A/N: Just some outtakes. It's not really an epilogue like some of you guys thought, but more like a series of unrelated scenes that got cut. (I did answer a lot of last chapter's review questions in my end A/N though). I almost always have outtakes for all my stories, but this story had a lot more since I constricted it to 10 chapters, so I decided to post them all.

I separated it into canon and non-canon outtakes. The canon outtakes still follow the "canon" plot of this story, and I just didn't include them because I couldn't fit them in, but the non-canon outtakes follow an entirely different plot, so they're things that could've happened if I had written things differently, but ultimately didn't.

Disclaimer: Credit to danielkanhai and thesushiowl whose two posts gave me two one-liners, inspiring two of these scenes in the first place.

Canon:

In which Rachel and Nico go way, way, way back:

"There you go, kiddo," said Rachel, sitting in a shiny, gold throne off to the left of Raziel somewhere. The throne room erupted into hearty laughter. Nico had always thought it sounded a bit like bells when they laughed, like what the faeries sounded like, dancing in their sparkly courtyards.

Nico peered at the glass she'd pushed toward him. It had a fun, silver straw in it. He looked up at her suspiciously. He liked Rachel. She had pretty hair, and she smiled nicely at him, and sometimes she'd let him share her throne with her when all the angels were talking. "What is it?" he asked, blinking at her.

"Nectar," Rachel replied. "It tastes good. Just try it."

He sat at the foot of her throne while Rachel laughed at something someone had said. He had no idea where Bianca was, only that it was calm here, and he wished she'd hurry up and come hang out with him. He was getting awfully bored.

He sipped curiously. It tasted like his mama's cannolis, so he drank more of it.

"And?" It was Rachel, hiding a smile. She ruffled his hair. Usually, Nico didn't like it when people touched him, but Rachel was okay. She got to be an exception.

"It's good," he said, albeit reluctantly.

She grinned. "Yes, it is. Now, come on. Your father's probably wondering where you've gone off to. You're quite the explorer, aren't you?" She stood up, towering over him, and held out her hand. He ignored it, holding the glass with both hands instead. He barely came up to her waist. He didn't say anything either. "And you don't talk much either. Not like your sister," she speculated as they walked through the marble and glass and gold castle in the sky. The hallways were long and confusing, and sometimes he got stuck in the clouds and had to fight his way out, but for the most part he liked it almost as much as Italy. "Go slower on the nectar," she advised. "You'll feel sick otherwise."

He stared her in the eye and then promptly chugged every last drop.

...

In which Nico might be a little too trigger-happy for a two year old with godly abilities:

"Stop screaming," Rachel begged, "or your father's going to kill me."

Nico shrieked some more, just for the hell of it. He shook his hand, and gold clouds came out. Interesting. He shook it some more, and then the clouds slammed into his bedroom wall.

Bianca was giggling on his bed, completely indifferent to Rachel's panic. "Do it again!" She popped some ambrosia into her mouth.

Nico obliged, and more clouds came out. This time, they smacked Rachel in the face. She was covered head to toe in gold dust, along with his entire room.

"What is going on in here?" Hades demanded, bursting into the room.

The three of them froze.

He took one look at Rachel, his esteemed angel with manners and grace, who was holding Nico upside down by one foot while he clawed at her face and tried to escape. Then he looked at the room, which was completely trashed by Nico's involuntary magic. Then he looked at Bianca, who had turned her ambrosia into potato chips. She slowly crunched the chips in her mouth so that it wasn't too loud in the dead silence, her eyes wide at being caught.

"He's being impossible," Rachel protested immediately. "He doesn't listen to anything I say, and he keeps using his powers. You have to teach him how to control them."

Nico grinned, uncaring.

"Rachel called him a hellraiser," Bianca blurted.

Rachel glowered at her, huffing. "Snitch."

Hades raised one eyebrow. "Interesting choice of words." He scooped up Nico, who went pliant in father's arms. His lips twitched with vague amusement. "What on earth am I going to do with you?" he asked no one in particular. "Someone's been a lot of trouble. Rachel's not the only to complain about you, you know." He opened the door, taking them out into the hallway, and Nico shifted to be more comfortable. He only shrugged. "Raziel said you wouldn't stop trying to eat his wings." He brushed a little gold of his son's face fondly. His expression was remorseful and reluctant. "Perhaps I should send you and your sister to spend more time with Maria, after all. Italy has grand fields for you to run around in, and you won't get stuck like you do in the clouds."

