Hello again or for the first time, Murayama Tsuru here. Here is a story that has nothing to with Anime or Japanese games ^_^ I recently finished the House of Hades and this idea wouldn't leave me alone. That one chapter in HoH, man, it totally rocked my world! Yeah, that's about all the introduction I want to give it at the moment. I hope you guys enjoy ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians/the Heroes of Olympus (sometimes I really just can't think of this series as not being called Percy Jackson…); it belongs to Rick Riordan.

Nico di Angelo grumbled almost silently as he made his way up the rigging to the crow's nest, more than a slight frown adorning his features. The place had become his makeshift bed on this ship and he was being forced, by Hazel, to go sleep in it. He really didn't see why he had to get any rest when talking to ghosts all night to find out any dangers that awaited their crew was a much better use of his time than sleep. Sleep only caused problems in the long run, Nico had found.

But, Hazel had insisted that he get some rest after commenting about how pale he looked, and that look in her eyes reminded him so much of his real sister, and he found he couldn't say no. But, just because he was climbing up to his room didn't mean that he was going to attempt to get any sleep.

He didn't need sleep and he most definitely didn't want any. Sleep meant dreams and dreams meant seeing things that were either unpleasant visions of things to come or unpleasant reminders of things past, people lost, and feelings long buried.

Unfortunately, though, those long buried feelings had been making an ugly reappearance lately, making him even more of a recluse than he already was. He'd gone to Tartarus to find out how to close the Doors, almost went insane, got captured by the enemies, put in a poison jar, and was saved by the one person he didn't want to be saved by, and now that person was gone as well, to the very place he had been not that long ago. It brought out those feelings that had been buried since his sister's death; those feelings that he'd hoped would never resurface, those feelings he didn't want resurfacing…not in the least. The dead really were easier to deal with than the living…

Nico shook his head, trying to dispel his circulating thoughts and resolved that he would not sleep (despite Hazel's wishes) and therefore would not dream. And, without dreams, no problems could arise from what they brought and the things that he wanted to keep as buried as the dead he could call forth.

But, as soon as he got to the crow's nest and he was settled, watching the stars pass by and feeling the Argo II rock not so gently, his eyelids drooped heavily, making his frown deepen. But, no matter how hard he cursed or tried to fight the sleep that was coming, his eyelids drooped more and he felt sleep begin to overtake him. So, Nico gave up and, mostly, against his will let the salty smell of the ocean and the soft breeze and the rocking of the ship lull him into deep sleep. And almost immediately, Nico was snoring away softly.

The dream started as his dreams usually did; he opened his eyes and he was standing in Camp Half-Blood near the cabin that had been built for his dad, Hades. He looked around, wondering who he would meet in this particular dream and if he would have any control over what he did (more often than not, he didn't).

And then he saw her and his heart leapt in happiness which was soon thereafter followed by the pang of sadness and pain that always accompanied seeing his sister Bianca. She smiled at him and, despite his want to run towards her, tears streaming down his face, asking her why she wouldn't talk to him as a ghost but only in his dreams, he smiled back and she began walking toward him (this was definitely one of the dreams he had no control over).

Once the two were close enough, she handed him a small figurine that had an uncanny resemblance to his father. Nico looked at his sister with questions in his eyes and she smiled again, "This is for you. I got it a while ago at a junkyard but with all that happened I couldn't give it to you until now."

Nico opened his mouth to say that he no longer played Mythomagic and the only thing he really wanted from her was that she come back to him (as much as he thought of Hazel as a sister, the girl just couldn't replace Bianca completely). But, as his uncontrollable dreams usually went, he muttered a quiet thank you and averted his eyes from her gaze for some reason (embarrassed happiness was just not something he wanted to admit to).

The two then stood in awkward silence until, somehow, Nico found his voice (meaning that he could hopefully control where this dream was going) and asked, "Where have you been all this time? I thought you were…dead…"

Bianca laughed, bringing back oh so many memories and making the pain of losing her wash over him afresh. She then said, "What are you talking about? I became one of the Hunters of Artemis and I came back after we fought Atlas. I know it's you've had a hard time without me, being a son of Hades and all, but what would make you think I died?"

