PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Percy Jackson, Ambassador of Hades || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO
Title: Percy Jackson, Ambassador of Hades – The Reign of the Underworld
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; twisted version of PJatO
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Warnings: shounen-ai, fluff, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, mpreg, arranged marriage, canon divergent, brief mentioning of child-abuse, shoujo-ai, hetero, threesome
Main Pairing: Nico/Percy
Side Pairings: Frank/Hazel/Leo, Reyna/Annabeth, Luke/Octavian, Ethan/Alabaster, Jake/Will, Damian/Liam, Sirius/Aurora, Grover/Juniper, Chris/Clarisse, Charles/Silena, Shane/Lacy, Malcolm/Katie, Jason/Calypso, Nathan/Gwen, Dakota/Leila, Bryce/Drew, Hades/Persephone, Thanatos/Triton, Ares/Aphrodite, Zeus/Hera, Tempest/Blackjack
Percy Jackson Characters:
Camp Half-Blood: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Tyson, Ethan Nakamura, Alabaster C. Torrington, Lou Ellen, Butch Walker, Clovis Daver, Luke Castellan, Chris Rodriguez, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Cecil Rogers, Lacy Hunnigan, Mitchell Logan, Drew Tanaka, Silena Beauregard, Charles Beckendorf, Jake Mason, Nyssa Black, Shane McNabb, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, Clarisse la Rue, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Annabeth Chase, Malcolm Cage, Katie Gardner, Will Solace, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Grover Underwood, Juniper, Blackjack, Mrs. O'Leary, Plutonius (hellhound OC)
Hunters of Artemis: Zoe Nightshade, Bianca di Angelo, Phoebe Burge, Celyn Richards, Naomi Walters, Thalia Grace, Hylla Ramírez-Arellano, Piper McLean
Camp Jupiter: Bryce Lawrence, Octavian Simmons, Hazel Levesque, Jason Grace, Gwen Ryder, Nathan McIntosh, Dakota Elle, Leila Fisher, Mike Kahale, Tempest, Arion
Mortal Characters: Sally Jackson, Paul Blofis, Laura Blofis (OFC)
Own (Greek) Demigods: Liam O'Riley (Hecate), Aurora Desrosiers (Hypnos), Sirius O'Rinn (Morpheus), Lilian Martin (Morpheus), Damian Sturm (Eris), Robyn Pryde (Hermes)
Godly Characters: Hades, Persephone, Poseidon, Triton, Hestia, Demeter, Thanatos, Olethros, Makaria, Melionoe, Hecate, Nemesis, Styx, Hypnos, Morpheus, Horkos, Charon, Atropos, Klotho, Lakhesis, Alecto, Megaera, Tisiphone, Chiron, Hera, Zeus, Dionysus, Artemis, Apollo, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes, Calypso, Ascalaphus, Zerberus
Summary: Poseidon knew about Gabe's abuse and he did not leave his son in the hands of this man. But he couldn't take Percy to the sea either, knowing his own wife would rather see the child dead than raise him herself. So he strikes a bargain with Hades – Hades would protect the child and in return, Percy would one day become the consort of one of Hades' hidden children, the di Angelos. Hades agrees and takes the boy in, raising him in the underworld.
When Percy turns thirteen, Hades sends him to Camp Half-Blood to aid Nico and Bianca on the quest in the Sea of Monsters. Percy Jackson, ambassador of Hades, changes the history, mixing things up that were not supposed to be mixed up at this point in time. Like Romans, for example.
Percy Jackson, Ambassador of Hades
The Reign of the Underworld
Chapter 25: Into the Labyrinth
Percy blinked owlishly, staring a bit suspiciously at the new sword-master as Cabin 3 gathered in the arena. Damian and Liam were whispering and making out, Lou, Aurora and Lily were quite obviously planning a prank and much to Percy's pleasure, Sirius, Butch and Clovis were making an effort to get to know Tyson better, who had been all broad smiles and eagerness ever since this morning during breakfast, right before they had packed and left for camp. Persephone and Hades looked somewhat relieved that Percy had agreed to take Tyson with him to camp, like it was not the obvious thing to do. Of course Percy wanted to share this summer and his cabin with his brother.
