Nobody Said It Was Easy (Metilinos & Belle)

Dominika had felt overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the dance. From the things that people had said to the high intense emotions. That one guy she was pretty certain was named Andrew had scared her. The things he said and the intense emotion he had with her, freaked her out. To be out of the scene she was happy. At first she sat in the grass so she could take her ballet shoes off and that was when she walked towards the lake.

She felt the cold water hug her foot and ankle. It was nice and calming. She wanted to sit down completely but wasn't a good thing for night. A few hours had passed and it seemed the dance had been slowly calming down a bit, but Nika wasn't inclined to go back. She had been sitting in the grass again. She had already pulled her hair out of the bun she had it in earlier, and now her hair was down completely. She planned to put it back up into a pony tail later but for now she just wanted it down.

The night of the dance had just kept replaying in her mind, and the part about monsters eating demigods kept putting the night on the hill back into her mind. It was already bad enough that every time she closed her eyes or every night she would dream, it was of that night. The moments before she fell, and was dragged away. Getting bruised up, with cuts everywhere. The teeth sinking into her skin an ripping the chunk out of her leg. Hearing the sloshing sounds and the growls from the beast. Only in her dream she didn't get away. In the dream it'd take more chunks out and everything was hopeless. Nika hugged her body and a few tears began to form and spill out. Her heart was beating and she heard rustling. She got startled, "Pleased don't hurt me!" She managed to squeak out and she closed her eyes tight shut hugging herself tighter as more tears uncontrollably fell down from her face.

The past twelve hours hadn't been easy for Dimitri. His clothing had soot and blood scattered over various articles, and his eyes were feeling pretty heavy. Physically, he wasn't doing so poor; some water and sleep would have him as good as new. Mentally, he'd had better days. He was still trying to figure out what was and wasn't real. His trip back to camp was confusing, more so than it was violent. Curfew was coming up, and soon. He wasn't worried about it though, he'd dodged the harpies before, and he could certainly do it again if need be. They weren't as vigilant as they were cracked up to be.

When he passed the lake, he spotted a blonde figure that simply couldn't be mistaken. He knew the back of that head better than anyone, it was Dominika. At least that's who he was seeing. His eyes narrowed, bothered at the thought that she was there. He had a moment of doubt in his mind: what if it wasn't really her? Dimitri felt true conlict, he needed to have Dominika with him right now, but there was no way that she was actually there. Dimitri took a few small steps closer, trying to ask her if she was real. Nothing came out from his mouth though, however, she spoke.

When she called for him to not hurt her, he couldn't keep away from her for another second. He slid to the ground, wrapping his around her. "I couldn't ever hurt you." Dimitri whispered. He was certain at first that she wasn't real, but when he put his arms around her, he could physically feel her.

She heard the person slide to the ground and felt arms come around her. Instantly she knew who it was. She had felt his arms around her plenty of times now to know. He whispered to her and such a sense of relief washed over the daughter of Jupiter. She leaned into him lightly as locked her fingers with his. Even though she knew she was completely safe with him around she could feel the tugging of strings on her heart. The tears began to fall down more and her bottom lip quivered.

"Dimitri," She started taking a shaky breath in before she continued, "The night on the hill." Nika paused again as she could hear her voice falter and it only made things worse as she began to cry. "It's always there when I fall asleep an-" She choked up using her free hand to wipe away her tears. "A-and it doesn't go away i-it haunts me, everywhere I go." Dominika could just feel her heart weigh down a bit in fear. It was comforting for Nika to have someone she could cry in front of and have someone hold her.