Nico opened his eyes, he was in the infirmary, not exactly sure how he got there.

"Nico, fucking hell you scared me."

"What? Why am I-?"

"Niccolò di Angelo if you don't stop pushing yourself to your limits you will be dead in a week! Do you know how fucking close you were to dying? I shoved so much necter down your throat another drop would have killed you. Nico, please, I can't fucking lose you."

"I'm fucking fine, I've done worse before, I'm used to being pushed, just- leave me be." Nico said getting up,

"Where do you think you're going Death Boy?"

"To my cabin?"

"After the act you just pulled? No fucking chance, three days in the infirmary."

"Fuck off I'm fine."

"No, no you really are not."

"Leave me the fuck alone." Nico said pushing past the blonde boy, running back to his cabin, locking the door despite the Apollo boy's protests.

Nico just cried, he hated that he could, it made him weak but he couldn't stop himself. He pulled out his pocket knife, looking at the raw skin. He dragged the blade across, letting the red liquid drip onto the floor. He'd fucked up again, why the fuck couldn't he have a normal conversation with Will? He'd forced past the curse, letting him lie for a few moments in the infirmary, he wasn't okay, he knew he wasn't. You can always push past it, breaks are admitting your weakness. He thought to himself, letting the blade cut through his skin again, if he we're stronger he wouldn't have this fucking problem. He thought back to the boy, he was dead, he felt it. He didn't regret one second of it, was he meant to? Maybe, but no one fucking hurts Hazel. Fuck, he should have been there, he shouldn't have let it fucking happen. He knew what it was like, getting drunk, getting fucked and hurt by a stranger, why the fuck wasn't he there to protect her. Again, let it fall to the floor, staining it with it's bright colour. Fucking shit, if... if he killed himself, he wouldn't be able to protect Hazel. He couldn't leave her alone, those first two years after Bea died were hell, he wasn't going to make Hazel go through anything close to that, especially not in the weeks after a war. More tears fell from his eyes, he needed to stop but he couldn't, he couldn't fucking ask for help.

He needed to try, the Ghost king shaked as he walked towards cabin 1, lifting his hand to knock, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't fucking admit it, was too much. He walked back to his cabin, sweating, shaking, in tears. He took out a back of cigarettes, breathing in the nicotine, letting the smoke fill his lungs. He had to try again, he knew he wouldn't live if he didn't, he wished he could die, but he couldn't leave Hazel alone, she didn't deserve to suffer. A small part of his brain wondered... she had Frank, Reyna and that other girl, what was her name? Lavinia? But he knew he needed to at least try, if only for his younger sister. Tears streamed down his face as he forced himself to walk to the Posidon cabin, he wasn't sure why but he felt like Percy would be easier to talk to. His hand shaked as he knocked on the door, he wanted to run away but he didn't let himself, he couldn't be weak. Percy opened the door, instantly pulling Nico inside. The Ghost king sat on the bed and in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper, though tear spoke."..H.. Help me... please, I-I can't let- Hazel... be alone."

"You'll be okay, I'll help you." He pulled the sobbing boy into a hug,

"I'm not even worth fucking helping."

"Nico, I know you've gone through a lot, but you can't give up on life. Everyone's worth saving."

"I'm a suicidal faggot who can't have half a normal conversation with living people and everyone hates me because my dad is the king of the Underworld."

"Shh.. I know it's been hard, I know everything seems to be against you, but things will get better."

"I'm a fucking freak, the only reason I'm not dead yet is because I didn't want to leave Hazel alone but who fucking knows, maybe she'd be better off without a brother that killed two people. I want to give up."

"I wanted to as well."

"What..?" Percy turned his arm around, revealing pale scars streaking up and down his arms. "But... Why? When?"

"Well..., a lot of them were from before I found out I was a demigod."

"Doesn't that mean you were..."

"Eleven? Yes, my step dad, he was a nightmare."

{Percy's memory's}

"Can't wait till the fall, you'll get out from under my roof again."

"You're not even employed, how is this your roof? And I got back yesterday, leave me alone."

"Now litsen here you son of a bitch, the only place you will ever get in that fucking life of your is jail. You can't even fucking spell, your grades are worse than a first grader that's how fucking retarded you are. Go fetch me a beer, that's the only thing you're good for anyways, your slut of a mother isn't around all day to get it for me."

"DON'T SAY A WORD ABOUT MY MOM!"

"Oh, you want to be a little bitch? I'll see how strong you are in three fucking minutes." I ran into to my room, desperately trying to lock the broken door. He walked inside, snapping the belt.

