Chapter Text
The air above the Argo II was thick, heavy with the stench of Roman sulfur and the shadow of looming disaster. Nico di Angelo was barely a pale, trembling lump in Percy and Hazel's arms. They had just pulled him out of the bronze jar, emaciated and on the brink of death, when reality decided the day wasn't nearly chaotic enough.
The sky didn't split open with Jupiter's thunder or the giants' fire. It tore open with shadows.
A vortex of pure, icy darkness ripped open ten feet above the deck. The impact made the ship's planks groan. A dull thud echoed through the Argo II, followed by the sound of bouncing metal and the gut-wrenching cry of a child.
"WHAT IN THE DEMON'S NAME?!" yelled Leo from the helm, gripping the wheel as the ship pitched wildly.
As the cloud of shadows began to dissipate into thin black threads, two figures appeared sprawled on the wooden deck.
One was a blonde boy no older than twelve. He wore a white shirt and tight pants of the same color. A strange black collar encircled his neck, and a deep cut, gushing fresh blood, sliced through his Achilles tendon. He clawed at the floor as tears washed dust off his face.
Beside him, a black-haired boy bolted upright. He was brandishing a mortal handgun, his hands shaking violently with adrenaline, and aimed it straight at Percy's head.
"BACK OFF!" he screamed, hyperventilating. "Don't take another step!
Where is that thing?! If you try to touch us, I'll kill you all!"
"Whoa, hey... take it easy, kid..." Percy slowly raised his hands, letting Anaklusmos cap itself back into a pen inside his pocket. His eyes shifted from the armed boy to the wounded blonde.
Salt... seawater. He frowned.
This kid smells just like an ocean storm. Dad...? Seriously?
"Shut up! Mika is bleeding! That damn vampire bit him! He cut off his arm!" the boy raged, waving the gun frantically between Percy, Piper, and Hazel in a desperate effort to keep them at bay.
A few feet away from them lay the blonde boy's severed arm.
Mika let out a blood-curdling shriek as he shifted his injured ankle. The pain, the loss of his arm, and sheer terror unlocked the Underworld magic surging through his veins. The shadows on the deck burst to life, twisting like ink snakes that threatened to devour the wood, while an unnatural cold engulfed the ship.
Nico felt that pulse. That smell.
Earth.
Death.
Captivity.
He's from Hades.
His blood... it's like mine.
"No... stop..." he whispered, his voice barely a thread.
Ignoring the weapon Yuu was still pointing at everyone, Nico crawled over to the child. He reached out a trembling hand and, with an effort that made his own bones groan, forced the shadows to retreat.
Then he wrapped his arms around him and pulled him tight against his chest.
"It's over..." he whispered into his ear. "The shadows won't consume you. You're safe."
The exertion was too much.
What little color Nico had left drained completely. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he collapsed unconscious over Mika, cradling him as both fell still.
"MIKA! HE DID SOMETHING TO HIM!" Yuu screamed, out of his mind, squeezing the trigger as he re-aimed at Percy.
Before he could fire, a massive shadow loomed over him.
Frank Zhang reacted on instinct. His body expanded, sprouted thick fur, and partially morphed into a gigantic grizzly bear. In one fluid movement, he tackled Yuu from behind, pinning him to the deck with a massive paw while taking care not to crush him.
The handgun flew through the air.
Percy caught it before it hit the floor and shoved it into his pocket. "GET OFF ME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT BEAR! MIKA!" Yuu screamed, struggling
uselessly under the weight of the several-hundred-pound bear.
Percy knelt in front of the pinned boy while Piper and Hazel rushed over with ambrosia and bandages to tend to Nico and Mika.
"Frank, hold him, but don't squish him."
He waited until the boy locked eyes with him.
"Listen to me carefully. Nobody is going to kill anyone here. Your friend is still alive, and that pale guy over there is my boyfriend... and he almost died trying to save yours. So calm down for a second and let us help them, got it?"
Absolute silence fell.
Even the wind seemed to stop.
Piper froze, the spoon of ambrosia suspended in front of Nico's mouth. Hazel dropped her bandages, her face flushing bright red.
Leo dropped his wrench. CLANG!
Even Frank, still in grizzly form, let out a confused huff and slowly lowered his ears.
It took Percy three long seconds to process what he had just said. His face turned from its usual tan to a deep, burning crimson. "...What?"
At that exact moment, Annabeth Chase emerged from the main hatch with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.
Her eyes took in the scene: a bear squishing an armed kid, two unconscious sons of Hades lying in a pool of blood and shadows, and Percy completely petrified.
She didn't ask questions.
"What are you standing around for? The blonde kid is bleeding out!" she ordered, gesturing to Hazel and Jason. "Get them to the sickbay, now!"
#
The dash to the sickbay was a blur of blood, erratic shadows, and rushed footsteps. Jason carried Nico -whose ice-cold body seemed to weigh little more than a bundle of straw-while Hazel and Piper improvised a stretcher out of shadows and blankets to transport Mikaela and his severed limb.
Frank morphed back into human form with a leap, though not before securing Yuu's arms behind his back with hemp rope pulled from Leo's toolbelt.
"Let me go! I said let me go!" Yuu thrashed, dragging his feet as Frank gently but firmly nudged him like a brick wall down into the ship's interior. "I have to be with him!"
"Look, kid, if you don't shut up, I'm gonna shove a rag in your mouth," Leo threatened, following close behind with a torch, his face smudged with soot. "We've got enough on our plate with the ship almost
disintegrating from a magical vortex without listening to your hysterical screaming."
In the sickbay, the smell of antiseptic, nectar, and cinnamon replaced the sulfur. They laid Mika on the main cot. The bleeding from the stump was horrifying, but what truly unsettled Hazel was the nature of the wound: the flesh wasn't cut cleanly; it looked torn off.
Annabeth took charge within seconds, crushing an ambrosia tablet into a bowl with a dash of concentrated nectar.
