"Kayla! He's beginning to wake up, but his body is still in a very bad condition. Can you get someone from the Morpheus house? Try and be quick, please." Will shouted above the chaotic noise that was the infirmary, two days after the battle against the Romans that had resulted in ten dead and nearly three dozen wounded, though the wounds ranged from bloody noses to dismembered limbs.

It was hard with some of Apollo's own cabin laid out on the cots too. Will was shorthanded, but as the cabin leader, he had to make do without complaints. Kayla was one of the best healers, but when she wasn't assisting Will she was sitting next to Austin's bed, doing everything she could for their comatose cabin mate.

Why wouldn't Austin wake up? The small, skinny, black-haired boy Will was attending to certainly didn't have that problem. Nico kept waking up, but Will put him in a near-constant very deep sleep so he wouldn't feel the pain his body was suffering through. Nico was in a very bad state. After he'd almost singlehandedly saved the day, he'd collapsed, his body utterly worn out. He had a bad fever, and his body was drained. In the beginning, there had been quite a big chance he wouldn't have made it. But above all, Nico was a survivor. Will smiled down at his patient. Nico gave him many mixed emotions, but right now Will felt the overwhelming urge to protect him. It was silly, because Nico was more than capable of defending himself, but when he looked down at the young hero sleeping innocently on the bed, he wanted to be sure he was safe. Though Nico looked small and delicate, he didn't look weak. He looked peaceful, finally drifting back off into into his well-earned sleep. Will had never seen Nico like this, calm and sleeping without a care in the world, and he wanted to treasure it. Plus, Nico looked very cute with bedhead, snuggling under the cozy blanket from Will's own bed.

Nico's dreams have always had wings. When he was younger, and when he spent his days playfully chasing Bianca around their small apartment they shared with their mother, he had always dreamed of flying. In his sleep, he was given long, magnificent, shimmering wings of pure starlight. He would soar through the skies, carefree and happy, in love with the world and everything it held. But when Bianca died, his wings did too. Nightmares plagued him, convincing him he could have saved her. He tried. Endlessly, he tried to lift her up and away, to safety and togetherness. But the soft feathers were gone from his wings, ripped out when the only source of light in his life was ripped away from him too. Nico's wings would never fly again, no matter how many times he had tried to fix the broken feathers. No matter how many times his dreams revisited his mother, he'd try to no avail to fly away from Zeus and Hades and lightning and unhappiness and death. But he couldn't. His wings were broken. He was broken. He couldn't save them. He couldn't save anyone. And he learned that it was a cruel, unforgiving world that he had once delighted in. Nico would never soar again.

Will watched as Nico's sleep turned restless. He thrashed and muttered.

"Bianca. Come with me. Mama! No!" Suddenly he stopped writhing. "Couldn't save… them. I can't… save anyone."

Will's heart burst for the boy who had suffered so much pain and heartbreak at only fifteen years old, the same age as Will. "Hey, Death Boy," he whispered, putting his hand over Nico's. It was deathly cold. "You saved me. You saved all of us. Camp Half-Blood wouldn't be here without you." Nico's eyelids stirred.

"Will?" he mumbled.

"Hey, yeah, it's me. Don't move, you're still very weak. You must be in a lot of pain – I had wanted you to sleep it off so it wouldn't hurt as much." Will cracked a grin. "Should've known though, you seem to live to defy, don't you, di Angelo?" Nico opened his mouth to protest, but at that moment Kayla marched in, dragging Clovis behind her. Was he snoring?

"Clovis!" Will called. "We need you."

"Can you need me… later… zzzz…" the boy mumbled.

"CLOVIS!" Will shouted.

Clovis jumped up with a start. "Yes, me, I'm here. Sorry, what was it you… needed me for?"

Nico let out a faint chuckle. He looked even paler than usual, and he was grimacing as if he could now feel what was probably very intense pain. "Clovis, could you put Nico here to sleep for a couple hours?" Will asked patiently. "Sure thing," the sleepy Clovis responded, and with a touch to Nico's forehead, both were fast asleep.

When he was sure Nico was no longer awake, Will took his heartbeat. Faint but steady. Good. Unzipping Nico's jacket and putting it on the foot of the bed, he reached for the IV machine nearby and put on a pair of gloves. Will delicately took Nico's right arm and turned it over, ready to prep it for the needle, but he wasn't prepared for what he saw. His eyes teared up as he realized what he was seeing: nine clearly self-inflicted straight horizontal scars on his pale forearm. The one at the top looked the most recent, still a bit red and angry.

Oh, Nico. Will felt deep shame for uncovering his secret, but couldn't help gingerly holding up the other arm. There were scars there too, but more jagged and crooked, with some overlapping each other.

The protective desire to heal surged within Will.

I swear to the Gods, I will make sure this boy is happy. Gods know he deserves it.

Will looked around the crowded infirmary to see if anyone else had noticed what he saw. The white and red tent set up behind the amphitheater was jam packed, with comfortable white cots set up in neat rows holding patients. There were a few chair scattered around, but for the most part friends and family stood by their loved ones' sides, blocking the way for the healers of the Apollo cabin and the assisting nymphs and satyrs, and just generally getting in the way. But Will understood their panic and worry. Nobody was paying attention to him and Nico, which he was glad for. Finishing up with the IV in Nico's arm, Will reluctantly left to move on to the next patient.

Will completed his rounds as the stars began to emerge, sparkling in the almost black sky. He would never get bored of the night's view from Camp Half-Blood, he decided. With a start, he realized his mind had wandered to Nico again, and all of a sudden he wanted the son of Hades with him more than anything right now, sharing the sky, just Nico and Will and the beautiful stars. What was wrong with him? WHY couldn't he stop thinking of that blasted demigod? He hardly even knew anything about the mysterious Nico di Angelo. Well, it would be a challenge, but he knew that could change.

He creeped back into the tent and dragged a stool toward Nico. He sat there silently for a bit, in the still silence of the sleeping patients, and before he knew it he'd nodded off to sleep.

END CHAPTER ONE