There comes a time in your life where you have to grow up.
   It's not a good experience and in the mortal world you would usually go through high school, being bullied, being harassed, probably having troubles both in the family and with friends.
   Family troubles are a known factor, your parents always seem to be disappointed, they always seem to rally you up against your own siblings. But you fight on because you want them to be proud of you, you want them to be happy because you can make a difference too.
   The friend trouble is something else. You either fall out of or fall into a friendship. You say hello and greet the weirdness in people that you see in yourself. The friends are there to send comfort and safety but it doesn't always end in that.
   Somewhere down the line it's bound to happen. You will be broken and lonely and the one you called a friend won't help you. Not because they don't know how but because they don't really care anymore. If you are a true friend then you sit with your best friend, through better and worse. You lend a shoulder and an ear as often as possible because you want them to be happy. But when it has gone three weeks and they still don't care about your boy-problems or that your mom is a little crazy, or even that you are sick, may it be a fever or depression. When it has gone so long than it's better to cut them of and find new friends. It won't be easy but it's a part of growing up... for mortals that is.
For demigods it's kind of the same just amplify it by a thousand. Because were school and homework would exhaust mortal bonds, now it is quests and monsters. Where a mother of father would yell loudly about you getting a D on a test, it is now gods and the end of the world.
   Friendship is the same in both worlds but one thing that you learn, that also applies to both worlds is that, in the end, doing your best is enough. You are an amazing person and if it's succeeding in school, acing a test, beating your depression or another sickness, than aren't you too a hero?
   A few of those things did Leo learned as the years flew by in camp without Nico.
   He wanted so to give up on Nico, he knew it wasn't fair because Nico couldn't choose to be stuck with the gods but at the same time he didn't try to escape anymore. Nico was simply stuck and he didn't bother trying to get unstuck. It had changed for good just after six months. Leo got to know what happened all he knew was that his love was different, different for good this time.
   He wanted to give up on Nico because he only got to see him once a year. It wasn't enough. Leo's heart burst, his heart shattered, his heart got sent into shards that no one could glue together again, this happened every time he saw Nico. He loved him so much and wanted to say it to him, this time for real, not when some goddess was between them, he wanted to have Nico by his side but he couldn't and that destroyed him.
   After two years Leo got up to the big House, by now many demigods had come and gone and some of the his siblings and friends where gone for good, just like Nyssa. So Leo had had enough, just like his quest to find Calypso he was now dead set on finding Nico. No more, waiting for the oracle or for the approval from Chiron. Leo took matters into his own two hands and he would rather die than live without Nico a single day more.
   So on the two years anniversary Leo set of. All alone, well he had Festus with him.
   The unstoppable team first went to find the hunters of Artemis, he was sure that they would be able to track the son of Hades.
   When he finally found them they were being attacked by a pack of centaurs. The centaurs weren't like the party ponies, these were ruthless and had a taste for blood. Festus got a couple of them and Leo helped out as best he could, one time he even saved one of the smaller hunters. As a reward he got a wish.
   You guess it, he wished that Artemis would track Nico, Nico di Angelo. Leo had said it with such sadness and despair that the goddess allowed it.
   "I am sorry young demigod I can not help you. Your friend is not on this earth and not on mount Olympus. I shall continue the search and notify you when I have found him, I can not do anything more. Thank you for saving Cleo."
   After those words Leo had cried for hours, just sitting there in the field full of monster dust and green grass. Festus had laid himself protectively around Leo, with a wing over his head so that no one could see them. Leo got to grieve on his own.
   Then they continued traveling.
   Leo searched the earth, killing monsters, calling favors, getting wishes. He even got to go down into Hades realm at one point.
   Hades hadn't realized what happened to his only son, when he got the news he sent out the Furies to get his son back. Together Hades and Leo searched the underworld but came out empty handed.
   "Do you want to stay?" Hades had asked after a few days.
   "No, if Nico comes back he wouldn't come here." Leo's voice was raspy, hoarse, he didn't speak so much anymore and when he did he would either scream or cry.
   "My son..." Hades cleared his throat. "Have you-"
   "I have talked to him and he is alive. I don't know what they are doing to him but he has changed. My lord, he... he spoke very little of you but I always knew that he loathed you and adored you. You are the last god I got in touch with because I knew that Nico wouldn't have liked it. You deserve to know what happened though and it's not because of kindness that I sought out your help, I just want to find your son."
   "Do you love him?"
   "More than my machines, and sometimes even more than myself but it's not good. He will probably never come home again and even if he did what says that the two of us will be together?"
   "I wanted his sister to be alive." Hades stood by his throne, he was after all the king of the underworld. "I never understood my son or his motives, he was the soft one, the ruined one. Every parent loves their children and I did love him but not in the way he wanted. I could never love him like his mother did, I am a God."
   "Sir-"
   "No. You are in my realm and you will hear these words." Hades eyes were black madness. "I may have wanted his sister to survive more than him but now I deeply wish to see him again. Bring back my son and I promise that if the two of you get together, then you have my blessing and my support. No matter what."
   "Thank you my lord."
   "I shall send you back to earth. Many moons have come and gone and if you want to find him, I suggest you find Cupid."
   "I tried, he wouldn't talk."
   "Then go through his mother."
   When Leo was once again on the surface he finally had a purpose again.

