Nico Di Angelo and The Hunters of Artemis(The Son of the Underworld Saga)

by lokis_darksheep

Summary:

Nico was a forbidden child, being the son of one of the Big Three. Hades knew there risks of raising his son, but he thought if maybe he could find a way of getting rid of him before his 16th birthday… preferably a way where he didn’t die in the process… he didn’t want to recur to the Hotel Lotus and Casino, but what other choice did he have? Unless… unless she could help him…

Notes:

• Inspired by Nico di Angelo: Hunter of Artemis? by KeeraKraze79

Chapter 1

Nico was on the beach, his feet soaked into the water, the wind blowing in his face, the sun bathing him… a very pleasant feeling. The clothes he wore didn’t belong to him; a black cloak, but he was too deep into staring at the ocean to question why.

“Are you leaving already?” A female voice asked.

He turned his head and saw a beautiful woman, she had black hair, tied on a single long braid with some golden strings, she wore a simple white peplos and sandals, her eyes were dark brown, with a hint of something the boy couldn’t quite grasp.

“I’m sorry, my darling… but I must…” Nico answered, just now he realised he seemed taller than he was, even his voice didn’t sound like his.

“We’ll miss you…” she said. “Both of us…” and placed her hands over her belly, which seemed to have a small bump.

“My wife- Thalia, miss me.” He said.

The beautiful woman approached, giving him a small kiss on the lips.

Then, he woke up.

Nico looked around, he wasn’t in the beach any more, but he didn’t recognise the place he was at also… he looked around the room, he was laying on a comfortable bed, the room had black walls and no decoration apart from some various flowers vases, which was pretty boring, if you asked Nico.

“Mama?! Papa?!” He shouted, slightly scared. But then it hit him. Who was his mama and papa? He tried remembering, closing his eyes. “Mama?! Papa?!” Maybe it was the beautiful dream woman? Or maybe it was-

The door was suddenly opened.

“Could you please quit yelling?” A woman asked.

She wasn’t the one from Nico’s dream, but she was also very pretty, with delicate features, maybe she was Nico’s mom, her hair was dark brown, which was close to Nico’s black hair, and leaf-green eyes.

“Mama?” He tilted his head slightly.

“No, I’m not your mom.” The woman answered. “I’m your step-mom, at best, call me Persephone.”

“Percy?”

“-phone.”

“Mama Percy?”

“I just said I’m not your mom.” She frowns, but then sighs. “It’s probably just the Lethe’s effect making you dizzy…” Nico raised an eyebrow at that. “Do you remember your name?”

“Nico… Nico Di Angelo…”

“And how old are you?”

“I’m 4…” and proceeded to raise 5 fingers, making Persephone roll her eyes.

“Okay, Mini Hades, your father is going to be happy ti hear you’re okay and woken up…” And then she left, leaving Nico alone and confused.

He looks around the room, once again, nothing much to see, let alone entertain him. He got out of the bed, just realising he was shoeless when his feet touched the rough wood floor.

Nico went to the door that Persephone left opened, he figured that would be the exit of that boring small room. The hall outside it was very dark, being filled only with some torches with a weird green fire, which was at least more interesting than the room with the unnecessary amount of flowers.

He followed Persephone like a little duck, hoping to go unnoticed by her. They walked together through the dark hall, being with her made it less scary to walk through the hall, his sister would be proud of him… wait, sister? Did he have a sister? Maybe he should look into that later…

Suddenly Percy stopped, and thanks to not paying attention Nico ends up stumbling into her.

“Now, listen up, kid.” She says firmly. “Don’t think that just because I’m letting you stay here that means that I like you, I’m just allowing it cause your father begged me to…”

Nico wanted to ask questions, but as he opened his mouth, Persephone opened a door, revealing a way bigger and way scarier room.

