A/N: I know it's late, but I worked my butt off to try and get this to you guys as fast as I could. I've been dealing not only with motivational issues recently (I may or may not be burned out with all the writing I've been doing) but I've also been really busy with university and whatnot. Regardless, here is the final chapter of Three Days in Darkness, and I'll see you with the next mini-series, No Mercy for the Storm, coming soon, hopefully next week. 3.
Will was blushing furiously. This was a story that he did not recount at all, not even to his closest friends. Fortunately, the infirmary was blessedly empty. "And that is how I ended up with a concussion from a Satyr hoof," he said, finishing the story and turning more red than he had ever imagined possible.
There was a reason that Will did not particularly like retelling this story. He still wasn't quite over it. The fact that he was a son of Apollo made the fact that he was so bad at archery all the more shameful. He had a strong enough arm to send an arrow halfway to the strawberry fields only to hit a poor satyr who had happened to have been walking under its arc, but only after he missed the target by a wide margin.
Granted, Will thought to himself, that had been a rather freak incident. Normally, he landed the arrow somewhere on the target, but he supposed on that day, he was more bothered about his mediocrity than usual.
Nico, on the other hand, was trying his best not to laugh. The image of a Satyr delivering a kick to Will's head would forever be embedded in his mind. Even so, he was trying to be at least a little sensitive. From what Will had told him earlier, about insecurities and feelings of inadequacy, Nico knew that the topic of archery was a very tender point for Will.
Nico looked at Will's ridiculously red face and said, with a smirk, "You do need to work on your archery more, Solace." Nico was trying his best to look friendly, but given who he was, that was easier said than done. He was sure that the urge to laugh was palpable on his face.
Will turned even redder. That was the tipping point for Nico. He couldn't help himself anymore. He started laughing. It was a few moments before he got a grip on himself, the scene of a Satyr kicking Will on the head was playing over and over again in his mind's eye.
Nico looked at Will, finally able to open his eyes after having to squeeze them shut because of his laughter. Will looked slightly hurt. Nico immediately regretted losing control. "I didn't mean to laugh at your archery…" said Nico, looking apologetically at Will. "I just… I had this strangest image of you getting roundhouse-kicked by an angry Satyr."
Nico pursed his lips. The words 'roundhouse-kicked by an angry Satyr' triggered the image in his mind once more, and threatened to force him into another round of raucous laughter.
There were a few moments of silence that passed before Will started laughing too.
Nico's heart skipped a beat. He looked at Will and mused that for someone who claimed he didn't have very good musical talents, that this particular son of Apollo had a rather musical laugh. Or at least, it sounded musical to him. Nico frowned inwardly. He was not about to admit to that fact any time soon.
"How bad did you feel?" said Nico. He was genuinely curious. He wanted to know how Will had taken the experience. Nico had to admit that it was a rather morbid curiosity that he had.
"About what?" said Will, still blushing. "How bad did I feel about getting kicked up the side of the head by an angry satyr?" There was another round of laughter. Will had never been able to laugh at himself like this before. He felt as though he was floating on top of clouds. "Or about missing the target so badly that I hit a Satyr nowhere near the range?"
Nico raised an eyebrow at Will. "The fact that you got hurt because you missed the target so badly," he said. He regretted the words almost instantly. He hadn't meant to sound so blunt.
Will scrunched up his face. The laughter had drained away. "I felt really bad," said the son of Apollo. His ears were completely red, but his voice was no longer filled with mirth. Seeing Will's expression change from happy to grim was a somber experience for Nico. "I remember thinking 'what a son of Apollo I am. Can't even shoot an arrow straight,' and they kept ribbing me about it."
Will shook his head and grimaced. "Of course, they thought it was all in good fun. I laughed at it. Laughed at myself along with them…" Will's expression was pained. "It was just pretend, though."
Will looked at Nico, and the bed that he was laying upon. "But, at night, while I was lying in that same bed," he said. It was Nico's turn to blush. "I beat myself mentally for not being better at archery."
Nico felt bad for laughing, now. "The jokes they made," said Will, sadness creeping into his voice, "I know they were jokes but they hurt more than the lump on my head." Will looked away, his gaze turning distant. "It was difficult to look at everyone the same way after… Actually, it was difficult to look at myself the same way, to tell you the truth."