ΨΨΨΨ

It had been six years for Nico when he finally got to step back on earth.
   He didn't know where he was or if They would be at camp when he came back. He couldn't do magic and even if he did he had to much to loose, he couldn't hold his thumbs and hope for the best. If he took himself out there would be no one there to take care of his heart.
   What Nico didn't know was that Leo was on his way.
   "Can you stand?" Nico asked.
   "For a while." the girl in his arms answered.
   Getting away from the mansion had sent them on a walk that lasted miles, it took them one month to walk from the mansion and out into the real world. Now they were tired, thirsty and hungry. Nico's clothes were in tatters while the little girl had on a big jacket against the cold and a nice pair of boots that warmed her little feet. The only thing that looked whole, aside from the girl, was the backpack that Nico still carried.

   "Are you warm enough?" he asked still holding her hand.
   "Can I explore?" she asked instead, ignoring him.

   He nodded and sent her towards the forest.

   He looked around for the first time since they stopped. They were on a big field, which probably would have been full of flowers and tall grass if it wasn't for the snow.

   The little girl ran towards the forest that was all around them.

   Then there was a loud thump and Nico whirled around.
   The first thing Leo and Nico said when they saw each other wasn't 'hi', it wasn't 'how are you'. It was a sigh of relief and a tight hug, it was a silent I've missed you and a loud scream that said where have you been?

   Nobody saw the two demigods that had been reunited, and that was because of two reason. (1) even though both Nico and Leo were two of the most famous demigods no one really cared about them except their friends, (2) their friends wasn't there.

   No, when Leo and Nico was reunited they were utterly alone.
   Almost.
   By now the little girl ran back, her dark eyes were on the big dragon that silently stood beside and let his masters say hello to the very boy that they had searched a year for.

   She giggled and shrieked when the dragon gently nudged her away with his front paw. She tried again and again to inch closer to this creature, she was curious, she had in fact never seen a metallic dragon before, let alone a dragon.

   When Leo let go of Nico he saw the little girl.

   "Who is she?"

   Nico didn't know what to answer. It had been so long, he had lost contact with everyone on earth if you didn't count his talks with Leo. He wasn't used to talk to others about his past, present or future. He was fine with being alone and reading out loud for the little girl.

   Leo had seen a change in him and if he had studied Nico further he would have found out. For Nico could never lie to Leo. But now, five years later since the lie came alive...

   "She is my daughter." he said then.

   Both their voices were darker, puberty had hit both of them giving them darker voices, stretching them out a few inches and granted them stubble on their cheeks.

   They had grown up, both of them in a different way and now when they saw each other something fell apart.
   A year ago they would have said I love you, now they didn't say anything.

ΨΨΨΨ

"I'm not sitting on that." Nico huffed out when it got clear how they would go back to camp. "I refuse."
   "You know every button, every part of this dragon. If you truly listened to me in our dreams than you would know how to disable a mighty dragon that would never even think about harming you or your daughter."
   Nico stared at Festus with death on his mind. Then he nodded, Leo climbed up first, helping Mina up behind him. Nico climbed up and took a tight grip on the metallic under him. He tried breathing normally just thinking that his daughter was safe between him and Leo.
   "It will take two hours." Leo screamed to be heard over the wind. "But we have to make a small stop so I can talk to my allies."

   "Allies?"

   "I have looked for you for a year, during that time I talked to a lot of gods, goddesses, monsters and spirits."

   "I am sorry."
   "Don't be." Leo whispered, he looked straight ahead not daring to shoot a glance at the beautiful son of Hades, but even when he could hide his voice he never could hide the tears that soon fell down his cheeks.
   It took them an hour before they found a place where Leo could contact his allies, also known as the gods and spirits that had guided him.
   Leo first called up Artemis and thanked her for her service, Artemis looked grateful that Leo contacted her again and said that if there ever were anything she could do then Leo just had to call. Leo thanked her once more before she disappeared to go back to her hunters.
   Second came Aphrodite, Leo didn't want to thank her since she hadn't really done anything except send him on a wild goose chase after her son Eros. What he thank her for was her understanding and love advice. The goddess nodded gravely and then sent him a wink before leaving the group alone on the big field.
   Third, Leo contacted Hades. Hades that came up reluctantly and swore that it was very hard to just 'pop up' in a field, not enough death. When he finally showed up he cast a grim look on his son. Leo had thought that the old God would hug his son, thank Leo, throw a crazy underworld party. What he got was Hades laying a cold and heavy hand on Leo's shoulder. A whisper that said thank you, a feeling of relief and then Hades was gone. Leaving the grass dead around their feet. Nico didn't seem to bother with feeling sad and left out of his father unkindness.

