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Nico frowned as he surveyed their guest.

"Nico!" Hades exclaimed with a forced smile, "I was just about to send someone to get you!"

Hades was currently giving Nico the 'be polite and don't blow this' look, one that Hades rarely ever doled out. Probably because the Underworld didn't have many visitors to be polite to. Usually, Nico would have casually ignored this look, and would probably be slouching on his throne by now, considering the foul mood he was in. But this time, he decided against it, mainly because he vaguely recognized the person in the room.

"Lady Artemis," he said, praying to all the gods he knew that he had guessed right, "What brings you here?"

The goddess did not appear happy to be there.

"Nico di Angelo" she said, not bothering to reply,

Nico shuffled awkwardly, not exactly sure how to reply to this, "Uh.. Yep. That's me."

Hades laughed nervously, "Lovely! Now that we're all acquainted, let's get started. Artemis, what do you say?"

Artemis huffed, "You must understand that what you are asking is unheard of Hades. It wouldn't work."

"But you could make it work!" Hades urged, "It may be unheard of, but it's not impossible!"

"I refuse to let this male join the hunt!"

"Wait!" Nico said, raising his hands in the universal gesture for 'time out', "Who said anything about me joining the hunt? What in Tartarus are you talking about?"

Artemis sent Hades a pointed look, "You didn't tell him?"

"Tell me what?"

Hades fidgeted in his seat, "Son, we have a little... problem."

"Little?" Artemis snorted, "Try huge."

Hades sighed, "Well, yes, it is a huge problem. Remember how I told you that my brothers and I weren't supposed to have anymore children?"

Nico nodded, getting the feeling that he really didn't want to know where this was going.

"When my brothers, or more specifically, your Uncle Zeus, found out about you, he wasn't happy. To say the least." Hades took a deep, shuddering breath, "He decreed that he wouldn't kill you as long as I got rid of you before you turned 13."

"Get rid of me?" Nico choked.

"Ah, I phrased that incorrectly, didn't I?" Hades winced, rubbing his neck awkwardly.

"He means that he needs to kill you." Artemis said bluntly.

"Okay..." Nico said, backing away cautiously, "I'd rather not die today ,thanks."

Hades rolled his eyes, "Relax. We're not going to kill you. That's where the hunt comes in." he said, sending Artemis a hopeful glance.

Artemis massaged her forehead, "Hades, I already told you. Even if I could let your son join the hunt, he would be killed within a week. My Hunters are not fond of males. If he so much as looks at one of them the wrong way, he'd be dead before you could say 'Chiron'. "

Nico raised a hand awkwardly, "Uh, I have a question. If you're supposed to kill me, why do I need to join the hunt?"

"Zeus told me to 'get rid of you' before you turned 13. He didn't say kill." Hades explained, "He also said that he wouldn't have a teenage son of Hades on the loose. So if you joined the Hunt, you wouldn't age, so you wouldn't be 'a teenage son of Hades'. Just a regular son of Hades. And that way, I'd be getting rid of you without killing you! It's a win-win!"

Nico raised an eyebrow, "How long have you been planning this?"

"Three months."

Artemis sighed, "I understand your reasoning Hades. But you must understand that, even if I do decide to allow your son to join the hunt, he may die anyway. He has no experience fighting actual monsters. Besides, like I said earlier, my hunters would not be happy to have a boy amongst their ranks."

"Would it help if they knew that Nico doesn't swing that way?" Hades asked.

Nico felt his face heat up, "Dad! You can't just go around telling random people that! We talked about this!"

The two deities ignored the young demigod.

"Perhaps." Artemis said thoughtfully, "The Hunters may feel less incline to kill him if they knew that he wouldn't try to make a move on them. They probably wouldn't become the best of friends, but they also probably won't murder each other in their sleep."

"So you'll do it?" Hades asked eagerly.

"Yes." Artemis said with a sigh, "But you must remember that Nico won't be a full member of the hunt, just an honorary one. He will receive my blessing, which includes immortality, of course. There isn't really much of a difference, to be honest. Just... think of him as an unofficial member. No god can know that he is one of my hunters. I'd rather not have to face my father's wrath."

"Good enough!" Hades said with a relieved grin.

"I'll be back tomorrow morning to take him to meet the Hunters." Artemis turned towards Nico, "Pack a backpack. Only the necessities. I'll see you tomorrow."

Artemis gave both of them a curt nod, before disappearing in a puff of smoke, leaving a faint smell of berries behind.

Now that their guest was gone, Nico turned to his father, ready to give him a piece of his mind, "Really? You couldn't have told me that you were sending me away before you made your decision?"

Hades winced, "I don't want to do this either, son! But Zeus has left me with no choice." he stood up and made his way towards Nico, "Believe me, if I could, I would blast Zeus off his high-horse and tell him exactly what I think of him and his rules." he sighed, placing a hand on Nico's shoulder, "But I can't. It pains me to admit it, but you'll be much safer up there than you will be down here. It's for your own good."

