I can't remember when I thought of this….

Screams echoed through the darkness of the Underworld. More and louder then normal.

"STOP! PLEASE, STOP! OWWW!"

"SHUT UP!" Hades, Lord of the Underworld yelled. He brought his fist down again, striking his demigod son, Nico, in the side. His son tried to scramble away, to escape the beating, but his father was too fast. He tried to dodge, but he would be blocked by the dead. He screamed as his father's foot rammed into his chest, breaking ribs. Tears ran down Nico's face as the blows kept coming, harder and harder. Bones were snapping. That's when Hades got down on his knees, grabbed Nico's head and banged it against a rock, at least three times, hard.

That's when the least likely person to stand up for Nico, saw what was happening and ran over to Hades. Persephone pulled Hades away, but when he pushed her back, Demeter came over and smacked Hades so hard he backed off, and while the goddess of the Harvest was yelling at Hades for beating up a 15 year old, Persephone teleported Nico to the woods in camp Half-Blood. Today they were playing capture the flag. Surely someone would find the wounded demigod.

TRAVIS'S POV

Me and Conner ducked behind a bush as Percy and Annabeth ran past, heading toward the some of our team who moving toward their flag. We were going to sneak up from behind and get the flag, then run back to our side. Easy and simple. When they passed, we ran forward, to the next bush. Suddenly, Conner stopped short and I ran into him, almost knocking him down. I glared at him. He pointed down.

What I saw when I looked down would've made anyone feel terrible. Lying on the ground in a puddle of blood was Nico di Angelo. He was covered in bruises, bleeding, and his legs were bent in ways legs shouldn't bend. His head was cracked.

"CHIRON!" Conner and I yelled at the same time at the top of our lungs.

A few minutes later, we heard his hooves hit the ground.

"What is it now, boys?" he sighed. Uh, you can say we've been annoying him a bit lately over stupid things like a lonely bird print, or something.

"He needs help." I said, pointing at Nico. When Chiron followed my finger and Nico laying on the ground, bloody and dying, he grabbed the horn, and ended the game.

PERCY'S POV

When we heard the horn, before either team had gotten a flag, we knew something was wrong. Following the echo of the sound, Annabeth and I found Chiron bending down, and Travis and Conner on either side of him. They were leaning over something….dark.

Travis and Conner both started to pick up the form, lifting it as gently as they could, and as they started to put it on Chiron's back, I saw who it was. Nico. He hadn't been here for weeks, and now we find him, clearly hurt, and possibly dying.

It was well after sun-set when Chiron allowed Annabeth and me and go see Nico.

"Be quiet when you go in. I don't know what happened to him, but he's hurt. Badly. Loss of blood gave him a fever, and he's afraid. Nervous. Whatever happened, it scared him. I can tell this is something he will never forget." Chiron warned us. When we walked in, Nico was sleeping fitfully. He was wrapped up in bandages and he seemed so small. There were so many bruises and dried blood they hadn't cleaned yet. It was sad to see him like this.

I thought of back when I first saw him in the Labyrinth. He had been so wild-eyed, but still stood up to King Midas and declared himself Ghost-King. Now, I felt like I was looking at the little boy who lost his only family without getting to say goodbye.

A FEW DAYS LATER

Nico hadn't spoken to anyone, and wouldn't let anyone get too close to him. He would flinch if you raised your arm to wave or stretch, and scream in the middle of night because of nightmares. I was sitting on the bed next to his while Chiron tried to talk to him.

"Nico, I need you to tell us what happened. If you were attacked by a monster, and ended up the way you did, we can't let it run around in the woods. Tell us what happened." Chiron said gently. Nico shook his head, fear clear on his face.

"We can't fix anything unless we know." Chiron insisted. I think that got to Nico. He opened his mouth, and lifted a hand and seemed to point to the ground.

"H…..Hey-deeesss." He stuttered. His words were slurred and it was clear at that moment that he had hit his head harder then we thought. He could barely speak.

"Hades? What about him?" Chiron asked. Nico brought his hand down quickly, hitting the side of the mattress.

"Heee….was-mad…ah beeh-ted Me." he tried to say. His voice even sounded different. Higher pitched. Not as clear or confident.

"He was mad?" Chiron asked. Nico nodded.

"And…he beat you?"

Again, Nico nodded.

"Beat you at what?" I knew Chiron knew the answer, he just wanted to what Nico remembered.

"Wif wocks….and h-hitted."

"With rocks and he hit you?" Chiron exclaimed, jumping up to his full height.

Nico whimpered and cowered away, lip trembling. Chiron lowered himself again, though I could see him trembling with rage. I've never seen him like that before. Clearly he didn't like hearing about kids being abused by their parents. No one did, really.

But this explained a lot. Why Nico would shy away from people, why he would scream out at night. It was surprising he was even still alive if he was beat up by a Greek god.

"Do you remember why?"

Nico shook his head no.

"Did you shadow-travel here?"

Nico shrugged. He didn't remember. A sudden rainbow appeared behind Chiron that Nico pointed at.

Please insert two drachmas. A voice said. Chiron did so, and a goddess appeared. Persephone. I glanced at Nico, who had cocked his head slightly, as if trying to remember who she was.

"I sent him there, and Hades is looking for him." she said plainly.

"Do you know why Hades attacked him?" Chiron asked.

"No. All I know is that he was mad and after he left the room, I heard screaming and found him attacking Nico. As much as the twerp annoys me, I wasn't about to let a child get abused by his parent. It's not right."

"Why is Hades looking for him?" Chiron asked.

I noticed Nico flinch every time someone said his dad's name.

