[Edited April 18, 2023]

Nico went to bed late that night with the Imperial March song stuck in his head. It was catchy.  He decided that he liked Star Wars. He didn't think that it made all that much sense, but he figured that didn't matter in order for him to enjoy it. Maybe that was even part of the point.

once he had gone to bed, he dreamed. It had been a while since he'd had a demigod dream so it took him longer than it should have to realize that the dream was significant. In his dream, he was walking around the camp-- which was in chaos. The camp counselors were running everywhere-- seemingly looking for someone. 

He walked through the chaos, picking up bits of conversations but nothing that made much sense. The Aphrodite kids were gossiping about the loss of a 'power couple', the Ares cabin seemed to be having a good laugh, a son of Iris was trying to get the pegasi to calm down, and the Stolls were trying to drag Clovis from the Hypnos cabin into the lake. The last one was probably unrelated.

 With so much going on Nico had no idea what was or wasn't important to pay attention to. When he couldn't make sense of it, he decided to go to the big house to find some answers. He floated through the camp, unable to rush the scene. Sometimes he had full control over his dream walking and other times he was bound to the whims of the dream. The Stolls finally did get Clovis in the lake and the boy didn't seem to wake up. When Nico got to the Big House, Chiron was on the phone with someone and he was trying to sound calm.

"It's ok Mrs. Jackson. I'm sure he'll turn up. Yes, if I hear anything I'll let you know." Chiron hung up the phone with Sally Jackson and rubbed his palms down his face.

"Oh Percy, where are you?" Chiron murmured to himself. The son of Hades felt his heart drop. Percy was missing. That explained at least some of the chaos from before. He heard footsteps on the porch and moments later Annabeth came into the parlor. She looked remarkably frazzled. Usually, the daughter of Athena was pretty in control of her emotions but her face was full of worry. It took a lot to get her riled so this didn't bode well for Nico.

"Has she seen him Chiron?" Annabeth sounded on the verge of tears and he hated to see her so distraught. There were bags under her eyes. It was painfully obvious that she hadn't slept well recently. What was going on? Clearly, something massive had happened and it had to do with Percy. As usual.

"No, child. I'm sure he'll turn up, he's a strong hero. Go and get some sleep. You need it." Chiron tried to soothe the girl he saw as a daughter. Annabeth didn't even seem to hear him.

"What about the gods? Have we heard anything from Olympus yet?" She waved his concern away. She was hyper-focused and there was little that could distract or dissuade her now. When Annabeth set her sights on something, she didn't stop until it was done. It was a quality that was both admirable and inconvenient. Without Percy there to remind her to eat, Nico was pretty worried she'd go off the deep end.

"No, the gods are remaining silent." Annabeth huffed and stormed out of the room. Chiron seemed to age 300 years in a matter of minutes.

"Oh, Perseus, where are you?" Nico woke up in a cold sweat-- a lingering feeling of dread building up in the pit of his stomach. He lay still on his mattress, letting his soul settle back into his body. Well, he was pretty sure his soul didn't actually leave him, but it was the closest he could get to describing the feeling of waking up after this dream. Maybe it was just dread that was settling in.

"You better not be dead," Nico said to thin air as if the son of Poseidon could hear him through the ether. This could not be happening. He threw the covers off and raced out of the room without even bothering to change. Where is Percy? He must have been kind of loud because he soon heard several sets of feet shuffling around as he raced down the stairs. Nico was about to head out to the greenhouse when someone called out to him.

"Nico? What's going on?" Bruce called tiredly.

"I have to call camp!" The demigod said, his voice betraying his urgency.

"What Why? Is everything alright? Are you hurt?" Nico moved into the kitchen to find something to make light with since it was dark outside. Bruce's question didn't even register.

"Nico, calm down and tell me what's wrong?" Bruce pressed. Nico heard the others reach the kitchen but he couldn't be bothered to look. He didn't find anything in the kitchen to make a rainbow so he moved on to the living room. There was a crystal vase on an end table so he grabbed that and brought it into the kitchen.

"Nico stop." Bruce grabbed his shoulders tightly, holding the boy in place, "What is going on?"

"I have to contact camp." Bruce looked confused.

"With a vase? You know you can use my phone, right?" Nico waved his hand in annoyance and pulled out of the older man's grip.

"Demigods can't use phones! Are you trying to get me eaten?"

"Eaten?" One of the batboys asked in the background. He couldn't tell which one and at the moment and he didn't care.

