Warnings: MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING! Self-harm. Please DO NOT READ if this upsets you.
Disclaimer: All rights to Rick Riordan. I own nothing, but the plot.
Themes of self-harm, anxiety, and depression are expressed within this story. TRIGGER WARNING! Please do NOT read if these themes upset you. TRIGGER WARNING!
Criticism is appreciated, but please no hate. Please review and leave me suggestions! Enjoy!
Will's POV:
He wasn't going to lie. Nico had really hurt him. He had spent the night crying, and got barely any sleep. He had been quite concerned that Nico had broken his stitches, but he was still very hurt. But his hurt didn't stop him from rushing to help Nico. He had just finished up breakfast alone when Jason Grace came running up to him. Jason looked fearful and Will noticed there was blood on Jason's hands and arms. His eyes widened in horror as Jason began talking. Where has the blood come from?
"Will, help. Hades cabin. Nico-" he didn't need to say anymore.
Will sprinted after him. He first stopped at his cabin to grab some supplies. He had a feeling he knew what Nico had done. He cursed under his breath. He should have known to keep better surveillance of the son of Hades. When he had been in there, he had collected some of the visible razors, but he knew Nico had hidden a lot of them. He reached his cabin door and began grabbing random supplies and throwing them in his bag. He yelled at Jason to go back to Nico.
He finished and sprinted past his cabin mates. He arrived at cabin 13 within seconds and found the door was open. He shut it behind him and ran to the bathroom. He gasped at the scene he walked into. There was broken glass from the mirror strewn around the floor. There were a couple small puddles of blood. In the middle of the bathroom, Jason had Nico in his arms. Nico's eyes were closed and he looked deathly pale. His eyes went to Nico's wrists. There didn't appear to be any blood coming from them. Blood had dried on his hands and arms. His eyes fell to Nico's thighs. He gasped. The white, usually pale skin was soaked with blood. Jagged cuts and gashes were etched into the skin. And they were deep. Will fell to his knees, ignoring the broken mirror cutting into his skin. He barked an order for Jason to get a clean, wet towel. It was given to him, and Will began wiping the blood away. But, it was still coming out. He pulled out bandages from his bag. He pressed down on Nico's thighs to try and staunch the bleeding. As he applied pressure, he looked at Jason.
"Did-" he squeaked. He was scared to ask the question, knowing the answer, but he had to ask. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Who- did he do this to himself?" Jason nodded, solemnly, tears coming to his eyes.
"I- I walked in on- on him doing it- and I had to pull- to pull the shard of glass from his hand. He made me promise not to tell you, or anyone. But, Will," Jason looked up in anguish. "I had to. He wouldn't- he wouldn't stop bleeding and I didn't know what to do. I don't know why he thinks he needs to do this." The son of Jupiter whispered. "We are here for him. Why won't he talk to us?" Nico had soaked through the bandage. Will grabbed another one and applied it to Nico's leg. He secured it before answering.
"He's scared? He thinks we will judge him or leave him or I don't know!" Will bit his lip in frustration. "But, I do know one thing. He will not be facing this alone anymore. So help me if I have to be with him twenty-four seven, then I will do it if it prevents from hurting himself." The promise rang out in the Hades cabin. Will was serious. He cared too much to continue letting Nico struggling by himself.
After five more bandages, and a half an hour later, the bleeding finally slowed. Will assessed Nico. He didn't appear to have any other injuries and he had not appeared to have slept or eaten the past few days. The most pressing concern was that Nico had lost so much blood. He needed more blood. Now. If he was going to stay alive. That meant Will needed a blood donation. And fast. He looked at Jason.
"Nico has lost a dangerous amount of blood and he needs more, now. I need a blood donation." Jason nodded. "I don't know what blood type he is, but I can just give him type O, the universal donor. I need you to go to the infirmary and get a blood bag for-" He was interrupted by Jason holding his arm out. Will looked at him, quizzically. His eyes widened as he realized what Jason was suggesting.
"Jason, no, I am not going to ask you to donate your blood. It's too much to-"
"I want to. You said he needed blood fast. Let me donate my own to help him. I want to help him." Jason looked defiant. Will was going to try to stop him. Blood transfusions were dangerous if the blood types didn't match. He opened his mouth to protest, but Jason continued. "No, I want to do this. I don't care about the risks. I would do anything for Nico!" Will threw his hands up in protest. He thought about getting a sibling to help him, but he assumed that Nico didn't want anyone else to know about his secret. He took inventory.
"Okay, we can't move Nico, it is too risky. I need you to go get the heart monitor, oxygen mask, and IV. I need to stay here and start stitching Nico up. Here," he shoved an energy bar into Jason's hand. "Get your strength up because Nico needs a lot of blood. Get back with the heart monitor, oxygen mask and IV as soon as possible. Tell Kayla, she will be in the infirmary, what you need, and say that Will is doing a practice run. Ask her what Nico's and your blood types are. She will understand. Tell no one else what you are doing. If anyone asks, ignore them. Go!"
