Nico thought his situation couldn't worsen, but he was only jinxing his luck as if it the next, dull, timeless minutes, he felt nothing but blinding agony. Then he saw someone through blurry vision, one one of his friends, he had assumed due to their height and build though he may have just been hallucinating- he yelled at them with what he hoped was a clear, coherent 'GO! KEEP GOING!' but at that point, it may as well have been 'I HEART RED SOX.' or the entire American national anthem, and he wouldn't have known the difference. And it only kept getting worse when he felt the battle intensify before his eyes. He knew there was something more major going on, and he could only hope that his friends were out of it and that the Order had arrived. He wanted to jump in, to take part in the battle, but every part of his body screamed its refusal to obey him.

His forcibly wide-open eyes stared into the battle scene- he could see, but he could not comprehend. He could hear the whizzing sounds of spells slashing through the air, the noises of indigence ejected from anyone who had been unfortunate enough to get hit by a star spell, but he could barely understand any of it. He couldn't even move. It was as if is body ad completely shut down and refused to obey him, and he was instead forced to watch a battle unravel itself before his eyes. He hated it. Hated how he couldn't rush to his allies and aid them, hated how his eyes wouldn't blink so to distract himself and try to focus of moving instead, but he knew he had no choice either way. The glass embedded in his skin stung as though he had several cuts all across his body that had been bandaged with lemon juice and concentrated acids, making it even harder to focus. Many times, he noticed figures looking as though they were trying to run his way, but they were always thrown of track by a well-aimed jet of light. And then, for one horrible moment, he thought he was dead...

...Then thought it was the most ludicrous thing that crossed his mind because if was, he would have felt it. Or at least he thought so. He was having second thoughts though as he felt himself being lifted by someone- his first instinct was to kick out, but of course, that wouldn't do.

"Merlin's tutu, you're in a right state!" said a voice, and Nico thought he caught a grimace as well as a bit of pink hair and slightly feminine features. A streak of green light flew toward them, and he felt himself being thrown sideways, once again completely loathing his helplessness and inability to control his own actions.

But, as Nico's head hit the floor, he gave a sharp, involuntarily gasp. The pain was still there, and it was agony to move, but it was good he could move at all. He tried to raise his heavy-feeling head, then immediately lowered it again despite his body's protest and the amount pain it brought him, because another dreadfully green jet of light soared toward him.

"Wotcher, Nico!" said Nymphadora Tonks, an order member whom Nico vaguely knew. For some reason, she reminded him of Frank, and he wondered if the son of Mars could possibly turn in to people as well as animals, too, because that was definitely an advantage.

Nico slowly gave a nod of acknowledgment, trying not to strain a lot since they were quite obviously already in the middle of a battle. But surprisingly, the pain was starting to fade away...or not really fade away as much as numb, really, it was like he was feeling too cold and frostbitten to feel any pain at all, or maybe it was just the adrenalin. He spared himself a quick glance- there were still several shards of glass in his skin though he felt very little pain, right there and then. There were also several stains of blood on his clothes and every part of his body felt like it had the trickling crimson liquid sliding down it. His face- he realized, quickly rubbing at it- was wet with sweat despite not moving at all.

"You sure you can move, Nico?" Nymphadora- or rather Tonks, as most of the Order members who valued their life called her - said worriedly.

"'M fine." Nico muttered, allowing Tonks to help him up. They dodged a few more stray spells, and Nico was determined not to let the numbness affect his reflexes. Tonks and he dodged behind another column of the ball-stuff. He noticed out the corner of his eye, Mad-Eye Moody dueling some Death Eater the other kept calling 'Yaxley' or something, and he also saw, to his immense relief, Sirius, well and un-tortured, fighting back to back with Remus, and from their position, he could tell it felt like the most natural thing in the world for one to lent the other his back.

"Just wandless." he muttered.

"Oh, sorry, just a minute there." Tonks said sheepishly. She pointed her wand at a particularly ugly-looking Death Eater and yelled,

"Stupefy!" the Death Eater dodged swiftly, and aimed his wand at her in a threatening gesture and cruel sneer. "Cruc-"

"STUPEFY!" Remus had distracted himself to furiously stun Tonks' attacker, a wild, light dancing in his eyes. His eyes lingered on Tonks for a moment longer than necessary before he went back to fighting the Death Eaters full-force and just as ferociously with the aid of Sirius, who looked nothing short of oblivious of the short exchange.

Tonks sighed in what Nico thought was a wistful manner before apparently trying to focus of their current situation. She disarmed the unconscious man, and then attempted to catch his wand once it flew at her- she couldn't, but Nico's hand shot up at instinct and snatched it out of the air.

