Previously...

You spent a good portion of the night delving deep into Percy's nightmare. You went straight to the core of it, which was normally not a good idea since seeing the raw roots of a nightmare could make a demigod go insane. Thankfully, you were skilled in your powers, and just barely managed to avoid going crazy.

But the core of the nightmare horrified you so badly, you almost threw yourself out of his head to escape it. Normally, nightmares and dreams develop in the brain, so you expected yourself to be led up to his head. But this nightmare... this nightmare...

Why did this nightmare take root in his soul?

You locked yourself up in the cabin that day. Curtains were drawn around your bed and books littered it, all having bookmarked spots or opened up to random pages. You held one in your hands, eyes scanning the words quickly. A large cup of coffee stood on the bedside table, along with an uneaten plate of food. Your staff lay uselessly against the bunk, something that almost never happened. You loved your staff. For it to be disregarded so carelessly meant something was very wrong.

You yourself were a mess. Your hair was unbrushed and sticking up in wild directions. Your eyes were bloodshot from staring at books for so long, barely blinking. You were still wearing your pajamas, all wrinkled from restless sleep. The book you had was in your lap, your shoulders slouching over it in what looked like a quite uncomfortable position.

And, yes, you were uncomfortable. You were absolutely exhausted. But your needed to keep reading. You needed to find some sort of information on how a nightmare can develop from someone's soul. Because that was dangerous. If the nightmare kept coming every night, darkness could start to grow, eventually overtaking the person completely. It was a miracle that Percy was able to hold on as long as he did.

As the day progressed, people came to check on you multiple times, all worried and trying to convince you to get out of bed. Rex came. Charity came. Even Annabeth came, who was the most concerned of all. Not for you, though. For Percy. Every time, she insisted you tell her what was wrong, but you told her not to worry instead. She would storm off angrily, yet always come back with the same question.

You slaved over the books all day. Every once in a while you would groan and rub your eyes tiredly, or yawn and stretch your back. Then you would resume your reading as though nothing had happened, reading faster than before in order to make up for those few seconds you may have lost.

By the time it was 8:00 pm, you had read 6 of the 7 books on your bed. You yawned and reached out for the final one, but a hand on your arm stopped you.

You looked up blearily. It took you a few seconds to process the face, then you asked, "Annabeth?"

She was looking at you with a worry you hadn't seen before on her. Her eyebrows were knitted together and her lips were pressed together in a thin line. She gazed at you, and it took you that time to realise what exactly was different this time.

She looked worried for you.

Annabeth tightened her hold on your arm in order to turn you so that you faced her. You obeyed without a fight; you were too tired to argue. "(Y/N)," she began softly, "You don't have to kill yourself over this. I'm sure Percy can go one more night with a nightmare. But please, get some sleep."

You rubbed your eyes and blinked to make them focus on her and not a double image of her. It didn't work. For a while, you were silent, then registered the fact the Annabeth had told you something and you were probably supposed to reply, considering she was looking at you expectantly. Your mind turned the words over in your head until you understood them.

You shook your head rapidly. "No, actually, he can't. You don't understand."

"Then make me understand!" Her sudden outburst made you jump. You were wide awake now. She ran a hand through her hair and paced frustratingly in front of your bunk. "You haven't been telling me anything all day! I know something's wrong, okay? But you don't have to hide it from me! If something is wrong with Percy, I want to know!"

You ducked your head in shame as red coated your cheeks. Perhaps it hadn't been the best idea to not tell her, but... "I just didn't want you to worry," you whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Well, you did a fine job at that!" Suddenly, she stopped, and sighed. "Listen, (Y/N), just please tell me. You know I can handle it."

Even then, you hesitated a second until you saw the death glare she was sending you. You swallowed and gathered up your nerve. "Most nightmares take root in somebody's brain. Some can develop in the heart, depending on the situation, from what I've learned. With Percy, though... Percy's nightmares are happening in his soul."