Jason sprang out of the bathroom. The door opened and slammed shut. Will turned back to Nico. He needed medical attention, fast. He poured some unicorn draught down Nico's throat, trying to get some sort of medicine into his body. He reflexively swallowed and Will dropped the empty bottle down. Will wiped the remaining blood off of Nico's thighs and began meticulously stitching up the wounds. There were four major gashes and six or seven smaller ones. He stitched and wiped, stitched and wiped. He didn't look up until he pulled through the final stitch.
Jason was standing there, and Will had not noticed him come in. He asked Nico's blood type. A negative. He asked Jason's blood type. O negative. Even though that was the universal donor, this was going to be risky. He asked how long he had been there. Jason said thirty minutes. Crap Will thought Nico is not going to make it unless he gets blood now.
He grabbed the monitor from Jason and attached it to Nico's chest. Nico's heartbeat was weakening. He sat Jason down on a chair he pulled from Nico's cabin, and told Jason to make a fist. He obliged and Will inserted the IV. Jason gasped as blood started filling the tube. Carefully, but quickly he inserted the other end of the IV into Nico. Will closed his eyes and prayed, hoping the transfusion would work. The heart monitor started beeping like crazy. Nico was flat-lining.
His eyes flew open. He began CPR and prayed to his father that Nico would recover. 1-2-3 Please father, please, let it work. He blew air into Nico's lungs. 1-2-3. Please father, please, let my magic work.
Nico inhaled, and Will sobbed with relief. It worked. The blood transfusion was working. He placed an oxygen mask over Nico's face and checked the rest of his vitals. He was breathing, and his heartbeat had steadied. It had worked. Blood was flowing from Jason to Nico. Will looked to Jason, who looked relieved to see Nico breathing again. He asked if Jason was okay. Jason nodded, though he looked uncomfortable. Blood transfusions tended to have that effect on people. Will sat back, catching his breath. He had almost lost Nico. He had grown to have feelings for Nico and was relieved that he had saved him. But, it was still too soon to tell if Nico was okay. There was no telling when Nico would wake up.
Will looked at his hands. There were covered in blood. As was his shirt. He started picking up the shards of glass, carefully. He threw them into trash can. He carefully lifted up Nico and swept the broken mirror pieces from under him. He managed to get every piece into the trash. He walked over to the sink and washed the blood down the drain. He looked back over to Jason. The son of Jupiter was drooping in his chair. Will rushed over.
"Hold on, Jason, I will get you out soon. You are doing a great job." Jason nodded. Will put his hands on Nico's. He closed his eyes to read Nico's blood levels. They were still relatively low, but if Jason gave any more blood, he too would pass out. "Okay, Nico's levels are still really low, but yours are too. Let's get you unhooked." He moved to remove the IV, but Jason moved away.
"No, no. I'll give as much as I need to... To keep Nico going... To keep him alive," As he said that, Will saw him losing strength. If Jason had been at full strength, Jason would have stopped Will easily. But Jason had given a lot of blood so Will grabbed Jason's arm easily overpowering him.
Jason continued to protest, but Will shushed him, and removed the IV. He removed it from Nico's arm too. He watched Nico's vitals on the heart monitor, and they luckily stayed level. He let the IV fall and turned his attention to Jason. Jason was looking at Nico with unfocused eyes. Will grabbed a bandage and wrapped Jason's arm to staunch the bleeding. He finished and let go of Jason's arm, expecting him to put it in his lap, but it merely fell.
"Jason. Jason? Jason?" At his name mentioned three times, he finally looked up. His eyes were unfocused and blurred through his glasses. Will sucked in a breath and grabbed some nectar. He grabbed the back of Jason's neck, and poured some nectar down his throat. Jason swallowed, reflexively, his eyes fluttering shut.
Will wondered what he tasted. Will always tasted his mom's cookies from when he was a kid. He blocked out the memories that went with his mother. His mother had had some problems when Apollo had left her with Will. She was a heavy drinker, and even though she loved Will, they had a tense relationship. Will had known Apollo from a younger age as he had come to visit him occasionally. Whenever Will's mother was especially drunk, Will had always felt his father's presence around him, protecting him, blocking out his mother's yelling. His thoughts were interrupted by Jason's eyes opening. He looked a little better, though he still looked exhausted. Will needed to get him to sleep.
"Okay, Jason, let's get you to bed. You need to rest; you need to get some more strength." He put Jason's arm around his shoulder and lifted. Jason was heavy, but Will had years of training behind him. Jason started protesting.
