AN: Thanks again for reading and reviewing! So pleased people are enjoying this. I'm thinking hard about keeping the right balance between Percico and Zagreus' plottings.

Within a second, Percy had leapt to his feet and drawn his sword.

"Stop!" Nico shouted at him, terrified for both of them, but more for Percy. Zagreus was a god, he would outclass Percy in a fight in a second.. "You have to listen to him first! Please!"

Percy glared at Zagreus, sword still drawn. "Well?" he said, "Nico says I should listen to you. So talk."

Zagreus held his head to one side. He seemed older, once again. Maybe like a teenager, thirteen or fourteen. He looked at Percy as though he were a mosquito: annoying enough to kill because of the itchy bite he might leave, but nothing more. "I could squash you like an ant, Percy Jackson," said Zagreus, voice steady and with a sneer, "You know this, and yet you continue to behave as though you are worthy of a second thought. It is an interesting quality, though I suspect it is founded by stupidity."

If Percy had been an animal, Nico suspected he would have snarled. As it was he had trouble keeping his temper. "I've defeated bigger and uglier than you, whatever your name is," he said. "Though I would like to know the name of your plastic surgeon. Whoever managed to staple you back together after you were digested by titans must be a genius."

"You looked me up," Zagreus said with a nod, "I'm impressed. I didn't think someone as rash as you could have learned to read."

"Yeah," said Percy, "all those Greek letters make perfect sense to me, but you can't even exist, can you?"

Zagreus smirked at him. "I'm standing in front of you, Percy Jackson, you can clearly see I exist. But I am perfectly willing to give a more thorough proof should you desire."

"Who are you?" Percy demanded, and though Nico wanted nothing more than to stop Percy talking right now, he also wanted to know the answer to that question.

"I am Zagreus," said Zagreus. "I was born to Zeus and Gaia, I was murdered by titans and I am reborn to take my rightful place."

"And what is your rightful place?" asked Percy with a sneer? "A prison in the underworld?"

Zagreus sighed. "You are a rude child," he said, voice growing in strength though not volume, "I can see what Nico likes about you, but you are very annoying. I do not wish to bind you again, but if you continue waving your weapon around you will give me no choice." The full strength of his black eyes burned on Percy. "Now sit down."

For the first time in his life, Nico saw Percy speechless. In fact, his knees wavered as though he were about to do exactly as he was told. But he managed to stay standing.

Zagreus raised an eyebrow. "A strong-willed, rude child," he said. "You are an impressive creature. But I have had enough. Sit."

This time, Percy dropped to the bed as though he had no choice, and looked surprised by himself. Zagreus looked satisfied, and turned his full dark gaze to Nico, who found himself shaking.

"Nico," Zagreus greeted, warmly.

Nico's heart was pounding. He had never met someone who could make Percy Jackson behave with the sheer power of his words and will. It was more than a cheap trick like the ropes. Zagreus was more than Zeus, all pride and rage like a storm. More than Kronos, all hatred and malice. There was something in Zagreus that Nico couldn't help but love.

"Who are you?" Nico asked. The question that had been plaguing him. If this… person wasn't Zagreus as he claimed, who was he?

"I have told you my name, Nico," said Zagreus.

"But Zagreus the god was destroyed," said Nico, "Chiron told us how. It shouldn't be possible for you to be here."

"But I am here, Nico," said Zagreus, "I remember being in my father's house, I remember being loved and cared for, and I remember being murdered. And I remember thousands of years as an infant, waiting in the underworld for you to free me. But I cannot tell you what happened in between those times. I did not exist."

"And you promise me you're not lying?" Nico asked. He knew it deep, down that, Zagreus was telling the truth, but he had to ask.

"I promise never to lie to you, Nico," said Zagreus. "You are my brother."

"Not if you're Zagreus," said Nico, "You're the son of Zeus. That makes you my cousin."

"I believe that I have been reborn to Hades," said Zagreus. "It is complicated. But you are my brother, Nico. I know that. I will take care of you. You will want for nothing."

