Nico woke up in a white room. He caught a blur of golden curls out of the corner of his eye. Then, he heard a steady beeping sound. His heartbeat.

Where was he?

The Infirmary.

What was he doing there?

That's when he remembered everything that had happened in the last couple of months. Saving Hazel from the underworld, taking her to Camp Jupiter, finding the doors of death. The haunting images of Tartarus washed over him like a tsunami and he was drowning, gasping for a breath. He remembered the goddess of misery, how she had told him he was perfect, the most miserable demigod she had ever seen. He searched for air, raspy breaths from his weakened body. Someone was shaking him. His chest hurt and his biceps burnt where the wolves had scratched him.

"NICO!" He opened his eyes, brown meeting a pair of sky blue eyes that looked at him worriedly as if the world were ending.

A wave of nausea shook him, almost making him puke on the 15 years old boy's green scrubs.

"Hey, hey!" The blond boy – Will Solace, he remembered – said. "Are you okay?"

Nico's stubborn side wanted to nod, as if he didn't want his help. He had always been fine on his own, he had survived three years or so on his own. But the other part of him, the one deep within him, knew he couldn't handle this alone. He was fading away, turning into a shadow, a mania. He shook his head, another wave of nausea overcoming him, one that he couldn't stop.

Will took a bucket from the side of the bed which Nico filled quickly, soon his stomach was empty and he was just spasming, breathlessly.

When he had seen him, Will thought that perhaps Nico was that skinny and pale because he hadn't had that much time to eat, between transporting the Athena Parthenos and fighting and shadow-traveling and summoning skeleton armies from the ground. But now, just now, he realized Nico di Angelo was starving. How he had managed to stay alive, to keep fighting – Will didn't know.

He walked away, quickly throwing away the puke to the toilet and flushing it, walking back as fast as he could.

He had been so worried, he hadn't realized the tears clouding his vision until Nico reached to clean them away. "Sorry about that." The boy said, weakly.

"It's my job." Will replied. "Or, well, the one thing I can do right."

"You don't suck that much as a fighter either." said Nico, the ghost of a smile forming in his pale lips.

Will smiled back. "So, do you want to talk about it? This couple of months, I've heard rumors, things weren't easy for you."

If there was ever a smile in Nico di Angelo's lips, it was now gone. "It's a long story."

"I have the time, if you are willing to tell."