NICO

Nico stood near the engine room and watched in amusement as Leo cursed at his new sphere toys. At this late hour, after a disturbing day, everyone else "rested" in their berths. Leo stood in a glass, supposedly fireproof, cage. Every few seconds he'd burst into flame. The cage protected Nico, the engine room and the rest of the ship from incineration.

Only a few hours ago Nico had received a brief tour of the oversized flying ship; he then attempted to sleep until nightmares of Tartarus and tortured demigods woke him up. After that he'd made his way to the engine room and sulked in the shadows, watching Leo, the demigod who never slept, attack a metal sphere and curse it for not speeding up the ship's progress.

He thought that his trip to Tartarus would allow him a nightmare-less sleep. Nico reasoned that, if he was utterly exhausted, his brain wouldn't have enough energy to conjure up frightening images. Obviously wrong, he stood with the only other outcast on the ship. Nico had more in common with the funny demigod Leo than he liked to admit. The scrawny unimpressive youth was feared for his art with fire and was an outcast among his crew. Nico could relate. Could he ever relate.

The only problem was that even Leo feared Nico. Everyone ran away from the scary, goth son of Hades. He watched as Leo exploded into flames and cursed. "Stupid fortune cookie," he muttered, as he left the smoke smelling glass enlosure. He saw Nico, started, and his shoulders started smoking.

"You don't always catch on fire randomly. Not at camp half blood at least. Why start now?" Nico asked in a solemn tone of voice.

"Oh...um. I installed this cage as a security measure."

"Thats not what I asked."

"When I get excited, angry or...anyways sometimes it's easier to let the fire burn. The fireproof cage helps. In fact, the exhaust from the fire powers the ship, giving it extra speed." His face lit up as he began to explained something mechanical, typical son of Hephaestus. Leo kept rambling until he realized Nico wasn't paying attention.

The son of Hades stood up and walked to a wooden floorboard in the middle of the engine room. When he bent down and began to use his black sword to scrape markings into the wood, Leo screamed at him.

"What in Hades are you doing?" Leo's hand started smoking and he ran to his glass cage. Nico watched as he let off some steam. The scrawny kid walked back toward him and asked in a voice of forced calm, "What are you doing to the floor of my engine room?"

Nico stared at him for a bit, watching him squirm uncomfortably in his anger. "Do you know where you're going?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer he said. "Eventually we need to go to the House of Hades and you need a map." He looked back at the floorboard and continued carving.

Leo watched him and muttered, "I have paper and pen." Nico shook his head and smiled as he continued to carve numbers and landmarks into the wood. Leo walked slowly to his glass cage across the room and sat down on fire; muttering about friends falling off cliffs, fortune cookies and creepy goth kids.

PIPER

One of Leo's many obnoxious alarms rang through the ship speakers. It had happened before - when he had fallen asleep in the engine room and then again when Leo spilt coffee on one of his wii remotes. She ran down the hall in her powerranger jammies. Past Jason's room. Hazel's...Past Percy and Annabeth's berths. She stopped and a sob rose in her throat. It wasn't a dream. In fact, she hadn't slept long enough the night before for her to have had a dream, or a nightmare.

She stood and steadied herself. Piper wiped her tear stained face as she walked past the main room of the ship where Jason sat with a cup of coffee with dark bags under his eyes. When she reached the engine room she stopped in her tracks. Leo sat, on fire, in a glass cage, asleep. Lights flashed all around the room. She looked to the other side of the room and saw Nico, the poor scrawny kid passed out on the floor with his knife in his hand. She couldn't help but think that he looked far less intimidating asleep. In fact, on the wood floor right then he looked just like the sad kid Percy and Annabeth had described him as.

Percy and Annabeth. Resolutely Piper stalked across the floor and started pounding on the smoke filled glass enclosure. Leo banged his head against the glass and then stood up, finally stopping the surge of smoke and flames. The sirens, or fire alarms, finally stopped as well. "Leo. Sleep well?" she asked in a voice as normal as she could manage.

"Not really," he said groggily. He stood up, walked out of the cage and nearly ran into Piper as he walked toward the coffee dispenser that stood at the console of the engine room. It seemed like both she and Leo remembered Nico at the same time. They looked at the spot on the floor where he should have been - gone.

