By Amanda Pizzolatto (alias Aurora Mandeville)

Word Count: 31845

Rating: PG for scary situations

Summary: Nico Di Angelo, son of Hades, is used to being alone, until one day a girl with auburn hair waltzes into his life…

Something soft brushed Nico cheek, pulling him out of one of the most comfortable and, later he realized, the safest sleep he’d had in the longest time. His eyes slowly peeled open and glanced up. A pair of grey eyes was watching him.

“What? Did you find a wardrobe to get here?” he groaned.

Lucy raised her eyebrow. “Well, I guess the TARDIS over there counts, doesn’t it?”

He quickly sat up. “What? When did you get here?”

“Um, just a few minutes ago. Are you alright? You were . . . glowing before you woke up.”

“What? I was glowing?” He peered at his hands, but they looked like they always had. When he glanced back up, his mouth dropped open. He was no longer on the island; he was back in the forest outside of Molching. “What . . . how?”

Lucy glanced around. “What? Didn’t you come out here to sleep?”

Nico looked around before glancing back at her. “I-I did, but . . . I . . . traveled to another world, an island. Aslan was there.”

Lucy gasped. “You-you went to another island? That explains everything! You were near Aslan, that’s why you were glowing!”

“Yeah, um . . .”

“Isn’t he just wonderful? What island did you go to?” asked Lucy excitedly.

“Uh, he said it was called Antillia and that . . . that I had a connection to it,” muttered Nico.

“Oh? What kind of connection?”

“He, uh, he said I’d find out later when they arrived,” replied Nico, pausing to wonder who exactly “they” were.

“What?” asked Lucy. He glanced at her but didn’t get to reply.

“Nico! Nico di Angelo!” shouted a familiar voice. “What were you thinking, taking off into the middle of the night? You’re lucky Lucy found you first, because I would have given you what for,” stated Reyna as she loomed over them, her hands on her hips, glaring down at the little pow-wow. Hazel zoomed past her and wrapped Nico into yet another tight squeeze.

“Hazel, you’re doing it again,” Nico wheezed.

Hazel sniffed as she took a step back. “Sorry, it’s just, I don’t want to lose you.”

Nico sighed before pulling her into another hug. “I’m sorry, really, I am; I just couldn’t sleep too well in the Tardis and, well, I ended up going to an island. Aslan was there.”

Hazel and Reyna glanced at him in surprise while Lucy’s face was lit up.

“Tell us all about it!” pleaded Lucy.

“Let’s head back to the Tardis, and I’ll tell everybody. I think it’s important that everybody knows what’s going to happen.”

———-

No one knew what to say for a while after Nico’s account, until Peter broke the silence. “So there’s more danger to face in the future, and it’s aiming for Nico.”

“We’re going to have to stick together and keep an extra close eye on him,” Edmund said.

Leo shot Edmund a glare. “Who said you’re going to help? You’re barely capable of protecting yourselves!”   

“But Aslan was the one who warned Nico, so we should help,” Lucy insisted. “If Antillia doesn’t answer to any of your parents, just Aslan, then you do need us. We know Aslan and he knows us; he could have told the Antillians to be on the look-out for us, as well.”

Edmund agreed. “Right, Lu. They could pass you guys right up if we’re not working together.”

“It would be nice to be somewhere that has some similarities to Narnia, even if it’s just on Earth,” remarked Susan.

“Besides, there’s a lot we do know and that we are capable of doing . . .” began Edmund.

“But you’re mortals!” Nico exclaimed.

Edmund grinned. “Exactly; we can go where you can’t.”

Jason nodded. “You’re right about that; the monsters will leave you alone because you aren’t demigods. For the most part, anyway, but you look like you’re pretty good with weapons and tactics.”

“Yeah, well, thanks to the Doc, we didn’t get to show you how good,” remarked Edmund.

“You can do that when you get back to your camp. In the meantime, shall we let your new friends know everything is alright, though they could be considered old now that you’ve met new ones?” the Doctor asked, turning to Nico and Lucy.

They nodded, Lucy eager to see the look on Bo and Hornet’s faces when they met the rest of her family, Nico wanting to make sure that Prop and Bo stayed together. After dropping the Steiners and the Hubermanns back home, the TARDIS was on its way to the twenty-first century.

