So I told myself I wouldn't post this chapter until I finished writing chapter 50 because I've literally been working on it for like a week and a half. I just finished it, and hot damn... It's over 8,000 words. LONGEST for this chapter by over 1,000 words. It just kept going and going and going... It's crazy, haha. Luckily for me, though, it should be the last obscenely long one. The rest afterward won't be quite that bad.

Anyway, sorry about the random and uncalled for drama last chapter. But hey, you guys know me. I love it too much :D And it sure ain't over yet!

Thanks to all of you who reviewed! If I recall, I promised the appearance of a major god this chapter (Momos and Oizys don't count, heh heh). Enjoy!

XLVII
NICO

"Who are you?" Hazel demanded, gripping the hilt of her sword and rising slowly to her feet.

The twins leered at her. "Oh, what a surprise," the girl said haughtily, rolling her eyes. "What can you expect from a bunch of idiot kids? Talk about uneducated." She looked Hazel up and down and smirked. "I bet everything people try to teach you gets stuck in all that mess you call hair." She let out a bark of high-pitched laughter and Hazel took a step back, a vague flush creeping up her face.

"Don't listen to them," Nico told her in an undertone, eyes trained on the twins as some thread in his memory was pulled tight. He didn't think he'd ever seen them before, but their names were ringing a distant bell. If only he could remember…

"Ooh, advice on confidence from the emo kid," the boy taunted, sniggering at Nico. "Why don't ya call some friends and team up on us? Might have a better chance. Oh, wait." He gave a look of extremely exaggerated sympathy. "Ya prob'ly ain't got any."

The girl laughed shrilly again. "Careful, Momos. He might cut his wrists and bleed on you."

Hazel gave a short gasp and Nico gritted his teeth as an intense feeling of anger and defiance welled up inside him. He had a serious urge to stalk right up to those two and punch them in their ugly, sneering faces. But he didn't move, because hearing the boy's name again triggered the realization he'd been waiting for.

"Momos," he repeated as information he'd learned long ago came back to him. "And Oizys…"

Hazel looked sideways at Nico. "Do you know them?"

"They're gods," he answered, glaring at the twins. "More children of Nyx and Erebos. Momos is the god of mockery. Oizys is the goddess of pain. I guess you could call them Olympus's bullies."

"Hm, smarter than ya look," Momos said with a sly grin. "Guess it ain't hard, though. If I had to guess just by lookin', I'd put your IQ at about twelve."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "I'm not the one dressed like some moron who got kicked out of high school."

Surprisingly, Momos laughed. "Aw, man. I'm likin' you more and more." Shaking his head, he shrugged and added, "Don't mean I ain't gonna kill ya."

With alarming speed Momos pulled an old-looking, army-standard combat knife from inside his vest and charged forward, baring his teeth in a crazy smile. Nico flinched in surprise and yanked his sword upward at the last second, barely deflecting the six-inch blade. He leapt backward as Momos swung his arm wildly, trying to put some distance between them, but the god was fast. He laughed and twisted sideways, driving his elbow against Nico's sword arm and following up instantly by kicking him so hard in the chest that his breastplate was dented and he was thrown backward about ten feet.

"Nico!" Hazel yelled as Oizys joined in the laughter. Nico growled in frustration and pushed himself up on his elbows in time to see both gods abruptly fall silent and turn to stare at him with sharp eyes.

"Nico?" Oizys repeated, a distinct coldness entering her voice. "Hades's brat?" A bit startled by the sudden change in tone, Nico didn't answer.

Momos's grin turned sour. "It was you," he said scathingly. "You're the jerk-wad that banished our brother!"

Nico frowned. "Brother, what—? Wait, you mean Moros." That had to be it. Moros had been a demigod son of Nyx before becoming the spirit of doom, which would make him the half-brother of Momos and Oizys. Climbing to his feet and removing his dented armor, Nico said, "Yeah, that was me. He got in my way. So I got rid of him." He sincerely hoped that he was coming across as more confident than he actually felt. Dealing with Moros had been extremely difficult. He'd almost died fighting the spirit on more than one occasion. And Moros wasn't even a god, whereas his two siblings who were now eyeing Nico with murderous looks were.

