Titan's Curse: Father-Son Talk

NICO POV

Nico had never attended a party before. Spending most of his childhood in a time-sucking hotel hadn't prepared him for the jaw-dropping mania that was an Olympian party.

The Nine Muses cranked up the tunes, and Nico realized the music was whatever anyone wanted it to be: the gods could listen to classical and the younger demigods heard hip-hop or whatever, and it was all the same soundtrack. No arguments. No fights to change the radio station. Just requests to crank it up.

Dionysus went around growing refreshment stands out of the ground, and a beautiful woman walked with him arm in arm—his wife, Ariadne. Nico didn't remember much about her tale but knew it was tragic. At least, Dionysus looked happy.

Nectar and ambrosia overflowed from golden fountains, and platters of mortal snack food crowded the banquet tables. Golden goblets filled with whatever drink you wanted. Grover trotted around with a full plate of tin cans and enchiladas, and his goblet was full of double-espresso latte, which he kept muttering over like an incantation: "Pan! Pan!"

Nico saw Percy getting crowded by some gods congratulating him for completing the quest and the young demigod had to smile at the sight. Percy deserved all the attention and worship for being the hero.

But a heavy hand landed on Nico's shoulder and steered him away from the gaggle of the party to a porch just a little ways from the crowd, the night time shielding them in the shadows and affording them privacy.

It was quiet for a while. Nico still couldn't look at Hades in the eye and instead, focused on fidgeting on the spot, staring at his muddy trainers and wondering if he should buy new ones.

"Nico."

The simple sound of his name made him tense up, his deep, chilling voice causing the hairs to rise on his arms. But Nico forced himself to turn his head towards his father.

Hades was already looking at him. There was something calculating and shrewd in those black eyes of his and Nico wondered, not for the first time, what his father thought of him and their situation.

The Lord of the Underworld went straight to the point.

"I had sent you and Bianca out of that hotel in the hopes that either one of you would become the child of the prophecy. Of course, I placed all my bets on Bianca as she was far older and more mature than you but just recently today, I had to judge her death." Those eyes turned steely, his inner rage and bitterness showing from within.

Nico gulped through a dry mouth, palms sweating from nerves. The figure of Hades seemed to weigh heavier in his pocket.

"I am greatly disappointed to have found out her death in such a manner and also at the fact that you, my son, didn't do anything to put a stop to it."

Nico opened his mouth, unable to hold his silence any longer, "But I did, I tried to change her mind—"

"Obviously, it wasn't enough!" The angry snap caused Nico shut his mouth once more, chagrined and terrified.

Hades released a long-suffering sigh, gazing out at the towers of Olympus with a mighty sneer, "You leave me no choice now. You, Nico, will have to prove yourself worthy to be the child of the prophecy, six years is long enough for you to improve. I will not have that Poseidon's spawn take away the glory of saving the gods from peril." He glowered though it didn't seem to be directed at Nico this time.

"B-But, what if I don't want to be—"

"You will do as I say." Hades spat, standing tall and regally as if preparing to leave.

With one last cursory look at his son, the Lord of the Underworld possessed all the bitterness and regret in his parting words, "If only Bianca had lived instead, we wouldn't have this problem. Farewell, Nico."

Hades vanished in the shadows, leaving his son in a saddened, trembling state.

Nico felt as if he couldn't breathe. He held onto the railings of the porch for dear life, not wanting to fall over on his knees. His first encounter with his father was not...what he'd expected but after Bianca's death, he knew it wouldn't be pleasant.

He just didn't think it'd hurt this much.

PERCY POV

Sometime later, Percy extracted himself from the dance floor to get a few drinks for him and Annabeth. They had danced for a bit, with Grover joining them after he'd bumped into Annabeth calling for Pan. It was fun and relaxing, definitely an improvement from holding the weight of the sky on his shoulders.

However, the one person who he thought would be having the time of his life, but was not, was Nico.

Percy frowned and made his way over. If there was one person who should be enjoying himself more than the rest of them, it was the little guy obsessed with Mythomagic. But Nico hadn't so much as moved from his spot near the railing, overlooking the city of Olympus.

Maybe he's just admiring the view, Percy thought. Then he thought about Hades' appearance in the throne room and grimaced.

Sidling up beside Nico, he offered him a smile when he turned to face him.

"Having fun?" Percy asked, leaning against the railing to check out the place himself. Olympus was breathtaking as usual, even at night. It had this timeless beauty to it that put every other architecture in the world to shame.

Nico bowed his head, looking forlorn, "I had a talk with my dad."

"Oh." Percy said, "How'd it go?"

"He's mad that Bianca is dead and blames me for it."

