Summary:

Instead of the pomegranate seeds keeping Nico alive when he was captured and kept in a jar in Mark of Athena, it was Anubis deciding to inhabit his body to save his life. Afterwards, the god lies dormant within Nico's subconscious, but starts to wake up during the aftermath of the battle against Gaea.

Not canon compliant with The Trials of Apollo.

Nico felt his heart hammering as he stepped away from Percy and Annabeth. He'd just confessed his old feelings to Percy. It felt somewhat like a burden had lifted off his chest, even though he still felt nervous about their reactions. It wasn't like everyone would be as accepting as Jason when it came to his sexual orientation.

As he made his way across the battlefield to where Will was waving, he felt something stir in the back of his consciousness. He stiffened, turning around to see if anyone was staring at him. He could usually feel the gaze of others like a prickle at the back of his neck, but no-one was looking at him.

A moment passed. He let out a sigh. Maybe it was his imagination.

He started walking again, but couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.

He made his way over to Will. The blond was smiling at him. Nico had to admit that he was honestly quite dashing. As that thought crossed his mind, he could swear he heard a chuckle in the back of his head.

Puzzled, he stopped in his tracks, glancing back. There was no-one there.

"What's up, Nico?"

Nico turned around, spotting Will looking slightly worried. "It's nothing. I'm just tired."

Will raised an eyebrow, damn he was too observant for his own good. "Help us out, then. We need to tend to the wounded." The son of Apollo gestured to the teens strewn around then, some groaning in pain, some already knocked out cold. "It's best if we get them over to the Apollo cabin. We have more supplies there."

They set to work, bringing stretchers to carry the wounded. Some of the kids from Camp Jupiter decided to help. After a couple of hours, they had managed to get all the gravely injured away from the battlefield and safely back to the Apollo cabin, although they had to treat some of them elsewhere, seeing as there wasn't enough space to house everyone.

The children of Apollo were working at full capacity, the two camps having joined forces.

Nico did what he could to help, but was shoved out the door by Will after he'd almost fainted on top of an injured camper.

"I can still help!" Nico protested.

Will shook his head, grabbing him by the arms to push him away from the cabin. "No. You need rest. You've been shadow-travelling far too much." Nico twitched as the other ran two fingers down his cheek. Gods damn these stupid feelings sometimes. "And you look terrible, even for you. Go and get some sleep."

Nico sighed in defeat. "Okay. See ya."

He could feel the blond's eyes follow him as he walked towards the Hades cabin. If he hadn't been so tired, he probably would have blushed.

As he entered the cabin, he finally felt the exhaustion set in. He all but stumbled over to his bed, collapsing on top of it. He was asleep within minutes.

His dreams were unusual that night.

It didn't feel like a vision.

He could make out a dark landscape, with a river flowing through it. He noticed that he was standing on a boat of some kind. A figure was leaning on the bannister in the bow.

Nico blinked. He could have sworn the person's visage flickered for a moment to look like a golden clad, animal-headed (wtf?) man.

He slowly made his way over to the bow, keeping an eye on the unknown figure.

"You are no doubt wondering where you are, and who I am," the person said, turning to him.

Nico nearly froze in his steps.

The unknown figure looked to be just a bit older than him, with black clothing. He did look similar to himself, if he was honest, but he was definitely not Italian.

A flash of gold on the other's chest caught his eye. The boy was wearing a necklace of some kind, a symbol Nico was sure he had seen before, but couldn't place.

The other must have noticed his staring, "Ah, this is an ankh."

It clicked then. "You're Egyptian?"

The boy nodded, a patient smile on his face. "My name is Anubis." He bowed. "I am the Egyptian Lord of Funerals and god of Embalming."

Nico raised his eyebrows. Egyptian god? What would an Egyptian god be doing in his dreams?

"And you are Nico di Angelo, the only son of Hades, Greek god of the Underworld," Anubis continued.

Nico tensed immediately at the mention of his name and father. It was never a good sign if strangers knew your name.

"How do you know who I am? And why are you in my dream?"

The god chuckled, and Nico could've sworn he'd heard that sound before. "When you were captured in the jar, you thought it was the pomegranate seeds that kept you alive, when really, it was me."

Nico blinked. "Huh?"

"I inhabited your body to keep you alive."