"Hazel, use Mist magic to temporarily seal the blood vessels. Jason, keep pressure on the shoulder. Percy!"
Percy, who was hovering by the door trying to process how he had gone from "Hero of Olympus" to "Accidental Boyfriend of Nico di Angelo Out Loud," jumped.
"Yeah? What? I'm ready! I'm not his boyfriend, I swear, it was an adrenaline slip-up!"
"I don't give a damn about your love life right now, Jackson," Annabeth snapped without looking up, pouring the nectar mixture directly onto the blonde boy's wound. "Hold his friend. If that kid pulls another weapon or interferes with the energy transfusion, toss him overboard."
Yuu, bound to a chair near the wall, stopped thrashing for a split second as the nectar touched Mika's skin. Golden vapor hissed from the young blonde demigod's wound, accompanied by a violent crackle.
Mika choked back a scream in his unconscious state, arching his back as the shadows around him instinctively surged to protect him, bouncing off the sickbay walls.
"You're burning him! Damn you, you're killing him!" Yuu shrieked, kicking his boots against the cot to push himself over, but Percy gripped him firmly by the shoulders, forcing him back down.
"Hey, listen to me closely, wildcat," Percy said, dropping his voice and locking eyes with him. "That right there is divine medicine. It's reacting with whatever that kid has in his blood. If we don't let Annabeth do her job, your friend is going to bleed to death in less than five minutes. Is that what you want?"
Yuu clenched his teeth so hard it sounded like they might shatter. His eyes were bloodshot, his breath ragged, and tears traced clean tracks down his dirt-streaked cheeks.
"He... he isn't normal," Yuu whispered, his voice cracking for the first time. "If he dies... if he dies, I have no one else. That damn vampire world took everything."
Yuu's rage was so tangible that the pipes of the Argo II began to creak, answering the subtle pulse of water responding to the younger son of Poseidon's anger.
Percy blinked, feeling a sudden pang of empathy tighten his chest. He looked at the blonde boy on the cot, then at Nico lying in the adjacent bed, pale as snow and breathing shallowly as Piper applied damp cloths to his forehead.
"I know what it feels like to think the world is ending and that you only have one person left to keep you standing," Percy said softly. "But there are no vampires here. You're on the Argo II. And as weird as all this looks... you're safe."
A faint groan broken through the tension.
On the neighboring cot, Nico di Angelo slowly opened his eyes. His pupils struggled to focus on the wooden ceiling before turning toward Mika.
"His... his soul," Nico rasped, his voice rough from dust and his time in the bronze jar. "He isn't... a normal demigod. He has the touch of death..."
Annabeth finished bandaging Mikaela's shoulder. The bleeding had stopped completely, though the missing limb would require magical care for the wound to heal clean. The blonde boy's breathing slowed, becoming steady.
"He's stable," Annabeth announced, wiping blood from her hands with a rag. "And now that the medical emergency is over..."
She turned toward Percy with all the calm in the world. Crossing her arms, she flashed a smile so dangerous that Percy's blood ran colder than Underworld magic ever could.
"Percy... I think you owe us all a very detailed explanation. Let's start with why this kid smells like the sea, move on to how they got here... and finish with that interesting statement regarding your relationship status back on deck."
Leo poked his head through the sickbay door and let out a low whistle. "I'll go start the popcorn..." the son of Hephaestus muttered before
disappearing down the hall.
Percy sighed and opened his mouth to explain, but a weak voice cut him
off.
"And why do any of you care...?" Nico muttered from his bed. Every eye in the room snapped to the son of Hades.
Nico tried to push himself up, but a wave of severe dizziness forced
him to fall back against the pillow with a frustrated grunt. Dark circles bruised his eyes, and his skin was translucent, but the glare he swept across the room still packed enough venom to back down a giant.
"Nico, you're still weak, don't move," Hazel warned, stepping forward with concern.
"I'm fine," Nico lied hoarsely, fixing his dark eyes on Percy. "And you, Jackson, shut your mouth. If you're going to make up stupid lies to
calm down a kid with a gun, at least try not to make me the punchline of the ship."
Percy let out a sigh of relief so huge it felt like his lungs inflated for the first time in ten minutes.
"Thank you!" Percy exclaimed, gesturing dramatically at Nico while looking at Annabeth. "See? He said it himself! It was a tactical distraction. Urban survival skill. Pure adrenaline."
"Oh, so now it turns out 'us' was just a distraction? And your speech back at camp after the Battle of Manhattan means nothing anymore?" Nico asked with feigned resentment, though the playful glint in his dark eyes made it obvious he was just teasing his partner.
Annabeth raised an eyebrow. She didn't look entirely convinced by the sudden synchronization of these "emergency boyfriends," but decided to call a truce... for now.
"Fine. We'll leave Percy's relationship status on hold for the moment," she said, folding her arms as her eyes drifted to the cot where Mikaela rested.
Then she looked at Yuu, who still hadn't taken his eyes off the pale son of Hades.
"But that doesn't explain the main issue. The magic you brought with you doesn't belong to this world. And if even the water in this ship's pipes is reacting to that kid's presence..." She pointed at Yuu. "...we have a new problem. One that neither Camp Half-Blood nor Camp Jupiter prepared us for."
Yuu clenched his fists.
He could feel Annabeth's analytical gaze on him, and beneath his feet, the constant hum of water coursing through the Argo II. It was a strange, almost living pulse that seemed to echo the rage locked in his chest.
"I don't know what kind of ship this is or who you people are," Yuu spat, glancing at Mikaela before looking back at Annabeth. "But if that pale runt over there controls shadows and the blonde on the cot is one of mine, you better start talking straight."
His eyes hardened. "Where the hell are we?"
Percy and the others exchanged glances. Then they looked back at Yuu with expressions that suggested the answer was painfully obvious.
#
However, before anyone could speak, a shimmering rainbow materialized in the middle of the Argo II sickbay.