Piper walked toward the strange markings on the wooden floor. They looked like longitude latitude numbers and she recognized a few other landmarks that didn't make sense. Before she could ask about the markings Leo stomped across the room and threw a rug across the supposed map. He grumbled about his ruined ship and ran his fingers through his still smoking hair.

She stayed in the engine room long enough to see him draw up a second cup of coffee. Looking back at him as she walked up the stairs, she said, "Coffee stunts your growth, you know." He glared at her and she smiled bitterly as she went to look for Jason. Great, even Leo was having mood swings this morning.

Yesterday they had stayed as motivated as possible, for as long as possible. Leo claimed to have made some major changes to the ship already, thanks to his spheres. It wasn't until late that evening, when all the grumpy crew members finally decided they couldn't do anything to save anyone by pacing back and forth, that they locked themselves in their berths, while Leo worked in the engine room.

Jason sat with Frank, Hazel and Coach Hedge in the main room of the ship. "Good morning everyone," Piper said almost a bit too cheerily. Coach Hedge eyed her pajamas and before he said anything about how much he loved Power Rangers she said, "Any of you sleep more than a few minutes last night?"

Leo answered through the loudspeakers. Sometimes he sent his little robots into the main room to catch snippets of the conversation he missed out on while in the engine room. "I sure did. Until you so rudely woke me up this morning. Any ways, sorry about the fire alarms this morning. My fault...again. So after my third cup of coffee I am awake. And Nico I expect an apology for the vandalism to my engine room. Meeting in the Main Room in 9 minutes. Peace Out." Piper looked around the table and saw the demigod's moods lift.

"Well, Leo has the right idea kids. Lets focus." Coach Hedge shouted, which was quite unnecessary, they could hear him fine. "And Piper change out of those pajama's they're distracting me." Piper blushed as she walked out of the room.

NICO

Like all children of Hades he felt slightly rejuvenated in the dark, which was probably why he felt so compelled to walk around the ship that evening and write a map for Leo. That and the nectar and ambrosia he was given when he boarded the ship had finally kicked in.

Either way, if he hadn't write it down that evening he probably would never have been able to. Tartarus affected his mental stability more than he wanted to admit. His memories faded in and out as did his energy.

The main room was empty when he walked in. A few minutes passed until the others filed in, all of them giving him a wary glance except for Hazel, who smiled at him, and Leo, who was still sore about his vandalized engine room.

He did his best to look attentive and able to fully participate in the important meeting. He needed to. If they were ever to save Percy and Annabeth Nico needed them to trust him.

Jason interrupted his thoughts with an awkward statement meant to start the meeting. "Um. What exactly did we accomplish last night?"

"Well, we made all the necessary reparations to the ship, and we shouldn't have to stop anytime soon. So far I've managed to accelerate the ship by twenty-five percent. But I've hardly skimmed the surface. We've also..."

"Yes, yes! But can we blow up more stuff?" interrupted Coach Hedge.

Nico took that as a lead in to interrupt before Leo started carrying on again. He cleared his throat. Though he didn't intend to get all their attention by doing so, they all quieted. "I've recorded a map for Leo to follow. It will take us to the House of Hades, the Doors of Death."

Everyone stared at him as if they didn't think he had a brain until now. He blinked a couple times. The nausea was coming back again, he needed more nectar and ambrosia. "Percy and Annabeth are still alive. And they'll be able to survive - none of you know Percy like I do. He and Annabeth together, they'll survive. Guaranteed." He noticed Jason straighten up, everyone seemed more hopeful…or maybe they were offended. It was obvious that there was still some doubt. The problem - none of them new Nico like Percy and Annabeth did.

"Nico. Why were you at both camps, pretending not to know Percy -"

"Jason, I've known Percy for years. We've both been used by the gods in different ways. Like a pawn. My father assigned me to observe how Hera's plan worked out - he didn't like it and neither did I." He rubbed his eyes.

"Right Nico. I get it." Yes, Jason of all people should understand.

Nico looked across the table - everyone focused on the conversation between the Son of Jupiter and the Son of Hades. Even Coach Hedge was quiet - Nico wasn't the loudest speaker. Nico slouched in his chair and tried to appear as if he was submitting to the all powerful Jason Grace. He figured that the tension that would result from a sudden shift in leadership would be unfortunate. He didn't want to look like he was undermining Jason's authority.

