I was running through the forest. Trees passed by me in a blur. I kept getting whipped in the arms, face and chest by stray branches. It was very dark, due to the new moon phase and the canopy of leaves the trees provided.

I was terrified. My head pounded, my muscles ached, my heart thumped a million miles per hour.

In my head, I could still hear her voice. Taunting me. Calling me names.

Bianca was chasing me. "I know you can hear me, Nico! I can hear YOU!" I heard her call from the trees behind me.

"You're scared!" She called out, laughing madly. "Little Nico is scared of the truth!"

In a tangle of limbs and tree roots, I tripped and fell to the ground on my stomach. I groaned and pushed myself off of the ground.

Before I could run, I flew through the air and hit a tree, an immense amount of pressure on my abdomen.

I let out a pained groan and tried to push away from the tree, but couldn't. It was as if I was being held there by hundreds of pounds of cinder blocks.

I cried out, becoming frustrated as I sensed her coming closer.

And then, she was in front of me.

Just as I had remembered her.

Her long, dark hair was elegantly braided over her left shoulder. She was dressed in her old Hunter's jacket with a white shirt and jeans. Her arm was extended in front of her, and I realized, she was the one holding me here. With some weird magic.

She grew closer and closer, a sinister smile plastered across her face. "You did this, you know." her form flickered from it's normal state to a charred skeleton and back again. "You killed me."

Tears were falling down my face now. "NO I DIDN'T!" I roared, fighting even harder against the magic that bound me to the tree.

The smile dropped from her face as she grew deathly still and silent. "Liar." She lunged.

"AAAAAH!" I bolted up, looking around wildly. There was a figure hovering at the corner of the bunk.

I scrambled backwards and buried my face into my arms, sobbing and digging my fingernails into the fleshy part of my inner arm.

I felt a shaking hand on my arm and I flinched, crying harder.

"Nico," the person whispered frantically. "Nico, it's Will. Calm down! What's wrong?"

I raised my shaking head a fraction and saw that the figure was an extremely worried-looking Will. Taking a deep breath, I tried to quiet my sobs, but only made them worse.

Will slid onto the bunk next to me and wrapped me in his arms. He rubbed his hands on my back, trying to calm me.

I cried for what seemed like hours into his shoulder again.

I kept replaying the dream in my head. I knew this meant something, so what did it mean?

Eventually, I had stopped freaking out, enough so that I could breathe properly. I pulled away from Will, and could see that it was extremely late. The sun had already went down, casting the cabin in an eerie, dim white light from the full moon. The Apollo campers had already gone to sleep, and snoring filled the air around us.

Will continued stroking my back, near my shoulder blade. It seemed to be the only thing keeping me sane.

"Nico, are you okay now?" Will whispered next to me.

I shook my head and let out a shaky sigh.

Will pulled me closer, letting my head rest on his shoulder. "It's okay. It's just a dream."

I was too tired, mentally and physically, to argue. I simply tried to calm down the rest of the way and fall back asleep, whether or not it be in Will's arms.

"Hey, Nico. Wake up." I felt a gentle hand shake my shoulder.

I buried my face further into the blankets, moaning slightly.

They laughed and poked my shoulder. "C'mon. We gotta get breakfast."

"Mh-m."

"Don't make me drag you out of this bed, di Angelo."

"Go away, Solace."

I felt a hand close around my ankle, and magically, I found myself on the floor.

I groaned. "Oh, fuck you." As I rolled over onto my back, I saw Will standing above me with a smirk on his face. His hand was stretched out in an offer to help me up.

I took his hand and got up. He clapped me gently on the back. "At least let me take you to breakfast first."

My eyes widened in shock. I slapped him on the side of the arm and scoffed. "That's not what I meant, and you know that's not what I meant."

He laughed and walked towards the door. I followed him out of the door and onto the trail to the Mess Hall.

In a few minutes, I was sitting by myself at the Hades table, picking at the bacon and eggs on my plate with a fork.

I felt that I was being watched, so I looked up.

Will Solace was grinning at me from the Apollo table. I returned it with a shy smile, looking down at the plate of food.

For some reason, I felt strange. I couldn't quite articulate the feeling. I felt weird, almost light. A fluttering sensation filled my stomach and heart, causing me to bite my lip subtly.

"Hey, Nico."

I nearly jumped out of my skin as I turned around to see Percy, smiling down at me. He took a seat on the bench next to me. "Hey, Perce."

"I heard about what happened the other day. Nico, I'm so sorry." Percy looked extremely sad as he said this.

"I-It's okay. I'm okay, thanks to Will." I felt myself smile involuntarily, my cheeks heating up as I did so.

I heard him chuckle beside me as he leaned closer. "You really do like him, don't you?"

I leaned away from him and looked away fearfully.

"Don't worry. I'm not going to tell anyone."

I shifted my gaze to his sea-green and blue eyes. The very ones I had fell in love with as a kid. Now, they seemed regular to me. All I could think about was the unique shade of baby blue that Will's eyes were. "Yeah. I do."

Percy smiled even wider and clapped me on the back. "Go, Nico. You deserve some happiness in your life." he got up and walked back to his table.

I looked back up, searching for Will.

He wasn't at his cabin's table, so I glanced around the room, but didn't find him.

"Your hair smells nice today." Someone whispered next to my ear, causing me to freak out and send the plate in front of me towards the ground by the next table. I whipped around in my seat to find Will, attempting to smother his laughter by covering his mouth.

I reached up and flicked his forehead, causing him to slap a hand over it. I laughed quietly as he rubbed at it with his palm.

Smiling, he cocked his head to the side, his tongue poking out of the side a bit. "Follow me. I want to show you something." he waited for me to get up, leading the way.

Soon, we had found our way back to the Apollo cabin. I looked at him confusedly, only for him to shake his head and laugh, opening the door. He crossed the room to a closet, digging around in it for a moment whilst I sat down on one of the beds across from him.

Finally, he brought out a black guitar case, setting it down on a nearby bunk and opening it, pulling out the beautiful guitar it enclosed.

"Will-"

"Just...shush."

I didn't argue as he sat across from me, messing around with the strings and tuners.

Once he had stopped tuning the guitar, he looked up at me with a shy smile. "I found a song that I thought you would relate to a lot. I also thought you would like it, so...yeah." he began to strum the guitar, slowly and uncertain at first. He glanced back up at me, and seeing the eager look on my face, he grew more confident.

He began to sing, a most beautiful sound.

I'm going away for a while,
But I'll be back,
Don't try and follow me,

'Cause I'll return as soon as possible,
See I'm trying to find my place,
But it might not be here where I feel safe,

We all learn to make mistakes,
And run from them,
From them,
With no direction,

We'll run from them
From them,
With no conviction

'Cause I'm just one of those ghosts
Traveling endlessly
Don't need no roads
In fact, they follow me

Will continued playing the song, unaware that it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. I was smiling so much, my jaws hurt.

When he ended the song, I missed his sweet, melodic voice instantly. He looked up hesitantly, almost afraid of what I would think.

By this point, my hands were over my mouth. I stared at him, with tears pooling in my eyes as I comprehended all of this.

"Well, what do you th-" I cut him off by throwing my arms around his neck.

"Thank you. Thank you so, so much, Will." I blinked the tears out of my eyes.

He laughed and linked his arms around me, pulling me tighter to him in a hug.

After embracing for a few minutes, we pulled apart.

I stared into his perfect blue eyes and the world seemed to stop.

HAHA JOKES ON YOU SUCKERS YOU HAVE TO WAIT TILL NEXT CHAPTER HAHA