Title: Promises

Pairing: Percy/Nico

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any Percy Jackson characters, they all belong to Rick Riordon.

Warnings: boyXboy

A/N: Sorry for all the mistakes you find :)

Also if anyone wants to be my beta and beta this, I'll be more than grateful!

Since I had gotten a shout out from XTheSonofHadesX, I am going to give my own! Go read Choke and A Tale of Love and Thrones! They are really great stories! :D

Thank you to all who reviewed!

Chapter five

"Y-your eyes…Nico…" He swallowed thickly, trying to get rid of the lump that formed in his throat. "They're-they're red!"

We stared at each other in mute surprise and shock and just about every other emotion that coursed through our bodies. Stiffly, without disconnecting our eye contact, I stood up on shaky legs, IPod long forgotten still playing music on the bed. Sucking in a sharp breath, I dashed to the bathroom to look immediately in the mirror. True to Percy's words, my eyes were crimson. My once dark brown colored irises matched the color of freshly spilled blood. Percy followed a second after, watching awkwardly at the door.

"How did this happen?" I asked softly, wide eyes staring at Percy through the mirror.

"We should go to Chiron." He suggested, reaching his hand out to grasp my elbow and tugged me gently away from the mirror. "Come on."

I didn't bother with putting on any shoes or grab my jacket for that matter. I just let Percy lead me to The Big House. It was darker now. The waning crescent moon had risen directly above us, giving us barely any light to see a distance. The gurgle of the creek became apparent the closer we got and Percy sped up his pace, eager to get to the centaur.

I pulled him to a stop when I saw a roaming harpy on the other side of the creek. Percy glanced back, about to open his mouth to ask why I stopped him when I slapped my palm over his mouth. I brought him closer to me so that my mouth aligned with his ear.

"A harpy." I whispered, releasing his mouth.

"A harpy? Where?" I nodded ahead of us, and he followed the motion. "I don't see it."

He couldn't see it? It was a directly in front of us across the stream. The wretched creature had her face up in the air, sniffing around for something. After a few seconds, her head whipped our way and she let out a piercing shriek before flying away from us. I flinched when she screamed while Percy slammed his hands over his ears.

Gently, I removed them. "She's gone, let's go."

The Big House was silent and dark, its occupants asleep. Creeping through the entrance of the large building, I lead the way to Chiron's bedroom door seeing as the son of Poseidon couldn't see much of anything right now. I took about 5 minutes after our knocks, for Chiron to open his door. The centaur had on a plain T-shirt and looked half dead, eyes ladled with sleep.

"What do you boys wa-" He stopped as he stared at my eyes. "Come in, come in!" He suddenly grew awake at the new development.

The light was switched on, causing all of us to squint until our eyes adjusted. Once it did, Chiron urged us to sit at the small round table in the corner. He didn't waste any breath on pleasantries and instead demanded what had happened.

"Alright boys, explain. What's happened?" The question was no doubt directed at me.

"I don't know, sir. When I woke up, they were like this." I motioned to my eyes with a hand.

He looked at Percy next. "Percy?"

The son of Poseidon fidgeted within his chair, head cast down and fingers fiddling with a loose thread on his orange camp T-shirt. Looking closely, I could see he was lightly shaking. He was as scared as I was about this situation.

"Percy?" Chiron asked again.

Taking a deep breathe, Percy started his tale.

"I-I started noticing the difference two days ago. They were lighter than before and they looked more like a deep ruby red, but you couldn't have noticed it unless the sun was shining on them. I thought nothing of it and didn't say anything. Thought it was a trick of the light. Then tonight, when I came back to Nico's cabin-" The centaur looked like he wanted to interrupt to ask about why a child of Poseidon was staying at the Hades cabin. But Percy plowed on through not giving him the time to say anything. "-everything was unnaturally dark. Mrs. O'Leary was barking and growling at Nico's bed but I didn't know why until I looked closer. Shadows had enveloped everything and they were crawling all over Nico and they were- they were seeping into his eyes! Like they were being sucked into them, but he was still asleep. So I immediately woke him up. When I did, all those shadows suddenly vanished and when he opened his eyes, they were…that."

