A/N: I forgot to update last week because I have a life. Whoops.

Elsa sat up in her bed, panting. Next to her, her noise machine was emitting the steady sound of a natural heartbeat. Her hair fell in her face, as she hunched over, trying to catch her breath. Her arms trembled with the weight she was putting on them. Sweat covered her, causing her night clothes to stick to her body.

Her normal nightmares no longer plagued her. They were worse though, despite no longer doing what they normally did. They just placed hopelessness inside of her, and made her cry.

She dreamed that she kissed Calypso, but the caramel haired girl pushed her away, and told her that she never wanted to see her again, and walked away, arm in arm with Khione, while her father stood sternly to the side. He then told Elsa that she would have to be punished for acting upon her sinful urges. That the urges should have been pushed aside and ignored. Elsa tried to yell that she couldn't change herself; that this was part of who she was. Then Anna would look at her with disgust. Calypso would then join her. In unison, they'd tell her that she could never be loved by anybody.

Elsa held her bed covers against her chest. She hung her head; her hair falling over her shoulders, and her tears slipping from her cheeks to the bed cover.

She had been hit harder than she'd ever thought possible… Being told that she couldn't be loved… Elsa needed love. She needed it to maintain in control. She needed it to make life worth living.

She needed the love of one person to love more people.

Elsa did fear that she would love Calypso more and more to the point of the other girl never being able to catch up in time, if she did fall in love with Elsa. Frankly, the young queen wondered if there was a limit to how much she could love someone. She felt that she loved Nico more and more. Especially as he remained there for her, and never judged her.

She'd realized that she relied on him for comfort more than he did her. But when she brought this up with him, he explained that she was his sister. That he needed her. She'd been there for him, and was the reason he was still there. At one point, she was all that he'd had. He'd had nothing else, and Elsa was the only thing he was living for. He'd been lost when he was forced to forget her. Hazel had also helped to save Nico from himself as well. For that, Elsa would always be grateful to the other girl.

In that moment, Elsa debated with herself on whether or not she should go to Nico and seek out his comfort.

The red numbers forming the time on her alarm clock next to her bed informed her that it was 3:29 AM.

She sighed, and laid back in bed, feeling the tears change course, now leaking out of the corner of her eyes and going with the flow of gravity. Elsa's hands rested listlessly on top of the covers, which weren't even covering her waist. She had that feeling that she should either get out of bed, or pull the covers up. But she just lay there, letting the tears leak out of her eyes.

Under her hands, she felt ice crystals forming underneath her hands, and cover of the bed.

"Damn it!" Elsa hissed under her breath. She sat up, and moved the cover off of the bed, exposing the sheet. She threw it in the corner, and decided to deal with it in the morning. She then curled up in a ball on the bed, once she'd stumbled back to it. Elsa clawed at her bedsheets, trying to pull them back over herself. She was having difficulty doing so, as she was lying on top of her sheets.

Eventually, she just lay there, sprawled out on top of the bed, in only her nightclothes, which were a simple short sleeved nightgown that went down well past her knees. Her eyes were closed, trapping the tears in.

Having neglected to turn off the noise machine, her thought flowed to the beat of heart as a background noise. Elsa summoned up the motivation and strength to lay on her side, opening her eyes to stare at her clock. She imagined that she lay on top of Calypso, and was listening to the other girl's heart. The sound was supposed to be comforting to her, but it only increased the flow of her tears.

She closed her eyes, and moved her pillow into her arms, letting her head rest on top of the covered mattress. She imagined that the pillow was Calypso, as immature as it seemed. It was just something she needed. She needed something to hold. Or someone, though she knew that she wouldn't be satisfied unless it was Calypso.

Calypso…

The only girl Elsa wanted…

But who would probably never see Elsa the way she wanted to be seen, for Calypso saw Elsa as a good and trusted friend. One who understood her and cared about her. Not as the person she could fall in love with.

Never.

"Calypso." Elsa sobbed into her pillow. "Help me… I've fallen hopelessly in love with you, and I can never fall out of love. This is final. Aphrodite chose you for me. Help me down this lonely and difficult road of loving you."

Elsa cried herself to sleep, waking up a few hours later. It wasn't seven o clock yet, when she awoke with her face buried in her pillow.

