"I'm sorry. I can't let you do this."

All four twirled around, wide eyed.

Another lightning hit, this time, close to Nico.

"Jason!" Percy exclaimed.

"Please don't make me do this. Just walk away." Jason said, his jaw clenching and unclenching. He was holding his hands out in front of him. They were shaking. If Nico didn't know better, he would think it was in a surrendering gesture, but he knew exactly, what Jason was capable of, with those hands.

"Jason, man. Let's just talk about this." Percy tried.

"No. I know exactly, what you plan to do. I can't let you. He's my father!"

"Yeah. I know that. I also know, that he's a major douchebag."

Way to work those people skills, Percy, Nico thought to himself. And right enough, another shot of lightning landed way too close to Percy.

"Are you ready for this?" Percy asked Jason, uncapping Riptide.

Jason responded by drawing his own golden sword. Nico wondered, not for the first time, what mortals were seeing, when demigods drew their weapons. They were circling each other, when suddenly, Jason charged. Hermione ran to the fire alarm, causing the visitors to run. Even the doorman scrambled for the exit. Nico only hoped he had left the key card behind.

Jason struck at Percy, again and again, keeping the son of Poseidon constantly on the defense, their swords clashing in sparks.

"I don't want to fight you, Jason!"

"You want to fight my father! That's good enough for me! Poseidon won't be a better king than my father!"

"You've got it wrong!" Percy yelled, finally going on offence. He started slashing at Jason's feet, but they had trained together too often, so they knew each other's moves too well. Jason rose from the ground, pushing Percy away with a gust of wind.

"Oh yeah? How so?" Jason grunted, when Percy managed to slice his calf.

"Poseidon isn't going to rule!" Percy yelled at him, exasperated. Jason summoned another lightning, that Percy tried to parry, with his bronze sword. The lightning traveled though, and made Percy drop Riptide, as he hissed in pain.

"It's still my father!" Jason made ready to send another lightning in Percy's direction, but Percy was too fast, and blasted Jason with a jet of water.

"Hermione! Nico! The elevator!" Percy urged them. "Harry! Get the rest of the people out of here!"

Nico and Hermione scrambled towards the elevator. Nico searched the desk, and found the key card, that would take them to the 600th floor.

They turned around, in time to see Harry running outside, with the rest of the people, and Jason starting to build up electricity. They got into the elevator, without a second to spare.

Jason released the lightning, and the water on the floor acted as a conduit. It was only due to Percy's ability, to stay dry, when everything was wet, that saved him from being fried to a crisp. Nico and Hermione would not have been so lucky.

…

After the others, had left, Percy and Jason stood, chests heaving.

"I don't want to fight you, Jason!" Percy said again, his voice breaking.

"I have to, Percy! It's my dad!" Jason yelled. He raised his sword for another strike.

"Stop! Jason, you don't need to do this!" Apollo interrupted, coming through the open doors.

"Apollo? You're not supposed to be here! You should be at Ogygia!" Percy exclaimed.

"And I will go, after I deal with this." Apollo said, seriously. "I've been looking for you, Jason. I wanted to talk to you about this. Seems like I was too late to talk."

"I can't let you do this to my father."

"You think this is fun for me? I think you forget, that he's my father too! I hate doing this, but more than anything, I hate that it's necessary, I think his light show in London proved that!"

"Jason, man. I know he's your dad, but we're at a point, where everyone is suffering. We're not going to kill him, you know. We want to give him some perspective, and then he'll be reinstated as king. He did a lot of horrible things. None of the gods are innocent, but Zeus has caused a lot of unnecessary pain, to a lot of people we love." Percy tried to explain calmly.

"Put it in some perspective. He wanted to have me killed. I'm pretty sure he wants to kill my sister, and he actually killed Nico's mother."

Jason's head snapped up.

"My dad killed Nico's mom?"

"They were at a hotel. He wanted to kill Nico and his sister Bianca, because they were children of Hades. He blasted the hotel apart. Hades managed to save the children, but their mother died. Nico was just a small kid."

Jason dropped his sword, and fell to his knees.

"Why didn't he tell me?" He whispered

"Probably because you're friends. He didn't want it to come between you. I don't know. But I don't know if you've noticed, but Nico isn't exactly one to speak too much about his emotions."

"So, will you still stand in the way, Jason?" Apollo asked.

Jason shook his head slightly. "No. I can't defend him now." He lowered his head in shame.

"I will leave for Ogygia now, then. Take care." Apollo started to glow, and Percy and Jason covered their eyes, as he disappeared with a searing light.

…

Hermione felt as if she was holding her breath the entire elevator ride. She was holding Nico's hand in a death grip, and was pretty sure she must have broken some of his metacarpals by now.

They were both standing in the elevator, staring stiffly at the numbers going higher and higher. After what felt like either a second or a year, the elevator reached the magical 600th floor with a "ping"

Before walking through the doors to Olympus, Nico drew her in for a kiss.

"Come back to me, okay?" He whispered.

"I'll do my best"

Stepping out of the elevator, Hermione instantly felt like throwing up. They were standing on a narrow walkway, above the clouds, Manhattan far below them.

In front of them, a large, white marble staircase, led up to a mountain, with city of beautiful buildings. On the very top, stood an enormous white palace, shining in the sun.

They started walking up the stairs, too preoccupied to appreciate the beautiful gardens, with the fragrance of jasmine and roses.

For all intents and purposes, Olympus was a city, populated with nymphs, minor gods, satyrs and naiads, and even the Muses.