"Aw, I've been itchin' for some payback on that one," Momos said in a low voice, his evil smirk starting to return. "And here ya come, just fallin' into our laps. I was right, man, you really are stupid." As he and his twin laughed, Nico shot an anxious glance toward Frank and Hazel. Frank was still conscious, but Nico had no idea how long that would last if they didn't get him help. Hazel looked pale and worried, and was eyeing Nico with mild confusion over the conversation (though her wary eyes kept shooting down to her boyfriend every few seconds). A fight against gods was the last thing they had time for at the moment.

"Oh, I know," Oizys said suddenly, and Nico glanced her way to see her watching him with something akin to triumph on her face. She strode toward Hazel, who tightened her grip on her sword and held her ground. "You took our brother, so we'll just have to take something from you in return."

Oizys reached for Hazel with lightning speed. Hazel lifted her sword, but she misjudged the goddess's aim. Oizys's hand closed around Hazel's wrist and the latter cried out in pain, dropping her spatha and squeezing her eyes shut. Nico tensed with a flash of panic as Oizys yanked Hazel toward her and grabbed both her arms from behind, leaning her face around Hazel's hair.

"So who's this?" she said sweetly as Momos chuckled in appreciation and Nico tightened his hands into fists. "Your friend? Girlfriend? Sister?" Something must have shown on Nico's face, because Oizys's smile widened. "Sister, huh? Perfect. Watch closely, Nico." She lifted a finger and held it half an inch from the side of Hazel's face. As Hazel tensed in apprehension, Oizys wiggled her eyebrows at Nico as though waiting for him to dare her to go on. Rather than play along with whatever insane game she was playing, Nico gripped his sword and lunged forward, preparing to split Oizys and Hazel up by force. But he was stopped halfway when the blade of Momos's knife lashed out and blocked his path.

"Oizys can inflict pain with a single touch," Momos explained with satisfaction, standing beside Nico and angling his knife so the blade's edge pressed against his throat. "I'd say you don't wanna make her mad, but it looks like it's a bit late for that."

Oizys cackled and tapped her finger to Hazel's temple, and Nico's eyes widened as Hazel screamed in pain. She struggled against the goddess's grip, but Oizys had an arm around her shoulders and wasn't letting go. Nico bit down on his tongue in an effort not to yell at the goddess of pain—he knew it wouldn't do any good. He unconsciously leaned forward, but the blade under his jaw held him back.

"You don't know what it's like to find out someone hurt your family, do you?" Oizys said with a cruel smile. Her cold, gray eyes bored into Nico's as she asked, "Want to find out?" As she wrapped a hand around Hazel's neck and again Hazel screamed like she'd been burned, Nico felt his blood boil with anger. He scanned their surroundings for help, but the only one nearby was Frank, and he was too out of it to move let alone fight. There had to be something they could do, some way to get Oizys away from Hazel so they could at least try to gain an even ground.

And then Nico's gaze landed on an overturned dealer's cart, and he got an idea.

As Oizys took a break to throw back her head and laugh, Nico frantically tried to lock eyes with Hazel. She was breathing heavily and looked to be in pain, but when her gaze finally rose to meet his her eyebrows angled in wonder at his serious expression. He looked meaningfully to his left and then back at her, hoping she would get the message. And thankfully, when she followed his gaze and her eyes shot open wide, he knew she understood.

The stand in question had clearly once sold very expensive-looking jewelry, as the cobblestone street around it was now littered with broken and dirty pieces of various precious gems and metals. In a flash, Hazel yanked her right arm free and thrust it toward the mess and bits of gold, bronze, and silver shot into the air toward her. Oizys barely had time to look around in alarm before she was whacked across the face with a barrage of rings and bangles and at least six or seven necklaces wrapped themselves tightly around her throat.