"Inhabited?"

"Yes, my spirit is inside you."

"Inside me?"

The god huffed a laugh as he made his way over to Nico. "Think of me as the voice in your head."

Nico pointed at the other. "It was you?! I knew something was off!" He took a step back, running a hand through his hair. Great. Now he had a god living in his body? Just his luck!

"Wait a minute," he started, pointing an accusing finger at the god. "Can you hear what I think?"

Anubis grinned at him, "Yes, usually. Not now, since we're in a dream."

Holy gods of old! He could hear what Nico was thinking? Oh, no. That meant he knew everything, and heard everything.

Nico dragged a hand down his face. "So, you know then? About my," he waved one hand in the air, trying to find the word. "Feelings." Yeah, great word-choice.

The god laughed again. "Well, yeah. But believe me, you could do worse."

Nico looked up at him. He didn't care? "So you don't care that I-" he waved his hand again, words were hard to come by tonight, it would seem. "That I like boys?"

Anubis cocked his head to the side, like a curious dog. "Not at all. Should I?"

The son of Hades opened his mouth, but didn't know how to answer that. He rubbed the back of his neck.

Unsure of what to say, he leaned on the bow, staring down into the dark waters below. "What is this place?"

"It's a depiction of the duat, or more specifically, the boat that leads the dead souls to the Hall of Judgement. But now it is a visual representation of my resting place," Anubis answered from beside him.

"The duat?"

"A space between spaces, like a realm between the realms."

Nico raised an eyebrow, "That sounds just like shadow travelling."

"I suppose it is like that, from what I saw through my slumber."

"You saw?"

The god shrugged, "Well, I can see what you see, now, but when I was asleep, I could only see glimpses."

Nico leaned his head down to rest his forehead on the railing, between his hands. "So not only do you hear my thoughts, but you also see what I see?"

"Well, I can't hear everything, seeing as most thoughts are abstract, and more like ideas. But I can sense what you visualise in your head, and if you manifest words like words and not abstract thoughts, I can hear them."

Nico cursed in ancient Greek.

He turned to Anubis, giving a faux smile. "Look. I'm grateful and all for you saving my life, but I can't live my life with you hitchhiking in my body."

The god's expression was neutral. "I can understand that. But it is not so simple to just leave."

"Okay, then how do we get you out?"

"Well, firstly, this is just a visualisation of my spirit you are seeing. I don't have a physical form, and believe me, I cannot show my godly form to you or anyone else that is not a god," Anubis explained. "So, if I were to leave your body at this very moment, neither you, nor many of the campers here would survive."

"So, how do you get a physical form, or leave my body in a way that doesn't kill everyone around?"

"You need to travel to a place where my godly form can leave your body, after having acquired the necessary things to let me make a physical form, so that I won't have to use my godly form outside your body."

Nico rubbed the bridge of his nose, this was a lot to take in. "Okay. Where can you safely leave my body?"

Anubis lit up. "In the duat."

"And what are the other things we need?"

"Some monster-parts, as well as some rare plants."

Nico narrowed his eyes at the other. "And I don't suppose these items are easy to come by?"

The god shook his head.

Great.

The son of Hades sighed. "Well, no use sitting around. How do I get out of here?"

Anubis walked towards him and touched his forehead.

Nico felt a zap at the touch, and then everything went dark.

When Nico woke up, he was disoriented for a moment.

Right, he was in the Hades cabin.

As he sat up, he noticed he'd fallen asleep in his clothes. Dios mio, he must have been seriously exhausted. Will was right apparently.

As Will crossed his mind, he felt his thoughts stop at the beaming smile the blond usually had when he was looking back at him.

A low chuckle in his head made him freeze.

He'd completely forgotten about Anubis being able to hear most of his thoughts.

He sighed. "What?" he said aloud.

"I didn't say anything," Anubis replied inside his head. Whoa, that was weird.

"You were laughing," Nico huffed, shrugging off his clothes to take a shower. "Why?"

Somehow, he could feel Anubis smile in his mind. "You're kind of obvious."

Nico paused at that. "Am I really that obvious?"

"Yeah."

"Great! He probably also noticed."

Anubis hummed. "Probably, although I can say that he most likely shares the sentiment."

Shares the sentiment? "You mean he likes me?" Nico wondered aloud.

