A/N: Slowly but steadily getting there boys.

Dionysus gave me a juice box when we got to the Big House. We sat down on a side of the porch where people rarely came, from which you could see the forest.

I put the straw in the juicebox. 'I think you are going to tell me what you and dad think is going on in my head,' I said, a little shaky.

'Yes. After that, we will decide what to do about it.'

'Okay.' I took a sip. Oh, pear juice. 'I want to know what it is. I have noticed you and Hades take it quite seriously, so…' I shrugged, unsure how to finish that sentence.

Dionysus stared at one of the trees. Someone put it big, red mark in the middle of the trunk. 'Are you ready?'

'Yes.'

He nodded. 'Hades and I think that the faces and voices are coming from the Elder Gods. The Elder Gods are gods who were before, but are not anymore. Selene and Helios are examples, but there are also gods who got reïncarnated a few times. Eh, I am one of those. There have been two Dionysusses before me.'

I raised my eyebrows. 'Sorry to I interrupt, but that must be weird as hell, knowing that.'

He shrugged. 'I live with it. Anyway, these Elder Gods are supposed to be in a place not even the gods have ever seen. All we know about it is that it is not always in the same place. It moves. And when it does, sometimes a few Elder Gods get themselves stuck in Tartarus.' He took a break to sigh. 'The only way for them to get out is if they find the doors of death. Yet, for sóme reason, they always try to contact someone in the hope that person will come down to Tartarus to break them out, even though no-one can do that.' He rolled his eyes. 'If their target actually goes down to...'

'Hadestown?'

'...Tartarus, it usually does not go over well.' He slouched a little. 'And Hades and I think that target is you.'

I took a few sips of pear juice. 'But there is something we can do about it,' I said, trying to visualise a solution.

'Yes, luckily. Multiple ways, even.'

'Otherwise, you would not be so calm.' I think.

'Very observant. Probably the best way to get rid of them is via the diplomatic route.'

I pulled my legs upon the chair. 'Does that mean that I will have to talk a bunch of primordials down?'

'Elder Gods. Primordials are something else.'

'Elder Gods, then?'

'Diplomatic means without violence, in this case. How it is done is that you attract the peaceful spirits who are in the Elder Gods' resting place, so that they can keep the spirits in Tartarus at bay. That does mean that you might still hear a voice sometimes, but those voices will be peaceful and wise. Taking the violent route means that you do not hear those voices either, but it will also give you traumas the diplomatic route won't give you.'

I thought about that for a second. Would I mind a voice if it was peaceful? 'Would the voices be near constant?'

'No. They don't talk much, and when they talk, it is usually enlightened babbling.'

'It would be completely gone if I chose the violent route. But I assume that will cause hefty PTSD?'

'Among other things.'

'Alright. Then I trust that you are right.'

As soon as I said it, it felt like a stone sank into my stomach and I realised I did not, in fact, fully trust that he was right. This was something big, something dangerous. I could trust him, I knew that, of course, but... 'Eh, that being said, what exactly are we going to do? How will I attract these peaceful Elder Gods?'

'We will go to the underworld. Near the Styx lays a platform from where you can contact the peaceful Elder Gods. You will go into a trance. I will be the one to guide you through that state. You will make contact with the right voices and notice the bad ones leave. After we are done, the nasty voices will fully go away over the course of a few weeks.'

He said we'll have to go to the underworld. Near the Styx. I knew Dionysus had never done anything to me, but somewhere inside I was afraid that he would hurt me. That he would throw me into the Styx and leave me there. I would be in trance, or otherwise said, unable to defend myself.

'Nico, do you have trouble trusting me on this?'

I took a deep, deep breath. 'Yes. I know I can trust you, but somehow I don't.'

'The fact that you told me shows that you indeed trust me. Now, I know your father would be willing to come with us, so that there is more than one person to witness what is happening.' He shifted on the chair. 'There is also a contact platform on Olympus, if that makes you more comfortable. However, there will be people walking around and trying to see what is going on there.'

I did not want to go to Olympus. I'd take the Underworld. At least I knew that place. 'A third option, which can be combined with either of the previous two, is that I ask Hestia to come along,' Dionysus continued. Hestia. I could trust Hestia. She would never hurt me. Yet, could I ask that of her? 'That is not a strange thing to ask. She often comes along when someone has to meet the Elder Gods, because she calms people down.'

I squeezed my juicebox. 'If that is so, I want Hestia to be there. I can trust Hestia. Yet, I think dad will want to be there too. Eh, and I understand that you will still be the one guiding me.'

'Then that is what we are going to do.' He stuck out his hand. I shook it.

'Yes. Then that is what we are going to do.'

I didn't really know how to feel. I felt a cocktail of different emotions. Fear most of all.

'I understand it if you feel strange. I am proud that you are still here.'

I nodded and drank a bit of pear juice. 'It is a lot.'

'I reckon.'

'Eh, when will we do this? Right now? Tomorrow? In three weeks, three months?'

'The only limits I set is that you must give me time to speak to Hestia first, I want it to be over with this very week and I want it to be right after you've had a meal. For that meal, you should stuff yourself. Eat too much, even. If it isn't enough you might faint.'

'Okay. Tomorrow then, if you can reach Hestia by that time. Right after breakfast. I want to get it over with and I do not want to chicken out.'

He smiled. 'Very well, Nico. Very well.'

Will slept in my cabin that night. 'Maybe now it can finally get better.'

'Maybe it will.' I moved closer. 'I am afraid, Will. It sounds like a whole operation. I mean, Dionysus was pretty calm about it, which makes me think it cannot be that bad. But…' I sighed.

Will kissed me on the top of my head. 'I'll be right here to hear it all once you're done. I'll drop everything I am doing. I'll let someone die if I am in the middle of an operation.'

I understood it was meant as a joke, but I was not really in the mood. I closed my eyes. 'I want to sleep.'

'Then you can sleep, Nico. You are safe.'

A/N: Kinda on the bridge about whether I'll upload a chapter where Nico talks to Hestia or if I should get it over with and then write a chapter about Hestia. Update from future Rose: Hestia chapter will be there. Next up.

Okay boys I feel like I am kind of dragging this arc. Sorry for that. As said before, Hestia will be next and then I'll get to The Thing and after that to the other Thing (Not saying much but it'll be cool).

It suddenly hit me that Nico and Will being a couple was a whole shock in America, when in the Netherlands there was this book where someone (very obviously) had a mother in a relationship with a (non-evil) stepmother in like... 2008 and no-one batted an eye (Lena Lijstje, for all my Dutch readers) (I googled it. It was damn 2002).