Warnings: extreme violence, gore, homophobia. Please DO NOT read if any of these themes upset you.
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:
It was the evening of January 1st, 2011. Camp Half-Blood had just celebrated New Year's Eve the night before. Hazel, Jason, and Reyna had already returned to Camp Jupiter about a week prior in order to take care of their camp. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, and Calypso were all still at camp. The Hunters were also still at Camp Half-Blood, as Artemis had not returned yet. Dionysus had also not been seen since the Solstice. But camp activities were running as usual. Capture the Flag, between the Hunters and Camp Half-Blood, was about to start. Chiron was going over ground rules.
"No severe maiming." He admonished. "Our medics already work hard enough. And it's cold out there, so please keep warm. The medics will have thermal blankets should anyone get too cold. When the game is concluded, please report back here. The forest is dangerous, and we want to be able to do a headcount to make sure everyone is safe. Listen to your captains and good luck campers."
Nico had been appointed captain. He guessed that after Camp Half-Blood's victory, more people respected Nico's leadership skills. He made Jason his co-captain. Jason was in charge of offense while Nico took defense. The camp had broken off into two groups to discuss strategy. Percy would be the diversion this time as the Hunters would be expecting him to try to get the flag again. It was decided that Piper would go get the flag as no one would be expecting her. Nico would hold a heavy defense on their flag again and he would not try to summon skeletons this week, as Will had made him promise not to. New year, new him.
Nico turned, pulling his jacket closer to him. There was snow on the ground, and it was a little chilly outside. He entered into the forest, his defensive team following him. Annabeth ran up next to him. She nodded at him and veered in the other direction. He ordered his group into position around the clearing. He heard Chiron blow the conch. The game had started.
He took his position in the shadow of a tree. The position he had taken was only a hundred feet from the border. He was the first line of defense. As predicted, a Hunter led a charge right down the middle, running into the clearing and failing to see Nico's men and women. He smirked. The Hunter stopped her group and slowly turned, sensing something amiss. The two gained eye-contact. Her eyes widened in shock.
"Now!" Nico screamed.
"Ambush!" The Hunter yelled simultaneously.
Nico lunged from his hiding place and disarmed her of her bow. He deflected an arrow and clashed with another's sword. He pushed the girl back and she tripped over a branch. Lou Ellen was a little way away and had conjured a string of rope around Hazel's hands. The rest of Nico's defense rounded up the Hunters and led them to the prison, run by Clarisse. Nico ran to go meet up with Annabeth's group.
He was by himself when he heard aa scream. He slowed to a stop to listen for it again. It was coming from a darker part of the forest. He headed towards it. He had never made it this far into the forest before. He continued running before he was blind-sided. A huge force knocked him off his feet and sent him sprawling into a tree. He felt one of his ribs crack. He groaned and got to his feet quickly, looking for his attacker. He failed to see any of the Hunters. He pulled out his sword.
"Show yourself!" He commanded.
"Make the kid a leader and he finally acts like a man." A familiar gruff voice sounded. Oh no. Nico felt panicked as an Ares kid stepped out of the shadows. It was the guy who had beaten him up earlier. The one who had been glaring at him the previous day. Two of his siblings stepped out as well. "But you don't really have the strength of a leader, now do you?"
"What do you want?"
The camper laughed. "I want to finish what I started last time."
"Beat him to a pulp, Aaron."
"Yeah, make him pay, Stevenson." His two cronies encouraged. Nico looked around, spotting Drew hidden in the shadows. She had been the one to scream; this was a trap.
"Let's see, what problem do you have with me today, Aaron?" Nico questioned, trying to buy himself time to think of a plan. "Does my hair color offend you? Are you upset that you didn't get my position as head of defense?"
"I don't think that scrawny little gays should get positions made for men." His brothers laughed.
"Insulting my sexuality again, are we? Wow, so original." Nico sassed.
"You're pathetic. A week back, you were crying about your sister. You attacked Jason because you can't control your emotions. I heard that you were being disgusting when making out with your boyfriend."
The air was sucked out of Nico's lungs. "How-how did you know about all that?"
He shrugged, crossing his arms. "I have my sources. But imagine what would happen to your reputation if that got out. The terrifying son of Hades, crying over his sister, attacking his friends. They will finally see who you really are."
