Title: The Lost Son of Hades/ The Lost Angel
Summary: Instead of Percy, Nico gets taken by Hera for her 'exchange program' between the Romans and Greeks. A certain son of Apollo isn't happy about that.

Author's notes: This story was edited to include more expressions and hand gestures, it's like a mixture of Mr. Rick's work and my meddling. Don't own anything, credits to Rick Riordan, this is a flip story where Nico was the one taken. It's in two parts, first part on Will's view and the last part on Nico and their eventual meeting.

The Lost Angel
by LDJE

I. Meeting Leo, Piper, and Jason

"Ohhh-kay," Leo interrupted. "Look up there and tell me if those are flying horses." He pointed at the sky.

At first Jason thought Leo had hit his head too hard. Then he saw a dark shape descending from the east—too slow for a plane, too large for a bird. As it got closer he could see a pair of winged animals—gray, four-legged, exactly like horses—except each one had a twenty-foot wingspan. And they were pulling a brightly painted box with two wheels: a chariot.

"Reinforcements," Jason said. "Hedge told me an extraction squad was coming for us."

"Extraction squad?" Leo struggled to his feet, shaking his head lightly. "That sounds painful."

"And where are they extracting us to?" Piper asked, her eyes flashing warily.

Jason watched as the chariot landed on the far end of the skywalk. The flying horses tucked in their wings and cantered nervously across the glass, as if they sensed it was near breaking. Three teenagers stood in the chariot—a blond boy about his height only slightly taller than Jason, a tall blond girl maybe a little older than him, and a bulky dude with a shaved head and a face like a pile of bricks. The girl and the bulky dude wore jeans and orange T-shirts while the blonde boy wore light brown cargo pants and flip-flops, with shields tossed over their backs. The blond boy leaped off before the chariot had even finished moving, the blonde girl following after him. She pulled out a knife as the boy in cargo pants ran toward Jason's group while the bulky dude was reining in the horses.

"Where is he?" The blond boy, although from afar and from his clothes looked easygoing, had startling pale blue eyes that narrowed at them, a displeased frown on his face. The girl placed a hand on his shoulder, her gray eyes were fierce and calculating.

"Where's who?" Jason asked warily. He'd learned a long time ago (though he didn't remember when or where) that it was the easygoing-looking people who were scarier to anger than anyone else.

The blond guy with pale blue eyes frowned and turned to Leo and Piper, like his statement was enough to tell him he'd be useless in this conversation. But before he could open his mouth to prod them too, the blond girl cut him off. "What about Gleeson? Where is your protector, Gleeson Hedge?"

The coach's first name was Gleeson? Jason might've laughed if the morning hadn't been quite so weird and scary. Gleeson Hedge: football coach, goat man, protector of demigods. Sure. Why not?

Leo cleared his throat. "He got taken by some… tornado things." He did crazy gestures with his hands. The girl looked at him, unimpressed.

"Venti," Jason said to everyone (and his) surprise. "Storm spirits."

The blond girl arched an eyebrow. "You mean anemoi thuellai? That's the Greek term. Who are you, and what happened?"

Jason did his best to explain, though it was hard to meet those intense gray eyes and to ignore the pale blue ones giving him an accusing stare. About halfway through the story, the other guy from the chariot came over. He stood there glaring at them, his arms crossed. He had a tattoo of a rainbow on his biceps, which seemed a little unusual.

Where did these people come from? And why did the three of them like glaring at him so much?

When Jason had finished his story, the blond girl had a contemplative look on her face while the blond boy next to her just seemed unsatisfied, though his pale blue eyes were more than a little worried.

The blue-eyed blond turned to his girl companion. "Dad told me he would be here, Annabeth." He seemed to be gritting his teeth. Leo was about to open his mouth and say something about gritting being bad for your teeth, but Piper, thankfully, stepped on his foot. "Dad told me that if I came here, I'd find the answer."

"He said, you find the answer, Will." The girl- Annabeth, Jason's mind helpfully supplied- pointed out, "Your dad didn't exactly say you'd find him here."

"Annabeth, Will." The bald guy grunted. "Check it out." He pointed at Jason's feet.

Jason hadn't thought much about it, but he was still missing his left shoe, which had been blown off by the lightning. His bare foot felt okay, but it looked like a lump of charcoal. He looked down at it quickly before giving the three newcomers nervous looks. They weren't going to scold him for just missing a shoe, right?

