Hello, people. I'm sorry for vanishing again and again.

I do feel like I might have does things up a little but I felt like that was a good way to do it. I do hope you all agree with me. Thank you for your supports and encouragements and compliments. I hope I do not let you down.

At first he was like

Fuck yeah.

Then he was like

What the fuck did I just do?!

Nico hurried to the room he had come to know as Zag's piano room, his heart thumping against his chest.

He burst into the room and Zagreus looked up from his piano notes.

"Hello, there", Zagreus greeted.

"I don't have time for this", Nico said hurriedly. "I should leave. Right about now."

Zagreus laughed, a little harshly, "What makes you think I'll let you?"

"Because you can't afford to keep me here", Nico told him firmly, "I'm a loose canon"

"Just a kiss and you go running to hide in your father's shadow?", Zagreus snapped.

"What is it to you anyway?", Nico shouted throwing his hand up in the air.

"You can't leave"

"I know why you came after us"

Zagreus's eyes turned a deeper shade of purple, narrowing at Nico, "You know nothing, boy"

"I know you were at Mt. Olympus", Nico said casually, "You were there when Gaea attacked. She meant for her sons to rule and that would mean giving up your inheritance"

"I could just kill you, you know?", Zagreus said in a low, dangerous voice.

Nico's heart fluttered to the back of his throat. He knew it would come to this.

"How could you give up your inheritance? You were protecting Olympus, no matter how selfish the reasons. And you failed", he continued as his knees seemed to weaken.

Zagreus flicked his hand and Nico went flying and hit the wall, dropping to the floor with a sickening thud.

His body ached all over.

"That's why you came here", Nico continued meekly, "You had to train us and make the things happen that were necessary for our victory. As far as you could, that is. So we wouldn't fail, like you did"

Zagreus closed his fist and Nico choked. The pressure on his neck was pressing against his voice box and he could almost feel his throat crumbling.

He loved how he had this special talent of angering people, especially dangerous foes.

Then the pressure was gone.

Nico got up to his feet with whatever dignity he had left and could hardly keep his hands from reaching out and feeling his neck. Doing that would be admitting weakness.

He stared at Zagreus, unblinking.

"Zagreus, listen", Nico started insistantly, "We're on the same page. I will get more demigods to Greece to help stop Gaea." He felt more confident with every word he said. "Nobody needs to know what happened with you, you can send those two away after you're done training them; when it's about time and nobody will know you were even involved"

Zagreus's face was set in a cold snarl.

Then his face relaxed and he walked to Nico and grabbed his arm.

"Go before I change my mind", he said, in a low voice, and threw Nico at the wall with the full force of a god. Nico felt his heart drop to his gut and tasted bile at the back of his throat.

Right before he was about to hit the wall, the wall opened up and spat him out in front of the Camp Halfblood campfire.

Chiron gave him a strange look and Reyna dropped her food on him. He had appeared right at Reyna's feet.

He didn't think was ready to beg her to come to Greece yet.

"Mr. Di Angelo", he heard Chiron say, "Are you quite alright?"

Nico got up, sure of the fact that he was red in the face and dusted himself.

"Yes, yes of course", he said with a small smile, "I meant to do that"

He said the last part to Reyna with a look he wasn't sure was convincing.

It looked like Reyna was holding back a smile.

A bony arm grabbed him and he had been dragged half a mile before he saw the face of the person who was pulling him.

"Tell me everything or I will smack you", she said pointedly.

"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down.", said another voice from behind him. "What's the matter with you, he just arrived from only gods know where"

The girl rolled her eyes, "I wasn't really gonna smack him"

"Octavian has been after you again, hasn't he?", Grover asked, smiling a little at Nico. Grover looked like a young man now and Nico could hardly connect him to the scrawny kid he'd first seen at the boarding school he and Bianca were in before they were rescued.

"Well, yes. His curiosity is insatiable", Rachel replied hotly.

Nico realized he was merging into the background again and he cleared his throat to bring the attention to himself.

"Why did you drag me out here?", he asked.

"I haven't been able to see you guys lately. And by you I mean Percy, Jason, and you"

"Yeah, we for pulled into something", Nico said offhandedly. "Now tell me, do you know anything of the hunters?"

Rachel studied Nico with her sparkling green eyes and Grover replied, "I could ask the tree nymphs if you want. Juniper would love to help"

"I need to get them, real quick.", Nico said in what he hoped was an urgent and strong voice.

"What for?", Grover asked.

"To get them to Greece", Nico replied solemnly and the colour drained out of Grover's face.

His expression seemed to be asking Nico if he was nuts.

"I'll help you", Rachel said, finally, "In exchange that you take me too"

Nico could think of a thousand reasons to say no but before he could, Rachel raised her hand. "Do not dare to say no. I have been practicing fighting and I want to witness the ultimate fight. We will either emerge victorious or we will die. I want to see for myself."

It occurred to Nico that Rachel seemed young but inside her lived the spirit of a millennia old oracle. It couldn't be that bad, to have an oracle handy.

"Only if you get the reinforcements we need as soon as possible", Nico promised.

...

It should be easy, Nico thought, with the local oracle working for him.

Grover, Reyna, Rachel and he waited in the Central Park. The Pegasi they had flown over in were snacking on Donuts in a corner.

Nico noticed everyone, like he always did, merging into the night landscape.

Reyna was uneasy. She hadn't touched a Pegasus since Scipio, but she had ridden one today, determined to be a part of whatever Nico was scheming.

She had declared herself to be more "competent and better equipped".

Nico didn't object. He doubted it would matter even if he did.

