J/N: As I said, here is the new chapter. Enjoy!

Nico

Nico didn't know what to say. He thought of Reyna, how she had screamed in pain to give birth to their children, how Aelina had stared up at him with love, how the Olympians had protected Reyna as she had been giving birth. He now had a family, and the gods couldn't always be there to protect them. He had made a silent oath to protect them from harm and keep them alive, if only until they grow and learn to protect themselves without needing his protection once they are grown.

Then Hestia came and gave him an offer. He could be stronger to protect them. He could find the people who had tried to attack Reyna and end them, saving his family from whatever danger comes their way.

Of course, it came at a cost. He would become part immortal. Nico would see his family die of old age unless he was killed in the process of protecting them. He would live forever, doing what Hestia asks of him until his death.

Then he thought again of his family. If he refused, he would most likely die in the coming battles and possible war. He would most likely watch his family die before he was ended as well. The odds were stacked against him, but all he cared for was his family, was Reyna.

"I-I accept your offer."He paused at the beginning before speaking confidently, making Hestia frown.

"Are you entirely sure of your decision?" Her frown stayed on her face.

He nodded. "I accept your offer to become your champion."

She waited a few seconds before a smile decorated her face. Hestia held out a hand. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." He placed his hand in hers before their hands glowed. Nico knelt before her, his right hand on hers, palm together.

Her eyes shined with flames, her godly power illuminating the room. "Do you, Nico Di Angelo, accept partial immortality and accept me as your patron?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to serve me as your patron for as long as you live?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to enforce my command, to stand beside me, and to only obey and answer to me?"

"I do."

"Do you accept to become the champion of the hearth, family, and unison, do you accept to become the champion of balance, domesticity, and home, as well as my champion?"

"I do."

"Do you accept the responsibilities and power of my champion?"

"I do."

"Do you swear to protect and enforce your domains, use your gifts when it is right, and only release or invoke as a last resort, if the need arises?"

Nico breathed in. "I do."

Hestia stood and Nico rose, seeing the flames around her grow. "I accept your oath and presence. I accept you as my champion." As soon as the last word left her lips, the flames jumped onto the son of Hades, a burning pain growing on his right forearm. He gritted his teeth, biting by a scream of pain, as the flames encased him, Hestia no longer visible. Nico's knees gave and he fell onto them, words and voices and memories flooding his vision. He felt the mark on his back pulse as his chest also began to burn.

The mighty son of Hades, god of the Underworld and one of the Big Three, lord of shadows, let out a strangled scream before he fell unconscious.

Nico woke up to find Hestia knelt and bent over him, checking for injuries. She helped him up off of his father's palace floor and close to the hearth, the flames flickering in the wind.

Nico, looked around, confused. "Where are we?" He saw some harpies scouting around some cabins, and he recognized the familiar scene.

"Camp Half-Blood. I have manipulated the Mist to conceal us and put up a sphere to conceal any noise or sounds we make." She looks at his chest. "I have never seen a champion get two marks."

He looked at her in confusion before she pointed to his right forearm. An SPQR was on it, the skull symbolizing his father Hades. Beside the skull were coals inside an arrangement of twelve rocks, the coals were lit aflame with the stones near the fire. He saw five marks, meaning he had five years of service in the legion, or in Rome. He gave her a confused look. "You have five children, symbolized by the five bars. You do not need to count years of service, as you will live forever unless killed. The stones symbolize the twelve Olympian thrones that in which I unite. I believe you understand the rest?"

"Yea, but you said there are two marks?" She again nodded and pointed at him, but this time at his chest.

Flames, like the ones from his marking with Reyna, decorated his entire chest, connecting to the ones on his right shoulder blade and side. At the center of his chest, a detailed skull was outlined by the ink of the flames, making the skull the color of his skin. In between its jaws, the handle of a scythe was bitten on, the blade of the scythe a shadow purple. Stygian Iron.

"It seems your transformation also gave you a mark when I blessed you." She seemed to look right through him for a few minutes, until she leaned back and sighed. "You have gotten many strange abilities, it seems. I will explain what I can."

She pressed his hand in the fire, nothing hurting him but sending a tingling feeling through his hand. "You are immune to flames, all kinds. The fire can heal you, if injured. You are immune to any love magic, and you can conjure meals if you concentrate. You can travel by hearth, stepping into the flames and picturing where you wish to go only if there is a hearth at your destination as well. You can control and summon fire, only limitedly until you train yourself and learn how to do so without limits. You can of course tell a person's past with family and can also read minds of humans, demigods, and maybe some gods if they are distracted." She looked at him. "With these powers you will be able to protect your family from harm."

Nico shook his head. "I understand the abilities, Lady Hestia, but I don't understand what you mean about my family."

Hestia's eyes widened in surprise. "I mean Reyna and your five children. What else could I mean but the ones you love?"

A headache flared in between his eyes and he pressed his fingers against it. He grunted, trying to understand who she meant and remember what had been happening before speaking with Hestia and accepting her as his patron. "What about Reyna? And what children?"

A look of fear entered Hestia's expression. "By the gods..." She took her hands away from her mouth and stared at Nico intently. After failing to do whatever she was trying she cursed. "You're immune to mind reading. How do you feel about Reyna?"

He rubbed his head, trying to get rid of the sharp pains in his head. "I-I don't know. I never really- thought about it. I've been with Will-"

Hestia covered her mouth with her hands, shock and fear emanating off of her. She placed a hand on his shoulder and flashed them away.

