WARNING: as someone let me know, it might trigger anxiety! If you still want to know what happens in this chapter but wants to avoid the anxiety, PM me and I'll send you an edited version of it!

A/N: Just to warn the readers who don't follow me, I'm a bit stuck with this fic and will gladly listen to your ideas about what to happen. You can read more on my board or comment or PM me. Help me write the fic you love so much! (otherwise, the updates will be far from each other). Oh yes, and I'm working again! It has been two weeks or so but so far, I'm really liking it; half of my colleagues have a connection to Brazil (one has a Brazilian mom, so we talk in Portuguese) and I feel at home. Weirdly enough, I wrote a part of this chapter listening to Indecente by Anitta, which is as far from Nico as it can be (Anitta is a Brazilian artist, but she has some songs in Spanish, like this one).

Nico's Flashback

TUESDAY, 31st January

There was something wrong with school, but he couldn't identify what; all he knew was that it was getting harder and harder to breath. The teacher slapped his table to call his attention. Raising his eyes in surprise, the teacher kept gesticulating to the front of the room and almost yelling. He couldn't understand what the teacher was saying, was that even English? Enraged by his lack of response, the teacher roared in outrage; their breath smelt strongly of sulfur. He tried to take a fresher breath of air but it was like acid on his throat, burning and suffocating. He tried to ask for help, but the students weren't human anymore.

The monsters closed in on him, poking, laughing, pulling his hair, showing their fangs. He tried to look up to the teacher again, but in their place stood the worst creature he had ever seen. A giant made of nightmares, the longer he looked, the greater became the feelings of despair, desolation and downright terror. His field of vision kept getting smaller, until he realized the walls around him were closing in. You're shadow now.

Trying desperately to climb out of it, even if it was to face that terror, his heart got stuck on his throat when skeleton hands came from under him, trying to grab his feet and drag him down. He tried to yell for help, but before he could, a scream cut him off. A girl's scream. Sacrifice for the goddess. A girl clearly being tortured. His sister! They got her! But which sister? You did it. She came for him! His sword! Where was his sword? There, hanging from the ceiling, ready to impale him. Water started to rise from the floor, toxic smell enough to make him gag. Trudging through the quickly rising polluted water, trying to find a way out, he found a mirror. But it wasn't a mirror, was it? No, it was the other him, and they were just as scared.

***

Nico checked the time, seeing there was still an hour and half until his alarm was supposed to ring. Sighing, he adjusted himself on the couch, eyes glued to the TV. He had been watching it for some hours now, but if someone had asked him what he'd been watching exactly, he wouldn't have been able to tell, even if his life depended on it.

Are you still there?

As much as I can be, yes.

He had tried to convince Nanni to go back to sleep, or the inactive mental limbo he seemed to go, but the other boy refused, even with Nico arguing that as long as he stayed awake, the nightmares wouldn't come back. The truth was, even if they'd stayed most of the time in silence, Nico was glad for the company.

Do you want to skip class?

No. I think a whole day empty like the last few hours would be worse.

I see.

I'm sorry.

I already told you, you didn't do it on purpose, you don't need to apologize.

When it their alarm finally rang, Nico moved automatically, barely registering getting to school and going through classes. Thankfully, he was able to avoid the others, and by some miracle, even Lucy and Niel for most of the day. Halfway through classes, he felt as if all the hours he didn't sleep caught with him, leaving him barely awake and moving aimlessly, like a summoned dead legionnaire without a Roman official to command him. He barely registered his sister and Lucy approaching until they were almost on top of him. Too tired to fight, he let Lucy do whatever she wanted, not registering her words. Once the talkative girl left, his sister approached, the worry in her eyes making him feel guilty.

Do you think she knows you're lying?

I wish she didn't, but I'm too sleep-deprived, so I can't be sure how convincing was my lie.

Why do you feel so guilty?

Because I'm worrying her.

And? Doesn't she worry because she cares?

In theory, yes.

Then... why do you feel so bad?

I... I don't know. I think... I feel that sometimes that's all I do.

What do you mean?

As her brother, all I do is make her worry. Theoretically, I'm her older brother, I should protect her, not worry her.

Ok, maybe I'm talking about something I don't understand, but... I'm pretty sure Hazel would be angry to hear you feel you need to protect her like she couldn't do it herself.

That's no-

And even more angry to know that you feel guilty because she cares about you and worries about you. I'm pretty sure it's a default setting for siblings to worry about each other. You worry about her too, right?

Of course!

Then that's settled.

"I'm back!"

