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!

Nico's POV:

A loud knock on the door woke him.

"Rise and shine, Nico. Today is the day to meet the gods!" Jason's voice rang out. Nico woke up, eyes crusted. He looked down to see last night's work on his arms. "Are you awake? Can I come…"

Panic shot through Nico as the door started opening. "No, no, no! I-I'm not wearing anything."

"Okay, sorry. I was just making sure you were awake." Jason reassured.

Nico looked around the room, making sure his sister wasn't going to see his bloodied arms. He had heard her come in last night, but she was not in the cabin currently. "Yeah, I am. Where's- where's Hazel?"

"She already left. I told her last night that you were exhausted so as not to wake you up. She told me you were still sleeping so I decided to come up to make sure- well to make sure you hadn't hurt yourself."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nico got up, feeling immediately light-headed. "I need to shower. You can go to breakfast; I'll meet you there shortly." He headed over to the bathroom.

"Are you sure?" Jason's tone was worried. "You aren't trying to hide anything…"

"No, no," Nico rushed to correct him. "I promise, I'm fine. I just needed a good night's sleep."

He prayed that Jason would buy his lie. "Alright, I'll be sure to save you a spot. Everyone missed you last night and are excited to see you."

Nico pressed his ear against the door, listening as Jason's footsteps retreated. He let out a sigh of relief that the son of Jupiter hadn't pushed his way into the room to see the mess Nico had made of himself. Because that would lead to questions and probably Jason forcing him to the infirmary to get looked over by Will. Will. Tears burned at his eyes as he thought about how he had destroyed what he had with the son of Apollo. Seeing that crushing desperation in Will's eyes and knowing that he had caused it had broken Nico last night. He had had a field day with his arms, something he usually tried to avoid as it was harder to hide. It was lucky that it was winter so he could get away with wearing long-sleeves without any second looks.

He walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. He quieted his mind, focusing on the sound of the water running in the shower. He got in when the water ran warm. He carefully started to scrub the dried blood off his arms and the cuts he had made could finally be seen. There were about four or five on each arm, and only one of them was very deep. He sighed softly as one of them started bleeding. He would have to bandage that before going out to breakfast. What would Will think of him if he saw him like this? Tears started running down Nico's face as he continued to let the hot water rain down on him.

Nico emerged from his cabin fifteen minutes later and made his way down to the dining pavilion. He quietly entered to see that most of the camp was already seated and eating. Everyone except a certain son of Apollo. What Nico did see was Lou Ellen, Cecil, and Kayla, Will's best friends, give him a glaring look and turn back to their food, continuing their conversation in whispered tones. He set his jaw, realizing that Will had probably told them all about their huge fight, as he slid into the seat next to Jason at the table. Jason looked at him and gestured with his fork to the three who had given him the evil eye.

"What was that about?"

"Don't ask me; I have no idea." He paused for a moment and considered the empty seats at the table. "Where's everyone else?"

"Still waking up, I guess. I know Annabeth, Reyna, and Percy are talking to Chiron about tonight in the Big House."

"Oh, okay," Nico said.

He stared down at his plate and a single piece of toast appeared. The thought of food made Nico sick. He didn't deserve to eat. Not when he had hurt one of the few people who cared about him. He pushed the toast around on the plate for a minute before he realized Jason was talking to him.

"Nico?" The son of Hades glanced back up at him. "Is that all you're eating?"

Nico opened his mouth to make up some sort of excuse when he was interrupted.

"Nico!" He looked around to see Hazel and Frank walking up to the pavilion. Leo and Calypso followed. Nico grudgingly got up to accept a hug from his sister. "Where were you yesterday? Why didn't you welcome us?"

"I was training and once I got back to the cabin, I fell asleep. I'm sorry." Nico apologized as he released his sister.

"Jason told me not to disturb you, so I was as quiet as possible. Why were you so tired? Are you okay?" Her eyes sparkled with worry.

"And I'm fine. I slept all through the night."

That was a lie. Nico guessed that he had slept three or four hours, nightmares plaguing his dreams.

"Why are you so tired?"

"I've been training a lot during the past couple of weeks. And I needed to get a lot of sleep for the Solstice tonight."

"As long as you're sure you're okay," she turned back to Frank.

Jason pulled him aside, away from the crowd. He grabbed Nico's wrist, starting to push up his sleeve. Nico snatched his hand away.

"Let go of me." Jason's eyes filled with disappointment.

"I thought I talked you out of it. You should go talk to Will. Does he know? Did he wake up yet?"

"He doesn't need to know everything about me and what I do 24/7!" Nico said angrily. Rage was rolling off the son of Hades. Jason took a step back.

"What's going on?" Hazel asked, walking up, muscles tense as she picked up on Nico's anger.

"I'm-"

"Hey, guys!" Percy Jackson came running up, saving Nico from responding. "Am I interrupting?" He noticed the tension in the way Nico, Hazel, and Jason were standing.

"Everything's fine," Nico snipped. "What's up?"

Percy raised an eyebrow but ignored Nico's short tone. "Chiron wants to see us all in order to discuss what's going on tonight."

"Alright, let's go," Jason directed. As he passed Nico, he muttered. "We will talk about this later."

Nico slumped as he followed the rest of the group to the Big House. When they arrived, most of the other head counselors were already in their seats. His eyes automatically searched for Will. He cursed under his breath, reprimanding himself. He was taking some space and time away from Will. He was about to sit down when a voice called out to him.