"The guy with one shoe," said the bald dude. "He's the answer."

"No, Butch." The blond boy, called Will, said, "He can't be. I probably just got another one of my dad's confusing haikus or prophecies wrong." He ran a frustrated hand through his hair and sighed, "I'm heading back to the chariot." He said before walking off.

Piper, Leo, and Jason exchanged looks, unsure of how to take that. Were they going to leave them here in peace? What about Jason's missing memories?

The skywalk shuddered, and the horses whinnied urgently.

"Annabeth," Said the bald dude, Butch, as he turned to the blonde girl. "We gotta leave. Let's get these three to camp and figure it out there. Those storm spirits might come back."

She looked at each one of them for a moment, her eyes lingering on Jason's bare foot. "Fine." She straightened. "We'll get answers from you later, come with us."

She waited for the three of them to start walking before she and Butch flanked their sides.

Piper looked at Will twiddling with the chariot ahead. She shook her head and turned to Annabeth. For some reason, she wasn't as intimidated by her as Jason. "What's his problem? What's going on?"

"Seriously," Leo agreed.

"You have to excuse him," Butch answered for them. "Will's usually not like that. It's usually-" But then he cut himself off and shook his head.

"I have a feeling he doesn't like me much." Jason gestured towards the other blonde uncertainly.

Annabeth shrugged. "Will's okay. Better than okay. He's almost like literal sunshine back in our camp. I mean, he's friendly and responsible and kind, he's a good healer too. Everyone likes him. He's easy to like."

"Uh, are you sure we're talking about the same guy?" Leo said, trying for a light tone, "He didn't seem all that friendly earlier. I'm thinking of contesting the 'easy to like' part."

"You gotta cut him some slack." Butch said, "He had a vision telling him to come here, to find a guy with one shoe. That was supposed to be the answer to his problem."

"What problem?" Piper asked, more than a little curious.

"He's been looking for one of our campers, who's been missing three days," Annabeth's sighed. "He's going out of his mind with worry. He hoped he'd be here."

"Who?" Jason asked, wondering if it was brother or a cousin or a best friend. Annabeth and Butch exchanged looks.

"His boyfriend," Butch finally said. "A guy named Nico di Angelo."

II. Yes, He's Dating a Guy…

"A boyfriend?" Jason asked, beside him, both of Leo's eyebrows were raised so high his hair almost covered them. Piper let out a cute, tiny squeal.

"Yes. Boyfriend." Annabeth said, turning sharp gray eyes at Jason. "Will is dating a guy. Does that shock you?" She raised a brow at him, challenging. Butch gave them all a glare.

Leo was shaking his head so fast you'd worry it'd fall off his shoulders. Piper cleared her throat, eyes strangely bright. "Nope, definitely doesn't bother me, not at all."

Honestly, Jason, on the other hand, wasn't so sure. He'd never really thought about guys loving guys or girls loving girls (or even if he did, he didn't remember) and now that he was being asked that question, he found that he didn't care much. It wasn't shocking really, especially if you got around thinking about what people did in the ancient times behind closed doors and even the gods in the Greek and Roman mythologies had the occasional same sex fling.

All in all, even without his memories, he was pretty sure he was okay with that.

"I guess not…" He said with a shrug, "I mean, you don't get to pick who you like." He gave a sideway glance at Piper, unsure.

"You make it sound so simple." Annabeth said but with an approving smile. "Love is anything but simple but maybe that's just because we overcomplicate things." Then she turned away from them as she and Butch jumped into the chariot. "Are we all set, Will?"

Jason, Piper, and Leo clambered in after them. The three eying Will carefully, he seemed to have regained his cool, face indifferent as he checked over their ride.

"The anemoi thuellai damaged one of the wheels, but not too badly. If we don't get any more surprise attacks, we can get back in Camp, no problem." Will assured them as he sat back on his seat. Piper was eying him as he looked away, gaze wistful. "Take it away, Butch."

"What's this camp you guys keep talking about?" Leo asked Annabeth who was standing, arms crossed like a captain of the ship, ready to launch an attack.

"A safe place,"‖ Annabeth said. "The only safe place for kids like us." She said seriously, eying them with intelligent gray eyes. "Camp Half-Blood."

III. …Not Just Any Guy, He's Dating the Prince of the Underworld

Leo soon realized Will's heart wasn't in the tour.

