Timore NICO DI ANGELO X OC (male)

16

Mika woke up the next morning, having fallen asleep after calming down. It was as if a door had been opened to everything that had happened in that... horrible place. He sat up shakily, holding his hands to his head, trying to think of anything but the red pit of pure torture. He shook his head and stood up. Nico looked up from a book he had been reading.

"Hey Mika, you hungry at all?"

Hunger. It had been never ending down there. He felt it now. He nodded.

"Y-yeah. Will you go w-with me?" Nico crowned with confusion but nodded and walked over to the door.

"I go with you almost everywhere, of course I'll come with you. Let's get going!"

He hadn't been down there with him. But he had been there before. Mika followed after and looked around constantly when he stepped outside.

He was in the camp, he was back, but the woods, as he glanced over. That was how he'd gotten down there. They sat down at the pavilion covered tables. Blueberry muffins were almost all he had eaten before, Tom always leaving him some at the cafe. Now he could barely get down some grapes.

He snapped out of his thoughts with Leo waving a peanut butter sandwich in front of him.

He shook his head to try and clear the thoughts away and looked up at the other two boys. He had grapes and half a sandwich on his plate.

"Peanut butter?" Leo nodded.

"Yes sir! You can't just live off of grapes the rest of your life, we need to get your appetite bigger."

He had lived off of who knows what he'd found for a month, he'd be fine.

"I'll be alrigh-"

"Your how tall?"

"Five nine..."

"And you're like a hundred and twenty pounds! If you turn sideways your like paper. Eat." Leo scooted the plate closer.

"Hundred and seven, Will weighed me as soon as I could stand." Nico made a disapproving face and picked up the sandwich, shoving it into Mika's hand.

"You hear Leo. Eat." Mika nodded and took a bite, face screwed up but he kept taking bites. He finished that and the grapes after throwing one into the Hades fire and sat back, hands on his stomach.

He never felt this down there. Full... almost, satisfied. He liked it.

Mika smiled slightly and looked between Leo and Nico as if wondering what to do next. Nico thought for a second and stood up.

"How are you feeling?" He looked down, Mika standing up along with Leo.

"Physically? I'm okay." Nico nodded.

"I want to see if your able to shadow travel, just a short distance. I want to help you control your abilities well, I didn't fast enough earlier and it caused a lot of damage. Mika just nodded and followed.

Nico didn't think it was his fault did he? He had said things but it wasn't his fault Mika had fallen. He continued to follow the son of Hades, watching everyone around him.

Conner and Travis passed, they had been nice, they avoided him now. Percy, he'd come and talked to him a few times. He had something about him that seemed as if he understood.

"Mika. Hello?" Nico patted his shoulder.

"Huh? Oh sorry, just uh lost in thought I guess." He gave a strained smile, Nico looking slightly suspicious or even concerned.

"You rememberers how shadow traveling works right?"

"Yeah."

"Let's see if you can get from this tree's shadows to Bunker Nine, it's a couple hundred meters away." Mika nodded, and concentrated, melting into the shadow of the tree he was leaning on. It felt right, he knew he was going to land in the right place even though he couldn't see as he traveled. However he stopped moving, it was pitch black, he felt his energy draining, he knew he had to get back out though, it felt like traveling up with the skeletons. He panicked, all of his energy draining, he reappeared outside of bunker nine. Nico was pacing, head in his hands.

"Oh my god your okay. You were in the shadows for five minutes! It should've been thirty seconds at the most. Let me see your hand." Fear was all over his face, he grabbed Mika's currently shaking hand. It was solid, but there was no mistaking that he could see his shoe through the palm.

"Shit. Okay, uh, sit down, I have ambrosia." Mika complied, somehow being to feel the lack of solidness in him. Nico fed him a square of ambrosia, giving him a warm feeling all over. He was still absolutely exhausted, but looked down at his hand, it was much more- there, after a few minutes. Nico sighed as if he'd been holding it the entire time. Mika stood up, legs unstable.

"Hey let's sit back down Mika, you just faded a bit, that's really serious."

"I-I'm alright." He just wanted to get back to his cabin, he knew his exhaustion wouldn't allow him more than a few steps.

   "Mika..."

"Catch me if you can?" Mika wanted to just go sit back in his bed, he took three steps, falling to his hands and knees with blurry vision. Nico shook his head in disbelief. He got the boy onto his back, shadow traveling them back to their cabin and setting him on his bed.