On a skeletal throne sat an intimidatingly large figure. His voice boomed across the room. "Nico."

He gulped, "Hey.. dad."

The truth is, he didn't want to recount this. It felt… It felt humiliating. The way a parent had that power over someone, to make it seem so insignificant you feel ashamed for trying. How they can get under your skin so easily.

The demigod hadn't often thought about how gods viewed things so differently, but his dad just…

It made him really mad. As if everyone's lives meant nothing. 'Shouldn't you know that trying to circumvent prophecies never work?' He wanted to scream.

And he felt really defeated. As a person who didn't plan ahead, he'd been banking on his dad helping him. But the gods were really just cowards, and he hated it.

Never let it be said that the Di Angelos weren't stubborn, because oh they were . They refused to back down, and worked better on their own if nothing else. Bianca standing by her beliefs, and disregarding warnings (..getting that dumb statue for him anyway) even if it was a dumb thing to do, and willing to make up for that error even if it killed her.

His.. mom, refusing to be hidden away in the Underworld for their safety, because like hell were they unable to be able to meet the rest of the famiglia ( not that it did much in the long run) , even if she could die.

(It could also be said that Di Angelos loved their freedom. Pair that with how Hades' children could hold a grudge…)

So Nico stood up to a god and said no.

And eventually, Hades had to bend, because if he was going to be going anywhere, he was going to go kicking and screaming.

The rest of the conversation went a whole lot more productive after that. For one, his sword!

("..Admittedly, the only reason this place isn't more chaotic is because I'd found reason to believe you were still alive. One day, your sword appeared out of nowhere, falling from the shadows. You've met himhaven't you? The reason everything is like this. He's powerful. Immensely. I know I can't regain that trust, but I'd never be able to forgive myself if I didn't try at least. I hope you can understand why.")

The idea was that his sword, the one that killed things at a touch , had likely weakened Big Ol' Potato Head , enough that the sword had been sent back to its origin place (where it was mined and forged) and inadvertently alerting Hades to his survival.

Continuing on, he'd gotten a lot more answers.

For one, how the gods were still 'alive'. Their remaining believers were now in a place called I-Island ("Ai Airando" sounds like a stutter). Well, it was more like texts of them and all that jazz was discovered and sent there. Considering they were studying quirks apparently, maybe it's for theories on how quirks were made.

In any case, he could see how religion could lose its appeal when people currently had supernatural abilities, so of the few that genuinely did believe they existed, likely got a whole bunch mixed up. (He didn't even want to think of what mishaps would happen since Greek and Roman terminology could be interchangeable in some cases, but in reality really aren't the same.)

(Later later, he'd mentioned it, which prompted the class mentioning how they visited there once! Except a villain attack happened, causing him to sweat internally. 'Di immortales, they're worse then Percy at attracting trouble!')

Next, what happened to the monsters? They stopped existing in a sense. ..Hecate died, and so did her children (and wasn't it a surprise to learn that the whole reason demigods started getting hunted by monsters via smell, was because of one of hers. Apparently Hera got pissed at her because of Zeus, y'know the idea, turned her into a lamia and proceeded to kill her children. ..Sometimes he thought he couldn't hate Hera more, and then he ended up proven wrong.)

Anyway, with Hecate gone, the Mist fell soon as well, and it's likely that demigods and mortals ended up mixing in the brief state of.. Anarchy? That the world fell into while quirks appeared. With, of course, the government being all ' metas are cursed and should all die!' And so on and so on until we ended up here.

Everyone was suffering in that scenario.

On the other hand.. When gods die, they fade. However , their metaphorical 'dust' spreads throughout the land. Rejuvenating it. The truth was that quirked people had godly blood in them, and it was probably such a negligent amount he didn't even notice .

("It's all about the subtle blessings." "What?")

..He didn't know how to feel about that.

No one really knew what happened during that dark period in time however. So much was lost, and considering that demigods didn't really have a written guide (well they did, Camp Confidential anyone? But libraries were screwed over. It was a book disguised as The Complete History of Pavement , however demigods and clear-sighted mortals and the like would see it for what it truly was.) since most of their information was passed down by oral means since their director was immortal, not to mention that using technology had been like sending an alert to any monster in the area that ' hey, delicious demigod meal here!' ..Yeah.

It really sucked in any case.

