"Nico, Nico!" Will looks up from the desk as Sohee bounces towards the door. Nico chuckles softly as he pushes the door to the cabin open, the golden hue of it glittering in the late afternoon sun.

"Hey there, Sohee. Have you gotten taller?" Nico says, and Sohee nods her head, the ribbons in her hair bouncing with the movement.

"Just a bit! But I have a long way to go to be as tall as Will!" She exclaims, and Will makes eye contact with Nico, and his boyfriend stifles a laugh. There's no way that Sohee, a 10 year old Korean girl, is ever gonna be as tall as he is. He hasn't been measured in a hot minute, but Will's pretty sure he's reached six foot at this point.

"You'll catch up to me first, Sohee." Nico says, patting her on the head. The younger girl nods, her hair flying.

"Anyways! Nico, I wanted to show you something that me and Gracie were working on before she left for school! I finally finished it, so you can see it now!" She tugs on Nico's hand and he lets Sohee pull him towards the weapon wall.

"Why are you leading me over he– oh." Nico stops in his tracks. Will stands up, moving behind his boyfriend to rest his chin on Nico's shoulder, one arm wrapping around his waist.

"Yeah, the girls started designing it once we started dating. It's a big deal." Will says softly, and Nico nods, eyes still focused on the wall.

Every Apollo cabin kid has their own space on the wall, with their name engraved into a golden plate with a hook below it for their weapon (or weapons in Anteros's case) of choice. Hanging right next to Will's name, in elegant Sohee script, is Nico's name. Only his plate is gleaming black in the sunlight streaming through the cabin's windows. There's a little star engraved next to his name, and the I in his first name has a heart instead of a dot.

"I—" Nico stammers, but he falls quiet after a minute, and Will can feel his shoulders shaking. "Thank you, Sohee." He says softly, and Will can hear the tremble in his voice. He lets go of Nico, and as soon as he does, Sohee all but runs into Nico, wrapping her arms around his middle, burying her face in his chest.

"You make me happy, and you make Will happy, so I wanted to make you happy. And you're here so much, you should have your own place. You're like family anyway, since you're dating Will." She says, the sound of her voice muffled by Nico's shirt. "And family deserves to be on the wall with the rest of us."

Nico wraps his arms around Sohee, resting his cheek on the top of her head. Will sees his eyes close, and Nico takes a deep breath.

"You make me happy too, Sohee. Promise." Nico says softly, and Sohee nods. She squeezes Nico around the middle once before pulling back, rubbing at her eyes. Nico smiles, brushing a few stray tears out of her eyes. He pulls back then, unhooking his sword from his hip, reaching up to hang it next to Will's dagger, the black sheath gleaming.

"It looks so pretty next to Will's dagger." Sohee says softly, touching her bow hanging under her name.

"It really does." Nico hums, and Will sees his eyes focus on the two bows hanging under Kayla's name.

"I never asked…" Nico starts, but he stops, trailing his words off just a bit. Will sighs, moving forward to touch the second of the two bows.

"This one belonged to Michael. He was the head counselor after Lee, during the Battle of Manhattan." NIco frowns, a crease forming between his brows. Will can tell he's wracking his brain for memories.

"He was shorter. Asian? Brown hair?" He asks and Will nods.

"Yeah, that's Michael. Anyway, he… he died during the Battle when the bridge was destroyed. All we ever found was his bow, and Kayla decided to keep it. She uses it more than the one she helped make in her first summer here." Nico nods, staring at the golden bow, the small initials engraved on the side. M.Y.

"There's lots of relics of your siblings here, aren't there?" Nico asks quietly, and Will nods.

"You see the ribbons on Austin's saxophone case over there?" Will points to the side of the room, and Nico turns his head to follow the motion. Tied onto the black case are two ribbons, one pink and one purple, the ends tattered and hanging down near the floor.

"Those were—"

"Penelope and Phoebe." Nico says, interrupting Will. Will hums, nodding.

"He kept them after the war. Didn't want to forget them, so he keeps them close to what he loves the most in this world." Nico twists his ring around his finger, and Will can see him thinking.

"Will, I'm gonna go over to the Hebe cabin." Sohee says softly, tugging on Will's camp shirt. "Dylan wanted to make friendship bracelets with me and Sydney." Will smiles, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of her head.

"Alright, sunbaby. Have fun, 'kay? Come back before dinner, or run over here and tell me that you're headin' over with Sydney, Dylan and Paolo, yeah?" Sohee nods, and she grabs a small backpack before practically running out of the cabin.