At hearing his confession, pieces started to click inside my mind. Maybe that was why Mrs. O'Leary kept waking me up in the middle of the night. She was trying to protect me from those (more than likely dangerous) shadows. And I didn't know about them because they'd vanish whenever I woke up. Though why was it that they appeared whenever I slept? No, that wasn't right; they obviously didn't appear when I took that long nap with Percy at the oasis. So they were materializing during the night. Or turning up when I was alone. Was turning my eyes red their only goal? If I went back to sleep would they come back?

I was shaken from my thoughts when Chiron spoke.

"Why were you at Nico's cabin?" From the corner of my eye, I saw Percy blush and his mouth moving like a fish's.

Thinking quickly, I came up with a lie. "I had asked him too!"

This time, Chiron looked at me confused so I expanded on the thought.

"I was having trouble sleeping. I felt as if something was there with me and I didn't like the feel of it, so I had asked Percy to stay the night with me. Just in case you know? And before I had Mrs. O'Leary staying with me, but she…kept on…waking me up." I lost the conviction in my voice at the hard stare Chiron was giving me.

Damn it! He was probably mad that I hadn't told him any of this! Maybe it wasn't a good idea to lie. I should have stuck to the truth, but it was already out there, too late to take it back now, and besides, Percy was giving me a relieved look that only I saw.

Chiron heaved a deep sigh. His rough fingers rubbed his temple before falling back down to his side.

"Anything else I should know, Nico?"

I shook my head no. "This's it."

"No memories?"

I decided to give him some mercy. He was only trying to look out for me and help me.

"I've been having nightmares. But I don't remember what they are."

He nodded sagely. His hooves clipped clopped as he tried to shake away the strain from standing in one position for too long. I could already tell he was getting ready to talk business. Probably prepare questions to fire at me. He glanced at Percy, pursing his lips thinly into a line. He was debating whether or not he should kick Percy out, but what point would that bring? He's already aware of things happening. Perhaps it was for my benefit. He didn't know if I wanted to talk about what had happened in front of him.

"He can stay." I said softly, breaking him out of his mind. He nodded and started on his list of questions.

"How long have the nightmares begun?"

"A couple of weeks."

"And you don't remember a single one? Not even a piece?"

"No…" I thought back to those nights. Then I remembered last night's dream. The creature. "Actually I do remember a piece I guess."

"Go on." Both occupants gazed at me now.

"It was tonight's dream. Before Percy had woken me up I had, had a dream. It was pitch black, but there was something else in there with me."

"Did you see it?"

"No but I felt it." I stared at the wall behind the centaur, thinking back to what I had felt. "It felt smooth and warm and hard all at once. It was large too, but I don't exactly know how big it was. All I knew was that it could have hunted me, it probably was, and it could have killed me if it wanted too."

Again Chiron nodded like he understood.

"Have you tried to use any of your powers?"

"No, not yet." I said truthfully.

"How have you been physically? Any pains or something new that wasn't there before?"

"No. I'm fine, just tired I guess from the lack of sleep."

"Good, that's good." He sighed again. "I think now we should focus on your eyes Nico. I'm sure you don't want the other campers to know about this right?" I nodded. "We should probably get you some contacts then. Tomorrow, you and Percy have my permission to go get you some in the city."

We both nodded. We'd have to wake up early to avoid all the other campers. I'm sure we were not going to be happy in the morning.

"Why don't you two boys go back and try to get some sleep. Have Mrs. O'Leary keep watch to make sure nothing else happens. I'll go ahead and contact Empedocles. See if he could shed some light onto what exactly those people have done to you Nico."

Saying one last goodbye and goodnight, Percy and I headed back out into the night and back to the Hades cabin. We were intent on getting some sleep and easing our mind away from what had just occurred.

So next chapter is thier city adventure! What would happen next? Who is this Empedocles that Chiron mentioned? Coming soon! Please tell me what you think!