XXV

WILL

The sun was setting down on the far horizon. Its faint red-orange ray seeped through Will's bedroom window. Will had just finished buckling the belt of his jeans when his phone vibrated on his dresser. He walked to his dresser half-naked. Lou was calling. He answered it and put it on loudspeaker mode.

"Hey." Will put his phone back on the dresser and went to his closet.

"Hey my butt blondie," Lou's voice echoed. "So I heard you are going back to work."

"You heard it right," Will rummaged for his clothes in the closet. He settled for a cream turtle-neck knitted sweater.

"Good. As a welcome gift, you've got a minor surgery at nine and two more at midnight."

Will rolled his eyes. "Wow. I really appreciate your welcome gift." He pulled the sweater over his head.

"I know right!" Lou chirped. "So get your ass here immediately. Your patients miss you already."

Will smiled as he closed the door of the closet.

"And Will," Lou said. Will glanced at the direction of his phone. "I'm glad your back."

"Will said, "Yeah me too."

"See yah blondie!" Lou hung up.

Will sat down on the dresser. He fastened his watch around his wrist. He then made a mistake of looking down at his phone screen. His mood dampened as he saw the picture of Nico di Angelo on his screen. It was a stolen shot of Nico's back in the helipad of JHH. Nico was looking up at the sky as his hands tucked inside the pockets of his bomber jacket. Will picked up his phone and stared at the screen.

"Where are you right now?" He asked the picture.

At first, Will was mad at Nico for leaving him all of a sudden. But then after a while, he had stopped hating him. All he wanted was to know if Nico was doing well at all.

Looking back at it, Will had almost forgotten that Nico was blaming himself for his mom's death. He was far too deep in his grief that he had overlooked the fact that Nico was in pain too. A pain that could have been prevented if Will could have reminded Nico that nothing was his fault nor would be his fault. He could only hope that Nico had stopped the pointless blaming himself.

Will took a deep breath and stood up. He pocketed his phone in his jeans. He grabbed his coat and bag on the bed.

Will headed out his room. As he walked through the hallway, he passed by Naomi's room. He paused for a brief moment staring wistfully at the door then he resumed his way and climbed down the stairs.

He noticed that Apollo was sitting in the living room. Several music sheets were scattered on the center table. He was hunched over the table while writing on one of the music sheets. A guitar was propped on the sofa next to him.

"Are you writing new music?" Will greeted his father.

Apollo turned his head at Will. He straightened up. "Ah yeah, since I'm still on a vacation, might as well put my time on good use." He gazed up and down at his son who was clutching a bag and a coat. Apollo raised an eyebrow. "Going somewhere?"

"Yep, going to work."

Apollo stared at Will as if he had grown two heads.

"What?" Will rolled his eyes seeing his father's reaction. "You said it before, I've got a job, I've got a life."

Apollo shook his head and smiled. "I'm just glad, Will."

Will couldn't help but laugh. "I wonder how many more people will be glad of me today."

Apollo confusedly raised an eyebrow at him.

Will waved his hand. "Never mind that." He paused, biting his lip as he contemplated something. Then Will sat down on the sofa opposite his father putting his coat and bag beside him. He looked at his father. Apollo tilted his head curiously at him.

"I don't resent you." Will began, clasping his hands together. His elbows were on his knees. "At least not anymore. Mom said that I shouldn't hold ill feelings towards others for a long time because I'll turn bitter at the end, so I stopped resenting you." Will glanced away scratching his neck.

"I-"Apollo sounded like he was searching for the words to say. "Thank you. It means so much to me."

"You can live here too if you want." Will blurted out and peered at him. "This house will be often vacant because I am always in Manhattan, so you could stay here. I don't want to sell the house. This place had so many memories with mom."

"Who am I to refuse such a big offer?" Apollo smiled. "You know, I considered taking custody of you when you were younger because I doubt Naomi could provide all of your needs at that time. But I'm glad I didn't because you wouldn't be this kind of man if Naomi didn't raise you."

"Besides, I'd probably be holding musical instruments instead of a scalpel. Don't want that." Will muttered.

Apollo burst out laughing. "Yeah, and now I've realized that you're more suitable to hold a scalpel than to hold musical instruments."

Will smiled.

"Well then, since I've been given the privilege of officially staying here, you should be home for Thanksgiving okay?"

"Okay." Will stood up. He shrugged on his coat and grabbed his bag. "I should go. I'll be late for work."

Apollo stood up too. "Sure."

Apollo walked Will to the door. They reached the front porch. Will turned to Apollo.

"But I'm curious, dad if you don't mind," Will said. "I know, things didn't work out for you and mom because you fell in love with someone else. Where is she now? Or he?"

Apollo chuckled. "Both. And to answer your question, I let them go."