Nico peered past his father's shoulder, looking out at the blue sky. He sat on the ledge, his feet dangling far, far below. Together, they watched the clouds pass by, and it was serene.

...

In which we find out what Nico paid Drew for the information on both Ethan McNamara and Percy's transformation into a Daylighter in Ch. 7:

"You faeries are always so hungry for other people's pain," Nico said, surprisingly calm. He had dismissed Calypso a while back. This was only between him and Drew. "I don't make deals with faeries, Drew."

"You used to." She blinked innocently.

Indeed, he had. "Times change and so do people," he said nonchalantly. "You would know."

She grinned devilishly. "Oh, come on, sweetpea. I've saved you so many times. What's one more deal?"

Nico scowled. "And I have long paid off my debts. We are balanced. You know it too. I owe you nothing."

She tilted her head to one side. "You once owed me your life," she reminded him. "You stood on the edge of the fiery River Phlegethon with a stake in your hand, and I saved you."

He gritted his teeth together and said, "And I have paid that too. Don't make shit up, Drew."

She shrugged again, running a fingernail down his cheek, right over his heart, right where the stake would've killed him. He shuddered despite himself. "But you know knowledge is power. You know only I can tell you what you need. That, or daddy, and daddy isn't the most reliable, is he?"

She certainly knew how to hit him where it hurt. "Neither is mommy," he spat, and he grinned darkly when she flinched, the blow landing perfectly. He spread his hands, feeling that he had very much balanced to scales towards him again, feeling like he was once more in control. "Fine. I'll play along. What do you want for the information?"

Nico still remembered the day he had met her. He had been a couple thousand. She had seen him at a tavern in London, the Devil's Tavern. He had been bloody and broken and bruised. No one had spared him a second glance, intent on drinking and chasing the highs of life. He had known of her, of course. Just as it was for him, who didn't know Drew Tanaka, Seelie Queen? Some said she was as old as God Himself, but Nico had never asked. He and his father didn't speak anymore, not since his life had gone wrong a thousand ways. She had been so pretty, he remembered. She still was, if not in a crueler way. But she was not the person he had wanted. She ordered them both mead.

"It's alright, you know," she said, pursing her lips.

Nico eyed the drink warily, then her. "Excuse me?"

"It's alright," she said again, not explaining further.

Nico chuckled humorlessly. "In my experience, Your Highness, things are rarely alright."

The corner of her lips quirked up. "Perhaps," she permitted. "But I think you'll find my experience is far more expansive than yours. Do you need a place to stay?"

Nico narrowed his eyes at her. "How did you know that?"

She shrugged. "I have my sources. Just answer the question."

"Yes."

"Faerieland is beautiful, you know. You could stay for a little while."

"At what price?" Nico sneered. "Excuse me for not trusting a faerie, especially not the queen."

She nodded. "Clever," she appreciated. "But not clever enough to keep you safe from the mobs and riots, I'm afraid. If you need a place to stay," she said again, "let me know. Consider it a favor. I will ask for it to be returned another time, not now."

Nico scowled.

She raised a fine eyebrow. "You can lay with your boy there."

He didn't know it at the time, but he would go on to spend at least a year in Faerie, reveling with the creatures, drinking with Drew. He froze, his jaw going slack. "Excuse me? How did you—"

"I want," Drew said haughtily, "a memory. Life is quite mundane, Nico, darling. I would like something to bring me joy."

Nico cocked an eyebrow. "From taking mine?"

"You're not a joyous man," she reasoned, smiling terribly.

He nodded. It was not a cruel thing to say, not when it was the truth. "I suppose not. Which memory?"

"Your sister," Drew said.

Nico was stunned. The thought of parting with Bianca, even in his mind, was appalling. She was the one thing he had held onto, so tightly, through the years. He was not surprised Drew knew about her, however.

Drew caressed her rose across his cheek. "Come now, dear. Surely you want to know how Percy got his Daylighter abilities. Surely even you would sacrifice one puny memory for the good of your entire kind," she crooned.