Tonks gave him a wry smile and went back to fighting with her own wand. It didn't take a lot, really, to get lost in battle. The tall, mahogany wand was unwelcome and unfamiliar to his hand, and somehow, his apparently magical core, but it worked just as well despite its slight sluggishness and the obligation to concentrate more of spells since it was harder to channel magic through them since it was not a hundred percent compatible.

Notwithstanding the other faults, it was good enough- Nico was lost in battle before he noticed it. He kept shooting spells, but throwing in a few swipes with his feet and practical Defense tactics here and there, just to remind himself, and indirectly his enemies (although they probably didn't know), that he was a wizard as well as a demigod, and no matter the former the latter was never going to be forgotten. As he moved, Tonks explained to him about the Hall of Prophecies, and what little she knew about it as Nico tried to listen over the tremendous noise of the spells being shot. And bringing in the topic about demigods, Nico couldn't tell who was more surprised- him, the Order members, or the Death Eaters as no less that sixteen figures apparated in front of them as they fighting- the apparation drew every person's attention, and wands were pointed by enemies and allies alike, not knowing whose side the new comers were from. And who were they, but Lou-Ellen, and no less than a little less than half the entire Hecate cabin or so, all dressed in matching black uniform.

The Hecate kids didn't even need to wave their hands- no spell touched them, and as they came up closer to Nico (he quickly blurted out something about them being on the same side to the Order), the protective shield seemed to extend over them too, and the Hecate kids began blending slightly and blurring around the edges, as if disappearing partially, or more like disappearing from the Death Eaters' vision.

"What in-" Nico began, not knowing how to feel as Lou-Ellen stared at him.

"You look terrible." she commented dryly. "I would be worried if you weren't standing- listen, Nico, there's a lot to say, really," Lou said sighing and biting her lip as though she could wait but spill out something. "but...the damage was done in the Hall of Prophecies. We have specific orders to go fix things. We can't fight, and we can't do anything before we put the prophecies right, so try and stay away from this room, will you?"

"But-but why? Why can't Hecate do it herself?"

"We'd love to know that!" a boy from Hecate said, sounding indignant. Lou-Ellen only looked angry at this.

"Shut up, Brian!" she yelled.

"But-"

"Oh, for gods' sake, just shut it! Let's go already." she shrieked at him. And before Nico could say anything else, the demigods simultaneously disappeared into the mist, not unlike how Lou-Ellen, Nico, and Will had done with the daughter of Hecate's help during their mini-mission back during the Second Giant War.

After that, Nico tried to draw his focus back to the current battle at hand, and he surprisingly found it wasn't hard. He didn't know if it had anything to do with the Hecate demigods' needs for the Hall of Prophecies, but before he knew it, they were changing battle locations. It started, simply, with someone- Nico couldn't tell who - being flung out of the room with a painful crash. It ended up with the Death Eaters, who were outnumbering them no less, pushing them out there slowly as well. Nico always made a point to scan a room, analyzing and taking careful measures of anything and everything because knowing your battle-ground was important. Before he could register it, they were back in the dark, room with the archway and the veil of...whatever it was.

"Watch out for the archway." Nico said, cocking his head toward the veil. He dodged to the side to avoid a nasty looking curse and shot an Impendimenta of his own.

"Oh, we've been t- Stupefy! Yeah, we've been warned. When you're in Auror training, they tell you all these for of- Expelliarmus! Protego!...all these things about the Department of Mysteries and what things you should stay away from in case you ever have guard duty there, but pretty much every adult who's worked for the Ministry at some point at least knows about the veil, now that I think about it, it is quite an unsafe location to fight." Nico nodded and watched Tonks shoot off another curse as he dropped low to avoid Cruciatus Curse that was in too close proximity to be fended by a shield charm, and then rolled in the very same position to narrowly elude another spell shot his way. He stood up swiftly, finding himself next to Sirius this time.

"How are you, Nico!" Sirius yelled over the whizzing of the spells, sounding extremely nonchalant despite being in the midst of a battle. "Second Azakaban escapee, eh? Well, I must say I've never been prouder- I just hope you haven't turned into an animagus to do it, that would be a vicious act of cheating." Nico felt himself smiling in spite of himself at the ex-con's antics- he really would miss Sirius over the summer. He was just one awesome guy.

"No, no animagi." he said, giving Sirius a look that gave away his mock-disgust at being accused of cheating. "How unoriginal do you think I am? No, I rode a hellhound and took a portkey that gives good advice to Hogwarts."

