AN: I cannot apologise for how rubbish I've been. I put it down for feeling massively crap for the drama you can all read about in previous chapters. Anyway, I intend to write some more. Hopefully. This one's short, but I wanted to save up the big scene.

Enjoy!

Nico and Percy ran.

They must have had some sort of fortune on their side, as they ran down corridor and corridor, coming across no one save the odd half-blood who Nico or Percy were more than able to incapacitate. They took a few tries before they found an exit, where they took a couple of monstrous guards by surprise. They were gone before any attempt to stop them could gather any speed, and Nico dragged Percy towards a shadow on the outside of the gate, and travelled.

He had barely bothered deciding where, just thought 'away', as far from wherever they were right now as he could get.

He landed breathlessly on a hard floor. Percy landed on top of him.

"Nico!" he gasped, "Are you ok?"

Nico stared up at him, that beautiful, passionate face inches from his own, and smiled.

Percy smiled too. "There you are," he said.

Nico quirked an eyebrow. "What?"

"There you are," said Percy, "You've been missing for a while."

"What are you talking about? I've spent more time with you in the last few days than the last six years!"

Percy stroked his face, "I know, but I just missed you. Happy you, I mean."

Nico kept eye contact, "I haven't had much reason to be happy for a while."

"You're beautiful when you smile," said Percy.

Nico was sure he was flushing bright red.

Percy grinned wider, dipped his head and brushed his lips gently against Nico's. Nico wondered if he could ever get used to it, those lips against his own. He wanted the chance to find out.

Percy pulled back and smiled again. "Where did you take us?" he asked.

"I don't know," said Nico.

They looked around themselves, not really wanting to break this contact. Percy frowned. "It's very dark," he said.

Nico nodded. He had a bad feeling his shadow travelling had been hijacked. It had never happened before, but he remembered reading about it happening.

"I think we might be in the underworld," he told Percy, nervously.

Percy flinched but nodded, "I guess, we were running for our lives and that's where you feel safest, right?"

"Er... not exactly," said Nico, shivering slightly, "I think maybe..."

He looked around, worried and hesitant. He suspected his father had hijacked the travelling, somehow pulling them back to the underground, but there was more than a possibility that it was Zagreus, and there had only been an illusion of such an easy escape.

"What?" Percy asked, dropping his voice and looking concerned.

"I don't know if I chose here," said Nico.

Percy stared for a moment, but nodded. He got swiftly and quietly to his feet, then gave his hand to Nico to help him up too. Nico took it with a small smile, and stood at Percy's side.

They both drew their swords, (Nico would never stop being impressed that Percy's would reappear in his pocket).

"Where should we go, do you think?" Percy asked, looking around the darkness.

Nico thought. There were shorter and longer and medium term answers to that question. Right now, he didn't really have any of them. "I'd suggest father's," said Nico, "but..."

"That's probably Zagreus' next stop," said Percy. "My dad, your dad, Olympus."

"He might go straight for Olympus," said Nico, "we don't know how much power he has."

"But it won't be a surprise attack, will it?" said Percy. "If he captured Poseidon, then Zeus must know he's coming..."

"Unless Zeus is his usual pig-headed self," said Nico.

"Well, yeah," Percy agreed, "Unless Zeus is blind and stupid, he must know Zagreus is coming for him."

"Have you quite finished insulting my brother?" sneered Hades from behind them.

Percy sprang around, but Nico merely flinched.

"And look what we have here," said Hades, "The most annoying brat to ever call himself a hero, here at my mercy while his father's wrath is nothing to concern myself with, as he stews in his prison."

Nico shivered, and put himself between his father and Percy.

"Oh stand down, Nico," said Hades, "I know better than to play all my cards at once. Jackson might still be useful."

"Did you bring us here?" Nico asked with a shiver.

Hades rolled his eyes, "You thought I just hang around dank corners of my realm in case my ungrateful brat of a son turns up and brings his boyfriend?"

"OK," said Nico, trying not to blush at the boyfriend comment, "Why did you bring us here?"

"To give you instructions, brat," said Hades, "You will be my eyes and ears in Olympus, Nico. I need to know exactly what Zeus intends to do before he even does it."

"He's hardly going to tell us!" said Nico, "He hates us!"

"No, he hates Jackson," said Hades, "He barely knows your name, except that you 'rescued' Zagreus." Hades used the most sarcastic quotation marks imaginable around the word 'rescued'. "And you better hurry, because if, as Jackson suggested, I am his next stop, Jackson here in the front line of my armies may not be fully prepared."

Percy groaned.

"Seriously?" he said, "You think that's the way forward? Separate us and blackmail your own kid?"

Hades turned his glare on Percy, "Shut up Jackson! Between the two of you, you've practically destroyed western civilization! You'll do as you're told!"