A few minutes later, Nico and Lucy had changed into modern clothes and were leading Lucy’s family, Reyna, Jason, Piper, and Hazel to Ida Spavento’s house. They had just gotten to Ida’s gate when a noise made their hearts stop. Nico and Lucy took a quick glance at each other before dashing through the gate and opening the front door to a strange scene. Two adults were standing against the left wall. The man held a gun, little wisps of smoke circling around the barrel. In the wall across from them was the hole from the blast, and some of the blast had caught Prop’s sleeve.  

“Prop!” cried Lucy.

The man swung the gun at her.

“I suggest you put that gun away,” said Scipio.

The man swung the gun back around, aiming it at him. Scipio grabbed it and yanked it away.

“Leave,” Scipio demanded, “leave here, leave Venice, leave these boys alone! You aren’t fit to look after a tortoise, never mind a child. Now get out or I’ll call the police.”

Walking over to the adults, he handed the woman her purse. The two slunk out the door, past Nico and his group, and Lucy rushed forward to check on Prop.

“Well, you certainly told them, and it looks like the Valiant Queen and the Ghost King got back in time for all the action,” said Riccio, grinning from ear to ear. He paused when he noticed the others. “And who are these guys?”

“I know, some of them are Lucy’s family!” blurted Bo, the worry disappearing from his face.

Peter smiled. “You’re right. I’m Peter the Magnificent, this is Edmund the Just, Susan the Gentle . . .”

Edmund interrupted. “And Eustace the Useless, and Jill the Killed.”

“Edmund!” Eustace whacked Edmund’s arm to everyone’s amusement, relieving the tension in the room.

“Who are the others? Friends of yours, Nico?” asked Riccio.

“Sorta. Hazel is my half-sister, actually.”

“How am I supposed to get some sleep with all this noise? Oh, does anybody have some aspirin?”

Everyone glanced at the little tyke standing in the doorway behind Scipio.

“I don’t know about aspirin, Barbarossa, but I can get these guys out of here and you can get some sleep,” replied Scipio as he escorted the little one back to his bed.

Nico and Lucy watched with surprise and wonder until Scipio came back and indicated the front door. Everyone piled out of the house before Prop explained.

“Barbarossa went back that far?” Nico asked incredulously. Then he glanced at Lucy, and they burst out laughing.

“He certainly deserves it, doesn’t he?’ quipped Riccio between laughs.

“So what happened to you? Where did you go? Lucy’s family didn’t give us much of an explanation,” stated Scip as he glanced at her siblings.

Peter grinned nervously. “Yeah, sorry about that; Doc said we needed to go. He knew where they would be, and that bombs were going to drop on the city they were staying in.” Scipio’s gang glanced at them with wide eyes.

“How horrible!” gasped Hornet.

“But where were you?” Scip asked.

“Molching, Germany, autumn of 1943. We were able to save two families from the bombing,” replied Lucy.

“The Doctor dropped them off at their home before we came back here,” stated Edmund.

“Wait, what? First we meet a kid who can travel through shadows, and now there’s a doctor who can travel through time? What’s going on?” asked Riccio.

“It’s hard to explain . . .” began Peter.

“We’re not stupid,” stated Hornet.

“Well, neither are we, and we’re still having a hard time understanding it,” replied Eustace with a sheepish grin.

“And it will take a long time to explain, anyway,” stated Jill.

Scipio shrugged. “That’s alright. We have some time; I have an idea on how to take care of two problems, but I need Victor and Ida to do it. So I suggest we have a day in the city and we’ll discuss the particulars of time-traveling aliens and shadow-traveling demigods.”

“Aliens, too? Just what did we get ourselves into?” asked Riccio incredulously.

“You’ll find out soon, just know for now that you’re safely out of it,” replied Nico.

Riccio sighed. “Well, that’s good to know. Oh, Nico, Mosca and I need you for a job tonight.”

“What?”

“Meet them at the Stellar at eleven, they can explain then,” replied Scipio, eying the newcomers.

