Kian's P.O.V, New York 1956.
As he stared at the unconscious body of his friend. He couldn't but help feel the twinge of guilt that arose in his heart.
But, of course, that vanished when he remembered his sister and the fact that this form of his friend's body, wasn't exactly his friend.
Kian sat on the rickety old chair facing the bed, where his friend slept, oblivious to the world.
It was so strange to go from a t-shirt and jeans to dress shirts, suspenders and trousers.
Yet it felt as if he was at home.
Regret lingered in the back of his mind like a bad taste in his mouth.
The word encompassed every action he made and every sin he would have to repent.
Sinning would be his downfall if he let his actions consume him.
Yet it was worth it.
Kian would finally see him fall and fall hard as possible.
He would avenge his sister as it was foretold.
Kian stared down at the boy with concern he was disgusted by. He placed a hand on the boy's shoulder before standing up abruptly.
He exited the room where life's balance had been dramatically tilted.
One could not know if it was for better or for worse.
Death is an experience that is yet undiscovered by man.
It will never matter how many die. You will not experience death, till your time has come.
Be it at the age of an infant, or of one who has lived a great, many years.
I like to think of death as a peaceful happening.
That tis' you body just merely moving onto a new existence.
But that is an expectation.
Death is not dignified. Death is not peaceful.
Death is Death.
And I am its ruler.
You think you can escape me Nico?
You think you are immune?
I will find you as you have found me.
Like father like son.
Isn't that quaint?
You are no son of mine, boy.
I refuse to consort with the likes of you.
Nico woke up gasping for breath. That dream had been the worst by far.
Never had it been his father disowning him. Yet it wasn't a far stretch considering he had dreams like these every night. Most would be distressed or at least fazed by a nightmare like his. But no, Nico wasn't fazed. One had to get used to watching your family disown you every night.
Nico was more concerned about his lack of memory of the previous days and the fact that his surroundings were definitely not at Camp Half-Blood.
Last Nico remembered was Jason dragging him to the infirmary, then it just went blank.
Be that as it may, losing his memory wasn't the weirdest happening at the moment. No, the room he was lying in was the weirdest. It looked like it was straight out of a 50's movie set.
And last Nico remembered he had been at Camp Half Blood in the 21st century. Not on a bad movie set or something. Nico shot out of bed, staring down at his clothes. He was wearing a blue shirt and grey pants, two sizes too big for him.
Nico glanced up towards the door as he heard footsteps approaching.
Schist.
He dived back under the bed and tried to make it look like he was just waking up.
Maybe then he could find a way out.
Nico blinked his eyes open in a bad attempt at looking tired. His eyebrows almost shot to the roof when he took in the guy standing in front of him.
"Long time no see, Di Angelo."
Will's P.O.V (present day time.)
Coma:
A prolonged state of deep unconsciousness, caused especially by severe injury or illness.
It was a definition straight out of the dictionary. It was something Will thought he'd never have to deal with.
Never had he ran so fast in his life. The councillor meeting was left in the dust as he broke through the doors to the infirmary.
Will chucked his phone god knows where and proceeded to change out of his shirt in record time. He grabbed the offered green scrub shirt from Sterling and blindly followed Sterling's sprinting pace.
Will rushed into the room behind Sterling. His heart dropping to his feet as he realised it was the ICU part of the infirmary.
What had Nico got himself into this time?
The room was empty exempt for the crowd of Apollo kids that were sprinting around hectically.
Will only took the time to nod at Kayla and Austin. Before bee-lining in the direction of Wyatt, who stood at the foot of the occupied bed.
Over the years Will had become accustomed to concealing his emotions during stressful situations. Nothing could've prevented the distraught look that crossed his face as he assessed the scene below him.
Nico was see through and completely lifeless.
Will glanced at the monitors that stood beside the readings were the lowest that he'd ever seen in a demigod. Will glanced towards Wyatt and growled as he realised that Wyatt was getting ready to run a breathing tube down Nico's throat.
"What are you doing?" Will snarled, grabbing Wyatt's purposeful hands.
"Saving his life!" Wyatt replied, shaking off Will's grip.
"Wyatt, you hook him on to the ventilator, he might never come off it!" Will shouted, causing all his siblings to quiet and look at the pair.
"You think I don't already know that!" Wyatt replied, moving Nico's head up so he could position the tube right. "I'm giving us time damnit Will! Let me do my job."
Will stepped back frustrated, as Wyatt took over and ordered the others about.
Will felt useless, something he'd never felt before.
