Solangelo Oneshots

28

By Spax99

Trigger warnings: death

Nico was 5 the first time he saw it. Not on himself, like most people would, but on his sister Bianca.

Being a curious child, he asked Bianca what they were. The strange, looping lines on the inside of Bianca's wrist, too intricate for his young, dyslexic mind to register as words.

Bianca patiently explained them to him. He'd never forget that explanation. The words were the last ones her soulmate would ever say to her. Most people had them, she explained. It was rare NOT to have a soulmate, although it wasn't always a romantic partner. The words appeared when the younger of the soulmate pair was born.

Nico looked at his own wrist, studying it closely as if his own words might be hidden. Bianca laughed and told him not to worry. It just meant his soulmate wasn't born yet. It happened to a lot of people.

Nico had wanted to point out that Bianca had always had hers. That she was lucky, and didn't have to wait, not knowing if she would ever get the words. But she was looking at her wrist so sadly that Nico decided to remain silent.

He later learned that some people had common words and phrases on their wrist. Bianca was one of them, only having 4 little words.

'What are you doing?'

Nico didn't bring up the words again for a long time.

He thought fate was cruel, though, to not allow someone to find their soulmate until they lost them.

~~~

Nico wasn't sure when his words appeared. Well, word. Singular. He had thought Bianca was unlucky with only 4 words, a common phrase. But that was before he saw his own.

'Nico!'

Just that one word, his name. Four letters and an exclamation point. Some people had sentences, others even had paragraphs, and all he got was one word?!

The first time he noticed it was when he was 10, and he and Bianca were on their way to Westover Hall, some fancy academy they were going to attend. He figured that it must've appeared sometime when they were staying in that fancy hotel.

He was 10. The chances of his soulmate being a romantic partner were non-existent, or so Bianca had gently told him when he excitedly showed her the words. Nico had been harboring the secret hope that his soulmate was the love of his life, someone who would accept him entirely, like only Bianca did.

(He wouldn't find out until later that they had been in the Lotus Hotel for around 70 years, and that his soulmate could be anyone born in that span of time)

Nico couldn't help but flinch every time someone close to him said his name for a long time after the words appeared.

~~~

Bianca was dead.

She had gone off on a quest with the hunters and she died. And Percy freaking Jackson hadn't protected her like he said he would.

His only comfort came in the knowledge that Bianca had met her soulmate. Word had gotten around camp fairly fast before Nico took off. The other hunter, Zoë Nightshade, had said the words right before Bianca died. The pair had been platonic soulmates, each having given up their chance at romance to join the hunters. He wondered if Bianca had known after hearing those words, that she was going to die in the junkyard.

~~~

After the war against Gaea, Nico decided to stay at camp. This decision may or may not have had something to do with the words of a (super cute) son of Apollo, Will Solace.

Will insisted Nico stay in the infirmary, even though Nico insisted he wasn't injured. But Nico stayed. After almost 12 hours of rushing around, healing all the wounded, Will crashed on the cot with Nico. Nico protested, but all the other cots and the regular beds were taken, and Will looked exhausted. He was glad the sun was down and that it was too dark for the son of Apollo to see him blush.

Over the months that followed, Nico got to know Will better. Will was funny, and lighthearted and kind despite all the recent hardships he had faced. He was almost Nico's polar opposite. They had their disagreements, but Nico couldn't stop himself from falling hard and fast. And Will fell for him right back.

Shortly after the 2 became a couple, Nico broached the subject of the words on their wrists. It hasn't escaped his notice that Will always wore a small bandage on the inside of his wrist, just large enough to cover up a few words or maybe even a whole sentence. Will had gone eerily silent, and looked so uncomfortable that Nico couldn't bring himself to mention it again.

If they were soulmates, Nico didn't think he wanted to know what his last words to Will were supposed to be, anyways.

~~~

Will was put on the front lines for maybe the first time in his life. He wasn't just there as a healer, and he wasn't just sneaking around like he had been with the Romans. He was an actual, real fighter on the front lines.

He hacked through enemy after enemy. Some were monsters, some were demigods, but they all served Nero.

Once in a while, Will caught a glimpse of someone he knew. Kayla rushed past him, locked in combat with a much larger demigod. Apollo and Meg ran past, in search of Nero amidst the chaos. He watched Lou-Ellen and Cecil heckle a group of storm spirits.

But Nico was a constant presence, always fighting within Will's sight. Will was glad Nico stayed close; he didn't want to have to worry, not knowing if Nico was alright.

At some point, Will and Nico had been pushed together by the hoards of enemies. The two fought side by side, surrounded by monsters. Will kept one eye on Nico, and couldn't stop himself from calling out a warning when a blow missed Nico's head by mere inches.

"Relax Solace! Don't you think I can handle myself?"

Will felt his blood run cold. Nico had just growled the words Will had never wanted to hear. There were less enemies surrounding them now, really only one or two, so he was able to turn fully towards Nico. And he was able to clearly see the sword being swung straight at Nico, right in his blind spot.

"Nico!"

Will yelled the warning without even thinking. Nico turned, but towards Will and away from the oncoming blow. He looked like he was about to say something more, but at that moment the sword pierced his back, cutting straight through.

Will made quick work of the final enemy, then dropped to the ground next to Nico. He gripped the boy's hand. Nico blinked up at him once, twice, and looked like he was trying to form words. But he couldn't, and the light faded from his eyes.

Will had known Nico wouldn't be able to speak. He had already heard his soulmate's final words.

The battle wound to a close around them, but Will could do nothing but lie on the ground and think about how unfair it all was. He'd waited 15 years (and Nico had waited 70) to have less than a year together. How unfair it was that they didn't know they were soulmates until they lost each other.

But Will knew these thoughts would change nothing. The world wasn't fair, and Nico wasn't coming back.