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:
Nico was alone with Thalia. Percy and Annabeth were heading for Sally Jackson's apartment building. Rachel had to rejoin her family and Grover had gone off to Central Park for some sort of mission. Thalia was asking Nico how they were going to get back to camp.
"I can probably shadow-travel just the two of us, but first I have to do some shopping."
"Shopping?" Thalia asked, a smirk on her face.
"Christmas presents," Nico clarified.
"Christmas is in two days," Thalia reminded.
"Yeah, which is why I need to go shopping," Nico said back. "You can either join me or find your own way back to camp."
Thalia held her hands. "Fine, but you better be quick about it."
Nico nodded. He already had Reyna's and Hazel's gifts in his cabin, but he still needed to buy a gift for Will. He thought about his boyfriend's interests. He enjoyed being a healer, but Nico couldn't think of any gifts to get him dealing with medical stuff. He hated archery with a passion. That left music. Nico knew that Will loved Broadway shows and wanted to see one so badly. Nico didn't think he would be able to afford tickets, but he had an idea of how to get them. He also wanted to get Will something else.
Nico led Thalia into the city, trying to remember the location of a little Broadway shop. He remembered that it was by the Mamma Mia theatre, so he headed that way. He found the shop and began looking through all the merchandise. There was a box full of records of the soundtracks of the show. The Apollo cabin had a record player, so the gift would be perfect. He looked through these before finding a Phantom of the Opera record. Will had talked about this show before, so he decided to get it. He brought it up to the front counter and asked the cashier to ring him up. He didn't make a lot, but his father did pay him for his Ghost King duties, so he had enough to purchase the records. He grabbed the bag and he and Thalia were on their way.
Thalia and Nico walked right into a busy street, after going to a couple more stores. They were making almost no progress, trying to push through the crowd. Nico grabbed her wrist and gestured to an empty alleyway with his head. They broke through the crowd and emerged into the side street. Considering how crowded the sidewalk was, Nico was surprised that no one took the route of this side street. But, as the two demigods walked further down it, Nico sensed something was amiss.
"Thalia, I think-"
"Yeah, we need to get out-"
"Leaving so soon?" A teenage girl sauntered out from behind the dumpster. "Why, I rarely get guests in my alleyway. Only... certain people can see it."
Nico recognized the monster; it was an empousai. She had flaming hair, red eyes, fangs, and mismatched legs. He armed himself with his sword, dropping the shopping bags on the ground.
"We had fought more difficult monsters than you," Thalia said, adjusting the silver circlet on her head, showing that she was the lieutenant of Artemis. "My Ladyship will not be very pleased if she finds out that you attacked her lieutenant."
"But her Ladyship isn't here, now is she?" Another empousai emerged from behind them.
Nico turned so that his back was against Thalia's. She had drawn her bow but was not taking aim yet.
"Please, just let us pass, and I won't have to send you to Tartarus," Thalia warned.
Sounds of demonic laughter filled the alleyway. Four more empousai appeared.
"Do the math, sweetie; it's six to two!" The first empousai said. "And I doubt that your little boyfriend there is immune to our charmspeak."
"He's not my boyfriend…"
"I'm NOT her boyfriend…" They said simultaneously.
The second empousai, who was standing in front of Nico, beckoned to him. "Hello, sweetie, why don't you come on over here?"
Nico made to move over to her, but shook his head, realizing what the monster was doing. He held up his sword to her throat. "I'm fine right here, thanks."
"You sure you don't want to come over here?" One of them said.
"Yeah, we can make sure you are really comfortable." Another crooned at him.
"Just drop your sword, and we can talk." The third one winked at him. Nico's sword wavered and the tip fell into the ground.
"Nico," Thalia said, trying to draw Nico out of it, but three empousai were already surrounding him.
"Hush, now, sweetheart. Now come here. Just come here. Tell us about your camp. Your home." He stepped closer to the first empousai.
She smiled, knowing she had Nico in close enough range.
"I have a secret," Nico whispered.
The empousai smiled. "Yes, son of Hades, tell us about your camp. How we can get in?"
"Your charmspeak doesn't work on me." Confusion crossed the empousai's face. Her face turned to one of pain as Nico stabbed her with his sword. She disintegrated. "I'm gay."
The remaining empousai hissed and lunged to attack. Nico deflected the empousai's teeth with his blade. He heard Thalia draw her bow back and fire, catching one of the empousai in the shoulder. Nico focused on the monster in front of him, pushing her back. She hissed, grabbing Nico's arm, and twisting it. Nico grunted in pain but held tightly onto his sword, stabbing it into her, and absorbing her essence into his blade. Two down, four to go.
He glanced over at Thalia's yell of frustration. She had already taken one empousai down. But since they were in an alleyway and had limited space, Thalia could barely get any direct hits. She dropped her bow, pulling out a knife. Nico was distracted by her predicament that he didn't notice a third empousai attacked. She sunk her teeth into his shoulder. He screamed in pain as agony tore through him.