At least with one of his brothers. After a lot of contemplating, Leo had decided to try spending a summer in New Rome. They had talked about it, as a family. The war that was brewing would affect both Romans and Greeks, but neither side was aware of the other, so Hades, Persephone, Percy and Leo had agreed that it would be safest to have one demigod in the knowing in either camp. Leo had more than eagerly volunteered to go and visit Camp Jupiter for the summer.
"Why are you looking at Mister Quintus so suspiciously?", whispered Nico.
Percy, sitting right in front of Nico, jumped slightly as his fiance wrapped his arms around Percy's shoulders from behind and rested his chin on Percy's head. Grinning a little, Percy kissed Nico's arm where it was right in front of his face before leaning back against him.
"Dunno. Something about his aura is... whacky", shrugged Percy with a frown.
"Pluto likes him", pointed Nico out with a shrug.
Percy's eyes were drawn over to Nico's hellhound Plutonius who was happily running around camp's new sword-master Quintus while chasing Quintus' very own hellhound. Plutonius seemed happy to have another one of his kin to play with. Quintus' lady hellhound was called Mrs. O'Leary and she was a kind, cute oversized puppy. Percy grinned a little. Nico was probably right. If Pluto trusted Quintus and his dog Mrs. O'Leary then maybe Percy was just a bit too much on edge due to all that war brewing over their heads. Sighing, Percy leaned back some more.
"Where's Leo?", asked Nico softly, kissing Percy's temple. "Frank was so looking forward to seeing him again, but when you and Tyson came without Leo..."
Percy winced a little. Maybe Leo's blossoming feelings for Frank were another reason why Leo was eager to go to Camp Jupiter, where his girlfriend was living. Grinning, he turned toward Nico.
"Leo's not feeling too well. Maybe he'll come later on, but for now he's on bed rest", replied Percy softly before kissing Nico. "So, what else is new around here?"
"Grover got a deadline for finding Pan. One week to find him or he'll lose his searcher's license", informed Nico with a frown, chin on Percy's shoulder now. "It sucks. He's pretty down."
"I'll go and cheek him up later", declared Percy before getting up. "But first I gotta kick my boyfriend's butt in a fair and square duel. So move that butt of yours."
Nico grinned as he took Percy's hand and let him pull him along to the center of the arena once Quintus clapped loudly and ordered them to pair up and show him how far they were.
/ROMANS\
"A quest?", yelped Leo wide-eyed and stared at the senate. "T—To the labyrinth? The labyrinth?"
Jason and Hazel looked to equal parts concerned and serious as they nodded, while Octavian looked like he had just eaten the best damn canary on this planet. He probably speculated on getting rid of both praetors that way. After all, a quest into the labyrinth of Minos was crazy.
"We discovered the entrance not too long ago", replied Hazel with a frown. "We've been discussing this ever since, but we came to the conclusion that... we need to investigate it."
"We suspect that the traitors entered and fled that way", added Jason. "And... we agreed on a team. If you... want to come with us. You, me, Hazel and Mike. We'll leave this evening."
Somehow, Leo had a feeling that this was what mamma and papà had been talking about. The Latino frowned and nodded sharply. After that moment, the rest of the day seemed to pass far too fast. He didn't have a single moment to call Percy and update him on what was happening. No, it was packing, eating, planning and then the four were already off into the labyrinth.
"This is scary", whispered Leo and grabbed Hazel's hand subconsciously.
"It's the place where Minos kept the Minotaur. The monster that ate teens. Yeah, scary", agreed Jason and grabbed Leo's other hand, frowning. "I mean, we need to get rid of this."
"For that, we need to find the power-source of the labyrinth. Aka Daedalus", stated Mike.
"How... do we do that though? Are we going to like ask for the way?", asked Leo ridiculed.
Of course that was when they literally ran into the god of ways and decisions at a crossroads. The two-faced god Janus was smirking at them as they reached two doors. Either left or ride.
"You need to make a decision", stated one head before the other continued, both looking at the four demigods. "Either way will lead to your doom though."
"How... are we going to do this?", whispered Hazel concerned, looking over at the boys.
"We could split up, two go left and two go right?", suggested Jason, just to be glared at.
"Yeah, splitting up. Great plan", grunted Mike and shook his head.
"You know, we should... We should flip a coin", offered Leo, earning himself a doubtful look from each his companions before he shrugged. "Why not? What else are we supposed to do?"
Mike gave him a ridiculed look. "Where are we supposed to go?", asked Mike, his voice deep and low as it lulled them all in, brown eyes looking at Janus. "What are we looking for?"
