A/N: I apologize for the super long wait for this chapter, but I feel like you'll all think it was worth it. Enjoy.
Returning to Camp Half-Blood was drastically different from when Will had first arrived. This time, there were no party plans, no campers out training or socializing, no feeling of excitement. The only change Will was happy about was that his father was there with him. It didn't make the situation any better, but having Apollo there made the whole day slightly more bearable.
Everyone was gathered in the amphitheater for the shroud burning ceremony. Since Nico didn't have any siblings at camp, Jason and Percy were the ones who led the procession, carrying the heavy black shroud on their shoulders as the crowd rose to their feet. Even the kids who had been discouraging Reyna and Nico's arrival the night before now stood with their heads bowed respectfully. Despite their animosity towards Romans, they still acknowledged the bravery behind Nico's sacrifice. The only one absent from the ceremony was Chiron, who'd told Will and Reyna he had business to take care of on Mount Olympus before galloping away, leaving them to make their way back to Camp alone.
Reyna herself stood against one of the far walls of the amphitheater, sobbing into Annabeth's shoulder as Annabeth squeezed her shoulders tight, trying to calm her down. Reyna had managed to keep herself together, staying strong throughout the entire trip to Mount Olympus and back, but she completely broke down walking back through the barriers of camp half blood and passing the fissure in the ground where Gaea and Nico had fallen.
A part of Will felt selfish for being so upset. Reyna and Nico had been each others' best friends and closest companions for years, and Percy and Annabeth knew him even longer than Reyna did. They were the ones who deserved to be mourning him the most. And yet, Percy and Annabeth were the ones holding themselves together the best out of everyone.
Will was thankful that everyone's attention was focused on the ceremony so they didn't notice him and Apollo enter and take their seats in the top seats, far away from the crowds.
The campers took their seats again as Percy raised a hand, signaling for them to listen as he began his speech. This would be the hardest part of the day for Will, having to listen to all of Nico's old friends regaling all of the adventures he was a part of and express their regrets of experiences they'd never have with him.
"I'll be honest," Percy began, "at first, I didn't consider Nico a friend at all. In fact, when we first met, he was the most annoying little ten-year-old I'd ever met and I spent majority of my time trying not to strangle him." He laughed sadly. "And for a while, he hated me too. I made him a promise I couldn't keep. He and I weren't on good terms for a really long time, and I really regret that. If things had worked out differently, if it weren't for those few awful unforeseen consequences, Nico and I could have probably been really good friends."
Friends. Of course, Percy never knew that Nico was in love with him all along. That was a consequence that would stay unforeseen forever now. Nico never told him, and now would never be able to.
"Life as a demigod is hard, we all know it," Percy continued. "But Nico, he had it worst of all. He was torn out of his own time, forced to deal with the burden of his sister's death and the reputation that came with being a child of Hades. The reputation that caused him to be alone in one of the few places where demigods are supposed to be welcomed. And as soon as his life started getting better, it . . ." his voice broke slightly. Jason gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder and he took a deep breath before continuing. "It was taken away much too soon. I'm sorry, Nico di Angelo. You deserved better."
No one else stepped up to say anything. Annabeth had tried to coax Reyna to the middle of the amphitheater to speak, but Reyna pulled away, shaking her head profusely and sobbing even harder. No one could blame her. Will, on the other hand, didn't feel like it was his place to say anything. In the middle of a giant crowd of strangers, speaking at the funeral service of a boy he only knew for a week? It wouldn't feel right.
He didn't even want to think about how Hazel would react to the news. If she ever even found out. No one was sure when - or if - the quest to rescue the remainder of the seven of the prophecy would leave for Europe. After the battle with Gaea, no one was ready to set off on a new quest. They needed much more time to recover.
The sadness must have been obvious on his face, because his father moved closer to him and squeezed his shoulder.
"Son," Apollo whispered to him, "I know exactly how you feel. Trust me, it gets easier after some time."
Of course, this was probably the millionth funeral Apollo had attended. He had centuries worth of lost loves to mourn.
"Dad, I don't . . . I mean, Nico and I, it wasn't like that," Will said. "He and I weren't like you and mom. I barely even knew him."
"That doesn't mean it can't hurt just as much," Apollo said pointedly.
He definitely wasn't wrong. The weight of Nico's death weighed more heavily on Will's heart than anything else he'd ever experienced. It hurt more than all of the years of loneliness and wondering when he'd be free from Gaea. At least back then, he'd never had a taste of freedom. He didn't know what he was missing. But with Nico, he'd just barely gotten a glimpse at what true happiness with him felt like before it was ripped away from him without warning.