The multicolored light expanded slowly into an Iris Message. Within the glow, two familiar figures appeared: a visibly exhausted Hades and an equally stern Poseidon, both standing inside the palace of the Underworld lord.
For a few seconds, no one said a word.
Even the crew realized that if both gods were calling together, the situation was far bigger than they had imagined.
"See? I told you they wouldn't have killed them," Poseidon remarked, pointing through the Iris Message toward Yuu and then Mika.
Hades let out a tired sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Yes, yes, you were right. Now stop nagging, Poseidon. We have far more important matters to attend to."
The god of the Underworld completely ignored the bewildered looks of the demigods in the sickbay, as well as the fact that Mika was still unconscious from trauma, pain, and exhaustion.
After all, Jason had to sedated him deeply to reset his shoulder and allow his body to begin healing.
"We must inform Percy, Nico, and Hazel about their 'new' siblings," Hades continued with absolute gravity.
An instant hush fell over the sickbay. Percy blinked.
Nico, still weak on his cot, slowly raised his eyes. Hazel froze, dropping her bandages.
"New... siblings?" Percy repeated, pointing at the two kids, unable to mask his disbelief.
Poseidon offered a faint smile.
"Well... looks like the day can still get a little more complicated." "Hold on, hold on... back up a second," Percy interrupted, waving his
hands, his face thoroughly bewildered. "What do you mean 'new siblings'? Dad, tell me this is an Underworld hidden-camera prank."
Poseidon crossed his arms. He wore a Hawaiian shirt that clashed horribly with the gloomy backdrop of Hades's palace, and let out a booming laugh.
"No joke, my boy! Look at him!" he said, pointing at Yuu with visible pride. "It's undeniable! He inherited my green eyes, that indomitable spirit, and, of course, his mother's beautiful face. A fascinating woman, I must say. Magnificent kid!"
Yuu, still tied to the chair, blinked in confusion. He stared at the golden projection, then at the sea god.
"What the hell is this old guy in the ridiculous shirt talking about?" he muttered through his teeth. "I don't have a dad. My mom threw me out of a moving car because she said I was possessed..."
"Ah, the minor details of fate," Poseidon brushed it off with a wave of his hand. "What matters is that Atlantis genetics don't lie."
Beside him, Hades exhaled a long, weary sigh and pinched his nose again.
"Be quiet for a moment, Poseidon. You're giving me an immortal migraine."
The Underworld god turned his gaze back to Nico and Hazel.
"As for you two... I have news that will likely alter your lives." He pointed toward the cot where Mikaela lay unconscious.
"That blonde child also shares our blood."
Hazel gasped, covering her mouth. Nico remained utterly motionless on his bed.
"Another...?" he whispered, barely audible. "Father... what did you
do?"
Hades observed him in silence for a second.
"What any sensible god would do when faced with an absurd oath." Percy's expression shifted.
That was never a good sign.
"When Zeus forced us to sign the Pact of the Big Three to prevent us
from siring more demigods after World War II, Poseidon and I found what seemed like a flawless legal loophole: if our offspring were born in another dimension, we technically weren't breaking the agreement within this realm."
Poseidon held up a finger proudly.
"A brilliant strategy, if you ask me."
"A strategy that went horribly wrong," Hades corrected grimly. "We believed they would be safe from Olympian prophecies. What we failed to foresee was that Zeus, upon discovering that parallel world and realizing it lay beyond his jurisdiction, simply chose to ignore it."
The temperature in the sickbay plummeted. Frost began to bloom on the glass windows.
"Ignore it?" Annabeth asked, taking a step forward. "What does that mean, exactly?"
Hades clasped his bony fingers. "It means that world fell." Silence hung heavy in the room.
"An apocalyptic virus wiped out most of the adult human population. In the aftermath, control fell into the hands of the most dangerous creatures Hecate's magic ever spawned in that reality: vampires."
Percy felt a shiver run down his spine.
His eyes darted to Mikaela, small, pale, and asleep on the cot. "A world ruled by vampires..." Piper whispered.
Hades lowered his eyes.
For the first time since appearing, he looked genuinely burdened. "And things grew worse."
His voice dropped an octave.
"Mikaela's mother attempted to survive amid the chaos. She found shelter in a cult born from the desperation of that apocalypse. But that path ultimately destroyed her. When she died, the shadows of that world claimed her soul before I could retrieve it."
Nico clenched his fists. Now he understood.
The smell of death. The fear.
The desperation.
Mikaela wasn't just a lost child.
He was another child of the Underworld abandoned to a cruel fate. "That's why the vortex opened," Hazel said softly, her eyes filled
with sorrow. "When Mika felt the pain of losing his arm and the terror of dying, his power as a child of Pluto breached the dimensional barrier."
"Precisely," Hades confirmed. "The laws of that reality were collapsing. Fate brought my mistakes... and Poseidon's... straight to your doorstep."
Poseidon looked at Percy with a gentler smile.
"They are your brothers. They carry our blood, our difficult tempers, and a natural talent for finding impossible trouble."
He paused.
"Look after them." Percy's eyes widened.
"Wait! Don't hang up yet!"
He rushed toward the Iris projection.
"You left us a ship surrounded by giant monsters, a war against Gaea, and now a brother with vampire trauma and a gun! How am I supposed to handle this?!"
Poseidon smiled with serene confidence. "I trust you, son."
"And don't break the blonde one," Hades added. "The ambrosia will help. He'll be better in a few days."
The rainbow light began to fade. "That doesn't answer my question!" But it was too late.
The Iris Message flickered out, leaving the sickbay in awkward silence.
Percy stood staring at the empty air for several seconds. Then he turned slowly toward Yuu.
Then toward Nico. Finally toward Annabeth.
"I definitely..." he muttered, running a hand over his face, "...need a hero raise."
#
The moment Nico tried to swing his legs off the cot to stand up, his knees gave out like wet tissue paper.
His center of gravity vanished, and the son of Hades pitched forward, crashing face-first onto the oak floorboards of the sickbay with a loud, messy THUMP!