The big palace on the top of the mountain, was exactly the same as Hades' palace in the Underworld, which meant, that Nico and Hermione knew exactly how to sneak into the throne room, without being noticed.

She had heard a lot of Olympus, from Nico and Percy, but in a way, she was a bit disappointed.

There were twelve chairs, as she had been described, and a fire burning in the middle. The fire looked strange. A little girl was sitting near it, frantically trying to maintain it. Hermione had to push herself to move forward, behind the thrones, rather than stop and help the poor girl.

It looked like there had been a council of some sort, but only half of the chairs were filled.

On the largest, Zeus sat, scowling. As they came closer, he sat up straight, sensing their presence.

"You dare enter here?!" He roared, looking around with manic eyes, trying to find them."

Hermione recklessly decided, that hiding might not be in their best interest, and she stepped out between the chairs, into the center of the room.

Zeus sneered at her, and sent a lightning towards her, with much more precision, than his son had.

Hermione had been prepared for that, though, and she threw up a shield charm, powerful enough to send Zeus' lightning back towards the god of thunder. His eyes widened in surprise, and some of the other gods stood up. Ares grabbed his spear, but Hermione charged at Zeus, before he could hit her with it.

She just had time to make eye contact with Nico, who was standing behind the throne, before she apparated away, with the King of Olympus.

…

Apparating with Apollo had been a walk in the park, compared to pulling along the god of thunder, kicking and screaming.

When they landed on the beach of Ogygia, Hermione's head was pounding. She thankfully felt Apollo's presence, close behind her, because she wasn't sure, how long she would be able to hold Zeus down.

She wasn't using any spell or wand, she was using her hands, and the raw magic, that was flowing in her veins.

"I'm sorry, father" She heard Apollo whisper. He then started an incantation in ancient greek.

Zeus was screaming and struggling. He was trying to zap her with lightning, and strike her physically, but she held fast.

Apollo was still chanting, but she could feel her power draining. She was getting weaker by the second, and Apollo was far from finished.

They would fail, she was sure of it. And Zeus would punish them severely. She and Apollo would be pulverized. With her death, the protection spells on the camp would fall, and Zeus would kill all the children of the gods, who had defied him. He would attack Poseidon, and they would battle through the planet, leaving devastation in their wake. She could picture all of it inside her mind.

For this reason, she pushed harder, and harder. She gave everything she had, including her life.

Just before her last breath, she was inexplicably refilled with energy. As is she had been binge eating ambrosia. She managed to just about hold on, until she realized, where the new energy was coming from.

Nico had shadow traveled to Ogygia, and was standing behind her, his hand on her shoulder.

The first time they met, he had drained her life force. Now, he was doing it in reverse.

Several things happened simultaneously.

Nico pushed almost all his own life force into Hermione, and collapsed.

Hermione was distracted, and lost power of Zeus, who shot a lightning bolt at her, just seconds before Apollo had said the last syllable of the incantation.

…

Apollo stood on the beach of Ogygia, watching in horror, as the lightning bolt hit Hermione in the chest.

Seconds later, Zeus was mortal, and he too passed out.

He checked on both teens, sure that they were dead. Luckily, they weren't, but they were both incredibly damaged. He healed, what he could, but they were far from out of danger.

He summoned the sun chariot, and changed it, so it fit all of them, and hurried towards Camp Jupiter.

…

Back at the House of Ten, everyone's nerves were frayed.

Harry had returned, with Jason and Percy, who both looked worse for wear.

Jason was completely soaked, and was limping from a cut on his calf. Percy smelled like barbecue. No one asked questions.

Harry was pacing in front of the fireplace, and Percy was sitting, playing with the water in his glass.

Cursing was heard from the kitchen, when Leo cut himself for the third time, while attempting to cook.

Hazel was sitting close to Frank in the sofa. "Shouldn't they be back by now?" She asked for the second time in fifteen minutes.

Draco had locked himself in, with Will, who was still comatose.

Piper had thrown her arms around Jason, the second he came through the door, not caring about the wetness of his clothes or his ashamed expression.

Rachel sat on the floor, near the large windows, looking out.

Suddenly, a bright light illuminated the entire living room.

"They're here!" Rachel yelled, scrambling for the door.

They all ran towards the sun chariot, only to falter, when they only saw Apollo come out, with a solemn expression.

"What happened?" Percy rushed out, when they reached the chariot.

Apollo opened the hatch on the back. The chariot was transfigured into, what most of all looked like a super-sized ambulance.

Inside, lay a handsome young man, that they assumed to be a mortal Zeus. Next to him, lay Hermione and Nico, both completely still, barely breathing.

All three were rushed into the main house. Zeus was tied up, and put on the sofa until they knew what to do with him.

Nico and Hermione were put in their usual room.

After being given nectar, their breathing stabilized, but it was impossible to say, when they would wake up, or if they even would. They had exerted themselves so far, that them being alive was a miracle in itself. It was hard, asking for another one.

"I need to go back to Olympus" Apollo said heavily.

"Yay adulthood" Leo deadpanned, but no one laughed.

He started glowing, and everyone shielded their eyes, as he disappeared in a bright light.

…

So. That's it, for this round anyway. As previously stated, I will return, with a sequel. For one, the prophecy isn't done!

In the sequel, I plan on having more on the ties to the wizarding world, and also on Hermione's parents. It will take some days before I start posting though. There are some small things I'm not entirely happy about in some of the previous chapters, that I want to clear up first and such.

Thank you so much, everyone who has been following this story, and thanks for the reviews! It means the world to me! I really hope, that some of you will follow the next one too.

Leonte