III

NICO

Nico wouldn't admit this to anyone but he had always been confused.

He had tried so hard to understand the ways and life of mortals but never reached any conclusion. He couldn't understand why a girl would get teary-eyed over a stem of the flower. What was so beautiful about sunrise and sunset. Why would people cry over a hamster, why would people fight over a purse or why would they spend millions of dollars on a long rectangular cement box they called a house. Or why would they put so much effort into people or things when eventually everyone and everything would fall apart and perish? He couldn't understand why people try so hard.

And there's Will Solace who had added to the tons of things that had confused him. Nico couldn't understand the dedication of the guy on his job, when in the end no matter how you save or try to heal someone, he or she would die too at some point in the future. Was it more convenient to let someone experience death in the first place, so the expenses on medicines, hospital bills and effort would lessen?

However, Nico had accomplished something so far. If there was one thing to know about Will Solace, he really liked his job that he would get upset when something went wrong with it. From years of observation from afar and from time to time encounters, Will was happy when he was able to restore someone's health. When someone appreciated the job he was doing and when the blond was able to revive someone from the dead, which had annoyed Nico to no end because Will had kept on breaking his quota for souls. Death angels always had a deadline and there's a punishment for not reaching a quota for a certain amount of time. He wouldn't forget the first time when he had received his punishment when he had failed to reach his quota because of Will and his glowing trick.

Anyway, happy Will meant there would be a familiar grin on his face and his pale bright blue eyes would twinkle in delight. Nico had sworn that Will was an annoying enemy but he would often forget that part every time he would see the blond doctor and his delightful expressions. He couldn't understand how he could suddenly forget that Will was an enemy because of a mere smile or laugh on his face. It made no sense to him. Though he wouldn't admit this to anyone, it was nice seeing Will's smile or laugh.

Bianca had warned him about getting too attached to mortals and their lives. She had always reminded him that mortal lives above the Underworld had nothing to do with them. That death angels belong in the Dead and not in the Living. So they should stay out of mortal's way and just focus on their own job, which was to escort souls towards the Underworld.

But sometimes, ever since he had met Will, Nico would be reckless about his sister's warning. He did not know the reason himself but he had liked poking on Will's life, his interest and other things that made Will even brighter than he had already been.

It had been frustrating honestly, on how Nico could somehow invest so much time on solving the mystery of Will Solace. It was like there were layers of veils that had covered the blond. Nico had known in his mind that he should just drop the case but then again, for some reason, he couldn't do it. There was always a pull towards Will and he would go back to his cycle of mystery solving.

Nico was walking down the bronze floor of Hades Palace in the Underworld when he saw a fellow death angel, Bob Iapetus, sweeping the floor. Bob was very big and bulky that he was triple the size of Nico. Bob wore a Janitor's uniform.

"Bob," Nico called out.

Bob immediately turned at Nico's direction. Bob's face lit up upon seeing him.

Of all the death angels Nico had encountered he thought that Bob Iapetus was the most mortal-like death angel he had seen. He seemed too cheery and friendly for Nico's taste but it was kind of one of the reasons why he liked Bob. But then, Bob's attitude was what had gotten him into several punishments because he was too soft-hearted to take souls, therefore not being able to reach his quota. If there was one death angel who had known the ways of mortals very well, it was Bob. So sometimes, very rarely, he was the one Nico had asked about mortal living.

"My dear friend Nico, how have you been?" Bob grinned.

"I am guessing you're into punishment again?" Nico raised an eyebrow at him.

Bob sighed. "Oh yeah, you know the usual reason. I'm now under probation and they might take away my death angel's license. I guess I was never meant for a death angel job."

"No, you are. You just have to behave." Nico said firmly.

Bob smiled at him. Nico always wondered how Bob could always manage a smile.

"Anyway, what's the punishment this time?" Nico asked curiously.

"Clean the whole palace alone." Bob waved his hand casually.

Nico nodded. "That seemed lighter than the last."

Bob agreed. "Yes and I kind of like the cleaning thing."

"But being a death angel suits you more," Nico said.

"You think so, my friend?" Bob smiled again.

Nico just nodded and Bob resumed sweeping the floor while humming. Nico stared at the fellow death angel.

"Bob," He called hesitantly.

Bob glanced at Nico. "Hmm?"

"Can... Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, my friend, ask away!"

"There's this thing… I want to figure it out.." Nico fumbled for words. "There is…" Suddenly something on Nico's chest vibrated.

Nico sighed. He did not know if it was a sigh of relief or frustration. He fished out that vibrating something in the inside chest pocket of the black suit he was wearing. It was a golden pocket watch with a long gold chain attached to it. He flicked open the lid of the watch. The center of the watch where the hands of the clock met was made of ruby stone and that stone was glowing an angry red.

Nico closed the lid and looked at Bob. The vibrating stopped. "Sorry Bob, time's up and I've got a soul to pick."

Bob nodded. "It's all right. You can always ask the question next time."

If I got the courage to ask again. Nico thought.

Nico nodded back at Bob and he dissolved in the thin air.

