PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Medusally || Champion of Hades || Medusally || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO

Title: Champion of Hades – And Stepson of Medusa

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Tags: m/m, m/f, canon divergence, show canon elements, fluff, hurt/comfort, f/f

Main Pairing: Nico/Percy & Medusa/Sally

Side Pairings: Hades/Persephone, Bianca/Annabeth, Grover/Juniper, Charles/Silena, Chris/Clarisse

Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Bianca di Angelo, Annabeth Chase, Sally Jackson, Tyson, Grover Underwood, Juniper, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Charles Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, Clarisse la Rue, Chris Rodriguez, Blackjack, Mrs. O'Leary

Mythological Characters: Hades, Persephone, Medusa, Poseidon, Zerberus

Summary: Hades saved Sally from certain death at the hands of the Minotaur and he offers Percy sanctuary from Kronos. But Percy declines it, instead accepting his quest to retrieve Hades' helmet. This sets Hades up to favor Percy, to even proclaim him the Champion of Hades. And that changes the course of Percy's life significantly.

Champion of Hades

And Stepson of Medusa

Chapter 7: New Home

Medusa's home was impressive. It left Sally stunned after the first tour. An atelier, a large library, a room with a pool table, a winter garden that made her fingers itch because there were also herbs and fruits in there and it made sense that Medusa farmed things herself too. The garden outside was impressive too – aside from the creepy dead people stuck as statues.

The house was big enough that Sally and Percy got their own rooms each, even though Medusa was already housing the children of Hades. Which was still a thing Sally had to reconcile with. Hades had children. Poseidon never talked too much about his family, but from what she knew, Hades had always been loyal to his wife. There were many famous demigods throughout history and Sally knew none of them to be children of Hades. So for there to be two children of Hades, not even twins but children who were two years apart, that meant something more serious too.

The room Sally got to stay in was absolutely lovely. It was in soft blue colors, with forget-me-nots in a pot on the window-sill that matched the embroider drapes. The bed was large and comfortable, the sheets softer than anything Sally had ever touched before. After a light dinner between all five of them and a shower, Sally sank into that bed and fell asleep more easily than in a long time.

There was something to knowing that they were safe, truly safe, and that they were out of Gabe's reach, that Percy knew the truth and didn't hate her for lying to him, that there was a fierce and strong and powerful person in this house who was willing to protect them both.

Gentle knocking on the door woke her up the next day. "Sally? Breakfast is ready and the children are doing a convincing impression of starving Victorian orphans."

Sally huffed out a laugh at that. "I'll be right out, give me a moment to change."

And the thought of breakfast being ready? She couldn't remember the last time she had a home-cooked meal that she hadn't prepared herself. Taking care of uncle Rich, when he was sick, before that, so many years ago… With a sigh did she get changed and brushed her hair before heading downstairs. A smile spread over her lips as she saw Percy and Nico fight over the waffles.

"You already took all the blueberry pancakes," Nico argued.

"And you took all the bacon!" Percy exclaimed, pointing at Nico's plate.

"I really thought I made enough food for five, but it appears that these are not children, they are black holes," Medusa heaved an exasperated sigh. "Please, sit down so they can eat. Animals."

She pointed at the seat next to her and Sally was happy to oblige. After filling her own plate, they started eating. She used the opportunity to learn more about the siblings, getting Bianca and Nico to talk about their own lives. Their lives in Venice, before they got taken to the US, and their experience in this magical hotel that sounded equally fascinating and mortifying to Sally. Sally startled in the middle of it when something wet tickled her cheek. Turning her head, she found herself eye to eye with one of Medusa's snakes, its little tongue flicking at Sally.

"I am so sorry," Medusa looked at her alarmed, putting a hand on the snake to guide it away from Sally. "Timos loves scrambled eggs."

"Oh," Sally blinked wide-eyed at the little snake that was trying to push its head through Medusa's fingers. "Well, is it okay for him to have them…?"

Now it was Medusa's turn to blink at her. "Yes?"

Sally offered a blinding smile as she took a small bit of scrambled egg between her fingers and held it up to the snake. Timos sniffed her finger curiously before opening his mouth and devouring the eggs. A small giggle escaped Sally as his tongue lapped at her finger.

"Good boy," Sally cooed, brushing her finger against his head.

Oh. Oh, this wasn't good. Medusa swallowed hard. Flirting with a beautiful woman was one thing, it was casual, it didn't have to mean anything. But a beautiful woman not recoiling from her snakes? A beautiful woman cooing at her snakes, feeding them and petting them? That might be more than Medusa could handle, she couldn't remember anyone ever being gentle with her snakes. With her? Yes. But the snakes were something her lovers endured or ignored.

"They're really cool, right?" Percy asked with a broad grin.

"They are adorable," Sally corrected, now petting multiple snakes as others grew jealous of the attention Timos was getting. "There, there, no need to fight."