"After my dearest mother slapped Hades out of his rage, he realized what he did and wanted to find Nico. He never said why he does, but I think he wants to apologize. Not like him to do something like that, but it's almost not like Hermes to go into a rage, or like Hera to actually agree with Zeus on something. Yet those both happened recently."

"Hermes went into a rage? About what?" I blurted out. Stupid ADHD. Persephone turned her ever-changing eyes to me.

"May Castellan, that mortal he fell in love with, died the other day and he blamed it on everyone else. Half the roads across the country are destroied, hawks are attacking people, Greek Strawberry trees are dying, rams are killing people, travlers are getting lost and some have been mysteriously killed, and so on. His rage is not fun. Aphrodite is convinced it's all because of his 'heart-break' and utter 'loneliness'. Some of others agree with her, while the rest think he's mad at the Fates. But until he calms down, no one will know. satisfied now?"

I looked down. I wasn't really expecting her to answer me.

"Zeus and Hera agreed?" one of the Apollo campers who had just returned from lunch asked.

"Yes. And if you demigods will stop interrupting me, I'll explain!" she snapped. Nico whimpered.

"All the gods know what Hades did, and both Zeus and Hera agree that Nico should remain in Camp Half-Blood until they're sure of what Hades plans on doing to him, and even then, they want to keep Nico away."

The Apollo kid, Sarah, slowly walked over to Nico's bed while Chiron and Persephone continued their talk. I turned my attention to them. the thing about Sarah is that everyone trusts her. She's just one of those gentle, caring people who get along with everyone. How she does it, I can't figure it out. Neither can Annabeth. We both lose our temper sometimes when people get difficult. But either way. Sarah was pretty much the only one who Nico had been allowing near him.

I brought that up with Annabeth that night by the dock.

"And you said Persephone sent him here?" she asked. I could see her thinking.

"Yeah."

"Sarah has almost the same silky black hair and her eyes look like they change color sometimes. And they have almost the same pale skin tone…maybe he remembered seeing or hearing Persephone that night, and he feels safe around her. Sure, we all know by now that Persephone turned him into a flower once, but she also got him away from Hades, so he must connect her image with Sarah."

"Okay…..in English please?"

She sighed. "He thinks Sarah is Persephone. Or close enough to Persephone that he feels safer."

"Ohhhh….i get it now." I nodded.

"Hades is here!" we heard someone yell. On instinct, we both jumped up and ran toward the voice. If Hades were here, then he was looking for Nico. Nico would freak out if he saw the guy who attacked him. with my apparent 'fatal' flaw, I would do anything to protect my friends. Even if that meant making Hades hate me more then he does already. We found Chiron talking to Hades, trying –and failing- to get him to leave.

CHRION'S POV

"He's terrified right now, and if he sees you-"

"I want to see my son." Hades growled. I didn't want to anger him, but I didn't want Nico to be traumatized either. I would almost say I would like it better if Nico was angry and mad instead of scared and wounded. I was about to protest again, when I noticed Hades was gone, and I had a feeling I knew where he was.

THE INFERMARY

3rd person

Hades walked through the door, grumbling about Chiron trying to stop him from seeing the child he nearly killed. The god of the Underworld had been feeling guilty about that sense Persephone and Demeter told him what he did. The blood still stained the ground and rock. He found Nico lying on a bed, covered in bruises and bandages around his forehead, left arm, and right leg. He wasn't sleeping, but he wasn't looking at his father. Instead, he was staring blankly at the floor.

"Nico." He said quietly. His son's head jerked upward, and within a spilt second fear clouded his face and he cowered lower into his bed, one arm raised as if he expected to get hit. And he probably did.

"Im not going to hit you." Hades stated, trying to sound gentle, but he hasn't spoken gently sense Nico and Bianca were first born, way back in 1812 and that was a LONG time ago. The wounded boy didn't lower his arm or look up. How could I have been so blind as to scare him this much? Hades thought. He liked the old, snappy Nico better. Hades put a wall around the room he was in. no one could hear what was going on, and no one could see what was going on.

"I remember the day you were born. You were so small….hardly bigger then a loaf of bread. You hardly weighed more than a loaf of bread too." Hades stated, think it would take time to regain trust. Nico didn't put his arm down, and he didn't act like he heard.

"Your mother would've been so proud of you after the second Titan War. After you managed to talk to me, Persephone, and Demeter into fighting against the Titans, I thought of how ashamed you mother would that I hadn't listened to you right away as I should've done."

Still, no reaction.

"She used to sing to you and Bianca at night. she had such a wonderful voice. I think the only time you would stop talking or yelling would be when Maria sang. You were by far the loudest child I've ever seen. You used to give you mom headaches, yet she never once showed signs of punishing you. She was always so patient. How she managed to sit there for hours waiting for you to finish one bottle is still a mystery to me. you would drink a quarter of it, then look around and fall asleep by the time you drank half." He chuckled a little as he remembered how Bianca would eat so fast, then Nico would eat slowly. and he still does. Hades thought.

He saw Nico slowly lowering his arm, looking weary but curious as well. The scars on him were fresh.

"There was one time when you fell asleep as soon as the bottle was in your mouth. Of course, that was one of the days when you were sick and puked all over everyone. That whole night you screamed and cried and when Maria took you to doctors for it….they said you had an infection in your stomach and that you would have to be careful on how quickly and how much you ate. That may have been one of the worst days in my life, hearing that my son had an infection that wouldn't ever go away. Not even Apollo could fix it. I can't remember what it's called….some big, useless word." He glanced over at Nico, who seemed to be falling asleep.

"And you always fell asleep during stories." Hades stated, and smiled. If anything, he had gained a small amount of trust back. A small step, but a step all together.

I was going to make this a one-shot, but I think it's too long right now to add so much more. possibly will only be a two chapter story, maybe more.

Please review!