Nico opened his mouth to tell his sister what really happened four years ago, ready to make this dream fall to pieces so he could wake up and make sure that this dream wouldn't go in the direction it was probably going to go.

But then, Bianca looked away and the dream's scenario (this was never going to be something he'd admit to wanting to happen in real life after all) took over again as she said, "Hey look, there's Annabeth and Luke."

'Well that's new', Nico thought absentmindedly as he turned towards where Bianca was looking and saw Annabeth and Luke (who I'm pretty sure Nico's never met, but it's been a while so correct if I'm wrong ^-^) holding hands as they walked past looking positively happy. Nico was a little surprised by this as Annabeth never factored into his dreams at all usually, unless they were true nightmares.

But before Nico could comment on this, Bianca turned back around and said, "Isn't it a good thing that we found a way to separate Luke from Kronos? If we hadn't, who knows how the battle would have ended…"

'I do,' Nico thought harshly, wanting more than ever to wake up. Again, though, as he was about to speak, Bianca interrupted him as she continued speaking, "Somehow, though, I've heard rumors that Annabeth liked Percy. I guess old crushes really do mean more than new ones."

'Damn,' Nico thought, 'this isn't what I need to be wasting my time on right now. Next thing I know he'll show up and…why can't I wake up already…? There must be something that I need to do in the waking world by now… '

And sure enough, just as Nico thought that Bianca turned again and waved calling out, "Hey, Percy! What are you doing here?"

Percy responded by saying, "I saw you guys and came to say 'hi'. Is this a bad time?" Hearing Percy's voice made Nico shake; he honestly never thought he'd hear that voice again, even in his dreams. He had decided to descend into Tartarus with Annabeth after all and Nico really didn't think that he would make it out alive…despite the promise he made to lead the other five to the Doors and rescue the both of them.

Bianca, sensing something (Nico didn't want to entertain what), smiled at the two of them and waved to Percy, "Well, I was just about to leave. So, you'll have to talk to Nico in my stead."

As she walked passed Nico, she whispered almost silently, "Have fun little brother, I wouldn't dream of interrupting."

Nico felt his face flush as his sister continued walking away after giving him one last wink. This dream was turning into a nightmare of a completely different kind now…and he had his sister to thank for getting him into this (again, not something he would admit he wanted to happen in real life). What did she mean when she said 'have fun'? Nothing was going to happen, dammit!

Nico realized that he'd been silent (not anything new) for too long when he heard Percy clear his throat. As he turned to face Percy, Nico felt like he was ten years old again, in awe of the boy who was a few years older than him, protecting him and his sister from that monster looking as much a hero as the Mythomagic characters he liked so much.

Percy grinned at him, that lopsided smile that Nico thought was only reserved for Annabeth or his other real friends and Nico felt a pang of something… He looked at Percy and, his voice his own to control this time asked, "What do you want Percy?"

Percy's smile widened, as if the insult hadn't registered (and it probably hadn't; seaweed brain was an apt nickname after all) and said, "As I said, I just came to say 'hi'. Is there anything wrong with that?"

"No." Nico said curtly, turning to walk away from this situation, too much longer and he didn't think he would be able to stand it. He wanted to bury these feelings, not stir them up.

But, Percy's next words stopped him in his tracks, "Well, you never answered my question."

Nico whirled around to ask what question Percy was talking about when he froze. He didn't know how it happened (damn dreams), but Percy was now only a few inches from Nico, giving the son of Hades a very in-depth view of those sea green eyes, those very distracting sea green eyes...Seaweed brain was an apt nickname for more than one reason after all; Nico almost felt as if his own brain was turning into a clump of the stuff, with Percy as close as he was...

