A/N: Hey guys! It's so great just to know that I'm writing to y'all! As always, I've missed you! Anyhoodles, just as a side note, does anyone else ship Michael and Quentin from the Michael Vey series?? Yes, no, maybe so? Okay, well, comment on that! Because @Crazychick003 and I are creating a shared account together: @Forever_Crazychick. And writing a story on there that is featured those two as the main ship.

Also, I'm sorry about how short the last chapter was. I was eager to update and felt that it was a good place to end and continue for a part two. Well, let's continue, and enjoy the chapter!

     TRIGGER WARNING!!!! If you can't handle violence, PLEASE DON'T READ!!

     Nico's POV

     *Nightmare*

     Opening my eyes I saw Will staring at me with a peculiar, yet knowing gaze. It was almost scrutinizing.

     "What?" I accused him.

     "Nothing. I just find it curious that you wish to prove yourself to your sister when you know that the effort will be in vain."

     I gaped at him shock. How did he know if found this my chance for redemption?

     "Can you read my mind?" I ask with extreme suspicion. It wouldn't be difficult to believe it,  what with the magical abilities he demonstrated before; materializing out of nothing, pulling weapons, chairs, and a table out of the air with nothing more than a snap.

"Of course I can! Where would be the fun in constantly second guessing myself on a persons emotions and thoughts when I could merely wish myself to hear them?" He laughed as if it were common sense.

     "Are you magical?"

     "...... No. Just........ gifted...." Looking down he seemed to have lost his indefatigability.

     "Why us? Why us for this game?" I ask quietly.

     "I chose you.... you and your sister because.... because I'm so lonely...."

     Loneliness. Possible isolation and socially outcasted. He just wanted to have fun. But wanting to have fun doesn't justify his sadistic games and actions.

    "So you wish to hurt both me and my sister because you are lonely?"

     "Not necessarily that. But no matter!" His smile returned once again. "Shall we have our other friends join us?"

     "Other friends?"

     Will whistled and more chairs appeared along with eight new people. All of whom I, sadly, recognized. In the chair immediately to my left sat Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano, an acquaintance I had made fairly recently. A Puerto Rican born Spaniard, with deep brown and determined eyes, chocolate brown hair curled delicately in a braid over her shoulder, her eyes were wide with surprise, as were everyone else's.

     To my right sat Percy Jackson, looking as oblivious as ever. His green eyes seemed to quickly take assessment of the situation subconsciously, though, and his black hair was wind swept as usual. He was, strangely, wearing the gown that we were given at the asylum.

     The rest of the six people were Zoë Nightshade, a badass huntress that grew up outcasted from her family but found refuge in a group of other young ladies. That was, before she was killed. Thalia Grace, one of the aforementioned huntresses that took Zoë's place in the hierarchy was also here, that circlet still sitting perfectly upon her brow, Grover Underwood, a wildlife conservation activist and good friend of Percy's sat next to her looking terrified.

      And finally, Drew Tanaka, someone that I hated wholeheartedly. She was a bitchy, Asian asshole (not to say that all asians are assholes, of course) that only cared about herself and how she could manipulate you to get what she wanted.

     "Wha-!" Gasped Percy.

     Reyna tried to sit up, but then realized that her arms were clasped to the chair, as were everyone else's. She quickly looked around, taking in everything. Grover just yelped and cowered in his seat. Thalia and Zoë had the same reaction as Reyna, bristling as they observed their new setting. Drew simply cried out.

    "These shackles hurt my wrists! I swear, if my manicure is somehow ruined, there will be blood!" She bitched.

      Will laughed. "This is so great! Everyone is here! Well, mostly everyone. And Drew, there would be blood anyway."

     The group turned to look at Will.

     "Who are you?!" Percy demanded.

     "What doth thou want with us?" Replied Zoë calmly.

     "He wants to play a game." I mutter.

     At the sound of a new voice everyone turned to look at me.

     "Nico?" Thalia asked, shocked.

     "What are you doing here?" Grover whimpered

     "He wants us to play a game with him, and I'm just another one of the lucky contestants."

     "Yep!" Will smiled gleefully, yet it was crooked, giving him a slightly maniacal appearance that accurately matched the situation. "But enough chatter! Let's play Would You Rather."

     After briefly explaining the rules, Will snapped and the black sword was back in his hands. While he held it up, admiring its smooth surface and shining metal, Reyna noticed the cut on my cheek.

     "What happened to you?" She asked with genuine concern.

     "I lied. He can read your mind, so I don't try anything that might upset him."
 
     "What's his name?"
 
     "William Solace, but he says you can call him Will."

     "Is that all he really wants, to play a game?" Percy joined in.

