XVIII

NICO

Once upon a time in Nico's long, dull and monotonous life, he had come across with this head-scratching distraction in a form of a human named William Solace, who had soon become a mystery to Nico. For the death angel, the blond doctor was surrounded by a lot of why's. Why Will liked this one. Why Will's laugh sounded like the best he had yet heard in the entire universe (both Underworld and Earth). Why Will's blue eyes were so bright and looked so cheerful. Why Will's grin could melt his anger and foul mood. Why.. –Okay that should stop because his list had gone on and on and that would take who-knows-how-many pages. Later on, he had realized that Will Solace wasn't a mystery that needed to be solved, because, in the end, it was all about his fascination for him. That it was all about the invisible force that had always drawn Nico to him. But, what had he known back then?

Since then, his fascination had turned into something bigger in what he knew now as love. He loved the guy. And yep that was pretty much everything if you'd put it simply. Simple. How Nico wished that everything was that simple.

Bob had warned him once, that he should never utter the words I love you to Will or his immortal life would be over.

Yes, simple. He loved Will Solace but he couldn't even say that out loud to him.

Bob had said that those words were like a trigger, evidence, and a sign that Nico had broken the last Sacred Rule. Words were powerful. Bob Iapetus had told him that's how the old death angel Sierra had been caught. She was clueless about it so she had carelessly uttered how much she had loved her partner and then BAM! She had faced the wrath of Lord Hades.

Nico knew that he would suffer the same thing sooner or later. He had no idea when. It could be tomorrow or the next day. Though, he had done his best to prolong his time with Will. Even if it meant not expressing how he felt for him into spoken words. Pretty cold and selfish but what else could he have done?

"Aren't you going home?" Nico said to Will. He appeared behind the blond.

Will yelped in surprise and twisted from his seat to face Nico. They were in the on-call room and Will was working on something on his laptop before Nico had surprised him.

Nico raised his eyebrow. "This is the first time I've seen you startled because of me."

Will exhaled. "Well yeah, I was deep in thought and I didn't sense you earlier. . . "

Nico's eyebrow shot up higher. "You can sense me?"

Will nodded.

"How?"

Will shrugged. "I don't know. I just know when you are around." Then he laughed. "Is that creepy?"

"It wasn't even on my standards of creepiness," Nico said. "But anyway, it's already late in the morning, aren't you going home?"

"My, you're really a punctual chaperone."

"Chaperone?" Nico snorted. "Don't get used to it."

"Why not?"

Because I may not be here sooner or later. No. Nico chided himself.

"Hey, you okay?" Will frowned at him.

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

"I'll just pack up my things and check Austin first then we can go home, yeah?" Will said.

"He'll pass the critical point once the edema goes down." Dr. Alistair said.

Nico was standing in the corner of the ICU as he listened to Will and the other doctor, Dr. Alistair, discussed the condition of the patient. He stared at the patient. The patient looked young and yes, he was still in the critical point because Nico could see a thick black aura like smoke around the patient. The aura of death.

"I'm concerned about the bleeding," Will said. "It was severe."

"There's also a possibility of sepsis." Dr. Alistair added.

Will sighed. "Let's just hope for the best."

Then Will squeezed lightly the arm of the patient. Nico stood straighter. Will faintly glowed. It was dim but Nico could see it. Then the glow was gone.

"Are you using your glowing trick again?" Nico asked when Dr. Alistair had headed out the ICU

"What? No." Will was surprised.

"But you just glowed. It was very faint but I saw it." Nico said.

"I-I did?" Will looked down at his palms. "I don't know. I wasn't even aware that I was glowing. Maybe my subconscious was acting up, I wanted this kid to live." He gazed up at the patient lying in the bed. He looked like he was just sleeping and not in critical condition, if not for the tubes hooked to his body.

"Do you know him?" Nico asked.

"Nope but he was an orphan. It looks like he has a very tough life." Will answered.

"I saw some cops patrolling around this room. Is he a criminal?" Nico asked again.

"No. they're protecting him. Austin is there star witness about a case against a syndicate and the syndicate might be after him."

"Keep an eye on him. The aura of death around him is thick." Nico advised.

"Sure. Thanks" Will said.

"But if you will just use your-"

"Nico, we've discussed it. My answer won't change." Will waved his hand dismissively to end the topic "Let's just go home, okay?"

"Yes! I did it!" Will said gleefully and punched the air. Nico shook his head in amusement.

They stood in the living room of Will's apartment. Will was gleeful to the fact that they had appeared to the living room from their shadow traveling and the blond had remained standing instead of face planted to the ground.

"Congratulations, Solace." Nico clapped his hands

Then he froze.

Will froze too when his eyes landed on the kitchen. Nico stiffly turned his head to where Will was looking.

There, by the counter, Bianca di Angelo was standing holding a picture frame.