Nico's face hardened. He thought, searching his memories, and then he saw it, Bianca frolicking through a field of flowers, his mother's laughter enveloping him in a hug.

"That would be a nice one," she said, pressing her flowers to his temple. She smiled coyly. "Your mother and your sister. I would like that one."

"One memory, and you'll tell me all about Percy?" Nico felt his throat tighten at what he was about to do.

Her smile deepened. "That is all. My request is humble."

It most certainly was not, but it was fair. Drew, as much as people liked to antagonize her, was fair, if not just a bit manipulative. She had a good heart, but it had hardened through the years. He could only pray he wouldn't be the same, clutch onto Will and beg him to keep him sane and safe from that bitter loneliness. His father had told him once he wanted Nico to be the exception. And maybe Nico wanted that too.

Nico squeezed his eyes shut, and just like that, the memory was gone. He had a nagging feeling that he was forgetting something, but he couldn't even remember what he'd forgotten.

...

In which Nico spent one year in Faerie with Drew and the fey:

He felt bodies slide around him. He had lost a ring somewhere, but he couldn't find it within him to care. He was wasted, honestly, and probably about to throw up any minute. But this was as high as he had ever felt. And suddenly he understood why Drew and the fey stayed in Faerieland. They weren't hiding. They were savoring life in the way they knew best—surrounded by their own and their own joy, found and made. They were drunk on life, and it was their elven beauty and old spirits that made them so happy. That made them dance till they bled.

"Drew," he breathed, spotting her dark eyes out of the corner of vision. He stumbled over to her. While intoxicated, his vampire grace seemed to have up and left him.

She was nursing a bottle of something sparkly. Faerie alcohol, most likely. She arched an eyebrow at him. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Something like that," he agreed softly.

She smiled, and he was surprised by the kindness in her eyes. "You could stay here forever if you'd like."

He felt a lump in his throat then. "No." His father would surely be looking for him. He had killed Artemis, his sire. The entire world was probably looking for him. The golden boy. The son of God.

"You look… young," she said finally, sipping politely.

He nodded before frowning. "Are you making fun of me? It's not my fault I was turned at fourteen."

She laughed, throwing her head back, and for a moment, it sounded just like the angels he hadn't seen in so long—too long. He had almost stopped believing in them, not in their existence, but in his faith in them. That had certainly happened to him regarding his father.

"No," said Drew, her eyes gleaming. "No, I'm not. It's a compliment."

"Well," he said, thinking, "then, thank you. I suppose."

She gestured for him to join her, and he obliged, sliding onto the leafy seat next to her. There was a flower crown in her head. "Pretty," he said.

She smiled with her teeth. They were slightly pink from her drink. "Thank you." She sipped some more. "Come." She held out a hand. Her nails were a shimmery gold, like heaven, and he found himself wondering if faeries really were fallen angels after all. There was pink makeup lining her eyes. "Let's dance."

Nico laughed. "I can't dance."

"Of course you can," she said, and she abandoned her drink. The fey cheered somewhere as two of them started making out. Actually, three. Three of them started making out. "Aren't you Italian?"

Nico laughed again, and he felt his eyes burn with an emotion he had not felt in so long. He took her hand, and they twirled around the dance floor. She laughed with him, telling him stories, her eyes bright. Some boy kissed him. He wasn't really sure who, couldn't remember who—it was all a blur. A good blur. The type of blur that warmed his cold, small heart. Maybe it could grow. He was sure it would grow with all of this.

Drew let him spin her. And they felt like friends, friends that could be friends for a long, long time. She laughed when he told her he was starting to like Faerieland. She told him she could give him some glitter so he would fit in here better. She spun again, her dark locks flying around her in the air, and when they were tired, they retreated back to the bar, watching the other faeries love and hate and kiss and drink, before getting up to do it all over again.

And maybe it was just because he just felt so stupidly happy (and was probably drugged from one or more of the drinks), but he pecked a friendly kiss to Drew's cheek, who beamed. "I'm hungry," she said, and they both ran off from the revel to get pizza with sugary faerie plums on top. Somewhere along the night, he got a flower crown to match hers.

...

When Percy is reconciling with Annabeth in Ch. 8 (AKA the Bible stacking scene):

"Annabeth, c'mon. This is ridiculous."

