Will tried to put his sickness out of mind, and carried Nico into the infirmary, using all of his willpower to not puke all over Nico. Will laid him down on one of the few unoccupied beds, which he saw as a good sign. He hoped it meant people are not recovering and not… the other option. He put the thought out of his head and focused all his energy on tending to Nico.
After a quick check over, it didn't look like he was physically injured, just drained. He hoped Nico would wake up soon.
They were going to go back into the woods, he figured that much. That monster in there, it was theirs to face. Alone.
And as much as he wanted to stay at Nico's side until he woke up, there were people he needed to talk to, starting with Chiron. He brushed off the questions he got from the other kids in the infirmary, deciding he would answer them later, and ran off to the Big House. After knocking on the door, he promptly received a response.
"What is i- Will? Thank the gods you're here. I was worried something had happened to you two. Speaking of which, where's Nico?"
"He's in the infirmary. We got lost in the woods and there was no other option than for him to shadow travel us back. I'm sorry. I tried to stop him, I really did. I should've done better, it was such a risk for him. Ugh! I shouldn't've let him do that-"
"It's alright Will." Chiron cut off Will's nervous ramblings. "In any case, we have bigger problems on our hands. Would you like the good news or bad news first?"
Will contemplated this much too seriously for a bit before deciding that it didn't matter, "Let's start with the good news."
"The crack in the infirmary is no longer growing, in fact, it seems to be shrinking. It must be the work of Thanatos, making sure no more monsters get out of Tartarus. Unfortunately, some have gotten out. Which brings me to the bad news, the monster that was following you in the woods is not at all a monster, it is the former King, Salmoneus."
Will wanted to look smart in front of Chiron, but he had no idea who he was talking about. "Who's he?"
"He's the brother of Sisyphus, he was sent to Tartarus by Zeus for trying to attain god status."
"And he's out there, in the forest?"
"I'm afraid so. And, unfortunately, it is you and Nico who are going to have to face it, whenever he recovers."
Will thought about going there to face Salmoneus himself or at least get a better look at the king, but he figured he should ask Chiron first. "Maybe I could go back to the woods, and see him myself, y'know, to see what we're dealing with?"
"No, it's not safe. What if he sees you?"
Will wanted to argue, but he realized that Chiron was probably right. He would probably get himself hurt, and then he would have to recover, leaving the king out there for longer.
Will went back to the infirmary to talk to the other Apollo kids, and almost right as he entered, there were ten different questions shot at him at once.
"Woah, woah! Slow down, what is it?"
Austin was the first to reply, "Where have you been?"
"Nico and I were in the forest."
"Yeah, we know that, but why'd it take you so long to come back? Didn't Chiron send you the Iris message to come back."
"Yeah, it was… erm… cut short."
"Well, it's good that you're back. There's so much to do! So, we got those new cots you asked for from Hephaestus cabin an-"
"I can't stay," Will felt bad, but he had to tell Austin the truth, "We go back into the forest as soon as Nico's recovered."
"But it's dangerous there! And who'll manage the infirmary?"
"I'm sure you'll manage," Will hesitated before continuing, "And if I don't make it-"
"You will."
"There's no way of knowing that, so, if I don't make it, I want you to be head counselor. You know about as much as I do."
"No! Don't talk like that Will. You'll make it, you have to. We all need you."
"I'll… try."
Austin nodded solemnly. "So will I. Hopefully the infirmary is in running order when you get back."
Will gave Austin a half-smile and left the infirmary to clear his head. Which is where he bumped into Lou.
"Have fun in the woods with Nico?"
Gods, she was relentless. "No 'How are you doing Will, I heard you were in the woods with a monster, are you feeling okay?'"
Lou Ellen only smirked, "And Nico."
"Lou!"
Lou Ellen let out a laugh, "Alright, alright. How are you doing? Are you okay? Need me to go kick some monster butt?"
"I'm fine, thanks for finally asking. And Nico and I are going back into the woods to kill the monster who as it turns out is actually a King who was sent to Tartarus, so no. Although I'd love to see you 'kicking monster butt'."
"Yeah, I'll make sure to call you if the opportunity arises," Lou joked. "And a monster who is actually a king?"
"So, there's this old king, Salmoneus. He was basically sent to Tartarus for being an arrogant asshole who wanted to become a god. He's the less popular brother of Sisyphus."
"Classy," Lou raised an eyebrow. "What about the infirmary, do you know how you're going to fix that? I know it's been tough on you, keeping all the sick in the Apollo Cabin. Must be pretty cramped in there."
"It looks like it's closing up on it's own."
Austin came in with a troubled expression on his face, "Hey, um, Nico's awake. You should probably go check on him. And I guess this means you'll be going back into the forest?"
"Probably, but don't worry, you'll be fine."
"Of course we will! We're not the ones going into the woods, we're worried about you!"
Lou leant close to Will and muttered under her breath, "You should go check on your boyfriend." Just quiet enough that Austin couldn't make out what she said. And with that, she walked out.
"What did she say?"
Will blushed, "Nothing! Er… i mean, she said I should probably go check on Nico."
"Yeah, I'll leave you to it then." Austin hesitantly walked away.
Will made his way back to Apollo Cabin, grateful that Nico woke up so quickly, in only a couple of hours.
"You're such an idiot. How could you shadow travel?" Will wasted no time in reprimanding Nico for his actions, "You could've seriously gotten hurt!"
"What, you want me to say I'm sorry? I just saved both of our asses back there! Don't bother trying to guilt trip me into feeling bad about what I did, I don't regret it and you can't change that."
Will gave a resigned sigh, "You know what? I give up."
"So, what's the news?"
"The monster in the forest is King Salmoneus-"
"No! It can't be him. He's in Tartarus, isn't he?"
"Yeah well, he escaped- wait, you know who that is?"
"Yeah I met him," Nico hesitated, "When I was in Tartarus."
"You… wow."
Will didn't know how to respond. He had no idea that Nico had done that, and, quite frankly, he could hardly believe how brave Nico was. He had so many questions, but refrained from asking them, for fear of sounding stupid. "How did it feel?"
