Hey guys new story but this is only my second full fanfic, I'm not going to give up on my other story between Nico and Rose, but I might be doing this at the same time, anyways hope you enjoy. :P

I have always hated the stars. Every night I see them glittering in the inky blackness of the sky, free, and I envy them. They are free from having to carry the burdens of pain and suffering that engulf there every waking hour. They have never had to lay their head down at night and have their dreams filled with horrific memories of their friends and family being tortured and killed in front of their eyes and being unable to do anything to help them. Their ears are not filled with the screams of ones they love and their bodies do not carry the scars of endless hours of torture. Stars are free and they are able to live out their lives in peace… but I…I am not so lucky. My name is Nico Di Angelo and this is the story of what happened after Percy Jackson was killed by Kronos.

(0-0-0-0-0-0-0)

My feet pound on the pavement of the broken city streets. My breath comes out hard and fast as I sprint towards the safety of the forest. I will never let Kronos catch me, I will never go back to the horrors of his sick and twisted prison for rouge demigods ever again.

The tree line is only a hundred yards in front of me when I feel a whip wrap around my left ankle. I slam onto the ground and choke back a scream as I feel hydra acid sear into my flesh. I hear the cackling of an empousa behind me and I pull out my stygian iron sword form its sheath. I quickly sever the cord and it falls from my ankle, but not before it did some serious damage. My whole left leg feels like it's on fire but I grit my teeth and try to keep running despite the pain. Ninety yards until the forest.

I hobble along as fast as I can but I'm not fast enough. The empousa rakes her claws across my back and I fall to the ground once again. She hisses at me like a snake that has just caught her prey.

"At last, I have finally caught the elusive Nico Di Angelo." She smiles at me with her fangs sharp as needles poking out over her lips.

"I wouldn't be so sure."

My body is engulfed in shadows and I fall through the ground into darkness with the empousa hissing in frustration and anger behind me.

Once I'm out of the shadows the adrenaline that was pumping though my body vanishes and I feel the full force of the injuries. The claw marks sting badly but thankfully they aren't as deep as I first thought. My leg was another story.

I slowly lift the pant leg of my black jeans so I can see the swollen, red and green mess that used to be my left ankle. The whip left a deep gash around my entire ankle that was now bleeding profusely and a horrific green and yellow puss leaks out of the infected wound. My brain didn't register the pain but I knew that I had to get back to my makeshift camp before the poison got any farther into my blood stream.

I try standing up and walking but my ankle gives under my weight and I fall to the forest floor cursing Kronos. "Well I guess shadow traveling it is." I say bitterly and I begin to fall into the shadows once again.

(0-0-0-0-0-0-0)

My camp is still exactly how I left it. Materials for a fire plied up in the center with my duffle bag lying under a tree unopened. I collapse under the tree from exhaustion. My eyelids are heavy but I begin to unpack what little nectar I have from my pack. I decide to dig into my meager supply and take a sip of the liquid. The taste of my mother's home made hot chocolate fills my mouth and I sigh with pleasure.

My ankle and back are healed within seconds and I begin to make my camp for the night.

I keep the fire small so as not to attract any unwanted visitors. My Aviator jacket and black T-shirt are torn in the back form the empousa claws and I shiver as the cold wind of the night finds its way to my skin. I rub my hands together near the fire trying to get some feeling back into my fingers. As the sun finally went behind the trees I stamp out my fire and climb up swiftly into one of the tallest evergreens with my duffle bag in tow. I find a crisscross of branches and limbs that are sturdy enough to hold my weight and roll out my sleeping bag.

I look up in between the branches above me and see the stars as they begin to shine. I can only bare to look at them for more than a few seconds before I have to turn my head away. I close my eyes as the sound of monsters roaming the forest and the distant memory of evil laughter and horrific screams fill my ears.

0-0-0-0-0-0

My dreams are far worse than the reality that I live in. Every night I see my friends and family being tortured and killed in front of my eyes as my feet and wrists are shackled to the floor. Biannca is always the first to show up and to be killed, she screams my name over and over again asking me to save her, to help her, and to put her out of her misery.

They go through everyone like this, bringing in one after another each one dying a more horrific death then the last. By the time they make it to the final one I am writhing on the floor in agony pleading for them to stop and put an end to my suffering.

The last one they carry in is Percy Jackson. They throw him on his knees in front of me and celestial bronze chains wrap around his wrists and ankles. Kronos stands behind him, scythe in hand. Percy, in all of this, is grinning. "It doesn't matter what you do to me, you'll never have the satisfaction of breaking me." He said defiantly.

Kronos says nothing to him, but lowers his scythe to where Percy kneels. He drags the blade up and down Percy's chest, slowly, making Percy scream in pain. He continued on like this for what seemed like forever, prolonging Percy's torture for his amusement. As he finished he pulled the scythe away to reveal his gruesome masterpiece; the words "Young Hero" scrawled across Percy's chest.

I retch on the floor beside me as Percy kneels there. His boy is shaking and his eyes have a distant look in them. A thin line of blood runs down his cheek and joins up with a larger stream of crimson that leaks onto the floor. Kronos walks around Percy like a vulture circling his prey. "My how the mighty have fallen." He laughs.

I pull hopelessly at the shackles around my wrists as Kronos ran his scythe down the length of Percy's bare arm drawing more and more blood. Percy cries out in pain and anger but I can do nothing to help him, or any of my other friends for that matter.

Percy looks at me. "Why aren't you doing anything?" he asked angrily. The shackles around my limbs vanish and I try to run towards him but a force begins to pull me backwards. My own shadow travel portal is pulling me back. I fight the swirling vortex of darkness with all my strength but I keep sliding backwards.

Kronos laughs. "Yes little Nico, try to save the only friend that you have left." I push forward as hard as I can but I only slide back farther.

Kronos now has his scythe behind Percy's back and is grinning evilly at me. "To bad, you could have saved him, heck you could have saved them all but you chose to run." He lowers his head down to Percy's ear and chuckles. "Any last words Hero of Olympus?" He asks putting as much sarcasm into the last few words as possible.

Percy turns to Kronos with a pained expression. "Yeah…" he spits blood into Kronos' face causing the Titan to roar in anger. "… Screw you."

The last thing I see before the darkness overtakes me is Kronos shoving his scythe through Percy's back and puncturing his heart. Blood splatters everywhere and Percy falls lifeless to the floor, his sea green still open.

Yeah kind of creepy but hey this is Kronos we're talking about; anyways please read and review, I enjoy constructive criticism but please no flames! not that I have anything against gay or anything but Nico is straight in this story because... well you'll see. Love y'all :P