     "As far as I know yes, but remember, I will do anything to help Bianca. So if he makes me do anything to you guys, don't take it personally."

     Neither one of my friends responded after that. I didn't care though. They needed to know that, because everything I said was true, and if it came down between their lives and my sisters, I would save Bianca.

     "Alright! First question!" Will shouted, snapping everyone out of their thoughts. "Thalia! Would you rather....." Will paused for dramatic effect and suspense.
"Stick your hand in a bucket of liquid nitrogen for one whole minute, or stab Grover in his right shoulder?"

     Thalia paled. "Wh-what?" She stuttered.

     "You heard me!" Will joked.

    "B-but- I can't- it's Grover!"

     "I know."
 
     Thalia gulped, before answering. "Liquid nitrogen."

     Will laughed hysterically before responding. "Okay!"

     A bucket over flowing with white, wispy smoke appeared before Thalia and her right arm was released. She immediately tried to free her other arm, but her attempts were fruitless. Will snapped and two.... wait guards from the asylum?! Two of these hulking men restrained her but held out her free arm, bending it down ready to be submerged.

Thalia screamed and fought, but to no avail.

     A third guard appeared, grabbed the bucket, held it under her arm, and then looked to Will for the signal. Holding up his arm as if in a wave Will announced, "Our first scenario nearly complete! How thrilling!" Then brought his hand down.

    The guards holding Thalia's arm plunged it into her torture, and she screamed, then didn't.

     "It's okay guys," she panted nervously, "I'm okay... I can't really feel anything."

"Thalia," Zoë began carefully. "Thou canst feel anything because that is what will happen with liquid nitrogen. Thou will then lose your arm."

"Zoë," Percy warned.

Thalia interrupted the looks they were shooting each other with a shout. "Hey!"

Everyone turned to look at her. Not meeting anyone's eyes, she began to speak in a low voice, "if I'm going to lose my arm for the purpose of this game then I don't want all of you arguing over what should be said and what shouldn't."

      "Someone's getting sassy!" Laughed Will. "But the minute is almost up. Get ready!"

      After waiting about twenty seconds more in silence, Thalia's arm was brought out of the water; and it was black. The entire arm appeared dead up to her elbow, and to prove it's truth one of the men hit it against the table, shattering the limb. It crumbled like a building during an earthquake till it was nothing more than a stump.

     Thalia stared in shock at the fragments of her lost arm, horror consuming her features. Realizing the depth of the situation, she screamed. It was a raw, guttural sound of anguish and terror.

"MY ARM!!!!" She immediately started crying as she was pushed back into her seat and a new metal band wrapped around her shoulder to keep her in place.

The rest of us remained quiet, stunned into cold silence. I glanced at Bianca in her cage, who gave me a reassuring nod.

Will's soft laughter snapped us all out of our trance-like states.

"You should've just stabbed Grover." He scorned Thalia, who was sobbing where she sat. "You could've saved yourself. Yet you chose a former friendship over your own self? How foolish."

     That's when Grover spoke up. "At least she isn't selfish, like you!"

     "Oh, you think I'm selfish." Will laughed, his voice cackling with madness. "I'm not selfish. Only insane."

    Percy chimed in. "Why us?! Why?"

      "Because," Will replied cooly. "You all know each other, pretty much, and all have your own unique illnesses. Or did." He finished, glancing at Zoë, who seethed with anger.

      "But why me?" A new voice spoke up. Drew.

     "You're a narcissist! Plagued with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, you have a strong thirst for attention everywhere you go from everyone you meet."

     "Am not!"

     "Are too."

    "Am not!"

     "Are too."

     "AM NOT!!"

     Will once again laughed.

      "Let me guess;" he began. "You often monopolize conversations, perceive others as inferior, you have a sense of entitlement- and may get angry and impatient if you feel you are being ignored. You unreservedly insist on having "the best" of everything to suit your preeminent feeling of grandiosity.
     All the while you have trouble handling anything that you may perceive as criticism. You may secretly feel insecure, ashamed, vulnerable, and humiliated. To feel better you act with rage or contempt and try to belittle another person to make yourself appear superior. Or you may feel depressed and moody because you fall short of perfection. Sound accurate?"

     Drew just stared at him with wide, dark eyes.

     "Ha!" He grinned. "I thought so. Anyhow, back to the game!"

     Everyone stiffened in their teakwood chairs. If there is a God, or gods, above, please save us now.

     "Grover!" Will called. Grover flinched in his seat before turning to face the madman. "Would you rather.... lower Bianca's cage one notch, or have you, yourself, take a razor to Zoë's eye?"

      Grover responded without hesitation. "Lower Bianca's cage a notch!"

