A/N: This was supposed to be posted yesterday... It was something I thought up on a whim, so it's probably not as good as I hoped, but please read and enjoy. I guess there's a little Will x Nico later on, so if you don't like it... There's a little warning. Happy Halloween!

Nico di Angelo sat on his bed, in his cabin, still awake at nearly five o'clock in the morning. He hasn't moved in three hours as he continuously stares at the clothes folded on the bed across the room. He had contemplated running away for just one evening, but he knew he wouldn't ever get away with that. It didn't matter where he went, the dreaded holiday would follow him; there was no escape from the horrors of Halloween. There were a few hours left until someone would come knocking at his cabin's door, he knew, but he had no intentions of moving from his place. Nico planned to just sit there until he had to stretch his legs that were just then beginning to cramp from being cross for so long. Nico looked to the clock on the wall above the door to his cabin, and sighed. He hadn't been thinking about anything in particular, but he just lost about an hour of his life. He didn't know what would happen that day, but he knew that there were going to be a lot of people dressing up, and going to the party that the camp was holding to celebrate this stupid holiday. Nico didn't think twice about not going. He just wasn't going to. He didn't care what the others said, he refused to go. Not matter what.

A yawn escaped Nico's lips, and he slowly began drifting off. He hadn't been sleeping well, anxious for Halloween. He hoped nothing too bad would happen, though he knew that would be asking for too much. Before he knew it, Nico was deep in sleep, where he was the most vulnerable.

Jason Grace groaned as his alarm went off. He slapped the stupid thing, and stretched. He slowly got out of bed and began preparing for the day. He had come to Camp Half-Blood a few days early to help set up for the party they were holding to celebrate Halloween. He had gone out with Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo to get costumes. Hazel and Frank had decided to go a different day, dragging Nico along with them.

He happily threw a shirt on, and slid on a pair of jeans, making his way to eat breakfast with the rest of the campers.

Everyone was talking excitedly, be it about what they were going to the party as, or the party in general. Everyone was loud, as usual, unable to hold in their thoughts on who needed to go with who to the party, and all that good stuff. Jason flopped down at the Poseidon table, not caring about the rules. He sat next to Percy, who was already talking to Annabeth, who sat across from him.

"Perfect," Percy said, turning to Jason. "Annabeth thinks that me going as Aquaman is a dumb idea."

Jason looked to Annabeth, appalled. "Him not being able to go as Aquaman is like telling me I can't be Superman!"

"That's what I was saying!" Percy nearly shouted, though compared to the other conversations around them, it didn't sound anywhere near a shout.

Annabeth sighed. "But what am I supposed to be then?"

"You can be anything you want, I don't care. I want to be Aquaman!"

"Why don't you guys go as Batman and Catwoman?" Hazel asked, sitting down next to Annabeth, Frank sitting next to Hazel. "That would be cute."

"Or Mario and Peach," Frank put in.

"Mario and Peach actually never really did anything though," Leo informed the group, sliding on the bench next to Jason. "Be either Mario and Daisy, or Mario and Pauline, or whatever her name was... That would make more sense, at least. But why talk about it now? It's Halloween already, and we already bought our costumes. Why discuss this now?"

"Percy decided that he wanted to be Aquaman instead of that vampire he paid for."

"A vampire and a witch," Piper stated, sitting down on the other side of Annabeth. "I remember. Why change it now?" she asked, looking to Percy.

"Because vampires and witches don't mix," Leo answered, his mouth full.

"Doesn't matter. Percy, how about you just go as the vampire?" Piper asked, a hint of charmspeak in her voice.

Sighing in defeat, Percy nodded, and agreed to just go as the vampire.

"What's Death Breath going as?" Leo asked, looking to Frank and Hazel.

Frank looked to Hazel, waiting for her to answer.

Hazel swallowed what she had in her mouth and looked to Leo. "Nico didn't pick out a costume. He said Halloween was stupid, and that this party is a waste of time. He said he wasn't going."

"What?!" Percy and Jason asked, both standing up.

"Nico isn't allowed to skip this one," Percy said, getting out of the bench.

"He's going, whether he likes to or not," Jason added, following Percy to the Hades cabin.

Hazel sighed. "I didn't even sleep in the cabin last night. I hope Nico's okay."

"I'm sure he's fine... Just not excited about today," Piper said, smiling.

Percy pounded on the door to the Hades cabin, shouting for Nico to come out.

"Nico, come on out. We're going to get a costume for you, so come on!"

The door opened with a creak, revealing a shorter boy. Bags were under Nico's dark eyes, his black hair hanging in his face as if he had just gotten out of bed.

