Art of Deception

Summary: AU, "Don't give me that look! This is all your fault, Son of Hades, don't blame it on me," grumbled Thalia. "Shut up, you think I want to be turned into a girl?" Nico shot back grumpily, stomping forwards. "You think I like being a boy?"

Disclaimer: I do not own PJO—if I did, Nico would've been female and Thalia a guy.

A.N: I've been so concentrated on another fandom that I nearly forgot all about PJO, so this is a story to rekindle my muse for the PJO fandom. For those who are waiting for an update on DOT/WTSAC, don't worry, I'm working on it and might update it once I've polished the chapters.

I'm afraid I've gotten rusty and might write the characters a tad OOC (do tell if they are), so this is a test-run of sorts to see whether I'm still in working condition for this fandom. If I could still grasp the characters' personality well, I'll update the rest of my stories. If there's little likes, I suppose I ain't as good as before -winces-

By the way, pairings are undecided. Share your opinion?

Feedback is very much appreciated.

Chapter One: Watch Your Mouth

The next time she was helping a friend, Thalia Grace, Daughter of Zeus, swore she'd watch the situation carefully first before she jumped in mindlessly. One might call this heroic, but some would just call this stupidity.

The one who called her stupid had been her Lady Artemis. All right, the goddess hadn't been as uncouth as to word it that way, but with the way she'd said it, she might as well be calling Thalia stupid!

How rude!

But seeing as Artemis was a goddess and was their father's favorite daughter (second only to Athena), Thalia had no room to argue nor did she have the right to do so.

That, however, did not meant that Lady Artemis had to kick her out ("You are currently unfit to serve me, Thalia, do come back when you're done with your problem.") like she was some sort of useless baggage!

Had the goddess no sense of gratefulness?

Thalia grumbled, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the sight of the Fields of Punishment. She wasn't dead, nor did she have any reason to be sent there permanently and she sincerely doubted she did anything to be deserving of that place (other than being born of a broken pact), but she couldn't suppress the shudder crawling up her skin. With dread she hadn't felt in years, she crossed the threshold into the Fields of Punishment.

She glanced back at her companion, a grimace on her chapped lips.

"You coming or what?"

Dark brown eyes drilled holes into her new form, but she received no reply as her companion stalked forwards, awkward and barely having any sense of balance in his new form. Taking pity on Bianca's little brother, Thalia reached out and steadied the boy.

"You doing well in there?"

Nico di Angelo, Son of Hades, looked like he might die at any moment. His pale cheeks were flushed, in both anger and embarrassment. He shot her a glare, trying to kill the blush on his face as he nodded, snapping back, "Why do you care?" he sighed irritably. "Why did I do to deserve this?"

The child of Hades glared accusingly at the child of Zeus.

Thalia gritted her teeth.

"Don't give me that look! This is all your fault, Son of Hades, don't blame it on me," grumbled Thalia, running a hand through her cowlick hair, her electric blue eyes wild with ill-concealed rage. Even though she sorely wanted to lash out and punch Nico, she resisted, it simply wouldn't do in their new form. Lady Artemis would surely frowned down at her if she did as her impulses bid her to.

"Shut up," Nico hissed venomously, fists clenched as he held himself back—he did not want to sink to a level as low as a gangster. "you think I want to be turned into a girl?" Nico shot back grumpily, stomping forwards, trying to pull ahead but all that earned him was a new bruise as he tripped.

The child of Hades sighed softly, pulling himself up.

"Oh, you think I want to be a boy?" Thalia glowered at Nico but her eyes softened from steel to rock when she saw the pained expression on his pretty face.

He—she—sighed.

"Come on, kid, let's just go and catch this thief." Nico looked at the child of Zeus as if she had sprouted a new head. Did Thalia have a nicer, male, handsome twin that he did not know about? He hesitated but the blue-eyed demigod didn't like waiting, snatching his arm and jerking him to his feet. "Once we're done, Persephone should turn us back, right?"

"Yes, that's what she said at least," Nico replied, averting his gaze from his older (and much taller) cousin before he cleared his throat, not enjoying how high-pitched his voice was now. He scanned the area quickly with sharp eyes then he glanced down at the pot of flower in his hands. "Come on," he said softly. "Let's go find Melinoe. The sooner we're out of here, the better."

