#Nico deserves so much better

[regulationhottie7905]

Another example: Nico apologizing to piper at the end of tsats was SUCH bullshit. Piper is an amazing character, but her and Leo were both very cruel to Nico- there’s even a seen in thoh where Jason scolds them a bit for making fun of him behind his back. Iirc, Piper and Nico never even have a friendly conversation- they only talk about battle/strategy stuff. They were never friends. Nico was struggling with PTSD, depression, an (implied) ed, etc etc… of course it didn’t cross his mind to reach out to his older-brother-figure’s ex girlfriend to comfort her. (Also if he has to apologize to Piper, why didn’t he apologize to Leo? Leo was one of Jason’s best friends and Nico never reached out to him.) It was a completely unnecessary and nonsensical scene and it seemed to imply that Piper’s grief was somehow more valid than Nico’s or even Leo’s. If it ended with Piper and Nico connecting over their grief- THAT would have been interesting. But that ending was a slap in the face

(I recently lost my dad and I’ve been in similar situations. It was like a punch in the gut to read. I’m very disappointed in the ways that rick took tsats. It definitely feels like he only knows how to write in Percy’s voice and completely rewrote aspects of Nico’s character, voice, and timeline for convenience)

[thetimetraveler24]

Sometimes I think about how people rank Jason as their least favorite because he’s “such a bland character with no personality”, but was he even allowed to have one in the first place?

He’s two years old when Lupa guides him to Camp Jupiter. He’s brought up to be the perfect soldier, the perfect Roman, the perfect hero. He doesn’t know life outside the legion. He’s the son of Jupiter, he has to be great. If he’s not, he’s a failure and a disgrace. If he is then he’s still not the best because there so many other heroes who did it better than him so he has to keep trying harder and harder even though no matter what he’s never going to be good enough because the moment he slips up he’s no longer the perfect hero.

The few times he actually tries to do something he wants, he’s only cut down. Changing the 12th legion to the 1st legion? No, you can’t do that. It’s tradition. You’re wrong. That’s stupid. Joining the 5th cohort? Why would you join those losers? You’re only hurting yourself. You could be great if you join the 1st cohort instead like a good Roman boy.

So why would he try to do anything that cultivates his identity? Why would he try to do anything that brings him joy if everyone around him is just going to suck it right out?

He has no best friends at Camp Jupiter. He has acquaintances. He has people he’s friendly with. Say what you want but Reyna was a coworker. Dakota was cool, Gwen was nice. But none of them make Jason want to stay at Camp Jupiter instead of Camp Half-Blood. He thinks of Reyna but only in terms of he doesn’t want to saddle her with the responsibility of picking a new praetor. He thinks about duty. When he is picking between the camps he’s weighing his options between doing his duty as he’s done his whole life or picking himself for the very first time ever and he picks himself.

And it’s honestly so fucking depressing that the first time Jason picks himself and is actually supported in his decision happens when he is sixteen years old. And most of the people supporting him have only known him for a month.

But then he saddles himself with duty and responsibilities because that’s all he’s ever known and Percy is dying and Jason is a good Roman and a good hero and his job is to sacrifice his life for everyone else because of course it is. So he takes on Pontifex Maximus to build shrines and temples to minor gods and goddesses (not that they shouldn’t be honored but… once again he’s sacrificing his identity for the good of everyone around him).

And then, just as he’s finally discovering an identity for himself—he likes physics, he’s learning about the mortal world and living in it, he’s becoming more than just Jupiters son and Juno’s perfect hero—he’s killed.

Jason never got to be Jason. He only got to be Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, Praetor of the 12th Legion, slayer of Krios, one of the Seven, Juno’s Champion, Pontifex Maximus. He always belonged to someone else and never himself.

All this to say, Jason is my favorite of the Seven and although he’s not the eldest nor a daughter, as an eldest daughter I relate so hard and feel very seen in him.

[2bluetwo85]

I've shed a single tear over PJO, HoO, or ToA somehow, but I found this in a fanfic (daybreak by @coruscatingcatastrophe) and I started crying.

"They're just kids, aren't they? Kids who have done far more and seen far more shit than most people ever have to. Damaged, exhausted, terrified kids."

Nico's in ninth grade

[helenofsparta2]

I'm not quite sure what is actually worse.

