Hey guys! Sorry to leave you bursting with curiosity for so long, but anyway, here's the next chapter:

Dark shapes swam before Nico's closed eyes. When he reached for them, they vanished just as quickly. Formless, soundless, meaningless.

He was floating, and floating in what he couldn't think to describe, because he didn't know. All he knew that there was no such thing as sense, or feeling, in this place he was in. He was all there was, he and whatever it was he floated in.

He couldn't say for how long he floated, but gradually he felt himself stop floating. He felt something hard against his back. Sense returned to him, and with it a chilling sense of cold. He finally felt it was time to open his eyes.

He groaned when he saw that he lay once more on cold, black marble. The familiar obsidian walls surrounded him, and the ceiling glittered above him. This time, it was made of black diamonds, as dark as they were beautiful.

"Father?" he called experimentally.

"Right here, son," came the reply.

Nico sat up, and found his father standing above him. Today, Hades wore what wouldn't have looked out of place on a dapper Edwardian gentleman, complete with a bowler hat. His mouth was stretched in a welcoming grin – well, as welcome as Hades ever was. It still didn't reach his eyes.

"Well done, Nico," he said. "You've been just as creative as I've ever known you to be. Turning that Roman traitor into a ghost? Amazing by itself. But sending an actual goddess into the Underworld and trapping her there? Incredible. The stuff of legends. You will be remembered."

Nico sank into a bow, the way he knew Hades would expect him to. "Thank you, Father."

"You needn't worry about Khione anymore," Hades went on. "She's – been dealt with. I imagine you'll see that soon, in one of those dreams I've been sending you."

"You – " Nico was struck dumb. "You've been sending me those dreams?"

Nico had always assumed that the dreams where he glimpsed what was happening in the waking world were just part of being the son of Hades, one of the Big Three. Those dreams were what had allowed him to forewarn Camp Half-Blood before Khione struck. Never had he imagined that his father had been deliberately sending them to him.

"Of course, Nico." Hades' eyes glittered like the obsidian ceiling above them. "Your father watches over his children. That's why you're here, and not swirling in oblivion. Sending Khione into the Underworld – that was no small feat of magic. That should've wiped you out of existence. I practically had to rebuild you from shadow. I saved you."

Nico recognized the signs and immediately bowed again. "Thank you, Father," he repeated.

Hades sighed happily. "Good boy. I'm sure you can see what a valuable ally, a powerful father, you have in me. You're a smart boy, Nico. You understand what it'd mean to antagonize me."

Nico waited, hoping against hope Hades wasn't going to say what he thought he was.

"I'm sure you'll think twice about that son of Apollo," Hades continued, "and come to the right decision."

Nico swallowed. He'd have to be crazy to say this to the Lord of the Underworld, but he hadn't come so far, defeated a goddess and fought a war, only to have what he loved most torn away from him.

"No."

Hades paused in whatever he'd been saying. "What did you say?"

"I love Will," Nico went on, "and Will loves me. He's the best thing that's ever happened for me, and he's been there for me in situations so dire and dangerous that any sane person would've run away screaming. But he didn't, because he's Will. He's Will and I love him and he's mine and I'm his, and there's nothing you can do or say to me that'll stop that."

Hades was fuming now. Literally. Black smoke was rising from his form and curling in the frigid air of the Underworld palace. "Nico – "

"Call him down here," Nico interrupted. "You'll see. He'll corroborate what I'm saying."

Hades glowered. "Easily done."

Will suddenly materialized next to Nico. He was crouched, his arms curled as if holding something in them – but there was nothing there. It took a moment for Nico to realize that Will had appeared as he was on Earth – cradling Nico's inert body. The son of Apollo looked up, and scrambled to his feet. Seeing Nico, he took his hand. "Nico?" he asked. "Where are we?"

Nico could tell he was trying to be brave and remain calm, and loved him more for it.

"Will," he said carefully, "this is my father, Hades."

Will understood at once. He bowed deeply. "Lord Hades."

