Silence. Nico drifted alone in it. Absolute, deafening silence. It was the most terrifying thing he'd ever known. He could not even hear his own heartbeat which only moments ago had been thundering in his ears.
Nico couldn't hear the slightest peep. He couldn't hear a single squeal. Even the static-y whine that was there whenever his ears were covered or plugged was gone. The silence was complete. It was unnerving.
Not even all the moaning, weeping, and wailing of the souls in Punishment could compare. Not even the aimless wandering groans of the dead in Asphodel. Their spine-chilling pleas to be remembered.
There was nothing, here, where Nico drifted. That, in itself, was far more terrifying than anything that he had ever experienced.
It came from the depths of the absolute darkness. Laughter. Deep, malevolent laughter that made Nico's limbs quake and his bones turn to mush. The sound was terrifying, but he embraced it. It was better than drifting in the silence.
Then, Nico felt the pulling. It was the inexorable grasp of the dark. It was the hunger of the yawning void and the evil that dwelt just above it. Nico shivered. He tried to resist.
Nico was nothing in the face of this most ancient, primordial, and primal evil. He found himself being helplessly sucked into the most mind-numbing and sanity-breaking place he'd ever had the misfortune to spend any time in. Tartarus.
Nico tried to run, but he couldn't. He tried to turn his head away, but found himself unable. He closed his eyes, but then, he realized, that there were many horrors in Tartarus that did not need sight to terrify. Nico whimpered. He just wanted to get away. He would have done anything just to leave this damned place.
"Nico di Angelo," said a deep voice. It sounded as though there were ten speakers, but one was speaking a half-second later than the last. As each voice washed over Nico, he saw Tartarus begin to come into focus around him.
Nico fell to his knees in the middle of the plains that was normally filled with monsters. It was eerily empty. All that Nico could see in the vast gray expanse was the swirling darkness in the distance. The ravenous hunger that could not be sated.
The laughter began again and Nico could feel his insides melt into mush. All the fight left his entire body. He fell to the ground. Despair was all he knew.
Nico didn't even wince as he was dragged across the plains. He tumbled all over himself, but he was beyond caring. It was just so meaningless to keep on caring. Even fear was meaningless, now.
Nico slammed against Tartarus' armoured feet. He did not make so much as a sound. He expected to be sucked up into Tartarus' maw. He expected to be consumed. He expected to spend eternity in agony, pressing against Tartarus' armour as he was slowly devoured until nothing was left.
Nico looked up and somehow, he could tell that Tartarus was smiling at him. He did not know how he knew that, considering the fact that Tartarus' face was just a swirling void, an emptiness that sucked everything in.
Tartarus laughed again. The sound made Nico tremble. It made the blood in his veins feel like the fire of the Phlegethon. "You, like my pathetic son and that inferior creature with him, are not worthy of dying by my hand," said the Lord of the Pit. "There is someone who has not had the taste of demigod flesh and wants to try it," said Tartarus.
"Be honoured, son of Hades," said Tartarus, "My father Chaos does not take interest in many." Suddenly, Nico's entire body locked up in fear. He froze. He couldn't struggle when Tartarus picked him up and tossed him into the darkness and the all-encompassing silence. He fell. And fell. And fell.
Then, he was nothing.
Nico's eyes flew open. He sat bolt upright on his bed in the infirmary. He could feel his powers going haywire. He could feel the shadows. They were cold, and they were clinging to his skin. It was a horrible, cloying feeling, and Nico couldn't help but gag.
Sweat was beading on Nico's forehead. He tried to wipe it off, but he wasn't able to raise his arm to even do that. Nico shivered. He became acutely aware of how cold the infirmary had become. If only Nico had looked at his arms, he would have seen that he was flickering again, melting into shadows before reforming in the space of a heartbeat.
Nico looked down at his feet. He wiggled his toes. At least he could still do that. Then he noticed something rather odd. He very nearly jumped out of the bed when he realized what it was.