Percy grabbed Nico's wrist, and pulled him into the open. The pale boy looked scared for a brief moment before he elected to glare at the two before him. "What do you want?" he demanded, just wanting to go back inside and sleep; forget about today.

"We've come to take you out," Percy said.

"We're getting you a costume because you're going to the party tonight."

Nico shook his head. "No. Absolutely not."

"No can do. That's not going to happen."

"I refuse to make a fool of myself and go to this ridiculous party," Nico insisted.

"Nico, everyone is dressing up. It's not like we're getting you to dress up to be the only one," Jason told Nico

"You don't understand. Just leave me alone," Nico said. "I'm not going."

Percy and Jason stood there, watching as Nico locked himself in his cabin once more. They didn't understand why Nico didn't want to go so badly, but they were going to get him there.

The day passed by slowly for Nico. He had elected to fall back to sleep when Percy and Jason left, but he didn't sleep for long. He vaguely remembered what he was dreaming about, but he knew that he was terrified of whatever it was. He recalled waking up, screaming, but he didn't seem to have attracted anybody from outside. He was thankful for that. Nico just wasn't in the mood to deal with people.

He was sitting on his bed, a cold sweat dripping down the side of his face. Nico hugged his knees close, and he held his face on his knees. He felt like crying, but knew it wouldn't be wise until the party started. Everyone was going to the party, so no one would knock to disturb Nico, and ask questions.

Nico's thoughts were once again interrupted by a knocking at the door. He grumbled, but went to answer it anyway. He was surprised to see Hazel there. It was just her too. Frank wasn't there, nor were any of the others.

"Nico," she started off unsure of herself. "Won't you please come to the party? It's going to start soon... You don't even have to dress up! Just come."

As Nico opened his mouth to reply, but Hazel spoke again, cutting him off.

"For me?" she asked with a begging look in her eyes.

Nico couldn't stop himself from nodding and answering, "Fine. But I'll leave if it's stupid."

Hazel smiled widely, hugging Nico. He tensed up immediately, and regretted it too. Hazel stepped back, and smiled slightly at Nico. "I.. Sorry. I shouldn't have just... We'll come to get you when we're going. Be ready, okay?"

Nico nodded, and stood in the doorway, watching Hazel leave for just a moment before retreating back into the safe haven that was the Hades cabin.

Jason and Percy argued over who had the better costume, while Annabeth talked with Frank and Hazel, as Leo kept taking Piper's cat ears, and Piper untying the kid's eye patch in return. The group was working their way to the Hades cabin to make sure Nico was coming. They were surprised he had changed his mind, but they were glad of it.

Hazel approached the door ahead of the others, and knocked lightly. When there was no answer from the dark cabin, she tried again.

"Maybe he went on ahead," Frank said, not wanting Hazel to worry so much.

"No... He wouldn't. I don't think," Hazel responded. "I'll go make sure he's up and ready," she then said, opening the squeaky door, and going inside. The others waited outside, letting Hazel deal with her half brother.

"Nico?" Hazel called into the darkness, allowing her eyes to adjust. "Are you ready to go?"

There was still no answer. Hazel walked over to the beds, but both were empty, with no sign of anyone being in there for a while. Hazel walked around for a little while, occasionally calling for Nico, and keeping her eyes open for any signs of movement. She froze when she saw a light through a different door that she always guessed was to outside. But this one was different. This light was brighter than the light outside, so that meant that was the bathroom.

Hazel knocked on that door, and called for Nico again, but again, there was no answer. She grasped the handle, closing her eyes in case Nico was changing, and opened it.

When she opened her eyes, Hazel came face to face with Nico. He had taken out a pair of earbuds that were playing a loud song Hazel didn't recognize. Aside from that, Hazel noticed that Nico's face was covered in makeup or something to make him resemble a skeleton even more than he already did. Other than his face, Nico was dressed how he usually was, and at first, he just stood there, looking at Hazel.

"Is it time to go?" he asked, breaking a whole minute of silence.

"Y-yeah," Hazel managed to say, and the two siblings made there way outside.

Everyone stared at Nico when they came out, but it was just for a moment.

"Awesome mask dude!" Leo exclaimed, looking at Nico from the back of the group.

"That's not a mask," Annabeth informed Leo, nodding at Nico approvingly.

"Who cares, let's go!" Percy then shouted, leading the others to the party.

Music was booming, people were dancing, and the decorations were still standing. Percy and Jason immediately joined the others and began talking with various people from different cabins. Annabeth and Piper soon did the same, and Leo burst into the dancing area, his pirate hat flying off his head as his slid.

