I'll Fight The Fear Away- Solangelo

Night

It was a cold evening. Luckily, we were sitting together around the campfire, and Will had his arm around me. I could see them all staring. Their eyes felt like knives on my skin, and I was sure that everyone was judging us. 

"Nico, you look sad," Will said, looking at me. He was only about two inches taller than me, but it seemed like more for some reason.

"Just a little tired, I guess." His arm felt warm, like the sun itself was holding me. The bitter wind tugged at my jacket, so I was grateful that he was here.

"Hey."

I felt his hand against my skin. He was lifting my chin up to look him in the eyes. Gods, his eyes were so amazing. That brilliant blue color, like the sky itself. My boring brown eyes were nothing in comparison.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Will, I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"I'm a doctor," he said with a grin. "It's my job to worry." He let me settle against his shoulder again. Again I felt eyes burning into me. It hurt to know that they were judging us, and that it wasn't any different now.

"Hey, Will," I murmured, tugging at his gray windbreaker. "Could we go somewhere more private?"

"Private?" He looked surprised. "All we're doing is... unless you want to do something more," he said, a playful grin on his face.

"Ew! No!" I shoved his shoulder, blushing brightly as he laughed at me. "I just meant... the other campers are looking at us."

"Percy and Annabeth are practically smooching," he said, gesturing to the pair. It was true. Annabeth was on Percy's lap and he had his arms around her waist. I still felt a tiny crush on him from time to time, but I was mostly over it. Mostly.

"Yeah, I know, but..." 

"Okay. I get it." Will stood, walking back to the Apollo cabin. I quickly tried to follow him, but he looked at me with a cold expression on his face. "Don't wait up," he said, anger in his eyes.

"Will!" 

I ran after him, clutching tightly to my jacket. His smell still lingered on it, flowers and cinnamon, and I breathed it in deeply. What was I thinking?! I could have just ruined everything!

"Will, stop!" I was making a scene, but I didn't care. I felt tears in my eyes, but I refused to cry. I wouldn't. Not while he was running away from me.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could I have been so dumb? I finally reached the Apollo cabin door, pounding on it as hard as I could. No response from Will.

Angry, tired, and hurt, I slid down against the door. My clenched fists hit the gravel path hard, drawing blood. It only made me angrier and sadder. Will would have been overprotective and bandaged the tiny scratches up, maybe even brought me to the infirmary. Finally, as the rest of the cabin slid past me to go inside, I allowed the tears to fall.

No one took notice of me. Not that I minded. A couple of Will's sisters patted me on the head, but no one else paid any attention to me. I waited until they all went inside, and then I curled up against the door and cried. 

Every time I thought I was close to stopping, I thought of him again. Had I wrecked it? Of course I only had one chance. Gods, how could I have been so stupid? Eventually, I felt my eyes slipping closed.

Darkness. That was all I saw. 

Bleak grey clouds, full of storm and rain. A rugged landscape, littered with dried bones. 

I was trying to walk ahead, but the wind from the storm pushed me away. I saw a speck of sunlight pushing against the storm, but it was too weak to get through. It was so cold. I needed that sunlight to stay warm.

I yelled for help. All it did was echo. I kept screaming, trying to get someone to help me, trying to call the sunlight down from the sky to warm me up.

I tripped on a skull and fell to the ground, which felt gravelly under my hands. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, and the sunlight was still trying to push through.

The storm clouds thickened as I cried, and the sunlight faded. I searched for it, but all I saw was lightning and rain. What was happening? As I panicked, searching frantically for the sunlight, the darkness swirled and enveloped me, crushing me, breaking me...

"Nico?"

I felt someone nudge me with their toe.

"Nico, get up."

They kept nudging me. It sounded like... 

"Piper?"

I opened my eyes, putting a hand to my cheek. It was wet with tears.

"C'mon. You need some rest. People have been hearing screams all night."

"Where's..."

"You don't need to worry about that now," she said, pulling me up to my feet. "What you need to worry about is food and sleep and your friend Piper. Hazel's worried sick."

"No. I need to find him."

My sunlight. I can't lose my sunlight.