halfhearted. "…Now that reminds me of one of the first times she came down to the Underworld…"

"What happened?" I asked with genuine curiosity.

The grin of a madman appeared on his lips and he chortled, making me rue my asking. "Oh, Cerberus might have jumped on her."

He said it so nonchalantly I almost did a double take. "And? What did you do?"

His back straightened and his face became stoic while his tone was not at all demanding. "'No, dog."—He sat there without moving before turning to me and shrugging—"I tried."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You didn't."

"Oh, but I did." One of the most genuine smiles spread across his countenance.

"You are an ass," I chuckled.

"So I have been told."