A/N: I know it's not Sunday yet, but I couldn't wait!
Hazel Levesque.
Daughter of Pluto.
Daughter of "Queen Marie".
Girlfriend of Frank Zhang.
Nico's sister.
When Nico was released from the shadows he found himself in Pluto's temple, located in New Rome. His eyes instantly adjusted to the gloom in the place, and were immediately drawn to a figure huddled at the base of the steps.
"Hey!" Nico called, making the person jump.
"Gosh, Nico! Don't scare me like that!" It was Hazel herself, incidentally. Well, she was the only one that ever went into the Pluto shrine, so it made sense that she was here.
"Just thought I'd pop in, see how things are going." Nico explained. Hazel straightened, and wiped a hand across her face. With a start Nico realized that she had been crying.
"Yeah, things are going great." Hazel sniffed. Nico walked over to her so he could see her eyes.
"And that's why you're crying? Because everything is great?" Nico knew exactly what it was like to be sad and crying, then to lie about it. All of his sympathies were with his sister.
"No, don't worry about it, I was just thinking about my life before I died. You know, Sammy and my mom, and how miserable I had been back then. But my life hasn't gotten much better, has it?" Hazel's voice broke on that last bit. Nico awkwardly patted her on the shoulder, because even though he had been through this himself, he had no idea how to comfort others. Perhaps because nobody had ever been there to comfort him.
"Have you talked to Frank about this at all?" Nico knew how close they were, and had assumed they shared everything. Apparently not.
"No, I didn't want to trouble him. He's been so busy lately, running the entire legion. It must be so awful, i can't even imagine. Everyone assuming you know everything, expecting you to lead correctly. Just awful." Hazel seemed slightly delirious from Nico's point of view. He wondered when last she slept.
So he asked her. "Hazel, when was the last time you got a good night's rest?"
"Well, not recently, I keep having nightmares." She admitted.
"Oh. Well, do you, um... Share a bed... With Frank?" Nico asked, a tint of red appearing in his face.
"No, of course not!" Hazel said it as if it were the most scandalous thing in the world. Actually, since she was from the twenties, it probably was.
"Sorry, sorry, forget I said that." More red tinged Nico's face.
"So, um... Do you want to talk about the nightmares?" Nico tried.
"They're mostly about our uh, Dad. Pluto. Or, you know, Hades." Hazel admitted.
"Oh? I've had a couple nightmares about that, too." It was normal for kids of the god of the underworld to have nightmares. That's why Nico never slept.
"I've never even met the guy though! I mean, yeah once but I didn't know him or really talk to him!" Hazel despaired.
"Well, I'm gonna go get Frank." Nico said. He turned and walked of to the doorway, looking at Hazel over his shoulder. He was worried, but still unsure of what to do. His last hope was Frank.
So lost in his thoughts, Nico didn't see the undead skeleton until he bumped into him. Literally.
"Sor- Dimitri?" Nico said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
The skeleton shrugged. "Just came to uh, I dunno. Check up on you. And your sister."
Nico frowned in confusion, but decided warning Hazel was more important than retrieving Frank. "Yeah, alright." He turned back into the doorway, almost jogging over to Hazel.
"I thought you were getting Frank." She said.
"Yeah, I got sidetracked. There's a skeleton named Dimitri, says he's here to 'check up' on us." Nico explained quickly, but quietly. Dimitri was still right outside the door.
Actually, no. Now he was inside the door.
"Nico, Hazel. Good to see you." Dimitri said, acknowledging each demigod with a nod.
"Dimitri, does this have something to do with what we were talking about earlier?" Nico asked.
"Well, yes. Smart boy." Dimitri smirked, his decaying flesh hanging off his face. Nico could tell that Dimitri was acting differently from this morning, so either that had been an act or he was acting now.
"See, I spoke with your father-"
"I thought you said he refused to speak to anyone!" Nico shouted.
"And then I requested, said it would interest him, and he accepted. Surprised me, too. Said if I could get you two to him he would reward me." Dimitri said. The skeleton advanced upon them, something evil in his undead zombie eyes.
"Listen, Dimitri, I was going to go talk to him later today, I swear. No need to be hasty." Nico said, hands splayed in front of him.