   The fourth to be summoned was a lovely wind spirit called Levja. She had brought good winds on Leo's adventure and he thanked her with a kiss on each cheek. The wind spirit blushed worse than a high school girl when her crush said he liked her back.

   Fifth was a centaur, he wasn't fully grown and it took him some time to come but when he at last stood in front of the demigods he smiled. He bowed his hand then went back to the forest, not a word in the world would have meant a thing to him, but the centaur had seen the black dressed demigod and knew that he had done his service.

   Sixth, Leo hadn't wanted her help to begin with but the monster wouldn't have it another way. Before them stood now a proud woman, her chest bare and her snake skin skirt was covering her legs. She smiled wickedly and huffed something about France. She then did a sign with her hand, bowed her hand and sank down into the earth. Becoming golden dust.
   The seventh and last of Leo's allies was a man. His hair stood up with the help of glitter and hairspray. His golden eyes shifted from normal human eyes to greenish cat eyes. The clothes he wore were screaming in color and he had a bit of an odd style. When he shook Leo's hand blue sparkles trailed from his fingertips. Then he stepped through blue light and the only thing that hinted that the odd man had been there was the smell of New York. That and the glitter on Leo's hand.
   "That's it, now let's go home." Leo whispered, he sniveled and sat back up on Festus. This time Nico's daughter was in the front.

   She hadn't want to come and say thank you to the weird people and therefore stuck by Festus.

   "Come on now little lady, the front seat is mine." Leo said gently touching her shoulder.

   "He says that I can stay in the front, he knows the way from here." she shrugged of Leo's hand and sat stubbornly on her front seat.

   Festus creaked and clicked.

   "Fine." Leo threw up his hands. "Come on now grumpy pants, mount the dragon."
   Nico muttered something (Nico actually muttered 'I can mount your dragon' in Italian) and then sat up behind Leo. Hesitant Nico laid his arms around Leo's hips. He breathed out hard, which was a good thing, he only reacted to the pleasant warmth that Leo had, but Leo thought it was a breath of disgust. He knew that he was nothing like the gods that Nico had lived with but he yearned to be touched by Nico and because of that he didn't say anything.

   Riding this near to each other sent sparks up their arms and gave them warmth. They fed of each others warmth and strength. At one point Nico moved his arms, they had gone numb from holding on to Leo so tightly, which meant that Nico accidentally touch Leo in a very inappropriate place. Nico blushed fiercely and muttered sorry in both English and Italian. Leo only chuckled and said that it didn't matter, in both Spanish and English because he too was very flustered.

   The only one on the trip who seemed to have fun was Nico's daughter. Her name was Mina, and she spoke to Festus with little taps on his shoulder blade. She laughed and talked about the clouds with the dragon.

ΨΨΨΨ

If their friends had cried when Leo came back from Calypso's island then they cried, screamed, hugged, bawled, grabbed and pulled on the poor Nico di Angelo. They talked about that he had grown a couple of inches, that he had more muscle but that he was still scrawny. They laughed at his stubble, and that he still could fight as good as he could when he was younger.
Everybody had grown up. It had been three years for them after all.
Piper with her uneven brown hair was now eighteen, her eyes shined and her smile was bigger now that the last friend was finally home and safe.

   Jason at nineteen laughed and tickled Nico just like he had before. He ruffled Nico's black hair and teased him that he had grown. All the time with tears streaming down his face.

   Percy, good old loving Percy, was sobbing, hugging and grabbing Nico. He pulled on Nico's ruined black shirt and at the holes in Nico's black jeans. At nineteen he was still handsome and those sea green eyes still looked like hidden gemstones in the sea.

   Then there were no one more. Nico's sister, and Frank were at Camp Jupiter, Annabeth too. He got to hear first hand from Percy that she had left from university while the rest of them continued to search for Nico.

   The exchanged stories and jokes and then they saw her.
   Mina stood by the door still, her head bowed, which made her coal black hair flow down hiding her face. She looked up at her father when the silence came, her dark eyes, a mirror of Nico's own was seen.

   They learned her name, Mina (pronounced MEE-nah) Bianca Maria di Angelo, they complimented her and talked to her like she had been one of them all along.
   Nico relaxed and sat down on a chair, the air had gone out of him and he was so terribly sleepy. Instead of sleep he felt a hand on his shoulder, for a moment he hoped that he would see his father with a proud face, instead he saw Leo.
   "I'm sorry." The demigods said it the same time.
   Then they laughed.