Her glare faltered. "And what does this mean?" she asked warily.

You bit your lip. "Well, it means that something is very wrong, coupled with what I saw the first night. If the nightmares keep coming, darkness can grab ahold and then take over Percy. Since he's been having these nightmares for a while, it has most likely grown big. I couldn't say how big, though. I... I was too afraid to get a good look at it last night." You rushed on, not wanting to stop or else you wouldn't start again. "Remember when I told you someone is causing the nightmares? They obviously want to hurt him, knowing about the darkness, though since Percy has many enemies, I couldn't say who..." Sighing in resignation, you said, "I'm sorry. I haven't been able to find more out. And most of these books have been utterly useless, not even a mention of a soul nightmare, so..." You trailed off when you noticed Annabeth was staring wide-eyed at you. "Annabeth?"

She made no move to indicate she had heard you. Had she even been listening? You laid a hand on her arm. "Annabeth?"

This time, she reacted, jolting backward. She was visibly trembling. Your eyes went wide at the sight. It was scarier to see Annabeth looking genuinely afraid than angry, because it rarely happened. Basically never. But whatever you had said terrified her.

She swallowed thickly. "(Y/N), what if he's been having these nightmares since... since Tartarus?"

You frowned, not understanding. You opened your mouth to ask why that mattered, then realisation struck. "Are you saying-"

"There's a reason Percy dropped his sword when we met Tartarus. And why I snapped out of it first. Tartarus must have been doing something to him during that time... what if he implanted darkness into his soul?" Annabeth looked so pained, her eyes pleading with you to deny it, to say that could never happen.

Unfortunately... it was the only possibility.

Her shoulders slumped when you didn't say anything. "No..." she whispered. "No..."

You started to panic- you couldn't have Annabeth breaking down. She was what kept Percy going through the day, the only person that could help him during his nightmares. If you couldn't solve this, Percy would need Annabeth more than anything.

"Hey!" you grabbed her arm again, more forcefully this time. "Hey, I'll figure this out. I will stop the nightmares. You guys have been through too much already. Nobody deserves this, much less Percy. Don't worry, I..." You swallowed, preparing yourself for what you were about to say. "I swear on the River Styx I will stop them."

Her head shot up in alarm as thunder boomed. She latched her fingers on your shoulder and shook you, as if shaking you would allow you to take back your oath. "(Y/N)! You just- what if you can't? It's Tartarus. He's way stronger than you are! You- you-"

"I know." You cut her off. "I know. But losing Percy will be worse than if something happened to me. Besides, Tartarus has probably forgotten about it. He probably thinks that Percy is already dead. I'll be launching a surprise attack. Plus, I can get help from my siblings and the Hypnos cabin. If we all gather together, our power will be stronger."

She did not appear convinced. "Still, (Y/N)-"

"I swore on it, Annabeth. I promised. Because I mean it."

A tear slipped down her cheek. "I- (Y/N), you-" Her voice cracked and she pulled you into the third hug she's ever given you. "Thank you so much, (Y/N). Thank you so much," she murmured over and over. You brought your arms around and held tight to give her the comfort she, and you, needed.

However, it was a good thing that she couldn't see your face. Should she release you and look into your eyes, she would see the absolute terror at the thought of doing something you may die from. Sure, you hadn't seen how big the darkness was exactly, but the few seconds you had stared at it in terror...

You shuddered to think of actually fighting it.

The idea that yes, you are most likely going to die had never been given to you before. During the wars, all you did was put wounded demigods to sleep along with some Hypnos kids in order to take them out of the pain. You'd never been in any situation risky enough to be in danger of dying. Now that it was presented to you, you were petrified. You didn't know what to do, how to deal with it.

But you knew one thing: if dying meant saving Percy, you would give up your life without hesitation.

(~)

You went outside for the first time today an hour later for campfire.