Nico felt a wave of fear, but he pushed it down. "You wanna see who I really am?" He let out a yell of frustration and skeletons broke through again. "This is who I really am."
Aaron's two henchmen started slicing the skeletons. Aaron grabbed Nico by the throat and slammed him against the tree.
"I see who you are-" Nico choked out. "You are too weak to beat me, so you brought your friends."
Aaron tightened his grip. "That is not true! I'm not the weak one here. You are."
His friends had cut down the skeletons. They came over to Aaron's side and held Nico against the tree. Aaron started punching Nico in the gut.
"Slicing your wrists." Punch. "Panicking over scary dreams." Punch. "Crying over your dead sister." Punch. "Attacking people because you can't control yourself." Punch. He started coughing up blood. "Getting angry because of daddy issues. You are powerless. And weak. You are nothing."
Nico felt another wave of rage and summoned more skeletons. Aaron punched Nico in the face, repeatedly, breaking his nose. Nico felt blood running down his nostrils. The skeletons broke through the surface and pulled the two boys off Nico. He fell to the ground as the dead overpowered the two sons of Ares. Aaron kicked him in the stomach and legs. The son of Ares then grabbed Nico by the throat again and began suffocating him.
"You can't even control them. You are pathetic. You kill defenseless people. You should just kill yourself. Or allow me to."
Nico felt a wave of nausea and his skeletons all crumbled. His will to fight broke. He stopped struggling. Aaron let out a final squeeze, cutting off Nico's air supply and threw him against a tree. Before he hit the ground, he passed out.
Jason's POV:
The conch had sounded. Jason ran to the border to find Thalia waving a flag on top of a boulder.
"Well done, sis," Jason said, walking up to her.
"Thank you." She said quickly as Chiron called for silence and the two siblings stopped their conversation.
"A very well-played game. Congratulations to the Hunters for their victory. There will be a feast in your honor tonight for your accomplishments." A cheer went up through the Hunters and Romans. "Yes, yes settle down. Now, is everyone accounted for? Medics, how many were injured?"
"Only two major injuries, but I think we have everyone accounted for." Kayla piped up as she and Will stood on the boulder to do their headcount.
"Hang on, where's Nico?" Annabeth asked. Jason looked around at the crowd. He didn't spot the son of Hades; he was missing in action. "Who was the last person to see him?"
"The last time I saw him was at the start of the game." A Hunter interjected. "He ran off right after I was captured."
"Has anyone else seen him?" Will asked calmly. His demeanor was cool and collected, but Jason could sense that anxiety and fear were building up inside of him.
An Ares kid spoke up. "I saw him running in the forest. He ran right past me into a deeper part of the forest."
Will beckoned the camper to the front. He was followed by his two brothers. Will jumped off the boulder. "When was this?"
"About two hours ago." The son of Ares said. "As I said, he ran right past me, but I didn't say anything. I didn't think about it, because a couple of minutes later, my hand got sliced open when I was fighting someone." He showed off his knuckles as prove. They were bloody and bruised.
"Can you show me where?" The Ares kid nodded and started to run into the forest.
Will's POV:
Will sprinted after the Ares kid. Fear was building up inside of him. What had happened? Was Nico okay? Was he really injured? Would Will be able to save him? He almost stumbled on some roots but continued running after the kid. He looked behind him and found Annabeth and Percy following closely. Piper and Jason were further behind.
The Ares camper came to a stop. He pointed into a tangle of dark trees. "He ran that way."
"Thank you," Will said breathlessly as he ran past. "Nico?!" He screamed.
The group following him started fanning out to look for the son of Hades. Soon the forest was a cacophony of noises, as everyone called out for the missing boy. Will scoured the area, looking for his boyfriend. He needed to find him soon. It was frigid in this part of the woods, so Nico was at risk for hypothermia. He looked for black against the white snow, but the heavy tree coverage made it hard for the dying light to come through. Once the sun went down, there would be no way to see this deep in the forest. Something caught his eye. There was a spot of red on the ground. Blood.
"Guys!" He called. He heard footsteps as everyone surrounded him. He knelt down to look at the blood spot.
"Is that-?" Percy asked. Will nodded.
"He has to be around here somewhere." He stood back up, wiping the snow off his hands. "Does anyone have any light source? It so dark back here."
