Nico DiAngelou wasn't doing too well.

With all of the stress of the loose souls he had to round up after the war, along with keeping track of the ones coming in and being appointed as a part- time judge for where newly dead were to go, it was only a matter of time before it would catch up to him.

Sleep was practically non-existent, with dreams of the war and being trapped in a near- death state plaguing his mind it was a wonder how he was still sane.

His friends noticed his ever growing fatigue, he knew that was one of the reasons why Percy invited them all for a vacation to the Big Apple if his concerned glances were anything to go by, but there was still too much to do.

Eventually, to the demigod's surprise, it was his father that convinced him to take a well- deserved break before he worked himself to death (Haha, get it? Death?). Well, Nico supposed it was more of an order if his memory served him right.

"Nico, your father is calling for you," the skeleton told the raven haired boy. Nico stopped his count on the souls who stood on the line for judgement and turned to the messenger with confusion.

"Really?"

"Yes, sir."

Nico sighed, "Okay, tell him I'll be right over."

When he arrived at Hades' room, he was surprised to see not only Hades, but Persephone there as well. The goddess met his eyes and concern clouded her normally frustrated facade.

Now, something that most wouldn't know about the god of the underworld was that he can be as doting and fond of his children as Poseidon. Sometimes even more so. The laws of Olympus bind him from helping them on heroic quests, as they do for all godly parents, but aside from that he keeps track of his son, albeit from a distance.

So when he saw him stumbling around his domain and walking into walls, he knew it was time to step in.

Surprisingly, Persephone conveyed almost as much worry as Hades. She's taken a liking to the demigod.

"He's worse than I thought," she said. Her husband can only nod in response. The dark circles under his eyes made his pale face look even more so. There was a constant tremble to his form and his eyes were red with strain. Everytime he blinked, it took a couple of seconds to open them again.

"Nico, when was the last time you got rest?"

The boy could only stare at his father trying to process the question before answering with a shrug.

Hades' frown deepened. Persephone spoke up, "You're overexerting yourself."

"I'm fine." Nico found his voice

"No. You're not." The god of the underworld sighed, and walked up to his son. "You're overworking yourself. Go on a vacation, Elysium, I even have a room set up for you."

"Father-"

"This is not a suggestion Nico. You won't be working in my domain until your health is completely replenished. Go."

Reaching the gates of Elysium, Nico couldn't supress the smile that reached his face. His father really outdid himself, there wasn't a sad person in the place. Skeletal guards were placed on the outside, dressed like fancy hotel concierges and upon seeing Hades' son, let the boy through.

Immediately he felt a change in the air. As opposed to the gloom he was so accustomed to, the atmosphere felt lighter and his head began to clear. He only walked a couple of steps before he heard a familiar voice.

"Nico!" Beckendorf, strode up to him, covered in grease and grime, looking happier than he's ever seen him.

While in life, he was always the optimist, trying to keep his cabin hopeful even when there was none. In the after life, gone were the dark circles under his eyes and the fatigue that he constantly tried to keep hidden.

The son of Hephaestus patted him on the back, almost making him fall over. "How have you been?"

Nico shrugged, "Pretty good. Glad to see you're doing alright."

Beckendorf shrugged, fiddling with some wood and a screw while he talked. "Yeah, well, Elysium will do that to you," a spring appeared out of nowhere and he attached it to the wood, "how is everyone? Percy? Annabeth? Cabin nine?"

They launched into conversation. Nico's exhaustion was slowly but surely leaving him and in the back of his mind he wondered if it was the effect of Elysium itself. If it was against the very nature of the place to feel drained or weary.

Nico told the former head counselor about the recent prophesy that ended, leaving out some of the more gruesome details.

When he got to Leo, however, the head counselor stopped him. "Wait, Leo? Leo Valdez?"

"Yeah?" Nico was confused by his sudden seriousness.

Beckendorf's face flushed slightly, "Scrawny kid? Always claims he's bad boy supreme and all that?"

The living demigod's eyes narrowed, "Yeah, how would you know?"

