About a week after the war, Nico was able to almost fully function again, and the seven demigods except for Leo(though something about Leo's death bothered Nico), plus himself and Reyna, were called to Olympus to receive their "rewards". Things went as expected, Percy turned down immortality and godhood a second time while arguing for a better life for demigods on the world below, and spots on the Olympian council for Hestia and, to Nico's surprise, Hades. However, it wasn't as surprising to Nico when both gods declined Percy's offer. In the end, nothing was really accomplished but Percy having the Gods make more promises to help demigods lead a better life, something Nico was skeptical about.

The "rewards" however, at least for Nico in particular, was quick healing done by Apollo himself, and Zeus's word to not smite the demigod out of existence if he were to become airborne, and Posiden also agreed to allow Nico into his domain, albeit less dramatic over the whole ordeal, saying something along the lines of, "this kid's alright, I'll make an exception". No one really "got" anything, except for Annabeth who got a new laptop and the right to rebuild Olympus.

Something Nico was not expecting, was a summons from his father. After sneaking away from Wil to go do some "underworldy-magic" Nico appeared in Hades's throne room and knelt in a formal greeting.

"At this point, you have well earned the right to stand tall before me, or any other god for the matter, my son." Hades praised, and almost hesitantly, Nico straightened himself up and gazed upon his father.

The god sat upon his throne in the same way, manner, and dress that Nico saw every time he was summoned to the Underworld, but this time, his eyes shone with pride. Something within Nico moved, and warmth spread throughout his body. His father was proud of him. Thanatos stood by his side as well, a small some upon his face, while the throne next to Hades remained empty, meaning Persephone was absent.

"Now, I hardly call what Zeus offered you a proper reward for what you have done and accomplished throughout the past few months. You were the first contact between the Greek and Roman demigods in 60 years and was able to hide among them without raising a question. You discovered the location of the Doors of Death unaided, and ventured through Tartarus alone, and can out intact. You transported the Athena Parthenos from Rome to New York, encountering trouble and persevering along the way. Finally, you were instrumental in the final battle against Gaea. My son, I am proud of all of your accomplishments.

"However, praise is not all you deserve, but a physical reward for your triumph," At this point in his speech, Nico didn't know where it was going. Hades stepped off of his throne, and approached Nico, scaling down to human height, laying a hand upon Nico's shoulder. Nico tensed but quickly relaxed, despite the unexpected contact.

"The first thing I give you is an enhancement of the abilities you already possess, you should no longer tire out as quickly while using your powers and find you can use them more freely than before."

From the point of his father's touch, Nico felt a cold sensation wash over him, almost violently, as if ice water had been poured over his head, he stiffened and gasped at the sudden adrenaline spike, but did his best not to be too noticeable. Hades smiled as warmly as the Lord of the Underworld could.

"The second is up to you to accept," Hades began and Nico gave him a confused look, "I will not force this upon you, but when you are done living your mortal life, either by the time of your demise or when you choose, there is a place by my side for you here, to help rule the underworld with me, if that is what you want."

Nico had been offered, not only immortality but to be heir to the underworld itself... he didn't know what to do with himself. Nico didn't know how to respond, didn't know if he could, he was struggling just to wrap his mind around the concept itself. Him, a god, ruling the underworld until the day he ceased to be... but there were somethings in his mortal life he still clings to and wasn't ready to abandon just yet. He... wasn't prepared for something like that anytime soon.

"I..." Nico struggled to articulate his point, unable to find the words he needed to express the exact thoughts in his head.

Hades gave an understanding nod, "I won't pressure you about this, it was merely an offer, and it will remain an open one, you don't have to accept it any time soon, but it will remain there if you want it." Hades gave Nico another pat on his shoulder then turned to Thanatos, giving the other god a nod.

Nico barely noticed as the winged god of death approached him next. To him, Thanatos had always remained a detached, but always present existence, familiar and foreign at the same time, always in the corner of his eyes, but out of sight. That was just the nature of the god of death and death itself.

"I suppose what I'm here to propose is favor with repayment." Thanatos began.

"For what... exactly?" Nico snarly replied, still processing his father's offer.

"I wish to give you my blessing, however, in exchange, I'll need your help with something."

Nico blinked, he wasn't exactly familiar with what Thanatos's blessing meant, but he did want to outright refuse, "what do you need help with?" Nico asked.

Thanatos sighed, black feathers shuffling as he did, "With the doors jammed open for so long, many souls have escaped, fled, or even outright avoid a permanent death," Thanatos explained, "I'd like your help retrieving them since there are so many, and I believe it will eventually line up with your interests as well."

Nico thought for a moment, particularly about those like Hazel and the Roman demigod who had died during the war games. He didn't know if he could handle dragging someone like that back into the underworld, he wouldn't be able to kill Leo if he found him, assuming Leo was even supposed to be dead.

"Don't worry," he chuckled, "most of those who you're thinking about have been "temporary excused" since they weren't at fault, I'm mostly concerned about those who intentionally cheated me, those who belong in the Fields of Punishment, mostly. What do you say, Nico Di Angelo? Shall you help me correct the cycle of life and death?" Thanatos smirked at the end, offering his hand. After a moment Nico grasped Thanatos's forearm with a tight grip, meeting the eyes of Death.

From the point of contact, pain laced through Nico's body, both like and unlike what had happened before. Rather than water, this was electricity, stabbing through his arm viscously like the work of a swift needle, until it reaches his shoulders. Somewhere between his shoulder blades, the pain climaxed, forcing Nico to release his grip and almost double over, fighting to not only stay conscious, but upright. He faintly heard the tearing of fabric and an added weight to his back, like someone had thrown a full backpack onto his shoulders.

