It was silly to hope that his presence had changed things. Don't get him wrong, Nico loved his half-sister and fully intended on rescuing her. But Bianca was his sister, and he had to check.

"I know why you're here."

Nico whirled around, sword out. He let out a huff when he saw who it was. "Dad."

Hades was dressed in his usual black robes. The souls of the dead woven in the fabric stared at Nico.

"She chose rebirth," Hades said.

Nico kicked at the ground. "Yeah. I know. I just… thought I was wrong."

Hades seemed to struggle for a moment. Then he said, "Thanatos is chained. I nearly went to her to tell her that."

"You would have had to ignore her," Nico pointed out. "Once Thanatos has been freed." He shoved his hands into the pockets of his aviator jacket. "I have to go." He walked away from his father.

"There is another camp," Hades blurted.

Nico froze and turned back. "Another camp?"

Hades did not meet Nico's eyes. "A Roman camp. I cannot say much about it. The Roman gods are very much alive, and within us." He grimaced. "My Roman form is Pluto. I want you to find the camp and introduce yourself as my ambassador."

"An ambassador of Pluto," Nico repeated. He had expected this, but until now, he had not thought to question it. "Why? Why now?"

"I have concerns," Hades said simply. "I pray I am wrong, but if I am right, you will need to know about the Romans." He disappeared.

Nico stared at the place where his father had been before heading away. He kept walking until he reached the Fields of Asphodel.

A girl with dark skin and wild, curly brown hair was there wandering around. She seemed almost bored. When she noticed Nico, she gasped.

"You're different," Nico said. "A child of Pluto. You remember your past."

"Yes," she said. "And you're alive."

Nico paused. "I'm Nico di Angelo," he finally said. "Son of… son of Pluto. Death has gone missing. You're my sister, and you deserve another chance. Will you come with me?"

"Hazel Levesque," she introduced herself. "Do you mean you can bring me back to life?"

"I can," Nico nodded. "I'll take you to a safe place. It's a camp for people like us. Demigods."

"Demigods," Hazel tested the word. Then she swallowed. "I… I can't. I'm cursed."

Nico gave her a sad look. She wasn't cursed. Not in the end. "The jewels. I know. I'll help you. I… I promise." He winced internally. He hated promises. An oath to keep with a final breath. It wasn't the promise to lead the crew to Espirus. It wasn't the promise to help Hazel last time. But there was supposed to be a promise that, according to the prophecy, someone would die trying to keep.

Hazel nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

.

Nico knew exactly where to go. When they left the Underworld, he shadow traveled himself and Hazel to the street across from the entrance to Camp Jupiter. He saw the two guards watching them.

"What was that?" Hazel gasped as a car zoomed past. "Is that a… a car?"

Nico grimaced. "Yeah. About that. The world has come pretty far. It's 2009 right now."

Hazel stared at the world around her with an opened mouth. "Nico, I… I can't do this. I died in the 1940s. How can I just-"

"I'm from the 40s too," Nico interrupted her. "My dad put me and my sister into the Lotus Casino Hotel. Time moves slower in there. I only got out a few years ago. It's a big change, but don't worry, Hazel. You're going to be… you're going to do fine."

"Who are you?" one of the guards asked as Nico and Hazel approached the camp entrance.

Nico looked him dead in the eyes. He hoped it was as unnerving as everyone said it was. "Nico di Angelo. My father sent me here to be his Ambassador. This is my sister Hazel Levesque. We're both children of Pluto."

Both guards' eyes widened. The exchanged nervous looks.

"Follow me," the second guard said quickly. "I'll take you to Reyna and Jason."

Nico flinched, probably noticeable, he thought with a scowl. Of course he would run into Jason. Jason hadn't disappeared yet.

"Michael," a voice said in surprise, knocking Nico out of his thoughts. "What are you doing? Don't you have guard duty?"

With a start, Nico realized the guard was Michael Kahale. Michael removed his helmet. "Praetor Grace. These two appeared at the entrance. They claim to be children of Pluto."

Jason Grace looked different without his glasses, Nico noted.

"State your names please," Jason requested.

"Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto," Hazel stammered.

Nico exhaled. "Nico di Angelo, son of Pluto. My father sent me to be his Ambassador."