Nico didn't realize he was standing alone until he spotted Hazel and Frank talking to a couple from the Ares and Athena cabin respectively. Nico just looked around and observed all the costumes. There were a few superheros, some villains, and a lot of people dressed up as things Nico didn't even know. He felt out of place, like he knew he was, and he felt sick to his stomach. He knew that it wasn't because he was alone that he was sick, but because the dead tried their hardest on this day to come back and take over someone's life. He was glad Hazel wasn't affected by the dead, mainly for this day. He was happy that he was the only one who really had to suffer, and he would take that over anything, he figured. But now Nico was stuck at the party, sick, and out of practice. He wasn't exactly a social butterfly, so talking to someone just wasn't an option for him. He kept looking around, and saw things that brought up horrible memories. He looked away from those things, only to be greeted with more. He hated his life.

"Why're you standing by yourself here?" a voice asked from Nico's right.

Nico turned to the new guy, and took in his costume. The guy was dressed up as some sort of blond cartoon character. The guy's blue eyes bore into Nico's mind, as if trying to read him like a book. Nico put up his defenses, and prepared to tell the guy to get lost should things become too uncomfortable for Nico.

"Dude, nice makeup. Did you do it yourself?"

Nico, mistaking the guy's compliment for an insult replied, "So what if I did?"

The guy put his hands up. "I just thought it looked cool. I'm a little jealous. If I did that, I might look like a black Ditto encased my face." He laughed at his little joke that Nico didn't understand. Nico stood there, not amused by the guy at all. Said guy coughed and spoke again. "The name's Solace. Will Solace."

Nico looked this Will character up and down before returned the favor. "Nico di Angelo."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Mr. Angelo." He bowed as if greeting a lady, a gesture that Nico understood well.

"The feeling is not mutual," he said, glaring at Will.

Will's bright smile faltered, but he didn't leave. "So... Nico, you never did answer my question... Why are you alone?"

"I don't do crowds," Nico answered easily. "I've better things to do than to go dance with people who don't want me around."

Will cocked his head like a puppy. "Why wouldn't they want you out there? I bet you dance better than half of them anyway."

Nico didn't answer. He was too focused on the words that were being said from within himself. Nico silently told the spirits to buzz off, and for just a moment, they did. But they were quickly attacking him once more, their words harsher and growing louder by the minute. Nico grabbed the sides of his head, and fought the urge to shout at the voices to just leave him alone.

Will's eyes widened, and he took a step forward, asking Nico what was wrong. When the boy didn't answer, Will looked around for anyone who could help.

'You know why she died?'
'You know why you're weak?''You're useless.'
'No one love you.'
'You're not wanted.'

Nico had no choice but to listen to the voices. He couldn't stop them from saying what they did, and he suddenly felt so small. Nico crouched from his standing position, shaking his head. His mind took him back to times he would rather not remember. The voices of the spirits kept talking to him, unrelenting with their words. Several tried to take him over, though they were unsuccessful. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep the voices away, but Nico couldn't stop them.

Hazel turned to Frank, and laughed at the joke, but her laughter was cut short when she heard someone saying, "Hey, what's wrong?!" the guy sounded panicked, and when Hazel turned around, she saw the guy from the infirmary with her brother... Nico, who was on the ground, holding his head.

"Nico!" Hazel gasped, running to her brother and the guy with him.

When Hazel called for Nico, Jason was dragged out of the conversation he was in, and his eyes also landed on Nico's huddled form. He went to the scared boy was well. Percy and Annabeth, Piper, and Leo were all there faster than anyone could imagine. Hazel was hugging Nico close, whispering comforting words to him, as if no one was watching them.

"We should take him back to his cabin," Annabeth said.

Jason nodded and picked up the shaking body of Nico.

But Nico thrashed, and shouted, "Let go! Don't touch me!"

More eyes were then drawn to the group, so Leo, Percy, Frank, and Piper stood in a group, and pretended to make conversation to cover up the distressed Nico. Tears filled Nico's eyes, and he started crying. The others didn't know how to handle this. They were only accustomed to Nico's harsh, 'hey, leave me alone' attitude. But they weren't about to give up on him now either.

"We have to get him back to his cabin," Annabeth insisted. "If he struggles, we have to struggle harder."

Jason picked up Nico again, who started kicking, turning, doing anything he could to get out of Jason's arms, but nothing worked. Nico screeched, still crying. Jason managed to not drop the boy as they left, leaving Will there, wondering what just happened.

"I shouldn't have asked him to come," Hazel said, feeling the most guilty out of everyone there.