Riccio’s eyes followed Scipio’s and caught the hint. “Oh, right, but I can tell you this, it’s going to be fun,” Riccio grinned.

“Oh my goodness, what happened? Is everyone alright?” came Ida’s voice before she and Victor burst through the front door, looking over everyone.

Explanations and introductions were soon underway, followed by Scipio pulling the adults away to talk to them about his idea. They were apparently perfectly fine with the idea and willing to do what he asked. Scipio then took everyone out into the city, leaving Victor, Ida, and little Barbarossa at the house.

Soon they were at the TARDIS, introducing everybody, and trying their best to explain time-travel and everything that had happened in the past few days in Venice, months for Nico and Lucy. After a few attempts, Scipio’s gang thought they had an inkling of what time-travel was and how it worked, along with everything that had happened.

“Nic, can I speak to you, privately?”

“Um, sure, Scip, bit, uh, what’s with the nickname?” Nico wondered as he followed Scip to a distant corner.

Scipio grinned. “Can’t you tell? You’re one of us now.”

Nico’s face felt hot. “Oh, um thanks. What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I have a favor to ask of you. I was thinking earlier that I would have to change my surname so my dad doesn’t find me, and there aren’t too many questions.”

“That’s true. Have you thought of a few?” asked Nico.

“Yeah, I’ve narrowed it down, and this is actually the favor I wanted to ask of you.” He paused and took a deep breath. “May I be a di Angelo?”

Nico looked at him in shock; of everything Scipio might ask of him, this wasn’t on the list of things Nico would have thought of; in fact, it was nowhere near it.

“Well, may I?” Scipio asked after a long moment of Nico’s surprised silence.

“Um, I-I don’t know . . .”

“You’re the last one of your family, you’re the only one who can know,” retorted Scipio.

“I’m not the last di Angelo,” remarked Nico.

“I don’t know any other di Angelos; besides, I don’t want to be a member of their families, I want to be a member of yours,” replied Scipio.

Nico opened and closed his mouth, the words refusing to come out yet again.

Scipio began to chuckle. “Are you going to answer me, or are you going to just stand there, opening and closing your mouth like a codfish?”

“Y-yes, I-I w-would be honored t-to h-have y-you as a b-brother…” Nico finally stuttered.

“Great, finally!” Scipio pulled him into a big hug. “And now that I’m your big brother…”

“You are so not my big brother, we’re practically the same age!” blurted Nico.

“You and I would be the only ones who know that.”

“But, but . . .” began Nico before his thoughts turned to his older sister. He glanced down, afraid of losing Scipio like he had lost Bianca.

“Nico?”

“I-I had a sister, Bianca. She died trying to protect Percy.”

“Oh,” was all Scipio said.

Nico glanced at him. He could tell that his now older brother was piecing everything together. He was definitely detective material, and Nico could almost see himself as the sidekick. “You’re thinking of me as a brother already, aren’t you? You don’t want to lose me like you lost your sister,” Scipio stated.

“Okay, that was kinda creepy.”

“Creepy enough to be a di Angelo?” snickered Scipio.

“Hey!” Nico swatted at him, only for Scipio to catch his arm and pull him into another hug.

“You should stop worrying about it, or have you forgotten? I’m the Thief Lord, I can hide in the shadows better than you can.”

Nico sniffed. “What? No you can’t. I shadow-travel, remember?”

“That’s not the same as hiding in the shadows.”

“I can hide in the shadows, too, you wanna see?”

“Aw, now that Nicky has an older sibling, he reverts to younger kid mode,” quipped Scipio with a chuckle.

“No, that’s not…” Nico paused. Fighting it would be useless. Scipio was right, about everything; he didn’t want to lose his new brother, and he did miss having an older sibling. He sighed. “Fine, if you’re going to be a di Angelo, there’s going to be some rules. First of all, you can call me Nic, but not Nicky, never again.”

Scipio laughed. “Oh, I see, but aren’t I the older sibling now? Shouldn’t I be making the rules?”

“Nope, I’m the last di Angelo, I make the rules.”

“Uh-huh, we’ll see about that.” Scipio winked and walked away. “Well, aren’t we going to spread the good news?”