"Then how are you going to contact camp?"

"I need a rainbow!" Nico hissed angrily, not caring that he was sounding like a raving lunatic.

"A what?" There were a lot of things that Bruce could roll with. This was not one of them. With all his years of experience, he could not figure out the correlation between rainbows and sending messages. Was this a demigod thing or had Nico just lost it?

"I need a freaking rainbow!" The son of Hades was highly agitated now. Bruce seemed to understand what he was doing with the vase and asked Tim to go get a prism from the knick-knack cabinet instead. Once he had the prism in his hand he started to calm down. Nico set the prism down in front of a lamp and only allowed himself to breathe once a rainbow had formed. He plucked a Drachma from his pocket and tossed it into the light. Someone cried out in surprise when the coin didn't hit the table.

"Oh Iris goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering, show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood." The rainbow distorted for a moment before an image of Chiron reading in a wheelchair replaced it.

"Chiron!" Nico called. He looked up from his wheelchair and seemed to be surprised to see him.

"Nico, my boy. What seems to be the matter? You seemed distressed." Chiron looked concerned.

"Where's Percy?" He skipped pleasantries and went straight to the point.

"Wha- I sent him home this afternoon. Why?"

"I had a dream Chiron. He never made it home. He disappeared."

"Nico?" It was Bruce now, "it was probably just a dream.

Chiron finally seemed to notice Waynes, "Oh, on the contrary. Demigod dreams often predict the future. You haven't... felt anything, have you?" Chiron seemed concerned. 

Nico shook his head and the centaur sighed in relief, "Thank the gods. Nico, I'll call Sally first thing tomorrow, I promise. Try to go to sleep. If he really has disappeared, he'll need you to be in good shape."

"But if he is about to disappear, then I need to find him now and stop it from happening. What if it was a warning? I have to find him," he pressed.

"Absolutely not. You're not going anywhere at this time of the night. You don't even know where he went. You wouldn't know where to look," Bruce cut in.

"What do you mean no?" Nico turned to look at the older man but Chiron drew his attention back to the IM before an argument could break out.

"He's right, my boy. We don't know when or where he was going to disappear. Or if he is going to disappear at all. We can't just have you going into battle on nothing but a whim. Especially not without backup. If Percy is going to disappear as you say, then we can't risk you disappearing too."

"Maybe I would be able to stop it," Nico bit out through clenched teeth.

"And maybe you would die or disappear yourself," Chiron countered. His voice was getting harder but Nico pressed his luck.

"But Percy--"

"Is fully capable of taking care of himself and he wouldn't want you to put yourself in danger like this. Stay where you are, Nico," Chiron's voice became stern. Nico had never heard the old centaur sound that authoritative. He hated how young and insignificant it made him feel. 

How could he stand up to this 3,000-year-old teacher? He had taught heroes that outclassed the son of Hades in every way. There was no winning. Chiron swiped his hand through the image without waiting for a response. They both knew that Nico wasn't going to defy one of the only men he respected.

"Damn it!" Nico growled, not caring who heard him. It would have been a serious infraction when he was a child but Bruce didn't even blink, instead choosing to focus on the conversation he'd just witnessed. 

"Nico, do you mind telling the rest of us what the hell just happened?" Bruce said, both tired and annoyed at the same time. Nico opened his mouth to explain when the last member of the family decided to make his presence known.

"I believe these types of explanations can wait until tomorrow. Wouldn't you agree, Master Bruce?" Alfred stated dryly.

"Sure Alfred." Bruce said defeatedly, "Alright, off to bed all of you."

Nico did not sleep. He spent the rest of the night laying in bed and considering the consequences of Percy disappearing. The oceans would suffer because of Poseidon's grief, Camp would be miserable, Annabeth would be miserable, and he would be miserable. Sally and Paul... Rachel... Bob. Percy had touched so many lives up to this point. It was impossible to tell just how far the ripple of his disappearance would travel. The anxiety of not knowing made Nico feel like throwing up.

He groggily hauled himself into his bathroom and sat up against the side of the bathtub. He didn't want to have to make a break for the toilet if he did end up getting sick. He rested his head on his knees and tried to keep his breaths even. He didn't want to start hyperventilating now. 

He needed to be doing something. He should be doing something. If Percy ended up disappearing tonight and he actually knew about it ahead of time and did nothing-- he didn't know how he could live with himself. Especially if Percy turned up dead. How could he look Annebeth in the face and tell her that he ignored his gut because Chiron told him to? Even if she didn't blame him, he would.