Nico sighed. He was tempted to squeeze Will's shoulder in solidarity, but he held himself back. He didn't know if Will would appreciate it, but at the same time, he didn't particularly feel like touching Will, either.
For Nico, at least, physical contact was still a very big sticking point. Nico blinked, surprised to see startlingly blue eyes looking straight at him. "Anyway," said Will, almost dismissively. Nico frowned and thought about how hypocritical Will was for dismissing his own problems. "Sorry for bringing you down, again."
Nico frowned again as Will looked away and released a long, drawn-out sigh that was heavy with weariness. A few moments of silence passed between Nico and Will before the glum look was wiped from Will's face. The son of Apollo smiled at Nico. The entire room seemed to brighten, but Nico could see the sadness dwelling behind Will's eyes.
Nico wanted to say something to Will. He wanted to say that Will didn't have to pretend to be happy around him, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had no idea if Will was doing it for himself, too.
"Anyway," said Will, his teeth bright in the sunlight, "I have other patients to attend to, and other errands to run around the camp." Nico watched Will's every move, wondering just what part, exactly, was the real Will Solace and what was just a facade. "I was maybe thinking of getting in some archery practice while no one's at the range."
Nico raised an eyebrow. Was Will so ashamed of his archery that he only ever tried when no one was around to see him? Nico shook his head and fixed Will with a strange look. The son of Apollo was too busy rambling to notice. "Then maybe I'll go and find some herbs, you know, for emergencies."
Will produced a jar of leaves from under the bed, startling Nico out of his thoughts. He had to wonder where on earth Will managed to get the damn thing. "Then maybe I'll try and pray to dad and see if everything is alright on his side of the world…"
Nico watched as an unreadable expression shadowed Will's face for a moment. There was resentment, but at the same time, worry. Nico wondered if he should say something. "Then I'll come back and check on you with lunch," said Will, looking at Nico, cheeriness overtaking his manner once again, "That sound good?"
"Solace," said Nico, after a moment of silence. There was a smirk on his face. "You like the sound of your own voice too much, don't you?" Nico had decided that there was a more appropriate time to ask the deeper questions. Nico's expression softened. The smirk was replaced with a genuine smile. "Yeah, sure," he said, as his voice grew distant. "That sounds good."
Will nodded, silently, then turned his back to leave. Seeing Will's back jolted Nico out of his thoughts. He reached out tentatively with his hand, but stopped, and pulled it back before he could touch Will. "Hey Will," he said, softly.
Will stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Nico. Much to his surprise, Nico was looking elsewhere. Nico's eyes were unfocused, or at least they were trained on a point in the distance. "Thanks," said Nico. Will's heart skipped a beat. "I believe you." Will felt a warmth spread from his chest, radiating from there throughout the rest of his body. "Thanks for trying to understand." Will's fingertips tingled with the warmth.
Will smiled. His ears turned red. He nodded silently, again. Nico saw Will's little nod, and tiny smile from the corner of his vision. His own battered heart thumped in his chest.
Will walked out the door and, just beyond the threshold, he paused for a moment. He wiped his eyes. He breathed deeply. Then he put on his best, brightest smile for the rest of the camp to see as he left the Big House to do whatever it was that needed to be done that day. No one but his closest friends, and now, Nico di Angelo, knew what truly was going on inside his head.
Nico was so engrossed in his own thoughts, as chaotic as they were, that he did not notice that Will had returned to the infirmary. "How are you feeling?" the voice of the healer startled Nico so much that he would have fallen off the edge of his bed if Will had not been quick enough to react.
Will's hand darted out and gripped his shoulder firmly. Nico found the touch surprisingly gentle and warm, but it still made him somewhat uncomfortable. He grunted and removed the hand from his person with a shrug of his shoulders. He mumbled something about being able to stop himself from falling and not being a helpless child, but Will only shook his head.
"I take it you're feeling at least a little better?" said Will, with a chuckle in his voice. The crossed expression on Nico's face softened, and he nodded in agreement. "Okay, that's great," said Will, beaming at the boy in the bed. Nico couldn't help but blush. Will's cheeriness was infectious, as well as irritatingly attractive.
In that moment, Nico vowed to himself that he would never, ever, admit to any living being that he found Will's smile attractive.