Everyone shook their heads. Will took a deep breath before closing his eyes. He focused on warmth and light. He heard gasps around him as he opened his eyes. He had generated a ball of light in his hands. He had never done it before, but he was desperate to find Nico. He lifted this and It stayed in the air. Will began to walk again, looking behind a tree. He saw a black lump. His heart raced.
"Nico!" He called, but the figure didn't stir.
Not a good sign. He ran over to the boy and dropped down to his knees. He carefully turned Nico over. His usually pale face was covered in snow, bruises, and blood. Will's heart dropped.
"Oh my gods!" Jason breathed.
Will started panicking. Where has all this blood come from? What caused it? Everyone was silent as Will tried to figure out what to do. He suddenly forgot everything he had learned as a medic. The sight of his boyfriend drenched in blood erased all his training from his mind. He froze, without an inkling of how to help. He was helpless.
"Will. Will, what do we do?" Will barely heard Percy's question.
He felt someone tug him back and he was pulled away from Nico's body. Jason pushed him away and pulled off his jacket. He began mopping up the blood as Will watched, dazed. He couldn't breathe. His boyfriend was bleeding out and he didn't know what to do.
A hand grabbed his shoulder. He panicked and flinched away. The hand steadily held him in place and suddenly a pair of grey eyes were looking into his. Annabeth. Seeing her calmed him down. She always knew what to do; she always had a plan.
"Will, snap out of it." She said calmly. Her voice brought him back to reality. "Your boyfriend is bleeding out. None of us are medics. Tell us what to do."
Will was a healer. And one of the best at camp. He put his emotions to the side. He was just trying to help another camper. It wasn't his boyfriend bleeding out. It was just another camper. His training all came back. First step: locate the source of the immediate bleeding.
"Jason, step aside." He lightly pushed him out of the way. "Mopping up the blood is making it worse. We need to find the source of the bleeding." He started feeling around Nico's body. Everyone froze, watching him work. "I need a stretcher and lots of bandages. Someone find Kayla! Go!" His command sent his friends into motion.
He assessed the damage. A lot of the blood had come from Nico's mouth, which was a sign of internal injuries. Nico needed to be in a sterile environment to deal with those. He was currently trying to locate the other sources of blood. He quickly pulled off and discarded Nico's shirt. It was cold, but Will needed to stop the bleeding before he worried about hypothermia. Nico's torso was a collection of bruises and cuts. He felt around his ribcage. Two of Nico's ribs were broken. What caused this? He thought back to a few weeks ago. Who had caused this?
He pushed the thought from his mind to try and work on Nico. He had a small medical bag with him. He started taking out bandages and wrapping them around Nico. After he had bandaged his torso as best as he could, he wrapped a thermal blanket around Nico, to try to fend off the cold that was penetrating his body. All he could do was sit and wait.
Help had arrived. Percy and Jason appeared carrying a stretcher. Kayla, Brandon, and Chiron followed closely behind.
"We need to get him off the snowy ground and out of the cold." Will asserted. "I'd rather him risk blood loss than hypothermia."
Kayla agreed. She and Brandon got on the other side of Nico.
"On three. 1-2-3!" They picked him up at Will's command and moved the stretcher underneath. This caused more blood to leak out. "He has lost a lot of blood and he had signs of internal bleeding." Will listed. "We won't know for sure what is happening until we move him. We need to move him. Carefully and quickly."
Kayla nodded. Percy grabbed one end of the stretcher and Jason grabbed the other. Annabeth walked in front of them, to make sure they wouldn't trip on anything. Will walked right beside Nico, praying to his father that he would be alright. He looked down at Nico's face. The boy was having trouble breathing. The blood stood in stark contrast with the paleness of his skin. His lips were turning a light blue, indicating hypothermia. And to think, he had kissed those lips the night before. And now, Nico was like this. Fear gripped his heart, but he pushed it down. He needed to focus. He needed to help Nico.
Will, Kayla, Brandon, and Chiron entered the infirmary, not allowing anyone to follow. They took Nico into one of the back rooms, so they would have privacy. Brandon and Will lifted Nico from the stretcher and onto the bed. Kayla stripped Nico down to his underwear and started sponging the blood off his beaten body. Who could have done this? Will grabbed his stethoscope and put it to Nico's chest. His heartbeat was slow and irregular. His breathing was erratic
"Chiron, something is wrong with Nico's heartbeat." His mentor leaned down to listen while Will set up the heart monitor. Brandon was preparing an IV.