Nico probably would have jumped out of the bed if he'd had the strength, but seeing Will Solace so close had scared the living daylights out of Nico. Will's arms were propped on the bed and crossed. Will's head was nestled in the middle. The healer was sleeping by Nico's hip.
Even if he'd had the strength, Nico didn't think he would have kicked Will's head off the bed. The son of Apollo looked so peaceful, sleeping. Nico would have felt guilty waking him up. Still, Nico was curious. Had Will been sleeping there the whole time? He couldn't imagine it.
Nico glanced briefly around the infirmary. His eyes found one of the windows. Outside, the sky was rather dark, save for the light of the waning moon. None of the other Apollo kids, as far as Nico could tell, were sleeping in the infirmary. Nico's only companions in the dark of night, or early morning, were the other patients on their beds, and Will.
Nico couldn't help but ask himself, "Why me?" Nico looked around the infirmary and came to the conclusion, perhaps wrongly, that there were many others in conditions worse than he was. Nico thought Will should have been spending time with them instead of him.
The son of Hades cursed as he felt his arms, which were supporting him in his sitting position, began to wobble. He tried his best to lie back down on his pillows gently. He didn't want to wake Will up.
Halfway there, Nico's arms gave way and he fell onto the bed. He watched, horrified, as Will's head bounced a couple of inches off of the bed's surface. Nico winced at the loud smack as Will's face collided with his arms. "Ow!" said Will, sputtering. "Wha…huh?" said Will.
Will looked at Nico as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. It was too early in the morning. "Nico?" he asked. He couldn't really see that well yet. "Were you trying to get away?" said Will. Nico frowned. He had no idea where Will got that idea. If anyone knew that he couldn't even get up properly, it would've been Will.
Will raised his arms over his head and stretched as he yawned. When he placed his arms back on the bed, Nico finally got the chance to get a good long look at Will's face.
Much to his surprise, Nico didn't see ease on Will's face. He saw tiredness. He had not realized just how tiresome the job of a healer must have been. Will had dark rings aroujnd his eyes, and moved with a slow cautiousness that spoke of aches all over his body.
Nico had to wonder how many of them were from going to sleep in such a strange position, and how many of those aches were from working tirelessly to make sure that the demigods were safe and healthily sound. The more Nico watched Will, the more he had to admire the dedication that the son of Apollo must have had to work so hard on what he did.
It came as a rather big surprise that instead of grumbling about sleep, Will took a look at Nico when his vision finally cleared and narrowed his eyes. "Are you alright?" he asked.
All trace of sleepiness was gone from Will's voice. It was almost as though a switch had been flipped and Will was back to full energy. Nico didn't think he could keep up. He was having enough trouble processing Will's words alone at the moment.
"You look terrible, Nico," said Will. The son of Apollo reached for Nico's forehead. Before the hand could even come close, Nico had already wriggled his way to the other side of the bed.
Will frowned. "Sorry," said Nico. He wriggled back to the middle of the bed and reluctantly allowed Will to place the palm of his hand against Nico's forehead. A look of distress and alarm crossed Will's face. "That bad, huh?" Nico asked, weakly.
Will scowled at Nico.
"It was just a nightmare, Solace," said Nico, "Just a nightmare." He tried to smile, but he guessed it wasn't a very pleasant one as Will glowered at him instead.
Out of the blue, Nico heard an almost-indiscernible creak of bone. He looked up just in time to see a skeletal soldier, probably one of his own, preparing to strike down Will with a spectral sword. Terror seized Nico's heart.
In a panic, he yelled "Go away!" with all the strength he could muster. It wasn't very impressive. It had sounded far more intimidating in his head. It came out as more of a throaty squeak.
Will looked rather offended at the outburst, since he still hadn't noticed the skeleton, and was about to lecture Nico on the proper way to tell people to give him some space. Will whirled around as he heard the skeleton collapse and disintegrate into dust.
