Percy's eyes snapped open when he heard Will's screams from the teenager's room. Panicked, unsilenced. He gave Nico a minute to calm him down, but when the younger boy failed, Percy took matters into his own hands and ran for his son's room.

Still before midnight, September 10. A Monday that they all hated.

Percy opened the door to Will's bedroom to find Nico sitting up, trying to shake Will awake. His blue-eyed son was still asleep, sweat dripping from his forehead as he screamed from the depths of his soul.

"How long has he been like this?" Percy asked, stepped into the room. "How long?"

Nico relaxed when he saw Percy. "He was at first just having a normal nightmare. Tried snuggling with him to make it better but it didn't work. He started screaming like five minutes ago."

"Damn it." Percy sat next to his son and brought the boy into his arms. "Will, Will, it's okay. I'm here. I'm here and so is Nico. We're protecting you. There's no cannons. No cannons here."

Will's screams turned to panic sobs, his head laying against his father's chest.

"Yep, I'm right here." Percy held him close, held him as close as he could. "I'm right here...everything's okay...it's time to go to bed, nothing dangerous around us. Just us..."

It took another ten minutes before Will was sleeping peacefully again, his ear to where Percy's heart thumped in his chest. Percy made sure he was still asleep before looking to Nico, his voice low. "That was a bad one."

"I know..." Nico stared down at the bed. "I'm sorry I couldn't do anything."

"It's okay." Percy looked down at his son's sleeping form. "They just get bad sometimes. It'll be okay."

Nico looked up at him, his eyes flashing in the light that leaked in from the hallway. "Percy? How'd you know to name him Will? How'd you know it was going to be him?"

Percy smiled. "I had a dream, actually. I woke up to turn to Annabeth, and we both said his name at the same time. We just knew after that. And then we found out the name of the kid next door and...well, we had a hell of a laugh."

Nico grinned. "I really like this life, even if we don't have a lot of money."

"Me, too." Percy agreed. "Me, too."


A clear September day, a stop at a coffee shop on the way to school. Nico walked with Will, their hands clasped together. They shared a frappe as they walked, the two straws bobbing with each footstep. Bookbags, a kiss on the cheek, a comment on the good weather.

Nico never expected to be back at the Facility in some hours, but some things came from nowhere. Like the plane that morning, the plane that appeared in the clear sky and crashed into that unexpecting skyscraper.

"What was that?!" Will looked up at the skyline, the smile having slipped off of his tan face. "Nico..."

"That isn't good." Nico looked to the sky, looked at how advances in technology could destroy. "That couldn't have been an accident. No clouds, nothing."

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Will dropped the frappe, his medic instincts kicking in.

"We're helping." Nico looked to Will. "I'll raise you to the ground floor."

"You're on!" Will took off, his bookbag jumping on his back.

"Wait up, you cheater!" Nico sprinted to catch up with him. "I'm the soldier, not you!"

Will didn't answer, too far ahead to hear. They got into the building before anybody could stop them, started to help others who came to help. Carrying people out, helping people find their kids. It was twenty minutes later, underneath the fire, that they heard the next plane come in.

"Nico..." Will looked to his boyfriend. A piece of the ceiling fell between them, bringing a roar of fire and a sense of destruction. "Nico!"

Nico climbed over the chunk of concrete and pulled Will into his arms, feeling his leg burning from a tongue of fire. "It's going to be okay. I promise you. We're going to stay together." Around them seemed to be Hell, seemed to be a scene from a war film. Fire everywhere, things crumbling and falling, the smell of burning flesh.

"I'm scared." Will looked into Nico's eyes. "We should try to get out. We need to try."

"Look around you." Nico gripped onto him. "That fire is blocking every exit by now. Just calm down and keep looking at me. Keep your eyes on me. Everything will be okay."

Will nodded. "Promise?"

"I promise." Nico smiled. "Now, kiss me?"

Will put his lips against Nico's. "So needy."

"You know me well."


Nico stared up at the ash and soot, stared up at the smoke curling up from the ruins. He tasted fire, felt pieces of the building in his mouth. He could smell his blood, feel it seeping out of him. His body was failing, his breaths barely came. It hurt so bad to breathe. He just wanted to stop.

Will was laying on him, lifeless. Dead. Another body lost in the rubble. As Nico closed his eyes against the world, he relaxed into the feeling of death, relaxed at the idea of slipping away. It was so easy, so peaceful. All the pain went away.


Nico opened his eyes to find himself on his usual metal bed, the smell of fire gone. He could see clearly, could move without pain. For a minute, he let himself breathe and relax.

Only when he remembered that Will died, too, did he shoot to his feet. "Will?!"

The blond boy rolled over on his bed but didn't wake up, his hair falling into his face. "Go away, Nico, I'm sleeping."

"Will..." Nico laid beside him. "Thank god, thank god you're here." He held Will close to him, held him close in fear of being separated again. "I love you. I love you more than anything."

"Love you, too..." Will's voice was heavy with sleep. "Love Nico, my soulmate."

Nico smiled. "That I am."