"I think so, at least."

Nico didn't really know what to do with that information.

He stepped out of his pants and walked into the bathroom. The water from the shower felt near scalding on his skin. He had spent too much time in the Shadow Realm recently, his skin sensitive from the exertion.

As he enjoyed an overdue shower, he let his thoughts drift to the voice in the back of his head. What had Anubis said? That he could see what he saw?

"I can."

"So if I look down now, you can see… everything?"

"Yes."

Nico subconsciously covered his body.

"I can close my eyes, if you'd like."

"Sure."

"You don't have to speak aloud for me to hear you, you can talk inside your mind," Anubis said.

Speak in his mind, huh. It was kinda weird to imagine.

"Like this?" he tried to think.

He could feel the god smile. "Yeah, that's good."

"This is super weird," Nico muttered. He stepped out of the shower, drying off.

Anubis hummed, "I agree. You are the first person I've ever inhabited, so this is a first for me as well."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I'm one of the younger gods in my extended family, so I haven't had the chance, or reason to do so."

Nico pondered that. "How old are you really?"

The god made a thoughtful hum. "I think I'm around 5000 years old now."

Nico almost stumbled. "5000 years old?! And you say you are young? Dios mio."

The son of Hades pulled on some clothes as he heard a huff of laughter from Anubis.

"I guess it can sound odd for someone who's not a god."

Nico snorted aloud. "You could say that." He grabbed his sword from the bed, strapping it to his belt. "I've finished dressing, by the way. If you want to open your eyes."

"Alright," Anubis muttered.

Nico shrugged on his jacket, the seams of the old leather were nearly ripping, just barely holding together. "So what do we need?"

"You might want to write this down somewhere."

Nico raised an eyebrow. Really? He fetched some paper and a pencil. Sitting down at his bed, he balanced the paper on his knee, ready to write.

"We need three monster parts and five rare plants," Anubis said.

"Okay, let's start with the monster parts."

"We need one scale from a mermaid's tail. One black unicorn horn. And one claw from a griffon."

"Dios mio. You sure we really need this?"

Anubis snorted, "Yeah. Now for the plants. You need one four-leaved clover from the hat of a leprechaun. A moon-touched buttercup. Two fiery fir-seeds. And finally one arctic lichen."

Nico frowned. "Lichen? Isn't that a mushroom?"

"It's actually a symbiotic relationship between blue-green algae and fungi, so I'm a little uncertain about whether it's a plant or fungi."

"Why do you know so much about lichen?"

Anubis chuckled, a sound Nico had almost gotten used to. "You need some reading material to fill 5000 years."

"I guess," Nico muttered. "So where to first?"

"I think we should map out a route to try to cover as most as possible in a few trips. Some of the plants are time sensitive, and one of them is only accessible before the end of this week, in fact."

Nico sat up, rigid. "This week?" He got up from the bed, heading for the door. "We need to get going as soon as possible, then." He grabbed his backpack from the floor and opened the door, nearly running into a surprised Will Solace on the doorstep.

"Whoa!" Nico grabbed the doorframe to keep from stumbling forward.

"Hey!" Will said, a smile on his face. "You going somewhere?" He gestured to the backpack slung over Nico's shoulder.

Nico looked down. "Oh! Yeah, I guess. I have to-"

"Don't tell him about me!" Anubis' voice said in his head.

"I- uh…"

Will raised an eyebrow.

"I just gotta take some time off, I guess. To get my bearings after the battle, y'know," Nico said, trying to sound somewhat convincing.

The blond looked surprised. "Okay? I was kinda hoping we could sit together at the campfire later?"

Yeah, Nico would love to do that, any other day. He mentally cursed. When a cute guy was actually showing some interest, he wasn't available. "I'm sorry, Will. I just really need to go now."

Will's face fell, obviously disappointed. "Oh, okay. I guess I'll see you later then?"

Nico mentally kicked himself at their interaction. "Yeah."

Before the situation got any worse, he pulled the door closed behind him and walked past Will, heading for the camp border.

"He was very disappointed," Anubis' voice sounded in his head.

The son of Hades shook his head in exasperation. "I know."

He pushed forward towards the border, resisting the urge to look back. As he stepped over the border, he could still feel the blond's stare.