A/N: ITS LATE I FEEL BAD SO ITS EXTRA LONG

He had betrayed his friends before.

He had betrayed his father before.

He had betrayed Camp Half-Blood before.

He had betrayed Camp Jupiter before.

So, yeah. Betraying wasn't really new to him. That sure as Hades didn't make it any easier, though. His thoughts were completely frenzied, he didn't know where he was shadow traveling to, and right now he didn't really care.

Apparently his subconscious did, though.

He stumbled from the shadows to find the only place besides the underworld he might call home. Camp Half-Blood.

Great. Just freaking fantastic. What were you thinking, subconscious?! Here? Really?

That was three times shadow traveling today, and in daylight no less. He didn't have the energy to go anywhere else. So, he slid down the base of a tree and landed on the ground with a thump. He just really hoped no one was nearby at the moment. He was in the woods, after all. He checked the time on his watch and saw that it was already one thirty here in Long Island. Prime time to train or hide in the shade of the forest.

Nico groaned, at this time of day there were probably campers all over the place. He began to get up, only to be stopped by the point of a sword. The son of Hades froze, and slowly looked up. Please not Clarisse, please do not be Clarisse.

It was worse than Clarisse.

It was Jason.

"Cazzo!" Nico yelped in Italian. Which should not need to be translated.

"Hazel told me what happened." Jason said, a stony look in his eyes that terrified Nico.

"Great." Nico muttered, not breaking gaze with Jason. Neither boy moved.

"I really wish I didn't have to do this, Nico, but..." Before Nico could react, Jason clubbed him with the butt of the sword. Nico fell over, not completely unconscious, but enough to stun him and make his vision go black.

Next thing he knew, the forest was flashing by him at an alarming rate. It made his head spin. More than it already was, anyway.

He tried to gather his bearings, he was staring at the ground, and a pair of shoes. And some jeans. And above that, the hem of an orange tee shirt. More importantly, his sword was nowhere in sight.

He had been slung over the shoulder of none other than Jason Grace. He could feel Jason's arm holding the back of his knees, making sure he didn't fall off. Or escape, Nico assumed.

"Put me down!" Nico exclaimed. He started kicking, but the pressure on his legs was greater than his struggling. He pounded his fists on Jason's back, but it did him no good. He debated rolling to freedom, after all the worst that could happen was more bruises.

Ah, well. Nothing to lose. Nico lurched to his right, forcing Jason to drop him. He landed on the ground hard, which could have been avoided if Jason wasn't freaking six feet tall. To fall six feet onto his back was probably not good for his health.

He scrambled into a sitting position and saw that he was surrounded by various weapons, all aimed at him. His heart was now beating at a rate Nico was positive wasn't good, and now he had more bruises.

"Don't make any sudden moves." A voice commanded. Great, this time it was Clarisse. And... More Ares kids, and a couple of familiar faces such as Piper, Leo, Jason, and, of course...

Percy. Just the man he wanted to see. Not.

"I'm not going to kill you." Nico muttered angrily, glaring at the faces surrounding him.

"Listen Nico, I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding." Percy said. He looked genuinely worried. Kudos to him. Leo and Piper, however, were glaring at him, as were all the Ares kids. Jason just looked confused. Seemed like the majority hated Nico. The odds were not in his favor.

"No, I'm pretty sure Hazel knew what she was talking about." Nico said. He mentally face palmed. He should not have said that.

"So you are a traitor?" Clarisse accused.

"Is that what Hazel said?" Nico asked. He had thought that Hazel, if not anyone else would support him.

"No, it's not." Jason hurriedly amended. "She means we heard some questionable things." Well, when you put it like that, Jason, it sounds /really/ questionable. "We would like to hear your side of things." Jason finished. Kudos to Jason.

"Is it possible for me to just leave?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, right." Clarisse said. "You're a traitor, Nico. You need to be questioned, at least."

Merda. This was just peachy.

"All right, just calm down." It was obvious to Nico that Piper was using charm speak, so it had no effect on him. "Nico, if you could stand up... Slowly..." She continued. That seemed a reasonable action for Nico, so he obliged.

There was silence, then "So is this why you wouldn't play volleyball this morning?" It was Leo. "So you plot against us with your daddy?" He sounded angry, but with a hint of sadness. Almost like he was... Hurt? Huh.

"No, I hadn't even planned visiting him until he called me." Nico explained calmly.

"Listen, until we get this sorted, how about you just stay in your cabin. That alright, Nico?" Percy asked.

"I guess...?" Nico answered. His cabin was always dark, so it would probably be easy to shadow travel away.

"Good. Then Jason and I can escort you." Percy nodded. Clarisse and her gang lowered their weapons, still on guard.

"Lead the way." Jason ushered him forward. Nico took a couple steps towards the safest place he knew, the Hades cabin. Which, luckily, was very close to where they were now.

It was just as he had left it. Black obsidian walls and green everlasting torches. With a skull above the door, of course. There were windows, but they were covered by thick black curtains on the inside.

He pushed the door open, revealing an almost pitch black interior. There was one bed in the corner, with black sheets. A door in the wall led to a small bathroom. There was nightstand with some drawers for clothes next to the bed. On top that was a lamp.

"Homey." Percy commented.

"This is where you live?" Jason asked, surprised.

"I don't really live anywhere, so no. Not really." Nico answered. Both of the older boys looked at him in pity. They were always acting like they were his brothers or something, he wished they would just stop.

"Well... We'll have someone keep an eye on you, ok?" Jason said.

"You mean so I don't go on a murderous rampage or something?" Nico asked. The sarcasm was heavy in his tone.