"I-I…" said Nico. He couldn't control his stammering. "I d-didn't summon him!" Nico tried to steady his breaths. He'd never been so terrified that someone might get hurt before.
It had been one thing, with Bryce Lawrence and Reyna. Nico had been scared then. Seeing the skeleton looming over Will, about to deliver what would probably have been a fatal blow, Nico had been almost petrified where he lay. "At least not consciously," he said after a while.
Will looked at Nico with a harrowed look on his face. As soon as it had appeared there, it was replaced with concern. "I told you, no more Underworld-ly stuff!" grumbled Will under his breath.
It was then that Nico noticed that Will's hands were trembling again. "Great," he thought, "Just… great." The last thing that Nico needed was to scare someone off who was trying.
Will looked at Nico and frowned. "Don't look at me like that, di Angelo," said Will with a stern voice, "I'm not scared of you. I happen to know you probably couldn't raise a single phalange consciously even if you wanted to."
"Not like this," said Will, gesturing all over Nico's body and making the son of Hades feel rather conscious about himself. "I'm afraid…" Will's voice faltered and he trailed off. He remembered Lou Ellen's words. He reminded himself, "Baby steps, baby steps."
"Nevermind," Will said. He wished he hadn't said it so aggressively, but there was no taking it back now. "You are not going to fade under my watch," said Will, poking Nico in the chest, which the son of Hades was surprisingly okay with. "You hear me?"
Nico gulped audibly and nodded. He'd come to learn that Will Solace could get rather scary when he was hell-bent on saving someone's life. Nico didn't find it uncomfortable. In fact, he found it interesting, and endearing. It was also infuriating, but only because he kept thinking of it as endearing, and he didn't want to do that.
Nico blinked. Without warning, the entire infirmary seemed to have brightened. More than that, Nico felt a surge of energy creep its way from his arm, then up his chest before spreading through his entire body, right to the tips of his toes.
At first, Nico thought he'd been hallucinating, but the infirmary was definitely brighter. He looked at himself, and found that he was glowing slightly with a golden radiance. He was surprised, to say the least. He stiffened where he lay. It was all he could do to not shout about the light.
Nico looked at Will, expecting to find Will pressing on his arm, despite fact that Nico didn't feel Will touching him. He expected Will to be concentrating on some new form of healing magic, but instead, he saw Will, looking right back at him with just as much surprise written on his face.
"Solace?" Nico asked, concerned. Was the new magic going to kill him? Sure, he didn't really value his life that much, but he still didn't want to die in the process of being healed.
Still, Nico found himself answering his own uncertainty. It was difficult, if not impossible, to think that the light was threatening because it just felt so restorative. Nico watched as the golden light pulsed over his body. It drove away the darkness that threatened to consume him. Even the despair at the edges of his consciousness evaporated.
Nico's form stabilized. He was still weary. He still felt like he was going to melt into a puddle of shadows at the slightest provocation. At least he didn't feel at risk of doing that without provocation. Warm and cozy. That was how Nico felt. It was such an alien sensation, Nico couldn't help but feel somewhat uncomfortable with it.
Slowly, the glow began to retreat. The light crept back up Nico's limbs, drawing back to his chest, then down his arm, and into Will's hands. The two boys both watched in wonder as the golden light pulsed and danced, every so often creating a loop much like a solar prominence.
The sight was enchanting. It was, without a doubt, beautiful. It was a thought that Nico had ever dared imagine he would have about light. Will held back a gasp of astonishment as the light continued to pulse over his hands like a membrane.
Will pulled his hands further away from Nico's arm than they had been hovering previously. The light blinked off like a lamp that had been unplugged.
"What," said Nico, with a voice still hoarse but stronger than it had been since feeling the weight of the world come crashing down on his shoulders, "in Hades was that?" Nico shook his head from side to side. "I feel…"
Will interrupted him. "Better?" said Will, almost too hastily. "Stronger?" It sounded as though with every word, Will was getting more and more excited about it. Nico looked warily at Will and narrowed his eyes. "I feel the same way, too," said the son of Apollo.
