Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Story: Guardians of Light and Justice
Chapter 15: The Underworld Revolution, Part 1
Nico's POV
I shadow traveled from Olympus directly to the River Styx. Once, I entered the darkness of the underworld my eyesight compensated immediately, one of the perks of being a son of Hades. I walked down the familiar shore line until I approached a small wooden dock. I walked up the three creaky steps to the top of the platform. A small celestial bronze bell hung from an old rotted wooden pole. I reached up, and pulled the bell chord, the bell clanged loudly. In the distance, I saw a mist envelope the river, as I looked toward the mist I could see movement. After a few minutes, I could see a dark black wooden gondola moving through the water towards me. At the back of the boat dressed in his dark robes was Charon. He pushed a long wooden pole into the water pushing the boat slowly forward. Charon finally reached the wooden dock, and eyed me closely.
"Prince Nico, it has been a long time." Charon said, he wore the closest thing to a smile that the ferryman ever showed.
"Yes, it has, did my dad give you that raise that I promised you?" I asked with a wry smile.
"Yes, thanks to you, but I'm sure its time for another." Charon said. I looked at my old friend, and tried to smile, but he could tell I was worried about something. "What is wrong my prince?"
"I wish I was here on a normal visit, unfortunately this visit is official guardian business." I said. When I said guardian, Charon looked at me with wide eyes.
"What's going on?" Charon asked.
"Take me to my dad's palace, and I will explain on the way." I said. Charon motioned for me to board the boat, which I did thankfully. We moved through the water quickly, I explained the situation to Charon. He was completely shocked.
"Who could lead an uprising against your father?" Charon asked.
"A good question, I'm hoping my father knows. Either way, we need to get the army prepared, I'm not one to question Percy when he has a vision like this. I understand that the battle against Oceanus has already begun, so that part of his vision has come true." I said. Charon nodded grimly.
"Then it is a good thing that you've come to help your father." Charon said. After he said that we reached the rocky shore of the promontory that the great palace of Hades sat upon. I said my goodbyes to Charon, and began the arduous trek to the palace. I reached the gate to my father's palace, and I was greeted by a three headed hellhound that I knew all too well, Cerberus.
"Hello boy" I said as I rubbed behind one of his ears. Cerberus rubbed one of his massive heads against my leg like a giant cat. "I'm sorry I can't stay and play, I need to see my dad." I patted him on the head before I walked through the gate towards my father's palace. I finally reached the large black Stygian iron door, I knocked using the metal knocker that was in the shape of a hellhound. The door immediately opened, but no one was there, then I remembered most of my father's palace was controlled through magic. I heard a guitar playing, so I followed the noise until I reached the large living room. There in the middle of the room with a guitar in his hands was my father. He was playing a Led Zeppelin song, and pretty well.
I cleared my throat. "Dad" I said. Hades looked up, and his eyes grew big with recognition.
"Nico, my boy." Hades said as he sat down his guitar, and walked toward me. He grabbed my shoulders, and looked at me closely. "Immortality agrees with you, son." I just smiled back at him, then I remembered why I was here.
"Dad, I wish I was here just for a visit, but I'm here on official guardian business." I said. Hades gave me a curious stare as he considered my statement.
"So what does Jackson need from me now?" Hades asked hesitantly. I gave him a reassuring smile.
"Percy doesn't want anything from you, he sent me to help you." I said. Hades looked at me warily.
"Help me with what?" Hades asked suspiciously.
"Percy had a dream that Oceanus would attack his dad, the Hand would attack Los Angeles, and that there would be an uprising in the underworld." I said emphasizing the last part. The look on my father's face was pure astonishment.
"There has never been an uprising in the underworld." Hades stated.
"I know dad, but part of Percy's dream has come true, Atlantis is under attack from Oceanus." I said. My dad stared off towards the flames in his fire place, I knew he was thinking everything over.
"So you're here to help in case this uprising happens?" Hades questioned.
"Yes, just like Percy, he's in Atlantis helping his dad." I said. "But dad, who could lead an uprising in the underworld?" I could tell my father was about to think over that question when we were interrupted by a familiar voice.
"How about Tartarus or Thanatos?" Persephone said as she walked into the room looking as beautiful as ever. She wore a long flowing black dress with her dark brown hair flowing passed her shoulders. Her piercing brown eyes could mesmerize most men.
