The next chapter! I know it's a little shorter than the previous ones, but I hope you don't mind. We're also getting closer to the end of this story, it's incredible! I'll finish it after so many years. Two more chapters will follow before it's over. I hope you like this one, please let me know!

I don't own the characters or places!

Nico

When he woke up again, he was surrounded by darkness. It was also cold and he sat up slowly. The ground under his hands felt smooth. He wondered where he was and what happened. The last thing he remembered was grabbing the scepter and telling Ceuthonymus that he would die. Because Nico had been sure of that. The moment his hands touched the scepter, he knew what he had to do. He'd let his power flow right through it and then... what?

He also had a terrible headache. Nico tried to stand up, but his knees gave in again and he sank back to the ground. Where was he? He had to get back to the camp. Will had been hurt and Reyna... What happened to her?

"Your friends are fine." A familiar voice said and a man stepped out of the darkness. Nico would have recognized him everywhere.

"Hello father." He said and Hades smiled.

"Son." He looked around and frowned. "It's terribly dark in here, isn't it?" He clapped his hands and suddenly, Nico could see his surroundings. It also felt as if the air was getting warmer. He noticed that they were in his room in the Underworld!

"What are we doing here?" Nico asked and sat down on the bed carefully.

"Come on, Nico, you should know that." Hades leaned against the wall opposite of him.

"Am I... dead?" He was afraid to ask that question. Months ago, Nico wouldn't have really cared about that, but now things were different. He wanted to live. He had Will and all his friends... Your friends are fine. Did that mean that they all survived? Even Reyna?

"No, you're not." Hades replied and Nico wasn't sure if he didn't just imagine the relief in his father's voice. "You're getting stronger and stronger. You killed Ceuthonymus with that scepter without really using it. Even I'm impressed."

Nico frowned at him. "You mean I sent him back to Tartarus."

To his surprise, his father shook his head. "There isn't enough left of him to reform. I doubt that he'll ever manage that, not even in a thousand years."

Nico stared at him. "You want to tell me that I did that to him?"

Hades nodded. "With a little help of the scepter, of course. Which I formed many years ago, just for the purpose to send Ceuthonymus back to Tartarus. Of course I couldn't know that I'd have a son with powers like yours once." Now Nico couldn't blame it on his imagination any longer. Hades looked proud.

"I didn't even know that I could do that." Nico muttered and ran a hand through his hair. He was still feeling so terribly weak.

His father chuckled. "There are many things you still have to discover about yourself."

"So I can go back to the others?" He asked hopefully.

"As soon as your body has recovered. What you did hadn't been easy."

"But I won't start to fade again?" He heard Will's voice in his head again, admitting that it was one of his worst nightmares. Nico fading again.

"I think we can say that you're past that. Last time, you were terribly exhausted from your trip through Tartarus and everything that followed." Slowly, Hades walked towards him and sat down on the bed, leaving a distance between himself and Nico. "You should stop worrying so much." He raised his eyebrows. "Or is that boyfriend of yours the problem?"

Nico's eyes widened. "Will isn't a problem." He said sternly. Honestly, he never thought about the fact that his father might know about Will and that they were together.

Hades held up his hands in a defensive gesture. "I meant it when I said that I want you to be happy, Nico." He hesitated. "That won't mean that the boy won't suffer for millions of years if he hurts you."

In this moment, Nico could just stare at Hades incredulously. "Please don't say that you want me to tell him about your warning." He muttered.

"I think he already knows that." Hades grinned. "But I think you don't have to worry. The worst Apollo can do to you -"

"Alright, stop it!" Nico interrupted his father quickly. "We won't talk about my love life now! And also not about Apollo!"

Hades actually laughed. "What do you want to talk about then?"

This question caught him off guard. What did he want to talk about right now? "You know about our quest."

"I've followed it with interest. Sadly, I wasn't able to intervene." Hades explained. "But someone else did."

"Tyche." Nico said.

"I might have allowed her to get in touch with the ghost who came to you. Normally, Tyche can't talk to ghosts even if she wanted it." Hades winked.