"Nico!" Thalia cried out, surging toward him, but she was knocked off her feet by her empousai.
Nico fell to the ground as he felt the venom in her fangs enter into his bloodstream. His eyes cleared for a moment and he saw her blood-stained teeth looming over him. He had enough strength to roll to the side, before bringing his blade down on her. She disintegrated. He felt his arm fall back as he dropped his sword. The poison was coursing through his veins already. He tried to get up, to help Thalia with the two remaining empousai, but he felt as if his head was swelling.
It felt like hours passed before Thalia shook Nico by his shoulders. He yelled in pain as she touched his wound.
"Nico, Nico, are you…" her electric blue eyes sparked with fear.
"Empousai?" he groaned out as she helped him up, using his other shoulder.
"Dust," she waved him off. "What happened?"
"She bit me- venom…" Nico slurred, falling back to his knees.
"We have to get back to camp!" Thalia urged, pulling him up again. "But you can't shadow travel!"
An idea popped into Nico's head. "…have a way… get me to the curb… don't forget- the presents," he gestured behind him where he had dropped the bags.
"Really? That's your priority?" She spat, but she did as he requested before helping him to the curb. Nico let out his best taxi-cab whistle. A dark limo appeared; the window rolled down.
"What is…" Thalia started.
Nico laughed deliriously. "My zombie- chauffeur. Don't ask."
Thalia's eyebrows were knit with concern as she helped Nico into the back of the limo.
Will's POV:
His boyfriend was not at camp. Where he was, Will had no idea. He had asked Hazel, who said that Nico joined Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia at lunch in the city at around noon. Will had approached the Hunters, who said that their leader had not been there since the morning. None of the other demigods had been seen either. It was already five in the evening when Will decided it was time to tell Chiron. He entered into the Big House then into the rec room, where Argus and Chiron were playing cards.
"Chiron," their teacher looked up at the sound of Will's voice. "Nico is missing. Along with Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia."
The centaur blinked in shock. "What do you mean missing? What happened?"
"Hazel told me that those five went into the city to get lunch. But that was over five hours ago and none of them have returned."
"Percy and Annabeth did tell me that they were going into the city. They were traveling to Percy's mother's apartment for Christmas," Chiron informed. "And Mr. Underwood sent me a leaf message," he held this up for Will to see. "He was called urgently into Central Park. But you have not heard from Mr. di Angelo or Ms. Grace?"
"No, sir," Will reported.
"Is there any reason they would not come back to camp?" Chiron questioned.
"Well, Nico is prone to leave to go to the Underworld, but I can't think of any reason why he would take Thalia-" Will was cut off by Cecil forcing the door open.
"Chiron," he gasped, out of breath. "You-you have to come."
"Cecil, what's wrong?" Will asked, alarmed at the fact that his best friend looked like he had just seen death.
"The border... Nico- Thalia-"
Will, and Chiron both sprang into action. Will forced the porch door open. He sprinted to the crest of the hill. Peleus was snorting flames, on high alert. Will paused on the top of the hill, to see what the matter was. He spotted two figures stumbling, a skeleton following them. Nico.
He ran the rest of the way down and met Thalia and Nico halfway. Nico's arm was around Thalia's shoulders and she appeared to be carrying most of his weight.
She looked as up Will approached. "Thank the gods." Thalia and Will slowly lowered Nico onto the ground. His eyes were closed, and he kept seizing.
"What happened?" He asked deadly calm. He looked up as a skeleton approached fast. "Were you attacked by that thing?"
"No," Thalia assured. "That's Nico's—pet."
"Why is he carrying shopping bags?" Will asked.
"Argh," Nico grunted on the ground, drawing Will's focus back on him.
The son of Hades' eyes flew open. He looked around at where he was and then grunted in pain again. Will moved to secure him. "Nico, it's okay, you are at Camp Half-Blood, you are safe!" Will started looking over Nico, trying to figure out the problem. He directed his next words at Thalia. "What happened?"
"We were in the city and we went down an alleyway and we got attacked by six empousai. We killed them off, but Nico got bitten on his shoulder." Will turned his focus to Nico's shoulder. He ripped Nico's shirt off. "I thought he was okay because he stood up and got into the limo back to Camp, but then he started passing out and seizing on the way back."
"Are you hurt?" Will asked.
He had pulled the shirt off revealing a huge gash in Nico's shoulder. He gasped in a breath. Empousai's teeth were venomous, explaining Nico's reactions. He had poison coursing through him.
"No, I'm fine," She brushed off his concern. "Just a couple of bruises."
"Will," Nico breathed. Will whipped his head around, lowering his head to Nico's mouth. "It hurts." He whined out in pain. "Make it stop, please."