"But what do you want, Zagreus?" Nico asked, fearfully. Fearfully, because he didn't know if he actually wanted an answer.

"I told you, Nico," said Zagreus, gently, "I want to save everyone."

"But what does that mean?" Nico asked, desperately. Percy words about giants and titans still rang in his ears.

"The gods of Olympus are petty, jealous, proud and foolish," said Zagreus. "One of them killed me through jealousy, and I know this is the least of their evils."

"They're our parents," said Nico. "Our family."

"And I have no wish to harm them," Zagreus replied, "I love my fathers and mothers, and feel no ill will to any of my family who have done me no harm."

"But you want to be rid of them?" Percy wasn't quite as cowed as he had seemed. He asked that question with no small amount of scorn, but only very quietly.

"I have warned you, Percy Jackson," said Zagreus. He clicked his fingers and the sheets under Percy wrapped around the lower half of his face.

"Percy!" shouted Nico, running to him.

"He is not harmed, Nico," Zagreus told him in a loud, clear voice. "He is perfectly able to breathe, but I do not wish him to interrupt our discussion again."

Percy was grabbing at the sheets, desperately, but Nico could hear him breathing, loudly in his panic, but clearly safely. Nico put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "It's OK, Percy," he said, "You're OK, calm down."

Zagreus stepped closer "Nico, I need to speak with you."

"Speak to me?" Nico repeated. "Look what you're doing!"

"He is fine," Zagreus snapped. "Come sit by me and listen to my request."

Nico couldn't just accept that. "Zagreus, let Percy go!"

"I am not hurting him," Zagreus insisted. "Come."

He put a hand on Nico's shoulder, and with a strength that took Nico by surprise, pulled him away from the panicking Percy.

"Nico, I need your help."

"My help?" Nico repeated, his attention still on Percy and his struggles.

"I need the support of a child of Hades, Poseidon or Zeus." Zagreus explained, gently.

"Why?" asked Nico, but he was still not able to pay full attention to Zagreus, "Look, Percy won't talk, can't you just…"

Zagreus did not seem interested in Percy's well being, "If I am to win control of the gods, I need power over them."

Nico closed his eyes. It was as he had dreaded; Zagreus was intending to attack Olympus.

Zagreus had both hands on Nico's shoulders, giving Nico every ounce of his attention: "I will reward you beyond measure, Nico. You will be powerful beyond your dreams, you will wish for nothing. Nico, I will make you a god." Nico could only stare at him. Zagreus was showing him more love and care than Nico had ever experienced. His eyes were alight with passion, "You will have everything you want, the world at your feet…"

Nico glanced at Percy. His eyes were wide. He was looking at Nico pleadingly. He was begging him without words.

"No," said Nico.

Zagreus didn't seem to hear, "You can have anyone you want, take any slave you choose, any…"

"No, Zagreus!" Nico repeated,

"You will live in paradise, decide the laws with me, make them fair…"

"No, Zagreus!" Nico repeated, "I will not fight my family."

Zagreus stopped and looked at him sadly.

But Nico didn't just need to say no to the suggestion, he needed Zagreus to see what he was doing. "Zagreus, look what you've done to Percy! How can I join your side? Against my father? Against my friends? Against people I care about?"

Zagreus frowned. He clicked his fingers and Nico heard the sheet fall away, and Percy scramble to his feet, ready to attack.

"I am sorry you feel that way, Nico," Zagreus said, darkly.

The edge to that voice made Nico shiver. He'd rejected the request of a being more than capable of destroying him. And Percy. In fact, the only reason Percy wasn't dead already was that Zagreus had listened to Nico. What if that was it now? What if Zagreus had no further use for either of them?

He felt Percy step up beside him, and slip a hand into his. Maybe he was having the same thoughts as Nico. Maybe both expected to die now.

"Don't worry," said Zagreus, "I understand. But you should know that I will find another way."