"Is it, though?" She glared at him like he was something she'd unfortunately stepped in. She waved a Bible threateningly, and it actually smacked into his arm this time.

He winced, jumping back a foot. His forearm was bright red; that was so unnecessary. "Okay, ow. And it is!" he defended. "I messed up. I know I messed up. I'm sorry. I'm so, so, so sorry." He paused, feeling her eyes, stern and hurt, stabbing into his chest and right into his heart. "You always break my fall," Percy said pathetically, desperately. "You're like my parachute."

She squinted at him. "Are you saying I'm only slowing you down from the inevitable?"

He froze. "No!"

...

In which Nico talks with his father two years after Bianca's death:

"I hope you're here to apologize," said Nico, kicking his feet through Lake Lyn. He knew it was disrespectful, but he didn't care. He still remembered when Idris had once been beautiful. He remembered a time when it was the heart of heaven and not a ghost town. A year ago, he would've jumped out of his skin if his father suddenly appeared next to him. Now, Nico was able to control every aspect of himself, including fear, along with his desire to knee his father in the groin and run away.

Hades eyed the ripples in the water quietly. I'm sorry, he caved.

"Don't give me that shit. Talk to me like a dad should. Don't fucking act like you're untouchable," Nico spat, balling up his fists by his sides.

Hades sighed. There was a shower of white rain, and then he was standing on the banks next to Nico, no longer twelve feet tall, no longer speaking through his head. "I'm sorry," he said again.

Nico nodded, as if to himself, and then he threw a gold ball of fire at him.

Hades let it hit him. It shimmered against him, setting him afire, but he still didn't flinch. Resigned, he patted the fire out slowly, dimly.

It wasn't enough. It would never be enough.

"She died, you know," said Nico, his voice cracking. But no, no. He refused to cry in front of Hades, to give him that satisfaction. "She died, and you didn't do anything." Some mornings, Nico would wake, frightened. He would realize he couldn't quite recall the sparkle in Bianca's laugh, or how the sunlight had hit her face—a Daylighter—or the exact shade of her dark brown eyes without searching for old polaroids. "She died, and you didn't care. She died, and Rachel knew it would happen, and you and your stupid angels are useless."

"We don't concern ourselves with Downworld affairs. You know this, Nico."

Nico shoved his fists into his pockets, not because he was cold, but because he thought he might have to hit him. The night air was cool around them. "You cared when Maria died," said Nico, thinking of his mother who had died peacefully on her deathbed. He missed her something fierce. "And you don't care now. You probably have a new mistress."

"Nico," he sighed.

"We're immortal, but we're replaceable." Nico snapped his fingers. Will had painted them black for him. "No wonder the demons hate you." Except Mammon. Always except Mammon, who knew too much and was the most level headed of his brothers. Nico remembered he had once wanted so badly to return to heaven when he had first been turned into a vampire. But he had known he was different after all that had happened to him, that he had changed too much, that he had lost too much. Without losing a piece of him, there was no way to reach heaven anymore. And so maybe he didn't want heaven after all.

"You're not replaceable."

"Yes, I am. But I'm not talking about me. I don't care about me. Hell, I don't even care about you. Just go. There's nothing you can do to fix this."

Hades was quiet for a moment. "It just hurts to see you. Or your sister, may her soul rest in peace. You always reminded me the most of your mother."

Nico blinked back bloody tears. "That sounds like an excuse."

"Not an excuse," he rectified. "An explanation. I am sorry. I'm sorry your sister isn't with you anymore. Or your mother, for that matter. I'm sorry this is hard."

Nico just kicked the lake again.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Hades asked.

"Getting redecorating ideas?" Nico asked dryly. "You could decorate your dining room with skull heads. Go through an emo phase. Buy a Green Day shirt."

Hades arched an eyebrow. "I can never tell when you're joking."

"Why are you here, Father? How are you here?" Nico suddenly found it very difficult to swallow. He crossed his arms over his chest, staring out at the water. It was hard to look at his father too.

Hades traced his fingers through the water, leaving bleached white marks on the clear surface. "You're a hard vampire to find, my son. For several days I've been searching. When someone broke a seraph blade and threw it in the lake… well, that got my attention."

