AN: Minor edits here. Mostly continuity stuff.

Disclaimer: All rights to Rick Riordan. I own nothing, but the plot.

Themes of self-harm, anxiety, and depression are expressed within this story. TRIGGER WARNING! Please do NOT read if these themes upset you. TRIGGER WARNING!

Criticism is appreciated, but please no hate. Please review and leave me suggestions! Enjoy!

Nico's POV:

Nico cursed and coughed as the black smoke began to clear.

"What the fuck are you playing at Alecto?" He screamed, swinging his sword, trying to hit the Fury.

The last time Alecto had transported him, Nico had found out that she was spying on him at Camp Half-Blood. He wasn't feeling very sympathetic to the Fury. The smoke dissipated and Nico found himself in the throne room of the Underworld.

"Why did you bring me here, you hag?"

"She was following my orders," his father's voice sounded behind him.

Nico whirled around. His father was standing next to his throne. Alecto was perched on top of it, smiling creepily down at Nico.

"Father?" Nico said incredulously. "You sent her after me? After what happened last time? After I told you not to invade my privacy?"

"I was worried about you," Hades admitted, stepping closer to Nico. Nico reflexively took a step back. His father looked hurt, but Nico didn't care. "You disappeared so quickly and I wanted to know that you were okay. So, I sent Alecto to check on you. I ordered her to bring you here once you woke up."

"How did she even get into Camp Half-Blood's boundaries?" Nico questioned. "She shouldn't be able to do that!"

"Irrelevant," Hades waved his question off. He took another step toward Nico, putting his hands onto Nico's arm, searching his face and his body. "What is important is if you are okay."

Nico pulled himself away. "I'm fine, father!"

"You were not fine last night," his father stated. "You were in no condition to shadow-travel. I was shocked that you did not lose form."

Nico scowled. "I'm not as weak as you think I am, father."

"Could have fooled me," Alecto chortled. "I saw you swinging your sword; you couldn't even land a blow on a frail old deity like myself."

"Alecto!" Hades' eyes lit with fire as he rounded on his servant. "You are dismissed!"

She disappeared into a puff of black smoke. Hades turned back to Nico.

"I do not think you are weak. I was just worried after I witnessed your- your…"

"Panic attack," Nico finished. "Yeah, that's what makes me weak."

"That is not true—"

Nico interrupted him. "Why have you summoned me, father? Just to humiliate me for my panic attack?"

Hades raised an eyebrow. "You are more hostile than usual. What happened at Camp?"

"How do you expect me to be after reliving my worst memories? Cheerful?" Nico said sarcastically.

"You aren't acting hostile because of that," his father deducted. "Something else is going on."

"You aren't Hygieia; stop trying to psychoanalyze me!"

Hades sighed. "I'm attempting to understand…"

"What is there to understand? You brought me close to Tartarus, I had a panic attack."

"I was not aware how close we had gotten to Tartarus," Hades admitted.

Nico realized that that was his father's attempt at an apology. It just sent anger through Nico. If his father hadn't brought him to that entrance, none of this would be happening.

"Well, if you been paying even a modicum of attention, I wouldn't have freaked out and injured my boyfriend, who deserves way better than me." Nico snapped. He guessed that Kayla's words impacted him more than he realized.

"There's that aggressiveness again. Why would you say that? William seems perfectly content with you."

"I don't want to talk about it," Nico dismissed.

Hades screwed his face up in annoyance. "You have never talked about any of the difficulties you have had in life."

"Exactly. I don't plan to now."

His father held up a warning finger. "Then that will be your downfall…"

"I haven't already had that already?" Nico questioned. His father didn't answer. Nico sighed before continuing. "Talking about stuff just brings up bad memories and I get worse."

"Sooner or later, those fears, those bad memories are going to shatter you."

Nico's temper broke again. "I have already been completely shattered, don't you get that, father? It has been seven months since I was taken out of Tartarus and I am still destroyed. I have been trying to build myself up after going through that and I still face terrible circumstances. Like Aaron. His assault destroyed any progress I had made towards getting better. And now, I am just as bad as I was when I got out of there! I'm not getting stronger or better or anything! Nothing I am doing is helping. And I don't know who can help, because no one seems to understand me. I want to be strong and happy, but the desire for those things isn't enough to achieve them. I want to be myself again, but I have no idea who that is anymore!"