Percy's grip tightened as Zagreus' gaze shifted to him. "I can succeed with any child of the elder gods," said Zagreus. "If I offered you the world, Percy Jackson, would you side with me?"

"No," said Percy, though with only half of his usual confidence.

"Very well," said Zagreus. "There are other ways."

He disappeared with no further comment.

Nico gasped. He hadn't realised that he'd stopped breathing during those last few moments.

He heard Percy's equally relieved reaction, "I thought we were dead," he breathed.

"Yeah," said Nico, "me too."

Percy looked at him. "I'm proud of you," he said.

"What?" Nico asked, still thinking about what Zagreus would do next.

"For turning him down," said Percy, "For a moment there I…"

"You thought I would try to kill my own dad?" Nico finished for him.

"No…" Percy replied.

"Yes, you did," said Nico.

"Look, I just meant, I know he's persuasive…"

"I don't want to talk about this Percy," Nico snapped. "You know he just asked both of us to help him. Who do you think he'll go for next?"

"Dunno, maybe… Thalia?"

"Or Jason," said Nico, "or Hazel. And who knows if there's anyone else yet?"

"But none of them will agree," said Percy.

That caused another stab of annoyance in Nico, "Oh really?" he said sulkily, "you just said you'd thought I would."

"Nico!" Percy protested.

"No, it's fine," said Nico, unable to stop himself sounding like a whining teenager, "It's just me you don't trust. I get it."

"I do trust you, Nico!" Percy protested. "I just meant I could see how much you care for him."

"Oh whatever," said Nico, still stroppy, "what do we do now?"

Percy sighed. "What can we do?" he said. "It's too big for just me and you. You saw what happened, he told me to sit down and I just did! Like some kid! We need help."

"From who?" asked Nico, knowing the answer.

"The gods," said Percy.

Nico closed his eyes. Now he knew he was dead.

...xxx...xxx…

"What happened?" asked Prometheus as Zagreus appeared in their icy temporary home in Alaska.

"He does not yet understand my cause," said Zagreus, trying to stay calm. "That Jackson boy was with him, and Jackson is Nico's weakness. When I rule, Jackson will know what it is to be weak."

Prometheus smiled, "Not a fan of the 'saviour of Olympus', I see. A man after my own heart."

"Not at all," said Zagreus, "he is strong and loyal and brave. I simply intend to teach him some humility. One day he will fight as one of my trusted and loyal soldiers."

Prometheus looked at him sharply, "Percy Jackson is like a rat," hissed Prometheus, "he seems harmless, a pathetic human fighting a losing war, but he is clever and sneaky and..."

"I will not underestimate Percy Jackson," Zagreus interrupted. "This is exactly why I will one day have him at my side."

Prometheus sneered. Zagreus let it slide. The time would come to show them both their true place in the new order, but it would have to wait.

"The other children of the elder gods, give me their names," he instructed Prometheus.

The titan frowned. "What, no please?"

Zagreus regarded him steadily. Maybe now was the time to illustrate his superiority after all.

"Prometheus," he said, coldly, "you are a good advisor and wise. I value your counsel, but do not think for a moment that we are equals."

"You are a child," snapped Prometheus, "you succeed or fail by my support and you will do well to remember it."

Zagreus smiled. He understood this need to rebel. He did still look like a child, and it would be wounding to Prometheus' pride not to try to take charge. But he couldn't allow it to happen. "I heard, Prometheus, that my father had you chained to a rock and your liver repeatedly eaten by vultures for thousands of years."

Prometheus shivered at the word 'vultures' but otherwise showed no distress.

"What of it, boy?" he said, scornfully.

"I understand he needed the support of followers to do such a thing, to hold you down, to attach the chains..." said Zagreus, conversationally.

"Of course," Prometheus answered. "Followers you don't have, so don't you dare try to threaten me!"

"No," said Zagreus, "I have no followers, but you. But I do not need them."

He extended a hand. Prometheus watched him, still unimpressed, still trying to show his own power, but unable to sway Zagreus. His hand reached Prometheus' face where it hovered for a few moments.