The fact that the final Heroes of Olympus book only features the POVs of three of its seven main characters, and gave the other two POV slots to Nico and Reyna, who were previously only side characters and have nothing to do with the main plot whatsoever, instead of Percy and Annabeth, who were part of this franchise since its very beginning, are two of its most popular characters and desperately needed some kind of resolution after everything that happened in Tartarus, instead of Hazel, who has one of the most interesting backstories, and abilities, and instead of Frank, who was described as the one "Gaia fears the most"...

or the fact, that the only part of that book which was even remotely enjoyable was the part with the aforementioned previous side characters

[lavndvrr]

yk how on instagram reels there's these booktok posts that are like "When it's that characters pov (In a bad way)" and all the comments are talking about Jason and Piper? Well I hate it because Jason is the best and Piper is an icon so I always comment stuff like "Nico" and respond to comments with "Fr Jason is almost as bad as Nico, hate that guy". I have nothing against Nico, he's just not a character I'm very fond of but I love pissing Jason and Piper haters off

[wanderingmind867]

Even in death, I hate you Bianca di Angelo. You refuse to answer your brother's summons, and only come when Percy's with him. You say hi to Percy before acknowledging your brother. Every time I see Bianca, I hate her more. Nico deserves better than her! She's the worst sibling ever! Abandoning her brother, refusing to answer him when he's grieving her, literally caring more about a kid she barely knew than about her brother! Screw you, Bianca! Screw you!

[yonemurishiroku]

SPOILERS !!!

I honestly want to know what deal Rick has with platonic love or grief as background for Solangelo. Like.

Solangelo first kiss happened in the middle of Nico's grieving for Jason (bc Will thought it would help? What?). Nico first fell for Will when he was in a rage out of grief over Leo's fake-death plan.

Huh. I take it back. I don't want to know his deal.

[the-blind-assassin-12]

• Friday Five •

Hi friends! I hope everyone’s weekend is off to a fantastic start! Mine is starting with indecision! (Not that this is a surprise or different from any other day, it just happens to be Friday.) Want to help me pick what to work on this weekend?

Here are snippets from 5 of the wips I’ve been working on lately. If any of them seem particularly interesting to you, please do feel free to weigh in or ask about them!

Petrichor - long overdue follow-up to Point of No Return - Ezra x OFC Clara - the rainy season is here.

Leaning her temple against the cool pane of glass, she looked out and up at the sky, at the endless churning of slate gray and deep purple clouds. The occasional rumble of thunder tumbled down as one cluster crashed into another. Sometimes it was low and distant, drumming out a slow beat. Other times it sounded like it was right over their heads, shaking the walls and rattling things on shelves. The first truly loud boom had made her jump and gasp, her eyes widening before they rushed to find Ezra’s across the table, frightened for a second that the roof might cave in or the ground would collapse.

“Not to worry, little bird.” He’d said it with a wink. “We’re safe and sound in here, I guarantee it.”

Recall - Part 3: Un(f*cking)believable - Jack Daniels x F!Reader - Jack finally opens his big brown eyes in this one.

A metallic taste filled your mouth as you glanced over at him and finished your thought. I don’t know how yet but it’s connected. It has to be.

“When did you last hear from Merlin and the Galahads?” Champ asked. “And what’s the status of their mission?”

Their mission. Right.

In the chaos of dealing with Jack you’d almost forgotten what had preceded his arrival in the lab

Unfinished - Part 3: They Haunt Me in The Night - Marcus Pike x F!Reader - Ghost AU - taking on a trope I’ve never done in this one.

You turned into the hallway just in time to see Marcus open the door to the guest room. As he froze in place, head cocked to the side in confusion, you realized you’d forgotten to address the one logistical hang up of his visit. He spoke your name, a hint of amusement in his tone. “Am I missing something?”

“Shit.” You winced, fingertips coming up to rub at your closed eyelid before dragging your palm down over your face. I completely forgot about - you groaned. “I’m sorry, Marcus. I forgot to tell you. Bill took the guest bed when he moved out.” You gave a pathetic little shrug. “It was technically his, so…”

Trailing off, your eyes widened as another realization hit you. Oh, fuck. Because of how the night had gone, the sheets for the pullout couch that you’d thrown in the wash that afternoon had never made it into the dryer. “Shit!” You half sighed, half hissed through another wince. “I fucked up, Marcus. I left the sheets for the pullout mattress in the wash and now-“ You clicked your tongue and threw up your hands.