Nico felt a flush of shame. Then he felt angry for feeling ashamed. Why should he give a shit what his father thought? He had lost the ability to feel when Hades stopped caring. "That wasn't my fault. Calypso broke it—"

"Oh, the blades aren't important. Relics that old, I'm surprised you could hold it at all. The explosion simply gave me some clarity. It allowed me to pinpoint your location. I feel focused here. Even so, I only have a few moments."

Story of our relationship, Nico thought. You only ever have a few moments.

"So tell me, Father. What do you want?'"

Hades clasped his hands together in the sleeves of his robe. "Can you entertain the notion that I might be here to help you, not simply because I want something?"

Nico almost laughed, but his chest felt too hollow. "I can entertain the notion that you might be here for multiple reasons."

God frowned. "I suppose that's fair enough. You see information. I'm here to talk to you about being a clan leader."

Nico hesitated. He wasn't used to getting a direct answer, without games or riddles or quests, at least not since he was a boy.

"If you kill the clan leader, you rule the New York Clan," Hades said. "If you return to the manor, the second in ranks—Calypso—she will hand the position over to you."

"If I want it," said Nico. He thought about Artemis' blade going through Bianca's heart. And then he thought of how he had drained Artemis dry. Even two years later, the memory was clear as day. And the pain was as fresh.

"If you want it," he echoed assuredly. "You killed your sire. You are free to do as you wish. I would hope you would want to lead the clan, shelter the vampires younger than you, but if you do not, I would not hold it against you."

A belt seemed to tighten around Nico's ribs. He'd left Calypso just outside of Idris for a moment. And Thalia too, neither of them able to enter the holy land. "I need to get back to my companions."

"Indeed," Hades said. "And for your sister…'" Hades faltered. As always, the subject of Bianca lay between them like a loaded gun—deadly, easy to reach, impossible to ignore. "Death has always been difficult, but it is a necessary evil."

Nico paused. "What?" His eyes flickered up to meet Hades', and he wasn't surprised by the sadness in them. It seemed they had both always carried a bit of melancholy with them wherever they went. Nico didn't trust himself to speak.

"I could not say who will die in the next century or even past that, but I tell you this because you are my son. You know that some deaths cannot be prevented. Some deaths should not be prevented. When the time comes, you may need to act."

Nico didn't know what that meant. He didn't want to know.

"My son." Hades's tone was almost gentle. "Whatever happens, you have earned my respect. You brought honor to our house when we stood together against the demons in Manhattan. You risked my wrath to help Will when his father was particularly bloodthirsty—guiding him, freeing him from his father's prison, pleading with me to raise the armies of Erebos to assist him. Never before have I been so harassed by one of my sons. Will this and Will that. I nearly blasted you to cinders."

Nico took a shallow breath. "I didn't do all that just for him. I did it because the whole world was in danger." As it had been, time and time again through the years. Will was one of the many he had saved, and he would not be the last. The only difference was that Will was special, and he refused to admit it.

Hades allowed himself the faintest smile, but there was nothing cruel in his eyes. "I can entertain the possibility that you acted for multiple reasons," he said, throwing Nico's words back into his face. "My point is this: you and I rose to the aid of a warlock, a spawn of demons, because you convinced me to let go of my anger. I would encourage you to do likewise. My children are so rarely happy. I… I would like to see you be an exception."

Nico stared at his father. He didn't know what to do with that statement. He could accept many unreal things—hordes of demons, Nephilim, travel through shadows, Downworlders.

But tender words from the Lord of the Underworld and the Heavens? No. That made no sense.

Hades placed his hands briefly on Nico's shoulders.

Nico didn't like to be touched, but somehow this brief contact with his father felt reassuring—the same way a graveyard was reassuring. Like death, his father's presence was cold and often callous, but it was real—brutally honest, inescapably dependable. Nico found a sort of freedom in knowing that eventually, no matter what happened, he would end up at the foot of his father's throne.

"I will see you again," Hades promised. "I will prepare a room for you at the palace in case you do not survive. Perhaps your chambers would look good decorated with the skulls of monks."

"Now I can't tell if you're joking."

Hades's eyes glittered as his form began to fade. "Then perhaps we are alike in some important ways." And he vanished.