Part of him wished none of it had ever happened. He'd rather be imprisoned forever than be free at the cost of Nico's life.
The campers in the stands rose to their feet again as Leo stepped up to the shroud, igniting a small flame at the tip of his fingers.
He took five agonizingly slow steps up to Nico's shroud. "Does anyone have any final words?" he asked awkwardly as he lowered his hand, ready to light it.
"STOP!" Chiron's voice and the sound of his hooves echoed as he galloped across the amphitheater. Leo extinguished his flame and stepped back as Chiron came barreling through the group standing around Nico's shroud. For probably the first time ever, he looked stressed. Beads of sweat dripped down his face and he breathed heavily. And there, on his back, lay an unconscious Nico di Angelo.
Will's feet acted before his mind did. He jumped from his seat and ran down the stone steps, the rushing of blood in his ears drowning out the surprised gasps from the campers.
By the time he reached the ground, there was already a small crowd surrounding Nico and Chiron. Reyna's sobs hadn't subsided. In fact, she was crying even harder as she and Percy lifted Nico's frail and limp body from Chiron's back and placed him on the ground. Reyna cradled his head in her lap, pushing his hair out of his face and trying to shake him awake to no avail.
"What happened to you?" she kept asking. "What's wrong with him? Why isn't he waking up?"
"He is extremely weak," Chiron said gravely. "He is alive, but just barely."
Percy, Leo, Jason and Will all stared silently, not quite sure what to do. Annabeth seemed to be the only one not in complete shock. She knelt down and placed a hand on Nico's neck, checking his pulse.
"His pulse seems normal," she muttered quickly, examining as much as she could. "He's still breathing, I don't see any bleeding or bruising anywhere. I can't find anything wrong."
Will knew, though. He'd seen it happen twice - once in his nightmares, and once right before his eyes. "The shadows consumed him."
"He can bend darkness and death to his will, but if he loses control it can take over his life source," Reyna nodded. "He's been slowly fading away for weeks now, and his attack on Gaea may have pushed him over the edge. Unless," she looked up at Will and wiped a tear from her eye, "can you do something?"
"I don't know," Will said. His hands trembled at the very idea of it. He'd been able to fix physical wounds in the past, sure, but how could he heal something that he couldn't touch? He wanted to save Nico, of course, but if he couldn't, the guilt would destroy him.
"You have to try," Annabeth said. "Kayla!" she called up to the stands, "Get the heart defibrillator and any other useful supplies you can grab from the infirmary!"
Kayla and the other Apollo kids in the stands jumped up right away.
"Wait!" Apollo grabbed the shoulder of the nearest blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid and stopped them. "You all shouldn't leave. We need as many healers to stay nearby in case something goes wrong."
Kayla whirled around and glared at him. "Who are you to tell us what to - DAD? What are you doing here?"
"I'll explain everything later," Apollo said. "Kayla, I want you, Oliver, and Holly to get supplies from the infirmary. Everyone else, I want you here to help."
One of Apollo's sons turned and stared. "You know all of our names?"
Apollo tilted his head. "Of course I do. Why wouldn't I? Will! I'd get started if I were you."
At Apollo's cue, Reyna gently lifted Nico's head from her lap and laid him flat on the ground. She stood and watched Will as she stepped away shakily, her eyes wide and pleading.
Taking Nico's hand in his, Will couldn't help but notice how cold and thin he was. Nico had always been a small kid, but now, with every trace of color and life drained from him, he seemed impossibly frail.
Healing Nico this time would be different from anything he'd ever done. He couldn't pinpoint a broken bone or open wound. All he knew was that he wanted to try his hardest to fix whatever was wrong.
He took a deep breath before quietly singing out, "Flos nitoris fulgore et lumen . . ."
He immediately felt Nico's life force tugging at his fingertips. He closed his eyes, singing the hymn louder, focusing every last bit of his energy towards pushing away the darkness.
Will could feel it clouding his thoughts, beckoning him to stop trying, creeping at the edge of his own consciousness and trying to pull him down with it. Flashes of death and destruction appeared in the corners of his vision. Being ambushed by Romans in France.
Dropping from the sky and drowning alongside Scipio and Nico.
Being slowly strangled to death by the serpent at the zoo.
Choking on the gags in his mouth as he's tied up and dragged away from his friends.
Octavian invading Camp and burning it to the ground.
And, repeating over and over, Gaea's triumphant laughter as she dragged Nico to his death again and again.
He pushed harder than he ever had before, giving every last bit of his energy, but nothing he tried would ward away the darkness. Will almost wanted to give up. Almost.
"Dad!" Will cried out, "I'm losing him!"