She let out a noise that was the epitome of sadness after opening her eyes; seeing around her, and then sat up. Her shoulders shook with sobs, and she didn't even care that the window was still open.

Her dream this time hadn't been sad. It had been happy.

She and Calypso had been lying together in the sun, and it was snowing. Elsa was taken into Calypso's arms, and the blonde had noted the softness of the caramel haired girl's arms.

The dream was beautiful and happy. Once Elsa had realized that it was just a dream after waking up, this was what had caused her to cry. Knowing that it wasn't reality.

Her heavy heart had sunk deep inside of her, and she didn't even feel like getting out of bed.

It was terrifying to know that Calypso had such an effect on her, and Elsa hadn't even officially been rejected yet. One dream about the other girl—and happy one, no less—and Elsa couldn't even get out of bed. This wasn't a good sign. If she'd really fallen this deep, would it even be possible for Calypso to catch up in time?

Thinking about this only hurt.

Imagining Calypso's smile, the way her eyes shone sometimes, recalling the feeling of her comforting hugs… All of this hurt as well, but not as much.

She lay in bed for the better part of two hours, until Nico barged into her room, looking worried. In his hands, he held a paper cup, and napkin wrapped food. The second he saw her lying listlessly in bed, he relaxed, and didn't look nearly as worried. This was to be expected, because Elsa was almost always out of bed by eight, and now it was nearly nine.

Nico frowned again once he saw the comforter on the ground, the messed up sheet covering little else besides the part of the bed that Elsa was on, her arms clutching the pillow like it was the only thing in the world saving her from a certain horrible fate, and the wet spot on it from her tears. Quickly, he set down the cup and napkin on the desk to kneel in front of her. His eyebrows were furrowed in worry. Elsa was never like this. The room was usually neat. She usually had the bed neatly made. She was almost always out of bed by this time.

"What's wrong?" He asked gently and soothingly. Elsa just let out a small sob. Nico glanced over to the window, then got up to shut and lock it. He closed the curtains over it, making sure nobody could see in on their private moment. Nico then sat down on the bed, looking down at her face. Her ice blue eyes met his black eyes. "Can you tell me what's troubling you?" Elsa slowly eased herself up into a sitting position. Her platinum blonde hair was in utter disarray. It fell into her face as she worked to sit up. It was messy and sticking up.

Nico's hand covered Elsa's, and she took it, squeezing his hand.

"I had two dreams last night." Her voice sounded faraway; full of longing and sadness. "The first one… I dreamed I was rejected by Calypso. She was on my father's and Khione's side. He yelled at me. Anna told me… She and Calypso… They told me… They told me that…" She let out a large sob. Nico squeezed her hand to keep her grounded, though choosing to stay silent in order to let her continue. Elsa took a deep breath. "They told me that I c-couldn't be l-loved by anybody." Her lips trembled madly, and then Elsa burst into tears. Nico caught her in his arms, and pulled her close. She wrapped her arms around him.

"It's going to be okay." Nico soothed. "Elsa, everything's going to be okay. It was just a dream. They weren't the real Anna and Calypso. They were fake. Figments of your imagination. You are loved. I love you. You know that. You're my sister, practically." Elsa looked up, her eyes meeting his.

"My fratello," She whimpered.

"My sorella," Nico replied. "Everything's going to be okay. Remember all of the times that you thought that everything was all over, and that you couldn't go on? This is one of those. I'm here, and we're going to be okay. You are loved. By me, if not by anybody else, alright?"

She nodded into Nico's shirt, doing her best to remind herself.

Nico looked down at the girl sobbing in his arms, and held her a little tighter. He remembered when he had to pick up the pieces of her. Something once cracked, but whole.

To him, this was like dealing with a ceramic artwork. (The artwork being a metaphor for Elsa.) She had come with cracks already from the kiln. Then she was broken in half. He'd helped her to be ready to fix herself up, but then she was broken again, into much smaller pieces. Approaching two years later, he was still helping her pick up the pieces, and fix herself up. The only thing he minded about it was that someone had done this to her. Someone had done this to Elsa.

So Nico would do his best to be a brother for Elsa, and help her become whole again. That he swore.