"I told you before this was Bianca's, yes?" Nico says after he watches Sohee bounce out of the cabin, and Will turns to face his boyfriend, who is looking back at the ribbons, still twisting the ring around his finger.

"You mentioned it once, but you seemed real reluctant to talk about it. You don't have to if you don't want to, Neeks." Will says, and Nico nods.

"It's still… it's really hard for me to talk about her, but I'm glad that you understand that and don't push me to talk about her." Nico says quietly, his dark eyes still focused on the ribbons on Austin's case. "And that you understand losing a sibling, more than probably just about anyone here. I feel like once the time comes, I will be able to tell you about her, and everything that came after." Will hums, pulling Nico back into a hug, resting his chin on Nico's shoulder.

"You know that I'm always gon' listen to you, Neeks. Even if you cry, or get upset or mad. I'll be the last person to judge you for your emotions 'bout your sister." He says quietly, and he feels Nico's cool hands against his back, even through the thick fabric of his flannel.

"Yeah, I know that. I'm just still getting used to…"

"Talking about it. I know." Will pulls back, and he cups Nico's face in his hands. He stares at him for a long second, choosing his words. "You know… Mr. D helped Chris out a lot when—"

"I don't need a therapist, Will." Nico says, his eyes hardening. Will sighs, and Nico steps back out of his reach. "I'm serious. I'm fine."

"But it could really help to—"

"I'm not talking to a god about my problems, Will. I'm grown enough that I can deal with it on my own." Nico says, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Tell that to your nightmares." Will spits out, and he feels awful before the words are even out of his mouth.

"I didn't tell you about those so that you could hold it over my head." Nico hisses, and Will runs a hand through his hair, the messy blonde curls tangling around his fingers.

"Neeks, I didn't mean to—"

"Of course you didn't. You never mean to, and yet you do. I don't need you to diagnose me, I'm FINE." Nico says, and he heaves a big sigh. "Stop trying to FIX me, Solace. I'm not broken, I'm not a pet project."

"Stop acting like that's what you are to me." Will says, his voice a little bit louder. "Stop projecting what you think onto me, that's not how I feel about you at all, Nico."

"Then stop acting like you can fix me." Nico says back, and Will's eyes narrow, but before he can retort back, the door to the cabin opens, and Austin pokes his head in.

"Are you two done arguing so I can get my saxophone?" He asks, and Will sighs, waving his brother in. Austin steps in, crossing across the room to grab his case while avoiding looking Nico in the eye. He picks it up and makes eye contact with Nico, his eyes widening before he all but scuttles out of the cabin.

Nico sighs. "And Austin's still scared of me." Will snorts, and Nico wrinkles his nose, looking over at Will.

"He ain't. He just hates when we argue." Will says, and Nico frowns.

"Well, it's not like I LIKE arguing with you."

Nico just sighs, running a hand through his dark hair. "I don't like arguing with you either." Will reaches out to grab onto Nico's hand, lacing their fingers together.

"I won't make you promise nothing, but will you at least think about talkin' to Mr. D?" Nico all but rolls his eyes, and Will sighs. "I worry about you, Neeks, and this is somethin' I can't help you with. I can only help with the physical stuff…"

"Will." Nico steps a bit closer, so he's more in Will's personal space. His eyes dart from side to side and before Will can even register it, Nico lifts up, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "I'm fine. Stop worrying too much, you already worry about too many things."

Will can't help the smile that he knows is creeping up on his face. "You know, you can't just kiss me to make me stop talking, Neeks. " Nico shrugs, a small smile on his face.

"Can't hurt to try."

—

"You headin' out?" Will asks, and Kayla nods, strapping Michael's bow to her back. Will chews on the inside of his lip, watching his younger sister put on all of her golden armor. It makes his hands shake, seeing her all dressed in gold. Too many flashbacks to Manhattan, and memories of peeling golden armor off of Aria's body fill his mind. He shakes his head.

"Yeah, Connor's waiting up for me over by Hermes Cabin with Mitchell. I won't be long, I promise." She says, looking around for her arm guard. Will ruffles his hair. There's still a piece of him begging her not to go, but he shoves it down, down, down to the deepest pits of Tartarus in his chest. Conceal. You're fine. It's just a supply run. Nothing bad is gonna happen, not with Connor and Mitchell going with her.

"Kayla." Another voice approaches them, and Will turns his head. Anteros holds out a dagger by the sheath, and Kayla blinks at him. "You don't have a dagger, sunbaby." Anteros chastises. "And if you get up close with something, your bow isn't going to help you at all. Take Vega with you." Kayla just hums, taking the dagger from Anteros and strapping it to her hip.