Jason raised an eyebrow. "Ambassador of Pluto. You have a relationship with your father, then?"

"I do odd tasks here and there," Nico answered firmly. The same answers he had given before floated to the forefront of his memory. "Collecting rogue spirits and hellhounds mostly."

"Why has he sent you to be his Ambassador?"

"My father has his concerns," Nico stated plainly. "He does not want anything like what happened last summer to happen again."

Jason nodded. "Return to your post, legionnaire. Nico and Hazel, follow me." He lead them to the Principia. "Reyna, two children of Pluto." He gestured to Reyna who was clad in her purple cape and medals. "Nico, Hazel, this is Reyna. Reyna, this is Nico di Angelo and Hazel Levesque."

"You claim to be children of Pluto," Reyna said with an intrigued look.

Nico nodded. "As I told Praetor Grace, my father sent me here to become his ambassador. Along the way I found Hazel. My father told me who she was."

Reyna still had that distrustful look Nico so fondly remembered from their first meeting. He couldn't help but miss the Roman Praetor's friendship from their journey to deliver the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood.

.

"Where do you disappear to?" Hazel asked Nico.

Nico shrugged. "Wherever. I'm just trying to practice my shadow travel really. I don't want to be in trouble if I ever need to travel a long distance with a heavy load."

Hazel giggled. "You're anticipating a big travel mission?"

"I hope not," Nico answered. "If it ever comes to that… well, it wouldn't be the ideal situation to be in." He cringed internally knowing that he probably just confused Hazel.

"You're always saying things like this," Hazel sighed. "What happened in your past? What haven't you told me?" It went unsaid that he, Nico, knew about Hazel's past because she trusted him. Yet he didn't trust her enough to tell him anything.

Nico looked away. "I told you about Bianca. I want to tell you the rest, Hazel, but I can't. There are certain forces at work. If I interfere… it would be bad."

"Certain forces. Like Jason's disappearance?"

Nico didn't answer, but he thought his silence more or less confirmed Hazel's thinking.

.

The next day, Percy Jackson showed up carrying a goddess.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, show me Annabeth at Camp Half-Blood," Nico said as he tossed a gold drachma into the rainbow he made from the mist spray.

The connection was awful as expected. Iris was a Greek goddess and Nico was calling from a Roman camp. But he could make out Annabeth sitting in the Poseidon cabin alone.

"Annabeth!"

The blonde haired daughter of Athena looked up. She smiled. "Nico! It's good to see you. Will misses you," she added slyly.

Nico scowled. "Well I called to say that I have some important news, but if that's how you want to be, then I'll just go now."

"Okay, fine," Annabeth sighed. "What is it?"

"Percy's here," Nico said.

Annabeth's face lit up. "He is? You're not joking right? He's at Camp Jupiter?"

"Yeah," Nico nodded. "I haven't talked to him yet. I don't know if he remembers me."

"That's okay," Annabeth sighed happily. "Oh gods, Nico. Okay, the ship's almost ready. We'll be setting off on the 24th."

"The Feast of Fortuna," Nico said. "Great. I'll see you then."

"Maybe not," Annabeth bit her lip. "Octavian will be upset if he finds out you're Greek."

"I'm coming with you," Nico said firmly. "I don't really care what Octavian thinks. Also, I gave the eidolons a thought. They're basically ghosts or spirits. You should be able to keep yourselves protected if you wear something made of iron. As long as the iron has skin contact, the eidolons can't possess anyone."

Annabeth thanked Nico and promised to pass on the information. Then she cut the connection.

"Hey," Hazel's voice called. "I've brought a friend."

Nico turned around. Unlike before, he didn't panic upon seeing Percy.

"This is Percy Jackson," Hazel said. "He's a good guy. Percy, this is my brother, the son of Pluto."

Nico held out his hand. "Pleased to meet you," he said. "I'm Nico di Angelo."

A/N: Obviously we don't know how exactly Nico found out about Camp Jupiter, just that Hades told him before he got Hazel. As for the whole thing about the "oath to keep with a final breath," neither Percy nor Annabeth nor Nico really know what that refers to.

I know these last few chapters kinda jumped around a bit. Just trying to get some different perspectives in with Jason, Leo, and Nico.