IV

NICO

"You're a death angel."

"You are glowing."

Nico and Will stared at each other. Nico was taken aback by the glowing light that the blond radiated. It was Nico's first time appearing at Jupiter Half-Blood Hospital after being assigned to New York. Nico noted that Will wore a navy blue surgeon's scrub and a smock gown for doctors. He thought that the blond looked too young to be a doctor.

"You are a doctor," Nico added.

"Yep. I'm having my first-year residency here. Anyway, this is the first time I have seen you here. I pretty much know most of the death angels roaming around the hospital but you're new to my eyes." Will stated.

Nico was aware of some gifted people who could see their kind roaming in this world so he was not surprised by that. However, it was his first time seeing a mortal glowing literally.

"Why are you glowing?" Nico asked.

Will shrugged. "You can call this a special ability but I discovered that your kind hated it when I glowed. Because when I glow I can save a person literally from the dead and that means no soul for you."

For the first time in Nico's death angel career, he was stunned. He had seen a lot of things in this world and some were way beyond mortal's comprehension. He had thought that nothing could ever surprise him by now. But this blond doctor in front of him proved him otherwise.

"I-It's impossible. You can't cheat death." Nico stuttered.

"That may be true, but there were times that I was able to sneak up behind Death. I can feel who can respond to my power and be saved no matter how slim the chances were. You can see it for yourself later." Will said.

Nico continued to stare at the blond who was still glowing. The blond smiled at him. It was a sight to behold. As if he was looking at something magnificent that did not belong to the plain and boring existence of the world.

Will sighed. "I know you are going to hate me too sooner or later but my name is William Solace but I go with Will and you are?"

"Nico. Nico di Angelo" Nico said dazedly.

Will nodded as he continued to smile. Nico couldn't decide which was brighter, the blond's glow or his smile.

The doctor spoke again. "Nice meeting you, Nico. Don't hate me too much okay? I was just doing my job."

For one beautiful moment, Nico wondered how he could hate this guy when he seemed so nice. But of course, the world flipped and Nico received his first punishment for not reaching his own quota for souls because of Will's glowing.

The punishment was too painful and hard to forget. He was still wincing from the mere thought of the punishment as if the pain was still living in him. The first punishment was always designed to be brutal so they would be reminded that they wouldn't dare make another mistake. Only Bob Iapetus had seemed to tolerate those punishments. The evidence was his scarred and almost mutilated body. Thankfully, it was Nico's first and last punishment. Nico swore that William Solace was an enemy who always messed with his job. He decided that Will was trouble and dangerous.

The next day, when Will grinned at him, all those angry and unpleasant thoughts about the blond were thrown out of the window in an instant. It was like a switch on and off of thoughts when it came to Will Solace. There were times that Nico hated the Hades out of him and there were times that he just was not… Years later, those high and low frequencies about Will started to annoy him, then he started to ignore it, and he just focused that Will was going to be a forever enemy no matter what. The trick worked for him for a long time, even though Nico realized and learned that Will was a big head-scratching distraction in the form of a human.

Nico gasped and his eyes snapped open. Then he found himself plummeting. He remembered falling asleep while lying on a ledge of the rooftop of a building. He remembered dreaming about a certain blond. He also remembered that he was waiting for his next soul when he fell asleep and now he was falling from the rooftop.

Inches before he hit the ground, he vanished in a cloud of black smoke. He reappeared in the rooftop just in time his pocket watch vibrated, so he dissolved in the thin air once again.

Nico found himself standing in front of an old apartment building in the middle of a busy street of Manhattan in broad daylight. Nico thought that the place seemed near at JHH, a couple of blocks or so. He knew that his next soul would be inside of that building, on the rooftop. So he went inside and climbed the stairs.

From time to time, Nico liked using his own limbs and not relying solely on his power. He liked to experience some of the mortal's everyday routine because it was amusing. Either walking downstairs of any place or riding the subway towards his destination or simply entering a revolving door. It was also entertaining when he had kept walking circles on a said revolving door annoying those mortals who couldn't get in or out. There was a revolving door in JHH and he had been toying with it once in a while.

He reached the rooftop as his thoughts flew on revolving doors. He found the girl, a teenage girl standing dangerously near the edge of the rooftop. There was a very low cemented barrier on it. But Nico thought that it was useless since you just have to step over that barrier and you were already free-falling on the ground. Nico leaned on a steel post and waited for the girl to jump, and then her soul would be the next one he needed to escort towards the Underworld.

The girl continued to stare down below. She was not moving, just standing there. Nico was growing impatient, he had other souls to pick and this girl was not helping on keeping Nico waiting.