Nico looked up. He took a moment to examine Will's face. Sure enough, the tiredness that had been there before was gone. Will looked like he'd taken a fourteen-hour beauty sleep.
Nico blushed, then mentally slapped himself for thinking that Will was cute. He had absolutely no business being attracted to Will. It wasn't like he had a chance anyway. Still, Nico found his eyes drawn to Will's face time and again.
The circles around Will's eyes had faded. His skin had taken on a healthier tone. He almost looked like he was glowing. Will's eyes were brighter. The startling blue, clearer. And last, but definitely not least, Will's hair seemed even more lush and golden, and soft and tempting, than usual.
Nico frowned again. Had he just thought it would be great to run his hands through Will's hair? Nico found the thought, stomped it into the ground, and buried it where it would never again see the light of day. At least, he tried. His scowl deepened. The thought would not cooperate and kept popping up.
"What?" asked Will, touching his face as though suddenly conscious of himself, "What's on my face?" Will's eyes were trained on Nico's frown. He was panicking. There were no mirrors nearby. "Did some mark appear, or something?" Nico couldn't answer. He was busy grappling with the thought of tangling his fingers through Will's hair.
"Answer me, di Angelo, or I will smack you!"
"Oh," said Nico, coming back to reality, "Huh? No." Nico tore his eyes away from Will's hair and shuddered. He had to control himself. Both for his good and Will's. He didn't need another Percy situation. "Nothing's on your face," he said, "I was just… I was just thinking. Don't mind me."
"Well," said Will with a scowl, "What was I supposed to think when you suddenly started frowning at my face?" Will wasn't able to stop the small smile spread across his face afterwards. "I have no idea what that was."
"Maybe a blessing from dad?" Will said. He ventured the question, even if he had no faith it was true. Still, it was possible. He had prayed to Apollo earlier. Maybe there was some prayer-lag going on.
Nico shook his head. He didn't think so. From what he'd managed to gather over the last few days, it didn't seem that Apollo was in any position to be handing out any favours to his children. Zeus, of course, was being a divine royal pain again. "I don't think it was your dad," he said.
"Jason told me there's still something wrong with the gift of prophecy." Will made a face. That much was true. "They said something happened to your dad in Athens, but we just don't know." Will sighed.
Over the last two days, Will had learned many things about his dad's possible state. Chief among them was the fact that no one really knew much about what Apollo was going through. It was another point of stress for Will. Sure, he and his dad weren't the closest, but Apollo was still his father.
Will was rather concerned. He had no idea what Zeus was capable of. He definitely hoped that Zeus wouldn't make Apollo rebuild the walls of Troy as a mortal. Or, well, erect a skyscraper as the modern equivalent. Judging from all Zeus' irrational fits of rage, though, Will knew he had reason to be concerned for his father's well-being.
"So that was me?" asked Will, the scepticism practically dripping from his voice, "Is that what you're saying?" Nico nodded, although he wasn't sure what had happened either. He had a feeling that it was Will's doing.
"I've never done that before," said Will, looking at his hands with a mixture of curiosity and wonder. "It…" Will trailed off. "It was a different kind of healing. I didn't even have to sing to my dad!" he said, almost excitedly. He really didn't like singing. It reminded him of how all his talents were related almost exclusively to healing, and maybe crippling attack-dogs.
Nico didn't really have any prior experiences to base a comparison on, but he decided to take Will on his word. "What I don't understand," said Will, looking at his arms as though they were new to him, "is why it healed me, too?" Nico thought about it, but no possible explanations came to mind.
"Maybe you can ask Chiron about it?" said Nico. It was the best suggestion he could come up with. Nico felt re-energized. In fact he felt rather alive. Still, he could feel that if he did any major 'underworld-ly stuff,' as Will called it, he would be back where they'd started.