"Well," said Will. There was a smirk on Will's face that made Nico's heart skip a beat, but not because he found it attractive. Nico felt heat rise to his cheeks. It wasn't something that he liked to do. He still had many of the values that had been taught to him as he grew up, after all. "You know what you have to do."
Nico scowled at the growing stupid grin on Will's face. The healer laughed at his expression—the nerve!—and turned his back to give Nico some semblance of a chance to 'preserve' his dignity. Thankfully, Will had drawn the curtains around the bed and no one else had to see his pasty, scar-lined body.
"Done," said Nico. He was less than entertained by the fact that he had to strip off his shirt, but some small part of him, the part that was the un-suppressed hormonal teenager, idly wondered whether Will liked what he saw. Nico definitely did not like what he saw. He found the scars ugly. He found himself rather ugly. "You can touch me," he said, after a moment.
Nico's consent was begrudging at best. "I just don't want you to say—"
'Gods,' Nico thought. 'Gods, don't say it,' he begged, silently, when he saw the sparkle of mischief in Will's eyes. He would not admit that the phrase was beginning to grow on him, but at the same time, it was getting rather tiresome.
"Doctor's orders!" said Will. There was an aggravating grin plastered on his face. Nico found himself having to resist the urge to punch Will in the face. Will was far too pretty for his own good, thought Nico, only to immediately berate himself for thinking such a thing. It only made Nico want to punch Will even more.
"—again." Nico scowled. Earlier in the day, he had wanted to hug Will, though that was primarily because he understood the pain of feeling like you didn't belong. However, things had changed, and he was sorely tempted to slap Will instead. "You know you can't use doctor's orders," he said, in his best imitation of Will's voice, "as an excuse to boss everyone around!"
Nico's scowl deepened when Will just continued grinning at him as though that was exactly what "doctor's orders" was. Nico still hadn't quite figured out that it was specifically to boss him around, but Will decided to keep that little fact to himself.
Will shrugged and pulled up the chair from underneath the bed. Nico couldn't help but watch and marvel at how smooth and relaxed Will's movements seemed to be. Then he realized something quite tragic about them. They looked extremely practised.
"Sure, di Angelo," said Will, with a smirk that suddenly didn't seem all too convincing to Nico. "You seem to be perfectly fine with me bossing you around with doctor's orders." Nico sputtered. He blushed. Then he pursed his lips and glowered at Will. Whatever he had to say had evaporated immediately.
Will grinned. Nico scowled, both because it was infuriating to see Will's ever-present cheer, as well as the fact that it no longer looked genuine to him. Will's fingers were feather-like on his skin. Nico shivered at the touch. "It looks like you're healing really well," said Will.
Light, warm fingers that left a tingling trail of comfort across his skin traced the stitched-up wounds. Will could barely even think of having to deal with a wound like that with no proper medical attention, much less the probable terror of having to face the were-wolf king Lycaon. "It must have hurt really badly when you got it…" said Will, wistfully.
Will winced, suddenly. Will clutched his own arm. Sympathy pains were flaring in his own arm.
Nico shrugged. "Well, maybe?" he said, not entirely sure how to respond. He wanted to say that it was a stupid question, but he didn't want to be needlessly antagonistic. "I was a bit too tired to care," he said. Nico yawned. He remembered how sleepy he had been for the vast majority of the time back then.
"Shadow travelling half the globe was quite…" Nico paused. He was searching for the best word to describe it. "Draining," he said, deciding that nothing else came close enough. Will raised a fist to his mouth to stifle a yawn of his own. The expression that followed was rather cross. Nico didn't quite understand the way that Will got angry whenever he talked about how he'd pushed himself almost too far with the shadow-travelling.
Will started talking. Nico almost dreaded the words that would come next, mostly because of the stern, almost-motherly expression that was clear on Will's face. "Don't be getting any ideas about shadow travelling out of here," said Will. The look that he shot Nico was withering.
"I told you," said Will. Nico prayed to the gods that the son of Apollo wouldn't say that particular phrase again. "No more Underworld-ly stuff!" Nico wondered what he had done to deserve this. "Do—"
"Don't say it!" blurted out Nico.
"Doctor's orders!" said Will, with a cheeky grin that Nico wanted to slap off of his stupid face.
