Chapter 4 Sending help

Now we can get into the parts revolving around the song yay! I kind of hate myself right now…

"NICO YOU NEED TO WAKE UP!" Piper was putting as much strength as she could into her Charm-speak but it didn't seem to do much good at all, tears were starting to roll down her face as she felt powerless to help.

All of them had gathered around Nico's bed calling out to him or shaking him trying to get him to wake up or respond somehow but nothing seemed to work. Someone should probably go and get Chiron but no one could bring themselves to leave Nico's side. Nico now had tears rolling down his face as he mumbled something but none of them could make out what he was saying.

…

"Nic... Ke... p…" Nico thought he could hear something, someone faraway calling to him but it was drowned out by the sound of cold laughter and the sounds of Tartarus all around them. The shadowy shape ran past again and this time he was sure that it was the shape of some sort of animal.

Bianca drew her bow and knocked an arrow. "Let's go Nico."

He looked at her in shock. "W-what?! Go where?"

But Bianca was already chasing after the mystery creature so Nico had no choice but to follow. "Bi!" he called after her as he materialized his sword and took off after his sister through hell.

"Bi! Wait, don't go alone!" he ran as fast as he could, he refused to lose her again. The creature ran further ahead and Bianca chased after it, stumbling here and there nearly slipping on the uneven terrain there but determined to catch the animal.

"Bianca stop! Please wait!" Nico called as loud as he could while his whole body ached, his throat and lungs on fire. He slipped and cut up his hands and knees but he didn't care, all that mattered was catching up with Bianca. "Bianca!" he cried again as he got to his feet and continued running. His sister needed him, nothing else mattered right now.

…

"Clovis you said you knew what this voice was right?" Jason said turning to Clovis who nodded.

"I wasn't sure at first but when I saw the creature run past I knew who it was, one of the children of Nyx, Phobetor the God of nightmares."

Percy and Annabeth both looked like they were going to be sick when they heard that.

"You're absolutely sure about this?" Jason asked but it was obvious to everyone there that he had no doubt.

Clovis nodded rather than say anything else.

"There has to be something that we can do." Will said not taking his eyes off Nico's face as he wiped sweat off of Nico's forehead and the tears from his cheeks. Then he looked up at the others with a determined look burning in his eyes as a thought came to him. "Can you send me in there?"

The others looked at him shocked into silence once more until Piper was able to find her voice again "Will what are you talking about? You want us to send you into Nico's nightmare?"

Percy looked him in the eye but Will didn't flinch. "You'd be going into Tartarus, you realize that right?"

Will just nodded.

The others looked at one another nervously.

"Can that even be done?" Jason asked and Annabeth nodded.

"In theory it could probably work, kind of like how Clovis can enter others dreamscapes, or how Percy and Grover can communicate through dreams with their empathy link."

Percy nodded. "Or like how when Hazel used to get those flashbacks and anyone within reach could be dragged along with her."

Will looked at Clovis next. "Can you do this?"

Clovis bit his lip. "Like Annabeth said, it might work in theory but I can't guarantee anything…" he trailed off clearly bothered by the thought of sending Will in there now that they knew what they were dealing with, but wanting to do anything they could to save Nico, he reached a decision. "I'll do my best." Clovis turned to Piper, "Can you make Will sleep? Maybe your voice will still reach him when he's in there."

Piper nodded mutely as she tried to calm herself down enough to make this work.

"Could you send any of us along too?" Percy asked but Clovis shook his head.

"I don't think I'd have the power to take more than one person in and it would be too dangerous." He didn't say it but they already knew, it was already too dangerous but they had no other choice now.

Without another word the others pulled the other bed over next to Nico's and Will laid down on it still holding Nico's hand refusing to let him go.

They also brought a chair over for Clovis and he sat down and leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "Ready when you are." He said.

Jason, Percy and Annabeth stood back while Piper stood at the end of the bed to use her Charm-speak. "Go to sleep Will."

Will closed his eyes and his breathing evened out as the command took hold.

The four left awake in the room couldn't help but worry as they watched their friends sleep and hoped that this plan worked. Piper sat in the other chair that Will had occupied before and waited for Clovis to wake up and tell them if it had worked.

…

Will opened his eyes to see the black expanse of the dreamscape around him, as he looked around he saw Clovis standing nearby looking nervous.

"This was how it was when I met with Nico here, at least at first." he said while looking around as if checking to see if Phobetor was lurking in the shadows still.

Will fought back his own fear as he thought about where Nico was trapped in his own mind. "How do I find him?" Will asked staring into the void around them.

"Just try to focus on him, hopefully that works." Clovis said, he and Will closed their eyes and tried to picture Nico in their minds.

"Bi!"

Their eyes snapped open at the same time.

"Did you hear that?" Will asked as he look at Clovis who could only nod, it had been Nico's voice, they could find him!

…

Nico ran after Bianca and saw that she had come to a stop behind an outcropping of jagged rocks, he caught up to her and tried to catch his breath but every gulp of air felt like lava in his lungs. "Why are you following it Bi? We don't even know what it is or what it wants." Nico said as he looked at his sister "Do you even know where we are? We're in Tartarus! We need to get out, you can't be here!" Nico said trying to drag his sister back from the edge of the rocks. "We're not safe here; we need to find a way out!" Nico couldn't even process that this was a dream anymore; all that mattered was getting his sister to safety.

"We can't go Nico, we need to take down that monster." She said. "Come on before we lose it." She ran from where they had been hidden behind the rocks and Nico followed her begging her to come back and find a way out.

He tripped over a rock and fell to the ground when he got up again he couldn't see his sister and a new fear overwhelmed him, Bianca was alone in Tartarus chasing after some mysterious monster with who knows what close by. He needed to find her right away! "Bi!" he called out as loud as he could.

You know when you're having a really bad nightmare and you can't wake up and you can't think of it as a dream no matter how weird it gets because it's just too real? Well that's the idea here.