Sirius gave huge bark of laughter, while simultaneously dodging a spell shot his way. "Welcome to the Marauders, Nico."

"Marauders."

"Yes, Marauders. The most explosive group Hogwarts had to pleasure to hous-Anapneo! I'm hoping Harry'll grow up to be mischievous enough- make sure to drag him into trouble, will you?"

Nico's expression steeled for a moment in worry for Harry and his friends- were they all right now?

"He's not into trouble as much as trouble's into him- that's just how Harry is, you know? I think he hopes that he gets to be...uh, a Marauder, just for being himself. I mean, I'm not one to speak, but-"

"No, I get it." Sirius said, sighing, and his grip tightening around his wand as he cast a particularly over-powered Protego Totalum to deflet a curse.

"And I accept Harry as he is. He's not James, and maybe I was...wrong to assume he could be. I care about Harry. He's my godson, and I never would have been prouder of him, though I think his recklessness is a drawback-"

Nico snorted at the obvious hypocrisy of it all. He had mostly no direct idea what Sirius was on about, but he had noticed Harry looking bothered ad had just hoped Sirius would take his mind of things then, but he was beginning to see the big picture.

"Watch over him and his friends, all right, Darkmane?"

Nico felt himself laugh for some reason, almost getting hit by a stunning spell as a consequence (which was quickly repelled by Remus' Protego) but that didn't stop him.

"Darkmane?" he said, not sure whether to feel honored or weirded-out.

Sirius looked immensely pleased. "I'm Padfoot, James was Prongs, and Remus is Moony. You, my friend are offically Darkmane. You're a Gryffindor, and out symbol is the lion. Lions have manes. You're dark. Therefore, Darkmane. As a member of the Marauder, there are only two things you're expected to do- one of which is trying to get Prongslette into us, and the second is staying alive."

Nico smiled and shook his head, feeling slightly warmer inside despite the cold numbness still in his limbs. This feeling, however, was quickly extinguished as he heard a loud crash- someone had entered the room, no doubt Death Eater reinforcements- Nico couldn't have that they were already outnumbered.

"Incendio!" he yelled furiously. A voice that definitely didn't sound like a Death Eater's yelped in alarm. A trip, a crash, and flash of white light- a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but a wide-eyed Nico, Neville with a bloody-nose that rivaled Percy's, and a horror-struck Harry who looked more frustrated than afraid, really.

Remus pushed Nico to the ground- he'd been too distracted to notice a spell that had been aimed at him, and he quickly chided himself for the stupid mistake- now Remus and he were in open range to receive any spells, but...no spells came. Nico very reluctantly raised his head to look, and was met by a sight he didn't quite believe at first. He thought perhaps the prophetic glass was messing with his head or something, until he noticed the scrambling Death Eaters who were scurrying away in fright away from a lone figure that stood with a furious expression on his face, standing right above Neville and Harry, who looked shocked, like they had only just realized the company they had..

Abus Dumbledore stood with his wand held in his hand like an extra arm, his face ghostly white in the faint light of the room, his expression deadly. The (ex-)Headmaster looked nothing like the gentle, quietly wise man Nico had come to be accustomed to- because at that moment, he was something else. At that moment, he was warrior.

Dumbledore easily and non-verbally pulled back a Death Eater who was attempting escape back to his previous position, all the while not loosing the steely expression on his face.

-O-

She hated him absolutely hated that- that traitor. She had convinced herself to hate him long ago, but if she was being honest with herself, Mera hadn't, really. She couldn't. Every thoughts of him was filled with desperate attempts to convince herself that she would somehow get him back, although only subconsciously was she thinking this. But now, she was livid. She was a hundred percent assured that this was not, nor will ever be the old friend she had come to know- and while a part of her mind still argued it wasn't fair, the more rational part reminded her things never were that way for her.

That, was why she had come to get her revenge on Revenge's Heir. And she;d be damned if she'd didn't make it worth while, too.

So she'd tracked him down. She had simply know where he was- she didn't know how, or why, but she seemed to have an unwanted, however, useful, connection to Tskia.

In the midst of the battle, he was only there- literally just there, with one side to the shadows, just watching a battle unravel. No one was paying him any mind- no one even seemed to notice him, despite his fiery mop of red hair. Pallismera seemed to be the only one who could spot him. Her heat started beating against her chest again as she got close enough- she didn't know what to do, or how to get her so-called 'revenge'. He had caused her pain and suffering, not to mention hurt Nico, too, and probably a lot of other demigods that didn't do anything to deserve what had hit them. She definitely didn't like him anymore...But...Did she hate him.

