A/N: Nico's journey is coming to an end.

'What do you think?'

Lucia, Sofia and Elena looked at their great-grandmother. I was standing in the middle of the room, with my new clothes on.

Gloriana slowly nodded. 'It's acceptable.'

There were sighs of relief around me. I snickered. Going clothesshopping made the trip feel more like a vacation except of a heavy trip down memory lane. 'What more are we going to do?' I asked.

Elena grabbed my hands. 'Everything.'

And so we did. We went out to lunch, visited churches and relaxed in parks, but we also went to to the family grave and searched the attic for heirlooms. It was a mix of both that felt just right.

I could have stayed longer, but I wasn't sad that I didn't. For a first trip, it was enough. I missed camp, I missed Will, and I even missed Dionysus.

We were sitting in front of the house, waiting for Will to come pick me up. Gabriella sipped her drink. 'I liked having you around, Nico. I always wondered what it would be like to have a boy.'

Elena gave her mother a look. 'We aren't so bad, mom.'

'Hm. Still.'

Her daughters collectively rolled their eyes. I snickered. 'I liked it here, too. I am glad I was welcomed by my family after such a long time.'

Sofia sipped her drink. 'You're welcome to come celebrate Easter with us. You can bring your friend as well.'

'I'll come. I never really had an Easter celebration. In America, they don't do a lot more than hunt for candy.'

'In Italy, it is way more important,' Lucia explained, with stars in her eyes.

Their father snickered. 'It was quite a culture shock when I moved to Italy and it actually meant something to them.'

His wife and in-laws nodded their heads.

'I think Nico should come,' their grandmother, next in line to become the family matriarch, answered. 'So he can see what it is like.'

I slowly nodded. 'I already got Italian clothes to wear, that's something…'

A white taxi rolled around the corner and parked nearby. I veered up from my chair, almost spilling my San Pellegrino.

The taxi door flew open. Will almost bumped his head against the overhead. 'Nico!'

'Will!' He walked towards me, slower than he would want. I hugged him as soon as you was close enough. He squeezed my ribs in return.

'I missed you.'

'Mizzed you to,' I muttered, with my face pressed against his shirt.

He let go and held me at a distance. 'You've got new clothes!'

'See?' I heard Gloriana say behind me. 'I told you all it would be noticeable. He needed some proper clothes.'

I spread my arms, so Will could properly see all of the new things I had gotten. 'Was this your plan?' He asked the sisters.

Elena pointed at her grandmother. 'Her plan, but we showed him what he should wear.'

'It makes my… friend look very good. Perhaps he should keep wearing them in America,' he said, while staring a hole into my soul.

I opened my mouth to say something back, but then I saw Dionysus coming out of the taxi. He was in mortal disguise (which meant he looked slightly older, had shorter hair and sunglasses to hide the purple eyes). 'Wait...'

'He wouldn't let me go alone,' Will whispered. 'And, eh, neither could I. I needed to teleport and stuff.'

I turned around. 'That's my… uncle. Dio,' I explained.

My eyes trailed off, to Gloriana, who was staring at Dionysus. I had a hunch she already sensed who he was. Yet, she didn't say anything, not even when Gabriella invited them to have a drink before we left. We could manage before we had to catch our plane, right?

It was more then in time for us to 'catch our plane' (Considering there would be no plane). 'Did he behave?' Dionysus asked. I figured he really wanted to ask: 'Did he not get himself almost killed?'

'Very much,' Collin answered with a grin, while handing Will a can of San Pellegrino. 'Do you want an aperitif? It is already four P.M.'

It physically hurt Dionysus to say no, but he managed to do it. Gabriella snickered, sushing that she understood, but of course she didn't. She couldn't understand the scope of the thing.

'He behaved very well,' Gloriana confirmed. 'He has to come celebrate Easter with us. My great-granddaughters already invited him.

I looked at Will and Dionysus. They seemed to understand that if the matriarch said I had to come, I better come.

'Did you not miss him too much?' Lucia asked Will. He turned a little red.

'A little,' he answered, in a tone that meant 'every day, I was worried he had accidently walked straight to his death.'

'A little?' Elena egged him on.

'... A little more?'

'More than a little?' Sofia asked with a grin.

I tutted. 'Will, these are Lucia, Elena and Sofia. They are usually very kind.'

'Yes, girls,' Sofia grinned, 'Don't egg him on!' As if she didn't do the exact same thing.

'Thanks,' Will muttered.

'He's just as shy as Nico when he first saw us.'

'Was Nico shy?' Will said, jumping off from that.

'Only a little,' Sofia told him. 'After we gave him some orange juice, he was fine.'

I nodded. 'I was fine, Will, really.'

'Were you worried?' Lucia sing-songed.

'Lucia!'

'Yes,' Will answered truthfully, 'Yes, I was worried. Really worried.' He looked at me. 'Yet, I am also very glad that he did this. Because it feels like a step forward. He couldn't have done this a year ago.'

'Thanks, Will.'

We talked for another hour or so, realistically way too long if we were supposed to catch a plane, before Dionysus gestured we should get back to the car. The sisters hugged me and told me to call (I gave them Wills' phone number. That way, they wouldn't be blowing up poor Pollux' phone any longer). It was decided I would come back for Easter. I feared Gloriana might haunt me otherwise.

'Success in America, Nico.' Gloriana told me. 'And I don't know why he came to pick you up' - she nodded at Dionysus - 'But it probably had a reason.'

Dionysus looked at her with a little smile, before he got into the taxi.

They waved us goodbye while we drove off. When they were out of sight, Dionysus' eyes lit up. 'Please, just go help some others,' he told the taxi driver, before slipping a sum of way more money than the trip could have cost into his pocket (That being said, we did keep him occupied for an hour. Perhaps this was just what they agreed on). Within a second, we disappeared, and I was back in Camp Half-blood.

That night I lit the candle in my rememberance cabinet. I took a deep breath. 'I went to Italy, mom. I saw what it was like to live there. Your sister was still alive. I liked her a lot, and her decendants are nice, too.' A tear made it's way down my cheek, but it wasn't a sad tear. 'Of course, I wished you could have seen me in Italy, but this is the closest I could get. I hope you somehow know about it, and that you're proud of me.'

I hadn't talked to the shrine before, but right now it felt right to do it. When I looked up at the sky, I felt calm inside, as if something that should have happened ages ago finally happened. As if something in the universe changed, making it right again.

Will looked around the corner of my cabin. 'Are you coming in?'

'I am happy, Will.'

I could hear him smile as he sat down in the grass next to it. 'I can feel it.' He gave me a kiss on my forehead.

'I know for sure now that I'll be better, some day.'

'You are already the very best to me.'

A/N: I apologize profoundly if they don't actually drink San Pellegrino in Italy.

One more chapter after this - unless I can't stop myself