Nico stumbled out of the shadow. His father had summoned him just as he was leaving the infirmary, freaking out the wizards and frustrating Will.
"Where did you go?!" Will demanded and Nico crossed his arms.
"My father wants me to complete a mission for him, I'm not allowed to share details just yet,"
Will could see the pain and resentment in his boyfriend's eyes, he knew it wasn't just any task. But he also knew that pushing him would only make him close up more, so he nodded, "Alright, you can share with me when you complete it then," He tried, and failed, to hide the hurt in his voice. Nico's face softened slightly but he just nodded stiffly and set off down the hall, presumably to complete his new 'task'.
Will sighed and watched him leave, wishing he could read minds. He turned and went the other way, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut. He tried to ignore what the feeling whispered in his ears, Nico needs you and you just walk away, it said, you claim to care about him but you don't even know what his father asked him to do, he shook his head, trying to clear away the little voice, if you really cared you would make him tell you, he pushed the voice away and it went silent.
Will found himself in the infirmary and decided to help out. He was no wizard, but he knew medicine as well as any son of Apollo, so he could set bones and could tell when a spell wouldn't help, just based on his gut instinct.
He went over to one of the beds were a dark-haired boy lay with a broken arm and a cut on his side. Will set the arm easily, comforting the boy as he did before moving onto the cut. It was deep, but it didn't look like it hit anything vital.
He smelt smoke and glanced around to see where it came from, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until he looked at the boy's wound. It was smoking and sizzling, the same way Will had seen so many times before, but never this bad. It must have been the boy's lack of godly blood, but the imperial gold that must have cut him was burning away at him faster than it did on any demigod.
Will panicked, he had never treated this kind of wound without being able to use nectar or ambrosia before, and he wasn't sure if he could. He pushed the panic aside and thought logically, his hands practically moving on their own as they gave the boy pain medication and began to remove the splintered bits of gold in his flesh.
As he worked he shouted for medics, asking only for those who worked in the infirmary at camp and making the wizards leave. The only witches he let stay were a pair of witches from camp, daughters of Hecate who had gotten their Hogwarts letter and apparently kept Chiron updated on the events at the school, but had left to fight in the wars.
He stood, with tweezers in hand, removing splinters of gold from the wound with two daughters of Hecate, a son of Demeter, and three children of Apollo, all working as fast as they could to save the boy's life.
The son of Demeter worked frantically on a potion with help from one of the Hecate girls while the rest helped him with the surgery in one way or another. The other Hecate girl whispered incantations to keep the boy unconscious while the Apollo campers helped him with the actual bloody part.
Soon the potion was finished and the gold was gone and the Demeter boy brought it over, instructing them to pour it slowly over the wound, let it sit on the open wound for exactly twenty seconds, then stitch it closed as fast as possible. After that, they were to pour a small amount onto the stitches and inject the rest into his bloodstream to purge it of any remaining toxin.
They finished with the boy just as the last sliver of sunlight vanished over the horizon. Will, exhausted and relieved, finished putting on the last of his bandages and left. He muttered groggily down the halls, barely managing to dodge the outstretched limbs of sleeping demigods as he went. He made it to an empty classroom and found an unoccupied bed in the center of it. He vaguely remembered he was on the seventh floor, and that that was where the room of requirement was before he fell onto the bed and fell asleep.
Of course, with sleep came nightmares. Nico stood in an alley on a misty street and Will got the feeling he was watching these events live. A cloaked figure walked past on the street, taking no notice of the boy in the alley. Nico followed the figure at a distance, watching as he turned and went into a tavern. Nico followed a minute later, drawing no attention as he took a seat in the back.
The figure sat at the bar and ordered a drink, finally pulling down his hood to reveal a mop of dark hair. Will saw Nico catch his breath, then his face became stony, impossible to read. Will tried not to think about how Nico was acting as he watched to figure order a drink and just sit there for a long while, muttering under his breath every once in a while the few people who were there slowly cleared out.
Soon it was just the mystery man, Nico, and a lone stranger at the back of the tavern. The stranger got up and walked up to the bar, where he sat next to the mystery man and ordered a drink of his own. And they started to talk in hushed voices. Will strained his ears to hear and managed to catch the conversation.
