AN: Omigosh I can't believe I made it this far! Sorry if this is really in Nico's feelings. I was in a bit of a mood and writing this is basically my outlet. Also, sorry for the glitch the first time.

When Nico woke up he wasn't exactly sure where he was. He vaguely remembered the events of last night. There was something about a fire… the infirmary. Will was there, that was the last thing he remembered. He blinked a few more times and his vision focused. From the looks of it, he was in the Apollo Cabin. There were a few other kids in there, some of whom were a lot more injured than he was. He guessed they had volunteered the Apollo Cabin as a makeshift infirmary until whatever happened to the actual one was fixed. It sounded exactly like something the Apollo kids would do, being the absurdly nice kids of the healing god they are. He felt like he was in fairly good shape but when he got up to walk around his legs gave out beneath him. So, not so good it seems. With a sigh of submission he flopped back onto the bed he was on and looked around. There were Apollo kids running around the Cabin frantically, tending to wounds, infections, and whatnot. There was no sign of Will anywhere although there were enough people in the cabin as it was.

It didn't take Nico long to find Will. He walked into the cabin, his arms full of medical supplies, promptly handing them over to another doctor and rushing over when he saw Nico was awake. "You made it!"

"What do you mean, 'I made it'? Look around, I'm the least of your worries! What even happened? Was there like a fire or something?"

"You don't remember?" Will gave Nico a concerned look and mumbled something about checking for a concussion. "Do you know when that was?"

"Yesterday?" Judging by the look on Will's face Nico was far off.

"It was a week ago! You haven't woken up since."

"What?! What happened?" Nico was frantic.

"Well first you basically opened up Tartarus, and then-"

"Did anybody die?" Nico was confused. He felt disoriented and noticed a dull ache in his legs. But he was also probably one of the less important campers and, as much as he avoided showing it, he did somewhat not want them to die.

"A few." Will had a pained look in his eyes. It was clear talking about the dead made him squeamish, which probably wasn't the best trait for a doctor.

Nonetheless, Nico chose not to pry, he just nodded and Will continued. "Yeah, after opening Tartarus all hell basically broke loose, literally. It was just a good thing that the monsters weren't able to escape. You could hear their wails though." Will paused, shuddering, "It was almost like a vortex, not like sucking people up, but people were just drawn to it. It took all of the Hecate Cabin and every charmspeaker at camp to help me get everybody away from there. I almost went in myself. It was just so… intriguing." Will shuddered once more.

Nico nodded again. He wasn't sure what to say. He tried to understand what Will had felt, but he couldn't even begin to imagine it. Even as a son of Hades, he'd always felt fundamentally afraid of Tartarus. So to be drawn to it… the very thought made Nico shudder.

"So did you close it?"

"Not quite… but all of Hecate Cabin, who seems to be immune, has been taking shifts monitoring it so nobody else goes in."

"Do you know how to? Because I probably could." Nico usually didn't offer to help, but he felt like an asshole. It was all his fault, just like it always up.

He tried to get up but Will blocked his path. "Where are you going? You just opened up Tartarus for gods' sake! You are in no condition to walk, let alone close it." Seriously, Will could be so annoying. In the grand scheme of things, why did Nico even matter. He was just one demigod out of hundred, and nobody really even liked him. Sure, there were people he would call friends, but no matter what, he still felt left out. Unimportant. It didn't matter what he did, what they said, it was like there would always be an invisible barrier between and everybody else. None of them could ever really understand him. They were so perfect and amazing and he was just one of their many friends. They would do just fine without him but he only had a few people, and as much as he hated to admit it, he needed them. It wasn't even their fault, none of them pulled dumb shit like this. You'd never see any of them opening up the actual fucking underworld. Another one of the perks of being a son of Hades.

He was tempted to push past Will and go close whatever rift he opened, no matter the consequences, but there was only one thing that stopped him from deciding to do so… Will. He actually made Nico feel important, as if his life wasn't another speck in the universe, of no consequence. Like Will cared. And Nico liked that feeling, he didn't want it to stop.

"Well fine," Nico huffed, but there wasn't much bite to it, "Can I at least go back to my own cabin? Nothing you can give me here will help."

"Alright" Will said cheerily. How could he be so happy surrounded by people in so much pain? It was ridiculous but when Nico looked at Will, really looked at him he saw it. Will was just as worried as he was, just as imperfect. And he was hiding it, just like everybody else probably was. It gave Nico comfort to know he wasn't the only one who tried to put on an act for other people, just to try to fit in. He got up to go to his own cabin when Will picked him up. Nico blushed so hard he figured he looked like a tomato, "What the hell Will?!"

Will gave him a small, lopsided, smile. "I told you, you're in no condition to walk." Nico sighed, in a completely unromantic way! He might like Will but he wasn't going to start acting like one of those swoony Aphrodite girls. He would try to get up himself but there was no point, Will was right. He was in no condition to get anywhere by himself.

Could Will walk any slower? He tried to ignore the odd and somewhat afraid looks the other campers were giving him. The afraid looks didn't bother him, he was used to it. But the look Annabeth gave him when she walked by was enough to make Nico want to bury himself in Will's arms. What the actual fuck was that supposed to mean. He did not want to do that, not at all. He just needed to get to his cabin. And take a nap. He wasn't that tired, seeing as he had apparently been asleep for the last week, but he just wasn't ready to face the world right now. Once Will put Nico in the Hades Cabin Nico buried himself under all the blankets and pillows he could find around his room. There were a lot more than he thought. He wasn't the most organized person, the last time they came by his cabin for the routine checks, he got a negative one. They stopped coming by after that. Nico figured that the fact that he was currently burrowed in 7 layers of blanket would be a sign that he didn't want to talk to anybody, but he was sorely mistaken.

"How are you doing?" Nico never got out of his bed but he could tell by the sound of the voice that it was Percy. Of Course.

"Fine"

"So, when did you wake up?"

"This afternoon."

"I see." He could practically hear the awkward nodding in Percy's voice, "So, you going to sleep now."

"No, I'm exercising." Nico deadpanned. Nico was curious enough to poke his head out of the blankets to see Percy's response. When Nico saw the mix of confusion and concern on his face Nico nearly laughed. He looked so uncomfortable it was funny.

Luckily for Percy, Annabeth came to his rescue. She swung by just in time to catch the last few remarks and gave me a smirk. "Clearly." She nudged Percy and said something inaudible to him. He nodded. She waved goodbye to Nico and the two of them left him alone with his thoughts, none of which were very good. He felt alone, confused, hurt, disappointed. He felt like he was a disappointment, like a nothing, and he didn't know why. He didn't understand any of it. It was all too confusing, like one second he was on top of the world and the next, rock bottom. It was like everybody saw him now, everybody knew him, some people actually liked him, but it all felt fake because none of them actually did know him. Because he never opened up. And what if he did? They would probably all hate him and that would leave him with nothing. Nico would lose his will to live entirely. He depended on these people and he didn't want to do anything to risk losing them, but then, they were so self-assured, confident in themselves. It took all of them some time but they got there. As for himself, Nico wasn't so sure. He didn't want to need these people when he didn't even know who he was. In fact, it felt like they all knew him better than he knew himself. Which wasn't that much of a feat, considering the fact that he had absolutely no idea who he was.