So his father had helped them after all. "Thank you." Nico whispered. "Without you, we would have never seen all this coming."

"Don't thank me." He replied. "This has to stay between the two of us. If anyone will get to know that I intervened, I'll be in lots of trouble."

"I won't tell anyone." Nico promised.

"That's good." Hades nodded slowly. "You did a good job. You're getting better and better at controlling your powers. I bet it wasn't easy to cover the whole cave in shadows."

"I didn't know what to do first." Just in the moment they were about to stab him right in front of Will's eyes had the idea come to him. Or rather the feeling, as if he just knew what to do.

"Sometimes, strong feelings can make us do incredible things. Or make us understand that we were always able to do them and we just didn't realize it." This out of the mouth of his father, the God of the Underworld, nearly made him speechless. Normally, he was used to Hades threatening others and not this.

"You think I can get even stronger?"

"I know it." Hades smiled. "You'll be better than your friends." Nico knew that he meant Jason and Percy immediately. So here it was, the rivalry between Hades, Zeus and Poseidon. "If I think about it again, you already are. Without you, they would all be dead now."

"Don't forget that Will also played an important part in this." Nico threw in. "Without his whistle, we would still be fighting."

Hades grimaced. "I didn't even know that anyone could make a sound like that. Especially a son of Apollo."

Nico chuckled. "It saved us quite a few times."

"I thought you don't want to discuss your boyfriend." Hades crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows.

"I just wanted to show you that he's not as useless as you think. But alright, then tell me how the others are." Nico requested.

"They're not dead." Hades said simply. "Though that girl who accompanied you on the quest is close to dying."

Nico froze. "Reyna." He whispered in shock.

"I think she'll make it." Hades calmed him down before he could start worrying too much. "She's already moving away from my influence."

Nico released the breath he didn't even know he'd been holding. "That's good." He muttered and closed his eyes. "I should have just been faster."

"Not everything that happens to those around you is your fault." His father threw in thoughtfully.

"I know." He sighed. "I know that now. But anyway..."

"Stop worrying, son." Hades muttered and Nico looked at him again. He was still smiling. What was going on?

"Sometimes, I can't help it." He said simply.

"I can't believe that you're growing up." This time, his father didn't look at him.

"Please don't tell me you're getting sentimental now." Nico muttered in shock.

"You must have misunderstood me." Hades stood up abruptly. "I think you can go back soon. Unless you want to stay here?"

"I should go back." Nico agreed and stood up slowly. However, his knees still felt a little weak and he stumbled. Then there was a hand on his back, steadying him.

"I would say we can see each other again, but I think you don't want that." Hades smiled slightly.

"A visit in the Underworld?" Nico raised his eyebrows.

"To introduce your boyfriend, of course. I didn't scare him yet." Hades said quickly.

"Of course." Nico agreed simply. "I'll think about it."

"I hope you can get more peace this time." Hades placed his hand on Nico's shoulder. The other one was still on his back.

"That would be good." Nico whispered. "My life's been far too exciting."

"Don't expect anything else. You're still a demigod." Hades warned him. "Trouble will always follow you. Especially with a father like me."

"You're not all that bad." Nico smiled slightly.

"What does that mean?" Hades sounded offended now, but Nico could see that he was just joking.

"Nico? Nico, you have to wake up!" A faint voice called out in panic and Nico froze. "Come back to me!" It was Will.

"Seems like our time is over." Hades said.

"He's not waking up!" Will shouted. "Nico!"

"Yes, I have to go back." Nico said urgently.

"Then close your eyes." He did as he was asked and a cold hand touched his temple.

Suddenly, the quietness of the Underworld around him vanished and was replaced by a variety of sounds. He could hear people moving around and talking, the constant rustling of the city around them and many other things. However, Nico only concentrated on the voice closest to him.

"Come on, Nico, you can't leave me alone! I don't know what to do without you, Death Boy!" Will muttered and breathed in shakily. "I love you."

"I'm not going anywhere, Sunshine." He said weakly and opened his eyes. He had to blink a few times, but then the light around him wasn't blinding him anymore.