"Why?"

Apollo exhaled. "Let's just say that my love became a burden to them. So to lift that burden, I had to let them go –huh, that's a good lyric for my new song. For a haiku too, I just need to rephrase it."

"How will you know if love became a burden?" Will asked, ignoring his dad's musings.

Apollo looked at Will distractedly. "Well, to put it simply if he or she isn't happy with you anymore."

For a brief moment, Will wondered if there would be a time that he needed to let Nico go.

"I'm curious too," Apollo said. "Where is the guy who was with me when I rushed Naomi to the hospital? He visited Naomi a few times but then he wasn't at the funeral. You seemed close though. . ."

"Believe me, dad, I'm wondering the same thing." Will gazed ahead.

Apollo clapped Will on the back. Will walked towards his car.

It was already evening when Will reached Manhattan. He pulled out his key from the ignition after parking his car. He picked up his bag from the seat next to him and climbed down the car. He walked towards the back entrance of JHH greeting some colleagues on the way. He was completely unaware of a guy coming out of the hospital from a corner.

He went straight to the locker room and changed his clothes. Soon, he was wearing his scrubs and white lab coat. He closed his locker and went to a nearby mirror hanging on the wall. He stared at his reflection. Yep, this was him. Will Solace and his white lab coat. He didn't realize until now that he had missed wearing scrubs and being here at the hospital. With one last brush of hair on his forehead using his hand, he walked out of the room.

He proceeded to the emergency room to start his shift. Yet along the way, he noticed that some police officers were rushing past him. He shrugged it off and continued on his way. As always he was greeted by a whirlwind of patients and doctors in the ER, he was about to go towards a patient when Kyla dragged him in the corner.

"Hello there too." Will greeted Kyla.

Kyla ignored his greeting. She looked troubled. "We've got a problem."

"What is it?" Will's smile faltered.

"Austin is missing"

"What? How?" Will was flabbergasted.

"Lou was the first one to discover that Austin was gone earlier. His IV was left in the room and he wasn't scheduled for any test today so he shouldn't be out of his room. Austin was transferred to a regular room a week back but he wasn't in any condition to wander around."

"Have you checked the CCTV footage?" Will asked.

"I'm on my way to the security room when I saw you."

"Let's go there." Will decided.

When they reached the security room, Percy and Jason were already there reviewing the CCTV footage on a monitor.

"Any luck?" Will asked the police officers.

"There!" Jason suddenly pointed at the monitor screen. They all looked and saw Austin walking down the hallway and went inside a room

"Wait, that's the locker room." Kayla noticed.

After a moment, Austin walked out of the room wearing different clothes. He went in one direction, out of the range of the CCTV. So they searched for another footage where he was next.

"And that was Dr. McKinley's clothes. He'll be pissed off." Kayla added.

"Where did he go this time?" Jason muttered.

"Hey! That's it." Percy shouted. The security in-charge clicked another footage and zoomed it in.

"He was heading towards the back entrance," Percy noted.

And on the footage, it could be seen that Will was going in and Austin was inconspicuously walking out in the corner, hunched over. Jason immediately alerted his other colleagues using his walkie-talkie.

"Damn it! I was already there and I didn't even notice." Will muttered clenching his hand.

"That's all right, Doc." Percy straightened up. "Since we already know which way he went and what clothes he was wearing, our search will be faster."

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Will asked.

"Nothing much as of the moment. We will surely bring him back here as soon as we find him." Jason assured.

"Does he know what truly happened to his girlfriend, maybe that's why he ran away?"

Jason answered. "As far as we know, he didn't,"

"But where is he going?" Kayla inquired.

"God forbid but we deduced before that he was going to return to that stupid syndicate once he was back on two feet," Percy said. "We should have guarded him more."

"But why?" Will asked incredulously. "It's so dangerous!"

Percy turned to Kayla. "Did you notice anyone suspicious going around Austin's room lately?"

"I didn't notice anyone or anything suspicious." Kayla frowned.

"That syndicate is really after him, isn't it?" Will stated.

Percy and Jason just looked at each other.

"Anyway, we have to go, doc." Percy tapped Will on the arm and the two officers headed out the room.

Will and Kayla were walking down the hallway as Kayla talked about who-knows-what. Will wasn't really paying attention when his mind was wandering on someone else. Kayla stopped in front of Will. He halted.

"You are not listening to me!" Kayla accused.

"Say, how's Austin condition before he ran away?" Will asked.

Kayla sighed. "He's doing good. We pulled out the stitches on his chest but because he was doing some stupid and dangerous as of this moment, he's risking of reopening the wound. We're still waiting for the latest lab results so we can know when to discharge him but of course, he already discharged himself."

Will bit his lip.