"What?" Momos yelled as his sister let go of Hazel and staggered backward, arms flailing as she attempted to tug the jewelry from her neck. The instant Momos was distracted, Nico reached up and shoved the god's arm away from his own throat, swinging his sword at the same time so that Momos was forced to leap backwards in avoidance. Angry at the immortal twins for hurting his sister, Nico twisted sideways and jabbed his blade swiftly toward Momos. With a growl, Momos barely dodged the strike, blocking the next one with his knife. He countered quickly, but Nico evaded and kicked his legs out from under him, knocking him to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Hazel lift her heavy sword above her head and bring it down in a flashing arc. Still fighting the killer accessories, Oizys tried to stumble backward out of the way, but she wasn't fast enough. Hazel's blade sliced through the front of her clothes, cutting into her and drawing a thin line of golden ichor from her shoulder to her hip.

As the goddess screamed, Momos shouted angrily "OIZYS!" He jerked sideways like he was about to charge Hazel, but Nico wasn't ready to let that happen. He lashed out and dug his blade along Momos's side beneath his ribs and golden blood spurted from the wound. With a feral yell, Momos spun around and threw a wild swing in Nico's vague direction, but he'd lost his concentration. Nico ducked it easily and lunged forward with a growl, driving his sword straight and burying it in Momos's chest.

The god roared in pain and hunched his shoulders, bowing his head. Somewhere behind him, Oizys shrieked again. A little surprised, Nico stared at the hilt of his sword as dark gold began to soak quickly through Momos's vest. Had that actually just happened?

"You think…" Momos growled in a raspy voice, "…you've won?" He let out a low, mirthless chuckle that erased the tentative sense of satisfaction that had begun to pass over Nico. Momos slowly raised his head and Nico felt a wash of cold when he saw the wide, frightening smile on the god's face. His gray eyes were dark and stormy, his black hair flattened against his forehead from the rain. In that same threatening voice, he said, "I'm a god, you idiot." His expression was so wrong, and too late Nico realized that getting away would really be in his best interests. Before he could so much as blink, Momos snarled furiously and jerked forward, and the next thing Nico knew his senses were overloaded by a sudden streak of blinding pain.

The god's evil smile widened further, showing off white, pointed teeth as he gave a bark of triumphant laughter. Part of Nico wanted to punch the guy's lights out, but a much bigger part could only stand stock-still as his muscles froze in shock and his lungs tightened so he could barely breathe. Splotches of red obscured his vision and seemed to affect his mind and memory as well. The last few seconds vanished and he had no idea what was going on, why he couldn't move and why his body suddenly hurt so much. But then Momos reached up and lightly shoved him backward and he staggered a few steps, his eyes dropping to the six-inch army knife lodged in his stomach.

Oh. Right. There was that.

"NO!" Hazel screamed from behind Momos. Nico raised his head, but his vision was too blurry to see her clearly. All he could see was the laughing face of the god of mockery. A small wave of anger passed over him, but his mind must have been too weak to hold onto it. It took half his strength to reach up and grip the handle of the knife, and the other half to yank the blade free. It fell from his fingers in seconds and with a weak grimace he sank heavily to his knees, blank exhaustion quickly covering up his anger with himself for letting something like this happen.

Then a firm grip settled itself on Nico's shoulder and an intensely cold chill rushed through his body. He knew it must have been his own death overtaking him, but then suddenly the red haze cleared from his vision and the pain died down. He was still kneeling on the wet ground in the Olympian city, but he could see clearly and breathe easily again. He gripped a hand in his shirt over his stomach to find the fabric wet with blood and rainwater, but beneath it he could tell the stab wound had disappeared. And what was more, he could still feel that firm, cold grip on his shoulder. Confused, he turned his head to see a steady, pale-skinned hand resting there—a hand connected to a body crouched beside him, dressed in a long, smoky, black cloak.

"Father…" Nico said in shocked disbelief, as he looked up into the expressionless face of the Lord of the Dead, Hades.

Surprise, surprise. Hey, next chapter's a good deal longer than these last two, close to the length of 45 I think. I'm hoping my writing will pick up speed now that I've reached a certain point, so hopefully the next update won't be too long. I'm back to work on Monday, which should help keep things moving.

So drop me a review? They make my day, really! Thanks, y'all. Later days!

-oMM