"You seek the workshop of Daedalus", answered one head, before the other butted in. "To find it, you seek the workshop of Vulcan himself. He will show you the way."
Mike smirked in a victorious way while Jason and Hazel tried to shake the effect of Mike's charmspeak off. Even they wanted to tell him where to go, even though they had no idea where to go. Charmspeak was a very handy power of the children of Venus and as Janus willingly motioned for them to go left, the four headed over without a second's doubt.
/GREEKS\
Percy started to see where the whole worry on New Year's Eve had come from when he and Annabeth were frantically running for cover when two gigantic scorpions interrupted a game of Capture the Flag. They were in danger. Camp was in danger. All those months and there were still monsters being leaked into camp by the traitors. They needed to find where they came from. And as luck would want it, Percy and Annabeth managed to do so by accident. They hid from the scorpions in the entrance to the labyrinth – Daedalus' labyrinth.
"This is big. We need to investigate. Take care of this problem", declared Clarisse annoyed as the cabin-heads met past the game (and past taking out the scorpions).
"We need a quest", agreed Katie with a frown. "Any volunteers?"
"With the increase of monster appearances, I'd prefer if Luke and Clarisse stayed here. We need our strong senior heroes", pointed Silena out, braiding her hair absentmindedly.
"I actually second that", agreed Luke displeased. "But if this is really the labyrinth we're talking about, we should send our... young big guns. Thalia, Nico."
"Percy", added Annabeth, earning a few confused looks. "He proved himself last summer and the last one to successfully navigate the labyrinth was a son of Poseidon. Theseus."
"What we'd need is a bit more-", started Will to complain.
After both his big brothers had turned out 'missing', he was the default cabin-head of Apollo Cabin and even though he did not like it, he tried his best. So one could see it as ironic that his complain about a lack of information was interrupted by his father's oracle literally stumbling in.
"You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze, the dead, the traitor and the lost one raise.
You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand. The child of Athena's final stand.
Destroy with a hero's final breath, and lose a love to worse than death", declared the oracle in its crooked voice, staring Annabeth dead in the eyes like the creepy zombie it was.
"...Well, there you go, have some cryptic information", grunted Luke and blinked slowly.
"Okay, so... Annabeth leads the quest", stated Thalia slowly. "Who do you want to take with you?"
"Nico, Percy, Thalia and Reyna", declared Annabeth after a moment.
Or at least that was what Annabeth decided on inside the Big House. Of course, camp-life liked to throw everything upside-down. Instead of getting to IM Leo and tell him about the quest they got, Percy somehow got stuck negotiating between crazy friends once Grover overheard about the quest.
"No, you don't get it", declared Grover, pacing Cabin Three. "If Pan is anywhere, it has to be the labyrinth! It's the perfect answer, you know? I mean, he literally disappeared from the surface of the world! Of course he did if he's stuck beneath the surface in the labyrinth! I have to go, man!"
The satyr had been pacing the cabin ever since Percy had told his cabin about the quest. 'Talking' to Grover yesterday to cheer him up had ended with the upset satyr practically moving into the cabin and whining about everything to Percy, Nico and Tyson, who had grown very fond of the satyr.
"Grover, man", started Nico with a sympathetic look. "You can't..."
"You can't go alone", offered Percy with a smile. "How about we just... do a second quest?"
"Percy, I love you, but you can't just-", started Nico doubtfully.
"I'll come too!", declared Tyson with sparkling eyes. "If big brother goes, I wanna go too!"
Nico stared after the two brothers as they led the satyr out of the room. Reyna snorted as she pat him on the back while most others in the cabin laughed at the face Nico was making.
"You should have realized that nothing's gonna stop Percy at this point", stated Ethan.
"I want Percy with me on this quest, at my side. So I can watch out for him", grunted Nico with a glare. "This is a fucking maze we're talking about. I don't want him to get lost..."
"Stop worrying about him like he's a damsel in distress. He wiped the floor with you yesterday", snorted Alabaster and threw a pillow at Nico, who barely managed to dodge it.
"I know", huffed Nico defensively. "It got nothing to do with me thinking him unable to defend himself. I just... prefer him at my side, you know? You like it better when Ethan's close too."
"...Point taken", muttered Alabaster amused. "Well then, try to survive, huh?"