"Oi. I know that look. I'm warning you. Don't do anything stupid." Kayla glared at Will

"Like what?" Will tried to look innocent.

"Like running after Austin. I know you're selfless that way." Kayla stated. She shooed him away. "Just go and check your schedule for tonight in the office. I saw on the board that you've got three surgeries."

"Yeah. .."

"Will!"

"What!"

"I am warning you really, I'm going to beat you to a pulp if you do something reckless."

"I am not. Tsk." Will turned around and walked away. "I am going to the office."

Will entered the office and saw Dr. Michael Yew sitting on the table playing on his phone.

"Oh, you're back. Doc." Dr. Yew greeted, pausing his game to look at Will.

"Yep." Will smiled at him and headed to the bulletin board hanging on the wall in the corner. He had three surgeries and the first one would start at nine. Will looked at his watch. It was from 7:30 p.m. He bit his lip again. Then he looked at Dr. Yew who resumed playing on his phone. Will gazed back at the board. He exhaled.

"Dr. Yew. . ." Will turned to the fellow doctor.

"Huh?" Dr. Yew looked up at him once again.

Will found himself running on the streets. His eyes darting around. He had changed back in his regular clothes. A backpack was slung over his shoulder. He couldn't just let it go really. At this point, Austin could develop pneumonia then there was the bleeding and other infections that he could get by just going out in his current condition and weather. If everything went south for Austin, Will could save him using his glowing trick. He had tried to ask the people around if they had seen him passed by. He used the photo of Austin he had snatched earlier from his medical files as reference.

Most of the people he had asked didn't recognize the boy. Will was about to give up when one particular beggar sitting in the corner recognized the picture. The beggar pointed far ahead. Will thanked the beggar and ran in that direction.

He ended up in a dimly lit alleyway. It was a typical alley you would see in a movie where monsters and gangsters hung out and popped out of nowhere. It was littered with garbage and the smell stink. Will rounded in the corner and froze.

In the distance, a figure was sitting limply on the ground. His body slumped forward. He recognized that figure.

"Austin!" Will ran towards him.

"Oh thank the gods!" Will exclaimed crouching in front of Austin. Austin was sweating and heaving. His eyes closed.

"Hey?" Will lightly tapped Austin's cheek. "Austin, can you hear me?" Will checked his pulse on the neck and cursed. It was weak. Will noticed that Austin's clothes were stained red in the chest. Another curse came out from Will's mouth. He unbuttoned Austin's clothes and surely the gauze pad was crimson red. The wound reopened. Somehow, Will was silently thanking his doctor's instinct and had brought some medical supplies with him. He had to stitch the wound closed again to stop the bleeding. He opened his backpack and set to work. He started to glow.

After a while, Will was covering the wound with a new gauze pad. His glow already faded. Despite the weather, Will was sweating too. He wiped out the sweat from his forehead with his arm. Will was listening to Austin's heartbeat using a stethoscope when Austin opened his eyes.

"I knew it," Will muttered. "Pneumonia."

"Who- Doc?" Austin frowned at Will.

"Yes. It's me. Surprise." Will said. "Now we are going back to the hospital. Can you stand?"

"No!" Austin gripped both Will's arms. The doctor jumped in surprise at his sudden outburst. "Lyra is in danger. The police lied to me and so were you. She was captured."

"H-how did you even know? You are not sure-"

"I am. One of Python's minions came to see me in the hospital. He was blackmailing me. If I don't go, Lyra is dead." Austin was still breathing hard.

"Listen, Austin," Will said, "Let's just call the police and-"

"Python wants me because the police need me as a witness. What do you think they'll do with Lyra if they saw me marching towards them with police?" Austin spat

"But this is dangerous!"

"Just go. Leave me alone." Austin stood up with difficulty. Will helped him.

"Who the hell is Python anyway?" Will grumbled.

"Let's just say he was the one operating the syndicate." Austin was buttoning his bloody shirt.

"So he is not the boss?"

"No, and I don't even know who is." Austin started to walk.

"Hey!" Will helplessly followed Austin deeper in the alley throwing his stethoscope and leaving his things behind.

Will tried to talk Austin out of this suicide mission but of course, Austin wouldn't budge. Before Will knew it they had reached an abandoned five-story building. It was a twin building connected by a sky bridge on the third floor.

"Well, well, well," A voice boomed out from somewhere,

The latter two froze

"I knew you are an obedient boy." From the shadows, a big figure emerged. He was smiling sinisterly at them. His eyes glinted. His face promised bloodshed. It was like he was born just to kill everyone on sight. Python was standing before Will and Austin.

Will's hand was deep in the pocket of his coat, he silently pressed Send on his phone. Percy, I am counting on you.

One by one, heavily armed men started to emerge from the shadows too. Will and Austin were surrounded.

We're screwed. Will thought.