"I'll be fine. I don't expect any danger, it's just a routine stocking trip. We just haven't done one in ages because SOMEONE gets a little bit anxious." She glares at Will, who holds his hands up in surrender.

"I'm lettin' you go!" He shoots back, and Kayla rolls her eyes.

"Reluctantly." She mutters, and Will sighs, stepping forward to rest his hand on her armored shoulder.

"I'm tryin', Kayls." He says softly, and Kayla's blue eyes soften.

"I know you are, Will. I know how much this stresses you out, but we really need to, and with all communication being cut off…" She trails off, and Will nods. It's more important now than it ever has been to leave camp for a bit and check things out. Plus, they really are running low on some supplies.

"Be safe, sunbaby." Will says, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Don't let Connor steal anything." Kayla just barks out a laugh before stepping out of Will's embrace.

"Connor does his own shit, and you know Mitchell isn't gonna do anything about it. No promises. See ya later!" She pushes the front door open and steps out. The golden door with the sun shaped dreamcatcher swings closed behind her.

Will can't help the sense of dread that fills his body.

But he can't trust his gifts right now. All he can do is pray to a father that he doesn't know is listening.

—-

"In here, quickly!"

"Will's gonna fucking kill me, fuck."

"She's lost a lot of blood already. Connor, calm the fuck down, it's not helping."

"Will!"

Will's head snaps up as a plethora of voices overlap, and he hears his name multiple times. At the last call of his name, he all but runs out of the back office, and the sight in front of him makes his hands clench into fists.

Breathe. In. Out. Conceal. Calm down.

"What the hell happened?" He spits out, and Connor stares at him, blood splattered across his face, drops hanging off his dark brown hair.

"I don't even— I don't know." He stammers, looking a little bit dazed. Will pushes him to the side, blue eyes frantically looking over the camper writhing on the bed.

"Kayla, Kayls. Can you hear me?" He asks, reaching out for her wrist. Blood coats her camp shirt, her golden armor cracked and thrown to the floor in the haste to get it off of her body. She doesn't respond to him.

"What the hell happened? What got her?" Will says, peeling tattered pieces of fabric away from his sister's body.

"I—"

"Gryphon, it seems" Will hears another voice, and suddenly, a familiar hand, the pinky nail painted a glimmering silver, pulls another piece of fabric away, revealing a large scratch, blood pooling on the bed by Kayla's side.

"What the fuck, Anteros! You need to be more careful!" Will cries, whirling on his brother.

"It's fine, Will, calm down." Anteros says, his voice level and his blue eyes set. The silver of his hair gleams in the late afternoon sun, and he stares back at Will, red coating his fingers already. Kayla's blood. Kayla.

"How am I supposed to calm down?" Will hisses. "This is why I didn't want any of you to leave. I was right. Look at what happened."

Anteros just furrows his brows, and goes to speak, but Will turns to Connor, the older boy still spaced out in a state of shock, blood covering his skin. Kayla's blood. Kayla.

"Get out." Will snaps, and Connor looks at him, his blue eyes wide.

"Wha–"

"Get the fuck out of my infirmary. Right now." Will takes a step forward, and a warm golden glow begins to light up the room. Suddenly, there's a cool hand on his wrist, and Will looks to the side.

Nico's fingers wrap around his wrist, and Will feels the golden glow start to dissipate. Nico's dark eyes stare up at him, and Will deflates.

"Will." Anteros says, coming to stand in front of Will, his blue eyes sad. "I need you to let me do this."

"No, no Anteros, you know I can't do that, I can't—"

"And that is why I have to. I'm not gonna kick you out because it might come to a point that I really need you, but you can't work on this right now. You're about 3 seconds from running straight into the woods in full breakdown mode, and that's not healthy or helpful right now. You can sit here next to Kayla and hold her hand, you can keep Nico with you, but you're not helping anyone, and you're freaking out Connor." Will bristles at the mention of the older boy, and his hands start to glow again. Anteros gives him a pointed look, and Will sighs. "Do you trust my healing or not, Will?"

"You know I do, but—"

"Yes or no, Will?" Anteros says, his voice laced with a hint of resentment. Will stares at his brother, his younger brother. Sure, it's only months, but Will has had so much more on his shoulders.

It takes a minute for him to speak again, his voice breaking. "I can't lose her, Anteros." Anteros puts his hand on Will's shoulder, leaning in a little bit.

