Solangelo short story

Promising

We landed on the red stone ground and rolled a few times. When we came to a stop Will was on top of me with his head on my chest and my arms were still wrapped around him. How many times have I fantasized about having Will Solace in my arms, and now that it has finally happened it is in less then desired circumstances. I sat up with a still unconscious Will in my arms and assessed the damage. I had bruised my back and possibly Dislocated a shoulder, which I popped into place. He had a few cuts and scrapes on him and he'd lost his medical bag, but was mostly unscathed. I brushed the hair out of his eyes and stared at the beautiful boy as he started to wake.

"Where are we?! What happened?! Are you hurt?!? Any headache, nausea or other types of pain?" Before he could continue his examination he started having a coughing fit. He was on all fours trying to catch his breath but the more he tried to breathe the more he suffocated.

I hadn't breathed since we landed and the breath had been knocked out of me, but my throat was starting to get scratchy and my lungs were begging for air. Luckily we had landed a few yards from the River of Fire. I immediately took him to the river bed and laid him down on his back holding both of his hands above his head, yet another fantasy of mine, but a different setting.

I cupped my free hand into the cool fire and as Will opened his mouth to start coughing again I poured it in and covered his lips to make sure he doesn't spit it out. He started trying to struggle out of my grip and looked up at me with panic in his eyes. I couldn't speak because of my lack of oxygen, so I adjusted myself to where my knees were pinning his arms down by his sides and I was sitting on his hips, with my free hand I massaged his throat till he started to swallow it. When he had drank the last drop I got up and started drinking the fire like a man in a desert who'd just discovered an oasis. Hey, if you went that long without breathing you'd get pretty desperate too.

"What in Hades is that?" Will gasped.

"That is what's gonna keep us alive down here while we find a way out."

"It tastes like gasoline and burnt rubber."
I just smirked sadly at him, "The Phlegethon will be the least worst thing down here, trust me."

As he looked up he started to take in the surroundings. It wasn't pretty.

The shore was glass shards and further up were sharp pebble's with nothing growing from it but yellow bubbles, like giant zits, that had monsters growing inside them. There were creatures in the dark sky, snatching up their dinner. The smell of sulfur and brimstone was almost intolerable, and the heat from the river of fire only added to the triple digit climate. There was a constant murmuring of growls, screeches, things being torn to shreds, snapping, and monsters eating their prey.

Before things got too depressing I said lets go and started to help Will up. When he was standing upright and made sure all of his bones were ok I let his hand go he just tightened his grip. I tried to shake it off but he wasn't having any of that.

He tried to get me to look at him but I jut looked away. I couldn't look Will in the eye. I felt unworthy and guilty as hell. Just by associating with me, by knowing me and being in my presence he had been dragged into this nightmare. Although I accepted my love for him I questioned whether or not I can ever really be with him, or anyone. I was a child of Hades, it was instinct for people not to like me and see me as an enemy. Who would willingly want to deal with that kind of lifestyle?

"Look Will, I am really sorry for dragging you with me into the hell hole, literally. I totally understand if after this you don't want to ever talk to me again. No hard feelings." I tried to smile after that but even I could tell I failed miserably

He forcibly turned me to face him and his beautiful multi-blue eyes looked right into my dark brown ones. I always thought that he had prettier eyes then Jason, there was more shades. The baby blue of late morning, the bright cerulean of a hot summer afternoon, and the yale blue right before the sky gets painted in pinks, oranges, and red.

"Look Nico," Will said in a serious tone, "I know how much you hate dealing with emotions but you have to know this before we start this possible suicide mission. I don't blame you and I'm not mad, leaving you after this is the last thing I want. No matter what happens down here, how many monsters we have to face, what horrors we will experience, know that I care about you. Don't think for one second that I will let you make this trek alone again. I have liked you since the minute I heard about how you faced the rage and wrath of Hades to get him to help the camp defend Olympus in the Battle of Manhattan, how selfless and brave you were when you helped Annabeth and Percy escape from the Lambrinyth. When I saw you on that hill, about to go assassinate Octavian, probably getting yourself killed in the process, I was in shock. Here was the mystic and powerful Nico Di Angelo, rarer then a freaking leprechaun, right in front of me. I fell hard in love that day for you, and I am more then ready to sacrifice anything for you. You are gonna be the one getting out of this alive if a choice has to be made." I could not believe my ears. All this time I have been crushing on this guy, and he liked me to? Enough to go as far as to sacrifice himself for me?? My heart was doing a frantic dance in my chest that I was sure all of Tartarus could hear.

I looked at Will in shock, but there was a smile forming on my lips, and stuttered, "I-I-I like you to. No, love I mean. You know, in that way. But don't think that you are going to die down here, it's not allowed. Not to mention that if I return without you then I'm going to have the whole Apollo cabin pissed at me and then I will have to live with getting shot with arrows and sonic booms waking me up at ungodly hours." I said trying to lighten the mood, "besides, I don't think you are the monsters type, you are too happy and bright. They like their food panicky and hopeless. So no dying, promise?

"Fine, but promise me the same."
I agreed. Together, hand in hand, we started towards the Doors of Death, the ride out of the hell of Hell, both of us wondering if we were gonna break our promise.