"W-what question are you talking about? You never asked me anything…" Nico finally managed to say, averting his gaze to somewhere on the ground, the close proximity wasn't doing anything good for his nerves.

Percy responded, "To what I asked you the other day."

Before Nico could even think of any sort of response, Percy's lips were on his and Nico felt his brain essentially short-circuit, the taste of the sea strong on Percy's lips felt much too real. With absolute surprise (not necessarily dislike, though), Nico pushed Percy away, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" he demanded, his voice sounding panicky and reedy to his own ears.

With a slight frown, Percy said, "When we defeated Kronos, I thought you made your feelings very clear to me. But when I asked again the other day, you didn't give me an answer. So, I got impatient and came to find you. So, do you like me or not?"

Nico wanted nothing more than to run away from this scene, to wake up, to do anything other than what was happening at the moment. But before he could do anything of that affect, the dream took control once again and Nico heard himself saying, "I just…I don't…I…I have nothing to say…I thought you liked Annabeth…"

"I think we've made it perfectly clear," Percy said stepping closer once again, those eyes boring deep into Nico's soul, "that I do not." And once again, anything Nico could possibly think to say was interrupted by a pair of lips that tasted of the sea.

Nico's eyes flew open, and he looked around wildly feeling breathless and shaky and altogether too hot despite the cool morning air. His lips tingled from a kiss that had not happened and he felt shame course through him as the dream played through his mind, his hand coming up to cover his eyes; the fact that he had slept through the night was not any sort of comfort to him.

Nico sighed, annoyed that he had fallen to sleep and dreamt of the two people he couldn't see, annoyed that he had taken Hazel's advice and went to sleep in the first place, and annoyed in general at his lot in life. It was bad enough that his reputation of being a son of Hades made him basically a pariah in both camps. But, on top of that he'd had these (almost) unwanted feelings he had for the son of Poseidon for almost four years now and it made him feel even worse about that he liked the guy who hadn't been able to protect his sister. The guy who had a girlfriend. The guy who probably didn't think of him as much more than an annoyance who betrayed him and made his life harder.

Sure, it was a different era and maybe it wasn't unacceptable to have these feelings, but Nico wasn't from this era and so what he felt, felt wrong. And the only way he knew to deal with this was to avoid the cause, namely Percy. And avoidance is what he planned on doing; once his hero (sort of) and his girlfriend had returned from Tartarus, and he would make sure they did, Nico vowed that he would leave the Argo II by any means necessary.

The only consolation was that no one knew he had a crush on Percy, they thought it was on Annabeth and that was something Nico could live with. Nico stood and made his way down from the crow's nest, something telling him that today was not going to be a good day.

And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something fall out of the clouds. Nico turned and saw a flash of blond and wondered how Jason had fallen asleep mid-air, it had been his turn to defend the ship after all. Today was really not starting well.

Luckily for him, Hazel was also on duty this morning. He found her (looking as green as ever from the rocking of the ship) and said quietly, "Our resident Golden Boy is falling out of the sky. I think it would be best if we woke everyone else to help him."

Hazel looked to where Nico pointed and her eyes widened in alarm. In a flash, she was gone into the ship, leaving Nico to his thoughts. Yep, today definitely didn't seem like it was going to go well…

And that is the end of that. I'm really not sure how well it turned out. For one thing I think Nico was probably out of character (Bianca too for that matter), but the books don't give a lot in the way of Nico's perspective so I had to improvise. And, for another, I kinda zoned out half way through (it really goes to show that I should act on an idea the second I get it, not two days later…) And, Percy it probably out of character in the dream (and it was too long) as well, but it is a dream and anything can happen in those… On another note, Nico makes so much more sense to me now! I had always thought that the reason that Nico left Camp Half-Blood was because of Percy. And now, I've found out that it is but for a different reason than I expected (though not totally surprising as I read the chapter). And, I really liked how Rick Riordan did this, so I applaud him. Yeah, that's it. Reviews are greatly appreciated as I love to know what you guys think.

-村山鶴