A/N: Anyone finish Blood of Olympus yet? If no, well, all I've got to say is this: YOU'VE HAD PLENTY OF TIME. The series may be over but it will never be dead. We'll keep the world of Percy Jackson alive with fanfiction. Am I right? With that being said, don't forget to review this one. Man...it was really hard not to write spoilers for BOO in this...

Poseidon and Percy

The sun was beginning to set, and Poseidon was only growing more worried the lower it got. His gut clenched at the thought of finding absolutely nothing. They had been walking all day through the parlous desert and hadn't even found something as simple as a cactus. Not even shrubs. If they had found a cactus, Poseidon knew he could've at least gotten some water from it, but no. No, Hera had not provided the luxury of water. Whether she was being ironic or not, Poseidon didn't know nor did he care. The only thing he did know was that he was going to make sure Hera went without water just as long as they did. She was going to suffer.

As he was thinking of punishments very similar to Tantalus', Poseidon's mind thought of something that almost made him stop walking. Did Hera intend to kill them? Poseidon denied his own question, knowing she would never go that far. If they got desperate, he was sure Hera would help them in some way.

Then again...

He could see his veins in his arms, a clear sign of dehydration. His vision blurred now and then and the dryness in his throat and mouth were irritating. He wasn't used to this feeling; being lethargic and thirsty. He'd never had to deal with being thirsty before. He didn't like it. He couldn't even salvage up any saliva to drink anymore.

Poseidon stopped walking on top of one of the sand dunes. He surveyed the area, although not much had changed. There was nothing but sand and sun. The sand was already frustrating enough to walk in (not to mention the temperature of it), and the sun made it ten times worse. The sun was the true enemy at the moment.

"Hey, Dad, ready to give up on this whole 'shelter' thing yet?" Poseidon heard Percy moan behind him, interrupting his musings. Percy was squinting at the sand. He had an arm up to shelter his eyes from the sun, even though he knew it wouldn't do him much good. The boy looked like he wasn't much better off than Poseidon was. Poseidon could see Percy's veins as well. His skin was, somehow, more pale than usual. It looked almost transparent.

But Poseidon didn't care about any of that. The one thing about Percy that he noticed made his heart clinch with guilt. Percy wasn't sweating anymore. That meant his body was running out of water a lot faster than Poseidon's.

Poseidon sighed, but from what, he didn't know. It wasn't annoyance at the question. He felt for the boy. He had to admit, Percy had done well for the circumstances. He didn't complain as much as Poseidon would've originally thought. Percy had taken it all in stride...for the most part.

But the day was ending and both of their energy levels were running low. They were tired, exhausted really, and thirsty. They couldn't really say they were hot anymore, considering the temperature had dropped about thirty degrees. It was probably in the low seventies, and Poseidon knew they were running out of time to find a place to keep warm.

Poseidon sighed at Percy's earlier question again. He didn't know what to say or do. With no shelter or fire, they surely wouldn't make it through the night. Poseidon was mad at himself, though, and that anger was getting in the way of most of his thinking. Yeah, Hera royally screwed them over and she deserved his indignation, but he should at least have the survival skills to cope and be able to provide for Percy in a time like this.

"No, Percy, I haven't given up on the idea of shelter and neither should you." Poseidon replied as he turned around to face Percy, hoping his frustration with everything wasn't showing in his voice.

Meanwhile, Percy had heard something strange in Poseidon's tone; something he wasn't used to hearing in his father's voice. Anger? No, no Poseidon had nothing to be angry with. Well, he did, but worse things have happened. Hera had wiped Percy's memory clean and stuck him in practically a different world! If Poseidon got mad about this, then he gets mad easier than Percy thought.

Or maybe Poseidon is just annoyed with Percy. The boy couldn't think of what he had done. The only thing that might have annoyed Poseidon was when Percy had started singing Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid. Other than that, Percy had been good. The singing thing had been hours ago, so surely Poseidon wasn't still mad about it.

