They're What?!

Nightmares

Nico POV

"They're getting worse, Lily." I sat down on the desk and rubbed my forehead. "I still can't figure out where they're coming from."

"Have you asked your father? He told you he was having pains as well, didn't he?" James sat on my left and put his hand on my shoulder. His ghostly touch felt normal to me, like an actual hand. Perks of being a son of Hades, I guess.

"I've been unable to communicate with him." I admitted with a groan. "I have no idea why."

"When did you say the first one happened?" Lily asked.

"Uh, the day after I brought you guys up." I sighed and stood up, ignoring the half second of dizziness as my vision fuzzed.

"Are you okay?" Instantly both Lily and James were by my side.

"I'm used to it, don't worry." I waved a hand at them.

"Liar." Lily said softly.

"I'll be fine, I promise. I just have to go sleep it off." I told her.

"We know you aren't going to sleep." James told me. "You don't like sleep."

I glared at him. "I'm going to bed."

Lily sighed. "Sleep well, Nico."

"Thanks, Mum." I muttered as I left the room. Immediately I froze, realizing what I had said. I turned around to say something, to say anything, but Lily's smile made me stop. She didn't seem to have any problem with it.

I walked down the corridor, heading for the Room of Requirement. The students here had started to leave me alone after we had shown our powers. It was nice, being able to scare people away with a glance, but it reminded me of when I was at camp after Bianca...died. Everyone was terrified of me.

Another wave of pain hit me and I nearly fell over. Trying to move faster without making the pounding in my head worse, I kept walking, keeping one hand on the wall when I could.

"You don't look so good." One of the pictures commented. I glared at her, but kept going.

The pains really were getting worse. They had started out as small headaches and had steadily gotten stronger as more of them manifested. I still couldn't figure out what they were coming from, but I knew that I'd be incapacitated soon if I didn't find somewhere safe to sit down.

An exceedingly intense wave hit me just before I reached my destination. I felt my legs go limp as I fell to the floor.

"Whoa, there. Neeks, you okay?" Someone asked.

My vision was blurry, which was worrying, as I looked up to see my cousin.

"'M fine." I grunted, trying to stand. My legs wouldn't cooperate.

"Let's get you inside." Percy said. He helped me to my feet and Annabeth slipped under my other arm. The two of them supported me and walked me towards our dorm. I could hear hooved feet following us, I assumed that was Grover.

"Annabeth, get the door?" Percy asked. I felt the daughter of Athena's hand leave my back and leaned on Percy to keep some semblance of balance.

"You said this is the Room of Requirement, correct?" Grover asked.

"Yeah. Come on, Nico." Percy said to me. He led me into the room and helped me lie down on my bed.

"Find a way to Iris message one of us if it gets really bad." Annabeth said. I nodded at her and rolled over.

I didn't try to fall asleep, but it happened anyway.

In my dreams, I was where I always was.

The rough landscape of Tartarus was a familiar scene. The angry red sky and the sulfurous smell, the fires burning everywhere in a raging firestorm and the oozing boils that the monsters hatched from. Percy and Annabeth hadn't seen this part. I was glad they hadn't. No one should have to go through that.

I hadn't landed where I usually started this nightmare, which made me wonder if this was going to go differently than normal. Maybe it wouldn't be as painful.

Who was I kidding? I had nightmares of Tartarus whenever I slept, why should this be any less painful?

My surroundings were painfully quiet, which was unusual. I frowned and started to take a step forward, only to find I was glued in place.

"So the little demigod has returned." A voice chuckled in my ear. I flinched and found I could move now. Whirling, I faced the man who found joy in torturing me.

"Trying to run away?" Tartarus asked with a hateful sneer. "I don't think so."

----------------------------------

It was break time. The primordial of the pit always took a break halfway through and went to get more weapons. He liked to work with clean metal for each attack.

I couldn't move, so I settled for cursing Morpheus for keeping me in this dream. I wouldn't wake up until Tartarus was done with me. It was all mental, no scars, but I felt like I was on fire.

Movement to my left caught my attention. A few monsters had gathered, looking up. As I watched, the sky above them began to warp, turning a strange blue color. It flexed inward, like something was trying to push through the cloud layer, then the light was gone.

The monsters groaned. "Master has not figured it out yet." They complained.

I became aware of a vicious pounding in my head. The blue light appeared again and the pain spiked.

The pieces clicked. My headaches, Lily and James, Kronos and Voldemort, this blue light.

Someone was trying to bring monsters out of the pit.

And I was pretty sure I knew who that someone was.

[A/N dun dun dun! Like I said on my other story, if I don't have anything to say in an author's note, I won't leave one. That being said, prom was this weekend. I didn't go. I started rewatching the TV show Leverage. If you haven't heard of it, look it up, it's really good

Ps. I did edit this chapter majorly when I found a bunch of inconsistencies with an older chapter I had forgotten about]