(On another thought, it's possible mutants were born by monsters and humans. A very disturbing thought, but people tend to be attracted to things they shouldn't. If anything, it could explain why there's an obvious dislike against mutants. Maybe some sort of instinct that makes them feel wrong. But he'd never felt it, so he couldn't be sure. Maybe it was because he was technically half-god, so what would feel like something to them felt like nothing to him?)

This prompted the question of how quirks were so powerful if there was very little godly blood in them, which was less that they were strong, but it was that everything grew weaker in the process. It grew stronger the more generations that came by however, which in came the apparent Doomsday theory.

(All For One was insanely strong. Considering he was technically immortal, and a seemingly infinite stockpile of quirks.. Crap. 'A power on par with the gods…' )

Huh.

So on and so on, they eventually both grew awkward the longer the conversation went to where they were just sitting in silence.

Which led to Persephone making a move outside of simply watching.

He was cautious at first, but then next thing he knew she was squeezing his cheeks like one of those old grandmas ("I forgot how cute you used to be!"), causing him to be very disgruntled.

Regardless, she gifted him some pomegranate seeds. Looking at them made him shudder at the phantom sensation he associated with it. (..running out of air. dying.)

("Remember to come back, louloudi mou."

He jolted, feeling his cheeks heat up at the term of endearment, "D-Did you just call me a flower!? You realize I'm not a girl, right?"

"Hush, you are the only child of mine I've been able to do this with.")

And that was his trip to the Underworld, done! Case closed. Whatever people say in these situations.

It was only once he left, returning to the company of Yamada-sensei that his shoulders dropped, and he realized just how draining that conversation felt.

Yamada rubbed circles into his shoulders, "There there, little listener, rest. I can handle everything else from here."

Nico yawned, melting against the gentle touch. The thought of a nap felt.. nice.

…

It felt refreshing to be back in Yuuei's halls, even if he hadn't actually been here for that long.

'The subtle blessings,' Nico thought.

Yes, he saw it now.

In the way he could see his friends' (..teammates?) slight glow, or the way something primal in him had perked up in recognition.

It was so small, it could've been brushed off as insignificant and yet—

It proved something. It proved that Japan wasn't truly godless, but that they were merely in hiding. Able to be seen if looked for.

And All for One likely ignored it because it was the work of a 'minor' god.

Someone insignificant that it wasn't seen as an issue at all.

Nico.. couldn't believe it.

For the first time since his arrival here, he felt hope.

('The only thing missing was his other half', he thought, dazed at just how giddy he felt with this new knowledge. That home could be right here.)

—- A couple of days ago -—

[Reception: All For One Broadcast | Kamino Incident]

"Hey, hey, does anyone know who that kid is?"

"Man, that quirk's crazy! A lot of raw potential. Maybe he could be the next All Might. They seem like opposites though.."

"What's that kid doing there!? Hey, run away before you get hurt!"

"Haha he has guts! He called that scary villain a potato to his face!"

"Come on kid, you can do this!"

"Does anyone recognize him? Surely he's a hero student somewhere?"

. . .

"I heard Yuuei took him in."

"I think I've seen him in the hallways…"

"A hero course student I think? A transfer."

"Anyone know where he came from before he ended up in Yuuei? He had to have training."

"I heard he was found during the raid. Poor child. He must've been kidnapped by the Villain of Kamino. For what reason, who knows."

"I think his name was.. Niko (it sounds like 'Nii-koh', or 'Nik-koh'. Or even Nikko [日光], sharing the name of a city. Those characters in Chinese can mean sunlight.), something? He has an accent that sometimes makes it hard to distinguish, and I'm hardly proficient in other languages, so I don't know… He's really intimidating so I can't approach him!"

"Do you think he'll be participating in the exams? I'd be surprised if he didn't get a promotion for his heroic deeds."

"Don't they crush any hero hopefuls? No way. Isn't he in his second year?"

"Trouble's been following Yuuei's first years for a long while, I bet he's with them."

"Second year? I thought he was a first year, he's so small!"

"No, no, he's definitely a second year! I've seen him eating with the students of 2-A!"

A blonde girl in a school uniform squealed,

"Ah, he looks so pretty! I really wonder what his face would look like if… Oh, I can't wait!"

.

"Nico will be a wildcard. Therefore, I have a failsafe for you if you're ever in any danger near him. It'll give you time to run, especially if he isn't aware of your ability to shapeshift.."

A vial filled with blood exchanged hands.

She hummed in curiosity.