"We need Frank." Hazel whispered.
"No, I have it under control." Nico whispered back.
"You know, I may be dead, but I'm not deaf." Dimitri hadn't slowed, he was more than halfway to them.
"You know, you could always just ask." Hazel said. She drew her sword, ready to defend. Nico took the hint and pulled his black Stygian iron sword from its sheathe.
"How boring would that be?" Dimitri asked sarcastically.
The children of the Underworld leapt into battle, slashing and jabbing with their weapons. Nico had considered shadow traveling away, but that would leave the issue of an angry skeleton in the middle of the Roman camp. Which, you know, wasn't really a good thing.
One skeleton didn't stand a chance against two demigods. Nico had barely blinked before Dimitri became golden dust, swept away in the wind.
The wind blew through the doorway, whistling in the silence that had fallen.
"Well that was... Anticlimactic." Hazel commented. Nico gave a nod in return.
"Should we go find Frank? Let him know?" Nico asked.
"Probably, the Praetor of New Rome would want to know about a skeleton trying to abduct children." Hazel said with a small grin.
"Yeah." Nico said, straight faced. The two walked out of the shrine to Pluto and down the cobblestone street.
"So, you never told me why you're here." Hazel prodded.
"Ah, just came to visit, see how things are going." Nico stated.
"Really? Are you sure?" Hazel asked.
"Yeah, we havent really talked much since you got back." Nico explained.
"Nothing's happened, really. Everthing's been really calm, actually." Hazel said.
"Hey, after we talk to Frank, maybe we could go see good ol' Dad." Nico suggested.
"That's probably a good idea, we don't want anymore skeleton visitors." Hazel agreed.
"Yeah, and knowing Dad, he will keep sending them." Nico commented.
The two demigods traveled down the street in silence. Before long, they stood in front of the building they would find Frank and Reyna in.
Nico knocked on the large decorative door, and stepped back to wait patiently.
Finally, a familiar face opened the door. "Hello?" it was Reyna. She opened the door further upon seeing her guests.
"Hey, Reyna." Nico said. "Long time no see."
"oh, hello Nico, Hazel." Reyna greeted.
"We need to tell you and Frank something." Hazel said.
"Of course you do. Come on in." She swept her arm through the air, gesturing them inside.
They walked over to a large table where Frank was sitting, obviously bored. He looked over and saw Hazel. His demeanor changed to something similar to a puppy when its family gets home from work.
"Hazel! Its been forever!" Frank said.
"I talked with you this morning." Hazel said happily.
"I know, but I'm so bored!" At this remark, Reyna rolled her eyes.
"Frank, you are a Praetor. Being bored is not in the job description." She said slowly.
"Alright, enough with the chitchat, we have something important to say." Nico said, exasperated.
"Right. Well, what is it?" Reyna asked.
"A skeleton attacked us while we were in our father's temple. Can we go now?" Nico explained.
"Did you take care of the skeleton?" Reyna asked.
"Yeah."
"Then you may go." Reyna dismissed. Nico sighed happily and turned to walk away. He sensed Hazel wasn't following.
"Coming, Hazel?" He called.
"Yeah, yeah." The daughter of Pluto stood up quickly and easily caught up to her older brother. The two walked out of the central dome of the city and back out into the morning sunlight. It was about the same time in New Rome now as it had been when Nico woke up in New York. Time differences are weird. Eh, whatever.
"You don't have to come, if you don't want." Nico said suddenly.
"What?" Hazel asked.
"If you don't want to see Dad then you don't have to." Nico explained.
"Oh, no. I'm still coming. You shouldn't have to go alone." Hazel stated.
"It's just Dad." Nico pointed out.
"It's just Hades." Hazel corrected. Nico didn't respond. He knew his relationship with his father wasn't that bad, for demigod standards. Though sometimes he felt like an errand boy, at least he talked to his father fairly often and got attention and appreciation. Sometimes. Come to think of it, the last time Nico can remember genuinely smiling with happiness was when Hades had said he was proud, after defeating Kronos.
The two children of Hades eventually reached a dark place where they wouldn't be seen and consequently questioned. Nico pulled the shadows around himself and his sister and transported them with a rush of adrenaline and darkness.