"NICO!" Percy yelled.
Reacting on pure instinct, he lunged forward and grabbed him under the arms just before he hit the floor again.
"Take it easy, Underworld hero. Don't fall apart before dinner," Percy teased, wincing as he took on almost all of Nico's weight.
For as thin as he was after getting pulled from the jar, his bones felt surprisingly heavy and cold, like marble.
Nico cursed in Italian under his breath, his face buried against the shoulder of Percy's shirt. He tried to shove him away, but his arms trembled so badly the gesture lost all threat.
"Let go of me, Jackson..." he muttered, his voice muffled, cheeks burning with rage and embarrassment. "I can walk on my own."
"Yeah, right. And I'm the god of motor coordination," Percy replied sarcastically.
Without giving him a chance to argue, he lifted him carefully and sat him back on the edge of the cot, holding his shoulders to keep him from tipping over again.
Hazel hurried over with a thick blanket and draped it around his shoulders. Piper appeared right behind her with a cup of diluted nectar.
"Nico, please... just a few hours ago you were on the verge of starving to death," Hazel gently chided him while fixing his messy hair.
"Your energy reserves are completely drained. And stopping that kid's magic... Mikaela's magic... almost killed you again."
Nico lowered his eyes for a moment.
Then he looked at the small blonde boy sleeping under the effect of the sedatives.
"He didn't know what he was doing," Nico said, his voice raspy. "His shadows were out of control because his soul is broken."
His dark eyes hardened with sorrow.
"He smells like the River Styx, Hazel... like pure pain. If I hadn't stopped him, Underworld magic would have ended up consuming him."
Yuu, still bound to the chair, watched the scene in silence. The tension in his shoulders began to thaw.
His anger was still there, but now it was mixed with something else. Respect.
Even if his pride wouldn't let him say it out loud.
"So... you really saved him," Yuu muttered, looking sideways at Nico. "I thought you were doing some kind of weird witchcraft."
Nico raised an eyebrow.
"If I wanted to do weird witchcraft, I wouldn't be lying on the floor making a fool of myself."
He accepted the cup Piper offered and took a small sip. Annabeth sighed as she took in the room.
Nico on the verge of collapse.
Percy trying to pretend he wasn't worried sick.
A son of Poseidon from another dimension tied to a chair.
And a son of Hades recovering from an injury that should have been fatal.
"Alright," she declared firmly, using that authoritative daughter of Athena tone that left no room for debate. "Action plan."
Everyone looked at her.
"Percy, stay here and take care of your... of Nico. Make sure he doesn't try to get up again."
Percy opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it. "Hazel, help Piper with more compresses. Frank..."
She turned to the tied-up boy. "Untie Yuu."
"WHAT?!" Frank and Leo exclaimed simultaneously from the doorway. Annabeth didn't even blink.
"He's twelve or thirteen and unarmed. Besides, if he tries anything stupid, he's on a ship full of trained demigods and flanked by his own older brother."
She paused, pointing discreetly at the ship's plumbing.
"An older brother who, by the way, controls the water he loves making creak so much."
Yuu scowled at the word brother, but said nothing.
When Frank sliced the ropes with his knife, Yuu didn't attack. He simply stood up, rubbed his raw wrists, and walked straight over to Mikaela's cot.
He sat on the stool beside the unconscious blonde and gently took his
hand.
"I'm not going to hurt anyone," he said quietly, keeping his eyes on
Mika. "Just..."
He squeezed Mikaela's fingers lightly. "Don't separate us. That's all I ask." Percy glanced at Annabeth, then at Nico.
The Argo II sickbay still smelled of sulfur and blood.
But for the first time since that shadowy sky opened up, the air felt a little lighter.
Nico closed his eyes for a few seconds, feeling the warm trickle of nectar slide down his throat, bringing comfort.
But staying awake was a losing battle.
His eyelids felt heavy as lead, and the lingering chill of the Underworld remained trapped in his bones, reminding him his body was far from recovered.
Slowly, he reached up a trembling hand and tugged at Percy's shirt. He pulled with what little strength he had left, forcing the son of Poseidon to lean down.
"Jackson..." Nico whispered.
His voice was so soft and raspy that only Percy caught it amidst the movement in the sickbay.
"Yeah, Nico? What is it? Do you feel sick?" Percy asked immediately, dropping his voice and placing a hand on his back to support him.
Nico leaned his forehead against Percy's shoulder, hiding a face flushed with embarrassment.
"Take me... to our bed," he breathed out against his neck. "I'm sleepy... and I want my pillow..."
Percy froze for a second.
He wasn't sure if the "pillow" Nico was referring to was the one in their cabin...
...or if he was talking about Percy himself. He didn't have time to ask.
Nico's body went completely limp in his arms. His dark eyes closed, and the son of Hades sank back into a deep slumber, overcome by magical exhaustion.
Percy remained still, feeling Nico's quiet breathing against his neck while the entire sickbay looked on.
Hazel smiled warmly, relieved to see her brother finally resting.
lips.
Piper smothered a chuckle behind her hand.
Annabeth simply rolled her eyes, though an amused smirk touched her
Her look said clearly: "You better follow orders."
"Well... I guess the patient just issued his own discharge papers,"
Percy joked with a nervous laugh.
Carefully, he slid an arm beneath Nico's knees and another around his back, lifting him without sharp movements.
He cradled the pale son of Hades against his chest to cushion him from the ship's motion, then looked at Annabeth, making sure everything was under control.
"I'll take him to the cabin so he can get some real rest," he said softly. "If Yuu or Mikaela wake up, or if anything happens, call me right away."
Without waiting for a response, he carried Nico out of the sickbay. Carrying the hero who had saved a child he didn't even know.
His partner.
And, apparently, his new personal pillow.
The Argo II was still rife with impossible problems, capricious gods, and otherworldly threats.
But for the first time in a long while, Nico di Angelo was sleeping peacefully.