"Mom" I said. After the war Persephone asked me to call her mom, at first I was unsure, but I grew to love her like a mother. She no longer treated me like a bastard child, she loved me like her son. She was one of the few people beside Athena and Percy that knew about Thalia. She promised to never tell my father as she knew only bad things could come from it.
"They certainly are a possibility, those two never liked serving me." Hades said. My dad thought about that for a few more seconds. "What is their overall plan, son?"
"Percy thinks they want to defeat you and Poseidon, if that happens, they believe Olympus would be much easier to defeat." I said.
"So their afraid that Poseidon and I would ride in for the rescue?" My father said with pride in his voice.
"Yes, just like last time." I said. My father gave me a proud smile, but it quickly left followed by a concerned look that I knew all too well. "What's wrong dad?"
"What if Tartarus and Thanatos are working together?" Hades asked.
"We better get the army mobilized." I said.
"Let's go." Hades said as he walked over to Persephone, and kissed her passionately. I guess their relationship is going pretty well. I followed my father when Persephone grabbed my arm.
"Take care of yourself and your father." Persephone said as she leaned forward, and kissed me on the cheek. I gave her a hopeful smile, and followed my father out of the palace. We walked to a large field just outside of the palace.
"Nico, my boy, lets raise our army." Hades said as he grabbed my hand, I could feel the power run through me. I focused on the grounds around us, the earth began to shake, and suddenly skeleton warriors began to pull themselves out of the ground. Some were soldiers from world war two clad in familiar uniforms with their helmets and weapons. Other soldiers were from older time periods; I saw civil war era soldiers, Roman legions, Greek hoplites, American revolution soldiers, and Macedonian calvary. There were over three thousand soldiers before us. My father signaled with a loud whistle; one hundred hellhounds approached us with Cerberus in the lead. They took their position within the arm. We marched down the hill of the promontory until we reached the great plain that connected my fathers palace to the other areas of the underworld such as Elysium, Asphodel, the Isle of the Blest, and the Great Pit that led to Tartarus.
Once we settled on the edge of the great plain, we waited for our enemy. We began to hear loud footfalls and noises that sounded like monsters approaching. We looked toward the other side of the plain, and what I saw shocked me to my core. On the other side of the plain was a tremendous collection of the largest and ugliest monsters I had ever seen. Hundreds of monsters stood together in the oddest assortment I had ever seen before. There were giants with multiple heads and grotesque faces, large serpents that looked like a combination of snakes and lizards, and lastly there were bat-like creatures that had wingspans of over twenty feet. Some flew in circles in the air, while other walked along the ground on all fours. I could see that they had foot long fangs that hung from their mouths, they looked like giant vampire bats.
Once my father saw these creatures, I could see the look of worry on his face. I knew that these monsters were unlike any that he remembered in recent times. I saw my father stare closely at our enemy, and then I saw his eyes grow big. I followed his gaze until I saw to men or in this case gods standing near one side of the monster army. The first man looked like he was around eighteen, he had black wings, and wore silver army. He had black hair and black eyes. It had to be Thanatos. The second man was also a god, but he looked much older, years older than my dad. I stared at this god closely; he wore blood red armor that seemed slick like it was covered in blood. He had black hair as the other god, but his eyes were red, but unlike any red I had ever seen. The color seemed dull and lifeless, almost like a pool of dark blood that seemed to suck the oxygen out of the room. As his gaze fell upon me, he seemed to transfer images of torment, hate, and nothingness into my mind. I stopped looking at him, and I was able to shake off that feeling.
"Tartarus" My father whispered, he almost sounded intimidated by this god. My father looked at me calmly, but his eyes showed anger, fear, hate, and courage all rolled together. "My boy, you were right this is an uprising. Stay close to me, we will need to cover each others backs during this fight. Whatever you do, don't stare into Tartarus's eyes when you fight him. If you can concentrate on Thanatos, I'll take Tartarus." I gave my father a nod of acceptance. My father walked to the front of his army, and turned around to face his warriors.
"War has come to the underworld, it is up to us to put down this betrayal, I give all of you power to live and to fight. I accept your loyalty and your service. Your courage and commitment shall not go unrewarded. We fight for our realm, we fight for the underworld. Destruction to our enemies." The skeleton warriors screamed with excitement and the hellhounds howled. My father placed the helm of darkness on his head, and extended his sword into the air. "Attack!" Our army charged forward, my father and I ran side by side as we closed the distance between forces, and all I could think of was this would be the greatest battle the underworld had ever seen.
AN: Sorry for the delay in this update. I plan to switch off between battles.