There had to be another reason his father was upset, and Percy was determined to figure out why.

"C'mon, let's keep walking." Poseidon instructed, and Percy followed, well...slid down the dune after him.

"Uh, Dad? Is something wrong?" Percy asked nervously. He didn't know how Poseidon would respond. Maybe he just wasn't in the mood to talk and Percy was over-thinking this whole 'tone' thing. And what kind of question was that, anyway? Of course something was wrong. They were in a desert for crying out loud.

Just as Percy was beginning to feel like an idiot for asking the stupid question, Poseidon spoke up, "Before you get into this, I'm not upset with you, son. Actually, I'm quite proud of how well you are taking all of this."

"But..." Percy added, gesturing with his hands for Poseidon to keep talking. Poseidon sighed and clenched and unclenched his fists.

"But...well...Hera,"

"Say no more, Father. I have been there and done that. I know how you feel, believe me." Percy interrupted as obnoxiously as he could. He rolled his sea-green eyes at Hera. One day she was going to get her just desserts, and by pissing off the Big Three, she probably just cemented that.

"Percy..." Percy heard Poseidon mutter. He was nervous about something, that much was clear. Percy felt bad for Poseidon. He had never had to deal with Hera's crap like Percy did. He dealt with her crap in other ways, never being on the receiving end of her antics. Now she's turned Poseidon's world upside down and Percy wanted to kick her godly butt for doing this to his dad.

"Yeah?" Percy answered, waiting for Poseidon to continue. Poseidon took a deep breath and continued,

"What do you think we should do?" His voice was barely above a whisper. Poseidon was staring at the sand under his feet. He was wringing his hands anxiously. Percy knew he must be nervous about nightfall, which, by the looks of it, was going to be soon.

Seeing his dad so distressed, Percy swore he'd make Hera pay. But for now, he needed to keep both their spirits up. He was good at that; making people laugh during hard times on quests. Those times were always the most memorable. To Percy, they were the best times on quests. Like the 'dam' fiasco. He knew he'd never forget that. And when Jason had been playing the radio on the Argo on one of the days they got to relax. Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys had come on and Leo had busted in, completely on fire, screaming the song at the top of his lungs. Percy didn't stop laughing until the next day, although Frank hadn't found it so funny.

"Percy?" Poseidon shook his shoulder. Percy blinked his eyes a few times, coming out of his memories. He realized he had a stupid smile plastered on his face.

"Sorry, Dad, I was just...remembering some good times from past quests. That's what I do in hard times. Either try to make people laugh or remember the good times. Do you have any funny stories from Olympus?" Percy asked. He had a secret reason for asking. Yes, he was curious, but he also wanted Poseidon to think of funny things and smile himself.

Poseidon forced his legs to walk. He was weak and stumbling a little, but he was still moving, which in his book meant he was fine. Percy was right at his side now instead of behind him. He clearly wanted to hear of the asinine antics the gods were capable of.

Percy was looking at him, his eyes big and pleading. Poseidon looked at his son, only noticing the effects of dehydration written all over Percy's body. Poseidon felt his heart clench with guilt again, and decided to give Percy the stories he was begging to hear, if only to make him feel better.

"Well, there was this one time Apollo got bored, like he easily does at the meetings, and decided to make some fun for himself."

"Uh oh." Percy commented, smiling in anticipation as he thought of the sun god tapping his foot monotonously. He pictured Apollo with one elbow leaning on the arm rest of his throne with his chin in his hand, wondering how to make everything a bit more interesting as Zeus' voice rang through the throne room in the background.

"So what better way to have fun than to mess with Zeus? Apollo used his finger to shine a light in Zeus' eyes whenever he wasn't looking at Apollo. Zeus got so upset that he began to question everyone in the throne room. I suppose it finally clicked who the only one it could've been, and Zeus marched over to Apollo demanding an explanation and an apology."

