Nico woke up sweating after having multiple nightmares, mostly about Tartarus. He shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the horrible memories.

He shook his head, refocusing. He had to figure out a way to get out of here. Maybe when Kakoa came back, he could try to push past her as she was coming in. He wasn't worried about his strength. Kakoa looked like a regular woman, aside from the pointed teeth and scary eyes, and she was wearing heels, so Nico had a feeling she wouldn't be able to fight him off so easily.

He struggled to his feet and stood by the door, ready for when Kakoa came in.

.

Will, Percy, and Reyna had woken up early the next morning and moved quickly, and because of this, were only about an hour away, Percy said. To Will, the hour was feeling like a year.

They finally reached the subway entrance, which had a piece of yellow tape over it that read: CAUTION: UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

"Well, this is it." Percy took out Riptide and uncapped it, twirling the sword around.

Will swallowed and ducked under the tape. He paused on the first step, waiting for Percy and Reyna, and looked into the dimness below, where it was eerily silent. Will never had liked silence.

They descended warily into the train station, which, Will thought, was rather hot. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Percy spoke.

"It seems abandoned," he said, looking around.

"Yes," Reyna agreed. "We should be ready to fight, though."

As if it was summoned by her words, a troll lumbered out if the shadows and roared at them.

"Schist!" Percy said loudly. He turned to Will. "Go find Nico, we'll try to hold off the troll."

Will nodded mutely and dashed towards the tunnel the troll had just exited.

.

Nico was getting impatient. By his count, it had been at least a half hour since he woke up, and no Kakoa. He had tried yelling and pundit on the door (with the little strength he had) to try to get her to come to him, but either she hadn't heard or didn't care. He groaned and rolled his eyes at the ceiling.

And, in that moment when he was distracted, Kakoa came in and took hold of his arm. He tried to pull away, but she was surprisingly strong. Her fingernails dug deeper into his arm as she felt him struggling.

The woman began to pull Nico after her, leading him down the length of a train station, towards a door cut into the wall of the train tunnel.

"I can walk on my own," Nico snapped, trying to shake Kakoa off of him.

"Well, fine," she replied, letting go off him. "Be that way. But don't you dare  try to escape. We only need you alive, not unharmed."

Nico said nothing, only continued to follow her. They climbed down a series of iron rungs built into the wall, crossed the train tracks, and climbed back up to the other side.

Kakoa put her hand on the doorknob and smiled at Nico. "You're going to meet my friends now. Behave yourself."

She opened the door and Nico, unwillingly, stepped inside.

From the outside, it had looked like a simple maintainance room, but it was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside.

The room was circular, about 200 feet in diameter, and dimly lit with red light. Blood red light, Nico found himself thinking. In the center of the room was a raised dais, on which was a stake and a table holding a large, shiny knife. However, that wasn't what worried Nico.

Surrounding the dais were hundreds of monsters, almost every kind Nico had ever seen. A group of dracaenae hissed at him. A large troll was swinging its club absently in the corner. A few Cyclopes were eating something dripping in either blood or hot sauce. And a group of women resembling Kakoa stood on the dais, leering at him. He involuntarily shied away, but Kakoa pushed him down the stairs and up towards the dais.

Kakoa and one of her friends began tying Nico to the stake. She jerked a rope around his middle tighter and Nico gasped as the air left his lungs. "Could you make it so I can actually breathe?" he said, wheezing.

"Oops," one of Kakoa's friends said. "We already tied the knot."

The group of women giggled, revealing sharp teeth.

"Why are you doing this?" Nico asked, breathing heavily.

"We must feed," Kakoa said. She spread her arms, as if she was presenting the cavern of monsters. "My brothers and sisters and I, we will feast on demigod blood."

Nico kept stalling. "And how will you break the barrier?"

Another of Kakoa's friends sniffed. "We should have gotten a quieter one."

"Quiet, Alia," Kakoa said. "Does it matter? He'll be dead soon."

She turned to Nico. "Moralvo will lift the barrier. He is the greatest sorceror in the history of the world."

