Pipercy - The Death of Leo Valdez

Chapter 3

Refresh of Last Chapter:
"Hey girl. It's good to see you again." I said. "Piper and I will ride Mrs. O'Leary. You shadow travel with Leo." "Alright." He said. He grabbed Leo's arm, and they disappeared into the shadows. I leaned down to Mrs. O'Leary's ear and whispered "Hey girl, can you take us to the underworld? Hades' palace?" She whimpered and nodded. "Thanks." I said. "You might wanna hold on, Piper." "It couldn't be that bad, could it?" She asked me. "Just hold on to my waist as tight as you can. And don't let go. I learned that one the hard way." I told her. Mrs O'Leary jumped into the nearest shadow, and we started to dissolve.

Nico's P.O.V.
We landed in the underworld with Piper and Percy right behind us. Right in front of my dad's palace. "Well, it's your life Leo. You first." I said. He stepped through the doorway, and was instantly greeted by a skeleton guard raising his sword to his throat. "Hey, uh, mr skeleton, I'm trying to not die, so if you could please get your sword off of my throat." Leo said nervously. The skeleton turned and saw me. I glared at it. It took it's sword off his throat. "Thanks." Leo said. "Don't mention it." I replied. We walked through the front doors, towards the throne room. I walked up to the door and knocked. "Who's there?" I heard my father yell from behind the door. I didn't answer. Eventually, I heard a grumble, and footsteps coming toward the door. "WHO IN HADES IS KNOCKING ON MY DOOR AND NOT RESPONDING TO ME?!? DO YOU WANT TO BE SMITED? SMITTEN? SMOTE?" He opened the door. "Oh. Nico, my son. And Jackson. Valdez, McLean. What are you all doing here?" He asked. "Well, we sort of have a problem that we need your help to fix." Percy told him. "Hmph. How typical. Demigods asking the great and powerful Hades for help. I'm not bringing anyone back to life for you. They're dead. Deal with it." Hades responded. "That's actually not why were here. Well, it sort of is. We need you to save Leo. He's not dead yet, but he is dying." Piper said. "I died, used the Physician's Cure, and came back." Leo said. "YOU DID WHAT?!?" Hades yelled. "I TOLD APOLLO TO ASK MY PERMISSION BEFORE GIVING DEMIGODS THE CURE! THAT NO GOOD PIECE OF-" "Lord Hades?" Leo interrupted. "Can you just tell us how to fix the problem?" "I suppose. But it won't be easy." He said. "It never is." Leo mumbled sarcastically. "What was that?" Hades asked. "Nothing!" Leo said quickly. "Ok. Well, anyways, you're going to have to go through some dangerous, possibly traumatizing tasks, to keep your life from fading." "Yeah. Go figure. Like what?" Leo asked. "Tartarus." That was the only word that came out of Hades' mouth.