A/N:

Hi! This is my first fanfiction, based on others that I have read. It is probably pretty bad, but I'm publishing it anyways because, why not? Some details and facts will probably be wrong, so I'm open to suggestions/critique.

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters/settings. That all belongs to the author of the PJO/HOO series, Rick Riordan.

Nico

I was lying on an infirmary bed. Again.

As far as I could tell, it had been two days since Will had decided that I was well enough, even though it had been two days more than our agreed three.

On the first day, he made me lie in bed all day as he checked all my vitals and obsessed over my excessive shadow-traveling in between tending to others. Though, I didn't apologise for it, as it wasn't my fault that I nearly killed myself transporting a statue across the Atlantic Ocean.

The next day, I got out of bed early to the sounds of Will rushing around the infirmary tending to patients. Will had spent the night at the infirmary due to the fact that there were many wounded demigods, both Roman and Greek. Most of the Romans had gone back to Camp Jupiter, minus a few and the wounded, who would make the journey when they had healed. I walked over to where Will was dropping things everywhere and cursing and handed him a roll of gauze, which was what he had been looking for. He looked up, surprised and flustered, and then muttered a quick thanks and went to healing others.

After that, I helped him in the infirmary even though I was still technically a patient. He checked me for signs of Underworld-type magic, and though he found none, he claimed he could still feel darkness in me and that he wanted to monitor me for a couple more days.

I wondered how much of that was true, though I didn't really have a problem with it it. But of course I argued with him. I couldn't have Will getting any ideas that I liked being with him in the infirmary. Which I didn't, of course.

Now, I realised that it would be a long time until Will stopped obsessing over me. Especially with this last incident.

After, I had gone to visit my mother's grave, just since I had missed the anniversary of her death during the war with Gaea. Unfortunately, being a child of the Big Three, I attracted certain attention. In the bright of day. I had stupidly forgotten about the time difference in Italy versus Camp.

I appeared in a dark alley as citizens walked by. I tried to look casual as I strolled out and made my way to the graveyard, though there were probably a few people wondering why there was a teenager in black holding a bouquet of simple wildflowers. After kneeling by my mother's grave for a while, I got up and decided to head back to camp. Of course, this was when some monsters decided to attack. A pair of empousai came at me, teeth bared. I hardly had time to unsheathe my sword to defend myself. As I fought off the empousai, I couldn't really be bothered to think about what the mortals were making of our fight.

I subtly moved closer to the nearest shadow. I hoped that I had enough strength to get all the way back to Camp after the first jump and the fight with the monsters, plus, it was on the other side of ocean. I sliced off the arm of one empousa, and while it hesitated, I slipped into the shadows.

I could hear whispers beckoning to me as I travelled through the darkness. They spoke of eternal peace and joining them. Of letting go and succumbing to darkness. Joining my mother, my sister. I squeezed my eyes shut. Almost there. Hang on. I felt the shadows pulling me ever closer. It was really quite tempting. It would be so easy to just… let go of everything. The burden of being a demigod. The nightmares I've endured. The guilt and shame of everything. It would be so easy.

No. Keep going. I imagined my friends, my new family, stretched across Romans and Greeks. Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Hazel, Reyna, Jason and… Will?

I pulled out of the darkness into the light of sunrise in Camp Half-Blood. I gasped, breathing heavily. I saw the shocked faces of the campers turning in my direction. Then I fainted next to the dining pavilion.

I groaned and tried to sit up with my eyes still half closed. Before I could sit up fully, I felt strong hands pushing me back down.

"Oh no you don't," Will's voice made me open my eyes and look around. Will really looked quite angry, and possibly concerned. I frowned at him. Well, who feels concern for a son of Hades? Well, there was Hazel and the rest of the Seven, but Hazel was his sister, and the Seven might as well have been family after all they had been through. But Will… Nico still couldn't figure him out. He had hardly known him before the Giant War. I suppose he is a medic, but still…

I groaned at his and lay back down with my eyes closed.

"So?" Will asked me.

"What?" I mumbled without looking. I could feel Will roll his eyes.

"What happened to you? There is a long gash on your arm," I looked down, and I noticed for the first time the wound I had. "Plus, you nearly dissolved when you came back from wherever you were. Well, I assume you went somewhere. No one knew where you were the other morning until you appeared out of the shadows." Wait. The other morning? How long was I out?

"I was in Italy," I muttered, opening my eyes to look at the furious medic. I knew what his reaction would be.

Will's eyes widened in shock. Then, they went back to blazing with rage.

"You know what? I'm not going to ask." Will turned away to get me some unicorn draught. Oddly enough, unicorn draught tended to help me more than nectar did, though it was more common in New Rome than at Camp Half-Blood. I took the half-full canteen from Will and sipped the drink slowly. Will watched me, his face now blank. "You know, I-We almost lost you. You were too transparent for us to use unicorn draught, nectar or ambrosia. In the end, we got Coach Hedge. You said that his nature magic helped last time, and it did this time as well. When you were solid enough, we gave you the unicorn draught. It's been three days"

I smiled faintly at him. "I'm ok now. Or at least better. And, if you want to know why I was in Italy, ask Annabeth. She'll definitely know. Also Hazel. Maybe Percy, if he remembers." Will just nodded. I wondered what he was thinking, his face still carefully arranged in a calm expression. It occured to me how much he would use that face. Whenever he loses a patient. Whenever he has to share the news. He can't break down. What does he hide? It can't be easy to watch all those brave, injured soldiers sigh their last breaths, always feeling like you could have done more to save them. In ways I think it is worse than being on the battlefield. The other side falls, and lives are just lost in the heat of the battle.