"You couldn't have known," Annabeth assured her, rubbing circles on Hazel's back.

"Yeah, we all kind of are responsible. We did leave him alone," Percy put in, making everyone else feel a lot more guilt than they should have.

"But what happened?" Piper asked, curious.

"I'm not sure," Hazel answered with a sniff. "I knew he never liked Halloween... He likes to be alone on Halloween..."

"Halloween is the day of demons," Leo said. "It's an old legend, but maybe it is partially true."

Jason nodded. "Yeah... Maybe the spirits of the Underworld are torturing him somehow..."

Frank remained silent, not sure how to respond to the situation.

The tension in the room was great, and was beginning to suffocate the people inside the cabin. Things started to calm down a little when the group discovered that while they were talking about things that went wrong, and things that might be happening, Nico had fallen into sleep. They hoped he would stay that way for a while. Decided that there was no point in all of them staying, Jason told the others to just go back to the party; that he would watch over Nico for the time being. The others hesitantly agreed, and one by one, they left to return to the Halloween party.

Jason sat there for a while, starting to doze off himself, but he was quickly jerked wide awake when there was a semi loud knock coming from the door.

Jason answered, surprised to see none other than Will Solace standing there.

"You should go to the party," Will told Jason. "I'll stay with Nico. Don't worry. I'm a doctor."

Jason was more than hesitant to leave Nico there with Will, though he knew that the other guy could be trusted.

"If you do anything to him, I will know, and I will hunt you down."

Will took a step back. "Warned," he said, cautiously watching as Jason stalked out of the cabin.

Will released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and looked to the sleeping Nico on the bed. He looked peaceful enough for the time being, though no one could possibly tell how long that would last. Will noticed how skinny Nico was, how the makeup was smeared, getting all over. Not that Nico could care at that moment. There were far more pressing things to attend to right then. Will had to make sure Nico was okay, awake, or asleep. At first, Will didn't know what to do, but that was quickly remedied when Nico bolted straight up, gasping for breath, nearly shouting, "Bianca!" though it came out strangled. But Will still managed to catch the name. He didn't know who that was, but he knew that if he asked, he would be overstepping his boundaries.

Nico hadn't noticed Will standing there as he folded into himself and began crying. He kept muttering, "Shut up, go away. Please, Father, make them go away." It broke Will to hear those words come out of the boy's mouth. He decided enough was enough, and moved towards the bed, sitting himself down carefully. Will reached out a tanned arm to the pale boy, and placed it on Nico's shoulder. The other barely reacted, mumbling a "Please leave, Hazel."

"I don't know who Hazel is, but I'm not her," Will said, though he almost regretted it.

Nico's head shot up, his red rimmed eyes staring at him with pure terror. "What are you doing here?" Nico asked, trying to sound demanding, but his voice was hoarse.

"Watching over you for the others. You're worrying them, you know."

"I don't care," Nico lied to Will, laying back down, and rolling to face the way.

"Well, you might not care, but I do. That's being a crappy friend, you know."

"They only put up with me for Hazel," Nico whispered to himself, not wanting Will to hear.

"Regardless," Will continued on, not hearing Nico's words, "I will look over it because I think you do care. Something happened while I was talking to you... It's not good to keep things like that inside, you know. Should I go find this Hazel person so she can talk to you?"

"No. Don't bother her. She wouldn't understand anyway."

"Is there anyone who would?"

"...No..." Nico thought about it for a moment. Percy would be the only one, he figured... Annabeth, he supposed to, but he didn't want to talk to anyone right then, so he just said no one. No one else came to mind.

"Well then, I'll do my best to," Will said, staring at Nico expectantly.

Nico didn't turn to him. He only sighed and told Will to go away.

"I'll leave if you tell me what's wrong," Will attempted to bargain with Nico, though it didn't work.

"No. You'll leave now. You're not even supposed to be in here anyway."

"Nope. Don't care. You'll tell me now, or I'll be staying the night."

"I don't feel obliged to tell you."

"You're a little brat, you know that?"

"I get that a lot, yes. If you don't want to put up with it, leave."

"No, no, no. I know what you're doing. You're acting like this so you can deal with this yourself. It's not healthy, you know that, right?"

Nico tried his best to keep his anger to himself, but he knew he'd blow if Will didn't stop soon. "I don't care. I've done it before, and it hasn't killed me yet. I'm fine, so why don't you just leave."

"Nico, you need to tell someone. I get a feeling you've kept things to yourself for far too long."

"I don't care. Go away."