A few minutes passed in silence. Nico stared at the ceiling. Will stared at Nico staring at the ceiling. It was Nico that broke the silence, a thought having crossed his mind. He looked Will in the eye, failing to notice the blush that crept up Will's face at being caught, and asked "Why are you doing this for me?" Nico took a deep breath. "What am I to you?" Silence.
Nico looked down for a moment. He saw Will's hands trembling on the bed. It was strange, he thought, that it seemed as though the question alone had unsettled Will.
"Because I don't want you to fade…" said Will. His voice was shaky. It sounded like he was trying to steady both his voice and his hands at the same time, but was failing. Nico watched as Will clutched one of his trembling hands with the other to stop them both.
"That," said Will as Nico looked back up into his eyes, "You're someone I want to be friends with." A long sigh followed. "And…" Nico waited for a while, but it seemed as though Will's words had died in his throat.
"Never mind," said Will, averting his eyes. Nico's heart lurched in his chest. Had he been about to tell Nico that he felt something for the son of Hades?
Nico kicked the thought out of his mind. "Impossible," he said silently to himself.
"I'm not…" Nico frowned. Will was not what? "Maybe someday I'll tell you," said Will. The words came so quickly, they were almost a garbled mess. Nico's frown deepened. He didn't think someday was a satisfactory explanation. Still, it seemed as though Will didn't want to talk about it, so he didn't pursue the matter.
Another couple of minutes of silence followed. Nico and Will looked around awkwardly at anything but each other, until finally, Will broke. "What was your nightmare about?" he asked. He had not forgotten, after all. The unreadable expression on Will's face was pushed away by a look of concern.
Nico noted, somewhat bitterly, that at least he could read that look. Will was definitely an enigma, and one that was drawing Nico in more and more, as much as he didn't want to admit it. "Tartarus," said Nico. He said the word tersely, as though he couldn't wait to get it out of his mouth.
The word 'Tartarus' alone carried so much meaning, especially for Nico. Especially for those who had been there. Especially for those that knew he'd been down there and survived it, all on his own.
The temperature in the infirmary dropped even lower. Nico felt it, despite the lingering warmth from whatever healing magic Will had used on him. It was as if the very name of that primordial evil Tartarus brought with it some of the malevolence rampant in the Pit.
Nico shuddered. Images of that terrible place flashed in his mind's eye. He wanted to scream, momentarily forgetting that he was safe elsewhere, in the infirmary, under the watchful and stern eye of its head healer Will Solace. Fortunately, Nico's throat didn't give him the voice to scream at the sudden terror that gripped him. Alaska might have been the land beyond the gods, but Nico knew that even that place was nothing compared to the Darkness beyond them.
"Tartarus," said Will. There was a mixture of sympathy, fear, and awe in his voice. It managed to shake Nico out of his terror. He blinked as he looked around and reacquainted himself with his surroundings.
Nico looked at Will. "Annabeth…" said the son of Apollo, voice soft and uncertain. "She… I asked about you." Will blushed, but Nico didn't notice. "She told me you went to Tartarus alone?" asked Will. "That you survived that place on your own?"
There was a measure of hope in Will's voice. It was a hope that Annabeth had been lying, that Nico had not had to endure that terrible place all on his own. It was admirable, the thought that Nico had survived the most treacherous and evil place in the world, but at the same time, it worried Will.
"You asked after me?" said Nico, puzzled. "And why Annabeth?" he wanted to add. He paused. He thought about it for a moment, and realized that Annabeth was one of the more sincere campers that he just couldn't bring himself to resent. It had probably seemed that they were close friends, or about as close friends as one could get to Nico di Angelo.
As for why Will was asking after him, Nico supposed that it was probably to learn more about him, the patient. Nico didn't even want to consider the other possibility, that Will was asking after him because he cared and actually liked him. The implications were, while titillating, actually scary.