"Yeah, thanks for nothing, Alabastard", muttered Nico beneath his breath.
/ROMANS\
Hazel was immensely glad that they had Leo with them. Between herself and Leo, they were coming along well. Hazel was, due to her heritage, perfect to navigate underground, while Leo was good at finding little tracks leading toward Vulcan's forges – hidden signs, left-over devices and broken toys that marked how close Vulcan's forges were. Yet actually entering the forges and coming face to face with the grumpy blacksmith. Jason gulped and pushed Leo forward like a sacrifice. The tinkerer turned to glare at his best friend who just shrugged.
"He's your dad, Leo", hissed Jason, looking at Mike and Hazel for support, who also nodded.
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind for when we ever encounter Jupiter", muttered Leo beneath his breath before turning toward his father. "Uhm... Hi? I'm Leo. Your son. Well, one of them."
"I know who you are", grunted Vulcan as he stared at Leo with somewhat troubles eyes (most likely wondering what his Greek son was doing with the two Romans). "You have your mother's eyes."
Leo instinctively flinched at the mention of his mother. Part of him was still suffering harshly from the guilt over her death, regardless of how often Percy told him that he wasn't at fault for what had happened. Vulcan reluctantly put down his hammer to approach Leo, a very heavy hand coming awkwardly down on Leo's head, resting on his curls to ruffle them roughly.
"It was not your fault", stated Vulcan gruffly. "Esperanza was a... good and kind woman. She died trying to protect you. She... wouldn't want for you to blame yourself."
Leo could feel tears prickling in the corners of his eyes upon hearing not just his father's voice for the first time, but hearing him talk that way about his mom. Even though he didn't know Hephaestus at all, Leo couldn't keep from throwing himself into his father's arms, hugging him tightly. For a moment, Vulcan looked awkward and lost before wrapping his arms around Leo as though Leo was a precious and easily breakable glass figurine. Jason awkwardly cleared his throat. As Vulcan turned to glare at him rather viciously, Jason instantly took a step back, getting elbowed by Mike.
"You should stay back, brother", warned Vulcan with a vicious look. "Even though you are my father's son by one of his countless mistresses, my mother who abandoned me and threw me over Olympus for my imperfection seems to favor you, golden-locked Ken doll."
"...Right. Staying back", nodded Jason sharply as he could practically feel the hostility.
"We... We need your help, Lord Vulcan", requested Mike, voice soft and tinted with charmspeak.
"Do not try your little trickery on me, outcome of my wife's unfaithfulness", warned Vulcan, the anger in his voice rising as he looked from one boy to the next. "I have lived with your mother and her charmspeak for long enough to know how to avoid it."
"Please, Lord Vulcan", interrupted Hazel, stepping in front of the two other boys.
Vulcan's face softened, only barely so but it did. "Your father has taken in my son and cared for him as though Leo was his own. I have never received that... kindness from any of the Olympian gods, so I owe your father. And I will make an exception for... Leo. What do you want?"
"We... need to find Daedalus' workshop? We tried tracking it down, but unlike yours, it seems impossible to find because as soon as we have a lead, it just... shifts away", explained Leo.
"Very well", nodded Vulcan. "I will help you, if you do something for me. We gods never hand out any favors for free. I am a very busy god, unlike others, so I don't have the time to go and investigate myself, but someone or something has invaded my forges beneath Mount Saint Helens. Go and take care of this problem for me and I will guide you to Daedalus' workshop."
"Mount Saint Helens? Sure. We'll take care of it! Thanks, dad!", exclaimed Leo with a bright smile.
Vulcan frowned for a moment as he marveled at just how much Leo resembled Esperanza, before the four teens practically fled out of the forges, in such a hurry to take care of this and continue their quest. Vulcan knew the main war at the moment was between the titans and the gods, but he could see all around him that beneath it all, Pluto and Jupiter were once again edging on. This time however, it was obvious that the odds were in Pluto's favor and not Jupiter's. This time, Pluto had managed to draw more of the gods on his own side. Vulcan included, for what he had done for Leo.
/GREEKS\
"I love you. Be good. Stay save. Watch out for the others", listed Percy as he smoothed out Nico's shirt by running his hands over his lover's chest. "No. Wait." Percy turned to lock eyes with Reyna. "You watch out for Nico. Keep him save, he's an idiot, he's going to get hurt trying to save you."