During this time, Thanatos had taken a step back and Hades watched the exchange intently. He knew what Thanatos intended, but now it seemed like more of a play than anything else. To Hades, there was no logical reason for this, Death had managed in times of plague and war where massive amounts of souls needed to be collected, but there was no particular need for the help now, particularly from his son.

Thanatos stood back and admired his work. Full, pitch-black wings had torn though the camp shirt Nico had been wearing, similar yet different to the god's own. The plumage almost having a similar effect to Stygian Iron on Nico, absorbing the light around him, tugging on the shadows, and chilling the air around him. Nico stumbles about for a moment, disoriented and unused to the added weight. The wings hung limply from his back, arching down, Nico's mind not yet fully aware of their existence.

After gathering himself a bit more, Nico himself discovered the addition and gave the god of Death and confused glare, to which the god ignored. Nico didn't quite like the new weight, and to find out they were wings, didn't exactly thrill him either, the sensation was... disturbing at the least. They felt numb, like a limb that had fallen asleep, and he could slowly gain new feelings stemming from the points in his shoulders. He awkwardly attempted to stretch them out, if only the test their existence. The wings shakily opened, exposing their wingspan, and also ruining his balance. The reaction caused Nico to stumble, and the wings responded instinctively as well, like using his arms to catch his balance, the wings shifted forward to almost wrap around Nico in the process.

Nico was embarrassed at his display but only found amusement in the eyes of both his father and Thanatos.

"Why...?" was the only phrase that came out of Nico's mouth, a deep blush coving his features as Nico struggled to get used to the feelings in his new appendages.

"It's part of my blessing. I also find the irony amusing." Thanatos admitted, "there are also other abilities involved with my blessing, which I'm sure you will figure out." Thanatos said with a wave of his hand. I left something for you in your cabin as well for when you return, to help you with your new mission. I'm sure you'll know what it's for."

With that, Thanatos returned to his place at his Hades's side and Nico righted himself, getting a feel for his new wings, and he neatly folded them behind his back. Nico wished he'd been given a warning at least, now one of his few remaining shirts were ruined, though this one, admittedly, wasn't his, but Will's.

"Whatever lies ahead of you, my son, I hope you will overcome it, minor and major strife alike." Hades dismissed.

Accepting the farewell, Nico gave a nod to his father, and another sour look to Thanatos, who was on his Ipad. Nico let the shadows corral him, with much more ease than before, and he vanished from the throne room.

After Nico left, Hades gave a look to Thanatos, "Were the wings truly necessary?" Hades asked, almost exasperated.

Thantos looked up with a small smile on his lips, "Of course my lord," then he looked thoughtful for a moment, "but it has been quite a while since I blessed someone."

"I wonder why..."

"Either way, my lord, he's going to have a rough journey ahead of him."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nico reappeared in his cabin, shooting out of the shadows with a bit more force than he was used to. He stumbled a bit again, wing flaring out once more to attempt to help him right himself once more. This, however, knocked over some stuff that was sitting on his nightstand, including a lamp that promptly shattered.

Nico sighed, "Well isn't this going to be fun."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A man stumbled out of the shadows, fearfully looking around him, his heart sputtering as it relearned how to beat again within his chest. He vaguely recognized his surroundings, but still had no idea where he was, alone and unarmed, he wasn't even dressed properly at the moment, just in torn rags and a draping black cloak that managed to obscure his face.

Luckily for him, it was the dead of night, so both people and cars had abandoned the streets this late, even in the city that never sleeps. He looked around, figuring out his precise location, then broke off into a sprint towards the one place he could possibly be safe, navigating corners and sticking to the shadows, avoiding areas he knew would be crawling with unpleasant creatures of the Moon and Night.

He looked upon the old brownstone apartment that he had finally managed to make his way to and walked inside the front door, not surprised by the fact that it was unlocked. He bypassed the destruction of the bottom floor apartment, stepped over the shattered glass from the broken skylight, the fragments slicing into his bare feet. He climbed the stairs and entered an apartment where the door had been removed from the hinges, and the insides emptied of anything of value or personal relics.

When he looked upon this sight, something in him broke free, he was heartbroken and torn, almost tormented by the emptiness of the apartment and his own mind, disorientation and confusion making it almost impossible for him to recall anything with accuracy but the location of a place that was once the home of someone he loved.

He collapsed, the energy seemingly drained from his body as he fell onto his knees, staring toward the white ceiling. His look of horror and distraught slowly morphed into something twisted, his mind slowly repairing the fragmented remains of his mind, struggling to comprehend what he witnessed. A looked of utter conceit and self-satisfaction draped him, showing not only on his face but throughout his whole body.

An angel had smitten him and cast his soul into hell, but now, here he was, living once more. A laugh erupted from him, the once horrifying scene of his death he now saw as yet another window opened for him to leap through.

Vampires, werewolves, fae, and warlocks were all scum of this earth, meant to be eradicated by the Nephilim, but they refused to see it, even the great and powerful angel Raziel had refused him. And for his hubris of summoning an angel for personal gain, he'd been sent to hell, tortured by the demons that resided there, unlike any he'd ever seen. But he knew, deep in his heart that what he had done was right, thus why he'd been returned through the graces of God himself, opening the door for him to return to his heavenly duties.

It was not by the Angel's will he had returned, but by God's. He swore to himself to educate the lost and sinful Nephilim, purge the world of darkness of the diseased beasts that hid among them, and rid the world of all impurities but those who deserved to walk upon God's lands. And he is God's chosen warrior to do this, a holy crusader for the pure, and the pure alone.