#
The click of the door closing behind Percy and Nico left the sickbay in quiet quietude.
The only sounds were Mikaela's soft whimpers under the sedatives and the rhythmic creaking of the Argo II's oak frame as it glided through the sky.
Yuu sat motionless on the stool, clutching Mika's warm hand with desperate intensity.
His knuckles were white.
His green eyes, red-rimmed and shadowed by exhaustion, scanned every corner of the room with the instinctual distrust of a trapped animal.
Across from him, Annabeth remained leaning against a table loaded with medical supplies, arms crossed. Beside her, Hazel organized ambrosia vials while Piper dampened a clean cloth in warm water.
"You can stop staring at the door like you're planning an escape," Annabeth said calmly. "Nobody's holding you hostage."
She paused.
"Though outside, it's just sky, ocean, and a flying ship full of people who just saved your lives."
Yuu set his jaw without looking away from Mikaela.
"I don't trust you," he said raspy, still fueled by adrenaline and dust. "In my world, anyone offering 'help' or a clean bed wants something back. Your blood. Your body. Your power."
His expression hardened.
"Vampires treated us like cattle."
Piper took a step forward, holding the water bowl gently so as not to startle him.
"We understand the fear, Yuu," she said softly.
Her voice carried a faint trace of charmspeak-not to command him, but to soothe his rapid breathing.
"You've survived things no kid should ever face. But there are no labs here. No vampires."
For a split second, Yuu felt a warm calm wrap around his chest. Then survival instinct kicked back in.
He shook his head violently.
"Don't do that!" he shouted, pointing at Piper. "Don't use your mind tricks on me!"
He gasped for air.
"I don't care if that old guy in the ugly shirt says I'm a 'son of the sea.' I don't care if that pale kid is Mika's brother. The only thing that matters is that Mikaela wakes up."
"And he will," Hazel interjected softly.
She stepped closer and gestured to the blonde boy.
"Look at his skin. The ambrosia is mending the damage. His ankle wound is already closed. We saved his life, Yuu."
Her expression grew solemn.
"My brother spent almost every drop of power he had left to stop the darkness from consuming him."
Yuu looked down at Mikaela's bandaged shoulder.
Where an open, catastrophic wound had been, clean linen now wrapped the slow work of recovery.
He took a shaky breath.
The anger that had kept him upright finally broke, leaving behind an exhausted child.
A twelve-year-old who had lost far too much. "He... he tried to protect me," Yuu whispered. He let go of Mika's hand to cover his face.
A choked sob escaped him.
"When that vampire ambushed us leaving the underground city... Mika stepped in front of me. They severed his arm, and even then..."
His voice shattered.
"...even then he told me to run."
Annabeth pulled up a chair and sat opposite him.
The sharp, calculating look of Athena's daughter was gone, replaced by someone who knew all too well what it meant to grow up fighting monsters.
"Everyone in this room knows that feeling," she said quietly. "Watching someone you love suffer to shield you."
She glanced at Mikaela.
"Right now, the best way to help him is to let him heal. And to do that, you need rest too."
Yuu wiped his tears on his dirty sleeve.
Defiance remained in his eyes, but the hatred was gone.
"That guy... the one with the sword who smells like the ocean..." He hesitated. "He said he was my..."
"Your big brother," Annabeth finished with a faint smile. She shook her head softly.
"Percy Jackson is an impulsive idiot. He has a knack for walking into trouble and driving the gods to want to toss him off a cliff."
Her smile softened.
"But there isn't anyone in this world, or any other, I'd trust more to protect his family."
She looked at Yuu.
"And according to the gods, you're part of it now." Yuu stared toward the door Percy had exited through. Then he looked down at the ship's pipes.
The strange hum of the water no longer sounded hostile. It flowed steadily, like a calm heartbeat.
"I don't need an big brother," he muttered. He took Mikaela's hand again.
"I just need Mika to wake up."
Piper draped a warm blanket over his shoulders.
"He will." She smiled gently. "In the meantime, stay here. Nobody is taking you away from him."
#
When Percy pushed open the sickbay door, he encountered a far quieter scene than he had left behind.
Yuu sat beside Mikaela with the blanket around his shoulders, holding the blonde boy's hand.
Annabeth reviewed medical notes while Hazel tidied an ointment jar. "Everything under control in here?" Percy asked softly, poking his
head in.
Annabeth looked up, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly. "Nico is asleep, I take it?"
"Out like a light," Percy replied. "And Coach Hedge is passed out in his cabin, so we're spared his yelling for now."
He walked over to Mikaela's cot to check on him.
He spent a few moments studying the young son of Hades. Then he looked at Yuu.
His brain attempted, with limited success, to organize the new family tree the gods had dumped on them.
Nico was his boyfriend. Mikaela was Nico's brother.
Which technically made Mika his brother-in-law.
Yuu was his half-brother via Poseidon, and also Mika's adoptive brother through everything they'd survived.
Percy decided that overthinking it beyond this point would give him a migraine worse than any monster attack.
"So..." he said, pointing at Mikaela, "how's my new brother-in-law doing?"
Yuu looked up at him.
He no longer held a gun or the blind hatred from earlier, but his green eyes still appraised Percy with guarded caution.
"He's resting," Yuu said raspy. "They say he'll wake up soon." Percy nodded with a faint smile.
"Good to hear." He rested a hand on the back of the chair. "I'm heading to the mess hall to grab food for everyone."
He looked at Yuu.
"Trust me, wildcat. The food on this ship is the only thing keeping us all from going completely insane."
#
Percy froze, his hand locked onto the mess hall door handle.
His mouth hung open.
His stomach did a backflip that had nothing to do with hunger.
There, in the middle of the Argo II kitchen, right beside the fruit counter, Leo Valdez was practically sitting on Jason Grace's lap, kissing him with an enthusiasm that would have made any Hephaestus invention proud. The Roman centurion had his arms wrapped around Leo's waist, running his fingers through the fire-kinetic's curly hair with a devotion Percy never would have guessed from the pristine Roman hero.
