"Will should be back by now." Nico fretted. Hades looked uncomfortable.

"He should be…" Nico muttered. It was almost midnight. "Where is he?" He mumbled to himself.

Nico paced back and forth, along the side of the table. He drew his lower lip in between his teeth, and wrung his hands.

Something seemed a little off. Will was the punctual type. Well, it was usually Nico who was timely, but Will never dared to push the limits too far.

Nico turned to Hades, and he put his hands on the side table where they were at. Hades backed away slightly.

"Dad. Do you know where Will is?" Hades looked away, and said something inarticulate under his breath.

"Dad." Hades didn't say anymore, and tried to reach for a beer. Nico's heartbeat shot up. Something was wrong for sure. Something was definitely wrong.

"Dad!" Nico jolted Hades by the shoulders and slapped his cheeks not-so-lightly.

"Dad! Where is he?! Where's Will?!" He shouted urgently. If Will was out too late, the doors would close. And then there was no coming back.

"Dad!" He slapped Hades' face much harder now. Hades stared at Nico, but his eyes didn't lock.

"Son…" Hades said in a small voice. "Will...he left."

Nico stopped shaking Hades. "He...what?"

Nico let Hades go. "What do you mean he left?!"

"Dad." Nico said, keeping his breath as steady as possible. "Where. Is. Will."

"He left! He forced rebirth!" Hades yelled.

Nico fell back into the couch. Will...he did what?

"He's walking on the surface right now with the memories of life here and the solid, human form of his body!" Hades said, and began to cry softly. Nico just focused on his breathing.

"I already warned him…i already warned him!" Hades wailed at himself.

The clock struck twelve. There was no hope left.

"H-he forced rebirth? H-how could he?" Nico whispered, getting dangerously louder. "I don't believe you. I don't believe Will is up there."

Hades pulled Nico's sleeve and arm. "Nico. It's true...He really went to the surface."

"So this is what you were talking about last night, weren't you?" Hades nodded.

"But you promised! You promised he would be fine!" Nico exploded once more. "You said it was all right! You said nothing was wrong! That was why i didn't ask!"

Hades gripped him tight but Nico wrenched his arm away, his sweat turned cold. "Don't touch me."

"Son… it sucks but that's his wish. He wanted to be free. That was the only reason as to why i even suggested it…"

"You suggested it!" Nico screamed in fury. "You SUGGESTED it?"

Nico balled his fists. "You motherfucking moron!"

Hades buried his head in his fists and his entire body shook with cries. Nico stopped this outburst and uncurled his hands

Nico shook his head, and tears began to fall in silence. "I don't believe you. I don't believe that Will would do that…"

Nico fell to his knees and grabbed Hades' hands, absolutely contradictory to his former statement. "Dad please...come on. Tell me where he really is."

Hades shook his head. Nico started to cry harder, and he was angry at himself for doing so. "Please! Dad! Tell me where Will is...please Dad…"

Hades just continued to stay quiet.

Nico let go of Hades and sniffed loudly, then wiped the tears away from his eyes. "I-I'll go to sleep. A-and then, tomorrow, you'll tell me where Will is. Alright Dad."

Hades looked up and attempted to talk him out of it, but Nico didn't listen. It seemed he never did anymore. There was one period of time, that he changed a little, but here he was, changing back to his old self.

Nico unsuccessfully tried over and over again to wipe away the continuous stream of tears. Up in his room, he cried himself to sleep. He had never need to do that. Exhaustion itself usually wore him out enough.

But today, he just let each tear come and go, come and go. Maybe deep inside he was telling himself that Will wasn't really gone.

…

"Nico? Come down for breakfast." Hades called wearily. Nico trodded down the steps.

"Is Will back?" He asked.

"No. But-"

"Why isn't he back? It's been a day!" Nico kicked the table in frustration.

"Don't kick my table young man." Hades warned

"I do what i like." Nico glared. "Where is Will!?"

"He's not here! I already told you! He forced rebirth!" Hades yelled, likely tired at his son's shit.

"He would never!" Nico shouted desperately.

"That's what he did alright! Stop pestering me!"

"But Will…" Nico felt his voice become thicker.

"Can you just shut up!?" Hades roared. "I wish Will were here instead of you!"

The house became deadly silent; so silent they could both hear each other's heartbeats.

"YOU THINK I DON'T WISH SO TOO?!" Nico screamed back.

He hurled the flower vase on the coffee table across the living room, and it shattered upon hitting the wall. Nico screamed angrily, yelling out strings of curses even Hades didn't understand in Italian.

He threw a porcelain paperweight at the door, and perhaps that made the most pleasant sound of shattering Nico ever heard. Everything was reduced to shards.

The glass was all over the ground. There was nothing left to throw, to vent at, to scream and shout at.

"Nico listen. I'm so-"

"You're sorry?" Nico said in a deathly whisper. "Sorry?! YOU told him to reborn! You knew this would happen! And what did you do while this all played out?"

Nico walked to Hades and grabbed him by the collar. He jabbed at his chest.

"What did you do? You sat at home, drinking your stupid bottles of beer. You kept quiet about it. You didn't even care!"

Nico sent a slap across his face, and Hades' sweat mixed with his tears. Hades' face contorted with pain.

One or two slaps were bearable, but dealt at the same spot with increasing amounts of power on top of having to deal with the loss of a son was not easy to deal with.

"You are such a useless father you know that!? You can't even care for your son! This must be why Will decided to run away too!" Nico cried, saying the most horrible things that weren't even true.

Hades remained his silent game. He didn't speak a single word. He knew he started it all. And Nico was rightfully enraged. Maybe he forgot to take into consideration that an angry Nico was one of the worst things to have to face.

"I-i...i don't know what to say…" Hades pleaded.

Satisfied, Nico pushed Hades against the wall and ran out the front door.

Don't hate me please

Thanks