"Will do, cabin-head", chuckled Reyna with a salute and a smirk.
She had one arm casually wrapped around Annabeth's shoulder, drawing the blonde in. Honestly, Reyna felt honored that Annabeth wanted her on this quest. Thalia? The big sister mentor and oldest friend, also daughter of the most powerful god? Yes, that Reyna understood. Nico? The so-called Ghost King, just like in the prophecy, he was also very powerful and a son of the underworld, while they wanted to go beneath the surface here. Then there was the other half of the quest. Part of Reyna still wondered why Annabeth had agreed to let them split off the quest. She understood where Grover was coming from, of course. Pan had not been seen anywhere on the surface world in too long – all the satyr scouts and the huntresses looking and not finding anything. Reyna may only have known Grover for a year now, but he was a good guy and being a searcher was his biggest dream. He deserved this last chance. And Percy, always the generous guy, had agreed to join Grover on his search together with Tyson. They had managed to rope Frank into this too somehow. As far as Reyna knew, Frank was too grumpy and gloomy about not getting to see Leo and the fact that now his best friend Nico was going on a quest hadn't helped, so he easily volunteered.
"Frank", growled Nico while still staring deep into Percy's eyes. "If something happens to Percy, I'm going to cut you up and drop you into Tartarus, am I clear?"
"...Can I still change my mind?", asked Frank disturbed, turning toward Grover.
"No!", exclaimed Tyson with the largest grin, grabbing Frank and Grover each in one arm and carrying them over to the entrance to the labyrinth. "We're going on an adventure, right brother?"
Percy perked up a little, very happy that his little brother would be there to partake in this adventure. And if he was being honest, he had chosen to split from Nico on purpose here. Yes, he had enjoyed fighting at Nico's side last summer, but part of him had been so preoccupied with trying to impress Nico that it had distracted him in the end. The eight of them entered together and they walked the creepy halls together until they came to their first fork in the road.
"Well...", drawled Annabeth with calculating eyes. "This is it. You going to be okay?"
Grover locked eyes with her and nodded determined. "This is it. I can... sense something. Right. We're going right. You take left? Go and find Daedalus. Shut this place down."
/ROMANS\
Finding the forges of Vulcan wasn't too hard. Hazel could easily navigate toward Mount Saint Helens now that Hazel had an actual destination to head for. Finding it wasn't the problem. Dealing with the crazy little seal-creatures – telekhines, as Leo called them. So maybe their fight-plan was a bit all over the place and they were uncoordinated. Jason zapped them, Leo burned them, Mike slayed them with his sword and Hazel cracked the Earth open to swallow them.
"There's too many of them", pointed Jason out, rubbing monster dust off his cheek.
"We need a plan", pointed Mike out, looking annoyed. "This is a workshop. There must be explosives around here, right? Hazel and I draw them out, distract them, Jason use your wind-powers to herd them together where the explosives are, Leo sets the whole mess on fire."
Leo took a quick look around and his eyes practically zoomed in on said explosives. "Got it."
Jason took off into the air so he could oversee everything everything. Hazel and Mike worked well enough together as they lured the telkhines away from their task of whatever the titans wanted them to do here. Manipulating currents was basically Jupiter Powers 101, so summoning the air to swirl around them and cage them, herding them together tighter and tighter until all the little seal-monsters were stuck together and then Jason gave the signal to Leo. The little firebug had an easy time lighting the explosives on fire. There was only a teensy-tiny little problem here.
Jason was still flying around right above the now happening explosion and it literally knocked him into the air. The last thing he heard before passing out were the frantic screams of Hazel, Mike and Leo and then there was just blackness and a world of pain as he got blown farther and farther away.
He didn't know how long he was out of comission, but when he came to it again, he instantly knew something had gone horribly, horribly wrong, because there was the ocean and there were palm trees and there, right in front of him, leaning over him, was an angel with caramel-curls framing a beautiful, kind face, smiling gently down at Jason. Jason blinked sluggishly.
"Welcome to Ogygia, young hero", stated the caramel-curled angel softly. "My name is Calypso."
Author's note: Hah, not the update I last announced, buuut I guess I will still with the original routation because I saw how long it's been since the last update. So, "A to Z with the di Angelos" on Saturday.
Next chapter will feature the re-appearance of Piper and Rachel, Jason's time on Ogygia and other such BotL related plot-thingies ;)