Untitled ACR one shot - Nico x F!Reader - angst x comfort - a dinner party goes a little sideways in this one.

Since you’d been reunited, the tether rarely stretched farther than the confines of your home. When it did, when Nico had to go into the office for work or when you had meetings with your editor, it didn’t ache like it did when you had no idea where to find him or if you ever would again. You felt it, sure. But you knew that by the end of the day he’d be right beside you. That you’d fall asleep coiled in his arms with the tether so relaxed that the hook in your ribs could latch right onto his without the elastic between them.

Now, as he finished closing the distance from the house to the pool’s edge, the hum of his proximity soothed the unease leftover from Petra’s comment at dinner. Somewhat, anyway.

“Mind if I join you?”

You didn’t look up as he spoke, your eyes cast down at the water as you watched the way it shimmered in the beams from the submerged light. “Sure.”

Aphelion - Part 12 - cowritten with @something-tofightfor - Oberyn Martell x F!Reader - Vampire AU - girl’s night feat. Toban

The past two weeks had been surreal in every way. Just fourteen days ago you were at Golden Lion’s Halloween party, and the biggest shock had been the fact that Oscar, the alluring and attractive stranger you met in a chance encounter a few days prior, was also in attendance. Since then you’d been attacked, watched that same stranger wield what you thought had been a prop blade in fight in an alley as he saved your life while risking his own, and learned that his name was not Oscar but Oberyn Martell - Prince of Dorne and one of the immortals known as Others that you always assumed were just the stuff of ancient folklore.

All of that would have been enough to fill your Bingo card of things you never even dreamed were possible. But it was only the beginning.

•••

[banchie]

i dont care what anyone else says tsats is everyhting ive ever wanted!!!!!! theyre so silly!!!!!

there such cringe boys!!!! and theyre learning how to be people!!! and we get to see how much nico loves and embraces the immortal and the monster parts of their world!! something that we saw in them main series' with hestia and the trogs and hazel and the skeletons and jules-albert!! something that we see in this book with the gray ladies and epiales and the trogs again and amphitemis and menoetes and the cocoa puffs!! hes always been soft and kind and good and silly!!!

we get to see will growing with nico instead of just changing him!! so many fan interpretations are of will being a therapist and just leading nico to the light and fixing him but that didnt happen!! will is set in his ways and headstrong and stubborn and its so so good bcs hes a teenage boy who's had too much responsibility and he's learning to accept other people's truths!!

we got a new look at hades and persephone!!! and of bianca and maria!! and we got canon nico being mr.d's favorite!!!!! we got stupid jokes and nicknames and teasing and hugs and physical contact!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why are u people mad at this (rhetorical)!!!!!!!

also now nico has a pack of fucked up dogs that follow him around and eat pancakes. are u jokeing me. are u kidding?????

[3c0ra-zon3]

One Piece, food, and the Power of Friendship

(As someone who is in recovery for an eating disorder and is just beginning to form meaningful relationships after nearly 3 years of isolation.)

In September of 2023, I started watching One Piece because of the live-action I finally gave in. I was hooked from the beginning. I think there were a lot of driving factors to my instant connection with the show. It partially being my loneliness and partially my lack of job.

I think I want to preface my praise with an acknowledgement. One Piece is by no stretch of the word a perfect show. It has flaws from the pacing, the art style in certain arc, to more serious flaws like the way in which they portray some of the queer characters or Sanji's weird descent into complete perversion. One Piece has a lot of things in which it could do better, but I think, it is also a show that does a lot of things right.