     "Grover!" I barked. "Take that back!"

     "To late, Neeks! Grover made his choice and there is no coming back!"

The ground began to shake as some unseen force dropped the rope. There was a loud creaking noise that pierced the air with its scream. Bianca's own followed it as she was dropped ten feet lower in the chasm. The added pull force on the rope could be visibly seen as it was tightened.

"Bianca!" I shout. For a fearful moment there was no response. And then a shaky voice called back.

"I'm fine, I'm fine."

I sighed, but my relief was short lived, as Will said in a sing-song voice, "Not for long!"

Then turning to face the group he smiled and continued the game.

"Zoë," he was slowly going down the line. "Would you rather.... take a razor blade to the eye, or kill Artemis?"

"Artemis isn't here."

Will snapped his fingers and suddenly Zoë's adoptive mother was with us, chained to some imperceptible wall, gagged by a wash cloth. Zoë's face turned ghostly white.

"So!" Will said. "Take your pick!"

"What happens if thy choose neither?"

"Well," Will began, a flamethrower appearing in his hands. "You will be... liberated." He grinned maliciously.

Zoë glared at Will and didn't look away as she chose. "The razor blade."

"This will be fun!" Will exclaimed excitedly.

     The asylum guards held Zoë down as Will walked forward with a razor, which seemed to just materialize out of thin air. It probably did, seeing as he's done stuff like this before.

     Making sure Zoë's right eye was open, Will slowly adjusted the razor and began to make the incision.

    Zoë gasped in pain, but refused to do much more than that, though her nails dug into the arm rest of the chair, effectively making dents in the wood.

   Just as Will seemed done cutting whatever out of Zoë's eye, he suddenly plunged the blade in more. Zoë screamed in pain and, with what she could, her body writhed in agony.

     Then Will stepped away, but left the razor in Zoë's eye. The men then let her go and stepped back. Finally getting a good look at what Zoë's eye now looking like, I wish I hadn't seen. All that was left of her eye was blood surrounding the aperture where the steel razor blade was wedged. The gruesome sight paralyzed me in my seat. By this time, Artemis was gone, no trace of her previous presence here was left.

    Zoë continued to wail in agony, and even Thalia had stopped crying over the simple lose of her limb after seeing what had happened with Zoë. I'm sure the others were just as sick as I was.

     Will only laughed at Zoë's pain, which I'm sure pissed off more people than just me in this group.

     "That was great!" Will exclaimed, wiping a tear from his eye. "Now! Who's ready for the next scenario?"

     No one responded. Everyone was to afraid. After seeing what has happened to the others, our stomachs were turning at the thought of the scenario including us.

      "Drew!" Drew's turn. "Would you rather.... have your family die or have acid splashed on your pretty little face?" Will mocked.

    "Have my family die! Easy! I can't have my face ruined!"

     "Sorry, I've decided to choose for you, and your family isn't dying today! Your modeling career is, though!"

    "B-but that's not part of the game!"

     "Well, now it is in this special case!"

     The guards stepped out of the shadows with a heavy plastic bag and clear liquid inside.

     "Sulfuric acid! Don't you love the stuff?"

     "No!"

    "Learn to."

    Without another word the guards opened the bag and threw the liquid contents of it at Drew Tanaka's face. She also screamed, just like Thalia and Zoë did, but this time it was because acid was eating away at her flesh, burning her face so bad that by the time the main damage was done you could see the skeleton below. Somehow, she managed to get her arms free, but the problem was fixed by the asylum guards taking huge pins and piercing them through her arms and into the table, blood spurting up around the wounds. And then she neither made sound nor movement, blacking out from the pain.

      "Well, wasn't that uneventful." Will sniffed in distaste.

     "If you like this game so much then why don't you join us, you coward!" Percy shouted.

     "I could, but I'm the host, and the host never joins. Only monitors. At least that is the etiquette where I grew up, but I'm sure the manners you learned are much more.... barbaric."

     Percy stared at Will in disbelief.

"Reyna! Would you rather... drop Bianca down three notches, or have your body filled 2.9% of its total volume with embalming fluid? Fun fact, if, for example, your blood type were O positive and one were to inject you with that same amount of O negative- or some other blood type- you would most likely die. Some people die at one percent, others somewhere else along the line, but no one has been recorded to have lived past three percent. So, pick your poison." Will's azure eyes glinted darkly under his golden bangs.

"I-I.... I choose the former option. Dropping Bianca three notches."

I gaped at Reyna in betrayal.

The same things that we experienced earlier repeated themselves, but this time Bianca was dropped thirty feet. One notch is equivalent to ten feet. Good to know.

"Nico!" I heard Bianca call from her prison.