Suddenly the lake before him felt very oppressive, haunted with memories of Nephilim loving and living and dying, of a time when he and Bianca had run through the mud, their toes sinking into the sand and the grass. He turned back, pressing two fingers to the statue of Jonathan the first shadowhunter's feet, respecting a tradition that could no longer be observed, and heading for the portal out. Calypso and Thalia would be waiting for him.

He glanced up at the night sky one more time. The stars seemed to wink down at him, and the breeze curling through his hair was soft and gentle, like an angel's touch. Or his mother's. He would take the position as clan leader. He would give others what he had never been given himself.

...

In which Percy and his immortal friends go out for drinks a couple weeks after the war:

Percy peered into a Bloody Mary drink. "That looks lethal, man."

Thalia winked. "That's the point, kid."

Will tapped a glittery blue fingernail against his glass. "Technically, I shouldn't condone this, but it's fun, and your liver doesn't work anyway. You'll see."

Nico shrugged one shoulder. "You'll probably throw up. Go slow." He was sipping cautiously too, heeding his own advice.

"Is this how you built a resistance?" Percy picked up the glass.

Nico nodded. "Took me two hundred years, but I got it."

Percy tensed. "You know I'm underage, right?"

"And who's going to catch you? The police?" Calypso snorted. "You're an immortal, baby. Take advantage of it. We don't card Downworlders here."

Percy took a little red straw and sipped cautiously. It was good. Calypso had mixed extra O negative blood into it to help it pass a little bit easier and make it sweeter, but his stomach still made a growl of protest. He continued to drink anyway.

Music pounded around them in Hunter's Moon, a Downworld bar on Hester's Street in Manhattan, New York City. The Downworld knew how to party—that was for sure. In the center of the dance floor, faeries swished around, silvery, shimmery sweet dripping from their limbs. The werewolves hogged the menus, ordering all types of meats, and the warlocks were all about, most of them drinking a lot. It seemed Thalia wasn't the only one fond of her alcohol. The vampires were mostly not drinking or eating, sticking to the dance floor with the fey.

"I heard Hera got extensions," said Thalia.

"No." Will sipped from the fruity drink, tucking his blond hair behind his ear.

"Yes. It's horrendous. It doesn't even match her dark hair."

"I heard Zeus is dating a new girl," Calypso piped up.

Thalia slapped her palm onto the table, downing the rest of her margarita. She gasped when she pulled away from the drained glass, irises glittering with curiosity. "Who?"

"Europa." Calypso grinned while Thalia cackled.

"Again? He didn't!"

"He did!" Will countered. "I heard that too, and I heard Hera tried to kill the poor girl."

"Jealous bitch," said Nico, and Thalia snorted.

There was an ease to the way they spoke, and Percy could only guess they did this often, coming to the bar and gossiping. He smiled involuntarily. The vibrations of the pulsing music and the thrilling mood was getting to him. Calypso had told him, when first inviting him to join them, that they liked to call themselves the Immortal Gossips. Nico had interrupted, saying only Calypso and Will called themselves that, but she had just laughed.

"Who are these people?" Percy asked, sipping slowly.

Will waved his hand dismissively. "Zeus is an ex-member of the New York werewolf pack."

"What happened to him?"

"Reyna kicked him out for being a creep," Calypso supplied. "And Hera's a faerie. Super annoying. Super pretty. Super jealous. Europa's the beta of the Chicago pack. I can't believe he tried to screw over a faerie. Idiot."

Percy laughed. He was starting to feel a little dizzy.

"I'm hungry," Thalia said out of the blue.

"I fucking love you," said Will, slightly tipsy. He waved a hand, and a pretty faerie came by, holding a couple menus.

Percy skimmed the menu, his eyes catching at certain odd items:

-Toasted bat sandwiches.

-All blood types available.

-Freshly caught sea bass (with eyes still intact).

-Luscious faerie plums.

-Wide variety of raw meat.

-Try out famous locusts and honey!

"Don't order any of the faerie food." It was Nico. "It tends to make everyone but them a little crazy. One minute you're munching a faerie plm, the next minute you're running naked down Madison Avenue with antlers on your head. Not," he added hastily, "that this has ever happened to me."

Will smirked at his boyfriend. "I'll take a slider, thanks, and another strawberry lime margarita." He handed the menu back to the faerie, who simpered at him, batting her long eyelashes, all of which he ignored.