Nico accepted the bar of chocolate Lucy thrusted into his hands, not paying attention to her rambling.

Why chocolate?

You're asking me to make sense of Lucy's actions.

Sorry.

***

"So... how long are we going to pretend nothing is wrong?"

Nico sighed at Hazel's question.

"Would it make me look bad if I say 'forever'?"

"Nico..."

"Look, I know; trust me, I know. But there is nothing to talk about."

"You had a nightmare, Nico."

"That is pretty much on the first page of the job description to be a demigod."

"Tartarus nightmares are not the same and you know it. And I know that Hannah can see my demigod nightmares, so I'm guessing Nanni saw everything as well. How is he?"

"He's fine."

"Hannah has been worried sick all day, you both owe her something more than just 'fine'."

Hannah has been worried about me?

Why are you surprised? Weren't you the one saying it's normal for siblings to worry about each other?

Yeah, but... we never had sibling time. We didn't even know we were siblings before you came along.

"Nico? We are waiting."

Well? Hannah wants to hear it from you.

Will you repeat for me?

You know I will.

"Hey, Hannah and Hazel. As unbelievable as it can be, I'm okay. Of course, it wasn't a pleasant dream, but it wasn't that bad. Nico was fast in waking ourselves up before things progressed and kept himself awake the rest of the night. As far as I imagine dreaming of Tartarus can be, it wasn't that bad."

"What about tonight?"

"We'll cross the bridge when we get there."

"Does that mean staying up all night again?"

"Who is this, Hannah or Hazel?"

"Both, we're in sync about this."

"How about we make a deal? If we get a nightmare like those again, we will discuss what to do. Until then, it's just an odd occurrence."

"Whose idea was this? Nico or Nanni?"

"Both."

WEDNESDAY, 1st February

He tried to walk, but after four steps he fell again, luckily on something soft. The pressure overwhelmed him, made him want to curl up and give up, but he forced himself to get on his knees and open his eyes to see what he'd fallen on top. Hazel's dead eyes were focused on him. He crawled away from her body as fast as he could. It didn't make sense, Hazel didn't come with him, she shouldn't be here. It was a trick, it better be. He turned his head trying to find her body again but was unable.

A gurgling noise caught his attention. Crawling closer, it took him only three seconds to recognize Lucy's laid body, her expression of hopelessness while she chocked on her own blood. She fought him, grabbing his arms and pulling him closer and in the reflection in her eyes he saw himself. Or as much as himself as he could be, as his skin was completely gone. Panicking, he looked down on his hands and saw they were charred, skinny as bones. Oh no. He could hear them. They were getting close, he had to go, had to escape, he had a mission, he had... his precarious balance was destroyed when he was hit with something from behind, realizing what it was when Reyna's head rolled in front of him, frozen in fear and horror, an expression almost grotesque. Your fault, your price.

He could hear the howls, Lycaon was here. He tried to walk again, but the harness tying him to the Athena Parthenos pulled him back. Her leg! He looked behind and could see the floor under the statue crumbling and the goddess in marble and gold about to fall down the pit, dragging him with her. There was a laugh, a maniacal laugh, rumbling the floor under him. Checking for the source, he only saw his biological sister's ghost in the distance, desperately gesticulating and trying to warn him of something, but what?

***

"For the last time, I'm going to sleep in my own house."

Lucy scoffed behind him.

"I would've given it more weight if you had actually put some strength behind the words, but I guess two nights of not sleeping took a toll in your snarkiness."

"Mania-"

"Shhh!"

He kept quiet while the teacher gave him the stinky eye, waiting until he turned around to whisper back to Lucy.

"I'm fine, really! I don't to sleep somewhere else."

"It was sleep paralysis, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't."

"Sleep terrors? You're a bit old for them, though."

"It wasn't."

"You don't need to feel embarrassed."

"I'm not embarrassed, I had a simple nightmare."

"A simple nightmare doesn't explain the haunted look in your eyes you had yesterday AND today. It's definitely sleep paralysis."

"It was my nightmare, so I know what it is. And I won't sleep somewhere else."

"Very well."

Finally!

"But you can't sleep alone. Someone needs to go to your house. I'm telling Niel."

"Absolutely not!"

"Mr. di Martire, is there a problem?"

He froze, fighting to come up with an excuse for the teacher.

"No, sir, we were just discussing-"

Lucy cut him off, like she often did when the teachers busted them.

"What could explain the character's psychosis in chapter seven being directed to a cousin he barely knew, if it was because he saw an image of himself on his cousin or if there are childhood memories he suppressed."

