The Son of Death in Gotham(A Nico Di Angelo Fan Fic)

3) My Fault

*Almost 40 readers?! Thank you all so much. I'm going to try and do my best to at least update twice a week or more. Sometimes I might forget or get behind, if I do please remind me, and though it might be happening so far I probably won't be updating every day. Have a great time and please enjoy the chapter :)*

Nico felt stupid.

He should have known, the death god wants to punish you, obviously someone was gonna die. A pool of dread settled in his stomach as soon as Kayla barged into the cabin, needing Will.

So he followed them to the infirmary, he wasn't gonna let a son of Apollo of all people boss him around, even if he would do anything for that specific son of Apollo, he had standards, and he had to help.

Even with all that though, he knew better than to go into the infirmary. He wasn't welcome there. No matter what Will said, he knew that nobody would want a child of the Underworld in the place where everyone was trying to avoid that very thing.

So he waited outside, waiting for Will to come and say that he saved the girl, and they would go back to the Hades cabin and Nico would keep ignoring him, no matter how much he enjoyed the blond boy's presence. Because Will always saved his patients. Well, almost always.

Nico thought back to the war. A lot more people would have died if it weren't for Will, but so many still died. The Apollo cabin, and everyone else, were devastated, but they had to keep going, they were demi-gods after all.

He tried to help as much as he could, doing the funeral rights for all the fallen, but he could only do so much. He was planning on leaving right after the ceremony, but then he confessed to Percy, then his three days in the infirmary, then he just couldn't leave. As much as he hated it, camp had become his home.

That terrified him.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a sudden feeling of floating, like his soul was rising from his body. It only lasted a moment but he knew what it meant, Will's patient had died.

He's going to feel terrible.

After the war Will was almost depressed, like he held every life that was lost on his shoulders, like it was all his fault. Eventually Nico couldn't stand seeing the bright son of Apollo so down, so he went to talk to him.

*** *** ***

It was about a week after the battle with Gaea, most of the injured were out of the infirmary and helping with rebuilding. Will had been slaving in the infirmary everyday, from dawn to dusk, and Nico was done with it all.

No matter what anyone thought, he actually liked spending time with the boy. Though he would thoroughly deny it when asked, he helped out in the infirmary of his own free will.

So when he saw that Will was ignoring his own advice, barely eating, sleeping the bare minimum, and working as much as possible, he was annoyed. This boy found time to force Nico to eat at least a meal a day yet he couldn't even take care of himself.

So one day, Nico walked into the infirmary, grabbed Will by the arm(after making sure he wasn't like, saving someone's life or something) and dragged him over to the Hades cabin.

Will struggled the whole way, confused about what was happening and wanting to get back to work, but Nico refused, opening the door with his free hand and shoving Will onto the bed.

"What's wrong?" Nico had asked.

"What do you mean?" The son of Apollo had asked, not wanting to admit anything, "Everything's fine."

"That's a lie and you know it." Nico pushed Will back down when he tried to stand up and leave, "Tell me what's wrong."

Will sighed, and after a moment looked up to meet his eyes, "Twenty three."

Nico was confused, "Twenty three what?"

"Twenty three demi-gods," Will looked down at the floor, "Twenty three demi-gods that I couldn't save. Twenty three demi-gods that died in the battle."

"Oh." Nico said simply, he knew what it was like to blame yourself for someone else's death, he did it every day.

Mama

Bianca

Bryce

Octavian

He knew that it wasn't his fault that they died, it was the gods fault for his family. And for the Romans it was self defense, he was defending Reyna when he banished Bryce's soul. And he was defending the whole camp when he let Octavian shoot himself at Gaea.

But that didn't change the fact that he saw their faces every time he closed their eyes. He should have done better, he should have convinced his sister to stay with him. He should have found a different way to stop Bryce. He should have warned Octavian.

Nico knows that Will probably thought he was a monster because of that incident, he didn't know why he hadn't told him so yet.

Nico suddenly remembered where he was. He blinked and went to sit down next to Will, who was just sitting there looking miserable.

"It wasn't your fault." Nico mustered up his courage and reached out to hold the healer's hands. He hated the contact but Will needed it, and the boy had done so much for him, he could at least do this.

"But it was," Will looked down at their hands with a strange look on his face, "I should have been able to save them, I should have been better."

That really struck home for Nico, but he pushed past his feelings.

"Will... Will look at me." The son of Apollo turned his head, tears brimming his eyes. "It's not your fault." He said it as firmly as he could, trying to clear any doubts from the healer's mind.

Will opened his mouth to protest but Nico covered it with his hand, grimacing at his hot breath.

"No, don't protest. You did everything you could to save those people, and you have healed more people than I've even talked to. I bet that if we stepped outside this cabin right now and asked any random camper, they would agree that you, Will Solace, are more of a hero than anyone. Now stop with this self pity, you need to eat."

Will looked at him in shock, then smiled slightly. "Thank you."

*** *** ***

Kayla walked out of the infirmary, looking around. Nico was snapped back to the present when he saw the concerned look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, Nico." Kayla spun around when she heard his voice, "I think Will needs you."

"Me?" Why would anybody want Nico, especially after Will's patient just died. But he dutifully followed the girl, worried about his... friend? Since when did Nico have friends? I mean, Jason and Hazel don't count. Hazel was his sister and Jason knows too much about him to be ignored. Then there's Percy and Annabeth, but they never really paid him a second thought unless they needed him for something.

Nico shook his head, stupid ADHD, as he was led into the surgery room? Operation room? Whatever it's called, and heard sobbing.

He pushed past Kayla and rushed into the room, seeing Will standing over a girl's body, sobbing while trying to do CPR. He was concerned for him but didn't want to interrupt. Kayla had brought in a stretcher for when Will finally took a break. But eventually Nico had to do something.

He cleared his throat and Will turned around, looking a bit surprised to see Nico standing there.

"Do you need help?" Was all Nico could think to say. Seeing the crazy look in Will's eyes he knew that nothing else would get him to stop.

When Will nodded Nico stepped in, taking over CPR until he heard Will collapse on the stretcher and start snoring. Oh why was his snore so cute?

Nico stepped away from the poor girl's body and covered her with a cloth, quickly stepping outside to signal that Kayla could come in and take her away, before he went over and sat next to Will, staying with the blond boy until he woke up.