"I won't let her, Will. I promise." He says softly. Will hesitates before he nods, stepping back a little bit.

"Okay." He whispers, and Anteros gives him a small smile before his eyes harden, and Will knows that look.

"Alright, Connor, you do need to leave, but just to get Sohee and Austin. I need all hands on deck right now with Will resting, and they have the experience. Mitchell, you go tell Chiron about what has happened. Nico, I will need you on Will duty, got it?" Nico nods, Connor and Mitchell already practically running out of the infirmary.

Anteros brushes his hair out of his face, thinking, before he faces the rest of the campers who had helped bring Kayla in. "Cecil, you're friends with Will, yes?"

Will looks up in shock. Cecil waves at him. He hadn't even realized Cecil was in the room! Gods, he feels like an awful friend.

"Okay, well you can run whatever Will needs while I do this, yeah?" Cecil nods.

"I can grab Lou Ellen too, I think…" Cecil looks at Will, and Will can tell just how terrible he must look, blood on his hands, his cheek. "I think Will is gonna need all the people he can around him right now. Especially with Iris messages down."

Will hasn't even thought about that in days. How is he supposed to tell Melody or Yan? His hands start to shake again, and Nico slips his hand into Will's, squeezing his fingers.

"It's okay." He says quietly, and Will chooses to focus on the feeling of Nico's hand in his own, letting his thoughts shut down. "Let's get you to a seat okay?" Will nods numbly, letting Nico sit him down in a chair next to Kayla's bed. She's much too still now, blood dripping off her fingers onto the floor. Will grabs onto her hand. Oh, at least she's warm. He can feel her pulse. That's good. He focuses on just feeling her pulse, feeling the steady beat of her heart.

He times his breath to hers, lasers in on the only thing that he can do. Just breathe with her.

—

It feels like time passes the slowest when he wishes for it to speed up.

He feels Nico still hovering near him and he looks up. Nico's eyebrows are furrowed as he watches Anteros work on Kayla, his younger brother muttering something darkly under his breath. Nico seems to notice Will's eyes on him, since he moves closer, leaning down a little bit so he's level with Will, his dark eyes scanning over his face.

"I'll get a towel to clean you up." He says softly, and Will nods, not wanting to let go of Kayla's hand. As long as he can feel her pulse in his powers, as long as he can physically feel her life force…

It doesn't take long for Nico to return with a wet towel, and he starts to gently rub the blood off of Will's face. Will closes his eyes, letting Nico take care of him for once.

"Nico?" He says after a second, and his boyfriend stops. Will opens his eyes, and Nico is looking down at him curiously, still holding the bloodied towel in his hands. "Is she… I know you can feel certain things and—"

"It was… touch and go for a bit there." Nico admits, looking at Kayla, whose eyes are closed. If Will thinks hard enough, he could just pretend that she's sleeping. But he knows she's not. "But Anteros has been doing fantastic work, and Sohee and Austin are helping a lot."

Will looks over at his siblings murmuring with Anteros. He knows they're trying to keep quiet so that he doesn't get involved, if the glances Anteros keeps sending his way mean anything.

"So she's—"

"She's not dying anymore, Will. I can promise you that. Your siblings are amazing healers." Will squeezes Kayla's hand, wishing for her to wake up and tease him for being such a crybaby the way tears haven't stopped spilling down his cheeks.

"Thanks, Nico." He says softly, and Nico reaches out to tuck a wild curl behind his ear.

"It's weird when you call me by my first name." Nico teases lightly, and Will scrunches his nose.

"Well, it's not like I call you Niccólo or anythin' like that." Nico snorts out a laugh, shaking his head.

"Still sounds funny in your accent." He points out, and Will sticks out his tongue at his boyfriend, a small smile creeping its way onto his face. "There it is." Nico says gently, looking at Will, and WIll blinks in confusion.

"What?" He asks, and Nico shrugs his shoulders.

"I was trying to make you smile. Haven't seen that smile of yours since Kayla came in, and it was worrying me. But it worked." Will can't help but feel the happy hum of the darkness in his chest, the feeling that he's sure cats get when pet just the way they like. He tugs on Nico's hand, pulling his boyfriend closer. NIco makes a small noise of surprise, but he steps closer, and Will wraps his arms around Nico's waist, pressing his face into NIco's stomach, just breathing in.

"Thanks, Neeks." He says softly, and he feels all of Nico's muscles relax in his hold. A cool hand comes up to tangle in his hair, and he can hear the smile in Nico's voice.

"Anything for you, tesoro."