The second you stepped outside your cabin, your siblings appeared in front of you, demanding to know what was happening and why you had stayed inside all day. You felt sort of guilty for worrying them, like you had done to Annabeth. That hadn't been your plan. It was just that you couldn't have had anybody knowing, lest they try to stop you to find out about Percy.

It seemed like that plan was out of the window, though, since you were about to tell a hoard of kids about him. With Annabeth's permission, of course.

"-so you're gonna tell us!" You blinked, realising that you had zoned out and Rex and Charity were glaring at you with all of their puny selves. Rex was the one who had just finished talking, and with shock, you saw that his huge eyes were tearing up, threatening to spill. You felt even guiltier, now.

"I'm sorry, guys," you murmured. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"Well you did!" You looked at Charity in surprise- it wasn't like her to shout.

"I know, I know, it's just... I've been working on something and Annabeth didn't want me to tell anyone, so-"

"I don't care!" Rex cried out. "I want to know why my big sister has been torturing herself over a stupid project!"

Looking at Rex's lips quivering with held back tears, you let out a small sound of guilt, "Oh", and opened your arms as they ran into them, with the tears streaming down Rex's face. They slammed into you and pushed you back into the cabin, causing you to fall backward and end up hugging them on the ground. Rex buried his head into your shoulder and you gently ran your fingers through his hair in a soothing motion, while holding Charity close with your other. You murmured your apologies over and over, trying not to cry yourself.

You hadn't meant to cause this, you really hadn't. It was just what you saw in Percy's soul... it terrified you so much you had to find a solution, quick, or it would grow bigger and bigger. If Percy turned dark, you didn't know if you would be able to handle it.

It was a few minutes later that Rex finally stopped crying and sat back, rubbing his eyes to get rid of all the water. Charity herself wasn't crying, it wasn't like her to, but she was staring at the ground, her hair covering her face so you couldn't see it. You gently tilted her head up until her eyes were locked with yours, then grabbed her's and Rex's hand and squeezed slightly.

"I'm sorry, Rex, Charity," you said again. "Honest to gods, I didn't mean to worry you, I was just so scared that I could barely... I didn't want to think about it. I just needed to work."

Immediately, Rex's face scrunched up in worry and Charity cocked her head questioningly. "What happened?" he asked.

"I... This will take a while." You launched into the story from the very beginning, with Annabeth telling you about Percy for the first time. You retold what you saw in his dream, in his soul, watching as their eyes grew wide with every passing second. It took 20 minutes to tell everything, what you saw and what you learned. By the end of it, they were the most awake they'd ever been, especially Charity.

Rex was quick to ask the first question. "So, what do you need us to do?"

You smiled internally. Of course he would jump into the problem right away. "Well, I'm gonna need you guys to help. You're going to join me in entering his dream. I'll guide you to his soul, and we'll have to do everything we can to banish the darkness. You don't have to though, guys. It's Tartarus. He could kill you if he realised you were messing with his creation," you said seriously. "So if I say to leave, you leave."

"Like heck we'll leave you-"

"Of course we'll help you, (Y/N)," Charity assured. "We promise to leave if you say so, right Rex?" She stared right at him until he squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze and shouted, "Okay! Okay, geez," grumbling unhappily.

You broke into a grin, even though you were basically asking them to fight against a deity greater than the gods themselves. "Thank you so much, you guys. I love you."

"We love you too, (Y/N)."

(~)

The first thing you three did was pay a visit to the Hypnos kids. They wouldn't be at the campfire, considering they were all constantly sleeping. You invited yourself in, making a beeline to Clovis.

"Clovis!" you shouted, smacking him lightly on the cheek. "Wake up!"

It took a few more smacks until he finally woke up, blearily opening his eyes and burrowing even further under his covers. "Five more minutes," he grumbled.

You would be having none of that. You snapped your fingers under his chin and forced him to sit up, saying it was a matter of 'great urgency'. "Wake up the others as well."