Piper spoke up. "We haven't spoken to Camp Half-Blood." Pain flashed through everyones eyes, though Nico saw they were quick to hide it. There was no room for fear or time for grief.

Nico flipped a Drachma onto the table. Jason nodded. "They'll need to hear about yesterday. But we'll need to hear about Camp Jupiter or warn them if they don't already know about the advancing legion - I have no idea how, but we have to keep the camps together."

Nico thought about the kids at camp. He'd just lost his best friend to the depths of Tartarus. Camp Half Blood lost their greatest leaders, the greatest heroes they'd known in decades. It was getting harder for him to keep his eyes open. He wondered what Leo would do if he vomitted all over his precious ship.

HAZEL

Her brother looked horrible. Nico was clearly trying to pull himself together, for all their sakes. The entire time he talked in a low quiet voice, forcing all of the demigods to lean towards him. Eyes heavy he continued to play the confident ambassador of the camps.

At Camp Jupiter he hadn't let her know how close he and Percy were. She didn't know too much about her brother's past but she had a feeling that Percy was one of the few people he could trust.

"I think we can assume that Reyna is trying to slow Octavian's tirade. But we shouldn't take any chances. They're probably close..."

"Camp Half-Blood will have heard of it by now. Festus sent an update to the Hephaestus cabin when we were at Fort Sumter, warning them to increase their guard. But they don't know all the details. I didn't have time to explain everything -"

Hazel could tell Leo did not want to be the one to give a full report to their camp. "Nico?" Hazel had an idea and nobody was going to like it, but maybe it would help everyone trust her brother. He sat up and looked at her - he always had this look of confidence, holding himself together and keeping everything inside. "Nico you're more familiar with Camp Half Blood than any of us. And you've known Percy and Annabeth longer than any of us. Does anyone else mind if Nico sends the iris message?" She had expected opposition. But everyone looked relieved - Piper smiled at Hazel through tears and Jason looked as if a huge burden had been taken from him.

Nico grabbed the drachma, confident, not hesitating at all. But Hazel suspected that this wouldn't be easy. She wasn't sure how much he was trusted at that camp -

""Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering." Nico tossed the drachma into the rainbow shining through the mist in a water fountain.

In front of them appeared a porch with a two campers wearing orange shirts. They looked like twins - they were shining armor and it didn't appear as if they were enjoying themselves.

"Connor, Travis," Nico said. They didn't turn around. Nico cleared his throat and shouted this time.

The twins turned around wearing faces that made Hazel want to hide her purse full of precious jewels. "Travis, Connor get me Chiron, then call a counselor meeting around the Ping Pong table."

A centaur appeared on the porch, shooing Connor and Travis down the steps to gather the camp counselors. The centaur turned and looked into the Iris Message - he looked tired, as if, very recently, the threat to the lives of his campers became dire. "Chiron," Nico said. Watching her brother, Hazel was almost sure she saw his serious, guarded expression lighten.

"Nico! I see you've joined the quest. Tell Leo we thank him for sending a warning about the Roman Legion. We sent a scouting party every day for a week only to find that they are camping on the side of the road just this morning."

"Chiron," Nico interrupted softly, his expression wary, probably working at how to break the news. "I would like to update everyone on the progress of the quest. As you've probably expected we have not Iris Messaged the camp to tell of good news - I think it would be best if I told all the counselors, maybe the whole camp at once in the meeting room. That way you won't be forced to tell them yourselves and I don't have to tell it twice, I'll message you again in about ten minutes."

Hazel watched her brother, astonished. He was willing to break the news to the entire camp just to spare this centaur the burden, but she suspected he was also stalling. Chiron looked at her brother, his face wearing a soft expression, he nodded then disconnected the message.

Everyone looked at Nico, probably reevaluating their opinions about the serious thirteen year old. He watched their faces and said, "I think this is what Percy or Annabeth or Thalia would have done. From the looks of it Chiron would have taken the news very badly and it would have affected the entire camp if he was not able to tell the news to them with his normal composure." He mumbled this to himself more than to the others. "Now," he looked at Jason. "I want to continue to do this...to break the news...my way."

Before they could ask him what he meant, he fished out another hidden drachma and prayed to the rainbow goddess. An older girl wearing a silver tiara and a black outfit appeared before them. She was running, as if she'd just escaped a life-threatening situation and almost shattered the Iris Message. Hazel heard Jason whisper to Nico, "What are you doing?" suspicious and shocked at whoever Nico contacted.