He should have just left and dealt with the consequences later. Yes, he may have died, but that would be better than never knowing if there had been anything he could have done. Was there still time to go searching? Where would he even start? Was he too late? All he really knew is that Chiron had sent him home.

Percu could be anywhere between Long Island Sound and Manhatten by now. That was a lot of space to cover and he was only one person. There was no one he could call this early either. And what if he ended up being wrong and had gotten everyone all worked up over nothing? No-- he couldn't do that.

Deciding that there was nothing else he could do that night, Nico was able to return to his bed and get a few fitful hours of sleep. When he did wake up, he barely spared enough time to change into regular clothes and brush his teeth before he raced outside to the greenhouse. He couldn't wait any longer. The anxiety in the pit of his stomach was eating away at him. He had to know. As soon as it was light enough to create a rainbow, Nico Iris Messaged Chiron.

"Nico! I hate to say it, but Percy is indeed missing. He never made it home last night. Sally's going to file a missing person's report. I still have hope, but will you check the Underworld?" Chiron looked older than Nico had ever seen him. He bit back the urge to say 'I told you so'. That wouldn't help now and Chiron already seemed to be feeling horrible as it was.

I nodded grimly, "Yeah, sure Chiron. I'll get everyone I can on the job. Do Thalia and Annabeth know?"

"No, I'll tell Annabeth at lunch. I have little doubt that Annabeth will ask Thalia to look out for Percy herself." Nico nodded in agreement.

"I just wish I could've prevented it."

"We couldn't risk it, Nico. You could have gone missing as well, or worse. Go, check your father's domain," Chiron advised. Nico nodded and cut off the call. He headed back inside. Once Nico got to the dining room, everyone had already gathered at the kitchen table. They all looked up as Nico came in and Bruce's gaze was expectant. He sighed, not really ready to explain the frenzy he was in the night before. He didn't have the emotional energy for a long and involved discussion this morning.

"So, I guess you want to know about last night." He avoided eye contact with Bruce.

"That would be nice, yes," Batman agreed. The son of Hades settled into his seat but didn't move to take any food. His stomach was still churning and he didn't trust that he'd be able to keep anything down.

"Well, I had a dream that Percy disappeared. Demigod's dreams show events that either are happening or are going to happen. This morning, I contacted Chiron and Percy never made it home after he left camp." Nico took a drink of water, mainly to keep his hands busy.

"Is there anything we can do?" Dick spoke up. Nico shook his head.

"No, not even the gods will do anything because, if my dream is correct, then Olympus is on lockdown."

"There has to be something we can do." Tim said reasonably, "We can look for him."

"You could, and I'd appreciate the help. But before you go to the trouble, I promised Chiron I would check the Underworld," He explained.

"You think he might be dead?" Bruce sounded unsurprised at this, people don't normally disappear.

"I didn't sense him die but that doesn't mean too much."

"You can sense people when they die?" Jason seemed more interested than disgusted which was something.

"Yeah, I can also reanimate the dead, talk to and summon ghosts, shadow travel, have a weak form of geokinesis, can sense souls, and I know a lot of facts about death and murder," He admitted. The last thing he wanted to do was to taint his image in these people's eyes. They didn't know how much of a freak he was yet. Would they still harbor him if they knew? 

Nico didn't want to lie to them, but he was worried that his powers would be a deal breaker to Bruce. Batman had a strict no-kill policy and Nico's powers were a direct violation of that. Would that mean that he wouldn't let him use his powers? Would he get mad or punish him if he did? Would he break his promise and ask him to leave? Did killing monsters count?

"So you know that I..." Jason trailed off.

"That you died once before? Yes, Thanatos wasn't very happy with Ra's over that." Nico said passively. He wanted to spare their feelings and his reputation but he didn't have the energy to censor himself at the moment. Nico waved his hand dismissively and picked at a strip of bacon with a fork.

"Your father knows about us? That I was resurrected?" Jason seemed supremely uncomfortable.

"Of course, he knows. He's the one who manufactured my paperwork at the social worker's office. Hades sends me out to help Thanatos collect souls who cheat death and ones who escape back into the land of the living. Anyways back to Percy. I'm going to the Underworld to search for him," he announced.

"You most certainly are not," Bruce countered firmly. Nico was surprised, he hadn't expected to be opposed.

