The Sun Without Stars Solangelo

The Awakening Part 2

Nico's POV

His vision completely black, he felt something beyond what his senses had ever experienced. It was as if he could feel the shadows of every being all at once, almost as if he could touch them. Nico reached for them desperately and they bent towards him like threads, reminding him of those in Nyx's cloak. When he grasped them in his hand, his entire body shivered, hungering for more.

He clutched them in a firm grasp and wrenched them towards him.

The Harpies shrieked, but it was drowned out by the buzzing in Nico's ears, thundering in his head.

It felt like consuming the beetles except the threads pierced into his body, melting into his being instead of his body rejecting them.

As quickly as it began, everything went deadly silent.

Nico painfully opened his eyes, the midnight blanket clearing from his vision. His body still dangling from the sword, he pulled himself up, sitting on the path as he heaved for air. When his mind finally cleared, he proceeded to regurgitate over the edge of the ridge, sicker than he had ever felt before.

"What. The. Fuck. Was. That."

Like every other time, Nico was at a loss for words, he simply moved on, his body aching tremendously.

Give up, Nico.

No one is waiting on the other side.

Just relax.

Just fall.

"I've been thinking the same thing for the past couple hours. Thanks for the input, though," Nico grumbled, not daring to sit down after what happened the time before. He could feel the blood from the chunk the harpies took out of his shoulder and back drying on his skin, gluing his shirt to his flesh.

A few times, he would stick his sword into the ground, using it to balance his body when it failed him. The cacodemons around his neck would giggle at his dire state. He never rested for more than a few seconds, constantly afraid that another monster might find itself a snack--a son of Hades snack.

When Nico finally saw a dim glow about a mile away, he thought he might be hallucinating. He was so desperate, he wouldn't put it past his brain.

Digging his fingers into his shoulder, the pain unbearable, he opened his eyes that pooled in tears, looking towards the glow once again.

"It's there." Nico felt his whole body shake.

"It's there.

It's there.

It's there.

It's there."

But what is waiting for you there?

Nico ran. A couple of times his foot would skid over the side, but he would continue nonetheless. The landscape began to widen, the path opening up to a cave-like entrance.

At the mouth, Nico couldn't even think to lay down: he just wanted OUT (whatever "out" was). With his blade glowing a dull violet as his only light source, he entered the cave that seemed to wind upwards. After a half our or so, he was climbing completely vertically in a tunnel with parts whose width would sometimes be so small, only a child could squeeze through. Nico was so glad he hadn't eaten very much for the past couple years, or he doubted he would have fit. Even with the sword, there came a time where everything was pitch black and his only sign of where he was was the rock that he clung to.

 During one especially tight fit, Nico found himself wedged in a part with both hands stuck, his breathing quickened and he began to hyperventilate.

He couldn't die here.

He thought of the small jar he'd been placed in and felt nauseated. His nails scratched along the cave, scraping against the walls desperately.

"Help..." Nico quieted. Who was going to hear him? Who was going to care? 

You'll die here. 

All alone.

But this was your fate, anyway. What does it matter that it came sooner than expected?

Nico stopped struggling and his breathing evened. What was he going to do after this? No one could fix him; he was too far gone. He closed his eyes, ready for peace to wash over his mind. He just hoped that his soul wouldn't return to Tartarus.

Nico felt the rocks around him loosen.

Hazel?

Nico didn't think it was possible but he felt her presence like a soft whisper in the breeze. He'd felt it when people entered places where bodies were stored and often dreamt of the underworld, like a reminder that it was a responsibility of his to overlook them, but he'd never though that it was possible to feel things from such a long distance. Hazel's domain, though, was much more prevalent than his considering that rocks could be found anywhere, so maybe there was a chance she could feel him subconsciously.

Nico pulled one hand from under the constricted area, scraping the entirety of his hand raw. The other was easier to remove, and he was able to pull himself up. He continued climbing out of sheer debt to Hazel.

"Why are you leaving, child? Where are you off to?" Nico could hear Nyx's voice whisper as if it were coming from the cracks in the rocks.

I'm not sure. Nico's lips had dried to the point where it was painful to pry them open.

"That is ok, dear. All will be as it should be in the end. But I need you to go back to Camp Half-Blood so that I may finally be free."

"NO! I'm not going back!" Nico yelled at the rocks. If Nyx were there he knew that she would look as she always did: coy. For some reason, he felt almost sad disappointing her, too.

"I'm afraid this isn't up to you. The darkness CHOSE you. You felt it didn't you?" Nico was at a loss for words. 

Was that what that  had been?

"You'll always return to the places that harbor the most painful memories, you can't resist it, can you?"

Nico wanted to make a rebuke, but he no longer sensed her presence. 

The only thing Nico was granted was silence from the cacodemons, as well. They seemed to know that he already had enough turmoil going on in his mind.

Nico pressed his back against one wall of the now vertical cave and his sneakers against the other, sitting himself in a crouched position with his knees almost to his head.

"What do I do? What am I supposed to do?" Nico wanted to sob, but he felt too dehydrated even for that. His palms felt raw and sticky from the blood and he tried to ignore the pain shooting from his back pressed against the uneven rock.

Nico remembered Nemesis' words like an echo that would never leave his chest: if you care at all about them, you will LEAVE THEM ALONE.

He settled on this. Will would get over it: he hated anything to do with the underworld, anyway. How was Nico any different? He just had to grab his belongings (Bianca's mythomagic statue) and leave far from mortal reach. 

Once everything in the underworld died down, he'd ask his father for a job. Maybe he'd even work part time to give Thanatos a well deserved vacation. He found the idea of the sullen-faced man tanning on the beach comedic.