The teacher seemed conflicted before giving them a yellow smile.

"... That is an interesting take, next time you want to discuss something like this, let's open to class, right?"

Nico could hear Lucy's smile on her voice.

"Of course, sir."

Lucy is very quick with her lies.

I pity the teachers. We get called all the time for talking in class - which I must say, it's still a novelty to me - and she ALWAYS have an excuse at the tip of her tongue.

And an angel's expression to sell it.

Lucy leaned back to threaten him in the hardest whisper he ever heard her use.

"You either find a way to compromise with me or I'm telling Hannah you had another nightmare; don't think I didn't notice you going out of your way to avoid her."

He laid his head on this table with a grunt.

Oh, great.

Fantastic.

***

"Who tied you to the ship's mast for the last four days?"

"No one, Captain."

Unsurprisingly, Lucy joined Niel in his quest to find the reason behind Nico's current state.

"I think he looks like he spent three days surviving only on energy drinks."

Does coffee count?

"You hear the call of the sea and is unable to answer?"

"He was bitten by a zombie and is already turning."

"Jokes aside, what happened to you, Sticks?"

Nico gave Lucy a warning glare to keep her mouth shut, but to his dismay, she merely smirked.

"Yes, do tell us what happened to you."

Knowing he couldn't escape; he forced the words of a half-truth out.

"... I had a nightmare."

Niel's sound of disbelief was expected, but it still made Nico's hope of being left alone plummet.

"Sticks, it would take one hell of a nightmare to leave behind this disaster."

"Wow, thank you for your kind words."

What now?

I'm open to suggestions.

"Actually, I'm surprised you're not the one having nightmares, Barnacle."

Lucy's sudden change of subject caught both boys' attention.

"Why?"

"Didn't you notice what day is today? February first."

"And that's important because...?"

"Oh, you already have everything ready? Great! I'm proud of you for thinking ahead."

Nico and Niel exchanged a confused look before focusing on Lucy again.

"Thinking ahead for what?"

"Valentine's, obviously. I'm glad to know your date with Claire is already prepared and that you don't need to run and do it all from scratch in less than two weeks."

Niel's sudden string of cusses included some original combinations. Taking advantage of the older boy's distracted state, Lucy leaned to whisper on Nico's ear.

"You owe me a compromise."

"That was a low blow."

"Why? I gave him almost two weeks to prepare instead of a day like I normally would have."

Low blow by making us indebted.

***

"The coast is clear."

"You promise?"

Lucy rolled her eyes slow enough to make him realize she was fed up with him, which made him even more distrusting.

"Nanni, if I wanted to sell you to Hannah, I would've done it in the second period. I promise, she already left with Frank and the General."

"You really intend to keep calling Regina a general, huh?"

"Why not? It fits. And do you intend to keep on hiding forever or...?"

"Fine. I'm going home."

His hope of being left alone didn't last for even a second before Lucy grabbed his arm.

"Hold up, what about my compromise? I promise you, if you don't, in less than twenty seconds I'll let Niel and Hannah know about your condition."

"My condition?"

"Stage three of five in zombie transmutation."

It was his turn to roll his eyes slowly.

"Ha. Ha. Very funny."

"I was being truthful, not funny. You know humans can die of lack of sleep before of lack of food, right? You need to sleep tonight. And before you try to defend yourself, you need to go to sleep and STAY asleep without nightmares."

"And what, do you have a magical spell for it?"

"There are sleeping pills, but I think it would be risky to take one without a doctor's orders."

At least she was a bit of common sense.

I would be down for it if it was my body, I just want to sleep.

"Then what kind of miracle do you expect me to perform?"

"Why don't you keep Cerb inside the house?"

Ugh.

She had to remind us of that girl... what was her name?

No idea.

"Because the girl who came here to teach me how to train him said that since I'm not a natural alpha, I had to be rigid with the rules. If my idea was to have Cerberus just a guard dog, I should keep him outside. However, if I once in a while allow him to stay inside, he'll think he can always come inside and will be hard to train him back to stay only outside."

"I can understand that, but I was saying it for you."

"What do you mean?"

"You know that dogs are used for therapy, right? Not like 'petting a dog to calm down' or 'bring joy to kids stuck in a hospital'. I meant warning someone when they are about to have an epileptic attack. Or prevent someone under an anxiety attack to harm themselves. I know Cerb isn't trained like that, but he's still a pet. Pets in general, especially cats and dogs, tend to be sensible to their owners' emotions."

I think I heard about it once...

"How do you even know all that, you don't even have a dog."