He finished screaming. He was done with being told how to act, what he should be feeling, or what he should be talking about. He was done with all the unspoken expectations of his father, of his friends, of Will. His father wisely said nothing, not wanting to further his son's anger.

A few minutes later, after Nico had calmed down, he spoke again. "You keep saying that you can help; saying that me being down here will help. How? I am down here and closer to Tartarus than I was at Camp. I was down here for a couple of hours, had a panic attack, and almost killed my boyfriend. How is that better? How can you help me?"

"You have to work with me, Nico," his father pleaded. "You have to accept my help before I can provide it. You have to be prepared to talk about your experiences."

"How can you help me?" Nico repeated his voice low. "You aren't experienced with… mental illness; you aren't a therapist. And you haven't been through what I have."

"You're right; I haven't," Hades conceded. Nico was taken aback since his father rarely agreed with him. "Your experiences are your own. And there is nothing that I can specifically do to fix you…"

Nico looked at his father in shock. "Then why the fuck am I here?"

"You didn't let me finish; I will help you through your recovery, give you whatever I can provide. Unfortunately, I cannot snap my fingers and cure you. Only you have the power to fix yourself. The only one who can help you and face your demons is you. You have the support of myself and your friends but, in the end, you will be responsible for your own happiness."

Nico understood the point his father was trying to make, but the suggestion just made him upset. He didn't know how to help himself. That's why he was going to come down to live in the Underworld; so that he could get help. Now his father was telling him that he couldn't help him. That only Nico could help himself. And Nico did not know how to do that, leading to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness. It caused him to close up again.

"Is there any other reason you called me down here?

Hades blinked in surprise. "We were going to talk."

"Besides that? Do you need me for anything else?"

"No, I suppose not…"

Nico headed towards the door. "Then, I will excuse myself." He slammed the door behind him, cutting off his father's protest.

Will's POV

His head was pounding. He woke up, grabbing his head in pain and groaning. He tried to open his eyes and found them assaulted by the harsh lights of the infirmary.

"Careful, you have a concussion," Kayla's voice sounded loud in his ears.

"Not. So. Loud. Please." Will asked. "I think I am in sensory overload."

"Well you do have a concussion, so it makes sense." Kayla's voice became quieter

Will opened his eyes again. The light wasn't as bad the second time. He looked into Kayla's eyes. She smiled when she saw him.

"What have you given me?" Will asked, not sitting up. He knew he would experience vertigo.

"Nothing yet. I didn't know how bad your concussion was and I wanted to see how you were when you woke up."

"Well, I feel like crap. Does that give me permission to have some ambrosia or nectar?"

Kayla smirked and disappeared for a moment. She returned with a glass of nectar. "What happened? How did you get a concussion?"

Will winced as he sat up. "Didn't Nico explain?"

"No," Kayla informed. "He shadow-traveled you into the infirmary and passed out once he got here."

Will froze at her words, looking around at the infirmary. "Where is he? Is he okay?"

Kayla shoved the glass of nectar into his hands. "Drink this first."

Will pushed her hand away. "I need to find Nico. He wasn't- he's not okay."

"For the love of Aphrodite, Will. You need to focus on yourself and your health for once." Kayla sounded exasperated, pushing the glass into his hand. "Drink, and then we will talk."

Will glared at her before taking the glass and chugging it. His forehead broke out into a sweat. Nectar was volatile when not used correctly. It was supposed to be sipped, not chugged. He set the empty glass down.

"Happy?"

Kayla was cross. "That was an idiotic thing to do, Will!"

Will felt feverish but ignored it. "I asked for an explanation, Kayla. That was the only way to make it come faster."

"Nico's gone," Will now understood why Kayla had been avoiding answering.

"Where?" Will's voice was deadly calm.

"No idea," Kayla sighed. "He woke up and immediately left the infirmary. Didn't say anything."

"Was he okay?"

