II

WILL

"So you have patient Jackson, huh?" Kayla Knowles, a fellow doctor, peered at the patient's chart Will was holding. They were both standing by the counter in the nurse station looking through the charts of several patients as another night duty had just started for them.

Will faced her. "Why? Do you know him?"

"Nope, but his fellow police officer, Jason Grace, is my patient," Kayla said. "Don't you know that there had been a drug raid downtown and two unfortunate police detectives had been shot? That's our patients."

"New York never sleeps neither are the drug dealers," Will muttered.

"Right. But your patient is lucky, he's now stable. Mine is still in the ICU under observation. My patient's kinda cute though."Then she sighed dreamily. "I hope he's single."

Will only rolled his eyes at his friend's antics. Kayla had always been professional at her work. Though, sometimes, she would have patients that would catch her eyes. Sometimes, she would flirt with the said patient that would always earn a scolding from Will. Sometimes, when the patient had gotten discharged and had gotten better, that patient would come back to ask her out. Though most of the time, it would always end up with it hadn't worked out for the two of them.

'Paging, Dr. Kayla Knowles please proceed to ICU A-3. Code Blue.'

"Yep, that's me and it's bound to happen anytime soon," She said. "See ya later, Will."

And then she ran off towards the narrow hallway.

Will sighed and hoped that patient Grace would survive. He turned back on his chart when he caught something black on his peripheral vision. His head snapped where he'd seen the black. Surely, another death angel was walking towards the direction where Kayla had run to earlier. It happened that Will knew the death angel. It was Bianca di Angelo, sister of Nico di Angelo.

Will was kind of amused when he had learned that death angels could have relatives. He initially thought that they were just random soul-pickers. And if there were a family of death angels, he had imagined a son and father bonding moment was like 'Hey son, let's go fish some souls and bring them in the underworld. How's that?'

Will had also wondered about how they express their love or affection to their relatives if all of them were poker-faced and cold-hearted types, or if there was anything like that in their dark and brooding association. Unfortunately, the blond doctor hadn't yet solved those mysteries. As if he could ask them when the majority of them were a snob and most of them hated him.

He set aside the chart and followed Bianca. He walked next to her, matching her pace.

"What do you want Solace?" Bianca said, not even bothering to look at him.

"Are you going to take the soul in the A-3?" Will asked quietly. There was a group of people walking in his direction. Better be cautious rather than be a lunatic doctor in front of them who was talking to someone invisible to them.

"None of your business," Bianca snapped.

They both stopped in front of the ICU A-3. The door was wide open and Will could see that Kayla was trying to resurrect the patient. The heart monitor was releasing a long beeping sound and a flat line was indicated on the screen.

"You've pissed off my brother again earlier," Bianca stated leaning on the door frame

"What's new?" Will mused.

"Can you save him?" Bianca pointed her thumb to Jason Grace, whose body jerked up as the paddles of defibrillator hit his bare chest.

"He's not my patient," Will answered, watching Kayla perform CPR on the patient.

"But if he was yours, are you going to use that glowing trick again?" Bianca asked, "You know sometimes, I was thinking if you became a doctor because of your special abilities rather than skills."

"What?" Will's head snapped to Bianca.

"I was wondering, what if you don't have that power, are you still a doctor now?" Bianca continued, smirking at him.

Will was stunned. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. He had understood the dislike of death angels to him and how he could get under their skins, but years of dislike never result in insults. The first time he'd seen Bianca, he immediately did not like the vibes she emitted. It was a different kind of dislike he had usually felt from the other death angels. Now, she had proved Will right about the different dislike vibes.

The change of the beeping sound brought Will back to the present. He looked at the heart monitor to see that there was already a rise and fall of the lines.

"Gotta go, my soul is waiting for me next door," Bianca straightened herself and walked past him. Then she passed through a concrete wall next to the ICU leaving a trail of black smoke.

Bianca's gone but her words echoed in Will's head repeatedly.

Sometimes, I was thinking if you became a doctor because of your special abilities rather than skills.

Will found himself sitting Indian style in the middle of the helipad of the hospital watching the rise of the sun and as the light ate away the darkness on the horizon. His shift had already ended a little while so he had the privilege to see this majestic view. He adored the sun. He liked the light and the warmth it brought. That's why his favorite season of the year was summer, which was the current season. For Will, every morning that the sun would rise up in the sky, it was a reassurance for him that there's always light after darkness.

But as of the moment, Will did not feel so reassured. He tried to get it out of his head and fight the doubt that Bianca had left for him. But what if Bianca was right? What if all this time, he was relying on his powers to do his job, like using that ability in crucial moments instead of using his own wits and skills? After all this time, it only dawned upon him the possible unfairness of his power because all he thought was how to save his patients by any means.

He stared at his own hands. What if…

"I still don't get why you like that bright ball of hot gas when all it gives is the scorching heat."

Will looked up. Nico was standing next to him staring at the horizon. Will couldn't help but be in awe as he gazed at the death angel standing there with his thumbs hooked at the pocket of his black jeans. Under the glow of fluorescent lights, Nico looked so pale and colorless. But it was entirely different when the sunlight hit him. He was glowing. Not the kind of glow Will emitted every time he would use his power. Nico seemed more… livelier... He really looked like an angel without those death vibes trailing after him...

"The sun looks good on you." Will complimented.

Nico snorted. "Well, I don't like the sun."