"Well, if you hadn't been completely crazy, maybe the obvious reaction to finding a baby in your kingdom might have been to come to you and ask you about it!"

Hades glared, "No one asked your opinion, Jackson! You do as you are told!"

"That's it? That's your grand plan?" Percy rolled his eyes. "To sneak and spy and blackmail your own kid? I'm so tired of this crap! You're going to bully and blackmail your own son into going somewhere massively dangerous? You know, normal parents have this instinct to try and look after their kids. Is it just completely missing in you guys? What's wrong with you people?"

"Brat!" snapped Hades, "Do you have a better plan?"

Percy shrugged, "How about we go and ask Zeus about his plan before we make any ourselves?"

Hades sneered, "We?" he repeated, "You think I, Hades, Lord of the Underworld, deliver my own messages to Zeus?"

Nico put his hand up, like he was asking a question in school, "So, it's not that you're scared of Zeus then?"

Hades flinched, "What? Me? Scared of Zeus? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard."

"So you're not quivering down here because you think Zeus will kick your butt for hiding Zagreus from him?" said Percy, catching on, "Because, you know, we'd understand if you were."

"Yeah, totally," agreed Nico, "Zeus is a scary guy, right?"

"Yeah, he's totally the scariest god, isn't he?" Percy said, with a nod.

Hades scowled, "Hardly," he sneered, and Nico felt Percy gasp. He flinched, imaging just what Percy was experiencing, Hades' burst of terror, but he resisted interference. Instead he said, "Yeah, I mean all the gods have their powers, sure, but Zeus is the boss. You're doing the right thing staying clear of that guy."

Percy nodded, his breathing still hard, "Yeah, he'd probably kick your ass, best stay out of his way, dude."

Hades gaped, "I am not a coward!"

"We didn't say that!" said Nico, hurriedly, "We just said we understand being scared of Zeus."

"I'm not scared of Zeus!" Hades shouted, angrily.

"Uh," said Percy. "Sure."

Hades glowered some more.

"Yeah," said Nico, letting just enough disbelief creep into his tone.

Hades gave each of them in turn a sour look.

"Fine," he shouted, after some time, "We'll all go, and you will see how scared I am of my brother!"

Percy let out a slight breath. Nico tried not to look too relieved. His fingers had somehow found their way in to a tangle with Percy's, and Nico had no desire to remove them any time soon.

But though they had got their own way in not being separated, they were still being brought right back into the centre of the conflict. Into Zeus' clutches, who might simply chose to hand them back over to Zagreus.

If the slight tightening of Percy's fingers was anything to go by, he was thinking along the same lines as Nico. Nico squeezed back. If they had to escape again, then they would, even if Nico had no idea where they could go now.

...xxx...xxx...xxx...

Zeus was not as they had expected.

He was in his small, human form, and far from his usual suited appearance, he was dressed casually, almost untidily. He was tapping his fingers, angrily.

"What do you want?" he spat at Hades.

"Our brother has been taken prisoner, Zeus," said Hades, with an unnecessary looking of gloating at Percy, "It's time for us to work together."

"Ha!" snapped Zeus. "Work together. That's funny."

"Well, have fun being destroyed by your son then," Hades snapped back.

Percy rolled his eyes.

"Seriously, du... Lord Uncles, this is..."

"He started it," Zeus interrupted, "You hid my boy from me! For millennia!"

Hades folded his arms, "Uh, would you have preferred I returned him to the loving arms of your wife? Maybe see if she could make his death more permanent this time?"

"You expect me to believe you were thinking about anything except your ambitions?" Zeus returned, angrily.

"Where is the lovely Hera?" asked Hades, conversationally, "Running away?"

"Maybe I sent her on a diplomatic mission," said Zeus.

"You sent her to Zagreus?" Percy interrupted.

Zeus gave him an annoyed look. "I thought Zagreus took you," he said.

"We escaped," said Percy.

"Escaped?" said Zeus, "From a god?"

"Yes," said Percy, "I've defeated worse."

Zeus' eyebrows raised, "Hardly," he sneered, "Zagreus is no petty thug trying to take over, and you don't have an army working with you."

"Well, we escaped, anyway," Percy replied, "So what are you planning to do about Zagreus?"

Zeus drew himself up, glaring down at Percy, "You do not presume to speak to me in such a way, boy!" he intoned, "I am the King of the Gods! I am the ruler of..."

But Zeus never managed to remind them what he was the ruler of. At that moment he turned, confusion on his face.

"What is it?" asked Nico, "What's happened?"

"Hush, boy," said Hades, also facing the same way as Zeus.

There was a bang, like a giant playing a bass drum. Then another, and another.

Then Zagreus appeared before them.