"Pissing Zeus off? C'mon Apollo. You're smarter than that." Percy said.

"Apollo replied, 'I was bored. I Apollogize.' with the most innocent look on his face. Needless to say, Zeus wasn't happy and he made Apollo go without saying haikus for a week. I guess Apollo didn't mind though, because he high-fived Hermes."

Percy was laughing. He never thought the gods had a sense of humor. Poseidon found himself laughing at the memory too. The knot in his gut untied at seeing Percy laugh.

"And," Poseidon began after he caught his breath, "when we were all in Kronos' stomach, my siblings and I, you can only imagine how cramped it got."

"I bet. I think I would've lost my mind." Percy sympathized, imagining being stuck in someone's stomach from birth to adulthood. Man, that had to suck.

"Yes, well, anyway," Poseidon began again, "at some point, I think Hades did lose his mind. He began trying to climb up Kronos' throat. Of course Kronos felt this, and decided to sedate him by drinking about fifty gallons of wine. Now, to a titan, this did nothing. He probably didn't even get tipsy. But to Hades, a god who'd never had alcohol before, well, I'll let you use your imagination on that one." Poseidon finished with a chuckle and a smirk at the memory.

Percy imagined a very drunk and incoherent Hades. He didn't know whether he would've been laughing or scared. Would he be slurring his speech? Somehow, his thoughts wandered to what kind of drunk Hades was. Was he a happy drunk? Or maybe a sad one? Maybe he was one of those that do stupid stuff and then not remember it the next day.

Percy laughed, wishing he could see his uncle drunk. Poseidon smiled fondly at the memory.

After a minute, they both sat down in the sand. Poseidon watched the sunset, nervousness resuming it's place in his chest. He wished he could tell it to go away, but it was demanding to be felt. Questions and doubt soon followed, and Poseidon's happy demeanor vanished with the sun.

How would they survive? He hadn't bothered to tell Percy about the predators that probably came out at night as well. Didn't deserts have coyotes, snakes, and scorpions? They didn't even have any weapons to defend themselves.

"Dad, look!" Percy exclaimed excitedly, oblivious to Poseidon's inner quarrel. He grabbed Poseidon's forearm in one hand and was pointing in a direction with his other. Poseidon looked, and saw something he knew was a gift from Hera.

Sitting under a cactus were two backpacks.

Without a word, Poseidon stood back up and ran to them, Percy hot on his heels. He got to one and opened it, going through the supplies inside. There wasn't much, but there was a canteen full of water, some protein bars, and a blanket.

Digging through everything, Poseidon got to the bottom and found a pen.

'A pen? What, was she going to write us an IOU?'

Poseidon, Sorry about the trouble. Here's a pen.

XOXO,

Hera

Poseidon thought sarcastically bitter, upset she'd give them something so useless. As he was putting it back in the bag, he stopped cold. Quickly pulling it back out, he uncapped it (pointing away from his body) only to reveal Riptide.

"My sword!" Percy noticed, and took the hilt from Poseidon's hands. Percy examined the weapon that had saved his life so many times to make sure Hera hadn't hurt it. He checked the sharpness and looked for any scratches on the blade that hadn't previously been there.

"Percy, perhaps I should wield it. It is our only weapon and nightfall is upon us..." Poseidon told Percy. Percy gave him his best Nico-death-glare that he could muster.

"I know what I'm doing, Dad. Maybe if I was still twelve, yeah, I'd let you have it. But I'm seventeen now and Riptide is my lifeline. It's saved me so many times. I know how it works, what it's capable of, and my own limitations with it. I know how to fight, Dad." Percy replied emotionlessly as he stared at Riptide. Sighing, he looked back up at Poseidon. "I can protect us, Dad." Percy finished.