Will's heart dropped. "We need to get him into the infirmary. Now!"
He lifted Nico up, before hurrying down the hill, as fast as he could without aggravating the injury. Thalia followed closely behind. Will kicked the door open before hurrying to the infirmary. He took Nico to the room in the back before carefully depositing him on the bed.
He then hurried to the medicine cabinet, pulling out supplies. He prepared a mixture that would dilute the venom running through his veins. The only problem is that it burned more than the venom. And it caused hallucinations as it filtered the poison out. He looked down at Nico who writhing with pain on the bed.
"I'm not going to lie; this is going to be one of the most painful experiences of your life. Brace yourself." He plunged the needle into the son of Hades' arm.
At first, nothing happened.
"This isn't so b-" Nico cut himself off with a guttural scream.
Will squeezed his eyes shut at the sound of his boyfriend's screams. They were in the backroom, the door closed, but Will assumed that the whole infirmary could hear them. He had strapped Nico down so he would not try to escape, and Nico was thrashing against the restraints. Nico started bleeding from his shoulder wound on the white bed sheet. He continued screaming.
He held Nico's hand. "Shh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it will be over soon." But Nico was trapped in his own memories. Will looked at the ceiling. "Please let him pass out, please let him pass out, please, please, please!" But he didn't.
After twenty minutes of his screaming, Will couldn't take it anymore. He left the room and slammed the door shut. He walked back into the infirmary. Thalia was sitting on one of the beds, eating the ambrosia that Kayla had given her, and Jason was standing by her side. They looked up as Will entered the room, looking terrified at the screams issuing from Nico's room.
"Is he okay?" Jason asked.
"No, he's not, because he has demon venom coursing through him," He looked at Thalia. "What were you two thinking, walking into a monster's lair? You could have gotten yourselves killed!"
"We didn't plan to be ambushed, Sunshine," Thalia snapped. "Your boyfriend was looking for a Christmas present for you. And then we got attacked."
"That was foolish, going out without any protection."
"Protection?" Thalia laughed. "I'm immortal, Nico is a son of Hades. We didn't need protection!"
"Apparently you did; you guys got attacked!" Will shouted.
"And we handled it!" Thalia shot back.
"Is that why Nico is lying, bleeding and screaming his brains out in the infirmary?! Because you handled it?!" Will was angry. "Last time you handled something with Nico, you electrocuted him!"
"Will, you need to calm down!" Kayla's voice rang out. He turned to see Kayla looking at him in shock. "Take a walk."
Will felt his face turn red, as he realized his place. He turned away from the Grace siblings and walked past Kayla.
"Don't you dare come back until you have yourself under control." She threatened.
He angrily stormed past. He threw open the Big House door. He stormed across Camp and into the forest, tears running down his face. He climbed up Zeus' fist and wrapped his arms around his knees. He wasn't mad at Thalia; he was mad at himself. Nico was screaming his head off because Will didn't know of any other way to help him. Will had put his boyfriend into even more pain. What kind of doctor was he? Doctors were supposed to stop the pain, not make it worse. With these thoughts, he dissolved into tears
That's the way Chiron found him two hours later.
"Hestia told me I'd find you up here."
Will's head shot up from his arm and he wiped away the snot. "Chiron, how is he?"
"Getting better. The venom worked its way out of his system, he's asleep now. He's okay, thanks to you." Will only nodded, not trusting himself to speak. "You are a remarkable healer Will, but it's okay to ask for help sometimes."
"Yeah," He paused for a moment and decided to say what was really on his mind. "I just feel so much pressure and as if I have to be at the top of my game all the time. And Nico- he keeps getting himself into life-threatening situations and I am terrified that I am not going to know how to help him."
"You are a teenager. You may be a demigod, but you have to let yourself relax and have fun. You don't have to take the weight of the world on your shoulders. And Nico- he's a troubled young man who puts himself into risky circumstances. You have been doing very well with healing him and trying to help him with his self-harm."
Will's heart skipped a beat. "How did you know?"
"Well, besides the fact that I know Nico and the experiences he has had, you haven't been the most discreet. When you two disappeared for days on end, did you think I wouldn't notice? Also, you made a very large charge to the camp for the mirror that he broke."
"Right," Will said.
"The trauma he has experienced is unimaginable. It's a wound that cannot be fixed with a bandage. He has to heal from his time in Tartarus. And he might have to do it alone."
Will sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize." Chiron mused. "Just don't grow up too quickly. Enjoy the time you have with the people you love. And make the most of the good times you have with Nico."
"How do you know so much?"
Chiron laughed. "I'm frankly quite old, haven't you noticed?"
Will spluttered. "No, of course not sir!"
"Just keeping you on your toes, Mr. Solace," Chiron grinned.
"Thank you, sir. I appreciate your help."
Chiron inclined his head and started trotting away.