"Now you're going to learn to respect me you bitch." I didn't reply, I knew that would only make things worse than they already are. The leather hit my back, I didn't flich, I wanted to scream from the pain but I wouldn't let him break me. Again, I knew the routine. Punches, kicks, yelling, I had it memorised, same as every summer before, same as every day. He kicked me to the side of my room, locking it from the outside with a padlock.I wouldn't cry, I can't give him the satisfaction. My whole body burned, I look at the scars left by the studded leather belt, I wanted to add more. Who would care anyways? I had no friends, mom might have cared but she's barely around with how much she's working, Gabe would be happy if I were gone. I glace over at my arm where there were pale, jagged lines from last summer, some were my own work, some were from the empty, broken bottles he'd thrown at me. It's not like school was any better, they just kept it all hidden, they don't even fucking care, they just do it to make you think they do. They care just as much as every other school that kicked me out, they'd be happy it's one less person to be responsible for. I grab a knife I had hidden in the back of a drawer, I pull it across my wrist, letting the stinging pain take over me. Again, I wanted to feel the pain, again, I could fucking help it. Mom would be disappointed, but I can't keep fucking living like this. I hate my self, I hate my school and I just hate my fucking life. I hear the rattle of the lock, fuck, I needed to cover this up. It has to be mom, Gabe wouldn't let me out so quickly.

"Percy I'm home; for God's sake Gabriel you are not allowed to lock my son in his room! Remember I'm the one paying for th-... I'll talk to you later."

"S-sorry." I didn't know what to do, but for once, I let myself cry, for the first time since boarding school, first time since Gabe, first time since my life started going to shit.

Oh if only I knew what life going to shit was back then, Percy thought to himself. "Well... there were other reasons, I was bullied pretty badly for years and I didn't have any friends before meeting Grover."

"You were eleven, and wanted to die?"

"It seemed easier than living at the time, but please trust me, it's worth living, things will start to look up."

"How- how did you stop?"

"My mom helped a lot, but I did have to go to therapy for a year after that."

"Did you ever do it after that?"

"Yeah, I only stopped because I knew my friends would die if I couldn't save them."

"But... why did you do it? Your life.. it was far from perfect, sure, but you're the Percy Jackson, most powerful demigod at camp half-blood, you're..."

"I thought I killed Annabeth."

"Was... that when I was there? With Bianca?"

"Yeah..., Nico the point of this, it doesn't make you any weaker, I know your life's been hard, but you'll always be worth saving. You might think that no one cares, but people care, and people will notice when you're gone, think of every life you've touched."

"Tell me about Luke."

"What?"

"Luke Castellan, tell me about him."

"He was a hero, taken advantage of by a titan yet people say he was evil because he didn't like he deadbeat dad. He was right about the fact-"

"-Before that. When you first met him, you loved him... didn't you? Tell me about the time before the prophecy."

"He- he was amazing, most talented swordsman I ever knew, incredible teacher, kind of every at camp, and he was one of the first people, ever who didn't give me shit from the day we met and yes I-I loved him. That's why I could never blame him for anything he did, not a second of it."

"Did he know?"

"I barely knew myself, but I think he did."

"Thank you for telling me, and... saying you would... help."

"Nico, course I would, you're like my brother." He pulled the younger boy into a hug, he heard him whisper something in italien before walking off. It sounded sort of sad, but Percy couldn't even remotely guess what the words meant.

Will Solace paced around his office in the infirmary, he couldn't stop, his mind running at more miles an hour than he could count. So many thought taking over his mind, the lives he couldn't save, the siblings he didn't have enough hours a day in to spend enough time with, Nico di Angelo, life in two year, after camp, the goddamn letter that had appeared. He didn't want to believe it, maybe he wasn't meant to be happy but he felt a mix of confusion and anger. His mum had sent him a letter. After seven years without a word, she sent him a letter. She had thrown him at his aunts house when he was nine, that place was hell, a year later he ran away finding Camp Half-Blood. He'd tried calling, never a fucking answer, he poured his heart out to her in letters only to never get a response. Now a single fucking letter,

Hello William,

Meet me at 48 Maiden Rd. in one week exactly.

We can talk there,

-your mother, Naomi Solace

Not even a, 'How's the more than half a decade of your life I missed out on?' A tear fell from his eyes, he was going to go, not because she deserved it but because she needed to know he wasn't going to let her just walk out of his life and get away with it. He wanted to break something, to wreck the place, but he couldn't. Kay and Aussi couldn't know anything was up, he was fine anyway, just shocked that's all. He had more important things to worry about, his mother couldn't take up any thoughts for at least the next five days. He was worried about Nico, he'd pushed himself so far, the son of Apollo wanted to keep him in the infirmary for a month, just to make sure he didn't die. He was head of cabin, he could have done that, but he knew it was unreasonable. He was only allowed to keep them here for a week unless there was something in their daily lives that made it worse, or they were a danger to themselves. Even then, for the second one, consent was needed from both 'parents' (One mortal, the other anyone who cared enough to take that role. Never a godly one, they wouldn't care enough.) and on most occasions the person who would be experiencing it. Sometimes people came willingly, so parents wouldn't care and well sometimes the demigod wouldn't know until the day of. Will knew if anyone found out about what he spent half his nights doing he would be forced to do that, that would mean leaving Kayla and Austin in charge, which he would never let happen. He had to keep working, no one could ever find out.