"I'll just take more vodka." Thalia hadn't even looked at the menu. Her tolerance was frightening, even by human standards. "Lots more vodka. Don't dilute it, or I'll come after you." She grinned mischievously.

"I'll take coconut pancakes. Only one, though." Calypso was still building her tolerance, even after all these years. "Oh, and I'll take some O positive and B neg, mixed and chilled," she said politely, stacking the rest of the menus and returning them.

"Make that two," Nico added. He eyed at Percy, who was beginning to look a little green. "Actually, make it three. And add a bit of the warlock bubble fizz. He looks like he's going to throw up." He smiled charmingly at the faerie. "That'll be all."

"It hurts," Percy groaned miserably, laying his forehead flat onto the table before them. Will patted his back sympathetically.

Thalia just kept drinking, uncaring. "Welcome to the Downworld; you're finally and officially one of us."

...

In which Nico and his father speak after the war and renegotiated peace treaties are over:

Nico stood on the banks of Lake Lyn. He hadn't been here in at least a few thousand years, and he couldn't help but think what Percy had thought of it. If he had thought it was as beautiful as it used to be. If he had been afraid, being there. Perhaps he would ask later, but, for now, he had another job.

He let his blood run into the lake. "I wish to see Hades."

"You summoned me?" It was the first thing Hades said. He had already shrunk back to the height and size of a human, joining him on the shore rocks. He had long learned Nico despised being spoken to in the head like he was just another desperate supernatural being, summoning God out of fear and necessity. "You could've just called for me."

"I called for you then too," Nico said. "For years and years and years."

"And then you stopped," said Hades.

"Yes," he agreed. "And then I did." Because he had never come, not even when he screamed his voice hoarse, not even when he couldn't speak for days after, the weight of saying God's name heavy on his sinned tongue.

"Any particular reason you've called upon me now?" Lyn sparkled behind him. He looked the same as he always did—immortal and sad and healthy and tired. "That Jackson boy already took the blood back if that is why you asked to see me." He studied his son warily, nervously like he thought he would try to blast him with powers he had inherited from his father in the first place.

Nico blinked. And he wrapped his arms around him in the tightest hug he could possibly muster.

Non-Canon:

In which Percy and Annabeth visit Piper for help during the war:

"I know what you are," said Piper, crossing her arms over her chest.

Percy rolled his eyes. "How many of you—this isn't Twilight, damn it."

She grinned. "You're supposed to say 'say it.'"

He rubbed his temples. "If I say so, will you be serious?"

"Yes."

"Fine. Start from the top. If we're going to do this, might as well do this right."

Piper turned away from him dramatically, her expression twisting into one of a sullen teenager.

"I know what you are."

"Say it." Percy felt a full-body cringe run through him. "Out loud. Say it."

"Vampire." Piper squealed only a moment later, her hands flying to her cheeks in a poor effort to curb her excitement. "That was so cool."

"Piper, people are dying." He tapped his foot impatiently.

"Oh, right."

...

In which Percy is the shittiest chosen one of all time:

"How did you do that?" Calypso was amazed, staring at the passed out faerie between them. Her eyes shone.

Percy didn't want to say that he had accidentally punched her while putting on his sweater and promptly knocked her out. Or that his fist consequently now hurt. "Um, it just felt right?" He discreetly shook his hand out, and he winced, mouthing motherfucker when she glanced away.

...

In which Nico and Thalia have interesting information (that is non-canon to TMI) to bestow upon newly turned Percy in Ch. 1:

Percy rubbed his temples, quickly growing tired with the info dumps. "So you're saying we can share our power with one soul and make them immortal too. Only one."

Thalia nodded.

Percy stared at Nico. "So who did you choose? A lover? A friend?"

Nico shook his head. "No, I have seen them all fade away as time passes."

"Would you ever consider sharing your immortality with a lover?"

He shook his head again. "I can't."

"Why not?" Percy was genuinely curious. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"I'm already sharing my power."

"With who?"

Nico looked down. "My cat."

...

In which Percy doesn't know that the Turtle Pond in Central Park is an entrance to Faerieland, so he seeks out help from a warlock in Ch. 4 with the hope they'll portal him there:

Percy sat across from the young girl. She looked like she was maybe thirteen, barely younger than Nico, but like Nico, she was immortal. Percy wasn't quite sure how old she was at all.

