"You really think that'll work?" Nico asked, having been sitting with Anubis for what felt like forever. Souls came here and there, all of which Nico watched being eaten. "I mean...it seems impossible to come back from the dead."

"It's more common than you'd think," Anubis admitted. "I'm sure your father gets lots of paperwork from that. And the Catholic side of things? They write entire books on it."

"I'm not a Catholic, I don't know what you're trying to tell me." Nico sighed. "Just...let's do this."

Anubis smiled. "I don't know if we'll talk again, after this."

"What?" Nico's head snapped up. "Why?"

"You died. That was the only way to separate our souls, remember?" Anubis had a grim smile. "Seems your goal is finally complete. This is what you wanted, all along."

Nico's expression dropped. "O-Oh...oh...that's...good, I guess..."

"You don't sound like it." Anubis smiled. "What? Going to miss me?"

Nico scowled. "In your dreams, jackal brain. Let's just get this over with."

Anubis nodded. "Goodbye, Nico. I hope you have a good life."

Will laid the shroud over Nico's lifeless body, let the piece of fabric cover his former love. He could only hope Nico was with his father now, that he was on his way to Elysium. Maybe even reincarnation. Will just hoped Nico wasn't being punished for the wrong he had done, because he had done a lot of it.

Sometimes things happened so fast, just a flash of something that wasn't there before, something so horribly and terribly wrong that your brain━even your soul━refused to believe it. But your eyes, they saw it. Your eyes saw everything that happened before you and you know what those eyes saw. A flash of movement, a flash of that dead body's arm moving...

"Nico?" Will croaked. He stared down at the lifeless form, stared until his eyes were raw. Nico didn't move again.

"I'm an idiot." Will put his head in his hands, closing his eyes against the forming tears. "An idiot...such an idiot...why am I such an idiot..."

Nico laid in darkness for awhile after Anubis disappeared from him. He laid there, trying to move, trying to speak. He laid there for what felt like years to him. Had Will forgotten him? Had they all moved on? What if they had buried or burned his body? What would he do, then?

Would he be a ghost when he woke up?

Almaji finally found Will when they were on the plane to Camp Jupiter, his eyes swollen from crying and his clothes wrinkled and matted with blood. He sat beside the crying son of Apollo, whimpering slightly at the pains in his stomach. "Will..."

Will looked over at him, his voice dry and hoarse. "What, Al?"

"I'm sick." Almaji cuddled into Will's side. "I hurt so bad... Ever since we came back from the woods."

"Where do you hurt?" Despite the sorrow and grief that filled him, he was still a healer. "Show me."

Almaji held his stomach before moving his hand around his heart. "All over here... Hurts so bad..."

"Can we take your shirt off so I can check?" Will asked. "Just so I'm sure you're alright. Because I'm not losing you, either."

Almaji took his jacket off before pulling his shirt over his head, setting it in his lap as he started to shiver in the cold air. He looked up at Will, his arms wrapped around himself. "Please hurry...it's cold."

Will didn't answer, having been staring at his chest in shock. After a minute his eyes flickered up to Almaji's face before looking back to his chest. "C-Can you unwrap your arms, please?"

Almaji pouted in annoyance but did as he was told, putting his arms to his sides. "Why?"

Will called for Annabeth, his voice shaky as he stared. Above his heart, right where Nico's was, was a copycat version of Nico's wound. A hole over his heart, larger than his heart, but sealed off and not open. His skin under it and all down his torso bloodstained, the amount of blood Nico would have shed...

"What-? Oh, gods..." Annabeth's eyes widened at the sight. "Will, do you think...?"

"Almaji, think carefully." Will looked in his eyes. "Did you ever lose one of your gloves around Nico's b-body? Did you ever actually touch him?"

Almaji looked away from him in guilt. "Maybe..."

"When? When did you do it?" Will questioned, his heart speeding up with the possibilities. "When did you touch him?"

"When we were carrying him back to camp," Almaji mumbled. "My glove was in my pocket cause I-I...I wanted to save Nico." He started to bawl, his small lips trembling. "I wanted to save him!"

"It's okay, Al," Annabeth promised. "It's okay. Don't worry. You're just a little hurt, now. But it should go away."

"What about Nico?" Almaji asked through his sobs. "Will he come back?"

"We don't know." Will admitted, trying not to get his hopes up. "We'll see when we get to California, okay?"

Almaji nodded, putting his shirt and jacket back on. "Can I sleep, then? It'll come quicker."

"Yeah, yeah." Will ran a hand through his hair. "Whatever you want. But you need to stop crying so you can sleep."

As Almaji tried to quiet himself, Will looked to Annabeth with his emotions painted on his face. Could Almaji have actually saved the son of Hades?

When they got to Camp Jupiter, they checked all the bodies. Nico wasn't among them.