"Ugh!" said Nico, grumbling under his breath about Will's delusions of professionalism. However, the truth of the matter, was that secretly, Nico was beginning to like the phrase. The admission, though it was only in silence, and only to himself, was enough to make him hate the phrase even more.
What made it livable for Nico was the fact that it seemed to be something that Will only used on him. He had totally not been eavesdropping on Will's interactions with the other patients to find out if doctor's orders was a universally Will thing, or whether it was something that Will used only with Nico.
Nico did not want to admit it, but the fact that doctor's orders seemed, so far, to be uniquely between himself and Will, made him feel special. In an ambiguously good way. The phrase gave Nico a strange sense of kinship with Will. Well, apart from the strange bond that they had developed the moment Nico realized that Will had been telling the truth about not feeling like he belonged.
"Can I put my shirt back on?" asked Nico. He did not know what possessed him to do it, but he felt like teasing Will. "Or are you enjoying having me at your mercy too much?"
The moment the words left Nico's mouth, he started blushing. Will blushed, as well. Will gulped, audibly, then waved his hand dismissively as he tried to regain his composure. Nico had managed to get Will's voice stuck in his throat.
Nico looked abashedly away, cheeks burning with embarrassment at what he'd done. He grabbed his shirt and pulled it on, accidentally threading his arms through the head-hole thrice before finally getting the damn thing on properly.
"It was for purely medical reasons that I made you take your shirt off, di Angelo," said Will, after a few moments of stuttering and sputtering, and basically failing to make any coherent words. "Don't flatter yourself too much," he teased.
Nico only blushed even harder. "Has anyone come by to visit you?" asked Will after a brief silence. The question took Nico off-guard. Will looked at Nico and was surprised to see him looking down, with downcast eyes. "I'll take that as a no," said Will, sympathy clear in his voice. Will wanted to reach over and offer some comfort to Nico, but he knew that the touch would not be welcome.
"Yeah, no" said Nico, his voice soft. Will could barely make out the words. "I didn't even think about that," he said. Nico was dejected. He had been too occupied with Will Solace, and his conflicting emotions about the son of Apollo, that he had not even considered the absence of his half-sister and his other friends.
"I thought that maybe, at least, Hazel would come by and see me before she left." Nico's voice was impossibly softer than the first time. The sadness tugged at Will's heart. The temptation to hug Nico was almost insurmountable. "Maybe she was just so busy, that she forgot about me." Nico sighed and rolled on his side. He turned his back to Will. He didn't want the son of Apollo to see the tears that were welling in his eyes.
"Nico," said Will, in a sympathetic tone of voice. "What on earth are you talking about?" he said. "Frank, Hazel, and Reyna are still here." Will watched with a smile that grew as Nico's trembling stilled.
Nico raised a hand to his face and wiped away the tears that had fallen, despite his best efforts to stop them. There was a moment of silence before slowly, Nico rolled back over and faced Will with a raised eyebrow. Will noted that Nico's eyes were slightly red, but he said nothing about it.
Will was pretty sure that Nico would not appreciate his emotional vulnerability being pointed out. "The Romans left, yeah," he said, "Most of them, at least. Reyna and the others stayed, though." Will smiled at Nico. "I think they want to make sure you get out of here okay first."
Nico gawked at Will. He had never thought there would be someone out there that would care that much about him. He had hoped, for the longest time, but he would always be the forgotten one. "Really?" he said, his voice small and vulnerable, and incredulous all at the same time.
"Well…" Will's voice was slow and uncertain. Had Nico looked, he would have seen Will twiddling his thumbs. "I'm not really sure what they're actually staying for," he said. The look of disappointment on Nico's face was heartbreaking. "I never really talked to them… They're quite intimidating, actually. You're intimidating, too…" Will clapped a hand over his mouth as he realized what he'd said.
Nico had to laugh. The thought of Will finding him intimidating, after everything that had happened between them was ridiculous. There was also the fact that Nico, in turn, found talking to Will to be intimidating, as well. "Anyway," said Will, a blush creeping into his cheeks, "They've been hanging around the Big House when they think I haven't been watching."