Nico ignored Jason and waited for the girl to skid to a halt. "Thalia," he said.

The girl stopped in front of Nico and began to catch her breath. Turning slightly, she shouted a command in Greek to some of the similarly dressed girls further behind her. They appeared to be some Greek version of the Amazons.

Thalia narrowed her eyes. "Nico," she said, her countenance not unfriendly. "Did you find Percy?" Her face brightened. She scanned the faces of the rest of the demigods, smiling at Jason but still focusing on Nico, waiting for his answer. Jason seemed frustrated with the entire situation.

Nico stood up, still maintaining his calm appearance as he watched Thalia. "Thalia, we found Percy. Annabeth even found the Athena Parthenos." Thalia stood up straighter as she heard Nico's serious tone, she seemed to understand where the conversation was heading. "They both fell into Tartarus."

Thalia's face paled and she stared at the iris message, not seeing any of them for a while. Then she looked at Nico with rage. "Annabeth fell and Percy followed right? Nico, you should've known better. You should've helped. You know what happened last time." Nobody seemed to understand this part of the conversation except Thalia and Nico. "Damnit, Nico. Why didn't you stop it?" The girl paced back and forth trying to cage her emotions, seeming only to succeed in converting them from sorrow to anger.

Nico seemed to expect this though. He stared right back at Thalia's angry eyes. "Thalia, this was different. You know that. We are talking about Tartarus for Zeus's sake." He sighed and sat down in a chair, placing his hands on his knees. "I found the Doors of Death. I will lead the rest of the seven to the doors, I promised Percy this. Thalia, they are alive, we'll finish this quest."

Thalia just stared at him; her mind seemed to be racing. Hazel noticed the way she looked at Nico, the way she stared at his gaunt form and nauseated face. Thalia began to put two and two together. "How bad was it, Nico? Tartarus, I mean."

"Thalia, if anyone can make it through Tartarus its Percy and Annabeth," he said in reply, avoiding her question. "We'll make it to the Doors of Death, I promised. I'm not a ten year old, mythomagic fan anymore."

Thalia nodded, taking deep breaths. Still trying to recover from the news. "I know Nico. I trust you and I don't blame you." She gave him a knowing look. "Smart move contacting me. I'll be at the Big House in a few minutes to help." She turned and shouted a few orders in Greek to the girls that had gathered around her and the Iris message disconnected.

Hazel, still confused, watched her brother as he stared at the opposite wall, his eyes empty and pained, his body exhausted. He seemed to notice the awkward silence he was causing and shook himself out of his stupor.

Nico turned to Jason and explained. "Three years ago Thalia, Grover, Percy and Annabeth found my sister and I, to transport us to camp. There was a fight with a manticore, this was in the time before the Titan War as Kronos built up his army. He'd sent the manticore. Thalia, Annabeth, Percy - they fought the monster, but Annabeth fell off a cliff on top of the manticores back. Thalia and the goddess Artemis had to stop Percy from jumping after her.

"I mean, really, I should have known better. Annabeth has a tendency for falling off cliffs and, even before they were a couple, Percy would've fell with her," he finished lamely, looking at the other demigods to see if he'd explained things well enough. "I should have stopped the fall and I had expected Thalia to react that way."

Jason shook his head, "I still don't understand why that Iris Message was necessary."

Nico gave him a half grin, fished out a third drachma and prayed to Iris.

A large green ping pong table sat in the middle of a room in the image. It was covered in cans of Cheez Wiz and soda bottles. Campers flocked in, surrounding the table and crowding the room. A tall, large girl walked in, shoving younger demigods out of the way until she had a better seat.

Jason, Leo and Piper squirmed behind Nico; Hazel and Frank stared in awe at the odd meeting place. Hazel wondered what the Greek campers could interpret from their nervous faces. She suddenly felt horrified for Nico, but somebody had to do it. Finally a last group of about ten girls walked in from the back doors of the room, one of them was Thalia.

Chiron stomped his hooves until everyone quieted. Nico gave the camp one of his softer expressions, then began to speak loudly and confidently. "Just yesterday I joined the quest temporarily. We have recovered the Athena Parthenos." He had to stop when a group of demigods started cheering. The large girl in the front row shouted above the noise, "Malcolm, shut up!" They silenced, then Nico continued.