The place, like most of the house(was it a house?) was dark, with the only illumination being the damn torches, except this place featured two thrones: big one made out of what Nico guessed it was some sorta black stone and another one, which was a little smaller, that was made out of wood and was surrounded by more flowers. The thrones had guards around them, but not normal guards; those were skeleton guards, while some of them used matching uniforms, most didn’t seen ti follow a pattern(From Greek togas to military uniforms from the most distinct places) and some big bad dogs. Sitting on the bigger dark throne, a man who probably haven’t seen the sun in too long, considering how pale his skin looked.

“Nicoló Di Angelo.” The man had an oily serious voice that definitely didn’t make Nico’s legs shake. “Do you know, who I am?”

Nico shakes his head negatively, making the god frown.

”Really? How come?”

”It’s cause you bathed him on Lethe, remember?” Persephone sounded bitter, but honestly that’s just how she’d sounded ever since Nico first met her, 20 minutes ago.

”Oh… right…” The man’s face suddenly became way more sympathetic as he got out of his throne. “It is I, Hades, King of the Underworld, god of Wealth! But also and most important…” He looks at Nico. “Your father.”

Notes:

Sorry if the first chapter was short, I swear the others will be bigger!!

Anyways, who was the woman at the beginning? Will she be relevant to the story? If yes, how? Guess only time will be able to tell… muahahahha

Chapter 2

Summary:

Nico starts living on the Underworld under the care of a new friend.

(Disney ahh summary)

“It is I, Hades, King of the Underworld, god of Wealth! But also and most important…” He looks at Nico. “Your father.”

Nico looked at Hades, blinking very confused. King of the Underworld? God? His dad?! That was so… COOL!

”Does that mean I’m a prince?!” He asks, his little eyes shining with excitement. “Wait… am I also… a god?! Is that why I don’t remember anything?!”

The two gods looked at each other. Hades had never claimed any other kids before and neither did Persephone, which left the two wondering if that was the usual demigod response to “Your dad’s a god”.

”Well… technically… yes, you would classify as the prince of the Underworld…” Hades says, still a little surprised at his sons reaction. “But you’re definitely not a god.” Nico got a little upset at that.

”Awn… do I get any cool powers?!”

”I suppose you do…”

”È COSÌ FIGO!”He shouts, too excited to realise he wasn’t supposed to know Italian… right?. “What powers do I have?”

”That’s something we’ll soon find out, Nico.” Hades says, turning his head around. “Macaria!” He shouts.

At that, another woman appears, her skin being just as pale as Hades’, but differently of him, her long straight hair was also white, matching her big shiny wings. She wore a long black dress filled with some white flowers. A long side her, many shiny white butterflies flew.

”Nico, I’d like to introduce you to your sister, her name is-“

”Bianca?”

Everyone stares at Nico, even Persephone, who was preparing herself to hide on her chamber until spring.

”No… Macaria…” Hades was tense, how could Nico remember? Could it be possible that Lethe didn’t work? “Nico… how do you-“

”Well, with all that white her name should’ve been Bianca!” Nico responds, making Hades relax, although still careful, after all, he still remembered an Italian word.

”Then I could call you Little Ball of Darkness, cause of your dark hair and dark eyes!” Macaria says, making Nico giggle.

Hades smiles proudly, he knew the two would get along well, Macaria always liked kids, but unfortunately could only see them after their deaths, while Nico… well, he needed someone to take care of him, and since Hades was a busy god and Persephone… well, it was obvious she wasn’t going to move a finger for him, so Hades figured the two would make a good duo.

”So, Nico Macaria, Macaria Nico.” Hades said, pointing to each child as he said their name. “Macaria will be responsible of taking care of you during your stay on the Underworld, is that fine?”

Nico’s eyes lit up for the 3th time just today. “That’s more than fine! It’s amazing papa!” Hades cracked a little smile.

”Then it’s settled! Macaria, you’ll move back to your old room and I’ll prepare a new room for Nico.” Hades declares.

Persephone sighs, not happy about Nico moving in, but glad her dear daughter Macaria is finally back to her home.

Nico stayed on the same room he woke up on, while Macaria went back to her old room, which had 3 beds, something Nico thought it was weird, but never commented on. During Nico’s first 2 months there, Macaria taught him how to play the recorder a little bit about gardening and tried to help him with reading Greek, since not even her knew how to read English.