"Then why are you here?" Will frowned.

"I was trying to see it myself what made you mortals take such an abnormal liking of that sun," Nico answered.

"Well, don't look closely and just look at the whole package. Most of us don't really like the sun in particular but the view that accompanies it. The clouds, the birds, the tiny building from afar… you get it."

Nico's eyebrows knitted together. "I don't get it."

Will shook his head. "Maybe not now but soon you'll appreciate it."

Then they fell into silence and Will stared back at the horizon.

"Nico," Will called out uncertainly. He bit his lip. He continued to look at the red-orange hue clouds drifting in the sky. "Have you encountered other people like me...? Like you know people with a glowing trick..."

Nico glanced down at him.

"What's with that question?" Nico asked.

"Nothing, just curious.."

"No, from the people I have encountered, you are the only one…"

Will nodded in acknowledgment. "And I was wondering if I didn't have this power in me, would I still be a doctor..?"

This time, the death angel turned fully at the doctor. "Are you asking me that question? Because seriously, you are the only one who could answer that. I was not the one who became a doctor."

Will shrugged playing with the hem of his scrub shirt. "I don't know, I decided to be a doctor when I accidentally healed my dog using that glowing trick, so maybe, I thought, it would be a little different if I didn't have this thing."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be a veterinarian then, instead of being a doctor?"

Will couldn't help but smile. He looked up at him once again. "Are you throwing a joke now?"

Nico scowled. He turned his head away. "No."

"Anyway, well maybe because, I hate you death angels taking those souls away from a body where there are people weeping beside that soulless and lifeless body," Will stated.

"What if, you can't see us?" Nico countered. "What will be your other reasons for being a doctor?"

Will just stared up at Nico.

Nico scratched his head. "You know what, I also don't know why I am talking nonsense to you." He suddenly turned around and walked away.

"Hey!" Will stood up and jogged to catch up with Nico.

They both went down the stairs and rode an elevator descending to lower floors.

As the elevator descended, Will and Nico were apart and stood at both end-corners of the elevator. Nico looked around curiously at the steel walls of the elevator as if searching for souls who could pop up out of nowhere, while Will leaned back on the wall facing Nico. He was observing the latter guy with his hands on his light blue surgeon shirt's front pocket.

"Aren't you going to disappear in black smoke like you always did?" Will raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sometimes, I do like the mode of transportation you mortals have." Nico continued to look around.

The elevator door opened and Nico walked out.

"Hey, where are you going?" Will asked and couldn't help but follow him. Will recognize the floor, he had several patients on that floor.

"Oi, you are not going to pick souls in here, aren't you?" Will walked next to him, slightly afraid of Nico's destination.

"The dude with a big gash on his stomach has a big possibility of death, so he might be up, sooner or later," Nico said.

"I won't let you." Will gritted his teeth

"Of course you won't." Nico waved his hand in dismissal. "As I have said, there's a possibility. There's still a difference."

They climbed down a flight of stairs and Will thought that if they're going to go down another floor they shouldn't have left the elevator. They passed another staircase. Will was going to ask where they were going when he saw a girl sitting at the end of the steps. She had long curly blonde hair tied in a ponytail. She was sniffing as if crying. Will looked around and realized that Nico was gone. Will frowned at the sudden disappearance of the death angel. But then he focused his attention on the girl. Cautiously and slowly, he approached her.

"Err, Miss," Will called uncertainly. "Are you all right?"

The said blonde girl whirled around in surprise. She had stormy gray eyes, but it was red from obvious crying, her nose was slightly puffy and red too.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Will said.

"It's fine." The blonde girl said wiping her face with her hand.

"Are you . . . alright?" Will asked

The blonde girl suddenly laughed that surprised Will. "Oh yes. This is actually tears of joy because my husband, Percy, lives."

"Percy?" Will said. "You mean Percy Jackson?"

The girl frowned and looked up and down as if assessing Will. "How did you..."

Will just smiled. "I am his doctor. Will Solace." He extended his hand for a handshake.

The girl's eyes widened. She grabbed Will's extended hand, not for a handshake but she pulled the doctor into a hug. Will froze at her sudden action...

"Oh, my gods, you're the one who saved my husband! Thank you so much!" She sobbed.

Will smiled and patted her back comfortingly. "No problem, I was just doing my job."

She pulled away. She sniffed and then laughed. "No, because of you, this child won't be fatherless." She rubbed her flat abdomen.

Will's eyes widened. "You're pregnant?"

She nodded and smiled. "Yep, learned the other day while my husband was on a stakeout and can you imagine my horror when I received a phone call about my husband getting shot. So thank you doc. By the way, I am Annabeth Chase-Jackson." This time, she's the one who extended her hand for a handshake.

Will accepted it. His internal self danced in joy, knowing that he had saved more than just a life. He momentarily paused and wondered if Nico's true intention was to lead him here.

Powers or skills he was there to save a life and build a good future for him and for the other people around him. He suddenly remembered the loud pulse in his veins, every time he was inside the operating room. The adrenaline coursing in his blood every time, he would have to heal a patient. Lastly, the pure bliss he would have felt every time he had successfully managed to save a patient's life, like what he felt at that moment.

For Will, it was more than the Hippocratic Oath he had pledged for and it was more than a job he signed up for. It was his calling.

He mentally thanked the death angel for giving him concrete reasons why he was there in the first place.