Will shook his head from side to side. "I'm not sure why they're not coming in and visiting, but they're there, every day. Piper's walking by and pretending to not look into the window as we speak, actually." Nico looked in the direction that Will cocked his head, and sure enough, he saw Piper walk by.
"Percy and Jason started working on a shrine to some—" Will waved his hand in the air. Nico noted that if Will was talking in Italian, that he would look the part. "—minor goddess. Kimmer—something, I think it was." He said. "Everyone else is making sure nothing's damaged too badly and repairing whatever is."
Will shook his head from side to side in disapproval. "They should be visiting you when they have the time," said Will, "but I'm not sure why they aren't." He said, idle wonder in his voice.
Nico could think of a number of reasons why his friends weren't visiting. It was probably Annabeth's doing. He was pretty sure that Jason, had there been no one to stop him, would have barrelled into the infirmary the first chance that he got. Annabeth was intelligent. She probably knew that Nico would need his rest, and made sure that everyone stayed away so that he could recover in peace.
"I—I don't know either," said Nico. He was stammering. For some bizarre reason, that he didn't himself fully comprehend, he was feeling embarrassed that there was potentially someone that cared enough to make sure that he was recovering in the best circumstances possible.
Nico didn't want to consider the alternative: that Annabeth had figured out that he was somewhat attracted to Will. That Annabeth didn't want everyone else to visit him so that he could have time alone with the son of Apollo. The redness in Nico's cheeks only intensified. He felt as though at any moment, his face would spontaneously combust. "Maybe they don't have the time to visit. I'm sure they're busy with their own problems. I'm sure I'll see them when I get out of here."
Nico nodded to himself. Will raised an eyebrow at Nico's sudden change of attitude. If anything, it seemed, to Will that Nico was reassuring himself that his friends had not forgotten him. Will didn't think it would be appropriate to press the matter.
Instead, Will shrugged. He leaned forward in his chair. "Well," he said, "like I told you. You have friends." Will looked over Nico. His eyes wandered over the thin body of the son of Hades before meeting dark, weary eyes. "I'm glad you decided to stay," he blurted out after a moment of awkward silence.
Will quickly looked down at his hands. They were trembling again. Gods, moaned Will inwardly. Why was it always so difficult to talk openly around Nico? He was afraid of admitting his feelings. He was afraid. He could only think that his confession would scare Nico away forever.
"Well," said Nico. He hesitated. Then, he regarded Will with a level gaze. The skeletal butterflies in his stomach came back. They had started fluttering around the moment that Will had said he was glad Nico had stayed. Nico was pretty sure that his face was red. "I realized that there are people worth staying for."
Nico paused. "You were right," he said with a sigh. He looked pointedly at Will, as though to say 'pay attention to what I'm going to say next.' Nico shook his head inwardly. The idea of him giving advice to Will was ludicrous. "I also realized that belonging doesn't mean fitting in."
Nico smiled. It was small, but it was a smile all the same. The way that the corners of his lips turned up made Will's heart flutter. "I should have learned that long ago," he said, "but I was too busy dwelling on my pain to make any sense of it."
Nico looked Will in the eye. "I'll never fit in," he said, with a conviction fitting of only someone that was completely convinced of what he was about to say, "I'm a son of Hades, after all."
Nico laughed. "But then again…" he said, with a smile, "Then again fitting in was never really a Nico di Angelo kind of thing.
Perhaps, as a demigod, hoping for a moment's peace was too much. Nico had been wishing that the rest of his stay in the infirmary would be more or less smooth and restful. He should have known better than to tempt the Fates.
The very next day, Nico woke up clawing at his neck for air. His dreams had plunged him right back into the depths of Tartarus. Only, this time, Tartarus himself was not drawing him in. In the dream, Nico had gone to Tartarus willingly. He couldn't remember, for the life of him, why he had done such a stupid thing. Gods knew why he did it. He certainly didn't. Not in that dream.
Tartarus, or at least the dream-Tartarus was like the fields of punishment, only infinitely worse. The torment that he had endured in the dream had been unending. It had felt like an eternity, the time he spent in Tartarus while he had been asleep.
Monsters that Nico had killed, all of them led by Bryce Lawrence, who now looked like an unholy amalgamation of shade and man stitched together in a chaotic, haphazard way that only a mad seamstress could do.