"Of course not, my dad is allergic. But my brother wants to be a vet, he hoards the TV and watches Animal Planet all day, I've learned a thing or two. They don't talk only about wild animals, you know."

When he huffed and try to leave, she gently pulled his arm, and he felt himself raising his eyes again to meet hers.

"Nanni, I'm serious. You should keep him inside your room. Maybe he will wake you up before the nightmares escalate too much and his presence will help you fall back into a peaceful sleep."

When he still didn't say anything, she sighed, squaring her shoulders and holding his eyes.

"I had night terrors when I was 7-ish. Had them for months. I would wake up the whole house with my screams and not remember a thing once I was awake. More than once I woke up with my own scream. The thing is, I became terrified of falling asleep because even if I didn't remember, I knew it had to be awful, my brother's expression told me as much. It didn't help when a disturbing neighbor said it must be because the devil was sending his demons to snatch my soul."

Do you think she's telling the truth?

I don't know... we know she's very fast with short lies, but this sounds too elaborate to be made on the spot.

And she sounds a bit uncomfortable. It could mean she doesn't like talking about it.

"How did you get over them?"

She shrugged, releasing his arm and squeezing her hands together.

"The classics. We established a routine before going to sleep, with chamomile tea and stuff. My parents alternated sleeping in my room to make a schedule and predict when my sleep terrors usually started, so they would wake me up before it started, talk to me or read me a story before I would go back to sleep. For your nightmares, I think it would also be helpful to have someone wake you up before things got too serious and to keep you company until you fell asleep again."

"Well, I live alone so we need another method."

Her whole expression demonstrated her disbelief.

"First of all, don't try to convince me that Hannah would not come to your house at 3 am if you called her, let alone staying the night or inviting you to her house."

He opened a mouth to protest, but closed when she raised her hand in a 'wait' motion.

"But if you don't want to ask her for help for your own reasons, fine, it's your right. Which is why I think you should consider an alternative, Cerberus. We're not even talking about how massive he is. I mean, I think he's heavier than you, so he has the mass to be considered a 'person'. And he has this really calm nature so he would be up for anything and is unlikely to get scared. Even if you don't keep him inside all the times to wake you up from nightmares, I think that if you allowed him to come in after it, he would give you the sense of security you need to fall back asleep. Of course, if it helps, you have to then address whatever is giving you nightmares. Maybe talk to a psychologist."

Yeah, highly unlikely.

***

He was brushing his teeth when his phone vibrated with texts.

L: Don't

L: Forget

L: Our

L: Compromise

L: Get

L: Cerb

L: After

L: The

L: Nightmares

She's insistent.

Think we can pull it off not doing it?

I would put more faith in your ability to lie if we weren't so sleep deprived.

L: Oh, and Hannah knows, obviously

N: YOU PROMISED NOT TO TELL HER

L: Darling, she's your sister

L: And she's very sharp

L: I only told her to leave you alone because you promised to honor our compromise

L: You should be thanking me

L: But if you have another night of no-sleep, who knows what she might do...

Great.

Just get Cerberus and get this over with.

***

Saying the massive dog was happy to be inside was an understatement. Nico could've sworn that each time it stopped sniffing around to check if Nico was still ok, the dog was grinning. The constant jumps from joy were also a sign, along with almost drowning Nico in saliva when he jumped and brought the boy down to lick his face.

"Fine, we get, you like to be here, now get off, I need to breath!"

Well, with all this saliva, I say that calls for a second shower.

THURSDAY, 2nd February

The poisonous air kept filling his lungs, making it harder to breath. He kept trying, but his lungs seemed to be filled with concrete, and he felt himself falling to his knees. Where was he again? There was something he was supposed to remember, but what? With his head hung low, he felt a moist breeze hit his face. Oh gods, they had found him. They had found and they were trying to remove his skin by licking him and was that a bark? Telekhines, then? They are still licking, still trying to remove his skin-

"AH!"

Nico was not fast enough to close his mouth and part of Cerberus' saliva entered his mouth, making him gag.

Ugh, disgusting!

Pushing the gentle giant to the side so he could have room to sit, Nico reached for the phone to check on the clock.

Midnight; not that late.

We were having a nightmare, right?

Yeah, I think so, but I can barely remember.

He noticed that he was unconsciously petting Cerberus, who had lied his head down on the boy's legs, looking up to his owner with a somber shadow over his eyes.

He doesn't look goofy like a couple hours ago.

He looks worried for us.

I can only imagine how we look while in the middle of that nightmare.

