XXX

WILL

Wait

What?

There was a moment of stunned silence after Nico spoke. Kayla was the first one to recover.

"Are you kidding me?" Kayla said flabbergasted.

Will hoped that it was just really a joke but Nico looked genuinely confused as his eyes darted back and forth between Kayla and Will.

How could it possibly. . ?

"I… I'm. ." Will faltered. From the corner of his eyes, something caught his attention. He saw Bianca di Angelo standing just outside the cafe. Then she vanished.

Could it be...?

Will looked back at Nico who was waiting for an answer. Will swallowed. "I'm. . . I'm probably mistaken." He forced a smile. "I thought you're someone I know, sorry."

"What the-" Kayla tried to say but Will covered her mouth.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt. We'll go ahead." Will turned around and dragged Kayla out the cafe as Kayla wrestled from his grip.

When they were out of the café, Will let go of Kayla.

"What the hell Will?" Kayla exclaimed glaring at Will.

Will opened his mouth to answer.

"Wait!"

The two turned in the direction of the voice and saw Nico standing right outside the door. Nico walked to them. Will's heart started to pound again.

"You." Nico stopped in front of Will and stared up at him."Do you really not know me?"

"Yes." Will tried his best to maintain a poker face even though his insides felt like they were going to explode.

"But I heard you," Nico insisted. "You said my name."

Will looked away, had to look away. His hands twitched, itching to hold and hug him right there. "I told you. It was a mistaken identity. You looked like someone I know. Coincidentally, you have the same name."

"Is that so?" Nico scratched his head. "I just thought that you probably know me. I'm sorry. My brain is a little messed up because of that stupid incident."

That got Will's attention, turning his head at him. "Incident? What incident?"

Nico frowned. "Never mind. I'll go ahead." He headed back to the café.

When Nico was out of sight and earshot, Kayla spoke. "What was that? Does he have amnesia? He said that he got into an incident? Did he hit his head or something?"

"I don't know." Will murmured, confused and his whole body aching, longing for him. How absurd was that that he couldn't even touch him when he had been right there, within the reach of his fingertips.

Then suddenly Kayla hit his arm that made Will flinched. "And what was that all about mistaken identity crap? That's definitely Nico!"

Not from afar, Bianca reappeared. Will saw her immediately.

"Uh, you know. I have something to do first." Will said tearing his eyes a bit from Bianca to regard his friend.

"WHAT?"

"I'm sorry but I'll explain later okay? Trust me on this one, please?" Will pleaded.

Kayla sighed "Fine. But I need an explanation, Solace. You hear me?"

Will nodded.

"Okay. Go."

"Thanks." Will kissed Kayla's cheek and went off.

Bianca and Will were sitting across from each other in a coffee shop. Bianca sipped on her mug of black coffee.

"You know what happened to Nico all this time, do you?" Will began.

"Not just long ago. I found him in the hospital." Bianca answered putting down the mug with a clink on the table.

Will leaned forward. "He mentioned something about the incident? What was that all about?"

"Oh, because I love to torture you, find that yourself, doc," Bianca smirked.

Will clenched his teeth, trying to reign his annoyance. "Fine. What about his memories? Has he really forgotten everything? Or you are not going to answer that as well?"

"Well about that, it's true. His memories have been wiped. He doesn't remember about his death angel life. That also includes you, Will Solace. The mist also altered the memories of the people around him so it will be connected in the present time. You know him being born in the late 1930s." Bianca crossed her arms leaning back on her chair.

"That was his punishment, wasn't it?" Will said quietly.

"Smart," Bianca said. "Nico was not afraid of receiving eternal physical pain, he might have even laughed while being tortured. So Hades thought it wasn't enough of a punishment. Thus, the cruelest punishment he could give to Nico was to take away the most precious thing to him and that was his memories with you. Nico might probably spend his time thinking about something important but cannot remember what that is and that will frustrate him. Nico has been also stripped out of his immortality."

Will did not comment.

"But you know there's something I don't understand about it," Bianca added. "I don't understand why Hades brought back Nico in the mortal world when he can bring Nico in the fields of Asphodel. Oh just so you know, that's the place in the Underworld where you can lose your memories and identity thus becoming something like a machine and becoming trap somewhere in between of existing and not existing at all. I think that's crueler than bringing Nico here where he can start a new life."

"So you want your brother to experience something worse?" Will retorted.

"No. But Hades was so furious at that time. Nico just didn't break the rules of Underworld. He caused chaos in the Underworld that surely gave Hades a massive headache that was worth entire millennia of migraine."

"What chaos?" Will frowned.

"I believe you already knew about Nico going to the Elysium just so he could meet your mom. Do you know what happened when Nico spent his time in the Elysium for a long time, what will happen to his job?"

"Nico failed to escort the souls to the afterlife." Will realized. "Those souls would wander around and be a ghost."

Bianca nodded. "Death angels keep the balance between the Dead and the Living. Nico was gone for two weeks in a mortal's time. Do you know how many souls he failed to escort that time? A lot of people are dying per day so imagine death angels going frantic just to relieve the job that Nico neglected at the same time doing their own job. On top of it, we weren't able to retrieve back some of those souls."

"Why?"

"They disappeared."

"Where would they go?"

"That's what we've been wondering too. Souls couldn't just disappear. So I was thinking, maybe that's the reason why Nico was sent here to clean the mess he made himself." Bianca sighed scratching her head in frustration. "But then, how could he do it in his state right now? He's even a mortal now."

"All I know is, there are a lot of things that happened on that night of October 20. I know Hades was hiding something. I have to investigate further. This can't be just pure coincidence that Nico's incident happened on the same day he rescued you, that's another tip for you, doc," Bianca said.

"Nico's incident happened the same day he left me?" Will asked.

Bianca nodded again. "Oh, I was curious about one thing, why did you lie to Nico? Why didn't you tell him who you really are?"

"I got afraid that he will be in trouble again because of me. I realized instantly that it must have been his punishment. You know to forget about me. Besides, how could I tell him about me? What am I supposed to tell him? I can't just spring it up to him that I was his boyfriend -ex-boyfriend when he was a death angel, can I? All his life he had been longing to be a normal person. Now that it came true somehow, how could I tarnish that? I couldn't just be that selfish anymore. He sacrificed so much for me. It's just proper that I return the favor." Will stared down at his un-touch mug of coffee.

"Then what are you going to do now?"

"For eight months, I spent every night having nightmares of Nico being tortured because of that stupid punishment. It must be a miracle that I haven't gone insane yet. It was torture for me too not knowing what truly happened to him, thinking all the worst-case scenarios that could happen to him. Every breath for me was painful because it was so unfair that I am here and Nico was somewhere else being punished. Now that I see him alive, well and living a normal life like what he always dreamed of, it was a huge relief. All I wanted right now is to know how he is. That's already enough for me. So if you really like me to go away from your brother's life. I'll do it now. I'm so sorry for all the trouble I've caused to your brother." Will stood up and headed out the coffee shop

Bianca just tilted her head as she watched Will's retreating figure.

When Will stepped out of the coffee shop, he took a deep breath. Then he fished out his phone from the pocket of his jeans. After dialing a certain number he held it against his ear.

"Hello Percy," Will spoke after a beat. "Um, can you do me a favor?"