Hello all :) In honor of the Son of Neptune being released yesterday (it was amazing, I finished it in one day), and acknowledging my frustration with a certain son of Hades, I have decided to publish this oneshot. Enjoy :)

To say that Nico di Angelo was a liar would be the understatement of the year. He was the biggest liar who ever lived, and he knew it. He'd been lying about everything lately. He couldn't even keep track of them anymore.

But the biggest lie of all? The one he was most ashamed of? It was them. The enemy. The other half. The side the gods have kept secret so long. Romans.

He'd known about it; lied about it; but he'd never been a part of it. Until now.

He hadn't even thought about how much lying he was doing. Not until Percy Jackson disappeared from Camp Half-Blood. Annabeth was a wreck. Chiron was distraught. Tyson, Grover, Sally, Paul—devastated. And the worst part? Nico knew exactly where Percy was. But he couldn't say anything.

He felt like a traitor. While everyone was going crazy, scouring the entire state for Percy, Nico wasn't doing anything at all. Just pretending to. Every report to Chiron—to Annabeth—felt like another black mark in Nico's book.

Chiron was so calm, so understanding. "It's alright, my boy," he'd said, patting Nico's back. "We'll find him."

Annabeth was anxiously starved for any scrap of news, any clue. "Anything?" she'd ask, over and over.

And Nico would be forced to shake his head. And watch their hopes fall. He was so tempted. How many years had it been before he was accepted into a real family? Even he didn't know. The point was, he'd finally found one, and now he has to betray them, keeping a secret that feels all too wrong.

So he turned to the dead.

You can't interfere, little brother. The ghost of Bianca looked concerned.

They stood (or, hovered, in her case) quietly in Persephone's garden, amongst the luscious fruits and beautiful plants. It was the only place Hades would never find them. Nico had summoned his sister in hopes of help, advice. Anything. The dead always seemed so much wiser than he was. Maybe Bianca would ease the stress. But he was finding that she was no better at it than he was.

"But why?" he begged. "Bianca…"

I know. She sent a grim glance towards the palace, where they could hear their father yelling. But there's nothing I can do.

"I don't want to do this anymore," he said desperately, whining like the child he'd forgotten he wasn't supposed to be. "I can't do this."

You can, Bianca urged, looking indignant, and you will. Like it or not, you're important to the gods.

He scowled. "How?" he demanded.

Bianca mulled it over. You're their guardian, she said finally. It's your skill, Nico. Not only are children of Hades outcasts, they're pavement artists. You blend in. You go unnoticed. This way, you can watch over your friends; you can guide them in the right direction.

"But—"

Please. Nico, just play your part. It will get better. She reached out, as if to touch his face, then seemed to remember she couldn't. She looked away. Father's coming, she whispered. I have to go.

And before he could protest, she disappeared in shower of silver.

But it didn't get better. Every lie got harder and harder. And he thought he would snap.

"Nico, are you sure?" Annabeth would plead time and again.

He would look at her, and think for the umpteenth time that Percy was lucky to have her. And wonder, for the umpteenth time, how angry he'd be if he found out one of his best friends was lying to them all.

He worried about Annabeth. Every time he saw her, her blonde curls seemed to lose a little more luster, her eyes a little more hope. Her face was haggard from nights without sleep. Nico didn't have to wonder what kept her up.

"Nothing?" she'd press.

"I'm sorry," he'd say. "I check the underworld every day, send the ghosts out looking over half the country, but there's no sign of him."

And he'd feel even worse when she'd turn away, hurt.

He wasn't sure his lying was even helping anyone. All it seemed to do was wound Annabeth, send the others into a trance of exhaustion, determination. He was shamed to think he was keeping such a secret from them.

These kinds of things play out in their own way, Silena Beauregard told him, one quiet night in Elysium. A party went on behind them, lights flashing, people laughing, but the air around them both was grim.

I kept a secret like yours once, she said, as if he didn't remember. She hugged herself tight, like she was cold. I know how much it hurts. But I had to do it. It was my role. I know that now.

"Seems like everyone's saying this is a game," he muttered sullenly. "And we're just the pawns."

Silena's fingernails dug into her own skin, but she didn't appear to feel it. She shivered. It is a game, she whispered. And we are pawns. We always will be, but that's how we keep the balance. I kept my secret; look what it cost me.

She gestured at her own body, which looked fine to Nico, even in death, but Silena apparently didn't think so.

But it turned out alright, she added. She glanced back at the party, smiling. She was thinking Beckendorf, Nico knew.

