After what felt like years of enduring pain and isolation, Will finally reached his limit. He was frail and he was just too tired to continue. Will opened his mouth with such a force that he bust open the stitches. he felt blood pouring into his mouth but he didn't care.
"Creature! Release me, I give in." Will muttered.
"Do you fully submit to me?" It boomed.
"If it means freedom."
"Oh, it seems to me that you have misunderstood." The creature whispered in his ear, "You will never be free from me."
"But Nico is safe?"
"Yes, that disgusting boy will be safe from me."
Will felt a sick, falling sensation like the one that you get when you miss a step on the stairs in the dark. Will was in the dark and was being dragged by evil.
Suddenly, he was alone and his sight had returned. He was in a forest. He had been stripped down to baggy black shorts. His thin and bony body was exposed. It was night time, he could see a small glow from a fire in the distance. He had been told that the fire was Nico's. He wasn't allowed to pursue it until he had shed one liter worth of blood. Will pressed the knife that he had been given into his skin. He made no sound as he made the incisions. Will noticed strings attached to his limbs. When the Creature was happy it left with a smug smile of satisfaction on its face. Will felt heavy, like two massive boulders were dragging behind him. He suddenly felt the effects of his starvation. His bones hurt. His heart hurt. He tried to count the weeks he had been without food. He thought three weeks, maybe four...five?
He wanted to sprint towards the fire to see Nico but all he could manage was a slow tired walk. He pushed through thorny bushes they pricked him and he jumped. As he got closer and closer to the fire he felt nervous and excited both at once. He burst through trees and collapsed onto the ground.
Nico thought he had accidently somnomed a skeleton from the underworld. But he looked closer and he saw it was Will. It had been three months since Nico left Will in the apartment building.
Nico picked him up and cradled him. He moved him close to the fire. Will looked up at Nico and smiled. He wanted to cry but fear stopped him.
"Nico," he whispered moving a piece of his hair out of his eyes, "you're safe now. Nico...I lo-"
Will's eyes closed before he could finish.
Nico could feel Wills soul dancing closer and closer to death. Nico removed his shirt and ripped it. He tied the strip above the cut on his arm. Nico inspected the rest of Will's body. Along his back there were marks from where flame and a whip had licked him harshly. He felt bad for thinking that the burns looked pretty. They swirled like the smoke that you get when you blow out a match or a candle.
Nico ran his hands along Wills boney body. His cheeks had sunken in. His ribs jutted out of his body. Black circles made his eyes look like craters. Will had lost most of his yellow hair, what was left was dirty blonde or grey. Tears swelled in Nicos tired eyes.
"Will, you're one of the only living things that I am good at talking to. Please...don't die on me." tears ran down his cheeks and landed on Will, "I couldn't handle having another person I love die on me."
The Coach began to stir, Nico abruptly pulled his hands away from Will and wiped his eyes. Gleeson jumped when he saw Will. He quickly grabbed the first aid kit and tended to Will. When he felt Nico hovering over his shoulder he ordered him to sleep.