One of the things it does incredibly well is food symbolism. Around 3, closer to 4, months ago, I posted about One Piece and food symbolism. Unfortunately, this isn't a post going more in-depth on it, though I've certainly considered it, I want to talk about how important it is to display food the way One Piece does. No matter how silly it may seem to most people, One Piece is a large reason I decided to move forward with trying to get better. I'd been struggling back and forth around the time I'd started watching One Piece but around December/January, I really began to descend into things worse and worse. I found myself growing distant from One Piece, I don't know if that was a subconscious thing because as I began to keep myself from food again I began to realize all the meanings that food was holding in One Piece or maybe it was just good old depression. Regardless, I pushed myself to continue as my enjoyment was far too great not to. Having shows that push, even passively or symbolically, that food is good and food is fuel is incredibly important and necessary. I struggle to think of many times in which food is regarded as bad, maybe in some arcs minor bad guy/girl mentioned not wanting food or keeping their figure, but to my recollection, there is little to none of that in the main cast or in general. In fact, we see Nami and Robin eating regularly. We see the crew enjoying food together, enjoying themselves around food. We see them eat for pleasure because something is yummy, not just for survival. And we see this constantly. We see this with so many crews. We see this at the end of most arcs when people are celebrating their freedom at last after month or years of poverty and starvation. I didn't fully recognize, even till writing this out, how important that passive/symbolic message was and is. I feel free? In a way. I feel lighter, I am not fully recovered, but I've slowly been finding myself enjoying food more, even before deciding to recover. One Piece made me recognize things that years of therapy couldn't. My therapist could tell me till she's blue in the face that I deserve food and freedom and happiness, but for some reason, a silly show about pirates and freedom made such a significant impact on me. Shows that push that passive influence works because it begins to slowly break down ideologies of self-hatredself-hate in a way therapy can't. It's similar to how the ideologies of self-hate became so ingrained in us in the first place, bit by bit in the shows and media we consume.

Then the theme that regards the power of friendship. I think this is something One Piece does better than most shows because it shows true unconditional love to someone. It shows that people can be friends despite different lives up until their meeting, or how it shows loving someone through hard times, or that bonds can be bone deep (yohoho) despite the short time you may know someone. I've never seen another show that so accurately portrayed the emotions I felt as someone who was outcasted and alone for so long. There was this connection I felt so deeply to Robin, that for along time I couldn't place. But, she ran and she was whatever she needed to be so that she could survive and have people around her and she searched for so long for the people that she could call her home. And, ok, I'm not on the run from a government and my people weren't wiped out, but! I was an autistic kid in public school who didn't have the best home life. I was desperate for love so I was whatever I needed to be so I could have people around me. Even when things got better-ish at home, I still struggled. Now, I was an autistic kid who had to move to another school cause the bullying got too bad. I was running but I couldn't get away I couldn't find my people. I was whatever I needed to be. Then around my mid 9th grade or 10th grade, I honestly have such a bad memory, I left in-person school to do online classes. I was alone, truly, for the first time. I wonder if Robin felt a similar empty confusion. I'm just barely beginning to find people to surround myself with for the first time that are, is as it's only one person, kind and caring to me and we connect.

I tried to condense this down and make a TLDR, but my brain exploded, so you get my barely edited kind of jumbled thoughts on this. I don't know, One Piece is just an important show. Despite its flaws it has a lot of important messages like you deserve freedom and food and happiness and people who will love you through hardships. I think it has a lot of things it could do better, but I also think there aren't many shows that do these themes so much justice and show them all at once. I think few shows will ever live up to what One Piece has done for me mentally. And, I think it proves that a lot more shows could replace the toxic passive messages they chose to use for more positive ones and that may help a lot of people, but who knows? I am just a Tumblr user that can't quite word things the way I wish to. Maybe that's the TLDR.

[tudojuntoemisturado]

{Sarah Miller icons}

please like or reblog if you save :)

[nicolibbyquotes]

“What was your line, then?" "Well, why bother telling you now?" he asked, with a grin that was more like a self-satisfied smirk. "Maybe I'll just let you ponder it. You know,” he added, taking a step toward her, "when you need something to occupy your mind over the course of your monotonous life with Fowler.”

- “The Atlas Six” by Olivie Blake

[xanderscollection]

Sometimes you create an oc who's only going to appear once or twice for plot and character development and then oops they're now dead. But I the creator of them love them???? Can't believe I have to write fanfic of my own characters cause someone (me) had to kill them off

[nymph-x-logy]

hi btw this is a nico kim hate page levi should be with vaccine guy ‼️‼️

[inkstardustly]

Good lord Nico and Gideon kissing and then Libby appearing they decided to feed me personally with the last page of the book

[erenfox]

HOLY FUCKING AVOCADOS

THIS. THIS FUCKING FANFICTION. >>>>>>>> tsats

LIKE

WHAT WAS THIS @readerwithsalt. HUH. im sobbing this is TOO BEAUTIFUL 😭

I think Hazel should’ve gone with Nico instead down to Tartarus. Without a prophecy or quest bc Nico and Hazel don’t play by the rule book.