Hades nodded coldly. He'd given up whatever semblance of warmth he'd had towards Nico, and cold now emanated off him. "Son of Apollo."

Will looked bravely up at the god. "Am I to assume you've called me here to talk about my relationship with Nico?"

"How perceptive," Hades mused. "How astute. Very much unlike your father."

Will flushed. "I love Nico," he said. "I'll never give him up. I'm deeply, irrevocably in love with your son, Lord Hades. And I don't care what you do to me or him, there's nothing that'll ever change that. I stand by my words. I love him."

Nico felt a surge of love in his heart as he heard Will say exactly what he himself had said.

Hades raised one eyebrow archly. "Well, I would have hoped you'd be smarter than that, son of Apollo. But what should I have expected, coming from a child of the god of poetry?" He snorted. "Well, if that's how you both truly feel…" He let his voice trail away ominously.

Nico squeezed Will's hand. "I love you," he whispered to Will as they awaited whatever the Fates had decided for them.

Will responded with a quick but passionate kiss. "I love you," he whispered back. Holding hands, they awaited Hades' verdict.

It never came. What came instead was an entirely unexpected voice.

"You know, Hades, I heard what you were saying about me. It wasn't very nice."

Nico gaped. A young, blond man in a light blue T-shirt and jeans had suddenly appeared before them. Even under the shirt, his muscles were obvious. He wore sunglasses and was clearly addressing Hades, and his tone, although amused, had an edge to it.

"Father," Will gasped.

Apollo lowered his sunglasses to wink briefly at Will, then turned his attention back to Hades.

"Apollo," Hades growled. "We've been through this. You're not welcome here."

"We probably have been through this," Apollo replied. "But I don't remember. Because I don't care." He cleared his throat, and recited:

Hades annoys me.

He thinks he's better than me.

He's not, cuz I'm cool.

He grinned. "Well? How was that?"

Nico was still struggling to comprehend just how awful that haiku had been.

"No!" Hades tore at his immaculate black hair. "No haikus! You haven't even been to Japan recently! No more haikus!"

Apollo shrugged. "Well, whether or not you agree with the delivery, the content is true. You do think you're better than me."

Hades scowled.

"Maybe you've forgotten, Hades, but I myself have fallen in love with men. Remember Hyacinth? And Zeus himself fell in love with Ganymede. Perhaps you've forgotten, Hades, but your ideals seem more in line with those of more recent centuries than those of our golden age."

Hades growled. "Watch it, Apollo."

"I'm not watching anything," Apollo snapped. "I'm defending my son, who has no right to be targeted this way, and your own. After all Nico's done – saving the world, for the second time now, from an evil goddess, and all he wants is to be with my son. Great taste, by the way, Nico."

Nico drew closer to Will, who hugged him to his chest.

"Think very carefully about what you're about to say, Hades," Apollo warned. "Because if you make the wrong decision, you make an enemy of me. And that wouldn't be wise of you."

Hades hesitated. He might have been the Lord of the Underworld, but even he would hesitate at making another Olympian his enemy. Even he wasn't invincible.

"Nico," Hades growled, "you are very, very lucky you happen to have saved the world today. Or I wouldn't be this lenient."

Nico felt his heart lift in disbelief. Was his father, his stubborn, obstinate father, Hades, actually backing down on something?

"Father?"

"Don't make me regret this. Now go back to where you belong."

Nico turned incredulously towards Will, but then he couldn't see anything, because Will was kissing him, right there in the Underworld. Out of the corner, Nico saw Apollo smile approvingly, and Hades wave his hand. And suddenly, he and Will were rushing upwards, faster and faster. And then sunlight broke over their heads, and they were kneeling on cold, frostbitten ground, and there were cries from all around them and footsteps as people came running towards them.

Nico broke the kiss with a laugh. "I can't believe that worked!"

Will grinned. "Maybe your father's not all bad. Or maybe it was my good looks that persuaded him."

"Mm, I think it was your father's haiku."

Will laughed, and then there were no more words, because their lips had met again.

I told y'all I'd come back to this! Thoughts on this chapter? Leave em in the reviews!