From the emotional and physical exhaustion, Mera felt the shadows around her dissipate- panicking, she tried to summon them back to her, but they wouldn't obey- she was loosing her talent, and her cover with it. For some reason unknown to her, her control over shadows and shadow-travel in general became more difficult for her. Before she could do anything else about this something hit the back of her head and she crumpled to the floor.

Cautiously, a sense of dread filling her, she raised her eyes to her attacker, who had a cruel sneer of satisfaction. He raised his head and grunted- to Mera's horror and realization- in Tskia's direction. Two more Death Eaters joined their fellow Death Eater buddies, probably to see what he was staring at. Their raised their eyes in bored question as one of them, again, nodded to Tskia- Mera noticed a flicker of something cross his face before it became absolutely unreadable again. He reluctantly walked over to them.

"Well, do summat y'old Bowtruckle, Din' as much as cast a spell. Prove you can now. C'mon, not even an Avada kedavra- you can at least manage a nice Crucio, won't ya?" one of them sneered at Tskia, as Mera froze. She could easily swipe out at them, she could have easily attempted escape, but for some reason, she found herself frozen there, waiting for something to happen. All her doubts, all her beliefs came flashing into her mind all at once. For some, inexplicable to her, she didn't move. She didn't defend herself. She only waited to see what they- what he would do, after all those years.

Tskia took out one of his wands and aimed it at her without hesitation, and just like that, half her one-sided doubts vaporized. For another reason only known to the Fates, she felt the mad urge to cry. In relief? In misery? She had no idea, but she still felt her eyes pricking slightly.

"Go on, then!" she shrieked. "Do it! I've doubted you this long- prove me wrong! You'd sunk this low- what's a bit more to you? You're a...a monster." She averted her eyes to the ground, feeling her a little wetness crossing the boundaries of her lids and sliding down her cheeks. She cursed herself for letting weakness show, but for some reason, she didn't care at that time. She didn't think it mattered- nothing but the black abyss that was now her heart did anymore. She brought her eyes to meet Tskia's face, his wand still pointed at hers. His eyes were empty and cold, and his fiery hair seemed to flicker a lot less, but his hand was steady. She stared at him- at that cold expression that was once a laughing, near-innocent teenage one from nearly five years ago, and it hurt her deeply to find out, too late, that this was not the boy she had laughed with. This was not the one she would accidentally shadow travel to clothes shops while out on an illegal ice-cream day. This was not her friend.

Tskia's wand was pointed at her unwavering. The Death Eaters around them snickered, but were silenced immediately by the glare Tskia as throwing them. He focused his attention toward the wand again- then, many things happened at once.

Tskia whipped out his other wand so quickly that the other Death Eaters had barely noticed it, and pointed it at them before any of them had time to react,

"Confundo!" Tskia said firmly- a jet of blue light was ejected from both his wands at once, and hit two Death Eaters simultaneously. The third only had time to whip his own wand out in turn before Tskia shot a stunner at him. He stared back at Mera, and she noticed that cold look in his eyes had melted- a facade. His eyes weren't warm. They weren't steely, either. They were just...broken. Desperate.

"I am not a monster." he spat. "I'm just doing the right thing. All this time- ever since we were young, I've told you I wanted a chance. A chance to prove I could survive."

Mera whispered, "This isn't a chance- how do you explain the dementors? Your alliance with the rising threat of Tom Riddle? Your hurting Nico- hurting me?" As she listed the reasons off, she found her voice growing slightly higher and more indignant at each syllable.

"The dementors?" he laughed hollowly. "They would have had you in Azkaban had I not spoken to those things. Those stuff don't listen to anyone- not even, you, a child of the Underworld. Shadow-speak is like...like this thing called Parsletounge, talking to snakes. They do what you want, though you wouldn't tell the difference since all demigods can do that thanks to Hermes' slithering staff- Morge and Gartha or something. They listen to what you say because you understand them. And as for Riddle? I need him. I need to work things out- you haven't seen the future. I have I've known what I would have to do since I came of age- my seventeenth birthday."

"That...that was when you left." Mera whispered morbidly as Tskia nodded simply.

"I've seen what was destined to happen, and my other offered me yet again, to be her Heir- she said that's how I can change the future, make it better at my expense. She said- she said that was how I could protect you." Mera snapped her head to stare at Tskia with wide-eyes. Her mouth was opening and closing from not knowing what to say, or what to do, but for an annoying reason, she felt her heart soar.

