A/N There's another curse word in this chapter. After this I'm going to stop warning about them, unless it gets notably worse.
I didn't come up with the information about injuries. I don't speak medicalish. Credit for that goes to my sister.
Sorry about the wait. I was busy with Hanukkah, and I had writer's block.
Nightmares and Injuries
I still hadn't fallen asleep. It was sometime in the night when Nico had a nightmare. It started when his breathing got heavier. After a few minutes of choking, gasping and panting, he started thrashing and crying. I thought about trying to wake him, but I would have to navigate the floor blindly. I was sure to trip over something.
Then the screaming began. Nico's cries were so tortured and agonized that I couldn't stand it. I got up and walked across the floor to him. "It's everywhere," he moaned. Then he screamed, "It's breathing! Stop breathing! I can't stay…" He gave a low moan of pain. His voice was barely more than a whisper as he mumbled something about fire.
I found his shoulders in the darkness and shook them. He lifted his head and started sobbing. He'd been crying audibly before, but these were worse. His shoulders were shaking like mad.
"W-will?" Nico asked.
"I'm here," I said gently.
He grabbed my arms and pulled me towards him. "H-hold m-me," he demanded.
It was a baffling statement. I wanted to hold Nico. I'd dreamed of it. But then, I didn't want to take advantage of Nico's fragile state to allow him to order me to do anything he'd regret. I wondered if I was dreaming. I must be, for surely Nico would never say anything like that in real life. If I held him in the dream, then it would be harder to admit the reality, or lack thereof, in the morning.
Nico tugged impatiently on my hands. Then he seemed to loose confidence. His grip on me weakened. "Please?" he asked. His voice was so small and uncertain.
My will crumbled. If he'd asked me to jump off a cliff for him, I probably would've done it. I climbed over the bronze railing and lay next to him. He wrapped his arms around me and hid his face in my chest. His shoulders were shaking. I wrapped my arms around him and rubbed circles in his back.
"It's ok, Nico," I murmured. "You're safe." He seemed to like it when I talked to him; at least, his shoulders shook less, so I kept talking about how he was safe, the war was over, I was with him, etc., etc. Finally his shoulders quit shaking and he fell asleep.
I didn't seem to have any problem falling asleep in the Hades Cabin anymore. I was asleep three minutes after Nico. Maybe it was because I was more tired by then, but I think it was that my arms were around him. Whatever the reason, I fell asleep easily, and slept peacefully with no dreams.
When I woke up, Nico was still asleep. I could sense that the sun was up, but it was still completely black in the Hades Cabin. I didn't want to disturb Nico, but I had to get up. I was supposed to work in the infirmary that morning, and it would've been obvious if I'd failed to show up.
I gently detached myself from Nico. After he'd been so vulnerable and clingy, it seemed cold to just leave him there. So I pressed my lips against his forehead before I climbed out of bed and left for the infirmary. He was asleep and wouldn't remember it, but it helped me feel closer to him. I hoped he wasn't going to be mad at me for obeying his crazy request, but as long as he didn't yell at me in front of the whole camp it couldn't be as bad as Courtney breaking up with me.
I was at the infirmary for several hours before there were any unusual cases. It was just normal stuff: stab injuries, broken arms, broken jaw, kids the Stoll brothers "accidentally" poisoned, etc.
Nico, Percy, and Jason came in with more interesting injuries. Apparently, Jason and Percy had been fighting a duel on top of the lava wall. Percy was electrocuted, Jason was coughing up muddy water, and they were both thoroughly bruised from falling off the lava wall onto Nico. All three had multiple second-degree burns, and Nico had a throbbing headache from being hit in the head by Jason's boot.
I treated Nico first, because Jason and Percy were at fault. OK, so maybe I was more worried about Nico because I liked him. His head injury was serious! OK, so it wasn't very serious. Ten minutes later he was fine. I told him he could leave.
Most of the time while I'd been healing him, Nico had kept his eyes down and stayed silent. He'd been acting almost shy. When I said he could leave, he finally raised his eyes to my face. "Thanks," he said softly. He put his hand on my shoulder for a brief instant before he turned and left.
It took me a moment to realize that I was staring after him with my mouth open. By that time Jason was laughing at me. Percy just looked confused. How did Nico do this to me? He didn't even like me like that, and all he had to do to turn me into mush was stare at me with his big brown eyes. His beautiful brown eyes that were just lighter than black, with purple fire deep inside them, and delicate golden flecks around the edges…
It was completely unfair. Why did Nico have to be so damn hot?
A/N I didn't disappear; I had Christmas, moving, an illness and writer's block. I'm just wondering if anyone wants me to bother finishing this story. I think it's almost done, like one or two more chapters, but I'm not sure. Is it worth keeping going?