Neither of them noticed him for three long seconds. Percy blinked.
Once.
Twice.
"...Guys," he finally managed in a squeak, feeling his brain short-circuit. "Please tell me this is a hunger-induced hallucination, or that ambrosia has side effects nobody wrote on the label."
The spell snapped instantly.
Leo jumped back so violently he nearly knocked over a jar of tomato sauce. His face turned a shade of red that rivaled his own tools.
Jason released Leo as if he'd suddenly realized he was hugging a Celestial bronze automaton. It took him several seconds to regain his composure, clearing his throat awkwardly as he straightened his shirt.
"Jackson!" Leo squawked, adjusting his toolbelt at lightspeed. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?!"
Percy gestured wildly at the kitchen.
"This is the ship's mess hall! I came for a sandwich! A blue sandwich!
What the hell is going on with this ship today?!" He threw his hands in the air.
"First kids fall from the sky, then I find out I have a brother from another dimension with vampire trauma, Nico uses me as a pillow, and now..." He pointed between them. "...you two?!"
Jason rubbed the back of his neck, his ears turning so red Percy half-expected sparks to fly off them.
"Percy... calm down," Jason tried to explain in his best diplomatic voice. "It's... it's not what it looks like."
He paused. "Okay, it IS what it looks like. But we didn't plan on you finding out like this."
"Exactly!" Leo chimed in, ducking partially behind Jason. "This was supposed to be classified!" He waved his hand around. "A matter involving maintenance, plumbing, and... lots of electrical sparks! Totally routine!"
Percy stared at them for a few seconds.
His initial shock slowly melted into that trademark smirk that always made his friends nervous.
He crossed his arms, leaning against the doorframe.
"Well, well... the hero of Rome and the fire boy." He raised an eyebrow. "If I'd known the Argo II was also a love boat, I would've brought popcorn from Camp Half-Blood."
He looked at them both.
"Does Piper know, or is she going to read about it in the ship's newspaper?"
"Piper's known for weeks, dumbass," Leo replied, regaining his usual swagger. "In fact, she's the one who pushed us together."
Jason let out a sigh of relief, seeing that Percy wasn't upset. He was just being Percy.
"Just... don't tell Coach Hedge," Jason requested. "If he finds out, he'll make us do push-ups all the way to Rome and hit us with his bat."
Percy held up a hand.
"Relax. My lips are sealed." He paused, opening the pantry. "Unless I don't find anything blue in here."
Leo rolled his eyes. "You're impossible." Percy smiled as he gathered supplies.
"Seriously though... I'm happy for you guys." His tone softened. "With everything going on-the prophecy, the giants, and now gods dropping extra relatives on me from other dimensions-a little happiness isn't gonna hurt anybody."
Leo grinned, pulling a box of blue-dyed chocolate chip cookies from the back shelf and tossing it to him.
"Here, big guy. Eat up so you stop giving us heart attacks." Percy caught the box with a wide grin.
"Deal." He tucked the food under his arm. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take food to Yuu in the sickbay and get back to my cabin before my 'pillow' wakes up and sends my soul to the Underworld for leaving him."
#
A sudden gagging sound and the thud of Mikaela sitting up broke the relative calm of the sickbay.
The young blonde bolted awake.
His eyes were wide, vivid blue, and filled with panic.
A violent spasm wracked his body. Before he could process his surroundings, he doubled over the edge of the cot, throwing up a bitter mixture of bile, dust, and divine nectar his body rejected, unaccustomed to such potent magic after everything he had endured.
"MIKA!" Yuu yelled.
He scrambled up so fast the stool clattered to the floor.
In an instant he was at Mika's side, supporting his back as dry heaves shook the blonde boy.
Annabeth and Hazel sprang into action. Hazel slid a wooden bucket beneath the cot while Annabeth held Mika's forehead firmly, wiping his mouth with a damp cloth.
"Easy... let it out," Annabeth said with calm authority. "Your body is rejecting something foreign. Nectar and ambrosia are divine medicine; to someone who's never had them, they can burn like fire."
Mikaela gasped for air.
His vision blurred, cold sweat pinning his bangs to his forehead. His newly healed shoulder throbbed beneath the wraps, every pulse a painful reminder of what had happened.
Even the black choker around his neck felt heavier than before. "Y... Yuu..." Mika's voice was shattered.
With his remaining hand, he reached frantically for his friend. "Yuu... Ferid... the vampire... he's gonna..."
"I'm here!" Yuu cut him off, voice cracking. He grabbed Mika's hand and pressed it to his cheek. "I'm right here, Mika. Look at me."
Tears welled in Yuu's green eyes.
"There are no vampires. Nobody is touching us. Nobody is taking us away."
Slowly, Mika's eyes focused. First on Yuu's eyes.
Then on Hazel's concerned face.
Then on the clean bandages where his arm used to be.
Finally, he took in the wooden ceiling of the ship, listening to the gentle creak of the hull as the wind whistled outside.
This wasn't a cell.
It wasn't a laboratory.
It wasn't a vampire facility. It was... completely unknown.
"Where are we...?" he rasped. "Why... why does my skin burn?" Piper stepped forward with a cup of water.
"You're safe." She offered the cup so he could rinse his mouth. "The burning is from the medicine we used to heal your shoulder. Your body is adjusting to forces that don't exist in your world."
Mika looked down at his bandages, then at Yuu. Panic flared back in his eyes.
"Your arm... Yuu." His voice grew urgent. "Are you hurt? Did they do something to you?"
Yuu stared at him.
Even after losing so much blood and waking up in an alien world, Mika's first thought was still Yuu's safety.
Yuu bit his lip hard.
"I'm fine, you idiot." He forced a small smile through his tears. "You're the one who almost bled to death." He lowered his voice. "That guy... the one with the shadows. The brother from this place. He used his magic to stop you before your power froze us all."