"Nico, I can empathize with you, not wanting to talk, but you really shou-"

"You can't empathize!" Nico shouted, turning to Will. "No one can! No one else knows what it's like to lose your mother and sister! No one knows what it's like to go through Tartarus!"

"Percy and Ann-"

"ALONE," Nico added, getting up and out of bed. "Don't tell me that you can understand because no one can! Don't tell me that you know what it's like to have the dead whisper in your head on Halloween because you don't know. They tell me all the things I already know, but don't want to hear. I hate myself because I make everything harder for everyone else! So just leave. Before you get in too deep."

Will didn't move. He had succeeded in getting Nico to talk, but he felt so guilty now. Nico was crying again, whether he realized it or not, and the sadness and pain in his eyes and body language was just so painful to look at. Will hadn't realized just how much Nico was holding in until that was said, and he was willing to bet that wasn't even half of it all... though they were big parts.

When Will saw him standing at the party, he was so glad he had an excuse to talk to him, though it ended up like this. There was no used wondering how it would have been different, but Will was seriously thinking about how it could have gone.

"Nico," Will started, looking at the boy, standing up as well. "You know... It's not good to hold it in... If you have to cry..."

"Don't tell me to cry. Don't tell me to beg. Just shut up!" Nico covered his ears again, shaking his head.

Will reached out for Nico again, this time, grabbing his wrists and not releasing them. Will pulled them away from Nico's ears, and kept them close to him. "Nico, don't listen to them. Listen to me; listen to my voice. You are not a monster. You are not weak. Nico, you aren't what they're telling you you are."

Nico looked up, tears staining his face. "I can't," Nico said. "I can't do this. I can't win this time..."

"Nico, you're not weak. You can win this year too. Don't worry about anything else. Just focus on me. Can you hear my voice?"

Nico nodded. "I... I can hear..."

"Good... You can beat them. Just calm down and relax. You've done this before... So you can do this again."

Nico relaxed, and Will wrapped his arms around him comfortingly. "Atta boy. Just do that, and try to get some sleep. Okay?"

Nico nearly fell into Will's embrace, crying into his shoulder, greedily breathing in deep breaths. "I'm sorry..." he whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You're fine... You're fine... Just relax."

Nico nodded, obeying Will's words.

Will brought Nico to the bed, and laid him down again. He got up to leave, but Nico grabbed his wrist. "Please don't leave," he said, face turned away from Will.

Will smiled. "Of course I will," he told Nico, and sat down on the bed, rubbing Nico's back, hoping to help him fall asleep and just get some rest.

Will woke up to a light entering the cabin from the door. Hazel stood in the doorway, looking at Will.

"Did you stay here all night?" she asked a little louder than she intended.

Will yawned, but nodded. He felt something pressed up against him, and immediately looked to see what it was. He had forgotten how he had fallen asleep, and relaxed when he saw Nico there, still asleep.

"I'm sorry... Nico doesn't... He's not a people person... He probably caused some issues..."

Will shook his head. "It's his best quality."

Hazel tilted her head. "I don't know how that is.. But okay... It's time for dinner... I'll let you decide if it's better to leave him sleep or wake him to eat... You work in the infirmary, right?"

Will nodded. "You can go eat. I'll take care of Nico."

Hazel smiled. "Thanks, Will."

Will nodded, and she was gone. Will sat there for a moment longer before he decided to wake up Nico. Will didn't know how to go about waking Nico, but he figured he'd give it a shot.

"Nico, hey... Nico, wake up..." Will shook his shoulder gently. He didn't know if it was working, but it was soon confirmed when Nico groaned, and rolled over. "Nico, it's time for breakfast. Wake up."

Nico opened an eye, closed it, then opened both eyes, sitting up slowly, as if he were in pain.

"Did you sleep well?"

Nico nodded. "I think... It was the best sleep I've had..." he yawned, "..in a long time."

Will smiled. "I'm glad. And hey, about last night..."

"Please... I don't want to talk about it."

"That's not what I was getting at," Will quickly said. "I just wanted to tell you... If you need anything, I'll listen. I'm not doing it for anyone but myself... Promise you'll come to me if you need to get something off your chest?"

Nico didn't answer right away, and at first, Will thought that he wasn't going to say anything at all.

"Will... Thank you," Nico eventually said. "But I don't think I'll be able to tell anyone anything for a while."

"I get it. Just come to me though when that time comes. Okay?"

Nico nodded.

"Those spirits leaving you alone?"

Nico nodded again.

Will also nodded, and put a hand on Nico's shoulder, which made the shorter one look up. "I'll be there when you need me. I promise."