Medusa swallowed again, feeling like there was a lump in her throat. And Sally Jackson claimed to be nothing special. Hah. Medusa could see why Poseidon had fallen in love with the woman, she felt herself falling for this woman and she'd known her for less than a day! But between her protectiveness, her strength, her unlimited love and kindness? It was hard to deny.

/break\

Nico, Percy and Bianca were in the backyard, laying on the ground in a circle, their heads resting against each other as they stared up into the sky, making up stories about the clouds. Percy and Sally had been living with Medusa for about a month now and Percy had never been more happy in his life. He loved having friends so close by, he just had to walk down a few doors – that was the only thing he'd enjoyed about boarding school too, having Grover just a few rooms over.

School was starting again next week. Percy thought it was stupid. There were monsters and gods (and gods who were monsters), the world might end soon, but he had to go to school? Come on. There were more important things in the world! Which had earned him the sternest mom look from Sally and a preaching about how important his education was, because Sally wanted Percy to have everything he could ever want and for that, Percy would need a good job. To get a good job, he needed a good education. Which was also a concept Percy thought was stupid.

"I don't understand why you're pouting, Perce," Nico turned his head to look away from the sky and instead look at Percy. "I am so looking forward to school. Meeting other people, who aren't my sister, or you. Making friends. Learning. Like, the world has changed so much since we entered the hotel and sure, we got caught up on technology inside the hotel, but… everything changed."

"You will have to be our tour-guide to modern society, Percy," Bianca agreed.

That sounded like it could potentially be fun. He tilted his head. Medusa, after hearing Sally give her passionate preaching about school, had decided that Nico and Bianca also had to go to school. Which had been just a little funny to Percy, because school was a concept that fully had not occurred to Medusa before that. After all, she never had children living with her before.

"You'll have to come to Camp Half-Blood with me next summer," Percy declared, as he watched the leafs fall from the trees. "School is stupid, but camp is awesome. You're gonna love it. Lots of actually cool kids, who are like us, and have like… powers and can sword-fight."

Percy had been teaching them how to sword-fight but it wasn't like he had a lot of training himself. He'd kind of tumbled into this life head-first. Still, Bianca and Nico diligently listened to him. Nico because he was a total nerd who was obsessed with all of this anyway, and Bianca because she knew they needed to keep themselves safe. It made Percy miss Annabeth, because she could teach them so much better and would also be able to teach Percy some more. But Annabeth was in Boston and she was happy with her family and her half-brothers. They talked, on the phone, every week. She'd become his best friend so fast and hard during this quest that he couldn't imagine a life without Annabeth anymore. He also missed Grover, who was… out there, somewhere, searching for Pan, all alone – and that worried Percy, it worried him so much.

/break\

Percy frowned curiously at the bracelet Medusa put on him. She smiled and patted his head before moving on to put bracelets on Bianca and Nico too. They looked really cool. Resin, sturdy and see-through around the blueish black snake-skin. One of Medusa's hobbies was making jewelry and she had made these out of the shed skin from her own snakes. Which was a little weird and creepy.

"They carry my scent, which is going to mask yours," Medusa smiled. "Monsters will smell me first and they will then avoid you before they can get close enough to smell your scent."

"Oh, that is really awesome," Nico stared in awe at the bracelet.

Bianca wrapped her arms around Medusa's middle, hugging her tightly. There was a surprised but tender look on Medusa's face as she returned the hug and smoothed down Bianca's hair.

"Okay. I'm off to work and I'll drop the kids off at school and then pray to every god listening that they will not get into trouble on their first day," Sally heaved a sigh that sounded defeated.

"Wait," Medusa smiled as she took a pendant out of her pocket. "This one is for you."

"I'm not a demigod," Sally blinked surprised. "I don't smell particularly tempting to monsters."

It was a beautiful pendant, the resin was shaped like a sea-shell, but with the snake-skin inside it. Medusa laid it around Sally's neck and closed it at the back of her neck.

"You may be mortal, but monsters have always also attacked mortals. So I would like them to know that you too are under my protection, dear."

Sally flushed furiously at the term of endearment, the near possessive edge to her voice, the casual offer of protection. All her life, she had protected and helped others. It was still something so foreign to her to be taken care of by someone else.

"Thank you," Sally cleared her throat. "I… I'll bring dinner home tonight, okay?"

Medusa couldn't help her bright smile at Sally calling the place her home. Sure, the Jackson had been living with her for a month now, but so far, Sally had not exactly made a decision on what to do. How long this stay was going to be. If she was looking for a place to move, or if she maybe even already had one. But home. Home sounded good. Home sounded like her Jacksons weren't going to leave any time soon. Medusa smiled and nodded at Sally.

Medusa waved at them as they got into Sally's car. "Have a good day, my dears."

/break\

After a week of school, Nico was reconsidering his enthusiasm. Perhaps Percy was right after all. Kids were unnecessarily mean and Nico wasn't sure why they used 'nerd' as a bad word. They kept calling him that and he asked Percy what it meant, but his explanation of it didn't sound bad. It sounded accurate and fun. Percy had heaved a sigh and wrapped an arm around Nico's shoulders to appease him. All it did was leave Nico's heart racing like a jackrabbit. Which was a weird thing that was happening more and more often when Percy would hug him.

