NFWMB ────Nico di Angelo

1: It all starts with nightmares and Nico

─────Things were going good for Cassian. No, really they were. Until he showed up. Cassian should have known he was bad luck. The Romans were never really fond of children of Pluto, especially not ones who seemed to know much more than they first let on.

It started with ghosts and nightmares, like it always did with Cassian.

Ghosts were old friends of his.

He could tell he was asleep, not because the dreams he was having were absolutely ridiculous, but because he had more control here. The land of dreams had always provided a sense of security for him.

Sure, it sucked that even sleeping he could barely get any rest, but after years, Cas had gotten used to it.

He pushed past the first few painful memories— the dad he never really got to know, his death, being imprisoned (sure, being turned into a guinea pig may not sound that terrifying, but it was nightmare fuel for Cassian). He pushed past old, unpleasant reminders, until he stood alone.

He had been doing this for days now. It was hard to estimate the concrete number of casualties after the battle.

Even now, if he let his guard down for a second too long, Cassian would have been pulled into a memory of the battle two weeks ago.

It had been... bad to say the least.

So much bloodshed, so many lives lost.

Cassian had barely been able to sleep all week. How do you go from intense battle, watching your fellow legionnaires fall all around you, to acting as if everything was normal even when it wasn't?

It had been one of the strongest military operations Camp Jupiter had carried out in recent times, at least as far as Cassian knew. All five cohorts, a son of Jupiter and a daughter of Bellona as Praetors, Cassian himself fighting alongside his best friends.

And all for what?

Koios and Krios. Cassian had helped Jason slay the two. But he couldn't help but think it was all fruitless. Like no matter what they did, it was always a lose-lose situation for New Rome.

The aftermath had been disgustingly bloody.

He couldn't afford to think about it right now. He was here for a reason. He couldn't let Reyna down.

So he pushed past all his personal fears and nightmares and plunged into his domain.

Calling it "his" domain, may sound a bit egotistical. But it really was. No one in Rome was as good as him, no one could compare when it came to dreams and nightmares. Ghosts and death were old friends he wanted to catch up with.

The first ghost he met was a young girl, barely fourteen by the looks of it. Cassian's heart clenched in his ribs but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Hi" He said as he got closer to her, careful not to startle the girl. She looked at him with wide eyes and he could see the fear painted on her expression. She looked a little hazy, like an image made of smoke, like an iris message. She was a ghost, "My name is Cas. I'm here to help, can you tell me your name?"

She didn't say anything for a long time. Cassian knew time was a difficult thing in the land of dreams. It could have taken seconds or decades, he wouldn't know.

"Valeria"

"Valeria" Cassian repeated, "That's a beautiful name. Can you look at me, Valeria?"

She did. She had been avoiding facing Cassian for so long, almost as if she was afraid to confront her reality. Her form flickered.