He leaned down so he could kiss the dog's head, giving him a good scratch behind the ears and under the jaw.

"Good boy, Cerberus."

Seemed that hearing his owner's voice took some of his worries, but he gave them a smile with his tongue out.

Maybe Lucy had a valid idea, he did wake us up at the start of the nightmare.

What do you want to do now?

What do you mean?

You want to try her second theory?

About his presence helping us go back to sleep?

Yeah.

Why not?

Should we keep him on the floor or do you want him on the bed?

If we get him on the bed, he will never want to sleep on the floor again.

It's your choice.

... fine, let him climb. Let's hope Lucy was right.

***

Hazel entered the classroom and the first thing she did was to search for something on his face, likely the bags under his eyes. Whatever she saw seemed to satisfy her, because she gave him a brilliant smile before approaching and sitting on the chair to his left.

"Looks like someone was able to sleep more than a couple of hours."

"I woke up only twice, but went to back to sleep right after."

"Was this Lucy's theory or something else?"

"Lucy told you?"

"She only said to leave you alone and that you had a theory to test. And if it didn't work, I was free to drug you."

"Drug me?"

"That's what she said. Or knock you out with a baseball bat."

"Wow."

Hazel murmured her agreement before turning to watch the teacher enter.

***

When class ended, Hazel joined him in the hallway.

"Just for the record, we haven't forgot how you both promised to discuss with us if you had a second nightmare and then avoided us all day, like we had no right to know how you were doing."

Her voice was light, but her words pierced like a blade.

"... Sorry."

"So, what was Lucy's theory?"

The question caught him off-guard.

"She didn't tell you?"

"No, only that you promised to test it, so I should let you try and solve your problems by yourself."

Silently recognizing that Lucy actually helped them both with her idea and by keeping Hazel from mothering him, he told her about his night with Cerberus.

FRIDAY, 3th February

"Cerberus? Cerberus! Cerberus!?"

It was already late and despite his callings, his dog was nowhere to be seem.

Do you think someone took him?

It would take two or three people to take him if he was sedated, let alone awake.

He has to be somewhere close; he never went far.

I'm gonna take a jacket and search for him.

It took him fifteen minutes until Cerberus finally answered his call and left from an alley two blocks from the house.

"Let's go home, boy."

To his surprise, Cerberus first went back to the alley and exit it with a small, dirty and furry something.

Did he kill a rat?

If there are rats in this neighborhood, we need to let the city hall know.

Taking out his phone, he lit the torch and looked closely at whatever Cerberus was carrying.

"Oh, no."

Is it alive?

The tiny meow that emanated from the dirty lump let them know that yes, the kitten was still very much alive and very much weak.

Looks like our movie is gonna have to wait.

A/N: In case you don't know anyone with PTSD or never did a research for a reason, PTSD nightmares rarely work as a flashback. Most of the time, it takes pieces of traumatic events, mash them together, thrown in both people present in those or people who had nothing to do with it, blend it all together and screws with your head. I only did my research on the theory, so I can't say if my nightmares came out too weird (but it gave me shivers while writing it).

Maybe some will disagree with me, but I don't think Nico would have crossed Tartarus - which was never his intention, he only wanted to gather information - he would've been dead before. Having someone to guard their back was Percabeth's biggest advantage. If you check, they keep alternating. She warns him about the river, he controls the water, she takes them to the shore, he helps her to the fire river, she forces him to drink, he kills Arachne when it attacked from behind. And this kept going, they saved each other only to be saved the next time (even Percy saving Annabeth from Akhlys and having her save him from himself), not even counting Bob's and Damasen's help. Nico was completely alone and he wouldn't have survived. The only thing that saved him is the fact he was useful as bait.

I saw some headcanons about Percy becoming dark if he had fallen alone and let me tell you: He. Wouldn't. Have. Survived. Because not even he could've used his powers to the extreme and crossed Tartarus without sleeping or taking a break (suicidal without someone to guard your back) or knowing the closest edible thing was a river of fire. I'm not even talking about how using his godly powers to the extreme would have been the biggest beacon EVER in a land crawling with monsters. And I honestly think that even though he loves Annabeth, if he knew she was safe outside of Tartarus, he wouldn't have had the same drive he had when he kept seeing her by his side, tired, afraid, stressed, worried. He was more determined about getting her out than leaving himself. So, do I think he would've been too tired to fight almost from the first moment? Yes. She'd have been safe and that's what matters. I'm not saying he doesn't love her; he does and wants to spend his life with her, but he tends to be pessimist and he started The Lightning Thief already tired of this demigod life.