Then we could’ve gotten an adorable underworld sibling bonding book with both of them hilariously being unaware of modern stuff. And telling each other stuff they’ve learned.

They ditch both of their boyfriends who are freaking out because they don’t know where they snuck off to. And since Nico said in HoH that when he and Hazel shared power that anything felt possible, they truly believe they can succeed.

(Also Hazel understands death and wouldn’t be complaining every five seconds like Will was. Maybe it would’ve been more original and less percabeth 2.0 (but worse)

It begins with Nico leaving Camp Jupiter, having visited Hazel (for what he believes could be the last time) and telling Will he would be back in a week or so. A lie Nico tells to keep his boyfriend from coming after him to Tartarus (way more in character of him lol) as he believes a child of Apollo would easily be snuffed out down there.

Nico realizes he’s throwing a good possible future away by sneaking out to do this, but the nightmares have become so twisted and unbearably disturbing that he fears he’s going to lose his mind either way if he doesn’t manage to find the person calling out his name every night.

He also doesn’t like when others are left behind.

Since Will has insisted Nico not use shadowtravel to get back to New York from California, Nico says he’s going to take the train instead.

But Hazel KNOWS someone is off. Knows Nico is hiding something. Something that causes her brothers eyes to tinge red when he hugs her, gives her a wobbly goodbye, and squeezes just a bit too tight. Something that causes the paper thin smile he gives her when she sees him off to board his train.

Something that inexplicably makes her sneak onto that train behind him.

Upon Nico putting his stuff away in the closet of his train compartment and finding a head of cinnamon brown curls say ‘ouch’ when he accidentally throws his suitcase on top of a stowaway sister, being mad is a bit of an understatement…

When Hazel knowingly questions why he’s so upset at her, Nico suddenly has no words.

They eat in the trains dining room, Chinese noodles with strangely large fortune cookies that they save for later.

Hazel doesn’t manage to get anything out of Nico as they sit side by side next to a window, watching the world whoosh by and making idle chatter that Nico only seems to be half heartedly replying to. Seeing her brothers zoned out gaze, thin hands shaking slightly, the ever present tinge of red and fear ringing his large dark eyes, Hazel knows this is something more than wrong.

If the bravest demigod she’s ever met looks this terrified, to her it can only mean one thing.

Her suspicion is proven correct when her and Nico crack open their fortune cookies from dinner and instead of a thin piece of white with a generic quote on the paper… two small black parchments with gold lettering come out instead.

Two warnings. From what god? They don’t know.

Hazel’s questioning dies on her tongue when she sees the thin lines of tears falling from her brothers eyes. She doesn’t ask him anything else that night, just wraps a hug around him as frail shoulders shake in her arms.

The next day Nico acts as if nothing happened and asks her if frank knows she’s okay which she sheepishly replies that he probably doesn’t even know where she is. Nico says the same about Will, and they decide to not tell their current boyfriends anything yet.

Yet…. After the incident of last night and the fortune cookie parchment mentioning a place that hazel has definitely heard of before, she knows exactly what Nico is planning.

And she’s not letting anything happen to him as long as she’s alive. Even if Nico insists on pretending Hazel doesn’t know anything.

After the long train ride and Nico questioning this one random passenger for an hour about the strange gaming device in his hands (a Nintendo lol) and the siblings chatting about mundane things happening in their camps; they finally are in Manhattan.

Hazel is now done with letting Nico pretend.

Before she can get a word out the word ‘No’ has already passed her brothers lips. They fight. Their first actual fight ever. One that ends in sobs wrecking through Nicos body and pangs of guilt, sadness, and anger piercing Hazels heart.

But one thing rises above them all:

Protectiveness.

After making up and Nico realizing Hazels not ever going to back down given the look in her eyes, he realizes he doesn’t have a say in this. She is coming with him whether he likes it or not. Fear plummets in his stomach.

