AN: FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVEN'T FIGURED IT OUT, WILL X NICO'S SHIPNAME IS SOLANGELO :)

DISCLAIMER: NO CHARACTER BELONGS TO ME EXCEPT NERON :P THEY ARE ALL THE WONDROUS CREATION OF RICK RIORDAN (except Neron lol)

Another emotional chapter... with some humor at the end ;)

BTW I STARTED A NEW FANFICTION- It's a collection of random One Shots. It's called Doctor's Orders. PLEASE CHECK IT OUT! xx

WILL'S POV

That night, I decide to stay up and listen to Nico sleep. I always happen to fall asleep before him, but this time I'm staying awake.

I still haven't mentioned that the circles under Nico's eyes are only getting darker, which can only mean one thing: He's not actually sleeping.

"Goodnight, Nico," I whisper into the dark after I'm in my sleeping bag for the night.

"Mmmmm," he mumbles sleepily. Could this be the night he actually falls asleep due to his collective exhaustion? I stare up at his coffin, but I can't see him due to the raised sides.

I hear his breathing start to slow, though. Gradually, his breath steadily evens out. Inhale. Exhale. Innnhaaaale. Exxxhaaaale. Innnhaaaale. Exxxhaaaale. Innnhaaaale. Exxxhale.

I stare around the cabin while I wait. Several coffins with no people in them have their lids closed. They're glossy, black, and images of skulls dance around across them. The green fire of the torches lining the wall casts a fiery glow. The only other furniture is a table next to Nico's bed, with a slot that currently holds his Stygian Iron blade.

I shift loudly in my sleeping bed to see Nico's reaction, but he breathes normally. He must be deep in sleep. I watch more skeletons dance in the neighboring coffins happily.

Suddenly, the shadows around me seem to get darker. The air grows colder and I shiver. I glance up at Nico and blurry outlines of ghosts start to appear. Unintelligible whispers fill the air and I hear a quiet, distant howl.

Scrambling out of my sleeping bag, I thank the gods for my long legs as I leap toward Nico's coffin, beating a ghost that's slowly making its way over to him.

"Nico!" I shout loudly. No response.

I look down at him and almost jump back in shock. His body looks like it's dissolving into shadow and ghost at once. Half his face is slowly becoming translucent, while the other one fills with an inky cloud. He's shivering as the two forces spread throughout his body, reaching his neck...

I grab him. "Nico!"

"No!" He shouts blindly. Then, he jolts awake and the ghosts dissolve. His face returns to normal. He continues to shake, though.

"W-Will?" He asks weakly, looking up at me.

I pull him into an embrace, his head in my chest. "What happened?"

"Tart- the n-nightmare- screaming..." he stumbles over his words, looking lost.

"You're okay, now," I whisper comfortingly.

"I- I..." He's at a loss for words and he cries into my shirt.

"Shhhh... It's going to be okay," I tell him, meaning it.

He pulls out of the embrace to wipe his eyes. "D-Do you- "

"Do I ever get nightmares?" I answer. "Yeah, all the time."

He nods slowly. "I- I mean they're normal as a d-demigod..."

"Yeah, but you started to literally dissolve into shadow... and ghost."

"Sometimes I shadow travel automatically when I'm sc- scared or feeling a strong emotion. As for turning ghostly, I suppose that'd have to do with... my dream." He hesitates before continuing. "It was about Bianca and Tartarus and Gaea, all in one."

I don't press him further. Instead, I push myself onto the edge of his bed. "My mother and my sister died a few years ago. And I couldn't save them." I sigh heavily. "That's one of the reasons I try so... hard to heal everyone."

He gulps and nods, calming down. He stops shaking, luckily.

I continue, "And after the Battle of Manhattan... They got really bad. Must have been the same for every demigod, but I used so much magic to heal everyone. So many injuries."

"I was in the Underworld for most of the war, begging my dad to help. I... missed most of that."

"When we lost Michael Yew because Percy collapsed the Manhattan Bridge, all of us Apollo kids felt it, even though Percy wanted to keep looking. That sinking feeling just wouldn't go away. I keep seeing Annabeth after Ethan Nakamura attempted to stab Percy, too. The poison was eating away at her. It was terrible to heal, but I had to, even though I was so tired. But that was probably nothing like Tartarus."

I don't know how demigods do it every night. I bet Percy sees Luke, Beckendorf, all the people he couldn't save. How does it not overwhelm him?

"Tartarus..." Nico echoes. "It was the worst place you could imagine times a hundred. There was a river of fire and someone was always whispering, telling me to give up. And when I had to eat Persephone's pomegranates, wondering if anyone would come..." He trails off, going quiet.

"And you felt like you were dead." I fill in the blanks for myself. I know from his expression that I had guessed correctly.

We sit there for a few more seconds. I promise myself to pray to the gods for Nico so that he can get better dreams. An idea sparks into my mind as I think.

I stand up and grab Nico's arm. "Come on. I have to show you something!"

A few days ago, I had seen Jason and Piper atop Cabin One, laughing and stargazing in the middle of the night. I decide to implement that. We go outside to the side of the cabin. I scale it easily, like the climbing wall at camp. Nico has a little trouble and I have to pull him up.

I point out the major constellations: Pegasus, Sagittarius, Aquila. I also point out the Huntress, which was Zoe Nightshade's constellation. The Hunters drilled it into our heads the last time they came, so that we could always honor her.

"I know that one," Nico says quietly. "They lost Bianca on that quest."

I stop talking about the Huntress.

"The sunrise is always interesting."

He snorts. "Until you actually ride Apollo's... chariot... and crash land it in the lake, you don't know how interesting," Nico responds, giving me a small smile. "Your dad said I was too young to drive."

I snort and ruffle his hair. "You're still too young to drive."

He reddens at that.

"Think about it. Can raise dead army. Can't drive," I joke.

"Better than Apollo's son: Can deliver baby. Can't do archery," he shoots back.

"Touché."

A yellow-orange glow starts arriving from the east.

"There's Dad, I suppose." I grin, thinking of the time his chariot crash landed in the canoe lake.

"Must be glad to see you here, watching him come."

"I've actually woken up to watch him."

I casually put my arm around him, which sparks no reaction. "There's a first time for everything."

He leans closer to me as we sit together and watch Apollo's sports car streak across the sky.

AN: YAY! There's so many little funny things at the end, here. I wanted it to be a happy ending :) IN CASE YOU DIDN'T READ THE OTHER NOTES, I'M STARTING A NEW FANFICTION- It'll just be like a collection of short Solangelo scenes that might not fit into the storyline here ;) It'll be called.. idk something creative. Just search up my author name to find it. I'll probably be doing that tonight :D

PLEASE REVIEW/FAV/FOLLOW OR NIGHTMARES WILL COME FOR YOUUUU!