In the beginning, Nico's friends had been with him. The Seven had been there. Hazel. Percy. Jason. Piper. Frank. Leo. Annabeth. His sister. Then, in a twist that had shocked him, Will was there, too. As he lay there, eyes frantically darting around the room, trying desperately to breathe normally, the reason for his visit to Tartarus returned to him. His friends had been captured.
The most difficult part of the dream to remember, for him, was the time that all of the others had been dragged away. The girls had gone first, kicking and screaming, and struggling fruitlessly against their bonds and their captors. Their screams rang into the darkness for some time, before they fell quiet.
Then Leo was taken, silent, but with eyes bulging with fear. Frank went next. His head was bowed in submission. Hazel was gone already. Her screams long dead in the darkness of the Pit. Frank saw no reason to fight anymore.
Percy was dragged away. He was kicking his captor, trying to get some purchase to get away and save them all. He never got the chance. In the distance, far away from what they could see, Nico, Will, and Jason only heard Percy's shouts, then his screams, then his broken pleas for it to stop, then his inconsolable sobbing.
When Percy finally went quiet, they came for Jason. Nico had managed to get his throat open enough to breathe, but as soon as he thought about what had been done to Jason in front of him, his lungs refused to work. He gasped fro breath and desperately drove the thought of Jason's fate out of his head.
After a while, when Jason's battered, abused, and violated body had been dragged away to gods know what, only Nico and Will were left in the enveloping darkness.
Nico remembered that Will had looked absolutely terrified. He could not find it in himself to fault the dream-Will for feeling that way. He had felt the exact same way, but, through some bizarre twist of fate, he had managed to find the strength to keep himself brave enough for the both of them. For some time, at least.
Nico remembered facing Bryce Lawrence defiantly, with all his fire and gusto, up until the point that the son of Orcus revealed that Tartarus had granted him special powers. All the fight had melted from Nico when using those same powers, Bryce did to him what he had done to the Roman.
Nico felt the utter anguish of being turned into a shade, the pain of being stripped of his identity and being made into a faceless ghost. He had thought it would be his end, but Tartarus had not wanted to let go of his little plaything just yet. The Pit regenerated him.
Returned to his body and sanity, Nico had to watch as the same was done to Will. He remembered feeling like his heart was being ripped out of his chest. Will had never come back, unlike him. The pain of that loss had been sharp. It had been unlike anything he'd ever felt before.
Nico had found it increasingly difficult to endure the dream from that point on, but he had no choice but to do so. He endured in the hope that maybe he could free himself and rescue his friends from whatever dark fate Tartarus had in store for them. The opportunity never came.
Nico died many times. Tartarus always brought him back with utter disregard for the laws of life and death. Death was, in the Pit, a reminder only of more torment to come, and never sweet relief. The last time, before Nico had woken up, his lungs had been punctured by some Pompeiian ghosts who laughed as he drowned in his own blood, and his flesh turned to ashes.
It had been enough for his mind and body. He had woken up soon after.
It took a while, but eventually, Nico managed to calm down. His breathing returned to normal. He blinked the sleep and panic from his eyes, but the scene that greeted him was so strange that he thought, for a moment, that he was still dreaming.
Will stood at the foot of his bed. The son of Apollo's eyes were wild and they darted around the room. Nico flinched when he saw a skeleton rise from a rift in the floor that had not been there when he fell asleep the previous night. Will cut the damn thing down with a single, graceful stroke.
"Will…" said Nico. His voice was croaky. He felt completely drained of energy. He looked down at himself and noticed, with great alarm, that he was beginning to fade again. "Will…" he said, "What's going on?"
Will spun around where he stood and fixed Nico with bloodshot eyes. "What's going on," said Will, "is that apparently, when you fall asleep, you forget all about not using any more Underworld-ly magic!" Nico looked at Will. He knew that the words had probably been meant in jest, but they came out far more scathingly than Will had intended.
Nico winced at the anger in Will's voice.
"I havne't slept all night, because there has been a new skeleton out here every three minutes and forty-three seconds," said Will, baring his teeth as another skeleton came out of the ground right on time. "You want to know why I know that?" asked Will. "Because I've been up all night fighting them!"
Will looked unreasonably angry. Nico felt somewhat afraid of the healer's ire, but somehow, he knew that the anger wasn't directed primarily at him.