Poseidon held his son's gaze for a bit, but eventually his eyes became soft. "Okay, son." He caved. Poseidon knew he was making a mistake. He was putting his life in his teenage son's hands. No matter how experienced Percy may be, he was still apt to make mistakes. He tends to do that.

But seeing his son smile at that moment was worth whatever the night may bring.

Zeus and Jason

Even with night vision, the cave could still get dark at times. And with no sense of time, Jason's body was confused about whether he should be tired or not. He figured they'd been in here for days, but the realistic side of him told him it had only been a few hours.

It's not like they were too bad off. The cave had streams of water that poured through cracks in the wall. The cave could get chilly, but that was about it. The only problem they had was food. What were they going to do when they got hungry? Just knowing there was no available sustenance made Jason's stomach growl. He put his hand over it to shut it up.

"Looks like there's another incline up ahead. It's headed down, so maybe,"

"Zeus, what are we going to do about food?" Jason's voice echoed. He hated how, even when they whispered, their voices would echo. He didn't want to hear his own voice repeating what he'd just said seconds before. But it was one of those things he'd had to just get over.

Zeus was standing at the edge of the incline. He had one hand on the ceiling and the other resting on his upper thigh. He was breathing hard because of all the rocks they had to climb over. He gazed down into the cave. Although Jason expected his expression to be harsh, it wasn't. Mostly, Zeus just looked like he wanted his powers back so he could blow the place up.

"I don't know." Zeus replied. He didn't bother to look at Jason. He only stared into the deep, downward-incline of the cave. Why was he more obsessed with what was in there than with surviving? Technically they didn't have to move anywhere, or travel deeper into the cave. But they did need food, and if Zeus wasn't going to provide, Jason would.

Jason scanned the rock walls of the cave, looking for something relatively edible. Moss was growing up the wall on one side near a small, trickling, waterfall from a crack in the wall. It seemed like if you took a pickaxe to the walls of the cave, you'd get flooded.

Jason had his experience drowning in the Nymphaeum. He didn't want to do it again.

"What do you think is down there?" Zeus questioned, staring into the dark pit. He grabbed a rock that appeared to be a pretty good handhold. He leaned over the edge more and peered into the pit.

"Probably skeletons from people falling to their deaths doing the exact thing you're doing now. If that rock topples or you slip, you're done for." Jason informed, wondering how his father could have such little common sense.

"Don't worry about me, boy. Anything you know of that lives in caves?" Zeus replied, actually having the audacity to chastise Jason for caring. Well, sorry.

Jason only scoffed at Zeus before realizing he'd have to just give it up. Zeus was too stubborn to understand that Jason wasn't trying to belittle him or act like he was in charge. To be honest, he wanted his dad to lead. Jason didn't want to be responsible for both of their safety. But Zeus' choices made it hard to trust him, and Jason wasn't about to follow his father's orders if he didn't trust him.

"Um, well, nothing really. I don't study up on my monsters. I just fight them and learn about them as I go. I didn't know they had specific places where they hang out." Jason said, lifting his hand to touch one of the glowing blue mushrooms that seemed to adorn the cave. He felt like he had to touch one; like if he didn't, his life would end. Or worse, he'd get his memory erased and placed in a whole new world again. He felt as if touching the mushroom would end all his problems. And as his hand got closer, as the tips of his fingers were about to brush the mushroom's blue-glowing-domed-head, Jason was startled back into reality.

"Hey, Sparky, what are you doing? Come over here." Zeus ordered. Jason blinked a few times as his transcendent state diminished. His heartbeat began to return to normal and he started breathing again.

'Woah. Note to self: shrooms equals bad things.' Jason chided himself.

"Jason?"

"Sorry, Zeus." Jason said as he looked to his father, his eyes still wide from the brief experience.

Zeus got a strange look on his face. He looked between Jason's wide blue orbs and the mushrooms. He didn't know what had happened, but he didn't like what it did to his son. "C'mere, boy." Zeus got back onto the actual ground of the cave. Well, he wasn't hanging over the edge of the chasm anymore.

