Becoming Pluto's Ambassador: Nico Di Angelo

1

"Soooooooooooo, dad why have you asked to meet with me today?" I asked Hades my father.

He had summoned me to his favourite room in the palace today. It only had a low slung obsidian coffee table and black leather armchairs as furniture. The walls were also sparse except for one wall which had a window. My father claimed that this was his favourite view of the underworld. I can understand his view point as he is so bitter the whole time, but personally I preferred not to look across the fields of asphodel all day. They are so endless and lonely. No one there knows who they are, all of their lives forgotten. This is where people who were neither good nor bad go in the after life. And there have been many people like this over time and so there are billions of people wondering around nameless and memory-less. The only ones who can remember anything are those like me: children of Hades.

"Well Nico, there was something we need to discuss....." Hades replied snapping me from my thoughts.

I looked at him anxiously while waiting for him to reply. He didn't really seem to want to answer so I prompted him.

"And that would be....?"

"Oh ..... erm ..... well ..... I'm not really allowed to talk about it, you see." Hades swallowed.

This got me nervous and angry. Hades was not afraid of very much at all, so for him to be like this was setting my nerves on edge, but still, my idiot father felt the need to summon me here to talk about something he can't even talk about! I was exasperated.

"So you want to tell me something that you can't alk about?" I snapped at my father. "Why do I even bother to come to these meeting?"

"You come because they are not optional Nico!" My father retorted "I only have one living child and it may not seem like I care, but for now I wish you to remain that way!"

The dead in the room started to look uneasy, shaking involuntarily at my father's rage. This was not a good sign.

"Ok, okay jeez," I back peddled quickly. It was a bad idea to make the god of the dead angry, especially when he was in his own home. He was at his most powerful here. Admittedly, so was I, being his child and all, but I am no match for my father. Although I'll never admit that to his face. "So back to this ..... thing ..... you wish to discuss"

"Yes ..... well ..... about that," he seemed more relaxed now, well as relaxed as he ever really was, which wasn't ever really very much. Although he was still on edge about this topic. I wondered what it was making him so nervous. "as I said, I can't really say too much about it so I was thinking we play that game, ..... what's it called?"

I stared blankly at my father. Did he just suggest we play a game together? Jeez this "thing" must really be getting to him.

"Ahhh! That's it! Twenty Questions!" Exclaimed my father.

I continued to stare blankly at my father still in shock that he wished to play a game with me. More in shock that he knew of this game.

"You do know how to play, Nico?" Hades asked. "You ask 20 questions and I have to answer yes or no."

I nodded, still unable to use my mouth after that great shock.

"Well I was thinking," My father continued, "That we scrap the limit of 20 questions, and we go until you get the answer or I loose the will to go on....."

"This won't take long then" I grumbled

".....and we also scrap the yes or no answers, I'll answer in a way I deem ..... appropriate. So you understand, Nico? My father asked.

I thought for a moment, "So this is really just Questions because there's no limit and no set answers?"

"Yes that is absolutely correct," Hades commented, "Now do you have any final questions before we begin the game?"

I took another moment to think, making sure I had asked everything I wanted to know before we started because my father hates it when I contradict my self later, because he claims it makes me look unorganised and childish and that I need people to start taking me seriously.

I realised that I did actually have a question that had never been addressed "Why can't you just say what you want to talk about?"

"Oh that," Hades said nonchalantly "Well you see, my dear brother Zeus and the rest of his stupid council made all the gods swear on the river Styx never to tell anyone about what I wish to tell you."

Once again I was shocked. Does my father realise that if you break an oath on the Styx that you will pay for it in the most hurtful way possible, whether that be physically or emotionally, or a combination of both. Even a god is not immune to the Styx's wrath if they break an oath. That's why Zeus loves to make oaths on it so much.

I guess Hades saw the shock on my face because he then went on to say, "Oh don't worry Nico, all the gods know how much I hate to make oaths, so when they finally got this oath out of me, they were so happy with themselves that they didn't think much about the wording. Let's just say I left myself quite a lot of room to talk about it but not say what it is directly."

"Oh ok, I suppose that makes sense" I knew my father was a sneak, and I shouldn't be shocked by this but I still was.

"Any last question before the game?" My father asked one more time.

"Oh yeah," I replied, this one just popped into my head "Why didn't you try to tell anyone until now?"

"Well as much as I hate to agree with the other gods, this oath was actually beneficial to me as well, and it has been until this very moment. The whole future of this world could depend on you getting this information at the right moment, and I have decided that, that moment is now."

"....." I was once again dumbfounded.

"So," my father said in a chipper tone much unlike the serious one he had a second before. "Shall we begin with the game?"

×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+×+

A/N
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of some quality Nico and Hades time. (Also sorry about the cliff hanger)

~Sheeps