Broken together.

Will POV

Nico ran into my cabin gasping for air. His cheeks were flushed from physically exerting himself and he needed to sit down.

"Nico, are you alright? You seem..." I trailed off at end of my sentence when I saw what he was holding in his arms.

Sitting there, in a swaddling lilac blanket, was an infant. She looked only a few weeks old at most. She had thin blonde curls and deep sea-green eyes. Very familiar sea green eyes.

"Is that?... Oh gods"

Nico hurried over to me and placed her delicately in my arms. The door was still open and the small fragile being in my arms shivered from the cold.

Nico then promptly collapsed on my bed

Since it was fall, most demigods at camp had gone home for the school year. Me and Nico were the only kids left without a place to go.

I looked down at the poor girl. She would never know her parents. Only stories of their bravery.

Percy and Annabeth. Lovers to the grave.

Annabeth had died during childbirth 2.5 weeks ago. She had some serious complications that no doctors nor demigods could help. There was a period during her labor when we thought we might lose both Annabeth and the child.

The morning after losing the love of his life, Percy left camp. No one knew where he had gone, but he took his daughter with him and disappeared. 

When Nico brought her to the cabin, I knew that terrible things had come to pass.
Percy must be dead.
He would never willingly allow someone to take his daughter unless he wasn't there to stop it. Nico would be the one to find out first anyway, given that his father is Hades, lord of the dead.

Nico, quiet as he is, decided not to share any important information with me. Typical. However, I didn't want to push him too far. He had been through a lot in his life, he doesn't need me poking around in his business. Especially now, after he had just lost someone close to him.

Jason's death and now this? How does Nico even cope with this?

I tapped on his shoulder and he turned to me. His face had a mix of desperation and rage. It broke my heart but I couldn't do anything about his pain. He was hurting, and I was helpless.

I set the child down on her blanket and sculpted it into a makeshift crib. This was to keep her supported while she wasn't in my arms.

Nico rested his head on my chest. I kissed his forehead and felt his tears fall down my shirt. He never made a sound.

It was not often that Nico cried. He usually tried to absorb his emotions as best he could. He had improved at opening up and sharing his feelings, but it was still a work in progress. I can empathize with his state of mind. If no one knows then it never happened. Nothing is wrong if nobody can tell that something is wrong.

I laid Nico down in my bed and kissed him once more before walking out of the cabin. On the way I started talking to myself to stay calm, similar to what I do while working in the infirmary. It helps me organize my thoughts and focus as best I can.

"Go to Chiron. Tell him the news. Get a crib from the nursery." Very normal itinerary.

Although I did make a few pit stops on the way.

1-I took a few minutes to cry in a canoe. It may be the middle of the night, but I don't need dryads or monsters listening to me sob.

2-I got fresh clothes from the camp store because I fell out of the canoe.

Also, I never ended up going to Chiron. I did not want to deal with a depressed centaur today. There was too much going on.

I did however go to the nursery section of the infirmary and get a crib. Why we have a nursery in the camp I have no idea, and we rarely ever use it as a nursery. Most of the time it's just extra room for nonterminal injuries. Especially during emergencies.    

I tiredly dragged the crib back across the camp. Dirt and mud covered my orange Converse. It started raining.

You really would think that they'd put the Apollo cabin closer to the infirmary given that we are the primary staff. Lightning boomed across the sky. The sky started to pour water in buckets seemingly. The world looked like a dystopia from my point of view. It was so dark outside I couldn't tell if my cabin was getting further away or closer.

The aftermath, I thought. Poseidon must be outraged. How dare his only demigod child kill himself? How could he?

Gods are so single-minded. They only worried about themselves.

I finally managed to drag the crib onto the porch of cabin 7. I shoved open the door and dragged the crib inside. I put it in the corner and set up some baby monitors I had also snatched from the nursery. I hope that when summer comes around my siblings don't assume things.

When I turned around Nico was sitting upright, no longer looking too tired. I placed the child delicately inside the crib after sanitizing it and instinctively checked her pulse and respiratory rate. Old habits.

I turned to him. He looked me dead in the eyes.

"He told me her name."

He read my expression. It very clearly said 'What is it?'

"Aegeus"

It seemed so perfect in such an ironic and dark way. What kind of twisted mind does someone have to be in to name their child after a person who killed themselves? By drowning no less.

For context, Theseus promised his father that when he returned home, if he survived he would put up a different colored flag. He forgot his promise and his father (Aegeus) was so shocked that he killed himself by throwing himself into the sea. That is why we now have the Aegean Sea.

Nico turned his gaze from me to Aegeus. He poured into her eyes like she would answer his deepest questions and tell him where to find his darkest desires.

"Nico? What happened? What did you see?

Silence.

"Nico?"

"I-I'll tell you tomorrow. It's been a long day and we need to go to sleep."

He left no room for discussion.

I crawled into my bottom bunk and leaned against the wooden walls. I patted the area next to me. Nico sat down stiff as a statue. I hugged him as tight as I before letting go and kissing him goodnight. I'm sure Chiron will understand that, under these circumstances, it was best for Nico to stay here with me instead of going back to his cabin.

Nico was soon quietly snoring beside me. I saw his chest rise and fall. After making sure he was ok and sleeping, I stared at the camera receiver I put up to monitor Aegeus. Her small movements frightened me. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I was so terrified that I'd done something wrong. What if I was the reason Percy died? What if I kill Aegeus by accident? Am I doing the right thing by raising her? I'm sure there are plenty of parents more qualified than me to look after her.

Oh god. What are we going to tell Sally? How does one tell a mother that her only child, her bright and cheerful son who had gone through so much, had died?

These thoughts swirled around in my brain like a giant whirlpool threatening to swallow me whole. I knew only one thing. I was certainly not sleeping tonight.