As Jason walked...stumbled...toward him, Zeus noticed his son's shaking hands, the paranoid way he'd look into every deep, dark shadow of the cave as if someone were going to pop out, the quick, shallow breathing, and the slight blue glow that covered his body.

When Jason finally reached him, Zeus put his hands on Jason's shoulders and looked him over. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all. Jason didn't even touch that stuff. If this is what it did to him when there was no physical contact made...

Zeus decided there would be no close proximities to the strange blue fungi. Definitely no touching.

Jason slowly came back to his senses. He'd felt strange, like he was leaving his body. He felt like someone was pushing him, his soul, out. As he had walked to Zeus, he felt like he was going to float away. Now, that might sound ironic, but when he wasn't in control of it, it scared him. He felt as if he wasn't the one who was really in control of his body, that someone else was pulling the strings to move his legs forward.

But when Zeus had put his hands on Jason's shoulders, Jason felt like he was being anchored back into his body. He felt in control again, and the strings had been cut.

"Are you okay?" Zeus asked, not sure why he was asking. What was this strange feeling in his gut and chest? Guilt? No, he'd felt guilt before and this wasn't it. Worry? No, that wasn't a strong enough word.

Concern. Yes. Yes, that had to be it.

"Ye-Yeah. I-I'm f-fine, I guess." Jason stuttered. He was having trouble thinking of words to say. Hell, he was just having trouble thinking.

Zeus' eyebrows knit together. He knew Jason had never tripped over his own tongue before. The boy was always well-spoken.

Eyeing the mushrooms growing on the wall of the cave one last time, Zeus put his hand on Jason's back and herded him away from it, deeper into the cave. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen those mushrooms before; heard about them or something. But his mind wasn't filling in the blanks of his memory, and this irritated him to no end.

"Uhhhgggg," Jason moaned beside him, putting a hand to his head.

"Jason, what's wrong?" Zeus asked. He knew in the back of his mind that even if Jason told him, there would be nothing he could do about it. It's not like Zeus was a healer. That was Apollo. They didn't even have a first aid kit to work with.

"I-I don't know. It's all a blur. What happened? Where are we? I don't remember walking into the cave." Jason stated, looking around as if just noticing his surroundings.

"I don't know what that mushroom is, but how about you don't mess with it again, hmm?" Zeus said. Even though he ended it with a question, Jason knew Zeus wasn't asking him. He was demanding, and for once, Jason was going to agree with his father.

He nodded his head, then immediately said, "Yeah." Wasn't body language the reason they were in this mess? Because Zeus it too high and mighty for a head nod? Well, Jason guessed if he wanted to place blame (on someone who wasn't Hera) he'd have to blame Nico. He didn't want to. He'd felt an overwhelming sense of protectiveness toward Nico ever since Nico had opened up to him. Jason now thought it was his duty to protect him, even if Nico didn't want or like it. Which he didn't.

Jason found himself clenching his fists at the memory of Hades attacking Nico. Jason was powerless to help Nico, and it hurt him. Hades had no idea what Nico had been through, nor did he care. What gave him the right to take his son's life? If you don't like your son, fine, but you have no right to steal their future and their hope for happiness in it.

"Jason, stop blanking out on me." Zeus said as he shook Jason's shoulder.

"Sorry. I was just thinking about Nico. Do you think he's okay?" Jason asked sincerely. Zeus raised an eyebrow at Jason's question. He found it an anomaly. Why was Jason worried about Hades' boy when he should be worried about himself? But Zeus saw the look on Jason's face. A look of desperation to hear what he wanted to hear. Zeus sighed.

"I couldn't imagine he wouldn't be. Even I have to admit that boy is a fighter. He's been through a lot and has come out clean on the other side. He's fine, Jason." Zeus said, hoping for his son's sake that he was telling the truth. He had no idea if Hades and his kid were okay. He had no idea about Poseidon and his annoying spawn either. He didn't know why, but this bothered him.