”Mackie?” Nico looks at Macaria, they were at her room, with the goddess making Nico read a small text on his book.

”What is it, Nico?”

”I heard that Mama Persephone is leaving tomorrow, is that true?”

”Well, tomorrow is the beginning of spring… so yeah, mom’s leaving, why are you asking?”

Nico looks down, sad. “Is it because of me…?”

”What?! No! Of course not sweetheart! Why would you think that?”

”Well… mama Percy doesn’t seem to like me a lot… she keeps calling me ‘this thing’ and every time I am around she leaves to her big room…”

”Look, Nico, mother may seen like that but it’s just because she’s upset with dad and ends up taking out on you, but it’s nothing personal, I swear…” Macaria gets closer to Nico and hugs him. “Maybe you could try doing something to make her happy like… huh… I know! What if we take care of her garden while she’s away, huh?”

Nico cheers up a little. “You think she’d like that?”

”It’s better than nothing, isn’t it?” Nico nods, with thaf cute eye sparkle she grew was growing so used to. “Then it’s settled! Tomorrow well water her plants, okay?”

”Okay!”

”Well, you can go to your room then, I’ll wake you up very soon, for us to go there…” Nico jumps out of Macaria’s bed and goes running to his room. He was practically ready, and all he needed was to finish that lesson.

Nico didn’t have trouble falling asleep, not even on the Underworld. He continued having normal dreams, well… for most nights…

”Huh… where am I-“

”Hey there, little demigod.”

Notes:

In case it isn’t obvious, I just learned how to use italics(I write on my phone AND using only the drafts, fear me), so I might’ve overused them on this chapter😭 also I’m thinking about deleting the warning on the beginning of the book cause it honestly seems unnecessary, any thoughts?

Also I’m adding Macaria cause I’m still not over Uncle Rick not adding her on PJO😞

EHEM, apart from that, thanks for reading it and see y’all on chapter 3!

Chapter 3

Summary:

Between mysterious dreams and sweet sweet sibling bonding, Macaria and Hades share a conversation about Nico and his future.

“Hey there, little demigod.”a female scary voice says.

Nico looks around, looking for however said that, except that in this dream, he’s on a dark place, filled with darkness, but not the safe dark from his papa’s castle, no, this was a genuine scary dark. The air filled with a burnt scent, as if lightning had struck the entire place.

 

“W..who are you?!” Hugs himself, feeling so small, so insignificant.

“So this is the new hero the Fates sent to stop me?” The voice laughs. “Nothing but a pathetic little kid whose only achievement is being a son of Hades!”

“H…hey! I’m not…” Not what? He was a little kid and had to admit he must look pretty pathetic at the moment…

“Listen here, little creature, your ancestor was only able to weaken me- Weaken, not even defeat- because he had help from that damn plant and stupid goddess wannabe, I honestly doubt such a little weak thing would be able to stop me with what? The power of friendship?!” The voice laughs. “Enjoy your time while you can, little goddling, and tell Hades I said hi.”

With that, the floor opened up, swelling Nico up. When he woke up, he was safe on his bed.

His room looked so different from the first time he woke up there. His boring bed was shaped like a pirate boat, actually, most of the decoration surrounded around pirates, except from the flowers. After only two months with Macaria he grew to like flowers, specially Hyacinths, his favourite flowers.

”Mackie?!” Nico was still shaking from his weird dream. “Mackie?!”

As soon as he shouts for his older sister, Macaria comes in running. “What happened?! Are you okay?!” She holds his little face and looks around for hurts.

”I had a weird dream… a nightmare…” He says. Now, usually, a child having a nightmare, specially a young child, is normal, but when it’s demigod kids… well… “What happened on this nightmare…?”

”There was this voice in the dark… and it smelled like thunder! She was mean and talked about me being weak!”

”She?” Macaria seemed concerned, which was never a good sign, after all, she was a goddess, and goddesses never get scared, right? “Mhm… look, why don’t we take a bath and then you take the gardening supplies while I have a quick chat with your dad, huh?”

