Ghost King Meets Batman

Learning How To Family...

[Edited July 13, 2022]

Nico woke up the next morning to someone calling out to him.

"Nico!" The voice was familiar and insistent. It came again, even louder this time,

"Nico!" He woke up with a start and automatically had his hand on his sword which was still in ring form. He never took it off. He looked around his room, desperately trying to find the source of the sound. His eyes landed on a glowing image out on the balcony. It was Percy. He had iris messaged Nico and was trying to wake him up. Nico threw on his jacket and some shoes and headed out onto the balcony. It was still dark outside and there was a chill in the air.

"Percy," he yawned, "what do you want? It's really late, couldn't this wait?" he asked tiredly. Nico absentmindedly hoped that no one had heard this-- it would be too hard to explain. He doubted that the bats would let this one slide off as part of his oath. They were the suspicious type, and they wanted answers. He just wished he could give them those answers.

"Well, I just wanted to check-in. I know you are living with mortals, so I had to make sure you were alone." Percy said, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Fair enough." He didn't mention that he was surprised that Percy had thought of that-- the son of Poseidon always got offended that people underestimated him. Nico couldn't say he blamed him. Though, in their defense, he does some pretty bone-headed things sometimes. It especially didn't help with how much time he spent around Annabeth-- the girl could make Einstein look dumb.

"How's it goin'? You left in a hurry yesterday and then I didn't hear back from you. I was starting to get a bit worried." Percy said, looking every bit as concerned as he sounded. Nico was sort of surprised to hear that the older boy had been worried.

"Don't be. I can handle myself. What's going on at camp?" Nico asked to avoid the argument-- and because he was genuinely curious.

"I beat Clarisse on the climbing wall, and Athena's cabin won capture the flag. The Stolls painted the Ares cabin sort of pink and camo-y." Percy smirked at the thought. Nico couldn't help but chuckle when he tried to picture Clarisse's reaction to that. Though how they got past the landmines was beyond him.

"Serves them right. All's good here too. They suspect something is up, but I don't think that they are close to the truth yet." Nico decided to tell the truth-- Percy would know that he was lying if he had said everything was fine. They were demigods, and nothing was ever really okay.

"Will you be allowed to tell them? Nico, this is your father we are talking about." Percy cautioned. Percy knew that Hades didn't take kindly to people crossing him, even if it was his own flesh and blood. He was patient, for a god, but even he had his limits.

"I know, Perce, I know. Father will let me explain it to them as long as they figure out my secret on their own. I just have to get them to swear that they won't reveal our race." The son of Hades explained.

"That's good at least. Do you think they can figure it out?"

He thought about it for a minute, "Yeah, they're really smart people. Like, Annabeth-level smart. Plus, I met Diana. Like the incarnation of Artemis, Diana. It shouldn't be too hard for them to guess it if they get some hints from her."

"Diana? What was she doing there?" Percy asked incredulously. Before he could answer, the image went away, and the mist spoke.

"Please insert another drachma for another five minutes." A pleasant voice requested. Nico plucked a coin from his nightstand and threw it in. When the image came back, he saw Percy frantically searching his cabin for a coin.