Will turned to face Nico again. His expression softened as he walked closer to the son of Hades. "You're fading on me again," said Will, brilliant blue eyes boring into Nico's own dark ones, "di Angelo…" There was a fear and concern in Will's voice that Nico couldn't quite place.
Why did Will care so much? Nico didn't understand. He didn't want to entertain the notion that maybe Will thought of him as more than a friend. Will flashed him a smirk, though Nico could still see the concern in Will's eyes. "I remember saying that such a thing wouldn't happen under my watch!" said Will.
Nico shot back a half-hearted smile. He took a deep breath. He gathered what little strength he could spare before summoning his will and powers to close the rift in the floor of the infirmary. Nico looked at the Celestial Bronze blade in Will's hands, and said, just barely able to croak the words out, "W-where did you get that sword?"
Will looked at Nico, then at the blade. He dropped the sword, kicked it under Nico's bed and ran over to Nico's side. Nico wasn't sure if it was just the weariness, or if he was hallucinating, but he could have sworn that there were tears in Will's eyes.
Nico looked down at his body, and realized that perhaps his current state of affairs was indeed something worth crying about. He was fading again. Badly. Nico threw his head back. It would have been so easy to have just given up then and there, given in to the darkness that was swirling at the edges of his consciousness, end the miserable existence that being a child of the gods had forced upon him. Yet, despite all his despair, despite all his desire to be free of his burdens, something stopped Nico.
"You're fading," said Will, nearly growling with anger, "And you ask about the fucking sword?" With uncharacteristic viciousness, Will grabbed Nico's arm. He tried, at least. His hand passed right through twice before he finally managed to get a grip on Nico.
Will's mind was a war-zone. He closed his eyes and channelled all his anger, all his fear that he might lose Nico forever to the darkness that dwelt within the other boy, into the healing light that surged from his hands. Thick tendrils of golden light erupted from Will's open palms, wriggling in the air before wrapping around Nico's prone body. Chiron, who was standing with a concerned look by the doorway had to shield his eyes from the sheer intensity of the golden light.
The brilliance had wrapped Nico in a pulsing, regenerative cocoon of golden light. It didn't last very long. It beat three times, like Will's heart in his chest, before it dissipated into golden flecks that danced into the cool morning draft like embers from a campfire.
Nico looked down at himself and was surprised to find that he was no longer on the brink of fading. He still felt somewhat detached. He still felt absolutely exhausted. At the very least, he no longer felt as though he would disappear into the shadows at the slightest provocation.
Will looked at Nico and smiled briefly at his handiwork before the strength left his legs and he sagged against the bed. Will was barely able to keep himself upright, but fortunately, he managed to catch himself on the nearby chair. He pulled himself into the seat with great difficulty. "Oh, by the way, just in case you wanted to know," said Will, voice burdened with fatigue, "It started right after you fell asleep. Andrew was still in here. I had him get the sword and evacuate the other patients."
Nico looked at Will. He was barely able to manage turning his head in the direction of the son of Apollo. "You fought them all alone?" asked Nico, incredulous but weak.
"Yeah," managed Will, after catching his breath. "Hard to believe, huh?" he said. Nico shook his head slowly from side to side. He was, actually, more surprised that Will had not instead decided to call for more capable help.
"Well," admitted Will, "Percy and Jason actually came." Nico couldn't help but smile at the thought. It was still strange, having someone genuinely worried about him, but he found it heartwarming that the two boys would come to his aid. "I threw them out," said Will, matter-of-factly.
Nico gawked at the son of Apollo. "You are my patient and my responsibility," said Will, smirking at the look of disbelief on Nico's face. A faint blush crept into the son of Hades' cheeks. "Besides," said Will, "It's not like I was overrun or anything."
Nico felt butterflies fluttering in his stomach once again. A thousand skeletal butterflies, beating their wings all at once. Never before had Nico wanted to tear out his own guts more than he did at that moment.
Even so, Nico couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. He looked around, no longer frantic, and realized that it was probably already the middle of the day. "Not really hard to believe," said Nico, with sincerity. He wanted to help Will's self-esteem, after all. "Admirable, actually," he admitted.
"Stupid, too," said Nico, managing a weak smirk, "but that's to be expected."
