It All Started With The New Students... And The Murder

Chapter 36 : Hospital... again

TW: There's gonna be one pretty brutal scene here

Nico's POV

Nico sat in the dark corner of the hospital waiting room, experiencing all kinds of flashbacks. The time Bianca died, the time he'd found a home in Reyna and Percy, finding out he had another sister, and, of course, the trip to the hospital a few weeks ago for Sally.

As much as Nico loved spending time with Will, it also meant he knew a thing or ten about being a doctor, and injuries, which meant he knew there wasn't a high chance of survival for Reyna.

For Thalia's sake, Will and Nico had agreed not to tell anyone that specific piece of news, though Will had quietly told Nico that calling his chauffeur early might just have saved Reyna's life.

Usually, when a situation like the one they were currently in arose, Nico would find someone to blame, like he'd done when Bianca had died. He'd blamed Percy for her death. It took Reyna's best efforts to mend their friendship, and thankfully, those efforts were more than enough. 

But at the moment, Nico couldn't find anyone to blame, but himself. He'd gone to the driveway to watch for backup, he'd left Reyna to fight Octavian alone, and when he came back, he hadn't reacted quickly enough when he saw Octavian move.

Suddenly, as if on cue, Nico's phone buzzed quietly. Percy had sent him a message.

Nico, don't you dare blame anyone but Octavian for this, especially not yourself. Reyna knew what she was getting into. I'm taking care of the bodies.

Percy somehow always knew what everyone was thinking. It was creepy at some times but also hilarious at others, but in this case, it was simply comforting. Over the past few weeks, Nico had realised that he could always go to Percy if he needed a more abstract way of looking at things. Percy always had the wildest, craziest ideas, but they almost always worked, so Nico never complained.

Nico wondered what "taking care of the bodies" entailed exactly, but soon got his answer and couldn't help but laugh. What Percy had done was brutal, but Octavian and Luke deserved that more than anyone else.

Brutal scene incoming so you might want to skip this next paragraph if you're disgusted easily

His phone had buzzed again and Percy had sent him a picture of two heads, obviously those of Luke and Octavian, stuck onto wooden pikes. There was blood still running down the pikes, and the tips of the pikes were coming out of the tops of their skulls. To anyone else, it would be disgusting, and maltreatment of the dead, but in Nico's eyes, they deserved it.

That wasn't what made Nico laugh though. He laughed because Percy had written "homophobic bitch" on Octavian's face and "paedophile" and "murderer" on Luke's

Then, as he looked up, he noticed that everyone was staring at him in disbelief, which was almost as funny. Nico would be the first to admit that he didn't laugh very often, so the fact that he was laughing while someone he considered to be his mother was most likely on her deathbed was definitely something that needed context.

"Percy showed me what he did to Luke and Octavian." Nico said, slightly embarrassed and hoping that would clear everything up.

"Why isn't he here anyways?" Thalia growled, evidently more angry than sad.

"Well he has to take care of the bodies that are currently littering the courtyard of a pretty well known restaurant." Nico reasoned.

"Can't he pay someone to do that?" Thalia asked.

Nico closed his eyes and rolled his eyes behind his eyelids. Of course they didn't know about Percy and Reyna's agreement.

They'd once said that if one was hospitalised and was most likely going to die from a fight, the other wouldn't be at the hospital to watch, because they couldn't bear watching another friend die.