"What do you mean no? I have to see if he's dead or not!" He cried indignantly. Nico wasn't sure what he would do if Bruce forbade him from going. What would Bruce do if he defied him? Would the punishment be worth it? There was no way that Nico could just not check. He owed the camp that much at the very least.

"You're not going to the Underworld! Do you hear how crazy that sounds?" Bruce argued. It was then that he realized what was wrong. Bruce didn't understand that he could stay or go as he pleased. Nico laughed lightly at the misunderstanding.

"Don't worry about me, I go in and out of the Underworld all the time! I practically live there most of the time, especially during the school year when the campers are at school. I'm not in any danger," Nico assured the older man. Bruce looked uncomfortable with the amount of time the demigod spent in the Underworld.

"Are you sure?" He questioned skeptically.

"Well, mostly out of danger. It depends on what kind of mood the furies are in. Usually, they leave me alone." He said thinking about how Alecto hated me wandering around the different fields.

"Nico," Bruce said, his tone laced with a warning.

"I'll be fine," he sighed.

"What about your father?"

Nico hesitated at that, "What about him?"

"Are you in danger from him?" Bruce asked seriously. Nico thought about it for a minute. He might be upset that they guessed the secret but he couldn't be sure. He was sure that Hades would be furious if he found out about Hazel, though. Was there any way that he would know? He should be in and out quickly enough that he wouldn't know that he was there. He shouldn't be in danger.

"I don't think so, I haven't done anything to piss him off lately. He might not be so happy that you all know the secret but I don't think I'll be in danger." He replied after some thought.

"Are you planning on leaving now?" Bruce asked, accepting his answer. Nico nodded, "when should we expect you back?"

"Hard to say, time runs differently in the Underworld. If I'm not back by nightfall, something probably happened and you will need to contact Diana," He said-- knowing that Diana could understand the mythological world a lot better than the bat fam. 

Nico said his goodbyes and then ran through the shadows made by the fridge. On the other side of the shadows, was Hades' Palace itself. More specifically, he was in front of the doors to the throne room. Nico had no idea how he had gotten here since he had been picturing the fields of asphodel. He was about to turn to sneak away when the doors were opened by the dead Confederates. At the far end of the throne room, Hades beckoned him in. So much for not seeing his father.

"Nico, I see that the Waynes have figured it out." Nico bowed respectfully. The god of the Underworld was annoyed.

"You said that they could figure it out as long as I got them to take an oath of secrecy!" Nico defended himself. He didn't think that this was a fair criticism.

"Yes! If they figured it out. I didn't tell you that you could basically lead them to the secret!" He bellowed. Nico averted his gaze and seethed in silence. There was no point in arguing with a god.

"Yes, Father," he said tiredly.

"Do not forget to have them swear to secrecy. It would not do for your secret to get out to anyone else."

"I will." Hades eyed him critically.

"What brings you to the Underworld? I presume it isn't to remove any more souls?" Hades' voice was cold and his eyes were hard and narrow. Nico's heart leaped into his throat as he discovered the real source of his father's bad mood.

"Look, I..." Hades cut his son off with a wave of his hand.

"I don't want to hear your excuses. It is unacceptable to bring people back to life, you of all people should know that."

"She deserved a second chance." Nico gritted out. Hades didn't argue that point.

 "I presume that she told you her origin as a Roman?" Nico nodded, still afraid he was going to be turned into a grease spot. Hades would be perfectly within his rights to do so. He had almost done it once before already and it was for a much smaller infraction. Had he finally pushed his father's patience too far?

"In that case, you just become her sponsor. If she does anything dishonorable, you both shall pay for it. Do you understand that Nico? You're lucky, I have the right to smite you for this."

"I understand," he replied, relieved.

"Fortunately for you, I am very pleased to see my daughter alive again," Hades said in a sentimental tone. Nico dipped his head and shuffled his feet. He guessed that meant that he wasn't going to be turned into a grease spot.

"If I am understood, I will hear what brought you to the Underworld."

"I wanted to see if Percy Jackson had died," Hades growled at the name, he still hadn't gotten over being beaten on his own turf.

"He has not entered my domain," Hades said distastefully.

"Thank you, Father." Hades made a shooing motion that Nico took as a dismissal. He bowed again and began to leave the room. Before he could Hades called out to him, "And Nico, if you come here without your body, I will be very displeased."