"Does it ever end?" he asked, almost childishly.

She frowned, like she was trying to remember. Nico understood. The dead hardly remembered anything, sometimes not even their own deaths. It was a miracle Silena was able to recall this much. But apparently, she remembered even more.

Yes, she said. Eventually. But it's something you can't ever forget.

"When does it end, exactly?" He didn't know why he asked. Just frustrated, he guessed. Angry. He felt bad, later, for taking it out on Silena, but she only looked sad.

When you die, she replied, and then she faded away.

Nico didn't see how it could work out. He tried to summon Bianca again, try to figure out what he should do, but she was gone.

"No record of a Bianca di Angelo here," a guard told him solemnly. "If she was here before, she's not now."

So he took a risk. He crossed to the other side. Their side. He hoped maybe she'd be there. Slipped through somehow, got lost. He didn't want to think she was gone.

But he searched their entire underworld, hid from Pluto, Proserpine, Ceres, and still he didn't find her. He knew. She'd always wanted rebirth; it was time she got it. Gods knew she deserved it. But it made him sad, to think he would never see her again.

But he found something far more important than Bianca.

"You could lay this guilt upon your mother," he heard as he passed the judges. He paused. Another soul, judged harshly? Hm. He peered in.

Three golden-masked judges stared down at someone. A girl. Nico was immediately interested. She reminded him of Bianca. She looked nothing like her; she had dark brown skin, gold-brown eyes, and very curly brown hair, but there was something about her… She was powerful.

So powerful he could sense her aura, even in death. He frowned. He knew that power. It was like Bianca's, like his, but slightly different. He focused hard. It was…ah. He realized. It suddenly made sense.

"That would be reasonable," the first judge continued. "You were destined for great things."

"She doesn't deserve punishment." The girl's voice was clear and firm.

The judges murmured amongst themselves. "The blame must be divided," the second said.

The third nodded. "Both souls to the Asphodel Fields."

He watched her walk into the Asphodel Fields, not one bit of regret on her face. He made his decision. It was an even bigger risk, but he knew. This girl was important.

"You're different," he said, more to himself than her. "A child of Pluto. You remember your past."

She looked at him, with golden eyes much too conscious for someone so dead. "Yes," she said, voice unusually calm. "And you're alive."

And that was how he met Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, his Roman sister.

"I remember dying," Hazel said thoughtfully. Remorsefully. She swung her legs, peering down over the edge of the Golden Gate Bridge. "I think I drowned."

"Mm," Nico answered.

She looked at him. "You're really my brother? A son of Pluto?"

Nico paused. "Yeah." He nodded for good measure.

Hazel hesitated. "Have you…met him?"

Nico flicked a rock into the water. "Yeah," he said again. "I see him from time to time." He smirked at the joke. Then he wiped it off his face and looked at her. "You?"

Hazel gazed off into the distance. Her eyes seemed to glow. "Yes," she said. "Once." She didn't seem to remember it fondly. She fiddled with something shiny. "Are you sure it was a good idea, bringing me back alive?" she blurted.

He glanced at her. "No," he admitted. "But it was the right thing to do. You were meant to live, Hazel."

"But you don't know that," she insisted. "You don't know the...the things I've done."

"Hazel—"

"You don't!" she interrupted. Her eyes were brimming with tears. "I'm cursed, Nico," she sobbed. "Don't you know?" She spilled her pockets, revealing what she'd been hiding. Emeralds, sapphires, pearls, gold, all scattered across the surface of the bridge.

Nico reached for one.

"No!" Hazel grabbed his hand. "Don't!" Gingerly, she shoved the diamond he was about to touch back into her pocket. "They're my curse," she confessed, like she was telling him all about her sins. "They hurt people. I hurt people." She turned away. "You should just send me back to the underworld, Nico. I don't belong here. This can never be my home."

"We're Pluto's children, Hazel," he said, calmly. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "We don't belong anywhere." He watched her shovel the precious stones and metals back into her pockets, then handed her an old handkerchief.

He sighed, then got up. Hazel blinked, staring up at him. "Where are you going?" she asked.

He held out a hand. "We," he corrected, "are going to find you a home."

Reyna had not been happy to see him. A daughter of Bellona, goddess of war, she hated anything that inconvenienced her camp. And Nico was a big inconvenience.

"You," she sighed, slipping her Imperial gold dagger into its sheath.

Her dogs, Aurum and Argentium, gold and silver, took one sniff of Nico and Hazel, whimpered, and shrank back. They bared their teeth, but would not come any closer.