"She said I survived Tartarus on my own, huh?" said Nico. He laughed bitterly.
"I didn't survive Tartarus on my own," said Nico, "I went there because I was stupid and overconfident, and I thought I could handle it. I was looking for the Doors of Death. I got too close… I got sucked in." Nico took a deep breath. "I got captured, and the only reason I'm still alive is because they wanted me alive, to use as bait in Rome."
Nico trembled from the powerful negative memories that what he'd just said invoked. He drew in a deep breath to steady himself. He didn't need to remember the time he'd spent trapped in a bronze jar. "I didn't survive so much as I walked right into a trap. I thought I could do it, being the son of Hades and all," Nico's smile was small and bitter, "I forgot that not even the gods went to Tartarus, and for good reason."
"You're not giving yourself enough credit, Nico," said Will. He was concerned. His hand reached out and hovered tentatively over NIco's arm. "You survived long enough to even be captured. I don't know what Tartarus is like…" The look that Nico shot him told him that he didn't want to know. "But if even the gods don't want to go near it, then… It must be a terrible place."
Again, from the look on Nico's face, Will could tell that terrible wasn't even close to describing it. "Any other demigod. Anyone else," said Will, letting a little bit of his bias shine through, "Even the great Percy Jackson… They would probably have not lived long enough to get tracked down and captured."
"Didn't you find the Doors, anyway?" asked Will. Nico nodded, slowly. His mind was sluggishly working through all that Will had said. "I don't know much of what happened in this whole war with Gaea… We didn't really get too much information, but I know the Great Prophecy, and if you found the Doors of Death, and led the Seven there, then this quest would never have succeeded without you."
Will gulped audibly. There was an awkward moment of silence between the two of them. "What you did was admirable. No one else could have done it! Why are you denying that you did something special?"
What followed was tense silence. Nico balled his fists. There was a surge of inexplicable surge of anger racing through his veins. "Because I don't want the attention!" said Nico. Will winced, but the other campers in their beds were fast asleep, and didn't even stir.
"I don't want to be put up there on a pedestal!" Nico's voice was strained with effort. "I just…" Nico's voice broke. "I just want to be accepted." Nico's eyes widened. He clapped his hand over his mouth. Will's eyes sparkled in the darkness.
Will gripped Nico's other wrist. Nico flinched. "Being praised like that," Nico said with bitterness, "It's almost as bad as being driven away! Besides…" Nico choked back a sound of pain. "The last time it happened…" He had to catch his breath. In that moment, he thought to himself, "Why am I even sharing this with Will?"
"Nevermind," said Nico, seizing his hand back from Will's grasp. "You wouldn't understand," he growled. Will looked hurt. "Great," Nico thought to himself. Will had just been trying to help and he had had to go run his mouth again. Nico looked away, trying not to show the tears in his eyes. He'd hurt the guy that was trying his best to get to know him and be a friend.
Perhaps the problem was that there was a part of Nico that was desperate, that wanted Will to be more than just a friend. Perhaps it was the fact that he was afraid of that part of him. Perhaps it was the fact that in his fear, he refused to acknowledge that he might have began developing feelings for Will.
The son of Apollo whispered Nico's name softly. Nico whirled on Will, eyes burning. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded. "What are you trying to prove? That you can make me a friend? That you can fix everyone? Because let me tell you something, Solace, I am not a broken bone that can just be fixed by some… some…" Nico couldn't think of a good enough insult. "… some healer!"
Nico didn't know why he was so angry all of a sudden. Will had just been trying to help. He had just been trying to understand. Will, technically, had done nothing wrong, and yet, Nico was raging at him, as though all Nico's pain was his fault.
Nico had been aiming to insult Will, but had failed at finding something that he thought would make a good insult. Yet, the way that Will looked like he'd just been punched in the gut by the way that Nico had said the word 'healer' in a voice practically dripping with venom, made it seem as though he had.
