Nico woke up in a cold sweat, again. Damn, every time! he thought. The dreams never left him alone. Ever since the war was over, since he'd been back from Tartarus, he couldn't control his nightmares.

Usually, he had dreams about Tartarus (or Percy, though he won't admit it). But this one was different, his face stayed emotionless, but a single tear leaked from his eye. He quickly wiped it away, refusing to cry.

The nightmare had been about Bianca, it had seemed like a memory. In this dream Bianca had never died, she'd safely returned from the quest, Percy had kept his promise. It was so odd, yet everything about the dream had seemed right; meant to be. It was the future they could've had.

In the dream, Nico had been healthier, happier. He'd been without pain and darkness. He argued with Bianca that technically he was now older because now that she was a hunter and couldn't age, but Bianca had simply said he'd always be her little brother... He sat up; Another tear fought it's way through and streamed down his cheek.

Nico sometimes wished he could just sleep through life; without the dreams. That'd be so much easier, he lay there thinking. Nico sat in bed awhile, debating whether he would get out of bed at all today...

He sighed and stood up in his bed, he'd chosen the harder path, just like every day. And he knew, he only chose this every day because of Percy. And he hated himself for it. The cold sheets rubbed against his legs. Fortunately, Nico was used to the cold, in fact ever since his trip to the blistering Tartarus he found the cold a bit comforting. He stopped the horrifying thought in it's tracks. He refused to think about that place.

Nico slid his legs off the side of the bed, getting dressed in a black shirt and pants. He grabbed his sword, forgetting his jacket seeing no need, the jacket never warmed him anyway, nothing seemed to...

He went to the mess hall, grabbing a plate. Sitting down at the Hades table, he sat alone. Just like in his cabin, and just like everything else Nico had or did; alone. He'd never admit it to himself or anyone else but calling Nico lonely was just the tip of the iceberg.

He looked over at The 7's table, or at least that's what he called it. Even only 5 of the 7 from the quest were here, they all (and Leo's girlfriend Calypso) sat at one of the head tables. He didn't see Percy yet. He looked down the hill, and that's the sight he was gifted to every day, seeing his crush holding hands with Annabeth Chase, Percy walking Annabeth up to the mess hall, kissing her.

Ugh, he thought, why do I torture myself like this? Then a single thought answered his question, 'Because he's worth it '. He grimaced, ''I'm pathetic.'' he whispered, knowing no one would hear him, or even bother to give him a glance.

On his plate, he had two crackers and a couple grapes. Wow, I must be hungry, he thought as slowly all the food on the plate disappeared. The son of Hades didn't eat much, he had no appetite- even before Tartarus, though Tartarus had just made it that much worse...

Nico straightened, he felt eyes on his back. He glanced over his shoulder to see none other than Percy staring at him, he quickly looked away before Percy could see he'd been caught. Nico listened, it was dead silent at The 7's table, most of them were already gone, Percy, Jason, and Annabeth were all that was left. Annabeth had gone to return her plate. Nico never felt Percy's eyes leave him until he heard a squeal from Annabeth, he looked back.

Annabeth had wrapped her arms around Percy, kissing him once, before saying goodbye and heading off to her first class. He didn't know why Percy had been looking so intensely at him, but he should've known Annabeth would take Percy's attention. She always seemed to occupy him, Nico had a suspicion she was fighting for all his attention, maybe trying to make up for all that lost time they'd had when Hera had taken Percy's memory and sent him to Camp Jupiter.

He figured she was scared they wouldn't have enough time together, for Annabeth's fatal flaw is she thinks she can do anything better than everyone, even the gods, specifically build a brand new world exactly as she wanted, a world where her dad and Athena were happily together, a world where Luke never became evil or died, a world where she had Percy all to herself...

The world the sirens had shown her in the sea of monsters, only now Percy was in it. All of it...