"Physically, he seemed fine. But emotionally… he looked extremely upset," Kayla looked up at Will.

"And you didn't go after him?" Will questioned, both siblings knowing what Nico tended to do when he was extremely upset.

"I was watching over you!" Kayla defended. "Nico was fine, but I didn't know what was wrong with you. What happened to you guys?"

Will sighed as he began his story. "We jumped down to the Underworld. Nico had collapsed once we landed, so I told him that we needed to stay down there for at least the rest of the day. We then consulted with Hades and Persephone. They told us they were forbidden from sharing any information from Olympus. So, Nico rested for a couple of hours and then we had dinner with them."

"You ate with Hades?" Kayla asked in awe. "And Persephone?"

Will shrugged. "It wasn't that big of a deal. Anyway, after dinner, Hades and Nico went off to discuss something while Persephone and I went on a tour of her gardens. We eventually met up with Hades and Nico again, in a deep part of the Underworld. There was a tunnel. And it was an entrance to Tartarus."

"No," Kayla whispered, hand covering her mouth.

Will nodded solemnly. "The same entrance that Nico had been sucked into. He- he had a panic attack. The worst I think I have ever seen him have. He started hallucinating and- his clothes were steaming. I- I tried to calm him down but—"

"Did he do this to you?" Kayla's voice was as soft as her fingers were on his face.

Will grabbed her wrist and lightly moved her hand away. "A burst of energy went through him and sent me flying. Into a tree."

"Oh my gods, Will," Kayla exclaimed.

"It wasn't his fault. I was stupid to try to touch him while he was panicking. I- I passed out and woke up to him freaking out over me. I realized that I had a minor concussion and a dislocated shoulder. He popped it back into place."

"That's why it was so swollen," Kayla said.

"He did the best he could. I wouldn't have been able to move if he hadn't done it," Will defended. "He got me up and we started walking to the palace. I- I passed out so I don't know what happened next."

"Why did he pass out?" Kayla asked.

"He expended so much energy when he was having his panic attack. Shadow-traveling us back to camp was the nail in the coffin," Will explained. "Once he knew he was in a safe place, his adrenaline faded, and his body shut down. He was extremely high-strung, which is why I need to find him. When did he leave?"

"About four hours ago," Kayla informed. "It's two now."

"And you didn't look for him?" Kayla was silent. Will was worried about how much damage Nico could have caused to himself. He started to get up, grabbing his hoodie, which was on the nearest bed. "I have to go find him."

Kayla put her hands on his chest, trying to restrain him. "Whoa, wait. You still have a concussion. And the nectar hasn't kicked in yet."

When she mentioned it, Will felt the pain in his head that he had been ignoring. "I'm fine, Kayla. But I don't think Nico is."

"Worry about yourself, Will," Kayla urged. "Please."

"That's what I have you for; you can worry about me while I worry about Nico."

Kayla scowled. "It is against my medical advice that you leave the infirmary…"

"I have to make sure he's okay. He was really shaken up about Tartarus yesterday. Let me go make sure he's okay."

Kayla stared him down before throwing her hands up in defeat. "Fine, go! But don't come moaning to me when you get a terrible headache, because I might find myself out of nectar."

"What if I am in a lot of pain, though?" Will asked as he struggled into his hoodie.

She gave him a pointed look. "I gave you permission to leave; you better get out before I change my mind."

"Point taken," Will responded.

He felt Kayla's piercing glare on him as exited the infirmary. He headed outside, wincing as he stepped into the sunlight. He first headed to Cabin 13, knocking on the door. He received no response, so he opened the door, revealing an empty cabin.

"Nico?" he whispered.

He surveyed the room, seeing if there was a trace of where Nico had gone. Searching, he couldn't see anything, but he noticed that Nico's sword was missing. He was unsure if that meant that Nico had left camp. Something was very wrong; Nico wouldn't disappear when Will was injured. Apparently, Nico was in a worse state than Will though

Before he could go searching for Nico, pain shot through his head. He grabbed his head, stumbling to Nico's bed. He laid on the bed as he became lightheaded. He settled onto the comfy pillows, trying to alleviate the pain.