AN: I saw a spoiler for the Burning Maze and im UPSET and Rick Riordan and I are going to share words and fists if it is true.

Also, if y'all want to follow me on tumblr, feel free too! My username is musicaldoctorwho1819! You'll get to know just a little more about me, my interests and etc. I have like four blogs, but that one is my primary one.

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:

His alarm clock went off at 1 am. He quickly shut it off in order not to wake up any of his remaining siblings. Many campers had been called back to their mortal relatives when news of the disappearances broke. He slid off his bed and looked at Kayla's bunk. She was staring back at him. Austin was also awake. Will and Kayla had enlisted him in their plan for the night. Lou Ellen was supposed to meet them outside the Big House.

Nico still had not made an appearance, as Will had expected. So, they planned to break into the basement.

The Apollo siblings all donned black clothing to hide from the Harpies and the patrols. With all the disappearances, Chiron had set up three-person patrols of senior campers to make sure no one else disappeared.

As soon as they were dressed, they quietly grabbed weapons. Will opened the front door of their cabin. As soon as Austin closed the door, Kayla turned to Will. "Are you sure about this? Chiron said it was dangerous down there."

"And it might be why Nico disappeared so yes, I do need to know Kayla." Will explained. "You do not have to come if you don't want to."

"Where you go, I go." Kayla said.

Will smiled. "Thank you, sis." He looked at his brother. "You still in, Austin?"

"Sure. Camp can always use a little rule-breaking." Austin joked.

"It's why I fit so well here," Lou Ellen appeared, shimmering, on the grass in front of the Apollo cabin.

The three Apollo siblings jumped. Austin letting out a strangled gasp, Kayla drawing her bow, Will grabbing his chest, his heart dropping.

"Holy Zeus, Lou Ellen, you scared the schist out of us!" Will gasped out. "What in Hades were you thinking? This is a stealth mission!"

"What is schist?" Lou Ellen pondered, stroking her chin with her hand.

"Excuse me?" Will asked.

"What is schist? Is it just a euphemism for shit?" She asked.

"No, it's a rock." Kayla informed.

"Then why does Will use it as a euphemism?" Lou Ellen pressed. "Where did it come from?"

"It came from Frank and Hazel… how is this relevant?" Will asked.

"It's not. Just keeping us here until the patrols pass." Lou Ellen informed. "They are at the Big House so we can probably start heading over there. C'mon, let's go break and enter."

"We will not be breaking anything." Will admonished.

"It's an expression! C'mon, you need to lighten up. Let's go!"

The foursome started the walk across the greens. Lou Ellen was looking around to make sure no one was coming, treading silently, her footsteps not making a sound. The three siblings followed closely behind.

They eventually arrived at the Big House. Lou Ellen carefully stepped into the porch, avoiding the creaky wood. The other three followed in her tracks. She waved her hands at the door before grabbing the handle, opening the door. The usual squeak that accompanied the door when it opened had been muffled. She held the door open for them.

Will headed straight towards the basement door. He examined the door when he arrived. It was open. The door had sustained damage. The handle was crushed, as if a giant had squeezed it. The lock had sword marks in it. The door was barely hanging on its hinge. Will knelt down, tracing the sword marks.

"What the Hades happened?" Kayla asked, whispering.

Will held up his hand. He heard footsteps and crashes from below. He felt fear go through him. "We are about to find out."

He drew a knife from his back pocket, and quietly lead the way down the staircase. He carefully stepped on each stair, testing how much noise it made. He stepped on a stair that let out a huge CREAK. Will winced, stopping in his tracks. The footsteps in the basement got faster as it sought cover. Will ran the rest of the way down the stairs, Kayla, Austin, and Lou Ellen following closely behind. They form a tight group, all looking in different directions.

Will looked around but couldn't see anything. He nodded to Lou Ellen. She found the light switch on the wall. She switched it on. Light flooded into the room. A figure in black was in the corner. It started moving towards them, but Kayla was too fast. She drew and let two arrows fly. One pinned the figure by its clothing to the wall. The other pierced its arm.

"What the fuck?" A familiar voice sounded out in pain.

Will recognized the voice, knocking Kayla's bow out of her hand. "Nico!" He screamed. He ran over to the now visible Nico, who was holding his arm in pain.

"What the fuck, Kayla?" Nico gasped in pain. "I know you didn't like me, but this is excessive."

Kayla put her hands over her mouth. "Oh my gods, Nico."

Will pulled the arrow that was pinning Nico to the wall out. Once it was removed, Nico slid slowly to the ground. Will caught him before he hit the ground.

"Are you okay? Where the hell have you been?"

"I have a fucking arrow sticking out of my arm, how do you think I feel?" Nico spat at Will. Will could feel how weak Nico was; he must have just shadow travelled because his energy was so low.

"Where have you been? What happened?"

"Doesn't matter—" Nico started but was soon cut off as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

"Nico!" Will said forcefully, but the son of Hades was already out.

Will started looking at his body for injuries. His energy levels were low, but not that low; something else was wrong. Will felt his heart sink as he noticed the healing scabs on Nico's hands; he was scared of what else he would find on the son of Hades' body. He scooped his boyfriend into his arms, realizing he would be easier to treat in the Infirmary. Kayla followed him out of the basement and up the stairs.

When they arrived, he carefully laid Nico on one of the beds.

"I'm sorry for shooting him Will." Kayla apologized. "He scared the shit out of me."

"It's not your fault. It was just reflexes. And I don't think he passed out because of the arrow." Will explained as he pulled on a pair of gloves. "He had some cuts on his hands which I don't think are there by accident."

"Why was Nico even down there?" Kayla pondered.

Will lightly brushed the hair out of Nico's eyes. "We can ask him when he wakes up."