After a trip to Target for food and supplies for the trip that neither of them currently want to think about because what they are planning to do is… insane. Literally insane. But as Nico remembers that feeling of the time he and Hazel shared their power that one time, a thread of hope starts to weave in his heart. Psychotic hope, but still hope nonetheless.

They shadowtravel to Central Park, Nico not feeling nearly as woozy with Hazels help. He also delightfully finds out that coffee seems to cure the fatigue from using that side of his powers lol.

They manage to open the doors of Orpheus’ by ‘borrowing’ a guys phone as they see him jog by, and play some random song called ‘into the dark’ (by death cab for cuties lol) from the guys playlist holding it up to the opening.

The song sounds like another warning. They both ignore it.

They travel down dark steps, hands clasped. They talk in the quiet empty smelling air, comfortable in the underground silence. Until faint light hits their faces. The ever constant line of fresh souls lead them to Charons boat where they are taken to the land of the dead.

They now must avoid detection from their father at all costs. Nicos not worried about Charon tattling on them to Hades since he doesn’t get paid enough anyway (lol). Nico takes Hazel to meet the trogs new home down in the underworld (one thing I liked in tsats).

Hazel adores them and their funny outfits.

The trogs tell Nico that his ‘really deep tunnel’ he requested they dig is almost done, and Hazel is hurt that Nicos been planning this so long without telling her or anybody. They make Nico and Hazel spend the night with them before they go and they play with the baby trogs and dance together, trying to forget what they’re going to do tomorrow. They fall asleep to the sound of baby trogs giggling next to them.

The next day Nico attempts to sneak away from Hazel one more time and Hazel explodes at him. Anger making her say some things she doesn’t want to and Nico apologizing profusely but saying he’s angry at himself for allowing her to come with him.

They are interrupted by the trogs leader saying the Tunnel Into the Dark is finished. They can feel the intense suction of The Pit even from several feet away. Memories of the first time Nico was sucked down threaten to spill over and embarrassingly makes him want to run and hide somewhere.

But he feels Hazels hand in his and that strange, wonderful feeling of intense power. And love. And then they are straddling a boat the trogs pull from the river of forgotten dreams (the Styx I think) and with one final push… they are falling.

On the boat it feels like they’re floating.

They fall for a very long time. But Nico notices it’s not as long as the first time. Or maybe it doesn’t feel that long bc someone is here beside him.

They use their shared geokinisis powers to make an enormous slide of bones, black dirt, and stone.

When the boat hits the ground Nico almost gets flung face first into the Phlegethon river. They drink from it and begin the search.

They devastatingly find out the voice was never Bob bc Bob was absorbed into tartarus’s breastplate (like in actual canon HoH) but that it was something else entirely.

Something that makes Nico perhaps the angriest he’s ever been.

They find Jason’s soul down there. Something that shocks both Nico and Hazel to the core. Nico thinks it’s a trick but soon can tell that the soul that is looking at him so coldly and unfamiliar is actually Jason.

A different Jason. One with hatred illuminating every thread of his form.

That’s why Nico didn’t know where Jason’s spirit had gone. It had been intercepted by something and Jason has turned into a mania like his mother. A spirit that fumes on hatred and forgotten dreams. The one thing he never wanted to be.

Nico cries over the horrid inevitable fate of Bob and promises that he will ALWAYS be remembered. He doesn’t have much time to think on this though because right now a livid son of Jupiter is rising higher and higher above Nico and Hazel, the threat is obvious.

In Jason’s manic state he blames Nico for not checking on him and seeing that he got a peaceful afterlife and greives the fact that Piper and Leo and Nico ‘never bothered’ to attend his funeral. He blames the gods, his father especially, for being unworthy of their demigod children. He blames the underworlds justice system not following up on his missing soul and dismissing his entire life as if it was nothing.

As if he was never a hero. Never anything at all.

Nicos is crushed, but realizes that Jason’s being manipulated by something. A dream demon that wanted to trap Nico the entire time in order to consume his energy/power and shadow travel out of his prison and into the mortal world bc it would’ve taken him years to get out otherwise.

