This one's around the time when Nico runs away from camp in TTC via the labyrinth, and eventually end up in the Underworld. The Titan's Curse is my favourite book of the saga, so I really took inspiration from it. I also noticed Hades isn't mentioned in the Winter Council when he should've been there, and I decided to give it a reason why.

Hope you guys enjoy!

PJO belongs to Rick Riordan.

Hades didn't attend that year's Winter Solstice Meeting in Olympus. His daughter's death –even if he hadn't claimed Bianca in time- was much too fresh for him to face his family. He knew his two nephews would be there, and that both Zeus and Poseidon would praise their respective offsprings as if they had saved the world alone. He'd never attend just to hear how his daughter's name had been forgotten. And how another of his children had been set aside. Again.

So he stayed forseeing that Bianca's arrival was as smooth as he could manage without directly interfearing with the whole thing. He hoped at least they'd manage to keep Nico safe. There shouldn't be a reason for his son to be put in danger, after all, Chiron was a good teacher, and once the other campers had warmed up to his boy, he's officially claim him. That way, even when the others found out the truth, he hoped they'd accept Nico was no different from any other demigod, albeit more powerful.

He was reasonably surprised, then, when roughly a week after the whole ordeal he was told by one of him lieutenants that there was a living boy running around his domain.

His first thoughts had gone to Jackson, that insuferable brat with impetuous manner was surely running some errand for his father. He went to investigate, opting to stay in the shadows, using them to his advantage.

What he certainly didn't expect was his supposedly well protected son lighting a little fire by the Styx. Honestly, he thought. Could it be that hard for his children to be taken care of in that useless camp?

He opted for leaving the kid alone. After all, Nico would surely find a way to the giant black castle in the distance on his own. But then he heard the boy snif.

Regardless of his own cold nature, Hades couldn't leave his son alone and upset; he was so young, unprepared for the harshness of the world. And he looked so small and defenseless.

In the dim light of the kid's gloomy fire he could see reflected the face of Maria di Angelo. It reminded the Lord of the Underworld of the few times he saw the woman cry. What would she say if he left Nico alone to fend for himself?

With that thought in mind, and the warm memory of the Italian woman he'd fallen for so many years ago, he stepped into the light.

Nico's eyes widened with fear, "I..." he stuttered, a vague spark of reconition lighting his features. "I'm sorry I'm here. I'm lost."

"I am not here to kick you out," Hades explained calmly.

"Oh," his son replied, looking confused. "But you are Hades, right? I though it had to be you, unless Persephone likes to go around disguising herself as a dude... Which is fine, of course! Or unless this isn't the land of the dead, and then I'm even more lost than I..."

Hades raised his hand in a gesture for him to stop talking. He'd almost forgotten how fast his kid could talk.

"Sorry," Nico mumbled. "I don't realise when I talk too much."

"I have come to offer you a place to rest," Hades admitted.

"You have?" he raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I don't mean to insult you, but you don't strike me as the kind of god who offers help around just because. I can't pay you."

Hades breathed deeply. How was he supposed to tell this kid that he was his father? And, gods, how was he going to tell his wife about his kid with another woman?

"You do not know who your godly parent is?" he asked, at last.

The boy shook his head and looked down. Hades had to teach him some manners, if he hadn't been his son, he'd have incinerated the kid for lack of respect.

"You're my son," the God of the Dead stated.

Nico stared at him in shock. His expressions as easy to read as an open book: astonishment, bemusement, undestanding, anger and hurt. And then, even if Hades was reluctant to consider it, he saw a small thread of hope.

"You could've helped Bianca," the boy mumbled as a new set of tears clouded his eyes. "You let her die!"

"I could not," he remarked. "And you should be more respectful around deities. I did not come here to talk about your sorrows."

He saw Nico swallow a comment that would've most likely been impulsive and of little wisdom.

"You offered a place to rest?" the boy asked, cleaning his dirty face with his sleeve. "I could do with a roof over my head."

Hades nodded his head curtly, "Follow me," he ordered.

As they got closer to the castle, Hades stole a few glances towards his son. He looked broken, in need of a home. He could not offer a warm, cuddly family, but at least he could give the child a few meals and a bed to rest. How was he going to tell Persephone, though? That was a mystery even to him, but he couldn't just leave his own kid out in the dangers of a world he'd barely just discovered.