Suddenly, the head counselor smiled, a big broad smile, "I think I know someone who's been looking for him," he turned and made a 'don't-move' gesture, "wait right there."

Beckendorf first met the teen when he was lounging by the pool.

It was only a few days since his arrival and it was everything he could have hoped for. Endless supplies for his inventions, fellow soldiers who he fought alongside with were coming in every hour which was bittersweet, but it was good to see he wasn't as alone in the afterlife as he feared.

The only thing missing was Silena, but hopefully he'd be able to wait a long time before she arrived. Life was precious, Elysium, could be forever if he chose it to be.

Everything was peaceful in here, but the teenager who suddenly barged into the pool area looked like he was anything but at peace. Holding up a photo, he kept asking to anyone near, "have you seen him? Have you seen him?"

Curiosity getting the better of him, he walked up to the boy and had to duck when his hand swiveled towards his face, photo in a white knuckled grip, "have you seen him?" His hazel eyes were frantic and he kept gripping his dark brown hair in anxiety

"Whoa! Whoa! Take a breath and tell me who your looking for."

The kid who couldn't be older than sixteen, looked around frantically. Trying to find who ever he was looking for. "It's my brother," he muttered helplessly, "he was right behind me. I could've sworn he was right behind me!"

"Okay, breath, that's it. I mean you don't have to really breath here but it'll help clear your head a bit."

The teen followed his instructions, but never stopped looking. In a quieter voice he held up the photo again. "Have you seen him?"

Beckendorf looked at the scruffy Latino in the picture. He had on holey jeans and a black t- shirt, wearing a wide grin that spelled trouble and a baseball bat in his left hand.

And he couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something familiar about him.

Shaking his head, he answered in the negative and the teen deflated at his answer. Looking very much out of place with the happy peaceful presence surrounding them.

His eyes suddenly cleared and his head snapped up in confusion as if something just processed in his mind.

"What do you mean, I don't have to breath here?"

Beckendorf stared at him and his eyes widened slightly. "What was the last thing you remember?"

The teen's face scrunched up and he looked to the ground, as if it had the answers to his muddled memory. "I was running away. We got the other kids out and it was just me and my little brother… a man was chasing us… there was fire… I don't know!" He gripped his hair tightly in frustration and let out a growl. "Next thing I know, I'm here… and Leo… he wasn't."

The demigod nodded and sighed. It was a well known fact in Elysium that if a hero died in an extremely traumatizing or gruesome way, the events were veiled over, so they wouldn't be haunted by it in the afterlife.

"Sit down, I'll explain," Beckendorf said, and explain he did.

By the end of the explanation, the teen was crying, whether from relief that the one he was searching for was still alive or from grief that he was dead, the head counselor wasn't sure. He led the tearful teen to the lakes that provided a list of names for who was well and alive to who was deceased.

"Leo Valdez!" the boy said anxiously.

The lake rippled and next to the name the status was shown.

Leo Valdez~Alive

The teen slumped to the ground, fully relieved with the knowledge that his brother was still out there somewhere.

"...He'll be alright, he knows how to take care of himself, he's alright…" he muttered to himself before standing up and extending his hand. "Thanks for the help…"

"Charles Beckendorf," the demigod introduced himself, accepting the handshake.

"Chancellor Jones, call me Chance." He looked around some more, this time more in curiosity than in desperation. "Guess I'll be staying here for a while," He turned back to Beckendorf, "So, what does this place have to offer, Charles?"

"Come on, I'll show you around" He replied, "and between you and me, we actually have more in common than you may think."

The teen raised an eyebrow, his hazel eyes shining inquisitively. "And what's that?"

"We're both waiting for someone."

Running towards the teen's home, he can finally arrive with some good news. Much like when Chance ran to tell him Silena arrived in Elysium, he ran to tell him long awaited news on his brother.

Crashing through the foyer, and up the stairs, Beckendorf found him playing a guitar on the patio.

"Chance!" looking up from his music rather frazzled at the sudden company, his expression changed from confusion to wonder to excitement as the demigod told his tale. Without waiting for him to finish he ran ahead towards where Beckendorf said his friend was.

