A/N I will put a few planks under your metaphorical feet in this chapter, but you will still be liable to fall of the cliff at any moment!
But anyway, this is me writing a mildly depressing chapter.
Will's throat seemed to dry out. He could not scream, nor cry for help. Al he could do was stare at the boy in his arms as he fought for breath, an arrow buried in his lower chest.
Nico had saved his life.
And Nico was dying because of it.
People were moving around, tying up Darla and her followers, but he barely noticed them, intent as he was on Nico's pale face. Something wet splashed into the boy's hair, and he realised that tears were pouring down his face.
"Why did you do that?" He asked, brokenly. "You little fool. Why did you-?" His tears checked him.
"Had to-" Nico wheezed, then fell silent.
Someone was pulling on his sleeves. Two someones. Isla and Arla pointed towards the white building in the distance, and his brain jolted back to life. The infirmary.
Gathering the dying boy, bridal style, in his arms, he stood up and began to run.
XxX
His vision still blurred, Will paced around the sterile white room.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The arrow that had, half an hour before, been sunk into Nico's lung was the only thing on the table nearby. Its tip and a third of the shaft were encrusted in dried blood.
Five paces left. Turn. Five paces right.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A row of surgical blades lined the sink; some gleaming, some tainted with more blood. They sparkled in the fluorescent light cast from above.
Five paces. Turn. Five paces.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A glass on the sideboard was full to the brim of a translucent, golden liquid. A green straw and umbrella adorned the rim, and a few cubes of ice floated in it.
Pace. Pace. Pace.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
The boy lying on the bed was pale and gaunt. His chest rose and fell so faintly, at a glance it seemed not to move at all. A bandage wrapped around his torso, and an IV cord connected him to a bag of the same golden liquid. His dark hair fell limply over closed eyes.
Five left. Turn. Five right.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Sigh.
Will stopped pacing with difficulty and sat on the bed beside the prone form.
"Wake up, Nico." His cheeks had dried whilst he worked on the boy's wound, but now they were damp once more. "You saved my life. Wake up, Death Boy."
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"Please, wake up, please."
Nico did not move. His mouth stayed closed, his fingers stayed limp.
In a sudden burst of rage, Will surged up from beside him and lunged at the arrow that had caused this pain.
It made a sharp retort as it snapped in two.
No reaction from the boy on the bed.
He flung the pieces into a corner and resumed pacing.
Wake up, Nico. Wake up, Nico.
It became a mantra to him. With every step he took, he repeated it over again, until he almost believed that Nico would sit up at the end of his pacing.
He did not.
"Why won't you sit up, Nico? Open your eyes and make some sarcastic comment and- and-" He broke down.
Beep. Beep. Beep, replied the heart monitor.
Will was struck with a sudden sense of deja vú; was this not exactly what Nico had done for him when he had been unconscious in that cave? Was this how Nico had felt?
If it was, Will swore that he would make it up to the other boy as soon as he woke up.
If ever, a small, traitorous part of his brain said.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
XxX
Over the next three days, Will only left Nico's side to go to the bathroom. Of what Kayla and the twins brought him, he drank little and are less. He did not sleep.
Sometimes, he spent his time talking to the comatose boy; begging him to awaken, babbling aimlessly about trivial things.
At others, he strode angrily up and down the tiny room, swearing under his breath and growling at the walls.
Sometimes, he simply knelt by the other and wept.
The worst times, however, were when he would sit, motionless, staring blankly at the opposite wall; unresponsive to anything his siblings tried. For hours at a time he became almost comatose himself- except for his steady blinking; the strength of his heart beat; the rhymical rush of air in and out of his lungs.
Those were the times when he allowed himself to think about what would happen if Nico did not wake up at all.
Those were the times he wondered what would happen if Nico died.
Maybe he'd die, too.
A/N Sorry about that guys! Actually, I'm not at all. Anyyyway...
If you are cursing my name right now, take heart! I have included a small (read, teensy tiny) hint in the above text.
Thanks to Silver Huntress of Artemis,,TheLittleDeformedOne, RainbowSpark18, TheLazyWhiteCat, and all the guests who reviewed that last chapter! Thanks, guys!
I will continue this tomorrow, probably...
In the meantime, (yup, you guessed it) please review me!
Skull cookies to all of you! (34 DAYS til Halloween!)
~Fi