Nico woke up groggy and confused to see Will Solace leaning over him. "Zeus! You sleep like the dead. No pun intended." He grinned, and started to unwrap the bandage to check on Nico's wound. "A bit better, but I think you need a little more time in bed." Nico raised an eyebrow. Will backtracked immediately. "I-I-Um, I meant to uh, I mean for recovery."

"Sure." Nico flopped back onto the bed again, and winced- again. I really need to stop flopping so much. "So! 3 days, right? Then I'm free to go?"

"Pretty much, yeah." Will had gotten up to do medical things and was only half paying attention. He turned around, and started singing.

"Whoa, dude, what are you doing?" Nico scrambled back into an upright position, then out of the bed.

"I'm singing" He stated it like, 'duh'.

"Ok, why are you singing?" Will sighed exasperatedly and looked up at the ceiling. "Every time," He muttered. "It's a hymn to Apollo. It's how we heal people here."

"Oh. Um, well seeing as Apollo's MIA, could we skip it this time?" Nico wouldn't meet will's eyes. He said it quietly, but his tone told Will he wouldn't stay here long if he didn't comply. Will threw his palms up in surrender.

"Di immortales. Fine. But I have more patients to see. No running off. A nymph should be by soon with breakfast." Will walked over to another cot, and Nico watched him as Will's expression softened considerably whilst looking at the girl in the cot in question. She was very pale, with ebony hair, and she was so thin it was frightening. The girl was wearing a white tanktop, and cobalt blue gym shorts with white and black stripes down the side. Her breathing was very shallow, and she didn't stir when Will gently took her pulse from her neck, or when he wrapped a fabric cuff around her upper arm and took her blood pressure. One of the breakfast nymphs stopped by her cot and placed a bowl of ambrosia pudding on her side table, and tapped Will on the shoulder. She said something indistinguishable, and Will nodded in response, tiredly. She then took his spot and started murmuring happily, smiling and chatting one-sidedly with the girl as if nothing was wrong with the fact that she was being spoon-fed. Nico got a feeling in his gut that she wasn't going to last very much longer.

"Her name's Cecily."

"Huh?" Nico turned and saw a satyr he hadn't noticed in the cot beside him. One of his legs was wrapped in a fresh but bloodstained bandage. His hair was like typical satyr hair, brown and curly, and his eyes were large and very dark brown.

"The girl. Her name. It's Cecily. Ah, thanks, Mindy!" Another nymph handed him an origami bowl made of newspaper filled with what looked like wild berries. He winked at her as she giggled and blushed. "No problem Barry!" She ran off to get more food.

"That's Mindy." Barry explained to Nico.

"I gathered. Cecily, what's her story?" Barry looked at him sadly.

"It's not a fun one." A couple of visitors gave Nico dirty looks on their way out. He ignored them though, he was used to it. Barry wasn't. "Lord Zeus, what did you do to them?" He looked at Nico's slight frame incredulously, as if calculating how such a small kid could do something to make the girls that angry.

"My dad killed their puppy." Barry looked frightened. "He probably killed yours too. He's killed everyone's puppy. A parent or two every now and then, A large number of goldfish." Then Barry laughed.

"Oh! You're that Hades kid, huh? I was wondering when I'd run into you. You're funny." Nico looked at him dryly.

"Right." Three days. Three days. Three days. I promised three days.

"Anyways, Cecily's an Aphrodite kid, and well, she didn't have the best self esteem. She was curvy, you know? Like a greek girl is supposed to be. Then she got to camp and saw all the beautiful kids that shared her cabin, and suddenly, about a 2 weeks after getting to camp, she passes out during the rock climbing tournament. Falls about 20 feet. Turns out, she had stopped eating, trying to look all heroine chic, like her brothers and sisters. Been in here for about a month. I'm sure she'll be fine. Will's the best here!" No. No, she really won't. Nico thought. But he silenced it. It was bad enough, being the child of Hades in a place of healing, he didn't need to start shouting when people were going to die. He started to get tired again, his eyelids heavy. "I think I'm going to go to sleep, Barry."

"Hey, Kid, you good?" But Nico was already asleep.

"Dude! Hey, little dude!"

"Shh! Percy, have some respect. He's obviously still sleeping."

"Well, he needs to stop doing that, because we need to go!" Nico opened his eyes just in time to see a familiar pair of grey eyes roll at Percy's antics. She the "little dude's" eyes and winked, causing Percy to look at him. He smiled immediately. "Hi, Nico! How are you? Wait, Annabeth do we have time?" Annabeth checked her watch, and thought for a minute

"We will if we run for it."

"All right, Nico, you may answer the question." Nico was confused.

"I'm, uh, I'm fine. Time for what?" Percy grimaced, and Annabeth interjected.

"That's what we're here to talk to you about. We're, uh, well, we're moving to New Rome today." She looked away. "The goodbye party was last night." She fiddled with the hem of her shirt and smiled uncertainly, waiting for a response.

"Oh." Nico's voice broke. He had forgotten that specific little detail of his friends' little happy ending. The first demigods he'd ever befriended (and his first crush) were moving almost 3,000 miles away. He knew he could always visit, but it wouldn't be the same. Visiting would mean watching them build a new life around themselves, one that he wouldn't be able to be a part of. That hurt almost more than the fact that they were his best friends, and they were abandoning him. They had every right to, of course, but summer would never be like it was before. Now it wouldn't include them. He cleared his throat and faked a smile. "That's awesome, guys! I mean, wow. You're going to be great!" Percy and Annabeth smiled hugely.

"We couldn't leave without saying goodbye. And we're going to visit so much, you'll be sick of us in no time." Annabeth added that last note with a hint of sincerity creeping in, as if she could sense Nico's discomfort with the idea of the biggest constants in his life leaving. Nico laughed it off. swinging his legs over the bed to stand up and surprise them both with a hug. The second hug he'd given in three days. "I could never be sick of you guys," he whispered, and a couple of tears sprang to his eyes. He let go and quickly wiped them away, but Percy noticed.

"Aw, Nico, don't cry. We'll be back to visit soon. I swear on the River Styx." nico chuckled as Percy patted him on the back and pulled him in for another hug. Then Annabeth did the same. She saw her watch from behind Nico's back and swore. "Percy we have to run now. Nico, I uh, um-"

"Goodbye." He finished for her, "Iris Message me when you get there safely." She nodded and kissed him on the cheek, grabbed Percy's arm, and booked it towards Half-Blood Hill. Nico laid back in his bed, his heart hurting and feeling just a bit emptier. He missed them already.