Seeing the demigod he screeched to a stop in front of the raven haired boy and could only stare at him in wonder. Almost two years waiting for news and the child of Hades himself comes to deliver it. Leo always had to do things with some flare.

"So, are you the one looking for Leo?" Nico suddenly said, eyeing the teen critically.

Nodding his head, he replied, "He's my brother."

Confusion rocked the demigod's being. "I thought he was an only child."

The brown haired boy smirked, "Foster brother, technically, but brother in all but blood."

Nico accepted the answer as truth. "So what do you want to know?"

"Is he alright?"

The son of Hades' smiled, "Yeah, he is. His jokes need a little work though."

Chance laughed, and laughed and laughed until tears were streaming down his face. Slowly descending into a crouch, his laughs turned into relieved sobs. "Thank goodness. He's okay. He's okay."

Beckendorf came up behind him, taking in Nico's uncomfortable expression and Chance's cries. "Yeah, Chance tends to get… emotional."

The hazel eyed boy threw a guitar pick at him, sniffling, "Shut up."

"It's true," Beckendorf said.

"Does he have a home now?" Chance asked Nico.

"Yeah, yeah he does."

Wiping his eyes, he stood up and asked Nico to tell him what Leo's been up to. To tell the truth, Nico's never put much thought into the fireboy's life before he joined the crew. Other than the knowledge of his mother's death and hs 'Tia Callida', the boy's life between then and now is a mystery to him.

Nevertheless, he told Chance what he could. About his bravery against Gaea, his mishaps and his heroisms, and when he got to the part about Leo's sacrifice to save the others, he couldn't hold his surprise when Chance grumbled in frustration, "He's still doing that?!"

And his surprise only grew when the teen asked how he got away from the first threat, before any of the prophesy business came about.

Seeing Nico's growing confusion, Chance started to get worried. If his friends, that sound more like family if his intuition is correct, doesn't know about before…

Leo doesn't trust them. Not completely.

Chance knows his brother, what he does when he doesn't truly trust someone.

Leo's a runner.

This is bad.

Taking out a letter he's kept with him since he realized he was in the afterlife, he handed it to Nico. "Can you get this to him?"

Looking at the letter with confusion he asks, "What is it?"

"It's a promise." Chance supplies, practically shoving the envelope in his hands. "Please."

Looking at the letter intently, the demigod takes it and places it in his bag. "I will."

His worry gives way to gratitude and he ends up clasping Nico's hand in a firm shake, making Nico blush. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Nodding his head shyly, Nico pulls his hand away and makes his way towards the exit. But before he has the chance, his shoulder is gripped from behind. Turning his head, he sees Beckendorf giving him the most mischievous look he's seen since the Stoll brothers' prank that ended with Clarisse's hair being dyed pink.

"What?" He asked suspiciously.

The head counselor's grin only widened. "A little bird told me something interesting. So… you and Will huh?"

"Crap." Nico said as he was dragged back from the gates, blush creeping up to his ears. He couldn't help the smile that snuck it's way on his face at the mention of his boyfriend. If his ever growing grin was any indication, Beckendorf noticed too. This was going to be a long day.

When he finally escaped from the demigod's clutches, with a promise to visit him and Chance in the near future, he made his way out of Elysium and instantly missed the light peace that was absent in the rest of his father's domain.

He already sent word to Hades, with an affirmation that it would be okay to spend the remainder of his mandatory vacation in New York City.

Stepping into a shadow, he reappeared across the country and smirked when he was able to do so without collapsing. His practice was coming along nicely. As long as he does it with only himself. He wonders if-

His thoughts were interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream a few feet away from him. Looking to his right, he realized he shadow traveled a little too accurately, landing right in Leo Valdez's room.

Another scream escaped the boy as he curled into a fetus position from pain that only he can feel, eyes scrunched tight, and Nico's brain finally processed what was happening.

Another scream, and the desk next to his bed suddenly erupted into flames.

"Oh no."

AN: Well, hope you liked it! I know it's been a while and I have no good excuse, but I don't abandon any story I've started. It's not my ninja way.