Bianca's eyes were wide as if in shock. Her eyes were locked unto the latter two. There was a tense silence. Then the shock turned into rage. She looked at Nico steely then she disappeared, leaving the picture frame falling to the ground.

Nico materialized in the kitchen and caught the picture frame seconds before it hit the ground. He looked at the picture frame. It was their picture together with Will Solace kissing him in the cheek. Nico exhaled sharply.

"N-Nico?"

Nico glanced at Will, who had a questioning look on his face. There's also something else besides that questioning look. it was fear. As if the blond could sense that something was wrong. Nico set down the frame in the counter.

"I'll be right back," Nico said then vanished even before Will could speak again.

There was this place that Bianca had liked to go when she was bored, it was a junkyard place. Way out of Manhattan. Bianca had liked to look for interesting things in that junkyard as if she was hunting for treasures.

Nico suspected that she was going to be there. When he materialized at the top of the mound of old appliances, his suspicion was right. Bianca was standing not from afar. Nico vanished again and reappeared not afar behind Bianca. He couldn't move closer because his sister was an active nuclear bomb ready to explode at any moment.

"Bianca-"

A piece of big scrap metal hurled towards Nico and Nico dodged it with ease. Another one came, Nico couldn't dodge it in time so he vanished and reappeared on the same spot when the big scrap sailed over.

"Are you done-"

Then a rusty old car flew in his direction, Nico vanished again and materialized at the roof of that car when it had landed upright.

Nico waited for the next flying things to hurl at him but after a moment nothing came. Bianca still stood there, her back facing him.

"I wish I could apologize for what I've done but I don't regret it." Nico began. "I'm ready for the consequences."

Finally, Bianca turned around to face him. Bianca had done a great job of masking her fury.

"Does that jerk know what will happen to you if the council found out?" Bianca asked coldly.

"Will is not a jerk and no he doesn't know. Please don't tell him." Nico said.

Bianca exhaled.

"Will makes me happy." Nico blurted out, "and I never thought of happiness since forever and maybe even back then when I was alive."

"Do you love him?" Bianca's straightforwardness knocks the breath out of Nico.

"Yes."

Bianca let loose a guttural scream. Waves of darkness coiled around her. Scraps and junks around her rattled and snapped. For one moment, Nico was worried that Bianca would explode like a supernova.

"MORTALS ARE DOING IT AGAIN!" Bianca screamed. "THEY'RE GOING TO HURT YOU AGAIN. AND YOU KNOW WHAT'S WORSE? I COULDN'T SAVE YOU THIS TIME!"

"Bianca stop it!" Nico appeared at her side. He almost fainted when those waves had hit him. They were painful. Despite the pain, Nico hugged his sister from behind.

"Please Bianca, stop it." Nico croaked.

Fortunately, the darkness dissipated and the scraps around them stopped trembling. Bianca was heaving.

"Will means no harm," Nico whispered. He pulled away. "He loves me back and I like that feeling so much. That it's all worth it to be eternally punished."

"What are you saying?" Bianca said weakly and slid down to the ground. Nico crouched down and held her. She looked up at him. "What have you done, Nico?"

"I just did what I have wanted to do for a very long time, to love and to be loved."

"Nico you don't know-"

"Oh yes, I know what will happen and I know what I am getting myself into but it doesn't matter anymore-"

"WAKE UP NICO!" Bianca held his shoulders and shook him. "Do you hear yourself? You are being delusional. You cannot be with Will because he is a mortal and you are not."

Nico couldn't hide his hurt. "I know. So what? So what if he's a mortal? So what if I am already dead? I don't care about the difference anymore. I have chosen this and I'm sorry Bianca there's nothing you can do to stop me." Nico stood up and stepped away from Bianca. "And please, I never asked you for anything, just this once. Don't tell Will." Then he vanished.

He reappeared in the Underworld, in Hades' Palace. He was looking for someone.

"Bob! Where are you?" He roamed around the palace trying to find his friend. When he realized that he wasn't there. He disappeared again. This time he appeared in the DOA Studios.

"Bob!"

Souls and some of the death angels paused and glanced at his direction briefly, then they went back on their own business.

"In here! Who's calling?" That was no doubt, Bob's voice.

"Where are you?" Nico looked around

"Here." Bob appeared next to him.

"Bob." Nico held his arm. "I need to ask you something"

"What is it?"

Later that day, Nico sat in the fire escape alone, holding a piece of paper and a pen. The idea had struck him suddenly while talking to Bianca. Technically, he couldn't tell verbally and directly how much he loved Will. But it did not mean that Nico couldn't tell him how he felt through written words. There were no rules about it as Bob had confirmed it.

So Nico wrote everything, everything he wanted to tell Will. It was an old fashion thing but Nico wanted Will to let him know how much the blond meant to him before everything was too late.