They walked in silence, a not-so-peaceful situation broken by Thalia, so as to not hear the screams of the condemned anymore.

"So... how is this Melinoe like?" she asked carefully.

Nico winced.

"Well—"

"Weapons!"

Nico's hand flew to his hip where he kept his sword hanging. His dark eyes flew about wildly, trying to gain a semblance of balance in his new form. He wasn't used to his femenine form yet, and he hoped that he will never ever. After all, it wasn't necessary as this state wasn't permanent. Once he was done with Persephone's quest, he was done here.

"Where?" he demanded hoarsely. Thalia replied by tugging him down to her side, crouching as they scanned the area. Unwillingly, Nico's eyes landed on Thalia's new form.

Having had taken pity on the children of the Big Three, the Hunters of Artemis had provided them new clothes. Thalia was wearing a black shirt of the largest size the Huntresses had, with Artemis' symbol of power sewn onto it. His silver parka was now tied around his waist as he had no use for it; his leather boots had been a tight-fit but he managed and his pants were changed to fit whatever size (it was magical for all the Huntresses of Artemis).

Nico was decked out like a Huntress of Artemis, which he did not appreciate. He didn't like Artemis much after what had happened to his sister even though the goddess was merely indirectly at fault. He didn't like the black shirt, stuffy silvery parka nor the leather boots and jeans. He hated it, he preferred something darker and leathery.

It did not help matters that the silver brought out the color of Thalia's eyes—he never noticed how distracting they were before.

Suddenly, Thalia's hand clamped down on Nico's thigh.

Unwillingly, he blushed. He never liked being touched—boy or girl did not change this opinion.

"What are those?" Thalia demanded, electric blue eyes fixated on the humanoid bat. "Know it?"

"Yes. Keres. Deadly. They feed on violent deaths." Nico glanced down at the falling petal in his hands. He stood, striding forward as confidently as possible in his new form; he sincerely doubted he looked intimidating. First, he was a a boy child who looked like a wimp, couldn't be taken seriously. Next, he was a girl who could barely walk straight without tripping over his own two feet.

Nico scowled.

"Get back!" he snapped. "The child of Hades orders you!"

The Keres hissed, their mouths foaming. One of them dared to speak up. "Child of Hades?" the creature echoed, cackling like an evil witch. "Last our patron checked, Hades had a son after his daughter died. Just one son left. Do you take us for a fool? You are clearly no boy." She licked her deformed lips in anticipation.

"Besides," she purred. "Hades will be defeated soon. Our new master shall give us free reign!"

Nico blinked.

"New master?" he echoed, cursing himself for possessing a high voice. Even though he's a girl now, why couldn't his voice be like Thalia's as a girl? Not too high, but husky and commanding power. Nico summed it up to being the child of the King of gods. "What do you mean?" he asked.

The Keres didn't answer. One of them lunged right at the child of Hades, surprising him and he only had time to take a step back before the creature was on him. What saved him was the child of Zeus' arrow; point-blank in the monster's face and it disintegrated; Nico released a sigh of relief.

"I'll hold the flower while you beat up the enemies?" he offered, knowing that this was the only way to motivate the brash child of Zeus.

Thalia grinned.

"Had never gotten a better deal from you," she said and dove into battle.

The blue-eyed demigod dropped her bow and drew her knives, slashing the Keres with grace (how fitting) and efficiency that belied years of training.

Nico hesitated, concern filling his feminine being when he saw the monsters surrounding the child of Zeus. He knew Thalia was strong, but she was also awkward and had a lesser sense of balance in that new body of hers. He glanced at the flower pot, before he placed it on the ground and charged into battle, drawing his Stygian Iron Sword, cutting an arc through the Keres. His black sword absorbed their essence like a vacuum cleaner, and the more he destroyed, the colder the air became around him.

Thalia offered him a wink, flipping a daimon on its back, stabbed it, and impaled another one with her second knife without even turning around.

Nico felt his cheeks heat up. Okay, when he first met the punk girl, he thought she was totally bad-ass and cool and sorta cute. All right, so maybe he had a crush but after Bianca's... unfortunate demise... he thought it was over since Thalia was part of the reason his sister was dead, along with Percy and Artemis and... come to think of it, all the gods, especially his beloved father.

