Percy looked up as he heard footsteps approaching the cell.
The cell he was in was dark with no windows. With him in there was a bruised, beaten, near starving Annabeth and a laurel tree. Percy himself didn't look too good either. Under his ripped, ragged camp shirt, Percy's ribs were showing from the small meal they got every day or so. If it wasn't for his Achilles Curse, he would be littered with cuts and gashes all over him.
The reason why the footsteps caught his attention was that they had just gotten food, and their cell was in an out of the way place. All the cells around them were empty, so the only time people or monsters came down here was to give them meals or beat them.
Looking as best he could through the bars, Annabeth and him watched as six guards approached, two for each prisoner.
The first one was a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes. He had a gash running down one arm and he, along with the two others, wore purple shirt that faintly read Camp Jupiter. He was struggling against his guards, not that it did much. He looked angry and was continually glaring at them, his glare reminding Percy of a wolf.
The next was a girl who had long, black hair that was pulled back in a braid. She had various cuts on her, and her brown eyes just stared forward. She didn't struggle against her captures, but walked with her head help high. She seemed to not want to show any weakness to the enemy, keeping a regal heir around her.
The last was an Asian looking guy with a babyish face and military-cut black hair, his brown eyes looking around nervously. His guards were practically pulling him forward. In one hand, the boy clutched a burnt piece of wood, his knuckles turning white from how tightly he was holding it.
The three teens were thrown into the cell in front of theirs which the guards clanged shut and locked before departing back down the hall. As soon as they were out of earshot, the three new (assumed) demigods began to argue with each other.
"Frank, you should have stayed with the rest of the Legion! Then you might have had a chance to escape!" Blonde complained to Frank.
"But I couldn't just leave my two Praetors to face those monsters alone!" The fear had left Frank's face. "Jason, we both know you and Reyna didn't stand a chance."
"Even if we didn't, we were supposed to at least stall them long enough for the others to get to a safe place, which they hopefully did." Reyna responded, some still having the royal air even in a jail cell. "Now we need to focus on getting out of here. There must be some flaw in the design that we can use to our advantage."
"Not one that we can exploit right now." Annabeth spoke up, causing Jason, Reyna, and Frank look over at them.
"Who are you?" Jason spoke up, looking at them suspiciously.
"I'm Percy, that's Annabeth, and that," Percy pointed at the Laurel in the corner sadly. "That's Grover." As Percy said his name, Grover shook slightly. The Laurel had grown while they had been here, and one of its branches went into a crack in the ground. From the plant came a ghostly figure of a satyr.
"Nice to see you guys are making friends, but Tyson just gave me an update on the escape plans!" Ghost-Grover's voice was urgent. "Tyson and Hephaestus say that the diversion is coming along nicely. Give or take a year until it will be done, since they can only work on it at odd and end moments."
"Thanks Grover."
"Whoa, you're friends with a faun? And don't you mean Vulcan?" Jason questioned.
"Vulcan… isn't that Roman?" Annabeth said thoughtfully. "We need to talk."
Nico's first DADA class was interesting to say the least. He was certainly surprised to enter the class room and find that they weren't going to use their wands, but opened his book and tried to read it all the same. After a handful of minutes and managing a few paragraphs, Nico gave up and turned his gaze to Hermione, whose hand was straight in the air. After that, he watched curiously at the events that followed, voices being raised, hands shooting into the air. Nico finally took a stand when Harry was going out the door to McGonagall's office.
"Excuse me miss, but I would like to add something on this matter." Nico kindly raised his hand and put on a innocent expression, like the one he had when he first met Percy.
"And who might you be?" Umbridge asked. Harry hung by the door.
"I am Nico Di Angelo miss, and Cedric Diggory didn't die of normal causes, nor an accident. And I would also like to make sure you know that next week on Wednesday, I will be teaching my class of fifth years instead of you. Finally, as a last remark…" Nico grabbed his quill and threw it, the class watching in stunned silence as it sailed through the air until it hit the toad's fly-like bow, pulling it off her head until it thunked against the wall. Nico smoothly spun around and walked out the door.
"I guess I'll see you at the next week of detention Umbridge."
Nothing interesting happened in the rest of the classes that day, nor any in the morning of the next, the majority just seeming to be there to occupy him until his detention came, leaving him to wonder what type of torture he would have to endure. The only lesson that caught him was Care of Magical Creatures.
Today they were studying Bowtruckle's, miniature nymphs that live only in tree's that wood is used for wands. As he got close and started his drawing of the creatures, one of them came up to him, tilting its head in a confused manner, as if asking a question. Holding out his hand, the Bowtruckle landed on it.
"I'm sorry, but my aunt may not be back for years, possibly never. I know it's already hard for you with Pan being gone, but try to hold out, okay?" The nymph sadly nodded and got off his hand, landing on his paper and grabbing his quill, scratching out some things and drawing in others, until by the end of the lesson Nico had an incredibly detailed image of a Bowtruckle. Giving an incredibly rare and small smile, Nico thanked the creature and returned to the castle, continuing his wait for the detention until it finally came.
Nico left the common room with Harry as they set down to Umbridge's office. Neither spoke to the other, avoiding each other's gaze as they came to a stop at the toads office. Harry knocked and they were let in. She smiled at them from her desk, the room having a theme of pink and kittens. Nico glared at them.
They sat down and stared at Umbridge, awaiting for instructions. She sat there writing for a moment, probably relishing the suspense they were in before finally acknowledging.
"It's so good to see that you have come. Today for detention you two will be doing lines. Here is a quill and a paper. Please write 'I must not tell lies' Potter and di Angelo. You may begin." They both picked up a quill began to write. As they did so, Harry gave a gasp of pain as the letters carved into his hand. Nico on the other hand, wasn't bothered by it in the slightest. He had been through so much worse. While he wrote the letters over and over with his own blood, his mind wandered, thinking about the last time he saw his dad.
Flashback start****
Nico was trying to convince his dad to try and join the war between the gods and the titans, but his dad kept refusing.
"Dad, please, my friends are out their! If we don't do something, life as we know it may cease to exist." Nico pleaded.
"My family never cared for me; I see no reason to help them!" Hades growled back. Nico finally broke, his patience running dry.
"Fine, you be like that. You stay down here and sulk. I'm going to go out there and try to make a difference!" Nico stalked out, not letting his dad see the tears streaming down his face as the prospect hit him even now that, one way or another, this may be the last time he ever saw his dad. What Nico didn't see, however, was his dad, hiding his face behind one of his enormous hands, trying to hide a stray tear himself, mumbling under his breath.
"What have I just done?"
Hey there everyone! Finally updated! I'm going to admit that I have read House of Hades, and the interesting part of Nico in that book. (For those of you who didn't read it, I won't say what it is.)
I will not be including this here because I started this fanfiction before that book. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please review!