Hell And High Water (percico)

Introduction

Shortly after Nico Di'Angelo joined the Argo II crew in 2012, Percy found himself leaving. He couldn't stand how awkward it made him feel to be around the awkward, and somewhat creepy, son of Hades all the time, especially after he admitted to liking Percy. And on top of that, everyone was acting differently around him, including Annabeth. And it all started when Nico opened his mouth and said he had a crush on a guy.
No one recorded in the ships log that Percy had left, and everyone actually made it seem like he was still there. They all felt guilty about it for a while but, in the end, they convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, for the sake of the quest. Because of the inaccurate ships logs, everyone at Camp Half Blood was cluless about Percys absence. They thought things were fine, that all the demigods were safe and sound aboard the flying ship. But, that was far from the truth. In order to at least attempt to keep their cool, every member of the Argo II crew started pretenting Percy had never been there. To all of them, Percy had become a ghost and no one would talk about him.
Everyone in the crew forced themselves to believe Percy had returned to his home instead of the possibility that something had happened to him. That was part of the reason Annabeth kept Percy in the ships log. Everyone figured he was fine and that he didn't need to be worried about. Well, almost everyone. Nico wasn't so sure. He was only fifteen at the time but that didn't mean he couldn't have a clue. But that's what the others thought. Nico was worried about Percy but couldn't convince the others that something might be wrong with him. Whenever Nico brought up the possibility, the others all just shrugged it off. Having no one else believe him, or even want to do anything about Percys disappearance, made Nico feel obligated to grow up and be the hero for once. He gathered together a few of his belongings and snuck off the ship, alone, when it was docked one night and went out looking for Percy.
Being only fifteen made it very hard for Nico to go anywhere or do anything. He wasn't allowed to legally drive, or pay for a hotel room, so he had to forge himself a good number of documents. He became pretty good at it.
Along the way, though, Nico got himself into his fair share of trouble. He couldn't make money in conventional ways so he found himself doing anything he could to make a little cash. His jobs were dirty and wore away at his conscience, but he wouldn't quit them. Throughout the jobs, Nico learned he was better at some things than others. One thing he did, the darkest thing, was the thing he turned out to be the best at of all the things he tried. Killing. He should have figured, being the son of Hades and all, but it still wasn't the first thing he had on his mind when he thought about needing money.
Word on the street got around about a kid that would do just about anything for a little cash, including stealing, killing, and helping others do the same. Because of that, Nicos name became pretty well known, and so did his alias: Hades. It fit, obviously, and it gave him a reputation before people even knew what he was capable of. Along with that, it caused all the gang bangers, mobsters, and drug dealers all over the country to adopt names of Greek and Roman gods and goddesses to keep their identities hidden. It was helpful to some but a pain for those who gathered information.

As time went on and Nico continued to do his 'dirty deeds' to make money to keep up the search, he began to lose hope. That could be blamed on the fact that he had gotten himself into something that would have stolen anyone's soul. He got caught up with a street guy and the two of them had killed an entire family just because the father owed a drug dealer some money. It made him wonder why he was doing all this but then he remembered Percy.
Nico never really had figured out why Percy left the quest but something told him the son of Poseidon didn't want to be followed. Maybe it was the fact that he hadn't left any sign of where he was going. Or maybe it was because three years had gone by and Nico still had no clue where he was. Nico had grown more and more angry and had started hating Percy for being so stupid.
Nico had been looking for Percy for much longer than he had expected and it was begining to take its toll. He had gotten himself into heaps of trouble and met some people he wished he wouldn't have. Everything that Nico had done over the three years had made him wonder if it was really worth it, if Percy was really worth it. All of this could have blamed on the son of Poseidon, if Nico had wanted that. But it seemed cold, too cold, to blame the situation on someone who didn't even know about it. But his anger didn't mean that Nico wasn't going to keep looking. But then there came a day. A day Nico decided to go back to Camp, fill his sister in on the last three years, and forget about everything he had gone through and done. To give up hope.
But thats not the only thing that happened that day. That day was the day. That day was the best, and worst, day of his life. The day all of his hard work had paid off and he was able to rekindle the hope of finding the son of Poseidon and convince himself there really was a reason to it. That day was the day he FOUND Percy.
The son of Poseidon had gone to the one place that Nico had never wanted to go back to: The Lotus Hotel and Casino, and he had been stuck there for three years. Although Nico couldn't really call it being stuck, since Percy was there by his own devices.
Nico had become more stressed and angry over the years and that had just put icing and sprinkles on the cake that he had never asked for.
Once that day came and passed, and Nico drank himself into oblivion because of it, he tried to convince himself that he had done what he set out to do. He said he would find Percy, and he did just that. But, a part of him knew he had to do more. As much as his mind told him it was stupid, something tugged him toward the hotel and got him to make up an extraction plan. An elaborate one that included drugs and very few words. And then, finally, after almost a month, Nicos plan was ready, and it was time to get Percy out of the casino.
He snuck in one night in February and found Percy sitting at the spa. It was definantly a place Nico had never expected to see the son of Poseidon. Nico followed along with his plan and was able to act up the high one gets from the Lotus flowers long enough to get Percy to stop eating them and for his normal thought process to return. He tugged Percy around for hours, playing games, acting high, and trying to make it look like he was enjoying himself. That all ceased when Percy did.
The son of Poseidon abruptly stopped walking and stood perfectly still. He wore a very confused expression on his face as he looked at the strobe lights reflecting off the black marble floor.
Nico noticed this and stepped closer to him, knowing exactly what was going on. "Do you remember me?"
Percy was still pretty confused, and it was very obvious. He had gone a few hours without one of the sweet flowers but his thoughts were still groggy. He tried to get away from Nico but the son of Hades knocked him out with a small amount of Chloroform, asked Poseidon to forgive him, and dragged Percy out the back door of the casino. He had mapped out his escape route and had a car waiting just outside the door.
Nico dragged the son of Poseidon, gently of course, to the car and piled him into the passanger seat before driving away from the acursed Lotus Hotel and Casino. He didn't stop until he came upon a small hotel on the outskirts of Las Vegas. He managed to get Percy in without many questions and laid him down on one of the beds.
Percy was still knocked out, even after the decent length of the car ride, but Nico hooked him up to some fluids to wash the Lotus flowers out of his system and went to bed. He felt guilty being tired but it was late and he had had a long day, and there wasn't anything he could actually do for Percy anyway. But, to top it all off, he knew tomorrow was going to be an even more full day than today was. Sleep was how he would prepare.