Hestia

No no no nonono... She flashed them to the hearth Hades had built near the side of his palace. She lead Nico through the maze of rooms until reaching the one of Reyna and her children. Nico's children.

Opening the door, she ushered him inside. He gasped when he saw her pale complexion and stretched skin. "What happened to her?"

"She gave birth to five children. Your five children. You helped defend her when an army of monsters had begun to attack. You transformed when the last of your children was born, and you defeated the entire mob just to rush to Reyna's side. We all brought her here, where you helped put her down on the bed to rest before receiving the blessings from Athena, Poseidon, and having Artemis bless Reyna and your three daughters. I offered to make you my champion, and you accepted when I said it would help you protect your family." Her eyes narrowed at the son of Hades when his eyes widened. "This was only an hour before now. How do you not remember?"

He stared at Reyna's pale figure, his hand tracing a marking that left ink on her collarbone before he checked her back. He let go of her as Hestia watched from a distance.

The silence was broken by crying. They both turned to see inside one of the cribs to find little Aelina crying with her eyes closed. Hestia gave a pointed look at Nico and he nodded. Slowly and hesitantly, he placed his hands on either side of the small bundle and lifted the little girl, slowly encasing her into his arms. Her crying stopped almost immediately. Her brown eyes stared at him, half of the irises the colors of morphing shadows. She blew her lips together, the air making them vibrate before she spat bubbles from her lips.

Nico stared at the innocent child, his hand moving to tuck a strand of midnight hair behind her small ear. His expression was full of curiosity, confusion and also some recognition or familiarity. When Aelina wrapped her small hand and gripped one of his fingers tightly, he smiled subconsciously. Hestia could feel the connection and bond between all of them, and yet Nico's had somehow faded drastically, only an outline of a family bond tethered to each child and Reyna from his very soul. How had he flipped upside down so quickly?

"What's her name?" He whispered, asking Hestia while he kept his eyes on the little girl.

"Aelina." He smiled slowly at the name.

"Torch, bright light." He translated the Greek and Spanish name easily, possibly from the blessing of Athena. She only nodded as he rocked her softly in his arms, the slow movements putting the newborn to sleep. He placed her back in the crib carefully before turning back to Hestia. "I don't understand."

"How do you feel about Reyna?"

Again his eyes clouded as he pressed his hands to his head. "I-"

"You feel love for the boy, Will." Nico nodded slowly. "Do you feel anything, any emotion or sensation, towards Reyna?"

He started to shake his head, but stopped himself. There. "Something, like a pull." He rubbed the sides of his head again. "Like a rope, or string, or-"

"A connection." Again he nodded slowly. "You feel the bond, the tether. She is tied to you and your children, as you are tied to them and her." She looked at the figure of the praetor. "When you asked me first, you held her in your arms, carrying her to me to ask of her well-being." Nico tilted his head in question, but stayed silent, listening to her words.

"When I asked if she had done 'the deed' as people oh so call it, you blushed while she reddened even in her weakened state. I explained that I could sense that she was no longer a maiden and asked when it had been taken. I didn't tell you, however, that I could sense your bond, hers much brighter to you while yours was more a protective and caring love." She paused to let it sink in before she continued. "I had already warned Apollo while you were both coming to terms that she was indeed pregnant. Apollo asked the favor of Artemis to shorten the time of the pregnancy, and she chose to make it to when you both were strongest. Apollo only said a day where your parent's domains were strong, not that when your bond together and care, protection, was strongest.

"Then came the day Apollo had to send you both to where the birth of her and your children was chosen to be located. The news of having more than one child slowed the both of you, but it again made your bond with her brighter, and your bond brighter than a dull light. Yesterday, in the last hours of darkness, she gave birth to your five children, two boys and three girls, while you defended her from the monsters that attacked. You finished them off as soon as your and her bond strengthened and connected to the five of your children. You calmed Reyna down and she fell asleep in your arms before your father chose to protect you. He promised you that his domain would strengthen her and heal her as much as it heals him and you.

"You received blessings from the ones I explained and you became my champion. You make her happy, Nico." He steps back with wide eyes when she said the last sentence to him.

"I -I could never make anyone happy. I live in shadows and death-"

"And yet those are the places in which you shield her from. Do you not remember that you have protected her from visions that haunted her? Your mere presence keeps the nightmares from reaching her. You are the reason she isn't thrashing in painful memories at this moment!" Her tone darkened, the kindness and calm she was most known for falling away to annoyance and frustration with the demigod.

"She loves you, Nico. Maybe you do not remember your love for her, but that won't change the fact that she depends on you. Only you and her know what else, and how much. Do not hurt her because of losing your memories of loving her, but protect her and your children as you had vowed to do." His eyes widened as he seemed to remember his oath. Even if it had been a silent oath, Hestia knew of it because it was the last strip of love for his family that held their bonds together, still even if weakly tethered.

Nico raised his gaze to her, pain evident in his questioning gaze. "How do I protect them?"

Hestia smiled sadly. "Accept her emotions and return them. Help her raise your children, even if you don't remember the love you felt for all of them. Slowly, you will reveal small bits of your actual emotions, and then far in the future you can explain everything, but not now. This is the time she needs you most, and if you'r not there to fulfill her need, then she will break into nothing.

J/N: Here is the next chapter. Enjoy and Review!