Jason nodded his head, hoping Zeus didn't see. He looked into the bleak darkness of the cave ahead of them. He was waiting for a fight. A fight with monsters in there, a falling out with his dad, everything. He was waiting for everything that lied in that darkness. But right now, all he could do was hope that Nico was okay. The kid didn't deserve to go through more than he already had.

Hades and Nico

All Nico had been listening to for the past thirty minutes was Hades shifting through decomposing papers and scraps of material inside the desks of the office. They hadn't left the room they had come into, and Nico was beginning to get antsy.

He had helped somewhat, but Hades seemed to be annoyed with Nico whenever Nico had asked if they needed whatever he was holding. He'd hold up an old cloth that was coming apart at the seams and ask if they needed it, to which Hades would respond with an eye roll and a curt 'no'.

Eventually Nico had given up and sat down on an old computer chair. He watched as Hades would travel back and forth across the room, checking everything for anything they could use. He'd come up empty so far. Nico guessed whoever had been here before had picked the place clean, but this only caused more anxiety when he thought about why someone would have to do that. What was that monster out there? Was it the thing everyone had been trying to avoid? Nico couldn't exactly blame them. He wanted to pee his pants from just a thrown trash can and a scream from the creature.

Nico shook his head to get rid of his thoughts about the monster. If he continued to think about it, he'd only make himself too afraid to leave the room he had deemed safe.

Instead, Nico looked at the torn carpet under his feet. It was thin carpet, practically concrete with a foam yoga mat on top to make you think it was okay to fall on. It looked to be grey, but that could be because of time and dust. Nico guessed it might have once been a dark blue with rainbow swirls; you know, the typical ugly office carpet that everyone secretly liked and looked at when they wanted to get away from their stress. There was grass growing in it, causing Nico to believe this place had been abandoned for awhile.

Nico sighed when he realized his feet weren't touching the ground. It sucked to be fourteen but be the size of a twelve-year-old. Accepting his size, Nico decided to just start swinging his legs and count the number of colorful swirls in the carpet. It might be faded, but Nico was still able to pick out the different colors.

"All right, I give up. We're not finding anything useful in here." Hades declared, placing his hands on his hips.

'It's about time he figured that out.' Nico thought to himself. He rolled his eyes, but knew Hades wouldn't see because Nico was still looking at the ground.

"Well, boy? Ready to try across the hall?" Hades asked, although it was obvious in his tone he wasn't really asking.

"Sure, Hades." Nico said and stood up. Hades walked over to the barricade of desks that were blocking the door to the hallway. He scanned it to see which one he could move without toppling the whole thing and attracting the monster with the noise. Deciding on a desk to the left that seemed to serve no purpose, Hades gripped it and lifted it so only two legs would be dragging across the ground. He then moved to the next one and worked from there.

Nico watched Hades. Even without a catalyst, Nico was angry at him. He couldn't help it. All he did when he saw his father was think of all the horrible things Hades has said and done to him.

What really made him upset, however, was that Hades would do nice things for him. And those nice things would serve as some kind of permanent good deed that Hades would constantly bring up when Nico was upset at him.

'Remember that time I gave you your sword? Or let you summon all those spirits? Or showed you Camp Jupiter? It took a lot of trust to do that!' Nico clenched his fists as his father's words rang through his head.

Nico jumped when he heard a giant crash and a grunt from Hades. An avalanche of desks fell down one after another. Nico began to cough and started waving the air in front of his face so he wouldn't be breathing in dust. Hades was doing the same.

"I'm guessing you're not very good at geometry or you would've been able to tell which desks held the thing together." Nico remarked between coughs. Hades gave him a questioning side-glare before looking back at his mess and shaking his head.

"What does geometry have to do with anything?" He asked as he began to move the remaining desks away from the door.