"No, no. I want to stay awake until Nico... Nico wakes up..." Jason started to fall asleep on his shoulder. Will managed to get Jason to an empty bunk. Jason fell asleep as soon as he hit the pillow. He grabbed Jason's wrist and checked his vitals. Though his blood supply was a little low, he would be okay, once the nectar worked through his system. He pulled the covers over Jason. He slipped off Jason's glasses too.
He ducked back into the bathroom. Nico's heart rate was stable. Will knew he needed to move Nico to a bed, but he didn't know if he could do that without aggravating his injuries. He decided he could better monitor Nico if he was in a bed. Carefully, he lifted Nico into his arms. Using his feet, he nudged the heart monitor along with him, the oxygen tank was luckily attached to the monitor. He walked out of the bathroom, Nico in his arms, the monitor by his side. He slid Nico into his bed. He adjusted the mask, making sure it was secure. He checked the bandages on Nico's thighs. Blood was seeping through. Will rushed to his bag. He changed Nico's bandages.
Because Will had moved Nico, that had caused the stitches to start bleeding, but the stitches were still holding the gashes together. The heart monitors were still on, giving a steady heartbeat from the son of Hades. Will relaxed. Nico was finally stable. Will decided that he could leave him alone for a couple of minutes. He needed to get some more supplies and tell Kayla where he was so she could cover for him. He walked out of the Hades cabin and into the sunlight. Camp activities were going as normal. He started to his cabin, but he was stopped by Piper.
"Will! Have you seen Jason? He went to go see Nico and I wondered if you knew... Oh my gods, is that blood on your shirt?!" Will looked down. His shirt was still stained with Nico's blood. Crap. Piper reached out for him, but Will brushed her hand away.
"It's not mine, Piper, don't worry. It's not mine. Everyone is fine. It's from the infirmary. I was refilling bags of blood. Jason is... fine," But, Piper saw right through his fib.
"Will Solace, you tell me where Jason is right now!" Her charmspeak broke through. Will suddenly found himself wanting to tell Piper all about what had happened this morning. But, by some willpower, he refrained.
"I can't tell you!" Piper looked surprised to see Will raise his voice. "I can't tell you! Okay, you have to trust me. Jason is going to be okay. He is helping me with something that I really can't talk to you about. You can't tell anyone. Everything is going to be okay." Piper looked reluctant, but she accepted what Will had said.
"Is he hurt?"
"Uh-"
"William!"
"He will be okay."
"Can I see him?"
"Piper! You have to trust me, please!" Piper rolled her eyes.
"Okay, fine! But if he isn't okay by the end of the day, I am reporting to Chiron and I am charmspeaking the entire Ares cabin to hunt you down and get the information out of you." She stalked away from Will.
Will swallowed down his nervousness. He didn't doubt Piper's abilities. He ran his fingers through his hair. He was so stressed. He knew Jason was going to be fine in an hour. But he didn't know about Nico. Tears stung his eyes. He breathed back his tears. He walked into his cabin. It was empty. He grabbed a shirt and changed out of the ruined one. He went over to the medical supplies stored in the cabin and pulled out some more bandages. He pulled these out and walked back to the Hades cabin. Nico was still unconscious. As was Jason. Will sat in the chair besides Nico, putting his head in hands. What am I going to do?
It was the next day and Nico still hadn't woken up. Blood transfusions could be difficult, but they usually worked in a couple of hours. And it had been 24 hours since Nico had last been conscious. His wounds had been severe, but he should have shown some sort of life signs.
Will had stayed up all night, monitoring him. Jason had woken up an hour after Will had returned to cabin thirteen, had diffused Piper's anger, convincing her that he was alright and had sat vigil with Will through the night.
Currently, Jason was worriedly bouncing his leg up and down, and Will was pacing. At midnight, Jason and Will had made a pact that if Nico didn't wake up at 9 the next morning, they would go get Chiron. Will agreed, assuming Nico would be awake before then. It was now 8:30 and Nico was dead to the world. Will really hoped Nico would wake up now, because he knew that Nico would murder him for telling others his secret. Jason had said that Nico had practically begged Jason not to go and get Will. He continued pacing.
"It's 8:30. Should we go get help? Nico should have been awake by now. Will, why hasn't he woken up?" Will grabbed his hair in frustration.
"I don't know. I don't know and it is killing me not to know why Nico is refusing to wake up. But, we agreed on 9 to go get help. So we will wait it out until 9."
The silence reentered the room, only disturbed by the steady beeping of the heart monitor and the flow of oxygen into Nico's mask. Will forced himself to take deep, relaxing breaths. Nico was going to wake up, wasn't he? Will hadn't been too late, had he? If Nico died, it would be Will's fault. He forced down the panic rising inside him. Nico isn't going to die. He is going to wake up. There is no other option. Will's thoughts prevented him from noticing the son of Hades' movement. He had readjusted himself, which showed that he was gaining consciousness, though it was unnoticed by Jason and Will, too wrapped up in their own heads.