Cabin 13

9| Today on 'Nightmares' Please Welcome Percy's Dead Girlfriend

Nico tried finding Percy after talking with Jason but was having no luck. The last place he could think to search was the pegasi stables. 

"Percy?" Nico called, leaning into the doorway. The only response was a whinny Nico recognized as Blackjack's.

Nico never liked going into the pegasi stables, horses didn't particularly like him, as a son of Hades and all.

"Back here, Neeks." Percy's voice resounded, a little muffled behind Blackjack's stall door.

"I don't think I should come in."

Percy's head popped up from behind the stall. "If you insist. I was just giving Blackjack a brush down, he needed it."

They sat on a hay bale outside the stable, neither sure what to say.

Percy was the one to finally break the silence, sporting a pinched brow. "Are you upset I kissed you?"

Nico startled. "I, uh... I'm more surprised really."

To that, his brow shot up. "Surprised?" His tone was disbelieving. 

Nico didn't count on having to elaborate. Must he explain the painfully obvious?

"I just never thought anything would ever happen between us," he said, wishing the mention of Annabeth was viable, yet given his newly found selective amnesia he attempted a different route: "I thought you were into girls."

Percy shrugged. 

"Right, well, I really don't think we should be kissing anymore." Nico hated the way his stomach had dropped, all his body tensing in anticipation of Percy's response. The absolute dread of any response at all. Yes, no, it was all the same. Please, desire me. Stop! Don't you dare rekindle my long dead hope. Choose me. Cast me aside, along with everyone else, a million times for the one you truly love. Remember her. Forget me. 

Nodding slowly, Percy said, "Well, if that's what you want. But, just tell me this doesn't have something to do with Jason and... um, Annabell was it? Because I really don't have a girlfriend. Or a dead one at that."

Nico could puke. A compromise? His answer expertly dodging carefully laid morality traps. But of course this was about Annabeth. Should it be? Of course he cradled the knowledge of this reciprocated attraction. But what more was it then a second place metal?

He lied. "No." Rubbing the back of his neck, he finished lamely, "It's complicated."

Which perhaps wasn't a complete lie.

Percy leaned in, forcing him to meet his eyes. "Alright, no pressure of course. Maybe I got a little carried away. Did I misunderstand our relationship?"

Relationship. Our relationship. 

His mouth was running before Nico could think to stop it. "What? No! I, it's just..." He scrambled, taking a deep breath. Besides the deep seeded betrayal and guilt he felt for taking what was not, and could never be, his, Nico thought of yet another blond. "I have feelings for someone else."

Percy blinked. "Oh, I see." He scratched the back of his neck, fingers tangling in the dark hair just above. "Well, I'm not looking to get in the way of anything. I guess just keep me updated on our... uh, situation." After a moment of tense silence, he stood. "Anyway, I'm gonna go finish brushing Blackjack. Unless there was anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Oh, uh, no. That was it."

"Cool."

And just like that, it was over, it went much better than Nico had imagined, though in most of those scenarios he had died of embarrassment. Percy had been pretty chill about the whole thing, but that partially made Nico feel even worse.

This awful knot took root in his stomach. He hopefully could blame his feelings on exhaustion, likely of the emotional/social kind. But either way, he headed back to his cabin, hoping to get in a nap or something to make him feel better.

Once arriving at his cabin, he immediately slammed the door behind him and threw himself down on his bed. He lay there awhile, staring at the ceiling, Sleep did not come. The knot curled around his abdomen tighter until a single hot tear squeezed out of his body and rolled down his cheek. 

What it was for? He wasn't quite sure, but more followed down the wet trail of the first. He allowed himself to wallow, lacking the motivation to analyze the why behind his twisting emotions. Pent up anger finally boiled to the surface after his tears, but Nico dreaded their origin even more. He thought possibly the pain might do him a favor and eat away at him until he was nothing left.

With tears blurring his sight, he wasn't sure if he was seeing things correctly but his left hand seemed to be sinking into the shadows, and honestly? It felt nice. 

The shadows were Nico's domain. The shadows made sense. The shadows were something he could actually control. The pull to drift, no location in mind, had never sounded more pleasant. The dark had a new music, a call he couldn't remember before.

Nico felt himself fall in, like dipping into a pool of water, yet emerging somewhere else. Before he could identify, or care, where he had arrived, the crashing wave of exhaustion washed over him. He collapsed.

The lights had vanished along with his energy, as if it was his will keeping them on. The floor which had crudely met his knees, was rough stone. Around him, his eyes could only verify a black void. 

But faintly, he could hear a voice and desperately searched for the speaker.

"Hello?" he called. Feeling the chill of adrenaline and fear crawl up his spine. He practically recoiled when his eyes finally found the soughted person's figure in the darkness. 

Nico couldn't understand what they were saying. It sounded eerily like the whispered chatter of the dead. Slowly approaching the figure, he could only see their back. 

"Who are you?" he questioned, asking more himself than the figure.

Reached out his hand, he grabbed the figure's shoulder, slowly turning her around. Yes, her. What did you think would happen? Atone. He knew it was. Annabeth Chase.

She was a drab color of gray, her mouth moving as if trying to tell him something important, but all it produced was chatter.

"A-Annabeth?" Nico shivered. He expected her essence to go right through him, to the underworld, signifying her death. But no, she merely evaporated, reappearing a couple of yards away. She looked desperate to reach him. Communicate something to him. 

It was getting too cold here. He was unwanted and his body was beginning to suffer the cost. Someone was keeping her from him.

"Where are we?" he shouted. "H-how are we here?" His teeth began to chatter. Nico balled his stiff blue fingers, bringing them up to his stinging red ears. Knees knocked together, limbs shivering collectively. He would freeze. 

Like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on him, Nico gasped, sitting straight up. His breaths staggered and shallow. There was light. He was awake. 

"Nico! Are you alright?" His sister jumped to his side, squeezing his hand.

"Hazel?" He blinked, trying to grasp what was going on. "Where am I?" 

Hazel Levesque gently smiled. "Welcome back to Camp Jupiter, brother."