Nico tripped over tree roots and snagged on branches as he tore through the forest. He vaguely heard Percy's voice behind him, shouting his name, but instead of stopping, Nico sped up.The presence of the dining pavilion pressed behind him, threatening to suffocate him with his sister's death, the truth of his feelings, and proof of his powers and parentage, if he dared to stop for one second. He pushed himself to go faster, faster, to get away.
Tirades of emotions battled and crashed against each other and him, the residue power of ripping open the ground egging them on. Nico has long given up on holding back his tears now, if it meant any relief from the pounding pressure in his head. The tears blurred his vision, making everything seem surreal as the scenery distorted into a kaleidoscope of colors, then abruptly clearing when the tear drop fell out of his eye, before rapidly blurring up again. His eyes burned with the strain of creating so much fluids. Blood rushed in Nico's ears, a new burst of adrenaline pulsed through his body, Nico struggled to think.
Percy would catch up eventually. Nico needed a place to hide. As if on cue, he stumbled into a small clearing with a pile of boulders in the middle. Zeus's fist, the name floated to the surface of his mind idly through the murk. There was a space between two boulders, Nico can see It was empty in the middle. The space should be big enough for Nico to squeeze through.
"Nico!" someone shouted.
It sounded like Annabeth. Great, now Percy told Camp! The search parties won't be far behind. Without another moment of hesitation, Nico slipped inside the ring of stone. But suddenly, he slipped. Where solid ground should be, there seemed to be a hole. Nico lost his balance and tumbled in, darkness swallowing him.
He landed a panicked, screaming pile on rough ground. Nico let loose a colorful string of curses in Italian. The war in his mind temporarily ceased, dominated by fear. Nico chocked down a whimper, everything hurts, but at least nothing felt broken. There was absolutely zero light down here. Nico waited for his eyes to adjust, but they never did. The world stayed pitch black. A hole, or opening, or anything connecting to the outside world where Nico could've possibly fell in, seemed non-existent. Nico stood up and tentatively felt around, judging from the two walls of rough, uneven stone parallel with each other and the lack of a third or fourth wall, he was in some sort of underground tunnel. He reached up, the ceiling can be reached if he stood on the tip of his toes, but all he felt was a rough expanse of rock, with occasional cracks, but still no sign of where he fell through.
Fear was blowing up to a full out panic. Nico resisted to urge to scream, not wanting to attract unwanted, unfriendly attention. Who knows what kind of nasty monsters were lurking, capable of killing him without a single sound. He had to get out of here, wherever "here" is, as soon as possible. He wiped his tears and stood.
"As soon as possible" wasn't very soon, at all. Nico searched for an exit for a few more minutes, when nothing useful was discovered, he decided to move. A moving target is harder to track than a stationary one, and Nico had no desires of dying yet. Risking running into monsters was way better than staying there and waiting for something to come and eat him. Besides, if this is a tunnel, somebody had to have dug it, meaning an exit. Nico kept one hand on the left wall, and carefully ventured into the darkness.
The tunnel was very keen on proving him wrong. It had to been, what, an hour? But still it stretched on and on into the darkness, showing no sign of Nico reaching the end. He couldn't help but feel as if he's walking in the same spot, even if he could clearly feel the rough stone sliding along his fingers. Time stretched on forever, not unlike the tunnel. The darkness and the lack of progress nibbled at Nico's mind, he hadn't encountered any tangible dangers yet, but right now he would almost appreciate a hellhound, if just to break the maddening monotone. His nerves were wracked and frayed, Nico is tempted to let down his guard, but knew better to do so in a ominous, magical tunnel. Making sure to be as aware as he could be, Nico marched on.