"Where is this sorceror now, if he's so great?" Nico said, trying to buy himself more time. If he could just get his hands on that knife....

"He has been imprisoned," Kakoa said sourly. "Mother Earth has kept him from this world. He is too powerful. We will wake her, and she will release him to us."

"Y-you're going to wake Gaea?" Nico asked, horrified.

"Oh, my dear demigod, don't look so scared," Alia said. "Only a portion of her. That's why we needed the electricity from these train tracks. We've been collecting it ever since Gaea was put to sleep."

"Well, that explains the heat," Nico grumbled. "And why do you need me?"

"Your blood, of course," Kakoa said, smiling. "Nothing is accomplished without bloodshed."

"You're insane," Nico said. "Let me go right now!"

Kakoa opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the door banging open. Both Nico and Kakoa looked up in surprise. Will Solace stood at the door, looking down at the assembled monsters, and then at Nico, with wide eyes.

Nico's heart twinged at the sight of the son of Apollo. "Will, wh-what are you doing here-"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Kakoa screamed. "Kill him!"

Nico's heart sank, until he noticed two figures appear behind Will. Percy and Reyna. Nico almost smiled at the sight of his friends, but he was too worried for them. There were hundreds of monsters, and only three of them.

Nonetheless, Percy and Reyna began attacking the horde of monsters that surged towards them, and Will began to work his way around the edge of the room to where Nico was. Nico wanted to tell him to run away, but he would just draw attention to the son of Apollo.

Nico looked back to where Percy and Reyna were fighting off the mosnters. He was surpirsed to see that they'd made some headway. Apparently, since Gaea was put back to sleep, all the monsters had been kind of sluggish. On a less reassuring note, Kakoa and her friends had also noticed Percy and Reyna.

"Oh, no, you don't," Kakoa hissed. She leapt off of the dais and began to manuveur through the chaotic crowd of monsters. Her friends (sisters?) followed her, razor-sharp teeth bared. Nico watched them worriedly, hoping Percy and Reyna would be okay. He refocused on his current situation. The best way he could help Will, Percy, and Reyna was by getting out.

Before he could begin freeing himself, Will reached him. The son of Apollo was breathing heavily and sweat dotted his forehead. Nico glared at him from under his bangs. "Why are you here?" he snapped. "You're going to get yourself killed."

"You're not getting yourself out," Will replied, kneeling in front of Nico and reaching around him to untie the ropes. Nico blushed; Will's face was a few inches from his own. If Nico leaned forward, their lips could have touched. Wait, what? Nico thought.

"Y-you know you could've just untied me from behind," Nico said.

Will looked up at Nico, his clear blue eyes meeting Nico's dark ones. "Yeah, but..."

"But what?"

Will's cheeks pinked slightly. "Nothing."

"Now is really not the time for that!" Percy yelled, taking his sword out of a dracaena as she crumbled into dust.

"Wha-what? Right, yeah," Nico stuttered, clearing his throat. Will pulled him to his feet and, hand in hand, they began to make their way towards Percy and Reyna, who were fighting back to back. Normally, Nico would have had trouble fighting while holding someone's hand, but Will seemed to give him strength. They reached Percy and Reyna, who had begun to back away towards the door.

"Time to go?" Nico asked, dodging a Cyclop's club.

"I think so," Reyna said, fending off one of Kakoa's friends with her Imperial gold sword. 

Percy muttered something about "not done yet," but Reyna shot him a glare and began to walk backwards more quickly. Will, who was still holding hands with Nico, pulled him towards the door. 

The demigods left the cavern, and Percy slammed the door just as Nico heard Kakoa scream "Don't let the demigods get away! We must feed!"

Nico shivered slightly at the sound of her voice and Will squeezed his hand. At this, Nico realized they were still holding hands, and, blushing, hurriedly let go of Will's hand. The son of Apollo looked hurt, but he didn't say anything.

.

author's note (editing) 7/19/16 - this is cringey, and so was the other author's note so i deleted it