Nico couldn't help but feel guilty, then. He'd just insinuated that healing, which was practically the only thing that Will had even a shred of pride for, was something to be despised. Will didn't understand. He was just trying his best.
"No," said Will. "No…" The words were getting stuck in his throat. "Nothing like that, at all…" he said. There was a long moment of silence as Will tried to put his thoughts together. Lou Ellen had told him to take it slow, but it looked like he had to tell Nico the truth.
"I'm doing this because I understand!" said Will after a while. Nico tried to pull his arm away in time, but Will was fast. His hand was grasping Nico's wrist with a vice-like grip. Will looked particularly hurt and angry.
Nico didn't believe Will one bit. How could Will possibly understand what he felt? Sure, he'd seen some evidence of melancholy dwelling underneath the surface of Will Solace, but the children of Apollo were all smiles and laughter.
They were all rays of sunshine in their own right, and they had never seen the kind of darkness and pain and suffering that Nico had.
"No, you don't!" said Nico. He was past the point of caring if the other campers in the infirmary heard his voice. They didn't stir. Nico had to wonder if he was keeping them asleep. "You're fucking Will Solace, head healer and head counsellor of Apollo!"
"People like you! Your siblings like you as head counsellor! They look up to you!" Nico stopped for a moment to catch his breath. He was so angry. He was angry that Will dared say that he understood what Nico had been through even if it was obviously not the case.
"Don't tell me that you understand what I've been through when you have never even experienced being chased off!" said Nico. Memories of the ways that the campers had shown him he was not welcome after the Battle of Manhattan flashed before his mind's eye. "You have never even experienced being completely alone in the world with practically no one to lean on!"
Nico stopped when he realized that there were tears in Will's eyes, that there were wet trails down Will's cheeks. Will snapped at Nico. "Yeah, sure, my half-brothers and sisters 'like' me. But do you think I feel like I belong in Apollo's cabin? With children of Apollo?" Deafening silence followed as Nico tried to process what Will was saying. "You don't think I understand? You don't think I know the feeling of not belonging?"
Will Solace? Not belonging? It was the most ridiculous thing that Nico di Angelo had ever heard, and he'd heard a lot of things. Cool, collected, sometimes aggravating Will Solace did not feel like he had a place among his half-siblings? It was absurd! Nico looked at Will as though he'd grown a second head.
"I wanted to help you because I wanted to befriend someone who could maybe understand how I feel," said Will bitterly. He wiped the tears from his face with his hands. "I'm sorry for assuming anything," said Will. "What I've gone through is nowhere even close to what you've gone through," he said in a voice dripping with sarcasm.
"I can tell you don't believe me," said Will with a bitter laugh. "I don't blame you." Will shook his head. "I'll just…" Will paused. "Never mind. Don't even think I said anything." Will looked away. "This conversation never happened."
"Will," said Nico, softly. The conversation had taken a turn for the worse. Nico should not have been too cynical. It was one of his flaws as a son of Hades. He never trusted anyone. He should not have been so defensive. He should not have thought the worst of the one person in camp that was trying so hard to be his friend.
Nico felt bad. Whatever hurt that Will was feeling at that moment was all his fault. He tried to reach out, but found that he couldn't. His arm was dead where it lay. The strength had leached out of his body all over again.
"Go to sleep, di Angelo," said Will. His words were stiff. His body language, even more so. Without once looking at Nico again, Will folded his arms on the bed, and lay his head in the space between them.
Reluctantly, Nico turned his eyes to the ceiling. His mind whirled with thoughts and emotions, but not even he could fight the demands of a weary body. As soon as he'd let his defenses down, Nico drifted off into fitful sleep.
A/N: Hello there! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
I'd love to hear your thoughts, so make sure to leave a comment if you like this story so far. 3. It would be greatly appreciated.
Also, if you have any questions for me, send them over to my tumblr at .com!