"Nico," It was Reyna.

He forced a small grin on his face as he approached her. "Hey, Reyna."

She stood from her chair, cloak swishing around her. She wrapped her arms around Nico, pulling him into a hug. "I missed you, hermano."

Nico tried not to complain that she was crushing his chest with her armor. "I missed you too, sorella."

She released him. Her eyebrows tightened as she examined his face. "Are you okay? You look tired."

Nico shrugged. "Training too hard I guess."

Reyna smirked. "Is that why you were in bed by the time we got there?"

"Maybe I just didn't want to see you," he said, Reyna not realizing the truth behind his words.

She scuffed his ear with her hand. "You always make me feel so loved. We will catch up later."

She sat back down to continue her discussion with Annabeth, who inclined her head at Nico. He nodded back before walking behind her and past Percy before sitting down. He plopped in a chair, putting his head in his hands.

"Rough night bud?" Percy asked.

"You could say that."

Silence fell between the two as the other campers started seating themselves.

Percy broke it. "Well, at any rate, I'm happy to see you."

Nico emerged from his hands and stretched out his hand to shake Percy's. "Happy to see you too."

He leaned back in his chair and surveyed everyone in the room. Reyna was sitting with perfect posture next to Chiron's spot and another child of war. Clarisse was cleaning her nails with a knife. Frank, next to her, scooted closer to Hazel who was fidgeting with a ruby that she had in her hand. Leo was tinkering with metal parts in his hand while Calypso watched him. Piper sat next to her and was discussing something with Jason, who was looking at Nico, concernedly.

Nico kept scanning the table, breaking the eye contact. There were two empty seats between Jason and Travis Stoll. Will and Nico usually sat next to the twins, but Nico had chosen to sit somewhere different. Next to Nico was Connor Stoll who was pouring over his brother's paper, which was most likely their next prank. Percy was on Nico's right with Thalia Grace next to him. Nico had been avoiding the daughter of Zeus, not very good friends with her. Annabeth sat next to her and next to Chiron's chair.

"Hey," Nico looked up at Percy as he spoke. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem upset."

"I'm fine, Jackson. At any rate, there are more important things to discuss." Nico nodded toward Chiron who entered the rec room. He held up a hand and everyone fell silent.

"Good morning everyone. Today is going to be a hectic day and we need to make arrangements for tonight." Chiron looked around at the table. "Before we get started, we seem to be missing someone. Where is Will?" He looked toward Nico. Nico shifted uncomfortably.

"I don't know. I don't keep tabs on him." He stated, not allowing emotion to fill his voice.

"We need to locate him because we cannot afford to go to the solstice without one of our best. Has anyone seen-" The door swung open.

Nico's heart jumped thinking it was Will. It was Kayla.

"I'm sorry. Will got wrapped up with a situation with our cabin." She said breathlessly.

"Is everything under control? Is everyone okay?" Chiron questioned.

"Yeah, everyone's fine. He's handling it," she glanced at Nico, who could see the rage beneath her calm. "He will be fine for tonight. He just needed me to sit in on the meeting for him, if that's okay."

"Yes, yes. We need to get started so take your seat." She sat next to Jason, glaring at Nico again.

"As you all know, the gods requested an audience with the Seven of the Second Great Prophecy as well as Reyna and Nico. They have also extended their invitation to some of the campers who fought bravely against Gaea at Camp Half-Blood. We cannot bring the entire camp because that would overwhelm Olympus. So, I've called forth demigods with the most experience with the gods. You all are the best of the best and I expect you to remain poised and professional while on Olympus. There will be no time for pranks," he looked pointedly at the Stoll Brothers. "Or personal drama." He glanced between Kayla and Nico as if he knew something was up. "You are representing both Greek and Roman demigods and I expect your best behavior. If not, you will pay the consequences. In chores." Everyone groaned. The campers really hated getting extra chores. "Now that that is understood, let's discuss what's going to happen tonight..."

The meeting lasted an hour, prolonged by the Stoll's asking what qualified as a prank, giving examples. Chiron got very frustrated after a while, threatening to revoke their right to go and they eventually stopped. Chiron wrapped up the meeting and dismissed everyone.

Nico made a beeline for the door, sidestepping Percy and Jason, who he did not wish to speak to at the moment. He heard them call out his name, but he was already out the door and into the grassy commons. He nodded at Hestia who was tending to the flames. He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked at the ground as he made his way back to his cabin. He was irritated that the meeting had taken so long and was sick of all the glances he had gotten from Kayla, Jason, and Percy. He was so entrapped in his thoughts that he ran headfirst into someone. He reeled back and fell on his butt.

"Watch where you're-" Nico's voice cut off as he saw who he ran into. "Will."

Will, who was reaching his hand out to help him up, stopped. "Nico." He glanced down at Nico's arms, which had been revealed as his sleeves had been pushed up when he had fallen. "I see that you took good care of yourself last night."

Nico pushed himself up and stole a glance into Will's eyes. They were bloodshot and he looked like he hadn't slept at all. "I-"

"Make sure you keep those bandages clean," Will suggested, not meeting Nico's eyes.

"I-I-" Nico stammered as he slowly backed up.

He turned away and quickened his pace to his cabin. He took one final glance back to see Will, standing there hopelessly, tears rolling down his face. He tried to shake the image from his mind, but it quickly imprinted there. He arrived at his cabin and slammed the door behind him. He stumbled to his bed and buried himself in the covers, tears running down his face. What have I done?