He yawned and groggily stood up to shake his three other cabinmates awake. "Guys. (Y/N) needs something. No, I don't know what. She won't let me go back to sleep until she tells us."

Tapping your foot impatiently, you checked your watch which read 9:31. You only had an hour to explain everything once more and to form a battle plan. "C'mon Clovis, hurry it up. It has to do with Percy. He's in danger," you snapped. Your sleep deprivation has made you a very impatient girl, and you were fed up with waiting. You wanted to take action, and take action now.

Surprisingly, mentioning Percy woke him right up. He turned to you, eyes actually open all the way. "Percy's in danger?" he whispered.

You nodded. "Yes, so hurry it up. We only have an hour."

30 minutes later (the explanation took longer since they had to keep waking up the others) left them sitting in a circle on the ground, all very serious, an amazing feat for the Hypnos kids. "So, we're going to need to combine our powers if we want any chance at defeating the nightmares," you finished.

Aria, one of the others, nodded her head in agreement. "Yes, this would appear to be the best option. The question is, though, how? If we throw in too much power, we run the risk of overloading ourselves and Percy's soul. Even the slightest bit too much could destroy us all."

Sighing, you said, "I know. That's why I'm asking you guys: if I say to go, you go."

Clovis turned his head sharply to me. "What? No, (Y/N). You're one of us. We're not leaving you to die."

You shook your head slowly. "No, you have to. I- I swore on the River Styx that I would banish the darkness. I think the only way to do this would be to die." Thunder boomed.

Gasps escaped each person as they stared at you in horror. Rex balled his hands into fists angrily. "No way, (Y/N). You can't let yourself die for some person you've barely talked to!"

"Rex, listen." You grabbed his hands in your own. "The demigod world will fall apart with Percy Jackson. He's one of the greatest demigods to have ever lived. And I'm basically nobody. You can't compare me with Percy. He's way too important to lose."

"But-"

"Rex, promise me that you will leave if I say to. All of you, swear on the River Styx," you said quietly. "Please. For me, if not for yourselves."

Nobody looked like they wanted to, but one by one, they all dejectedly swore the oath with tears gathering in their eyes. Rex wouldn't meet your own and Charity was silently staring at you, while Clovis, Aria and Demitri looked at you sadly, them being old enough to know that you were most likely not going to come out alive.

You let out a long, shaky exhale. "Right. Now, let's see if we can't figure out a game plan for this."

(~)

It was 10:25. You were all gathered in the Morpheus cabin, sitting quite like how you were earlier. However, this time, the silence was deafening, and every now and then someone would look up at the clock and quietly note the time, as if you were all waiting for Thanatos to arrive come 10:30.

Which, in a way, you were.

Despite the calm exterior (you hoped) you were displaying, inside you were a complete mess. Your heart was pounding crazily, the fear of what was to come gathering in the pit of your stomach and making you want to throw up. Your balled up hands were trembling and your breaths came out in short, quick pants. It was like you were back in mortal school, taking your end-of-the-year exams that you didn't study for.

Except this time, what you didn't prepare for was your death.

You ran the plan over again and again in your head. Get to his dream. His soul and dreams are connected because of the darkness plaguing them. Find the connection and slip into his soul. Slowly start feeding strands of good memories and thoughts into him. Oh, and one extra detail you didn't tell them; the power won't be enough to defeat Tartarus himself, much less overload Percy's soul like they thought. When tired, tell them to leave, and-

"It's time," Charity whispered. You broke away from your thoughts as you all simultaneously raised your You noticed each person was looking at you; some with sadness, some with anger.

"Okay." You took a deep breath. "You guys ready?" A chorus of mumbled 'yeps' and one 'never can be, never will be' answered you. "Okay. Okay." You swallowed. "Join hands." Two sweaty palms slid into your hands, and with a tinge of relief you noted that they were just as nervous as you. You closed your eyes. "Go."

As one, your subconsciousness' all traveled through the dream waves in the air, them following you as you led them to Percy's. You knew how to get to his dream already, being able to recognize it from a distance.