"Haven't you ever played Jenga?" Nico asked.

"I don't have time for games, boy." Hades grunted.

After ten minutes of uncomfortable silence, Hades finally got the last desk out of the way of the door. He breathed a sigh of relief. He'd started to go stir crazy in that room. He put his ear to the door to listen to the other side. He only heard the squeaking of the chair Nico was. The thing squeaked every time he moved, and Nico had started kicking his legs about fifteen minutes ago. Hades was impressed he hadn't absolutely lost his mind and back-handed the boy for being so annoying.

Hades pushed back from the door and reached for the dusty knob. He heard the chair squeak one last time as Nico got up. Now he was standing behind him. Hades sighed at Nico's cowardice and turned the knob.

Propped up against the wall right across the hall was a corpse. The smell hit them, and Nico gagged at both it and the gruesome sight of the dead body. Hades eyebrows knit together and his eyes went wide. He'd seen some disgusting things, but nothing compared to this.

It had been ripped to shreds around its abdomen and torso by what looked like five long, sharp claw marks. Its innards were pushing through a hole in its stomach and it was sitting in a puddle of blood that was at least three feet in diameter. It was missing an arm and there was a hole in its chest. The hole was right where the body's heart should've been.

But all that didn't bother Hades. What bothered him was how fresh the body looked.

"I wonder what he died from." Hades told Nico sarcastically. The boy didn't look at all amused. He gaped at Hades before shaking his head and stuffing his hands in his pockets. Hades was surprised when Nico actually walked closer to the body. Hades' smirk disappeared. He didn't care, but he really didn't want Nico to see something like this. The kid was only fourteen.

Nico crouched next to the corpse, doing his best to ignore the smell of rotten meat. He studied it, every claw mark and every missing organ. The monster seemed to like hearts and right arms.

Nico couldn't shake away the feeling of compassion for this guy. He probably had a family he was trying to provide for, and this was how he had died. But in the middle of Nico's grief for the dead stranger, he saw something he wanted to get.

Maybe the guy wouldn't be providing for his family, but he could definitely help them.

"Hades, he has a backpack. Think there's anything in it?" Nico asked. He looked up at his father who had his arms crossed and a disgusted look on his face. When he heard Nico's question, however, his demeanor changed.

"Maybe. We're...going to have to move him away from the wall." Hades wisely informed. Nico rolled his eyes. He knew that.

"Okay, you move him and I'll grab the backpack." Nico said.

"Bull schist. I'm not touching that." Hades said, looking green and nauseous.

"Well, neither am I!" Nico argued, standing up from his crouched position and crossing his arms.

"Well then, I guess we don't get the backpack." Hades said angrily. He wasn't going to touch that vomit-inducing mess of human remains. Why should he have to? Nico was perfectly capable of moving it.

"Would you quit acting like a child? You're the adult!" Nico screamed, fury filling his veins. Hades was the most immature person he'd ever had the misfortune of having to deal with. Why was he being so childish? Wouldn't most parents not want their kid to touch something like that?

"You first."

Nico wanted to scream. He wanted to grip his hair and just scream, but he knew that probably wasn't the brightest of ideas, lest he wanted to attract the beast. Instead, he did what anyone in his position would do. He'd be the mature one. Nico stomped behind Hades where a cave-in of the floor above them had created a dead-end. There, he found an old metal rod. He assumed it came from inside the walls of the building to keep the concrete together. Anger still fueling him, Nico stomped back over to the corspe.

"You'd better grab this backpack." Nico announced, and shoved the rod behind the dead guy's back. He hefted it forwards with a grunt and the body bent over. Hades glared at Nico before slowly crouching down and slid the shoulder straps down.

It didn't take long for Hades to realize Nico had the better job. He didn't even have to touch the thing. Hades had to maneuver its arms so he could take the backpack off. He slid one strap off. As he was about to slide the other off, he suddenly felt a pressure pin his arm against the wall.