Apollo ran to his son's side, taking one of Will's hands in his and Nico's cold, limp hand in the other. As they began chanting together, Apollo's natural aura grew brighter, surrounding the three of them in a golden glow.
"Salvabo quod amissum est. Adducere reportat quod nostra fuit . . ."
A hand on his shoulder nearly pulled him out of his focus before he realized it was one of his siblings, who had begun chanting along with them, his eyes closed in concentration. Other Apollo cabin kids followed his lead, linking hands and chanting Apollo's hymn.
The glowing aura around Will, Apollo, and Nico grew blinding, so much that those standing nearby had to shield their eyes. Reyna, Annabeth, Jason, Percy, and Leo stood off to the side, linking hands with each other and waiting with baited breath to see if Apollo's healing powers would succeed.
And then everything went dark.
The glowing aura blinked out, there one second and gone the next. The positive energy that had been flowing through the Apollo kids now faded to almost nothing. And Nico still lay on the ground unmoving.
"No . . ." Reyna whispered.
Will leaned closer, staring down at Nico's face. "Please," he pleaded quietly, "please be okay."
Hundreds of gasps and cries of relief were heard when Nico sucked in a large breath, sitting up so fast he nearly head-butted Will.
He looked around the arena and blinked rapidly. His eyes landed on the crowd of campers in the seats above, on Reyna and Annabeth, on Jason and Percy and Leo, on Apollo and his sons and daughters all linked together, and finally, on Will, who stared right back, just as shocked as he was.
"Will," Nico said, his voice extremely hoarse, "next time I try to destroy an ancient all-powerful goddess on my own, try a little harder to talk me out of it, okay?"
And then, without thinking, without caring that everyone in Camp Half-Blood was staring, Will kissed him.
All of the positivity that had left him before now came back in a rush, energizing him with a kind of happiness he'd never felt before. He silently scolded himself for all of the times in the past few days where he wanted to pull away from Nico's touch, because in this moment, he never wanted to let go. Now he gladly welcomed the heat rushing to his face and the softness of Nico's lips on his.
A loud cough brought him back to reality. "Huh," Apollo muttered, "for a second there I didn't think that was going to work. Okay then."
Nico and Will broke apart hastily, Will instinctively bringing his hand to his mouth, not quite believing what he'd just done. He almost laughed at how absurd this situation was.
Nico actually did laugh, the sound escaping him almost against his will as he grinned widely. "Nice to see you again, too," he said.
From there, everything was a blur of hugs and happy tears. Reyna, of course, was the first to reach Nico, nearly throwing herself on top of him, kissing his cheeks and clutching him like she never wanted to risk letting go.
Percy and Jason helped Nico to his feet and the both of them clapped him hard on the back while Annabeth chastised them. "You two are going to break him!"
"Way to interrupt your own funeral, kid," Percy said to him. "Remember when I did that once?"
With the happy reunion came a flood of questions. The first being "So . . . can I burn this thing now?" coming from Leo, who stood near Nico's now useless burial shroud, his fingertips aflame. "I was actually kind of looking forward to that part."
"Be my guest," Nico told him.
Leo thrust his hand into the dark fabric of the shroud, cackling manically when it went up in flames.
Just fifteen minutes before, Will had given up all hope of ever seeing Nico again. Now he had someone to thank for bringing him back. He turned to Chiron. "You went looking for him?"
Chiron nodded, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I had to travel to the Underworld and search for him. I almost thought I was going to be too late to stop the ceremony. It was not easy locating him."
"Wait a second," Jason said. "No offense, but people saw you and dirt face get sucked up into the ground. How are you even in one piece?"
Nico shrugged half-heartedly. "The Underworld is my dad's domain. I guess I just got lucky." The way he shifted his eyes while talking told Will that he wasn't telling the entire truth, but he knew it was better not to question it. If he was ever meant to really know what happened, Nico would tell him.
Will also heard the unmistakable, "So how long have you two been an item?" come from an Aphrodite kid, who was promptly elbowed and shushed.
"Before we answer any more questions," Nico interrupted, "I have something important I need to do for Will and his dad. Chiron, do I have your permission to leave camp?"
Chiron looked Nico up and down once, his skeptical frown turning to a small smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"Of course. Though, do be careful. I'd hate to have to do this all over again."
"Okay, kid," Apollo said to Nico, "I know you said this is important and all, but do we really have to be here? I'm not exactly enjoying the doom-and-gloom themed decor."
Nico trudged ahead, holding Will's hand firmly in his. He wouldn't be letting go any time soon. "You get used to it," he called back. "Besides, we won't be here long."
