The Sun in the Shadow

Chapter 8

It was like a bad dream.

Nico was surrounded by darkness and there were screams and wails everywhere. Black rocks and dripping ceilings and freezing cold surrounded Nico in every direction. It was like a prison of darkness.

But then, Will was walking towards him, a ray of sunlight in the shadows. Each step he grew closer to Nico and he could feel the strength returning to him.

"Will!" Nico called out, but Will didn't answer. His face was stoney and his steps were slowing. The light that surrounded him flickered and dimmed. Nico stood unsteadily and lurched towards Will, but his feet felt stuck.

"Will, I'm over here! Help, please!" Nico shouted, hating that he was begging, but continuing for his own sake.

He just had to get out of this retched darkness and then he would apologize to Will and tell him that he had felt something too. Something he couldn't, or more accurately, wouldn't push away.

"Will!" His voice was shrill, but the blonde didn't seem to hear it. Will's light aura was fading faster and he was sinking in effort. Each step seemed to drain more energy than running a marathon. But Will's face still held no emotion. Finally, he reached Nico and collapsed on his knees, head down. Nico knelt and tried to lift Will's face, but the doctors rough hands caught his wrists and stopped him.

"Nico." Will said, his voice far to deep and solemn.

"Yes, Will, I'm sorry. I wasn't think right." He tried to free his hands. "I was an idiot and I rejected your love and I'm sorry, but please, please, let us leave." Nico was looking at Will's face and trying to read what it said, but it said nothing.

"Nico," Will said again, and his voice was normal. "You're to late. I'm gone Nico, I tried to save you and I died because of it. See?" Will looked at his body which was slowly turning transparent. Nico could feel a rip as his heart was torn.

"No," he whispered and tried to pull away again. "No, no, no, No, No, NO!"

He was wrenching himself this way and that, but Will's hands were like iron, even as they turned into those of a ghost.

"You've killed me, Nico. I'm dead because of you." Will spoke in a bland tone even as Nico pulled and screamed. His eyes were dull, no longer the vibrant blue Nico had always admired them as.

"NO! WILL! I'm sorry Will! No! PLEASE STOP THIS, PLEASE!

Nico pulled and pleaded, trying to stand or pull away, anything that would allow him peace from the crippling guilt and anguish Will was giving him.

Will couldn't be dead. This was a lie. Will, the ray of sunlight. The doctor. He couldn't be stuck in this dark realm, a corpse that would never be buried. He had to be safe. Alive and healthy and having fun with other campers. This what to be wrong. This couldn't be Will.

Will continued to say the same phrase, over and over until Nico couldn't take it anymore. Sobs tore out of him and he struggled against the restraints Will had put on him.

But someone else walked up behind Will and held down Nico's shoulders so he could only kick and flail.

"Hazel?" Nico asked, speaking over Will. Hazel nodded and smiled at him, but then frowned and looked down. Nico looked at where she was looking and found a huge, jagged, black rock sticking out of her stomach. Nico gasped and was about to say something, but the rock disappeared and instead of blood, transparency started spreading from the wound.

"No, Hazel!" Nico lurched upwards, but the combined restraints kept him down. "Hazel, no! Save yourself, you can't die!" He stared at her with pleading eyes, waiting for her to smile and say she was fine that everyone was safe. But she didn't. She watched him with dimmed eyes and a straight face.

"You have killed me, Nico. I am dead because of you." Hazel said as her voice turned monotonous like Will's. Fresh tears spilled from Nico's eyes and he screamed at everything.

His voice screeched pleas as the two held them down. He wailed apologizes and forgiveness and everything he could, but they stayed there.

Nico's worst nightmare.

His trauma and pain.

He was held down by the guilt of their deaths.