Suddenly, the door of the rooftop burst open, making the girl yelped in surprise. She looked back at the door. Nico just turned and- why it didn't surprise him anymore to find Will Solace on places he least expected the blond to be at. Will seemed to be fresh out of the shower because his hair was damped. There's a white towel around his neck. He wore an orange t-shirt and cargo pants.

"Oh great," Nico said sarcastically to Will. "Of course, you are going to stop her from jumping, right?"

"My duty to save a life doesn't end in the hospital, death-boy," Will said but his eyes never left the girl who was standing frozen, near the edge. She was looking at Will with wide, terrified eyes.

"W-what did you just call-" Nico sputtered then hissed. "Do not call me death boy, you idiot."

Will ignored him and walked towards the girl slowly. The girl seemed to gain her senses back.

"S-stop right there." She raised her trembling hand. "Or else, I will really jump."

But Will did not stop. "Okay then, let's jump together."

The death angel and the girl were stunned to silence.

"Solace," Nico gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into a tight fist. "What are you doing.."

Will was still ignoring Nico. The blond took advantage of the stunned girl, as he successfully managed to get closer to her. They were now standing side by side at the edge.

"I am Will Solace and you are?" Will said and turned his head towards her. He sounded like it was just a casual day, strolling on a park and happened to meet someone.

The girl swallowed looking at Will "S-Silena Beauregard."

"Nice meeting you Silena, and what do we owe this pleasure of jumping off the rooftop?"Will asked.

Silena's expression changed and she seemed pissed. She gazed down on the cemented floor. "Just leave me alone."

"Not a chance, I told you, we are going to jump together." Will hummed

"Why do you care, my parents don't care so why should you, you're just a stranger."

"But the point is, there's still someone who cares even if it's a stranger." Will leaned forward as if to check how high they were. Nico's throat constricted and as if there's a fury clawing on his chest. The death angel cursed under his breath.

"Oooh, high," Will immediately stepped back. Then he faced Silena "Are you sure you want to jump? Because your face is lovely to be smashed on a concrete floor. Besides, I am a doctor, I have seen lots of grotesque corpses and I think it's still better to look good until the end. Don't you want an open coffin at your funeral?"

"Stop!" Silena wailed raising her hands. "I was momentarily confused okay. I don't even know how I got here. I was hurt and I hate my life."

"If it's physically hurt, I can mend it easily but of course, it does not mean that I cannot be of help to you. My service extends to almost everything so why don't you try me?" Will raised an eyebrow at Silena challengingly.

But Silena just snorted. "Can you convince my parents to send me to a drama school rather than to some stupid business university?"

To Silena's surprise, Will laughed. "You reminded me of myself when I was your age." Then he sat on the low cemented barrier.

One wrong move, Will was the one who's going to smash his face on the concrete floor below.

Nico hissed. "Will you at least sit your butt down on the floor instead, Solace. You are one fall away from the Underworld."

Will must have heard him since he changed seat and sat on the ground and Will's back was against the barrier.

Meanwhile, Silena looked down at him bewildered. "Why?"

"My dad did not want me to be a doctor. He wanted me to choose music over medicine." Will answered wistfully.

Silena did not look convinced. "You're just saying that because you don't want me to jump."

Will stared up at her "YOU are the one who doesn't want to jump. As you have said, you're just confused. Besides, if you don't believe me, ask my father Apollo Charleston."

Silena's eyes widened and she dropped into a crouch next to Will. "No way!"

"Yes way, you want DNA testing?" Will raised an eyebrow at her.

Silena was dumbstruck. "Your father is one of the greatest musicians in this world. I adored his classical music a lot! And yes... I kind of see the resemblance to both of you..."

Nico knew who Will's father was but he had never met the musician much less see Will meet his father. He wondered if they were still getting in touch.

"Now we have the physical evidence. As I was saying, I like to marry medicine but my father who was supporting my education that time didn't want me to get pre-med and I couldn't just rely on my mom since she was also having issues financially. So I didn't have a choice but to find my own way of going into a med school and proving to him that I can be a great doctor instead of a musician."

Silena just stared at him. "W-what did you do?"

"Med schools are expensive so I have to work my butt off on different part-time jobs and scavenge every scholarship grants I could apply. With some luck, I got into a med school and here I am now, a licensed doctor. You know, hard work can move mountains, just prove your parents wrong by working hard on the passion you have chosen." Will smiled at her.

Silena blinked. "Isn't it faith that can move mountains?"

"Nah, hard work's better for me, what's the use of faith without action. I can sit all day having faith that I am going to be a millionaire someday and what will it get me? My eyes will be white and still, there won't be a drop of a dollar in my lap."

Silena giggled.

"So what I am saying, Silena just because you are having a hard time doesn't mean you will choose an easy route away from the hard times. Life is full of hard times and an easy way out is not always an answer."

