The Plea of Apollo || COMPLETED

THE CURSE: PT3

"Fighting between bros is not cool, Neeks." Percy said this with some humor, but the serious look on his face showed his true feelings. This fight was no laughing matter.

"Don't call me that," Nico growled. Narrowing his eyes, the temperature around them dropped significantly. "Get out of my way. This fight doesn't end until there is a winner, and the winner will be the last one standing. I'll deal with you after I dispose of Grace."

"You will be doing no such thing. Neither of us want to fight you, but if that's what it takes to calm you down then we'll fight until you can't anymore."

Raising an eyebrow, Nico's frown morphed into a small smirk. "Two against one? That hardly seems fair. You should get Annabeth and Piper to help you," he said while the sky above them grew even darker.

The sons of the Big Three tensed, weapons at the ready as they watched each other to see who was going to make the first move. However, the first move was made by none of them.

Before any of them could react, an arc of lightning raced down from the clouds above and shattered the obsidian pillar Nico was standing on. The bolt hit the space right in front of the son of Hades. Percy and Jason watched in horror as he was blasted backwards, his clothes and hair smoking as he plummeted to the ground. The two yelled his name and quickly shot towards him.

They weren't going to make it in time though.

To their surprise, despite being Nico being unconscious the shadows around seemed to catch him. He disappeared only to reappear moments later in the Lord of the Underworld's arms.

"I thought I sensed a disturbance," Hades spoke while walking over to Will, whom took Nico from the god. They both took a moment to see that other than the ends of his hair being burnt and his clothes partially seared Nico was generally unharmed.

Jason and Percy quickly dropped back to the ground, running over to where the group was assembled while Hazel used her powers to seal the fire hydrant back up.

"I didn't do that," Jason said quickly as Hades turned to face him and Percy.

He rolled his eyes, as if that were obvious. "Of course not, foolish nephew. It was your father."

As if on cue, another bolt of lightning hit several yards away from them before a man materialized within the light. He wore a plain suit and looked very angry as he marched up to Hades.

Yep, that was definitely Zeus.

"This is why we're not supposed to have children," the younger god spat. Jason was suddenly glad his father didn't visit him very often; he was always in a terrible mood. "Especially you, brother. Another child of yours gone crazy, nearly killing my own son and perhaps even Poseidon's boy if I hadn't intervened. Do you want another war on your hands?"

Hades showed no emotion when he replied. "Well, if your son had been strong enough to subdue mine even while he is not in his right state of mind, then perhaps he would not have been almost killed. As for Perseus all I can say is that would have been unfortunate."

Electricity crackled in the air, causing the hair on the demigods' arms to rise. Before things could get too out of hand, Percy broke the tension with a force laugh.

"You guys have the wrong idea! Nico, Jason, and I were just... sparring." The looks the gods gave him made him wince, but before he could make the situation worse Reyna spoke up.

"Pardon me," she started respectfully, "but we know what the problem is and have a quest to solve it. Punishing Nico for something he probably isn't aware that he did won't do us any good. He would never hurt Jason or Percy because they are friends, practically brothers."

Zeus shook his head, his agitated gaze resting on the unconscious boy in Will's arms.

"If I dispose of him now there will be no need for a quest. His mind has already succumbed to the influence of Mania, and the easiest way to break her control is to put him down."

The shadows around them seemed to darken at that comment. Hades glared at his brother fiercely, eyes burning like hellfire. "Unless you want to unleash my wrath you will do no such thing. Even your own son would not fight for you if you hurt my child," he spoke with so much patience it was scary.

"Wait, who is Mania?" Percy asked.

Annabeth answered in half a second. "Mania is a spirit, the mother of all the lesser personifications of madness called Maniae, who caused many heroes to go insane throughout the ages. It was one of her underlings that made Chris, Clarisse's boyfriend, go crazy in the labyrinth all those years ago."

"That's who did this to him?" Will questioned aloud, glancing up at the gods before returning his gaze to the one cradled in his arms. His blue eyes shined with determination. "We don't have time for this then. We need to get Nico back to feeling better right away."

Hades nodded. "I would too like to see my son back to his original self; he can't do my bidding if he is mentally unstable."

Will smiled at his boyfriend's father. Beneath the words he knew Hades cared about his son even if he wasn't supposed to show it.

Turning to his brother, Hades smirked at him triumphantly. "It looks like this lot will be taking care of everything. I am sure they are fully capable of completing their quest, so you can go back to seducing women behind your wife's back."

Thunder rumbled deafeningly from above. "What did you say?"

"Oh, how silly of me. Let me amend my sentence; you can go back to seducing women or animals behind your wife's back."

Hades faded out of existence with a chuckle, barely escaping the bolt of lightning that struck where he had been standing. With a face full of rage Zeus didn't say a word as he erupted into light. The demigods quickly turned away, Jason especially fast since he knew the consequences of seeing a deity's true form.

"Well," Percy spoke after a few tense seconds, "let's take a look at that quest now!"