Darkness's Flower: Pulling It Together

Chapter 18: Scratches

~Nico~

Lilly giggled. "Alright. I love you so much, Nico. Don't ever forget that."

I turned my head, putting my chin against her forehead. "I love you too, Lillian. I will never forget."

I kissed her lightly on the forehead, then tightened my grip around her. She just came back and I'm not losing her again. I stayed awake for a while, listening to Lilly's soft breathing, feeling her breath on my neck. I smiled even at the thought of her sleeping. My eyes closed slowly and I went to sleep.

"Nico! Help me!" she screamed.

I couldn't see her face, but I knew it was my girlfriend. The way she called my name was just like her.

I was dangling off of what seemed like a cliff. My grasp was getting weaker even trying to hold myself up. Then I saw her. Lilly was falling. The look she had on her face was the same one she had when I Iris-Messaged her and Khione interrupted it, making Lilly scream Nico as loud as she possibly could.

She came towards me. I put my hand out to catch her. I could feel her hand in mine, making me feel reassured that she was alright. Then she started slipping. As her hand started to slip, I tried to grab her wrist, making scratch marks from all of the movement. Then she slipped from my grasp completely.

I woke up with a jump. Lilly was still laying on me and I couldn't wake her up. I knew she was okay. We hadn't fallen. Lilly hadn't slipped away from me. She was still in the comfort of my arms.

I smiled and kissed her on the forehead, being very careful not to wake her. She rolled over onto her side, but kept her hand on my chest and her face in my neck. I didn't know if she was awake or not.

"You alright, Nico?" she asked softly.

"I didn't think you were awake," I said.

"Yeah. I'm up, but I'm very comfortable here. What happened? Ow! Ow, gods, my wrist!"

She sat up and looked at her wrist. There were scratch marks and there was a small trickle of blood running down her arm as we both examined it.

"Oh no," I said.

"Wait. You had the dream too?" Lilly asked.

"I was hanging on for my life and tried to catch you-"

"To catch me from falling, but I slipped. It seemed like it actually happened! But it didn't."

"Then how do you have scratch marks from me?"

"Nico, sweetheart, that wasn't your fault. You were just trying to help me. But it never happened. I'm okay."

I looked at her. "But I did this! I've never physically hurt you before and-"

"Nico! I said it's okay. So what if I'm bleeding? You were trying to catch me from falling to my death! I would rather have small scratches from you trying than have nothing and falling to my death. I promise I'm alright."

"Are you sure?"

She smiled at me. "I swear to the gods I'm alright!"

"Okay. What time is it?" I asked.

"Let me check!" Lilly got up and went over to the couch. "It's almost nine-thirty." She came back over and cuddled up with me.

"We could lay here for a while, Lills."

"I can't. Percy is helping me with sword fighting. Sorry."

"It's alright. We still on for tonight?" I asked.

She smiled, her cheeks turning pink. "Yeah. I need to get going, but I'll see you later, Nico."

"See ya, Lills."

She kissed me and left in white snow. I smiled and laid back down. I ended up drifting back to sleep. I didn't have any dreams this time. When I woke up, I just stayed in bed. I figured Lilly would come get me. I was in the mood where I just didn't want to do anything but lay there and spend time with my girlfriend. A few minutes after I woke up, Lilly reappeared in the room.