Nico rolled his eyes and sighed as he followed; di Angelo rules were going to have to wait then.

The next day, the Americans were saying goodbye to their Venetian friends and family.

“You guys need to come back soon!” exclaimed Ida.

“But not too soon. Riccio and I are going to look for my dad,” grinned Mosca. He had already told about the little boat Scipio had gotten for him and Riccio.

Lucy smiled as she gave him a hug. “Good, then you’d better have found him the next time we come!”

“Hey, maybe I’ll let you know when I’ve found my dad, and we’ll go to visit you in America to celebrate! You’re in New York, right?” asked Mosca.

“Right!” blurted Leo.

“Goodbye Prop, Bo, I’m so happy that you’re staying with Ida now!” exclaimed Lucy as she hugged them.

“Us too! Ida’s much nicer than Aunt Esther, and Victor’s much nicer than Uncle Max,” quipped Bo.

Victor scoffed at the praise.

Ida chuckled. “That may be so, but it wouldn’t have been the same without them, so I had no choice in the matter, really.”

“She’s taking me in, too,” reported Hornet as she hugged Lucy.

“That’s so wonderful! It’ll be easy to find you when we come back, then.”

“Oh, quite; you’ll have to let us know in advance that you’re coming. Come on, guys, they need to go.” Ida ushered them onward, but Bo broke from the group and homed in on Nico, hugging him tight.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nico noted a look of surprise and remembrance pass over Percy’s face. He was probably thinking along the same lines, that Bo wasn’t much different from Nico when he was that age. Nico gulped when another thought passed through his brain; he had kept his unspoken promise to Bo—Prop was still alive.

“Thanks for keeping an eye on Prop at Isola Segreta, and promising to shadow us away if we needed to,” stated Bo.

“Actually, that was more Scipio’s doing, and . . . well, no problem.” Nico smiled as he returned the hug and ruffled the blond’s hair.

“You’ll be back, right?” asked Bo.

Scipio laughed. “He’d better, now that he has an older brother who’s supposed to keep an eye on him.”

“Well, why don’t you?” Bo asked Scipio.

“I think Nic has to get used to the idea,” replied Scip with a grin and a wink. Nico merely rolled his eyes.

Hazel laughed. “More like enjoying the last few days he has to himself.”

Everyone laughed.

Scipio moved forward to unhook Bo from Nico before enveloping his now younger brother in a hug. “I’ll go easy on you since this is new for both of us. But you be careful, alright?” He glanced worriedly into Nico’s face. Nico had told him about Aslan’s warning and the Pevensie’s proposition.

But Nico smiled and said, “I will, I’ve got friends watching my back.”

Scipio smiled back, and the two groups finally went their separate ways.

As the Doctor landed the TARDIS in New York City, Nico rubbed a wad of money in his pocket, smiling; he would definitely be going back to Venice one day. He followed the others out of the TARDIS. Sure, there would be hard times ahead, but with Aslan’s warning had come hope, as well. They would be getting help to vanquish this next enemy, and Nico had finally come to realize that he was a person that people did like to hang out with. At least some people, but that was all he needed, just enough to know he was loved.

The End… For Now!

(These are the characters of  books, movies, and TV shows that starred, or at least took part/were mentioned in this story.)

Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

Nico di Angelo

Percy Jackson

Frank Zhang

Jason Grace

Annabeth Grace

Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano

Hazel Levesque

Leo Valdez

Piper McLean

Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

Lucy Pevensie

Peter Pevensie

Edmund Pevensie

Susan Pevensie

Eustace Scrubb

Jill Pole

Digory Kirke

Polly Plummer

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Scipio Massimo

Prosper (Prop)

Boniface (Bo)

Riccio

Mosca

Katarina (Hornet)

Ida Spavento

Victor Getz

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Jesse Aarons

Leslie Burke

The Cooper Kids by Frank E. Peretti

Jay Cooper

Lila Cooper

Jacob Cooper

Meaghan Cooper (nee Flaherty)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Liesel Meminger

Hans Hubermann

Rosa Hubermann

Rudy Steiner

The Steiner family

Death

&

Doctor Who from BBC

Doctor Who

River Song

The Weeping Angels

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