Superman

Illusions

DH: I don't really know why we're still saying this, but...

OW: We don't own anything but the plot.

DH: This chapter is dedicated to @Daughter-OfPoseidon!

OW: Enjoy!

-DDLDHoW-

The red sky above Nico made him feel sick as he looked up for what seemed like the hundreth time that minute to avoid looking at the River Lethe's taunting water. Maybe just a sip... He immediately shook the thought out of his head, steadying his breathing so that he was taking in as little of the sulphuric air as possible.

One sip would be all it would take and then he'd completely forget everything. Bianca, Hazel... Percy...

He clenched his fists, feeling rage build up in his veins. "Damn it!" He shrieked, kicking a piece of debris away from him. "Why can't I just get a break?!"

After a moment, he forced his muscles to relax and he raked the landscape with his dark eyes. He knew that he wouldn't sleep; too many things had already happened for him to be able to even close his eyes without envisioning nightmares. But if he found a cave, maybe he could take a small break.

For once, the gods seemed to be with him for he found a small hollow in a wall a few metres ahead of him. Sure it wasn't the best, but it was better than being out in the open.

Nico sat down, leaning his back against the wall, his arms folded as he ran through his quest in his mind once more. "I have to close the Doors of Death..." He murmured. "Percy's counting on me... They're all counting on me..."

"That's right; they are," a voice crooned, causing Nico's head to shoot up. "How disappointed they'll be when they find out that you let them down."

Nico immediately leapt into a standing position, his Stygian iron sword already in hand. "Where are you? Show yourself!" He demanded roughly.

"I'm right here..." A voice whispered behind him.

Without looking to see what it was, Nico whipped around and sliced cleanly through the monster only for his eyes to widen in horror when he saw what it was. An arai. A fucking arai.

He screamed in pain as he felt a searing pain in his side. The sensation was burning, but at the same time it was freezing. 

A second arai cackled as he fell to his knees, clutching his side in pain, blood seeping through his aviator jacket. "Oh, the fate of one of the katoblepones you killed in Venice. How very fitting." He felt someone grab him, but he could do nothing other than try not to yelp in pain. "It will be so much easier to take you this way."

Dark spots began to cloud his vision and he went limp.

-DDLDHoW-

When he awoke, Nico found that he was in a round, golden room with an extremely high roof. He frowned and tried to stand only to colapse again, wincing in pain as he clutched his still injured side. His shirt was dry, meaning that the bleeding had stopped a while ago - something Nico was grateful for.

However this presented him with another problem.

His shirt was stuck to the healing injury. Nico closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "Okay, I've been through worse. I can do this..."  He took one more deep breath before taking his shirt and yanking it away from the injury.

It was all he could do not to pass out again and he whimpered in pain as blood seeped out of the injury once more.

"Hey, be quiet in there!" He heard a loud voice yell and suddenly, the room that he was in shook violently. He flailed around for a moment until the shaking stopped and he edged over to the edge of the room.