Nico had been a soldier, had seen death and war and destruction, but could barely talk to a blond haired boy whenever he saw him. School, work parties, even at dinner one time. The most he could say was a greeting, and then at the end of dinner maybe a farewell. Will made him nervous, creating butterflies in the veteran's stomach.

Soulmates really were an odd thing.

He only had one other conversation with Will, and that was the week before Nico died for the second time. The dinner had been quiet besides the chatter from the adults, and Nico finally found it in himself to turn to the boy beside him. "Hey, Will, um...have you ever heard of soulmates?"

Will played with his fork as he turned to look at Nico. "Yeah. People don't mention them a lot nowadays. I think they give up on it."

"That's stupid," Nico replied bluntly. "I mean...it'd be pretty cool to know someone was your soulmate, if they liked you back."

"I guess so." Will shrugged. "But I'm mostly focused on my medical career right now, so my soulmate will have to wait some years."

"You're looking to be a doctor?" Nico asked. "Military?"

Will's blue eyes sparkled. "How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." Nico gave him a sad smile. "Good luck over there. I know it's...I've heard it's pretty hard."

"It'll be worth it." Will agreed. "I've always wanted to save people's lives. Now I'll get a chance."

Nico smiled, trying to hide the sadness that had crept up through him. "Good luck, Will. Good luck."

The next day Nico and his parents traveled to Kentucky to visit family. Never had he expected it, but he was once again thrown into history. The days that would be known as the 1974 Super Outbreak, the tornados that raged across 13 states. Destroying homes, destroying families, destroying Nico.

He wanted to see the tornado, yes, but he also wanted to go back to the Facility. He needed to know why Will couldn't remember, needed to try and meet him there. He wanted another life with Will, a life when they could be together.

He let the tornado take him that day but he'd never admit it.

Nico opened his eyes to find Percy's green eyes staring at him, a grin plastered on the older soul's face. "Hello, soldier. How'd your next life treat you? You're back pretty early."

"I could say the same for you." Nico sat up and looked around him, relaxing at the familiar metal room. "Nothing seems to have changed."

"Unfortunately." Percy sat next to him. "So...did you find Will?"

Nico nodded, staring at his arms where scars once stood. Now, they were nothing more but pale, lifeless limbs. "He didn't remember. He didn't remember anything."

"Oh..." Percy's eyes darkened. "I'm sorry, Nico."

"What does that mean?" Nico clenched his fists, tried to draw blood with his fingernails. "Why didn't he remember? What kind of experiment is that?"

"The worst of them all." Percy grimaced. "I've seen it happen once before. The boy remembered, the girl didn't. He killed himself every life when he turned 16. She lived every life to her fullest. They've still have never met."

Nico's face darkened. "No, no. I'm not doing that. I'm not going through every life like that. I refuse to."

"You don't really have a choice," Percy admitted. "I'm sorry, Nico. I'm really sorry. If you know any way to help you, I will. But I can't think of anything, or I would have already helped that boy."

"I'm not doing this!" Nico was suddenly on his feet, his face red as he looked around the room. "Where are those Scrubs?! I'll beat the shit out of them! Just wait until they get a taste of their own medicine!"

"Nico!" Percy grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Snap out of it! They're immortal, remember? I don't even think they're human anymore. You can't hurt them."

"Somebody has to!" Nico argued. "Or they'll keep doing this, keep sentencing people to their own form of Hell for no good reason! I'd rather be in official Hell!"

"But you aren't." Percy remained calm, kept Nico rooted in place. "You're here and you're stuck like this. The best you can do is try to get with Will in every life that you have. Act normal, become friends, become boyfriends. That's all you can do."

"That's the point," Nico replied miserably. "That's all I can do. You and Annabeth can meet up as soon as you want and live another wonderful life together. But I can't. I'm stuck watching Will forever, wondering if he'll ever love me back. But he won't. You can't love someone you don't know."

Percy shook his head. "Nico, remember the first time you died? Remember what you told me?"

Nico nodded. "I died in his arms. I had just met him, Percy. I didn't get a life with him."

"That's right, you had just met him." Percy stared into Nico's eyes. "But you said yourself that you had already fallen in love with him. Look at you. You love him and you don't know him. He can love you, too."

"The first time we met, soulmate instincts kicked in." Nico reasoned. "Why didn't they kick in in this past life?"

Percy smiled. "Soulmates are a weird thing. I think that only happens when you meet for the first time. Technically, you and Will have already met. He already loves you, deep down. You just have to drag it out of him."

Nico watched Percy before nodding. "Yeah, yeah. Okay. Fine, you've got me. I was wrong, you were right, blah blah. But tell me, if life is so amazing with Annabeth, then why do you keep ending up here? If you're here now, you died as young as me."

Percy ran a hand through his hair. "Just because you're with your soulmate doesn't mean life is flawless. Sometimes we starve to death, sometimes we get in a plane crash. Sometimes we get sick. It just depends."

"What about the time I first died?" Nico asked. "You seemed hesitant to tell me."

"That's because I didn't know how." Percy crossed his arms. "Nico...me and Annabeth...we killed ourselves that time. Okay? We killed ourselves. You weren't the only one affected by World War Two. She was a battlefield nurse and I was a soldier. We were both kidnapped and...and it was horrible. We knew we had the Facility waiting for us. So we ended it."

Nico thought back to the war, memories flooding him that started to make him feel nauseous. "You were tortured?" He looked into those green eyes, remembered where he had seen them before. A distant memory, a memory he had blocked out. "By the Italian army, right?"

Percy nodded. "You were one of the generals. Yeah, I remember you, di Angelo. I couldn't believe the first time I saw you here."

Nico looked down at his shoes, suddenly unable to meet Percy's eyes. "I'm...I don't even know how to apologize..."

"It's okay." Percy hugged Nico, making the younger boy stiffen before finally relaxing. "I forgive you. It was war. It's not like you decided to just take me out of my backyard and to a secret lair or something."

Nico laughed. "A secret lair? How original."

Percy chuckled softly as the door opened. "Look at that, breakfast. Ready for some slop?"

Nico broke the hug. "As ready as ever."