He sneered.

He still didn't know why he wanted Hades' approval so much but maybe—

Nico cried out in pain, stumbling as pain exploded in his left side where the daimon had raked his skin. He kicked the monster away, stabbing it before he crumpled into a ball on the ground, trying to endure the horrible, searing, burning pain. A moment later, the sounds of battle died and the child of Hades felt someone gently pushing him onto his back.

He blinked, gazing up into the face of a blue-eyed boy. His mind dimly told him that it was a cousin but pain, sensation so bad that he wondered wasn't his cousin a girl?

Fingers grazed his wounds and he cried out in pain.

"Sorry," Thalia murmured, wincing apologetically. "It'd be okay. I'd pour nectar on it." The look on the child of Zeus' face told Nico that the wound was pretty serious if she was hesitating like that.

Nico waited with baited breath for the pain to pass but all the nectar did was ease the pain. He frowned, cursing the uselessness of the thing, despite knowing that nothing and no one could be blamed but himself for being careless and not paying attention.

"Won't help," the child of Hades murmured breathlessly, trying to blink away the black spots clouding his sight, and blocking his view of Thalia's utterly handsome face—wait, what was he thinking? Was he going crazy? What made him think that his cousin was handsome as in attractive, gorgeus and—it just had to be the crazy pain and speaking of which, it hurts like bitch.

"The wound..." he moaned, feeling the rending pain. "the Keres are spirits of disease and pestilence as well as violence. We can slow down the infection, but eventually I'll... I'll need serious healing. I mean a god's power. Otherwise..." he left it to Thalia's imagination.

The gender-bending teen winced.

"Your dad would help right?" she suggested hopefully, naively. "Or maybe Persephone would too, as payment for this quest."

Nico snorted.

Yeah right, his dad hated him and his step-mother even more. He figured that the day they help him was when he was going to turn into a girl. Oh wait, he was one now wasn't he?

That was as far as Nico's train of thoughts went before he blacked out.

xXx

"Nico!" Thalia yelled, shaking the boy-turned-girl's shoulder as gently as possible, trying not to upset the ugly wound. When the child of Hades did not wake, merely groaned in pain and try to shift over, she sighed, running a hand through her hair (a habit and boy, was she glad her hair was still the same even though her body had to endure so many changes) and cursing.

She growled.

"You are such a fucking burden, Nico," she grumbled, sliding her arms under the slender body and into her arms. Nico seemed small, underweight and light enough as a boy. As a girl, Thalia thought she was holding a paper, or maybe it was her strength that had increased with the new male body.

She glanced around, spotting the potted plant and with great difficulty (not that Nico was a burden, just that she had to avoid aggravating his wound), managed to juggle both burdens in her hands and set off, after sheathing their weapons.

She hoped no monsters attack them, she doubted she could defend them as well while she was also doing the protecting. She was more of the smash-and-get-it-done type, not the calculating and defensive sort. Those were what the children of Athena and Hermes were for.

She sighed, wishing that she hadn't been so kindhearted (she knew many would beg to differ) and so easily guilt-tripped. But Nico was different, he was Bianca's little brother and she sort of owed it to the daughter of Hades to take care of her precious brother.

Thalia thought it would be a piece of cake. Fight and crush anything seeking to harm the son of Hades. Now, though, with his foot in mouth moments, they had both gotten into trouble. What sucked even more was that Percy was not here to be a victim too. She thought it grossly baffling; the son of Poseidon was usually the one who got in trouble, bad luck running his way, but this time, he wasn't caught up in it.

There was absolutely nothing good about their situation, her—no way she was going to think of herself as a boy—situation. Well, on the upside, Nico was looking pretty cute (if he could keep that potty mouth shut and just stand there and try not to get in the way) but still...

Thalia skidded to a halt, eyes so wide they looked like they might pop out of their sockets.

There, rushing madly before her, as if mocking her to try to challenge the waters, was the River Lethe.

She moaned in despair.

"Next time, Nico, watch your mouth."

xXx

A/N: R&R! I really want some ideas for the pairings.