Nico's shadow traveled back to his room at the manor. He collapsed on the floor, happy that he made it out of there alive. He lay on his floor breathing heavily from both adrenaline and the amount of effort 2 long shadow jumps directly in a row took. To the Underworld no less. His mouth tasted like metal and his tongue felt like lead. He heard footsteps coming through the hall and Bruce entered the younger's room with a stack of blankets, they had apparently just been laundered. When his eyes landed on Nico, he hurried over to kneel beside the son of Hades. His face looked concerned and the demigod wondered just how bad he looked.

"Are you alright?" Nico nodded weakly. He needed nectar and ambrosia but he was a little too tired for speech. Bruce picked him up bridal style from the floor and began to carry him out of the room. He tried to struggle but the adrenaline rush was fading, leaving him exhausted. It was all he could do to stay awake. He wanted to tell them to give him ambrosia but he was fading in and out of consciousness and only caught a little of what was going on.

"Is he alright, Father?"

"What happened to him?"

"My word, go lay him in the sick bay please, Master Bruce. I'll be there momentarily." Nico hated being seen like this, especially around these people, but he couldn't resist in the state he was in. Bruce took him down to the dimly lit Batcave and laid him on an empty table. 

Why was he so tired? Was he really just that weak? So weak that he couldn't make two shadow jumps back and forth from the Underworld? He'd need to work on that. Being in the Batcave only seemed to make it worse. Were they those magic dampeners Bruce mentioned before? Had he also placed them in the house? With Batman, you could never be sure.

Alfred came into his line of sight but he couldn't see what was holding, making him feel a bit panicky. He was struggling to keep his eyes open which was also making it hard to see. Bruce propped the table that was supporting his upper body up so that he could see what was happening. 

Alfred was messing with a bag of clear fluid that he had never seen before. He hung it up on a rolling stake so that the liquid flowed through a tube. On the end of the tube, there was a needle. Alfred took the needle part and started to move closer to me with it. Nico started struggling weakly, not having any idea what an IV was.

"Nico, calm down, this is supposed to make sure you get all the nutrients you need. We have no idea what those teleportations did to you. Or if it was something else. I don't want to sedate you, but I will if I have to. Neither of us wants that so just try to relax. Trust us."

Nico chuckled dryly Bruce didn't try to calm the demigod down anymore, he just explained what they were doing until he fell asleep. He woke up sometime later, still weak and a bit dizzy. He did feel somewhat better than he had, but it was also clear that he needed nectar and ambrosia. He needed someone to come and get all these wires and stuff off of him. Nico got impatient and pulled a clip off of his index finger and the machine started screaming at him. In moments Bruce was at his side and gently holding his wrists to keep him from ripping everything off.

"Hold still for a second. I'll help you get these things off." Nico relaxed on the hard surface.

"How are you feeling?" Bruce asked as he removed the tube from my arm.

"Weak. I shouldn't be this weak." Nico sat up and his vision swam.

"Weak? You did just teleport twice in a row."

"Shadow travel," Nico corrected, "and that shouldn't have made me this tired."

"What could be causing it?" Bruce frowned.

"I don't know. It's worse in the Batcave."

"It's worse?" Nico nodded.

"It might be the magic dampeners that I installed. They are meant to level the playing field if a magical being were to enter the cave. I thought it would just prevent them from using magic or powers. I didn't realize that it would drain your magic passively." The vigilante made his way to a control panel along the wall and pressed a series of buttons. Nico couldn't tell what he was doing from where he was, but he hoped he was doing something about the stupid magic dampeners.

"There, I took them offline. With a flick of a switch, I can turn them back on if I need to. I'll only use them when we have unwanted guests." Bruce glanced back at Nico-- who was already looking more awake.

"That's better," he replied, "Thanks for the medical attention and everything but I only really needed some nectar and ambrosia." Bruce looked at him in confusion so he explained the godly foods to him.

"So you eat a little and you heal, eat too much and you spontaneously combust?" Bruce asked, appalled.

"Pretty much," he agreed, sitting up. Bruce shook his head, apparently deciding not to question it.

"So, what did you find out while you were in the Underworld?" Bruce asked. Nico explained everything that happened except why Hades was mad at him. He told him it was because he forgot to have them swear on the Styx. At which point in time Bruce asked about the oaths and agreed to take an oath as well.

"Well, at least Percy isn't dead," Bruce said as Nico finished his explanation. The son of Hades nodded in agreement.

"Come on, you've had a busy day. Let's go eat dinner and you can explain those weird face-time things you do. Bruce smiled and began leading the way back up to the manor.