After they'd landed in Camp Half Blood, told they were technically half god, met Drew the Asian Drama Queen and the other campers, Leo had been tossed over to Will for a simple 'tour around your new camp' thing. Lucky Piper got the daughter of the wisdom goddess while he got the not-so-much-sunny son of the sun god.

But Leo soon forgot about that when Will started talking and showing him around. He talked about all this amazing stuff the camp offered—magic archery, pegasus riding, the lava wall, fighting monsters —but he showed no excitement, as if his mind were elsewhere, gaze wistful. That, more than anything, bummed him out and he found he couldn't enjoy the whole being-magic-and-having-other-magic-people who could (maybe) summon fire like him too.

"Do I get a sword?" Leo asked, trying to lighten the mood.

Will glanced at him like he found the idea disturbing. At least he got him out from his brooding. "You'll probably make your own, seeing as how you're in Cabin Nine."

"Yeah, what's up with that? Vulcan?"

"Usually we don't call the gods by their Roman names," Will said. "The original names are Greek. Your dad is Hephaestus."

"Festus?" Leo had heard somebody say that before, but he was still dismayed. "Sounds like the god of cowboys."

"He-phaestus," Will corrected. "God of blacksmiths and fire."

Leo had heard that too, but he was trying not to think about it. The god of fire… Seriously? Considering what had happened to his mom, that seemed like a sick joke.

"So the flaming hammer over my head," Leo said. "Good thing, or bad thing?"

Will took a while to answer. "You were claimed almost immediately. That's usually good."

He sensed there was a story there but decided not to push. Instead he shifted the spotlight from him, "So… your dad, the sun god, huh?"

"Apollo." Oh, looks like he's losing the archer guy again. Yep, there's that long-distance look coming up on Will's face. "The god of healing, literature, prophecy… you get it."

"You mentioned him to Annabeth when you came and get us." The son of Hephaestus said, "Said something about your dad telling you your boyfriend would be there?" He hoped Will would take the bait and explain what they was happening to him. Not that he was nosy or anything just interested. Pale blue eyes looked at him, lightly shining amusement. Leo got a glimpse of the friendly and everybody-likes-him attitude Annabeth mentioned.

"They told you about Nico." He sighed, "Yeah, my dad came to me in a dream."

"Huh, gods can crawl into your dreams, not creepy at all." Leo said and Will gave him a begrudging smile.

"Well, they're too busy to appear for real and even when they do, they're usually disguised or something." The blond shrugged as they passed by the volleyball courts. "So, my dad makes it up to us by popping up in our dreams now and then. Sure, it gets annoying but it's more than what the others get so we aren't really complaining."

Tell me about it. Leo sighed. Never saw my dad before or even heard of him until today.

"Anyway, he came to me in a dream last night." Will rubbed at his eyes and up close, Leo could see dark bags under his eyes, which was hard to notice at first because of his lightly tanned skin. "I sort of just conked out, been looking for Nico for the past few days, you know?"

Leo felt bad for the guy, he didn't know who this Nico was but Will didn't seem so bad. He wanted to help in his own way.

"When I got into the dreamscape, dad scolded me about not getting enough sleep and then decided to drop me an unhelpful hint about where my boyfriend is." He grumbled but then let out a long, tired sigh. "I'm sorry, but I was hoping Jason would at least know where he was."

"Eh," The curly-haired teen shrugged, "We're sorry too, that we weren't much help."

Will gave him another smile, this time softer. He was really starting to see the literal sunshine thing Annabeth and Butch were talking about.

"So, this Nico di-whatever guy-"

"Di Angelo." Will corrected.

"Right, him." Leo nodded, "Who's his godly parent?"

At the question, Will couldn't help but give him a small smirk. "Hades."

Leo's eyes bugged out. "What?"

"Hades." The sun god's son said simply as he walked ahead.

"Wait," Leo said as he ran up slightly to catch up with him. "Hades Hades? As in the Hades?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"King of the Underworld Hades?"

"Yeah."

"Lord of the Dead Hades?"

"I really can't see where you're going with this-"

"The dark and brooding, god of shadows and all creepy things Hades?" Leo asked as he waved his hands wildly. Will stopped, giving him a look.

"Nico's father is Hades." And he added before Leo could interrupt, "Yes, the lord of the underworld, dead, shadow-brooding Hades. Zeus and Poseidon's older brother Hades."

"Oh." Then the son of Hephaestus began to laugh, "Wow."

"Leo?"