Nico's POV:

He slowly started waking up. First, he felt the pain in his arm. Then came the sounds of his surroundings. Finally, he opened his eyes. He saw the familiar ceiling of the infirmary. He turned his head. Will was sitting in the chair next to the bed, considering Nico with pondering eyes.

"Hey, there," Will's voice was light, but Nico could sense the tension in it. The worry and anger bubbling near the surface.

"Your sister shot me," Nico said bluntly, sitting up.

"Yes, she did," Will murmured. "But that wasn't why you passed out."

Nico adjusted his body, feeling the healing salve on his legs and arms. After the confrontation with Chiron in the Underworld, Nico had feinted going to his room for more sleep. While he had dozed a little bit, he mostly added to his repertoire of cuts on his already ravaged thighs.

"Why did you cut yourself, Nico?" Will bluntly asked.

"Why do you think?" Nico responded.

"I don't know," Will admitted. "Because you haven't talked to me about what you've been going through recently. And some of those cuts are over a week old. Why have you been cutting?"

"Kayla and Austin…" Nico confessed. "What they said about me… it fucked me up more than I thought it would. And it wasn't unwarranted; I'm not good enough for you

Will groaned. "Are you still on that- that delusion?"

"It is not a delusion. Your siblings believe that I am not good enough." Nico stood as he started pacing.

"Good enough for what?"

He stopped, looking straight at Will. "For you! For all of this! I am a shit demigod and an even worse boyfriend."

Will stood. He put his hands onto Nico's arms. "That is not true!"

Nico pulled himself away. "I can barely get enough strength to hold up a sword and defend myself. I used to be—"

"-one of the most powerful demigods, yeah." Will finished. "I have heard you say all that before. So what? What does that matter? Why do you need to be the most powerful?"

"So that I can defend myself from people like Aaron!" Nico let the name slip out. He knew he wasn't supposed to say anything about the son of Ares, and he didn't want Will to know that Aaron had been at Camp.

"Is this what this is about? Aaron? Why are you still thinking about him?" Will asked concerned.

"Because he almost killed me!" Nico exclaimed. "He almost succeeded in doing the thing I have been trying to do for years."

Will intook a sharp breath. "Nico—"

"Sorry, bad timing. But you get my point. I need to be able to defend myself against people like him. Against enemies like him." Nico explained. "Otherwise I won't be safe; I'll keep getting hurt and then you'll get hurt trying to fix me as well. I- I didn't want to use you."

"Nico," Will's voice was gentle. "I would never think you were using me."

Nico didn't respond. He just sat back down on the bed, tired of standing.

"Austin really did a number on us with that crap, didn't he?" Will said. Nico sensed it was rhetorical, so he continued his silence. He heard footsteps approaching. He felt Will's hand on his lower jaw. He found his head slowly being pushed up. He looked into Will's blue orbs. "We are going to get through this together. It's going to be okay."

Will kissed him on the forehead. Nico didn't realize how much he missed physical contact with Will. They had both been walking around eggshells with each other the past week. They had spent time together, but touching had been very limited and causal.

"Now, please talk to me. What is going on? What happened yesterday?"

Nico had known the question was coming, so he had been fabricating a story in his head. "When I was going to look for Chiron after Ellis disappeared, I tried to go to the basement, but it was locked. He eventually came upstairs but refused to let me go back down. So, I got curious as to what he could be hiding down there." Nico explained. "I told him about Ellis, and Chiron suggested that I go talk to my father, since he almost gave us some information about Cecil. I went down there, consulted with my father, who then sent me on another mission. When that was done, I came back to investigate what was behind that door. That's when Kayla shot me."

Will considered his story. "Why would you think that your father would give you more information?"

Nico shrugged. "Don't ask me; ask Chiron."

"Chiron was summoned to the Underworld too; do you know why?" Will asked.

Fuck Nico thought. Apparently Will had seen Chiron get summoned by his father.

"No idea. If he did summon Chiron, it's news to me, since I was helping my father with something. Maybe my father just wanted to consult with him in private? Since the gods are technically supposed to be having any contact with anyone."

"Hmm, maybe," Will mused. "But that doesn't explain why the basement door was almost torn off its hinges; I recognized those sword marks as from your Stygian Iron blade."

"I couldn't get the door open, so my temper kind of broke and I took it out on the door." Nico said.

"Do you have any idea what was down there?" Will asked.

Nico shook his head. "No."

"Please don't lie to me," Will said.

"I'm not?" Nico replied.

"You left without telling me," Will explained. "That makes me think that you were running from something. Something to do with Chiron."

"What reason would Chiron have to make me run?" Nico asked.

"I don't know," Will brought his hand up as he lightly brushed the strands of hair that had fallen into Nico's face. "But I sense that you are hiding something."

Nico wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, hiding his face. He breathed in Will's scent deeply. "I just—I want us to be okay. And I want to be able to protect us."

"We can be happy, Nico." Will reassured. "You just have to let this feeling of incompetency go."

"But—" Nico started, but Will cut him off, pulling him back.

"No buts. I know you think they are, but the disappearances aren't your fault. What Aaron did to you was not your fault. You getting sucked into Tartarus was not your fault. None of this was your fault." Will reminded. He looked deeply into Nico's eyes. "Understand?"

Nico sighed deeply. He rubbed his forehead. "Yeah, I guess so."

Will smiled. "Good."

Will slowly leaned forward, bringing one of his hands to cup Nico's face. Nico watched him with bated breath. Will kissed him. A huge tension released from both boys. Nico turned his head a little, furthering the kiss, and putting both his hands onto Will's face.

Nico pulled Will down onto the bed with him. He soon was lost in his boyfriend's lips.