"Nico!" Will exclaimed and before he even really realized that he was lying on the ground, his boyfriend had wrapped his arms around him tightly. "Oh my god, Nico." Will repeated his name. "You're here."

Nico realized that Will was shaking in his arms and placed his hands on his shoulders. "I'm fine, Will. Maybe a little exhausted, but fine."

"I couldn't wake you." Will whispered and leaned back so that Nico could see his face. There was still fear in his eyes. "I thought you were... You didn't have a pulse."

"It took lots of energy, that's all." Nico tried to calm him down once more. "Relax, Will."

They looked into each other's eyes for a few moments and finally, some of the tension in Will's shoulders vanished.

"How's Reyna?" Nico asked the question that had been on his mind ever since he woke up.

"She's in the infirmary, a few of my siblings are with her. They say she'll make it." Will swallowed. "I couldn't leave you alone. We couldn't move you after... whatever you did."

"You couldn't move me?"

"Nico, it looked like you were swallowed by a big, black hole. And then that scepter and Ceuthonymus just dissolved and you..." Will shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever forget that."

"He's gone." Nico said slowly. "And he'll never come back."

"But you did." Will's voice was barely a whisper now.

"Yes, I did." He smiled slightly. "You won't get rid of me that easily, Solace."

Will breathed in shakily, but it rather sounded like a sob. "Nico." He wrapped his arms around him again and then they kissed. It was just a short kiss and filled with relief and desperation, but it was enough for now.

"I love you, Will." Nico whispered.

Will smiled. "Do you think you can stand? The others were also worried about you."

Nico nodded and Will helped him to get to his feet. To his surprise, his sword of stygian iron was at his belt. "Where are the others?"

"Most of them are waiting for news concerning Reyna. She was lucky, a few inches more and she wouldn't have survived it." Will's expression darkened at this.

"She'll be fine again." Nico said, remembering the words of his father.

"Why are you so sure of this?" Will sounded curious now. However, Nico didn't get a chance to answer this question. In this moment, several voices shouted his name and Percy, Annabeth, Jason and Piper came running towards them. Just like last time, Will stopped them before they could all try to wrap their arms around him. Honestly, Nico would have preferred to be alone with Will now, but he had to know how Reyna was.

"You were incredible, Nico!" Jason exclaimed proudly.

"Whatever you did there, it was impressing!" Percy agreed. "Scary, but impressing."

"I've heard that you saved us all." Annabeth grinned.

"They're already telling stories about your fight against Ceuthonymus." Piper added with a wink. "You're the hero now, Nico."

He smiled at them, but his eyes wandered to the infirmary. "How's Reyna?"

"The healers say she'll be fine." Jason said, relief obvious in his voice. "She's asleep right now."

Nico sighed. "That's good. When I saw her in the battle, I really thought..." He didn't finish that sentence and Will squeezed his hand reassuringly.

"She will recover." Annabeth repeated.

"Did anyone inform Camp Jupiter about the events here?" Nico asked and thought of Hazel and Frank.

"Chiron is doing that right now." Percy explained. "I think Hazel and Frank will visit soon."

"Do you really think that they'll leave the others alone in New Rome?" He raised his eyebrows.

"They'll figure something out, I'm sure of that." Jason threw in and wrapped an arm around Piper's shoulders.

"And now Nico should get some sleep." Will announced loudly, interrupting their conversation. "You're terribly pale and look like you're going to pass out any moment."

Nico just wanted to protest, but Will's eyes narrowed. "Doctor's orders."

He sighed in defeat. "Alright, but let's go to my cabin. There are others who need a bed in the infirmary more than I do." He waved at his friends once more before Will guided him towards the Hades cabin.

"Of course we'll go to your cabin, Nico." Will whispered when no one could hear him anymore. "Or do you really think that I would miss an opportunity to wrap my arms around you after everything that happened?"

Nico knew that there were still many things they had to talk about, but right now, he didn't have the energy for this. So he lust let will guide him to his cabin and once his back hit the mattress, he fell asleep. The last thing he noticed were two strong arms holding him tightly.