His sea-green eyes were full of hate and rage. "Why did she fall, Nico? Why couldn't you pull both of us up?"
The son of Hades flinched. "That's not what happened, I swear-"
"That's not true! We were about to make it – why did she let go? I felt it, Nico. She let go of my hand. Willingly." Percy turned away. "Her eyes – they looked dead. You must have done something. What did you do?"
"I-I didn't mean to-! I just-"
I didn't want to lose you. Nico thought miserably, knowing he'd never be able to say the words aloud.
He hadn't meant to do it. Before he'd known what he was doing, he had willed the daughter of Athena – wise, strong Annabeth – to simply let go, to fall alone. And she had.
Nico had always dreamed of getting Percy to himself.
But not this way.
The nightmare woke him at three AM.
Nico di Angelo jackknifed into a sitting position. His breathing was shallow and he was sure that his heart was going double-time. He felt feverish, and when he brought his hand up to his forehead Nico realized he was shaking uncontrollably.
It's not real, he struggled to remind himself. That's not what happened. They're safe, they're both safe. Percy's safe. That's all that matters.
That dream alone was more terrifying to Nico than any of the other ones he'd experienced. Hyper-realistic and sometimes prophetic nightmares were a common plague for demigods, but this dream was different. Most of the time, the dream changed. Sometimes it played out exactly as it had weeks ago - with the two falling together -, sometimes with a twist. On a few occasions, Nico had tried to pull them up and failed; he fell too, but for some reason he never survived the fall into Tartarus the second time. He watched Percy and Annabeth mourn his broken body as a ghost, but they soon left him. When he followed them, they never mentioned or cried over him.
And sometimes he'd experience that dream.
That was what scared him so much about this dream. Sometimes he didn't get what he wanted, sometimes he did - and both of those consequences made Nico hate himself even more.
A single tear fell from his eye, and Nico hastily wiped it away. He didn't want anyone else to try and decipher his emotions – not that anyone tried, really – and didn't want to make Hazel worry. She had enough strain on her shoulders as it was. They all did; the son of Hades was surprised that no one had cracked under the pressure yet, especially with their two oldest gone.
Nico sighed and rolled over. He really didn't want to think about those two right now (He tried not to think about them much at all, which was pretty difficult in light of the circumstances) but sleep seemed unattainable. Nevertheless, the son of Hades reluctantly closed his eyes.
You know that eventually, you'll have to tell him. a small voice in the back of his mind reminded him. It sounded faintly like Bianca's. You can't put this off forever.
I damn well can try. Nico countered.