"What?!" Disbelief colored Percy's tone and he cursed Hades colorfully in his mind. How could the god say that to his own son when it was the first time Nico was meeting him? He knew Hades was a terrible god, what with kidnapping his mom and all, but he didn't think he'd be a terrible father too.

Percy shook his head, "Don't listen to him, Nico. Her death isn't your fault. She chose to do what she did because she loves you."

The younger didn't say anything in return and Percy was worried. He didn't want Nico to regress into that depressive shell of his again.

"Nico—"

"I know, Percy. Bianca would do anything to save me." Nico cut in, eyes gazing below them as if he could see the Underworld from up here. "And I would do anything to save her."

There was something in his voice that rubbed Percy the wrong way and after a moment of silence settled over them, he decided to shift the topic a little. "Hey, if you ever need anything, like sword fighting practice or something, I'm here, you know?"

That seemed to bring Nico back from whatever depth of his mind he fell into as his eyes began to sparkle with barely concealed surprise and joy, "Really?"

On their first meeting, Percy would have balked at the thought of helping Nico super-active-never-stop-talking Di Angelo with anything demigod related but then after going through a quest with him, he was beginning to see the kid wasn't so bad after all. Heck, Nico even shouldered the sky with him and that wasn't any easy feat.

And though it was a bit influenced by his guilt over Bianca's death, Percy wanted Nico to be happy, to keep smiling like the child that he was. Ten years old was too young to shoulder so much guilt, sorrow and regret and though Nico may be the son of Hades, that didn't mean he had to fit in with the gloom and doom package.

Besides, Percy was starting to miss the happy go lucky Nico. "Yeah," The older demigod reached over and ruffled Nico's hair.

"So then" The son of Hades tilted his head to him, smiling, "Can you tell me more about that quest when you saved your mother? I want all the details!" He said excitedly, leaning closer.

Percy grinned in amusement and made himself comfortable against the railing, knowing this was going to take a while.

NICO POV

With Percy's help, Nico found himself enjoying the party more than he initially thought. Although some of the gods avoided him because of who his godly parent was, his friends stayed with him and that was enough for Nico.

But as he went to grab some food for himself, Nico heard a voice calling his name.

"Nico Di Angelo."

He turned and found to his surprise Aphrodite, the goddess of love, standing in front of him with her lush black hair pulled to a beautiful braid and green eyes twinkling like stars under the night sky. Her red lips stretched into a small smirk as she stepped closer to the demigod.

"How interesting. Very, very interesting." She was circling him now and Nico felt like a prey under her intense stare. He tried not to fidget but that only made him more tense and he yelped when delicate hands suddenly grabbed his shoulders.

"I see so much in store for your future, son of Hades. And it's going to be just terrific." She whispered into his ear, giggling as she watched the red creep onto his face.

She let Nico detach himself away from her and grinned knowingly, "My son is clearly doing his own works here so I won't get in the way… for now. I did tell Percy I was going to make his love life interesting. Toodle-loo~!" Then with a wink, she was off, swaying her hips while Nico stared after her, dumbfounded.

"What was that about?" He muttered, frowning. Girls, Nico decided, I'll never understand them. Then after grabbing what he needed from the buffet table, he went back to Percy and their friends, hoping to just forget what happened even though he had this nagging feeling that he should be a bit more concerned about a god taking any interest in him.

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"I apologize for calling you here but there is an important matter that has come to my attention."

"You speak of the prophecy."

"Yes. Two of the five that went on a quest to save Artemis were prophesized to die, and yet only one of them did. Why didn't you cut the Thread of Life?"

"Because it was no longer her Fate."

"Pardon?"

"She was supposed to die but that was not the only way things could have played out in that battle. An unexpected party has shifted the course of her fate and let Zoe Nightshade live to tell another day."

"So it was the Hunter huh? Lucky girl. Can't say the same for Hades' daughter though."

"Fate works in many ways, Apollo, as you know. And the Oracle of Delphi speaks but one of many futures."

"… but none of her prophecies has never not come to pass before. People are gonna lose faith on the Oracle if this gets found out!"

"The Oracle of Delphi is never wrong, god of sun. You will understand in time."

A/N: *twiddles thumbs* well that's the end of titan's curse! i have no excuse for my long hiatus aside from the fact that i have moved on to other fandoms XD;; but seeing comments still being placed here really drove me to keep writing out the last chap until i finally posted it! not sure when i'll be able to put up the Battle of the Labyrinth: Nico Version but i definitely still want to keep writing it since it's fun and i love percico to death lol comments are great motivators btw and i appreciate anyone still out there reading this! XD;;; thank you and have a great day~