You stopped, your being hovering a hair's width away from it. You didn't want to touch it, you really didn't. But you have to. Gathering your nerves, you stretched out a strand of your subconscious, waited a long second, and pierced the darkness.

You were in.

You were in the same place as last time; Tartarus. It had the same feel, which was how you identified it, but the scenery was completely different. However, you didn't waste time to gawk and stare, tugging on Charity's now human hand which was still holding on tightly to yours. When she didn't respond, you registered that her hand was shaking in your own, and you looked over at her, seeing that her whole body was trembling as she stared in front of her.

Sweeping your eyes around you, you noticed that everyone was in a similar state. You realised with a start that they hadn't been here before. They hadn't been subjected to the feeling of death and evil from simply standing in such a horrid place. They were absolutely frozen in terror.

You tugged harshly on Charity's hand again. "C'mon!" you hissed. "We need to get to his soul! Before the nightmare grows even stronger!"

She seemed to snap out of it and stared at you with wide, terrified eyes. It took a second, but she managed to nod and turned around to tug on Rex's hand. When he was focused, he tugged on Demitri's and it continued until everyone was looking at you and not their surroundings.

"Okay. Everybody with me?" you asked. They nodded and you released Charity's hand to turn around fully. "Good. Now, what's gonna happen is that there is a connection between this dream and his soul. It's how the nightmares are affecting both. We need to find that and get in. Got it?" More nods. "Okay. But remember, don't let Percy see you no matter what."

They looked a lot more alert now. A hard look masked the fear they truly felt. You imagined that you looked the same. "So, Charity and Rex, you guys are gonna stay near Percy to make sure nothing strange happens to the nightmare. I've told everybody what it looks like already. Don't change it to a dream, though, because we can't have him suspicious."

You saw Rex open his mouth, fully prepared to shout how that wasn't fair that they had to stay. However, you held up your hand before he got a word out. "No, Rex. This is not the time to argue. You know very well that seeing the stems of a nightmare can make you go crazy, and I'm not gonna let you take that risk. We're the oldest, and most experienced. Okay?" Your face softened when his dropped. "Okay?" you repeated, more gentle this time.

He nodded dejectedly. "Okay," he whispered.

You straightened up. "The rest of us are going into his soul as said before. Is everybody ready?" No one answered you. You yourself weren't even ready.

Sighing, you said, "Let's go."

You split into your respective groups. Charity and Rex hid behind a thick cluster of trees. Clovis decided to go north, Aria went west, Demitri went south, and that left you with east. Your eyes scanned every bit of your surroundings for anything that seemed strange or suspicious. When things started to fade, you realised you were at the borders of the dream and turned around to where you came from. There was nothing here.

Luckily, the others had success. You were slightly confused as to how you had managed to find it so quickly, but then remembered that it was the dream world. Minutes here were hours in reality.

"(Y/N)!" Clovis shouted.

You were instantly by Clovis' side, the others following you. "Did you find-" A gasp escaped you. "You did." The opening was far, far away from the original scene. It was in this hut built from bones, mud, and drakon skin, surprisingly cosy for Tartarus. As they ventured in, their eyes were immediately drawn to the raging bonfire in the middle of the room, since that's exactly where the portal was placed. It sucked in all light like a black hole, making shadows appear in every corner and crevice.

None of you said a word. You stood there, staring at the opening. You wanted nothing more than to turn around and march right out of this dream, but a person was counting on you to bring their friend back alive. You had to do this. You had to.

You took a deep, trembling breath in order to steel your nerves. The fear in the pit of your stomach was growing fast. "Alright, guys," you whispered. "I'll go in first. Clovis, you go in last." You fell silent once more. What more was there to say? Ready? As if anyone could possibly be ready.

With a single, sharp movement, you jerked your hand forward before you could change your mind. It touched the portal, and with a blink, you were gone.