"You're not welcome here," Reyna said, as if she were commenting on the weather.

"I know," he replied. "I brought you a new recruit." Beside him, Hazel raised her eyebrows. He shrugged.

Reyna's eyes went to Hazel. "Hm," she murmured. She looked Hazel up and down. "Small, thin." She prodded one of Hazel's arms. Her nose wrinkled slightly. "Weak." Then she snapped her fingers in front of Hazel's nose. "But lithe. And quick."

"You'll take her?" Nico deadpanned.

Reyna frowned. "Can I speak to you?" she asked. Her eyes gleamed. "Privately?"

The word to Nico was the equivalent of Once there aren't any witnesses, I'll kill you slowly.

He nudged Hazel outside the door. "Wait here," he told her. Then promptly closed the door in her confused face.

Reyna sat in her praetor's seat, massaging her temples. Her dogs took their positions on either side. "I don't know what you're thinking, bringing her here," she said, scowling.

"She's one of you."

"Her parent?"

"Pluto." He took pleasure in watching her pale.

Reyna shifted. She crossed her legs. "She's not one of us, then," she replied coldly. "A child of Pluto? I don't know if any cohort will accept her."

"Make it work," he ordered. Her eyes flashed. She rose slightly out of her chair. She hated being commanded. "You owe me, Reyna," he inserted before she could speak. "How many times have I helped you with honoring your dead?"

Reyna growled. "Fifty-two," she hissed.

"Right." He glared. "So you're going to give Hazel a home, get her accepted into a cohort, and treat her like one of your own. Okay?"

Reyna pursed her lips. "Alright!" she caved, throwing up her hands. "Fine. I'll take her myself to see the auguries. I'll get her into a cohort. The Fifth, maybe."

Nico glowered at her. "Good." He turned his back on her, reaching for the door, intending to let Hazel back in.

"Octavian's on a rampage again," Reyna called, stopping him. Reminding him the conversation was not over.

He paused, leaning against a chair. "Oh?" he asked. "Octavian's a Roman politician. What else does he do?"

Reyna gave him a skeptical look. "I don't know what those stupid teddy bears are telling him," she sighed, changing the subject, "but he's convinced there's a Greek army waiting to attack us." She looked at Nico, hard. "Heard anything about that?"

There it was with the lying again. It was so easy. He shrugged smoothly. "The usual," he replied. "Rumors. A few names. No hard evidence."

He watched as Reyna relaxed slightly. "That's what I thought," she said. "Octavian's all talk, but he's a good talker. I think some of the legionnaires are actually starting to believe him."

Nico knew it would be easy for Octavian to sway the camp to his side. He was a snake, that one. He focused calmly on Reyna. "Discredit him publicly," he suggested. "Not openly, but still, publicly. It should take him down a few notches."

Reyna sighed. "I will. I'm worried, Nico." She cleared her throat, looking down at her lap. "Jason's missing, you know."

"Is he?" Nico asked lightly.

Reyna nodded. "For three days now." She frowned down at Aurum's head. "I don't know where he is. And you know what that means."

He did know what that meant. He frowned. "Sit tight, Reyna. It's going to be fine."

"I know that," she snapped. "Everything's under control here."

"I know," he said. "Sorry." He stood up.

"I won't forget this, di Angelo," Reyna said. Her eyes glinted. "Now, you owe me."

Nico knew that wasn't how the system worked. Technically, the debt was paid. But there was no bargaining with Reyna. "Fine," he said. He gave her his best intimidating stare. "You take care of my sister, Reyna. I'll be watching."

And, without waiting for a response, he shadow-traveled out of there.

Rachel was the only one of his friends left at Camp Half-Blood.

"Hi, Nico," she greeted. Always so cheery.

"Rachel," he responded.

She twirled the umbrella in her glass, watching him as he sat down beside her on the Big House porch. "Trouble?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Nah." Yet another lie. He sighed. "Where's everyone else?"

Rachel sucked on her straw. "I think Annabeth's somewhere in Nevada," she said thoughtfully. "Tyson's in Washington, last time we talked. And Grover's down in Texas or something." She smiled. "All you've got is little old me."

"Poor me," Nico mocked.

She playfully smacked him, then sighed too. They sat like that for a moment, quiet. Nico wondered how she could stand it. As it turned out, she couldn't.

"The Doors of Death," she mused randomly. He blinked. If there was anyone that could figure it out, it was Rachel. And he really didn't need that. If Rachel was the one to find out he'd been lying, he didn't know what would happen to him.

