Lost in the darkness
Inspired by the song Lost by Within temptation
Nico may have survived Tartarus but parts of it still cling to him causing the most painful of memories and dreams to collide. How do you escape from a nightmare that shows you what you want most? How do you save what has long been lost? Nico is trapped in his own mind with the claws of Phobetor holding him tight.
Hey guys, I looked up Greek gods of Nightmares and found Phobetor a son of Nyx and thought Hey this could work! So here we are. The worst nightmares are the ones that really hurt you where it counts so I brought Bianca into this SORRY SORRY SORRY!
Sort of inspired by the continuing nightmare I had that I couldn't get away from and ended up spending a few more hours in bed than I had planned.
Chapter 1 Voices out of reach
Nico had been having a hard time sleeping lately though when he woke up the only thing he could remember were distant voices that he couldn't place, although one was familiar the other wasn't but it felt almost sinister and had him waking up in a cold seat feeling like if he went back to sleep he wouldn't wake up.
Nico checked the time and saw that it was morning anyway so he figured he should just get up and go to the dinning pavilion for breakfast. He got out of bed and got dressed then went to the bathroom to wash his face with cold water to help him wake up and to hopefully lessen the dark circles under his eyes after another restless sleep. Finally he left his cabin and headed off to breakfast.
Nico grabbed a plate and got himself something to eat then offered a portion of it to his dad as usual before going to his seat conveniently located at the Apollo table next to Will.
As he sat down Will turned to greet him but his smile faded as he saw how exhausted the son of Hades looked. "Hey Nico are you okay? Are you getting enough sleep?" Leave it to Will to pick up on that first thing.
Nico was sure the healer would notice if a single fingernail was chipped or something ludicrous like that but what could you do when you were dating the number one healer at camp?
Nico shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, "It's no big deal, I just had a bad dream is all." he said as dismissively as he could as he took a bite of toast hoping Will would drop the subject, but of course he pressed on as usual.
"What kind of bad dream?" Will was looking at him with concern now, everyone knew that in the life of a demigod dreams tended to hold meaning so a bad dream was hardly ever nothing.
Nico cut into his eggs not meeting Will's eyes as he pretended to focus on his food. "I don't really remember it too well. I thought I heard voices but I couldn't place them by the time I woke up." he said not too thrilled to be discussing it over breakfast, but still glad Will cared and wanted to know what was bothering him.
Will seemed to be running what Nico told him through his mind and Nico took the opportunity to continue eating and listen as the rest of the table sat and talked with each other while eating, everyone else seemed so carefree this morning that Nico didn't want to bring them down with talk of nightmares and ominous voices so early in the day.
As breakfast wound to a close Will dismissed his table to go and carry on with that day's activities, meanwhile he told Nico to stick around. Once everyone else had cleared off Will looked at Nico with a serious expression. "I think we should go to the Hypnos cabin and see if they have any insight on this dream."
Nico knew better by now than to argue when Will got his mind set on something, especially if it was connected to his wellbeing. Nico sighed quietly but agreed. "Okay fine, but I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this."
Will took his hand and started leading him towards the Hypnos cabin. "The big deal Nico is that I'm worried about you, how long have these dreams been going on exactly? I know the signs of sleep deprivation and that is not just from one night of little sleep." he gestured to the bags and dark circles under Nico's eyes and the way he slumped liked he didn't have the energy to stand or walk straight.
Nico should have known Will would pick up on that too. "A few days." he mumbled not wanting Will to hear him but it seemed that he had anyway because they came to a sudden stop in the middle of the Green with Will turning towards him with an indignant look on his face.
"Excuse me? A few days? As in possibly three or more? Nico why are we only talking about this now?!"
Nico hated when Will got this way but he knew he was only upset because he cared. "I have known that it has bad dreams preventing me from being able to sleep enough for about a couple of nights now, I just never remembered anything from them by the time I woke up. Until today that is, but all I could remember was the traces of voices like I told you about, nothing else."
The look in Will's eyes softened and he pulled Nico into a warm hug. "Oh Nico, If you were having bad dreams you should have said something sooner rather than going through them over and over again trying to remember something from them."
Nico nodded and pulled away before they continued on towards the Hypnos cabin.
When they got there it was the same as usual, the occupants of the cabin snoozing away under comforters and a lulling atmosphere that made you drowsy the moment you walk through the door.
The head councillor of the Hypnos cabin, Clovis sat in his favorite chair in front of the warm fireplace that had a branch from the underworld that dripped water from the river Lethe into a basin below. Nico always wanted to cringe whenever he saw it; he had his own experiences with that river and would rather not have a repeat in this lifetime or any that followed.
As they stepped forward into the room Clovis yawned and greeted them in a sleepy voice. "Hey you guys," another yawn, "what brings you here?"
The two of them looked at each other and Will decided to take the lead on this one since it was his idea to have come here.
"Nico's been having reoccurring nightmares lately," he shot a look at Nico letting him know that he still wasn't too happy with him for not saying anything about it before. "and we were wondering if you could do something to help."
Clovis rubbed his eyes sleepily and nodded. "I'll see what I can do, what were these nightmares about?"
Will let Nico handle this one so he explained the situation. "I wasn't really sure until today but even then all I can remember are voices, but I can't figure out who they belong to. Everything is so foggy and I feel like I'm wading through mud or something or have cotton in my ears and throat so I can't hear or speak very well." he explained as a little more came back to him the harder he tried to remember the dream.
"Were you looking for something? You said it was like you were wading through mud, were you trying to reach the source of the voices?" Clovis asked before he yawned yet again and laid his head on the armrest of his chair.
Nico scrunched up his brow trying to remember if that was why he had chosen to use those particular words but everything was hazy like he had said. "I don't really remember, I just know something had me feeling really terrified because I kept waking up in a cold sweat trying to calm my breathing." Nico noticed Will giving him that concerned look again as he heard Nico recount more of the dream, even if it wasn't much more than before.
"Hmm… I'm thinking we might have to take a look into this dream and see what might be causing it, would that be okay?"
That's what Nico liked about Clovis, despite his habit of dragging others into his dreamscape from time to time, he always asked for permission before entering anyone else's. "If you think it would help then I guess it would be worth a try." Nico said, he was getting really tired –at this point literally- of having these nightmares that he couldn't remember and losing sleep because of them. But most of all he wanted to know whose voices he had been hearing in his sleep over and over again.
"Okay, I think it would be best if you went back to your cabin to try and fall back asleep, Will can go too to make sure that your doing okay." Clovis said as he saw Will look up at the mention of Nico going back to sleep. "And I'll find you in the dreamscape once you're there."
Nico and Will both nodded and agreed then headed back to the Hades cabin to see if this would really work.
Well this turned out longer than I had thought it would so here's part one without really anything to do with the song that I mentioned but we'll get there soon enough. Also I hate myself for needing to yawn whenever I so much as read the stupid word.
Please let me know what you think!