It's for your own good. The line that every child despises. It was a line that said, I know what's best for you, so I get to make huge life-changing decisions without telling you about them first. Nico, like any other 12 year old, hated being told that something was 'for his own good'. Maybe if he was a year or two younger, he would have gone red in the face and thrown a temper tantrum. But Nico prided himself on being a lot more mature than he used to be.

So he did the mature thing to do.

He shook his father's hand away, stomped away to his bedroom, and slammed the door. Oh, he also made a metre-wide crack on the throne rooms floor, just to show his dad exactly how annoyed he was.

He gave himself a pat on the back for handling the situation in such a calm, mature way.

He flopped onto his bed with a groan. He did not have the energy to deal with this right now. On the bright side, he didn't need to deal with his homework today either.

"Nico!" Nico looked up to see two silvery figures gliding towards him. Nico recognized the ghosts floating towards him, and usually, this would improve his mood, but not today.

"Alex. Jane." he groaned, not bothering to sit up and say hello to them properly.

Jane and Alex were siblings who used to live in London. They had died a year ago when their house caught fire. Nico had met them wandering around in the fields and the three of them had been good friends ever since. But Nico knew by now that it wouldn't last. As the only living, mortal child in the Underworld, he was used to hanging out with people a lot older than him. When he was younger, he would make a few really close friends, but since he was alive, he would grow up and they would remain the same, which meant that he had to make new friends every few years. He had often wondered what it would be like to have an actual, living friend, someone he could grow up with. He loved hanging out with his ghostly friends, but he just wished that he wouldn't outgrow them as soon as they became best friends.

"Blimey, what's got you so down in the dumps?" Alex asked, looking concerned.

"Dad's convinced Lady Artemis to let me join the Hunt." he grumbled.

Jane raised an eyebrow, "Um... okay? Why, pray tell, is that a bad thing?"

Nico groaned and sat up, "It's a bad thing because it means that I have to leave for who know how long! Dad didn't even tell me until a few minutes ago! I won't be able to see you guys again for ages! And the Hunt is supposed to be for girls only! They'll hate me, and I won't have anyone to talk to!" he complained.

Alex winced, "That does sound rather dreadful. But why do you need to go?"

"Something about how Uncle Lightning Lord wants to kill me before I turn 13."

"And joining this girls-only hunt will help how exactly?" Jane asked, motioning for him to continue.

"The Hunters of Artemis are immortal unless they fall in battle. They don't age. So my dad's brilliant plan is to make me a Hunter of Artemis so that I never turn 13." Nico explained.

Alex blinked, "I forgot how odd a bloke your dad is for a minute there."

"The alternative was killing me." Nico reminded.

"You know what, I'm glad that your dad is as weirdly innovative as he is. I'd rather not watch you die so soon. It would be a pity if you died at 12 as well." Alex amended.

"On the bright side," Jane said, "If you never age, you'll be the same age as us forever! You won't be outgrowing us anytime soon, Neeks." Both ghosts were aware of Nico's 'I grow but my friends cannot' dilemma. Then again, almost everyone in the Underworld knew by now. Ghosts, spirits and zombies spent a lot of time gossiping, and Nico was usually one of their favorite topics to discuss.

Nico smiled slightly, "Huh. I guess so."

"Now," Alex said with a broad grin, "come on! Let's go! If you're leaving soon, then we need to have as much fun as we can before you leave! Chop chop! Up you get!" he said, pulling Nico out of bed.

Nico laughed, "You do know that I need to pack, right? I'm leaving tomorrow."

Jane scoffed, "Oh please! You're not fooling anyone Neeks. We all know that you wouldn't take more than 10 minutes to throw together a few supplies."

"Stop calling me Neeks." he grumbled, putting on a fake pout.

"What are we going to do?" Nico asked as his friends pulled him away.

His ghostly friends exchanged a mischievous glance.

"How do you feel about sneaking into your old man's private cookie stash again?" Jane asked with a smirk.

A.N:

And the plot finally starts going somewhere!

BTW, I meant Lady Artemis showing up, not stealing Hades' cookies. The cookies serve no major purpose in the plot other than being delicious.

Sorry for disappearing off the face of the planet for a while there! You guys deserve better. I apologize if this chapter wasn't very good, I barely had any time to write, but I wanted to squeeze something out before going MIA for another week or so. I've been super busy since I'm going to visit my grandparents for Diwali, and I'll probably be spending most of the next few days in a car.

Anyway, I really hope that I did this chapter justice! The second part of the chapter was mainly a filler though, because I wanted to shed some more light on Nico's ghostly friends.

Things will only actually start happening from the next chapter, when he meets the Hunters! I was planning on putting it in this chapter but... ran out of time.

Please review! Also, an early Happy Diwali to anyone who celebrates it!

-Keera(●—●)