Nico is starting to lose track of time. The tension made his body thrum like a live wire, every muscle tense and ready to spring, jumping at the slighted sound. Somewhere he had gone from being alert to being skittish and, quite frankly, frightened. Nico's always been an active child, but now he is down right jumpy. The darkness seemed to be gaining in density, Nico felt as if any minute now it would take substance, and suffocate him. The hairs on the back of Nico's neck constantly prickled, in that way it does when one's being watched, so profoundly, it felt like needles jabbing at his back. No matter how he tried to reason with himself, Nico still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, as if the tunnel itself was alive and sneering at his futile attempt at escape. The crunching of his shoes against the hard ground was starting to sound more and more like whispers. His legs felt sore from the constant walking, but Nico didn't stop. Didn't dare sto- SNAP! Nico stifled a scream and jumped away from the source of the sound, accidentally ramming into the left wall, before realizing it was just a twig. His legs trembled and his head hummed, his heart attempting murder against his rib cage. The dark haired boy didn't want to admit it, maybe for some notion that avoiding it made it somehow less real, but this place is slowly eating away his sanity.
The sense of time is a distant thing to Nico, like the world above. Fatigue, hunger, and the day's events are taking their merciless toil on the boy's body, despite his mind's protests. Nico's semses are slowly shutting down, save for the excruciating burning, most prominent in his stomach, left arm and legs. A heavy blanket of exhaustion clouded his senses, his balance and direction completely dependent of the wall. Everything is too hot and too cold at once. His feet were too big and too heavy, constantly tripping over one another. Why am I walking again? Nico thought deliriously. Oh, right, because it's dangerous to stop, because I need to get out. The wall scraped his hand raw, but could bearly feel it. Every few seconds Nico consciously reminded himself to breathe. At some point his eyes drifted shut, it made no difference anyways, it's too dark. The pain intensified until it's all Nico could focus on. He gritted his teeth, but soon relaxed them to gasp sharply, he hadn't realized he was holding his breath. Nico shook his head. He also didn't realize he had stopped, and sunken to his knees. Walking takes so much energy...No one can see you anyways... Without getting up, Nico crawled on, still keeping one hand on the wall.
Nico never thought he would be deliriously happy because of a nap. He also never thought he was capable of falling asleep on cold, hard, rough ground, with a ravenous stomach, surrounded by the feeling of danger and malice. But right now, he would've given anything, anything, for that exact thing. He's body shuffled forward on autopilot, and his mind wondered. It drifted, swayed, and scattered, giving Nico the false sensation of swinging and spinning even as he leaned on the wall. Please...please...please... He unconsciously prayed, not even sure what he's asking. Anything, as long as it ceased the pain. The tunnel whispered, then take a nap...just lie down for a little while...aren't you exhausted...?
"No..." Nico mumbled, more to himself. "No...Keep going..."
Give in...
"No...No...! I'm not...giving up!" Nico's voice was scratchy in his throat, and the sentence wasted precious breath. Who was he even talking to?
Everything hurts, everything is shaking. With horror, Nico realized he wouldn't be able to go another inch. There was a devastating finalness to that thought, somehow, he knew, this nap would be his last, and would be his forever. All that...What for? Nico thought bitterly. His eyes heated up and filled, slowly, with fresh tears that threatened to break the dam of his closed eyelids. With a shuddering sigh, Nico open his eyes to allow the tears to fall. He expected pure darkness, instead, a phantom light shone somewhere to his right. He would've started if he have the energy. Nico blinked the tears from his eyes, and instead of dissapearing, the light came into sharper focus, forming the shape of a man. He's lower half was misty smoke, and he wore a crown. Nico could see the faintly illuminated wall behind him. A ghost. He thought, Well, here goes the hope that I'll at least die sane. But at least I'll be with Bianca now.
"Nico." the ghost said.
Nico promptly passed out in response.
A/N: Happy New Year! I know, not yet, but stilllllll. Please tell me any spelling, grammar, or suggestions of changes, 'cause I typed the majority of this in the middle of the night, which was not good for my health or sanity considering what I'm writing. I'm kidding. But the middle of the night part is true, so is the grammar part. I should also probably rethink my choices. I was hoping for faster updates since it's WINTER BREAK WOOHOO, buuuuut, expectation VS reality...I'm sorry. Anyways, consider this my New Year gift to you, since last chapter was the Christmas gift. Or not, 'cause I'm basically asking you to be my editor, and editing is horribly annoying. Oh well. Happy New Year!