"Get me an echo and an ultrasound of his heart and lungs," Chiron commanded as Will put the stickers on Nico's chest. The machine started beeping with Nico's heartbeat. "We need to see what's going."
Will lunged into action. After realizing that many of the injury's demigods got couldn't be treated by just magic, Chiron had convinced Mr. D to invest in some mortal medical equipment which Will had greatly appreciated. He grabbed the equipment and brought it over. Will put the gel on Nico's chest and then brought the wand over Nico's lungs and heart.
"There is something penetrating the lung-" Will stopped as his heart dropped. "Is that Nico's rib?"
"Oh my gods-" Kayla gasped.
"What do we do?" Will asked, trying to keep calm. "In the mortal world, in the mortal hospital, this would require intensive surgery. I'm-I'm not trained for that. I can't cut him open." Will's voice grew higher with hysteria.
"We are just going to have to rely on our healing powers to save him. We can fix this. You have fixed him before when he was this injured." Chiron didn't sound sure.
"This seems unfixable in these conditions, Chiron," Will said. "There is only so much magic can do. These are mortal wounds; we need to bring him to a mortal hospital!"
"He doesn't have time to go-" Chiron was cut off as the heart monitor started beeping like crazy.
Nico began coughing. Will rushed over to his side. Coughs racked the thin boy's body and blood poured out his mouth. Will froze, unsure of what to do. He had never seen Nico this bad before. He had never dealt with an injury this bad without the correct equipment. At the hospital he volunteered at, he had seen these injuries, but the doctors were always qualified to fix them. He wasn't qualified; he was a teenager. He couldn't save Nico.
"Chiron-"
"I know!" The centaur said harshly.
"He's crashing!" Will screamed. "What do we do?!"
"Will, look at me!" Kayla screamed, putting her hands onto Will's face. "You have fixed Nico when he's been in bad shape. Remember in the middle of our cabin? You fixed him with almost no supplies. You got the blessing of Apollo. You can do that again. You need to tap into that power again."
"I don't think- I don't think I can."
"You have to try!" She pushed Will closer to Nico.
His heartbeat was getting slower, his breathing weakening. He was going to die. Will tried to steady his hands. His hands lit up as he began moving them across Nico's body. Healing flowed through Will and slowly Nico's outside wounds started to knit back together. Nico coughed again, splattering blood onto Will's arm and the spell was broken. Will lost focus as he looked back to Nico. The wounds reopened. His heartbeat was erratic again. He started suffocating. He was going to die.
"No!" Will pleaded. "Nico!"
"Kayla, get him out of here. He is too emotional; he's a distraction to me." Chiron ordered. Kayla grabbed Will's arm. Will wrenched his arm back.
"No! I won't leave him! He's about to die. I need-I need to fix him!" Will screamed. Kayla pulled him back. "NO!" Will fought back and pulled free from her arms. Brandon ran over. His two siblings were too much for him. He was pulled, kicking and screaming. "NO! NICO! I love you!"
He was pulled out of the room and pushed through the infirmary doors. They slammed them in his face and Kayla locked it behind her as she and Brandon ran back to Chiron. Will pounded against the doors, tears streaming down his face. He slid down the door in agony. He felt a hand touch his shoulder. He whipped around, pushing the hand away.
He looked up through his tears and saw that it was Jason. "Is he-?" The son of Jupiter asked, scared to know the answer.
"No. But he's in critical condition. There-there was nothing I could do." Will's voice rose in hysteria. "It's all my fault! He's going to die and I'm out here."
"He isn't going to die." Annabeth asserted. Will looked up to find Nico's friends in the hallway. They had all been waiting for news of Nico. And Will had delivered it with tears.
"But- but-" Will spluttered.
"He isn't going to die! He is going to pull through and survive this, just like he has every other time. Understand?" Annabeth asked.
Will was still breathing heavily. Anxiety overtook him. What if Nico didn't survive though? He looked down at his hands and saw they were covered in Nico's blood. He felt a wave of nausea and bile rise to his throat. He pushed passed everyone in the hallway and made it to the porch. He vomited over the railing. All the stress and fear he had felt the last half an hour or so came up and over the edge. He wiped his mouth with his hand and sat on the porch steps. What was happening?