Come on Solace. Don't be a prissy girl.
Will took a deep breath and glanced towards Wyatt who seemed to be struggling, his hands were shaking dramatically.
Will walked briskly back over to Wyatt and put a awkward hand on his back.
"Dude you know how to do it. This is no different." Will said firmly, boring his blue eyes into Wyatt's green ones.
"Okay." Wyatt shook off Will's grip and continued with the task.
Will watched concerned as Wyatt carefully threaded the tube down Nico's throat and sighed in relief as everything matched up.
Will moved to help Wyatt secure the tube, handing him a blue plastic mouthpiece.
Will and Wyatt stepped away from the chaos, allowing Sterling, Kayla and Austin to carry on.
"What happened?" Will asked tiredly, briefly glancing over at the others.
"According to Sterling he shadow-travelled and ended up at his cabin. That's where I found him." Wyatt said, running a shaky hand through his hair.
"What else?" Will asked.
"I don't know Will I seriously don't know." Wyatt sighed, "Look mate, I barely know anything about shadow-travelling. But I know enough to know it doesn't put people in coma's."
"Then what else do you propose happened?" Will asked.
"Honestly? Something beyond what we know." Wyatt replied.
"Wyatt, dammit! Now is not the time to be a superstitious prick!" Will shouted.
"I'm not trying to be. Just think about it okay? Call Lou Ellen in or something. Maybe even Charlie or Maddie." Wyatt said defensively.
"Fine! You can go grab Charlie or whoever. I will deal with this myself." Will growled, clearly pissed off.
Wyatt nodded stiffly before storming out of the room for no apparent reason.
Will exhaled roughly, before turning back to his siblings and his fr-.
'What was Nico to him?' Will thought distractedly. 'Was he a friend or something more?'
Will shook the thoughts from his head roughly and walked back other to the chaos, taking on the role of head councillor, like a second skin.
If shadow travelling wasn't killing his friend, than what was?
It was an hour before Will finally called it quits and told his siblings to take a break. Nico had been poked and prodded, slapped and pinched; nothing had proven effective. Will swore if they injected any more unicorn draught or ambrosia in Nico's veins, the kid would spontaneously combust into flames and unicorn shiz.
Will stared at Nico's cold, lifeless hand desperately. Wishing that it'd move or twitch. That'd at least do something. But no, it remained there as lifeless as it had been a second ago. Will fell into the chair besides Nico's bed and put his head in his hands. Why did everything go to hell so quickly, at Camp Half-Blood?
Will muttered intelligible curse under his breath and cursed every known deity to High Olympus.
"I promised," Will muttered sadly, "I promised you wouldn't get hurt."
Will sat staring at Nico blankly.
The radio song in the background, seeming to perfectly suit the situation.
"Really too late to call,
So we wait for morning
To wake you is all we got
To know me as hardly golden
Is to know me all wrong, they warn."
Gods. Why was his life so messed up?
Will was musing to himself, when he became aware of someone's loud, breathless pants.
He looked up and narrowed his eyes when he saw it was Wyatt with company.
"Damnit Wyatt. When I said grab Charlie, I didn't mean to literally go grab her."
Nico's P.O.V (back in 1956)
"This was unexpected." Nico said watching Kian with an empathetic look.
"Yeah. I said the same when I found you unconscious outside my door." Kian chuckled awkwardly.
Nico moved out of the bed awkwardly, almost facing planting to the ground when he realised his legs were numb. But luckily Kian had caught him and sat him back down on the bed.
"You probably shouldn't get up." Kian said obviously.
"But I was fine a second ago." Nico grumbled glaring at his legs.
"Yeah and now you not. Sit down for a minute, you've been out for awhile." Kian cautioned.
"I haven't seen you in like three years and now you're suddenly being nice! What happened?" Nico chuckled.
Kian's passive expression turned dark and Nico immediately regretted his choice of words.
"I'm sorry Kian I didn-."
"It's fine Nico." Kian interrupted coldly.
"Still.." Nico said, fidgeting with his shirt.
"It's cool. Look get some rest or something. No offence but you look like hell hound poop." Kian chuckled lightly.
"Thanks." Nico drawled as Kian gave him a pointed glare and walked towards the door.
"Hey Kian, where are we? This house looks like something of a hollywood set in the 50's." Nico asked.
"We're in Manhattan, New York." Kian informed.
"Really? I didn't know Manhattan had houses like this in the 21st century." Nico muttered.
"It doesn't. Nico we're in 1956."