Will frowned at Nico and feigned offence. "Hey!" he said, pouting, before grinning broadly at Nico. Chiron's face brightened considerably, seeing the look on Nico's face. He turned away to give the two demigods a chance to talk in private.
There was a long moment of silence. "Three days are up, Solace. I'm leaving…" said Nico after a while. The words hung in the air before Nico realized that he should probably clarify what he meant. The horror-stricken look on Will's face said it all. "The infirmary," he said, sheepishly, "not the camp."
A look of relief washed over Will's face before his expression turned stern. "You are doing—" Will stifled a yawn. "—no such thing, di Angelo," he said. "You were fading just a few minutes ago and now you want me to release you from the infirmary?"
Nico looked at Will as though the answer to that question was the most obvious thing in the world. Will scowled at him.
"I promised three days," managed Nico, slipping as much defiance as he could into his voice, "And three days are up." Nico tried to rationalize his insistence on the fact that when he had a nightmare like that again—it wasn't even a question of if he would—he didn't want to risk anyone else's life.
At least, Nico told himself, in the Hades cabin, he would be alone. "I'm going," said Nico, his voice firm, "You can't stop me." Nico looked down at Will, whose eyes were beginning to droop shut. "I don't think you're in any state to do that anyway," he said.
Will pitched dangerously forward. He caught himself just in time, before his face smacked into the side of the bed. "You're not going…" said Will. He stifled another big yawn. "Doctor's orders…" he said. Nico frowned. "And you couldn't even stand up if you wanted to, so you're not going anywhere until I let you…"
"I'm leaving," said Nico, defiantly, "That's that." Will shrugged. Nico tried to push himself off the bed, but quickly discovered that he really couldn't do so much as move a muscle properly, much less get the leverage he needed to get off the bed.
Nico grunted and tossed back his head. Great. Just… great. He looked across the bed at Will, half-expecting a sarcastic remark, or even an 'I told you so.' Instead, it never came. Will seemed to have dozed off. His head was lying on top of his arms folded on the side of the bed.
Nico jumped, startled, when Will sputtered awake. Nico mused that Will just never gave up. "And when I do discharge you," said Will, half-asleep, and already falling back into slumber, "I'm going to stay with you at your cabin for further monitoring in case things get bad again. No ifs or buts about it…"
Nico frowned, but he more dreaded what was coming next, because it seemed as though he was powerless against those two particular words. "Doctor's orders." Nico rolled his eyes, but knew that he had no choice in the matter.
It only dawned on Nico that Will was more asleep than awake when the healer suddenly thought out loud. "You've been taking care of yourself and others for so long…" drawled Will through lidded eyes, "Let me take care of you this time."
Those words sent fire surging through Nico's veins, and made his face feel as though it would spontaneously combust. His heart skipped a beat like it had done so many times already in the space of three days. Nico had to wonder if this whole Will Solace thing would cause him permanent cardiac damage.
In the moment before Nico drifted off, when the barriers around his mind fell away, he mused to himself that he wouldn't mind permanent cardiac damage if he had a doctor like Will around. In the moment after, when the shock of that thought brought him back to full wakefulness, Nico berated himself.
Nico could only remain awake for so long. The weariness finally caught up to him. Nico slipped into the land of dreams, and, for the second time since coming to the infirmary, under the watchful eye of Will Solace, Nico di Angelo found a sleep that was undisturbed by dreams of Tartarus.
A/N: So. There we go. The conclusion of Three Days in Darkness. I hope you liked it. And I hope it ended on a hopeful enough note for you folks that are more optimistic than I am.
Needless to say, the series only goes deeper and deeper into the angst territory from here on out. If you want to stop here and dwell only on the happy future that Nico and Will might have, then you're free to do so. If, however, you are a masochist and want to see the rest of the story that I have crafted play out, then you'll have to follow me as an author and watch out for the thrilling sequel to Three Days in Darkness, entitled No Mercy for the Storm.
As always, I would love it if you could leave a favourite, or leave a review! It's the best way to get an author motivated, and as I was talking about earlier, I was having motivational problems with writing the series. So, there we go. Also. Drop by my tumblr at .com and leave me questions if you'd like to know anything about me. I'd love to answer them, and I will do so as truthfully as I can. 3.