Warning: Blood, nightmares and fluff in this chapter!!

Nico's P.O.V

Will and I had tucked Kate into bed. She had used too much power and she passed out before we left the flashback. Her face was peaceful as she slept, free from the sadness of the day.

I was tired too, so I curled up at the end of her bed. Will sat cross legged on the floor. He didn't smile when he thought no one was looking. He had a kind of peaceful expression on his face. A slight smile graced his lips and his eyes shone.

My eyes felt heavy, but I didn't want to sleep. Sleep, for me, was not an escape, but a prison. But I couldn't fight my oncoming exhaustion.

I fell asleep looking at Will's face.

I opened my eyes, but I didn't see Kate's bedroom. Instead, I saw nothing except a red wasteland. A foul smelling fog filled the air. I was here again. Tartarus.

There were no words to describe this place, except maybe terror. The fog began to choke my lungs. Then I heard her. Akhlys. Her maniacal laughter filled my ears.

"You're perfect, Son of Hades! So full of sadness."

Then, before I could react, the monsters arrived. I reached for my sword but it wasn't there. I was unarmed. The monsters swarmed toward me, a jumble of claws, teeth, wings and limbs. But instead of going straight to my face, the dropped something ,or someone, or the ground.

It was Will. He had grime on his beautiful face. His hair was stiff with blood. I tried to run forward to hold him, but my feet were glued to the ground. Will's eyes blinked open and widened when he saw me.

"Nico, please. Nico! Nico! I love you! Please help me!"

But I couldn't move. I tried to open my mouth to tell him I loved him, but I was paralyzed. Will coughed feebly. He went still and whispered my name one last time.

His eyes closed.

My eyes flew open. My breathing accelerated. The darkness seemed to press around, almost suffocating me. At these times I would usually resort to cutting, but I had no knife. I had never felt so alone, like I was locked in a prison of hurt. I tried to escape by closing my eyes, but that just made me relive the last few seconds of my dream.

The blue eyes closing again and again. The sobs built up in my chest. I didn't want to wake anyone up, so I cried as quietly as possible. I opened my eyes and found myself looking into the eyes I had dreamed about.

Will's face was filled with concern. I wanted to reach out to him, hood him to me, make sure that he would never leave me like that. But, just like in my dream, I tensed up and I didn't move a muscle.

"Go back to sleep, Will."

"Nico."

I turned away from him.

"Nico, talk to me."

I said nothing.

"Nico, you're scaring me."

It seemed to take so much energy just to turn and look him in the eyes.

"What happened?"

"Dream."

"Do you want to talk about it."

"No."

"Nico, if I said something to you in the dream, I'm sorry. You know I would never do anything mean to you."

"I know."

"Then why won't you let me help you?"

"You left me. In the dream."

"I broke up with you? Gods, Nico I'm so sorry!"

"You didn't break up with me. You died."

Then the dam broke. I hurled myself, sobbing, into his arms.

"Gods, Nico, you're freezing!"

We both instinctively turned to check Kate was still sleeping. Fortunately, she was.

Will cradled me against his chest. I buried my face into his shoulder. He stood up, and lifted me with him. I looked up into his face.

"Where's your room, Nico?"

Will's P.O.V

I cradled Nico in my arms, trying to break him out of his mind. I had taken him to his room. I laid him on the bed.

When I retracted my arms, he panicked and clung to me, like he was worried I would leave him. I lay next to him, holding him to me. He was still so cold.

"Please don't leave me alone."

"Never, angel."

I gently lifted him so we were sat up, chest to chest. He sat in my lap, legs wrapped around my waist, arms around my neck. He cried into my shoulder and it hurt to see him so distraught.

I pulled of my sweater and bundled him up in it. He blushed, either from the contact or the fact I was now shirtless.

I wiped the tears from his eyes, but more replaced them. I ran my fingers through his hair, trying to comfort him in any way. Nico seemed so distant and I couldn't reach him.

He stared up into my face and I leaned forward and pressed our foreheads together. He leaned forward and kissed me. It reminded me of our first kiss, full of sadness and desperation.

We fell asleep in eachother's arms.

Hades was very angry. He had gone into his daughter's room and only found one child. That meant Nico and his... Healer? Were together. Alone.

The lord of the dead dissolved into shadow and reappeared in Nico's room. When he saw that boy in the same bed as his son, shirtless, he nearly smote the son of Apollo.

But then he noticed the tears on Nico's face and the way the Apollo boy held him, so gently and protectively, and saw his son in an oversized sweater. He would watch this boy. Nico didn't give his affection easily, so this boy must be trustworthy.

Hades left the room, a slight smile on the normally deadpan face.

A/N: Sorry! This isn't really great, but I've had a bad week. I wanted this to be a filler chapter so I could work on a longer chapter, but that didn't go to plan.

I hope you liked this anyway. I'm kinda running out of ideas for this story, but I don't want this to end, so if anyone has any ideas, review or PM me.

Thanks so much,

Kakey xxx