"So what was it like, seeing ancient civilizations rise and fall like that?" he asked, making polite conversation. His mother had ensured his manners would be flawless, and he thought the least he could do was ask about her life before requesting favors. "And the pyramids? The growth and expansion of the new world?"

Hazel stilled, looking awkward. "No… no I was born in 1928. So like, wow I'm going to see some cool stuff, but, I mean, I'm not that much older than just a really, really old person, you know? Radios were big back then. So big. But now we have phones, so that's cool too. Um. Rhinos existed then too. I don't think I ever saw one in person, though. Cool." She twisted her curls nervously.

"Would you rather talk about faeries?" Percy asked, taking pity on her and feeling equally embarrassed and awkward.

"Yes!" Her eyes were wide, and she cleared her throat. "I mean, yeah, sure. I know more about them anyway."

"So," Percy began, lacing his fingers together and setting his hands in front of them on the table like a businessman. He only felt slightly silly. "How do I get to Faerie?"

A/N: Okay so clearly I failed if most of you didn't understand the last chapter lol. (Which is not your fault. Some of you guys called yourselves stupid, and that's not true lmao. Sometimes writers just don't do a good job at conveying something, and that's okay. Trial and error, right?)

BASICALLY I left it open-ended at the end of ch 10. I meant it to have nothing confirmed nor denied so that you as a reader can kind of decide for yourself what Percy wished for if you don't like the way it ended. However, it's written to imply that Percy doesn't wish for anything at all. Percy thinks about how he wants to be part of the supernatural world with these new friends but also part of the mortal world with Annabeth and his family and human friends, so he decides not to wish for anything at all.

And yes, he knows this means someday Annabeth/his human friends/his family will die while he won't, and yes, he knows that it'll be hard to watch them grow up and live their lives while he still looks seventeen, but he also knows that he wants to rebuild the supernatural world to be a better place than it was before, and he knows that so many people above saw this happen to him (including Rachel who can see the future), and didn't prevent it, so maybe he's just destined to be this way. And he knows that if he asked to turn back human, he would never see Nico/Thalia/Will/Calypso ever again. They wouldn't be allowed to fraternize with the humans, and he wouldn't have any reason to cross paths with them, and being a Daylighter is the only way he can change between both worlds.

It's not the happiest of endings because we know the future will hold a lot of grief for Percy, but it's a little bit happy anyway. And I think that sort of bittersweet happiness is where I like my stories to be lol.

Ik Call me Indecisive pointed out that she thought Percy would choose mortality just like how he rejected immortality in The Last Olympian. This is different bc in TLO, there was nothing enticing about being immortal other than being a god. He wasn't friends w anyone on the council or anything. Here, he has dear friends in both worlds, so he rejects mortality. It's character growth too. He went to Faerieland at first to be a mortal, got screwed over, grew close to his supernatural friends, and learned to be content with what he has.

There were also a lot of questions about Nico. I hope some of these outtake scenes satiated your need to know more about him. I had to cut a lot of the backstory on him because he wasn't the main character, like Percy, and this story just was not long enough to really delve into his past.

Also, some of y'all were wondering what the future of Percabeth would look like. No, they're not having a Twilight vampire baby lol. It's mentioned a few times that vampires are sterile/infertile. (It's bc they're undead creatures y'all. How are they gon make sperm and eggs c'mon now. Basic biology). They probably won't get married either bc Percy will forever look 17, and that'd be pretty creepy when Annabeth starts to look about 40 bc then they'd never be able to hang out in public without everyone thinking she's his grandmother. Only his parents and their friends would know (they can't ever tell Annabeth's side of the family bc her mom's so religious), so it wouldn't work out. In all honesty, Annabeth will either die a maiden (which is kewl too. You don't gotta get married), or she'll marry someone else eventually and maybe have kids with them, and the entire Chase family tree will be forever protected by this one vampire who just knows them all as time passes. (If you've read TMI, think of him like Magnus, watching over the Herondales, Carstairs, Blackthorns, Fairchilds, Lightwoods, etc).

I hope this was helpful.

All the fricking love,

Kit xxx