Mikaela blinked.
A memory surfaced slowly. A cold embrace.
A quiet voice.
Shadows receding.
The pale boy who had stepped out of the dark. Nico.
He looked around the room.
He could sense something strange the water moving beneath the hull, the ambient magic in the air.
Everything felt alien.
Then the door creaked open.
Percy walked in carrying a plate of blue cookies and two glasses of juice.
He paused, assessing the scene.
"Looks like the welcome party started early," he said gently, his tone shifting as he saw Mika's distress.
Mikaela tensed, recognizing the sword-bearer. The smell of the ocean.
The same aura he had felt since landing on the ship.
Before he could pull back, Yuu stepped in front of him-not to attack, but to shield him.
"This is... Percy," Yuu explained, swallowing hard. "He says the gods of this world think we're their brothers."
Mikaela looked from Percy to Yuu, then back to the boy who seemed to carry a storm beneath his skin.
"Brothers...?"
The word slipped out as an incredulous whisper. It sounded ridiculous.
Impossible.
After everything they had been through... the universe decided to hand them a family?
"Yeah, 'brothers,'" Percy confirmed, running a hand through his messy hair with a nervous chuckle to break the tension. "Trust me, I was just as shocked as you. My dad has a knack for surprise drops, but bringing me two brothers from another dimension definitely breaks his record."
Mikaela remained silent, staring at the bright blue cookies on the plate. His mind struggled to process it all.
Gods.
Parallel dimensions.
Families he'd never heard of. Bloodlines appearing out of nowhere.
All while his body shivered with lingering pain from the magic that had sealed his wound.
"That can't be..." he whispered, shaking his head slowly. "In our world, gods don't exist." His fingers gripped the sheet. "There were only humans obsessed with science... and vampires."
"Well, here, gods not only exist," Annabeth interjected, folding her arms, "they also have an incredible talent for making terrible decisions."
She shot a sidelong look at Percy. Percy held up his hands defensively.
"Hey, I wasn't the one dropping lost kids across dimensions!" Annabeth ignored him, turning her focus back to Mikaela.
"But Percy is right about one thing. You're safe here." Her tone softened. "The Argo II is protected. As long as you're on this ship, nobody is going to hurt you. Not vampires, not humans, not anything else."
Yuu glanced at Percy, then back at Mikaela.
For the first time since they had arrived, his shoulders relaxed-just a fraction, but it was a start.
Still, he kept a firm grip on Mika's hand, as if letting go meant reality would snap back.
"Blue cookies?" Yuu asked suddenly, eyeing the plate with suspicion. "Is this some dangerous divine food?"
Percy grinned proudly, holding up a cookie like it was the greatest artifact on Olympus.
"It's food for the soul, kid." He took a small bite. "My mom makes them because she says good things can be whatever color they want." He glanced at the door. "Though you better try one fast before Leo shows up and eats them all."
Mikaela eyed the cookie cautiously.
Years of survival had taught him that accepting food from strangers was a dangerous gamble.
But the sweet scent was different. No blood.
No medicine.
No fear.
Just sugar and vanilla.
His stomach, ignored for far too long, growled before his distrust could stop it.
Carefully, he took one with his remaining hand and bit into it. The flavor hit him unexpectedly.
It was simple.
Warm.
Completely normal.
A stark contrast to the taste of blood, dust, and terror from the underground city.
Slowly, the tension in his face thawed. For the first time in a long while, a flicker of peace appeared in his eyes.
"It tastes... like home," he whispered.
He looked at Yuu, who nodded quietly, understanding the full weight of those words.
Then, slow, shuffling footsteps echoed down the corridor. The sickbay door drifted open a few inches.
A pale, disheveled figure stood leaning against the frame. Nico di Angelo.
He was still wrapped in his cabin blanket, his face drawn and dark hair messy, but his dark eyes were locked firmly on Mikaela.
"I see you survived the nectar," he said hoarsely.
He took a step into the room-unsteady, but determined.
Weak as he was, Nico had come to see for himself that the child he saved was still breathing.
"Hey, corpse-boy! You were supposed to stay in bed!" Percy immediately called out.
He moved quickly, placing himself in front of Nico before he could stumble.
"I was on my way back to coddle you, so you had zero reason to get
up."
The word "coddle" struck the room like a thunderbolt. Nico's face flushed from pale to crimson in under a second.
His dark eyes widened in shock before narrowing with absolute
indignation.
"Shut up, Jackson..." he growled.
He tried to sound menacing, but failed completely as he gasped for air after taking just two steps.
Still, Nico's pride refused to yield. He took another step.
Bad idea.
His legs gave out again.
Percy, expecting it, reacted instantly, shifting to catch him before he hit the deck.
The result was inevitable.
With a soft thump, Nico ended up sitting squarely on Percy's lap.
The son of Poseidon wrapped an arm around his waist to keep them both steady.
"See? Told you," Percy whispered with a triumphant smirk. "You're too stubborn."
"Let go of me, idiot..." Nico muttered against his shoulder. His actions, however, completely contradicted his words.
He didn't pull away. He didn't fight it.
He simply let his head rest against Percy's collarbone, hiding his blushing face in the crook of Percy's shirt.
Hazel covered her mouth to hide a smile, without much success. Piper, from her corner, didn't even bother disguising her amusement. Mikaela and Yuu watched the scene in complete silence.
Yuu stared at the sword-bearing boy, then at the son of Hades who, moments ago, had seemed like a terrifying creature of shadows and was now comfortably curled in Percy's lap.
Finally, Yuu snorted-a mix of disbelief and amusement.
"This ship... is full of lunatics." He nudged Mikaela lightly. "Dangerous lunatics."
Mikaela looked down at his blue cookie and took another bite.
He watched Percy hold Nico as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and how Nico, despite his complaints, finally stopped fighting.
Nobody in this room viewed them as a burden.
After everything he had known, this scene felt bizarre. But not bad.