They had been waiting for hours, none of them saying anything when the moon started to get brighter.

At first Nico thought he was imagining it. But when the figure got close enough, he could make out the slim elegant silver chariot.

Driving the chariot was a fifteen year old girl, a circlet around her spiky jet black hair, regal enough to be a goddess.

Her electric blue eyes reminded him of Jason. He shivered.

The chariot pulled up in front of them and dozens of small girls clad in silver jumped off, their bows slung across their backs.

The look of them almost brought tears to his eyes. Bianca. How she would have loved to be a part of them.

He would've given everything up to have her back.

Thalia's regal look melted away when she saw Grover. She jumped off the chariot and hugged him.

It seemed rather undignified of her, Nico thought.

"Nico!", she exclaimed when she saw Nico and had already grabbed him. Then she seemed to think better of it. She stepped back and smiled at him apologetically. "You look older, better"

Nico couldn't help but grin. He felt stronger everytime someone said that. He had to he strong.

He found Reyna staring at Thalia open-mouthed. Her cheeks looked red. He wondered if she was thinking about Jason.

"You knew we were coming?", Grover asked Thalia.

"There are perks of living with a goddess", replied Thalia winking at him.

"Have you heard from Artemis?", Grover asked hopefully.

"Not much", Thalia replied. They waited but she didn't seem to want to elaborate.

She looked at Rachel, "I've heard about you"

"And I, you", Rachel said graciously, "So, let's get to work?"

It took Nico time to realize that they were all staring at him.

Blood rushed to his cheeks and he cleared his throat.

"We need to reach Greece by the feast of Spes", he said firmly.

Everybody stared at him, disbelief splashed on their faced. Nico didn't understand. Sure, it was a crazy idea but it was obvious because they couldn't possibly be expecting The Seven to fight the army and Gaia alone.

It wasn't until she had grabbed his arm and pulled him back, that Nico realized Reyna had moved near him.

"The Feast of Spes is day after tomorrow"

Her words were like ice. He felt his hands and feet go cold with dread.

They'd never make it.

They'd never save them.

He'd die, without ever seeing Percy again.

Wait, was that relief he was feeling?

What he did know was that this had happened to him before. Years of his life were stolen from him before. This time Zagreus stole only about a week.

But then again, a week was a lot, when you were demigod trying to beat Gaea.

He hardened his face, "Then we reach by day after tomorrow."

Everybody looked uneasy and stood frozen where they were until Thalia barked, "You heard the boy"

The hunters started working about Artemis' chariot.

"What else do you need", Rachel asked him in a low voice.

Nico replied, "As many demigods as I can get"

...

At the camp, Chiron was waiting for them. He welcomed the hunters graciously and sent them to the Artemis cabin.

"I want you to get as many Romans as you can", Nico told Reyna.

"I don't think they'll listen to me", Reyna started, "Not after-"

"they will", Nico insisted, "they're in awe of you. You're a great leader"

For a moment Nico thought he had lost her. But Reyna's face hardened, into a Praetor's face and she nodded. Then she spun on her heels and left.

Nico went into the Hades cabin and slept for a while.

He dreamt he was playing Mythomagic with Dionysus and Chiron and everytime he won, Dionysus would turn his featured into the part of a dolphin. At first a snout, then a flipper and soon he was writhing on the porch of the Big House.

Then he dreamt that Percy adopted him in the dolphin form and he woke up giddy.

When he got up and went out, he realized he had missed breakfast.

The air was knocked out of him when he realized that tomorrow was the big day; tomorrow was the feast of Spes.

He felt slightly angry. Zagreus had wasted a lot of their time. Yes, his help could prove vital in the battle but the others on the Argo must be worried sick.

About Jason and Percy obviously. Not him.

He was about to go visit Chiron, to officially tell him that they would leave as soon as possible when a bony arm dragged him into the forest.

"I wish you'd stop dragging me around", Nico protested but Rachel paid him no mind.

"I know we haven't really interacted before, but tell me what up with Percy?", she said solemnly.

Nico couldn't reply. Wouldn't was false and didn't care to, falser.

He couldn't.

"What can you do for me?", he asked her instead.

Irritation played across her face and then it vanished. She took a deep breath.

"I'm a good orator", she said confidently, "I'm a great orator. I could get half the camp to help you"

"Half the Greek camp, you mean", Nico knew she couldn't possibly move the Romans. They would be in awe of her but the were afraid of her too. They wouldn't trust her.

The Greek number wasn't too big. There were kids here, who he didn't want to endanger. Kids of six or seven or ten. The older ones, would come anyway. They'd want to fight.

Her boast was empty.

"Get me a staggering number and I'll tell you", he told her and turned to leave when she grabbed his tshirt and pulled him back.

"I know about your feelings, about him", she said in a low voice.

Nico's lungs seemed to fail him.

He could feel the heat leave his body. He knee what would happen next. Waves of darkness would roll off him and everything in it's path would die.

Especially the red headed green eyes mortal oracle standing not a feet away from him.

"Nico, listen to me", she said, pulling him closer so his face was only and inch away from hers. She smelled of strawberries. "Annabeth is dangerous. Don't make an enemy of her. Percy is her life. And if she thinks you're threatening her life..."

Nico stared at Rachel's green eyes, facinated. They were so different from Percy's sea green eyes. Hers were like precious emeralds while his were like nothing he'd ever seen before. Enchanting.

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, you'd know. But don't worry"

He walked off, again, and this time Rachel didn't pull him back.

"Be careful, Nico", he heard her say, but he wasn't sure.