"I had to meet with the Son of Hades, too. I had no choice. I admit I wasn't planning on it, but I had to let what happened happen, lest you'd never have been able to get out of imprisonment- the cloak I had gifted to you? I enchanted it when I met you outside Azkaban so that the anti-Shadow Travel jinx would only be undone after you throw it off. I knew you'd be angry- so much that you would throw it off. Seconded by the fact that it helped him out of Azkaban, of course, thought I'm fairly sure he would have shadow traveled away once he mustered enough strength to anyway. And..I- I'm sorry." And he did looked it- his eyes suddenly no longer held any iciness in them, but they were devoid of hope, too. The look Tskia was giving her was an empty one, one of someone who thought they had only one purpose in life.

"You-you didn't have to do that. You still have a chance at a normal life, you know?" Mera blurted out desperately. Tskia gave her one small smile that didn't radiate a hint of belief.

"I did have to." he whispered, looking away. "For you." Once the words were out his mouth, he disappeared with a loud crack!.

Before Mera could fully comprehend just what he had said, she felt a cool breeze catch her right when she needed it- and then, the dark currents of air curled, solidifying and turning into a finer fabric, changing from darkest black to the red of blood, and neatly folding itself into her outstretched, shaking hands. Wasting no time at all, she hugged the cool fabric to her chest. She believed him- she believed it all, she believed him, and she had somehow never felt better, never felt more alive, for what had been weighing her down for years ahd finally- finally been confirmed.

And best of all, once she had hugged the repaired, or perhaps new cloak to her, she could almost feel like he was hugging her back, and this time, it was more than the innocent, childish gesture they had shared as kids.

-O-

There were only a few more Death Eaters battling. One of the obvious and quite attention-drawing ones was Bellatrix Lestrange, who was supposed to be Tonks' cousin, dueling Sirius. Nico had no doubt whatsoever in Sirius' fighting skills, so instead, he scurried over to Dumbledore and his friends.

Dumbledore didn't seem in the mood to talk. He studied Neville, and looked at Harry with a questioning look- Neville looked terrified at Nico's state and was frantically whispering and fussing, whereas Harry's eyes were intently fixed on the battle between Sirius and Bellatrix Lestrange. He followed his eyes to get a better look-

"Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock. Nico heard himself gasp as he realized where Sirius was floating- he didn't even have time to react, to do anything as he watched Sirius fly toward the veil while Bellatrix waited anxiously. Nico jumped off so fast that he barely noticed the numbness wearing off, the pain returning full-force. He ignored it all, in favor of saving Sirius- Harry had released Neville abruptly and Dumbledore, too, had began climbing down the dais.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to tall: his body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backwards through the ragged veil hanging from the arch. Nico barely registered the look of mingled fear and surprise on the ex-convicts wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind, then fell back into place, while Nico literally sank into a world of pain.

So! Happy April's Fool's Day! See, I was planning to prank y'all saying that I'm abandoning my fic and all, but I just felt too bored to do it and it's not April's Fool's Day anymore, technically, so it won't be proper to do so anyway. And, thank you ever so much for getting me this far! Really! Than you, I really appreciate it!

To all those Tskiera shipper- I started a little spark there for ya. I probably have like, two shippers, which makes it good enough, but just remember that I'm just 13 and not too good at this stuff. And sorry if I can out a bit off at the end, It's a bit late, I'm tired, and had to force myself to complete this chapter. Sorry, but today I'm really exhausted so I'll only answer the reviews with askance for my opinion or questions, but if you just send me a 'Hey, how's it going' or 'what's up?' I say hello to all of you, just in case.

RR:

Fangirl: (a lot of numbers): Well, you have your answers now!

.Flames: Yeah, I know, I was just feeling morbid at that time. Sorry. Yeah, it's okay! It's always really fun having friendly conversations with other fanfic writers such as myself, so ta-ta!

Neon Wish: Who's Thranduil?

alealea: Thanks!

Kerowyn: I know, right! But most teens are when they get that old, and to be fair, he was possessed by old Voldy, which had got to have some influence. You know, now I'm imagining Die Hard 4 stopping all the gun shots and action abruptly and changing into a musical. That's probably what it would feel like to me if I change this into a song fic...Really, I don't know how to do song fics and I don't get their point, although some of them are funny others are jsut cheesy and annoying- what do you think? Yeah...too many faults, I might as well just work as a Transifguration teacher or summat at Hogwarts. WOul be easier without the right-winged bureaucrats and giant soul tea-filters hanging about on an archway and looking charming. Yep, that's safer.

CheeseCake: Thanks! Your support and/or flames are always more than welcome and definitely appreciate

Again, to anyone whose review I didn't reply, I deeply apologize, but I'm really exhausted so that may well also be the reason if my work is a little off, but I'll edit anything tomorrow morning and we'll all be good again :)!