"Maybe..." Mikaela whispered, feeling the pain in his shoulder soften a little. "...maybe it's not a bad place."
Yuu didn't reply, but he didn't argue either.
And for the first time since their escape, neither felt the urge to look for an exit.
#
Nico took a few seconds to catch his breath on Percy's lap.
With a resigned sigh, he stopped fighting the inevitable and leaned into Percy's chest, using his "personal chair" as support while locking his dark eyes on Mikaela.
"Your magic almost tore this ship apart," he said quietly.
His voice carried that low, solemn tone that belonged more to the Underworld than the land of the living.
"But the shadows didn't lash out just because of your physical wound.
They reacted because you believed you were going to die." He paused.
"When your soul thought it was the end, it tried to protect you by dragging down everything around you."
Mikaela looked down at his hands.
"I didn't mean to," he whispered, gripping the sheet. "I've never felt anything like that before. In my world... darkness belonged to monsters. To vampires. To the things they did to us in the labs."
His voice quieted.
"But when I lost my arm and thought I was dying... that thing inside me woke up. I felt cold. A cold I couldn't stop."
"It's the cold of the Underworld," Nico said softly, without judgment, only understanding. "The blood of Hades and Pluto doesn't work like other demigods'. To us, shadows aren't just a tool."
His gaze held Mikaela's.
"They are a part of who we are." The sickbay fell silent.
"If you fear them, they can consume you. If you wield them with rage and panic, they will hurt the people you try to shield."
Yuu tensed, remembering the deck covered in ink-like darkness.
"So how is he supposed to control it?!" Yuu demanded, leaning forward. "He's a kid! He was almost killed today! You can't expect him to stay calm like a soldier!"
Nico looked up at him, his response immediate. "I'm speaking to him as his brother."
The line silenced Yuu completely.
"Because if he doesn't learn to command that power now," Nico continued, "the next time he panics, the shadows won't just react." His eyes hardened. "They could drag him under."
Nico reached out a pale hand from Percy's lap.
A thin thread of darkness spun from the tip of his index finger-not violent, not threatening, but a delicate strand of black silk floating in the air.
It drifted across the space and settled gently onto Mikaela's palm.
The blonde boy held his breath. But there was no pain.
No terror.
Only a cool, strangely soothing sensation, like a night breeze after a storm.
"Don't fight the dark, Mikaela," Nico said gently as the shadow wound around the boy's fingers. "It's in your blood."
He looked the child in the eye.
"Learn to feel it as a shield, not a weapon." A faint, sad smile touched Nico's lips.
"You carry the mark of those who have stared into death and walked back." His voice dropped to a whisper. "As long as you breathe, death listens to you."
Mikaela watched the thread of shadow dissolve into his skin.
For the first time since escaping the vampires, the suffocating weight in his chest eased-not because his fear was gone, but because someone finally understood what he was carrying.
He wasn't alone with his curse.
"I understand..." he muttered, a soft smile appearing. "Thank you... brother."
Nico blinked, caught off guard.
He turned his head quickly, hiding his face back in Percy's shirt as color flooded his cheeks.
"Yeah, well... don't get used to emotional speeches," he grumbled into the fabric. "Now listen to Annabeth and get some sleep." He paused. "Before I pass out again myself."
Percy chuckled softly, wrapping an arm around Nico's shoulders to hold him close.
"Well, I guess we officially have a new crew." He looked at both children of the Underworld. "The Sons of Hades Club is now open."
Nico raised an eyebrow. "That sounds terrible." "Because it is," Percy grinned.
And for the first time in a long while, Nico didn't mind sharing the
cold.
Mikaela sank back against the mattress, letting out a long sigh of
relief.
His muscles finally stopped bracing for a fight.
With his stomach full of blue cookies and the warmth of nectar mending his body, his eyelids grew heavy as lead.
Sleep finally claimed him.
Meanwhile, Percy looked down at Nico's messy hair-still using his lap like it was the most normal seat in the world-and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Well, well, Mr. 'Son of Death and Sage of the Underworld'..." Percy teased, tapping his back lightly. "Since when did you get so mature and philosophical?"
Nico raised an eyebrow. Percy's grin widened.
"Because if I recall, yesterday you were yelling at Hazel because you were convinced someone ate your last slice of chocolate cake." He paused dramatically. "And then we found out you ate it yourself at midnight."
Nico froze, puffing up like an offended cat.
He lifted his head off Percy's shoulder, face bright red.
"That was a misunderstanding, Jackson!" he protested, trying to push himself up, but his shaky legs wobbled, causing him to slump right back onto Percy's lap. "The Mist could have altered my memories! And besides, that cake had my name on it!"
Hazel, finishing up with the medicine jars, burst out laughing.
"Don't blame the Mist, Nico," she giggled, shaking her head. "You ate the cake and tried to blame the shadows."
"Traitor!" Nico grumbled.
Finding no better escape, he buried his face back into Percy's neck as laughter filled the sickbay.
Even Annabeth let out a quiet smile. Yuu watched the scene in silence.
He looked at Nico-the same boy who minutes ago had summoned a shadow storm that nearly wrecked the ship-now tucked comfortably on Percy's lap.
He looked at Percy holding him without a second thought, then at Hazel and Piper laughing easily together.
Finally, he looked back at Mikaela, who was fast asleep. A faint smile touched Yuu's lips.
It was weird.
Chaotic.
Probably dangerous.
But there was one thing he couldn't deny: these people were complete lunatics, but they protected their own.
"Get some sleep, Mika," Yuu whispered, gently adjusting the blanket over his good shoulder.
He glanced back at the playful arguing across the room.
"Looks like we won't be short on food here..." A faint smirk appeared. "...or drama."
Mikaela let out a soft, sleepy chuckle and closed his eyes.
For the first time in years, he allowed himself to sleep without expecting to wake up in a cell, a lab, or a battle.
And in the sickbay of the Argo II, family bickering carried on like any other normal day.
Perhaps, for them, it was.