The dream demon used its powers to intercept Jason’s soul thanks to Caligulas cursed blade that had killed him, and reached inside his mind to find out about Nico and figure out the best way to get Nico to come back to his worst nightmare.

And now that Hazel and Nico are both there that’s double the power to consume.

Turns out the entire thing was simply about a selfish monster playing with demigods. A tale as old as the beginning of mythology.

The demon taunts them saying he used Jason - son of the King of the Gods - as a little toy in order to easily bring his meal to him. Remarking how easy and quick it was to bait someone like Nico.

Someone who can never leave someone behind.

And Hazel, how easy it was to get her to follow her brother. Taunting that she’s just as stupid, gullible, and selfless…

The children of the underworld snap.

And all Hades breaks loose. Signaling to every monster within a 100 mile radius to know exactly where they are.

They battle together but the waves and waves of monsters is just too extreme. On the brink of inevitable death, a certain goddess appears.

The one who gave them the warnings in the form of fortune cookies. The one that sensed Nicos need for vengeance.

They escape with Nemesis help, but she wants something equally valuable in return for helping Nico and Hazel escape. Nico breaks down and agrees to relinquish all of his precious memories of Bianca and his past life in return for Hazel and a new possible future. A true balance in his heart.

Choosing Hazel over memories of Bianca makes Hazel cry and they bond stronger.

Strangely enough Nico becomes happier without the constant grief of his older sister on his shoulder.

In a way choosing to let her go the same way she did when she chose to be with the hunters.

And then once again when she chose reincarnation.

They still have to worry about Jason though who is constantly causing blood thunderstorms across Tartarus’s sky and wrecking havoc all over the place.

(Also it would be so funny to see Jason literally just… chase Nico and Hazel all over the place… flying after them screaming while they run for their lives bc they can’t see or hear due to the bloodstorm & huge booms of thunder and shit lol.)

Hazel manages to trap Jason in a kaleidoscope of his own storm and shadow with her mist magic and her and Nico manage to shadowtravel him to the ghostly boat that will lead them out. She lets him out but he’s struggling so much in his metal binds that Nico has to knock him out with a punch to the face bc he’s the only one that can touch ghosts.

They ferry up the river Acheron out of Tartarus and chat about what the fuck just happened down there.

Hades awaits them when they arrive.

He’s very angered that his two only living children disobeyed his strict order of not going down there, but relinquishes it eventually when he realizes how tired and beat up his kids look and praises them instead. Hades turns to Nico and states that his older sister would be proud of him. Which Nico replies with confusion saying he doesn’t have an older sister which saddens hades as he figures out what Nico had to give away.

He offers them both something they want.

Anything.

Hazel wishes for Jason to be cured of his mania, and Nico wishes to give Jason back a chance at life. As he still had so much work to do for the gods and goddesses that did not have shrines and action figures to respect them.

Both of these things surprise hades but he grudgingly does so (bc Jason is a son of Jupiter/zeus) saying that Nico and Hazel are indeed very special children.

Although Hades honors Nicos wish he can’t simply let a soul leave the underworld without a final test (hazel being the exception) and does something he did thousands of years ago with another hero begging for his wife’s soul back.

He tells Nico and Hazel they can lead Jason out of the underworld but only if they don’t look back at him. Across the fields of asphodel, across cerebus’ cavern, across the river styx, the journey on Charons boat, back up the many steps that lead to the mortal world…. If they look back once their friend is gone forever. Again…

They distract themselves with a deck of mythomagic cards Hazel stole from Frank (cause she wanted to know why her brother and boyfriend liked the game so much) much to Nico’s embarrassed delight. Nico’s so into explaining the game to Hazel, that the intense need to check if Jason’s still behind them dissipates a bit.

They only notice they’re outside when a wave of sunlight blinds them both and a large figure grabs them from behind.

Jason hugs the daylights out of Nico & Hazel crying like a little kid as months of memories of torment in Tartarus resurface into guilt.

Hades thinks it’s slightly amusing to see a tall muscular son of Jupiter being consoled by his two smaller children as he mentally watches the scene play out from his godly throne.

Nico says he kept the plans of the shrines Jason wanted to build and says maybe he can help with decorating (lol)

I’m gonna have to get an artist to draw a fancomic of this to heal my soul.

Also…. What the fuck did I just write?