"I'll get some of the Hecate kids." Percy said, mostly to Jason. This confused Nico, he didn't know much about Hecate or her children. Apparently Percy did, though.

Jason sat down on Nico's bed, and patted the spot next to him. Nico blushed, but luckily the room was dimly lit.

He hesitantly sat down next to the blond superman, who smiled. "You wanna tell me what happened?" Jason asked. Well, at least he asked.

Nico sighed heavily. "I was visiting Hazel, Dad summoned us, he told us he wanted to rule, Hazel ran away, and I made a deal. Happy?" That was all he was getting.

"Deal?" Jason asked, leaning towards Nico in interest.

"I'll know what I'm gonna do by tomorrow morning." Nico answered. He was glaring at the floor, as if it had personally insulted him.

"Well, good! Cause you're obviously going to fight with us!" Jason said happily, gently hitting the smaller boy's back. Nico inched away.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do, actually." Nico muttered. Jason's face fell.

"What do you mean?" He asked carefully, suddenly on guard.

"I mean he's my father! What am I supposed to do?" The pale boy yelled in anger, standing up to pace violently around the room.

"Nico, he Hades, for Hades' sake!" Jason said abruptly. Nico laughed.

"Because you would be so willing to go against your father. At least you have a sister! A sister who's ALIVE! My father is my only family!" Nico shouted, voice rising. Angry tears fell from his dark eyes.

"But you're my friend!" Jason shouted back. "You're Percy's friend! You're Leo and Piper's friend! You're even Annabeth's friend, and that isn't very easy you know!" Jason yelled.

"Friends don't point weapons at each other." Nico stated, winding down from anger and sinking into sadness.

"Then what about Hazel?" Jason demanded quietly.

"She's not Bianca." Nico sunk into a corner. "Just leave me alone." Truth was, he was mad at her for abandoning him at their father's palace.

Jason sighed. Even he could see Nico's emotions radiating sadness and anger. Literally. Shadows were wrapped around the boy, making him hard to see.

The door flew open. Percy ran in, followed by a girl, with long blond hair. Nico couldn't remember her name, or if he ever seen her before. And right now, he really didn't care. Jason walked over to Percy, and started whispering. Nico probably could listened in if he wanted, but he didn't care and besides, it was obvious what they were discussing.

"Well, Nico, what do you suggest we do?" Percy asked the darkest corner of the room.

"Leave me alone, maybe? Let me leave without getting speared?" Nico suggested angrily.

"Well, you know Clarisse wouldn't let that happen." That's what Percy said, but Nico knew he no one trusted him. Not even Percy. Not even Jason.

"So am I just going to stay in here? Like a prisoner?" Nico bitterly asked.

"No, no. We'll figure something out, I swear." Jason quickly said. The Ghost King eyed him warily.

"Can you just try to be an ordinary camper?" Percy asked.

"Percy, my father is plotting to wage war on the gods. Which, obviously, means their children. Zeus has surely found out by now, and is probably going to attempt to kill me at every opportunity. Somehow I don't see that happening."

"My father and I would take you in, if we could." The blond girl behind Percy spoke in a voice that vaguely reminded him of the wind chimes at May Castellan's house. Nico assumed she was a daughter of Hecate, that's what Percy had been doing while the other two children of the big three had a shouting match.

"That's probably not the best thing place for Nico right now." Jason told her gently.

"Hey, you know what would be a good idea?" Percy said, holding a finger in the air. Nico wasn't sure he wanted to know. "What if Nico stayed with my mom, and with Paul?" Nico had been right. He didn't want to know.

"...Percy, what?" Jason deadpanned.

"Well, he obviously can't stay here, and I doubt Hades would be able to find him while he's living with mortals. It's the last place he would look for him!" Percy seemed really excited about a 'traitor' staying with some of the most important people in his life.

"Do I get a say in this?" Nico asked.

"Depends. What is your say?" Jason asked, smirking. Great, Jason was on Percy's side.

"I say, that I don't want to live with mortals." Nico stated, arms crossed.

"In that case, you don't get a say." Percy smiled. The son of Hades glared back.

"Don't worry, Nico. These are the people who raised Percy. They're bound to be extraordinary." The blond windchime voiced girl Nico still didn't know the name of said. Nico just glared at her in response. At times like these, it really seemed that the whole world was against him.

A knock sounded at the door. All four heads instinctively swiveled to see.

"Percy, Jason. Counselor meeting." It was Annabeth, poking her blond head into the door. She ducked back out. Percy and Jason glanced at each other, Nico could have sworn they were psychic.

"Have you done the ah, spells?" Jason was addressing the blond girl who was definitely not Annabeth.

"Not yet, I have to be outside." The daughter of Hecate answered.

"Well, then, come on. Bye Nico, we'll see you later." Percy waved.

"Hang on, I'm taking these." Jason paused. He walked over to the heavy black curtains, and just took them down from the wall. Obnoxiously bright sunlight poured into the room. Jason smiled. "Try to get a tan?" He teased the palest kid in camp.

Finally, Nico was alone. He heard the strange girl murmuring from the other side of the door.

Looking around, he realized that the shadows he had been relying on to escape had all but vanished in the now sunlight filled room. Merda.

Well, there was always the old-fashioned door. Luckily, it didn't even have a lock.

Of course, when Nico turned the handle, it didn't budge. Merda.

That's when everything clicked. Hecate was the goddess of magic. Blondy was her daughter. She had probably magically locked the door. Merda.

To be honest, Nico probably wouldn't have been able to shadow travel in the complete darkness. He was just too tired. He wanted a McDonald's.

He stumbled around the room for a bit. What now?

…

Sleep. Sleep now.

Nico collapsed onto his bed, on top of the covers fully dressed, shoes and all.