He felt it before he realized what Nico had done. The brat of a boy had let the decomposing body fall onto his arm. Hades screamed in outrage.

"AHHHHRRRGGG. Nico!"

"Yeah?" Nico asked calmly, leaning against the metal rod for support and checking his nails for dirt. His nails were really dirty.

"I'm going to kill you!" Hades pulled his arm out from behind the body and held the well-deserved backpack.

"I slipped." Nico replied simply. He looked at Hades and tried not to smile. Hades' pale-green plaid shirt and jeans now had blood on them. Part of his arm did too, because his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows.

"Bull shit you slipped." Hades muttered and set the backpack on the ground. He crouched next to it and opened it. Nico crouched beside him. He hadn't realized how worn the backpack was until now.

Inside, Hades found a nine millimeter pistol with four bullets, a can of peaches that was twenty years pass its due date, a flashlight, and some sort of filtering mask so someone could breathe easily in smoke.

Hades turned the flashlight on. He realized it was one of those flashlights you shake to recharge. Well, that will probably come in handy.

Hades closed the backpack and secured the flashlight inside a strap in the front so he didn't have to hold it.

"So, what now? We have a gun, a flashlight, a Halloween mask, and food we should probably throw out." Nico said.

"No. No, this guy knew more about this place than we do. If he has expired food like this, food probably isn't too common. Everything in this backpack, we're keeping." Hades replied.

"Okay. But that doesn't exactly answer my question. What do we do now?"

"We find where he came from. There's got to be more people around here."

"Hades, this place is deserted because of that...that thing we heard. No one is here."

"There's always a survivor group, Nico. Haven't you seen the movies and shows?"

Nico sighed. "Fine. Can we just leave? I don't like the look on this dude's face." He said, eyeing the corpse.

"Nico, his face is shredded. How can you tell the look on it?"

"You know what I mean."

"Do I?" Hades asked with a smirk. Nico rolled his eyes and sighed again. He hated his dad's inappropriate joking.

"Is now the time for this?" He asked angrily.

Hades fed off the negative energy from Nico, getting upset as well. "Look, you have no right to get mad at me! You dropped a desk and a dead body on me!"

"The desk didn't hit you!" Nico defended, but then felt stupid when he realized he'd just admitted to dropping it on him.

Hades' eye twitched and he raised his hand to punch Nico's cheek. Nico's eyes became wide in realization before he shut them tight and clenched his own fists, preparing himself for the pain.

It was then that both of them froze. The scream from outside was heard again. It sounded like it was in the building. Nico gasped and jumped toward Hades. Hades pulled out the pistol he'd shoved into the back of his jeans. Honestly, he'd never used a gun before, and was worried about his aim, but he was more worried about the monster being nearby.

Silence filled the air after the scream, only the quick, shallow breaths from the duo could be heard. Hades was turning every direction to look for it with the light from the flashlight.

"Is it gone?" Nico whispered. He was scanning every corner. His eyes couldn't look around fast enough to keep up with his adrenalin and pounding heart.

"No. It knows we're in here. It's hunting us." Hades responded. Nico forgot his rage toward his father minutes before. He pressed himself against Hades and clenched his shirt in fear. He'd been hunted before. He was a demigod. But seeing the damage this thing had done to the corpse, hearing its scream, it frightened him. He didn't even know what he was up against, whereas usually he did.

"Let's go. We need to get out of here." Hades whispered, prying Nico's fingers off his shirt.

"Agreed."

They traveled down the hallway, looking for the easiest way out. Thunder boomed overhead and lightning flashed outside. Hard rain hit the windows of the building.

If they had turned around, Hades and Nico would've seen two yellow eyes watching them walk down the hallway.

A/N: Sorry for any mistakes. I was so excited to post this I didn't really edit it. Same goes for the last chapter. Maybe some time in the future I'll fix them. Please review!