"What are you d...?" Prometheus began.

Suddenly the titan froze. His face drooped with fear and confusion. He let out a whimper.

"Hush," said Zagreus, "This will not harm you. It is a punishment, but it will pass. When it is over you will be my advisor once more."

"What... what's..."

"Hush, Prometheus," Zagreus repeated, "Not long now."

Prometheus groaned. Before Zagreus' eyes, his hair grew and greyed, his skin shrivelled, his eyes dimmed. He gasped and drooped and wheezed until he stood before Zagreus a weak old man.

Zagreus released him.

The titan slipped to the floor, but Zagreus caught him and lowered him gently.

"Hush, Prometheus," he repeated when the titan wheezed, "I have simply aged you."

"Aged?" the titan repeated, voice a croak of misery.

"Yes," Zagreus confirmed, "I have stolen two hundred years of your life. But as your life is eternal this will not affect you greatly. You will return to strength soon enough and until then I will care for you."

The titan gasped, wheezed and coughed. He tried to move, but he was winded, tired and helpless.

"Hush," said Zagreus, "be still. I will feed you nectar and ambrosia. We will find a way to get to the other children when you are well again."

Prometheus swallowed around his dry throat, "You... you..."

"Hush now," Zagreus said. "I am here. I will look after you."

He shadow-travelled them to a bed where he held Prometheus' head in his lap and stroked hair from his eyes. The titan's whimpers diminished until he relaxed, and Zagreus plotted his next move.

...xxx...xxx...

"So we came to you," Percy finished. He'd recounted the whole sorry tale of their interactions with Zagreus to a frowning Chiron. Nico had sat silently by his side. He hadn't even bothered defending his actions in taking the kid in the first place, which Percy found intensely annoying. He was having a hard time not making Nico seem like a bad guy here.

"You did not tell me this straight away Percy," said Chiron, "I am disappointed that you did not feel you could trust me."

"Er..." said Percy, glancing once more at Nico, who stayed infuriatingly silent, "We thought he might be... you know... nice."

"This is still no reason not to tell me, Percy," said Chiron, his heavy eyes now shifting to Nico and assessing him. His meaning couldn't be clearer. He felt the blame for Percy's new found lack of candor lay at the feet of Nico di Angelo. And still Nico didn't defend himself.

"It wasn't distrust," Percy explained, "we didn't know what to think."

"And now we have a new deity trying to destroy Olympus," Chiron said quietly in that voice designed to make them feel bad. Percy felt Nico beside him, still motionless, still not even trying to fight his own corner. He'd battled Percy so vehemently since they'd met Zagreus that this silence was unsettling. Percy wondered if it was a sulk at being proved wrong, but Nico's depression seemed much more developed than such a childish emotion.

"I don't know if he's trying to destroy it exactly," said Percy, because he thought it was what Nico would have answered before he gave up. "He said he didn't wish them harm."

Chiron's shoulders were stiff, his face serious and stern. "If he speaks the truth then he is Zagreus, prophesied to bring about the destruction of Zeus. This is a threat we must treat as seriously as we did the titans or the giants."

"And the one who gave him freedom must be treated as the traitor he is," said an angry, vicious voice at the door way.

Percy flinched at the sound. A furious Dionysus stood in the doorway, eyes glowing and his entire being buzzing. Percy knew what was coming. He stood, ready to run, but he could already hear the vines creaking through the floorboards. They crept up his legs, silently but far stronger than such tiny plants should be. He struggled, but they held fast, and he could see the same happening to Nico beside him, but the son of Hades didn't even bother to move. He seemed to just submit to this treatment.

"What are you going to do?" Percy asked the god of wine. Nico's silence and depression seemed to be stealing his own fight, and no insubordination came to mind.

"I'm going to drag you before the council of course," said Dionysus, a nasty smirk on his mouth, "It's time they knew the truth about their golden Percy Jackson."

AN: Reviews?