The mystery man leaned forward on his elbows, taking a sip of his drink before speaking up, "I hoped I'd find you here Jonny," He said, not even glancing at the stranger, Jonny.
Johny took a sip of his drink and turned to face the mystery man, "I heard you died,"
"I did, as it turns out, the afterlife as shotty security," Jonny laughed, apparently taking it as a joke, until they saw the look on the mystery man's face and stopped.
"Wait, you were actually bested by a kid?"
The mystery man's posture stiffened, "Potter had unforeseen advantages," The mystery man's tone made it abundantly clear that the matter was closed, "I need your help now-"
"And why would I help you? Look at you! Deaged to your teenage years and weaker than ever. You couldn't defeat the Potter boy when you were almost immortal, why would you be able to now?"
The mystery man-boy growled, "You're mistaken Jonny, I'm not weak, I'm stronger. I'm a teenager, yes, but I have all the memories of a wizard twice my physical age, and Dumbledore is dead. Potter feels safe, he thinks I'm dead. That means I can face him as a peer, I could get into Hogwarts as a student and befriend him, then kill him," The mystery man, Voldemort Will had guessed by now, turned to Jonny giving Will a clear look at his handsome profile and making Nico catch his breath again, "And you'll help me, you'll get me into the school, I can do the rest,"
Jonny smirked, "You'll need a fake name, and to change your appearance. Potter has seen your younger look in a memory, apparently, his old headmaster let him see you in a pensive,"
Voldemort cursed, "I can't use polyjuice because then 'i'd have to kidnap a muggle, which would be to much work and require too many resources. I could use transfiguration?"
Jonny nodded, "Just change a few things, maybe your eyes and nose, just enough to make you look like a different person, you can resemble yourself, but you have to be undeniably a different person,"
Voldemort nodded, "As for a name…" He thought about it for a moment, then his eyes flashed with a mix of different emotions, "Nico, I could be Nico," the real Nico choked silently and covered his mouth as Will did the same, wondering how in Hades the so-called dark lord knew his boyfriend.
Jonny shook his head, "No, you need something more common, like Mike or Alex or something,"
Voldemort thought about it, "I like Alex,"
"Good, you're Alex Smith, I'll get you into Hogwarts by the end of the week," Voldemort nodded and turned around in his chair and Will thought for a split second that he would see Nico, but the son of Hades was already gone.
The dream faded away and Will woke up in the room of requirement. He got up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, worry taking its place. Why was Nico spying on Voldemort? Was this the mission from his father? And how did he know the 'dark lord'? He pushed his worries aside and headed for breakfast, resolving to let Nico reveal the answers when he was ready.
Will found said the son of Hades outside, where a gigantic breakfast was set out on the warship.
"Hey," He greeted, grabbing a plate and willing it to fill with enough food for the two of them. Nico looked terrible, his hair was a mess and his t-shirt was wrinkled and on top of it all his eyes were bloodshot and sunken, as if he had spent the night tossing and turning rather than sleeping.
"Hey Solace," Nico said, scowling at, well, everything. Will suddenly felt guilty for not finding a place in the hall to sleep, where Nico could find him, instead of the room of requirement.
"You need to eat," Will said putting a piece of toast on a napkin and putting it on the rail. Nico scowled deeper but he ate the toast with just a little grumbling.
Will's smile wavered, "I-I had a dream last night," Nico stiffened slightly, then saw the look on Wills' face.
He broke, putting down his food he said, "Come with me," And led Will into the castle. They went up flights of stairs and through twisting hallways until they made it to the astronomy tower.
"What did you dream about?" Nico asked, but Will knew that he knew.
"I saw you, in a tavern, stalking Voldemort," the unspoken question hung in the air.
Nico sighed and rested his arms on the windowsill, "My mission from my father," he began, "it was to kill Voldemort, or Tom Riddle. Apparently, he escaped the underworld and came back here to kill Harry, it's my job to kill him first," He tried to hide the pain in his eyes, but Will saw it.
"My plan," he continued, "was to kill him in the tavern, but there was the bartender and that other wizard as witnesses, and I couldn't deal with the mortal police, even if I did manage to kill off the other wizard," he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, "I guess I could kill him once he gets to the school, but there are...complications...with that plan," Will wanted to ask how Nico knew Voldemort, but he knew how Nico was. If he asked now it would only make him close up more, especially when he was vulnerable like this. Will and Nico's relationship was more complicated than the other couple's, they hadn't gone through some huge tragedy together like most of the others. In fact, when Will first met Nico, the ghost king had let a teenage boy kill himself. And that wasn't exactly the best way to start a relationship.
