A/N: Part 10. I am going to give myself a pat on the back.

'Nico?'

Huh? I stopped doing what I was doing and looked at the clock. 10 A.M. 'Dionysus, sir?'

'I thought you would be awake. If you are not plotting out a plan to save the world, would you mind if we did a therapy session?'

I would not particularly mind. I got up from the ground, walked to the door and opened it. 'Yes, we can do a small session.'

Dionysus looked at me. 'Good. Denny's?'

'Where else?'

Mary pushed a Fanta into my hands as soon as we entered the restaurant. 'I am glad to see you are doing better!'

'Eh, yes, sorry for not sending you a message after what happened last time.'

Dionysus shrugged. 'I let her know you were feeling better.' Aha.

'...Thanks. To you too, Mary, for the Fanta.'

She smiled and winked again. 'I get it, Nico. Now go talk about important things. I am expecting a small rush of pre-party people to come in soon and you two are in the way.'

We sat down and I took a deep breath.

'Alright, are you feeling calm enough to start?'

'Yes. I think I am ready.'

'Good.' He waited while I pulled the tab of my can. 'Let's start at the very beginning. How did you first meet your father?' I took a sip while trying to put my thoughts in order.

'I probably first met him… right before he transported me, my sister and my mother out of fascist Italy, to America. I… don't really have a lot of memories of that. Just that one day, mom said that Mussolini was not our leader anymore, we were in a new house and there was a tall, scary, pale man.' I shrugged. I wanted to dig further in my memories, to remember exactly what happened, but on the other hand I did not think that that was a good idea. I shifted the can around.

´Then… I remember a hotel lobby, it must have been near Los Angeles. It was nothing fancy. Me… my sister was playing with me on the floor, and I remember that the same creepy man was sitting next to my mother. It could be that I don't really remember him being there, but like... that I think he probably was there.' Dionysus nodded as if he understood. 'Then there was a loud noise, like a bomb going off and the next thing I remember is that someone delivers us to this loud, flashy place, just… think Vegas, because it was Vegas…' My voice died down. I fumbled with my Fanta can. '...And my mother was gone,' I quietly said.

'I think it is very likely that what you are saying are not all memories, but that you are piecing a few things together, like you said. Don't worry about that. Now, if you can go on, go on,' Dionysus reassured me.

'Bianca and I were brought to the Lotus hotel and casino.' Dionysus blinked a few times. 'It's, uh… from what I can remember... and from what Percy filled me in on, because he has been there too… on first glance it seems like the best hotel in all of Vegas, filled with everything a kid would love. The difference is that time goes way faster in that place than in the rest of the world. If you'd ask me, and you are, I would say that my sister and I were in there for perhaps a few weeks. Yet, when we got out, it was suddenly a new century.'

'I... know of the Lotus hotel, let us keep it at that,' Dionysus told me. Even though that was interesting, I sighed and went on. I had something important to say next.

I…' I took a sip, which stopped me from talking, 'I am sure he wanted to protect us. Hades, I mean. From Zeus, who… I believe he was the one who… made that other hotel collapse. I don't… I don't know…' I shrugged. I held a hand in front of my eyes. The talking had gone easier than I had expected, but now the tears were starting to catch up. 'Perhaps the relationships between the gods in the years leading up to the second world war were a factor.'

'They absolutely were, yet…' Dionysus shook his head. 'Hm. I mean that while that is true, Zeus can be…' He did not finish the sentence, but I understood. 'Do you need a break?' he asked, while a tear rolled down my cheek.

'Just a moment,' I answered, 'I… a lot is coming out right now.'

He nodded again, while waiting for me to dry my eyes, take a few breaths and sip my Fanta. Meanwhile, a song came on the radio. 'The sun ain´t gonna shine anymore,' from the Walker Brothers.

'That is one of the songs that I vividly remember playing in the Lotus hotel,' I explained. 'There are a few of those, like Rum and Coca cola, Don´t go breaking my heart, Girls just wanna have fun…'

'Those are songs from different eras. Different decades.'

'Yes well, they just came by, one by one. Only the biggest hits, as if the other songs were forgotten too fast.' I sighed again. 'The hotel was a blur, a fantastic blur. Yet, after those… what felt like weeks, we were picked up by someone who turned out to be Alecto. Me and my sister were brought to a military school.' At this point I could not help but roll my eyes. 'We quickly learned that we were in a strange new place, without Yugoslavia and stuff.' Dionysus smiled when I mentioned Yugoslavia. Alright, it was a pretty strange way of saying that the world had changed. 'After a few months, Percy, Thalia and the others found us and brought us to camp.' I took a sip. My eyes narrowed.