Beyond the mean kids, school was kind of nice. Learning. Interacting with other people their own age – and not everyone was a bully. There were enough nice kids in their class too (Nico and Percy were in the same class, which also totally made it better). He'd even made another best friend (another because Percy was his first and nobody was going to beat Percy). So things got better over the following weeks of getting settled in, getting used to school.

"This is absolutely amazing and you are awesome," Nico declared.

He was carrying his not-Percy-best-friend's sketch book. She grinned broadly back at him, tucking her hair behind her ear. Rachel Elizabeth Dare was definitely the coolest girl on the planet. She had wild fire-y red hair and freckles and all her clothes were somehow stained with paint because she never went a day without painting. She was super artistic and talented and amazing and she indulged Nico in drawing all of his favorite creatures and gods.

"Yeah, Nick's right," Percy noted as he looked over Nico's shoulder.

His breath puffed at Nico's neck and Nico had no idea what that made his pulse feel like he had run too many laps at PE. Usually that annoyed him so much, whenever Bianca would do it. The four kids paused when they saw a homeless boy sitting at the alley. He was way younger than them, maybe seven and he was definitely not human. Nico and Percy came to a full-stop as they stared into the cyclops' one hazel eye, causing Bianca behind them to bump into them and complain until she saw what they saw. The thing was, on a theoretical level, Nico had been aware that monsters were born and that implied a phase between dangerous adult-sized monsters and babies. But looking at the young cyclops, Nico found it hard to think him monstrous.

"Hey," Percy smiled as he crouched down next to the kid. "I'm Percy. What's your name?"

"Tyson," the younger boy replied softly.

"You hungry, Tyson?" Percy asked, even as he already got his own lunch out. "Here. My mom makes the best pbj on the planet, but I already stole half of Nico's lunch so I'm all full."

Which wasn't even a lie. Medusa had made Nico's pbj with blueberry jam before they ran out of blueberry, so Percy 'only' got strawberry. And when lunch rolled around, Percy did that thing where his lower lip was quivering and his eyes were like twice their size and sparkling in a hypnotizing manner and Nico would just to absolutely anything Percy asked of him so they shared his sandwich.

"Thank you," Tyson accepted the sandwich shyly.

The other three exchanged a look before they stepped closer to them and then sat down with Tyson. Nico got his Mythomagic cards out and the five kids played together and talked for two hours.

/break\

Medusa was enjoying her afternoon tea when her wayward children finally found their way home. She hadn't been overly worried when they didn't come home right after school, they'd given her and Sally a heads up that they would be hanging out with Rachel after school. A talented young artist who had managed to befriend all three children. Medusa would love to meet her, but mortals were tricky and she didn't want to make things complicated for her kids.

"Uhm, Medusa, we kind of… uhm… brought you something?"

Oh, that was Percy's 'I should have asked permission first but that goes entirely against my nature so hello consequences here I am' voice (a very distinct voice that Medusa had learned to identify about a week into Percy and Sally's stay with her). Raising one eyebrow, Medusa put her tea down and went to check what that could possibly mean this time.

Many possibilities presented themselves when Percy Jackson was concerned, yet once again, Percy managed to surprise her, because next to Percy stood a young cyclops. Very young. A child, younger than Percy, Nico and Bianca by a few years. Messy, brown hair that somehow reminded her of Sally's, one big eye staring at her in awe and worry. Due to his nature, he was towering over the other kids despite being younger. The most curious part was the scent of ocean breeze clinging to him. A son of Poseidon. Leave it up to Percy to find a monstrous half-sibling of his.

"Well," Medusa smiled brightly. "Who do we have here?"

"That's Tyson. He doesn't have parents. We found him in an ally," Nico supplied.

Oh, dear. Leave it to Percy to bring her an orphaned child. Her smile turned more warm.

"Hello, Tyson," she approached him to pat his cheek gently. "Bianca, be a dear and go and prepare one of the empty bedrooms for our young guest. Nico and Percy, you help me with dinner."

Sally was going to be in for a surprise. They gained another child. My, she was really doing this whole courting in quite the messy order, wasn't she? First moving in together, then getting a child for the both of them (as opposed to Medusa's di Angelos and Sally's Percy), and they still hadn't even kissed. She needed to rectify this. A date. It was time she took the next step in her courting of Sally Jackson and took her out on a proper date, because the woman deserved to be wooed.

Author's note: Oh, I am having sooo much fun with the Medusally of it all. But I am also delighted I got to put a tiiiny bit of Nicercy in there too. There's a crush growing in Nico and he has No Idea what to do with that ;D Also! TYSON! Because looking at my notes on the PJO timeline, I realized that Percy and Tyson first met in the autumn between the two books. I also decided to put Rachel in earlier and let her be friends with them because I can~

Next up, Sally gets taken out on a proper date! Percy gets to adjust to life with a brother. Nico's considering that he might have a serious heart-condition due to all the thumping and fluttering