He appeared in a room. It was big and dark. On the canopy bed, a figure was lying on it. The bed was being illuminated by the moonlight coming through the window, so Nico could see that the figure was a very old man. Suddenly, a shimmering form materialized next to the bed, it was the soul of the old man. The old man looked back and forth between his shimmering form and his physical form.

"You are dead," Nico stated to him.

The soul looked up at him and nodded. "I've been waiting for this to come anyway. Who are you?"

"I am the one who will escort you to the entrance of Underworld," Nico answered. "And we'll go there now." He snapped his fingers. Both of them vanished in thin air.

They appeared on an abandoned alleyway somewhere in Manhattan. The alley was littered with scraps and garbage.

"Where are we going?" The soul asked.

"This is the way to the entrance of Underworld," Nico said. They started to walk.

"Underworld," The soul echoed. "Am I going to hell?"

Most people had the misconception of Underworld being incorporated with hell. Nico had lost count of times explaining these kinds of things to the souls. It was part of his job after all.

"I am not the one who will judge if you are going to the fields of punishment," Nico explained. "And the Underworld I am talking about is the afterlife you souls are going to."

They turned around the corner and stopped in front of an abandoned recording studio, the DOA Recording Studio.

"Follow me," Nico said and walked straight through the old metal doors. The soul followed quietly.

Inside the studio, it was a chaos of shimmering form. At the far end was a reception counter and there was already a long queue of souls waiting to be assisted by one of the three death angels sitting in the reception. In the corner souls were wailing who could not accept death yet, some souls tried to run out of the studio. If something like that happened they would become a restless ghost who would roam in the living rather than go in the Underworld. Some of these souls were being chased by other death angels. That's the job of death angels, make sure that every soul in this world would reach the Underworld or else the souls would just cause havoc in the living world.

"Fall in line," Nico ordered and the soul obediently stood at the end of the line.

A mini black notebook and black fountain pen appeared on Nico's hand. He opened the notebook and wrote something to it then he ripped the gold paper out of the notebook.

He gave the golden paper to the soul who bewilderedly accepted it. Nico spoke."That's your ticket, so the death angels on the counter will assist you. Just wait here until it's your turn."

The soul continued to stare at his ticket.

Nico felt another vibration on his chest. He fished out the pocket watch and opened the lid and then closed it to stop the vibration. It meant another soul to pick. Without further ado, he vanished in black smoke.

Nico appeared this time in the familiar white walls of a room. There were a few people in the room and one of them was Will Solace in his smock gown. He stood at the side of the bed where a young boy was lying, eyes closed.

Will looked at his wristwatch. "Time of death, 01:23 am."

This caused the other people in the room to cry harder. Will gazed up at Nico, the blond just nodded at him.

After escorting the young boy towards the queue of souls in the DOA Recording Studio, Nico went back to Jupiter Half-Blood Hospital (JHH). There was still one more soul to pick in that place, but when he looked at his pocket watch it was not yet due for a few minutes.

Nico found himself standing in the corner of the emergency room not far from Will. The blond sat on a stool and stitching the big wound on the arm of a gangster-looking dude.

"Come back to me after a week, so I can check the wound, it was a pretty long gash. You have to take care of it to avoid infection," Will said to the patient when the stitching was done. The patient just grunted in response.

After the patient left, Will stood up from the stool and discarded the latex gloves he was wearing on the nearby trash bin. Meanwhile, Nico was not sure about why he was standing there like an idiot.

"I thought you're going to take the soul of the man I was suturing," Will said and faced Nico. A small smile was plastered on the blond's face. The curtains were drawn so Will wouldn't be worried about the people who could see him.

"So I was thinking if the guy's going to go under cardiac arrest while I'm stitching him or I was going to make a mistake of murdering him. He caused havoc in here because he was drunk and slapped one of my friend nurses. It took a while to subdue him." Will sat at the edge of the bed

"I am surprised by your violence, Solace, I thought you aim to heal and help," Nico said wryly.

"It changed when he hurt my friend Lou, but of course, there's still part of me who's gonna help him no matter what. That's my job." Will sighed.

Then there's silence. Nico should really leave but the sole of his black leather boots seemed to be glued on the floor.

"Anyway.." Will said again. "Thanks for you know, what you did the other day." He bit his lip. "I was sort of wondering why you did it."

Nico frowned confusedly.

"I meant when you led me to Annabeth, the blonde girl at the stairs. It reminded me of the reasons why I'm here... so why? I am your enemy right..." Will was drawing circles with his index finger on the white sheet of the bed. Then he looked at Nico through his eyelashes shyly.

Nico cleared his throat and looked away. "I want my enemy to be in shape. It's seemed so unfair that I am battling a crippled enemy."

Will smiled at that. "You know, do I need to be creeped out that it felt like you know me better than I know myself?"

Nico stared at him. "You're wrong, Solace. There are still a lot of things I haven't figured out about you."

Will blinked.

Thankfully, Nico was saved by the vibration of his pocket watch.

"I have to go." Then he vanished before Will could blink again.

When Nico materialized in a long hallway of JHH, he let out a breath he was holding. He hadn't even realized that he was holding his breath until he let that out.

Nico shook his head. He walked towards his destination while wondering if he needed to pay a visit to a doctor for a check-up on his dead lungs, and definitely, the doctor would not be Will!