'Then… You know, even though I was introduced to the world of demigods, I only really met my dad a year and a half later...'

'I was like nineteen when I first really met Zeus.' I looked up at Dionysus.

'You did?'

'Yes, after I wreaked enough havoc, Zeus finally decided that it was probably time to grand me the time of day…' he took a deep breath. 'But this is not about that.'

'Is it not? It is at least good to know that other godly parents can be just as… well…'

'Negligent.' That got me quiet. I had not expected him to say that. 'You are surprised.'

'I mean, I did not expect…' I shuddered with my shoulders.

'I have been at your camp for almost seventeen years at this point, I have been a demigod and you don't think that I know how cold the gods can be?' I could not really think of a reaction.

Dionysus seemed to come to his senses after that. 'So… I think you should go on. You were really on a roll.'

'Alright. So, the time I really met him.' I began to feel nervous again. 'I… I went into the underworld after I talked to Percy. You know that, because you talked to Percy afterwards, I saw it.' Dionysus did not look apologetic at all for eavesdropping on us. Godly awareness only went so far, I guess. 'When I came into the underworld… well, my father… he immediately called me over to the palace. He did not want…' I looked at the table and took a deep breath.

'Take it easy.'

'Either he did not want me to roam around the underworld on my own, or he really did care for me, or something else. The why is besides the point.'

'We´ll get to the why soon, after you've finished talking.' Joy!

'Luckily that was during the summer. That meant I had some time to get to know my dad, and he could get to know me, before…' I sighed, 'Before Persephone got a say in the matter.'

'Hm.'

'So… I quite soon learned… he probably… prefered my sister over me.'

'Why do you think that?'

'He told me.'

'Aha.'

'Yes. He… maybe he did not mean it. Maybe he was just devastated because she was…' My throat began to hurt. Tears were burning in the corners of my eyes. 'Because she was dead. And he had...' My eyebrows raised while I came to a conclusion. '... he had saved us up, I guess, so that we could be a part of a prophecy. So that we, or at least he, would be important for once. And I think he saw that plan go up in smoke. I… I don't know if I should be happy that he wanted to give us a part in a prophecy.' I really did not know. If I had not been part of the prophecy, I would have never had Will, or I would have still been in the Lotus casino. But being part of the prophecy was not something I liked, much less three times. Plus, it seemed like Hades mostly wanted to do it for his own good. 'I… maybe Hades does have good meanings, but he can't really express it.'

Dionysus put a hand on the table. 'He might have trouble expressing how he feels, but that does not excuse him from hurting you the way he did, or from the fact that he wanted to use you for his own goal. He should have known better.'

'Do the gods ever know better?' It was out before I knew it. Dionysus raised his eyebrows. I decided to let him pick up the conversation again.

'I cannot answer that. Not now.' He looked at the table

'Should we stop?' I asked. 'If it gets difficult, we can stop.'

'Watch your words, Nico.' I grinned. 'I'll say what I am thinking first, and then we can stop. I think you already came up with the solution to why your father wanted you in the palace. I, indeed, think that he wanted a child of Hades to be the hero of a prophecy. He probably reasoned that if a child of Hades saved the day, he would be more welcome in his family, but so would his kids.'

'You are saying that it was good for him and for me and my siblings?'

'I am saying that I think he thought that was the case.'

'Then he was right. I helped with the titan war, and now I've got my own cabin.'

'Perhaps Hades was right. But let me say it again: nothing excuses the way abused you.'

I thought for a moment. 'No, it doesn't.' I downed the last sip of Fanta. 'I think we can stop now. Because it got so difficult for you.'

'Watch your words. We'll go on about Hades next time, unless something important comes up in your life and you would prefer to talk about that.'

'Yes, alright.' Probably not. I wanted clarity and I felt like we had been stalling long enough. Time to get it over with - after I got a few good nights rest.

A/N: I don't know if the 'tab of the can' is a thing. It is what google translate told me the 'Lipje van het blikje' was (for those of you who don't know, I am a native Dutch speaker). Yes, I said a new centruy, because I honest to god don't understand the PJO timeline. More about Hades next time and more with Hades in the chapter after that.