I felt myself falling.

I couldn't stop.

Gaea's voice rang in my head.

"You'll never amount to anything, (y/n)," she murmured sleepily. "You will always be my little failure..."

I finally hit ground.

It didn't hurt very much, but the vibrations of Gaea's cursed voice made my head throb.

I slowly stood up, trying to stay on guard.

I looked around, only seeing darkness.

My surroundings smelled musty and dank; I guessed I was in a cave of some sort. Possibly I was underground.

Then there was a faint glow. Nothing bright or blinding. In fact, I had to squint to see it. It barely formed a silhouette against a cold wall, and a womanly form took shape.

Gaea.

"What do you want, you old dirtbag?!" I screamed at her, glad and reluctant at finally being able to see her.

Gaea tsk'ed, almost in disappointment. "I want nothing from you, (y/n)," she said quietly, as if she were in a trance. "I decided to make this little visit simply to tell you this: give up."

I was still angry at her for making my life so miserable, but I became confused as well. "Give up?" I asked, my tone of voice still harsh and unforgiving. "What do you mean, give up?"

"I mean, stop trying to defeat me." I could hear her smiling, tainting her voice with its evil intent. "It won't work."

"On the contrary, Mother Dirt, I think me and my friends can take you down just fine."

Quicker than lightning, I drew my celestial bronze dagger and lunged at her silhouette.

She simply disappeared.

I was in the dark again.

I looked around for her, eventually giving up on my eyes and decided to rely on my sense of smell and hearing.

I could hear a faint whistle of wind, and the smell was...peculiar. Like a monster, but not a bad one.

What could it be?

I suddenly heard a whoosh-ing sound, and looked to my left to see a hellhound emerging from the shadows.

'That's strange,' I thought to myself. 'I didn't think there were technically any shadows in here. It's already so dark.'

The hellhound seemed to glow with a greenish light.

Green light for Hades. Of course! Maybe Nico di Angelo came into my dream to save me?

"Hey Nico! Are you there?" I called, but heard nothing. "Hey Mrs. O'Leary," I addressed the hellhound. "Where's Nico?"

The huge dog simply growled at me. Low and gravelly and menacing. It rumbled the whole place, causing bits of rock to fall from the ceiling and onto me and the floor.

I stared in confusion.

Mrs. O'Leary never growled at me. Never.

'This can't be Mrs. O'Leary,' I thought, scared for my life.

The mysterious hellhound advanced towards me. It bared its wicked looking teeth, its gums and chin dripping saliva.

It barked, this time feeling like it rattled the whole earth.

I could barely breathe, I was so scared.

It walked even closer to me. It must've been able to smell my fear.

I whimpered with the last bit of strength I had.

It suddenly lunged at me, sinking its fangs into my neck. I couldn't move, or breathe, or scream.

While I lay there dying, I heard Gaea's voice once more.

"This is what happens when you cross your dear old grandmother." I could feel the snarl in her voice. "Sweet dreams, (y/n)."

"(Y/n)!! (Y/n), wake up!!"

Someone was shaking my shoulders in an attempt to wake me.

I knew that voice. It was Leo, my boyfriend.

I suddenly gasped and sat up quickly, breathing hard.

"I-it..it wa-was Gaea, sh-she-"

Leo cut me off with a rib-crushing hug. "Everything's okay now, baby," he said comfortingly. "You were crying in your sleep, so I figured you had a nightmare."

I tried to speak again, but he stopped me. "No talk, young lady. I know how hard nightmares can be, so I'm staying here with you until you calm down, tell me your dream, and forget about it."

Gods, I love this boy!