Percy and Nico Undercover at Hogwarts

Chapter Ten

Percy's POV

I had nightmares that night. Harry's questions seemed to trigger something in my brain that thought it would be a good idea for me to relive the worst moment of my life.

"Please, don't hurt her," I said as the man walked over to the unconscious Annabeth. We were both chained on opposite walls were facing across from each other. "Please, you can hurt me, just leave her alone!" I begged, but the man just ignored me and shook Annabeth until she woke up.

"Wake up child," he said and aggressively shook her shoulder and then he punched her across the face as he shouted, "I said wake up!"

"Please, stop it!" I yelled as Annabeth's eyes' opened slightly.

"Oh good, your up child," the man said as he took out a knife, "I wanted you to be awake for this part."

He slowly cut deep gashes as Annabeth wined and I screamed for him to stop, for him to hurt me instead, but he just ignored me and kept cutting into Annabeth.

"No! Stop! Please! Don't hurt her!"

Blood was soaking her clothes once again and trailing its way down her body. I could see her eyes start to close.

"No!" I screamed at her. "Stay awake! You're not allowed to die on me!"

She gave me a weak smile before she whispered, "I love you, Seaweed Brain," and went limp in her chains.

"No!" I screamed and the man laughed and turned to me.

"Now, it's your turn," he said, and pulled a whip from his belt.

Nico's POV

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone whimpering. When I sat up, I saw Percy thrashing around in his bed and I threw off my sheets and ran over to him.

"Percy, wake up," I whispered. "Percy, please wake up, you're having a nightmare." I started shaking him and he started screaming.

"No! Stop! Please! Don't hurt her!" he yelled and I instantly knew that he was dreaming about Annabeth's death. He kept screaming, 'Please! Stop!" and stuff like that and he woke Harry and Ron up.

"What's wrong with him?" Harry asked as they ran to my side.

"He's having a nightmare," I said as I brushed the hair off his forehead. He looked so pained about it and I knew that I couldn't stop it.

"Wake him up then!" Ron told me and I shook my head.

"It's useless. He gets these every few weeks. There's no waking him up from them until it's over," I told them as I felt tears in my eyes.

The man that I loved was reliving the worst day of his life. He refused to talk about it, even after he had moved on from her death. I had to go to Annabeth herself to figure out what happened, and from what she said, it sounded horrible.

"Do you know what his nightmare is about?" Harry asked and I nodded.

"Yeah, but it's not my place to speak. I wasn't there, but it's all my fault," I said and my tears started falling. "I could've prevented everything if I had just stopped his fall."

"Nico, what are you talking about?" Ron asked but I shook my head.

"Just go away," I told them and they walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.

After listening to Percy scream for another ten minutes, he woke up sobbing.

"Annabeth," he cried and I went and sat in his bed and hugged him.

"It's okay, she's happy now. She doesn't have to worry about anything anymore," I told him as he wrapped his arms around me and sobbed into my chest.

"I fucking hate dreams," he said and I nodded.

"I know. They're the Fates way of reminding us that our past is always there and there's now way of getting rid of it."

"I miss her so much," he cried and I rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. "I just want to die."

I pushed him away and took his face in my hands. "Percy, look at me," I said to him and tear filled eyes met mine. They were full of pain and sorrow and they hurt to look at, but I did anyways. "You don't want to die. The world needs Percy Jackson to watch out for it. Everyone needs you, Percy. I need you."

"No you don't," he said and shook his head and dropped eye contact. "Nobody needs me. I've fought my wars and I'm done. I've done enough for everyone." He looked at me again. "Nico, you're not ten years old anymore. You don't need me. You can protect yourself."

"I don't need you to protect me," I told him. "Listen, Perce, I've lost my mom, Jason and my sisters. I've lost people too, Percy, but you don't stick around for yourself. You stick around for the people that are still alive that need you there. It doesn't matter why they need you, all that matters is that they do."

"Why do you need me, Nico?" he asked and I sighed.

"I need you because I care about you," I told him and then pulled him into a hug. We laid down in his bed and I held him until he fell asleep. "Because I love you."