"Yeah, Bia?"

"..... I'm scared."

".... Me too."

I turned and gave Will a death glare. He smiled like I was a friend that just told him a funny joke. Yeah, as if.

     "Nico!" My turn. "Would you rather.... kill Grover or drop Bianca five notches down?"

     They're going to hate me for this. "My choice is... to kill Grover."

     Everyone around the table let out a collective gasp, except for Drew who was still passed out.

    "What?!" Reyna said in disbelief.

     "Please don't!" Cried Grover.

     "Nico, Grover is your friend! Don't do this!" Percy pleaded.

     "But Bianca is my sister," I retort. "And I'm not going to fail her again."

2nd Person POV
==========================

     In the midst of the groups discussion, however, Will quietly, inaudibly mutters a sentence that no one hears: "Wait, Nico, you just wait."

Nico's POV
===========================

     "I choose," I state, finalizing my decision, "to kill Grover Underwood."

     Will strolls over to me as the bands release my wrists and legs. Handing me the Stygian sword he steps back, awaiting the completion of my task.

    Walking slowly over to Grover I can hear him whimper in fear. Why does this make me feel so powerful? Raising the sword I meet Grover's eyes.

"I'm sorry." I murmur to him, lowly. Then I swing the sword. I decapitate him in one swift blow, the deed finished.

Walking back to a smiling Will I shove the bloody sword at him.

"I hope you liked that." I growl.

"Oh I did." He responds happily. "But I also know that you liked it, too, so don't be so hypocritical."

I didn't respond to his comment, only sat back in my seat, ignoring the terrified stares from the others.

"Our last person!" Declared Will. "So, Percy, would you rather... have Bianca dropped the rest of the way to her inevitable death, or kill everyone here yourself? It's a group of life long friends that you must kill or a single girl you didn't even know all that much about. So, what do you choose?"

I could see tears welling up in Percy's eyes. He could never kill one of the people here- with the exception of Drew. This was a difficult choice, but if he happened to choose the former...

"I... I choose to drop Bianca."

I could feel my pulse quicken and anger swirl through my veins. I can't fail Bianca. I can't.

I struggled to get out of my restraints. If I didn't then I would have no hope of saving Bianca. I can't doom her to die, not again.

"Brilliant." Will said, showing his dazzling white teeth.

The ground began to shake. The steel bands began to move and loosen. I could hear the creaking. My arms are free as I see the rope begin to fall. My legs are free and I'm running to my caged sister. Then she falls, the rope tumbling after her. I stare in shock at the place she had been moments before.

"No..." I say quietly. "No, no, this can't- no! No! Bianca!" I scream for my sister, kneeling on the edge of the chasm looking into its inky depths. I begin to cry- no, not cry; sob. My howling drowns out any noise that may have been after. You failed her. Again, you failed her. She's dead for the second time because of you.

Even though this is a dream, why does it feel so real? Why so painful? Why does it hurt so much?

Staring into the void below me, I realize something. I could just throw myself in. I think to myself. Why not? I deserve to die, even in my dreams. It would be so simple...

Standing up, I take a shaky breath. Then I walk off the cliff.

It seemed like I fell for hours. There was no end to the blackness around me. It was like I was in the middle of the Worlds Biggest Ebony Blanket.

But even so, I could still hear voices. Voices that whispered about my failures. My mistakes. Everyone that I've wronged. So I guess it was really the Worlds Biggest Talking Ebony Blanket. Fun.

Then Bianca's voice rose through the rest.

"You murdered me. You failed me. You killed me. Just like before. I tried to help you, and this is what I get in return? Death? Why? YOU BASTARD, WHY?!"

"I didn't mean to..."

"'I didn't mean to' won't do ANYTHING TO HELP ME! You had your second chance," she said coldly. "And you ruined it for me."

That's when I saw a red and orange field of light below me; a field of fire. Plummeting toward it at terminal velocity, I welcomed the idea of whatever may follow.

As long as I'm gone....

*end of nightmare*

I woke up to John loudly complaining to someone outside of the door. The dream is over. Thank God. But I was still alive. Sitting up from my bed, I prepared myself mentally for today.

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A/N: Hey guys! How are you?? How was this chapter? I felt like it was a bit underdeveloped. 😕 What do you think?

And a would like to give a HUMONGOUS shout out to the one and only Crazyhuman003 !!She is one of my most favorite people ever, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CHECK OUT HER ACCOUNT!!!

Anyhoodles, lot of love for y'all, and sorry for all the violence! It was merely for the purposes of the fanfiction so sorry if I offended or did anything like that to any of you guys!

But thanks for tuning in, nevertheless! Until next time! 😉

Word count: 3,604
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