She turned to him, oblivious. "What do you think?"

He shrugged, despite the knowledge, trying to look as casual as possible. "I don't know," he said. "I've spent months in the underworld at a time, and I've never heard of it."

"Strange," Rachel said. "I thought you'd know it too."

Nico's heart beat faster. "Know what?"

"About Thanatos," she replied calmly. She raised her face to the sunlight. "I saw him in a dream. He's…" she paused, then smirked a little, "handsome."

"Ew, Rach," Nico protested, trying to steer her away from the topic.

She wasn't easily swayed. She only laughed. "He was rushing," she said, suddenly solemn. "Trying to reach a soul in time to take it back to Hades. Or was it Pluto?" She made a face, and Nico was for once glad her dreams came to her so muddled.

"Thanatos?" he said. "I haven't met him."

Rachel frowned. "Weird," she commented. "Think he's on the Roman side?"

Nico shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Isn't the name Greek though?"

To his relief, Rachel gave up. "I don't know," she admitted. "Just thinking." She fanned herself. "I really miss Percy," she said suddenly. "Don't you?"

"Yeah," he agreed. He stole her glass and took a big mouthful, then, at her bewildered expression, sprayed it all over her.

"NICO!" she shrieked.

And he ran, laughing, troubles forgotten in the bliss of his friend.

His morale plunged when he returned to Camp Jupiter, more than a year later, to check up on Hazel for what must have been the hundredth time in the past months.

"Oh, you're here," a legionnaire had sneered, upon seeing him at Pluto's temple.

"Looking for Levesque?"

Nico glanced. It was Octavian himself, the Apollo legacy, complete with the smug expression, raised eyebrows, and self-importance of a politician. A Roman politician. Nico snorted. The worst combination.

"Yes," he said. "Where is she?"

Octavian smirked. "With the new recruit. A graecus," he laughed. "Son of Neptune, bah! Can you believe that?"

His grin was clearly mocking. Everyone at Camp Jupiter knew Pluto's children were even more useless than Neptune ones, and Octavian was teasing him. "Nope," he said airily. "You know, I heard you saw some enemy Greeks in your auguries; sure you weren't looking at your own reflection?"

If Octavian's mouth could sour any more, it did. "I'll get Hazel for you." It sounded more like an insult than an offer.

Son of Neptune? Could he…? Well, he must've appeared at Camp Jupiter sometime, Nico reasoned. Lupa wouldn't have kept him forever. Eight months was a long time to keep a demigod asleep, but Nico was sure Hera had her reasons. Whatever they were.

"Hey," Hazel's voice called. "I brought a friend."

Nico turned. And sighed. Indeed, he was here. As soon as his green eyes hit Nico's face, he got a confused look, like he was trying to place a memory. Nico winced. That hurt. He didn't remember. If only Nico could tell him.

"This is Percy Jackson," Hazel said, smiling. She was so innocent. "He's a good guy," she added, seeing Nico's expression. "Percy, this is my brother, the son of Pluto."

Play your part, Bianca's voice whispered in Nico's mind.

So he smiled, like a stranger. Held out his hand, like his best friend was unknown. And said, like they'd never met, "Pleased to meet you. I'm Nico di Angelo."

Nico wasn't just a liar anymore. He was a dirty, rotten liar. The lies were spilling out so fast he wasn't so sure what was the truth anymore. The lines were blurred.

I—I know you. Percy.

"Do you?" Lie.

No sign of him? Annabeth.

"Nada." Lie.

Heard anything about Greeks? Reyna.

"Nothing." Lie.

Trouble? Rachel.

"Nah." Lie.

Are you alright, darling? Maria.

"'Course." Lie.

Yeah, Nico di Angelo was a liar. But he was okay with that, at least for now. Like Bianca said: It was his part to play.

But, these secrets, like Silena said: They were something he'd never forget.

This is strictly a oneshot. I wouldn't know how to continue this, anyway.

This does happen to be consistent with the story, as far as I know, save for only one dialogue variation amongst the underworld judges. Also, I have no evidence that Nico di Angelo talked to his sister, Bianca, or Silena Beauregard in Elysium about his problems, but as you can see, I imagine he did.

The encounter with Hazel did, however, happen; I copied the dialogue directly from one of Hazel's chapters from the Son of Neptune.

And, in response to one of the reviews, I do not know for sure if Rachel and Nico are actually as close as I portrayed; I just like them that way ;)

Thank you for all your support :) I love you guys.