Will shoved his thoughts aside, forgetting everything he knew about Nico, and asked, "How do you know Tom Riddle?"
Nico tensed, a series of emotions flying over his face, anger, fear, regret, guilt, then it hardened into a guarded expression, "I...We went to the same orphanage as kids, he was the only one who befriended me, who treated me like a person. Even with me being more...open...at the time, no one wanted to hang out with the little geek kid who attracted the shadows,"
Will suddenly felt a pang of guilt for forcing Nico into this, then he told himself that it had to be done. If Nico kept bundling all his problems inside he would destroy himself. Will was there to help him, he was there to confide in and help him solve his problems. Will was Nico's doctor, and he would make sure Nico got out of this alive.
"Nico," Will said, putting a hand on his shoulder, feeling him flinch at the unfamiliar gesture, "I love you, I'm here for you. You can't keep these things to yourself because Nico," He gently lifted the boys chin and met his eyes, "if you do," Nico tried to look away but Will forced him to look him in the eye, "Nico, if you do, you'll destroy yourself, and if that happens it'll destroy me, and Hazel, and Annabeth, and Percy, and all the countless others who care about you," a tear slid down Nico's cheek and splattered to the stone floor.
There was a short pause, then Nico threw his arms around Will and cried, he cried until his eyes couldn't produce one more tear, until his chest couldn't produce one more sob, until he had broken down completely. Because sometimes, breaking down is the only way to become stronger.
~oOo~
Not far away a certain dark lord was sitting on a bed in a cheap motel with thoughts swirling through his head. Dieing hadn't been what he'd expected. He'd expected...well he wasn't sure what he'd expected, but it wasn't the detached emptiness he'd felt on the way to the underworld. It wasn't the crippling fear as he stood before the judges of the dead. And it most certainly wasn't the rush of memories that hit him like a brick to the chest when the judges had been deciding on his punishment.
He'd felt violated at the time, like they were taking something from him that he didn't want to give, like they were taking a part of him. But he later found himself reflecting on what he'd seen, particularly the idea he'd had as a child, silly at the time, impossible with the times. But now things were different, and just maybe….No. if the boy from the orphanage was still alive he was well into his nineties at least, and Vold-Tom-Alex-whatever his name was, was a teenager, physically anyway. His childhood fantasy was still impossible, and he was still a freak.
But there were things he didn't know, and he knew that. He knew that there were things in that cute little boy's past, in his mind, that he didn't know. And because of that, he had hope, if, by some miracle, he was a wizard, maybe he had found a chance at immortality like Tom had, one that didn't involve the splitting of his soul, and that ensured physical youth. And didn't damage his appearance, the thought jumped into his head before he could stop it, and it made him smile. He didn't push it away like he should have, instead, he kept it, a little reminder that the old Tom Marvolo Riddle was still in him.
But little Tommy should have buried that thought. With youth comes recklessness as they say, and Tom was no exception. His de-aging had brought him into his old mental state, reckless and murderous, so he forgot things. Like the fact that his associate, Jonny, could read minds. And that he hadn't actually left the motel. Instead, the legilimens sat at a table in the dining hall just a few doors down in the single floored establishment, listening to every thought in Tom Marvolo Riddle's head.
Hey Y'all! Sorry about the long wait for the short chapter, I just picked up another project to get the credits I need to graduate my grade, so I've been swamped. (the project, for those who are interested, is a graphic novel about Norse mythology and it's going to be AWESOME).
So, I have a challenge for you people, the first person to accurately guess what the purpose of Ever's braids are will get to pick between one of these things, 1) I post a chapter entirely from Tom's POV, or 2)I post a 5,000+ word chapter
You have to post your choice with your guess to avoid spoilers, so you won't know who guessed correctly until it's revealed to everyone. Also, neither of those things will happen until someone guesses correctly, so get to guessing if you want them to happen. (Also, I'm hoping to get this chapter to twenty reviews, and if we reach that I'll post a 4,000+ word chapter)
Peace y'all! TheGhostQueen, signing off! ;)