"Nico, are you sure it's okay for you to be back so soon?" Will asked. He'd seen and felt all of the darkness inside Nico just hours before, and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to experience something that terrifying again. "Isn't the Underworld going to, you know, affect you?"
"I'll be fine. I know what I can handle now."
Somehow the Underworld was exactly as Will pictured it, and at the same time, unlike anything he could ever imagine.
Everything was dead. And not in the way he expected. Sure, the occasional skull and crossbones was a given, but he wasn't expecting to have to duck under hundreds of dried out, lifeless tress and pass through the ghostly figures of millennia worth of dead souls, which was about as creepy and unsettling as one would expect. As they passed the main entrance gates, he also saw Ceberus chewing a giant rubber ball, which was a bit odd to say the least.
"Are we almost there?" Will asked.
Apollo piped up from behind him. "Yeah, where exactly are we going?"
"You'll see," Nico said, pausing for a moment to pluck a pomegranate from a nearby tree and stowing it in his bag, a mischievous look on his face.
"What?" Will began to ask, but Nico cut him off.
"I've never been down here during the summer. Persephone's not here, so she can't stop me from taking anything. What she doesn't know won't hurt her. And you never know how this might come in handy."
The fruits from Persephone's garden were all perfectly ripe and extremely tempting, but Will knew better than to take any for himself. Part of him wanted to ask why Nico needed it, since he knew food from the Underworld would trap any mortal or demigod down here permanently, but he figured, with Nico being a son of Hades, things worked a little differently for him.
After passing Persephone's garden, they veered left and kept trudging on.
"So," Will said to Nico, quietly enough so his dad wouldn't hear, "how did you really survive?"
"I didn't." Nico said bluntly.
"But how did you manage to come back?"
"I made it to Elysium," Nico admitted. "I guess my sacrifice was heroic enough to earn it. And they gave me the option to either stay and live in peace or to try for rebirth. But I didn't want either of those. So I begged for a second chance at the life I have now. And fortunately, I know a few people who could convince them to change up the rules a little. Chiron helped too. He told me he pleaded with my dad after you did, and that's what finally pushed him to say yes. So I was given another chance."
"You gave up an eternity of paradise?" Will asked. "But why?"
"I have plenty of time to spend with a bunch of dead people. I figured I had some friends elsewhere who I'd much rather be with," Nico smiled. "And besides, if I want, I can always throw myself down another pit of death with an evil goddess and die a hero's death all over again. I'm sure I'd get sent to Elysium a second time."
Will's eyes widened, and his grip on Nico's hand went limp.
"Will, I'm kidding," Nico grabbed Will's hand even tighter, like he was holding on for dear life. "I promise you, I'm not going anywhere for a very long time. And speaking of Elysium . . ."
Standing before them was the famed section of the Underworld for extraordinary heroes. A tall, solid gold iron gate surrounded by stone walls stood before them. The sound of music and laughter faintly drifted out between the cracks in the wall.
Nico stepped forward and touched a hand to the gate. It swung open, revealing thousands of towering houses and mansions surrounded by colorful gardens and full of heroes - demigods and mortals - talking, playing, and relaxing.
"I take back everything I ever said about the decor here," Apollo said, staring wide-eyed at the spectacle before him. "How come Hades never let me in here? This place is sweet!"
"You haven't seen anything yet," Nico said, gesturing Will and Apollo to follow him as he walked further.
Apollo walked along eagerly with a hop in his step. "How could it get any better than this?"
Will wondered the same thing. He was with Nico and his father, and they were all alive and happy. Plus, they were literally standing in paradise. He didn't know how much more goodness there could possibly be in the Underworld.
Many of the people standing outside of their homes stopped to say hello to Nico, and he returned their greeting with a polite wave. But he didn't stop once, not until they reached the very center of Elysium.
Yet another gate blocked their way to their final destination. Nico pushed it open and pulled Will inside. The moment he caught sight of what was in front of him, he gasped, unable to believe what he was seeing.
The rest of Elysium was nothing compared to the paradise he saw now. Palm trees were scattered among dozens of islands that had huge cabanas and their own private beaches. The water was a dazzling blue and it seemed to almost sparkle in the sunlight, which was impossible, since there was no sun at all down here.
"The Isles of the Blest," Nico said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Those who are reborn and reach Elysium three times are granted eternal happiness here."
"But why are we here?" Will asked. Not that he ever wanted to leave, but he couldn't think of a reason why Nico would want to show him all of this.
"I think I know why." Apollo's voice sounded whispery and far away.
Off in the distance where Apollo stared, standing on the sandy beach, ankle-deep in the sparkling blue waters of the lake, was Adalynn Solace.