The teen clutched his stomach as he wiped at his eyes, "Oh God, you-"

"What?"

"Well- you!" Leo exclaimed, still laughing breathlessly. "You, the son of Sun God, all bright and healing and being literal sunshine and you're dating a Hades kid! I mean, I don't mean it as an insult." He said quickly, "It's just, you're you, bright and curing people and stuff and Hades, well, he's all dark shadows and dragging people's soul to the Underworld right? He's your dad's total opposite! I bet his kid could see ghosts and stuff!"

"And he can summon them too. Along with zombies and skeletons." Will mumbled and Leo gave off another laugh.

"Oh man, you're dating your complete opposite! You're dads are so different that it almost seem like you're perfect for each other! Like- like yid and yar- or was it yin and yan? Ying and Yang?" He scratched at his nose. "Anyway, this is definitely funnier than Butch being the son of the Rainbow and Unicorn goddess."

"I'll tell Butch you said that."

"Uh, no, nevermind. Forget I said anything." Leo laughed nervously before shaking his head. "Seriously though, dude, you and Hades' kid. Light and dark."

"Got a problem with it?"

"What? Hell no!" The son of Hepahestus said with an easy grin, eyes soft. "I haven't met him yet but I can only imagine that you guys would definitely balance each other out." He winked, "You're definitely perfect for each other."

Will blinked in surprise before smiling, "Thanks."

IV. An Exchange Goes Both Ways

"You're probably right," Jason agreed, with a nod. "But we have to try." He insisted. "I was sent here to learn about Camp Half-Blood, to try to convince you the two camps don't have to be enemies. A peace offering."

"Hmm," Rachel hummed thoughtfully, "Because Hera is convinced we need both camps to win the war with the giants. Seven heroes of Olympus—some Greek, some Roman."

Annabeth nodded. "Your Great Prophecy—what's the last line?"

"And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death."

"Gaea has opened the Doors of Death," Annabeth said, contemplating. Piper turned away from her for a moment to get a glimpse of a certain son of Apollo who was impatiently wrapping ace bandages around his hands, shifting his feet.

Will spoke, expression closed off. "She's letting out the worst villains of the Underworld to fight us. Medea, Midas—there'll be more, I'm sure. Maybe the line means that the Roman and Greek demigods will unite, and find the doors, and close them."

"Or it could mean they fight each other at the doors of death," Clarisse pointed out, gravely. "It doesn't say we'll cooperate."

There was silence as the campers let that happy thought sink in.

"I'm going," Will suddenly said, surprising everyone except Annabeth and Jason. The daughter of Athena just looked exasperated.

She turned towards Jason, "When you get this ship built, let Percy and I go with you too."

"I was hoping you'd offer," Jason said towards Will first. "We'd need a healer of all people with the oncoming trial ahead. And Annabeth and Percy, we'd need all the people we can get."

"Wait," Leo frowned. "I mean that's cool with me and all and I get why Annabeth and Percy are coming, but, no offense, why is Will coming too?"

Annabeth and Jason studied one another, and Jason knew she had put it together as did Will, the moment he opened his mouth about the other camp. The blonde-haired demigod son of Apollo was quiet, eyes focused in a faraway thought.

Jason was left to explain, "Hera said my coming here was an exchange, like an exchange program between two schools or something." Jason said, carefully. "A way for the two camps to learn of each other's existence."

"Yeah?" Leo said, confused. Piper seemed to get it though, eying Will with understanding. "So?"

"An exchange goes two ways," Jason said with a sigh, "When I got here, my memory was wiped. I didn't know who I was or where I belonged. Fortunately, you guys took me in and I found a new home. I know you're not my enemy. The Roman camp—they're not so friendly. You prove your worth quickly, or you don't survive. They may not be so nice to him, and if they learn where he comes from, he's going to be in serious trouble."

"Him?" Leo said. "Who are you talking about?" He looked at everyone's we-get-it expressions.

"Will's boyfriend," Annabeth said grimly. "Nico disappeared around the same time Jason appeared. If Jason came to Camp Half-Blood…"

Will's expression was damn right scary now and the son of Jupiter cleared his throat trying to clear the tension as well.

"Exactly," Jason agreed. "Nico di Angelo is at the other camp, and he probably doesn't even remember who he is."

Author's notes: Short I know, but I personally love part two. It's more, unique :P Will be updated in two or three days keep an eye out :D THANKS