That makes Nico light up a little, tho he still has tons of questions, specially of why is Macaria so shamelessly changing the topic of the conversation.

The goddess gives Nico a quick bath and sets him with a set of comfortable gardening clothes(green overalls, a black shirt and brown boots) and sets the little gremlin to look for the gardening supplies on the gardening shed on Persephone’s garden.

When Nico arrives there, he frenetically looks for the watering can. After looking around for a short while, he realised that the can was too high for his small self to get it, making him wish he had wings like sister Macaria, who didn’t even need them cause she’s so tall!!.

Nico leaves the shed frustrated, looking for his older sister around the palace he was slowly getting used to.

He looks at the entry hall, the throne room and even her room, but no sigh of big sister.

After a tiring while, Nico gives up, figuring she must already be already on the garden, just waiting for him to go back and begin their little sibling project. As he begins marching back to the garden, he overhears some voices at the sitting room, a place that was almost always empty, unless some god visited them, which was basically never. Nico gets closer to the door and places his little ear against the door.

”…now! Has she answered yet?!” It was Hades, he, one of the few male voices Nico heard around the house.

”You know she didn’t, and probably won’t…” That was Macaria, and she sounded concerned, which definitely didn’t match her usual calm and fun demeanour. “We should tell Nico about it…”

”We can’t! He’s just a child!”

”Can’t you see?! By trying to delay it you’re being just like Uncle Zeus!-“

”Enough! Macaria, as your father I am demanding you to get in contact with Artemis and get that boy ti be a hunter!” Nico had never heard his papa that mad… well, at least not with Macaria…

”… as you say, father…” The goddess answered. As her steps approached the door, Nico jolted to the front yard. “Oh, hey Neeks, where’s the watering can?”

”It’s too high for me to reach…” Nico explains, breathing heavily.

”Awn… poor baby…” Nico could never tell if she was being sarcastic or serious, most times he’d rather go with the second opinion. Most times. “Hey, do you want big sissy to do something fun?”

”Sure!” The little boy answers. The two walk into the shed and Macaria gets her butterflies to wrap themselves around Nico, raising the boy. “I’m going si high!” He giggles, with a silly smile.

”Yes you are!” She smile with him. “Now get the watering can, little ball of darkness!”

Nico stretches his little arms and gets Persephone’s watering can. The watering can was different from normal cans, being made of gold and never going out of water. “Got it!” He shouts, as the butterflies get him back to the floor. “We should do this more often!”

”Yeah…” Macaria messes Nico’s hair. It should be a happy moment, but something about her eyes…”Anyways, shouldn’t we begin the work?”

For the entire morning, they took care of Persephone’s garden, a happy moment, Nico even played his recorder, which followed by Macaria’s singing caused the flowers to grow even stronger and prettier. When it was lunch time, the garden was even better than it was before.

”My Demeter Nico! If we keep this up Persephone will be so happy at you from taking care of her garden she’ll for sure come around you living here!” The goddess smiles.

”You think?” That light on his eyes… so memorable…

”I’m… I’m sure…” Macaria hugs Nico suddenly. “Now, tell me, what do you want to do?”

”Hm… you own me a walk through Heaven!”

”Oh right! Asphodels! I did promise you that, now didn’t I?” The small kid nods. “Okay then, I guess I should take you there…” she chuckled, taking him by the hand.

Notes:

Two chapters in one day?? Gods am I inspired! Also I already decided what road this story is taking and most of the ocs I’m adding! Having some elements from the original PJO series and some original stuff, after all this is a silly AU!

And for the Hazel fans who’re reading, I plan on giving her first appearance real soon! Só stay tuned >:3

I’m not sure I’ll be able to update tomorrow cause I’m going to have a family thing, só that’s why I’m releasing this chapter earlier. I don’t have a schedule but I’ll try updating at least once a week. No promises tho!

Well, that’s all, ciao!!

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Nico Di Angelo: The son of the Underworld