"All my life, I have obeyed my parents. I let them control my life on how they wanted it to be. They never asked once what I really wanted so it really sucked when they wouldn't let me have the only thing I wanted in life." Silena looked down at the floor hugging her knees.

"Then this time, you just have to take over your own life because you are the original captain of it."

Just like that, Nico's soul was out of his hands… again... He was going to have a headache. IT was just an expression. He couldn't actually get sick.

Nico was glaring daggers at Will's back as they all climbed down the stairs. While the blond, on the other hand, was chatting merrily with Silena. Will had invited Silena to his apartment downstairs to have lunch and Nico was just… following. But the hell he cared about gatecrashing Will's apartment when he had snatched the death angel's soul again.

Will's apartment was small but it was neat and clean. It was a simple studio type with one-bedroom.

"My apartment is not big but welcome abode," Will said and he went to the kitchen.

Nico looked curiously around while Silena followed Will. The two chatted in the kitchen. It was Nico's first time going to Will's apartment. He had originally thought that blond was still living in Brooklyn with his mother. Guess, he had moved here in Manhattan to be closer to his job. Nico was in the small living room and he was looking curiously on the small photographs hanging on the wall. Will was either smiling or grinning with his friends in all pictures. Then his eyes landed on the closed-door which obviously led to Will's room.

Nico glanced at Will whose back was turned to him. He was still busy talking to Silena. Maybe a little peek on Will's bedroom wouldn't hurt and hey, Nico was still pissed so he was going to do gate crashing at its best.

He passed through the closed door and stood in a brightly lit bedroom. It was small too and narrow. The sun streamed down the curtained glass window situated above the bed. The sound of honking cars from the street below could be heard loudly in the room and he briefly wondered how Will could sleep in this noisy place. The bed was on the left side wall with a light blue bed sheet on it. On the right side wall were a light brown closet and next to the closet was a light caramel-colored desk with several medical books neatly arranged on it. The desk and closet were both facing the bed. The walls were light yellow and the floor was white vinyl tiles. Everything around was light for Nico's taste. But of course, nothing was dull with Will.

He walked towards the bedside table where a picture frame was standing. It was Will and his mother, Naomi Solace. They were both smiling in the picture. There's nothing alike between Naomi and Will since all Will's features must be inherited from his father. Nico had seen Naomi once when he had gone to go to Will's house to investigate a little, and that was a long long time ago.

Nico lay down on Will's bed. He was at the edge so his one leg was bent and his foot touching the floor while the other leg was on the bed and his other foot was slightly dangling at the edge, so the bed sheet wouldn't get dirty with the sole of his boots. He put his arm under his head. His next soul wasn't due in three hours so there was nothing much to do.

He lost count of time as he stared at the ceiling when the door opened.

"Oh my gods!" Will exclaimed in shock leaning back on the door with his hand still on the doorknob. "I thought you already left!"

Nico barely moved, his eyes still glued on the ceiling. "I am assuming that your visitor already left since you're loud and that visitor happened to have the soul that I was supposed to take, and of course you meddled again."

Will sighed. "Yeah, Silena left a little while and we all know that I couldn't just stand there while she's plummeting on her death."

"How did you even know that she was there and thinking suicidal?" This time Nico sat up and glared accusingly at him.

"I saw you climbing the stairs of the rooftop when I opened the door briefly to let out a stray cat. I already knew that you were not there for the view of the chaotic streets of Manhattan. So I got dressed and went up there." Will explained.

Nico said nothing. Instead, he plopped down on the bed and closed his eyes. What else could he say or do? No matter how pissed he was, he couldn't just strangle Will Solace.

"I'm sorry." Will continued earnestly. "I know you're pissed and all but I am letting you lie on my bed just to make it up for the soul I snatched again because normally, I don't let someone easily lie on my bed much less letting someone in on my room without my permission because I am a very private person. By the way, I also really appreciate that you're not putting your shoes on my sheet."

Nico inwardly sighed, eyes still closed. What am I going to do to you Solace?

"You asleep? Okay, you can also sleep on my bed just to make it up for pissing the hell out of you."

This time, Nico couldn't help but to open his eyes and sit upright again. He complained. "How can I sleep when it's too noisy down there? Seriously, how can you sleep here?"

Will just grinned. "Hey when you're sleep-deprived, you will just sleep through the noise. And I am used to it. This was the only available apartment near the hospital. It was just a walking distance or running distance to the hospital when I'm late which is always.."

"Whatever, I'm still pissed," Nico muttered.

"Since you're already here, why don't you eat lasagna, I'm known best for my lasagna, and there's also a pepperoni pizza which I can reheat…"

Nico sold out.