"Hazel, daughter of Pluto and Frank, Son of Mars joined the quest of seven as the prophecy foretold, Romans combined with Greeks." His eyes skimmed the crowd, Hazel noticed it too - the campers were looking for Percy and Annabeth.

Nico looked straight at Chiron when he said, "Yesterday in Rome Annabeth recovered the Athena Parthenos, defeating Arachne. Arachne fell into a hole leading to Tartarus. Annabeth's feet were tied with spider webs, she fell as well. Percy tried to pull her up, but they both let go and fell into Tartarus." Chiron's face fell. Clarisse, the bullying girl, didn't try to hide the expression of shock that softened her features. The kids that cheered when the Athena Parthenos was announced all begain shouting again.

NICO

He figured it was best to break the news first then backtrack. But he saw no way to calm them down. Chiron had frozen in the background, still in shock. Then Nico saw Thalia in the back of the room with ten other hunters. He made eye contact with her and she nodded. Thalia screamed at the top of her lungs, "QUIET." She looked deadly - angry, full of grief but still composed. She looked at the Athena cabin. "What the hell is shouting going to accomplish Malcolm? Annabeth and Percy are the only ones with the right to scream right now, they're in tartarus for Hermes sake." She took a deep breath, "So I suggest you all shut up and let Nico finish his story." She turned back toward the Iris Message and nodded back at Nico. This was the reason he'd contacted her, if only to add a sense of order to this already difficult meeting.

Nico related everything that happened to the campers. First his job as ambassador, then Percy's life at Camp Jupiter, his trip to Tartarus, his jar experience and then his rescue. He turned to Jason who filled in the blanks. Jason relayed the events that led to Camp Jupiter's revolt and the events that followed, the whole time stressing the fact that both Romans and Greeks assisted in the capture of the Athena Parthenos. He slowed and Nico took it from there, once more telling Camp Half Blood about Percy and Annabeth - this time telling everyone his and Percy's promise.

"Since I've been there before I will be able to lead the Argo ll to the Doors of Death. Percy and Annabeth are still alive - I've had no dreams or anything, but I can feel it. If anyone can make it to the Doors of Death it is Percy and Annabeth together." The Aphrodite cabin was bawling, and Nico almost wanted to tell them to shut up - he could hardly focus as it was. He blinked a couple times, his stomach really wasn't feeling that great...

"While we have to make it to the Doors of Death we also need to join the camps. This is imperative. It is impossible to win this giant war without Camp Jupiter. Romans and Greeks need to unite. Unfortunately...we are not exactly sure how to go about that. Malcolm, we rescued the Athena Parthenos. What next?" Nico couldn't believe he was differing to Malcolm, but if he kept speaking he was almost positive the Iris Message would be covered in puke. Thalia seemed to notice the face he was making as Malcolm talked - she started grinning slightly.

Nico shook his head, trying to focus as he realized Malcolm had finished speaking. "Right. So we can convince both camps to unite, hopefully without bloodshed, if the Athena cabin leads a diplomatic mission using the Athena Parthenos."

"Its alright Nico, cough it up!" Thalia shouted this from the back of the room. Nico glared at her. Jason and Leo started laughing while Hazel blushed. Nico looked into the Iris Message and said, "Will you excuse me?" Without waiting for an answer he walked out of the room and puked into a flower pot. "Ambrosia!" he screamed. He heard Camp Half Blood laughing in the background, their laughs muffled by the sorrow and grief that followed the bad news. Hazel brought Nico ambrosia and he walked back to the Iris Message.

He sat down this time. "Thalia, I take it your on leave from the hunters for a few days?"

Her face tensed. "Yes. The ten of us have a three day reprieve to assist the camp. Artemis will not be present but we can use her bows."

Nico thought for a moment. Octavian. "Reyna, Camp Jupiter's leader, it will not be too difficult to convince her to combine the camps. Percy and Annabeth seemed to have made a good impression, until... well anyways. The only problem I see is Octavian. He acts as the camps advisor, the augur."

Malcolm and Thalia both looked at Nico and nodded. "Don't worry Nico, we'll handle it from here. We'll check in with you in a few hours to tell you how exactly we decide to use the statue since it's on the Argo 2." Malcolm disconnected the message and started talking with his cabin. The last thing Nico saw was Chiron, who had recovered slightly from the news, standing to the side of the crowd, talking seriously with Thalia.